Empire

An empire is formed when one king rules many states. A king might win them by conquest, or smaller kingdoms might submit to him rather than fight, paying tribute to keep their own kings. An emperor's realm therefore had two parts:

• lands he ruled directly, through governors of provinces (see Province and Satrapy);
• vassal kingdoms that kept their own kings but answered to him (see Suzerainty).

The kings of empires took titles to match, such as "great king," "king of the four quarters" and "king of kings." The Bible gives "king of kings" to Nebuchadnezzar and to Artaxerxes (Ezekiel 26:7; Daniel 2:37; Ezra 7:12).

The Old Testament is set among a succession of empires:

• Egypt's New Kingdom, the Hittites and Mitanni;
• then Assyria, Babylon and Persia;
• then the kingdoms that followed Alexander.

The prophets speak of God raising empires up and bringing them down (Isaiah 10:5-19; Daniel 2:36-45).

On the map an empire's shape covers the lands it ruled directly, including its provinces. Its vassal kingdoms are drawn as kingdoms of their own under a dashed overlay in the empire's color. See how the map's regions are drawn.