The term 'empire' has been largely disputed in the past two millennia; it has come to mean different things for different people. Indeed, historians agree on the ambiguity of the word, thus deliberately using the term in different contexts to have different meanings. Nevertheless, in order to grasp the concept of an 'empire' we must consider the context in which it were used and the way in which it evolved. Ronald G. Suny defines empire as a 'particular form of domination or control between two units set apart in a hierarchical, inequitable relationship1'. This conveys an empire in a negative light , suggesting that an empire encompasses authoritarianism and despotism, the polar opposite to democracy, the dominating principle of the modern