1. 'Elephant of India' - universal empire through time and across cultures Peter Fibiger Bang with Dariusz Kolodziejczyk-- Part I. Eurasia - Antiquity till Early Modernity: 2. Propaganda and practice in Assyrian and Persian imperial culture Gojko Barjamovic-- 3. Between Asoka and Antiochos - an essay in world history on universal kingship and cosmopolitan culture in the Hellenistic ecumene Peter Fibiger Bang-- 4. The making of Oriental Rome: shaping the Trojan legend Rolf Michael Schneider-- 5. Pseudo-Aristotelian politics and theology in universal Islam Garth Fowden-- 6. The Christian imperial tradition, Greek and Latin Judith Herrin and Dimiter Angelov-- 7. Khan, Caliph, Tsar and Imperator: the multiple identities of the Ottoman Sultan Dariusz Kolodziejczyk-- 8. How the Mughal Padshahs referenced Iran in their visual construction of universal rule Ebba Koch-- 9. Ideologies of state building in Vijayanagara and Post-Vijayanagara South India: some reflections Velcheru Narayana Rao and Sanjay Subrahmanyam-- 10. Sons of Heaven: the Qing appropriation of the Chinese model of universal empire Evelyn S. Rawski-- Part II. Contrasting Universalisms - Old and New World-- 11. Aztec universalism: ideology and status symbols in the service of empire-building Justyna Olko-- 12. From empire to Commonwealth(s) - orders in Europe, 1300-1800 Peter Halden-- 13. Imperial universalism - further thoughts John A. Hall.