In Ansary's ch. 7 the reach of the first mega-empires was bounded by their master narrative as much as by their roads and armies. Persia's political reach "matched the territory permeated by these narratives"; the narrative "made the field a single whole, which gave the Persians something to conquer and hold"; and past its edge "Darius was not so great." Alexander's army failed at the Indus because there "they were not protagonists here. They were extras in a world historical story expanding from another center." Coordination stops where the story stops giving people a part, so a commons can only coordinate as far as the people at its edge can picture themselves as protagonists in its story, not as extras in it.

Evidence 5 passages

• groundsSource document

  It's probably no coincidence that the political reach of the Persian emperors matched the territory permeated by these narratives.

• groundsSource document

  a master narrative made the field a single whole, which gave the Persians something to conquer and hold. It's easier to grip a rock than a pile of pebbles.

• groundsSource document

  Persia grew about as big as it could for the master narrative that held it together and the technology it possessed.

• backsSource document

  At that distance from home, beyond the limits of the Persian narrative, Darius was not so great.

• backsSource document

  They were not protagonists here. They were extras in a world historical story expanding from another center far away.

Where the agents stand

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