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5. Cline, E.H. & Graham, M.W. (2011) <i> Ancient empires: from Mesopotamia to the rise of Islam</i>. Cambridge ; New York, Cambridge University Press. The earliest empires played a major role in shaping our modern history. This book documents some of the earliest, including the Babylonians, Egyptians, and Assyrians. It contrasts what empires tried to achieve, for themselves and the people they ruled. These empires helped shaped some of our religions, financial systems, and languages spoken today. 6. Susan E. Alcock (ed.) (2001) <i>Empires: perspectives from archaeology and history </i>. Cambridge, UK ; New York, Cambridge University Press. Definitions of empires are not always clear, where many early empires were composed of a series of vassal territories rather than a centralized entity. How interactions developed between the central, administrative region and the ruled is not always clear and often the relationship was not as one way as one might think. This book details how definitions and understanding of empires are made by archaeologists and historians.  7. Cohen, R.S., Petitjean, P. & Jami, C. (1992) <i>Science and Empires: Historical Studies about Scientific Development and European Expansion </i>. [Online]. Dordrecht, Springer Netherlands. Available from: http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=3070741 [Accessed: 29 September 2017]. Scientific achievement was often made possible by empires, as knowledge exchange and flow of information was facilitated by large states that brought disparate people together. Empires also accumulated the best and the brightest and, as we see today with global superpowers, power and wealth have a strong relationship with how science develops and what becomes a key focus in knowledge development.