  This paper proposes to proceed from a rather metaphorical application of
network terminology on polities and imperial formations of the past to an
actual use of tools and concepts of network science. For this purpose, a well
established network model of the route system in the Roman Empire and a newly
created network model of the infrastructural web of Imperial China are
visualised and analysed with regard to their structural properties. Findings
indicate that these systems could be understood as large scale complex networks
with pronounced differences in centrality and connectivity among places and a
hierarchical sequence of clusters across spatial scales from the overregional
to the local level. Such properties in turn would influence the cohesion and
robustness of imperial networks, as is demonstrated with two tests on
vulnerability to node failure and to the collapse of longdistance connectivity.
Tentatively, results can be connected with actual historical dynamics and thus
hint at underlying network mechanisms of large scale integration and
disintegration of political formations.
