Quote Originally Posted by Shalan View Post
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The roman empire is the well known empire like you stated but it is hardly the typical case. They needed to keep expanding otherwise they wouldn't be able to support their lifestyle and pay their legions. Without the plunder economy they relied on they would have dissolved into civil war much sooner.

However that isn't the only way an empire can function. They can expand to a certain point and stop expanding without imploding on itself, not right away anyway. The Ottoman empire would be a very good example of that. They stopped expanding after the 17th century but they had at least 2 centuries of relative peace before their territory started fracturing starting with Greece. The point I am trying to make is an empire can exist without a plunder economy like the romans.