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Thus, the Roman, Incan, and Aztec empires allow students of archaeology and political science to understand what really composes an empire. From these three major examples, students can infer that the empire was primarily a combination of domestic and foreign political expertise. Domestically, empires had to keep people loyal to a single ruler, or in the case of the Aztecs, a set of conquering rulers. This occurred through taxation, political systems designed to distribute labor, and empire's ties with religion. A personality cult around the emperor as a legendary hero or source of strength was also important in keeping locals appeased. Internationally, the empire must be, above all other characteristics, strong militarily. They must be able to launch successful conquests, which made slaves or subordinates of other nations. Their military strength must also be great enough to ward of other attacks. Finally, empires must be have successfully completed enough of these conquests to take up significant geographical, political, economic spaces in a region.

Both the Wari and Tiwanku cultures can quickly meet the significance requirement. The Wari were the predominate rulers of much of Peru, specifically the highland and coastal areas, while the Tiwanku were the primary rulers of a great deal of Bolivia, Northern Chili, and Southern Peru (G. And Smiley, 2005, 2006: 2). In addition to their geographic and political influence, the Tiwanku was an economic center of its region, containing much of the population, and negotiating much of the trade between different nearby spatial locations. Furthermore, the pyramids, courts, and other structures located in the Tiwanku regions are evidence of the domestic political loyalty that the culture exhibited, as domestic residents would have been necessary for the labor (G. And Smiley, 2006, 2006: 3-5). Thus, the domestic and international significance of the Tiwanku suggests that the culture was, indeed, an empire, although perhaps not one of as much significance as the Roman, Incan, and Aztec empires. On the other hand, the Wari's display of domestic and foreign political control is similarly impressive. With a central government at Huari and administrative centers throughout the region, the Wari rulers could keep control of their domestic population (G. And Smiley, 2005, 2006: 5). This suggests that the Wari had the organizational skills necessary of an empire. Furthermore, the Wari exemplified excellent international political skills, including successful conquests of surrounding areas. Like many other empires, the Wari combined religion with subordination by capturing other cities' ancestors' remains (G. And Smiley 2005, 2006: 6). Although the empire did not last for a long time, its combination of domestic and international political expertise suggests it is not only an empire, but also one greater than the Tiwanku. Thus, while both the Tiwanku and Wari cultures can be classified as empires based on their domestic and foreign influence, they were not empires of Rome's caliber.

Note: The article, "The Rise of the Incas," did not include an author or publication date.