They had coordination between kings of different regions. They had messengers using authentication bearer tokens, for god's sake. Edit: Seems like evidence of something, though not airtight proof of centralization.
which I will modestly (/s) say if you drill into the link and think about what it's saying, will possibly be the coolest thing you read on HN today imho.
Related, the Greek word "symbolon" from which we get the word "symbol" means "fit-together" and originally referred to the ancient Greek practice of using broken battery shards the fit together for the same purpose of identification.
Reference: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26576528
which I will modestly (/s) say if you drill into the link and think about what it's saying, will possibly be the coolest thing you read on HN today imho.