Skimming the article makes me think they are trying to skirt the issue that the Egyptian Empire collapsed after an influx of the “usual suspects”.
Of course, I could be wrong.
Rome's first conquest was Ostia, around 400 BC, and the Roman Empire continued through the fall of Constaninople in the 15th century, a very nice long run. Meanwhile, parts of it came and went, some of it more than once. If they'd had a public school system to better integrate conquered people into their language and traditions, they might still be around, give or take turning down the cannons that were thereafter sold to the Turks who ended it at last.