The Silk Road between Syria and China

Abstract

This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the archaeological and written evidence for the so-called Silk Roads and the development of trade along them between the second century BC and the end of the Han dynasty in the early second century AD. The Silk Road trade at the Chinese end originated epiphenomenally on the practice of state tribute and diplomatic embassies, as tribute in kind and diplomatic gifts were resold by their enterprising recipients. As trade developed along the routes westwards and gained its own momentum, its value was harnessed by the state in the form of heavy customs dues. Rather than a coordinated route utilized by merchants travelling the length of the terrain between China and Rome, the picture emerging is that of segmented trade involving various merchants.

Caravanserai middens on desert roads: a new perspective on the Nabataean–Roman trade network across the Negev

“…The connection between economic developments and the road networks in Eurasia and Africa in the pre-modern periods has been established in several case studies. The famous 'Silk Roads' that connected China to Western Asia (Hansen 2012;Graf 2017), the trading routes across the Sahara (Ross 2011;Wilson 2012;Braun & Passon 2020) and the desert roads that connected the Red Sea to the Nile Valley (Sidebotham 2011) all bear witness to extensive trade systems in the ancient and medieval worlds. The 'Incense Route' was the main artery for the transport of spices and aromatics from their production zones in southern Arabia to the Mediterranean coast.…”

“…The Nabataeans possessed a monopoly over camel trains and their commercial networks spanned different cultures, languages, religious identities and territories across Arabia and the southern Levantine deserts (Graf 1990;Fiema 1994;Politis 2007;Erickson-Gini 2010). Trade caravans made their way along a series of roads that converged on Petra, the capital of the Nabataean kingdom.…”

Orphism in the Circle of Musagetes

“…Эта дискуссия совпала с основанием двух крупных европейских национальных государств, Германии и Италии, каждое из которых должно было бороться за независимость от Ватикана[...]. Один из способов разрушить власть церкви состоял в поисках исторических корней христианства: оно оказывалось вовсе не религией божественного откровения, многое (или даже все, как полагали некоторые) в христианских ритуалах и теологии имело до-христианские корни и было заимствовано из греческого и римского язычества17 .…”