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The Silk Road - A New History (Paperback)
Loot Price: R461
Discovery Miles 4 610
You Save: R99
(18%)
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The Silk Road - A New History (Paperback)
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List price R560
Loot Price R461
Discovery Miles 4 610
You Save R99 (18%)
Expected to ship within 9 - 15 working days
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The Silk Road is as iconic in world history as the Colossus of
Rhodes or the Suez Canal. But what was it, exactly? It conjures up
a hazy image of a caravan of camels laden with silk on a dusty
desert track, reaching from China to Rome. The reality was
different-and far more interesting-as revealed in this new history.
In The Silk Road, Valerie Hansen describes the remarkable
archeological finds that revolutionize our understanding of these
trade routes. For centuries, key records remained hidden-sometimes
deliberately buried by bureaucrats for safe keeping. But the sands
of the Taklamakan Desert have revealed fascinating material,
sometimes preserved by illiterate locals who recycled official
documents to make insoles for shoes or garments for the dead.
Hansen explores seven oases along the road, from Xi'an to
Samarkand, where merchants, envoys, pilgrims, and travelers mixed
in cosmopolitan communities, tolerant of religions from Buddhism to
Zoroastrianism. There was no single, continuous road, but a chain
of markets that traded between east and west. China and the Roman
Empire had very little direct trade. China's main partners were the
peoples of modern-day Iran, whose tombs in China reveal much about
their Zoroastrian beliefs. Silk was not the most important good on
the road; paper, invented in China before Julius Caesar was born,
had a bigger impact in Europe, while metals, spices, and glass were
just as important as silk. Perhaps most significant of all was the
road's transmission of ideas, technologies, and artistic motifs.
The Silk Road is a fascinating story of archeological discovery,
cultural transmission, and the intricate chains across Central Asia
and China.
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