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 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 archaeological finds
that revolutionize our understanding of these trade routes. For
millennia, key records remained hidden-often 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 northwest China to Samarkand, where merchants,
envoys, pilgrims, and travelers mixed in cosmopolitan communities,
tolerant of religions from Buddhism to Zoroastrianism. Hansen notes
that 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. Hansen writes that 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 Southeast Asia.
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