Discover how the secret of silk changed the world forever
Welcome to STORY OF THE SILK ROAD
All About History Story of Silk Road
The story of silk • Silk may be the product of a humble moth larva but it has had a powerful influence on the history of the world
Silk in ancient Rome • The Romans knew of two types of silk. The sericum they speak of came from a land to the far east they knew as Serica – China
Silk from the sea • It’s not just silkworms that produce the material; a large bivalve mollusc that lives in the Mediterranean does too
Before the Silk Road • Long before there was a recognised route linking China and Europe trade between cultures flourished for thousands of years
A TIMELINE OF TRADE
The ancient bronze trade • Bronze reforged human societies – and the scarcity of its ingredients changed forever the way they interacted
Metal ox hides
The flow of spices • The humble spices we take for granted were once carried thousands of miles by land and sea – carrying more than trade in their wake
The cinnamon bird • Whether it was a small bird or a more ferocious animal, traders are said to have collected cinnamon from it to sell
The divine lapis lazuli • Bronze was useful, and spices had healing powers, but humans crave beautiful objects too and in the ancient world lapis lazuli was the most desired stone of all
The Ram in the Thicket • This elaborate pair of Mesopotamian statues include lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, over 2000 kilometres away
The Annals of ancient China • Rich in ambition, powerplay and conflict, the Annals of ancient China hold the roots of the most enduring cultures on Earth
The heroes of myth • Though now recognised as the first dynasty of ancient China, the Xia dynasty was once thought to have its basis in mythology
The rise and fall of the Xiongnu • When a confederation of nomadic peoples were brought together, they proved strength in numbers could pave the way for a truly dominant empire
The Xiongnu’s warrior women • Ancient jewellery was recently found on remains dating back to the 1st century BCE
Secrets of the Soviet sands • In the 1970s, an archaeologist from the USSR discovered the historical record of a Bronze Age civilisation in the Central Asian desert. Only the fall of the Iron Curtain would reveal his research to the wider world
Ancient Silk Road cities
The Heavenly Horses of Dayuan • Han China’s knowledge of Central Asia expanded as a result of the missions of the dauntless explorer Zhang Qian, and sparked a war against a distant Central Asian state in Ferghana for possession of its ‘Heavenly Horses’
Xiongnu: Warriors of the steppe • One of China’s greatest foes were an especially fearsome tribe
Routes on land and sea • The Silk Roads stretched from China to the Mediterranean and crossed seas from India to Africa, mixing cultures and goods as never before
Samarkand and the Silk Road • Samarkand may be the oldest inhabited city in Central Asia, and its position allowed it to thrive
The island of Taprobane • Ancient Greek and Roman knowledge of what lay east of India was somewhat questionable
The Golden Ages of Persia • In the ancient world, pre-Islamic Persia was a beacon of political centrism and cultural diversity
Following a wise god • Zoroastrianism is an ancient religion that pits itself against evil and chaos
Alexander on the Silk Roads • Alexander the Great led his Greek forces on paths that would take them beyond the edge of their world
The many Alexandrias • Alexander’s army was not only a conquering force – it served as a colonising one
Greek art in Asia • The culture of Alexander’s followers had a...