How did the Silk Roads connect the classical world? Period 2: 600 BCE – 600 CE

I Causes and Consequences of Classical Long Distance Trade A) Causes: 1. Classical empires (Rome, Han, Gupta, Maya) undertook massive construction projects to improve transportation and infrastructure 2. The expanding size of the empires brought them within close proximity to or even bordering each other B) Consequences: 1. Brought wealth and access to foreign products 2. Facilitated the spread of religions and belief systems 3. Facilitated the transmission of disease

II The Secret of Silk A) Sericulture (the production of silk) is a lengthy process. The silkworms feed until the cocoon stage. 3-4 days spinning a cocoon. 8-9 days the cocoons are steamed to kill the worms (pupas). The cocoons are dipped into hot water to loosen the tightly woven filaments, which are then unwound onto a spool. 5-8 of these super-fine filaments are twisted together to make one thread. Finally the silk threads are woven into cloth. Why is silk so valuable? Clothes made from silk are not only beautiful and lightweight, they are also warm in cool weather and cool in hot weather.

The Secret of Silk Continued… B) Anyone who revealed the secrets or smuggled the silkworm eggs or cocoons outside of China would be punished by death! C) Byzantine Emperor Justinian I persuaded two Persian monks who had lived in China to return there and smuggle silkworms to Constantinople in 550 CE.

III The Silk Roads A) From the 2nd century BCE to the end of the 14th century CE, the Silk Roads linked China with the Mediterranean. B) The Overland Route began in Chang’an in East Asia and went west to the Taklamakan Desert. After the Taklamakan Desert, the branches reunited at Kashgar and continued west to Bactria. There one branch forked off to northern India while the main branch continued across northern Iran…

The Silk Roads Continued… C) In northern Iran, the route joined with roads to ports on the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf and proceeded to Palmyra (modern Syria). There it met roads coming from Arabia and ports on the Red Sea. It continued west and terminated at the Mediterranean ports of Antioch (modern Turkey) and Tyre (modern Lebanon). An oasis town in the Taklimakan Desert

The Silk Roads Continued… A woman selling fabric in Kashgar, western China Palmyra, Syria

The Silk Roads Continued… The Church of St. Peter is regarded by tradition as the spot where St. Peter first preached the Gospel in Antioch, Turkey. The oldest surviving parts of the church building date from at least the 4th or 5th century.

The Silk Roads Continued… Roman Ruins at Tyre, Lebanon

The Silk Roads Continued… D) The Silk Roads also provided access at ports like Guangzhou in southern China that led to maritime routes to India and Ceylon (modern-day Sri Lanka). Don’t forget about the classical port city of Alexandria, Egypt! Ceylon was and still is famous for its cinnamon. Cinnamon is actually the inner bark of a tree!

The Silk Roads Continued… Recall that Alexandria, Egypt was founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BCE. It was famous for its Lighthouse and Library. The Romans imported wheat. Unfortunately today the ancient city is underwater.

IV Indian Ocean Trade in the Classical Era A) The monsoon winds were crucial. B) Lateen Sails on dhow ships allowed sailors to sail across the Indian ocean, by sailing into the wind current. East African Goods Indian Goods Arabian Goods Ivory Frankincense Gold Cotton Textiles Myrrh Slaves Spices Perfumes Leopard Skins

V Trans-Sahara Trade A) The Trans- Saharan trade route linked North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Mediterranean. B) Used the domesticated camel. Caravans were large, organized groups of traders that consisted of hundreds of people and as many as 5,000 camels. C) African ivory, gold, salt, and slaves were some of the items that were traded across the Sahara and into the Mediterranean. In return, the people of Sudan would get horses, dates, cloth and salt from the Sahara.

VI New Technologies Facilitated Long-Distance Exchange A) Saddles and stirrups B) Horses and especially camels (could go for 10 days without water) C) Lateen sail and dhow ships

VII The Spread of Buddhism & Hinduism A) By the 3rd Century BCE, Buddhism was well-established in northern India. B) Merchants carried Buddhism along the Silk Roads . C) King Asoka of the Mauryan Empire in India sent out missionaries to southeast Asia. D) Hinduism also spread along the Silk Roads, primarily by sea. Dunhuang, a Buddhist Community established in the 4th Century CE on the edge of the Gobi Desert. Buddhist Temples were built inside of caves.

VIII Spread of Christianity Christianity began in Jerusalem. Being a part of the Roman empire provided opportunities for Christian expansion along Roman trade routes. The Gospel of Luke tells us of 3 missionary journeys of St. Paul in the Roman Empire around the eastern Mediterranean. St. Paul

IX The Spread of Disease The Silk Roads made it easier for diseases to spread throughout the classical world. During the second and third centuries C.E. the Han and Roman empires experienced outbreaks of diseases  decline in population. The three most deadly were probably smallpox, measles, and bubonic plagues. Trade within empires declined and economies shrunk. Epidemic diseases contributed to the instability in China after the fall of the Han dynasty, and the decline and fall of the western Roman empire.

Summary Questions 1. What allowed for long distance trade in the Classical period (600 BCE – 600 CE)? 2. Make a chart listing the positive and negative consequences of long distance trade in the Classical period (600 BCE – 600 CE). 3. Which empire or region do you think benefitted the most from classical trade? Explain your answer. 4. Heron, a Greek scientist and inventor from Alexandria, invented steam power. However, it was used mostly as a novelty, as Greek and Roman society was largely slave based. How would the Classical world have changed if Heron’s steam power was adapted to aid transportation?

Pliny the Elder on Trade with China 1st century CE “…we have come now to see…journeys made to Seres [China] to obtain cloth, the abysses [depths] of the Red Sea explored for pearls, and the depths of the earth scoured for emeralds… at the lowest computation, India and Seres and the [Arabian] Peninsula together drain our empire of one hundred million sesterces every year. That is the price that our luxuries and our womankind cost us.” Excerpt from: Susan Whitfield, Life Along the Silk Road (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), quoting Pliny the Elder in his Natural History Seneca on Silk 1st century CE “I see silken clothes, if you can call them clothes at all, that in no degree afford protection either to the body or to the modesty of the wearer, and clad in which no woman could honestly swear she is not naked”

Roman Soldiers in China? According to Pliny, in 54 BCE, after losing at the battle of Carrhae, 10,000 Roman prisoners were displaced by the Parthians to Margiana to man the frontier (Plin. Hist. Nat. 6. 18). The Chinese have kept an account (by Bau Gau) that some of these soldiers were enlisted by the Hun chief Jzh Jzh against the Chinese Han Dynasty. Some of them were blond with blue eyes! The Han in Rome? In 97, Chinese general Ban Chao crossed the Tian Shan and Pamir mountains with an army of 70,000 men in a campaign against the Xiongnu. He went as far west as the Caspian Sea, reaching the Parthian Empire, and sent a diplomat to Rome. The diplomat, Gan Ying, reached Mesopotamia. He intended to sail to Rome through the Black Sea, but some Parthian merchants, interested in maintaining their profitable role as the middleman in trade between Rome and China, told him the trip would take 2 years at least (when it was actually closer to two months). Deterred, he returned home.

Key Vocabulary Alexandria Antioch Ceylon Chang’an Dhow ships Dunhuang Guangzhou Heron Kashgar Lateen sail Maritime Silk Roads Overland Silk Roads Palmyra Sericulture St. Paul Taklimakan Desert Trans-Sahara Trade Routes