OVERLAND ROUTE (PART 1)

"This desert is reported to be so long that it would take a year to go from end to end; and at the narrowest point it takes a month to cross it. It consists entirely of mountains and sands and valleys. There is nothing at all to eat." An account by Marco Polo

Romans encountered silk in their campaigns against the Parthians in 53 BC and learned that it came from the east. Romans obtained silk samples which became very popular in Rome for its soft texture and beauty. Romans’ obsession with silk became so draining on the economy that in 14 BCE, Rome’s Senate issued a ban against men wearing silk. The ban had little effect.

In Europe, China become so closely identified with porcelain that all fine ceramics came to be called “china” The word “porcelain” comes from the Italian word “porcellana,” a type of shell with a hard, beautifully colored surface In the thirteenth century CE, Marco Polo used it to describe the pottery he saw in China

The Persian ruler Shah Abbas constructed a house for his magnificent Chinese wares called a China house. The Topkapi museum in Istanbul houses over eight thousand Song and Ming porcelains. In Persian miniature paintings of the fifteenth century, there is hardly a manuscript in which Chinese blue and white vessels are not depicted. An excerpt from an online article

Reason: Exchange of Goods Traders needed to go to places for goods that were not easily available For example, silk was an exotic item to Europeans and Middle Easterners while amber and opium were exotic items for the Chinese. Women preparing silk, painting by Emperor Huizong of Song, early 12th century.

By selling unique goods, people who were not familiar with the goods being sold by these traders would be more willing to buy them, thus providing them more income than if the traders were to sell the goods locally. Women preparing silk, painting by Emperor Huizong of Song, early 12th century.

This is what trade is about. Giving something in return for something else you want or need. Women preparing silk, painting by Emperor Huizong of Song, early 12th century.

This Buddhist sculpture in Bactria (province of the Persian Empire) reflects the influence of Greek artistic styles.

It has Caucasian features and its dressing reflects the Greek style

Greek Wind God Japanese Wind God from Tarim Basin Wind God