1. Cross-Cultural Exchanges
Chapter 12:
Cross-Cultural Exchanges
on the
Silk Roads

2. Long-Distance Travel in the Ancient World
Lack of police enforcement outside of established settlements
Changed in classical period
Improvement of infrastructure
Development of empires

3. Trade Networks Develop
Dramatic increase in trade due to Greek colonization (Hellenism)
Maintenance of roads, bridges
Discovery of Monsoon wind patterns (Ptolemaic Egypt)
Increased tariff revenues used to maintain open routes

4. Trade in the Hellenistic World
Bactria/India
Spices, pepper, cosmetics, gems, pearls
Persia, Egypt
Grain
Mediterranean
Wine, oil, jewelry, art
Development of professional merchant class

5. The Silk Roads Named for principal commodity from China
Dependent on imperial stability
Overland trade routes from China to Roman Empire
Sea Lanes and Maritime trade as well

6. The Silk Roads 200 BCE – 30 CE

7. Organization of Long-Distance Trade
Divided into small segments
Tariffs and tolls finance local supervision
Tax income incentives to maintain safety, maintenance of passage

8. Cultural Trade: Buddhism and Hinduism
Merchants carry religious ideas along silk routes
India through central Asia to east Asia
Cosmopolitan centers promote development of monasteries to shelter traveling merchants
Buddhism becomes dominant faith of silk roads, 200 BCE-700 CE

9. The spread of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity, 200 BCE – 400 CE

10. Buddhism in China
Originally, Buddhism restricted to foreign merchant populations
Gradual spread to larger population beginning 5th c. CE

11. Buddhism and Hinduism in SE Asia
Sea lanes in Indian Ocean
1st c. CE clear Indian influence in SE Asia
Rulers called “rajas”
Sanskrit used for written communication
Buddhism, Hinduism increasingly popular faiths

12. Christianity in Mediterranean Basin
Gregory the Wonderworker, central Anatolia 3rd c. CE (St. Gregory)
Christianity spreads through Middle East, North Africa, Europe
Sizeable communities as far east as India
Judaism, Zoroastrianism also practiced
Saint Gregory of Neocaesarea

13. Christianity in SW Asia
Influence of ascetic practices from India
Desert-dwelling hermits, monastic societies
After 5th c. CE, followed Nestorius, a Greek theologian
Emphasized human nature of Jesus
Nestorian Schism

14. Spread of Manichaeism Mani, a devout Zoroastrian (216-272 CE)
Viewed himself a prophet for all humanity
Influenced by Christianity and Buddhism, was a Gnostic faith
Dualist
good vs. evil
light vs. dark
spirit vs. matter

15. Manichaean Society Devout: “the Elect” Laity: “the Hearers”
Ascetic lifestyle
Celibacy, vegetarianism
Life of prayer and fasting
Laity: “the Hearers”
Material supporters of “the Elect”
More conventional lives, but followed strict moral code and provided food and gifts to support the “Elect”

16. Decline of Manichaeism
Spread through silk routes to major cities in Roman Empire
Zoroastrian opposition provokes Sassanid persecution
Mani arrested, dies in captivity
Romans, fearing Persian influence, also persecute

17. The Spread of Epidemic Disease
Role of trade routes in spread of pathogens
Limited data, but trends in demographics reasonably clear
Smallpox, measles, bubonic plague
Effect: Economic slowdown, move to regional self-sufficiency

18. Epidemics in the Han and Roman Empires

19. Internal Decay of the Han State
Formation of factions
Reduced effectiveness of central government
Problem of land distribution
Large landholders develop private armies
Epidemics
Peasant rebellions
184 CE Yellow Turban Rebellion

20. Collapse of the Han Dynasty
China after the Han Dynasty, 220 CE
Generals assume authority, reduce Emperor to puppet figure
Alliance with landowners
200 CE Han Dynasty abolished, replaced by 3 kingdoms
Immigration of northern nomads increases

21. Sinicization of Nomadic Peoples
Social and cultural changes to a Chinese way of life
Adapted to the Chinese environment
Agriculture
Adoption of Chinese names, dress, intermarriage

22. Popularity of Buddhism and Daoism
Disintegration of political order casts doubt on Confucian doctrines
Buddhism, Daoism gain popularity
Religions of salvation

23. Fall of the Roman Empire: Internal Factors
The Barracks Emperors
Between , 26 claimants to the throne, all but one killed in power struggles
Epidemics
Disintegration of imperial economy in favor of local and regional self-sufficient economies

24. Diocletian (r CE)
Divided empire into two administrative districts
Co-Emperors, dual Lieutenants
“Tetrarchs”
Currency, budget reform
Relative stability disappears after Diocletian's death, civil war follows
Constantine emerges victorious

25. Military issue coin of Diocletian
Diocletian's Palace at Salona (Split, Croatia)
Modern view of Diocletian's Palace near Salona (in Split, Croatia)

26. Fall of the Roman Empire: External Factors
Visigoths, influenced by Roman law, Christianity
Formerly buffer states for Roman Empire
Attacked by Huns under Attila in 5th c. CE
Massive migration of Germanic peoples into Roman Empire
The Visigoth Alaric sacked Rome in 410 CE, established Germanic emperor Odovacer in 476 CE

28. Romulus Augustus, the last of the Western Roman Emperors.

29. The German army commander Odovacer dethrones Romulus Augustus in 476, wood engraving, c. 1880.

31. Germanic invasions and the fall of the western Roman Empire, 450-476 CE

33. Cultural Change in the Roman Empire
Growth of Christianity
Constantine’s Vision, 312 CE
Promulgates Edict of Milan, allows Christian practice
Converts to Christianity
380 CE Emperor Theodosius proclaims Christianity official religion of Roman Empire
In 391, the "Theodosian decrees" declared that Pagan religions that had not yet been rendered Christian ones, were banned.

34. St. Augustine (354-430 CE) Hippo, North Africa
Experimented with Greek thought, Manichaeism
387 converts to Christianity
Made Christianity intellectually respectable
Major theologian
City of God
Augustine as depicted by Sandro Botticelli (c. 1480)

35. The Institutional Church
Conflicts over doctrine and practice in early Church
Divinity of Jesus
Role of women
Church hierarchy established
Patriarchs, Bishops, Bishop of Rome recognized as Pope (the first recognized as St. Peter)