Title: The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes Pdf The Ancient World Economy & the Empires of Parthia, Central Asia & Han China
The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes investigates the trade routes between Rome and the powerful empires of inner Asia, including the Parthian Empire of ancient Persia, and the Kushan Empire which seized power in Bactria (Afghanistan), laying claim to the Indus Kingdoms. Further chapters examine the development of Palmyra as a leading caravan city on the edge of Roman Syria. Raoul McLaughlin also delves deeply into Rome’s trade ventures through the Tarim territories, which led its merchants to the Han Empire of ancient China.
Having established a system of Central Asian trade routes known as the Silk Road, the Han carried eastern products as far as Persia and the frontiers of the Roman Empire. Though they were matched in scale, the Han surpassed its European rival in military technology.
The first book to address these subjects in a single comprehensive study, The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes explores Rome’s impact on the ancient world economy and reveals what the Chinese and Romans knew about their rival Empires.
Meticulously researched and filled with fascinating details. I’d already read this author’s book on the Indian Ocean and was looking forward to reading his research into corresponding land-transportation trade. I purchased my copy from Amazon.uk and found the work did not disappoint; it is meticulously researched and filled with fascinating details. Like many people, I’m interested in the ethnic peoples, the exotic merchandise and the religious ideas that flowed out from ancient China towards the Roman Empire and from the West and India along the ‘Silk Road’ back across Asia. Furthermore, I think there are very few scholars nowadays who doubt that distant trade provided the Roman Empire with large sums of revenue, generated by taxing the transference of ‘luxury’ goods from the East.There isn't the expected opening chapter to explain that there was no single ‘Road’ in the usual sense; the author prefers instead to have commodities and people travel along various ‘Routes’. Then, by drawing on a wide range of Classical sources he provides evidence for the extensive use of silk by all classes & genders of people in Rome and beyond. With a further comprehensive range of primary material the author traces the manufacture and trafficking of silk and other commercial merchandise across ‘thousands of miles of inhospitable terrain’.The following book chapters travel westwards in the same direction as the caravans that carried various commodities, with the author pausing to register changes in geography or alterations through time in each region.I discovered the Chinese used silk in exchange for the guarantee of peace on their frontiers and this unique material, often obtained by barter, became one of the most lucrative commodities passing from hand to hand across Asia and into the west. It seems that the original ‘routes’ were created by the Chinese, motivated by their desire for resources to achieve supremacy in warfare. Already armed with a more efficient grade of steel, the Chinese authorities also sought a superior breed of horse to equip their cavalry and deal with the Xiongnu, a warlike nation of steppe people on their northern borders. By creating a viable route to the so-called ‘Heavenly Horses’, the Chinese enhanced the infrastructure of the many small communities they passed through. Eventually, these locations could support the passage of troops, then ultimately merchant caravans.I particularly like the human-interest stories along the routes through central Asia, with information about the peoples and significant personalities along the way. In particular, the Sogdians letters are a glimpse behind the scenes into the lives of the ordinary men and women of the time. It is hard not to be caught up in the emotional horror of the rout of Crassus’s army by the Parthians at Carthae. The last section uses information from primary sources to discuss the Huns at the height of the Eastern trade. Finally, the book returns to the human beings at the center of all these commercial endeavors. I don’t want to be a plot-spoiler, but the last paragraph offers an extraordinary piece of evidence that verifies personal contacts between East and West. It seems was not just all the wealth of China that made the journey from Asia into the Roman Empire in the Imperial period.If I have any criticism, it is that the book could do with more illustrations, although I gather this is a Publisher’s decision and these are the author’s own sketches. I'm told that line drawings are preferred by archaeologists, but I personally would have liked some color plates. I was also disappointed that the book does not contain information about the great civilizations and ruined cities of the Middle East, but according to social media, the author’s next book covers the desert oasis kingdoms and their part in distant trade from the first century CE onward. I'm definitely considering ordering any one of his next books well in advance.Colorful and eventful story of peoples and empires east of Mesopotamia vs Rome Unlike most history books that concentrate on dates and descriptions of political upheavals and battles, this book's tries to see the history of the interactions of the two largest ancient world empires, Rome and China, through their commercial interests. Around the first century AD each empire covered approximately 5-6 million square kms (the China Empire was however divided between the Eastern and the Western Han, so it was at certain time points twice as large) and ruled each over 60 million people. They were however separated by enormous distances and the real distance was almost doubled by the impassable mountain ranges, deserts, and dangers of nomadic warriors to the caravans trying to cross this distance. At the optimal speed of 15 miles/day, the authors estimate that the journey each way took at least a year. Local political crises sapped the energies of both the Chinese and the Roman giants, leaving little to develop direct trade between the two. Nevertheless this trade did exist and its volume was enormous, but it used the desert and steppe kingdoms of central Asia as commercial intermediaries. The traffic from the East (China and India) was mainly silk, steel, and spices, while the West exported primarily bullion – silver and gold. The author correctly points out that the West was trading its finite resources, while the East was using renewable ones, making it much more economically profitable for the Chinese. On the other hand the Chinese had much more extensive and sophisticated administration and taxation systems, whereas the Romans financed their military establishment by the heavy 25% tax on imports and exports. The description of the markets, desirability of products, fashions, pricing, labor costs, expenses of transportation via caravans and their protection, etc., etc. – make for fascinating reading. Although the author promised mainly cash for silk history, he purposefully diverges into general history spiced by quotations from poetry and drama that emphasize his thesis. This makes for quite exciting literature despite the scholarly tint of the book. One aspect of the book is terrible – the lack of detailed maps (best in color!) and caravan routes. For example, the route taken by the only instance when a Roman envoy reached China, etc. This would have normally taken a star of my grading. Yet, the book possesses one great aspect that compensates for this failing and thus recoups the five star grade – the author fills the enormous gap in our knowledge of history, as taught in high school today. Just as the Romans assumed for the longest time that the world ends east to India, our history lessons follow this fallacy. We miss this incredibly sophisticated, colorful and eventful story of peoples and empires east of Mesopotamia. I am grateful to Raul McLaughlin for revealing this wonderful world for me and his other readersExpanded my vision of old world interconnection Most of my learning about the Roman Empire was concerned with their wars of conquest in Europe (oh, and that little episode with Cleopatra and Egypt), but this shows how Rome and China and India had a mutual fascination and economic links over hundreds of years. Very interesting how China's foreign policy (largely making neighbors economically dependent on China, rather than conquering them) continues to resonate today. And quite fascinating that Rome wanted silk from China and high quality steel from India, goods that required skill to manufacture but used cheap raw materials. And in exchange for these, Rome sent gold, which got harder and harder to acquire.
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