The World of the Ancient Silk Road

Description

This volume explores human migration, communication, and cross-cultural exchange on the Silk Road, a complex network of trade routes spanning the Eurasian continent and beyond. It covers thousands of years of human history, from the 3rd millennium BCE to the early 2nd millennium CE. Consolidating archaeological discoveries, historical analyses, and linguistic studies in one comprehensive volume, The World of the Ancient Silk Road brings to light diverse perspectives from scholars who have lived and worked across this vast region, many of which are published here in English for the first time. It contains extensive references of primary and secondary sources in their original languages and scripts. From Early Bronze Age cultures to the rise of regional Islamic empires, from the Mediterranean to the Yellow River basin, this multidisciplinary volume seeks to offer new insights and expand Silk Road studies to the Anglophone world. The World of the Ancient Silk Road provides an essential reference work for students and scholars of world history, particularly those studying the regions, cultures, and peoples explored in this volume. Contents List of Figures List of Maps List of Tables List of Contributors Introduction • Xinru Liu Part I: Landscape of the Silk Road: From the Bronze Age to the Beginning of Historical Records 1 Kongquehe Bronze Age Culture: A Page of Early Eurasian History • Wang Binghua and Translated by Xinru Liu 2 Tocharian Controversy: A Mobile Language Landscape of Central Asia • Xinru Liu 3 Aramaic in the 1st Millennium bce: Its Reception and Diffusion • Liu Jian 4 Qïrqïz, a People in the Forest and on the Steppe • Jia Yiken 5 Invention and Spread of Horse Chariots Around Afro-Eurasia • Bruno Genito 6 Horse Wagon With Bronze Wheel Felloe From Zhouyuan – Implication to the Exchanges Between the East and West • Wang Peng and Translated by Xinru Liu 7 Natural and Cultural History of the Camel • Renato Sala 8 Cannabis and Other Plants With Peculiar Properties on the Silk Road • Kazim Abdullaev Part II: Pastoral Nomads and Agricultural Societies 9 Horse Archery and the Rise and Fall of Nomadic Empires on the Eurasian Steppe • Craig Benjamin 10 The Kushans, viz. the Dà Yuèzhī: A Century-Long Fallacy • Shoshin Kuwayama 11 Looking for the City of Horse: Mingtepa During the Time of Dayuan Kingdom • Zhu Yanshi, Liu Tao, and Translated by Xinru Liu 12 Qïrqïz/Kyrgyz, a People Lived Between Empires • Jia Yiken 13 Images of Knights on the Great Silk Road • Kazim Abdulla Part III: Silk Trade and Caravan Cities 14 Rise and Demise of Jingjue Kingdom, a Case of Tarim Oasis Politics • Ye Junshi 15 Astana, Jiaohe, and Other Turfan Cemeteries: The Movement of People, Ideas, and Objects in Gaochang Kingdom (442–640) • Armin Selbitschka 16 Turfan, the Frontier Transmitting Smallpox to Tang China • Song Xian and Translated by Xinru Liu 17 Caravan Cities in the Roman Near East: Palmyra and Petra • Hamish Cameron 18 The Chitral Yaβγu 雙靡翕侯 and a Route Southward in the 1st Century BCE • Shoshin Kuwayama 19 Kābul and the Regional Centers of Eastern Afghanistan in Their Historical Perspective • Minoru Inaba 20 Roads of Swat: New Perspectives • Luca M. Olivieri 21 The Silk Road and the “Cotton Road”: Buddhist Art and Practice Between Central Asia and the Western Deccan • Pia Brancaccio 22 Egyptian Textiles and Networks of Exchange Prior To and Following the Arab-Islamic Conquest • Arielle Winnik 23 Sino-Arabian Economic and Cultural Exchanges From the 8th to the 15th Centuries • Ran Zhang and Lin Meicun Part IV: Empires and Religions 24 Elephants, Greeks, and Gold: The Silk Road in the Age of Hellenistic Empires • Benjamin Abbott 25 The Western Lord of Treasures – Viewing the Byzantine Empire From Tang Dynasty Chang’an • Lin Ying and Translated by Xinru Liu 26 Sogdian Religion Along the Silk Road: Variations of Zoroastrianism in Medieval China • Zhang Xiaogui 27 Buddhist Propagation and Language Barriers • Xinru Liu 28 Silk-Horse Trade Between the Tang Empire and the Xiagasi (Kyrgyz) • Li Jinxiu and Translated by Xinru Liu 29 Roman Silk Trade and Markets • Berit Hildebrandt 30 Christian Discourses About Silks in Antiquity • Berit Hildebrandt 31 The Creation and Spread of Tiraz Textiles Across the Silk Roads • Arielle Winnik 32 Virtual Silk Roads: Objects, Exhibitions, and Learners • Daniel C. Waugh Index