Silk: Trade and Exchange Along the Silk Roads Between Rome and China in Antiquity

Description

-Already in Greek and Roman antiquity a vibrant series of exchange relationships existed between the Mediterranean regions and China, including the Indian subcontinents along well-defined routes we call the Silk Roads. Among the many goods that found their way from East to West and vice versa were glass, wine, spices, metals like iron, precious stones as well as textile raw materials and fabrics and silk, a luxury item that was in great demand in the Roman Empire. These collected papers connect research from different areas and disciplines dealing with exchange along the Silk Roads. These historical, philological and archaeological contributions highlight silk as a commodity, gift and tribute, and as a status symbol in varying cultural and chronological contexts between East and West, including technological aspects of silk production. The main period concerns Rome and China in antiquity, ending in the late fifth century CE, with the Roman Empire being transformed into the Byzantine Empire, while the Chinese chronology covers the Han dynasty, the Three Kingdoms, the Western and Eastern Jin and Sixteen Kingdoms, ending in 420 CE. In addition, both earlier and later epochs are also considered in order to gather an understanding of developments and changes in long-distance and longer-term relations that involved silk.- Table of contents Preface Introduction: Silk on the Silk Roads. Exchange between East and West in Antiquity Berit Hildebrandt 1. Looking towards the West – how the Chinese viewed the Romans Liu Xinru 2. Textiles and trade in South Asia during the Proto-Historic and Early Historic Period J. Mark Kenoyer 3. Word migration on the Silk Road: the etymology of English silk and its congeners Adam Hyllested 4. Silk production and trade in the Roman Empire Berit Hildebrandt 5. Perspectives on the wide world of luxury in later Antiquity: silk and other exotic textiles found in Syria and Egypt Thelma K. Thomas 6. Decoration, astrology and empire: inscribed silk from Niya in the Taklamakan Desert Lillian Lan-ying Tseng 7. Domestic, wild or unraveled? A study on tabby, taqueté and jin with spun silk from Yingpan, Xinjiang, third–fourth centuries Zhao Feng 8. Chinese silks that circulated among peoples north and west: implications for technological exchange in early times? Angela Sheng Dr. Irene Lee Good (April 24 1958–February 3 2013). An appreciation Robert E. Murowchick, Angela Sheng and Kaoru Ueda