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Chapter 12

Cross-cultural Exchanges on the Silk
Roads

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.

Long-Distance Travel in the Ancient
World
 Lack of police enforcement outsied of
established settlements
 Changed in classical period
 Improvement of infrastructure
 Development of empires


Trade Networks Develop
 Dramatic increase in trade due to Greek
colonization
 Maintenance of roads, bridges
 Discovery of Monsoon wind patterns
 Increased tariff revenues used to maintain
open routes


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


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


The Silk Roads, 200 BCE-300 CE


Organization of Long-Distance Trade

 Divided into small segments
 Tariffs and tolls finance local supervision
 Tax income incentives to maintain safety,
maintenance of passage


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


The Spread of Hinduism, Buddhism and
Christianity, 200 BCE – 400 CE


Buddhism in China

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


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


Christianity in Mediterranean Basin

 Gregory the Wonderworker, central Anatolia 3rd c.
CE
 Christianity spreads through Middle East, North
Africa, Europe
 Sizeable communities as far east as India
 Judaism, Zoroastrianism also practiced


Christianity in SW Asia

 Influence of ascetic practices from India
 Desert-dwelling hermits, monastic societies
 After 5th c. CE, followed Nestorios
 Emphasized human nature of Jesus


Spread of Manichaeism

 Mani Zoroastrian prophet (216-272 CE)
 Influenced by Christianity and Buddhism
 Dualist
 good vs. evil
 light vs. dark
 spirit vs. matter


Manichaean Society

 Devout: “the Elect”
 Ascetic lifestyle
 Celibacy, vegetarianism
 Life of prayer and fasting
 Laity: “the Hearers”
 Material supporters of “the Elect”


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


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


Epidemics in the Han and Roman
Empires
Chinese Population, 0- Roman Population, 0-
600 CE 400 CE

60 60
50 50
40 40
30
20 30
10 20
0 10
c. 0 c. c. c. 0
CE 200 400 600 c. 0 CE c. 200 c. 400
CE CE CE CE

Millions Millions


Internal Decay of the Han State
 Court intrigue
 Formation of actions
 Problem of land distribution
 Large landholders develop private armies
 Epidemics
 Peasant rebellions
 184 CE Yellow Turban Rebellion


Collapse of the Han Dynasty
 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


Sinicization of Nomadic Peoples

 “China-fication”
 Adoption of sedentary lifestyle
 Agriculture
 Adoption of Chinese names, dress,
intermarriage


Popularity of Buddhism and Daoism

 Disintegration of political order casts doubt on
Confucian doctrines
 Buddhism, Daoism gain popularity
 Religions of salvation


Fall of the Roman Empire: Internal
Factors
 The Barracks Emperors
 235-284 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


Diocletan (r. 284-305 CE)
 Divided empire into two administrative districts
 Co-Emperors, dual Lieutenants
 “Tetrarchs”
 Currency, budget reform
 Relative stability disappears after Diocletans’s
death, civil war follows
 Constantine emerges victorious


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
 Sacked Rome in 410 CE, established Germanic
emperor in 476 Ce


Germanic invasions and the fall of the western
Roman empire, 450-476 C.E.


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


St. Augustine (354-430 CE)

 Hippo, North Africa
 Experimented with Greek thought,
Manichaeism
 387 converts to Christianity
 Major theologian


The Institutional Church

 Conflicts over doctrine and practice in early
Church
 Divinity of Jesus
 Role of women
 Church hierarchy established
 Patriarchs, Bishop of Rome primus inter pares


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