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Chapter 12
Cross-Cultural Exchanges on
the Silk Roads
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Long-Distance Travel in the Ancient
World
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Lack of police enforcement outside of established
settlements
Changed in classical period
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Improvement of infrastructure
Development of empires
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Trade Networks Develop
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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
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Trade in the Hellenistic World
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India
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Persia, Egypt
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Grain
Mediterranean
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Spices, pepper, cosmetics, gems, pearls
Wine, oil, jewelry, art
Development of professional merchant class
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The Silk Roads
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Named for principal commodity from China
Dependent on imperial stability
Overland trade routes linked China to Roman
Empire
Sea lanes joined Asia, Africa, and the
Mediterranean basin into one network
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The Silk Roads, 200 B.C.E.-300 C.E.
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Trade goods
Silk and spices traveled west
Central Asia produced large horses and jade,
sold in China
Roman empire provided glassware, jewelry,
artworks, perfumes, textiles
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Organization of Long-Distance Trade
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Divided into small segments
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Trade done in stages
Sea trade
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Malay and Indian mariners
Persian, Egyptian, Greek
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Cultural Trade: Buddhism and
Hinduism
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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 B.C.E.-1000 C.E.
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The Spread of Buddhism, Hinduism, and
Christianity, 200 B.C.E.-400 C.E.
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Buddhism in China
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Originally, Buddhism restricted to foreign
merchant populations
Gradual spread to larger population, beginning
fifth century C.E.
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Buddhism and Hinduism in SE Asia
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Sea lanes in Indian Ocean
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Rulers called “rajas”
Buddhism, Hinduism increasingly popular faiths
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Christianity in Mediterranean Basin
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Christianity spreads through middle east, north
Africa, Europe
Sizeable communities as far east as India
Judaism, Zoroastrianism also practiced
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The Spread of Epidemic Disease
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Common epidemics in Rome and China:
smallpox, measles, bubonic plague
Role of trade routes in spread of pathogens
Roman Empire: population dropped by a quarter
from the first to tenth century C.E.
China: population dropped by a quarter from the
first to seventh century C.E.
Effect: economic slowdown, move to regional
self-sufficiency
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Epidemics in the Han and Roman
Empires
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Internal Decay of the Han State
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Problems of factions and land distribution led to
rebellions
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Large landholders develop private armies
Epidemics
Peasant rebellions
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184 C.E., Yellow Turban uprising
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Popularity of Buddhism and Daoism
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Disintegration of political order casts doubt on
Confucian doctrines
Buddhism, Daoism gain popularity
Religions of salvation
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Fall of the Roman Empire:
Internal Factors
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The “barracks emperors”
235-284 C.E., twenty-six 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
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Diocletian (r. 284-305 C.E.)
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Divided empire into two administrative districts
Co-emperors, dual lieutenants
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“Tetrarchs”
Currency, budget reform
Relative stability disappears after Diocletian's
death, civil war follows
The emperor Constantine and new capital
Constantinople
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Fall of the Roman Empire:
External Factors
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Visigoths, influenced by Roman law, Christianity
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Formerly buffer states for Roman empire
Attacked by Huns under Attila in fifth century
C.E.
Massive migration of Germanic peoples into
Roman empire
Sacked Rome in 410 C.E., established Germanic
emperor in 476 C.E.
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Germanic Invasions and the Fall of the
Western Roman Empire, 450-476 C.E.
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Cultural Change in the Roman
Empire
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Growth of Christianity
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Constantine’s vision, 312 C.E.
Promulgates Edict of Milan, allows Christian practice
Converts to Christianity
380 C.E., Emperor Theodosius proclaims
Christianity official religion of Roman empire
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The Institutional Church
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Conflicts over doctrine and practice in early
Church
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Divinity of Jesus
Role of women
Church hierarchy established
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Patriarchs, bishop of Rome
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