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The Asian Route-Road of Silk




Byzantium was one of the most important western terminals
of the Silk Road. Constantinople, the capital,stood at the crossroads
of Europe and Asia where many sea and overland trade routes
linked the two regions.Its value as a commercial
center for the export of silks intoMedieval Europe was enormous.
At first, the Byzantine Empire’s main article of trade was Chinese silk, which was
so scarce that it coveted by westerners even more than
spices or jewels. Even within the empire the wearing of silk was limited; under
Justinian’s rule (-527 CE) court ladies
who were entitled to wearsilk could do so only if they purchased
it in the Crown’s sale rooms situated in the Great Palace.
The introduction of the silk worm into Byzantium, about
the time of Justinian, expanded the empire’s domestic silk possibilities.
Chinese silk continued to be imported, silk worms were raised throughout the empire,
with the cocoons transported to Constantinople for spinning and weaving
into cloth.
Empress Irene and the Silk Trade
(752-803 CE). Called “Irene of Athens”
in honor of her birthplace, Irene is mainly
remembered for two dramatic events. One is her role in helping
restore the use of Christian icons or images
in Byzantium, which had been forbidden in
the EasternOrthodox form of Christianity.
The other is her retaking of the crown from her son
Constantine, blinding him,and possibly causing his death.
Given these sensational events,
it is no
wonder that few have acknowledged Irene’s role in promoting and
the silk industry in this western terminus of the Silk Route. Like
all noble women and men, Irene loved silk textiles,
both to wear and to adorn sacred objects and church decorations.
The finest of her silk clothes was noted for
the first time when she arrived in Constantinople
from Athens for her marriage in 769 to the Byzantine Emperor Leo IV.
Leo died when their only son,Constantine, was nine years old,
leaving Irene as mother-regent and co-ruler with the young boy.
After various conspiracies, she was forced into exile,
only to be recalled after seven years when her unreliable and weak son was
deemed unfit to rule.This time she was given complete
control of all state services, including the
fighting forces. Even though she rarely appeared
in public, Irene ruled in her own name, while also adopting for the first time the male
title of basileus on legal documents.She had a new gold solidus (coin)
minted that represented her as empress,and began a close relationship with
the Carolingian dynasty and Roman papacy, hoping to have herself crowned as
a Roman Emperor. It is said that at one time she wished to
marry Charlemagne. Pope Leo III, however,announced that the throne of the
Byzantine emperor was vacant since Irene was a female,
leaving the way from him to crown Charlemagne as Roman Emperor in 800.

Muhammad Amin-Khan Madrasah




Routes of The Silk Road

The Silk Road was never a single-path route.
Its system included some branches
of caravan roads which
passed across different mountain
passes bypassing deserts.
The Silk Road originated in Chang’an,
the ancient capital of China,
and went along the northern
Tien-Shan to Dunhua, the city
near the Great Wall of China
. There the single road split
bordering the Taklamakan
desert from the north and the south.
The northern way went through
Turfan to the Ili river valley.
The Middle road (the so-called
Southern way) led from
Zhang Qian to the southern coas
t of Lake Issyk Kul- via Khotan and
Yarkand, and reached Bactria
(northern Afghanistan).
There the Southern route split in two
other roads: one followed to India,
the other to the West and Merv where it
merged with the Northern route.
Further it passed via Nisa, the capital
Parthia, Iran, Mesopotamia, Bagdad, went
to Damascus and reached the Mediterranean.
And finally, the third, the most difficult
was called the Northern or the Steppe route
. Having crossed the Tien Shan
a part of caravans went
via Fergana valley and Tashkent
oasis to Samarkand, Bukhara, Khoresm
and reached the coast of the Caspian Sea.
A part of caravans
from Samarkand headed to Bactria and
after crossing the Kashkadarya valley
led to Termez. Then caravans forded the
Amu Darya
and went to the Middle East and India.
Beside the three main lines of the Silk Road
there were also other roads by means of which
all those three lines
were interconnected.
The sea part of the Silk Road started in Alexandria
and in Egypt, went across the Red Sea and the
Indian Ocean to the ports of the western
coast of India.
From there that route followed to Bactria, to
the city of Termez. And then it followed
on the Amu Darya to Khoresm and
the Caspian Sea.
Then it crossed the territory of Albania
(Azerbaijan), Iberia and Colchis (Georgia),
reached the
Black Sea and went further to Rome.
It was the shortest way from India to
the countries of Transcaucasia.
The Caucasian Silk Road started in ancient
Samarkand. It went to Khoresm, followed
around the Caspian Sea,
crossed the steppes of North Caucasus,
and then went down to the city of Tskhum.
From there trade caravans crossed the Black Sea
to reach Constantinople, the capital of Byzantium.
The important road went from the Bottom Volga
region along the western coast of
the Caspian Sea through the Caspian Iron Gate,
the city of Derbent, to the south, to ancient
Albania and Parthia connecting the northern and
main routes of the Silk Road.
With time the routes underwent changes as it was
required by political situations.
So, in the 4th -8th centuries the main route included
Syria - Iran - Central Asia -
Southern Kazakhstan - the Talas valley - the Chuya valley -
the Issyk-Kul hollow - East Turkestan.
The branch of that route, more precisely,
another route went to the line from Byzantium via
Derbent to the Near-Caspian steppes -
Mangyshlak – Near-Aral - Southern Kazakhstan.
That can be explained by the fact that Turkic
khagans started to control the trade there.
So, the sector crossing Central Asia became
especially busy. Rich cities, merchants and
craftsmen settlements, caravanserais started to
appear and prosper. In Turkmenia it was Merv; in
Uzbekistan — Bukhara, Samarkand,
Urgench, Khiva; in Kazakhstan — Otrar,
Turkestan, Taraz, Ispedzhab; in Kirghizia —
Dzhul, Suyab, Novokents, Balasagyn,
Barskoon, Tash-Rabat, Osh, Uzgen.
Today they form the necklace along
which main tourist routes around Central Asia pass. 

The Asian Route


From the conquests of Alexander the Great and the travels of the equally famous Marco Polo,the trade routes across Europe ,Arabia and the Asian Continents are well documented.
We are attempting to enlighten ,educate and throw new light on some of the history that has been newly discovered or has faded far from the mainstream.
By the onset of the first century merchants from the west could travel as far as china and Japan by land or by sea ,if they so wished via the Arabian sea.It was much later that the circumnavigation of the vast continent of Africa allowed merchants to trade in the east without enduring the other growing trade of bandit attacks.Even though piracy soon caught on in this department.... but that's another matter.
Silk was a much sought after commodity and merchants along with their armed body guards were willing to take on the arduous and perilous journey to make a great profit for themselves.Along the way not only did they make huge profits but were richly rewarded in experience and cultural exposure.Midpoint on the journey Western European merchants encountered the flourishing Incense Routes as did the Spice and Silk merchants heading from the East.
As a result of many traders crossing many routes, trading towns sprang up along the busy trails.The evidence of the sheer volume of traffic over the centuries is still visible today,satellite imagery clearly shows the long forgotten routes that have been detected under dessert landscapes,along with forgotten trading posts and entire cities that were once flourishing lively communities all serving the thousands of merchants that came from all over the known world at the time.

The Cinnamon Route is believed to originate in the Malaysian Archipelago ,known as the East Indies,crossing the Indian Ocean towards the East coast of Africa and also the island of Madagascar.
In Roman times the spices were moved from Ethiopia to Yemen and then towards Egypt,from there they were distributed throughout the Mediterranean and throughout the rest of Europe.The aromatic substances both resinous woods and herbs,were given such great status because they were associated with having come from a faraway paradise.The spice trade is deeply embedded in ancient history ,including portrayals in Egyptian hieroglyphics that date to around 1600 B.C.Especially noteworthy are the stunning relief's depicting the trade mission of queen hatshepsut from the 18th dynasty.Far earlier evidence of eastern trade and even far western trade has been discovered in materials detected in pre-dynastic royal mummies such as silk and cocaine.... natives of China and South America only.
The Cinnamon and the Clove are indigenous to north east China,this means that they were transported to... the Philippines /Malaysian archipelago before they started on the Cinnamon route a journey by sea in those times of about 25 days.
The turbulent trade was always much sought after,after the rise of the
Islamic Nation the control of the spice trade was in new hands and Islamic texts give detailed accounts of the Emporiums of the East.Massive construction in the Muslim world of Magnificent buildings and cities in the early ninth century,as much of Europe slid into the dark ages shows quite plainly the immense value the spice trade was to those who controlled it.Arabic writers also tell us of the fabled lands of the Khmers and the Mihraj and their opulent cities.
Europe has the unlikely hero Genghis Khan to thank for the restoration of the flow of spices from the East Indies,as his Mongol army is responsible for smashing many Empires including the Islamic Caliphate.With Baghdad in ruins and disarray the spice trade was once again opened up to the rest of the world.
One of the first Europeans to make their mark... no pun intended, was the world renowned Marco Polo.The Portuguese set up trading posts in Goa in India and Malacca in the Malay peninsula.The Dutch East India Trading Company wasn't far behind.






  Trade Routes from Europe stretch across land and sea into Arabia and from there into the Indus Valley to China and the Malaysian archipelago

If 600 BCE can be observed as recent history... we can have an idea of how ancient and important the trade routes between the east and west have been.Modern times and recorded history with continuous record keeping we can safely say that around 600 BCE the silk road as we know it made its way into texts and  scrolls that we still have as reference material.
From Babylon to Chang an ,the City of Eternal Peace in the furthest reaches of China,the route crosses thousands of miles ,with many branches and diverse paths that deviate into India,Cambodia,Madagascar,Malaysia and the Philippines.
The easternmost point of the silk road in China ,where the Great Wall begins is known as the Jade Gate.Chinese traders returning from mountain pass trading points such as Taxkorgan in the Pamir mountains ,or modern day Kashi an oasis settlement in Xinjiang would be relieved to make it safely back to this point.Most  traders would only go as far as the trading points as the aggressive mountain tribes and warring empires of the Parthians and Seleucids would have been too treacherous a path to take .Nevertheless the Chinese received Iranian war-horses,Frankincense,furs,aloe,gemstones and other valuable items and the Parthians Greeks,Romans and Seleucids received bales of silk and notoriously fine ceramics,along with exotic spices and later gunpowder and new scientific discoveries like the compass.
During the last century BCE the Han Dynasty acquired Xinjiang, also know as Chinese Turkestan, making the route eastward safer for the traders and was patrolled by forces for some of the way.When the Han Dynasty later collapsed in the third century AD,the volume of trade diminished considerably.According to the Byzantine Historian Procopius , two Christian monks had discovered the secret of the silk makers,upon hearing this the Emperor Justinian immediately dispatch agents to acquire silkworm eggs and to bribe silk makers into divulging their secret technique.Silk was then produced in the Mediterranean countries.After the T�ng Dynasty re established control in china around 600 AD. the routes were re opened to the west again,even though silk was being manufactured in the west,the aromatic spices an gums were in high demand in Africa Arabia and Europe.

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