Description
Book SynopsisIn this beautifully illustrated book, Jonathan Tucker uses travellers' anecdotes and a wealth of literary and historical sources to celebrate the cultural heritage of the countries that lie along the Silk Road. Stretching from the ancient Chinese capital of Xian across the expanses of Central Asia to Rome, the Silk Road was, for 1,500 years, a vibrant network of arteries that carried the lifeblood of nations across the world. Along a multitude of routes everything was exchanged: exotic goods, art, knowledge, religion, philosophy, disease and war. From the East came silk, precious stones, tea, jade, paper, porcelain, spices and cotton; from the West, horses, weapons, wool and linen, aromatics, entertainers and exotic animals. From its earliest beginnings in the days of Alexander the Great and the Han dynasty, the Silk Road expanded and evolved, reaching its peak during the Tang dynasty and the Byzantine Empire and gradually withering away with the decline of the Mongol Empire. The book covers the Central Asian section of the Silk Road - from Lake Issyk-kul through Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, the Kyzyl Kum Desert, Khiva and Merv to Herat, Kabul and Iran - and illuminates the lives of those who once travelled through the very heart of the world.
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Foreword Preface Note on the Translation of Poetry and Prose Introduction: Merchants, Monks and Migrants : The Traffic of the Silk Road 1. The Old Road Through Afghanistan to India 2. Silk Road Sites in Southern Central Asia 3. The Coming of Islam to Central Asia 4. The Mongols 5. Tamerlune (Timur) and the Timurids 6. The Silk Road Sites Between Balkh and Nisa 7. The Route North from Merv to Khorzem 8. The Routes North from the Iron Gate Pass 9. The Routes to the North-West from Bukhura to Khorezm 10. Silk Road Sites Around Samarkand 11. The Silk Road Between Samarkand and China 12. Parthians and Sassanians 13. The Main East-West Silk Road Across Iran 14. The Ray-Tabriz Road 15. The Ray-Hamadan Road 16. The End of the Road: The Silk Road in Decline
Chronologies Glossary Notes Bibliography Index
