ABSTRACT
This book brings together scholars from many disciplines to shed light on the long history of the silk roads, to redefine it, and to demonstrate its vitality and importance.
Reimagining the Silk Roads illuminates economic, spiritual, and political networks, bridging different chronologies and geographies. Richly illustrated, it explores fascinating topics, including archaeological discoveries, oceanic explorations, the movement, and impact of ideas, and the ways in which the silk roads, broadly defined, contributed to processes of globalization. Reconciling the study of land and sea routes, and paying attention to themes such as material culture, environment, trade, and the role of religious faiths, the authors offer complex yet accessible studies of the history of interactions and perceptions across Eurasia over the last 3,000 years. The editors critically respond to the recent politicisation of the silk roads and reflect on their polycentric character.
The book challenges and revives silk roads studies, and it will be relevant not only to researchers in archaeology, history, heritage and related fields, but also to the general reader.
The Open Access version of this book, available at https://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part 1|40 pages
Environment
part 2|66 pages
Material culture
chapter 5|14 pages
Roman Palmyra as a hub of trade and commerce
chapter 6|16 pages
Abbasid Caliphate and Tang Dynasty in the ninth and tenth centuries CE
part 3|96 pages
Faiths and social groups
chapter 9|14 pages
Buddhist missionaries at medieval Chinese courts
chapter 13|14 pages
Dzhankent (Kazakhstan) – an early medieval trading node on the Northern Silk Road?
chapter 14|12 pages
Replacing the Silk Road?
chapter 15|13 pages
Slavery and human trafficking along the medieval Silk Roads, c.800 to c.1350 CE
part 4|54 pages
Patterns of Eurasian trade
part 5|68 pages
Historical myths and reconceptualisation
