Ladies and gents, happy season 1 finale eve! That being said, let me inform you quickly of a change to the schedule. Tomorrow will be the season 1 finale, therefore, no inner/outer circle discussion. This instead will be held on Monday. No reading for a reading quiz on Monday then, just be prepared for the inner/outer circle discussion. Now, as we begin to bring season 1 to a close, disaster looms in the distance. Before the complete collapse of the system, though, our attention is focused in on the intergration of the Eurasian world into the Old World Web. The key to the end of this time period is INTEGRATION THROUGH TRADE. During the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.-220 C.E.), Chinese emperors began to send large amounts of silk--for both diplomatic and commercial reasons--to the nomads of central Asia. Within a short time, some of this silk found its way, by means of a type of relay trade, to the overland trade routes running west to Rome. Historians refer to these routes collectively as the Silk Road. By 100 C.E. the land routes linking China to Rome also had a maritime counterpart. Seaborne commerce flourished between Rome and India via the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea. Farther east, shipping routes connected Indian ports with harbors in Southeast Asia and on the coast of China.A great Afro-Eurasian commercial network had now come into being. Silk from China (the only country which produced it until after 500 C.E.), pepper and jewels from India, and incense from Arabia were sent to the Mediterranean region on well-traveled routes which terminated in Roman ports such as Alexandria, Tyre, and Ephesus. In exchange for these precious commodities, the Romans, although reluctantly, sent large amounts of silver, bronze, and gold eastward to destinations in Asia. Again though, this is not, and should not be the reason why we study trade so closely because since the long-distance trade of the classical period was mainly in luxuries rather than in articles of daily use, its overall economic impact was probably limited. Most present-day historians think that the Rome-India-China trade was significant primarily because of its role in promoting the spread of religions, styles of art, technologies, and epidemic diseases. That's the real point!
Sculptural styles that developed in many parts of Asia during the first millenium C.E. are an especially striking case of the process of cultural lending and borrowing. Many of the earliest Indian representations of the Buddha, dating from early in the Common Era, are sculptures that show the Buddha wearing a Greco-Roman style toga like the one in the picture above (WILD!!!). Moreover, present-day museums in Pakistan, India, central Asia, northern China, and Japan display numerous examples of other types of sculpture dating from the first millennium which clearly show the influence of Greco-Roman models. It is this kind of evidence that has led scholars to conclude that the significance of the Silk Road was not economic but rather primary cultural (and biological if we take into account the spread of diseases along the trade routes).
In various ways, the passages that I would like you to read now illustrate the existence of East-West contacts during the early centuries of the Common Era. Two characteristics of the documents should be kept in mind as you read them though. The excerpts are fragmentary because, so far as historians know, there is no single narrative of a journey from Rome to China or vice versa from the classical period. In addition, the readings are heavily weighted toward the Roman end of the trade network because documentation from Asian sources is either nonexistent or extremely fragmentary. In order to read these documents please click on the following link (Eurasian Trade Documents).
Please think about and discuss the following when you have finished reading: How do we know that the Romans wore silk? How did the Romans obtain this fabric according the the first document? What evidence is there in the passages by Strabo and Pliny the Elder that Indians were traveling to Rome and Romans were traveling to India? What were the reasons for these journeys? What evidence is there in the passages from Pliny to suggest that the Romans placed a high value on incense? How does Pliny's description of the trade in incense help to explain its high cost? How was incense used by the Romans? I would like you to also compare Pliny's report on incense with his report on pepper. Does pepper even grow on trees? How do you explain this confusion with Pliny? What were Pliny's likely sources of information about the cultivation of incense and pepper? When Fa-hsien decided to return to China, how did he travel? What does his mode of travel (and the difficulties that he encountered during his journey) suggest about trade between India and China? To what extent does Fa-hsien seem to subscribe to the Four Noble Truths? Finally, and this is a biggie, what evidence do you see in these documents of connections between trade and religion (this is a big topic in season 2)? Your thoughts...
13 comments:
Caligula apparently liked to look nice all the time, wearing cloaks with precious stones, tunics, bracelets, and even silk even though it was forbidden by law for men to wear. He also liked to wear both men and women clothes and shoes.
wow..so many naked people...why do they have to take off their clothes before the women leave?
We know that Romans wore silk, or at least tried too, because according to the first document, it was illegal for a man to wear silk. There is evidence that Indians and Romans did make the long trips to visit each other's countries. This is evidenced in the document by Strabo in which it says that Indian ambassadors came to visit Augustus.
Insence was apparently important to the Romans because there is a great deal of writing on the processes of making it. If it didn't mean so much to them, as a trade, they would not have spent such a great deal on time in explaing it.
When you think about it, Caligula was a pretty messed up man. Not only was he a cross-dresser, but he stole from Alexander the Great's tomb. That shows how disrespectful he is to the dead.
Kevin Shin
I think that these trading systems were built as roads for communication and trade primarily. When they were established, the people who built them probably didn't have in mind that they wanted disease to be traded along these routs; that was not the purpose of these roads but that's what happened. Along with goods, culture and disease were passed even though they were not the purpose of the trading systems.
Caligila was obviously didn't abide to the laws when he wore his silk even though he was a man. The history of the laws are what tell us that they had silk in Rome because they were forbidden to wear it.
The season finale today was absolutely amazing, so many connections were made with the nomads. I never would have even expected them to come back with such a impact on the world!
Caligula seemed like a very rebellious guy. Not only did he go against the laws and wear silk, but he also stole from Alexander 'the Great's' tomb, which was probably a serious crime. The insence was a very peculiar thing to talk about, but I suppose it did show a good, detailed comparassion about the different ways of gathering it, to compare and contrast the different societies and how they did common tasks.
The point of these written documents was to emphasize the trade and cultural exchange among regional powers. The Arabs used sea-routes using ships, and land by camel to trade their various goods of which they had to offer. Also China and India, who not only had access to the Silk Road, but also a connection to powerful sea routes, are provided with the strongest influential capabilities. As was mentioned in the last document of the Buddhist who suffered the wrath of monsoons, but managed to survive them(by faith in Buddhism according to the text), although others in his crew thought his religion was BRINGING the misfortunate instead of expounding it, but I digress. Even the first document mentions how all the places were linked by reference to the garbs worn by Caligula, silk, cloaks, precious stones, tunics, bracelts, women's shoes, and Alexander's chestplate. These documents were meant to represent inter-regional trade among these powerful societies. That's the point of this discussion. Not about a rebellious, cross-dressing, grave-robbing, hippie whom needs to stop wearing high heels with chestplate armor.
thanks for getting the discussion re-focused and back on track mr. gaultney.
No problem Mr.Prill, I enjoyed making fun of Caligula...
why were the men forbidden to wear silk? i mean they had most of the rights, right? silk was a major commmodity when it came to the silk road.
In reference to the last question on the original post, religion was spread along with other cultural ideas as goods were being exchanged throughout the region. Like Mason said, the first document shows evidence of regional trade from Caligula's wardrobe (silk from China, stones from India, etc.). Like we talked about in class, as these commodities were being moved along trade routes, so were religions (such as Buddhism to China and Christianity to India). Each religion was modified as it moved along roads to seem appealing to the people in that region. The trading of goods during the Classical Period explains why certain religions thrive in certain places today, and why there differences within the same religion in different parts of the world.
I think it is so cool that inscence was a big deal back then. its a big deal in the catholic face and apparently catholic faithe derivedin rome, is what i have been told. but it like has stayed imporant. thats so awesome to figure out where it came from!
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