A Wisdom Archive on 126 Bce

Silk Road - Zhang Qian 138–126 BCE. The next step came around 130 BC, with the embassies of the Han Dynasty to Central Asia, following the reports of the ambassador Zhang Qian (who was originally sent to obtain an alliance with the Yuezhi against the Xiong-Nu, in vain). The Chinese emperor Wudi became interested in developing commercial relationship with the sophisticated urban civilizations of Ferghana, Bactria and Parthia: “The Son of Heaven on hearing all this reasoned thus: Ferghana (Dayuan) and the posse ...

Read more here: » Silk Road: Encyclopedia II - Silk Road - Chinese exploration of Central Asia

Ta-Hsia, or Daxia (Chinese: 大夏) is the name given in antiquity by the Chinese to the territory of Bactria. The name Ta-Hsia appears in Chinese from the 3rd century BCE to designate a mythical kingdom to the West, possibly a consequence of the first contacts with the expansion of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, and then is used by the explorer Zhang Qian in 126 BCE to designate Bactria. The reports of Zhang Qian were put in writing in the Shiji ("Records of the Great Historian") by Sima Qian in the 1st century BCE. ...

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Soon after the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 BCE, regular communications and trade between India, Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, China, the Middle East, Africa and Europe blossomed on an unprecedented scale. Land and maritime routes were closely linked, and novel products, technologies and ideas began to spread across the continents of Europe, Asia and Africa. Intercontinental trade and communication became regular, organised, and protected by the 'Great Powers.' Intense trade with the Roman Empire followed soon, confirmed by the Roman craze for ...

Read more here: » Silk Road: Encyclopedia II - Silk Road - The Roman Empire and silk

Silk Road - Cross-continental travel. As accomplished waterway shipping and domestication of efficient pack animals both increased the capacity for prehistoric peoples to carry heavier loads over greater distances, cultural exchanges and trade developed rapidly. For example, shipping in predynastic Egypt was already established by the 4th millennium BC along with domestication of the donkey, with the dromedary possibly having been domesticated as well. Domestication of the Bactrian camel and use of the horse for means of transport then follo ...

Read more here: » Silk Road: Encyclopedia II - Silk Road - Origins

Some time after 126 BCE, possibly disturbed by further incursions of rivals from the north, and apparently vanquished by the Parthian king Mithridates II, the Yuezhi moved south to Bactria. Bactria had been conquered by the Macedonians under Alexander the Great in 330 BCE, and since settled by the Hellenistic civilization of the Seleucids and the Greco-Bactrians for two centuries. This event is recorded in Classical Greek sources, when Strabo presented them as a Scythian tribe, and explained that the Tokharians -- together with the As ...

Read more here: » Yuezhi: Encyclopedia II - Yuezhi - Invasion of Bactria

The first major step in opening the Silk Road between the East and the West came with the expansion of Alexander the Great deep into Central Asia, as far as Ferghana at the borders of the modern-day Xinjiang region of China, where he founded in 329 BC a Greek settlement in the city of Alexandria Eschate "Alexandria The Furthest", Khujand (also called Khozdent or Khojent — formely Leninabad), in the state of Tajikistan. When Alexander the Great’s successors, the Ptolemies, took control of Egypt in 323 BC, they began to actively pro ...

Read more here: » Silk Road: Encyclopedia II - Silk Road - Hellenistic conquests

Notably, the Buddhist faith and the Greco-Buddhist culture started to travel eastward along the Silk Road, penetrating in China from around the 1st century BC. The Kushan empire, in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, was located at the center of these exchanges. They fostered multi-cultural interaction as indicated by their 2nd century treasure hoards filled with products from the G ...

Read more here: » Silk Road: Encyclopedia II - Silk Road - Central Asian commercial & cultural exchanges

Many artistic influences transited along the Silk Road, especially through the Central Asia, where Hellenistic, Iranian, Indian and Chinese influence were able to intermix. In particular Greco-Buddhist art represent one of the most vivid examples of this interaction. The image of the Buddha, originating during the 1st century CE in northern India (areas of Gandhara and Mathura) was transmitted progressively through Central Asia and China until it reached Korea in the 4th century CE and Japan in the 6th century CE. However the ...

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The Mongol expansion throughout the Asian continent from around 1215 to 1360 helped bring political stability and re-establish the Silk Road (vis-à-vis Karakorum). In the late 13th century, a Venetian explorer named Marco Polo became one of the first Europeans to travel the Silk Road to China. Westerners became more aware of the Far East when Polo documented his travels in Il Milione. He was followed by numerous Christian missionnaries to the East, such as William of Rubruck, Giovanni da Pian del Carpini, Andrew of Longjumeau, Odoric ...

Read more here: » Silk Road: Encyclopedia II - Silk Road - Mongol era