It was on the Silk Road that the East and West first encountered each other through trade and conquest, leading to the spread of ideas, cultures and religions. From the rise and fall of empires to the spread of Buddhism and the advent of Christianity and Islam, right up to the great wars of the 20th century, we will examine how the West has always been linked to the East.
Beckwith describes the great Eurasian empires: Scythians, Huns, Turks, Tibetians, Chinggis Khan and the Mongols and the cultural and economic life of Central Eurasia. The Indo-European migration from the region also affected Greco-Roman, Slavic, Germanic, Persian, and Indian languages and civilizations.
This book and our SDG will place Central Eurasia into a world historical framework.
The Silk Road: Weekly Topics
January 6 – Introduction to the Silk Road and its Peoples
• Beckwith (xix – 77) – Hero and his Friends; Chariot Warriors; Royal Scythians
January 13 – First Regional Empire Period in Eurasia
• Beckwith (78 – 139) – Between Rome & China; Attila and the Huns; The Türk Empire
January 20 – Material culture; Technology and Trade
• Whitfield (1 – 80) – Steppe Earrings; Hellenistic Glass Bowl; Kushan Coins
January 27 – Revolutions and Rebellions;
• Beckwith (140 – 203) – Religion & the State; Vikings & Cathay; Mongols
February 3 – Art and Architecture along the Silk Road
• Whitfield (81 – 136) – Buddhist Stupa; Bactrian Ewer
• Wood (88 – 110) – Caves of 1,000 Buddhas in Dunhuang
NHK Silk Road Documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzQdeSSPiXQ
February 10 – Third Regional Empire
• Beckwith (204 – 262) – Empires: Ottomans, Safavids, Mughals, Russians
February 17 – Technology and Trade – Metalworking; Silk making; Papermaking
• Whitfield (190-249)
February 24 - Littoral Commerce
• Beckwith (263 – 319) Post World War II Revolutions in India, China, and Iran
March 3 – Music Along the Silk Road
• Silk Road Ensemble
March 10 – Religions of the Silk Road - 2 presentations
• Whitfield (137-189) Buddhism; Islam;
March 17 – Travelers, Pilgrims and Explorers Along the Silk Road
• Wood (111 – 179)
• Marco Polo – Selections
March 24 – Modern Archaeologists and Treasure Hunters
• Wood (180 – 246) Twentieth Century Explorations
March 31 – Slaves and Barbarians
• Beckwith (320-362) – Barbarians; Whitfield (250-272) “Unknown Slave”
April 7 – Images of The Silk Road and the Future of The Silk Road
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/chinas-massive-belt-and-road-initiative
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2020/10/01/seven-years-into-chinas-belt-and-road/
CORE READING:
*Christopher Beckwith Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Asia from the Bronze Age to the Present. (Princeton University Press, 2009)
*Susan Whitfield Silk, Slaves, and Stupas: The Material Culture of the Silk Road (UC Press, 2018)
*Frances Wood. The Silk Road: Two Thousand Years in the Heart of Asia (UC Press, 2002)
NHK Silk Road – 12 videos by Chinese-Japanese television
SUGGESTED READINGS:
Peter Frankopan The Silk Roads: A New History of the World (Bloomsbury, 2015)
Peter Hopkirk Foreign Devils on the Silk Road (London, 1980)
James Millward The Silk Road: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2013)
Marco Polo. Travels