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[[File:Caravane_sur_la_Route_de_la_soie_-_Atlas_catalan.jpg|thumbnail|left|Caravan on the Silk Road]]
One very influential connection made between Europe and China in ancient periods was the so-called Silk Road. While this did not mean a specific road across long periods, it did represent a network of routes that connected much of the Old World between Europe and China for roughly 1500 years and brought about profound technical and cultural changes that had global ramifications.
==Early Phases==
By the 4th millennium BC, Central Asia had begun to play an important role in trade to the ancient Near East. Lapis Lazuli, semi-precious stones, and tin by the 3rd millennium BC made the region’s resources attractive to Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Anatolia.<ref>For information on trade objects between Central Asia, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and Egypt, see: Boyle, Katie, Colin Renfrew, and Marsha Levine, eds. 2002. Ancient Interactions: East and West in Eurasia. McDonald Institute Monographs. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.</ref> By the 2nd millennium BC, we also see eastern China interacting with western China and Central Asia more so, with objects such as jade being in high demand.<ref> For information on China’s interest in Jade, see: Fossati, Gildo. 1994. The World of Jade: Great Masterpieces of Chinese Art. New York: Crescent Books.</ref>
==Achaemenid Roots==
The Silk Road, in many respects, develops more substantially during the Achaemenid (550-330 BC) period. At this time, the Near East began to witness more long-lasting empires, providing greater trade stability throughout the region. While this began with the Neo-Assyrians (911-612 BC), the Achaemenids were able to hold much larger territory, covering Egypt, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, the Levant, Persia, and parts of Central Asia, for almost the entire period in which they were in power.<ref>For information regarding the Achaemenids, their control of the Near East and trade, see: Daryaee, Touraj, ed. 2012. ''The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History''. Oxford Handbooks. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press.</ref> This long period of stability allowed the Achaemenids to develop long-distance roads, including the Royal Road that connected ancient Susa in Iran with Lydia in western Anatolia. Such roads were possible not because of any major technical achievement but because much of the region was now part of one overarching state. This then began a long period of more direct thriving trade between the Greek world, the Near East, and Central Asia. Movements between these regions were now possible without having to cross many states.
==Hellenistic and Parthian Developments==
[[File: Silk Route extant.JPG|thumbnail|Silk Road]]
With the expansion of Alexander the Great’s empire to India and Central Asia, the Greeks became more aware of the riches of the East.<ref>For more information on Alexander’s interactions with Eastern cultures, see: Bosworth, A. B. 1998. Alexander and the East: The Tragedy of Triumph. Oxford: Oxford University Press.</ref> Contacts between China and the Hellenistic world were likely made at this time, with Alexander having established the city of Alexandria Eschate (or Alexander the Farthest) that became an important trading city along the emerging Silk Road. By the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, the Greco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek kingdoms were established, further promoting contacts between Greek, Indian, and Central Asian cultures.<ref>For information on Hellenistic-influenced kingdoms in Central Asia, see: Bactrian and Indian Hellenistic Dynasties: Greco-Bactrian Kings, Indo-Greek Kings, Demetrius I of Bactria, Euthydemus I, Diodotus I. Memphis: LLC Books. </ref>
However, formal establishment of the Silk Road can be argued to have begun under Parthian (247 BC-224 AD) leadership. We know that Mithridates II (121-91 BC) is the first known Near Eastern king to have established political and diplomatic relations with a Chinese ruler, to whom the Parthian king sent an ambassador.<ref> For more information on the relevance of the diplomatic connections between Parthia and China to the Silk Road, see: Edwards, Chris. 2015. Connecting the Dots in World History, a Teacher’s Literacy-Based Curriculum. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, pg. 90.</ref> This act paved the way for the establishment of long-distance trade contacts with China and created the long-term basis for the Silk Road along which silk was traded from China up to the Mediterranean, crossing Parthian lands. This made the Parthians key actors in the trade. What is significant is even in times of major conflicts, such as between Rome and the Parthians, trade was not as easily disrupted as it had been in earlier periods. This begins to show the importance of wealth and financial power traders had in maintaining strong trade ties despite volatile political conditions.<ref>For information during the Roman period with the East, see: McLaughlin, Raoul. 2010. ''Rome and the Distant East: Trade Routes to the Ancient Lands of Arabia, India and China''. London ; New York: Continuum.</ref> In fact, it was not just land routes across Asia that thrived but sea trade across the Old World also thrived.
==References==
<references/>
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