5.15 RT – Byzantium and the Silk Road

Silk Road Studies has been a popular field in international academia, especially for the past 10 years. In the west, interest in it was sparked by the research in Late Antiquity and the “Global Middle Ages”, while in the east, it was highly inspired by the research passion of Chinese history scholars and “The Belt and Road Initiative”. Byzantium played a key role in the Silk Road because of its geographical position and long history. What the picture of Byzantium’s interaction with the regions and peoples in the network of the Silk Road is and how Byzantines played their role in the network, are not only interesting themes but also crucial to understanding the complicated social and cultural history of the Eurasian Steppes, especially the significance of the conception of “global Byzantium”. We suggest that it is also connected to another question: how to redefine the “Byzantine empire” and understand its relation with the West. In this Round Table, certain cases of interaction and connection of Byzantium with ancient China through the Silk Road will be discussed with the aim of shedding more light on the understanding of the above issues, and helping to promote Byzantine Studies in the wider perspective of Silk Road Studies.

The Western Section of the Silk Road According to the Stathmoi Parthicoi (“The Parthian Stations”) of Isidore of Charax

The Stathmoi Parthicoi (“The Parthian Stations”) of Isidore of Charax is a detailed description of the itinerary from Zeugma on Euphrates to Alexandria in Arachosia. The paper is an attempt to calculate the distances in the western section of the central branch of the Silk Road that stretched from Antiochia in Margiana to Euphrates, based…

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Byzantine Silks and the Extended Silk Roads (4th–15th c.): ‘Globalised’ Long Distance Trade, Diplomacy, and Cross-Cultural Exchange

The paper will first briefly define what is meant by the term ‘extended Silk Roads’ in relation to the concept of ‘globalised’ trade (late antique to medieval period). Next, the presentation will outline the problems which Byzantium encountered with initial raw silk supply along the extended Silk Roads, before attention is turned to the evidence…

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The Transmutation of Perceived Impressions on Sassanid Persia in the Works of the Early Byzantine Historians in the Context of the “Misconception of Serica”

Serica is a term that appears in ancient Greek and Roman geography and is generally considered to refer to China, which was connected to Europe via the Silk Road, or to a Far Eastern state or region in Asia that had no clear affiliation within the perception of the Greco-Roman world. It can be argued…

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