The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes, Raoul McLaughlin
The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes, Raoul McLaughlin
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The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes
The Ancient World Economy and the Empires of Parthia, Central Asia and Han China

Author: Raoul McLaughlin

Narrator: James Cameron Stewart

Unabridged: 14 hr 21 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 09/18/2019


Synopsis

The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes investigates the trade routes between Rome and the powerful empires of inner Asia, including the Parthian regime which ruled ancient Persia (Iran). It explores Roman dealings with the Kushan Empire which seized power in Bactria (Afghanistan) and laid claim to the Indus Kingdoms. Further chapters examine the development of Palmyra as a leading caravan city on the edge of Roman Syria and consider trade ventures through the Tarim territories that led Roman merchants to Han China.

The Han Empire of ancient China matched that of Rome in scale and possessed military technology surpassing that of Roman legions. The Han established a system of Central Asian trade routes known as the Silk Road that carried eastern products as far as Persia and the frontiers of the Roman Empire.

This is the first book to address these subjects in a single comprehensive study. It explores Rome’s impact on the ancient world economy and reveals what the Chinese and Romans knew about their rival Empires.

About Raoul McLaughlin

Raoul McLaughlin was educated at Lagan College, the first integrated school in Northern Ireland. He studied archaeology and ancient history at Queens University Belfast before completing a master's degree and then a PhD in the study of trade beyond Rome's eastern frontiers. He lives in Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Rindis on April 17, 2019

This basically a follow-on to McLaughlin's study of trade across the Indian Ocean. Despite being almost the same size, it feels like an appendix to it. Whereas his former book spent a lot of time giving specifics of particular trade goods and where Romans were going to get them and trying to get an i......more

Goodreads review by Boudewijn on June 07, 2020

A good, somewhat factual introduction to the Silk Routes and the various empires that acted as an intermediary between the Roman and Chinese empires. Although both empires were aware of each others existence, there was no direct contact, not in the last place because intermediate empires such as the......more

Goodreads review by Mary on December 28, 2020

An overview of the political situations and other factors playing into the trade between China and Rome. Chinese techniques for steel were superior, for instance, but because Rome was used to different places having better or worse steel according to their ore, Romans assumed it was just better mater......more

Goodreads review by Colin on February 07, 2023

Read this while researching my next book, Ends of the Earth. Covers a lot of the early history of central Asia that few people know about and does it in a very readable way.......more

Goodreads review by Tom on January 24, 2020

A difficult read. I suspect if you did not have a strong command of geography and history already this book would be almost meaningless. No obvious narrative thread. The pattern of jumping around in time means that it is difficult to track where each of the described groups was in relative developme......more