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This is a relatively short book about a large span of space and time. In it, Craig Benjamin examines the emergence of trade routes between eastern Asia and the Mediterranean basin over a 350-year period. As Craig explains, the origins of this lay with the pastoral nomads of eastern and central Asia. The challenge they posed led Han China to mount a series of diplomatic missions and military expeditions westward, which established the first contacts with the communities of central Asia. As a commodity and a currency silk was a part of these efforts, contributing to the spread of this rare fabric until examples reached as far west as the Roman empire.

 

Once he has detailed the emergence of the trade routes, Craig shifts his focus and describes the four empires — those of the Romans, the Parthians, the Kushans, and the Han —whose presence made them possible. These chapters serve as excellent introductions to the empires for anyone unfamiliar with them, while their explanation of their roles as markets and guarantors of stability underscore well the conditions necessary for the trade to flourish. Craig then covers the development of the maritime routes, which gradually become the preferred method of shipping much of the trade, before concluding with the impact the disruption of these empire in the third century CE played in the decline of the trade routes. Taken together, it makes for an excellent summary of the first transcontinental trading routes in Eurasia, one that explains nicely the role of trade in the ancient world and provides some useful context for how global trade developed.