For millennium trade routes
flourished between the countries of the East and the West. Along these trade
routes happened the exchange of ideas, inflow of cultural influences, spread of
religious ideas and philosophy, from one side to the other. No wonder Kings and
Queens and the political leaderships set on conquering these nations and
countries, which they presumed to be fabulously rich and resourceful, so that
the riches will flow into their kingdoms and make them powerful.
It was delightful to read “The Silk
Roads,” by Peter Frankopan, subtitled “A New History of the World.’[1]
It is totally a new way of looking into history, not from the view points of
conquerors and kingdoms, but the trade routes and economic activities of
nations across the world, from Mediterranean to Hindu Kush and beyond up to
China, a history of mankind for more than 5000 years. Many interesting facts
get thrown on as one read the book.
The countries that lie between the
east and the west are most important as the connecting bridge between the two
sides of the world. God created Garden of Eden in the rich soil between the two
rivers Tigris and Euphrates, so says the Bible. Ancient civilization of Sumeria
flourished in and around Mesopotamia, and the area named Fertile Crescent, from
these rivers in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. From here we get
the first recorded code of laws by Hammurabi, King of Babylon, 4000 years ago.
Harappa and Mohenjo-daro
civilizations in the Indus valley were of renown, all existing some 5000 years
ago. Other great centers of civilizations rose in Babylon, Nineveh, Ur, Akkad
in Mesopotamia, almost all of them mentioned in the Biblical narrative in
Genesis, the first book of the Bible.
Persians became prominent in the area
around 6th century BC, from Southern Iran, and reached up to Egypt,
conquering the lands in between. Their forays into Ancient Greece were stopped in
the battles at Marathon and Salami by the brave Spartans and Athenians in
490-470 BC. Persian kingdom extended up to Hindu Kush and north-west India. It
connected the Mediterranean with the heart of Asia.
A highly educated bureaucracy
maintained meticulous records of all the payments made, quality and quantity of
goods brought in and sold in the markets, maintenance of roads in the Empire
and so on. Tolerance of minorities was legendary by the Persian rulers. Cyrus,
the Mede was the Emperor, who allowed the exiled Jews to return to their
country in Palestine to rebuild their temple in 539 BC.
Trade flourished in ancient Persia
and spectacular buildings arose in Babylon, Persepolis, Pasargadae and Susa,
where King Darius built a magnificent palace, with ebony and silver imported from
Egypt, cedar from Lebanon, gold from Bactria, Lapis and cinnabar from Sogdiana,
turquoise from Khwarezm and ivory from India.
Cyrus the Great of the Persian Empire
in 6th century BC, was killed trying to subjugate the ferocious
nomads, Scythian from the northern steppes, extending from Black Sea through
Central Asia to Mongolia. It is said that his head was carried around in a skin,
filled with blood and they drank from it. Still it would take a few more
centuries before Persians could be completely conquered.
Greece had its own civilization
starting from Minoan civilization originating in Crete and then Mycenaean
civilization in the mainland Greece. By the 6th century BC, Athens
was experimenting with the formation of democracy, giving voting power to all
males of eighteen years and more, both rich and the poor, in running the affairs
of their city-state. Of course women were excluded, but they were the queens in
their homes, like elsewhere in ancient civilizations.
From the northern Greece arose a typhoon,
Alexander the Great from Macedon, who became the ruler in 336 BC. He turned his
gaze towards Asia and not Europe, for the then Europe had no cities, no
culture, no prestige and no profit. His heart was to win the East, including
Persia. He crushed the Persians army under the command of Darius III, in a
decisive battle in Gaugamela, a place near the modern town of Erbil in Iraqi
Kurdistan, in 331 BC.
City after city surrendered to
Alexander’s command. The wealth of the Empire and the beautiful palaces of
Persia and Babylon became his. He allowed the local people to continue in their
ways, especially religious manners, showing tolerance and respect. He restored
the desecrated tomb of Cyrus the Great and gave a decent burial to Darius III,
whose body had been dumped in a wagon. He also relied on the local elite to
rule the conquered places as his representatives.
Alexander also founded cities bearing
his name, in Herat, Kandahar and Bagram, with fortifications. These became his
rallying points for further conquest and push towards the east. He pushed
relentlessly across Asia, up to Hindu Kush and Indus valley in northwest India.
On mutiny of his own battle-tired soldiers, who refused to go any further,
Alexander returned to Babylon, only to die in 323 BC.
In thirteen years Alexander had
conquered the then known world and established a permanent like between the
west and the east, which will flourish henceforth. Culture, philosophy and
language of Greece were carried through to all these places, and influenced
those in Persia, India, Central Asia and eventually China too. The cultures and
ideas of the places he conquered influence Greece and its culture and thinking
too. It was the start of a cultural exchange, or Hellenization, which will last
for a long time to come.
The Empire of Alexander was in
turmoil after his death, but four enclaves emerged soon under his generals.
Seleucus took charge of the lands from Tigris River to Indus River, consisting
of today’s Syria, Iraq, Iran, Central Asia, and India. Seleucid dynasty founded
by him will rule for the next three centuries. Egypt went to Ptolemy, along
with Palestine, Cilicia, Petra and Cyprus. Cassander took over Macedonia and
Greece. Lysimachus ruled Thrace, Asia Minor, including parts of modern Turkey,
Phrygia, Lydia and Ionia.
It is interesting to note that Daniel
in the Bible mentions that he saw in a vision,[2]
a Ram with two horns standing by the river Ulai in Shushan, the capital, the
horns being the Kingdoms of Media and Persia. Then he goes on to say that he saw
a shaggy goat arise and attack the ram and break his horns. This is the Greek (Macedonian)
King Alexander, who conquered Persia. Then he goes on to say that he saw its large
horn was broken and four kingdoms will come in its place. These are the four
kingdoms that arose after Alexander’s death, as divided among his four
generals.
Amazing, isn’t it? That Daniel, an Israelite
taken as captive by the Babylonians in 605 BC should leave accounts of history
that would happen three centuries later on the plains of Mesopotamia!
[1]
Peter Frankopan, The Silk Roads: A New
History of the World, Bloomsbury, London, 2016
[2]
Daniel 8:3, 5, 20-22. Interpretation is given by the angel Gabriel to Daniel.
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