The Silk Road: Trade, Travel, War and Faith

For over two thousand years the Silk Road has attracted those wishing to make money, converts, diplomatic deals, conquests- or those simply looking to find a quiet place of retreat. Today the name continues to beguile, conjuring up images of exotic cities, gorgeous silks and other luxuries, and people and lives far removed from us in time, space and experience. Yet the residents of the Silk Road kingdoms and the journeying monks, merchants, soldiers and others who passed through had concerns which are familiar to us all. The new book gives us a glimpse into these lives through the manuscripts, artefacts, paintings, coins and textiles which lay hidden in the desert ruins until their discovery in the early twentieth century.