Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
October 2000
Long-distance trade played a major role in the cultural, religious, and artistic exchanges that took place between the major centers of civilization in Europe and Asia during antiquity. Some of these trade routes had been in use for centuries, but by the beginning of the first century A.D., merchants, diplomats, and travelers could (in theory) cross the ancient world from Britain and Spain in the west to China and Japan in the east. The trade routes served principally to transfer raw materials, foodstuffs, and luxury goods from areas with surpluses to others where they were in short supply. Some areas had a monopoly on certain materials or goods. China, for example, supplied West Asia and the Mediterranean world with silk, while spices were obtained principally from South Asia. These goods were transported over vast distances— either by pack animals overland or by seagoing ships—along the Silk and Spice Routes, which were the main arteries of contact between the various ancient empires of the Old World. Another important trade route, known as the Incense Route, was controlled by the Arabs, who brought frankincense and myrrh by camel caravan from South Arabia.
Cities along these trade routes grew rich providing services to merchants and acting as international marketplaces. Some, like Palmyra and Petra on the fringes of the Syrian Desert, flourished mainly as centers of trade supplying merchant caravans and policing the trade routes. They also became cultural and artistic centers, where peoples of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds could meet and intermingle.
The trade routes were the communications highways of the ancient world. New inventions, religious beliefs, artistic styles, languages, and social customs, as well as goods and raw materials, were transmitted by people moving from one place to another to conduct business. These connections are reflected, for example, in the sculptural styles of Gandhara (modern-day Pakistan and northern India) and Gaul (modern-day France), both influenced by the Hellenistic styles popularized by the Romans.
Citation
Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “Trade Routes between Europe and Asia during Antiquity.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/trade/hd_trade.htm (October 2000)
Further Reading
Milleker, Elizabeth J., ed. The Year One: Art of the Ancient World East and West. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000. See on MetPublications
Simpson, St. John, ed. Queen of Sheba: Treasures from Ancient Yemen. London: British Museum Press, 2002.
Whitfield, Susan. Life along the Silk Road. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.
Whitfield, Susan, with Ursula Sims-Williams, eds. The Silk Route: Trade, Travel, War and Faith. London: British Library, 2004.
Additional Essays by Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art
- Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “The Hittites.” (October 2002)
- Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “The Halaf Period (6500–5500 B.C.).” (October 2003)
- Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “The Ubaid Period (5500–4000 B.C.).” (October 2003)
- Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “Ur: The Royal Graves.” (October 2003)
- Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “Ur: The Ziggurat.” (October 2002)
- Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “Uruk: The First City.” (October 2003)
- Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “Ebla in the Third Millennium B.C..” (October 2002)
- Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “Ugarit.” (October 2004)
- Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “Animals in Ancient Near Eastern Art.” (February 2014)
- Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “Urartu.” (October 2004)
- Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “Trade between the Romans and the Empires of Asia.” (October 2000)
- Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “The Parthian Empire (247 B.C.–224 A.D.).” (originally published October 2000, last updated November 2016)
- Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “Nabataean Kingdom and Petra.” (October 2000)
- Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “Palmyra.” (October 2000)
- Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “Art of the First Cities in the Third Millennium B.C..” (October 2004)
- Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “The Sasanian Empire (224–651 A.D.).” (originally published October 2003, last updated April 2016)
- Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “Colossal Temples of the Roman Near East.” (October 2003)
- Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “Assyria, 1365–609 B.C..” (originally published October 2004, last revised April 2010)
- Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “Lydia and Phrygia.” (October 2004)
- Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “The Achaemenid Persian Empire (550–330 B.C.).” (October 2004)
- Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “The Akkadian Period (ca. 2350–2150 B.C.).” (October 2004)
- Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “The Year One.” (October 2004)
- Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “Early Dynastic Sculpture, 2900–2350 B.C..” (October 2004)
- Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “Early Excavations in Assyria.” (October 2004; updated August 2021)
- Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “Phrygia, Gordion, and King Midas in the Late Eighth Century B.C..” (October 2004)
- Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “Trade between Arabia and the Empires of Rome and Asia.” (October 2000)
- Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “The Nahal Mishmar Treasure.” (October 2004)
- Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “The Phoenicians (1500–300 B.C.).” (October 2004)
- Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “The Seleucid Empire (323–64 B.C.).” (October 2004)
Related Essays
- Nabataean Kingdom and Petra
- Palmyra
- Trade between Arabia and the Empires of Rome and Asia
- Amulets and Talismans from the Islamic World
- Colossal Temples of the Roman Near East
- Eastern Religions in the Roman World
- Etruscan Art
- Etruscan Language and Inscriptions
- Han Dynasty (206 B.C.–220 A.D.)
- Jain Manuscript Painting
- Life of Jesus of Nazareth
- Luxury Arts of Rome
- The Materials and Techniques of American Quilts and Coverlets
- The Metropolitan Museum’s Excavations at Nishapur
- Roman Glass
- Sardis
- Silks from Ottoman Turkey
- Trade and Commercial Activity in the Byzantine and Early Islamic Middle East
- The Year One
List of Rulers
Chronology
- Arabian Peninsula, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.
- Asia Minor (Anatolia and the Caucasus), 1–500 A.D.
- China, 1–500 A.D.
- The Eastern Mediterranean and Syria, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.
- The Eastern Mediterranean and Syria, 1–500 A.D.
- Egypt, 1–500 A.D.
- Mesopotamia, 1–500 A.D.
- South Asia, 1–500 A.D.
- Southeast Asia, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.
- Southeast Asia, 1–500 A.D.
Map
Keywords
- 1st Century A.D.
- Ancient Egyptian Art
- Ancient Near Eastern Art
- Ancient Roman Art
- Animal
- Arabian Peninsula
- Asia
- Boat
- Camel
- China
- Early Imperial Roman Period
- East Asia
- Eastern Mediterranean
- Europe
- Food
- France
- Gandhara
- Great Britain and Ireland
- Han Dynasty
- Iberian Peninsula
- India
- Japan
- Pakistan
- Parthian Art
- Religious Art
- Roman Period in Egypt
- Silk
- South Asia
- Spain
- Syria
- Textile
- Trade
- Vehicle
- West Asia
- Writing