The term "Silk Road", which refers to the system of roads that connected the main cultural regions of Eurasia (China, India, the Middle and Middle East, and the Mediterranean) in ancient and early Middle Ages, was first introduced in the 1870s by the German geographer K. Richthofen. 1 Over time, the term became more widely used and was used in connection with various contacts that took place at that time. The development of semiprecious stone deposits, such as lapis lazuli in the Badakhshan Mountains and jade in the upper reaches of the Yarkand - Darya River in the Khotan region, contributed to the formation of these links dating back to the third and second millennia BC. Written and archaeological sources indicate the existence of a trade route that brought lapis lazuli, which was highly valued in the Ancient East, from Badakhshan to Iran, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Syria and Anatolia .2 A significant amount of traffic is indicated by the fact that the Assyrian ruler Tiglath-Pileser III (VIII century BC) imposed an annual tribute of 9 tons of lapis lazuli on the subject areas .3 In the middle of the first millennium BC, Badakhshan lapis lazuli penetrates China 4 .

Along with the " Lapis Lazuli "route in the first millennium BC, there was the so-called" Jade " route, which connected the Khotan and Yarkand regions with Northern China, where state regalia were made from jade. Jade products also played an important role in religious ceremonies and decoration of everyday life. Interest in this stone, brought from afar, is found in many written sources of that time. The Yuezhi, a people of Indo - Iranian origin, who occupied vast territories in Western Gansu and Eastern Turkestan until the third century BC, served as intermediaries in trade .5 Information about this is contained in sources of the VIII - V centuries BC . 6. The trade equivalent of jade was silk. Along this route, silk cloth (serica) reached the Indus Valley, which is mentioned by Nearchus, one of Alexander the Great's generals. 7 It was probably smooth silk made on the Western Border, in the area where Ptolemy later placed the legendary Serica 8 . A well-known fact of silk existence in East Turkestan at that time is the discovery of fragments of silk gauze fabric and embroidery in a burial of the V-III centuries BC in the Turfan oasis 9 .

There is an important source that speaks about trade relations between the East and the West in the first millennium BC: glass products, the center of production of which since the second millennium BC was located in the Eastern Mediterranean. Middle Eastern beads and bracelets were found in burial grounds of the Saka period (I millennium BC) in the Southern Caucasus.

1 Richthofen K. China. Bd. I. Brl. 1877, S. 454 ff.

2 Sarianidi V. I. On the Great Lapis Lazuli Road in the Ancient East. - Short reports of the Institute of Archeology of the USSR Academy of Sciences( KSIA), 1968, N 114, pp. 7-9.

3 Yankovskaya N. B. Some issues of the economy of the Assyrian power. - Bulletin of Ancient History (VDI), 1956, N 1, p. 33.

4 Shefer E. Golden peaches of Samarkand, Moscow 1981, p. 450.

5 Egami N. Yuezhi and the jade. In: Studying the history of Asian Culture. Tokyo 1967, pp. 123-131 (in Japanese).

6 Edited text of Guan Tzu. Shanghai, 1956, pp. 1159-1178 (in Chinese).

7 Strabo. XV, 705; Herrmann A. Das Lande der Seide im Lichter der Antike. Leipzig. 1939, S. 25.

8 Harada G. East and West. N 2. - Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko (MRD TB), Tokyo, 1971, N 29, p. 69.

9 Summary of the excavation of the burial chamber in Alagou, Xinjiang. - Material Culture, 1981, N 7, pp. 18-22, Table VIII, 5 (in Chinese).

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Pamir and Tien Shan 10, in the Pazyryk mounds in the Altai 11 . Finds of imported glass products from the 5th-3rd centuries BC in China are numerous. There are two routes of their spread: from East Turkestan to Shandong and from Henan to Guangdong .12 Apparently, in ancient times, the distribution paths of glass and jade coincided. The Heshi bi regalia and Suihou Zhu beads, which were kept in the treasury of the Qinshi-Huangdi Emperor (221-210 BC), as well as the "night - hallowed bi" from the treasury of the rulers of the southern Chinese principality of Chu, were made of imported glass13 . Such products, being higher in quality than local ones, were copied by Chinese craftsmen 14 .

In the middle of the first millennium BC, the "Steppe" Route was functioning, connecting the coast of the Black and Azov Seas with Central Asia. Herodotus gives a detailed description of it. If you put the route he described on map 15, it becomes obvious that trade caravans started in Tanais and went up the Don through the lands of the Savromats to the places of the modern Volga-Don Canal. Then the road turned to present-day Orenburg, where there were forests inhabited by Budins, then led East, south of the Ural Mountains through the arid regions of Bolshoy Irgiz and Obshchey Yurt, then bordered the "forest steppe" where Tobol and Ishim lived iirki. Near modern Semipalatinsk we find in Herodotus "other Scythian tribes". After passing them, the caravans found themselves on a rocky plain in the foothills of the Altai Mountains. The journey ended in the land of the Agrippaeans, who "both men and women are bald from birth, with flat noses and broad chins." 16 They lived in the area of the Upper Irtysh and Lake Baikal. Zaisan-nor.

About the activity of contacts on this path, there is such evidence:: "The countries before these bald people and the peoples living on the other side of them are well known, since Scythians sometimes come to them. After all, information about them can be obtained not only from the Scythians, but also from the Hellenes from the Borysthenes trading harbor and other Pontic trading cities. When the Scythians come to the Agrippaeans, they negotiate with them with the help of seven interpreters in seven languages. " 17 Beyond the Agrippean region were "high, inaccessible mountains" that can be identified with the Altai. Herodotus mentions two other peoples there - the Issedones and the Arimasques. The location of the Issedons near the Tarim basin is confirmed by later data from Ptolemy 18 . Arimasks were placed in Mongolia. Along the steppe route, the Greek colonies on the Black Sea received furs and hides. According to excavations in Arzhan (Tuva )and Pazyryk (Altai), carpets and tapestries were exported from Achaemenid Iran to Central Asia and Southern Siberia. 19 The discovery of 16 Bosporan coins issued in the third century BC at the Dzungarian Gate also proves the existence of trade links between the Greek cities of the Northern Black Sea region and Central Asia .20
10 Abzurakov A. A., Bezborodov M. A., Zadneprovsky Yu. A. Glassmaking in Central Asia in ancient and medieval times. Tashkent, 1963, p. 78-79; Litvinsky B. A. Ancient nomads of the Roof of the World, Moscow, 1972, p. 75.

11 Rudenko S. I. Kul'tura naseleniya Gornogo Altay v skifskoe vremya [Culture of the population of the Altai Mountains in the Scythian period]. Moscow, 1953, p. 135.

12 Dohrenwend D. Glass in China. - Oriental Art, 1980/81, vol. XXVI, N 4, p. 429.

13 Harada G. Ancient Glass in the History of Cultural Exchange between East and West. - Acta Asiatica, 1963, N 3, p. 58.

14 Seligman C, Beck K. Far Eastern Glass: Some Western Origin. - Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities (BMFA), Stockholm, 1938, N 10, p. 1 s.

15 Hudson G. F. Europe and China. Lnd. 1930, p. 37.

16 Herodotus. History in nine Books, L. 1972, p. 192.

17 Ibid., p. 193.

18 Neihard A. A. The Scythian story of Herodotus in Russian Historiography L. 1982, pp. 120-123; Herrmann A. Op. cit., pp. 124-126; Ptolem. Geogr. VI, 16; 5, 7.

19 Plamenevskaya O. L. Some data on fabrics from the Arzhan mound. - Scientific notes of the Tuvan Research Institute of History, Language and Literature( TNIIYALI), Kyzyl, 1975, issue XVII.

20 Werner I. Fund bosporische Munzen in Dzungaria. - Eurasia Septentrionalis Antiqua (ESA), 1933, Bd. 8, S. 249 f.

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The emergence of two empires in the West and East of Eurasia - the Roman and Han-led to the emergence of large markets and increased trade ties. Both Chinese and ancient sources contain information about the trade routes between the West and the East and the goods transported along them. Archaeological excavations on various sections of the Silk Road provide additional materials to supplement these texts. Since the second half of the second century BC, the Southern and Northern Silk Roads led from China to the West. Originating in Yumyn, the Southern one ran along the northern slope of the Southern Mountains, the Yarkand-Darya River and up to Yarkand 21, then to Tashkurgaa and Vakhan. In Vakhan, the path split. The former led through Balkh and Merv, the Parthian capital of Hecatompilus, and Ectabana to Ctesiphon-on-Tigris, then followed the ancient Achaemenid road through Northern Mesopotamia to Syria to Antioch (after the strengthening of Palmyra in the II-III centuries. the road went through the Syrian desert and ended in Damascus)22 . The route from Wakhan south passed through Gilgit and Kashmir to Gandhara, ending at the mouth of the Indus and at Barigaza.

Northern road from China, going through Loulang (Lake district). Lobnor) to Karashar, "passed near the Northern Mountains (Tien Shan) and along the river (Tarim) went west to Shule (Kashgar)" 23, through the Terek-davan pass to the Ferghana Valley, the countries of Kangju (Central Asian Interfluve), Yancai (Lower Volga and Ural region), ending in the Greek colonies Northern Black Sea Coast. Due to changes in the political situation in Central Asia and under the influence of climatic factors, the direction of the routes changed 24 . In the first century BC, traffic on the "new" road was opened. It began in Yumin and led through Hami to Turfan, skirting the desert from the north, then turned west and merged with the old north road at Karashar. After a long hiatus, in the third century AD, the abandoned section of the old northern road from Loulan to Kashgar, called the "Middle" ("Straight") Way 25, began to function again .

In the ancient world, the first general information about the trade routes connecting the Serov country (East Turkestan and Northern China) with India appears in the work of Pseudoarrian "Sailing around the Erythraean Sea", dating from the second half of the first century AD .26 More detailed information about the Silk Road can be found in Ptolemy's Geographical Guide, written in the middle of the second century A.D. Information about Central Asia was gathered by Ptolemy from the work of the contemporary geographer Marinus of Tyre, who used the information of the Macedonian merchant Maes Titianus, whose envoys visited East Turkestan. The route described by Ptolemy was divided into three large segments: from the Euphrates crossing to Bactra (Balkh); then to the Stone Tower; then to Sera (Chang'an). The second is described by Ptolemy as follows :" From Bactra (the road) turns north until it rises to the mountainous country of the Comedians. After crossing these mountains, (the road) turns south to a gorge that opens into the valley. The northern part and Western extremity of this mountainous country are (according to Marinus) on the parallel of Byzantium, while the southern and eastern parts are on the parallel of the Hellespont. It should also be said that this road makes exactly the same turn to the east as it does to the south. It is also probable that this road of 50 schoyns, leading from this place to the Stone Tower, turns to the north; for (according to Marinus) if you follow the gorge, you will reach the Stone Tower, where the mountains begin, connecting in the east with the Imav. " 27
21 History of the Early Han, tsz. 97a, p. 1271 (in Chinese).

22 Hirth F. China and Roman Orient. Chicago. 1885; Pelliot P. Note sur les anciens itineraires chinois dans l'Orient Romain. - Journal Asiatique, 1921, vol. CCXII, pp 139 - 145; Shiratori K. The Geography of the Western Region. -MRD TB, 1956, N 15, pp. 73 - 163.

23 History of the Early Han, tsz. 96a, p. 1271.

24 Hoyonagi M. Natural Changes of the Region along the Old Silk Road in the Tarim Basin in Historical Times - MRD TB, 1975, N 33, p. 85.

25 Fan Hao. Istoriya svyazi Kitay s Zapadom [History of China's Relations with the West]. 1959, pp. 117-119 (in Chinese).

26 Pseudo-Arrians. Swimming around the Eritrean Sea. - VDI, 1940, N 2, p. 264 sl.

27 Coedes G. Textes d'auteurs grecs et latins relatifs a l'Extrerne Orient depuis le IVe siecle avant J. C. jusqu'au XIVe siecle. P. 1910, pp. 33 - 34.

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The uncertainty of Ptolemy's coordinates and distances makes it difficult to determine the location of the Stone Tower and Hermetium near it, the main transit points for Western merchants traveling with caravans to Sera. Speaking of Hermetio, Ptolemy specifies that it is located in Scythia, outside Imava, near the country of Kasa 28 . Special literature describes three main existing variants of the Silk Road: northern, middle (Karategin) and southern. At the initial stage of studying the problem (in the first half of the XIX century), a Stone Tower was placed in Tashkent or Osh. Proponents of the first point of view (Zh. Alee, M. Renaud, V. Saint-Martin 29 and others) relied on the etymology of the word Tashkent ("Stone Fortress"), as well as on the data in Biruni's book "India" 30. E. Wilford, K. Ritter, A. Humboldt and K. Lassen 31 identified the Stone Tower with the sacred Takhti Suleiman Mountain in the vicinity Osh. According to this theory, the road described by Ptolemy led from Bactra to Samarkand and through Tashkent (or Osh) to Kashgar.

When this view was rejected by the 1860s, it was replaced by theories about the southern and middle variants. Supporters of the first (X. Juhl in later works, H. Rawlinson, J. Pacquier, V. Tomaszek, J. Marquart and A. Stein in the first works)32 They placed the Tower of Kakhmen near Toshkurgan; the Ptolemaic way led through Vakhan and Toshkurgan to Yarkand. In the 1870s, K Richthofen developed the point of view expressed by X. Yul'em in his early works 33 : the indicated route from Balkh led north, through the Amu Darya near Termez, along the Surkhan Darya Valley, along the Vakht through Karategin and the Alai Valley to Kashgar 34 . The Karategin variant was supported by the research of N., Severtsev, M. Grenard and later works of A. Stein 35 . After new and detailed research by A. Herrmann, this point of view became dominant .36 The Karategin version was supported by information provided by Ibn Rusta in the "Book of Precious Necklaces" (early X century), where he mentions the area of Kumed in the upper reaches of Vashkh 37, which was identified with the" mountain country of the Comedians " by Ptolemy.

At the same time, data from Chinese sources do not speak in favor of the Karategin option. After all, it is clear from the text of Ptolemy that the road he described from Bactria through the Comedian Mountains to the Stone Tower and then to Sera was the only trade route from West to East. "Notes on the Western Lands" from Han dynastic chronicles also indicate that the southern route is the only land route connecting the Han Empire with Bactria and the country of Daqin (Eastern Mediterranean). This route passed through Khotan, Yarkand, Vakhan district and Balkh. As for the road through Karategin and the Alai Valley, Chinese sources do not contain any information about traffic on it.

28 Ibid., pp. 45 - 46.

29 Hage r Y. Description des medailles chinoises du Cabinet Imperial. P. 1805, pp 123 - 124; Reinaud M. Relations de voyages fait par les arabes et les persans dans l'Inde et la Chine. Vol. I. P. 1845, p. 160; Saint Martin V. de. Etude sur la geographie grecque et latine de l'Inde. P. 1860, p. 275.

30 Biruni A. R. Izbrannye sochineniya [Selected Works], Vol. II, Tashkent, 1963, p. 271.

31 Wilford E. An Essay on the Sacred Isles in the West. - Asiatic Researches, 1808, vol. VIII, p. 323; Ritter K. Die Erdkunde von Asien. Bd. VII. Brl. 1837, S. 413; Humboldt A. L'Asie Centrale. P. 1847, p. 416; Lassen C. Indische Altertumkunde. Bd. III. Leipzig. 1859, S. 119.

32 Jule H. Notes on Hwen Thsang's Account on the Principality of Tokharestan. - Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (JRAS), 1879, N 6, pp. 97 - 98; Rawlinson H. Monographe on the Oxus. - Journal of the Royal Geographic Society (JRGS), 1874, t. 42, pp. 496, 498, 504; Paquier J. B. Le Pamir. Etude de geographie physique et historique sur l'Asie Centrale. P. 1876, pp. 23 - 26; Tomaschek W. Centralasiatische Studien. Bd. I. Wien. 1877, S. 112; Marquart J. Wehrot und Arang. Leiden. 1938, S. Ill; Stein A. Sand-Buried Ruins of Khotan. Lnd. 1904, p. 67.

33 Jule H. Cathay and the Way Thither. Lnd. 1866, p. 149.

34 Richthofen K. Op. cit., S. 496 - 500.

35 Severtzov N. Etude de geographie historique sur les anciens itineraires a travers le Pamir. - Bulletin de la Societe de geographie, 1890, t. 11, N 13, p. 438; Jule H. Cathay, p. 149; Grenard M. Le Turkestan et le Tibet. Mission scientifique dans la Haute Asie. Vol. II. P. 1898, p. 17; Stein A. Ancient Khotan. Vol. I. Oxford. 1907, pp. 54 - 55; ejusd. Innermost Asia. Vol. II. Lnd. 1928, pp. 848 - 850; ejusd. On Ancient Central Asian Tracks. Lnd. 1933, p. 242.

36 Herrmann A. Die Alten Seidenstrafien zwischen China und Syrien. Brl. 1910.

37 Tomaschek W. Op. cit., S. 111.

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The Japanese researcher K. Shiratori did a lot of work to combine Ptolemy's data and Chinese texts. He rejected the Karategin option and returned to the southern one. An important argument was to find out the location of Komeda, through which the road to the Stone Tower and the area of Casa with Hermetio went. Shiratori proved that there were two regions with the name Komed in the Pamirs: one was located in the Darvaz region, the second in the Vakhan Valley; the name of the Darvaz Komed appeared only in the VII century, the word Komed in the Vakhan Valley dates back to the first centuries AD, when the "Geographical Guide"was compiled. Further. Based on the" Descriptions of the Western Lands " of Xuanzang (VII century), it was stated that Casa was located in the Kashgar region. A comparative study of historical texts and early Buddhist sutras allowed Shiratori to show that the name Kasa in Kashgar appeared only in the VI century. The data contained in the writings of Sun Yan (IV century), Tao An (IV century), and other Buddhist pilgrims confirm that from the beginning of the II century AD to the first half of the V century, the district of Tashkurgan was called Kasa after the dynasty that ruled there, and therefore there was also a Hermetition and a Stone Tower. .

Xuanzang's "Notes on the Western Lands" indicate that Ptolemy's Stone Tower must correspond to a Large Stone Rock (Dashiyai) in the area of modern Tashkent; 200 li from the rock was Benzhanshelo (transliteration of the Sanskrit "pinidsiba" - hotel for visitors). In the legend given by Xuanzang, it is said that in ancient times at this place more than 10 thousand merchants with caravans were caught in a storm and died. At that time, a great arhat (disciple of the Buddha, saint) lived there. He collected the goods and jewels of the dead, and at the place of their death "founded hotels and inns. He saved up money, bought land in the surrounding countries, and sold houses in border towns to help travelers. Therefore, even now travelers and merchants everywhere receive help and support. " 39 This cluster of inns and inns can be identified with Ptolemy's Hermetium.

Recent archaeological finds provide objective evidence in favor of the southern variant. Excavations at Nii from the first to second centuries A.D. confirm the role of Khotan as the main transit point from East Turkestan to Bactria and India. A significant place among the finds is occupied by trade items: silk fabrics exported to the west and wool carpets and tapestries brought from there, patterned and printed cotton fabrics, glass products 40 . Texts in the Kharoshti alphabet state that the silk trade played a significant role in the economy of the oasis, mention the importation of silk by merchants from China, and that silk was widely used by the local population .41
Information about two-way traffic along the southern section of the Silk Road contains numerous rock inscriptions and votive drawings discovered in the upper Indus River by the expedition of K. Yettmar and dating back to the I-VIII centuries. (most belong to the II-III centuries). Left behind by warriors, Kushan, Sogdian, Khotan, and Chinese merchants, artists, monks, and pilgrims, they serve as a kind of registration book for those traveling along the Silk Road .42 Movement along the Bactrian section of the southern road is also recorded by finds in Tillya Tepe (I-II centuries) and Begram (III century, Afghanistan). Among them, the Hellenistic ones stand out

38 Shiratori K. On the Tsung-ling Traffic Route Described by C. Ptolemaeus. - MRD TB, 1937, N 16, pp. 1, 14 - 15, 22 - 27.

39 Xuan Zang. Descriptions of the Western lands in the Great Tang period. Peking, 1955, ch. 12, pp. 12a-13a (in Chinese).

40 Shi Shuqing. About the finds in Niya, Minfeng County, Xinjiang Province. - Material Culture, 1964, N 7-8, p. 20-27 (in Chinese); Sichou Zhilu. The Silk Road. Woven products of the Han - Tang period. Beijing, 1972, tab. IV-XVI (in Chinese).

41 Nagasawa K. Studying the history of the Silk Road. Tokyo. 1979, pp. 133-135 (in Russian).

42 Yettrnar K. Neuen Felsbilder und Inschriften in der Nordgebilder Pakistan. - Allgemeine und vergleichende Archaeologie, Beitrage, 1980, Bd. 2, S. 151 - 159; Humbach H. Die sogdischen Inschriftenfunde von oberen Indus (Pakistan). Ibid., S. 201 f.

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objects (jewelry, bronze, glass, plaster seals, coins), Indian monuments (carved bone) and Chinese monuments (mirrors, lacquers, jewelry)43 .

As for the northern road, the data of the "Notes of the Historian" and Han dynastic chronicles allow us to trace its direction along the southern slopes of the Tien Shan, through the Ferghana Valley and the Central Asian interfluve to the lower reaches of the Volga. Among the ancient authors, some information about the northern route is found in Pliny (I century AD), where it is stated that the Sauromatians living in the Northern Caucasus have trade links through the Strait (Lower Volga) with the Abzoi on the eastern bank and that the Abzoi consist of many tribes with different names .44 In turn, Hesu (ancient reading: Hapetso) is a close transmission of Abzo 45 .

Ptolemy's detailed description of the Caspian and Transcaspian countries suggests the presence of active activity on the northern road in the first centuries AD. Ptolemy used a guidebook with data on the route from the Sea of Azov through Khorezm to the southeast as a source. Its existence is suggested by the fact that in the presence of relatively accurate data on the regions to the north of the Caspian Sea, information about the Caspian Sea itself and the mouths of rivers flowing into it and points lying there suffer from inaccuracies. Although Ptolemy knew nothing about the Volga Delta, he reported accurate information about its course, the confluence of the Kama River, the Rimmian (Southern Urals) and Noros (Mugodzhary) mountains, the upper reaches of the Rimm (Uzen), Daiks (Ural) and Iast (Emba)rivers46 . Just as the Steppe Route was the main source of pelts and furs for the ancient Greeks, so the northern road was their Fur Route for the ancient Chinese. In the Han Empire, sables from the Yan country in the Southern Urals and in the Kama Basin were especially valued .47 Some of the furs that reached East Turkestan were transported along the southern route to India, and from there by ship to the Roman Empire .48
Written data on trade relations along the northern route are also supplemented by archaeological finds related to two regions: the Ferghana Valley (with the adjacent Tien Shan, Alai and Tashkent regions) and the Sarmatian habitat. Ancient Davan was a transit center on the northern route. In the hands of the local population, many goods from the Han Empire accumulated, primarily silk fabrics, bronze mirrors, and Wushu coins. In the second and third centuries, these connections increased, as evidenced by finds in the burial grounds of the Isfara Valley, Western Ferghana, Ketmen-tyube, and Kencol 49 . Silk fabrics and bronze mirrors penetrated along the northern route to the Lower Volga region and the Northern Black Sea region50 . Finds of mirrors from the second century BC serve as an indirect confirmation that in the early period of communication, the route through the steppes of Eurasia was more important than the southern road, which dates back to the first century BC.

Interesting information about the trade routes in Central Asia of the 5th-7th centuries is contained in the biography of Pei Ju (history of the Sui Dynasty 589-621). The "Descriptions and Maps of the Western Lands" created by Pei have been lost, but excerpts from them have been preserved in the biography, one of which reads: "From Dunhuang to the Western Sea there are three roads, and each road has branches. The northern road from Hami passes by Lake Barkul, the Tele tribe, the headquarters of the Turkic Khagan (near the lake. Issyk-Kul), goes through Liuheshui, reaches Byzantium and reaches beyond-

43 Hackin Y. Nouvelles recherches archeologiques a Begraai, Vol. I - II. P. 1954; Sarianidi V. Bactrian Gold. Leningrad. 1984.

44 Plin. Nat. Hist. VI, 17.

45 Teggart E. J. Rome and China. Berkeley. 1939, pp. 200 - 201; Shiratori K. A New Attempt at the Solution of the Fulin Problem. - MRD TB, 1956, N 15, pp. 230 - 232.

46 Elnitsky L. A. Znanie drevnykh o severnykh stranakh [Ancient knowledge of the Northern Countries]. Moscow, 1961, pp. 200-203.

47 Chen Zhutong. Economic and cultural ties of both Han with the Western lands and other territories. Shanghai, 1957, p. 6 (in Chinese).

48 Pseudo-Arrians. Uk. soch., p. 275.

49 Litvinsky B. A. Kurgany i kurumy Zapadnoy Fergany [Mounds and kurums of Western Ferghana]. Moscow, 1970. Tools of labor and utensils from the burial grounds of Western Ferghana, Moscow, 1970.

50 Sinitsyn I. V. Sarmatian culture of the Lower Volga region. - Soviet Archeology (SA), 1946, N VIII, p. 92, fig. 26; Lubo-Lesnichenko E. I. Ancient Chinese silk fabrics and embroidery of the V century BC-III century AD in the collection of the State Hermitage Museum, L. 1961, pp. 29-30, Table IX.

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the Mediterranean Sea. The middle road from Turfan through Karashar, Kuch, Tele and further through the Pamirs passes through Kabudan, Ura-Tube, Bukhara, Samarkand and Merv, reaches Iran and reaches the Western Sea. The southern road from the Lobnor region goes through Khotan, Kargadyk, Tashkurgan, Pamir and further through Vakhan, Tokharistan, Eftalites, Bamyan, Ghazni leads to Northwestern India and reaches the Western Sea. Roads also branch off from each country, which in turn intersect in the south and north. Thus, following (these roads), you can get to any place. Therefore, it is known that Hami, Turfan and Lobnor are the gates to the West. " 51
Comparing the paths described by Pai with earlier information, we find a number of changes here. Connections to the distant Black Sea coast, which had previously passed through Kashgar and the Ferghana Valley, now went through Khami and Talas to the lower reaches of the Volga. The middle route, which coincided in the first half with the old northern route, then turned southwest to Merv and led through Sasanian Iran and Armenia to Constantinople. The southern route of Wu Pei completely coincided with the southern road of the Han dynastic chronicles. Pei's description of the northern route reflects the resumption of trade links along the ancient road from East Turkestan and Sughd centers to the Black Sea coast. The resumption of traffic on this road was a consequence of the changed political situation on the Silk Road. Sasanian Iran's blocking of transit trade in silk has prompted a search for a workaround. According to Meander, the new route laid by the Turkic-Sogdian and Byzantine embassies led from the cities of Sogd and Stavka of the Turkic khagan "across the Oikh River" (Syr-Darya), past the "famous great and wide lake" (the Aral Sea), then "through difficult places" to the river. Ikha (Emba), Daikha (Ural) and "different swamps" to the possessions of Attila (Volga). After reaching Alanya "by the Darin road", the route went to the river Phasis (Rion) and ended in Trebizond 52 .

Findings from the Moshevaya Balka burial ground (North Caucasus) are important for studying trade relations along this route. As they show, the trade that began in the second half of the sixth century continued here until the end of the eighth century. Chinese texts (fragments of works of art, accounting records)were found in the so-called burial of a Chinese merchant53 . Evidence of trade relations between the seventh and early eighth centuries along the middle road through Samarkand is found on Mount Mugh, in the burial ground of Astana (Turfan) and in the walled-up cave of the Dunhuang monastery in China of many silk fabrics of Chinese and Sughd production .54 In the seventh century, the system of trade routes in Central Asia changed: along with the northern route described by Pei, a shorter one appeared, connecting East Turkestan with Semirechye. According to the dynastic chronicle "Xin Tangshu", he went through Aksu, the Bedel Pass and to the lake. Issyk-Kul 55 . Information about caravan trade in the early eighth century between Kuchy and Almalyk (Ili River basin) is contained in documents found in the burial ground Astana 56 .

The role of Sasanian Iran in international trade in the V - VII centuries is evidenced by the finds of silver Sasanian coins in East Turkestan and China. As a rule, they are found in the main shopping centers of the Silk Road. Their analysis allows us to draw conclusions about the system of trade relations. 76 Sasanian coins from Sinin, issued under Peroz (459-484), attest to the role of Sinin as a transit center. Along with the old road through the Gansu corridor, in the V - VI centuries there was a route from Jinyuan via Lanzhou and Xining to the northwest, to Zhangye,

51 History of the Sui Dynasty, tsz. 67, p. 502 (in Chinese).

52 Byzantine historians. St. Petersburg, 1860, pp. 350-384.

53 Ierusalimskaya A. A. On the North Caucasian "Silk Road" in the Early Middle Ages. - SA, 1967, N 2, p. 64-72; its own. "The Great Silk Road" and the North Caucasus, L. 1972, pp. 5-7.

54 Vinokurova M. P. Fabrics from the castle on Mount Mugh. - Proceedings of the Department of Social Sciences of the Academy of Sciences of the Tajik SSR. 1957, N 14; Jerusalem A. A. To the addition of the school of artistic silk weaving in Sogd. In: Central Asia and Iran, L. 1972, pp. 47-55.

55 New History of Tang, tsz. 43b, p. 336 (in Chinese).

56 Sato G. Izuchenie istorii drevnekitaiskogo shelkotkachestva [Studying the history of ancient Chinese silk weaving]. 1978, p. 508 (in Russian).

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where it merged with the old road that led West. The Chinese pilgrims Fa Hsien, Tang Ujie (V century) and Sun Yun (VI century)traveled this way to India .57
Byzantine coin finds in East Turkestan and Northern China date back to the 5th-6th centuries. The main part of them came to the east along the northern route laid out by Menander and Sogdian merchants .58 As an international currency, Sasanian and Byzantine coins of the 5th - 6th centuries were widely used in East Turkestan and Western China. According to the Sui Dynasty chronicle,"in the provinces located west of the Yellow River, gold (i.e. Byzantine) or silver (i.e. Sasanian) coins from Western lands are sometimes used, which is not prohibited by the government." 59 Numerous texts from Dunhuang and Turfan discovered by the expeditions of A. Stein and Huang Wenbi indicate that Sasanian and Byzantine coins were widely used in various trade transactions at that time .60
One of the features of trade relations on the Silk Road was that they often appeared in a veiled form, under the guise of exchanging diplomatic missions. The following passage from the "Biography of Zhang Qian" testifies to the prosperity of such trade already at the beginning of the Silk Road: "In the beginning, the Juquan District was founded to establish ties with the Northwestern countries. As a result, the number of embassies sent increased, reaching the countries of Anxi (the Arsacid kingdom), Yancai (the Lower Volga and the Urals), Lixian (the Roman East), Tiaozhi (Taoke) and Shendu (Northern India). The embassies on the roads could see each other. One large embassy numbered several hundred people, and a small one-more than a hundred. The gifts they took with them are similar to those sent during Zhang Qian's time. 61 Those who went far away returned in eight or nine years, and the nearest ones-in a few years... When the embassy returned, it was inevitable that the envoys were robbing or stealing goods on the way. The envoys were people from poor families who viewed government gifts and goods as their own and looked for opportunities to buy goods in foreign countries at a cheap price in order to benefit upon their return to China. " 62
The picture was similar in embassies arriving in China from the West. So, in the reign of Chengdi (32-7 BC), Jibin (Kashmir) sent an embassy with gifts. The Emperor intended to send a return embassy and accompany the Jibin mission on its return. However, a court official, Du Qin, sent a message to the emperor saying, " Among those who bring gifts, there are no members of the ruling family or nobles. These are all merchants or people of low birth. Their intention is to exchange goods and conduct trade under the pretext of presenting gifts. " 63 A similar "diplomatic trade" continued at a later time. According to Weishu, Sule (Kashgar) sent embassies with gifts twice in 507. In 511, three embassies with gifts came one after another from the Ganda country, and two embassies each from the Wuzhang (Udayan), Jiashimi, Bugosha, and Pobi countries. In 517, three embassies were sent to Difolo and Jibin (Kashmir). Trade caravans usually arrived under the screen of these embassies .64
57 Xia Nai Review of Sasanian coins found in China. - Bulletin of Archeology, 1974, p. 91-110 (in Chinese). Sasanian silver coins discovered in Sikina, prov. Tsinghai. In: Collection of articles on archeology. Beijing, 1964, pp. 129-134 (in Chinese).

58 Xia Nai. A Byzantine gold coin found in a tomb from the Sui Dynasty. - Byzantine vremennik, 1962, N XXJ, p. 179-182; his. Relations between China and Byzantium in the Middle Ages. - World History, 1980, N 4, p. 3-4 (in Chinese).

59 History of the Sui Dynasty, tsz. 24, p. 226.

60 Okazaki T. Kul'turnye svyazi mezhdu Zapadom i Vostokom po dannym arkheologii [Cultural relations between the West and the East according to archaeological data]. Tokyo. 1973, pp. 264-265 (in Russian).

61 In the" Biography " we read that Zhang Qian took with him gold, jewelry and silk fabrics, which were worth huge sums.

62 Zapiski istorika, tsz. 123, p. 1131 (in Chinese).

63 History of the Early Han, tsz. 96a, p. 1275.

64 Fan Hao. Uk. soch. Vol. I, pp. 214-216.

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Even at an early stage of the Silk Road's existence, "diplomatic trade" took on significant proportions. In 2 BC, the Han government sent the Huns 84,000 pieces of silk cloth and 74,000 jin (then the jin was equal to 221 g) of silk wadding . As a result, Central Asian markets were saturated. As early as the end of the second century BC, Davan (Ferghana) and other states on the northern route had a "surplus of Chinese goods" 66 . In turn, according to the Discussion of Salt and Iron (1st century BC), "mules, donkeys, and camels continuously cross the border into the Han Empire. Han becomes the owner of ordinary horses, dappled horses, bays and racehorses. Furs of sables, marmots, foxes, badgers, painted qiusou carpets and decorative dabei bedspreads add to the imperial treasury. " 67 Along with the" diplomatic " trade on the Silk Road, there were other types of trade. In East Turkestan and Western China, there were "camp markets", " outpost markets "(foreign markets), and ordinary urban markets .68
As a result of increased trade during the Eastern Han period (25-220), "messengers and guides moved continuously in both directions, and foreign merchants and peddlers came daily to the border to trade." 69 According to "Hou Hanynu", already in the first century AD, foreign merchants penetrated along the Silk Road to the imperial capital of Luoyang. In 58 AD, when the Guangwu Emperor died, merchants from the Western Lands built a temple and offered sacrifices for the deceased. 70 The increased influx of merchants from the Western Lands led to the fact that during the early Wei period (3rd century AD), the Dunhuang governor Cang Ci issued special permits to merchants traveling to Luoyang for trade .71 This system of permits was later inherited under the Sui and Tang dynasties .72 The rise of international trade on the Silk Road in the sixth century is described in the "Notes on the Monasteries of Luoyang": "From the mountains of Conglin (Pamir) and further west to the country of Daqin (Byzantium), there were not hundreds of countries and thousands of cities who did not want to come here. Foreign merchants and visiting baryshniki day after day tend to outposts... Those who settle in the capital, it is impossible to count. All the hard-to-reach goods of the Middle Kingdom are available here. " 73 Something similar was observed in the 630s by Xuanzang on his way to India: "There are no large cities adjacent to Hexi (the area west of the Yellow River) where Western foreigners, merchants with helpers, and trading companies of many countries do not move nonstop in different directions."74
A significant role in the trade on the Silk Road belonged to the Sogdians. Their penetration into East Turkestan and Western China dates back to the IV-III centuries BC. Significant Sogdian colonies and settlements are recorded in the main centers of caravan trade in Central Asia, East Turkestan and Northern China from the first centuries AD.Written information about the Sogdian community at the Silk Road junction - in Dunhuang dates back to the IV century. According to the Sughd "old letters", it numbered at least 1 thousand people. Significant Sogdian colonies were also located in such trade centers of Western China as Liangzhou and Suzhou .75 These colonies continued to conduct active trade activities during the Tang period. A significant number of Sogdian merchants also lived in the Tang capital of Chang'an .76 On the southern route, Sogdian caravans passed through Pa-

65 Sato G. Uk. soch. Vol. 1, p. 429.

66 Notes of a Historian, vol. 123, p. 1132.

67 Gale E. M. The Discourses on Salt and Iron. Leiden. 1931, pp. 14 - 15.

68 Ying-shi Yu. Trade and Expansion in Han, China. Berkeley. 1967, pp. 94 - 96.

69 History of the Late Han, ts. 118, p. 1097 (in Chinese).

70 Ying-shi Yu. Op. cit., p. 212.

71 History of the Three Kingdoms, vol. 16, p. 213 (in Russian).

72 Schaefer E. Uk. soch., pp. 40-47.

73 Notes on the monasteries of Luoyang with comments. Beijing, 1958, p. 67 (in Chinese).

74 Xuan Zang. Uk. soch., tsz. 8, p. 4.

75 Henning W. The Date of Sogdian Ancient Letters. - Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (BSOAS), 1948, vol. XII, pt. 3 - 4, pp. 606 - 612; Enoki K. Sogdiana and the Hsiung-nu. - Central Asiatic Journal (CAJ), 1956, N 1, p. 44.

76 Chuguevsky L. N. New materials on the history of the Sughd colony in the Dunhuang region. In: Strany i narody Vostoka [Countries and Peoples of the East]. Issue X. M. 1971, p. 147-150; Shefer E. Golden peaches of Samarkand, p. 37, 39.

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the world to Northern India, as evidenced by Sogdian rock inscriptions. In the main center of the southern route, Shanshan (near the lake. Lobnor) in the first half of the seventh century, a colony of several settlements was founded by immigrants from Samarkand .77 Texts from Astana and Karakhodzha show the same later.

The penetration of Buddhism into Northern China was the result of trade contacts along the Silk Road. The link between Buddhist propaganda and trade activities is indicated by the fact that the Buddhist religion in China began to spread among the nobility, who bought luxury goods from Western lands and fell under the influence of foreign culture .78 The first Buddhist communities appeared in Luoyang, where the main colony of foreign merchants was located. The direct role of Western merchants in the spread of Buddhism in China is confirmed by the biography of the Parthian merchant An Xuan, who arrived in Luoyang in 181 on a trade mission and became a member of the Buddhist community founded by the Parthian preacher An Shigao. The son of a Sogdian merchant was also a Buddhist preacher of the third century. Kang Senghui 79 . Data on the pilgrimage routes from China to India contain the "Biographies of famous monks seeking the Law in the Western Lands during the Great Tang Period" of Yijing from the second half of the 7th century. Of the 65 individuals mentioned by him, 14 used the routes through East Turkestan to travel to India, 8 passed through Tibet and Nepal, 41 pilgrims sailed by sea past Malacca and Ceylon, there is no information about two monks. As for the return journey, according to the surviving biographies of 24 monks, 9 people passed the Silk Road through East Turkestan, 5 - through Nepal and Tibet, and 10-80 people used the sea route . This leads to the conclusion that the strengthening of sea relations to the detriment of land relations has begun. The intensification of this process, along with political factors, led to the extinction of active trade activity on the Silk Road in the eighth century.

The road through the vast expanses of Central Asia was not easy for trade caravans. On the southern road, a particular difficulty for travelers was the lifeless desert in the Lobnor region, called the "White Dragon Dunes". About her in the dynastic chronicle "Baishi" says the following: "To the north-west of Cherchen for several hundred li - loose sands. In the summer, winds blow there, bringing disaster to travelers. Old camels, when this wind rises, start to shout, gather together and bury their muzzles in the sand. People take this as a warning and immediately cover their mouth and nose with woolen cloths. This wind passes quickly, but those who do not cover may die"; another lifeless desert was located on the new northern road from Dunhuang to Turfan; the Zhoushu says: "All the way from Dunhuang to this country is surrounded by sand and rocks, and it is impossible to accurately determine the road and distances. Only by the skeletons of people and animals, and by horse and camel droppings, is it possible to determine (the path) " 81 . Once the deserts were over, travelers heading west would have a half-month trek across the Pamir Highlands. This road is "very difficult to travel... The rocks rise up to an enormous height. If a person looks down, he gets dizzy, and if he wants to go further, he will not find a place to put his foot. " 82
Despite the vast distances, arid deserts, and rugged mountains, caravans moved in both directions along the Silk Road. Crossings through Central Asia were possible thanks to the centuries-old traditions of the Serindian oasis population. Since ancient times, locals have bred Bactrian two-humped camels," ships of the desert", indispensable for long-distance crossings. In the sources, there are repeated references to a large number of camels in the Shanshan possessions (the area of Lake Baikal). Lobnor), Qiuci (Kucha), and Kangju (Central Asian interfluve). Especially famous were the camels of Karashar and Kuchi, located in the southern part of the country.-

77 Giles L. A Chinese Geographical Text of the Ninth Century. - BSOAS, 1930, vol. VI, p. 827.

78 Ying-shi Yu. Op. cit., pp. 212 - 215.

79 Zurcher E. The Buddhist Conquest of China. Leiden. 1959, p. 23.

80 Nagasawa K. Uk. op., pp. 502-505.

81 Istoriya severnykh [History of the Northern Kingdoms], tsz. 97, p. 868 (in Chinese).

82 Fa-hsien. A Record of the Buddhist Countries. Peking. 1957, p. 23.

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located on north road 83 . Transport and transportation in general were then one of the central problems in the oases of East Turkestan. Information about them in the state of Raurana (Loulan)lying on the southern road III-IV centuries give texts in Kharoshti. There was a well-organized transport service. Every major oasis had stations for resting and changing camels. Special fast animals were kept for ambassadors and persons performing state tasks .84 A similar system existed on the northern road.

The composition of trade items transported along the Silk Road was formed at the beginning of its operation and then remained almost unchanged for a long time. The main commodity was silk. Due to its lightness, compactness, huge demand and high cost, it was an ideal item for long-distance trade transportation. The population of East Turkestan was already familiar with silk in the X-III centuries BC. e. In the IV century BC, silk fabrics enter India 85 . From the second century BC, silk became widespread in Parthia, and in the first half of the first century BC, it was used to make battle banners there .86 At the same time, he entered Alexandria, the main commercial center of the Eastern Mediterranean. As you know, the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra made luxurious garments from silk .87 Since that time, the number of silk fabrics brought to the Roman Empire from far-off Sera has continuously increased .88 In the first centuries AD, there was a special market in Rome for the sale of silk .89 In 380, Ammianus Marcellinus wrote that "the use of silk, which was once restricted to the nobility, has now spread to all levels of society, even among the lowest." 90 In 408, the Visigothic king Alaric, during the siege of Rome, demanded 4 thousand silk tunics from its inhabitants as a ransom .91
The far West received mainly smooth fabrics such as taffeta, reps, fine kamchatka and gauze fabrics. A significant part of them was processed in workshops in Syria and Egypt .92 Samples of such fabrics were found during excavations in Palmyra 93 . Soon after the appearance of transit trade exchange along the Silk Road, sericulture spread from China to the West. Early information about it dates back to the first century AD and is associated with Khami , the easternmost oasis in Turkestan. The Late Han Dynasty chronicle states: "The land in Hami is suitable for sowing cereals, as well as for breeding silkworms, cocoons, and viticulture." 94 Indirect data on sericulture in the Turfan and Karashar oases are contained in the Zhoushu (557-581a) 95 .

The findings of recent years in the burial grounds of Astana and Karakhodzha (Turfan) complement the information of the chronicles. A promissory note was found in the burial ground of Karakhoja, where it is said that Anu borrowed a piece of Yanqin (Karashar) polychrome cloth made in Turfan from Zhai Shaoyuan .96 Such fabrics were made in state-owned workshops that served the ruling elite. The existence of these workshops in Turfan in the fifth century is attested by another document found in the same place .97 In addition to Turfan, such production centers were located in Kashgar and Kucheran .

83 Chen Zhutong. Uk. soch., pp. 14-15; Schafer E. H. The Camel in China down to the Mongol Dynasty. - Sinologica, 1950, vol. 2, pp. 165-194, 263-290.

84 Nagasawa K. Uk. op., pp. 215-227.

85 Strabo. XV, 705; Herrmann A. Das Land, S. 25.

86 Boulnois L. La route de la soie. P. 1963, pp. 11 - 13.

87 Tarn W. W. The Hellenistic Civilization. Lnd. 1927, pp. 256 - 257.

88 Boulnois L. Op. cit., pp. 11 - 13.

89 Hudson C. F. Op. cit., p. 68.

90 Ammianus. XXIX, 2, 1.

91 Zosimus. V, 11, 4.

92 Pigulevskaya N. V. Goroda Irana v rannem srednevekovie [Cities of Iran in the Early Middle Ages]. Moscow, L. 1956, pp. 225-228

93 Pfister R. Textiles de Palmyre. T. I. P. 1934, pp. 45 - 46, 54, 60; t III. 1940, pp. 20, 29, 30.

94 History of the Late Han, tsz. 118, p. 1091.

95 Istoriya [northern] Zhou, tsz. 50, p. 259 (in Chinese).

96 Brief report on the excavation of the Turfan-Karakhoja burial ground. - Material Culture, 1978, N 6, p. 5; Brief data on documents of the Jin - Tang periods from Turfan. - Ibid., 1977, N 3, p. 22 (in Chinese).

97 Brief data on documents of the Jin - Tang periods from Turfan, p. 23.

98 A brief report on the excavation of the Turfan-Karakhoja burial ground, pp. 5, 8-9.

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The Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang, who visited the oases of Eastern Turkestan in the 630s-640s, gives this story about the penetration of sericulture into the Khotan oasis: the ruler of Khotan married the daughter of a neighboring ruler; she secretly brought silkworm eggs with her and introduced sericulture to Khotan." As Ji Xianling points out, this event took place in the year 419,100 . In the fifth century, the culture of sericulture reached Merv, and from there, by the sixth century, it penetrated to Gurgan on the southeastern coast of the Caspian Sea .101 This culture spread rapidly along the western half of the Silk Road. Sughd silk weaving school 102 was formed . In the second half of the sixth century, a new culture penetrated Byzantium, information about which is preserved in the works "War with the Goths" by Procopius," Annals "by Zonarius, and "Extracts" by Theophanes of Byzantium. At the behest of the Emperor Justinian, some monks (according to Theophanes - some Persian) from Serindia secretly brought silkworm eggs to Byzantium, after which silk production began there. 103 As R. Henning proved, the events described occurred in the 550s104 . Thus, the contours of a long and complex process of spreading sericulture and silk weaving are outlined. This phenomenon, which lasted for half a millennium, can be considered as one of the major events in the history of cultural exchange of the peoples of Eurasia. This process was twofold. The new sericulture centers, in turn, had the opposite effect on the development of artistic weaving in China itself, causing changes in the manufacture of fabrics .105
After the establishment of trade contacts with Central Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean, a variety of woollen products began to flow to China along the Silk Road, using Iranian and Arabic names .106 These imported products made a great impression on the Chinese, who were not familiar with the technique of processing wool and linen, carpet production and tapestry weaving. In the third century. Wu Wanzhen wrote enthusiastically: "Qiusou bedspreads are made from sheep's wool, as well as from the wool of various animals. [They] depict animals and people, grasses, trees and clouds, and also place parrots. If you look at them from a distance, they seem to fly. " 107 According to the Discussion on Salt and Iron, imported carpets and bedspreads were widely distributed among the rich in the Han Empire .108
In ancient China, Parthian tapestries and carpets were highly valued. Qiusou carpets and dateng bedspreads were exported from Northern India, "finely made and very beautiful"; fragments of letters from the compiler of the dynastic chronicle of the Elder Han, Ban Gu, to his brother, the general Ban Chao, have been preserved. One passage refers to the desire of the warlord Dou Xiang to buy 10 pieces of Yuezhi (Kushan) wool tapestries through intermediaries for 800 thousand coins. 109 Here is a vivid commentary on the well-known complaints of the Roman Seneca about the enormous cost of silk in the Italian markets. Delight and amazement were caused in the Far East by "five-color and nine-color daten carpets" from Daqing (Eastern Mediterranean), mainly from Syrian workshops. According to the "Brief Description of Wei" (III century), the "qiusou carpets, dateng carpets, ji tapestries, zhang bedspreads are more colorful and colorful than all the products of the countries east of the Sea (Persian Gulf)"110 . Finds of woolen woven fabrics

99 Xuan Tsang. Uk. soch., tsz. 12, p. 20 a-b.

100 Wang Pingsheng. Western lands in the Han-Jin period and domestic civilization. - KGSB, 1977, N 1, p. 23-42.

101. M. E. Fragment from the history of the ancient distribution of the silkworm (Bombyx mori). In: Belek. Frunze. 1946, pp. 47-51.

102 Ierusalimskaya A. A. To the addition of the school.

103 Yule H. Cathay. Vol. I, pp. LIX-LX; Byzantine Historians, p. 493.

104 Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 1933, Bd. 33, S. 309 - 310.

105 Textiles in the Shosoin. Vol. II. Tokyo. 1964, pp. XXI - XXXIII.

106 Chen Zhutong. Uk. soch., p. 7.

107 The highest review of the Taiping Reign years. Beijing, 1960, tsz. 708, p. 3157 (in Chinese).

108 Gale E. M. Op. cit., p. 15.

109 The Highest Review of the years of the reign of Taiping, ts. 816, p. 3631; ts. 708, p. 3157 (in Chinese).

110 Hirth F. Op. cit., pp. 71 - 72.

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The collection of embroidered bedspreads, tapestries, and palas in East Turkestan (Loulan, Khotan, and Miran), Northern Mongolia (Noin-ula), and the Ferghana Valley (Karabulak) gives an insight into the diversity and high artistic merit of wool products that came along the Silk Road from the West .111
The significant progress in glassmaking that took place in Syria in the first centuries AD, contributed to the widespread use of glass products on the Silk Road. Numerous finds of imported glass were recorded in Nis (Turkmenistan, the last centuries BC), ancient settlements of Khorezm, Afrosiab (Samarkand) of the I-II centuries AD, Tienshan and Alai burial grounds with catacomb and sub-pit structures 112 . Finds of highly artistic glass products were made in Tillya Tepe (I c.) and Bagram (II-III c.) 113 . The Hermitage's collections also contain a large number of glass products from the oases of East Turkestan (Kuchi and Turfan). Many finds from the Khotan oasis and Loulan have direct analogies among antique glass products of the I-IV centuries. The map of the finds shows that glass products came to the East both by the traditional Silk Road and by the Northern route through the Greek colonies of the Black Sea region, the Sarmatian and Khorezm habitats. In the first and eighth centuries, the Silk Road of the Mediterranean inhabitants was also a Glass Road for Central Asia and China.

The interest of the ancient Chinese in the glass products of the Syrian workshops is described in the "Brief Description of Wei", where 10 varieties of glass (pale red, white, black, green, yellow, blue, dark blue, indigo, pink and purple)are described among the Daqing products .114 The great impression that Mediterranean glass vessels made on the Chinese is evidenced by Fu Xian's "Ode to the polluted glass bowl "(IV century), where the author compares the beauty of this bowl with a spring day, cleanliness - with winter ice, praises the freedom and uniqueness of its shape. The poet Shan Ni, in an ode dedicated to the glass vessel, describes its long journey through the dangerous sands of Lusha (Taklamakan) and the steep mountains of Tsongling (Pamir) .11 As a result of archaeological excavations in China in recent decades, many imported (Syrian, Mesopotamian and Iranian) glass vessels of the IV - VIII centuries have been found .116 From China, they were transported to Korea and Japan, as evidenced by the materials of the imperial treasury Sesoni 117 . In the fifth century, the technology of making glass products was being developed in Northern China. "After that, glass products became much cheaper in China." 118
Silk and bronze mirrors that came to the West, wool and glass products transported to the East, accounted for at least three-quarters of the total trade volume on the Silk Road. At the same time, the list of all trade items is very impressive. An idea of them can be obtained from the classical works of B. Laufer and E. Schaefer . The main result of thousands of years of trade activity on the Silk Road was the mutual exchange of spiritual and material values, which then influenced the entire culture of the peoples of Eurasia.

111 Stein A. Serindia, pi, CXI, XXXVII; Stein A. Innermost Asia, pi. XXXIII, L. XXXVII, XLIV; Monuments of material culture discovered in Xinjiang. Beijing, 1975, Tables 33-34 (in Chinese); Rudenko S. I. Culture of the Huns and Noinuli Mounds, Moscow, L. 1962, pp. 97-110; Lubo-Lesnichenko E. I. Woven patterns. In: In the footsteps of monuments of history and culture of Kyrgyzstan. Frunze. 1982, figures 28-30.

112 Ptashnikova I. V. Decorations of Late Antique Khorezm based on Toprak-kala excavations. In: Proceedings of the Khorezm Archaeological and Ethnographic Expedition, vol. 1, Moscow, 1952, pp. 105-134; Litvinsky B. A. Ornaments from the burial grounds of Western Ferghana, Moscow, 1973, pp. 93-172; Abebekov A. Antique Bowl on the Alai. In: In the footsteps of monuments of history and culture of Kyrgyzstan, pp. 33-36.

113 Sarianidi V. Op. cit., pi. 147; Hackin Y. Op. cit., pp. 254 - 264.

114 Hirth F. Op. cit., p. 73.

115 Harada I. Admiration for Roman glass vessels in China in the fourth century and their importation. In: Sbornik po istorii kul'tury Vostochnoi Azii. Tokyo. 1973, pp. 159-171 (in Russian).

116 Pinder-Wilson R. Glass in China during the T'ang Period. In: Pottery and Metallwork in China. T. 1. Lnd. 1970, pp. 63 - 67; Dohrenwend D. Op. cit., pp. 438 - 440.

117 Glass Objects in Shosoin. Tokyo. 1965.

118 History of the Northern Dynasties, tsz. 97, p. 872 (in Chinese).

119 Laufer B. Sino-Iranica. Chicago, 1919; Schaefer E. UK. op.

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