In the first millennium, merchants, missionaries, monks, mendicants and military men travelled on the vast network of Central Asian tracks that became known as the Silk Road. Here, through the lives of ten of its inhabitants, is the story of the Silk Road in its heyday.

’The cast reads like something out of the Canterbury Tales...bringing to life the history and also the great variety of people, languages, religions, interests and behaviour along this most remarkable of migratory routes’

Sunday Times

’A wonderful find...this book is a treasure’

South China Morning Post

  ’A trail-blazer, vividly recreating the life and times of this greatcultural highway’ Scotsman

This book is not a comprehensive history but aims instead to offer a glimpse into the character and characters of the eastern Silk Road between AD 750 and 1000. It does so by concentrating on ten individuals who lived at different times during this period, and relates its history through their personal experiences. The stories span two hundred and fifty years and, in order to make what is a very complex history comprehensible, they concentrate only on a few key political events, recounting them through the eyes of one or more characters. Repetition is used deliberately: I assume that many readers will not be familiar with this region, its peoples, culture or history.

Illustrations

Preface

Note on Names and Romanization

Map

Introduction

The Merchant’s Tale

The Soldier’s Tale

The Horseman’s Tale

The Princess’s Tale

The Monk’s Tale

The Courtesan’s Tale

The Nun’s Tale

The Widow’s Tale

The Official’s Tale

The Artist’s Tale

Epilogue

Further Reading

Table of Rulers, 739-960

Index