The Highways of Ancient Times

It is remarkable how many different trade routes were used to connect ancient civilizations other than the notorious silk road. Not only were mere goods traded in ancient times, but ideas and religion began to spread as a result of trade connections as well. I have found a few sites that provide great information about various trade routes, the commodities traded over such routes, and the history of religions that spread as a result of trade in ancient times.



The Ambassador Road crossed over China from the east coast to present day Burma. It started as a dirt path made by Chinese peasants in order to communicate with distant villages.

The Appian Way and the Egnation Way were sea and land routes that connected the Roman Empire and the Middle East. It is said to have been constructed to more efficiently move people and armies throughout the Roman Empire.

The Incense Road was a trade route that, as you may have guessed, was largely used for transporting incense. It connected Egypt with the Indies by taking a land route over Arabia because the Red Sea was considered very dangerous for travel due to shallow waters, uncharted rocks, and pirates.

Roman and Indian trade also occurred, not by means of a specific trade route, but by various forms of transportation. Merchants traveled from Rome to Egypt and then to India to trade precious items by means of numerous land and sea paths, depending on weather conditions and the time of year.

There are also many trade routes over bodies of water such as the Arabian Sea, Red Sea, Bay of Bengal, and the China Sea. These ancient water routes came to be known as the Maritime Sea Route. The following site about the Maritime Sea Routes is my favorite because it is incredibly informative and interactive. The site has so many links for information about what was traded over specific bodies of water that one could spend hours looking it over.

The goods traded along ancient trade routes were often metals and they varied widely along with their purpose or use. Although, raw metals were of very little use to ancient people, and they therefore had to undergo a series of transformations to make different goods and weapons. Metallurgy, annealing, and smelting, are all processes that involve working with heated metal in order to achieve a goal. A site describing how ancient people worked with metals in these ways can be found here.

Copper was one of the very first metals to be used by humans. It was originally used for decorative purposes and to embellish clothing.

Bronze was first used for decorative means as well, but it was found to be more malleable than copper and was highly valued.

Iron was more plentiful than bronze in ancient times, but it was not used until later because it has a much higher melting point. Early furnaces could not achieve a high enough temperature to allow the workers to rid the metal of all its impurities. Iron eventually lead to the use of steel, which had an enormous impact on ancient civilizations.

Salt was also widely traded in ancient times because the human body requires it. With the rise of agriculture, early humans began eating less meat and therefore were consuming less and less salt in their regular diet.

Religions such as Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, and Hinduism were spread largely as a result of ancient trading networks. This site provides a useful history of where each religion originated, and how they began to spread. There are also many links within the site that lead to even more detailed information.

Image from:
http://www.releasing.net/featurefilmproduction/1/heavens.htm