Topic > The significance of the Silk Road for the Persian and Byzantine empires

The Persian Empire was a huge empire originally overseen by Mesopotamia, but during the 6th century BC the country's rulers began a series of conquests to step out of the shadows. Of this empire there were four dynasties, the Achaemenids who ruled from 558 to 330 BC, the Seleucids who ruled from 323 to 83 BC, the Parthians who ruled from 247 BC to 224 AD, and the Sasanians who ruled from 224 to 651 AD. he Byzantine Empire began when the Roman Emperor Constantine wanted a “new Rome” where the land of Byzantium was located. The western half of the Roman Empire finally fell in the 5th century, but the eastern half survived for another 1,000 years, boasting a rich tradition of art and literature. The Silk Road was a long-distance trade route almost 12,000 kilometers long and was the main connection of these two societies and contributed to the formation of these empires. The Persians and the Byzantines were very close and there were many consequences because of that connection in their political, economic and social structures. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The Byzantine Empire had a “strictly centralized government that concentrated power in the hands of a highly exalted emperor” (Bentley, 182). Constantine the Emperor established a policy called Caesaropapism which allowed the Emperor to rule and have a say in military, financial, political, judicial, and religious disputes. They even had a court that drew attention to the rulers. These emperors would be dressed from head to toe in jewels, crowns and silk. Then came the high officials who would be presented as slaves of the emperors and had to kiss the emperor's hands and feet before getting to work. One of the emperors, Justinian, who reigned from 527 to 565 AD, created a code for Roman law. The code was called Corpus iuris civilis which literally means “Body of Civil Law” (Bentley, 185). The Persian Empire also had a very strong political structure. They had something called the Satrapies structure. It was there that they appointed almost similar governors to supervise and control 23 city-states. Then they had a large general administration that governed them all. They also “created a new category of officials – essentially imperial spies – known as “the eyes and ears of the king”” (Bentley, 88) who would travel across the city-states and ensure that everyone followed the basic rules that have been set. Taxes were also set and every year each satrapy had to pay the king a certain sum of silver. the Silk Road left many political impacts on these two societies. This long-distance trade helped elites distinguish themselves from ordinary people because they had exquisite goods from far away. It also allowed “trade to be controlled and taxed” (Sarr, 11) in each empire. Trade networks between the Persian and Byzantine empires worked best when they provided security for their travelers and merchants, so neither attempted to capture each other or steal goods from each other. The Byzantine Empire had a very strong economy with a lot of trade around the world. Earth. The imperial capital Constantinople was the center of all trade. There were routes running east to west and north to south with merchants and manufacturing in Russia, Northern Europe, the Black Sea lands, Scandinavia, and Central Asia. They traded in things like linen, silk, gems, jewelry, gold, and silver. Banks also helped business because they gave loans to people who wanted to start a business. The empire “supported a large class of.