(This article is a continuation of the Silk Road travels series)
Whether traveling east or returning to the west, Silk Road merchandise and merchants moved through several Mediterranean ports.
Tyre and Constantinople are two of these doorways.
Tyre, an ancient Phoenician port jutting into the Mediterranean and located roughly 50 miles south of Beirut, well deserves its seafaring reputation. At one time, its merchant vessels traveled throughout the Mediterranean world, selling their goods and highly prized purple and blue dyes.
The dyes, a protective secretion from sea snails, could either be ‘milked’ by hand or obtained by crushing the snail and collecting the residue. It has been said that 12 thousand snails yielded little more than a gram of pure purple color, making it one of the most highly sought after commodities, reserved only for imperial use.
Possessing two harbors, one of which is still operational today, Tyre has endured a number of onslaughts from lustful powers such as Egypt, Persia, Alexander the Great (his causeway converted the island into a peninsula) and Crusaders seeking to make the city part of Jerusalem’s kingdom.
Eventually, the city fell under Mameluk rule during the heyday of the Silk Road.
Today, even though late 20th century violence rocked the country through a civil war and more recently, clashes with Israel, visitors still come to see the ruins of a Crusader church, a 2nd century mosaic, a Roman necropolis and the largest Roman hippodrome ever discovered.*
Entrance to the Silk Road through Constantinople was akin to walking the red carpet; it was a grand occasion.
Constantinople was known for its military prowess, extensive libraries, works of art and public monuments on a scale far greater than those in Western Europe. The architectural style of much of the city drew on Roman principles: Roman arches, columns, adornments – along with Eastern elements – became the basis of what became known as Byzantine architecture.*
The city’s power derived mostly as a result of its strategic position commanding the trade routes between the Aegean and the Black Sea. It would remain the capital of the eastern, Greek speaking empire for over a thousand years.
Tragically in 1204, fifty years before Marco Polo’s birth, Constantinople was sacked by Pope Innocent III’s Crusaders. The city struggled to survive but eventually slid into economic ruin.
In an ironic twist, the city’s fall caused thousands of refugees to flee to Italy, bringing their precious library manuscripts with them. These ancient Greek and Latin writings became instrumental in stimulating the Renaissance in Europe and its inevitable transition into the modern world.
Coming up next, the glories of Cappadocia
Sources:
*Encyclopedia Britannica: Tyre
*Bergreen, Laurence. (2007). Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu. New York: Knopf, pg. 22
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