The Silk Road
- Year:
- 1980
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The Silk Road
In the West stood a continent built
on lofty ideals and grand ambition.
In the East, towered an empire of
unimaginable size and splendor.
For thousands of years
these two civilizations had thrived
in seeming isolation.
Two men stepped into the void.
Marco Polo was lured by the promise
of unprecedented wealth.
Sven Hedin by a thirst for adventure
and the trappings of world fame.
Confronted by the most
daunting terrain on earth,
they went in search of the impossible
a lasting connection
between East and West
Along the old Silk Road.
Italy, 1296 A.D.
A Venetian trader languishes in jail
and wonders if he will ever get out.
His name is Marco Polo
and he's now a prisoner of war
the victim of an ongoing conflict
between Genoa and his native Venice.
Polo is afraid he will die here
in jail
and he's come up with
an amazing strategy for survival.
A book about his life and his travels.
An incredible story that might allow
his name to live on forever.
"There has been no man,
Christian or pagan,
Mongol or Indian,
or of any race whatsoever,
who has known or explored
so much of the world
and its great wonders as have I,
Marco Polo."
He writes about his incredible trek
across lethal mountains and deserts...
to Cathay, modern day China: a magical
country at the end of the earth.
A land so wealthy that its ruler could
entertain 40,000 guests at a time.
A civilization so advanced they could
predict the movement of the heavens.
A culture so generous that husbands
even shared their wives with strangers.
Marco Polo's book was a success.
His journey to Cathay
has become one of the most famous
adventure stories ever written.
But it is full of such incredible
tales of discovery
and intrigue that it leaves everyone
wondering the same thing:
Could it possibly be true?
Or is Polo's adventure
along the old Silk Road
actually a masterpiece
of the imagination?
imperial Rome dominated the west,
Han China the east.
A world apart, these two superpowers
knew little of each other's existence.
one substance drew them closer.
It all began in Mesopotamia. 53 B.C.
Roman legions were on the brink of
a historic victory
against the Parthian army.
Unexpectedly,
the Parthians unfurled huge banners
of a magical translucent material.
The Roman army had never seen anything
like it, and fled in confusion
leaving 20,000 dead
on the battlefield.
Fear turned to fascination
and silk quickly became
the rage in ancient Rome.
worth its weight in gold.
Traders saw their chance.
Caravans braved the 5000 miles
separating China and Rome.
Cities sprung up in the deserts
and plains to service the traders.
Along with the goods flowed ideas
that revolutionized
Buddhism and Islam spread eastwards.
Printing and papermaking went West.
The Silk Road pioneering connection
between East and West was established.
People have a mental vision
that the Silk Road is like I95,
a huge long highway
and that one person took some silk
from one end all the way to the other.
And in fact
Merchants would take the goods
from one oasis to another
and then another group of merchants
would take them on.
So I think the Silk Road
is not the road.
I think the most important things are
those communities along the Silk Road.
these communities thrived.
In the 10th century,
and it was no longer safe
to travel in the East.
In the chaos,
the Silk Road fell silent.
The desert cities that depended on
its traffic were abandoned.
As shifting sands buried their memory,
the link between
East and West was broken.
was born in Venice, Italy.
Marco grew up a forgotten orphan
on the docks and canals of the city.
Marco Polo did not have a conventional
and happy childhood.
His father left before he was born
and his mother died
when he was relatively young.
But actually that
relatively unhappy childhood
provided him with certain skills
that would turn out to be
very important for him on his travels.
a wide variety of peoples.
One day Marco's world was turned
upside down.
A stranger walked into his life.
It was his father.
It was the first time
the two had ever met.
And the boy listened in awe as his
father explained his 14 year absence.
He said he had made
an incredible overland journey
to a magical land in the East.
He talked about a foreign people
the Mongols
the biggest the world had ever seen.
And explained how he had just
risked his life
to personally visit its capital
in Cathay, modern day China.
Young Marco was stunned.
China, in the 13th Century
to a Venetian,
is probably the most foreign place
that there is,
maybe like the South Pole
is to us today.
That you can go
but it's a huge journey.
Not many people go.
There are incredible
logistical difficulties.
Marco's father also claimed
Kublai Khan, the new Mongol king.
He insisted he was sitting
on a gold mine.
For with the Khan's favor,
all the treasures of the East.
to China and back again,
they'd be able to reestablish
overland trade links
between two very
wealthy civilizations.
The sudden reappearance of his father
must have stimulated him
to think about perhaps joining him
on a travel of his own.
would be the most extraordinary
adventure of his entire life.
They probably don't suspect they're
going to get all the way to China.
But I think there's enough talk
at the time about modern,
what's now Turkey or what's now Iran
that he would have been very excited.
Marco imagined his journey
to the east
the wealth of Cathay,
the dangers ahead.
Some would say that an imaginary
journey is all that he ever took.
According to his story, Marco Polo
set off for China in 1271 A.D.
the world's wealthiest market.
His 5000 mile overland journey took
him through Tabriz, Baghdad, Hormuz
the great bazaars of the Middle East
the old Silk Road is still alive.
Marco was encouraged by what he saw.
"Traveling merchants
can make very good money.
For there is much gold and silk
cloth of great value."
Camping out in the open at night,
Marco was careful to protect his profits.
Anybody who traveled on the Silk Roads
had to be really quite
brave and courageous.
Many people just didn't make it,
in part because of banditry
all along the route.
One night in Persia,
Polo claims to have been robbed.
Many of his caravan were killed.
Marco was lucky to get away
with his life.
It's not as simple as taking a plane
in Venice and hopping over to Beijing.
This was a long, long
and demanding journey.
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"The Silk Road" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 12 Oct. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/the_silk_road_14589>.
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