The urban development and functional change of Merv at the initial stage of the Opening of the Silk Road
The ancient Merv is one of the greatest cities in the eastern Hellenistic world.It already played a role in promoting trades and interactions among India,Central Asia,and the Mediterranean world before the opening of the Silk Road.However,its commercial trait was always strongly associated with the political impetus,which resulted in a monolithic and small-scaled trading system.With the o-pening of the Silk Road,Merv became a main node in the east-west interactive network due to its strate-gic geographical location and the economy based on oasis agriculture and craft production.This event di-rectly led to the reconfiguration of Merv's urban developmental process,transforming it from a early-stage Hellenistic city to a hub city along the Silk Road.During this shift,Merv not only witnessed the emer-gence of relatively independent local polity,but also became the meeting ground of various foreign reli-gions such as Christianity,Manichaeism,and Buddhism.This in turn reshaped the political situation in Central Asia and the cultural landscape at Merv,further promoting its functional transformation from an administratively and militarily significant area into a more heterogeneous urban centre.
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