Religion and the Great Silk Road: means of communication, contours of interaction, trade

Abstract

The article discusses the historical aspects of the functioning of the Great Silk Road from the point of view of the formation of world religions. The study of the formation of world religions is impossible without taking into account the study of the Great Silk Road as one of the factors of their spread. Religious topics themselves are quite difficult for objective scientific research, however, without the appropriate knowledge, religion today is perceived as a factor of fundamentalism that carries a potential danger. This perspective today dominates the mass consciousness and complicates the topic of interfaith relations, while during the period of the Great Silk Road, religion played a fundamental role and often served as a bridge between different cultures. The existing configuration along the entire length of the trade route of the Great Silk Road, i.e. China - Central Asia - the Eastern Mediterranean, continued to work according to the scheme where religion dictated its rules to politics, politics — to the economy, and the economy, in turn, strengthened or weakened religion. This closed cycle remained stable until and after the era of the Crusades and the Mongol conquests.