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In my campaigns, i constant refer to the Wine Road. It’s a nod to the Amber and Silk Roads(and Howard’s Road of King’s) and it isn’t actually a Road at all. It’s the trade route along the River Running from Dorwinion and the trail that leads from the Village of Celduin to Laketown.

Enevhar Aldarion wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 09, 2017 7:43 pm

Which brings up a side thought that has probably been discussed many times before since Tolkien wrote his books, but which trade route/road in Middle Earth do you think he might have made as a parallel to the Silk Road?

If you mean routes leading to the distant corners of Middle-earth, we have the Harad Road going South, and the Rhûn Road Road heading East (though the latter might have been used mainly by the servants of Sauron).

If any of the Easterling peoples possessed enough sophistication, there might have been a network of trade routes between Dorwinion and the distant East. Trading vessels and pirates might have plied the Sea of Rhûn, sailing to and from ports that Tolkien never documented. There might have even been (Avari?) Elven and (Rhûnic?) Dwarven settlements near the inland sea.

Proof that trade in the ancient world really was more extensive than we would guess: Why did Vikings have 'Allah' embroidered into funeral clothes?

Researchers in Sweden have found Arabic characters woven into burial costumes from Viking boat graves. The discovery raises new questions about the influence of Islam in Scandinavia, writes journalist Tharik Hussain.

This would be like finding artefacts from Umbar at the Ice Bay of Forchel.

Otaku-sempai wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 15, 2017 8:52 pm

Proof that trade in the ancient world really was more extensive than we would guess: Why did Vikings have 'Allah' embroidered into funeral clothes?

Researchers in Sweden have found Arabic characters woven into burial costumes from Viking boat graves. The discovery raises new questions about the influence of Islam in Scandinavia, writes journalist Tharik Hussain.

This would be like finding artefacts from Umbar at the Ice Bay of Forchel.

Or glowing spherical artifacts from Numenor.

EDIT: This has also just recalled to memory an argument I read about the evolution of human intelligence. Apparently we do have evidence that prehistoric people traded pretty extensively, although scholars suspect more by passing things from tribe to tribe rather than "trader" crossing through multiple territories. In any event, the argument was that one of the foundational traits of human intelligence is the ability to recognize when you're being cheated, and that a lot of other manifestations of our intelligence are really outgrowths of that ability.

Otaku-sempai wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 15, 2017 8:52 pm

Proof that trade in the ancient world really was more extensive than we would guess: Why did Vikings have 'Allah' embroidered into funeral clothes?

Researchers in Sweden have found Arabic characters woven into burial costumes from Viking boat graves. The discovery raises new questions about the influence of Islam in Scandinavia, writes journalist Tharik Hussain.

This would be like finding artefacts from Umbar at the Ice Bay of Forchel.

The 13th Warrior. A fun film.

Enevhar Aldarion wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 16, 2017 1:14 am

The 13th Warrior. A fun film.

In fact that's the first thing I thought of. Have you ever read Eaters of the Dead? My mother read it before I did, not realizing that it was loosely based on Beowulf. I had to explain that the foreword and the rest of the book were pure fiction.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varangian_Guard

Quite a long trip for mercenary. And it's real.

Terisonen wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 16, 2017 8:59 am

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varangian_Guard

Quite a long trip for mercenary. And it's real.

They make a great appearance in Neal Stephenson's most recent novel, The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O..