The Silk Road still casts a spell, but was the ancient trading route just a western invention? Two dazzling new exhibitions at the British Library and British Museum show the riches of the supposed east-west link but also highlight problems with the whole idea Last week two magnificent exhibitions opened in London. Both have as their theme the idea of the Silk Road, an overland trade route said to stretch ever since antiquity all the way across Asia from China to Turkey and hence to Medit… |