Introduction -- Wonder and desire : the glass was most beautiful -- New notions of seeing : mirrors and lenses -- Panes of glass : windows and paintings -- Diplomatic overtures : the Daren (great personage) from the Vatican -- Glass : "pieces as beautiful as our aventurine" -- Cristalli : four...

Steel and silk -- Silk in Roman society -- The Chinese empire and the Xiongnu -- The discovery of the west -- Securing the silk routes -- The Kushan empire -- The Sogdian intermediaries -- Caspian routes and the Crimea -- Black Sea voyages -- The Sarmatians -- The Parthian empire -- Parthia and...