It seems there were two routes. Most difficult due to cold weather was the northern hump of a route which Marco Polo took to avoid the vast Himalaya Mountains, in which case he missed tropical India.



The more natural southern silk route followed valleys from Damascus to the Indus River, and involved more spices, as for many thousands of years China kept secret how silk was created. Those little silk worms in their spinning cocoons were a closely guarded state secret and control of the wealth it brought.

If you wanted to gently weave raw silk into Damasck in Damascus, you must be prepared to take the colder and more dangerous northern route to China. The television documentary I just watched had us travel by air and land in several of the key trade cities on the southern route, and each stop gave you an ancient ruin and your guide reminded you of the date of each civilization, at that location, which has us spin forward and back.

I will go backwards from his route, which is the way humanity evolved as science tells us. So, we know we left Africa and bones of a pre humanoid have recently been uncovered at the north east edge of the Black Sea that are dated as 1.7 million years old.

Now we know that Ice Ages have come and gone up and down on the map, rather like grandpa's bottom pajamas on his wedding night, so what we know is not the way it has usually been. But if Damascus was the first city after Jericho that wheat and gradually dates could be grown, by then we had different colored relatives in all directions, gradually moving back north.

So the southern silk and spices for diamonds and gemstones route could have likely survived each ice age, and allowed humanity to stay in contact and continue that civilizing activity of fair trading at mutually agreed prices and all happy.Much better than burning down the city of the other and take it all. Bad neighbor.

Which takes us from 7,000 year old Damascus, invaded often but surviving and thriving still. We are then standing, like Alexander, on the hills overlooking the wide plain in the valley with hundreds of polished large stone columns. Persepolis. Not a living soul there, other than occasional Japanese tour bus, but none but us today.

Alexander was out of control of his emotions, as his tutor Aristotle had warned him about, that after his army of ten thousand Greeks had defeated the one hundred thousand men of Persia and the now dead King Darius.

Great Alexander, who created mighty Alexandria in Egypt, sat, walked, prayed, contemplated, and then set fire to this magnificent palace and city. It was an act of barbarity in 230 B.C.E. he would regret the rest of his short life. We did not call great those Germans half a millenium later who would burn down Rome.

A great anger must have burned into the hearts of many a citizen of Persia, who had worked to create this wonderful southern palatial trading city as a winter escape on the trade route. It had taken 150 years to build Persepolis, and it was only enjoyed for 30 years.

And then came Alexander and his Macedonian civilization. Perhaps Alex should have retired in his villa under a palm tree in his Alexandria. That only seems to happen in fairy tales. For us A type personalities, we can lose it at moments and rage a bit.But talk about not giving the testosterone time to come down off the boil, Alex, you took the cake that bad day.

We will say it again, science now knows the eight step to bliss are to count your blessings. And to do acts of kindness.And to savor the joys of life. And to thank a mentor. To learn and ask to forgive. To stay close to family and friends. To take care of your body. To develop strategies to cope with stress.

Alexander was not so Great that day. He missed each one of those goals and did not likely have a dreamlike sleep of bliss: a bit of tossing turning and screams in the night might have been more likely. If you do bad you know it, whether you think you believe in God or not, and Alex did; then you hate yourself in the morning. Science says. So did mom. Now me too. Your turn.