Tschung-Sun Kim is currently a Professor Emeritus at Keimyung University, Korea. He pursued his academic studies in Literature, Language, and Religion at the Universities of Keimyung, Heidelberg, and Saarbruecken. In 1988, he obtained his PhD from the University of Saarlandes with his thesis titled Shamanismus: Eine Religionsgeschichtliche und religionsphaenomenologishe Studie zur Religionsgeschichte Koreas. Following his PhD, he held a postdoctoral position at the Center for Process Studies, Claremont Graduate School, U.S.A. He then embarked on a successful career in teaching and research at esteemed institutions such as the Center for Multicultural Studies at USC and the Center for Korean Studies at UCLA. In 1998, upon returning to Korea, he played a pivotal role as a founding faculty member of the department of International Korean Studies at Keimyung University. Throughout his academic journey, he has focused his research interests on the history of civilizations. He is the author or editor of 28 books and articles, including notable works such as Birdman: Pathfinder of Korean Shamanism, Understanding of Islam in the Age of Multiculturalism: A Retrospective History, and Horizontal Reading of Civilization History. Recognizing the need for scholarly platforms, he founded two international journals: Acta Koreana in 1998, dedicated to Korean Studies and indexed in Scopus and A&HCI, and Acta Via Serica in 2014, focusing on Silk Road Studies and indexed in KCI. He has been serving as the Editor-in-chief for both journals, fostering academic discourse and promoting research in these specialized fields.

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As suggested by textual, epigraphic, and art historical materials, Sanskritic Buddhist knowledge- and practice-systems flourished since the late 7th century in disparate Asian locales, travelling along the maritime and land 'Silk Roads' connecting South Asia to Eastern Asia. The strategic crossroads of mercantile and political power located along the maritime routes constituted nodes that played a crucial role in the history and development of Buddhism, insofar as they supported prestigious monastic congregations-cum-centres of learning, which were visited by monks and pilgrims coming from all over the Buddhist world. My paper presents a paradigmatic‒yet little-investigated‒aspect of the cosmopolitan dimension of Buddhism, i.e. the virtually pan-Asian diffusion of the 'Siddham' script (siddhamātṛkā), a precursor of Nāgarī that originally developed in Northern India and became prevalent in the Northeast under the Pāla and Sena rule (7th -llth century). This script was apparently associated with Sanskritic Buddhism(s) and its spread from the Subcontinent to Southeast and East Asia. A significant number of epigraphic documents‒and, in the case of China and Japan, manuscripts and painted scrolls‒have been thus far discovered, spanning from elaborate royal edicts to short dhāraṇī engraved on Buddhist statues, ritual implements, seals, votive tablets, and amulets. As documents in Siddham script and Sanskrit language have been found in milieux where 'local' varieties of Indic scripts as well as vernacular languages were prevalent, the following questions may be formulated: why did the local elites choose to adopt this non-local variety of script? Did the maritime networks of Buddhism and their link to the prestigious learning centres of northeastern India play a role? Can we discern a link between scripts and religions in contexts characterized by polyglossia and a pluralistic religious context?

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Andrea Acri (PhD Leiden University, 2011) is tenured Assistant Professor/Senior Lecturer in Tantric Studies at the École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE, PSL University), and Adjunct Researcher (in the framework of the ERC-funded project DHARMA) at the EFEO in Paris. He has held various research and teaching positions in India (Nalanda University), Singapore (ARI/NUS and ISEAS), Australia (ANU), and the Netherlands (IIAS). He is member of the editorial board of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society and the Journal of Yoga Studies. His main research and teaching interests are Śaiva and Buddhist Tantric traditions in South and Southeast Asia (with empahsis on intra-Asian circulation and connectivity), and Sanskrit and Old Javanese philology. He is currently leading a research project funded by the French Agency for Scientific Research (ANR) on the circulation of Tantric Buddhism along the maritime routes.

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India and Southeast Asia in general and Siam in particular share a long history of cultural and commercial relations. India and Thailand, located in each other’s extended neighbourhood, share a maritime boundary in the Andaman Sea. Situated in the strategic position, midway between West Asia on the one hand and East Asia on the other, India and Thailand combined played a significant role in the maritime transaction in Asia and beyond. The geographical proximity between India and Siam led to multifaceted maritime interactions and exchanges. Siam was in the Indian sphere of cultural, religious, philosophical, technical, and linguistic influence much before the common era. The archaeological and literary sources are well-attested to these cultural and mercantile networks between India and Siam. The archaeological fieldwork in Siam, as well as other Southeast Asian countries, has revealed important evidence relating to trade and exchange between India and Southeast Asia since the pre-Common era. Takola (modern Takua Pa) area served as a more suitable landing place for Indian merchants, and there existed the settlement of the Indian mercantile community. Ligor (Nakhon Si Thammarat), Jaya (Chaiya), Patalung (Phatalung), U Thong, Ban Don Tha Pet, Ban U Taphao, Khao Sam Kaeo, and many other sites in Siam have brought to light a large variety of objects which proved that ancient Siam had close mercantile contact with India as well as the Mediterranean world and China. The paper will discuss in detail the Cultural and Trade Link between India and Siam and its Impact on Maritime Silk Road

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D. Dayalan, Director, Archaeological Survey of India, is a renowned archaeologist and art historian, who made remarkable contributions in the field of archaeology and conservation of cultural heritage for more than three decades. He has actively undertaken archaeological exploration in various states of India and discovered a number of ancient sites. He also participated in more than 12 excavations. He has served in different parts of India and was responsible for the management and conservation of a large number of monuments and sites in the respective states.
Dayalan is an accomplished scholar and author of 14 books and also contributed more than 100 research papers in reputed journals on Art and Architecture, Archaeology, Epigraphy, Numismatics, Conservation, Maritime Trade, and Heritage Management. He has widely travelled in India and abroad and participated in many national and international conferences. He is visiting the faculty of many educational institutions in India and abroad and is also the recipient of many awards.

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Port ruins in coastal areas and sunken watercraft off the coasts are important archaeological heritage to understand past human activities on the sea. The expansion of the inter- and intra-sailing routes occurred as early as around the beginning of the first millennia, and the discovery of seasonal monsoon winds and ocean currents facilitated the movement of seaborne commodities and people between the east and west. Historians have attempted the reconstruction of ancient sailing routes with the locations of trading hubs. Maritime archaeological study has lately revealed wreck’s historical significance in illustrating broad trading networks stretching from the Mediterranean in west to East Asia in east. The scientific study on the ship remains has contributed to the improvement of our knowledge about the sailing performance of the seagoing ships engaged on the long distance water transportation. By examining the remnants of cargo being transported by the ships, we recognize that not only silk products but also diverse materials, such as spices, fragrant woods, metal objects, glass, and ceramics were carried on the cross regional trade. This paper will provide an overview on how maritime archaeological evidence helps us to understand the historical maritime corridors which flourished between the first millennium CE and the sixteenth century CE and demonstrate their heritage value to define the Maritime Silk Route.

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Dr. Jun Kimura is a maritime archaeologist and an associate professor at Tokai University. His doctorate degree is from Flinders University, Australia. Dr. Kimura is also a member of the ICOMOS-International Committee on the Underwater Cultural Heritage. His research focus is the archaeological study of shipbuilding in East Asian and Southeast Asian regions and Maritime Silk Routes. His scholarly publications include Archaeology of East Asian Shipbuilding Tradition and he has contributed chapters to Silk Roads: Peoples, Cultures, Landscapes and the Maritime Silk Road: Global Connectivities, Regional Nodes, Localities.

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Recent archaeological research in southern Thailand demonstrates that the expansion of the Maritime Silk Road linking Europe, India, and East Asia was a factor in the first millennium's formation of various polities, including Khao Sam Kaeo in Chumphon, Phu Khao Thong in Ranong, and Klong Thom in Krabi. As an ornament workshop, port city, and transpeninsular hub between the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Thailand, these political entities played a significant role. The problem with earlier study is that it concentrated on a single, huge site rather than trying to comprehend the systems of the peninsula's small and large polities. The purpose of this essay is to examine the connections between the Thai-Malay Peninsula, India, and East Asia as well as to gain a comprehensive understanding of port cities and inland sites. Keywords: Thai-Malay Peninsula, port city, Maritime Silk Road, Thailand

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Pipad Krajaejun is Assistant Professor of the Department of History at Thammasat University's Faculty of Liberal Arts in Thailand. In Thailand, he specialises in ancient history, archaeology, local history, and ethnohistory. After receiving his BA in Archaeology from Silpakorn University, he went on to get his MA in history from Chulalongkorn University and his second MA in History of Art and Archaeology from SOAS, University of London. He is currently doing his Ph.D. in Art History and Archaeology at the University of London's School of Arts, SOAS. Deconstructing the Historical Metanarrative of Thai Art and Archaeology: The Development of Artistic Styles in the Pre-Ayutthaya Era, or 'Uthong Art,' During the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries is the title of his dissertation. He is also working on a database on early history and archaeology in Thailand and Southeast Asia, which is funded by Thailand's Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research, and Innovation's Suvarnabhumi Studies Centre. Furthermore, I am working on an archaeological survey project in Songkhla Province in southern Thailand to investigate the history and archaeology of the Ayutthaya and Srivijaya periods in order to support the nomination of the Hua Kao Daeng site on a World Heritage list. He also produces online media and documentaries about local and ancient history, which are supported by the Ministry of Education and the Suvarnabhumi Studies Centre.

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The protection of the Silk Routes by the nomadic empires enabled the trans-Eurasian transmission of goods and ideas, which in turn impacted the intellectual development of Eurasia. This phenomenon reached its peak during the Pax Mongolica, a period of relative stability in Eurasia that was created by the Mongol empire in the 13th and 14th centuries. The exchange of goods, ideas, and people promoted by the Mongols through the maritime and overland Silk Routes stimulated the intellectual and commercial changes that resulted in the emergence of the modern world. It is generally believed that the Silk Routes declined after the disintegration of the Mongol empire in the second half of the 14th century and that they fell into disuse after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in the mid-15th century. This paper aims to examine the aftermath and legacy of the Mongol-era maritime and overland Silk Routes from a non-Eurocentric perspective. It will first discuss the characteristics of the maritime and overland Silk Routes during the Pax Mongolica, focusing on their unique aspects in comparison with pre-Mongol Silk Routes. It will then examine the Mongol legacy in the maritime and overland trade networks and activities of various Mongol successor states and outer Eurasian empires. Such an examination will offer a more comprehensive picture of the history of the Silk Routes.

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Joo-Yup Lee is an intermittent lecturer at the University of Toronto, where he received his Ph.D. in Central Eurasian Studies (2012). He served as a Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies in 2017-2018. Lee has published a number of books and scholarly articles, including Qazaqlïq, or Ambitious Brigandage, and the Formation of the Qazaqs (Brill, 2016), which won the 2017 CESS (Central Eurasian Studies Society) Book Award, The Turkic Peoples in World History (Routledge, 2023), and “Sogdian Descendants in Mongol and post-Mongol Central Asia: The Tajiks and Sarts,” which received Acta Via Serica’s Prize for Outstanding Scholarship in the Study of Central Asia and the Silk Road. He also wrote entries for the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asia and the Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE, including “Turkic Identity in Mongol and post-Mongol Central Asia and the Qipchaq Steppe” and “Kazakh Khanate.”

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Nights of Plague is the latest novel by Orhan Pamuk, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2006, the first in Turkish literature, and is set during the last days of the Ottoman Empire, when a deadly plague broke out on the fictional island of Minger, located in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea near Istanbul, killing thousands. The work explores the cultural, social, and political implications of the epidemic, including the Ottoman government's response and its impact on the city's diverse communities. Pamuk draws upon extensive knowledge of the history of infectious diseases, depicting a battle against epidemics that spans both Eastern and Western regions. He references historical instances of disease transmission through the Silk Road, encompassing both overland and maritime routes. The Silk Road, a vital trade route in human history, facilitated not only the exchange of goods but also cultural, intellectual, religious, and artistic exchanges between the East and West. Moreover, the Silk Road served as a potential conduit for the spread of bacterial infectious diseases, including the plague, according to some scholars. The decline of the Silk Road was influenced by the impact of these epidemics in part. Indeed, the plague spread to Istanbul via the Maritime Silk Road, reaching destinations in the Balkans and European ports such as Venice between 1453 and 1517. In the novel, Muslims returning from pilgrimages, especially via the Maritime Silk Road, were considered plague carriers and were quarantined instead of being brought to the island. Historical records indicate numerous plague outbreaks along the pilgrimage route between 1876 and 1914. Studying the spread of the plague along the Maritime Silk Road as depicted in the novel Nights of Plague can provide insight into the historical and cultural aspects of disease transmission and its impact on society. . 【Keywords】Overland Silk Road, Maritime Silk Road, Ottoman Empire, Disease Transmission, Plague, Orhan Pamuk, Nights of Plague

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Nan A LEE graduated from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Department of Turkish in Korea, master's degree in Turkish literature from Istanbul University, and a Ph.D. in Turkish literature from Ankara University in Turkey. Currently an associate professor in the Department of Turkish and Azerbaijani Studies at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. She has published numerous articles on Turkish literature and culture. Also, she has translated more than 50 works of Turkish literature into Korean, including Orhan Pamuk's novel My Name is Red, and five works of Korean literature into Turkish, including Kim Young-ha's I Have the Right to Destroy Me.

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For most of its history, Chosŏn Korea maintained a prohibition on maritime travel with the Ming and Qing Empires. The maritime prohibition (haegŭm 海禁) was both to protect against the foreign exploitation of marine resources and to bolster state security. It was not until the late nineteenth century that the prohibition ended. Recent scholarship has linked the maritime prohibition to a perceived Chosŏn failure to modernize, suggesting that the collapse of the Chosŏn state to Japanese imperialism was linked not only linked to this policy choice, but also to a larger Chosŏn aversion to maritime contacts. The present work seeks to interrogate this recent line of inquiry through an examination of the circumstances of the implementation and abolition of the maritime prohibition and a questioning of the degree to which the prohibition can serve as a lens through which to comprehend the qualities and experiences of the modern.

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Dr. Van Lieu is a historian of early modem and modem East Asian politics, thought, and critical international relations. He received his doctoral degree from the University of Washington in the histories of Chosŏn Korea and Late Imperial China. He has published on nineteenth-century Qing-Chosŏn tribute politics, the historiography of reform movements in late Chosŏn Korea, the roles of state Guanti cults in narratives of Chosŏn state legitimacy, and on critical approaches to historical international relations. Some of his current projects include an examination of pre­ colonial historiographies of Chosŏn factionalism, the rhetorics of state legitimacy surrounding the Korean imperial project, and Korean Ming loyalist rhetoric at the tum of the twentieth century. Dr. Van Lieu is currently the associate editor of Acta Koreana and an associate professor of history at Keimyung University in South Korea.

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Over the past 30 years, intense archaeological research has revealed a great degree of regional and transregional mobility of objects along the Southeast Asian coast: from beads and glass containers, intaglios, seals, fine ceramic and gold coins of more western origin, to large bronzes, mirrors and lacquer ware connected to East Asia. These finds spreading over several significant sites between the Thai-Malay Peninsula, Vietnam and Southern China have given rise to larger-scale spatial and chronological narratives, among which the most prominent has been Maritime Silk Road exchange. Scholars are divided as to whether this is a suitable term, with some emphasizing its orientalist overtones and colonial baggage, and others finding it useful for “productive investigations of the interregional networks trading in commodities other than silk” (Bille et al The Maritime Silk Road, 2022). This paper will investigate how productive the concept really is for understanding transregional connectivity. Arguing that the Silk Road paradigm sacrifices much spatial and chronological differentiation for a globalizing narrative, it will suggest a more suitable approach to transregional exchange that gives more weight to local and regional dynamics of connectivity and their change over a period of 600 years.

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Sitta von Reden is since 2010 Professor of Ancient (Graeco-Roman) History at the University of Freiburg/Germany. She studied Economics, History and Latin Philology at the Universities of Freiburg, Berlin and Cambridge, graduating in 1987 at the Free University of Berlin. She completed her PhD in 1993 at the University of Cambridge with a thesis titled „Exchange and Market in Ancient Athens“ (published 1995). After a postdoctoral position at the University of Oxford, she taught for 12 years at the University of Bristol in the UK. After her return to Germany in 2005, she filled temporary teaching and research positions at the Universities of Augsburg, Münster and Munich, and was a member of the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study in 2013-14. Her main research interests lie in the economic history of the Eastern Mediterranean, especially Egypt under Graeco-Roman occupation. The latter made her realize the intense connectivity between the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean exchange networks. Between 2017 and 2023, she was Principal Investigator of the interdisciplinary research project „Beyond the Silk Road“: Economic Development, Exchange and Interimperiality in the Afro-Eurasian Region (300 BCE to 300 CE), which was supported by the European Research Council with an Advanced Grant. The project has led to the publication of a three-volume Handbook of Ancient Afro-Eurasian Economies, published by de Gruyter Press between 2020 and 2023. Her other publications include Money in Ptolemaic Egypt (2007), Money in Classical Antiquity (2010), and (as coeditor) Comparing the Seleucid and Ptolemaic Empires (2021).

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The history of Buddhism is inseparable from commerce, which is especially manifest in the cult of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. Iconographic and textual evidence testifies that maritime trade on the Indian Ocean played a fundamental role in the formation of Avalokiteśvara faith. Sea was also a major conduit through which elements of Avalokiteśvara faith was transmitted from India through China to Korea and Japan, the easternmost ends of the Silk Road. These elements include Avalokiteśvara’s role as a maritime savior, chthonic motifs, oceanic symbolism, and the concept of the bodhisattva’s worldly abode, Potalaka. Among the geographic places identified as Potalaka, Mount Putuo in Zhejiang Province, China, was located at an international maritime route, thus not only was its foundation closely related to the sea trade among India, China, Japan, and Korea, but its cult also widely influenced the belief systems of East Asian regions. Especially notable is the role Korean seafarers played in this process by assisting monks in search of the Dharma, establishing temples, or transmitting religious beliefs across the ocean. In some cases, they could even become the target of religious worship, like the Silla admiral Chang Pogo (787–841). The present study is focusing on the role maritime figures played in the cultural exchanges between Korea, China, and Japan examined through Avalokiteśvara faith. By this, it aims to demonstrate how Korean seafarers not only inherited, but also reshaped the traditional relationship between commerce and Buddhism, while extending the Maritime Silk Road to the “East Asian Mediterranean”.

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Erika Erzsébet Vörös earned her Ph.D. at the Department of Chinese Studies of Eötvös Loránd University (Hungary) in 2022. After majoring in Buddhism, she received her master’s degrees in Korean Folklore (The Academy of Korean Studies) and Japanese Studies (Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church). She was awarded graduate fellowship by The Academy of Korean Studies in 2016 and junior fellowship by the Kyujanggak International Center for Korean Studies at Seoul National University in 2021. She worked as a teacher at the Chinese, Japanese and Korean Department of Eötvös Loránd University, as well as a lecturer at Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church and The Gate of Dharma Buddhist College in Hungary. Her research interests include mountain worship and maritime religion in East-Asia, with special emphasis on the interactions between Buddhism and indigenous religions, as well as the relationship of sacred and profane.

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Who is the most dynamic and intriguing historical figure in the ninth century East Asia? Few can doubt that Chang Pogo 張保皐 (788?–841 or 846 C.E.) is one of the most, if not the most, suitable candidate for this characteristic. With a humble origin in Silla, Chang took an unusual path going to Tang China for opportunities he cannot hope for in Silla. However, despite his early success becoming a junior military official in China, he decided to return to Silla. During the ninth century, Silla became more involved in a maritime trading network across East Asia. With initial full sport from the Silla King, and thanks to his exceptional talents and skills, Chang and his trading crew played an instrumental and indispensable role in connecting China, Japan, and Korea, especially for securing a safer zone for travel and trade. Chang also had extensive impact on politics across East Asia. This paper aims to examine Chang’s life in China and Silla. Was it a wise decision for him to turn to Silla? Could Chang have a better career path and life if had stayed in China? Why could he not be tolerated in Silla’s political system? Regardless of his personal success and tragedy, Chang is a unique figure in East Asia that can help us understand transnational and Silk Road history in East Asia.

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Stella Xu is a John Turbyfill Endowed Chair of History and Professor of History at Roanoke College in Virginia, where she teaches East Asian history. She received her Ph. D at the University of California at Los Angles. Her research topics include history and historiography of Korea; Korean-Chinese relations; nationalism in East Asia; history, memory, and popular culture; contemporary historical disputes in East Asia; and early Korean-US relations from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries. Her essays and book reviews have appeared in Korean Studies, Journal of Korean Studies, Pacific Affairs, ASIANetwork Exchange: A Journal for Asian Studies in the Liberal Arts, Women and Social Movement in the United States, 1600-2000, and Japanese Studies Association Journal. Her book, Reconstructing Ancient Korean History: The Formation of Korean-ness in the Shadow of History (Lexington Books) was published in June, 2016.

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