As merchants packed their bags and set foot on the Silk Road – planning to travel great distances across much of the Asia and Europe – they only had one thing to do. spirit: exchange their products. They didn't think about the mixing of their cultures along the way, or the benefits that trade routes presented for communication between their ancient civilizations. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"? Get an original essay This exposure to various languages, religions, and lifestyles helps modern historians view the Silk Road as one of ( if not the) most important trade route systems in history. During the time of trade on the Silk Road, the civilizations there developed and strengthened as cultures crossed. In fact, not only different cultures, but many types of boundaries were crossed during this time. From the timeless stories of the Bible to the sweet melodies of the Troubadours, the world of ancient and medieval times was changing rapidly, as people and their ideas crossed many physical, social, and literary boundaries. prophet Ezekiel, the Babylonians destroy the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. This temple served as a “home” for God when he crossed the boundaries between the divine realm and the human realm. This is where God would go on Earth, and only where he would go. But as God's House was destroyed and the Israelites were captured by the Babylonians, God crossed an important boundary. She is exiled with her people and crosses the line between being strictly in the temple and existing everywhere, going wherever her people go. Thus, in the “fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin – the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, son of Buzi, by the channel of Chebar, in the land of the Chaldeans. And there the hand of the Lord came upon him,” as mentioned in the story of Ezekiel. Around the same time that Ezekiel was living and working, in Greece, Homer was composing what would later be known as one of the greatest works of literature in history. : The Odyssey. What makes this epic so interesting is that Homer set it in a time in which he did not live. This can be demonstrated through various evidences from the text. For example, through the types of weapons used by warriors. Homer lived and wrote The Odyssey in the 8th century BCE, during the Iron Age. However, the characters in the Epic use bronze weapons, showing that The Odyssey crosses a time boundary and takes place before Homer, in the Bronze Age. How characters treat their deceased friends can also help set a date on how the story will unfold. In the Bronze Age, people simply buried the dead. However, from the Iron Age onwards, the process of cremation (burning bodies) began to become more popular. It's interesting though because Odysseus lived in the Bronze Age, but he is shown to cremate his friend Elpenor in book 12 (after he fell off a roof and died earlier in the story): “Quickly we cut down the wood, and on the farthest promontory we held a funeral for him, and he wept profusely, crying out with grief. We burned his body and equipment, built a mound, dragged a pillar to it and fixed his oar to it – each ritual step in turn.” This cremation action also helps to show a crossing of boundaries between eras. The cremation of Elpenor's body is most likely the.