The Silk Road played a fundamental role in the transmission of art, religion, and goods, including luxury items such as jewelry, spices, textiles, and horses. The opening of trade between cultures as distant as ancient China and Rome also came with a big cost: disease. The Silk Road examines the establishment of this sweeping trade route, the explorers who opened trade, and the wide-ranging consequences of the more than 1,300 years of history on one of the world s most important trade routes.