Secret Stories on the Silk Road: Symbols, Architectures and Myths between Italy, the Middle East and China

by Alessandro Coscia, Sergio Coppola (Photographer)

Overview

The current volume represents a journey that takes the reader in different directions. The road it takes is sometimes the caravan trail, others a Roman road from the classical world, which can be taken in both directions, and includes junctions and overlappings of influence between East and West. The first stop takes us from the steppe of the Goths through to the city of Ravenna, focusing on King Theodoric. A man of the steppe, Theodoric was illiterate but wrote in stone through his indecipherable, famous monument, the mausoleum of Ravenna, an architecture of myth that needs to be read in all of its architectonic connections, within its spatial dynamism and geometric symbolism, which reveals echoes of that which we so reductively call ‘the Middle East’. The second step begins in Greece and arrives in Italy. The third encompasses an enormous arch, passing from the Roman imperial eagle to the Chinese imperial dragon.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9788869773396
Publisher:	Mimesis International
Publication date:	08/31/2025
Series:	Out of series
Pages:	178
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Alessandro Coscia is an archerologist specializing in ancient Rome and Greece. After studying in Milan and France, he broadened his horizons to the history of ancient religions and anthropology, fields in which he has written a number of articles, essays, and conference contributions. Aside from his scholarly work, he is also a scriptwriter for stage and screen. He works in the office for exhibitions and events at the picture gallery in Brera.

Sergio Coppola was born a poet, became a scientist through passion, and is free by vocation. After a lifetime of success in design and engineering, he has now brought together his true passions: art and history.