The trans-Eurasian trade routes collectively known as the Silk Route (or Silk Road) served as conduits not only of commerce but also of cultural exchange, which included music, musicians and musical instruments. Ancient friezes, frescoes, and sculpture show instruments resembling lutes, flutes, and zithers that exist today in a variety of local forms across Eurasia – evidence both of their antiquity and of the broad diffusion of music and musicians along the historical Silk Route.