How Close Did Rome And Ancient China Come to War? 1000 Years of Contact (DOCUMENTARY)

word had reached justinian nestorian monks claimed they had successfully crossed through hostile persian territories and traveled to the silk routes of central asia there at the limits of the known world they said they had encountered the fabled ceres the silk people at their mysterious eastern origins they had supposedly visited the far-flung city of surrender in the place they called china and had returned with an extraordinary secret and now they were demanding an audience with the emperor himself their message was for justinian emperor of the eastern roman empire the representative of god on this earth and him alone the monks were escorted through the great gateway leaving the noise and confusion of the busy city street and entered the cool of a marble entrance hall in an antechamber they were searched for weapons and all items that were considered harmful were confiscated safe for a walking stick similar to a bamboo cane they were escorted through small groups of richly clad individuals who parted to let them pass and then muttered together speculating about the origin and mission of these strange visitors and finally they reached the reception hall of the imperial court their guide paused to explain to them that they might not be admitted to the audience chamber to see justinian today or even tomorrow but they must be patient they must wait even if they carried a secret that had the potential to change the known world forever the year was 550 and the emperor justinian was presiding over a revival in roman fortunes almost a century earlier the latinized western half of the roman empire had succumbed to barbarian invasions but the greek-speaking eastern provinces had survived the onslaught and its byzantine emperors maintained roman traditions in their new capital constantinople the people of these eastern provinces also retained roman aspirations including military ambitions to restore the former empire at the start of his reign justinian had sent armies west to reconquer north africa and reclaim italy from its intrusive barbarian kings but now these strange religious travelers have brought the imperial court information that might change the entire dynamic of the ancient world economy for the monks claimed to know the secret of what exactly silk was and how the ceres manufactured fabric from its fibers they had witnessed the process first hand and believed they could replicate these skilled techniques for more than half a millennium chinese silk had been the premier fabric of the ancient world it was lighter stronger and smoother than any other cloth made from plant fibers or animal products as a natural fiber the finest silk was water resistant light reflective and maintained an elasticity absent in linens cottons or wool it could even be dyed vibrant colours or re-woven into delicate translucent veils imperial rome had succumbed to the fashion with heavy wool and linen togas transformed into lighter garments by the inclusion of part silk weaves and by the reign of justinian courtly costumes made from silk were a special mark of rank and status within the government of the eastern roman empire but the question had remained for centuries what was the origin of this strange and unique material transported thousands of miles across desert and steppe by distant intermediaries devout adventurers who recounted their story to the astonished christian emperor claimed to have the answer they told justinian about great journeys vast distances unknown lands and strange peoples and in the chinese city of surrender they had observed an eastern secret delicate fabrics manufactured by special captive insects silk worms with imperial backing the monks offered to return to surrender and bring back the strange creatures required to create this high-value product how could justinian refuse with silk the eastern roman empire would no longer be dependent on persian middlemen for its most prized fabrics the treasuries in byzantium would surge with commercial profit and the ancient silk routes fade from significance justinian agreed to the mission and the holy men set out on their secret assignment were the centuries of rumour and speculation finally about to be dispelled eons of myth and legend about china finally blown away of course this wasn't the first time that these two empires had come into contact for nearly a thousand years the ancient world had been powered and controlled by webs of influence and imperial ambition working their way across central asia from both east and west entire cultures had survived as intermediaries between imperial rome and han china as they indirectly and sometimes directly influenced each other's fortunes in multitudinous ways and more than once these webs had nearly come into direct conflict a twist of fate or last minute change of heart the only thing that stood against the very real possibility but how close did they come and how much did they know this is that story a story that spans a thousand years thousands of miles and thousands of different peoples across europe and asia this is the story of ancient china and rome [Music] this video is sponsored by magellan tv the documentary streaming service question can you put these ancient chinese dynasties in order the shang the ching the chin the joe and the song that's right the answer was [Music] so if you failed that miserably maybe it's time to try magellan tv's documentary mysteries of china an engrossing exploration of the origins of china how it unified and how the first emperor's tomb was rediscovered some 2000 years later some great reenactments really put you into the action a fascinating story and magellan have more than 3 000 more documentaries to choose from on a wide range of subjects so click on the link in the description for an exclusive month-long free trial for voices of the past viewers [Music] thanks writing in the 5th century bc the greek historian herodotus provides the first classical reference to the far east there are said to be one-eyed men and gold-guarding griffins in the regions beyond the acedonians and beyond them the hyperboreans whose lands extend as far as the sea all these nations except the hyperboreans are continually making war on their neighbours herodotus could be describing the place where windswept passes in the altai mountains permit travel from the wide grasslands of the central asian steppe into ancient mongolia for there were ancient gold deposits in the altai mountains and the fossilized remains of prehistoric creatures can be seen eroding from the gobi desert the skulls of extinct mammoths have a large centrally placed nasal cavity for the trunk this could have been interpreted as a single eye socket by ancient peoples unfamiliar with the true biology and origin of these great skeletal remains dinosaur remains including the hornless skulls of protoceratops with their large neck frills and distinctive beak-like protrusions could have added to the myth perhaps the ancient step dwellers believed those remains were from lion bird predators who dwelt within the unexplored mountains and so if griffins lived in the altai mountains then the semi-mythical hyperboreans the people who dwelled beyond the north wind whose territory reaches to the sea might have been the ancient chinese [Music] to the north of ancient china lay the gobi desert and the vast grasslands of the mongolian steppe the gobi itself extended from southern mongolia as far as the bleak altai mountains herds of shaggy coated wild bacterian camels roamed the shrub lands of these desert margins and asian tigers stalked their prey through the long reeds where mountain streams gathered into shallow lakes this was a place of desolation that was rarely traversed beyond this void of desert there was china large and sophisticated kingdoms had existed in china as early as the 8th century bc by 476 bc an era known as the warring states period began and for more than two centuries china was divided into hostile rival kingdoms the most westerly state the kingdom of chin was closest to the steppe and could obtain superior amounts for central cavalry and war chariots between 230 and 225 bc the qin conquered their main rivals and finally brought to the core territories of ancient china under a single imperial regime and indeed it was in this era that the qin built a great wall to protect prosperous agricultural lands from the mounted nomads who occupied this step the chinese scholar sumachian records that meng tian the general who completed the wall lamented the destruction of the sacred landscape with long ditches and earthen ramparts i have committed a crime for which i merit death beginning at lin tau and extending to the aodong i made ramparts and cut ditches over more than ten thousand li but how could i avoid cutting through the very veins of the earth this is my crime chinchi huang the first emperor chin was buried in a vast mausoleum guarded by a regiment of life-sized terracotta soldiers beneath a vast mound is the still unexplored palace tomb of the first emperor according to sumachian the burial chamber contains a giant relief map of the known world including seas and rivers flowing with liquid metal quicksilver light reflective mercury [Music] but the classical civilizations of greece and rome was situated far beyond the limits of the known world in 202 bc following a brief civil war the chinese empire was restored and secured under a more successful government and the regime of the renowned han dynasty officially began under han rule china emerged as the largest and most powerful empire in the entire ancient world but the chinese had a problem a lack of horses the step was strategically important because chinese territory was not well suited for raising horses consequently the han empire became dependent on a step nation called the uag to provide essential horses for its cavalry war wagons and chariots the nomad uag occupied an arid territory to the west of china called the hershey corridor which seemed to be at the edge of the habitable world but all this was to no avail in 209 bc a powerful confederation of mounted nomads called the shangnu gained dominance on the mongolian step warfare was a part of life for the people who dwelt in these grassland territories shangnu chiefs could amass enormous armies that included several hundred thousand mounted warriors the han government decided the only course of action was to seek peace by granting the shangnu large amounts of tribute great quantities of grain and multiple bales of unique chinese silk and this is how the first silk traded from hand to hand through many step nations which lands far beyond china information about the origin of this valuable material was garbled by translation through many languages and dialects any details about the chinese that accompanied these exchanges would have been intermixed with speculation wild assumptions and myth [Music] [Music] in the roman era the city port of alexander was not only the political capital of egypt but a center of knowledge culture and learning in the alexandrian museum a monumental complex dedicated to the nine muses of the arts there was a world-renowned library the ptolemaic kings had begun a collection of all the written texts in the greek world papyri scrolls were piled high in stacks held in shallow shelves while scribes sat ready to replicate any text that might be required over the years the greatest works of every branch of cultural learning had been gathered to be studied copied and preserved it is known that the greek historian strabo used this library and at the turn of the first century a.d amongst its crowded shelves he discovered a unique account written about a hundred years earlier by apollodorus of artemita artemita was a greek-style city that lay beyond the tigris river and from this source strabo was able to learn details about political developments in the furthest reaches of the eastern world he was attempting to describe he describes the first appearance of a strange new nation on the eastern borders of bactria they were known as the tacarians a mounted people who emerged from unknown lands to challenge greek supremacy in the region the best-known nations in the east are those who deprived the greeks of bactria they are the asians passions tacarians and saccharoles who came from the country on the far side of the jacksons opposite the sackus and the sagdians but who were the tarkarians in 150 bc a step nation called the sackass had surged across the oxus river frontier and overran the already weakened greco-bactrian kingdom in afghanistan as strabo explains this saka invasion was prompted by the arrival of a newcomer population into their territories he calls these people the takari which was a greek name for the uag these uag had completed a 2 000 mile exodus that had taken a generation to accomplish and now having fled fought and negotiated their way through the heart of asia the eug had seized the sacca homelands and were poised to conquer bactria and this same incident is also documented in the ancient historical records of han china when the great euro ji went westward they defeated and drove away the psy king who fled southwards and so this steppe invasion was the first historical event to be described in both western and eastern records two distant worlds had collided and their fates and fortunes were now interlocked [Music] because of the excellence of our warriors and the strength of our horses the shangnu has eradicated the every member of that nation has now been slaughtered or forced into submission in 174 bc shangnu hordes had suddenly surged into the hershey corridor they had overwhelmed the uag and conquered the region the chinese learned from foreign informants that the khan had ordered the skull of the vanquished chief to be made into a ceremonial drinking goblet they also heard stories that the surviving uag had fled west into central asia and escaped to a land that was far beyond the knowledge and reach of the chinese regime and so in 141 bc when the emperor wu came to power he began a monumental war against the shangnu by his command han armies launched successive military expeditions into the far north they crossed intervening deserts and marched deep into the vast step to wage war on the enemy during this conflict emperor wu realized that foreign allies were needed to control the steppe and replace the great losses incurred by chinese cavalry and so wu remembered uag he wondered if they could be contacted in whatever distant region of the far west they had flared after their defeat by the chongnu but what lands extended to the west of china only a seemingly endless wasteland of desert and steppe encircled by impassable mountain barriers by 128 bc the shangnu had many chinese captives in their camps but none seemed to have accepted their fate with as much passive resignation as jung chen shangnu settlements were mobile and resembled small towns with clusters of large dome-like dwellings known as yurts jung-chen had been captured 10 years earlier brought in by outriders who stumbled upon a large chinese delegation passing through the southern steppe identified as their leader he had been brought before the great khan for interrogation whatever his westward mission may have been zhang chen had obviously failed he could be quietly dismissed from further consideration and so after a decade of close supervision jung chen seemed to have quietly accepted his position in the camp as a permanent detainee the former envoy appeared to have fully embraced foreign customs taking a shung new wife and raising his son according to nomad traditions but all was not as it seemed jung-chen had not forgotten his mission for he had been specially assigned by emperor wu himself to locate and contact the uag in the distant west setting out westward into unknown regions with almost 100 followers including advisors armed guards and foreign guides his mission was of the utmost importance and so one day the camp awoke to discover that zheng chen along with his wife his son and companions had fled half starved and exhausted suffering from cold and altitude sickness they travelled through the rock strewn passes of the palmer mountains to enter further unknown territories they struggled through headache-inducing high-altitude mountain passes towered over by permafrost peaks and all the while they feared pursuit and recapture by the steppe horsemen from whom they had recently escaped still clutching the state emblems of the han empire jung chen headed into the fertile fergana valley and it was there he made a startling discovery that entirely transformed chinese perceptions of the world they inhabited the people who occupied the valley and the lands beyond were part of another advanced civilization entirely unknown to the chinese these strange populations did not resemble the han people yet they had created an advanced culture based on agriculture cities kingdoms and empires although they speak different dialects their customs are generally similar and their language is mutually intelligible the men all have deep set eyes and thick beards they are skillful at commerce and will haggle over a small fraction these countries produce no silk and no varnish and so unknown to jung chen and his weary companions an unplanned and unforeseen first contact between major civilizations of the ancient world was about to occur in 330 bc alexander the great arrived in sogdiana with his triumphant greco-macedonian army sogdia had been the furthest territory of the persian empire and on its northern frontier the broad-flowing jaxartes river seemed to mark the limit of the settled civilized world the cities in this sandy wasteland were built from mud brick hardened by the unrelenting arid environment beyond the river there seemed to be nothing patches of parched shrubland barren hills and then endless step inhabited only by nomad warrior horsemen distant mountains could be glimpsed on the horizon but settled civilization ended at the jaxartes there was nobody left to conquer except the drifting tribes of nomads so alexander paused on this remote frontier in this empty space on the edge of the world he began to build a greek style capital and military command post this distant site occupied by greek and macedonian veterans would stand as a city on the edge of settled civilization a bulwark against the neighboring steppe it would permanently implant mediterranean culture into the region founded in 330 bc this place became known as alexandria escote alexandria the furthest even today after such a long lapse of time the descendants of these people have retained their identity among the wider population this is because of the legacy of alexander at this location the relentless eastward progression of the macedonian army had been halted perhaps as they believed by the displeasure of the gods aristander the soothsayer the chief diviner in the macedonian army read numerous omens and issued a stern warning to go no further but alexander did not heed his advice he ventured a single brief foray into the step in pursuit of a large mounted warband that had gathered on the frontier the steppe horseman fled into the wastelands rapidly pursued by alexander and his mounted host his exhausted infantry could not keep pace and they watched their king disappear towards the hills and the vast emptiness of the unknown step fear and anxiety increased as nightfall approached when the royal cavalry finally came into view and reached the safety of the riverbank the elation of the waiting soldiers turned to dismay as alexander collapsed from his mount the cavalry had been forced to drink polluted water during their step pursuit and now dysentery was taking effect on the exhausted riders the rapid pursuit in the great heat was exhausting every man suffered from acute thirst and as he rode alexander himself was forced to drink whatever water he could find unfortunately it was not pure and gave him a severe attack of dysentery alexander became so seriously ill that he had to be carried back to camp and aristander was therefore shown to be a true prophet after all the macedonians had learned their lesson alexander had entered the expanse beyond the frontiers only to be forced back by nature itself or some indefinable will of the gods the greeks had reached the edge of the known world and alexandria escote in the fergana valley was destined to become the furthest outpost of their civilization the edge of the western world and so alexandria escote had been in existence for almost two centuries when zhengcheng began his descent into the forghana valley by this stage the bedraggled group of han appointees had more the appearance of fugitives than splendid envoys from a great empire nevertheless the kanye inhabitants of this hellenized region immediately guessed the origins of the exotic travelers the chinese scholar sumachen reports that jeongchen was greeted by a people known as the da yuan the great ionians zhang chen was taken to alexandria escote where an interpreter was found the people of this country having heard of the wealth and productivity of china had tried in vain to communicate with it and when they saw zhang chen they asked joyfully where do you wish to go zhengchen was escorted westward several hundred miles to a steppe territory on the upper oxis where the uag had settled after their long migration but despite his most earnest appeals he could not persuade them to re-establish their former alliance and send their armies eastward he therefore traveled south to investigate the prosperous and well-urbanized territory of darsha greco bactria when zhengchen had entered bactria in 127 bc he discovered that this greek kingdom had been disintegrating but there was no doubting the classical origin of these places one of these greek cities was excavated at the modern site of ai kanum in eastern afghanistan icanum had a classical theatre that could accommodate 5 000 citizens a large gymnasium avenues lined with corinthian columns a fortified acropolis and a persian influenced palest center various shrines and temples in the city were devoted to greek gods including a temple with iranian features that housed a seated statue of zeus dasha is situated over 2000 li southwest of daiwan its people cultivate the land and have cities and houses their customs are like those of da juan it has no great ruler but only several minor magistrates ruling the various cities the people are poor in the use of arms and afraid of battle but they are clever at commerce the population of the country is large numbering a million or more people and so han china learnt about the civilization of lee jan a people emerging from the conquests of alexander of macedon according to chinese naming systems the jan was therefore a dynasty that gave its name to a people just as han china took its name from the founding qin empire and the succeeding han dynasty after further dramatic encounters and escapes from the xiangnu jung chen finally returned to china in 124 bc the report he delivered to the imperial court was truly astonishing zhengchen described entirely new and amazing landscapes peoples animals and foliage the emperor inspected large stone-like seeds said to produce sweet and delicious fruits from stunted agricultural trees there were also husky seeds and product samples from a new crop said to produce a strong and absorbent new material linen the stories seemed impossible but was he not holding the evidence in his hands within decades the imperial estates around the emperor's summer palace were entirely covered with foreign vegetation including flax for the manufacture of linen and new varieties of greek cultivated grapevines so the chinese were not alone beneath the heavens after all there were other civilized peoples with different gods and sophisticated cities beyond the wilderness that encircled the edges of their world this located ancient china the middle kingdom in a new setting below the heavens and these distant civilizations valued hand commodities and possessed unique products that would enhance the chinese economy and strengthen its armies the west presented important prospects for the advance of chinese civilization it offered the opportunity for distant political alliances and the exploitation of significant new resources [Music] but before all that there would have to be war in 102 bc the well-disciplined han army marched in ranks through the fergana valley towards the heavily defended city of alexandria escote they had journeyed more than a thousand miles across the hostile terrain territories to reach their destination at the eastern approaches to the tarim basin they had traversed desiccated salt flats with poisoned watercourses they had skirted the intervening wastelands following the foothills of the vast chanshan range west to the formidable taklimakan this impenetrable desert was formed from red grit particles heaped into vast shifting dune fields but those who found their way around this obstacle could enter the steeply ascending passes in the rock-studded pamia mountains the immense logistics and provisioning involved in this enterprise had affected all sections of chinese society but the great cost and the risk was worth the gamble the chinese were seeking an incredible prize in this far-flung territory a resource that could change the course of world history and the fate of their civilization in this era chinese horses still resembled the small pony-like breeds depicted in the terracotta army therefore the great greco-bactrian horses maintained by hellenic armies was something entirely new in the chinese experience they had the lineage of the mounts alexander and his elite cavalry had ridden to victory in iran centuries of selective breeding had subsequently developed persian and european stock into a formidable animal easily able to bear the weight of armored riders the prestige and significance of these prized horses can be seen on the reverse of greco-bactrian coins the emperor wu inspected the greek coinage turning the detail to die struck images over and over between his fingers his envoys reported that these divine riders were real they had seen soldiers equipped in this fashion on tall muscular mounts a breeding stock of these prized animals would transform the battlefield strength of han armies and propel china into new heights of power and potential the cost in lives and resources to acquire those horses might be immense but no limits were placed on ambition the so-called war for celestial horses was a once in a generation event an entire civilization marshaled massive resources to undertake the immense task of shortening distances across the surface of the earth between 123 and 119 bc the han empire conquered the hershey corridor and established new cities across the region meanwhile chinese envoys carried out expeditions into the vast tarim territories to confirm the existence of up to 50 oasis sites around this inhospitable desert depression diplomatic efforts to acquire the fergana horses failed and the first military expedition into the tarim territories was a disaster due to desertion and starvation but the emperor was undeterred and in 103 bc mobilized a replacement army of some 60 000 soldiers this time the han commander li guang li was granted a vast nearly incalculable system of provision supplies when lee guang li finally reached for ghana with a force of 30 000 soldiers he besieged alexandria escote realizing the defeat was imminent the ruling step nobles assassinated their overlord and offered the chinese their prized horses following this campaign numerous tarim states submitted themselves to chinese rule as subject kingdoms and so over time the networks that connected these previously isolated communities formed a new commercial highway for the trafficking of unique and valuable products this is how the silk roads began for days excited crowds had arrived in rome desperate for a glimpse of the triumph of their supreme general and dictator julius caesar returning from his glorious conquests in gaul those arriving early to stake their place along the parade route were met with a strange and unexpected sight on the day of the celebrations in 46 bc the linen awnings of the roman forum had been replaced with canopies made from extraordinary chinese silks rolls of this exotic eastern material had been re-woven into translucent sheets and died vibrant colours to amplify the grandeur of the upcoming spectacle caesar had stretched awnings over the whole of the roman forum in the sacred way leading from his large luxurious home right up to the capitol buildings this exhibition of silk was thought to be even more wondrous than the show of gladiators that caesar offered these strange fabrics cast a kaleidoscope of bright colours over the crowds and the passing parade the streets were bathed in imperial purples military crimsons and saffron tinted golden yellows the spectacle was astonishing onlookers wondered about the origins of this exotic material and what it signaled about the military ambitions of their dictator general some might have heard stories about the mysterious serras the silk people who lived in a place called thaina at the very edge of the known world roman sailors returning from voyages to india spoke of a mysterious place the greeks called cerica the land from whence comes ser the silk its strange properties captured their imagination pliny had assumed that cerec silk was a wool fiber that grew in foreign trees and the poet virgil pictures eastern groves where mysterious ceres comb fine fabrics from strange leaves but this information came from merchants who had only sailed from egypt to india and could not be certain what lay beyond the ganges a greek merchant guidebook called the periplus of the erythraean sea records that it is not easy to get to this thiner only rarely do people come from it and even then only a few but not all people gathered in the crowds viewed this silk as a symbol of roman triumph many soldiers considered the display to be a reckless squandering of money that might well have been added to their military bonuses it was said that the first romans to see chinese silk were the doomed legionaries at the battle of karai commanded by the roman general marcus crassus crassus had been a wealthy political ally of caesar and for his soldiers this display of silk in rome amounted to a betrayal only seven years previously in 53 bc crassus had led a roman army into mesopotamia it was the first stage in the conquest of the rival parthian empire which ruled ancient persia according to the historian orosius an envoy warned krasus that if he continued his invasion to seek parthian gold he would find himself laden with the steel of the ceres as the mounted parthian army began their cavalry advance across the desert plain on a given signal they suddenly discarded their drab coverings to reveal gleaming armor at the same time they unfurled brightly coloured silken banners krasus and his legions watched in horror as the parthians rode forward with silk pendants billowing dramatically above the heads of mounted archers and heavily armored lancers according to the roman writer flores the parthians advanced with their standards fluttering with gold and silk pendants then without any delay the cavalry closed in on all sides showered their weapons as thick as hail or rain upon the romans and thus the roman army was destroyed in terrible slaughter under repeated volleys of barbed arrows the incapacitated legionaries had their arms pinned to their shields or their sandaled feet skewered to the ground this was the fearsome cyric steel that the romans had been warned to expect in the east the parthians believed that crassus had been motivated by plunder it was said that they poured melted gold into the mouth of his severed head as a symbol of his greed and now the parthians were marching a captive force of 10 000 roman prisoners of war enough to fill the ranks of two entire legions from karai to merv at the eastern terminal of their empire thousands of injured defeated and disarmed legionaries were forced to march through narrow passes that seemed almost scorched out of dark mountains they were taken to the bleak desert frontier of eastern iran more than 2 000 miles from the mediterranean coast there was little possibility of rescue from their fellow citizens the strange parthian pendants first seen at karai were made of silk a product manufactured only in the land of the ceres and now during caesar's triumph great quantities of this material had been stretched over roman monuments without regard to its foreign origins or its previous use by enemies of rome survivors of karai who had escaped back to roman territory looked to julius caesar to return the fallen eagle standards and bring back their comrades who are now prisoners so this display of triumphant silken canopies on the streets of the roman capital was a sour and bitter sight plotting against caesar had already begun but amongst the political intrigue the question remained what happened to this vast swathe of prisoners sent to merv further than any roman soldiers had ever ventured east the chinese outpost of li jan protected a precious water source and rootway in the wide network of chinese forts urban outposts and bunker-like watchtowers that guarded and connected the hershey region at first glance it seemed to be an ordinary frontier town on the desert margins of the hershey corridor a small agricultural community formed from chinese settlers and agricultural labourers a military unit oversaw and protected the people of lijian but those who passed through would have stared intently at the unfamiliar faces of the garrison these men with their pronounced features and unusual eye coloration did not resemble the han soldiers of inner china also the theory goes and in the 1950s a prominent oxford professor named homer dubs made an extraordinary suggestion what if the soldiers of li-jan were romans the theory begins with an ancient cadastral register from ad5 which includes lee jian in a long list of chinese cities and urban districts the jan is listed in the hershey corridor along with other outposts bearing the names of foreign territories settled by prisoners of war the chinese protector general of the tarim territories led a long-range military expedition against a new threat on the central asian steppe the target was a combined fortress and palace complex under the authority of a renegade shangnu khan named gigi eight commemorative scenes were specially painted to depict the chinese attack on the steppe fortress on the wall were coloured banners and armed men shouting advance and engage outside the wall horsemen galloped about and more than a hundred foot soldiers would come to the gate in a fish-scale formation but the shangnu and their step allies did not fight in disciplined infantry units so who were these shield-equipped mercenaries arranged in this strange formation were they roman soldiers trapped in the east having escaped their parthian captors in merv and finding service with step warlords beyond the jack sartes river could this fish scale be a distinctive roman shield formation known as the testudo or tortoise and so dubs went on to assert that surrendering this foreign unit might have been taken back to china as prisoners of war now mercenaries these survivors could have been granted a military colony and ended their adventures more than 5 000 miles from the mediterranean homelands of their ancestors since dubb's initial claims no archaeological evidence has been found and even genetic testing of today's inhabitants of the region has uncovered no roman ancestry dubs speculation is now widely considered myth but what it does highlight is that these two worlds were not quite as isolated from each other as is commonly thought there were many potential meeting points across the vast step what we know for certain is that a huge quantity of the roman prisoners would have been held prisoner at merv perhaps expecting imminent rescue the defeat and capture of roman legions never went without severe retribution for julius caesar he was completing the conquest of gaul when news of the horrifying defeated karai reached rome in 46 bc with pompey and his other rivals dead the obligation fell upon caesar to avenge the humiliation and restore roman prestige in the east his legions were prepared and far-reaching military plans were being discussed among senior roman commanders the sources confirm that julius caesar was indeed planning persian conquests that would match the achievements of alexander the great and project roman power beyond the frontiers of india further east than ever before the parthians were to be punished for their treachery towards crassus across the adriatic sea caesar prepared an advanced force of 16 legions and 10 000 cavalry a vast campaign was in preparation but suddenly a strange rumor began spreading among the roman populace it was said a sinister prophecy had been found in the sacred sibilene books it suggested that the parthians would only submit to a roman king some believed that caesar wanted to obtain this royal position for himself and the prophecy seemed to confirm his ambitions the most open and deadly hatred towards him was produced by his perceived passion for royal power for the multitude this was a cause of hatred and for those who had long smothered their hate a pretext for it four days before his intended departure for the eastern campaign caesar was dead brutally stabbed to death by his colleagues as he entered a senatorial meeting the body of caesar lay just where it fell ignominiously stained with blood here was a man who had advanced westward as far as britain and the outer ocean he planned to advance east against the parthian and indian realms so that all land and sea might be brought into an empire under the power of a single leader but now there he lay no one daring to remain or to remove the body if the prisoners who had been marched to mirv hoped for rescue they would not be released by any roman army marching into asia instead their economy would remain connected to the silk routes only through the activities of central asian intermediaries but this traffic of goods along the silk routes was just beginning and with its help the ancient world economy was about to enter a new era of international prosperity in order to return to our ancient standards of behavior do you know what i will prohibit first will it be the expanse of our large-scale villas or the numbers of our slaves or their many nationalities perhaps it should be the weight of gold and silver we own or should it be the inappropriate clothing worn by both men and women and should it be especially female extravagance for the sake of this our wealth is transported to strange or hostile countries by the first century rampant roman consumerism had become the dominant force in an ancient world economy that stretched from europe to china competitive spending among the elite was causing inflation and increasing the flow of roman gold and silver coinage to rival eastern nations when emperor tiberius spoke of roman wealth transported to hostile countries he meant the parthian empire they had inflicted humiliating military defeats on rome but now they were battling the empire economically ansi wishes to control the trade in multicolored chinese silks and so blocks the route to prevent them getting through bundles of thick chinese silk entering the roman empire were carefully re-woven and refashioned in syrian workshops some of this coloured fabric was sold back to the parthians for transfer further east but most of the material was destined for affluent to roman consumers but in the surviving sources it was the use of silk in female fashions that drew the most comment [Music] these fabrics are imported at a vast expense from nations that are unknown to our merchants now our matrons show as much of their persons in public as they do to their lovers in private but men had also taken to the new fashion conservative romans complained that traditional togas made from coarse linen or heavy wool were being replaced with lighter and more comfortable part silk costumes now men wear silk clothing in the summer because of its lightness but they do not feel ashamed at one time we used to wear leather military breastplates but fashions have become so bizarre that now even the toga is considered unnecessarily heavy at least we have left assyrian silk dresses to the women for the time being but there was an economic price to pay for these purchases silks were imported at great cost from distant nations and every purchase strengthened foreign rivals silk spices pearls and incense were a replenishable resource in the distant east but roman bullion used for imperial coinage was a finite resource and the mines that sustained the roman economy were not limitless one day there would be a reckoning but in the meantime there were other routes to the distant east that could be exploited by ambitious roman merchants for if parthia blocked the overland roots then the romans would take to the seas in 1847 an extraordinary find was made near cananore in kerala coastal southwest india near the ocean shores within an eroding sand dune local people discovered a strange bronze container of ancient origin and foreign design concealed within this vessel were thousands of pristine gold coins with sharp relief images depicting roman emperors with their imperial titles and classical gods augustus nero metallic ancient faces stirred up with the local indians close to eight thousand gold roman aoray had been buried at this site undisturbed for almost two millennia a clue can be found in the work of pliny the elder by the smallest computation india the serez and the arabian peninsula take 100 million sisters from our empire every year that is the sum expended on our luxuries and our women strabo corroborates this reporting that 120 roman ships made trade voyages from egypt to india every year in about ad50 a greek merchant guidebook called the periplus of the erythraean sea describes these roman voyages to india the periplus confirmed that money was the main roman export to southern india where it was exchanged for silks ivory spices and pearls ships reaching these ports of trade take on board full loads because of the volume and quantity of pepper and cinnamon these ports offer a market mainly for a great amount of money vast quantities of bullion lost from the empire the seasonal monsoon meant that roman ships rarely sailed further than the southern tip of western india an area known as limericke it was the merchants who operated the further trade routes who gave the romans some of their earliest information on china the periplus reports at the ganges you are at the northernmost point of india somewhere on the outer fringe where the sea ends there is a very great inland state called thaina from this place silk floss yarn and cloth are trafficked by land by way of bactria to barry gaza silk is also taken via the ganges river to limericke roman merchants wondered if china could be reached on land the periplus speculated it is not easy to get to this thiner only rarely do people come from it and even then only a few the area lies right under ursa minor it is said thiner is connected to parts of the pontus and the caspian sea what lies beyond this region because of extremes of storms the bitter cold and the difficult terrain but also because of some divine power of the gods these places have not been explored no roman traders dared to test these theories and few tried to follow the commercial traffic back to china an ancient trade document known as the museus papyrus confirms the importance of this economic network to the roman empire it refers to cargo removed from a roman merchant ship which had just returned from southern india the cargo was valued at more than nine million sisters and the roman state would have collected quarter rate import taxes worth more than two million sisters from this single vessel this suggests that eastern trade provided the roman empire with perhaps a third of its essential revenues more than 300 million sisters in the private council of the emperor vespasian pliny and his colleagues would have debated the quandary of empire the commerce that was diminishing roman wealth was producing essential tax revenues to finance the military regime it was a double-edged sword draining the empire whilst also maintaining its armies but what could be done [Music] in the distant pharasan islands just off the south coast of saudi arabia a worn latin military inscription pokes out of the white sands for the emperor on behalf of the vexilation of the second league triana fortis and its auxiliary troops castrichius aprenus son of publius prefect of the port of pharasan and the sea of hercules has made and dedicated this monument this port lays 600 miles or three weeks sailing in fair weather from the southern frontier of roman egypt it was the furthest roman outpost the true edge of the empire yet the port itself was a simple functional site constructed from stone cobbles stacked into ramparts it included a castra containing a headquarters barracks kitchens stables storerooms and granaries here near the entrance to the red sea gulf a task force from the legio six ferata the sixth ironclad legion had guarded the main sailing routes to india but it seems to have been more than that the then emperor trajan looks to have been planning a possible invasion route for roman conquest trajan fitted out a fleet for the erythraean sea so that he might use it to lay waste to the coasts of india 80 years after tiberius had issued his warning the roman empire had begun to act north of the danube frontier the mountainous kingdom of dakia had been conquered by the emperor trajan in ad106 these renowned gold mining districts were added to the roman economy but this was not enough trajan also had new plans for the distant east extending roman interests into the indian ocean and seizing the overland trade routes leading through inner asia that same year the roman legions in syria swept through the neighbouring client kingdoms of nabataea in southwest arabia the caravan city of petra became a roman possession and the empire gained control over the main terminal nodes of the inland incense trails from here caravan trails led to the yemen in southern arabia and crossed the desert to connect with the parthian-ruled persian gulf perhaps trajan was already planning the conquest of babylonia expansion into arabia maximized opportunities to acquire new routes for intelligence gathering invasion or resupply on his orders a canal was re-cut to connect the nile near alexandria with the head of the suez gulf and this water passage allowed roman war galleys and supply ships to sail from the mediterranean into the red sea but how much did the romans know about the distant east and their ultimate goal a greco-roman geographer named claudius ptolemy produced a map of the known world in the second century a.d for his data and coordinates he referred to an earlier work on world cartography written by an authority called marinus of tyre marinus had received a merchant report of a trade expedition to china from a businessman of macedonian descent named mayus titanius it seems that in about 100 a.d commercial agents managed by maius joined caravans crossing iran and bactria to reach the stone tower from this site his agents should attach themselves to further caravans headed across the hand-controlled tarim territories as far as inner china and onwards to the reported capital of the ceres marianas says that a certain maius had written down the measurements he himself did not go but had sent others to the ceres when the group returned to roman syria they offered a full account of their exploits to maus describing all they had witnessed in the distant land of the ceres from this marinus and other geographers were able to create a basic outline of the east including the location of some major population centers and so now the romans had their first map of cerica china news spread through the empire and the ceres became the subject of great speculation the satirist juvenile complained about domineering roman wives interfering in the concerns of military politics this mattered to them because of interruptions to their supplies of silk they would interrogate their husbands to ask what are the intentions of the ceres perhaps the emperor trajan also considered the serras in his imperial plans for the east trajan began his conquest of the parthian empire in 114 a.d capturing armenia and seizing the minor kingdoms of northern mesopotamia triumphant legions marched into babylonia and the kingdom of teresa to the emperor and in his moment of victory trajan traveled down to the shore of the persian gulf and inspected the ships that were leaving for india the emperor was already in his 60s and perhaps beginning to feel the onset of illness he was shortly to suffer what may have been a stroke and he died on the way back to rome then trajan came to the ocean when he had observed its nature and had seen a ship sailing to india he said oh if only i was still young then i would certainly have crossed over to india for he began to think about india and was curious about their affairs and he regarded alexander to have been fortunate to have traveled there and so for that brief moment trajan dreamt of distant conquests and far-off adventures but little did he know he was standing in the exact location where just two decades earlier the chinese envoy gang ying had paused on his journey west and indeed ying had been sent to find the ruler of dar chin the emperor of rome trajan himself in 1897 after crossing the blistering deserts of southern iran the han envoy gang ying finally stood on the humid shores of the persian gulf ghan ying had already spent many arduous weeks crossing inner asia on his secret assignment chinese intelligence suggested that a new superpower had emerged in the far west which matched the han empire in its population size prosperity and military capacity informants claimed that the new empire had been created from existing kingdoms conquered by the authority of a great autocratic ruler the situation resembled how china had been unified by the qin dynasty consequently this new empire of the distant west received the name best translated as da chin another great china gang ying had almost reached his destination he had almost found a route to rome by following the euphrates north de ziogma he would arrive at the heavily militarized roman frontier leggio iv sithika the fourth scythian legion was headquartered in zyugma and from this frontier city the han ambassador could be conveyed directly to rome but as the civilizations converged gang ying looked out across the waters of the gulf the seemingly endless expanse sent a sickening fear through him what if there was nothing out there protector general ban chao had won back the taram territories the chinese lost possession of the taran region in 189 when the usurper wang man briefly seized power from the han dynasty the oasis kingdoms refused to follow the new acting emperor and broke their political connection to china the thousand-mile passage across the taram territories became subject to numerous competing powers and although large-scale silk commerce continued china had lost a direct route of communication to bactria the han reconquest and restoration of the tarim kingdoms began in ad74 but it required almost two decades to fully accomplish during these operations ban chao re-established contact with uragi and learned how the entire nation was now under the command of a great king named vaima kadvices ruler of the newly formed khushan empire a key middleman along the silk road these new political connections were crucial to maintaining chinese control over the restored tarim territories the kushans agreed favorable terms with the chinese gaining an income of silk for their compliance but ban chao began to look even further west with power again cemented there was now an opportunity to send han envoys to the parthian empire xiaoji and angxi and all the kingdoms as far as the shores of the great sea more than forty thousand lee away all offered diplomatic gifts however they had to use several successive interpreters to communicate with us parthia was now within the chinese diplomatic system but what power might challenge and check parthia in any future struggle for international dominance and more importantly what was the ultimate destination for all the chinese silk being trafficked west these distant people obviously desired silk a great deal perhaps an agreement could be made indian merchants provided the answer when they revealed their commercial contacts with rome objects from the roman empire were being trafficked through bactria and these provided unique glimpses into the world beyond the great southern ocean eastern peoples could make glass items but they were generally small and clouded with impurities in contrast the romans manufactured beautiful translucent glass-blown vessels that were tinted vibrant colours by using unique mineral extracts and indeed perhaps ban chao gazed upon such items while he carefully questioned indian traders about the power and wealth of distant dar chin he decided to select an envoy named gang ying to make the journey and establish contact with the unknown emperor of the far west han envoys adopted the guise of prosperous merchants as they trekked west from the taram territories to arya in eastern iran they avoided the route through northern iran which passed through the main political centers of the parthian empire this was a secret mission gang ying selected a southern route and led his small party west through mountains and deserts towards the ancient district of susa this led to the persian gulf the who hanshu describes the perilous journey into the unknown from unsee if you travel 3400 the li west you reach the kingdom of amman leaving amman and travelling 3600 li you reach the kingdom of sibin leaving sibin and travelling south you cross a river then going southwest you reach the kingdom of yulio after 960 li this is the extreme western frontier of ansi leaving there and heading south you embark on the sea and then reach dar chin but when gan ying arrived there were no roman ships in sight the chinese had no knowledge of the arabian peninsula or the extent of the african continent to his horror gang ying learned that the southern ocean extended west for a further thousand miles baffled by the geography of babylonia he couldn't seek assistance from local authorities due to the clandestine nature of his mission he reasoned that darchin had to be situated at this western edge of the great ocean because they sent trade vessels to india but this western empire was also surrounded by a great sea the mediterranean so what now when gang ying asked if he could sail to darjin he received confusing responses from the many foreign merchants and sailors present at charism some merchants thought that the chinese travelers wanted to reach roman egypt by sailing 3000 miles around the entire coast of arabia others may have assumed that these foreigners plan to reach the italian capital by circumnavigating africa but there could also have been an element of exploitation and the mariners may have exaggerated the risks and duration of their voyage to guarantee they were paid higher sums for undertaking the hazards of the journey in the ninth year during the reign of emperor her the protector general ban chao sent gan ying to dar chin he reached ciao xi next to a large sea he wanted to cross it but the sailors on the western frontier of sea said to him the ocean is huge those making the round trip can do it in three months if the winds are favorable however if you encounter winds that delay you it can take two years gang ying did not have the temperament determination and inner resolve of jung chen at the edge of the known world where jung-chen had pushed on he turned back ban chao concluded that it was not possible to reach roman territory by any acceptable means the expedition report suggested that rome was too distant to have any influence in central asia and ban chao did not realize how close gang ying had come to establishing contact with the roman empire had gan ying been successful in his mission to rome he would have been brought before the military emperor trajan in the first year of his reign if gang ying had overcome his trepidations correctly apprised the situation and then pushed onwards chinese ambassadors would have sat amongst roman senators during the dacian victory games in rome that same year the vast ocean urges men to think of their country get home sick and some of them even die in ad 107 the leading tarim kingdoms revolted from chinese rule and han authorities withdrew back to the hershey frontier trajan's attempted conquest of the parthian empire began in ad-114 the romans captured babylonia but uprisings across the middle east and parthian counter-attacks forced the legions to withdraw from the region hadrian who succeeded trajan as emperor abandoned the parthian conflict [Music] the dream was dead roman china would not meet on the battlefields of central asia strangers had arrived on the southern frontiers of the han empire exhausted and confused they had tried to communicate with port officials using an unknown language and been immediately escorted to the chinese capital lua yang for investigation china was managed by a vast civil service and the han palace complex resembled a self-contained city filled with scholars archivists ministers and bureaucrats as part of official protocol han officials had subjected the strangers to a list of stock questions designed to ascertain the scale and character of the regime they claimed to represent and according to the book of later han these men with their strange garments and close cropped hair were roman representatives of anton marcus aurelius antoninus and after careful questioning the foreign delegates were granted an audience with the han emperor and summoned to the ornate inner court in 161 a.d parthia declared war on the roman empire by annihilating a legion in armenia and leaving the governor of cappadocia slain on the battlefield after half a century of peace and stability the legions had had enough and prepared to finally obliterate the parthian menace rome was going to war and required eastern allies envoys and commercial agents were sent with dispatches to summon assistance would the kushan empire join the romans in this war against their mutual enemy and what of the ceres could the steel equipped superpower in the far east offer further assistance but the question remained how to contact this distant empire for those courageous enough to undertake a voyage into the hazardous unknown the ocean might provide a direct route to the distant east but there had been major developments since the time of the periplus roman ships were now sailing around sri lanka to visit eastern india and traverse the bay of bengal ptolemy had used new information from these merchants to construct a map of southeast asia including the shape and location of the thousand-mile long malay peninsula known as the golden cherceries and merchants had discovered a shortcut across this barrier by landing at the narrow craw isthmus they made an overland journey to the far coast on the eastern shore other trade vessels awaited to take merchants across the gulf of thailand to reach vietnam and southern china a land the traders called sinai we have also learnt about the interior of asia as far as the golden cherceries and the route to katagara the land and capital of the serez is situated above the sinai the region east is unknown because of marshland giant reeds and the impediment of river crossings perhaps this is a reference to flooded paddy fields and bamboo forests but the details are vague but it was enough for ptolemy to produce a basic outline map of southeast asia and the likely site of a great inland capital known as sinai or thinai metropolis a trade sailing from roman egypt to the mysterious land of the ceres was therefore entirely feasible but the sea voyage from egypt to china would span a quarter of the globe and cross 8 000 miles of ocean the men that marcus aurelius selected for this task must have accepted this mission to voyage into the distant unknown and established direct relations with the mysterious steel-equipped empire with trepidation and so in ad 166 a roman ship circumnavigated the malay peninsula and crossed the gulf of thailand to enter the south china sea the roman crew had probably spent over 14 months at sea or in various foreign ports sailing north along the coast of vietnam their ship docked at a military outpost called rinan the southernmost periphery of han china the two greatest empires of the ancient world were about to make first contact [Music] the exhausted romans who arrived at the port would have seen numerous military personnel dressed in strange uniforms and carrying unfamiliar weaponry these wide-eyed travelers realized that this wasn't a mere trading partner another peoples to be subdued they were dealing with a vast militarized empire like rome it was a thousand-mile journey from renan to lua yang along multi-laned chinese highways which were twice the width of the largest roman roads at 10 mile intervals postal stations provided couriers and state officials with fresh horses and offered facilities for overnight accommodation the awestruck romans would have seen tall watchtowers in the chinese countryside and observed formidable defensive walls surrounding han cities they marveled at the thick beige coloured silk fabrics worn even by poor people of low status and high quality steel was used for ordinary battle gear and common work tools chinese coins did not widely display images of the emperor nor did army emblems and public statues so the roman envoys must have wondered who this emperor was a general like trajan or perhaps a philosopher statesman like marcus aurelius there was soon to find out during the reign of emperor juan the king of dar chin anton sent envoys from beyond the frontiers through renan he offered elephant tusks rhino horn and turtle shell this was the very first time that there was direct communication but the tribute brought was neither precious nor rare raising suspicion that earlier accounts of dar chin might be exaggerated it seems the hardships and stresses of the extended voyage and travel through china had taken a heavy toll on the crew the chinese had expected the romans to present diplomatic gifts including western gemstones precious red coral brilliantly dyed fabrics and marvelous coloured glassware but the envoys had been forced to trade sell or surrender their diplomatic gifts to secure safe passage in eastern ports or maybe they were just roman merchants who had been issued with statements of introduction and commissioned to see if it was possible to contact the ceres some members of the han court may have observed the gifts and questioned earlier accounts of dar chin was it really a wealthy superpower the meeting was concluded and the antonine envoys were escorted back to rinan and their waiting ship although the chinese prepared for further contact no fleet of roman ship ever came no one arrived not even opportunistic merchants searching for lucrative new trade opportunities chinese officials sought explanation for the lack of contact and finally concluded that rome was not as wealthy or as politically ambitious as their previous records had stated but that was not the reason no one returned for if these envoys had returned safely to egypt they would have found the roman empire in an unprecedented mortal crisis in a.d 165 after the legions had successfully invaded the parthian empire they captured the capital city of seleucia and occupied babylonia but during the winter months an unknown disease had broken out amongst the troops this had forced the roman army to abandon the war and retreat to syria but in doing so they brought the pandemic home with them an ancestral form of smallpox the disease killed or disabled up to a third of people in affected areas these figures are confirmed by papyri tax records detailing the manpower available in certain agricultural villages some rural centres lost over 70 percent of their adult male population as people fled agricultural estates threatened by the infection the result was failed harvests and food shortages those who did not die were often left maimed or seriously incapacitated casualty rates were highest in overcrowded cities including alexandria and rome which had prolonged warm temperatures during the summer one of the main factors that increased infection rates was that roman society encouraged public bathing as a mass recreational activity the pandemic devastated the roman army and reduced its ability to control the northern frontiers the mounted warrior peoples of the eurasian steppe having a lucky advantage a greater resistance to the disease due to their cattle droving cultures and immunity acquired by their frequent exposure to cow and horse boxes but in the empire the antonine disease remained at epidemic levels for over a decade the movement of army personnel was a key vector in the early spread of the disease but maritime commerce also propagated and intensified the epidemic people seemingly in good health at the beginning of their voyage could develop full symptoms in the trip and infect other crew and passengers in the close confines of the ship crowded markets filled with people from distant regions also offered a chain of infection for renewed outbreaks whole armies were lost after the parthian victory because a devastating disease affected the greater part of the roman population and all the troops in rome italy and the provinces succumbed to the sickness this microscopic viral enemy was an unrelenting force of nature that rome could not overcome with military might and discipline as the empire faltered hordes of germanic invaders threatened to overrun the exposed northern frontiers after decades of conflict even the emperor could not avoid his fate and he too succumbed to the invisible enemy and unknown to the romans on the other side of the world the same disease had struck the han empire before it could even reach the roman frontier the chinese had named it the barbarian boils because the infection spread initially by step peoples caused numerous painful blisters to erupt on the skin of the sufferer chinese records confirmed that an ad ad-162 this pandemic killed or debilitated one-third of hand troops on the northern frontiers mounted step nomads immediately took advantage of the situation and overran the unprotected borders the roads came under attack and communications were broken there was widespread sickness in the army and three or four out of every 10 men died in the han empire the effects of the disease were worsened by severe drought and famine that caused unrest among the large rural population from 170 a.d onwards a revolutionary taoist sect began to gain influence in chinese society this mass movement was led by a cult of charismatic faith healers who planned to seize governmental power from the han they declared that the han regime had lost the mandate of heaven and their uprising would restore health vitality and prosperity to a decaying world the militia-based supporters and devotees of this movement wore distinctive golden yellow strips of fabric around their heads this led to the organization becoming known as the yellow scarves the blue sky has died the yellow sky is coming and in ad 184 the yellow scarves led a violent popular uprising against the han government involving millions of peasants and thousands of rebellious troops to restore order the han regime gave greater political military and tax collecting powers to provincial governments local rulers and prominent chinese generals these new warlords suppressed the yellow scarves rebellion but then fought to claim power for themselves thus splitting the chinese empire into competing factions that commanded large districts as self-governing realms and began levying armies from their peasant populations the empire fragmented and china no longer looked to the distant west the mysterious land of darchin became a legend during this tumultuous era the han dynasty collapsed the parthians were overthrown and the kushan empire disintegrated rome persevered but the plague marked the beginning of the end at least in the western empire the land of silk is in the most remote part of asia and those crossing the indian ocean can locate it at the furthest place north it is a great distance from the persian gulf and from the island the indians called celadepa and the greeks taprebane by the 6th century the eastern roman empire was recovering from the shock waves caused by the fall of rome and the barbarian capture of italy the romans had managed to revive their commerce in the red sea but their vessels rarely crossed the indian ocean nonetheless the romans who sailed these truncated routes had heard old stories of tsinitza the distant land of silk china in this new era the roman emperors of constantinople faced a dangerous opponent in the form of the rival sassanian empire in persia like their the parthian empire blocked roman access to the so-called silk routes through iran the indian philosophers called brahmans assert that if someone were to stretch a cord from tsinitsa it has to pass through persia until it reaches roman territory persia is therefore the midpoint of the world according to this measurement perhaps they speak the truth sinitza is extremely far to the east but its silk reaches persia in only a short time beyond sinitsa there is no navigation and no inhabitants then emperor justinian dreamed of breaking this persian monopoly and ending the flow of roman wealth into a hostile empire but before he could act on his wishes fate intervened it began in 535 a.d the skies began to darken the sun had been dimmed by a screen of dust and volcanic debris in the high atmosphere that blocked essential solar light and warmth crops failed and famine followed this was followed in 541 a.d by the first outbreak of a major new pandemic emerging in egypt and sweeping across the entire roman empire it was a lethal bubonic infection the empire was once again struck to its knees by plague all this put great stress on the roman economy as the price of eastern imports skyrocketed a solution to the silk routes supply dilemma was urgently needed and so in 550 a.d an unexpected response came from a group of distant travelers nestorian monks who had ventured inland beyond persia about this time some of the monks arrived from india they knew that it was a matter of importance to the emperor justinian that the romans should no longer purchase silk from the persians they said that they had spent a long time in a country which was beyond the many nations of india a place called surrender and in surrender they had accurately learned how it would be possible for silk to be produced in the land of the romans the emperor scrutinized the matter most carefully and asked if the story were true the only way to find out the truth was to have the monks demonstrate their knowledge in front of the emperor himself but that would be a risky business the monks affirmed that certain worms were the producers of silk these insects acted on instinct to perform this task of silk production there was no practical way to transport the living worms but they could be easily generated and bred each insect produces countless numbers of eggs from which the worms emerge when they had spoken the emperor gave them great encouragement and promised many rewards if they could demonstrate these facts with a practical test [Music] the grey eggs of the silkworm were no larger than a pinhead and the minuscule hatchlings weighed barely half a milligram but they would eventually grow into large grubs before spinning cocoons in these silk chrysolids they pupate into moths and their cocoons provide the filament for silk thread but how could delicate insect x be transported back to constantinople safely and secretly it was a persian man who demonstrated in byzantium the origin of silkworms previously unknown to the romans he set out from the land of the ceres with the eggs of the worms contained in a wooden cylinder and delivered them safely to byzantium the monks returned to surrender and brought eggs back to byzantium they succeeded in turning them into worms in the manner described and from that they established silk production in the land of the romans for the rest of time and indeed from these small beginnings constantinople would develop its own vibrant silk industry enriching the eastern roman empire and shifting the balance of economic power away from persia the greatest secret of the ceres was no longer exclusive the fabric weaves now belong to constantinople and a legacy of silk would guarantee its prosperity for many years to come the silk roots had bound together the ancient world connecting greek legacy in central asia with the distant ambitions of han china for almost a thousand years steel from the distant east in the possession of parthian warlords had thwarted roman expansion and ensured their legions never reached the distant battlefields of bactria and rome had therefore never managed to equal the eastern conquests of alexander the great and roman cities and garrison outposts never emerged on the frontiers of fergana to challenge chinese supremacy nevertheless the commercial networks established through silk routes delivered resources generated profits and created a vast interconnected world economy leading the vast empires of rome and china to inevitable contact through peaceful commerce rather than direct warfare but of course an interconnected world brings its own challenges and those very roots that brought wonders from east to west and west to east also carried devastating plague and waves of chaos and perhaps ultimately this was the true significance of the ancient silk routes that connected the civilizations of han china and imperial rome the ancestral foundations of the interconnectedness of our world [Music] you

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Published: Sat Sep 25 2021