1 Roman envoys and trade ambassadors in Han China
Raoul McLaughlin and Hyun Jin Kim
Almost equivalent in geographical size and population, Rome and Han China were among the largest empires in the ancient world. They existed at opposite ends of the vast Eurasian landmass and positioned between their frontiers were rival regimes that discouraged direct contact for political and commercial reasons. This included the Parthian (Arsacid) Empire which ruled Persia and denied Roman subjects access to the Iranian Silk Routes. However, despite the challenge of distant travel there are instances described in the ancient sources when Chinese authorities attempted to reach Roman territory and Roman subjects received an audience at the Han court. These examples are interesting for the information they give on long-distance connections across the ancient world and the insight they provide into the international perceptions of its leading civilisations. The Chinese historical source Hou Hanshu confirms: āthe rulers of Rome have always wanted to send embassies to China, but the Parthians have prevented all contact because they want to trade Chinese silks with the Roman Empireā.1
Between Rome and China: distances and environmental challenges
According to direct measurements, the distance between the Roman frontier in Syria and the Hexi Corridor in western China was 3,000 miles. However, the intervening lands include some of the harshest deserts and barren terrains in Asia and require the traveller to cross imposing mountain barriers. The Parthian Empire that ruled ancient Babylonia controlled the main caravan routes that led from the Euphrates through the bleak Zagros Mountains, around the southern Caspian coast to the desert plains of eastern Iran and the oasis frontier outpost of Merv (1,500 miles). During the first century AD, travellers heading east could visit ancient Samarkand (Maracanda) in Sogdiana, or cross the arid valleys of Bactria (Afghanistan), homeland of the powerful Kushan regime (500 miles). Their journey might continue through the fertile Fergana Valley leading to the high rubble-strewn passes of the snow-capped Pamir Mountains (200 miles). Those who could endure the altitude sickness would eventually descend into a vast dry depression known as the Tarim Basin.
A desert known as the Taklamakan fills the greater part of the Tarim Basin with a vast desolate expanse of golden-red dunes formed from tiny abrasive stone and mineral particles. Travellers supplied with robust, shaggy-coated Bactrian camels could choose a northern or southern route around the fringes of the Taklamakan. The basin is hemmed in by the towering Himalayas and the Tian Shan range which merge into the cluster of the Pamir Mountains. Seasonal snowmelt from these peaks flowed from gorges in churning streams and rivers to irrigate a series of urbanised oasis sites on the edge of the desert. These oasis settlements were separated by large stretches of exposed wilderness where, at the onset of night, temperatures could plummet to sub-zero. Travellers cautiously planned these routes, choosing a course between the base of the mountains and the edge of the dunes, carefully preserving their supplies for a path that crossed through at least ten oasis communities (600 miles).
The eastern end of the Tarim Basin opens into either arid semi-steppe wastelands or vast salt-encrusted expanses created from the desiccated remains of ancient inland seas (400 miles). Travellers who managed to find passage through these territories would reach the Han frontier city of Dunhuang known as āBlazing Beaconā. A series of Chinese watchtowers, fortlets, garrison farms and caravan stations controlled the route east along the arid Gansu corridor which led to inner China (600 miles). Consequently, a traveller wishing to make the perilous journey from Roman Syria to Han China could expect to cross more than 4,000 miles of harsh terrain and endure extremes of cold, heat and aridity. An arduous journey for most people born in temperate climates and arable zones.
Between Rome and China: kingdoms and regimes
In Iraq-Iran the Parthian Empire incorporated eighteen small kingdoms and dominated a landmass of approximately 1 million square miles.2 According to Roman accounts the Parthian regime could mobilise at least 40,000 cavalry including several thousand heavily armoured cataphract lancers.3 The Parthians also maintained alliances with powerful kin-groups on the adjoining steppe including the Dahae who occupied grazing lands east of the Caspian Sea.4 The greatest rivals to the Parthians in Central Asia were the Kushan in Transoxiana and Bactria, known to the Chinese as the āGreat Yuezhiā.
The Kushan Empire developed from the DaYuezhi (a confederacy originally situated in Gansu and Xinjiang) which due to Xiongnu pressure had been uprooted, had resettled in Transoxiana and had conquered neighbouring Bactria during the second century BC. According to early Chinese accounts the Yuezhi possessed a population of about 400,000 people and could mobilise 100,000 mounted archers.5 Roman accounts suggest that Bactria could support 30,000 cavalry so a large part of the Yuezhi nation may have maintained their traditional role as pastoralists on the adjoining steppe.6 Their capacity for war is indicated by events in AD 90 when a campaign force of 70,000 mounted Kushan warriors crossed the Pamir Mountains in a failed effort to conquer the western Tarim territories.7 At its political height in the second century AD, the Kushan Empire incorporated more than 1.5 million square miles of territory including Bactria, Arachosia, the Indus kingdoms and northern India.8
Between Rome and China: the trafficking of goods
It seems that few people attempted to travel the entire distance between China and the Roman Empire, but the ancient sources confirm that there was a regular traffic of goods between these territories. The Chinese historical source Weilue lists more than sixty commodities from the Roman Empire which were known to Chinese authorities, including fabrics dyed with unique colours using Mediterranean pigments and brightly coloured western glass.9 Roman sources suggest that Chinese silk became a popular commodity in their empire where it was used for military banners and to enhance the valuable togas worn by citizens as a symbol of special social status.10 There was also a widespread and costly female fashion for lightweight Chinese silks, cut and reworked into western fashions.11 As commerce became significant, Pliny the Elder, who served in the advisory council of the Emperor Vespasian, lists the Seres (āSilk Peopleā) as one of the populations responsible for the expenditure of Roman coin and bullion wealth in eastern trade.12 He writes, āby the smallest computation, India, the Seres and the Arabian Peninsula take 100 million sesterces from our empire every yearā.13 This total is equivalent to about one-tenth the annual expenses of the Roman state (1,000 million sesterces per annum).14
Confirmation comes from a second-century inscription from a tomb-tower in Palmyra indicating the value of goods entering Roman Syria from the western Silk Routes. Palmyrene caravans received goods from cities in Babylonia supplied by the Parthian Silk Routes that crossed Iran. The Palmyrenes also collected cargoes at Persian Gulf ports which received imports from the Indus kingdoms and the Silk Routes that crossed Afghanistan.15 The tomb-tower inscription records how caravan goods worth over 360 million sesterces were assessed for tax as they passed onward into Roman Syria.16 These goods would have included Arabian incense, Indian spices and bundles of Chinese silk.17 The Roman state collected a quarter-value customs tax on all commercial imports crossing the borders of the empire. As this commerce was worth an estimated 360 million sesterces, it would have raised around 90 million sesterces for the imperial treasury.18 To put this figure in context, 90 million sesterces represented the annual costs of eight legions and their auxiliary support (80,000 soldiers).19 The Parthia...
