Roman Times: East Meets West - Rome and the Han Dynasty of China

Lamp depicting a deer Western Han dynasty
2nd century BCE

Ancient Rome and the Han Dynasty of China exchanged goods, not only over the famous Silk Road but by sea as well. Unfortunately, intermediate empires such as the Parthians and Kushans, seeking to maintain lucrative control over the silk trade, initially inhibited direct contact between Rome and China. Although ancient Chinese geographers demonstrated a general knowledge of West Asia and Rome's eastern provinces, Roman histories of the 1st century BCE offer only vague accounts of China and the silk-producing Seres people of the Far East. In classical sources, the problem of identifying references to ancient China is exacerbated by the interpretation of the Latin term Seres, whose meaning fluctuated and could refer to several Asian peoples in a wide arc from India over Central Asia to China.

But, by the 1st-century CE, geographer Pomponius Mela asserted that the lands of the Seres formed the centre of the coast of an eastern ocean, flanked to the south by India and to the north by the Scythians of the Eurasian Steppe. In the 1st century CE work, Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, its anonymous Greek-speaking author, a merchant of Roman Egypt, provides such vivid accounts of eastern trade cities that it is clear he visited many of them. These include sites in Arabia, Pakistan, and India, including travel times from rivers and towns, where to drop anchor, the locations of royal courts, lifestyles of the locals and goods found in their markets, and favorable times of year to sail from Egypt to these places to catch the monsoon winds. The Periplus also mentions a great inland city, Thinae (or Sinae), in a country called This. The text notes that silk produced there travelled to neighboring India via the Ganges and to Bactria by a land route.

In 97 CE, the Chinese general Ban Chao tried to send his envoy Gan Ying to Rome, but Gan was dissuaded by Parthians from venturing beyond the Persian Gulf. Later, in the 2nd Century CE, several alleged Roman emissaries to China were recorded by ancient Chinese historians. The first one on record, supposedly from either the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius or his adopted son Marcus Aurelius, arrived in 166 CE. Others are recorded as arriving in 226 and 284 CE. In Chinese records, the Roman Empire came to be known as Daqin or Great Qin.

Images: Photographs I took at an exhibit of Han Dynasty artifacts back in 2017 at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. There was a Hellenistic basin that looks quite similar in pattern to omphalos bowls found in the Midas Mound in Turkey dating to the 8th century BCE but this one is thought to have been imported toward the end of the 3rd century BCE and found in a Qin dynasty burial in Tomb 1, Dayun Mountain, Xuyi, Jiangsu.

Gilt bronze lamp in the form of a deer 2nd century BCE Western Han Dynasty at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.

Gilt Bronze music stand base in the form of a mythical creature Western Han dynasty 2nd century BCE photographed at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.

Bronze tent stand in the shape of a stylized tiger Western Han dynasty 2nd century BCE

Gilt bronze ornamental furniture foot in the form of a mythical creature Western Han dynasty 2nd century BCE

Gilt bronze mat weight in the shape of a tiger Western Han dynasty 2nd century BCE

Musician figurine earthenware, Western Han Dynasty 206 BCE - 9 CE

Earthenware dancer figurine Western Han Dynasty 206 BCE-9 CE

Gilt bronze mat weight in the shape of a figure listening to music Western Han Dynasty 2nd century BCE

Earthenware dancer figurine Western Han dynasty 2nd century BCE

Very Scythian-looking gold belt buckle from the Western Han period 2nd century BCE. This fearsome hunting scene in which a tiger and a bear are biting a horse-like pray is the kind of striking attack scenes that often decorated objects from the grassland territories north of the Han domain. These gold belt buckles were possibly produced in imperial workshops, fashioned after imported prototypes, and granted by the throne as gifts to the nobility. More than two dozen sets of gold buckles have been excavated from Xuzhou, which were likely imperial gifts received by the Chu kings.

Gilded bronze furniture fixture in the shape of a bear with inlaid turquoise Western Han dynasty 206 BCE - 9 CE from the permanent collection of the Asian Art Museum. Han dynasty furniture and objects often had legs in the form of standing or squatting bears which were popular pets and used in animal fights and hunts organized by emperors and princes to demonstrate harmony with and control of nature.

Gilt Bronze chariot fitting in the form of a mythical creature Western Han dynasty 2nd century BCE

Wood Cavalry Figurine Western Han Dynasty 1st century BCE

Bronze halberd (ji) and shaft cover, Western Han dynasty 2nd century BCE

Crossbow trigger mechanism Western Han dynasty 1st century BCE

Bronze lamp (gangdeng) Western Han dynasty 2nd century BCE

Bronze basin (xuan) Zhou dynasty Spring and Autum period 771-475 BCE. This type of vessel was not only used for hot water or ide to warm or cool wine but also functioned as a mirror using the reflection on the water's surface.