Did Rome and China Know Each Other?

[Quixote1818]

[vlyons]

1. Not exactly

But there is evidence that Asian influence reached Rome. Archeologists have found burials of Roman nobles, who were wearing silk when buried. The silk roads were opened to the West by Alexander the Great, who left Greek philosophers in the court of Ghandakar.

[Wellstone ruled]

2. Ah,thanks for the facts.

[Quixote1818]

4. Every website I have checked says the Romans sent an envoy by Marcus Aurelius in 166

Snip: The first direct contact between Rome and China didn't happen until the second century after Rome Empire defeated Parthia and controlled the Persian Gulf. In 166 the first Roman envoy was sent by Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, from the Persian Gulf and successfully arrived China.

http://www.silkroadfoundation.org/artl/romanenvoy.shtml


Snip: It seems that the Romans actually made contact with the Chinese. Chinese sources describe several ancient Roman embassies arriving in China, beginning in 166 AD and lasting into the 3rd century. Archaeological evidence strongly suggests this

https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/ancient-text-roman-chinese-2006-2017/

[Quixote1818]

5. Out of curiosity, what is the "Court of Ghandakar"? Nothing comes up for that in a google search

https://www.google.com/search?biw=1298&bih=665&ei=V4uOXIMPyPiPBPHskogB&q=+court+of+Ghandakar&oq=+court+of+Ghandakar&gs_l=psy-ab.3...12916.13404..14366...1.0..0.116.116.0j1......0....1j2..gws-wiz.....6..35i39.oZDcVikF2G0

[sanatanadharma]

7. ancient Afganastan, which was much larger in the past

I claim no expertise but do remember some things I learned in kindergarden and beyond.
Try searching Kandahar, Gandari, Gandahar

In the ancient Indian Itihasa, the vast Mahabarata story includes a woman named Gandari, princess from the east, wife of Dhritrashtra, the blind king of Hastinapura, and the mother of a hundred sons, the Kauravas. They were the losers against the Pandavas in the old-world's war at Kurukshetra.

[TomVilmer]

3. The Vikings had a Buddha statue from India...

... so stuff was moved around from extremely distant places. The 5th century Buddha statuette from North India was owned and then buried by Vikings in Sweden.


Later a much more questionable story has been told, that in 1434 a Chinese fleet sailed to Italy and ignited the Renaissance - but that is most probably pure BS.

[dalton99a]

6. Greek geographers and astronomers knew the existence of China

The inhabited part of our earth is bounded on the east by the Unknown Land which lies along the region occupied by the easternmost nations of Asia Major, the Sinae and the nations of Serice ... The eastern extremity of the known earth is limited by the meridian drawn through the metropolis of the Sinae, at a distance from Alexandria of 119.5 degrees, reckoned upon the equator, or about eight equinoctial hours ...
— Ptolemy, Geographia

[Honeycombe8]

8. "We three kinds of orient are...Bearing gifts, we travel afar..."

Yes, I would have thought the Romans and Chinese knew of each other, and traded, early on. The Romans were seafaring, and otherwise taken to traveling far distances. And the Chinese, an ancient civilization, traveled what were then great distances. If the story in the Bible is to be believed (who knows?), that at least is an indication that when it was written, men from the east did make it as far as what is now Israel (which was bordering on and about to be part of the Roman Empire when the story of Jesus' birth took place).

I saw a reference on a time map that by 30BC, Arabian trade caravans were carrying precious spices across Arabia from southern Arabia. It's easy to imagine that spices would also be obtained from the neighboring Middle East and South Asia, who in turn would get it from further up the chain. Part of the Roman Empire was located at the northern end of the Arabian peninsula at that time. The Roman Empire also held Egypt by that time, which was immediately to the left of the Arabian peninsular. https://www.timemaps.com/history/middle-east-30bc/

I bet that area of the world at that time was brutal to live in. But I guess most places were brutal back then.