03-10-2008, 04:00 PM
Quote:"An Ancient Military Contact between Romans and Chinese" The American Journal of Philology 62, (1941) 322-330
"A Roman City in Ancient China" Greece & Rome 4, (1957) 139-148
No offence intended, but these are more, say, speculative works. :wink:
I found useful:
- Edwin Pulleybank: The Roman Empire as known to Han China, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 119, No. 1 (1999), 71-79
Best starting point: Survey of Chinese sources with direct translations. Author sober and not intent of blowing up the meager evidence. Stresses point that Chinese views of Da Qin (=Roman Empire) - not unlike the Roman one on the Seres - were confused from the outset with ancient mythology about the distant West
- Wilfried Schoff: The Eastern Iron Trade of the Roman Empire, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 35 (1915), 224-239
Makes short work with the sadly still lingering notion, based on an isolated reference in Pliny's NH, that the Romans ever obtained superior iron from China (pp. 224, 237) Points out that Seres cannot be identified with any single people, since denotation of the word fluctuated between different peoples and regions over time.
Stefan (Literary references to the discussed topics are always appreciated.)
