Han Chinese defeat Roman legionaires 36 BC?

[Theodosius the Great]

Oh I don't doubt that there was a lot of incidental contact. I have no doubt that Romans could have been in the Chinese court at a very early date, but those numbers would have been few, and their impact very limited

Here's something interesting from Wikipedia :

Contacts with China
The first of several Roman embassies to China, although attributed to Antoninus Pius by the Hou Hanshu (History of the Later Han Chinese dynasty), was probably sent out by Marcus Aurelius. Antoninus Pius died in 161, while the convoy arrived in 166. The confusion arises because Marcus Aurelius took as additional names those of his predecessor, as a mark of respect. The emperor is referred to in Chinese history as "An Tun" (= Antoninus). The mission reached the Chinese capital Luoyang in 166 and was greeted by Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty. However, in the absence of any record of this on the Roman side of the silk road, it may be that the "ambassadors" were in reality free traders acting independently of Aurelius.

[FAVENTIANVS]

So if there is any Truth to this story at all we are talking about a group of Roman prisoners of war pressed into Parthian service and fighting for Parthia, not for Rome.

Not for Parthia but for the Hsiung-nu (pre-Huns) :wink:

Ye gads, it's the "Romans in China" thing again! Pops up once or twice a year on some list or board, and every time it's the same ridiculous twaddle.

What does twaddle means? Sorry for my bad English understanding...

[Matthew Amt]

What does twaddle means?

I guess the best definition would be "nonsense". Similar to rubbish, poppycock, horsefeathers, hogwash, drivel, and babbling silliness in general.

Matthew

[tlclark]

What does twaddle means?

I guess the best definition would be "nonsense". Similar to rubbish, poppycock, horsefeathers, hogwash, drivel, and babbling silliness in general.

Matthew

Let's not forget codswallop, tripe, balderdash, snake-oil, humbug, bogus, and many others!

Something strange about a language that has so many euphemisms for "false" or otherwise not credible.

One would get the opinion we are overly judgemental.:wink:

To get back to topic and reiterate something of my original point, I don't doubt that there could have been contacts, and I think that there probably were. The full extant of these contacts is unknown, but their effect is known.

Had extensive or significant contact developed between the Romans and Chinese, history would look a lot different. Period.

As far as "what if?" scenarios, my favorite would be this. Heraclius gets the Chinese to put the squeeze on the Parthians from the east while he repels the invasion of Khosrow II in the west after 614. Resulting in the fall of the Persians empire BEFORE the muslim conquest. Divided between the two allies, the near east and SE Asia have a VERY different history.

Travis