Sub-Roman Britain (Cavalry etc)

[Alanus]

Hello Everyone,

I took a few days off (my birthday get-together with old fishing buddies).
Exactly as everyone is hinting at-- There was no direct link between China and Britain, but there was an indirect one via the steppe cultures and the Roman military.
The dragon scabbard chape (pictured above) shows up once in Britain, but it arrives in multiples (and at the same time) upon the Hungarian steppe and again along the lower Danube. The oldest recorded dragon symbol comes from the Warring States period or earlier, which in turn is older than the La Tene Celtic images. The Greek "drakon" could easily have been adopted into the Roman lexicon, but we must remember that even before written history the Greeks were in contact with the Cimmerians and then the early Scythians. Considering where most of the scabbard chapes have been found, even these point to a Scythian influence. The earliest dragon in western literature shows up in Beowulf, cira 700. My feeling is that one culture influenced a neighboring one, so on and so forth.

Long swords were also Celtic but the scabbard slide is early to mid Han dynasty, as is the thin sword-blade. The Orlot Battle Placque was found north of the Caspian (I think) but the scene depicts a battle which archaeologists believe occurred near Samarkand in Sogdiana. Oddly enough, the Han Emperor Wu-Di was the catalyt for employing the Saka (Wu-sun) as mercenaries, bringing Saka mounts from Ferghana into China as the "heavenly horses," and also creating the "silk road" which extended all the way to Damascus. Most of this was a backlash in fighting the "Xing-nu," who appear to be early Huns. But in many ways, the silk road (a modern term for Pliny's "camel caravans") was the "direct link" between China and Rome, albeit through intermediaries.

Obviously, the dragon arrived in Britain before the Iazyges or the Equites Taifali. But the Taifali "dragon and pearl" is clearly Asian in origin and still found today on Buddhist gongs just as it was seen on Sun Quan's sword in AD 220. I was simply pointing out that four elements that were incorporated into the Roman Cavalry showed up first on a scrimshawed belt stiffener that was created a long distance from Rome and Britain, and before Rome invaded Britain.