August 01, 2005

Roman veterans colonised China. Thay seem to have been better at talking their captors round than at actually fighting.

Of course, the Romans turn up everywhere: Dublin, for example, and er, Texas.

posted by Plegmund 19 years ago
  • Ave, Plegmus!
  • Imagine if the cuisine had taken off? I love Chinese food, and I love Italian food.... MmMMmm...sweet and sour pasta dishes....
  • They always say Marco Polo was responsible for spreading the idea of spaghetti/noodles between the two countries - the Chinese think he introduced them to Italy, and the Italians think he introduced them to China.
  • What did the Chinese ever do for us?
  • Hey Kitfisto ... a friend of mine lived in Italy for a while and said that Chinese food in Italy was an unholy mix of the two (everything had tinned tomatos in it) and tasted revolting ...
  • Ruin my dreams, why dontcha? Can't a man have a dream? I might experiment. I could make a fortune...Sweet and sour meatballs, fu yung pizza...
  • You have to try Peking duck pizza, kitfisto. Yummy. The pizza has to have a very thin base though.
  • I'm there, daddio!
  • China's always been a far more diverse place than official histories really relate. There's the legends of black slaves form back in the Tang and Song, the Jews of Kaifeng, Arab traders along the south coast, and the glorious diversity of the wall painting in Dunhuang. Black Buddha! This Roman tale might well all be true, what do I know? However, one should always approach Chinese discourses of archaeology with caution, it's still a highly politicised subject here. The fiction of a continuous nation state covering all China's present territory needs to be bolstered, and comfort is also sought in these kinds of tales of early Chinese contacts with the outside world, in part because more recent and verified interactions were so traumatic.
  • Grand link, old mate super interesting stuff... man this will keep me occupied for a while. /brain munch
  • Woof! Abiezer, your third link is a knockout! So many fine links, and so little time to read -- grateful for bookmarks.
  • Every once in a while, Plegmund, you do indeed redeem yourself. Nice post.
  • ROMANES EUNT DOMUS!
  • The people the Romans, they go the house?
  • There will be a movie made out of this, I'm sure, with Clint Eastwood as the ageing Crassus, Keanu Reeves as his son Platypus, Jet Li as as the Hun leader Jzh-Jzh, Chow Yun Fat as Emperor Yuandi. Peplum meets kung fu, I can hear movie execs drooling.
  • I meant to post this link for bees International Dunhuang Project - one of my classmates worked with then for a while. Stunning stuff.
  • Oh, and via that Some nice images at the Getty
  • Thanks, Abiezer for more fascinating links.
  • Only a francophone would say "peplum".
  • Actually, "peplum" got into US sewing vocabulary.
  • From the first link: "'Liquian' is said to mean 'Roman'" Now I'm not by any means an expert in Asian languages (hell, I can order General Tso's chicken and pronounce "Tso" correctly, but that's about it) but doesn't it seem that "Liquian" would be more of a Chinese version of "Legion" than of "Roman"?
  • I think 'Liquian' is supposed to derive from 'Alexandria', and be a generic word for Greek/Roman/Westerner. It seems also to be assumed that the reference is to Alexandria in Egypt, but of course that is only the most famous of lots of Alexandrias founded by the eponymous belligerent Macedonian, some of them much closer to China than the Egyptian one.
  • somewhat related: 1421 - the year china discovered the world is an interesting read.
  • Blood samples for DNA tests have been taken. Unfortunately there isn't a specific 'Roman legionary' gene.
  • Couldn't they compare the DNA to Russell Crowe?