Jump to content

Plot Hook News Story: Possible Roman Empire Jewelery Bits Found In Japan....


clsage

Recommended Posts

  • 2 weeks later...

Re: Plot Hook News Story: Possible Roman Empire Jewelery Bits Found In Japan....

 

It's not uncommon to find low-value Roman coins in North American (and other) ports due to the use of gravel as ship's ballast. Scoop up a lot of gravel in London and drop it in Houston, and there you go, "proof" that the Romans visited Texas.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Plot Hook News Story: Possible Roman Empire Jewelery Bits Found In Japan....

 

It's not uncommon to find low-value Roman coins in North American (and other) ports due to the use of gravel as ship's ballast. Scoop up a lot of gravel in London and drop it in Houston' date=' and there you go, "proof" that the Romans visited Texas.[/quote']

 

Yeah, I was a bit suspicious that it might have been something of the sort.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Plot Hook News Story: Possible Roman Empire Jewelery Bits Found In Japan....

 

There is good evidence that the Romans made it to Vietnam: Roman goods (and not just coins and the stuff you could find in ballast, but valuable gold items and glassware) have been found there, and the first recorded visit of a roman embassy to China came (according to Chinese court records) by way of Vietnam. That's not out of the blue: we've known for a while that the Romans had trade colonies on the west coast of India - and one map indicates a roman colony large enough to have a temple on the east cost of India.

 

The Japanese finding can't be attributed to later transmission: the goods were found laid in a tomb that was closed about 1500 years ago. On the other hand, they don't mean that Romans reached Japan: the gold-and-glass technique that the Italians perfected was a much desired trade good, and Roman glassware was traded all over the world (including to China, in exchange for silk). It is quite possible that the goods in the Japanese tomb were traded to merchants in the middle east, who traded them again in India, who traded them further into Asia, to a merchant who eventually sold them in Japan. Or alternatively, that a Roman carried them to Asia for sale ... who knows?

 

cheers, Mark

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Plot Hook News Story: Possible Roman Empire Jewelery Bits Found In Japan....

 

Yeah, I'm skeptical that one tomb = influence. More like one tomb = a guy from really far away gave another guy some stuff that was really rare in the region.

 

Lots of tombs with Roman bits = influence.

 

I think we're a little too dismissive of random people running around the world trading stuff without imperial influence behind it. Mostly, just money.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...