A Reflection of the Global History: The Persian Empire’s Role in the Relations between the Roman Empire and China (1st - 7th century CE )

PDF
Published: Sep 13, 2016
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/jret.8697
Keywords:
the Roman Empire Intermediaries Persian Empire China the Silk Road
QIANG LI
School of History and Culture, Northeast Normal University
Abstract

The Roman Empire and China had close relations through the famous Silk Road in history. However, there existed only indirect relations for the obstacles of the intermediaries. The Persian Empire had been always the main intermediary which affected the communications between the two empires for the first seven centuries in the Common Era. Based on different sources, mainly from Chinese side, analyzing the role of the Persian Empire in the relations between the Roman Empire and China will be helpful for understanding the interaction of the West and the East in global history, which likely sheds light on the modern international relations in the new century.

Article Details
  • Section
  • Articles
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g. post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (preferably in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
Author Biography
QIANG LI, School of History and Culture, Northeast Normal University
Lecturer, Institue for the History of Ancient Civilizations
References
Arnaud, P. (1987). Les guerres des Parthes et de l’ Arménie dans le première moitié du premier siècle av.n.è.: problèmes de chronologie et d’extension territoriale (95 B.C. – 70 B.C.). Mesopotamia, 22, 129 -145.
Bellina, Bérénice, & Glover, Ian. (2004). The archaeology of early contact with India and the Mediterranean World, from the fourth century BC to the fourth century AD. In Ian Glover & Peter Bellwood (Eds.), Southeast Asia: From Prehistory to History (pp. 68-87). Psychology Press.
Boulnois, L. (1966). The Silk Road. Trans. by Chamberlin, London.
Chavannes, E. (1907). Les Pays d’Occident d’après le Heou Han chou. T’oung Pao, 8, 149-234.
Chen, Zhi-qiang. (1994). Μελέτη της ιστορίας των Βυζαντινό-κινεζικών σχέσεων (4ος—15ος). Διδακτορική διατριβή, Θεσσαλονίκη.
Chen, Zhi-qiang. (2004). The Sources of the Roman-Greek World in Ancient and Medieval Chinese. Ιστορικογεωγραφικά, 10 (Graecoindica-Graecoserica, 06), 257-434.
Dignas, Beate, & Winter, Engelbert. (2008). Rome and Persia in Late Antiquity: Neighbours and Rivals. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Fan, Ye. (2014). Hou Hanshu. Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company.
Frye, Richard N. (2007). Sassanians. In Alan K. Bowman, Peter Garnsey, & Averil Cameron (eds.), The Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. XII, The Crisis of Empire, A. D. 193-337. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Gregoratti, Leonardo. (2015). The Parthian Empire: Romans, Jews, Greeks, Nomads, and Chinese on the Silk Road. In Mariko Namba Walter, James P. Ito-Adler (eds.), The Silk Road: Interwoven History, Vol. 1 Long-distance trade, Culture, and Society. Cambridge Institutes Press.
Haywood, John. (2000). Historical atlas of the classical world, 500 BC–AD 600. Barnes & Noble Books.
Hourani, Albert. (1991). A History of the Arab Peoples. London: Faber and Faber.
Liu, Xin-ru. (2001). Migration and Settlement of the Yuezhi-Kushan: Interaction and Interdependence of Nomadic and Sedentary Societies. JWH, vol.12, no. 2, University of Hawaii Press, 261–292.
Jones, A. H. M. (1964, paper edition, 1986). The Later Roman Empire 284-602: A Social, Economic and Administrative Survey. 2 vols., Oxford.
Kordosis, Stefanos. (2012). Οι Τούρκοι ανάμεσα στην Κίνα και το Βυζάντιο (552-659μ.Χ.). Ο ρόλος τους στην ευρασιατική πολιτική, διπλωματία και στρατηγική. εκδ. Ποιότητα, Αθήνα.
Leslie, D.D.-Gardiner, K.H.J. (1996). The Roman Empire in Chinese Sources. Rome: Bardi Editore.
Kordosis, Michael. (1991). China and the Greek World. An Introduction to Greek-Chinese Studies with Special Reference to the Chinese Sources. I. Hellenistic-Roman-Early Byzantine Period (2nd c. B.C.-6th c. A.D.). Ιστορικογεωγραφικά, 3 (Graecoindica-Graecoserica, 2), 143-253.
Maas, Michael. (2005). The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Meulen, W. J. van der. (1975). Ptolemy's Geography of Mainland Southeast Asia and Borneo. Indonesia, no.19, 1-32.
Pourshariati, Parvaneh. (2008). Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire: The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran. London: I. B. Tauris & Co Ltd.
Procopius. (1954). Procopius. Edited by H. B. Dewing, Procopius, in seven volumes, I, History of the Wars, Books I and II. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Rong, Xin-jiang, & Wen, Xin. (2012). The Semantic Shift of "Western Region" and the Westward Extension of the "Border" in Tang Dynasty [Xiyu gainian de bianhua yu tangchao bianjing de xiyi: jiantan anxi duhufu zai tang zhengzhi tixi zhong de diwei]. Journal of Peking University (Philosophy and Social Sciences), vol. 49, no. 4, 113-119.
Συνέλλη, Κατερίνα. (1986). Οι διπλωματικές σχέσεις Βυζαντίου και Περσίας έως τον στ αιώνα. Αθήνα: Στέφανος Δ. Βασιλόπουλος.
Sun, Li (2004). Distribution of the Sassanian Silver Coins and Their Functions in China. Acta Archaeologica Sinica, 35-54.
Thorley, J. (1971). The Silk Trade between China and the Roman Empire at its Height circa. AD 90-130. Greece and Rome Second Series, vol. 18, no. 1, 71-80.
Yarshater, E. (2006). The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian Periods. The Cambridge History of Iran (Vol. 3 <1>, <2>). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Yule, H. (1915). Cathay and the Way Thither; Being a Collection of Medieval Notice of China, I, London.
Yu, Tai-shan. (2013). China and the Ancient Mediterranean World: A Survey of Ancient Chinese Sources [Gudai dizhonghai shiji he zhongguo guanxishi yanjiu]. Chinese edition, published by The Commercial Press (Beijing), 2012. The English edition published in Sino-Platonic Papers, no. 42, 2013.
Wang, Tao. (2007). Parthia in China: a Re-examination of the Historical Records. In Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh and Sarah Stewart, The Age of the Parthians: The Ideas of Iran 2 (pp. 87-104). London & New York: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd.
Wang, Zhong-kun. (2003). History of Wei-Jin, and South-North Dynasties [Weijin nanbeichao shi]. Shanghai: Shanghai People Publishing House.
Zhang, Xu-shan. (2005). Review on Study of Li-Kan and Ta-chin in a Hundred Years [Jinbainianlai Li-xuan, Daqin wenti yanjiuzongshu]. Trends of Recent Researches on the History of China, 03, 11-19.
Zhang, Xu-shan. (2012). A Study on Realations between China and the Byzantine Empire [Zhongguo yu baizhantingdiguo guanxi yanjiu]. Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company.