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Romans learned from Chinese Great Wall |
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Written by Xiuhcoatl
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Dec 20, 2005 at 02:38 PM |
Romans may have learned from Chinese Great Wall
Source: People's Daily Online
UPDATED: 17:16, December 20, 2005
The construction of the Roman Limes was quite possibly influenced by
the concept of the Great Wall in China, though the two great buildings
of the world are far away from each other, said archaeologists and
historians.
Although there is no evidence that the two constructions had any direct
connections, indirect influence from the Great Wall on the Roman Limes
is certain, said Visy Zsolt, a professor with the Department of Ancient
History and Archaeology of the University of Pecs in Hungary.
Visy made the remarks in an interview with Xinhua as he attended an
international conference in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi
Province recently, and his opinion was shared by some Chinese and
foreign scholars.
The Roman Limes are Europe's largest archaeological monument,
consisting of sections of the border line of the Roman Empire at its
greatest extent in the 2nd century AD.
All together, the Limes stretch over 5,000 kilometers from the Atlantic
coast of northern Britain, through Europe to the Black Sea, and from
there to the Red Sea and across North Africa to the Atlantic coast.
Vestiges include the remains of the ramparts, walls and ditches, close
to 900 watchtowers, 60 forts, and civilian settlements which
accommodated tradesmen, craftsmen and others who served in the military.
The long distance and the great number of different peoples and
cultures in Central Asia made any connections between the two ancient
Roman and Chinese empires almost impossible.
However, curiosity and the challenge of covering great distances and seeing remote lands excited people in the past, Visy said.
"Indeed, more information about each other could be gained exactly in
times as the one or the other became stronger and could start some
programs toward the other," Visy said.
As for the Roman Empire, the silk trade started during the reign of
Augustus. The trade became intensive both on the Silk Route and in the
sea.
The Chinese chief commander Ban Chao led an army up the Caspian Sea in
the 1st century AD and sent a delegation to the west to get information
about Rome (called Daqin in Chinese).
Visy noted that there are a lot of similarities between the Roman Limes
and the Great Wall. Both empires wanted to launch a strong barrier
against "barbarians" and to prevent their invasions. In doing so, the
Han Dynasty (226 BC-220 AD) built a continuous wall, but Rome built a
wall only in special cases.
"It was an important point in both systems to build a military road
along the limes, as well as a row of beacon towers in a strict
sequence. Also the military centers and bigger forts are similar in the
Roman and in the Chinese constructions," Visy said.
Archaeologists have found almost the same methods were used for providing signs at the Great Wall and the Roman Limes.
Visy said another factor that should not be neglected is that the
western most sector of the Great Wall was built in the last decades of
the 2nd century BC, during the strong rule of Emperor Wu of the Han
Dynasty.
"The Chinese Empire seems to be interested in Western connections, at least in Central Asia," Visy said.
The trade connections between the two empires were quite intensive in
the first century and at least in the first half of the second one. "It
is worth noting that the north line of the Silk Road was opened also at
the beginning of the 1st century AD," Visy said.
A. Stein and other scholars' research in the region of Dunhuang and Lop
Nur in northwest China has also found similarities between the Great
Wall and the Roman Limes, according to Visy.
Taking all these points into consideration one can ask the question if
all this is due to chance or if there is a connection between the two
constructions, Visy said.
"It is quite obvious to suppose that Rome gained information about
China and about their special, complicated structure of frontier
defence. Could the idea of the strong limes not come from the
well-tried system of China?" Visy added.
Xu Weimin, director of the Department of History of Northwest China
University, said that during the 400 years from the 3rd century BC to
the 2nd century AD, lots of Chinese silk was transported to the western
countries via the Silk Road. It is natural that the information about
the Great Wall was spread to the Rome Empire.
The Great Wall was first built in the 7th century BC, and was repaired,
enlarged and rebuilt in many dynasties. In the Han Dynasty, the western
most part of the Great Wall was extended to the Lop Nur in today's
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to protect the Silk Road.
Chen Yongzhi, vice director of the Institute of Archaeology of the
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, said the exchanges between the east
and west started earlier than believed. In addition to silk, the
information about the Great Wall was also exchanged.
"It's convincing that the Roman Limes and the Great Wall have some 'blood relationship'," Chen added.
Source: Xinhua |
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Archaeology 