this post was submitted on 26 May 2024
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I'm not so sure this is accurate, the Romans certainly knew of China at least, to them it was called Serica, and they believed in a Manifest Destiny myth that they would one day conquer it.
Which would have been fukkin' wild if it did play out, I think by that point the capital would have moved to Samarkand or somewhere else in Central Asia just to be able to maintain regulation over the silk road.
~~There was one legion that got lost in Persia and ended up working for the Chinese.~~
Edit: Maybe, maybe not.
Crassus' lost legion is just conjecture, there's no convincing evidence. It's a fun thought, though.
Is it? Oh, I didn't realise. I'll cross that out.
Yeah, it looks like the main evidence is that there's a mention of a similar formation to testudo being seen in western China a couple decades later, and maybe some Roman-style fortifications. According to Wikipedia a large number of prisoners were sent to Merv somewhat nearby, so it's all very suggestive, but definitely no smoking gun.