The Tortoise in Asia (39 page)

The great Connector has brought him such a long way, through testing times and agonies of the soul and delivered him to his final destination – a place he's not chosen but one where it's possible to feel at home, to feel at a personal level the connectedness that is its essence. The Road has been a subtle teacher, introducing wisdoms of which he had no idea when he started his journey over three years ago with such a different outcome in mind. Maybe one day he'll go to its beginning in the grand capital of his adopted country. But that won't be until he“s settled down in Liqian with his new wife and his comrades, sadly one short of the hundred and forty-five who fought to save the caravan.

Now that they have the Protector-General's blessing, not only he but his comrades too can have wives and produce children who will learn about their heritage and pass the knowledge down the line, forever bringing a touch of Rome to the Qilian Mountains.

The points of light in the sky allow him to see the outlines of the majestic range in the distance whose transcendent beauty will enhance his home. It invites thoughts of Platonic perfection – a realm where the spiritual dimension can be as free as the air of the early dawn. Today he saw an eagle bank high in the sky, with the sun on its back, slowly glide out of sight, in peace.

With the clarity of truth, Gan's consent announces acceptance into the culture where he'll spend the rest of his life. If Meilin at the deepest level, and her father to a degree, can grant that acceptance, others might follow, not everyone to be sure, but some, and that would be enough. He's not required to abandon his own culture; he can remain proud of it so long as it's consistent with the values of his new home, and it is. He just needs to broaden the space he lives in, something which the Road has taught him to do. As a mist covers his eyes, he thinks that Socrates was right after all, and Confucius. He has crossed a threshold. In a moment he stands up, lifts his glass and proposes a toast to his friend Kang, holding Meilin's hand.

T
oday, tourists crowd the little village of Liquian, for it's time for the much talked about Roman parade. Villagers, dressed up in full Roman uniform, complete with shining helmet, breastplate and rectangular shield, are beginning their march through the main street towards a little round temple on a hill. Built by local artisans, it has an open roof and columns but no walls. It looks Roman. The procession is like the ancient triumphal pageant that ended at the Capitoline Hill in the Forum. As in Rome, the street is lined with enthusiastic spectators.

The tourists, who are all Chinese, have come from long distances to see the strange sight of men with partial Caucasian features, clothed in period costume never seen in China. Their blue or green eyes, long noses, and fair hair stand out in the area, one of the remotest in China.

The legend of the lost Roman legionnaires is being kept alive with the aid of commerce but it has substance, if not proof, behind it. In the Chinese History of the Former Han Dynasty, mention is made of eight paintings (now lost) depicting the battle of the Talass River. The author speaks of more than a hundred soldiers arranged in a “fish scale” formation in front of the town gate, a pattern scholars are convinced refers to the Testudo. Chinese and Hsiung-nu armies never employed this technique. Also, the account refers to a double palisade of wood on an earthen wall that encircled the town. Again, this Roman device was never used that far east – except for this one time.

Professor Homer Dubs, an English historian at Oxford, wrote a seminal paper on the subject in the 1950's, specifying the number of Roman soldiers who got this far east – a hundred and forty – five. Parents from Liqian have been teaching their children for as long as can be remembered that their ancestors were Roman legionnaires who came along the Silk Road after a great battle, settled in what became their village and married local women. Liqian (pronounced “Leechan') was the original Chinese name for Rome before it was changed to Daqin. Some scholars think it is a contraction of Alexandria, the city many people associated with Rome. The first syllable “A' and the last “dria' were dropped.

As would be expected, DNA samples have been taken of the villagers – but only recently. The analysis shows that nearly sixty per cent of the villagers' genetic structure is of Caucasian origin. While this does not mean the people are Roman descendents, it lends support to the theory. The proof must come from cultural evidence which at this stage is only suggestive. One day it might be supplemented by archaeological excavation, which up to now has not been permitted as the authorities have been uncomfortable with the implications of the legend. That may change.

Archaeologists at the recently set up Italian Studies Centre at Lanzou (capital of Gansu province) hope to conduct digs to find objects left by the Roman immigrants. It seems likely though that even if they find nothing supportive, the cultural memory of the people of Liqian will keep the legend alive, demonstrating the inspiring role the Silk Road has played throughout history in bringing people together from different ends of the world.

Battle fought near a small town in south eastern Turkey (now called Harran) between the invading Roman army and the Parthians in 53 BCE. Although outnumbering their enemy four to one, the Romans suffered a catastrophic defeat at the hands of the Parthian horse archers who used high velocity composite bows. The invaders lost 20,000 men killed and 10,000 captured. The remaining 10,000 escaped. Their commander Marcus Licinius Crassus was killed after the battle.

Gaius Cassius Longinus was a Roman senator and military figure. Having studied philosophy at Rhodes, he was considered a competent philosopher of the Epicurean school. When Crassus invaded Parthia, Cassius was his quaestor, a role responsible for logistics. Later he became the main instigator in the plot to assassinate Julius Caesar. While Brutus actually led the conspirators, it was Cassius who was the intellectual force behind the coup. In Julius Caesar, Shakespeare has the dictator say, “Yon Cassius has a lean and hungry look. He thinks too much. Such men are dangerous.”

In the civil war that followed Caesar's assassination, Cassius and Brutus fought Antony and Octavius at the battle of Philippi in Macedonia, and lost. Hearing of Cassius' death by suicide after the battle, Shakespeare has Brutus say of him “The last of all the Romans.”

Marcus Licinius Crassus was known for his extreme wealth, acquired in some cases by unconscionable means. When Sulla seized Rome and confiscated the goods of those who had opposed him, Crassus purchased much of them at a fraction of their worth. Later, he made a fortune buying up houses in Rome which were destroyed by fire and rebuilt them with slaves bought for the purpose and skilled in architecture and building. He owned and operated extensive silver mines. One of the vestal virgins had a desirable property in the suburbs of Rome that Crassus wanted to buy. Seeking to get it at a cheap price he befriended her, an action that led to accusations of seduction.

He was, however hospitable and charming, always courteous and friendly. He was one of the best speakers in Rome, well read in history and schooled in Aristotle. He often lent money without interest to friends (at one time guaranteeing Caesar's debts) but was hard and unsympathetic in collecting it. Of him Plutarch says “the many virtues of Crassus were darkened by the one vice of avarice.”

After defeating Spartacus, a Thracian gladiator who fomented a revolt among his fellows, Crassus joined Pompey and Caesar in the First Triumvirate in 55 BCE. He became pro consul of Syria and obtained the command of seven legions for the invasion of Parthia. He died at the battle of Carrhae.

They were the Protector General of the West and military commander respectively. Their headquarters were at Gaochang in the Turfan depression situated in Xinjiang. By forging the Emperor's signature (a criminal offence) and with the eventual co-operation of Gan, Chen called up military forces, crossed the Pamir Mountains and defeated Jir-Jir at the battle of the Talass River. The victory secured for both of them significant rewards and a pardon.

Founded in 206 BCE after the collapse of the Qin empire which had united China, the Han dynasty lasted 400 years and represented one of the greatest periods in Chinese history. Even today the ethnic majority in China call themselves “Han”. Under Emperor Wu di (141-87 BCE) China became a Confucian state (replacing Taoism) and pushed back the Xiungnu, opening up the Silk Road and gaining access to the heavenly horses of Sogdian Fergana.

Having led his people to the Talass River, Jir-Jir conquered various tribes, including the Wusun, and brought the Sogdian kingdom, centred in Samarkand, under vassalage. His rise threatened to cut the Silk Road off from international trade, alarming the Han. In 41 BCE he built a fortified town in the Talass valley and made it his capital. The empire he founded collapsed when an invading Han army defeated him in a major battle. Chinese sources claim Roman soldiers fought with his army.

People in the village of Zhelaizhai (formerly called Liqan) near Yongchang in China's far western province of Gansu have believed for years that they are the descendants of Roman legionaries who migrated across the Silk Road and settled there, marrying local women. Their features bear certain Caucasian characteristics- light coloured and sometimes curly hair, large straight noses, blue or green eyes. The remains of a rammed earth wall said to be part of Roman fortifications stand at the edge of the village.

Testing has confirmed that 56 per cent of their DNA is of Caucasian origin. While this doesn't prove they are of Roman descent, it adds some credibility to the local peoples' belief, particularly when supplemented by Chinese historical evidence.

Currently the local Buddhist monk says prayers for the souls of the Romans who, he says, visit his temple. The people of Yongchang have erected a statue of a Roman on the main street, for the area is being developed as a tourist attraction. Parades of residents dressed up in Roman uniforms are held periodically. They march up a hill to a small Roman-like temple built of concrete, with tourists lining the way.

Support for the legend lies in an account contained in the Chinese History of the Former Han Dynasty written by Ban Gu (32 BCE–220 CE). It inspired an article in 1955 by Homer Dubs, an Oxford history professor. Recounting the battle of Carrhae and Pliny's statement that Roman prisoners were taken to guard the eastern frontier of Parthia, Dubs cites the passage in the Chinese text that speaks of paintings depicting the battle at the Talass River.

The first scene is of “More than a hundred foot-soldiers, lined up on either side of the gate in a fish-scale formation.” Dubbs concludes that this most probably refers to the Testudo. In the third scene, the account states “Outside the earthen wall was a double palisade of wood.” This was a standard Roman defensive structure and was not used by others, certainly not in Central Asia.

While painting was common in Han China, Dubbs points out there was no precedent for it to record a contemporary event, except this one. He says “The use of pictures in a Roman
triunphus
is well known.”

The term (singular, magus) was used by the Greeks in the Hellenistic period to denote followers of Zoroaster, who they thought had the ability to read the stars. Because the magi were noted for not only astrology but also various other forms of wisdom (which some Greeks thought was trickery) the word meant the practitioner of magic as well. From magi we get magic in English. It is thought possible that one or more of the Three Wise Men in the Bible were Sogdian magi.

King of the Parthian Empire from 57 BCE to 37 BCE. He deposed his brother, Mithridates, who fled to Syria and later returned to Parthia with an army. The civil war thus caused ended with Orodes' general, Surena, defeating him at Seleucia in Southern Mesopotamia.

Orodes invaded Armenia while Surena fought the Romans at Carrhae. His purpose of dividing his army in two was, on the one hand, to force the Armenian king to abandon his Roman alliance and submit to him, and on the other, as Plutarch says, to let Surena “first run the risk of battle and draw the enemy on”.

He was eventually murdered by his second son, Phraates, who first had him poisoned.

Founded by an ancient Central Asian tribe of Iranian nomads it extended from what is now south eastern Turkey to eastern Iran. Located on the Silk Road, Parthia was a centre of trade and commerce between Rome and the Han Empire. Its army consisted largely of horse archers with composite bows which were capable of greater thrust than those common further west. Their troops were famous for feigning retreat, shooting while they rode away – the “Parthian shot”.

 

This was a complex network of trade routes stretching 6500 km from Rome to Chang an, the capital of the Han Empire (near modern Xian). From the Mediterranean it went through Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, over the Pamir Mountains and across Xinjiang, and Gansu to Shaanxi province. The term was coined by Ferdinand von Richthhofen, the uncle of the Red Baron, who was a frequent traveller to China in the latter part of the 19
^th
century.

No one knows when it began to carry traders, but nephrite jade is known to have been traded along it from the 2
^nd
millennium BCE. Around 130 BCE the Han emperor Wu di opened a route across the Tarim Basin (encompassing the Taklamakan desert) and Gansu province of China, which had been interdicted by the Xiung nu for years. The emperor wanted secure access to the so called heavenly horses of Fergana, a Sogdian region (called Dayuan by the Han). These steeds were bigger than the Han variety and ideal for war, a near constant state at the time.