Eastern Roman gold coins found in 1,500-year-old Chinese tomb :

The tomb's owner, Lu Chou, died in 548 and the burial artefacts excavated include intact coloured pottery figurines, camel figures and, most importantly, two gold coins .

Two Eastern Roman gold coins were found in a 1,500-year-old Chinese tomb in Northwest China's Xian City, the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology (SPIA) said on Thursday.
Chinese archaeologists believe that one of the gold coins was minted during the reign of Anastasius I who was the Eastern Roman Emperor from 491 to 518.

The other gold coin however is a more rare one and bears stylistic similarities to coins minted during the reigns of both Anastasius I and Justinian I, who ruled the Byzantine Empire from 527 to 565.
archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.jp...

image: 1.bp.blogspot.com... Eastern Roman gold coins found in 1,500-year-old Chinese tomb Two Eastern Roman gold coins and silver coin from Persia found in a 1,500-year-old Chinese tomb in Xian, Shaanxi Province
Not much text , but it's a kool find, I absolutely love ancient trade contacts, the early beginnings of globalization love it or hate it , but it started a very very longtime ago, knitted together by traders and forward looking rulers

a reply to: Spider879


Interesting find.


I guess few random travellers existed even back then. It could be even that it took several generations or more for the coins to pass the distance. Or it is from another lost Roman legion. These guys lose themselves to often... not a surprise that Rome fell....

Weren't Chinese anchors found off the coast of South America or something? I'll have to read up on that again, but I remember someone telling me that once when I mentioned an idea I had for a graphic novel.

"Not much text , but it's a kool find, I absolutely love ancient trade contacts, the early beginnings of globalization love it or hate it , but it started a very very longtime ago, knitted together by traders and forward looking rulers"

Don't be an idiot. International trade is not globalization. Globalization seeks to centralize all power in the rich and conglomerates with decision making made by unelected beauracacy carring out the desires of rich and conglomerates.

a reply to: Spider879
The odds are that those coins were originally sent in payment for silk. The "silk route" was a well-established trade corridor via the Tarim basin. Buddhism probably crossed from India to China by the same route.
The Byzantine emperors loved their silken robes (while their more austere Roman ancestors were turning in their graves).
Statesmen worried about the "balance of payments" problem, because this trade was thought to be draining coinage out of the Byzantine economy.

originally posted by: Argentbenign
a reply to: Spider879


Interesting find.


I guess few random travellers existed even back then. It could be even that it took several generations or more for the coins to pass the distance. Or it is from another lost Roman legion. These guys lose themselves to often... not a surprise that Rome fell....

The Silk Road was a trade network that began before 300 BC. Romans were heavily into silk as a luxury item. Most clothing was made of wool and the lightweight and more comfortable silk for summer wear meant that there was a lot of profitable trade moving between Europe and Asia by the time of Augustus Caesar. The coins might have even come from the royal treasury in payment for the emperor's shipment of silk.

a reply to: jwh125

Which is what global trading empires eventually morphed into.

originally posted by: DISRAELI
a reply to: Spider879
The odds are that those coins were originally sent in payment for silk. The "silk route" was a well-established trade corridor via the Tarim basin. Buddhism probably crossed from India to China by the same route.
The Byzantine emperors loved their silken robes (while their more austere Roman ancestors were turning in their graves).
Statesmen worried about the "balance of payments" problem, because this trade was thought to be draining coinage out of the Byzantine economy.

Certainly possible (and likely). Equally, it could be from further down the line - ie, Byanztine merchant trades with Persian caravan, who trades with Indian, etc, until it ends up in China. Often coins from other areas were prized for their purity and the Western Empire had seriously debased their currency shortly after the reign of Marcus Aurelius. The Eastern Empire also did this but much later on (when fighting the Ottomans).

It is worth considering that Anglo Saxon and Viking hoards have been found to contain Roman coins - exactly because of their purity. That siad, you would have thought that China would have had some very pure coinage!

Ha that was probably a bit of a shock!

Nice find, always enjoy reading about these kinds of things.

originally posted by: Flavian
Equally, it could be from further down the line - ie, Byanztine merchant trades with Persian caravan, who trades with Indian, etc, until it ends up in China.

Certainly. That's what makes the fortunes of the trading cities along the way.

a reply to: Flavian

Incidentally, there was a kind of trade war?? Involving Axum and the Byzantines with the use of coins, when get to my laptop , will post on it.

a reply to: rollanotherone

Off of the West coast of the US actually. Not SA. Unfortunately, they were from the 19th century so not precolumbian as many would have you believe.

Nothing extraordinary here, though. Whereas China was under monetized compared to Rome, they had a tremendous resource in silk that Romans were mad for. So much Roman silver went east that the Chinese and Indians used to use Roman coins as jewelry. Also, the Chinese and Indians could make a very good steel, although I believe most evidence is that when Rome did buy steel, it was primarily Indian.

Besides gold and silver, Romans used to send glass wares east, although there remained a tremendous trade imbalance due to the silk.

I believe by the "Byzantine" era, the Romans could make their own silk, but I would think this imbalance would still have existed to some degree.

a reply to: cachibatches
At the date of this tomb the Byzantines were just about to acquire some silkworm eggs. Their industry would be in its infancy for some time.

a reply to: DISRAELI

Makes perfect sense, then.

Hey, are you Jewish (the name)? I just ask because I have read virtually every ancient text I can get my hands on and the Jewish War by Flavius Josephus is still my fav, although Livy's books on the war with Hannibal and the Anabasis are very close.

Josephus wrote from the point of a view of a guy who switched sides, but his work is otherwise incredible in its presentation of tragedy. I just bought a complete works and am going to hit up the rest once I finish re-reading The Republic and reading the Voyage of the Argo.

a reply to: cachibatches
No, I'm an English Conservative and a student of history. "Churchill" would have been too grandiose, "Bonar Law" would have been too obscure, and "Margaret Thatcher" would have been the wrong sex.
I never actually acquired Josephus, though I do have Livy.

a reply to: DISRAELI

Gottcha.

I did also read THE RIVER WAR many years ago, and a big fan of Churchill in general.

Love Thatcher. "They caught the common socialist disease...they ran out of other people's money."

Well, nice to meet a fellow Optimate, from the other side of the pond.