Roman coins in ancient China

[guy]

Here’s an interesting article about numismatic evidence of ancient Roman-Chinese trade

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”Plenty of ancient Chinese sources have been proved keeping rich accounts of the Roman Empire and its close relationship with ancient China, and the frequent activities of envoys, caravans, religious missions and wars on the Silk Road promoted the accomplishment of the mutual communication between the two great civilizations. According to Chinese sources, the official mutual relationship of the Roman Empire and ancient China probably started from the 2nd century CE, reached its peak during the 7th century – 8th century, and declined after that.  From the archaeological perspective, the discovery of Roman coins in China proves the credibility of the ancient Chinese records.”

“The Chinese official historical book Sui Shu-Shihuo Zhi recorded in the period of Bei Zhou (557–580) that ‘in the prefectures of Hexi region (in the west part of China), gold and silver coins from the Western Regions were accepted, and the government did not prohibit this activity.’”

 

It seems that the coins found were mostly Byzantine:

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”These analyses allow to conclude that most Roman coins came to China during the period from the 5th century to the 8th century. These results are consistent with ancient Chinese sources on the relation between the Roman Empire and ancient China, and strengthen the view that a close relationship existed between the two empires between the 7th century and the 8th century.”

https://novoscriptorium.com/2019/11/30/roman-coins-in-china/

Edited October 11, 2021 by guy

[caldrail]

Rome never had a close relationship with China - they were too far apart. There is, as far as I know, only one recorded instance of a Roman embassy reaching the east. The Chinese were more adventurous and attempted contact with Rome more than once. Always the distance defeated the object of the exercise. Sure, they knew about each other, and as we see some coins got traded across, but never close.