Editing Roman commerce (section)

=== China ===
{{see also|Romano-Chinese relations|Roman glass|Smuggling of silkworm eggs into the Byzantine Empire}}
[[File:Green glass Roman cup unearthed at Eastern Han tomb, Guixian, China.jpg|thumb|Green [[Roman glass]] cup unearthed from an [[Eastern Han Dynasty]] (25-220 AD) tomb, [[Guangxi]], China; the first Roman glassware discovered in China, dated early 1st century BC, was excavated from a [[Western Han]] tomb in the southern port city of [[Guangzhou]], most likely [[Sino-Roman relations|arriving]] via the [[Indian Ocean]] and [[South China Sea]].<ref name="an 2002 p83">An, Jiayao. (2002), "When Glass Was Treasured in China," in Annette L. Juliano and Judith A. Lerner (eds), ''Silk Road Studies VII: Nomads, Traders, and Holy Men Along China's Silk Road'', 79–94, Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, {{ISBN|2503521789}}, p. 83.</ref>]]
There is suggestive archaeological evidence that Roman traders were present in [[Southeast Asia]], which was roughly mapped out by [[Ptolemy]] in his ''[[Geography (Ptolemy)|Geography]]'' where he labelled the land bordering the ''[[Magnus Sinus]]'' (i.e., the [[Gulf of Thailand]] and [[South China Sea]]) as the ''[[Sinae]]''.<ref>Raoul McLaughlin (2010), ''Rome and the Distant East: Trade Routes to the Ancient Lands of Arabia, India, and China'', London & New York: Continuum, {{ISBN|9781847252357}}, pp 58-59.</ref> Their port city of "[[Cattigara]]", lying beyond the [[Golden Chersonese]] ([[Malay Peninsula]]) where a Greek sailor named Alexander allegedly visited, was quite possibly the ancient settlement at [[Oc Eo]], [[Vietnam]], where Roman artefacts from the [[Antonine]] period such as [[medal]]lions from the reigns of [[Antoninus Pius]] ({{Reign}}138–161) and [[Marcus Aurelius]] ({{Reign}}161–180) have been found.<ref>Gary K. Young (2001), ''Rome's Eastern Trade: International Commerce and Imperial Policy, 31 BC - AD 305'', London & New York: Routledge, {{ISBN|0-415-24219-3}}, p. 29.</ref> An event recorded in [[Twenty-Four Histories|the Chinese]] ''[[Weilue]]'' and ''[[Book of Later Han]]'' for the year 166 seems directly connected to this activity, since these texts claim that [[Sino-Roman relations|an embassy]] from "[[Daqin]]" (i.e., the Roman Empire) sent by their ruler "An Dun" ([[Historical Chinese phonology|Chinese]]: 安敦; i.e., either Antoninus Pius or Marcus Aurelius) landed in the [[Rinan|southern province]] of [[Jiaozhi]] (i.e., northern Vietnam) and presented tributary gifts to the Chinese ruler [[Emperor Huan of Han]].<ref name="halsall 2000">{{cite web|orig-year=1885|date=2000|author=Friedrich Hirth|editor=Jerome S. Arkenberg|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/eastasia/romchin1.html |title=East Asian History Sourcebook: Chinese Accounts of Rome, Byzantium and the Middle East, c. 91 B.C.E. - 1643 C.E. |publisher=[[Fordham University]]|website=Fordham.edu|access-date=2016-09-19}}</ref> [[Rafe de Crespigny]] and [[Warwick Ball]] contend that these were most likely Roman merchants, not official diplomats sent by Marcus Aurelius (given the absence of this event in Roman sources).<ref>[[Rafe de Crespigny|de Crespigny, Rafe]] (2007), ''A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23-220 AD)'', Leiden: Koninklijke Brill, {{ISBN|978-90-04-15605-0}}, p. 600,</ref><ref name="ball 2016 p152">Warwick Ball (2016), ''Rome in the East: Transformation of an Empire'', 2nd edition, London & New York: Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0-415-72078-6}}, p. 152.</ref>

Despite two other Roman embassies recorded in Chinese sources for the 3rd century and several more by the later [[Byzantine Empire]] ([[Chinese language|Chinese]]: 拂菻; [[Pinyin]]: ''Fú lǐn''),<ref name="halsall 2000"/><ref name="ball 2016 p152"/> only sixteen Roman coins from the reigns of [[Tiberius]] ({{Reign}}14–37 AD) to [[Aurelian]] ({{Reign}}270–275 AD) have been found in China at [[Xi'an]] that pre-date the greater amount of Eastern Roman (i.e., Byzantine) coins from the 4th century onwards.<ref name="ball 2016 p154">Warwick Ball (2016), ''Rome in the East: Transformation of an Empire'', 2nd edition, London & New York: Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0-415-72078-6}}, p. 154.</ref><ref>The following source, although printed in 2012, is outdated compared to Ball (2016: 154) in regards to the [[Principate]]-era coins found at Xi'an: [[Valerie Hansen]] (2012), ''The Silk Road: A New History'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 97-98, {{ISBN|978-0-19-993921-3}}.</ref> Yet this is also dwarfed by the amount of Roman coins found in India, which would suggest that this was the region where the Romans purchased most of their Chinese silk.<ref name="ball 2016 p154"/> For that matter, the [[spice trade]] remained more important to the [[Roman economy]] than the silk one.<ref>Warwick Ball (2016), ''Rome in the East: Transformation of an Empire'', 2nd edition, London & New York: Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0-415-72078-6}}, pp 154, 156.</ref>

From the 3rd century a Chinese text, the [[Weilüe]], describes the products of the Roman Empire and the routes to it.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/weilue/weilue.html#products |title=Weilue: The Peoples of the West |publisher=Depts.washington.edu |date=2004-05-23 |access-date=2012-11-07}}</ref>