Section 12 –
The Products of Da Qin 大秦
(the Roman
Empire)
1.
yeguangbi 夜光壁 [yeh-kuan-pi] – literally:
‘night-shining bi.’ The word bi 壁
[pi] sometimes
denotes ceremonial stone disks, usually of jade but, sometimes, it is used more
loosely and refers to jade in general. The Weilue mentions 夜光珠
yeguangzhu
[yeh-kuan-chu],
literally,
‘night-shining pearls’ among the products of Da Qin, presumably referring to the
same product.
“The Chinese
lore of “luminous pearls” (or “beads”) and “night-shining pearls” and “luminous
moon pearls” ... goes back to Chou times, and may be ultimately of Indian
origin. It has parallels and analogues in many cultures....
Actually, the luminescent “gems”
seen in China were often the eyes of whales, which, like the body parts of many
marine creatures, were naturally phosphorescent....
But there were also luminescent
gems of mineral origin; some stones have this quality continually, others only
when rubbed or heated. During Hsüan Tsung’s first reign an embassy from Maimargh
presented the monarch with a gem called gem called simply *pi̯ɒk. This was the name of an archaic flat stone ring, a symbol of the heavenly kingship in Chou times; but it was also a word used interchangeably with *pi̯äk,
“dark blue-green stone” and sometimes “luminescent blue-green stone.” If not a
ceremonial jade ring, then, this gift was probably made of chlorophane, the
thermoluminescent variety of fluorite, which was undoubtedly the material of the
phosphorescent “emeralds” of classical antiquity, such as the green eyes of the
marble lion on the tomb of King Hermias of Cyprus, though the Hellenistic
alchemists had methods, seemingly magical, of making night-shining gems by the
application of phosphorescent paints to stones, the most famous being their
“emeralds” and “carbuncles.” Schafer (1963), pp. 237-238.
“Yeh-kuang-pi (or Yeh-kuang-chu) .... (HHS,
WL, CS, WS, Nestorian Stone, TT). This “night
shining ring” or “night shining pearl” is also mentioned in most of the texts,
but it is not clear what jewel it is. “Diamond,” “chlorophane,” “tourmaline
(lychris),” and “ruby” have been suggested. Chavannes and Hirth suggest possible
parallels in western literature. This night shining jewel has also occurred in
earlier texts, Mo-tzu and SC. As Demiéville points out, it is
often associated with “the bright (moon) pearl.” Leslie and Gardiner (1996), pp.
209- 210.
The
following account is of interest here as it may indicate that the “night-shining
bi” may be just a name referring to a type of “jade,” and not a truly
luminescent material:
“The special
local product [of Jiuquan – Chiu-ch’üan – literally: ‘Wine Spring’],
‘night-glowing cups’, are produced in a third-floor factory.... Made of
locally mined black and green Qilian jade, these cups come stemmed,
thimble-shaped or three-legged in the ancient style. A 2,000-year-old legend
tells how King Zhoumu was presented with one of these cups, which glowed when
filled with wine and placed in the moonlight. The Tang poet Wang Han wrote:
Grape wine from a
night-glowing cup is good,
I
want to drink, but the pipa urges me to mount my horse,
Lying drunken on the battlefield would be
no laughing matter,
Tell, how
many soldiers ever did return?”
(Sadly, the
cups do not glow in modern moonlight!)” Bonavia (1988), p. 80.
2.
mingyuezhu 明月珠 [ming-yüeh-chu]
– literally: “bright moon pearls.”
“The large
pearls range from 0.5 to 1.5 inch across. There is a variety known as “pendant
pearl,” which is slightly oval in shape, somewhat resembling an inverted cooking
pot, with one side highly lustrous suggesting gold plating. One of these is
worth as much as a thousand taels of silver. This pearl since ancient days, has
been labelled “bright moon” or “light at night.” Actually, these beautiful names
have been accorded to the pearls because they glimmer with a thread of light if
held against the sun on a fair day, not because there are pearls that really
shine in the dark of night.” Sung (1637) p. 298.
“Ming-yüeh-chu are
pearls produced in the southern seas, and if compared with those produced in the
fresh water inside China, they are bigger in size and of a superior quality.
Since the ancient times, pearls are produced mainly from the southern seas such
as the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Persia, the Red Sea, and so on. In the Han
period, pearls produced in the Red Sea were imported through the eastern
territory of the Roman Empire....” Harada (1971) p. 72.
See also
Leslie and Gardiner (1996), p. 209; Liu (1988), pp. 57-58.
3.
haiji
駭雞 [hai-chi] – literally:
‘terrifying chickens’ = fighting cocks according to a personal communication
from Dr. Edmund Ryden, Fujen Catholic University, Taiwan on 2nd July 1998. Dr.
Ryden also kindly pointed out that, “Zhuangzi knew of fighting cocks.” Following
an early, misleading Chinese interpretation, this term has usually been
connected with the next item in the list, rhinoceroses. See, for example, Leslie
and Gardiner (1996), p. 202.
4.
xi 犀 [hsi] =
rhinoceroses. The Chinese were primarily interested in rhinoceroses for their
horn which was widely used as an aphrodisiac, in various medicinal concoctions,
and for carving.
“Another
commodity which was fed into the trade of the Indian Ocean from the
Barbarā
coast was rhinoceros horn, possibly the single most valuable item in the Chinese
pharmacopoeia, a veritable apotropaion of apotropaia, which could also afford
raw material for the jeweler. The Chinese could, of course, obtain horns from
their own southern provinces and from South and Southeast Asia, but the market
was so elastic that from time to time Arab merchants found it worth their while
to bring to China the horn of the African rhinoceros.” Wheatley (1975), p. 106.
“Contrary to a universally held Western misconception, the rhino’s horn
is not widely considered to be an aphrodisiac. Only the Romans (and, nowadays, a
few Indians) believed it to have this property, presumably either because it is
long, hard and pointed upwards or because the rhino itself is so generously
endowed by the size of its penis and takes over an hour to complete its
copulation. This is the only time that rhino’s horn has been given a medicinal
value in Europe, although its value as a wondrous object associated with the
unicorn existed for hundreds of years....
In the Far East, however, it is
another story and rhino horn has been on the books of traditional herbalists and
exponents of folk-medicine since well before the time of Christ....
Depending upon where one looks in
the Far East, rhino horn has a variety of wonderful properties. In India, it is
still – though very infrequently – offered as an aphrodisiac when mixed with
herbs and swallowed in milk or honey: it was from the East that the Romans heard
of this supposed property. Similarly taken, it is also said to cure arthritis,
muscular pains and spasms and paralysis: fat and stomach lining are also said to
cure polio and skin diseases. In the past, the horn was burnt under the anus of
hæmorrhoid sufferers to alleviate their condition and to counteract
constipation....
It has
been the horn of the Asian rhinoceroses which has been considered the most
effective medicine but, with the decline of the Asian rhinos in the last two
centuries, the Chinese have turned to the African rhinos for their supplies,
dosages being increased because the African rhinos do not apparently have the
concentrations of power of the Asian ones....
Rhino horn shavings are given as a
treatment for the lowering of fever such as typhus and malaria. The idea, as is
so often the case with such traditional brews, is that the liquid cleanses the
body of poisons. Additionally, it is regarded as a cure for laryngitis,
bronchitis, tuberculosis and poor eyesight. Dried and powdered rhino’s blood is
sold as a tonic for sufferers of anæmia which it probably does help to cure
being, like snake’s blood, rich in iron.” Booth (1988), pp. 156–159.
“The horn of the rhinoceros played a role in the minor arts of T’ang
very similar to that of ivory, and indeed the two substances were regularly
linked in language, particularly in parallel verse. The demand for rhinoceros
horn was very great, so that, although many rhinoceroses still lived in Hunan,
as we have seen, and their horns were submitted to the court as tribute, it was
also necessary to import them. From close at hand, they were obtained in
Nan-chao and Annam; more remotely, they came to the port of Canton from the
Indies, and in such quantities that the near extinction of the Indochinese
rhinoceroses in modern times can in large part be attributed to the China trade
of the T’ang....
Rhinoceros horn was important in medieval Chinese medicine, especially as
an antidote for all kinds of poison. Belief in its efficacy goes back to the
fourth century, and may have originated in China, to spread to Western Asia and
the Roman empire.” Schafer (1963), p. 241; see also ibid. p. 83.
5.
shanhu 珊瑚 [shan-hu] = coral.
See, for example, GR No.
9520.
“Coral is as
highly valued among the Indians as Indian pearls. It is also found in the Red
Sea, but there it is darker in colour. The most prized is found in the Gallic
Gulf around the Stoechades Islands, in the Sicilian Gulf around the Aeolian
Islands, and around Drepanum....
Coral-berries are no less valued by Indian men than specimen Indian
pearls by Roman ladies. Indian soothsayers and seers believe that coral is
potent as a charm for warding off dangers. Accordingly they delight in its
beauty and religious power. Before this became known, the Gauls used to decorate
their swords, shields and helmets with coral. Now it is very scarce because of
the price it commands, and is rarely seen in its natural habitat.” Pliny NH (a), p.
281. (XXXII,
chaps. 21, 23).
“Coral was exported [from Egypt] to India as well as to
Arabia.... Red Sea coral, to be had all along the western coast of Arabia,
hardly required importation via shippers from Egypt; moreover, it was considered
of inferior quality (Pliny 32.21). The coral referred to here [in the
Periplus] must have come from the Mediterranean, which produced prized
varieties....” Casson (1989), p. 163. See also ibid. p. 191.
“Since the period of the Former Han dynasty coral had been an extremely
valuable commodity....
From where and on what route did coral – so highly valued by the Chinese
– come to China? Red coral from the western Mediterranean and the Red Sea was
one of the major items shipped to the East from the time of the Periplus
(28, 39, 49). The histories of the Later Han (HHS: LXXXVIII, 2919), the
Three Kingdoms (SKC: XXX, 861) and the Chin (CS: XCVII, 2544)
mention coral as a product of Ta-ch’in, i.e. the Roman empire. A later Chinese
account gives a detailed description of how coral was collected from the sea in
Ta-ch’in: the Romans dropped iron nets on the coral reefs so that the yellowish
young coral would grow on them. Three years later they came back to collect the
coral once it had turned red (Hsin T’ang-shu: CCXXI, 6261).
Those records definitely refer to
Mediterranean red coral. There were three possible routes to ship the coral to
China. The most frequented route was the Southern Route to India. In the time of
the Periplus the primary destination of coral in Roman cargo ships was
India. Pliny mentions that coral was as highly treasured in India as pearls were
in Rome (XXXII, 11). Coral beads along with beads of other precious materials
have been found in north-Indian sites, for example at Rajghat in the level of
the pre-Kushan period (Narain 1976-8: II, 12)....
The second possible route was
through the Northern Route of Central Asia. The Wei history describes coral as
originating in Persia, probably because some coral was transported through
Persia and the Northern Route into Central Asia. Ferghana’s gift to the Chao
state in 331 AD included coral (Wang Chung-lo 1979: 704).
The sea route from the Red Sea to
south China was the third, and the most unlikely, way. Although there are some
vague references to coral imported from southern ports during Han times
(Shu-I-chi: 1/3a-b), most other Chinese sources call coral one of the
commodities from the Western Region.... No matter where the coral originated,
north India was probably the main supplier of trans-shipped coral to China
before the T’ang dynasty.” Liu (1988), pp. 54-57.
“Whatever
lang-kan may have been, unambiguous coral (shan-hu), presumably a
red variety, was a product of Nam-Viet in T’ang times. Indeed the revered
many-branched coral trees, twelve or thirteen feet high, which ornamented the
garden of the Han palace, had been the gift of Chao T’o of Nam-Viet. Coral had
another honorable place in Nam-Viet tradition: there was a well called “Coral
Well of Ko Hung” at Mount Lo-fou. It was said that the coral which went into its
construction had been the gift of a sea-deity to an early alchemist.
Independently of the precious Corallium nobile imported from the
Mediterranean world, then, Nam-Viet had its own fine corals, some of them red.
Specimens of lovely red corals of the genus Corallium have in fact been
found from Japan to the Sulu Sea in modern times.” Schafer (1967), p. 159.
See also
Leslie and Gardiner (1996), p. 210.
6. hupo
虎珀 [hu-p’o]
= yellow
amber. GR, under No. 4570, p. 124. See Pulleyblank (1963), p. 124 where
he gives for hupo:
“M. hou/
-phak
<
*ha·-phlak “amber” (Han-shu 96 A, under Chi-pin,
Kashmir). This may represent Greek *ἅρπαξ
“amber”.
The equation had been suggested by G. Jakob in 1889 but was rejected by Laufer.
Though the Greek word is only attested in Latinized form in Pliny as a term used
in Syria, the epithet “snatcher” is an appropriate one for amber and may well
have been known in other Greek speaking regions.
“In Europe
the biggest and most important supplies of amber traded in early times were
found at Samland on the Baltic coast and in smaller quantities on the North Sea.
The chief mining area was near Kaliningrad (formerly Konigsberg).... An
important eastern route ran from the Baltic coast along the Vistula and through
the territory of Kiev southeastwards to the Black Sea. Here this Eastern amber
route linked up with the long and ancient overland connections to the Near East,
central and east Asia and India.... Some of the amber sold in Asia came from
Burma.” Raunig, (1984), pp. 14-15.
“[Amber is] the most expensive
product... from trees or shrubs, amber, balsam, myrrh and frankincense....”
Pliny NH (a),
p. 377. (XXXVII,
204).
“The
‘Baltic’ Balts are first mentioned by Tacitus, under the name of Aestii; he
praises their skill at growing crops, ‘with a patience quite unusual among the
lazy Germans.’ Of more general importance was that the land of the Aestii
produced (and still does produce) most of the world’s supply of amber. Beads of
this substance made their appearance in Greece as early as 1500 BC, and were
also exported to many other parts of the world. The Roman Empire, as usual,
operated on a larger scale than anything done before. From Pliny, for example,
we hear that in Nero’s reign (AD 54-68) a Roman businessman visited the amber
country and brought back enough amber to decorate all the equipment for a large
gladiatorial show. The biggest piece weighed thirteen pounds.” Sitwell (1984),
p. 41.
See also
Leslie and Gardiner (1996), p. 211.
7.
liuli 流離 [liu-li] = opaque glass. There has
been much discussion about whether liuli in these early texts referred to
glass or to some natural gemstone. See, for example, Leslie and Gardiner (1996),
p. 213.
By the first
century CE
glass in all its forms had become one of the major exports of the Roman Empire.
This was due to three main factors:
1. Rome had
recently acquired the main glass-producing centres of the ancient world which
were centred mainly in Syria and Egypt. It not only controlled their production
and exports but imported the latest technologies (and top craftsmen) to Italy
itself where a huge new industry was established.
2. The
Syrians, in particular, had not only developed techniques for producing clear
glass wares (which, until foreigners became aware of the scam) could be passed
off as valuable rock crystal wares, but were able to produce transparent glass
in a very wide range of colours. It seems that it took several centuries before
transparent (rather than merely translucent or opaque) varieties of glass was
able to be produced in China – see
below.
3. The
development of glass-blowing in the second half of the first century
BCE
– probably
in Syria – meant that, for the first time, glass vessels could be cheaply and
quickly mass-produced. The industry expanded rapidly and by the end of the first
century CE
free-blown and mould-blown glassware formed the bulk of glass objects produced
in the Roman Empire.
It seems to
be now generally accepted that opaque glass only was produced in China until
superior manufacturing techniques were introduced by Yuezhi merchants in the
fifth century. The following account of this technology transfer also makes it
clear that the liuli previously imported from the west was indeed glass:
“According
to the Pei-shih . . . it was during the time of T’ai-wu of the northern
Wei dynasty (A.D. 424-452) that traders came to the capital of Wei from the
country of the Ta-yüeh-chih . . . , bordering on the north-west of
India1 who said that, by fusing certain minerals, they could make all
colours of liu-li. They then gathered and digged in the hills, and fused the
minerals at the capital (near the present Ta-t’ung-fu in Shan-hsi). When ready,
the material so obtained was of even greater brilliancy than the liu-li imported
from the west. The Pei-shih specially states that, after this event,
articles made of glass became considerably cheaper in China than they had been
before....
1.
According to the Wei-shu, quoted in the Yüan-chien-lei-han, ch.
364, p. 31, they came from India..”
Hirth, pp.
230-231 and n. 1.
Note that Hirth quotes another story from Grosier’s Description de la
Chine, edition of 1787, Vol II, p. 464, which relates this event to an
“Emperor Tai-tsu” of the Sung, which Hirth maintains was another name for
emperor Wen-ti of the Sung (A.D. 424 to 454). Doubt has, however, been cast on
the authenticity of this latter story – see Leslie and Gardiner, p. 214 and n.
75. See also: Boulnois (1992), pp. 178-179.
“Tracing the history of glass as a
commodity in Chinese foreign trade poses several problems. Previously, scholars
thought that China did not develop glass-making techniques until the fifth
century AD. But since the 1930s, many glass samples have been found in tombs
dating from the fifth century BC. Doris Dohrenwend recently summarized the
history of Chinese glass comprehensively. She divides Chinese glass into two
categories. The small opaque items pre-dating the third century AD are
liu-li, and the transparent vessels from the T’ang dynasty onwards are
po-li. Between the two phases during the Northern and Southern dynasties
there was a ‘glass mini-boom,’ as indicated by a series of glass vessels of
doubtful provenance (Dohrenwend 1980: 426-46).
Today no one doubts that the
Chinese made glass long before the Christian era. There is also clear evidence
that China imported glass from foreign countries even up to the Ch’ing dynasty.
The real question is: did the Chinese regard the ancient opaque items made by
them or their ancestors as being the same thing as the transparent or colourful
glass they imported at the same time? Obviously not. Both terms, liu-li
and po-li, appeared in the Chinese vocabulary after contact with the
Western Region, and both have Sanskrit origins.” Liu (1988), pp. 58-59. See also
ibid. pp. 60-63, 80, 160-161.
“Glass had been familiar to the
Chinese for centuries, and had been manufactured by them since late Chou times.
Their language distinguished two kinds of glass, liu-li and po-li.
Liu-li was colored glass, either opaque or only dully translucent, or
even a colored ceramic glaze; it was akin to the lead glass which we call
“paste,” and like paste was thought of as a substitute for natural gemstones,
especially for green and blue ones. Indeed, it was sometimes confused with real
minerals, such as lapis lazuli, beryl, and, no doubt, turquoise. Po-li,
on the other hand, was transparent, either colorless, like rock crystal, and
compared with water and ice, or else palely tinted. Liu-li was already
old in China, but blown vessels of po-li were a novelty in T’ang.
Little need be said of
the false gem liu-li. It was familiar in both life and literature, and
was doubly exotic in that it came occasionally with embassies from the West, and
was also reported of distant cultures, such as Pyü in Burma....” Laufer (1912),
pp. 235-236.
“The Chinese word liu-li apparently transcribes Pali
veluriyam (Sanskrit vaidūrya)
and in the Buddhist literature continues to have the same referent, that is,
“beryl” or some other green gem. For this reason, Laufer (1946), 111-112, did
not accept the meaning “glass” for it, and, though he admitted that certain
colored glazes were sometimes called liu-li, he considered po-li
the only usual word for glass in China. Po-li transcribes a form close to
Sanskrit sphaṭika, “crystal.” Cf. Needham (1962), 105-106.” Schafer
(1963), p. 335, n. 137.
“One of the products that Rome exported further
and further afield, was glass objects, particularly coloured glasses, containers
of all sorts, cut glass, glass beads for necklaces from the workshops of Syria
or those of Puteoli. These necklace beads have been found from the shores of
England to those of the Annam Sea, in Central Asia and the Ukraine. They were
made round or oval, pear-shaped and cylindrical, in the shape of disks and
amphora, in opaque and translucent glass. There were blues and greens, and
whimsical beads made of alternating layers of blue glass, bronze, and white
pottery.” Translated from Boulnois (1992), p. 75.
“Glass, for example,
initially imported from Hellenistic nations, was first introduced in China
during the Warring States period [481-221 BCE], as the
fragments discovered at Jincun near Luoyang, or at Changsha have confirmed.
Apart from being prized for its beauty, glass, which was as uncommon in China as
jade and served as a substitute for jade, was considered priceless by the rulers
of that era on account of its rarity. Under the Han dynasty, glass was imported
from Syria which filled specific orders for the Chinese market. Indeed, glass
was used to produce jewels and inlaid work for belt plates or bronze mirrors.
Sometimes it was substituted for jade in the form of small plates that were
inserted in the mouths of corpses. Authors even wrote admiring poems to praise
this extraordinary substance.” Elisseeff (1983), pp. 163-164.
“The
evidence for Roman trade in glass with the cities along the east coast of South
India is exactly the opposite of that on the west coast. There is no written
evidence, but finds from excavations are abundant. A Chinese record from the end
of the second century B.C. says that, among other goods, the Chinese got glass
from Kanchipuram.30 No published archaeological evidence for glass
trade at Kanchipuram is known to me, nor for glass trade from its ports at
Vasavasmudram and Mahabalipuram. However, the chance find of a large fragment of
a Mediterranean amphora at Vasavasmudram indicates that Mediterranean wares
reached this port. Therefore, the possibility cannot be excluded that glass
exported from the West to Kanchipuram was destined for transit trade with
China.”
30.
J. Duyvendak, China’s Discovery of Africa (London 1949) 9-10. See also
Stern (infra n. 37) [E. M. Stern, Ancient Glass at the Fondation Custodia
(Collection Frits Lugt) Paris (Groningen 1977) 25-30.]
Stern
(1991), p. 117 and nn. 30, 37. See
this article for a detailed discussion of the types of glass manufactured in the
Roman Empire and exported to India and Africa and which are probably indicative
of the types of glass and glass wares exported to China as well.
8.
langgan 琅玕 [lang kan]. Probably a whitish chalcedony.
However, there have been many definitions of langgan and, perhaps, it has
meant different things at different times. It has frequently been described as a
kind of branching coral or “coral tree,” and sometimes as a pearl-like type of
stone.
The oldest reference I can find to langgan is in the Guanzi
管子 which says that they originated “from the
mountains nearby the Yuzhi [Yuezhi];” specifically the Kunlun mountains. Now,
the compilation of the Guanzi “was probably begun by the scholars of the
Chi-hsia Academy founded c. 302 B.C. in Ch’i State, that most of the
chapters belong to the third century, while some may still be earlier, and
others were added in the second or even the first century B.C. Thus the book was
mostly written before the Han period, even though some of its ideas are of a
later date….” Pokora (1973), pp. 31-32.
“In the “Qingzhong Jiapian 蜻重甲篇 of the same
book [the Guanzi] it is also recorded:
If what is valued at no
less than one thousand pieces of gold are white jade discs, then we should be
able to persuade the Yuezhi, who are at a distance of 8,000 li, to
present tribute. If clasps and earrings worth no less than one thousand pieces
of gold are made from qiulin 璆琳 (a kind of
beautiful jade) or langgan琅玕 (a kind of white carnelian), then we
should be able to cause the Kunlun Hills 昆侖之虚, which are at a distance of 8,000
li, to present tribute.
The “Qingzhong Yipian” records also: “Jade
originates from the mountains nearby the Yuzhi [Yuezhi], which are at a distance
of 7,000 li from Zhou周.” Yu (1998), p. 48.
Yu believes these
“Kunlun” Mountains “may have referred to the Altai Mountains,” but I prefer to
accept the more usual definition of them as the high chain of mountains
separating the Tarim Basin from the Tibetan Plateau, in particular, the famous
jade-bearing regions south of Khotan and Yarkand.
Yu’s identification of langgan as a “kind of white carnelian”
undoubtedly indicates the whitish form of chalcedony. Carnelian, a form of
chalcedony is, by definition, of a reddish colour, but chalcedony comes in a
variety of other colours, including bluish-white, grey, yellow, or brown. It is
a waxy, fine-grained form of silica much favoured by gem engravers. It is
particularly suited to the manufacture of seals, as hot wax tends not to stick
to it.
The GR, No. 6687], on
the other hand, gives, among its definitions: “balas-ruby : a precious
stone of yellow or red from the Indies; a stone in the form of a pearl; name of
a tree : a tree of pearl.
Williams (1909), p. 498 says: “[lang kan:] white coral of a firm
texture, branched like a Gorgonia,
but not susceptible of polish.”
“Lang-kan 琅玕is a stone variously said
to resemble pearl and jade; the term occurs in the Shu-ching (6.21a;
Couvreur, p. 79; Legge, III, 127). Legge suggests that it is lapis
lazuli. Schafer describes lang-kan as a fairy gem, the stuff or fruit
of a tree of paradise, or of an axial world-tree” (“The Origin of an Era,” p.
545; cf. his The Golden Peaches of Samarkand, p. 246, and The
Vermilion Bird, p. 159).” Rogers (1968), p. 257, n.
486.
“Since the period of the Former Han dynasty
coral had been an extremely valuable commodity. In eulogies describing the
court’s brilliance in Former Han time, Later Han writers such as Pan Ku
mentioned ‘coral trees’, i.e. branch coral (Liang-tu-fu, 4a). In fiction written in
a later period coral trees symbolize the extravagance of the Former Han court.
It is said of Emperor Wu of the Former Han built a shrine with ‘coral window
lattice’, and with ‘coral trees’ planted around it, where he searched for
immortality in vain (Lu Hsün 1939: 347). This tradition of using coral continued
after the Han.1 It seems that coral was the most precious and, hence,
the ideal item of tribute. More specific records about the use of coral appear
after the Han....”
“Even as late as the T’ang. In the famous picture by the T’ang artist Yen
Li-pen: ‘Foreign envoys coming with their tributes’ (Schafer 1963), many envoys
carry a piece of ‘coral tree’.” Liu (1994), p. 54, and n. 1. On these “tree
corals” see also, for example: Maunder (1878), p. 398 – under
“Madrepore”.
9.
zhudan 朱丹
[chu-tan] = ‘red cinnabar’. See Leslie and
Gardiner (1996), p. 208.
“Among the
mineral species found in T’ang Nam-Viet, the most distinguished in Chinese
tradition was cinnabar. This red sulphide of mercury was virtually a sacred
stone to the Taoists, for whom its ready conversion into shining quicksilver was
a true miracle which, properly understood, could lead to the transmutation of
metals and the prolongation of life. It also yielded the pigment vermilion, the
color of life and blood and eternity, applied in antiquity to the bodies of the
dead, to coffins, to mimics of the gods, in short, to all sorts of holy objects,
and, latterly also to secular pictures. It was also well regarded as a drug for
the treatment of serious diseases, and in some opinion it was the true panacea.”
Schafer (1967), pp. 156-157.
“Lastly, you
find there [in the plains around Bathang, just over the border from Tibet in
Szechuan] mines of cinnabar (sulphide of mercury). The Tibetans get the mercury
in all its purity by disengaging the sulphur by combustion, or by combining it
with slack-lime.” Huc (undated), p. 123.
For a good
description of the production of cinnabar in China, see Sung (1637), pp.
279-285.
10.
qingbi 青碧
[ch’ing-pi].
It is difficult to decide exactly what this term qingbi refers to.
Qing is notoriously difficult to translate precisely but usually refers
to what we call ‘green’ or the greenish-blue of the ocean. Williams, p. 158,
defines it as “The first of the five colors, the color of nature, as the green
of sprouting plants, the blue of the sky, and the azure of the ocean ; but
especially the dark green of plants ; the green part of a thing; wan, fading
away, pale; black.”
The GR Vol. iv, p. 986 identifies bi as a blue-green stone
resembling jade; nephrite; jasper. Williams, p. 637 says of bi:
“Green jade stone ; some kinds are blueish, and others are greenish, like the
deep sea ; it is like jadeite and highly prized.”
Chavannes (1907), p. 182, n. 5, accepts Geert’s identification as a sort
of blue-green jasper, but I would suggest that, in the context of Roman trade at
this period, it more likely refers to the highly-prized green peridot and/or
emeralds – both of which the Romans were mining and exporting at this period.
It is not possible to choose for certain between them. However, I would
suggest that, as the name qingbi (or “green gem”) seems to be otherwise
unrecorded, that it probably referred to peridot, a gem most likely unknown to
the Chinese until they began trading with the Romans, as all the peridot of the
ancient world was mined on the island of Zebirget (also known as St. John’s
Island) in the Red Sea. It was probably the trade item called chrysolithum
mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea as being traded to
India in the 1st century CE:
“Whether
Pliny’s chrysolithum
is actually
yellow sapphire or some other stone of India, it cannot be what the author of
the Periplus has in mind, for he is referrring to a stone imported by
India and hence not obtainable there…. As it
happens, there is a desirable stone not found in India which the shippers of
Roman Egypt had at their very doorstep, so to speak, namely peridot. The sole
source of peridot in ancient times was St. John’s Island in the Red Sea…, only a
few miles away from Berenicê, and the stone was so prized it served as gifts to
royalty (Pliny 37.108) and the kings of Egypt maintained a guard over the
quarries (Strabo 16.770). Both Strabo and Pliny (37.107) call the stone
topazos, but since they name the island as the source, there can be no
doubt that they are referring to peridot (cf. Warmington 253; Eichholtz’s note
to his translation of Pliny 37.108). Peridot, the gem grade of olivine, is green
rather than “golden,” but there seems to have been some confusion about the
color; whereas Pliny properly says it has “its own greenish nature,” Strabo
describes it as being “like gold.” Casson (1989), p. 190.
It is, of
course, as I mentioned above, also possible that qingbi was an early name
for emeralds. The Romans controlled the famous ancient mines in the region of
Mons Smaragdus (‘Emerald Mountain’) in Wadi Sikait, not far northwest of the
major Red Sea port of Berenice which handled much of the Roman maritime trade
with India and the Far East. For an excellent account of these mines and their
importance, see the article, “Emerald City,” Rivard, Foster and Sidebotham
(2002).
11.
lajinlüxiu 剌金縷繡
[la-chin-lü-hsiu] – literally: ‘drawn gold-thread
multi-coloured embroideries.’ The first word la can mean either ‘cut’ or
‘drawn’ in the sense of ‘to pull’ or, as in forcing gold through a hole to make
a thread.
“The art of
weaving gold-thread into cloth was of very ancient origin. I quote from the Very
Rev. Rock’s “Textile Fabrics” (South Kensington Museum Art Handbooks, No.
1, p. 23): “The process of twining long narrow strips of gold, or gilt silver,
round a line of silk or flax, and thus producing gold-thread, is much earlier
than has been supposed; and when Attalus’ name was bestowed upon a new method of
interweaving gold with wool or linen, thence called “Attalic,” it was probably
because he suggested to the weaver the introduction of the long-known golden
thread as a woof into the textile from his loom. It would seem, from a passage
in Claudian, that ladies at an early Christian period used to spin their own
gold-thread.” According to the same author, the superior quality of Cyprian
gold-thread was known to the mediæval world. Attalicæ vestes are
mentioned in Porpertius, but, as Rock (l. c., p. 14) points out,
“the earliest written notice which we have about the employment of gold in the
loom, or of the way in which it was wrought for such a purpose, is in the
Pentateuch. Among the sacred vestments made for Aaron was an ephod of gold,
violet and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, and fine twisted linen, with
embroidered work; and workmen cut also thin plates of gold and drew them small
into strips, that they might be twisted with the woof of the aforesaid
colours.”
The combination
of several materials (silk, wool, linen, byssus) in the same texture… was well
known in ancient manufacture, and the Syrian school of art is especially known
for the great variety of musters produced by means of coloured threads.” Hirth
(1875), pp. 253-255.
Some extraordinary discoveries were made in 1978-79 during the joint
Soviet-Afghan excavations of six graves dating to the beginning of the 1st
century CE
at Tillya-tepe (literally: “The Golden Mound”), 5 km north of the present town
Shibarghan – or just over 100 km by road east of Balkh. See note 13.8 for more
details on this site.
A spectacular treasure of hundreds of precious gold and jewelled objects
were uncovered in these graves which were presumably those of Kushan nobles.
Among these treasures is clear evidence in one of the graves of cloth woven with
threads of gold:
“Besides the
sewn-on plaques, the gold threads of a decayed cloth were also uncovered ; they
were found exclusively beneath the vertebrae and nowhere else, from which it may
be deduced that they are either from the shroud that lined the inside of the
coffin, or, more likely, from a short cape or cloak. As the threads retained a
wavelike form, one may presume that the weft threads had been of either wool or
silk, which had completely rotted away before the grave was excavated.
The gold threads were disposed
beneath the skeleton, in isolated multi-layered patches not in one unbroken
pattern, thus indicating large ornamental designs. Considering that the gold
threads had had a multitude of pearls on them and that the intricate designs
they had thus created were edged with gold plaques, one may gain some notion of
how dazzling a sight the funerary garments must have presented.” Sarianidi
(1985), p. 20. Also: Sarianidi (1990-1992): p. 106.
The
following note from the China Daily dated 17th May 1999 is also of great
interest:
“URUMQI
(Xinhua) – A garment made of fabrics with dazzling gold foil sewn on applique
work, dating back to the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC – AD 24), was recently
unearthed from a tomb in Lop Nur, a desolate area in Northwest China’s Xinjiang
Uygur Autonomous Region.
Chinese archaeologists believe this is the earliest woven material with
gold patterns ever found in China. The discovery pushes the history of
fabric-making with gold back 1,000 years earlier than previously believed,” said
Li Wenying, an archaeologist participating in the excavation.
The gold foils were sewn by two
different methods. One was to cut coloured silk in the shape of flower buds,
petals, stamen and fruits, which were then pinned to the collar, sleeves, lower
hem, and back of the garment. Then gold foils were pasted on the silk designs.
The other way was to spread gold powder onto the design.
One archaeologist, Zhou Jinling,
described the embroidery as “distinctive, dazzling and harmonious in colour.”
This garment was one of the 200-plus rare cultural relics unearthed from 32
tombs built in the period between the Han and Jin dynasties (206 BC – AD 420) at
the Yingpan Ruins in Lop Nur.
The site lies 200 kilometres east of Loulan, one of the busiest
commercial cities on the ancient Silk Road which served as a transportation
artery for the flow of goods from China to the West more than 2,000 years ago.
The flourishing trade route began to decline in the fourth century.
The recent excavation, which lasted
for more than a month, was the continuation of a protective excavation begun in
1995. During the three-year period, Chinese archaeologists opened 32 ancient
tombs and cleared more than 100 robbed tombs over a large area.
One-third of the unearthed objects
were burial accessories, including garments, wooden, bronze, and lacquer wares,
gold and silver ornaments, and pearls. The most significant finding was three
woolen robes with designs of flying men, eagles, and snakes woven with a
jacquard technique.”
12.
zhichengjinlüji – 織成金縷罽
[chih-ch’eng-chin-lü-chi],
literally: ‘woven with gold thread net.’ It is difficult to determine exactly
what is meant here, as the dictionaries are not unanimous. The word ji
can either mean, according to GR 878,
either a “fisherman’s net,” or “cloth of rough material, of fur or hair.”
Couvreur, p. 726 gives: a “fisherman’s net” or “fabric of hair coming from a
western country; rug.” Williams, p. 67 defines it as “a kind of fishing-net or
seine made of hair,” I have chosen “net” as the more likely meaning here, as
have Leslie and Gardiner (1996), p. 215. However, it should be kept in mind that
it may just as well have referred to some sort of rug or tapestry with gold
threads woven into it.
13.
zaseling zuohuangjintu
雜色作黄金塗
[tsa-se-ling tso-huang-chin-t’u]
– literally:
‘delicate polychrome silks painted with gold.’ The word ling usually
refers to a fine silk. See note 12.11 above and Leslie and Gardiner (1996), p.
215. According to GR No.
1169, tu 塗
carries the
meanings of: to apply (a product); to spread; to colour-wash or whitewash; to
coat or paint.
14.
huowan bu 火浣布
[huo-wan pu] = asbestos cloth. Literally:
‘fire-washed cloth’ which, as noted by Leslie and Gardiner (1996), pp. 215-216:
“...is almost certainly asbestos.” See, for example, GR Vol. III, p. 300,
No. 5231.
“The
wonderful quality of asbestos was familiar to both Romans and Chinese from about
the beginning of the Christian era. The men of Han regarded it as a Roman
product, quite properly since this mineral fiber was very well known to the
Romans, who also understood that it came from a rock. Here is Apollonius
Dyscolus [2nd century CE]
on asbestos napkins:
When
these napkins are soiled, their cleansing is performed not by means of washing
in water, but brush-wood is burnt, the napkin in question is placed over this
fire, and the squalor flows off; while the cloth itself comes forth from the
fire brilliant and pure.
This natural
but somewhat ostentatious display is said to have had its counterpart in China
in the second century, when a man purposely soiled his asbestos robe, and hurled
it into a fire with simulated anger, only to bring it our fresh and clean. These
anecdotes make the Chinese name for the mineral fabric understandable – it was
“fire-washed linen.” But asbestos was also called “fire hair,” which illustrates
another (and false) theory of the origin of the stuff. In the Hellenistic Orient
it was sometimes thought to be of vegetable origin, like cotton, but among the
Chinese, until the sixth century, and after that among the Arabs, the most
popular theory was that it was the fur of the salamander-rat (but sometimes the
phoenix) which was cleansed and renewed by fire.” Schafer (1963), p. 199.
15.
Sea
silk and wild silks. See: Appendix B: The Story of “Sea
Silk”, and Appendix C:
Wild Silks in Ancient Times, at the end of these
notes.
16.
suhe蘇合 [su-he] =
storax.
Classical storax (Storax officinalis) was produced in the Mediterranean
region and was used primarily as an incense. It should not be confused with the
medicinal “Liquid Storax,” a balsam obtained from the trunk of
Liquidambar orientalis which has been used in Western medicine up until
recent times to treat scabies and other skin parasites, as an expectorant, and
in perfumery.
“The
classical storax [Storax officinalis] imported to China long ago from
Rome and Parthia had been dark purple in color, and some said it was lion’s dung
– a fearful drug. This scented resin was, it seems, popular and well-known in
pre-T’ang times….
The
place of this Western resin in China can be compared with that of another,
myrrh, but unlike it, myrrh was the least noted of the exotic resins.” Schafer
(1963), pp. 168-169.
“Storax is made by mixing and boiling the juice of
various fragrant trees; it is not a natural product. It is further said that the
inhabitants of Ta-ts’in gather the storax [plant, or parts of it], squeeze its
juice out, and thus make a balsam [hsiang-kao]; they then sell its dregs
to the traders of other countries; it thus goes through many hands before it
reaches China, and, when arriving here is not so very fragrant.” From the
Liang-shu, “written about A.D. 629, and comprising the period A.D.
502-556, ch. 54: the account of Chung T’ien-chu,” translation from Hirth (1885),
p. 47.
See also:
Liu (1988), p. 8 and n. 6.
17. “Ten
silver coins are worth one gold coin.” I can find no reference to 10 silver
coins equalling one gold coin in the Roman system. However, this probably refers
to the relative value of silver and gold, presumably as reported by Gan Ying
after his journey to Parthia in 97 CE.
The silver content of the denarius was reduced by Domitian in 85 CE
to about 80%, making the value by weight of silver coins relative to gold coins portantly, the term wang in this context probably does not
carry its basic meaning of “king, ruler.” Wangmu is a cultic term
referring specifically to the powerful spirit of a deceased paternal
grandmother. So Xi wangmu probably means “Spirit-Mother of the West.” this paper
discusses occurrences of wang as “spirit” in ancient texts, and concludes
with a consideration of some etymological reasons as to why wang is
sometimes used in this less common sense.” Goldin (2002), p. 83.
The original legend placed the ‘Western Paradise,’ the abode of Xi
wangmu, at the top of the Kunlun mountains, and is considered to be the centre
of the world, where the Yellow River (and many other rivers had their source).
This legend is possibly related to the Hindu, Bön, and Buddhist traditions of
Mt. Meru or Sumeru (usually identified with Mt. Kailash in southwestern Tibet)
as the centre of the world, and the source of several of the major rivers of
Asia including the Indus, the Sutlej, the Ganges, and the Bramaputra. For a
detailed discussion the Xiwangmu cult, see Fracasso (1988), pp. 1-45. See also
Leslie and Gardiner (1996), p. 275. The Shiji says:
“The old men
of An-hsi [Parthia] say they have heard that in T’iao-chih [Characene and
Susiana] to be found the River of Weak Water and the Queen Mother of the West,
though they admit they have never seen either of them.” Dubs (1962), p. 268.
The early
references to the Liusha or ‘Shifting Sands,’ the Kunlun, and the ‘White Jade
Mountain,’ all suggest that the original abode of Xi wangmu was thought to be in
the mountains to the south of Khotan. As the Chinese got to know the regions to
their west better, it seems they kept moving the supposed location further west
to cover their inability to actually find Xiwangmu.
By the time of the Weilue (which was composed between 239 and 265
CE)
the
supposed locations of Ruo Shui, Liusha, and Xi wangmu become extremely
confused:
“In earlier
times it was also mistakenly thought that the Ruo Shui (‘Weak River’) was west
of Tiaozhi (Susiana and lower Tigris). Now it is (thought to be) west of Da Qin
(Roman territory).
In
earlier times, it was also mistakenly thought that if you left Tiaozhi (Susiana
and lower Tigris), and travelled more than two hundred days to the west, you
reached the place where the sun goes down. Now, (it is thought that) you travel
west from Da Qin (Roman territory) to reach the place where the sun sets.” From
the Weilue.
“West of Da Qin (Rome) is a sea. West of the sea is a
river. West of the river there are big mountains running south to north. West
(of this) is the Chi Shui (‘Red River’). West of the Chi Shui (‘Red River’) are
the Baiyu Shan (‘White Jade Mountains’).
In the Baiyu Shan (‘White Jade
Mountains’) lives Xiwangmu (‘Queen Mother of the West’). West of Xi wangmu
(‘Spirit-Mother of the West’) are the long Liusha (‘Shifting Sands’). To the
west of the Liusha (‘Shifting Sands’) is the kingdom of Daxia (Bactria), the
kingdom of Jiansha (‘Stable Sands’), the kingdom of Shuyao (Sogdiana), and the
kingdom of the Yuezhi (Kushans).
West of these four kingdoms is the Hei Shui (‘Black River’), which is as
far west as I know of.” From the Weilue.
It is quite
likely that the Liusha of these accounts originally referred to the infamous
Liusha or “shifting sands” on the Southern Route west of Cherchen. The 6th
century Zhoushu, juan 50, provides a graphic description of their
terrors, and places them to the northwest of Jumo [Chü-mo] – situated on
the east bank of the Cherchen River, opposite the modern town of Cherchen:
“Northwest
[of Jumo] there are shifting sands for many hundreds of li. On summer
days there is a hot wind which is disastrous for travelers. Only the old camels
know that the wind is about to strike; then, crying out and huddling together,
they stand burying their mouths and noses in the sand. Whenever this happens,
the men recognize it as a sign, and themselves take felt and press it over their
noses and mouths to cover them up. This wind is swift, but after a while it is
completely calm. Still, those who do not take precautions are sure to come to
grief and perish.” Miller (1959), pp. 8 and 24, n. 44.
“Stein speaks of
“tame deserts”: those found in Arabia, America, and South Africa that are
deserts in their sense of solitude and emptiness, but “tame” because in them
whole tribes can wander about for long periods of time sure of finding water at
least at certain regular seasons. How different the true desert, “the
dune-covered Taklamakan and the wastes of hard salt crust or wind-eroded clay of
the Lop desert which stretch almost unbroken for a length of eight hundred miles
from west to east. In them the absence of moisture bans not only human existence
but also practically all animal and plant life”....
Like ocean swells, the dunes move, the
effect of northeast winds that rage over the desert much of the year, that are
also constantly abrading the soft clayey soil unless it is already covered by
dunes or anchored by desert tamarisks and poplars. At the ancient sites ruins of
buildings or what were once orchards and arbors often rise above the wind-eroded
bare ground on island-like terraces: these preserve the original level while
around them the ground has been scooped out lower and lower.” Mirsky (1977), p.
113.
Leslie and
Gardiner (1996), p. 276, state: “There can be little doubt that all of these
refer to unreal places, not seen or visited by Chinese, nor by their West Asian
informants.” See also: Shih chi, chap. 123. Translation in: Dubs, (1944),
p. 268; the account in the Hanshu in CICA, p. 114 and n. 260
Shiratori, (1956c), p. 135, n. 131.
Finally, in
regard to the legend of where the sun goes down:
“The actual
wording of the Qian Hanshu (chap.
XCVI, a, p. 6a) is a little different: “On leaving Tiaozhi, when on goes by water about a hundred days, one reaches the spot
where the sun goes down”.” Translated and adapted from Chavannes (1907), p. 185,
n. 4.
20. Wuyi
烏弋 [Wu-i] = Kandahar
and/or the kingdom of Arachosia of which it was the capital. See note 8.5 above.
21. Haibei
海北 [Hai-pei], literally:
‘North of the Sea,’ must refer to the lands between Babylonia and what is now
Jordan and/or Syria. See note 10.12 above and also Graf (1996) – especially the
section on ‘The Western Regions’ on p. 204 and the map at the end of his
article.
However, Graf (1996), p. 204, argues that the use of the terms Haixi
海西
[Hai-hsi], Haibei 海北
[Hai-pei], and Haidong 海東 [Hai-tung] indicate: “that the Chinese of the
Han era were ignorant about the existence of the Arabian peninsula. For them,
the great sea adjacent to the Persian coasts stretched westward forming an
immense bay that extended all the way west to the coasts on Ta-ch’in. Their
belief in this imaginary body of water resulted in the creation of the three
coastal districts.”
I cannot agree with this analysis. It is true that the Chinese, like the
Romans, and the Greeks before them, considered the Indian Ocean and its two
major Gulfs, the Red Sea and the Arabian (or ‘Persian’) Gulf as a whole. The
Greeks referred to it as the Erythraean Sea. This is perfectly reasonable and
accurate, as easily navigable entrances join all the waterways. Because the
Chinese accounts do not mention the Arabian Peninsula does not mean they were
necessarily ignorant of it.
In my view the Chinese division of these regions makes excellent sense.
Thus we have: ‘West of the Sea’ (= Egypt); ‘East of the Sea’ (the lands on the
east coast of the Persian Gulf) and, finally, ‘North of the Sea,’ the region in
between and joining them: (probably northern Saudi Arabia, Jordan and southern
Israel). See also the discussion under Heixi in note 10.12. The Weilue
mentions an overland route through Haibei from Parthian territory to Egypt
(Haixi):
“Now, if you
leave the city of Angu (Gerrha?) by the overland route, you go due north to
Haibei (‘North of the Sea’), then due west to Haixi (Egypt), then turn due south
to go through the city of Wuchisan (Alexandria).”
This would
appear to be an alternative to the long route up the Euphrates and through
Palmyra and Dura Europa, then to turn south, and later west, to Egypt. There
were two rather more arduous, but shorter and more direct alternatives. One
route ran west from the head of the Persian Gulf across the desert to the oasis
of al-Jawf (Dumatha). Here the road forked, one could either head north up the
Wadi Sirhan towards Damascus, or west towards Petra, Rhinocolura, and Egypt. It
seems these routes were guarded by Roman patrols after their annexation of
Nabataea in 106 CE.
Bowersock (1996), pp. 157-159; Millar (1993), pp. 138-139.
Another route left the region of the prosperous trading state of Gerrha
in eastern Arabia and travelled across the peninsula either to al-Jawf or to the
Nabataean city of Taima and on to the port of Leuke Kome (literally, ‘White Village’),
which has still to be located exactly, but it is probably to be located
in the vicinity of
modern ‘Aynūnah, in the bay to the southeast of the entrance to the Gulf of
Aqaba. It is probably the sane as the town called Xiandu 賢督
[Hsien-tu] in the Weilue.
“Much of the
merchandise of the Orient was brought overland from the port of Gerrha on the
Persian Gulf to the Arabian port of Leuke Kome on the east side of the Gulf of
Aqabah and then shipped or transported by caravan northward to Aila. From there
it was carried to Petra, to which a direct, overland route led also from Meda’in
Aleh in Arabia. And “thence to Rhinocolura (modern el-Arish in Sinai on the
Mediterranean) . . . and thence to other nations,” according to the Greek
geographer Strabo, who wrote about the Nabataeans at the beginning of the first
century A.D.” Glueck (1959), pp. 269-270.
“For this trade [with Elymais
and Karmania] they opened the city of Carra [Gerrha] where their market was
held. From here they used to set out on the twenty-day march to Gabba and
Syria-Palestine. According to Juba’s report they began later for the same reason
to go to the empire of the Parthians. It seems to me that still earlier they
brought their goods to the Persians rather than to Syria and Egypt, which
Herodotus confirms, who says the Arabs paid 1,000 talents of incense yearly to
the kings of Persia. Juba (c. 25 BC-AD 25) and Pliny, NH (AD 77) 12. 40.
80).” Potts (1990), p. 91.
“The merchants of Palmyra were also active in
Egypt. One group resident in Coptos was engaged in the commerce of the Red Sea
and thus by implication possibly also with India and East Africa. Others used
the overland route from Mesopotamia to Denderah in Egypt.” Raschke (1976), p.
644.
22. Haixi
海西 [Hai-hsi] – literally:
‘West of the Sea’ = Egypt. See notes 10.12 and 12.21 above.
23. This
passage has caused some confusion to modern commentators. A ting
亭
[t'ing] in China was basically a shed or simple lodge for travellers to
stop at, which I have called a ‘stage,’ and a zhi 置
[chih]
was a ‘postal station’ or inn that could provide not only shelter, but fresh
horses, food and supplies.
This is similar to the Roman postal system along the main routes of
having mansiones or stationes (inns) every 25 to 35 Roman miles
(37 to 52 km) – though closer in densely populated areas, with one or two
mutationes, simple hostels or ‘changing-places,’ in between. Casson
(1974), pp. 184-185. The only difficulty here is the short distances recorded
between the ting (ten li or 4.2 km) and the zhi (30
li or 12.5 km). Lionel Casson (1974): 182 says: “In China the post-stations were some
eleven miles (16.3 km) apart, with two or more substations in between.”
The Roman and Parthian systems of postal relays were developments of the
famous Achaemenid system developed by Darius I circa 515 BCE.
The road from Sardis to Susa was 2,475 km in length, and had 111 relay stations
[i.e. one every 4 parsangs, or about one every 22 km]. At normal rates of
travel, the whole could be covered in 90 days (average speed = 27.5 km/day).
However, by changing mounts and couriers, over 350 km could be covered in a day,
and messages could be taken from Sardis to Susa in seven days. From: Ciolek
(2000). See also: Dandamayev (1994), p. 52.
24. There
are references to this long feiqiao 飛橋
[fei-ch’iao] = ‘high,’ ‘rapid,’ ‘raised,’
or ‘elevated’ bridge, in several early texts including the Hou Hanshu,
the Hou Hanji and the Weilue. The GR Vol. II, p. 598 gives
two interpretations for this term: 1. A raised bridge or foot-bridge (crossing a
valley). 2. A floating bridge.
For discussion of the various theories and arguments I refer the reader
to the discussions in Hirth (1885), pp. 187, 192 ff; Leslie and Gardiner (1996),
pp. 191-193; and Graf (1996), pp. 205-206.
Instead of revisiting these arguments here I would like to make a totally
new proposal – that it referred to a raised road or highway that crossed the
Nile floodplains between the Egyptian border town of Pelusium in the east and
the delta cities further west.
To begin with, I think it is time to get rid of the use of the term
flying bridge (first used by Hirth, and repeated by most writers since)
to translate the term feiqiao. Flying bridge suggests some unusual
or exotic type of bridge whereas, in fact, feiqiao is a common and
standard Chinese term for a high or elevated bridge.
All the texts remark on the great length of the bridge. The Hou
Hanshu says it is “several hundred li long,” the Weilue says
it was 230 li (96 km), while the great 13th century encyclopaedist, Ma
Duanlin, records it as being 240 li (100 km). Previously this great
length has always been considered to be either a gross exaggeration or a simple
mistake. I suggest, however, that the “bridge” must have been unusually long or
it would not have been mentioned at all. I have never come across any other
reference to the length of a bridge in the Chinese histories; it is certainly
most unusual. Also, there is no qualification by the historians, as one would
expect if they were just repeating some story, such as “it is said” It is
clearly stated as a fact in all the texts.
Clearly, no conventional ‘bridge’ could be so long. One can only assume
that it was some sort of raised road to take traffic across a wide expanse of
water – not a ‘bridge’ in the usual English sense of the word, but something
more like a ‘highway;’ a roadway raised above the surrounding country.
Unfortunately, where this long ‘elevated bridge’ was situated is very
difficult to establish because the location of the countries it is said to have
joined are still being disputed by scholars.
The Hou Hanshu has it leading from Haixi (which I identify as
Egypt) to Haipei (‘North of the Sea’), which I identify as the lands stretching
between Egypt and the head of the Persian Gulf. The Roman dependencies mentioned
in the corresponding passage from the Weilue are very difficult to
confidently identify – so I have qualified my suggestions with question marks:
“The king of
Zesan (Azania?) is subject to Da Qin (Rome). His seat of government is in the
middle of the sea. To the north you reach Lüfen (Leuke Kome?). It can take half
a year to cross the water, but with fast winds it takes a month.
Leaving from the city of Lüfen
(Leuke Kome?) you head west to go to Da Qin, crossing over the sea by an
‘elevated bridge’ 230 li (96 km) long; then you take the sea route
southwest, travelling around the sea (coast), and then head due west (to reach
Da Qin).”
This route
from Lüfen to Da Qin probably refers to the section of the ancient caravan route
from Judea to Egypt along the isthmus between Pelusium and Pi-Ramses/Qantara
Sharq, which separates Lake Manzala from Lake Balah, and then on to Tanis and
Alexandria.
“The great
Roman coastal road from Tangiers to Alexandria (in Egypt) was, if one measured
in a straight line, 2,100 miles long. Its last course lay along the menacing
sands close to the sea, and the way was marked only by cairns of stones although
there were regular way-stops which sheltered water sources. The goal of this
coastal road was, of course, Alexandria.
There were five principal roads in
Egypt. The first was the coastal road, which Strabo called ‘the way of the sea’.
It crossed seven of the streams of the Nile and followed the coast to Palestine,
Sidon, Tyre and Lebanon. Under Trajan after AD
100 the road was rebuilt along the Mediterranean and extended from Alexandria to
Antioch and along the serrated outer edge of Anatolia to the Bosporus.” von
Hagen (1967), p. 106.
There was a very ancient and important trade route from Rafah via
Pelusium and Qantara Sharq into Egypt known as the Horus Military Road or “Road
of Kings.” The Weilue states that from Lüfen [Rafah?] you travel west
“crossing over the sea” over a 230 li (96 km) long “elevated bridge” [or
causeway] and then go by sea to reach Da Qin.
The main route leading from Pelusium to the crossing at al-Qantara (‘the
bridge’) and on to Tanis would have, at that time, skirted the southern bank of
Lake Manzala. This road must have been raised to keep it dry and passable. It is
likely that the main road was along top of the embankment beside the Butic canal
which ran, in Roman times, south of Lake Manzala, in practically a straight line
directly west from Daphnae across the delta lands via Tanis to Sebannytos (at
the Damietta branch of the Nile), and then on to Lake Mariut, thus connecting
with Alexandria. The section from Daphnae via Tanis to Sebannytos would have
been just about exactly 96 km
Professor Eric Uphill very kindly responded to a query of mine, and sent
(on 30 March 2003) not only his personal comments on this matter, but also an
article of his on Egyptian canals – see Uphill (1988) – and some abstracts of
presentations he made at the “Eighth International Congress of Egyptologists –
Cairo 2000 from which is the following quote from “The Butic Canal: Its Date and
Functions,” pp. 186-7:
“This
artificial waterway had an estimated length of 180 kilometres, and starting from
Tell Defenneh [Daphnae], connected eleven Lower Egyptian nomes on or near its
route. Inscriptional evidence suggests it was created by, or else completed
under King Psamtek I (664-610
BCE). Among its
varied uses, it could have served to transport grain and commodities by boat,
and help irrigate lands on either side of it. In addition it could also have
been used for moving troops as was done by Emperor Titus [reigned 79-81
CE]. At a time
of military threat by the world power Assyria, a major canal protected by and
communicating with Greek and Egyptian troops at Marea in the west and Daphnae in
the east would also clearly serve as a first line of defence for the Saite
rulers.”
Professor Uphill suggested, reasonably enough, that where there were
canals merchants would tend to have used them to cart their goods rather than
the embankments beside them, due to the relative cheapness of water transport.
However, my feelings on this are that the routes reported to the Chinese
are obviously ones provided by merchants carrying goods from the region of the
head of the Persian Gulf into Egypt. As such, for most of the way, the goods
would have been carried by pack animals and it may have proved cheaper and/or
more efficient to continue take these laden animals directly into the delta
cities along the canal embankments rather than off-loading them onto watercraft
and paying others to carry them the rest of the way. They would have also
probably wanted to take their wares personally to the main market centres to get
the best possible prices for them.
Lake Manzala extended considerably further south during the Roman era
than it does now, and the Pelusiac branch of the Nile still emptied into the
Mediterranean, with its mouth near Pelusium.
“The roads [in the “Land of Goshen” –
i.e. the fertile lands along the easterly branch of the Nile and immediately to
the east of it] are usually high above the rest of the country. They run along
the canals, and consist of the dirt banked up to hold back the waters. The side
roads are chiefly camel paths or foot paths, and one sees everywhere the traffic
moving along through the fields. Even on the main roads there are few wagons.
Most of the freight is carried on donkeys and camels, which are the common
riding animals as well.” Carpenter (1928), p. 8
One can well
imagine that when the Nile flooded it was only the main highways between the
cities that could be traversed and they could accurately be described as long
bridges “across the sea.”
“But major
roads, perhaps military in origin, developed to connect some of the main towns
and there were local paths which might not be useable during and just after the
time of the inundation: ‘If the roads are firm I shall go off immediately to
your farmer and ask him for your rents, if indeed he will give them to me,’
writes an anxious woman from Oxyrhynchus around the year 200.” Bowman (1986), p.
153.
“Now the
Nile, when it overflows, floods not only the Delta, but also the tracts of
country on both sides of the stream which are thought to belong to Libya and
Arabia, in some places reaching to the extent of two days’ journey from its
banks, in some even exceeding the distance, but in others falling short of it.”
Herodotus (5th cent. BCE): 124
(II.19).
“When the Nile overflows, the country is converted into a sea,
and nothing appears but the cities, which look like islands in the Aegean. At
this season boats no longer keep the course of the river, but sail right across
the plain. On the voyage from Naucratis to Memphis at this season, you pass
close to the pyramids, whereas the usual course is by the apex of the Delta, and
the city of Cercasorus. You can sail also from the maritime town of Canobus
across the flat to Naucratis, passing by the cities of Anthylla and
Archandropolis.” Herodotus (5th cent. BCE): p. 155
(II.97). Note 205 by George Rawlinson; ibid. on p. 212, says: “This still
happens in those years when the inundation is very high.”
The
extensive canal system and associated roads required a huge investment of time
and work.
“But as a first step, the floodwaters had to be directed to where they were most wanted or where they could not reach without human assistance. to that end an irrigation system was first engineered under the Pharaohs, and expanded under the Ptolemies. The system was most extensive in the broad basin of the Arsinoite nome. Under the feeble and financially strapped government of the last Ptolemies Much of the system fell into disrepair for want of proper maintenance. Octavian, determined to make his newly acquired province a reliable source of grain to help feed the city of Rome, set his soldiers as well as locally conscripted labour gangs to the work of rebuilding dikes and clearing the cluttered canals as speedily as possible. Regular maintenance was assured thereafter through the imposition of a corvée: each year every able-bodied adult male who worked the land, plus his slaves if any, was required to perform a certain quota of unpaid labour on the dikes and canals. The normal stint was five days a year, but additional days were imposed when exceptional conditions necessitated it. In Upper Egypt, and sometimes in other parts, the performance of the corvée was measured in quantities of earth moved rather than in time worked.” Lewis (1983), pp. 111-112.