Rome and the Road to the Distant East

Abstract

Rome and China ruled separate yet immense empires in the second century A.D. With the opening of trade through the silk route, Han China became an essential part of Roman society even though the two empires failed to maintain direct contact. The nature of global supplier routes and the interconnected commercial system that existed during the Roman Empire provides evidence that Rome and China were engaged in trade while failing to understand that the Parthian Empire acted as a barrier hiding information of the existence and scope of each Empire from one another.