It is. There’s an old rumor, and it’s in China rather than in Europe. Trade links (by land and sea) existed among the Han dynasty of China, the Roman Empire, the Mauryan empire of India, and the intervening territories. Long before the 15th c and Zheng He, the Chinese sent a trade mission and ambassador to made contact with the Romans. Their expedition arrived in the Persian Gulf shortly after Trajan’s new province of Mesopotamia had been unceremoniously dumped by his successor, the homosexual pedophile Hadrian. Somewhat later Han court records refer to the arrival of a Roman ambassador (likely a seagoing trade expedition) from Marcus Aurelius.
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Your work here is amazing, thank you. Keep it up!
It is really irrelevant that the Romans did not permanently conquer the area east of the Rhine. Of course there would still be commercial and diplomatic contacts. Plenty of money to be made for both sides.