[Sirius Lee]

Thanks for posting this. I’m fascinated, not just with the extent of near east trade/exploration during the Roman era, but of the possibility that quinqueremes were exploring North America and tradesmen were in the Far East intreating with the Hans 1st Century, long before Marco Polo.

[SunkenCiv]

My pleasure.

• Romans in Brazil During the Second or Third Century? [12/10/2003]
• Romans in Brazil During the Second or Third Century? [10/17/2004]
• ...maybe this works...
• The Lowly Amphora (and ancient contact across the oceans) [06/01/2015]

[Rockingham]

As far as is known, Roman trade and contact with China were indirect, with goods exported from China to intermediary portside markets in India where they were purchased by Roman traders. That does not exclude that some Romans almost certainly traveled to China.

Some scholars argue that the copper that made the Bronze Age in Europe possible came from deposits of native copper in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, which were mined by light skinned mariners according to native legend. If true, someone will eventually find proof of it, perhaps in the form of an ancient wooden ship preserved in the cold, anaerobic waters of the Great Lakes.