The Romans and China

Two of history's greatest empires—Imperial Rome and Han China—were connected not by land, but by a vast, forgotten maritime web spanning the Indian Ocean and South China Sea. In this episode, historian Sir Barry Cunliffe reconstructs a theoretical journey of Roman goods from Egypt’s Red Sea ports all the way to Han China, revealing a world of deep-sea trade long before modern globalization. Despite the Romans never officially reaching China, archaeological evidence proves Roman glass, coins, and luxury goods made it as far as Korea and Japan—likely carried by Indian and Malay sailors who dominated the monsoon routes. The real story isn’t one of Roman conquest, but of a globalized ancient world where Indian mariners, Arab traders, and Chinese merchants formed a dynamic, interconnected network. Cunliffe argues that this 'underbelly of Eurasia'—the oceanic trade routes—was just as vital as the Silk Roads, driven not by empires, but by human desire to acquire, explore, and exchange. The episode dismantles the myth of isolated ancient civilizations. From the bustling port of Muziris in Kerala, where a temple to Augustus stood, to Sri Lanka’s role as a crossroads of East and West, and the Malacca Strait’s critical bottleneck, every stop reveals a cosmopolitan hub of cultural fusion. Even the Chinese, who saw themselves as the center of the world, sent envoys to Rome—though their gifts were dismissed as unimpressive.