The Most Distant Places Visited by the Romans

Comments · 1.3K

• KE

  @kevting4512 · 4 years ago (edited)

  Fun note: the Han send an expedition to try and make contact with the Romans. They made it as far as Parthia but were told by the Parthians that Rome is further west and the journey is impossibly long. The expedition returned to China, unknowingly deceived by the Parthians who shared a border with the Romans.

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• SA

  @SamBrickell · 3 years ago

  Astronaut Alan Shepard smuggled a golf club and balls during one of the Apollo missions to the moon.  I would have taken Roman coins to leave as a confusing future artifact.

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• DI

  @DigitalDiabloUK · 1 year ago

  Can you imagine the bravery (or insanity) of setting off into an ocean and "hoping" you find an island like Madeira before your supplies run out. Anyone who has been out beyond the visibility of the coast on a ship will have seen the complete lack of references (landmarks) as to where you are.

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• QU

  @QuantumHistorian · 4 years ago (edited)

  For those interested in knowing more, <i>&quot;Ancient Geography&quot;</i> by <i>Duane Roller</i> is an absolute delight of a book, it covers questions like this from Homer to Justinian, as well as the development of geography/cartography as a science. Very accessible and readable too.

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• US

  @user-yf3kr7je7z · 3 years ago

  It’s amazing to realize how viable travel was back then, obviously it was more difficult, the idea of Roman’s trading in Vietnam is mind blowing to me

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• ER

  @ericvosselmans5657 · 4 years ago

  2000 years ago, travelling between Rome and China must have felt like travelling from Mars to Earth. &nbsp; <br>The challenges, distance and travel times would have been enormous, even from Roman Syria. <br><br>It&apos;s baffling to me that despite the audacity, technical know-how and spirited hearts of both the Romans and the Chinese, it still took the better part of 1500+ &nbsp;years for our &apos;modern day civilisation&apos; &nbsp;to emerge.

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• JO

  @Joanna-il2ur · 4 years ago

  China did send delegates to the Empire in the reign of An-To-Nin (Antoninus Pius). They got to Antioch in Syria. Roman got as far as the ‘Golden Chersonnese’, Malaya. There’s an excellent book, ‘The Romans and the Indian Ocean’ by Rahul McLaughlin.

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• EL

  @ellawishful · 3 years ago

  I visited a Roman house in Pondicherry, in the eastern coast of India. I had no idea that Romans had gotten so far before visiting

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• AN

  @anonyarena · 3 years ago

  &quot;Flying snakes&quot; is actually probably a reference to &quot;winged snakes&quot; which is how those unfamiliar with the cobra might describe &nbsp;a cobra&apos;s hood. &nbsp;&quot;Winged snakes&quot; is just a misinterpretation of the cobra when it spreads open it&apos;s hood. &nbsp;The area identified as &quot;Sanaa&quot; on your map is well within the range of the Arabian cobra (Naja arabica). It lives in what is now modern day Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Oman. The Egyptian and the Indian cobras also have hoods.

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• TH

  @thatoneguy7191 · 4 years ago

  &quot;Eratosthenes head = round. Earth = round. Can&apos;t be a coincidence.&quot; xD

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• KI

  @kimberlyperrotis8962 · 4 years ago

  I never knew that the Romans had gone as far south as Zanzibar on the African east coast. &nbsp;That’s why I love your channel, I always learn new bits of history, and in a fun way.🙂

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• CH

  @charlesyoung3444 · 2 years ago

  The fact that they made it to southeast Asia is crazy

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