Interesting Article

[mikeland]

Makes for a fabulous slice of fiction though!

[RoughRider]

:lol:
The idea that caucasian genetic roots must come from Roman soldiers is just funny. With centuries / milleniums of trade, slaves, POW'S and so on there are so many possibilities that no serious scientist would claim that.

With the same credibility one may state that they all are descendants of the Polo family. A cold night , a long day of travel at the silk route...... If the Polo travel story is true at all.

The Mongol invaders had many slaves from the west, but that is no story for the media.

My daughter and I watched a show (Museum Secrets, I think) about Scythians and although originally thought to be a caucasian race, I guess recent archealogical evidence suggest that there was quite a bit of "blending" of the Scythians with nomadic horse cultures that originated further east. I am sure it worked both ways, with Caucasian Scythians ending up in western china and the predecessors to the Huns/Turks/Mongols ending up in what is now the Ukraine.

[Cubster]

Did Tom Jones ever do a China tour?

[grant]

Did Tom Jones ever do a China tour?

What's new, Siamese Cat, whoa-a-whoa-whoa

I'll be here all week folks...

[Barry S]

Thanks for the link.

I have a book I bought some years ago called 'Black Horse Odyssey' about this subject. The documentary 'Rome in China' was based on the book. It's been years since I've read it, but if I remember correctly it seemed to focus more on his journey and associated difficulties than the actual history or archaeology. Even so, it was an interesting read.

Cheers,

Barry

[Phillistien]

If I remember correctly from my old WRG Army book, the Roman and Han Empire were only 54 miles apart at one stage.
Also get the Alfred Duggan book, sorry you will have to google it, about the Romans that ended up being used as Border guards on the steppes after the Parthians won. Most of the story is about intrigue in Rome but is still a great read.

And to diverse a bit, books to get the paints out:
Alfred Duggan, G.A. Henty and the Revolution/Napoleonic books by Dennis Wheatley. Getting through the Bernard Cornwell books on Saxons and the Troy trilogy by David Gemmel is also reccommended.

[janner]

Did Tom Jones ever do a China tour?

As IO says, the Mongols reportedly brought back considerable numbers of slaves from their expeditions - notably from Hungary and the Caucausus. So many that the papacy sent four envoys out to look after their Christian needs in the late thirteenth century alone - nothing to do with gathering intelligence at all of course