A 12th century edition of Hou Han Shu. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
The year was 97 A.D. China's Han dynasty had recently won its last war against the Huns. The victorious general, Ban Chao, decided to send his lieutenant on one more mission far beyond the newly pacified lands of the Huns.
That officer's name was Gan Ying. And his mission, as both imperial envoy and intrepid explorer, was to locate and make contact with the Roman Empire.
On the other end of Eurasia, Rome also happened to be living through its golden age. Emperor Trajan of the Antonine dynasty wore the purple, and under him Rome enjoyed an era of prosperity and power that the empire would never see again. If Gan Ying should succeed, he would be bringing together by far the two most powerful and sophisticated civilizations on earth.
In the summer of 2015, I set out to retrace his footsteps as described in Hou Han Shu, or "History of the Latter Han Dynasty," written in the fifth century. The journey took me from today's China through Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, and finally to Europe. And what I discovered along the way were the many cultures and nations fascinating at once in their dizzying diversity and countless commonalities. From the Wall to the Water is my account of this journey.
That officer's name was Gan Ying. And his mission, as both imperial envoy and intrepid explorer, was to locate and make contact with the Roman Empire.
On the other end of Eurasia, Rome also happened to be living through its golden age. Emperor Trajan of the Antonine dynasty wore the purple, and under him Rome enjoyed an era of prosperity and power that the empire would never see again. If Gan Ying should succeed, he would be bringing together by far the two most powerful and sophisticated civilizations on earth.
In the summer of 2015, I set out to retrace his footsteps as described in Hou Han Shu, or "History of the Latter Han Dynasty," written in the fifth century. The journey took me from today's China through Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, and finally to Europe. And what I discovered along the way were the many cultures and nations fascinating at once in their dizzying diversity and countless commonalities. From the Wall to the Water is my account of this journey.