A remote village in north-western China, on the edge of the Gobi desert, is said to have been founded by Roman soldiers. According to this controversial theory, the village of Zhelaizhai in China's Gansu Province was established by Roman legionaries who were captured after a disastrous battle, carried across Central Asia, and eventually settled on the far eastern edge of the known world. While most historians remain sceptical of the claim, the story has become one of the most fascinating legends linking the ancient civilizations of Rome and China.
Re-enactment of a Roman legion. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
The modern theory was largely developed by the Oxford sinologist Homer H. Dubs in the 1940s and 1950s. Dubs became fascinated by references in Chinese historical records to a place called "Liqian" during the Han Dynasty. At the time, "Liqian" was sometimes used by Chinese writers to refer to the Roman world or territories associated with it. Dubs wondered whether the settlement's name indicated that people from the Roman Empire had once lived there.
To explain how Romans could have reached China, Dubs connected several seemingly unrelated historical events spread across thousands of miles.
In 53 BC, Roman general Marcus Licinius Crassus, one of the members of Rome's First Triumvirate alongside Julius Caesar and Pompey, invaded the Parthian Empire. The campaign ended in catastrophe at the Battle of Carrhae, near modern-day Turkey and Syria. The Parthians annihilated the Roman army. Crassus was killed, and thousands of Roman soldiers were captured. Ancient sources indicate that many prisoners were transported eastward to help defend Parthia's frontier regions in Central Asia.
What happened to many of these prisoners afterward is unclear. That uncertainty created an opening for one of history's most fascinating theories.
Dubs suggested that some of the captured Romans eventually found themselves caught up in conflicts far beyond the Roman world. According to his reconstruction, Roman prisoners stationed in Central Asia became involved in fighting between nomadic peoples and Chinese forces. In 36 BC, Han Dynasty troops fought a campaign against the Xiongnu leader Zhizhi in what is now Central Asia.
Chinese chronicles describe enemy troops using a defensive formation that some researchers interpreted as resembling a Roman-style shield wall or "fish-scale" formation. Also known as testudo, it’s a stratagem not found anywhere outside Rome. Dubs believed this is strong evidence that these troops may have been former Roman legionaries.
The Chinese reportedly captured around 145 prisoners after the battle. Dubs argued that these prisoners were Romans who had originally been captured at Carrhae nearly two decades earlier. He theorized that they were subsequently settled in north-western China as military colonists and border guards.
If true, this would mean that Roman soldiers had reached China more than a century before the first recorded diplomatic contact between the Roman and Han empires.
Supporters of the theory eventually focused on the village of Zhelaizhai in Gansu Province. Archaeologists discovered remnants of ancient walls and structures near the village. They also unearthed a Roman-style pot, a water bowl and, most intriguingly, a helmet inscribed with the Chinese words zhao an, or “one of the surrendered.”
One of the strongest pieces of circumstantial evidence is the name itself. Ancient Chinese texts used the term Liqian to refer to lands in the far west, sometimes associated with the Roman Empire. Dubs argued that if a county carried that name, it might have been because people from the Roman world had settled there.
Some residents of the region also possess features uncommon among neighbouring populations, including light-coloured eyes, curly hair, and lighter complexions. These characteristics pointed out to possible evidence of European ancestry.
Demonstration of the Roman testudo formation. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Most historians, however, remain sceptical. North-western China has been a crossroads of civilizations for thousands of years. Traders, nomads, Persians, Indo-Europeans, Sogdians, Tocharians, Turks, and many other peoples travelled through the region along the Silk Road. As a result, European or Central Asian physical traits do not necessarily indicate Roman ancestry. Historians note that many populations with western Eurasian features lived in and around Central Asia long before or after the Roman period.
Besides, a recent discovery of Han records suggest that Liqian existed at least two dozen years before the Roman prisoners could have arrived.
DNA testing conducted by Lanzhou University in 2008 further undermined the theory. Of the 87 Liqian villagers tested, only three exhibited West Asian traits distinct from the Mediterranean characteristics associated with Roman legions, revealing a diverse ancestry from various regions and eras. Researchers concluded that the paternal lineages of the population were predominantly East Asian and closely related to surrounding Chinese populations.
Regarding the famous "fish-scale formation", Chinese historian Wang Shoukuan countered that Chinese historical texts describe the formation as soldiers closely aligned together, resembling fish scales, but not necessarily linked to Roman war tactics.
Even as evidence has mounted against the theory, the locals of Zhelaizhai still consider themselves descendants of a lost Roman legion. The appeal probably lies in the possibility that the Roman and Chinese worlds were more interconnected than traditionally imagined. Not to mention there is a universal fascination with lost peoples and forgotten histories.
References:
# Digging for Romans in China. Los Angles Times
# Romans in China. Imperium Romanum
# Scholars debunk myth of Roman settlement in China after DNA tests, doubt still draws tourists. South China Morning Post
# Zhelaizhai. Wikipedia
# An Ancient Military Contact between Romans and Chinese. Homer H. Dubs
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