AN EAST ASIAN IN ANCIENT ITALY

AN EAST ASIAN IN ANCIENT ITALY

How did a man of Asian origin end up in the ancient Roman Empire 2,000 years ago? That was the question facing archaeologist after they made a fascinating discovery in southern Italy in 2009.

The site was an ancient Roman cemetery at Vagnari, 60 kilometers west of Bari. Seventy five human skeletons were uncovered .Tests on the bones indicated that most of the people were born nearby. Yet, the skeleton of one man surprised the researchers. Analysis of his mitochondrial DNA showed that he had East Asian ancestry on his mother’s side. His remains dated to the first or second century C.E. According to a report on the find, “this appears to be the first time that a skeleton with an East Asian ancestry has been discovered in the Roman Empire”. So who was this Man?  

“At first glance it’s tempting to link this fellow to the silk trade that flourished between China and Rome”, says the same report. However, it is thought that such trade was carried on by a series of intermediaries, or middlemen, with no one person actually making the whole 8,000-kilometer trek between China and Italy.

What can the place where remains were found tell us? In ancient times, Vagnari was a rural imperial estate-land controlled by the emperor-where laborers smelted iron and produced clay tiles. Many of the workers there were slaves, and it is likely that this Oriental was too. In fact, his burial was not that of a wealthy man. His surviving goods, which were buried with him, amounted to a single pot, and another body had been buried on pot of his.

Why is this find of interest?  The spread of the Christian message in the first century C.E. depended on how far the ancients traveled. The Bible reports that after Pentecost 33C.E. the good news was carried far and wide by foreign visitors to Jerusalem. (Act2:1-12, 37-41) At the very least, this skeleton suggested that about that time some people were travelling from East Asian to the Mediterranean region.