Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Date of Degree
9-2025
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Program
Classics
Advisor
Joel Allen
Subject Categories
Classical Literature and Philology
Keywords
classics, history, rome, china, silk road, trade
Abstract
This thesis examines how the Roman and Han Chinese empires conceptualized one another during the first centuries CE, despite never establishing sustained direct contact. It argues that mutual perceptions were shaped less by firsthand experience than by mediated reports, commodities, and the political interests of intermediaries. The study proceeds in four parts. The first explores how Roman authors employed the ethnonym Seres to frame China as a land of wonder, wealth, and alterity. The second analyzes the Chinese designation Da Qin, showing how it projected Han imperial ideals outward by casting Rome as a mirror-image polity. The third turns to the problem of distance and transmission, using silk as a case study to demonstrate how both material objects and cultural ideas shifted meaning as they traveled across Eurasia. The fourth examines the role of the Parthians, who not only facilitated exchanges but also deliberately distorted them, complicating supposed moments of “direct” contact. By integrating literary, linguistic, and material evidence, this thesis highlights the deeply mediated nature of Sino-Roman relations and sheds light on the processes by which great empires constructed images of one another in the absence of sustained interaction.
Recommended Citation
Tsang, Elizabeth S., "Imagined Empires: Roman and Chinese Constructions of One Another in Antiquity" (2025). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/6400
