Folia archeologica 54.
Hoppál Krisztina: Rómaiak Kínában? A ganquani 2. sír római vonatkozású üveglelete
154 HOPPÁL KRISZTINA ROMANS IN CHINA? A ROMAN GLASS BOWL FROM GANQUAN Since the early I9 l h century the Sino-Roman relations and the archaeological evidences of the Romans in the People's Republic of China - especially the various glass objects from the eastern part of the country - are considerably popular fields of research. Numerous works collected and analysed the different Roman glasses mostly found in the burials of the Chinese aristocracy. Although these publications give a detailed examination of the assorted Roman finds, still there is no satisfying investigation on the archaeological and historical background of these objects. In this paper I would like to give a brief introduction of the Roman marbled glass bowl and the other burial objects found in Ganquan (1 Е ("Ж) grave no. 2 based on the report of the excavation by the archaeologists of the Nanjing Museum (ШЖМЙРл). According to the numerious valuable objects from the burial: the precious metals, the several jade and other gems it is more than assumable, that the person in the Ganquan (1ÎÂ) grave 110. 2 was an illustrious and influential member of the Imperial Family. The gold seal of Guang Ling found in 1980 and the inscription of the bronze goose-shaped lamp suppose it was Guang Ling the son of Emperor Guangwu (TfciÉ^'ír), died in 67 A. D. Comparing these facts with the data provided by the Chinese historical records of Daqin 0\Ш) - presumably the Roman Empire - we can see the great importance of glass among the Roman products. (Whether the term liuli (fjfíílS) referred only the opaque glass as a material or the glass vessels too.) Moreover, according to these Standard Histories the first attempt to reach the Roman Empire was the embassy of Gan Ying (^i^) in 97 A. D. Although the voyage of Gan Ying ("tEt"^) never attained Rome, the idea to get a deeper knowledge of a mythical Empire far away in the West might come from the scarce objects and information of Roman travellers reaching India and China. Such a luxorius Roman glass bowl unearthened in Ganquan ("Й"Ж) could be an evidence of these early envoys from the West.
