Presumably the river, which we know as the ElbeAlso, where does the name Alba for Germania Magna come from?
Shouldn't there be a third legion in Britain?
Also, where does the name Alba for Germania Magna come from?
I forget, has the iron plow been popularized?
The Roman population should have grown significantly over the last century, and Germany would be a good place to settle, if the iron plow was well known.
Also, while steam engines are interesting, the real advance that was available to the Romans for copying and mass implementation is the Junk. Have they adopted the sails or other parts of their design?
Have any of the Emperors expanded down the Arabian coast? Those are rich trading cities, ripe for the taking, and far more immediately valuable than the wilds of Germania.
EDIT: Also, we've never seen a POV from a Serican who has visited the Empire. I'd really like to see one, especially if they visited Rome itself.
Junks have not been copied, because the large roman trade ships of the improved Alexandrian grain fleet design are seen as suffisant for the long range trade and those sailors of the intra-mediterranean trade are unaware of it.
Arabia is still independant, mainly for... fiscal reasons ! Indeed should the local product become Roman property they would be taxed at the lower inter provincial portaria rate, not the 25% border tax.
Indeed I've not had a Serican's pov although a few (some dozens) sericans have visited the empire
I did not know about Junks getting into Antioch in the Classical period (using the Pharaoh's canal or being carried on land then ?).Junks made it has far as Antioch in OTL, surely far more have made the trip in this TL. Roman sailors should have encountered them at times.
But that 25% tax is only on what the Arabs ship into the Empire. If the Empire annexes the cities they can tax everything.
And it's not like they'd be losing out on the taxes on the Indian trade, the ports of entry would just be further south.
I would love to see one of their thoughts.
Junks made it has far as Antioch in OTL
Roman sailors should have encountered them at times.
the real advance that was available to the Romans for copying and mass implementation is the Junk. Have they adopted the sails or other parts of their design?
As for Alba it comes from the river Albis which cuts it in half
Arabia is still independant, mainly for... fiscal reasons ! Indeed should the local product become Roman property they would be taxed at the lower inter provincial portaria rate, not the 25% border tax.
I did not know about Junks getting into Antioch in the Classical period (using the Pharaoh's canal or being carried on land then ?).
The tax is indeed on everything entering the empire, but those lands are not only trading place but also production place for incense, myrh, turtle shells, and other luxury products : conquering them is thus potentially source of a direct tax loss and/or new costs to secure them. Better to keep them happy and use the sea Jewish middlemen for the trade.
I won't guarantee a post of a Chinese's view of the cities, but I'll think of it
This used to be referenced in the history section of the Junk article on Wikipedia, but it was edited out by someone who didn't realize the canal of the pharaoh's existed and said it was impossible because it would have required circumnavigation of Africa.I literally don't know where this meme came from. While chinese envoys did make it as far as antioch they did so by land.
Honestly I'm more suprised the Romans haven't encountered or sent any missions to the Javanese. It was from them that the Chinese learned how to sail and navigate thousands of miles away from China.
Honestly I'm more suprised the Romans haven't encountered or sent any missions to the Javanese. It was from them that the Chinese learned how to sail and navigate thousands of miles away from China.
This used to be referenced in the history section of the Junk article on Wikipedia, but it was edited out by someone who didn't realize the canal of the pharaoh's existed and said it was impossible because it would have required circumnavigation of Africa.
I quoted it in another thread, so I still have the reference
Just out of curiosity, I was wondering if you have a source for that.
Greek Astronomer, Claudius Ptolemaeus, ca. AD 100, said in his work Geography that huge ships came from the east of India. This was also confirmed by an anonymous work called Periplus Marae Erythraensis. Both mention a type of ship called kolandiaphonta, which may be a translation of the Chinese word K'un-lun po.[21]
The 3rd century book Strange Things of the South (南州異物志) by Wan Chen (萬震) describes ships capable of carrying 700 people together with more than 10,000 "斛" of cargo (250-1000 tons according to various interpretations). These ships came from K'un-lun, meaning "Southern country" or "Islands below the wind." The ships called K'un-lun po (or K'un-lun bo), could be more than 50 meters in length and had a freeboard of 4-7 meters. Wan Chen explains the ships' design as follows:
The four sails do not face directly forward, but are set obliquely, and so arranged that they can all be fixed in the same direction, to receive the wind and to spill it. Those sails which are behind the most windward one receiving the pressure of the wind, throw it from one to the other, so that they all profit from its force. If it is violent, (the sailors) diminish or augment the surface of the sails according to the conditions. This oblique rig, which permits the sails to receive from one another the breath of the wind, obviates the anxiety attendant upon having high masts. Thus these ships sail without avoiding strong winds and dashing waves, by the aid of which they can make great speed.
— Wan Chen, Strange Things of the South[22]
A 260 CE book by Kang Tai (康泰) also described these ships as seven-masted vessels called K'un-lun po (Southern country ships) that could travel as far as Syria.[23] The word "po" is derived from the Malay word proa-prauw-perahu, which means large ship. Note that in modern usage, perahu refers to a small boat. Faxian (Fa-Hsien) in his return journey to China from India (413-414) embarked a ship carrying 200 passengers and sailors from K'un-lun which towed a smaller ship. A cyclone struck and forced the passengers to move into the smaller ship. The crew of the smaller ship feared that the ship would be overloaded, therefore they cut the rope and separated from the big ship. Luckily the bigger ship survived, the passengers were stranded in Ye-po-ti (Yawadwipa - Java).[note 2] After 5 months, the crew and the passengers built a new ship comparable in size to sail back to China.[24][25] In I-ch’ieh-ching yin-i, a dictionary compiled by Huei-lin ca. 817 AD, po is mentioned several times:
Ssu-ma Piao, in his commentary on Chuang Tzü, said that large ocean-going ships are called "po”. According to the Kuang Ya, po is an ocean-going ship. It has a draught[note 3] of 60 feet (18 m). It is fast and carries 1000 men as well as merchandise. It is also called k’un-lun-po.[26]
You're vastly underestimating the value of trade that goes on within the cities themselves and with nearby polities which is going to be orders of magnitude larger than what they ship to Rome.
That's based on the trade with India and points East which will still continue.UHHHHHH
I think you're underestimating the value of the import tax. That garbage made up something like 50% of the countries revenue at times. It was by no means small potatoes.
That's based on the trade with India and points East which will still continue.
Wouldn't trading Red Sea goods help offset the trade deficit with the East though.True but Frankincense and other redsea goods did make a fairly large part of it.
the issue here would be two fold, who controls the trade red sea or India/china route, Jews, locals, Chinese or Romans? as far as Tax goes more exports to offset imports are good as you can tax that to win win!Wouldn't trading Red Sea goods help offset the trade deficit with the East though.
How? Where would you would the extra bullion come from? While increased trade may raise tax income, it doesn't help the bullion crisis.Wouldn't trading Red Sea goods help offset the trade deficit with the East though.
perfect conditions for a fiat currency..............How? Where would you would the extra bullion come from? While increased trade may raise tax income, it doesn't help the bullion crisis.
With silver and gold flowing out of the Empire, and the imperial economy expanding (more trade, more manufacturing, more area, more people), coins are going to have to be massively adulterated. Which will lead to a crisis in confidence in the currency.
How? Where would you would the extra bullion come from? While increased trade may raise tax income, it doesn't help the bullion crisis.
Are any of the Red Sea goods wanted in China, at least?I assume he meant that the Red sea goods could be sold to the east instead of bullion.