The Lost Roman Legion of China
The incredible mystery of a Roman army that vanished in the desert, only to reappear on the other side of the world.
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The incredible mystery of a Roman army that vanished in the desert, only to reappear on the other side of the world.
Full transcript of The Lost Roman Legion of China
An entire Roman army vanished in the desert, leaving no graves or armor. But thousands of miles east, a strange village appeared on the Silk Road. It began at the Battle of Carrhae, a catastrophic Roman defeat. Ten thousand legionaries were captured and marched deep into Asia. They walked into the burning sands, erased from Western history. Decades later, Chinese empire records describe a bizarre encounter. A foreign militia was spotted defending a wooden border fortress. They locked their shields together, forming an impenetrable fish-scale wall. This was the testudo—the signature defensive shield wall of Rome. Impressed, the Chinese Emperor hired them to guard his frontier. He settled them in a town named Liqian—the Chinese word for Rome. For centuries, residents here possessed striking, non-Asian features. Green eyes, prominent noses, and fair, wavy hair. Recent DNA tests confirm European ancestry in nearly half the villagers. Did Rome's lost legion survive by becoming China's ultimate guardians?