Li Jien, the people of China, descendants of a Roman legion?

The legend of a Roman legion lost in Asia in the first century BC and which ended up founding a city in China, Li Jien, of which there would be current descendants, gained strength again in 2010, when in newspapers and the media of scientific dissemination A DNA study was carried out among the inhabitants of this city.

Are the inhabitants of Li Jien descendants of Roman legionaries? Here are some answers to these questions.

Li Jien, the people of China, descendants of a Roman legion?

In 2010 the Daily Mail of England I publish an article with the following headline: “A DNA test conducted on Chinese green-eyed villagers would indicate that they could be descendants of a lost Roman legion.” In a nutshell: the news indicated that for years the inhabitants of Li Jien, in the northwest of China, descendants of a Roman legion that had settled in these regions about 2,100 years ago had been believed; and that a DNA test conducted among the settlers confirmed that at least two thirds of the inhabitants would be of Caucasian origin , so they could well be descendants of 145 surviving legionaries of the Roman general's army Marco Craso , massacred by births in 53 BC

Li Jien, the people of China, descendants of a Roman legion?

Marco Crassus

This story of a Roman village in China acquired some strength in 1957, when the English archaeologist at the University of Oxford, Homer Dubbs , I think I find in some Chinese manuscripts from 60 BC, records of a group of soldiers who acted as the Roman legions.To this data and the caucasic features of the inhabitants would have to add the presence of ruins of an ancient citadel near Li Jien, and the very origin of the name of the population.

Li Jien is in contracted on the Silk Road , where East and West exchanged products; a merchant route that began in China and ended in Alexandria, whose name in Chinese was Li Chi En , and by extension the entire Roman Empire was known in China by this name: Li Chi En, or also , Li Jien .Thus, this settlement would be named for being initially made up of Roman legionaries.

History would be like this: in 53 Rome lost in a 20,000 legionaries battle against the births.It is possible that a group of survivors have been used by the births as mercenaries in their struggles against the Chinese empire, and that these have subsequently become part of the empire.

But Not all historians agree with this version of the story.Some believe that Li Jien's story is prior to the battle that would have given rise to the alleged lost legion of Crassus, and the name of the city could also be translated as “ Territory of black horses ”, and not as A lejandria or Roma.Y indeed, the region where the city is located was known for its tarpan horses , descendants of the wild horses of the steppes.

On the caucasic origin of the inhabitants of Li Jien, there is consensus among historians that in this region of Asia there were intense migratory movements that included different ethnic groups with caucasic traits.Several of these groups that moved along the borders of the "celestial empire" ended up being assimilated by Chinese culture.

Li Jien, the people of China, descendants of a Roman legion?

The only way to prove the Roman origin of the inhabitants of Li Jien would be to confirm the presence of ancestors through genetic tests Caucasians of southern Europe, which would be different from the Caucasian peoples of Central Asia.Something that has not yet been done.

Meanwhile, without waiting for these tests, the inhabitants of Li Jien once a year dress as Roman legionaries and celebrate the multiculturalism of Asia, and its connection with ancient Europe.

If you are passionate These interlinked lines of exchange, read our article on the genetic journey of the Vikings to the first being human.

Images: Jonathan Kos-Read, Gautier Poupeau, Commons Wikimedia

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