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Totally strange … lost Roman legion, defeated by Persians, used as mercenaries, captured by Han Chinese and settled by the emperor … wonderful Silk Road if proven,
Genetic tests may prove theory of China's lost Roman legion
November 25, 2010 — 3.00am This was published 12 years ago
ROME: Genetic testing of villagers in a remote part of China has shown that nearly two-thirds of their DNA is of Caucasian origin, lending support to the theory that they may be descended from a 'lost legion' of Roman soldiers.
Tests found that the DNA of some villagers in Liqian, on the fringes of the Gobi Desert in north-western China, was 56 per cent Caucasian in origin. Many of the villagers have blue or green eyes, long noses and even fair hair, prompting speculation that they have European blood.
A local man, Cai Junnian, is nicknamed Cai Luoma, or 'Cai the Roman', and is one of many villagers convinced that he is descended from the lost legion.
Archaeologists plan to conduct digs in the region, along the ancient Silk Route, to search for remains of forts or structures built by the fabled army unit.
'We hope to prove the legend by digging and discovering more evidence of China's early contacts with the Roman Empire,' Yuan Honggeng, the head of an Italian Studies Centre at Lanzhou University, in Gansu province, told the China Dailynewspaper.
The genetic tests have lent weight to the theory that Roman legionnaires settled in the area in the first century BC after fleeing a battle. The clash took place in 53BC between an army led by Marcus Crassus, a Roman general, and a larger force of Parthians, from what is now Iran, bringing to an abrupt halt the Roman Empire's eastwards expansion.
Thousands of Romans were killed and Crassus beheaded, but some were said to have fled east.
They supposedly fought as mercenaries in a war between the Huns and the Chinese in 36BC - Chinese chroniclers referred to the capture of a 'fish-scale formation' of troops, a possible reference to the 'tortoise' phalanx formation perfected by legionnaires. The theory was first put forward in the 1950s by Homer Dubs, a professor of Chinese history at Oxford University. But some experts believe the villagers could be descended from the Huns who marauded through Central Asia and included soldiers of Caucasian origin.
Maurizio Bettini, a classicist and anthropologist from Siena University, dismissed the Roman legion theory as a 'fairytale'. He told La Repubblica: 'For it to be indisputable, one would need to find items such as Roman money or weapons. Without proof of this kind, the story of the lost legions is just a legend.'
Professor Yang Gongle, of Beijing Normal University, told Xinhua news agency: 'The county is on the Silk Road, so there were many chances for transnational marriages.The 'foreign' origin of the Yongchang villagers, as proven by the DNA tests, does not necessarily mean they are of ancient Roman origin.'
Professor Xie Xiaodong, a geneticist from Lanzhou University, was also sceptical. 'Even if they are descendants of Romans, it does not mean they are necessarily from that Roman army.'
