Did the Romans know the far east existed?

Question: Did the Romans know the far east existed!?
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

Yes - the purple robe worn by Julius Caesar was made from Chinese silk!.

The Romans also had harbours in Southern India!.

The Hindu : Following the Roman trail
This was during the Sangam age in South India — 200 B!.C!. to 300 A!.D!. The arts,
!.!.!. all of us to imagine a laden Roman ship coming into this natural harbour!. !.!.!.
http://www!.hinduonnet!.com/thehindu/mag/2!.!.!. - Cached

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Search for India's ancient city
Jun 11, 2006 !.!.!. Much-recorded in Roman times, Muziris was a major centre for trade between Rome
and southern India - but appeared to have simply disappeared !.!.!.
http://news!.bbc!.co!.uk/2/hi/south_asia/49!.!.!. - Cached

Kodungallur : The Cradle of Christianity In India 2000
He says also that South India is richer than North India and its roads better
!.!.!.!.!. For a discussion of a Roman harbour and its arrangements see ‘Caesarea !.!.!.
http://www!.indianchristianity!.com/html/B!.!.!. - Cached

Roman commerce - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The main trading partners in southern India were the Tamil dynasties of the
Pandyas, Cholas and Cheras!. Many Roman artifacts have been found in India, !.!.!.
http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Roman_comme!.!.!. - Cached

Godavaya
"Many South Indian harbours carry the ending 'pattana" which means harbour !.!.!.
Several Roman coins, beads, bangles, bricks showing guild marks in the shape !.!.!.
http://www!.lankalibrary!.com/geo/godavaya!.!.!.

The Silk Route (sometimes called the Silk Road) ran from China to Iraq - Baghdad in fact, which was under Roman control for a short period before the Persians took it back!.

How Classical Knowledge Reached Baghdad
How Classical Knowledge Reached Baghdad !.!.!.!. the Persians (now known as Iranians),
recaptured the territory after a short Roman occupation!. !.!.!.
http://galileoandeinstein!.physics!.virgin!.!.!.

http://www!.youtube!.com/watch!?v=-tgC3tEDQ!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I'm sure they knew!. I assume trade goods from all over the world ended up in Rome at some point!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Yes, Rome was at the end of the supply line of many trade good from the Far East like silk, spices, jewels,exotic animals,precious metals and gems,etc!.However they had little or no real in depth knowledge of the lands these items came from!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

yes the Romans did trade with ChinaWww@QuestionHome@Com

yes, they sure did!.

they traded with china, india, and places in between: http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/roman_comme!.!.!.

they tended to try to conquer as they went along, but long-distance love is SO hard! however, in the 400s bce, it was said of king xerxes of persia tha his kingdom stretched from india to ethiopia!.!.!. so some relationships work out better than others!.

gWww@QuestionHome@Com

Something very similar to the Malay peninsula shows up on Ptolemy's world map c!. 150 AD!.
As for China, they knew their silk imports came from somewhere, so they put the 'Seres' (silk people) on the edge of their maps!.Www@QuestionHome@Com