Multilayered beads of Roman glass had been found in a 5th century tomb in the Japanese town of Nagoka near Kyoto in 2012 (
1 and
2).
Now it has been confirmed that a dish and a bowl found in another 5th
century grave located near Kashihara, Nara Prefecture, are also of Roman
making.
"The dish and bowl were retrieved together from the No. 126 tumulus of
the Niizawa Senzuka cluster of ancient graves, a national historic site.
The No. 126 tumulus dates back to the late fifth century. According to the team’s analysis, the chemical composition of the
clear dark blue dish is almost identical to glasswork unearthed in the
area of the Roman Empire ... Measuring 14.1 to 14.5 centimeters in diameter, the flat,
raised dish is believed to have been created in the second century at
the latest. ...
 |
| (Provided by the Tokyo National Museum)3 |
The scientists
used a special fluorescence X-ray device to analyze chemical elements in
glass powder from the dish. The chemical compositions of natron, a type
of sodium
mineral, as well as sand made of silica and lime, resemble those
typically found in Mediterranean glasswork produced in the Roman Empire
and the following Eastern Roman Empire period. The team also conducted a
fluorescence X-ray test on the dish
using a high-energy radiation beam at the Spring 8 large synchrotron
radiation facility in Sayo, Hyogo Prefecture. The test revealed
antimony, a metallic element believed to be used in Rome until the
second century.
The results mean that it took centuries for the dish to
arrive in Japan and be buried in the grave after it was produced in
Rome.
Abe and his colleagues also revealed that the chemical
composition of the cut glass bowl is the same as that of glass fragments
unearthed from the remains of a palace in the ancient Persian capital
of Ctesiphon." (
3)
Note
that the beads found in Nagoka also contained natron, which supports
the evidence that they originated in the Roman Empire. (
2)
Mentioning
Ctesiphon as the likely source of origin seems to place a delimiter to
the time when the bowl may have been made. There were very few periods
when the capital of Parthia (not Persia) was occupied by Romans; one of
them was 164 A.D. when legatus Avidius Cassius had captured it during
the war against king Vologaeses. Incidentally, about that time a
self-styled embassy of emperor "An-Tun" (probably Marcus Aurelius
Antoninus) popped up at the Chinese court, according to a Chinese source
named the
Hou Hanshu.
Is it possible that beads, bowl and dish were all brought to Eastern
Asia by this very trading convoy and sold or presented much later to
Japanese noblemen?
In
"Opus Gemini", the second trilogy of the "Romanike" series, Avidius
Cassius' campaign against Parthia is supported by his distant relative,
princess Iulia Balbilla of Commagene. Several characters of the series
are members of the trading convoy to China. Perhaps the bowl and dish
should be mentioned in a future revision of our books?
