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John E. Hill
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Through the Jade Gate to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes during the Later Han Dynasty 1st to 2nd Centuries CE Paperback – October 19, 2009

by John E. Hill (Author)
5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars 8 ratings
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A 2nd revised, expanded and updated version of this book should be available for purchase in a few weeks so I would suggest prospective customers wait until it becomes available. This book is the product of 30 years of research on a key Chinese document based on a report to the Chinese Emperor in 125 CE, with a few later additions. It contains the earliest geographical, historical, political and cultural information in Chinese on the Roman Empire, India, Parthia, and many other kingdoms; their products, and the routes to them. A draft version of the book was posted on the University of Washington’s ‘Silk Road Seattle’ website in 2000 with a plea for readers to send any criticisms or comments. The author has since been contacted by hundreds of scholars worldwide and their generous contributions have helped make this book an authoritative and useful historical source. This translation, the first in English, of the ‘Chapter on the Western Regions’ from the Hou Hanshu, is faced with the original Chinese, and is amply annotated for those wanting further information. There are also 20 appendices and two convenient maps at the end showing the main centres and routes.
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  1. Print length
    714 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    October 19, 2009
  4. Dimensions
    7 x 1.61 x 10 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    1439221340
  6. ISBN-13
    978-1439221341
  7. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ BookSurge Publishing; annotated edition (October 19, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 714 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1439221340
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1439221341
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.68 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 1.61 x 10 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars 8 ratings

About the authors

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  1. John E. Hill

    John E. Hill

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    ABOUT THE AUTHOR

    I live with my long-time partner and editor, Jo Wynter, on a remote property in a beautiful tropical forest, west of Cooktown, Queensland, Australia over 300 kilometers (186 miles) from the nearest traffic lights.

    Although I was born in Montréal, Canada (in 1943), I grew up in Port of Spain, Trinidad, West Indies. I am of English and French background with a dash of Beothuk - the native people of Newfoundland, who were hounded to extinction in the 1820s or 1830s. As a young man I trained as a Field Assistant and Laboratory Technician in virology in Trinidad.

    I briefly attended the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. I then spent 2 years in Alaska doing fisheries research, but moved to Australia in 1964, and am now a citizen. I graduated as a Registered Psychiatric Nurse in Sydney and have worked as a nurse in both Australia and Canada. For many years I worked in remote Australian Aboriginal communities.

    During 1979-81 my family and I lived in India and so began my passionate interest in ancient Asian history and globalisation.

    I have remained an independent scholar, fascinated by the exchange of peoples, cultures, religions and trade between Asia, Europe and Africa.

    I began translating Chinese texts while living in India. I am fortunate to have a wide communications network of historians, linguists, archaeologists and other specialists around the world ever since. Their many generous contributions have helped me to make this work an authoritative and useful historical source. The first edition, Through the Jade Gate to Rome, was published in 2009 and received wide scholarly acceptance.

    I am told this revised and much-expanded edition will remain the definitive reference in its field for many years to come.

    See more on the author's page
  2. Ye Fan

    Ye Fan

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    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

    See more on the author's page
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Customer reviews

5 out of 5 stars
5 out of 5
8 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Alfred J. Andrea
5.0 out of 5 stars The Early Silk Road from a Chinese Perspective
Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2009
Verified Purchase
This book arrived several days ago, and I devoured it in a single sitting, despite its 689 pages, largely composed of throughly researched notes and an extensive (and comprehensive) bibliography. An annotated translation (with accompanying Chinese text) of the second-century CE Hou Hanshu, also known as the "Chronicle on the Western Regions," this important source from the period of the late Han Dynasty contains highly detailed accounts of such far-away lands as India, Parthian Persia, and even the Roman Empire. To my amazement--and I have spent over 4 decades studying cultural interchange across the so-called Silk Road--it describes a Roman embassy to the Han court that was dispatched by Emperor Marcus Aurelius (r. 161-180)and arrived in China in 166, by way of Southeast Asia.

This source is so important that I intend to incorporate excerpts from it in the forthcoming 7th edition of The Human Record, Volume I. Quite simply, undergraduate students of world history need to become acquainted with it and the rich body of new insights that it offers any and all who are interested in the long-distance interchange that occurred across Afro-Eurasia more than 1,000 years before Marco Polo.

John Hill's scholarship is likewise a wonder to behold and enjoy. His detailed and always informative notes are a pleasure to read, and the book should serve as an example to all of how one properly goes about translating and presenting a primary source to a mixed audience. It can and should be purchased and read not only by every professional scholar who focuses on the Silk Road and related phenomena but also by any interested person who wants to know more about the Silk Road during its first great period of effloresence. Happily, in this day of greatly inflated book prices, its modest price puts it within easy reach.

Alfred J. Andrea
Emeritus Professor of World History
University of Vermont
12 people found this helpful
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John C. Huntington
5.0 out of 5 stars A Scholarly Masterpiece
Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2009
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For the academic or serious amateur whose interests lie in the difficult and controversial areas of Central Asia during the Former Han and Later Han, this is an utterly indispensable volume. The author has translated the "Chronicle Western Regions" chapter of the Hou Hanshu (History of the Later [or Eastern] Han dynasty") in a Chinese text with translation format for the first 59 pages of the volume (even page number in Chinese odd page numbers in English) for a total of 28 pages for each language. The translation reads well and seems at first reading very well considered and thoroughly useful. But what follows is astonishing! Self described in an extremely subtle understatement as subtitle on the cover, as "An annotated translation of the Chronicle of the 'Western Regions in the Hou Hanshu," The author provides his reader with nearly 600 pages of some of the most thorough documentation, comparative analysis and appendices, I have ever read! For two weeks of nearly constant work, comparing the text with my own notes and learning vastly from the author's erudition, I have had one of the most satisfying intellectual experiences of recent decades. The richness of the intellectual fabric from which the book is woven is a nearly exhaustive survey of the literature and relevant documents. Simply stated, if anyone is interested in any aspect of inner Asia during the period for ca 200 BCE to ca 200 CE, you literally cannot avoid this book!
20 people found this helpful
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D. Gibson
5.0 out of 5 stars The Western Regions in the "Hou Hanshu "
Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2009
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For far too long, the western world has been self centered in their view of history. John Hill's annotated translation of this Chinese text helps us begin to see the ancient world in a new light. Imagine visiting the Silk Road between 25 and 200 AD! Hill does an excellent job in not only providing us with an accurate translation, but he also provides insights into life along the silk road two millennia ago! Be prepared, his notes are extensive and his research thorough. The Chinese text and English translation are a mere 60 pages... the notes are over 600 pages. This is my kind of book. Thoroughly researched, cross-referenced, footnoted, and well written. As a historian (Middle East) I have been fascinated by the ancient Chinese perspective of the world west of China. This book will appeal to any historian focusing on places along the Silk Route from China to Rome, but it will also appeal to anyone who would like to have a unique and fascinating glimpse into ancient history as only the Chinese could describe it.
11 people found this helpful
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Dennis Herron
5.0 out of 5 stars Truly Extraordinary!
Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2010
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I pre-ordered this through Amazon as soon as I
heard about it last fall (I've been reading Hill's contributions to the
Silk Road Seattle project for the past several years, with growing
awe). Ostensibly the book is an annotated translation of chapters of
the Hou Han Shu relating to the Western Regions, but that is like
saying Moby Dick is a book about a whale. I've been reading it
through the holidays; it is a work of such graceful erudition and
analysis - archaeological, linguistic, historical - of the Eurasian
oikoumene of the Classical period that, in the course of reading parts
of it I have literally lost track of the time. And I don't simply mean
that the afternoon has turned to evening - I've come out of the text
bemused to find myself back in the 21st century.
10 people found this helpful
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E. N. Anderson
5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable book for Asianists
Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2011
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Anyone working on early Asian history needs this book. It is a major translation and work of scholarship. It includes long and detailed quotes from just about every imaginable English-language source, plus many translations, so it gives encyclopedic coverage of Central Asia in Han Dynasty and Roman Empire times. It includes long, detailed essays on a number of topics, including mussel-byssus fabrics, lapis lazuli, and jade. I have little to add to the other reviews already posted except to tell any professors out there to MAKE SURE that their university libraries buy this book! It is necessary for reference and research!
5 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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sandra g.
5.0 out of 5 stars Ancient Chinese books
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 21, 2013
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The book discusses the contents of ancient Chinese texts, and the contacts of China with the West from the Chinese point of view.
Very interesting, well researched, many new details. Not a book for the general public, but well written.
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Jollen
5.0 out of 5 stars Rectification!
Reviewed in France on February 24, 2013
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Ce qui fait tout l'intérêt de ce livre n'apparaît pas dans son titre: c'est le texte original du Hou Hanshu, sa traduction anglaise et un commentaire très fourni de la célèbre chronique. Indispensable pour l'histoire des contacts sino-occidentaux!
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