Chinese Historian Describes the Byzantine Empire // 7-10th century 'Book of Tang' // Primary Source

This is the third in our series on the relationship between China and the Roman Empire - in this case the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire).

Here we have an extract from the Old Book of Tang, the first history compiled of the Tang Dynasty in 945 AD. It is a compilation of earlier annals, dating from the 7th century up until the 10th, which shine light on the Chinese opinion of the Byzantine empire and the various embassies between the two states.

Thanks again to the Seattle Silk Road website - a great resource:

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Thanks to:

[drraoulmclaughlin]

Excellent Video. The 'Frightening Chicken Stone' may be the Alectorius described by the ancient Roman Historian Pliny the Elder...

[iapetusmccool]

Ah, yes. The famous Roman poison-detecting goose, and the man-eating lamb plants. With assets like that, no wonder they lasted so long.

[TheTyrantOfTyrus]

When you picture this, imagine the chain of partnerships and one time friendships between merchants. These Greek dudes relaying like stories of their homes and perhaps of old military days to Arab and Indian tradesmen, who would travel over and spread those tales, until some fishwife in Southern China is talking to her husband whose been going on and on about how some traders told him about a bird king and his poison goose.

[TheBasjenator]

"The kings are not permanent rulers, but they select men of merit."


Byzantine emperors: "Well no, but actually yes."

[sylvainfalquet]

I was blown away when they described a water clock and some crazy water based A/C system

[LogicalMan]

"Or if wind and rain come at the wrong time"
*suddenly pictures Justinian being ousted for incorrect weather forecast*

[sussurus]

Is "lambs growing from the ground" a reference to cotton? Byzantine textiles included cotton, whereas the rest of Europe tended to use linen.

[lensy]

So like we really like eagles and eagle symbolism here in the Christian world

Pet goose, got it.

[Basil_leaves]

“If the wind or rain comes at the wrong time the emperor is disposed”

Fanciful way of saying they were unstable lol

[WanneSomeSoup]

OK, I did some research, looks like "Chicken frightening rhino" really is a thing. So here is the description from 晉 dynasty. 葛洪(283~343) said in his book 《抱樸子·登涉》


"


I will try my best to translate it: "There is this kind of gigantic rhinoceros horn (or literally, sky-touching rhino horn). It has a red line runs from the bottom to the tip, like a line of red silk on the hat. Someone used the horn to hold seeds and put it among the chickens to feed them. The chickens came close to eat but when they were several feet away, they suddenly got startled and ran away. So they call it Sky-touching rhino or Chicken frightening rhino."

[martinusv]

"If wind and rain come at the wrong time he (the emperor) is deposed" - this description of the Byzantine political traditions is as good as it gets :D :D

[mattguellec]

China's Emperor : So tell me about that roman empire
China historian : they got gold, silver, pearls, glass, gems and a lot of shiny things

[keat]

I'm noticing a distinct lack of rivers and oceans in this one

[KevDaly]

I thought the lamb plants were the weirdest thing until I got to the chicken-frightening rhinoceros stone.

[curiousworld]

The Byzantine era has long fascinated me. It's very interesting to hear what impressions it had on the Chinese. Thanks for posting!

[siechamontillado]

"If anything poisonous is put into the kings' meals...the bird will crow."

You can almost hear the historian saying to himself, "Not gonna lie, this sounds like bs."

[doritobrando]

China: lambs don’t grow on trees you know

Byzantines: hold my wine

[NIsForNoobCakes]

very interesting that the same details of Roman government (the petition-bag, the kings that are "not permanent") from Yu Huan's account also appear in the Tang account of Byzantium

[ValensBellator]

Man someone really messed with that guy when explaining their sheep lol

[Flokithedog]

"he is deposed"- understatement of the millennium