罗马帝国沿海路向东方的探索

The Roman Empire's Explorations toward the Orient by Sea

罗马帝国沿海路向东方的探索，在大多数情况下是以红海水道为基地展开的，而帝国的繁荣则是罗马人航行东方的物质基础。公元一世纪，罗马人已注意到了印度与中国的贸易交往；公元二世纪，罗马人的活动范围扩展到孟加拉湾东海岸地区和整个印支半岛，并从海陆两路到达中国，同中国建立起了直接的贸易关系，希腊－罗马世界对中国的知识亦随之大为发展；公元三世纪末以后，随着帝国的衰落，特别是七世纪中叶阿拉伯伊斯兰势力的兴起，罗马人乃至整个欧洲从海路向东方的探索被完全阻断。罗马人沿海路向东方的探索，对古代中西海上丝绸之路的开通发挥了不可磨灭的作用。

The Roman maritime explorations toward the Orient, which were supported by the Roman Empire's prosperity,in most cases, conducted from the Red Sea,which had been a base for the Roman oriental seafaring from the beginning. By the 1st century A. D. the Romans noticed the existing trade between China and India. By the 2nd century A. D. they extended their activities to the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal and the whole Indo-China Pen.,and reached China by both the land and the sea route,thus establishing direct trade relation and widening up their knowledge about Chia. From the end of the 3rd century on,with the decline of the Roman Empire,especially the rise of the Islamic Arabia,the maritime explorations to the Orient by the Romans and even all Europeans were on the whole intercepted. The unique role should not be ignored of the Romans in opening the relationship with the Orient along the Sea Silk Route.