Could There Have Been a Lost Roman Legion in China?

There is a theory that an area of China once called Liqian was settled by around 145 middle-aged Roman soldiers more than two thousand years ago. Roman Legionnaires smack-dab in the middle of China? A clue may lie in the place name, as Liqian was used to refer to the Roman world. The story goes that the Roman army lost the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC near where Turkey and Syria meet today. That's historical. Thousands of Romans were captured and sent east to defend other parts of the Parthian Empire in Central Asia. In 36 BC, 17 years later, another battle occurred, and the Chinese captured 145 soldiers as prisoners. They were taken to northwestern China to serve as border guards. 

Can any of this story be true? There are some artifacts found in the village of Zhelaizhai that point to the possibility, and some residents show European features. Locals believe in their Roman ancestry. However, the more likely explanation is the Silk Road, which had been used by traders from all over long before those battles. Read up on the evidence for and against this theory at Amusing Planet. 

(Image credit: Emilio Rubio Villanueva)