Beginning with Zhang Qian’s mission during the reign of Emperor Wu, the Han expansion westwards brought new geographical knowledge. Gan Ying’s arrival on the shores of the Persian Gulf in 97 CE established a new and extreme boundary for knowledge of the West: the purpose of his mission was direct contact with the political entity known as Da Qin. Within the historiographical sources where references to Da Qin and the West appear, the toponym Haixi 海西 recurs in the Hou Hanshu 後漢書, the Hou Hanji 後漢紀, and the Weilüe 魏略. This chapter lists the historical sources on Haixi to discuss some related issues and proposes some hypotheses for identifying the place names in these texts, potentially aiding in locating Haixi geographically. Finally, a concluding paragraph addresses a previously neglected source, which appears to support the hypothesis identifying Haixi with Egyptian territory, thereby associating it with a region within the Mediterranean area.
University of Naples L'Orientale, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0002-6063-8917
Titolo del capitolo
Following a Mediterranean Clue. A Reconsideration of the Sources About the Country of Haixi 海西國 (2nd–3rd Cent. CE)
Autori
Maurizio Paolillo
Lingua
English
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0598-6.04
Opera sottoposta a peer review
Anno di pubblicazione
2024
Copyright
© 2024 Author(s)
Licenza d'uso
Licenza dei metadati
Titolo del libro
Navigating the Mediterranean Through the Chinese Lens
Sottotitolo del libro
Transcultural Narratives of the Sea Among Lands
Curatori
Renata Vinci
Opera sottoposta a peer review
Numero di pagine
138
Anno di pubblicazione
2024
Copyright
© 2024 Author(s)
Licenza d'uso
Licenza dei metadati
Editore
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0598-6
ISBN Print
979-12-215-0597-9
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-0598-6
eISBN (epub)
979-12-215-0599-3
Collana
Studi e saggi
ISSN della collana
2704-6478
e-ISSN della collana
2704-5919