Byzantine Gold Coins Discovered In China And Its Imitation Research

The discovery of Byzantine coins and their imitations is of great historical value, since they provide necessary material proofs for the study of the economical and cultural conmmunication between the Byzantine empire and ancient China, while their relative archaeological imformation is also important resource for the research on Chinese'absorption of foreign cultures. Then, how to read these Byzantine coins and their imitations? When were they produced? How were they transfered from the Mediterranean into China? And how were they used in China? To give answers for these questions, it is necessary to lucubrate the topic, based on varieties of historical resources and former research, in order to discuss the significance of these coins to the economical and cultural conmmunication between the west and the east.Former discussions on Byzantine coins and their imitations found in China are different. Some are numismatic discriptions on some gold coins, some are synthetical introductions of these coins found in China in brief, some lay particular stress on individual questions, such as the way they were transfered to the east etc. In general, it is still short of comprehensive, systemic and in-depth analyse on the characteristic, historical background, the purpose and the historical significance of these coins.Centering on these Byzantine coins and their imitations found in China, the dissertation investigated concretely the types and approximate issue time individually, and discussed archaeological and historical resources concerning these coins. At length, with the discussion on those questions that why these coins appeared mainly in the 6-8 centuries, and that how these coins were transfered and used, the dissertation tried to find the significance of the Byzantine coins and their imitations to the conmmunication between the west and the east.The dissertation demonstrated and discussed the characteristic and historical background of these coins in two parts. The former part, with the instruction of the numismatic research fruits on the later Roman coins and Byzantine coins, discribed and identified detailedly the types, the changes, the issue time of Byzantine coins, and the types, the approximate time of the origin of those imitations, by the contrast of each coin.The latter part discussed historically the relative questions about the time, the route, and the spread, the use concerning those Byzantine coins and their imitations found in China. On the questions about the time of these coins and imitations: during the 3th– 4th centuries, the great political and economical transition happened in the Roman empire and the West Asia, promoted the appearance of Byzantine coins in China in the 5th century. With the gradual stabilization and development of the economy, the international influence of Byzantine gold coins increased, with which the numbers of Byzantine coins found in China changed accordingly. Until the later 6th century and the middle of 7th century, the power of Byzantine empire decreased and lost great territories. So that the empire had to change itself greatly in the political and economical life, which resulted in the shrink of the spread of the Byzantine coins globally during the 7th century. From then on, since the inner economy was not as strong as in the former period, the spread of Byzantine coins were limited.The eastward routes of the Byzantine coins are three: the northern route, the midst route and the southern route. The diplomat contact between the West Turk Khanate and the Byzantine empire, added the northern route passing through the Black sea and the Capsian sea to the east-west trade. And in this route the political contact of both ambassadors became the main carrier of Byzantine coins'eastwards. The traditional midst trade route between the west and the east, was occupied mainly by the Sassanian Persian empire which rose in the late 3rd century. Through the different nations such as the Sassanian persians, the Hephthalites and the Sogdians etc., the Byzantine coins found their way eastwards by the trade, the wars and the tributes, the diplomatic gifts and so on. The southern sea route was also one of the important road for the commerce between the west and the east. With the trade of the Byzantines, the Aksumites, the Sassanian Persians and the Indians, Byzantine coins could be transfered to the east through the habors along the Red Sea or the Persian Gulf and the Indian ocean.About the transfer of Byzantine coins and their imitations in the East: these coins went into China through the trade and the diplomatical relations, which were characteristic by paying tributes and allied-marriage between the kingdoms in the Western District and the dynasties in the central China. The main silk roads inside the China, such as the Long-xi road, the Qing-hai road and the Northern-Plain road, were all the routes that those Byzantine coins spred into the center of China. During the period from the 5th century to the 8th century, the Byzantine coins and their imitations had different use in different places during the different period: some as the currency, some as the accessories, some for the fete, and some for the burial customs kept in the body's mouth.Based on the former researches, according to the resources collected, this dissertation discussed the topic archaeologically and historically, by identifying each coins, and analysing the significance of these coins to the economical and cultural conmmunication between the west and the east during the 4th– 8th century. However, the economical and cultural conmmunication between the west and the east is so complicated that it includes many fields and concerns variety resouces. This topic still need much more research from different aspects, in order to promote the study on the relations between the Byzantine empire and the ancient China.