By Iris Online Editor
Famously, the Romans could only go as far as Hadrian’s Wall in Britain. They had a vague knowledge of Ireland. Speaking of Ireland, the Greek geographer, Strabo, writes of the island of Ierne in the first century CE:
“..its inhabitants are wilder than the Britons, for they eat human flesh as well as plants, considering it proper to eat their fathers when they die.”
But how far east did Roman influence stretch?
Glass jewellery has recently been found in an ancient tomb near Kyoto, Japan, which tests reveal to be of Roman origin. The beads are thought to contain a chemical called natron, which was used bt Romans to melt glass so it could be layered with gold leaf.
What’s been said…