Classical Romans believed there were two Chinas

Now, I also happen to believe there are two Chinas. Not in the Nixonian sense in which there's a Red China and a Taiwan China, but in the dictionary sense that there's a geographic China that goes in Asia and a porcelain china that goes on that stupid little shelf over your refrigerator. But I digress.

What the Romans believed was that the place called China by Americans, Chine by Frenchies, and Zhonghua by actual Chinese people (or should I say "by actual Zhonghuans"?) was actually two separate countries. The first, which could be considered sort of the northern area, except that their sense of geography was all screwed up, they called Serica, meaning "the land where silk comes from."



The second place they called "Sinae," which surprisingly does not mean "place where sinuses come from." This was more or less the actual China, although a bit to the south. The name is something of a mystery. Calling it "Sinae" seems to imply that the name derives from the Qin ("chin") Dynasty, only the use of the name Sinae significantly predates the accession of the Qins.

The Romans were otherwise considerably misinformed about China. Some writers reported that the Seres people had no language of their own, but only made strange noises to mimic talk in dealing with their Indian neighbors, and were tall and blue-eyed. Some conjectured that the people of Sinae could live to 200 years old. The map above, courtesy of Ptolemy, indicates that the Romans knew the earth was round, but thought it was bounded by uninhabitable land and 12 great winds beyond the narrow western and eastern oceans.

This all, of course, directly contradicts what we know about the sciences of antiquity as revealed through the later seasons of Xena, Warrior Princess.