Cities built by Alexander the Great, carriages of gold, warring states, animals bred to create a special thread...fantasy mixes with truth in this fascinating insight into the West's knowledge of China at the turn of the 7th century. Thanks to Mary and Michael Whitby for the use of their fantastic translation. https://www.amazon.com/History-Theophylact-Simocatta-Translation-Introduction/dp/019822799X Thanks to: By Getoryk - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15572039 Seasonsinthesun Sailko / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0) Ovedc / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)