Maes Titianus

Maes Titianus was a Roman silk merchant and traveler most likely from Syria. He sent his agents to the Far East to explore a land route to China. Perhaps that was the “Mengchi Toule” group reported in the Chinese accounts. According to Ptolemy, Maes sent his agents to trade with a commercial station near the Pamirs called the Stone Tower. The intention of this exploration could be the development of the northern silk route to China in the late 1st century.

The explorations by Maeus and similar travelers have provided the Romans with the opportunity to learn more about East Asia. Descriptions that provided Maeus’ agents about previously unknown countries are recorded in the work of the geographer Marinus of Tyre, who in turn became valuable source of information to the Alexandrian geographer Ptolomy.