control. The incursion of the nomadic Kushan ca 50 AD blocked Chinese access to the West, but conditions improved ca. 75; consequently the window in which, Cary suggests, Maës found his opportunity lay either before or after the Kushan irruption. At the western end of the trade route, Parthian cooperation could be expected only after the termination of their war with Trajan, 117 CE, too late for Marinus to incorporate the new information, at the close of their war with Nero, 65 CE, during the Kushan interruption, or, the date Cary offers for consideration, after their settlement with Augustus, 20 BCE. The Maesii Titianii were a family documented in Italy and Sicily, ca. 150-210, and Cary considers the possibility that the governor of Roman Syria from ca 13 BCE, M. Titius, who had been consul suffectus in 31 BCE, and through whose hands the Parthian princes passed to Rome for their education, acted in some way as a patron to the enterprise (Cary 1956:132-34). See also Sino-Roman relations Notes References Max Cary, "Maes, Qui et Titianus" The Classical Quarterly, New Series, 6.3/4 (July–October 1956), pp. 130–134. Ancient explorers Ancient Greeks in Asia Roman-era Macedonians Silk Road