Seres was the name ancient Roman writers used for the people believed to live beyond the eastern silk-producing lands.
The Latin term Seres and the related Greek Serikē were associated with silk and with distant peoples connected to its production. Roman authors did not possess a precise modern map of East Asia, so the name could describe an eastern region or its inhabitants rather than a clearly defined political state.
Roman elites highly valued Chinese silk, but the material usually reached them through multiple intermediaries, including merchants in Central Asia, Iran, and the eastern Mediterranean. This distance encouraged speculation about where silk came from and how it was produced.
The Seres should not automatically be equated with one single Chinese dynasty or ethnic group. Ancient geographical terminology often grouped unfamiliar peoples under broad labels. The term is nevertheless an important linguistic clue showing that Roman writers recognized a far-eastern source connected with silk, even though direct Roman-Chinese contact was limited and uncertain.