Terracotta Warriors of the Han Dynasty

Most people are familiar with the life-sized terracotta warriors from the Qin Emperor but many people are unaware there are terracotta armies from Han dynasty tombs as well, although they are about a foot tall instead of life-sized.  The first Han era-army was discovered in 1984 and it is displayed near the museum in Xuzhou.  The terracotta warriors and horses excavation site covers 6,000 square meters (1.48 acres) and includes 4,800 pieces of terracotta warriors and horses interred during the burial of Liu Wu, the third king of the Chu Kingdom during the Western Han Dynasty. The sculptures were found in 1984 in six pits, three infantry pits, one pottery-guard pit, one cavalry pit and one chariot pit. But, only two infantry pits and the pottery-guard pit have been fully excavated. The two infantry pits yielded 2,393 figures but they are smaller in size, about a foot tall, than the life-sized Xi'an terracotta warriors and horses from the Qin Dynasty. The figures were arranged in a battle formation of the Chu Kingdom and soldiers still armed with crossbows and wearing armor of the period are posed both standing and kneeling. As subjects of the dead Chu king, the warriors are depicted with respectful though sorrowful expressions. Since citizens of the period between 18 and 55 were required to join the army in times of conflict, the sculptures portray both young and older soldiers.

Soldier figurine unearthed from the Tomb of the King of Chu, Beidong Mountain, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China, Western Han period, 2nd century BCE

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Imperial Italic G Roman helmet found near Hebron at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem

Image
Imperial Italic G Roman helmet found near Hebron at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. This distinctive Imperial Italic G-style helmet was a 2nd century development derived from the earlier Coolus-style helmets with a domed bowl fashioned after La Tène III helmet types. The original Coolus-style helmets were named after the city of Coolus in northeastern France where a helmet of the Coolus type was dredged from the River Marne. Ro man helmets were typically constructed of a copper alloy or bronze. Some were spun on a lathe rather than hammered into shape with a turned, cast-soldered or riveted crest knob. The brow-guard was designed to protect the front of the face from downward-slashing sword blows, just as the neck-guard was intended to deflect blows aimed at the nape of the neck and shoulders. The Hebron helmet is also constructed with post-Dacian Wars crossbars on the crown, thought to have been part of the original construction, as evidenced by the brass lunate decorations applie
Read more

A Brief History of Ships' Eyes

Image
(condensed from the Master's thesis of Troy Joseph Nowak, Texas A&M University, 2006, "Archaeological Evidence for Ship Eyes: An Analysis of Their Form and Function  ( https://nautarch.tamu.edu/pdf-files/Nowak-MA2006.pdf#:~:text=bows%20of%20ancient%20Greek%20ships%20between%20the%205th,guided%20the%20ship%20and%20helped%20to%20avoid%20hazards .) Between the Bronze Age and the 3rd century BCE, all types of watercraft used in the Mediterranean from small boats to large galleys were commonly adorned with eyes on their bows.  In Greece, the earliest clear depiction of a ship with eyes is a Late Helladic clay ship model decorated with circular eyes discovered at Phylakopi, Melos. However, ship representations with eyes do not reappear in the archaeological record again until the Geometric Period.  Excavations in the Dipylon cemetery at Athens have yielded an impressive collection of Late Geometric I [c. 760 to 735 BCE] ceramics decorated with ships. Eyes adorn the bows of these
Read more

Roman and Byzantine mosaics at the Haleplibahçe Mosaics Museum in Şanlıurfa, Turkey.

Image
Roman and Byzantine mosaics at the Haleplibahçe Mosaics Museum in Şanlıurfa, Turkey. Opened in 2015, the modern 6,000 square meter Haleplibahce Mosaic Museum houses the remains of the mosaic pavements of a large Roman villa uncovered during a municipal construction project i n Şanlıurfa, Turkey. Şanlıurfa, also known as Urfa, is built on the site of the ancient Greek city of Edessa. Discoveries include mosaics depicting the life of Achilles, including his mother, Thetis, holding him by the heel and dipping him into the waters of the River Styx, his training by the centaur, Chiron, and his departure for the Trojan War. Another pavement depicts Amazon queens hunting wild beasts. Mosaics from other archaeological areas depict various animals, Ktisis, a figure personifying the act of generous donation or foundation often found in 6th century Greek mosaics, and a 2nd century CE depiction of the myth of Orpheus. The Orpheus mosaic was recently repatriated from the Dallas Museum of Art.
Read more