A Clay Army Unearthed!
In 1974, Chinese peasants digging a well ran into an amazing find -- rows and rows of clay soldiers surrounding a gravesite! Upon hearing the news, archaeologists rushed to the site to dig out more of these incredible warriors. Recently, they have uncovered 110 new terracotta warriors, and have pinpointed the location of 11 more, but are yet to excavate them.
The tomb belonged to Qin Shihuangdi, first emperor of unified China. Shihuangdi is remembered by his numerous achievements: unifying China (although it broke apart not long after his death), starting the construction of the Great Wall of China and the Ling Canal, burning all books not related to his reign, cremating/stoning scholars who dared to disagree with his decisions, and, of course, his clay army.
Why would anyone in their right mind devote so much manpower and time to building clay figures to surround their tomb?
Preparing for After-life
Qin Shihuangdi was increasingly paranoid about the looming prospect of death and worried about his journey to the afterlife. He was originally obsessed with finding the elixir for life; when that quest failed and he had accepted that death was, in fact, inevitable, he started the construction of his tomb.
Plans for the tomb included flowing rivers of mercury and other booby traps to obstruct any path criminals could take to plunder the temple. On top of that protection, Qin Shihuangdi ordered construction of the terracotta soldiers -- 8000 clay figures equipped with real bronze weapons and clay horses to stand beside him in his tomb. Each soldier has a slightly different facial expression, though the rest of the body parts were mass-produced from molds.
After his death in 215 B.C. from mercury poisoning (probably from drinking his numerous immortality elixirs), Qin Shihuangdi was laid in his tomb along with his clay guardians, ready to take on the afterlife by storm.
A Symbol Of Power
None of the warriors have been found completely intact due to the ceiling on top of the soldiers falling long before they were found; however, each piece has been discovered in excellent condition and colorfully painted. What is more incredible than the detail and uniqueness of each soldier is the fact that they were built in under two years with primitive technology two millennia ago!
Powerful people find it essential to be unique in every aspect, including the way in which they die. They cannot make the same mundane journey to the afterlife like a commoner, all by themselves. They obviously need a swarm of warriors to guard them, to show their power extends from the mortal world to the great beyond.
Qin Shihuangdi was many things: neurotic, arrogant, and definitely demanding. Yet his name is still the talk of the town, even more than two thousand years after his death. If that’s not power, I don’t know what is.
liza we can see your reply. though the video was pretty cool
that was....interesting.
awesome
1) What are three incredible things about the building of the terracotta warriors that are mentioned in the article?
One of the incredible things were that all the faces were different. All the expressions. They were also built a long long time ago. More that two millennia's ago. Also each piece was founded in perfect condition.
2) Why did Qin Shihuangdi have the terra-cotta warriors built?
Qin Shihuangdi was really worried about death and he was worried about his journey to the afterlife. He wanted to make people live for ever but he failed at that. He finally accepted death but then started building the tomb. These terra-cotta warriors protected his tomb.
3) According to the video, why do the terracotta statues face east?
The army faces east towards the states he concord in his life time. As if he thought that troops would come over the horizon. These warriors were to scare the troops away.
nice warriors
that was cool to watch
Oh, I don't know this thing! Thank you. This post is very intereting.
The statues look very impresive, especially because there are so many.
The statues look very impresive, especially because there are so many.
Great Article, it is so interesting
Wow! I learned so much! Great job Meera!
cool! i thought terracotta warriors that are over 2000 years are cool!
Cool! But why was he dealing with mercury?
There were many soldiers.
I think he was too crazy about his death. He even sent out people to find a plant that would give him immortality. When he did die, his relatives put fish in the cart to make sure that everybody thought that the fish was rotting, not the Emperor!
Meera: amazing article! I learned a lot. :)
Wow! GREAT article.I just wanted to add a couple interesting facts along with the article. Emperor Quin Shihaungdi was a very harsh ruler.So many of his own family members tried to murder him so on one of his searches for the imortality elixir it is said that he was murdered by his own courtiers who hated him. So once he was gone the courtiers thought that they could crown themselves as kings and rule the massive empire. Sadly the plan that they thought would would work was an epic fail. At that time of the Emperors death many thought that it was the right time to revolt against the weak goverment that Shihaungdi had left behind. So all the rich mearchents who owned huge amount of lands and slaves called themselves as their own states and crowned themselves as kings of their "kingdom" Then they revolted eachother until the new dynasty the Zhou found it a perfect time to conquer the bloodshed lands to expand their lands!
Those are so amazing.
There are a lot of them as well.
That was a lot of soldiers. I think that it is all so mysterious in a way.
WOW ROWEN!!!! you actually saw them??? these are really cool. did you see them in pictures or for real? wow...
There is a place where you can actually see them for real. My Science teacher showed my class pictures of the Terra Cotta warriors.
THAT WAS AWESOME!!!!!! I got to see them in New York and they were fantastic! There were a lot of Terracotta soldiers there in the exhibit! That is awesome how they can still look cool and it has been over 2,000 years ( that is really cool)