The first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, started building his tomb when he was thirteen years old. By the time he was laid to rest, his transition into the afterlife was pretty plush. His tomb, which was almost like a smaller version of his imperial palace, also included a ceramic army of around 8,000 life-sized men, built to protect him in his afterlife. The Terracotta Warriors! A lot of the army is still being excavated, and it seems as though it will be a long work in progress. Not only are they carefully being unearthed, but they are also being pieced together little by little, as it seems the entire army was defeated in a battle against some angry peasants. They were no match during the uprising, and all of their weapons were snatched right out of their hands! Some army that was! But really though, for a fake army, it's pretty sweet. Every single soldier is unique, like snowflakes, not a single one is alike. The dress varies depending on the rank, the higher ranking ones tend to be a little fatter, some are taller than others, and every single face is different! I checked to see if the guys up front looked a little more scared; they didn't. But I did spot one with the some really cool facial hair - in the top left picture, a huge mustache, some massive sideburns, and a soul patch! Apparently there's also one that people think looks like Yao Ming, however, he's not seven feet tall, but he was holding a basketball...
No doubt those peasants were mad at being made to work on constructing this things over the decades. But it does make an impression. Sad and wonderful. They must have been modeled after real people. How did the models get chosen, I wonder?
ReplyDeleteVery cool, thanks for sharing, if I had a bucket list seeing this excavation and the warriors would be on it!
ReplyDelete