The first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, was literally obsessed with the idea of finding the elixir of life before he died at the age of 49 in 210 BC. This is evidenced by new archaeological finds.
Artifacts from the well
The Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang Ti, who created the world famous terracotta army, declared a nationwide "hunt" for the mythical potion during his reign. These searches are mentioned in ancient texts written about 2,000 years ago. They were discovered in Hunan province at the bottom of a well in 2002.
Thousands of wooden tablets on which they wrote in China before the invention of paper contain the text of the imperial edict, as well as unsatisfactory answers from local authorities, which indicate that they did not find the key to eternal life. Only in the area of Langya, apparently, it was believed that the herb collected on one of the mountains located there could be useful for creating an elixir of immortality.
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Marine expeditions
The emperor, however, did not limit himself to searches in his domain. At his command, the elixir of life was sought in other places as well. Ancient sources report that the fortuneteller and magician Xu Fu undertook two sea voyages in order to find the mythical mountain-island Penglai, where the inhabitants of heaven lived. It was assumed that the recipe for the coveted elixir can be found there.
The search for a means of giving immortality was not just a whim for Qin Shi Huang. How seriously the emperor took this idea is evidenced by the 8,000 terracotta warriors representing his army, including horses and chariots. When the first Chinese emperor died, all this army was placed in a huge mausoleum to protect the sovereign in the afterlife.
For many centuries, the clay army served regularly, guarding the peace of Qin Shi Huang, until chance intervened.
One of the greatest archaeological discoveries
In the spring of 1974, Yang Zhifa, a peasant in the Chinese province of Shaanxi, was digging a well with five brothers and a neighbor. Suddenly, their shovels hit the terracotta head, which they mistook for the head of a Buddha statue. What Chinese peasants accidentally discovered turned out to be one of the most significant archaeological finds of the 20th century.
Fortunately, the peak of the "cultural revolution" has already passed in the country, when historical monuments, at least somehow connected with the monarchical period, were barbarously destroyed. Now China has started to invest in tourism and the creation of new museums. Thus, Qin Shi Huang's terracotta army was saved from destruction.
Today, the excavation site is visited by at least 1.5 million tourists annually to inspect the mausoleum, which is sometimes called the eighth wonder of the world. And there really is something to see.
The scale of the mausoleum is comparable to the area of the ancient city. The core of the burial complex is the pyramid, which once rose by 100 m. Now it is much lower, but still clearly visible.
As for the terracotta army, it was supposed to guard the secrets of the underground empire of Qin Shi Huang. And it looks like she does a great job with this task. After all, the tomb of Qin Shi Huang is not open until this moment.
Secrets of the ruler
It is assumed that the cause of the emperor's death was poisoning with mercury, which, as it was believed in antiquity, was added to drinks by sages who lived for thousands of years. Probably, the emperor, obsessed with the idea of immortality, could have tried this "miraculous" recipe on himself.
It is not yet possible to establish the truth, since the entrance to the tomb remains sealed. The researchers fear that exposure to the air could cause irreparable damage to it. Their concern is justified, since at the beginning of the excavation the varnish with which the figures of the terracotta warriors were covered curled up within 15 seconds after contact with the air.
In addition, the ancient chronicles say that the emperor's burial chamber is surrounded by a river of mercury and crossbow bows. To what extent this is true is unknown. But the eternal sleep of Qin Shi Huang, the builder of the Great Wall of China and the creator of the terracotta army, has not yet been broken.
Svetlana Chambi