On July 11, 1974, a mass grave of terracotta statues of warriors and their horses was discovered in northern China. The find was made quite by accident by peasants who were drilling an artesian well. In total, there were more than 8,000 figures underground, each weighing 135 kilograms. UNESCO included the unique find in the World Heritage List, it has become one of the main Chinese attractions. Why Emperor Qin Shi Huang needed an army of immobile soldiers, diletant will tell. media.
Qin Shi Huang Ti (259 BC - 210 BC) went down in history as the emperor who managed to unite the Chinese lands and become the sole ruler of the state. He took the conquered kingdoms under tight control. During his reign, a single road network was built and a single monetary system was introduced.
Qin Shi Huang Ti gravitated towards grandiose buildings that were supposed to demonstrate his greatness. So, several hundred thousand people erected the magnificent Epan Palace for him. The emperor completed the Great Wall of China: the power of the empire haunted its neighbors, such a strengthening was a necessity. The grandiose construction, conceived by Shi Huang, fell on the shoulders of the population with heavy oppression.
The emperor became the founder of a new dynasty, which, as he assumed, would rule for ten thousand years - at least. He was convinced that there was no equal to her in the whole world, and the greatness of this dynasty should be immortalized. Therefore, after becoming emperor, the first thing he did was to order the construction of his own tomb. It was erected by at least 700 thousand people. The idea of the architectural ensemble of the tomb was truly grandiose.
Why did Shi Huang decide to bury thousands of warrior statues with him? There is evidence that he was terrified of death. At first, he planned to take living soldiers with him to the next world, but this would weaken the Chinese army. Then Shi Huang decided to replace them with terracotta statues that would protect him in the afterlife. By the way, in addition to the statues, his concubines and tens of thousands of workers were buried alive with the emperor. Numerous jewels were also placed in the tomb.
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Each warrior from the 8,000-strong army of Shihuang is unique - everyone has different facial features. The best defenders of the emperor served as prototypes. Researchers have found that the appearance of the terracotta fighters reflects the motley ethnic composition of the Chinese army. The height of the statues is about 2 meters. The clay warriors face east, where the emperor made major conquests. Each terracotta fighter has his own outfit. The spears and swords in their hands were originally real, but a few years later the necropolis was plundered and the weapons were replaced with bronze counterparts. There are also chariots drawn by four horses underground.
The warriors are arranged in three rows. There are infantrymen, archers, horsemen, officers. Acrobats and musicians accompany the silent army. Craftsmen worked on the statues by hand in different regions of China. They were made from red clay. The figures were placed in an oven, after which they were varnished and painted.
The Terracotta Army is often called the eighth wonder of the world. The extraction of the statues continues to this day. At the moment, more than 500 statues and 100 figures of horses have been removed from the imperial necropolis.
Thousands of people come to see the unique figures every year. On some days, at the entrance to the exhibition, guests are greeted by a farmer who in 1974 found fragments of clay statues on his territory, marking the beginning of the largest archaeological discovery.