wohnzimmer wand terrakotta
what happens after death? is there a restful paradise? an eternal torment? a rebirth? or maybe just nothingness? well, one chinese emperor thoughtthat whatever the hereafter was, he better bring an army. we know that because in 1974, farmers digging a well near their small village
stumbled upon one of the most importantfinds in archeological history: vast underground chamberssurrounding that emperor's tomb, and containing more than 8,000life-size clay soldiers ready for battle. the story of the subterranean armybegins with ying zheng, who came to power as the kingof the qin state at the age of 13 in 246 bce. ambitious and ruthless, he would go on to becomeqin shi huangdi, the first emperor of chinaafter uniting its seven warring kingdoms.
his 36 year reign saw many historic accomplishments, including a universal systemof weights and measures, a single standardized writing scriptfor all of china, and a defensive barrier that wouldlater come to be known as the great wall. but perhaps qin shi huangdidedicated so much effort to securing his historical legacy because he was obsessed with his mortality. he spent his last yearsdesperately employing alchemists and deploying expeditionsin search of elixirs of life
that would help him achieve immortality. and as early as the first year of his reign, he began the construction of a massiveunderground necropolis filled with monuments, artifacts, and an army to accompany himinto the next world and continue his rule. this magnificent army is still standingin precise battle formation and is split across several pits. one contains a main forceof 6,000 soldiers,
each weighing several hundred pounds, a second has more than 130 war chariotsand over 600 horses, and a third houses the high command. an empty fourth pit suggeststhat the grand project could not be finished before the emperor's death. in addition, nearby chambers containfigures of musicians and acrobats, workers and government officials, and various exotic animals, indicating that emperor qinhad more plans for the afterlife
than simply waging war. all the figurines are sculptedfrom terracotta, or baked earth, a type of reddish brown clay. to construct them, multiple workshopsand reportedly over 720,000 laborers were commandeered by the emperor, including groups of artisans who moldedeach body part separately to construct statues as individual asthe real warriors in the emperor's army. they stand according to rank and feature different weapons and uniforms,
distinct hairstyles and expressions, and even unique ears. originally, each warrior was paintedin bright colors, but their exposure to aircaused the paint to dry and flake, leaving only the terracotta base. it is for this very reason that anotherchamber less than a mile away has not been excavated. this is the actual tomb ofqin shi huangdi, reported to contain palaces,precious stones and artifacts,
and even rivers of mercuryflowing through mountains of bronze. but until a way can be found to expose itwithout damaging the treasures inside, the tomb remains sealed. emperor qin was not alone in wantingcompany for his final destination. ancient egyptian tombs contain clay modelsrepresenting the ideal afterlife, the dead of japan's kofun period were buried with sculptures of horses and houses, and the graves of the jaina islandoff the mexican coast are full of ceramic figurines.
fortunately, as ruthless as he was, emperor qin chose to have servantsand soldiers built for this purpose, rather than sacrificing living onesto accompany him, as had been practiced in egypt,west africa, anatolia, parts of north america and even china during the previous shang and zhou dynasties. and today, people travel from all overthe world to see these stoic soldiers silently awaiting their battle orders for centuries to come.