OZYMANDIAS (aka Qin Shi Huang)
I met a traveler from an antique land who said:
Two vast and trunkless legs of stone stand in the desert.
Near them, on the sand, half sunk, a shattered visage lies,
Whose frown, and wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read which yet survive,
stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed,
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings;
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains.
Round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1817)
The Terra Cotta Army of the first Emperor, Qin Shi Huang (259-210 BC), is one of the world’s most remarkable archaeological finds. It consists of more than 6,000 life-sized warriors with horses and chariots which are aligned to the east, ready to do battle for the Emperor in the afterlife. Each warrior’s face was sculpted individually from clay, presumably modeled on a real person of that time. No two faces are the same and the features and dress reflect differing ethnic groups within Qin’s empire. Ranging from 5 feet, 8 inches to 6 feet in height, the vivid warriors are clad in armour or short gowns belted at the waist, with leggings and tightly lashed boots. Their weapons consist of bows and arrows, swords, and spears. Military rank is differentiated by uniform as well as hair and head gear. They have been given different postures depending upon their battle position and they were once painted brightly. The clay bodies are hollow and the heads are separate. The necks fit like corks in the collars.
After standing in waiting in their forgotten underground vault for two thousand years, the Terracotta Army was uncovered by chance in 1974 by three local farmers who encountered them while digging a well. The one surviving farmer is a national hero who signs books purchased at the gift shop there.
Three enormous pits were eventually discovered and they have been slowly and carefully excavated. The three pits are now protected by large hangars and the process of excavating and piecing together the broken army is ongoing.
Pit 1 has an area of 14,600 square meters and has 6,000 terracotta warriors at the site on parade in 210-meter-long (689 feet) trenches. There are also exhibits of the army’s terracotta horses, bronze swords, spears, crossbows, and other weapons.
Pit 2 has an area of 6,000 square meters and contains about 1,000 pottery men and horses.
Pit 3 is only 500 square meters large and has 68 warriors and many bronze weapons. It is thought to be the headquarters of the Terra Cotta army and these warriors were in command of the soldiers in the other pits as they protected Qin Shi Huang in the underworld. The bronze blades were somehow coated in chromium, a process which was not rediscovered until the 1950s in the United states. The blades remain sharp enough to cut through 20 pieces of paper
The great army is only a fraction of Qin’s mausoleum. Records indicate that it was an underground microcosm of his capital. Built by 700,000 labourers over 36 years, it covered 56.25 square kilometres and was not completed until after Qin’s death when all of the workers were killed to keep the secret. Shortly afterwards, in 206 BC, during the Han Dynasty takeover, the pits were nevertheless invaded, the valuables removed, the terracotta warriors smashed and the vaults set afire. Then the ruins were forgotten until their rediscovery 2,000 years later.
Doubtless wonders yet await discovery within that huge area, but what has been found staggers the imagination. Almost one hundred pits, containing the skeletons of horses and terra cotta grooms, constituted the emperor's stables where even hay was provided. One pit contains nothing but clay sea creatures, another all kinds of acrobats. Other pits hold clay models of birds and plants and must have represented his parks. Some twenty tombs probably hold the remains of his councillors, retainers, and concubines.
At the center of Qin’s necropolis is a mound that marks the Emperor's own grave which remains unexcavated. The records of Qin’s era say that the tomb contained palaces and pavilions filled with rare gems and other treasures, and it was equipped with crossbows to shoot automatically any intruders. The ceiling was inlaid with pearls to simulate the sun, stars and the moon, the floors and walls were lined with bronze to keep out water. Mercury was pumped in to give the image of flowing rivers; analysis of recent bore drillings indeed indicates dangerous mercury levels in the burial mound.
Qin’s rule was short, yet he abolished the existing feudal system, replacing it with principalities and counties with further townships which were put under the control of officials who were his direct military and administrative appointees. He established a taxation system. As well he introduced coinage, standardized weights and measures, and law codification. He also standardized the written script. New roads radiated from his capital. To strengthen the northern border, he sent slaves and criminals to build the line of defense now known as the Great Wall.
Qin Shi Huang accomplished his works with an iron fist and dissenters were brutally slaughtered along with their entire families. He burned almost all classic works, excluding books on medicine, divination, and agriculture and ordered that the scholars of his time be buried alive.
Oh Ozymandias, king of kings in this eastern land, we do look on your works and despair--for the misery you caused, for the pointlessness of these figures buried here to ensure your rule in the mysterious next world. Your majestic dynasty barely outlasted you, Ozymandias. Yet better than your namesake of the 1817 poem, your works of national unification, survive to this day in the mighty nation that takes your Qin "Chin" name—China.