The site of Jericho, just north of the Dead Sea and due west of the Jordan River, is one of the oldest continuously lived-in cities in the world. The reason for this may be found in its Arabic name, Ārīḥā, which means fragrant; Jericho is a natural oasis in the desert where countless fresh water springs can be found. This resource, which drew its first visitors between 10,000 and 9000 B.C.E., still has descendants that live there today.
Biblical reference
The site of Jericho is best known for its identity in the Bible and this has drawn pilgrims and explorers to it as early as the 4th century C.E.; serious archaeological exploration didn’t begin until the latter half of the 19th century. What continues to draw archaeologists to Jericho today is the hope of finding some evidence of the warrior Joshua, who led the Israelites to an unlikely victory against the Canaanites (“the walls of the city fell when Joshua and his men marched around them blowing horns” Joshua 6:1-27). Although unequivocal evidence of Joshua himself has yet to be found, what has been uncovered are some 12,000 years of human activity.
The most spectacular finds at Jericho, however, do not date to the time of Joshua, roughly the Bronze Age (3300-1200 B.C.E.), but rather to the earliest part of the Neolithic era, before even the technology to make pottery had been discovered.
Old walls
The site of Jericho rises above the wide plain of the Jordan Valley, its height the result of layer upon layer of human habitation, a formation called a Tell. The earliest visitors to the site who left remains (stone tools) came in the Mesolithic period (around 9000 B.C.E.) but the first settlement at the site, around the Ein as-Sultan spring, dates to the early Neolithic era, and these people, who built homes, grew plants, and kept animals, were among the earliest to do such anywhere in the world. Specifically, in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A levels at Jericho (8500-7000 B.C.E.) archaeologists found remains of a very large settlement of circular homes made with mud brick and topped with domed roofs.
As the name of this era implies, these early people at Jericho had not yet figured out how to make pottery, but they made vessels out of stone, wove cloth and for tools were trading for a particularly useful kind of stone, obsidian, from as far away as Çiftlik, in eastern Turkey. The settlement grew quickly and, for reasons unknown, the inhabitants soon constructed a substantial stone wall and exterior ditch around their town, complete with a stone tower almost eight meters high, set against the inner side of the wall. Theories as to the function of this wall range from military defense to keeping out animal predators to even combating the natural rising of the level of the ground surrounding the settlement. However, regardless of its original use, here we have the first version of the walls Joshua so ably conquered some six thousand years later.
The city of Çatalhöyük points to one of man’s most important transformations, from nomad to settled farmer.
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Çatalhöyük or Çatal Höyük (pronounced “cha-tal hay OOK”) is not the oldest site of the Neolithic era or the largest, but it is extremely important to the beginning of art. Located near the modern city of Konya in south central Turkey, it was inhabited 9000 years ago by up to 8000 people who lived together in a large town. Çatalhöyük, across its history, witnesses the transition from exclusively hunting and gathering subsistence to increasing skill in plant and animal domestication. We might see Çatalhöyük as a site whose history is about one of man’s most important transformations: from nomad to settler. It is also a site at which we see art, both painting and sculpture, appear to play a newly important role in the lives of settled people.
Çatalhöyük had no streets or foot paths; the houses were built right up against each other and the people who lived in them traveled over the town’s rooftops and entered their homes through holes in the roofs, climbing down a ladder. Communal ovens were built above the homes of Çatalhöyük and we can assume group activities were performed in this elevated space as well.
Like at Jericho, the deceased were placed under the floors or platforms in houses and sometimes the skulls were removed and plastered to resemble live faces. The burials at Çatalhöyük show no significant variations, either based on wealth or gender; the only bodies which were treated differently, decorated with beads and covered with ochre, were those of children. The excavator of Çatalhöyük believes that this special concern for youths at the site may be a reflection of the society becoming more sedentary and required larger numbers of children because of increased labor, exchange, and inheritance needs.
Art is everywhere among the remains of Çatalhöyük—geometric designs as well as representations of animals and people. Repeated lozenges and zigzags dance across smooth plaster walls, people are sculpted in clay, pairs of leopards are formed in relief facing one another at the sides of rooms, hunting parties are painted baiting a wild bull. The volume and variety of art at Çatalhöyük is immense and must be understood as a vital, functional part of the everyday lives of its ancient inhabitants.
Ziggurats
Architecture: Power for Gods and Men
A general view of the Uruk archaeological site at Warka in Iraq in the 4th millennium B.C.E. (c. 3200–3000 B.C.E.), Uruk in Mesopotamia was a city with a population of some 40,000 residents and another 80–90,000 working the fields in the environs. It was by far the greatest urban locus in the world at that time. The sheer power of Uruk’s agricultural wealth supported a larger population and afforded greater trade, all of which led to building on a monumental scale. Uruk was not alone; many of the city-states in the Ancient Near East had enormous buildings commissioned by the priestly class who controlled the agricultural surplus. This was a theocratic society—ruled by the priestly elite. Part of the power of this elite was their prominent representation in art. These, together with images of gods, were powerful symbols of power over vast groups of people.
The architecture of the Ancient Near East is among the first in the world to aim for monumental scale. Monumental architecture works in two ways: first, as something to look at in wonder because of its massive size and how it makes the viewer feel small next to it. Second, monumental architecture is powerful human-made topography, like building your own mountain to stand on top of it. In a region like southern Mesopotamia that is flat and marshy, to erect a massive structure, reaching skyward, mountain-like, would have seemed an accomplishment only a god could ordain. An example of just such a structure is the White Temple and Ziggurat at Uruk.
Not only did the White Temple and Ziggurat rise from the surrounding plane like a human-made peak but climbing the carefully constructed stairs to the elevated plateau and looking down offered a brand new sense of geographical and human domination. Only a god and his theocratic colleagues on earth could see to the creation of something so massive and this power would have been intensely felt by those holding that high ground. As a layperson, confronting that power would be humbling.
The Great Ziggurat of Ur has been reconstructed twice, in antiquity and in the 1980s—what’s left of the original?
The Great Ziggurat
The ziggurat is the most distinctive architectural invention of the Ancient Near East. Like an ancient Egyptian pyramid, an ancient Near Eastern ziggurat has four sides and rises up to the realm of the gods. However, unlike Egyptian pyramids, the exterior of ziggurats were not smooth but tiered to accommodate the work which took place at the structure, as well as the administrative oversight and religious rituals essential to Ancient Near Eastern cities. Ziggurats are found scattered around what is today Iraq and Iran, and stand as an imposing testament to the power and skill of the ancient culture that produced them.
One of the largest and best-preserved ziggurats of Mesopotamia is the Great Ziggurat at Ur. Small excavations occurred at the site around the turn of the twentieth century, and in the 1920s Sir Leonard Woolley, in a joint project with the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia and the British Museum in London, revealed the monument in its entirety.
What Woolley found was a massive rectangular pyramidal structure, oriented to true north, 210 x 150 feet (64 x 46 meters), constructed with three levels of terraces, standing originally between 70 x 100 feet (21 x 30 meters) high. Three monumental staircases led up to a gate at the first terrace level. Next, a single staircase rose to a second terrace which supported a platform on which a temple and the final and highest terrace stood. The core of the ziggurat is made of mud brick covered with baked bricks laid with bitumen, a naturally occurring tar. Each of the baked bricks measured about 11.5 x 11.5 x 2.75 inches (29 x 29 x 7 cm) and weighed as much as 33 pounds. The lower portion of the ziggurat, which supported the first terrace, would have used some 720,000 baked bricks. The resources needed to build the ziggurat at Ur are staggering.
The Babylonians rose to power in the late 7th century and were heirs to the urban traditions which had long existed in southern Mesopotamia. They eventually ruled an empire as dominant in the Near East as that held by the Assyrians before them.
This period is called Neo-Babylonian (or new Babylonia) because Babylon had also risen to power earlier and became an independent city-state, most famously during the reign of King Hammurabi.
In the art of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, we see an effort to invoke the styles and iconography of the 3rd-millennium rulers of Babylonia. In fact, one Neo-Babylonian king, Nabonidus, found a statue of Sargon of Akkad, set it in a temple and provided it with regular offerings.
The Neo-Babylonians are most famous for their architecture, notably at their capital city, Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar II largely rebuilt this ancient city including its walls and seven gates. It is also during this era that Nebuchadnezzar II purportedly built the “Hanging Gardens of Babylon” for his wife because she missed the gardens of her homeland in Media (modern day Iran). Though mentioned by ancient Greek and Roman writers, the “Hanging Gardens” may, in fact, be legendary.
The Ishtar Gate (today in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin) was the most elaborate of the inner city gates constructed in Babylon in antiquity. The whole gate was covered in lapis lazuli glazed bricks which would have rendered the façade with a jewel-like shine. Alternating rows of lion and cattle march in a relief procession across the gleaming blue surface of the gate.
Dr. Senta German, “The Ishtar Gate and Neo-Babylonian art and architecture,” in Smarthistory, August 8, 2015, accessed March 19, 2024, https://smarthistory.org/neo-babylonian/.
Persepolis
Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Persian empire, lies some 60 km northeast of Shiraz, Iran. The earliest archaeological remains of the city date to c. 515 B.C.E. Persepolis, a Greek toponym meaning “city of the Persians”, was known to the Persians as Pārsa and was an important city of the ancient world, renowned for its monumental art and architecture. The site was excavated by German archaeologists Ernst Herzfeld, Friedrich Krefter, and Erich Schmidt between 1931 and 1939. Its remains are striking even today, leading UNESCO to register the site as a World Heritage Site in 1979.
Persepolis was intentionally founded in the Marvdašt Plain during the later part of the sixth century B.C.E. It was marked as a special site by Darius the Great in 518 B.C.E. when he indicated the location of a “Royal Hill” that would serve as a ceremonial center and citadel for the city. This was an action on Darius’ part that was similar to the earlier king Cyrus the Great who had founded the city of Pasargadae. Darius the Great directed a massive building program at Persepolis that would continue under his successors Xerxes and Artaxerxes I. Persepolis would remain an important site until it was sacked, looted, and burned under Alexander the Great of Macedon in 330 B.C.E.
Darius’ program at Persepolis including the building of a massive terraced platform covering 125,000 square meters of the promontory. This platform supported four groups of structures: residential quarters, a treasury, ceremonial palaces, and fortifications. Scholars continue to debate the purpose and nature of the site. Primary sources indicate that Darius saw himself building an important stronghold. Some scholars suggest that the site has a sacred connection to the god Mithra (Mehr), as well as links to the Nowruz, the Persian New Year’s festival. More general readings see Persepolis as an important administrative and economic center of the Persian empire.
Apādana
The Apādana palace is a large ceremonial building, likely an audience hall with an associated portico. The audience hall itself is hypostyle in its plan, meaning that the roof of the structure is supported by columns. Apādana is the Persian term equivalent to the Greek hypostyle (Ancient Greek: ὑπόστυλος hypóstȳlos). The footprint of the Apādana is c. 1,000 square meters; originally 72 columns, each standing to a height of 24 meters, supported the roof (only 14 columns remain standing today). The column capitals assumed the form of either twin-headed bulls (above), eagles or lions, all animals represented royal authority and kingship.
The king of the Achaemenid Persian empire is presumed to have received guests and tribute in this soaring, imposing space. To that end a sculptural program decorates monumental stairways on the north and east. The theme of that program is one that pays tribute to the Persian king himself as it depicts representatives of 23 subject nations bearing gifts to the king.
The Apādana stairs and sculptural program
The monumental stairways that approach the Apādana from the north and the east were adorned with registers of relief sculpture that depicted representatives of the twenty-three subject nations of the Persian empire bringing valuable gifts as tribute to the king. The sculptures form a processional scene, leading some scholars to conclude that the reliefs capture the scene of actual, annual tribute processions—perhaps on the occasion of the Persian New Year–that took place at Persepolis. The relief program of the northern stairway was perhaps completed c. 500–490 B.C.E. The two sets of stairway reliefs mirror and complement each other. Each program has a central scene of the enthroned king flanked by his attendants and guards
Noblemen wearing elite outfits and military apparel are also present. The representatives of the twenty-three nations, each led by an attendant, bring tribute while dressed in costumes suggestive of their land of origin. Margaret Root interprets the central scenes of the enthroned king as the focal point of the overall composition, perhaps even reflecting events that took place within the Apādana itself.
The relief program of the Apādana serves to reinforce and underscore the power of the Persian king and the breadth of his dominion. The motif of subjugated peoples contributing their wealth to the empire’s central authority serves to visually cement this political dominance. These processional scenes may have exerted influence beyond the Persian sphere, as some scholars have discussed the possibility that Persian relief sculpture from Persepolis may have influenced Athenian sculptors of the fifth century B.C.E. who were tasked with creating the Ionic frieze of the Parthenon in Athens. In any case, the Apādana, both as a building and as an ideological tableau, make clear and strong statements about the authority of the Persian king and present a visually unified idea of the immense Achaemenid empire.
Petra was a well-developed city and contained many of the buildings and urban infrastructure that one would expect of a Hellenistic city. Recent archaeological work has radically reshaped our understanding of downtown Petra. Most of Petra’s great tombs and buildings were built before the Roman Empire annexed it in 106 C.E.
Petra had a large theater, which was probably built during the reign of Aretas IV, as well as a monumental colonnaded street. Important buildings graced both sides of the Wadi. On the south side of the street was a nymphaeum and a series of monumental spaces, which were once identified as markets. The so-called Lower Market has recently been excavated and shown to be a garden-pool complex. This stood adjacent to so-called Great Temple of Petra. Within the cella, or inner sanctuary room, of the Great Temple, a series of stone seats were discovered; this may suggest that the structure was not a temple, but an audience hall at least for part of its history.
Baths were also located in its vicinity. Opposite the so-called Great Temple is the Temple of Winged Lions, from which a unique god block of a female goddess was recovered. Column capitals at Petra are truly unique in part for their carvings of winged lions and elephants.
Just to the west, past a gate in a temenos, or sacred precinct, was the Qasr el-Bint, the most important temple in the city. It was also probably built under Aretas the IV, but we do not know to which gods the Qasr el-Bint was dedicated. Petra is also filled with more mundane architecture, including domestic residences, as well as the all-important water-catchment and storage systems that allowed life and agriculture to flourish here.
One of many Nabataean sites
Petra is often seen in isolation; in fact, it was one of many Nabataean sites; the Nabataean lands stretched from the Sinai and Negev in the west, as far north as Damascus at one point, and as far south as Egra, modern-day Madain Saleh, in Northern Saudi Arabia, which also had numerous rock-cut tombs, amongst others. At Egra an inscription attests to the presence of a Roman Legion at the site, marking the city as the southern most boundary of the Roman Empire in the Antonine Era. Khirbet et-Tannur was a major sanctuary in central Jordan; many of its reliefs are in the Cincinnati Museum of Art today.
The Nabataeans took an active role in their architectural and artistic creations, drawing upon the artistic vocabulary of the Hellenistic world and the ancient Near East. Rather than copying either one of these traditions, the Nabataeans actively selected and adopted certain elements for their tombs, dining pavilions, and temples to suit their needs and purposes, on both the group and individual level. Indeed, the Treasury and the Monastery could only have been conceived of and executed in Petra.
The Standard of Ur is a fascinating rectangular box-like object which, through intricate mosaic scenes, presents the violence and grandeur of Sumerian kingship. It is made up of two long flat panels of wood (and two short sides) and is covered with bitumen (a naturally occurring petroleum substance, essentially tar) in which small pieces of carved shell, red limestone, and lapis lazuli were set. It is thought to be a military standard, something common in battle for thousands of years: a readily visible object held high on a pole in the midst of the combat and paraded in victory to symbolize the army (or individual divisions of the army) of a war lord or general. Although we don’t know if this object ever saw the melee of battle, it certainly witnessed a grisly scene when it was deposited in one of the royal graves at the site of Ur in the mid-3rd millennium B.C.E.
In the 1920s the British archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley worked extensively at Ur and in 1926 he uncovered a huge cemetery of nearly 2,000 burials spread over an area of 70 x 55 m (230 x 180 ft). Most graves were modest, however a group of sixteen were identified by Woolley as royal tombs because of their wealthier grave goods and treatment at interment.
Each of these tombs contained a chamber of limestone rubble with a vaulted roof of mud bricks. The main burial of the tomb was placed in this chamber and surrounded by treasure (offerings of copper, gold, silver and jewelry of lapis lazuli, carnelian, agate, and shell). The main burial was also accompanied by several other bodies in the tomb, a mass grave outside the chamber, often called the Death Pit. We assume that all these individuals were sacrificed at the time of the main burial in a horrific scene of deference.
One of the royal graves (PG779) had four chambers but no death pit. It had been plundered in antiquity but one room was largely untouched and had the remains of at least four individuals. In the corner of this room the remains of the Standard of Ur were found. One of its long sides was found lying face down in the soil with the other one face up, which lead Woolley to conclude that it was a hollow structure; additional inlay were found on either side of the short ends and appeared to fill a triangular shape and which lead to the Standard being reconstructed with its sloping sides. The remains of the Standard were found above the right shoulder of a man whom Woolley thought had carried it attached to a pole. The identification of this object as a military standard is by no means secure; the hollow shape could just as easily have been the sound box of a stringed instrument, such as the Queen’s Lyre found in an adjacent tomb.
War and peace
The two sides of the Standard appear to be the two poles of Sumerian kingship, war and peace. The war side was found face up and is divided into three registers (bands), read from the bottom up, left to right. The story begins at the bottom with war carts, each with a spearman and driver, drawn by donkeys trampling fallen enemies, distinguished by their nudity and wounds, which drip with blood. The middle band shows a group of soldiers wearing fur cloaks and carrying spears walking to the right while bound, naked enemies are executed and paraded to the top band where more are killed.
In the center of the top register, we find the king, holding a long spear, physically larger than everyone else, so much so, his head breaks the frame of the scene. Behind him are attendants carrying spears and battle axes and his royal war cart ready for him to jump in. There is a sense of a triumphal moment on the battlefield, when the enemy is vanquished and the victorious king is relishing his win. There is no reason to believe that this is a particular battle or king as there is nothing which identifies it as such; we think it is more of a generic image of a critically important aspect of Ancient Near Eastern kingship.
The opposite peace panel also illustrates a cumulative moment, that of the celebration of the king, this time for great agricultural abundance which is afforded by peace. Again, beginning at the bottom left, we see men carrying produce on their shoulders and in bags and leading donkeys. In the central band, men lead bulls, sheep and goats, and carry fish. In the top register a grand feast is taking place, complete with comfortable seating and musical accompaniment.
On the left, the largest figure, the king, is seated wearing a richly flounce fur skirt, again so large, even seated, he breaks the frame. Was it an epic tale of battle that the singer on the far right is performing for entertainment as he plays a bull’s head lyre, again, like the Queen’s Lyre? We will never know but certainly such powerful images of Sumerian kingship tell us that whomever ended his life with the Standard of Ur on his shoulder was willing to give his life in a ritual of kingly burial.
Dr. Senta German, “Standard of Ur and other objects from the Royal Graves,” in Smarthistory, July 26, 2023, accessed March 21, 2024, https://smarthistory.org/standard-of-ur-2/.
Victory Stele of Naram-Sin
Naram-Sin leads his victorious army up a mountain, as vanquished Lullubi people fall before him.
Video URL: https://youtu.be/OY79AuGZDNI?si=7lQRgzVlhmLbbwL6
This monument depicts the Akkadian victory over the Lullubi Mountain people. In the 12th century B.C.E., a thousand years after it was originally made, the Elamite king, Shutruk-Nahhunte, attacked Babylon and, according to his later inscription, the stele was taken to Susa in what is now Iran. A stele is a vertical stone monument or marker often inscribed with text or relief carving.
Hinduism developed over many centuries from a variety of sources: cultural practices, sacred texts, and philosophical movements, as well as local popular beliefs. The combination of these factors is what accounts for the varied and diverse nature of Hindu practices and beliefs. Hinduism developed from several sources.
Prehistoric and Neolithic culture, which left material evidence including abundant rock and cave paintings of bulls and cows, indicating an early interest in the sacred nature of these animals. (3)
The Hindu Theology of Samsara
Common to virtually all Hindus are certain beliefs, including, but not limited to, the following:
Belief in many gods, which are seen as manifestations of a single unity. These deities are linked to universal and natural processes.
Preference for one deity while not excluding or disbelieving others.
Belief in the universal law of cause and effect (karma) and reincarnation.
Belief in the possibility of liberation and release (moksha) by which the endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth (samsara) can be resolved. (3)
The concept of Samsara is reincarnation, the idea that after we die our soul will be reborn again in another body — perhaps in an animal, perhaps as a human, perhaps as a god, but always in a regular cycle of deaths and resurrections.
Another concept is Karma , which literally means “action,” the idea that all actions have consequences, good or bad. Karma determines the conditions of the next life, just like our life is conditioned by our previous karma. There is no judgement or forgiveness, simply an impersonal, natural and eternal law operating in the universe. Those who do good will be reborn in better conditions while those who are evil will be reborn in worse conditions.
Dharma means “right behavior” or “duty,” the idea that we all have a social obligation. Each member of a specific caste has a particular set of responsibilities, a dharma. For example, among the Kshatriyas (the warrior caste), it was considered a sin to die in bed; dying in the battlefield was the highest honor they could aim for. In other words, dharma encouraged people of different social groups to perform their duties as best as they could.
Moksha means “liberation” or release. The eternal cycle of deaths and resurrection can be seen as a pointless repetition with no ultimate goal attached to it. Seeking permanent peace or freedom from suffering seems impossible, for sooner or later we will be reborn in worse circumstances. Moksha is the liberation from this never-ending cycle of reincarnation, a way to escape this repetition. But what would it mean to escape from this cycle? What is it that awaits the soul that manages to be released from samsara? To answer this question we need to look into the concept of atman and Brahman.
The Upanishads tell us that the core of our own self is not the body, or the mind, but atman or “ Self ”. Atman is the core of all creatures, their innermost essence. It can only be perceived by direct experience through meditation. It is when we are at the deepest level of our existence.
Brahman is the one underlying substance of the universe, the unchanging “ Absolute Being ”, the intangible essence of the entire existence. It is the undying and unchanging seed that creates and sustains everything. It is beyond all description and intellectual understanding.
One of the great insights of the Upanishads is that atman and Brahman are made of the same substance. When a person achieves moksha or liberation, atman returns to Brahman, to the source, like a drop of water returning to the ocean. The Upanishads claim that it is an illusion that we are all separate: with this realization we can be freed from ego, from reincarnation and from the suffering we experience during our existence. Moksha, in a sense, means to be reabsorbed into Brahman, into the great World Soul. (4)
The following passage explains in metaphorical terms the idea that atman and Brahman are the same:
“As the same fire assumes different shapes When it consumes objects differing in shape, So does the one Self take the shape Of every creature in whom he is present.” (Katha Upanishad II.2.9 (4) )
How is moksha achieved?
There are many ways according to the Upanishads: Meditation, introspection, and also from the knowledge that behind all forms and veils the subjective and objective are One, that we are all part of the Whole. In general, the Upanishads agree on the idea that men are naturally ignorant about the ultimate identity between atman, the self within, and Brahman. One of the goals of meditation is to achieve this identification with Brahman, and abandon the ignorance that arises from the identification with the illusory or quasi-illusory nature of the common sense world. (4)
Caste System in Ancient India
Ancient India in the Vedic Period (c. 1500—1000 BCE) did not have social stratification based on socio-economic indicators; rather, citizens were classified according to their Varna or castes. ‘Varna’ defines the hereditary roots of a newborn; it indicates the color, type, order or class of people.
Vaishyas (agriculturalists, traders, etc., also called Vysyas)
Shudras (laborers)
Each Varna propounds specific life principles to follow; newborns are required to follow the customs, rules, conduct, and beliefs fundamental to their respective Varnas. (5)The lowest caste was the Dalits, the untouchables, who handled meat and waste, though there is some debate over whether this class existed in antiquity. At first, it seems this caste system was merely a reflection of one’s occupation but, in time, it became more rigidly interpreted to be determined by one’s birth and one was not allowed to change castes nor to marry into a caste other than one’s own. This understanding was a reflection of the belief in an eternal order to human life dictated by a supreme deity. (6)
Purpose of the Varna System
The caste system in ancient India had been executed and acknowledged during, and ever since, the Vedic period that thrived around 1500—1000 BCE. The segregation of people based on their Varna was intended to decongest the responsibilities of one’s life, preserve the purity of a caste, and establish eternal order.
The underlying reason for adhering to Varna duties is the belief in the attainment of moksha on being dutiful. Belief in the concept of Karma reinforces the belief in the Varna life principles. As per the Vedas, it is the ideal duty of a human to seek freedom from subsequent birth and death and rid oneself of the transmigration of the soul, and this is possible when one follows the duties and principles of one’s respective Varna. According to the Vedas, consistent encroachment on others’ life responsibilities engenders an unstable society. Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras form the fourfold nature of society, each assigned appropriate life duties and ideal disposition. Men of the first three hierarchical castes are called the twice-born; first, born of their parents, and second, of their guru after the sacred thread initiation they wear over their shoulders. The Varna system is seemingly embryonic in the Vedas, later elaborated and amended in the Upanishads and Dharma Shastras. (5)
Varna System: Brahmins
Brahmins were revered as an incarnation of knowledge itself, endowed with the precepts and sermons to be discharged to all Varnas of society. They were not just revered because of their Brahmin birth but also their renunciation of worldly life and cultivation of divine qualities, assumed to be always engrossed in the contemplation of Brahman, hence called Brahmins. Priests, gurus, rishis, teachers, and scholars constituted the Brahmin community. They would always live through the Brahmacharya (celibacy) vow ordained for them. Even married Brahmins were called Brahmachari (celibate) by virtue of having intercourse only for reproducing and remaining mentally detached from the act. However, anyone from other Varnas could also become a Brahmin after extensive acquisition of knowledge and cultivation of one’s intellect.
Brahmins were the foremost choice as tutors for the newborn because they represent the link between sublime knowledge of the gods and the four Varnas. This way, since the ancestral wisdom is sustained through guru-disciple practice, all citizens born in each Varna would remain rooted to the requirements of their lives. Normally, Brahmins were the personification of contentment and dispellers of ignorance, leading all seekers to the zenith of supreme knowledge, however, under exceptions; they lived as warriors, traders, or agriculturists in severe adversity. The ones bestowed with the titles of Brahma Rishi or Maha Rishi were requested to counsel kings and their kingdoms’ administration. All Brahmin men were allowed to marry women of the first three Varnas, whereas marrying a Shudra woman would, marginally, bereft the Brahmin of his priestly status. Nevertheless, a Shudra woman would not be rejected if the Brahmin consented.
Brahmin women, contrary to the popular belief of their subordination to their husbands, were, in fact, more revered for their chastity and treated with unequalled respect. As per Manu Smriti, a Brahmin woman must only marry a Brahmin and no other, but she remains free to choose the man. She, under rare circumstances, is allowed to marry a Kshatriya or a Vaishya, but marrying a Shudra man is restricted. The restrictions in inter-caste marriages are to avoid subsequent impurity of progeny born of the matches. A man of a particular caste marrying a woman of a higher caste is considered an imperfect match, culminating in ignoble offspring. (5)
Varna System: Kshatriyas
Kshatriyas constituted the warrior clan, the kings, rulers of territories, administrators, etc. It was paramount for a Kshatriya to learn weaponry, warfare, penance, austerity, administration, moral conduct, justice, and ruling. All Kshatriyas would be sent to a Brahmin’s ashram from an early age until they became wholly equipped with requisite knowledge. Besides austerities like the Brahmins, they would gain additional knowledge of administration. Their fundamental duty was to protect their territory, defend against attacks, deliver justice, govern virtuously, and extend peace and happiness to all their subjects, and they would take counsel in matters of territorial sovereignty and ethical dilemmas from their Brahmin gurus. They were allowed to marry a woman of all Varnas with mutual consent. Although a Kshatriya or a Brahmin woman would be the first choice, Shudra women were not barred from marrying a Kshatriya.
Kshatriya women, like their male counterparts, were equipped with masculine disciplines, fully acquainted with warfare, rights to discharge duties in the king’s absence, and versed in the affairs of the kingdom. Contrary to popular belief, a Kshatriya woman was equally capable of defending a kingdom in times of distress and imparting warfare skills to her descendants. The lineage of a Kshatriya king was kept pure to ensure continuity on the throne and claim sovereignty over territories. (5)
Varna System: Vaishyas
Vaishya is the third Varna represented by agriculturalists, traders, money lenders, and those involved in commerce. Vaishyas are also the twice-born and go to the Brahmins’ ashram to learn the rules of a virtuous life and to refrain from intentional or accidental misconduct. Cattle rearing was one of the most esteemed occupations of the Vaishyas, as the possession and quality of a kingdom’s cows, elephants, horses, and their upkeep affected the quality of life and the associated prosperity of the citizens.
Vaishyas would work in close coordination with the administrators of the kingdom to discuss, implement, and constantly upgrade the living standards by providing profitable economic prospects. Because their life conduct exposes them to objects of immediate gratification, their tendency to overlook the law and despise the weak is perceived as probable. Hence, the Kshatriya king would be most busy with resolving disputes originating of conflicts among Vaishyas.
Vaishya women, too, supported their husbands in business, cattle rearing, and agriculture, and shared the burden of work. They were equally free to choose a spouse of their choice from the four Varnas, albeit selecting a Shudra was earnestly resisted. Vaishya women enjoyed protection under the law, and remarriage was undoubtedly normal, just as in the other three Varnas. A Vaishya woman had equal rights over ancestral properties in case of the untimely death of her husband, and she would be equally liable for the upbringing of her children with support from her husband. (5)
Varna System: Shudras
The last Varna represents the backbone of a prosperous economy, in which they are revered for their dutiful conduct toward life duties set out for them. Scholarly views on Shudras are the most varied since there seemingly are more restrictions on their conduct. However, Atharva Veda allows Shudras to hear and learn the Vedas by heart, and the Mahabharata, supports the inclusion of Shudras in ashrams and their learning the Vedas . Becoming officiating priests in sacrifices organized by kings was, however, to a large extent restricted. Shudras are not the twice-born, hence they are not required to wear the sacred thread like the other Varnas. A Shudra man was only allowed to marry a Shudra woman, but a Shudra woman was allowed to marry from any of the four Varnas.
Shudras would serve the Brahmins in their ashrams, Kshatriyas in their palaces and princely camps, and Vaishyas in their commercial activities. Although they are the feet of the primordial being, educated citizens of higher Varnas would always regard them as a crucial segment of society, for an orderly society would be easily compromised if the feet were weak. Shudras, on the other hand, obeyed the orders of their masters, because their knowledge of attaining moksha by embracing their prescribed duties encouraged them to remain loyal. Shudra women, too, worked as attendants and close companions of the queen and would go with her after marriage to other kingdoms. Many Shudras were also allowed to be agriculturalists, traders, and enter occupations held by Vaishyas. These detours of life duties would, however, be under special circumstances, on perceiving deteriorating economic situations. The Shudras’ selflessness makes them worthy of unprecedented regard and respect. (5)
Gradual Withdrawal from the Ancient Varna Duties
Despite the life order being arranged for all kinds of people, by the end of the Vedic period, many began to deflect and disobey their primary duties. As a large Varna populace became difficult to handle, the emergence of Jainism propounded the ideology of one single human Varna and nothing besides. Many followed the original Varna rules, but many others, disapproving opposing beliefs, formed modified sub-Varnas within the primary four Varnas. This process, occurring between 700 CE and 1500 CE, continues to this day, as India is now home to a repository of the primary four Varnas and hundreds of sub-Varnas, making the original four Varnas merely ‘umbrella terms’ and perpetually ambiguous.
The subsequent rise of Islam, Christianity, and other religions also left their mark on the original Varna system in India. Converted generations reformed their notion of Hinduism in ways that were compatible with the conditions of those times. The rise of Buddhism, too, left its significant footprint on the Varna system’s legitimate continuance in renewed conditions of life. Thus, soulful adherence to Varna duties from the peak of Vedic period eventually diminished to subjective makeshift adherence, owing partly to the discomfort in practicing Varna duties and partly to external influence. (5)
Buddhism is a religion indigenous to the Indian subcontinent that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, who is commonly known as the Buddha (meaning “the awakened one” in Sanskrit and Pāli). The Buddha lived and taught in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE. He is recognized by Buddhists as an awakened or enlightened teacher who shared his insights to help sentient beings end suffering (dukkha) through eliminating ignorance (avidyā) by way of understanding and seeing dependent origination (pratītyasamutpāda) and eliminating craving (taṇhā), and thus attain the highest happiness, nirvāņa.Two major branches of Buddhism are generally recognized:Theravada (“The School of the Elders”)Theravada has a widespread following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar etc.).Mahayana (“The Great Vehicle”)Mahayana is found throughout East Asia (China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, Taiwan etc.) and includes the traditions of Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, Shingon, and Tiantai (Tendai).In some classifications, Vajrayana —practiced mainly in Tibet and Mongolia, and adjacent parts of China and Russia—is recognized as a third branch, while others classify it as a part of Mahayana.While Buddhism remains most popular within Asia, both branches are now found throughout the world. Estimates of Buddhists worldwide vary significantly depending on the way Buddhist adherence is defined. Conservative estimates are between 350 and 750 million. Higher estimates are between 1.2 and 1.7 billion. It is also recognized as one of the fastest growing religions in the world. (19)
The Three Jewels
Buddhist schools vary on the exact nature of the path to liberation, the importance and canonicity of various teachings and scriptures, and especially their respective practices. The foundations of Buddhist tradition and practice are the Three Jewels :
The Buddha
The Dharma (the teachings)
The Sangha (the community)
Taking “refuge in the triple gem” has traditionally been a declaration and commitment to being on the Buddhist path, and in general distinguishes a Buddhist from a non-Buddhist.
Other practices may include following ethical precepts; support of the monastic community; renouncing conventional living and becoming a monastic; the development of mindfulness and practice of meditation; cultivation of higher wisdom and discernment; study of scriptures; devotional practices; ceremonies; and in the Mahayana tradition, invocation of buddhas and bodhisattvas. (19)
Early Years of the Buddha and the Four Sights
There is no agreement on when Siddhartha was born. This is still a question mark both in scholarship and Buddhist tradition. Several dates have been proposed, but the many contradictions and inaccuracies in the different chronologies and dating systems make it impossible to come up with a satisfactory answer free of controversy.
Modern scholarship agrees that the Buddha passed away at some point between 410 and 370 BCE, about 140-100 years before the time of Indian Emperor Ashoka’s reign (268-232 BCE). Both scholars and Buddhist tradition agree that the Buddha lived for 80 years. More exactness on this matter seems impossible.
Siddhartha’s caste was the Kshatriya caste (the warrior rulers caste). He belonged to the Sahkya clan and was born in the Gautama family. Because of this, he became to be known as Shakyamuni “sage of the Shakya clan”, which is the most common name used in the Mahayana literature to refer to the Buddha. His father was named Śuddhodana and his mother, Maya. (20)
According to this narrative, shortly after the birth of young prince Gautama, an astrologer visited the young prince’s father and prophesied that Siddhartha would either become a great king or renounce the material world to become a holy man, depending on whether he saw what life was like outside the palace walls.
Śuddhodana was determined to see his son become a king, so he prevented him from leaving the palace grounds. But at age 29, despite his father’s efforts, Gautama ventured beyond the palace several times. In a series of encounters—known in Buddhist literature as the four sights—he learned of:
The suffering of ordinary people, encountering an old man
A sick man
A corpse
An ascetic holy man, apparently content and at peace with the world
These experiences prompted Gautama to abandon royal life and take up a spiritual quest. (19)
Historical Context
After leaving Kapilavastu, Siddhartha practiced the yoga discipline under the direction of two of the leading masters of that time: Arada Kalama and Udraka Ramaputra. Siddhartha did not get the results he expected, so he left the masters, engaged in extreme asceticism, and five followers joined him. For a period of six years Siddhartha tried to attain his goal but was unsuccessful. After realizing that asceticism was not the way to attain the results he was looking for, he gave up this way of life. (21)After eating a meal and taking a bath, Siddhartha sat down under a tree of the species ficus religiosa, where he finally attained Nirvana (perfect enlightenment) and became known as the Buddha.Soon after this, the Buddha delivered his first sermon in a place named Sarnath, also known as the “deer park,” near the city of Varanasi. This was a key moment in the Buddhist tradition, traditionally known as the moment when the Buddha “set in motion the wheel of the law. ” The Buddha explained the middle way between asceticism and a life of luxury, the four noble truths (suffering, its origin, how to end it, and the eightfold path or the path leading to the extinction of suffering), and the impersonality of all beings.The Buddha’s first disciples joined him around this time, and the Buddhist monastic community, known as Sangha, was established. Sariputra and Mahamaudgalyayana were the two chief disciples of the Buddha. Mahakasyapa was also an important disciple who became the convener of the First Buddhist Council. From Kapilavastu and Sravasti in the north, to Varanasi, Nalanda and many other areas in the Ganges basin, the Buddha preached his vision for about 45 years. During his career he visited his hometown, met his father, his foster mother and even his son, who joined the Sangha along with other members of the Shakya clan. Upali, another disciple of the Buddha, joined the Sangha around this time: he was a Shakya and regarded as the most competent monk in matters of monastic discipline. Ananda, a cousin of the Buddha, also became a monk; he accompanied the Buddha during the last stage of his life and persuaded him to admit women into the Sangha, thus establishing the Bhikkhuni Sangha, the female Buddhist monastic community.During his career, some kings and other rulers are described as followers of the Buddha. The Buddha’s adversary is reported to be Davadatta, his own cousin, who became a follower of the Buddha and turned out to be responsible for a schism of the Sangha, and he even tried to kill the Buddha.The last days of the Buddha are described in detail in an ancient text named Mahaparinirvana Sutra. We are told that the Buddha visited Vaishali, where he fell ill and nearly died. Some accounts say that here the Buddha delivered his last sermon. After recovering, the Buddha travelled to Kushinagar. On his way, he accepted a meal from a smith named Cunda, which made him sick and led to his death. Once he reached Kushinagar, he encouraged his disciples to continue their activity one last time and he finally passed away. (21)
Forming of Two Separate Buddhist Lines
About a century after the death of Buddha, during the Second Buddhist Council, we find the first major schism ever recorded in Buddhism: The Mahasanghika School.
Many different schools of Buddhism had developed at that time. Buddhist tradition speaks about 18 schools of early Buddhism, although we know that there were more than that, probably around 25.
A Buddhist school named Sthaviravada (in Sanskrit “ school of the elders ”) was the most powerful of the early schools of Buddhism. Traditionally, it is held that the Mahasanghika School came into existence as a result of a dispute over monastic practice. They also seem to have emphasized the supramundane nature of the Buddha, so they were accused of preaching that the Buddha had the attributes of a god. As a result of the conflict over monastic discipline, coupled with their controversial views on the nature of the Buddha, the Mahasanghikas were expelled, thus forming two separate Buddhist lines: the Sthaviravada and the Mahasanghika .
During the course of several centuries, both the Sthaviravada and the Mahasanghika schools underwent many transformations, originating different schools.
The Theravada School, which still exists in our day, emerged from the Sthaviravada line, and is the dominant form of Buddhism in Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.
The Mahasanghika School eventually disappeared as an ordination tradition.
During the 1st century CE, while the oldest Buddhist groups were growing in south and south-east Asia, a new Buddhist school named Mahayana (“ Great Vehicle ”) originated in northern India. This school had a more adaptable approach and was open to doctrinal innovations.
Mahayama Buddhism is today the dominant form of Buddhism in Nepal, Tibet, China, Japan, Mongolia, Korea, and Vietnam. (20)
The earliest philosophical texts in India constitute the Vedic tradition. The four Vedas are the oldest of the Hindu scriptures. They are the Rigveda, the Samaveda, the Yajurveda, and the Atharvaveda. The four Vedas were composed between 1500 and 900 BCE by the Indo-Aryan tribes that had settled in northern India. The Vedas are also called Shruti, which means “hearing” in Sanskrit. This is because for hundreds of years, the Vedas were recited orally. Hindus believe that the Vedas were divinely inspired; priests were orally transmitting the divine word through the generations.
The Rigveda is the most ancient of the four Vedic texts. The text is a collection of the “family books” of 10 clans, each of which were reluctant to part with their secret ancestral knowledge. However, when the Kuru monarchs unified these clans, they organized and codified this knowledge around 1200 BCE. The Brahmanic, or priestly, culture arose under the Kuru dynasty (Witzel 1997) and produced the three remaining Vedas. The Samaveda contains many of the Rigveda hymns but ascribes to those hymns melodies so that they can be chanted. The Yajurveda contains hymns that accompany rites of healing and other types of rituals. These two texts shine light on the history of Indo-Aryans during the Vedic period, the deities they worshipped, and their ideas about the nature of the world, its creation, and humans. The Atharvaveda incorporates rituals that reveal the daily customs and beliefs of the people, including their traditions surrounding birth and death. This text also contains philosophical speculation about the purpose of the rituals (Witzel 1997).
Classical Indian Darshanas
The word darshana derives from a Sanskrit word meaning “to view.” In Hindu philosophy, darshana refers to the beholding of a god, a holy person, or a sacred object. This experience is reciprocal: the religious believer beholds the deity and is beheld by the deity in turn. Those who behold the sacred are blessed by this encounter. The term darshana is also used to refer to six classical schools of thought based on views or manifestations of the divine—six ways of seeing and being seen by the divine. The six principal orthodox Hindu darshanas are Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mimamsa, and Vedanta. Non-Hindu or heterodox darshanas include Buddhism and Jainism.
Samkhya
Samkhya is a dualistic school of philosophy that holds that everything is composed of purusha (pure, absolute consciousness) and prakriti (matter). An evolutionary process gets underway when purusha comes into contact with prakriti. These admixtures of mind and matter produce more or less pure things such as the human mind, the five senses, the intellect, and the ego as well as various manifestations of material things. Living beings occur when purusha and prakriti bond together. Liberation finally occurs when mind is freed from the bondage of matter.
Western readers should take care not to reduce Samkhya’s metaphysics and epistemology to the various dualistic systems seen in, for example, the account of the soul in Plato’s Phaedo or in Christian metaphysics more generally. The metaphysical system of creation in Samkhya is much more complex than either of these Western examples.
When purusha first focuses on prakriti,buddhi, or spiritual awareness, results. Spiritual awareness gives rise to the individualized ego or I-consciousness that creates five gross elements (space, air, earth, fire, water) and then five fine elements (sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste). These in turn give rise to the five sense organs, the five organs of activity (used to speak, grasp, move, procreate, and evacuate), and the mind that coordinates them.
Eastern Asia
Daoism
The dao as a philosophical concept or a school of philosophical thought is associated primarily with the texts the Daodejing, commonly attributed to Laozi or the “Old Master,” and the Zhuangzi, attributed to Zhuangzi (c. fourth century BCE). Many contemporary scholars question whether Laozi actually existed. It is likely that both texts are collections of writings from a variety of thinkers who belonged to a common school known as Daoism. Daoism is a belief system developed in ancient China that encourages the practice of living in accordance with the dao, the natural way of the universe and all things. Daoism is associated with a countercultural religious movement in ancient China, contrary to the dominant, traditionalist Confucianism. The religious movement of Daoism varied depending on the region, but the unifying theme among Daoist religions is a focus on a naturalistic, nontheological view of the underlying basis for morality and goodness. Part of the attraction and variability of Daoism is the fact that the dao is commonly understood to be empty of content, equally open to interpretation by anyone. This perspective leads to a kind of anarchism, resisting traditional hierarchies and authorities.
Daoism is highly critical of Confucianism, as can be seen from passages such as the following in the Doadejing: “When the Great Dao was discarded, only then came ren and right. When wisdom and insight emerged, only then came the Great Artifice. When the six kinship classes fell out of harmony, only then came filiality and parental kindness. When the state is darkened with chaos, only then do the loyal ministers appear” (Eno 2010, p. 15, 18). Here, the author criticizes the five constant virtues of Confucius by suggesting that these emerged only after China had lost its way and been separated from the dao. Similarly, the Daodejing is highly critical of Confucian benevolence (ren) and sagehood. It sees the notions of right, virtue, and goodness as concepts that distract the masses and obscure their awareness of the dao. Consequently, it recommends a kind of antisocial tendency to reject the way of the masses and act contrary to conventional wisdom.
The Dao as a Metaethical Concept
One of the ways in which Daoism differs from Confucianism and Mohism is that it emphasizes the grounds for moral norms but refrains from offering specific moral guidelines for action. Daoism starts with a certain conception of the natural world that serves as the basis for an ethical perspective on life, whereas Confucianism largely ignores any description of nature untouched, focusing directly on moral behavior. The dao itself is understood as a natural force that guides all life: “Men emulate earth; earth emulates heaven (tian); heaven emulates the Dao; the Dao emulates spontaneity” (Eno 2010, p. 17, 25). The general moral guidance of Daoism involves becoming aware of the dao and ensuring that one’s action doesn’t oppose natural forces.
In a general sense, the dao is considered to be an order governing the universe from its beginnings through the various forces of nature and reaching into human affairs. The human condition sets human beings against the dao and places them in opposition to this underlying force, so most of the Daodejing is focused on attempts to bring human beings back into alignment with the dao. The text warns, “As a thing the Dao is shadowed, obscure” (Eno 2010, p. 16, 21b). The problem is that the typical strategies for illuminating and clarifying things further obscure the dao because the dao itself appears contradictory: “To assent and to object—how different are they? Beauty and ugliness—what is the distinction between them?” (Eno 2010, p. 15, 20).
Language and rational concepts pull one away from the dao, which is either contentless and empty or contradictory: “When the Dao is spoken as words, how thin it is, without taste” (Eno 2010, p. 21, 35). This is why followers of the dao should resist attempts to categorize it in a determinative way: “Those who know do not speak; those who speak do not know” (p. 27, 56). Instead, the one who follows the dao is capable of embracing contradiction: “One who knows white but preserves black becomes a standard for the world. Such a one never deviates from constant virtue and returns again to being limitless” (p. 18, 28a). Here, it is evident how Daoists draw lessons about the study and mastery of morality from their understanding of metaphysics. If reality is fundamentally contradictory and escapes the human capacity to capture it in language, then the person who wants to remain closest to fundamental reality should refrain from attempting to categorize it and should be willing to live with contradiction.
That said, this teaching leads to several tensions. It seems difficult to derive ethical prescriptions from nature when nature itself seems to lack a prescriptive force. The dao is simply the total forces of nature, neither good nor bad. Yet when Daoists advise one to allow the forces of nature to govern all activity, they themselves must refrain from theorizing. Nevertheless, in order to provide guidance, the Daoist must speak or write. This leaves the reader in a difficult interpretive position (Hansen 2020).
Skepticism, the belief that one can never attain certain knowledge, is entrenched in Daoism. It’s not clear, however, whether the reason for skepticism is that there is no ultimate answer, that there is an answer but it cannot be known, or that the answer can be known but it cannot be communicated. The Daodejing suggests that the best path is to recognize the limits of human knowledge: “To know you do not know is best; not to know that one does not know is to be flawed. / One who sees his flaws as flaws is therefore not flawed” (Eno 2010, p. 32, 71).
The Ethics of Wuwei
Daoist texts teach readers to adopt a stance that is typically called wuwei, meaning nonaction, softness, or adaptiveness to the circumstances at hand. Wuwei is contrasted with action, assertion, and control. In the Zhuangzi, followers of the dao are characterized in a way that resembles the psychological state known as flow, where they find themselves completely absorbed in their task, losing awareness of themselves as a distinct ego and becoming completely receptive to the task at hand. The Zhuangzi tells the story of Cook Ding, a butcher who was so skillful that he had used the same knife without sharpening it for 19 years. He never dulled the blade by striking bone or tendon. Instead, he was able to find the gaps in the joints and cut through with the thin edge of his blade, no matter how small the gaps. He explains, “At the beginning, when I first began carving up oxen, all I could see was the whole carcass. After three years I could no longer see the carcass whole, and now I meet it with my spirit and don’t look with my eyes” (Eno 2019, p. 23, 3.2). The metaphor of flow also resembles descriptions of wuwei that compare it to water: “Nothing in the world is more weak and soft than water, yet nothing surpasses it in conquering the hard and strong—there is nothing that can compare” (Eno 2010, p. 34, 78).
Moreover, being in a state of nonaction, softness, and flow allows one to be spontaneous and reactive to circumstances. Spontaneity is another characteristic of someone who follows the dao: “To be sparse in speech is to be spontaneous” (Eno 2010, p. 17, 23). Here, speech seems to be associated with control. This may be because speech exercises a certain control over the world by placing names on things and identifying them as similar to or different from other things, grouping them in categories, and assembling these categories and things into chains of reason. For the Daoists, this puts a distance between humanity and the fundamental forces of nature. The Zhuangzi states, “The Dao has never begun to possess boundaries and words have never yet begun to possess constancy” (Eno 2019, p. 23, 2.13). The attempt to use language to provide distinctions in the dao obscures the dao. This is a function of the nature of words to be true or false, allowable or unallowable. The implication is that these distinctions are foreign to the nature of the dao. In another section, the Zhuangzi reiterates this principle with the slogan “A this is a that; a that is a this” (Eno 2019, p. 16, 2.7). The point is that anything that can be designated as a “this” could also be designated as a “that,” which the author takes to imply that language is relative to the perspective of the speaker.
As a result, the Daoists instruct one to surrender their attempts to understand and control nature: “The wish to grasp the world and control it—I see its futility. The world is a spiritlike vessel; it cannot be controlled. One who would control it would ruin it; one who would grasp it would lose it” (Eno 2010, p. 19, 29a). Inaction and the lack of a desire to grasp or comprehend the nature of the world are characteristic of wuwei: “He who acts, fails; he who grasps, loses. / Therefore the sage takes no action (wuwei) and hence has no failure, does no grasping and hence takes no loss” (p. 30, 64c). In contrast with Confucius, the Daoists link inaction and the lack of reason (spontaneity) with virtue: “The highest virtue does not act (wuwei) and has no reason to act; the lowest virtue acts and has reason to act” (p. 21, 38).
Philosophical thought in China initially developed during an epoch known as the Spring and Autumn period, between the eighth and fifth centuries BCE. The period gets its name from a historical document attributed to Confucius called the Spring and Autumn Annals. This period was characterized by the rise of a sophisticated feudal system and relative stability in Chinese politics. Despite advances in government, agriculture, art, and culture, the earliest Chinese texts reveal a concern with the supernatural and highlight the connections that were thought to exist between human beings and the spiritual realm. Great rulers governed not only the affairs of human beings but also the spiritual forces that influence human affairs (Fung 1952). Similarly, the arts of divination, astrology, and magic were celebrated as evidence of the capacity of some human beings to manipulate spiritual forces to benefit humanity.
Magical and mystical thinking of this early period was connected to scientific and philosophical thought. For instance, it was thought that there were five fundamental elements: earth, wood, metal, fire, and water. It was believed that there was connection between these five elements and the five visible planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) as well as the five constant virtues (benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness). The connections between human virtues, the planets, and the material elements provided some rational basis for belief in spiritual and magical forces (Fung 1952).
Early Chinese writings often refer to the concept of heaven in opposition to the earth, but the word has a meaning that is likely unfamiliar to a modern Western audience. In these texts, the word heaven might refer to a material or physical space, like the sky; a ruling or presiding power, like the emperor; something over which human beings have no control, like fate; nature as a whole; or a moral principle guiding human action. Some of these resemble the familiar Western religious concept, but others are quite different. Nonetheless, records of great speeches in the Zuozhuan suggest that even in the sixth century BCE, leading thinkers of the period encouraged people to move away from a concern with heavenly matters and toward a greater interest in human affairs on Earth (Fung 1952).
Writings from this period also show the beginnings of the theory of yin and yang, the two fundamental forces that are characterized as male and female, or dark and light, or inactivity and activity. The move toward a theory that explains natural phenomena through fundamental forces rather than through spiritual or heavenly forces characterizes a shift from a more mythological and religious age to a more rational and philosophical age.
Another key concern of early Chinese texts is distinguishing between identity and harmony, where harmony is understood to produce new things, while identity does not. The point seems to be that whereas the same matter or form repeated does not generate anything novel, two or more different things, when combined together in a harmonious way, can produce something new. To illustrate, consider the fact that there is no music if there is only one note, but many different notes in harmony with one another can produce beautiful melodies. A wise and powerful ruler combines elements in harmonious ways to influence their citizens and exercise their power. Whether the elements are five tastes; five colors; the six notes of the pitch pipe; the ingredients of soup; the forces of wind, weather, or seasons; or the five virtues, a wise leader institutes a harmonious relation between these elements, and that relation is what is said to be responsible for the leader’s success.
Copyright: Smith, Nathan. “Chinese Classical Philosophy.” In Introduction to Philosophy. Houston, TX: OpenStax, 2022.
Chinese Literature
Confucius (551-479 B.C.) sought to impose an integrated socio-ethical order in an attempt to secure the peace among warring states in China. Several talented and influential disciples adopted Confucius’ philosophy during his time, but apparently Confucius, himself, never obtained the opportunity to apply his cultural changes from high office. Confucius thought the foundation of social order is to be based on the jen or “human-heartedness” of the chün tzu or “superior man.” The path to jen, the highest virtue, is reached through the practice of li, the principles of social order. The ruler is an ideal man or superior man, a chün tzu, who governs by jen. Confucius’ ideas gained influence through successive generations of his students and were finally adopted during the Han dynasty six centuries later.
The Doctrine of the Mean, one of the writings attributed to Confucius, many of the central doctrines of Confucianism are elaborated. The characteristic of jen is articulated in terms of a cluster of related moral terms including the Five Relationships, the principle of reciprocity (the Golden Rule), and various forms of virtue. The heart of Confucianism is explained here as the adoption of the policies of inculcating virtue in people by the example of tradition and the jen of the superior person.
Lao Tzu (6th. cent. B.C.), according to Chinese legend, was an imperial court keeper of the archives. As an old man, discouraged with honesty of those around him, he left to go to the mountains of Tibet but was accosted at Kwan Yin (Hank Pass) by the guard Yin Hsi at the western border of China. The guard demanded that Lao Tzu present his teachings before he could pass. Puportedly, at that time, Lao Tzu composed the eighty-one verses of the Tao Te Ching
The name Tao Te Ching can be translated as “classic of the way and power of excellence.” The Tao Te Ching expresses the harmony and simplicity of natural action; in point of fact, the scripture expresses the doctrine of not striving purposely—a kind of non-action or wu-wei. The goal of life is for each person to be one with Tao, the underlying source of the unity of nature.
Although some parts of the Tao Te Ching might have been written in the 6th century, probably most of the scriptual-text dates from around the 3rd century B.C.
The Zhou people had their origins in the far western reaches of the Yellow River in present day Shaanxi province. They conquered the Shang around 1050 B.C.E. and established their own dynasty. The Zhou shared many cultural similarities with the Shang. They performed similar religious rituals, used bronze ritual vessels, and practiced divination.
Lidded ritual ewer (huo) in the form of an elephant with masks and dragons, ca. first half 11th century B.C.E. (Shang dynasty), bronze, 17.2 high x 10.7 x 21.4 cm, China, Middle Yangzi Valley (Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC: Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment, F1936.6a-b
During its first years, known as the Western Zhou (c. 1050–771 B.C.E.) because its capital was located in western China, the Zhou dynasty mirrored the Shang in ruling as a centralized empire. Since its territory was vast—larger than the Shang—the early Zhou kings developed a form of feudalism with regions ruled by appointed relatives and other noblemen. To legitimize their overthrow of Shang, they introduced the concept of Heaven (Tian), and the Mandate of Heaven. They believed that a king could rule only if he received heaven’s favor. This belief carried a sacred moral power and required that a king, the Son of Heaven, be a virtuous ruler. The arts of the early Zhou were essentially a continuation of those of the Shang dynasty. That was especially true of bronze casting and jade working. The Zhou people used Shang bronze designs as a foundation for their own decorative bronzes, but they also introduced new motifs and shapes.
Over time, the Zhou kings’ authority decreased as the individual states grew more independent, wealthy, and powerful. In addition, a nomadic invasion forced Zhou rulers to flee to the east and build a new capital at modern-day Luoyang. This marked the beginning of the period known as the Eastern Zhou dynasty (771–221 B.C.E.). The Eastern Zhou was an era of intense political turmoil. States were at constant war with one another for land and political control. In fact, the latter half of the period is known as the Warring States Period (475–221 B.C.E.), when the small states eventually consolidated into seven strong kingdoms. These seven states fought with each other for mastery until one of them, Qin, succeeded and established the Qin dynasty (221–206 B.C.E.).
Square lidded ritual wine container (fangyi) with taotie, serpents, and birds, Early Western Zhou dynasty, c. 1050–975 B.C.E., Bronze, China, Henan province, Luoyang, 35.3 high x 24.8 x 23.3 cm (Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC: Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment, F1930.54a-b)
The weakening of central Zhou authority is reflected in the visual arts. Bronze objects were no longer used solely for state and religious rituals. Local rulers could commission and purchase bronzes to display their status and wealth. This was evident in bronze inscriptions. Zhou bronze inscriptions (such as one on a square lidded ritual wine container) lengthened and often recorded some honor or achievement of the living aristocrat, reflecting the elite’s desire to document their status and prestige.
Bell (bo) with birds and dragons; from a set of four, late Spring and Autumn period, Eastern Zhou dynasty, c. 500–450 B.C.E., bronze, China, Shanxi province, State of Jin, Houma foundry, 66.4 high x 47 cm (Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC: Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment, F1941.
A new addition to Zhou bronzes are musical instruments, including bells. From the ample discovery of musical instruments in Zhou tombs, it is evident that music played an extremely important role in the Zhou dynasty, whether for religious or recreational purposes. New decorative techniques were invented.
Basin (jian) with narrative scenes, Middle Eastern Zhou dynasty, c. 5th century B.C.E., bronze, China, 28 high x 61.4 cm (Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC: Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1915.107)
Pictorial depictions of ancient Chinese life, such as hunting scenes (like on a basin or jian), appeared for the first time. New casting techniques, such as the lost-wax method, made possible an even greater range of styles and decoration.
Dragon pendant, Eastern Zhou dynasty, 750-500 B.C.E., jade, 6.2 x 9.2 x 0.5 cm, China (Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC: Gift of Arthur M. Sackler, S1987.668)
The jade objects of the Zhou were larger in number compared to those of the Shang and made in a wider variety of styles. Like bronzes of the period, jades were used less often as ritual objects and more as ornaments and symbols of status and wealth.
The arts and humanities also flourished during the Eastern Zhou dynasty. Many of China’s great thinkers lived during this period. New ideas of all kinds emerged, including the schools of Confucianism (emphasizing social and family structure), Daoism (following the patterns of nature), and legalism (promoting systematic rewards and punishments). They addressed the most important question of the time: how to create a stable and harmonious society. These competing philosophies and systems of thought continued to influence Chinese beliefs in later eras, and many of them are still in active use today.
Copyright: National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, “Zhou Dynasty (c. 1050–221 B.C.E.), an introduction,” in Smarthistory, April 6, 2021, accessed April 10, 2024, https://smarthistory.org/zhou-dynasty-in
Terracotta Warriors
Pit 1, Army of the First Emperor, Qin dynasty, Lintong, China, c. 210 B.C.E., painted terracotta (photo: mararie, CC BY-SA 2.0)
Who are the warriors?
You may have seen them in an exhibition in a museum, as an image in a book, or perhaps even a replica as decoration in a house or a restaurant. The Terracotta Warriors—discovered in the tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi, the First Emperor of China—are one of the most recognizable images of Chinese heritage worldwide along with the Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City, and one of the most travelled exhibitions of Chinese art in the past century.
A group of infantrymen in Pit 1, Army of the First Emperor of Qin, Lintong, China, Qin dynasty, c. 210 B.C.E., painted terracotta (photo: Carlos Adampol Galindo, CC BY-SA 2.0)
Looking at them from a distance in their original excavation site at Lishan (near the city of Xi’an in Shaanxi Province, China), the warriors look like a mass of identical figures or a giant’s set of toy soldiers. But up close, your impression of them changes—every figure seems to depict a unique individual, with different shapes of tunics, features, and hairstyles. Each soldier has a carefully rendered, bulky tunic, fastened with delicately tied knots, and strong gaze, making it seem as if you are confronting a person from thousands of years ago.
Some of the earliest scholars to write about the Terracotta Warriors describe them as portraits of the army of the First Emperor of China—replicas of actual soldiers who once lived—that the great 3rd-century state-builder, Qin Shi Huangdi, took to his grave.
But who are we really looking at? Are these truly portraits of soldiers from 3rd-century B.C.E. China?
The Army pits
The Terracorra Warriors were discovered accidentally in 1974 by farmers who, while digging for a well, unearthed several figures. Archaeological investigation soon revealed four large underground chambers (referred to by the archaeologists as “pits,” and these particular areas are referred to as the “army pits”), three of which contained shattered fragments of warriors made in terracotta. While the location of the tomb mound of the First Emperor had long been known, the terracotta figures were a dramatic departure from anything mentioned in the written record, or found in other tombs.
Pit no. 1
View of Pit 1, Army of the First Emperor of Qin, Lintong, China, Qin dynasty, c. 210 B.C.E., painted terracotta (photo: Tym, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Pit no. 1 is the largest of the Army Pits. It is a large compartment dug into the earth, whose walls were reinforced with logs and covered by a wooden ceiling. Inside, it is split by earth embankments into 11 corridors containing soldiers lined up in battle formation. The massive pit was covered with a roof of heavy wooden beams, with five broad ramps on each side allowing workers to transport the terracotta soldiers into the lamp-lit tomb as they were being made. The panoramic view of the pit that we are presented with today, the result of removing the massive wooden beams composing the roof, is not one the workers (or even the Emperor) would have seen, but rather a curated experience enjoyed by the modern museum-going public.
While construction on the complex itself may have started as early as the future First Emperor’s ascent to the throne of the state of Qin in 247 B.C.E., the commonly accepted date for the start of construction of the Army Pits and the production of the terracotta warriors is around 221 B.C.E., when the unification of the Qin Empire was completed and the King of Qin declared himself the August First Emperor of China Sima Qian’s Records of the Grand Historian records that at the time over 700,000 convicts and forced laborers were relocated to the tomb construction site. While some doubt this many laborers were used, archaeological evidence and our understanding of how the soldiers were made (see discussion below) support this timeline. It was this massive workforce that managed to dig out Pit 1, removing what is estimated to be around 70,000 cubic meters of earth, the equivalent of the carrying capacity of 5,500 modern lorries!
The roughly 1,900 terracotta infantrymen inside the pit are accompanied by 22 wooden chariots driven by four terracotta horses and manned by even more terracotta warriors. All the figures bear individually modeled armor, hairstyles, and headdresses that make every figure stand out as unique, and allow distinction between the ranks of the soldiers and their different roles in an army, from archers to infantrymen to charioteers. Though their armor is carefully modeled in clay, the weapons they brandished were real—the wooden components of each weapon have decayed, but the bronze spearheads, swords, and crossbow components were found by the archaeologists by the side of the soldiers. With the largest number of warriors (an estimated 6,000), Pit 1 is assumed to represent the main part of the army, reflecting the importance of infantry at a time when military dominance of a state depended on being able to assemble the largest numbers of warriors.
Pit no. 2
Overhead view of Pit 2, Army of the First Emperor of Qin, Lintong, China, Qin dynasty, c. 210 B.C.E., painted terracotta (photo: Aaron Zhu, CC BY-SA 3.0
Pit 2 is split into four sections, and contains a wider mix of units. In section 1 on the eastern end, a double row of archers and spearmen stand in front of six columns of standing and kneeling archers split by embankments.
Front and back view of Kneeling Archer, Pit 2, Army of the First Emperor of Qin, Lintong, China, Qin dynasty, c. 210 B.C.E., painted terracotta
Section 2 on the southern end of the pit, on the other hand, contains primarily chariots (64 in total), each drawn by four horses and accompanied by a driver and two assistants.
Section 3 combines 19 chariots with 264 infantrymen as well as a small cavalry force at the rear.
Cavalryman and horse from Pit 2 (section 4), Army of the First Emperor of Qin, Lintong, China, Qin dynasty, c. 210 B.C.E., painted terracotta (photo: Maia C, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Finally, section 4 is primarily composed of cavalry, with 108 cavalrymen and their saddled horses headed by a group of 6 chariots. At the time of the First Emperor, the use of cavalry was a relatively recent innovation, only introduced to China in the 4th century B.C.E. Qin was one of the first states to establish a cavalry as part of their military force, a move that was instrumental to the unification efforts of the First Emperor. The cavalryman here is depicted with his saddled horse, dressed in a short armor jacket worn over a robe with pleated skirt designed to permit ease of riding.
Pit nos. 3 and 4
Pit 3 is the smallest and most sparse of the three, and also the most puzzling. U-shaped, it houses 22 armored infantrymen in its north wing, and 42 in the south wing. While the military formations in the others face east, as if in preparation to be deployed away from the mound, the soldiers here face each other, as if expecting a commander to enter from the central chamber. Uniting the two wings is a central space housing a chariot that faces the main ramp to the east side (not pictured nor displayed due to its fragility). Unlike the chariots in the other pits, it was painted over with lacquer in vibrant geometric motifs and covered by a round canopy, all of which are signals that this was the vehicle of a member of the high command. Some scholars argue that the lavish chariot could have served as a symbol of the implied presence of the First Emperor as supreme military commander.
A fourth pit was excavated but contained no soldiers—perhaps not having been finished on time. What was the purpose of the vast assembled army in these pits?
An empire inside a tomb
Burying attendants in tombs close to the ruler, as well as burying important symbols of rulership like chariots or ritual bronze vessels in royal tombs, had long been common practice in China before the time of the First Emperor. Often musical instruments and items of furniture were buried in compartments around the burial chamber, turning these compartments into “rooms” dedicated to individual activities. Modeling tombs as replicas of the houses of the living is an important feature of Chinese mortuary culture one that developed over long period time. Starting from around the 6th century B.C.E, replicas of household utensils and, occasionally, small figurines representing attendants to serve the tomb occupant in the afterlife, were increasingly found in tombs.
Left: Horseman, 5th–3rd century B.C.E., painted earthenware, unearthed at Tomb 2, Steel Factory, Xianyang, Shaanxi Province, 23.5 cm high, 17.5 cm in length (photo: mharrsch, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0); right: Cavalryman and horse from Pit 2, Army of the First Emperor of Qin, Lintong, China, Qin dynasty, c. 210 B.C.E., painted terracotta (photo: Maia C, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
The tomb complex of the First Emperor is a major turning point in this development. The life-sized, intricately worked figures in the complex are a dramatic and abrupt departure from the small figurines of earlier tombs. Furthermore, rather than representing an article to be placed in a tomb, the First Emperor’s terracotta figures define the space around them, like actors on a stage, who through their costumes and actions allow us to imagine garrisons, stables, offices, and gardens.
Although we may not know the full context, the figures’ convey the bustle of activity and a variety of roles working under the emperor. They capture not only specific spaces around the imperial palace, like the Shanglin garden or a garrison, but also the staff and tools involved in running an Empire: from generals, to officials, to chariot drivers with their mighty chariots, to soldiers holding real weapons, to humble stable boys.
While later tombs of the Han dynasty, including those of emperors, also contained ceramic figurines of different occupations engaged in little “scenes” mirroring everyday life, none of them were of the same size and artistic accomplishment as those in the tomb of the First Emperor. For example, the mausoleum of Emperor Jing, one of the largest Han imperial tombs, yielded over 50,000 figurines. However, they were only a third of the size of the First Emperor’s terracotta figures, and were rendered with significantly less detail in their clothing or individuating variety in their faces. The focus of these later tomb figurines also shifted away from officials and soldiers serving the Empire to household servants, attendants, and entertainers, as well as model granaries and herds of livestock.
The reason for the sudden emergence of these life-sized, detailed figures has puzzled scholars for generations. As some have pointed out, prior to the terracotta warriors China lacked a tradition of large-scale sculpture in the round. When the human body was depicted in early Chinese art, it was mostly as small figurines with little attention to muscle definition in figures. Could the First Emperor, in his ambition to create a tomb like no other, have looked outside China, to Central Asia, where life-like Hellenistic Greek sculpture was used in tombs and temples?
Figure of a kneeling warrior, bronze, Xinjiang, 40 cm high (Xinjiang Institute of Archaeology)
Proponents of this theory point to mentions in the written records of the First Emperor casting twelve gigantic bronze sculptures (sadly all destroyed by the 4th century C.E.) in response to the appearance of “giants . . . in foreign robes” in the western provinces of the empire, interpreted by proponents of this theory as references to Hellenistic Greek sculpture. Archaeological finds in the western Gansu province and the Tarim Basin further west confirm that this area functioned as a corridor for trade between China and wider Eurasia. A kneeling bronze figure, depicted with a bare chest and what looks like a Greek Phrygian helmet, was excavated in the Ily River Valley in Xinjiang, confirming that bronze sculpture traveled along this early Silk Road.
The nomadic peoples inhabiting the Tarim Basin and the Gansu corridor were major players in the movement of objects and technologies between Central Asia and China at this time. While the First Emperor often antagonized nomadic groups as part of his campaigns of expansion, the Records of the Grand Historian mention that he singled out certain nomadic groups as important trade partners. The presence of molds for making belt plaques in nomadic style, used to make elegant pieces such as one in the tomb of a 3rd century B.C.E. Qin smith from a suburb near Xi’an (now in The Metropolitan Museum of Art), is evidence of not only the lively trade between the Qin and the nomads, but also the willingness of Qin craftsmen to adopt foreign technologies.
Whether or not the makers of the First Emperor’s mausoleum were inspired by developments outside China remains a point of debate in the research on the tomb of the First Emperor, and it does not answer why the First Emperor and his tomb planners sought to include life-sized realistic sculptures so unlike anything that came either before or after. Some have seen this choice as a feat of grandomania, or the First Emperor’s wish to have nothing short of life-sized figures representing the grandeur of his empire. Other scholars have argued that this was part of the attempt to re-create the world of the living in the tomb: the more life-like the soldiers and other staff were, the more efficient they would be in serving the Emperor in the afterlife. In other words, the ability to render life-sized human and animal figures may have been seen as magical in itself, and their skillfully rendering and accurate detail acted as an enchantment.
Making the cast of the afterlife
Warriors’ faces are modeled in detail and with great care—but not their legs and feet which are plainly modeled. They have wide, bulky shoes and stocky legs shaped like rough cylinders that connect to the upper thighs covered by the coat.
There is a structural reason for the legs being rough and thick—they support the weight of the body, which the artists build from the bottom up. They also tell us something important about the way the soldiers were made—they are simple clay cylinders made in the same way that ceramic drainpipes were made in the tomb. Segments of Qin drainpipes were made by pressing rolls of clay into a cylindrical shape. In fact, many of the parts of the soldiers are constructed of simple parts made from pressing clay into molds and joined together like the drainpipes.
Detail view of the upper body of a warrior whose head has gotten detached, Tomb of the First Emperor of Qin, Lintong, China, Qin dynasty, c. 210 B.C.E., painted terracotta (photo: askaped, CC BY 2.0)
Warriors’ torsos and lower bodies, covered by armor and tunics, were made in one or two pieces by coiling as well as slab building. Using molds and applying additional bits of clay, the surface of each torso was worked into the armor and clothing detail. The arms, heads, and hands were produced separately, by pressing clay into molds, and later attached to the torso using clay slip. There was only a limited number of molds being used for every part of the body: two types have been identified for the feet, three for shoes, eight types of torsos, two types of hands, and eight types for faces.
Four faces of different terracotta warriors, Tomb of the First Emperor of Qin, Lintong, China, Qin dynasty, c. 210 B.C.E., painted terracotta (photo A: David Castor, CC0 1.0); B: Maia C, CC BY-NC 2.0; C: Gary Todd, CC0 1.0; and D: James H., CC BY-NC 2.0)
But then, why does each soldier look different? Each individual face had different types of mustaches and eyebrows attached, while the artisans subtly modified the details to create a sense of individuality, age, and sometimes even emotion. Fine lines were carved into the foreheads to show age (such as figures A and B above), while eyebrows were reshaped into frowns of concentration (such as figures C and D above). While some modifications conveyed personality, others established what category each soldier belonged to, like the “pheasant-tail headdresses” which identify B and C as generals.
After the figures were modeled, they were fired in a kiln and then painted with lacquer colored with strong pigments, like bright malachite, cinnabar, and azurite, alongside “Han purple.” Pictures of the soldiers at the time of excavation show how brightly colored they would have originally been; most of the paint dissolved shortly after excavation, though traces remain on the soldiers. Making the warriors was not the work of a single artist working from a model, but the joint effort of a workshop team working with set molds. We know a lot about how such teams were set up. Each soldier is marked with an inscription that states the leading foreman of a team, their place of origin, and the name of their workshop.
Since some of the workshop names match the name. But then, why does each soldier look different? Each individual face had different types of mustaches and eyebrows attached, while the artisans subtly modified the details to create a sense of individuality, age, and sometimes even emotion. Fine lines were carved into the foreheads to show age (such as figures A and B above), while eyebrows were reshaped into frowns of concentration (such as figures C and D above). While some modifications conveyed personality, others established what category each soldier belonged to, like the “pheasant-tail headdresses” which identify B and C as generals.
After the figures were modeled, they were fired in a kiln and then painted with lacquer colored with strong pigments, like bright malachite, cinnabar, and azurite, alongside “Han purple.” Pictures of the soldiers at the time of excavation show how brightly colored they would have originally been; most of the paint dissolved shortly after excavation, though traces remain on the soldiers. Making the warriors was not the work of a single artist working from a model, but the joint effort of a workshop team working with set molds. We know a lot about how such teams were set up. Each soldier is marked with an inscription that states the leading foreman of a team, their place of origin, and the name of their workshop.
Since some of the workshop names match the names stamped on tiles excavated in the First Emperor’s capital, we know that they were recruited from existing pottery workshops. The stamps allowed for a strict system of quality assurance, in which the foremen responsible for any fault in a product would be fined. It was this culture of strictly enforced standardization, already established in his home state of Qin, that allowed the First Emperor to re-shape the states he conquered into a centralized empire.
This modular, efficient production does not detract from the artistic achievement of the Terracotta Warriors. We may never know whether the workers modeled the features on actual soldiers who guarded the compound, on their fellow workers, or merely used their imagination, but they successfully imbued each figure with individuality. Like characters in a play, the soldiers and other terracotta figures were created specifically to enact a part of the world of the First Emperor in the afterlife. Even though we may not be looking at individual portraits of the soldiers of the First Emperor, the Terracotta Warriors successfully lead us to think that we are, and set them apart from ceramic tomb figures both before and after those of the First Emperor.
Floss silk padded robe, Western Han Dynasty, 2nd century B.C.E., length: 140 cm, overall length of the sleeves: 245 cm, width at waist: 52 cm, from tomb 1, Mawangdui, Hunan Province, China (Hunan Provincial Museum)
The discovery of three tombs at Mawangdui in Hunan Province, China in 1972 yielded thousands of artifacts, including some of the world’s oldest preserved silk paintings, clothing, and textiles. All three date to the Western Han dynasty in the 2nd century B.C.E. and belonged to a family of Han Chinese aristocrats.
Tomb 1 belonged to a female aristocrat named Xīn Zhuī 辛追, popularly known as “Lady Dai” (who died in 168 B.C.E.)
Tomb 2 belonged to the noble Lì Cāng 利蒼, Marquis of Dai, Lady Dai’s husband (who died in 186 B.C.E.)
Tomb 3 belonged to Lady Dai’s son (who also died in 168 B.C.E.) [1]
When it was discovered, Lady Dai’s tomb was in a remarkable state of preservation with wooden objects and silks in near perfect condition, as though immune to the ravages of time. Although the construction of Lady Dai’s tomb, the largest of the three, disrupted the tombs of her husband and son, leaving them in a lesser state of preservation, all three tombs help us reconstruct this ancient family’s vision of the afterlife.
Structure of the Mawangdui Tombs
During the Western Han dynasty, elaborate tombs were constructed for the elite across the Han empire in an effort to care and appease the spirits of deceased ancestors. The three tombs at Mawangdui are rectangular vertical shaft tombs dug deep into the earth. At the bottom of each shaft, the tombs were originally equipped with a rectangular wooden burial structure (guǒ 椁) constructed of cypress planks fitted together using mortise and tenon joinery.
This type of tomb construction had an earlier precedent and was common in this region during the earlier Eastern Zhou period (771–221 B.C.E.) when it was occupied by the Chǔ 楚 kingdom. As with earlier Chu tombs, the underground wooden burial structures at Mawangdui were compartmentalized. The Mawangdui tombs contained nesting coffins at the center and extensive inventories of burial items in separate chambers surrounding the main coffin chamber. Layers of charcoal and white kaolin clay around the wooden burial structures and pounded earth in the shafts insulated the structures, and, in the case of Lady Dai’s tomb, helped preserve the entire contents, including her body.
Tomb 1 at Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan Province, 2nd century B.C.E. 672 x 488 x 280 cm
Tomb 1
Lady Dai’s underground wooden burial structure was divided into five compartments, including a central coffin chamber surrounded by four compartments on each side for burial furnishings. At the center of the tomb, Lady Dai was buried in a series of four nesting coffins.
Nesting coffins of Lady Dai (Xin Zhui), Tomb 1 at Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan Province, 2nd century B.C.E., wood, lacquered exteriors and interiors, 256 x 118 x 114 cm, 230 x 92 x 89 cm and 202 x 69 x 63cm (Hunan Provincial Museum)
The outermost coffin was a plain box, while the three nesting coffins inside were painted with lacquer in black, red, and white. The use of lacquer, a substance derived from the lac tree native to China, is a testament to Lady Dai’s wealth and status in Han society. Lacquer was more valuable than bronze. The application of lacquer involved a tedious process of applying one layer and letting it dry before adding another, increasing the value of the material.
The decoration on the three painted coffins refer to the journey of Lady Dai’s spirit to the afterlife and the world of the immortals. During the Western Han, southerners like Lady Dai believed humans had two souls, a hún 魂 that makes a dangerous journey to the afterlife, or the world of the immortals, and a pò 魄soul that remains in the tomb with the body, enjoying the many funerary offerings within.
The largest of the lacquered coffins has a black background decorated with stylized cloud forms and mythological creatures. On each side of the coffin the cloud forms are bordered by a rectangular frame of abstract patterns. At times, the clouds drift over the frame as though the celestial world populated by horned creatures, feathered immortals, and birds cannot be contained.
Red inner coffin, Tomb 1 at Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan Province, 2nd century B.C.E., lacquered wood (photo: 猫猫的日记本, CC BY 4.0)
The second lacquered coffin has a red background and features auspicious animals, such as tigers and dragons, which are among the protective creatures of the cardinal directions.
On one long side panel of the coffin, two sinuous dragons confront one another at the center of the rectangular panel. On the left, a deer, contorted in a manner that shows influence from “animal style” art of the steppe, is nestled in the body of the dragon. On the right, a feathered immortal seems to dance beneath the arch of the dragon’s body. These auspicious motifs helped to guide and protect Lady Dai’s soul on its journey to immortality.
The innermost coffin is painted with black lacquer and covered with embroidered silk and satin appliqued with red and black feathers, symbolic of the immortals. The theme of immortality is consistent across the three lacquered coffins, perhaps to keep Lady Dai’s hun spirit focused on its destination as it makes the dangerous journey to immortality.
Funeral banner of Lady Dai (Xin Zhui), Tomb 1 at Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan Province, 2nd century B.C.E., silk, 205 x 92 x 47.7 cm (Hunan Provincial Museum)
Silks
Laid face down over the top of the innermost coffin was a T-shaped banner made of silk and painted in rich mineral pigments. The painting is a narrative organized vertically from bottom to top in four sections showing Lady Dai’s journey from the terrestrial world (her funeral) to the celestial world of the immortals above.
Heavenly realm (detail), Funeral banner of Lady Dai (Xin Zhui), 2nd century B.C.E., silk, 205 x 92 x 47.7 cm (Hunan Provincial Museum)
One interpretation of the iconography at the top of the banner (where the celestial world of the immortals is depicted) is that it represents the popular tale of Archer Yì 後羿 and his wife Cháng’é 嫦娥. On the right side, nine orange orbs float against the blank silk background, interspersed between a dragon and the arms of a writhing vine. The orbs might represent the nine suns the Archer Yi shot down through the branches of a mulberry tree when, one day, ten suns arose at once. On the left side of the scene, the archer’s wife Chang’e flees on the wing of a dragon toward the crescent moon with the archer’s reward for his heroic deed, the elixir of immortality.
In one version of the legend, Chang’e was punished for her theft and turned into a toad. Standing on the crescent moon on Lady Dai’s banner is a toad, which may represent Chang’e’s unfortunate punishment. A rabbit, an animal associated with the legend of Chang’e, leaps over the toad’s head. At the top of this scene is a female figure whose lower body terminates in a serpent’s tail. This may be a representation of Nǔwā 女媧, the creator goddess in Chinese mythology.
Bottom: Silk robe, Tomb 1 at Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan Province, 2nd century B.C.E, silk (Hunan Provincial Museum; photo: Gary Todd)
Inside the innermost coffin, Lady Dai’s body was carefully wrapped in twenty layers of luxurious embroidered and damask silk shrouds and clothing, tied together with nine silk ribbons.
Her body was perfectly intact and her skin still soft and elastic. An autopsy revealed important details about her health at the time of her death, as well as her last meal, melon. Scientists believe she died of acute gallbladder disease or from a heart attack, but they also discovered she had an unusually high accumulation of mercury and lead in her body, likely from regular ingestion. Mercury was a primary ingredient in the coveted, but ultimately deadly elixir of immortality. The discovery that Lady Dai likely ingested mercury in pursuit of immortality comes as no surprise. From the pictorial program on her lacquered coffins to her funerary banner, immortality was clearly a preoccupation of hers, one she certainly hoped to achieve in life and in death.
Dai’s tomb was furnished with three categories of objects:
míngqì 冥器 , or spirit objects, made specifically for burial (
for example, the lacquered wood coffins, crude wooden figurines of servants and musicians dressed in painted or real silks, and clay coins made in imitation of real money)
objects the tomb occupant used in her daily life (for example, household furniture, a lacquer toilet box, lacquer kitchenware (including the earliest known pair of chopsticks), musical instruments, and sumptuous silk clothing and accessories fit for the afterlife of an elite Han aristocrat
a wide assortment of foodstuffs (meats, vegetables, fruits, cereals, etc.) for cooking and banqueting
Although tombs 2 and 3 belonging to Lady Dai’s husband and son were in a lesser state of preservation upon discovery, Tomb 3 still yielded over 1,000 artifacts. Like Lady Dai, her son’s tomb was furnished with an assortment of mingqi, objects he owned in his lifetime, as well as provisions to keep his spirit appeased in the afterlife. Four silk paintings were preserved from his tomb, including a T-shaped banner similar in iconography to Lady Dai’s and found draped over his innermost coffin. These are among the earliest silk paintings in the history of Chinese art. Perhaps the most important discovery in his tomb, however, was an archive of texts written on bamboo, wood, and silk. These included well known works like the Lǎozǐ 老子, attributed to the 6th century B.C.E. Daoist philosopher Laozi; the Yǐjīng 已經 (Book of Changes), an ancient divination text; as well as important medical, astronomical, and cosmological texts, just to name a few. The Laozi manuscripts found in Tomb 3 are still, to this day, the earliest extant copies known.
Important insights
Discoveries from Tombs 1 and 3 at Mawangdui give us important insight into the lives and afterli
for example, the lacquered wood coffins, crude wooden figurines of servants and musicians dressed in painted or real silks, and clay coins made in imitation of real money)
objects the tomb occupant used in her daily life (for example, household furniture, a lacquer toilet box, lacquer kitchenware (including the earliest known pair of chopsticks), musical instruments, and sumptuous silk clothing and accessories fit for the afterlife of an elite Han aristocrat
a wide assortment of foodstuffs (meats, vegetables, fruits, cereals, etc.) for cooking and banqueting
Although tombs 2 and 3 belonging to Lady Dai’s husband and son were in a lesser state of preservation upon discovery, Tomb 3 still yielded over 1,000 artifacts. Like Lady Dai, her son’s tomb was furnished with an assortment of mingqi, objects he owned in his lifetime, as well as provisions to keep his spirit appeased in the afterlife. Four silk paintings were preserved from his tomb, including a T-shaped banner similar in iconography to Lady Dai’s and found draped over his innermost coffin. These are among the earliest silk paintings in the history of Chinese art. Perhaps the most important discovery in his tomb, however, was an archive of texts written on bamboo, wood, and silk. These included well known works like the Lǎozǐ 老子, attributed to the 6th century B.C.E. Daoist philosopher Laozi; the Yǐjīng 已經 (Book of Changes), an ancient divination text; as well as important medical, astronomical, and cosmological texts, just to name a few. The Laozi manuscripts found in Tomb 3 are still, to this day, the earliest extant copies known.
Skill in pottery has been an important defining aspect of Japanese culture from earliest time. There are pottery fragments from Aomori in northern Japan which date from about 14,500 B.C.E., and are believed to be among the oldest yet discovered anywhere in the world.
So-called ‘Jōmon’ wares were first discovered in 1877 at a site known as the Ōmori shell-mound near Tokyo. Those examples were so named by an American archaeologist, Edward S. Morse.
Jōmon means ‘cord pattern’ and the term describes the characteristic surface patterns that were made with a twisted cord. The name was later applied to the long period of well over 10,000 years of prehistory in the Japanese archipelago. The Jōmon peoples were predominantly hunters, fishers and gatherers and their pots were mainly used for boiling food and for eating.
This bowl, which originally had a lid, has a well-defined rim decoration of marks jabbed with a stick, bone, or finger-nail. The main body has cord decoration. The inside has been lacquered, probably sometime in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, when the vessel was briefly used as a mizusashi (water jar) for the Tea Ceremony.
This vessel has a gentle outward curve ending in a wide mouth. It is decorated with an all-over design made by the impression of a cord, and a shallowly incised border. It belongs to the final phase of Jōmon wares (about 2000–1000 B.C.E.). It was probably used for boiling food, including plants, nuts, fish and meat.
Recognized worldwide, Stonehenge seems an impossible task: how, and why, did prehistoric people build it?
Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England, c. 2550–1600 B.C.E., circle 97 feet in diameter, trilithons: 24 feet high (photo: Maedin Tureaud, CC BY-SA 3.0)
Stonehenge, on Salisbury plain in England, is one of the most recognizable monuments of the Neolithic world and one of the most popular, with over one million visitors a year. People come to see Stonehenge because it is so impossibly big and so impossibly old; some are searching for a connection with a prehistoric past; some come to witness the workings of a massive astrological observatory. The people living in the fourth millennium B.C.E. who began work on Stonehenge were contemporary with the first dynasties of Ancient Egypt, and their efforts predate the building of the Pyramids. What they created has endured millennia and still intrigues us today.
In fact, what we see today is the result of at least three phases of construction, although there is still a lot of controversy among archaeologists about exactly how and when these phases occurred. It is generally agreed that the first phase of construction at Stonehenge occurred around 3100 B.C.E., when a great circular ditch about six feet deep was dug with a bank of dirt within it about 360 feet in diameter, with a large entrance to the northeast and a smaller one to the south. This circular ditch and bank together is called a henge. Within the henge were dug 56 pits, each slightly more than three feet in diameter, called Aubrey holes, after John Aubrey, the 17th century English archaeologist who first found them. These holes, it is thought, were either originally filled with upright bluestones or upright wooden beams. If it was bluestones which filled the Aubrey holes, it involved quite a bit of effort as each weighed between 2 and 4 tons and were mined from the Preseli Hills, about 250 miles away in Wales.
Aerial view, 2014, Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England, c. 2550–1600 B.C.E., circle 97 feet in diameter, trilithons: 24 feet high (photo: timeyres, CC BY-SA 2.0
The second phase of work at Stonehenge occurred approximately 100–200 years later and involved the setting up of upright wooden posts (possibly of a roofed structure) in the center of the henge, as well as more upright posts near the northeast and southern entrances. Surprisingly, it is also during this second phase at Stonehenge that it was used for burial. At least 25 of the Aubrey holes were emptied and reused to hold cremation burials and another 30 cremation burial pits were dug into the ditch of the henge and in the eastern portion.
The third phase of construction at Stonehenge happened approximately 400–500 years later and likely lasted a long time. In this phase the remaining blue stones or wooden beams which had been placed in the Aubrey holes were pulled and a circle 108 feet in diameter of 30 huge and very hard sarsen stones were erected within the henge; these were quarried from nearby Marlborough Downs. These upright sarsen stones were capped with 30 lintel stones (the horizontal stones).
Interior of the sarsen circle and bluestones in the foreground, Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England, c. 2550–1600 B.C.E., circle 97 feet in diameter, trilithons 24 feet high
Each standing stone was around 13 feet high, almost seven feet wide and weighed around 25 tons. This ring of stones enclosed five sarsen trilithons (a trilithon is a pair of upright stones with a lintel stone spanning their tops) set up in a horseshoe shape 45 feet across. These huge stones, ten uprights and five lintels, weigh up to 50 tons each. Bluestones, either reinstalled or freshly quarried, were erected in a circle, half in the outer sarsen circle and half within the sarsen horseshoe. At the end of the phase there is some rearrangement of the bluestones as well as the construction of a long processional avenue, consisting of parallel banks with exterior ditches approximately 34 meters across, leading from the northeast entrance to Stonehenge, dipping to the south and eventually to the banks of the Avon river.
Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England, c. 2550–1600 B.C.E., circle 97 feet in diameter, trilithons: 24 feet high (photo: Stonehenge Stone Circle, CC BY 2.0)
All three phases of the construction of Stonehenge pose fascinating questions. The first phase of work required precise planning and a massive amount of labor. Who planned the henge and who organized whom to work together in its construction? Unfortunately, remains of Neolithic villages, which would provide information about who built Stonehenge, are few, possibly because so many lie underneath later Bronze Age, Roman, medieval, and modern cities. The few villages that have been explored show simple farming hamlets with very little evidence of widely differing social status. If there were leaders or a social class who convinced or forced people to work together to build the first phase of Stonehenge, we haven’t found them. It also probably means the first phase of Stonehenge’s construction was an egalitarian endeavor, highly unusual for the ancient world.
Who were the people buried at Stonehenge during its second phase? Recent analysis of these bones has revealed that nearly all the burials were of adult males, aged 25–40 years, in good health and with little sign of hard labor or disease. No doubt, to be interred at Stonehenge was a mark of elite status and these remains may well be those of some of the first political leaders of Great Britain, an island with a ruling tradition extending all the way to the House of Windsor. They also show us that in this era, some means of social distinction must have been desirable.
The work achieved in the long third phase of Stonehenge’s construction, however, is the one which is most remarkable and enduring. Like the first phase of Stonehenge, except on a much larger scale, the third phase involved tremendous planning and organization of labor. But, it also entailed an entirely new level of technical sophistication, specifically in the working of very hard stone. For instance, the horizontal lintel stones which topped the exterior ring of sarsen stones were fitted to them using a tongue and groove joint and then fitted to each other using a mortise and tenon joint, methods used in modern woodworking.
Each of the upright sarsens were dressed differently on each side, with the inward facing side more smoothly finished than the outer. Moreover, the stones of the outer ring of sarsens were subtly modified to accommodate the way the human eye observes the massive stones against the bright shades of the Salisbury plain: upright stones were gently widened toward the top which makes their mass constant when viewed from the ground.
The lintel stones also curve slightly to echo the circular outer henge. The stones in the horseshoe of trilithons are arranged by size; the smallest pair of trilithons are around 20 feet tall, the next pair a little higher and the largest, single trilithon in the south west corner would have been 24 feet tall. This effect creates a kind of pull inward to the monument, and dramatizes the outward Northeast facing of the horseshoe. Although there are many theories, it is still not known how or why these subtle refinements were made to Stonehenge, but their existence is sure proof of a sophisticated society with organized leadership and a lot of free time.
Of course the most famous aspect of Stonehenge is its relationship with the solar and lunar calendar. This idea was first proposed by scholars in the 18th century, who noted that the sunrise of the midsummer solstice is exactly framed by the end of the horseshoe of trilithons at the interior of the monument, and exactly opposite that point, at the center of the bend of the horseshoe, at the midwinter sunset, the sun is also aligned. These dates, the longest and shortest days of the year, are the turning point of the two great seasonal episodes of the annual calendar. Since this discovery, several other theories about astrological observation have been offered but few stand up to scrutiny together with the physical details of the monument.
The group of Neolithic monuments on Orkney consists of a large chambered tomb (Maes Howe), two ceremonial stone circles (the Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar) and a settlement (Skara Brae), together with a number of unexcavated burial, ceremonial and settlement sites. The group constitutes a major prehistoric cultural landscape which gives a graphic depiction of life in this remote archipelago in the far north of Scotland some 5,000 years ago.
Some of the oldest known representational imagery comes from the Aurignacian culture of the Upper Paleolithic period (Paleolithic means old stone age). Archaeological discoveries across a broad swath of Europe (especially Southern France, Northern Spain, and Swabia, in Germany) include over two hundred caves with spectacular Aurignacian paintings, drawings, and sculpture that are among the earliest undisputed examples of representational image-making. Among the oldest of these is a 2.4-inch tall female figure carved out of mammoth ivory that was found in six fragments in the Hohle Fels cave near Schelklingen in southern Germany. It dates to 35,000 B.C.E.
The caves at Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc, Lascaux, Pech Merle, and Altamira contain the best known examples of pre-historic painting and drawing. Here are remarkably evocative renderings of animals and some humans that employ a complex mix of naturalism and abstraction. Archaeologists that study Paleolithic era humans, believe that the paintings discovered in 1994, in the cave at Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc in the Ardéche valley in France, are more than 30,000 years old. The images found at Lascaux and Altamira are more recent, dating to approximately 15,000 B.C.E. The paintings at Pech Merle date to both 25,000 and 15,000 B.C.E. The world’s oldest known cave painting was found in Sulawesi, Indonesia in 2017 and was made at least 45,500 years ago.
Replica of the painting from the Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave in southern France
The cave at Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc is over 1,000 feet in length with two large chambers. Carbon samples date the charcoal used to depict the two head-to-head Rhinoceroses (see the image above, bottom right) to between 30,340 and 32,410 years before 1995 when the samples were taken. The cave’s drawings depict other large animals including horses, mammoths, musk ox, ibex, reindeer, aurochs, megaceros deer, panther, and owl (scholars note that these animals were not then a normal part of people’s diet). Photographs show that the drawing at the top of this essay is very carefully rendered but may be misleading. We see a group of horses, rhinos, and bison and we see them as a group, overlapping and skewed in scale. But the photograph distorts the way these animal figures would have been originally seen. The bright electric lights used by the photographer create a broad flat scope of vision; how different to see each animal emerge from the dark under flame.
The Venus of Willendorf is a perfect example of portable art, since it’s generally of a small-scale, a logical size given the nomadic nature of Paleolithic peoples. Despite their often diminutive size, the creation of these portable objects signifies a remarkable allocation of time and effort. As such, these figurines were significant enough to take along during the nomadic wanderings of their Paleolithic creators. Josef Szombathy, an Austro-Hungarian archaeologist, discovered this work in 1908 outside the small Austrian village of Willendorf. Although generally projected in art history classrooms to be several feet tall, this limestone figurine is petite in size. She measures just under 11.1 cm high, and could fit comfortably in the palm of your hand. This small scale allowed whoever carved (or, perhaps owned) this figurine to carry it during their nearly daily nomadic travels in search of food.
Clearly, the Paleolithic sculptor who made this small figurine would never have named it the Venus of Willendorf. Venus was the name of the Roman goddess of love and ideal beauty. When discovered outside the Austrian village of Willendorf, scholars mistakenly assumed that this figure was likewise a goddess of love and beauty. There is absolutely no evidence though that the Venus of Willendorf shared a function similar to its classically inspired namesake. However incorrect the name may be, it has endured and tells us more about those who found her than those who made her.In the absence of writing, art historians rely on the objects themselves to learn about ancient peoples. The form of the Venus of Willendorf—that is, what it looks like—may very well inform what it originally meant. The most conspicuous elements of her anatomy are those that deal with the process of reproduction and child rearing. The artist took particular care to emphasize her breasts, which some scholars suggest indicates that she is able to nurse a child. The artist also brought deliberate attention to her pubic region. Traces of a pigment—red ochre—can still be seen on parts of the figurine.
Detail, “Venus” (or Woman) of Willendorf,, c. 24,000–22,000 B.C.E., limestone 11.1 cm high (Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna; photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
In contrast, the sculptor placed scant attention on the non-reproduc
tive parts of her body. This is particularly noticeable in the figure’s limbs, where there is little emphasis placed on musculature or anatomical accuracy. We may infer from the small size of her feet that she was not meant to be free-standing and was either meant to be carried or placed lying down. The artist carved the figure’s upper arms along her upper torso, and her lower arms are only barely visible, resting upon the top of her breasts. As enigmatic as the lack of attention to her limbs is, the absence of attention to the face is even more striking. No eyes, nose, ears, or mouth remain visible. Instead, our attention is drawn to seven horizontal bands that wrap in concentric circles from the crown of her head. Some scholars have suggested her head is obscured by a knit cap pulled downward, others suggest that these forms may represent braided or beaded hair and that her face, perhaps once painted, is angled downward.
If the face was purposefully obscured, the Paleolithic sculptor may have created, not a portrait of a particular person, but rather a representation of the reproductive and child rearing aspects of a woman. In combination with the emphasis on the breasts and pubic area, it seems likely that the Venus of Willendorf had a function that related to fertility.
Without a doubt, we can learn much more from the Venus of Willendorf than its diminutive size might at first suggest. We learn about relative dating and stratification. We learn that these nomadic people living almost 25,000 years ago cared about making objects beautiful. And we can learn that these Paleolithic people had an awareness of the importance of women.
The Venus of Willendorf is only one example of dozens of Paleolithic figures that may have been associated with fertility. Nevertheless, it retains a place of prominence within the history of human art.
Cycladic period figures, marble (National Archaeological Museum, Athens)
At the beginning of the Bronze Age (c. 3200 B.C.E.), the art made on the islands of the Cyclades was both unique and vastly more sophisticated than anything found on the Mainland of Greece or Crete. Elegant figurines and delicate vessels were made from sparkling white island marble. Best known and admired of this art are the figurines, and in this tradition the representation of women is crucially important. The overwhelming majority of Cycladic figurines represent women—nude, posed with their arms folded, toes pointed, facing ahead, rendered in a radically abstracted style. Despite the proliferation of female sculptures, a disproportionate amount of attention has been paid to the very few male examples of the type (presumably because they are often represented sitting or engaged in activity).
Male harp player from Keros, c. 2600–2300 B.C.E., Early Cycladic period, marble, 22.5 cm high (National Archaeological Museum, Athens)
It is a remarkable fact that there has been so little discussion about the nearly all-female aspect of Cycladic sculpture. Admittedly, because of looting in response to the very high market value of Cycladic figurines, they are frustratingly without archaeological context. Despite this, however, it is rather clear that women—mortal or otherwise—were held in high esteem at the time.
—were held in high esteem at the time.
Broken figurines found during archaeological excavations on the island of Keros, Cycladic (Island of Broken Figurines)
Recent research on a subset of these female Cycladic figurines, those which are quite large (over 70cm high), argues that they were used in public veneration and processions, possibly associated with the earliest regional political network in the Aegean, a confederacy centered on the island of Keros. If this is the case, we see the sculptural representation of women in the Early Bronze Age as powerful political and social symbols, with no known male sculptural competitors.
Woman or goddess (“La Parisienne”) from the Camp-Stool fresco, western wing of the palace at Knossos, Minoan, buon fresco, 20 cm high (Archaeological Museum of Heraklion)
Images of women proliferate again hundreds of years later on the island of Crete among the Minoans, as well as on the Greek Mainland among the Mycenaeans. Like their male counterparts they are represented with little variation, nearly always young, dark haired, with a tiny waist, large hips, exposed breasts, and dressed in a variety of long rich and colorful garments. In wall painting, they are central actors and often focal points in complex narratives (though we don’t know what the stories are!).
by The British Museum, Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker
A conversation with Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker in front of the Rosetta Stone, Egypt, Ptolemaic Period, 196 B.C.E., granodiorite, 112.3 x 28.4 x 75.7 cm (The British Museum) URL: https://youtu.be/13UbufpgBuQ
The Rosetta Stone, 196 B.C.E., Ptolemaic Period, 112.3 x 75.7 x 28.4 cm, Egypt (British Museum, London) (photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). The Rosetta Stone was discovered in Egypt, at Fort St Julien in el-Rashid, known as Rosetta.
The key to translating hieroglyphics
A reconstruction of the stela of which the Rosetta Stone was originally a part (by: A. Parrot, CC BY-SA 4.0)
Rosetta Stone is one of the most important objects in the British Museum as it holds the key to understanding Egyptian hieroglyphs—a script made up of small pictures that was used originally in ancient Egypt for religious texts. Hieroglyphic writing died out in Egypt in the fourth century C.E.. Over time the knowledge of how to read hieroglyphs was lost, until the discovery of the Rosetta Stone in 1799 and its subsequent decipherment.
The Stone is a tablet of black rock called granodiorite. It is part of a larger inscribed stone that would have stood some 2 meters high. The top part of the stone has broken off at an angle—in line with a band of pink granite whose crystalline structure glints a little in the light. The back of the Rosetta stone is rough, where it has been hewn into shape, but the front face is smooth and crammed with text, inscribed in three different scripts. These form three distinct bands of writing.
The Rosetta Stone (detail), 196 B.C.E., Ptolemaic Period, 112.3 x 75.7 x 28.4 cm, Egypt (British Museum, London) (photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
The Rosetta Stone, 196 B.C.E., Ptolemaic Period, 112.3 x 75.7 x 28.4 cm, Egypt (British Museum, London) (photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). Part of grey and pink granodiorite stela bearing priestly decree concerning Ptolemy V in three blocks of text: Hieroglyphic (14 lines), Demotic (32 lines) and Greek (53 lines).
Three translations of the same decree
The inscriptions are three translations of the same decree, passed by a council of priests, that affirms the royal cult of the thirteen-year-old Ptolemy V on the first anniversary of his coronation. The decree is inscribed on the stone three times, in hieroglyphic (suitable for a priestly decree), demotic (the native script used for daily purposes), and Greek (the language of the administration). The importance of this to Egyptology is immense. In the early years of the nineteenth century, scholars were able to use the Greek inscription on this stone as the key to deciphering the others.
Opposition to the Ptolemies
In previous years the family of the Ptolemies had lost control of certain parts of the country. It had taken their armies some time to put down opposition in the Delta, and parts of southern Upper Egypt, particularly Thebes, were not yet back under the government’s control.
Before the Ptolemaic era (that is before about 332 B.C.E.), decrees in hieroglyphs such as this were usually set up by the king. It shows how much things had changed from Pharaonic times that the priests, the only people who had kept the knowledge of writing hieroglyphs, were now issuing such decrees. The list of good deeds done by the king for the temples hints at the way in which the support of the priests was ensured.
The end of hieroglyphics
Soon after the end of the fourth century C.E., when hieroglyphs had gone out of use, the knowledge of how to read and write them disappeared. In the early years of the nineteenth century, some 1400 years later, scholars were able to use the Greek inscription on this stone as the key to decipher them.
The discovery
Thomas Young, an English physicist, was the first to show that some of the hieroglyphs on the Rosetta Stone wrote the sounds of a royal name, that of Ptolemy. The French scholar Jean-François Champollion then realized that hieroglyphs recorded the sound of the Egyptian language and laid the foundations of our knowledge of ancient Egyptian language and culture.
Soldiers in Napoleon’s army discovered the Rosetta Stone in 1799 while digging the foundations of an addition to a fort near the town of el-Rashid (Rosetta). On Napoleon’s defeat, the stone became the property of the British under the terms of the Treaty of Alexandria (1801) along with other antiquities that the French had found.
The Rosetta Stone has been exhibited in the British Museum since 1802, with only one break. Towards the end of the First World War, in 1917, when the Museum was concerned about heavy bombing in London, they moved it to safety along with other, portable, ‘important’ objects. The Rosetta Stone spent the next two years in a station on the Postal Tube Railway 50 feet below the ground at Holborn.
The Rosetta Stone (detail with Greek), 196 B.C.E., Ptolemaic Period, 112.3 x 75.7 x 28.4 cm, Egypt (British Museum, London) (photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).
Analyzing the Rosetta Stone
When the Rosetta Stone was discovered in 1799, the carved characters that covered its surface were quickly copied. Printer’s ink was applied to the Stone and white paper was laid over it. When the paper was removed, it revealed an exact copy of the text—but in reverse. Since then, many copies or “facsimiles” have been made using a variety of materials. Inevitably, the surface of the Stone accumulated many layers of material left over from these activities, despite attempts to remove any residue. Once on display, the grease from many thousands of human hands eager to touch the Stone added to the problem.
An opportunity for investigation and cleaning the Rosetta Stone arose when this famous object was made the centerpiece of the Cracking Codes exhibition at The British Museum in 1999. When work commenced to remove all but the original, ancient material, the stone was black with white lettering. As treatment progressed, the different substances uncovered were analyzed. Grease from human handling, a coating of carnauba wax from the early 1800s and printer’s ink from 1799 were cleaned away using cotton wool swabs and liniment of soap, white spirit, acetone and purified water. Finally, white paint in the text, applied in 1981, which had been left in place until now as a protective coating, was removed with cotton swabs and purified water. A small square at the bottom left corner of the face of the Stone was left untouched to show the darkened wax and the white infill.
Left: Detail of the right side of the Rosetta Stone; Right: Detail of the Rosetta Stone with Demotic script. The Rosetta Stone, 196 B.C.E., Ptolemaic Period, 112.3 x 75.7 x 28.4 cm, Egypt (British Museum, London) (photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).
The Stone has a dark grey-pinkish tone with a pink streak running through it. Today you can see traces of a reddish brown in the text. This material was analyzed and found to be a clear mineral known as hydroxyapatite; the color may be due to iron traces. The mineral may have been applied deliberately, but there is no proof of this. This substance is not known by experts to have been used as a pigment, nor to have been used as a base for painting (a ground) in ancient Egypt.
Translation of the demotic text
[Year 9, Xandikos day 4], which is equivalent to the Egyptian month, second month of Peret, day 18, of the King “The Youth who has appeared as King in the place of his Father,” the Lord of the Uraei “Whose might is great, who has established Egypt, causing it to prosper, whose heart is beneficial before the gods…”
The British Museum, Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker, “The Rosetta Stone,” in Smarthistory, August 29, 2016, accessed August 12, 2024, https://smarthistory.org/the-rosetta-stone/.
Given the number of tombs, mortuary temples, and funerary artifacts that have survived from ancient Egypt, it is not surprising that many people mistakenly believe that ancient Egyptian society was obsessed with death. This could not be further from the truth—the Egyptians were obsessed with life, and specifically the life they experienced in the Nile valley, which was viewed as the ideal existence on earth. Every Egyptian wanted the desired afterlife: an eternal, perfected, effortless version of life along the Nile, including a river teeming with abundant fish, fields overflowing with a variety of produce, and deserts full of animals to hunt.
A collection of rituals and texts
The earliest known burials at all social strata contained grave goods and offerings to provide for the deceased in the afterlife. From the Old Kingdom onwards, tombs—royal and non-royal alike—included chapels where the living could come to present offerings and perform ritual actions to support the deceased in their journey. Over time, a collection of rituals and texts developed that were specifically intended to help the deceased become an effective being in the afterlife. Modern scholars divided this collection into the Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts, and Book of the Dead, largely aligning with periods of time (Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, and New Kingdom) and the most popular presentation of the texts (in pyramids, on coffins, or on papyri).
Despite the modern convention of dividing these texts, the ancient Egyptians viewed these compositions as a single continuum. By carving these essential spells on tomb walls or including them on coffins, papyri, and other objects, the goal was to ensure their eternal effectiveness in providing for the deceased in the afterlife.
Detail of Pyramid Text inscribed on the wall of a subterranean room in Teti’s pyramid, at Saqqara, Dynasty 6, Teti’s reign c. 2345–2323 B.C.E. (photo: Chipdawes)
Pyramid Text inscribed on the wall of a subterranean room in Teti’s pyramid, at Saqqara (photo: Sailko, CC BY 3.0)
Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom
The massive pyramids at Giza included no inscriptions, but beginning with King Unas of the Fifth Dynasty (c 2375–2345 B.C.E.), the walls of the royal burial chamber were covered with vertical columns of text written in monumental hieroglyphs and often outlined in blue-green (a color of regeneration).
These Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom were initially preserved only inscribed on the walls of the burial chambers of royal pyramid tombs. Over time these became more available for display in private tombs and began appearing on objects in the tombs of elite individuals. From the surviving evidence, however, it is clear that there was a common collection of mortuary rites—equally valid for king and commoner—that were being used by both groups as early as the Fourth Dynasty.
Unas’ burial chamber displaying the sarcophagus, royal palace facade motif, west gable inscriptions, and starry ceiling, Dynasty 5 (Unas, c. 2375–2345 B.C.E.) (photo: Vincent Brown, CC BY 2.0)
These are among the earliest religious writings from anywhere in the world. The text was written in sections, each beginning with the phrase “words to be spoken.” They are often referred to by modern scholars as “spells” but are in fact religious texts. The texts probably derived from a variety of sources, like hymns, lists of divine epithets, daily life magical spells, and phrases that accompanied ritual actions. This collection of texts had clearly been in use for quite some time for both royal and non-royal burials before they were inscribed on the walls of Unas’s burial chamber and antechamber. Their goal was to aid the deceased in avoiding decay and to help their spirit ascend to the celestial realm, taking their place among the gods as one of the “imperishable stars.”
The Pyramid Texts present a mix of spell types—some were written in first person, meant to be spoken by the spirit of the deceased, while others were in second person, intended to be spoken by a lector priest or heir as part of the funerary rituals. These spells likely were recited as part of the funerary rites. The mortuary rituals probably began in the memorial temple or chapel and moved inward toward the burial chamber with the interment; there is often a locational element to spell placement, like the protective spells that are inscribed near the entrance and offering spells inscribed on the north walls of the burial chambers while the “Morning” ritual appears on the east wall. The offering rituals included texts related to presenting offerings, libations, and incense to the deceased and the performance of the Opening of the Mouth ritual.
Beyond the funerary rituals and spells, the text focused on assisting the deceased in ascending to the sky to join the gods, providing useful knowledge such as the names of gatekeepers they might encounter and helpful guides to avoid obstacles along the path. These “spells” helped ensure the success of the cycle of rebirth, supporting the daily journey from death to life. The entire goal of the Pyramid Texts was to enable the deceased to become an effective being (called an akh) in the afterlife.
Some 200 deities are mentioned in the Pyramid Texts and several of the major mythic themes of Egyptian religion are alluded to (such as the murder of Osiris, the conflict between Horus and Seth, and the daily journey of the sun god). The earliest references to Osiris as king of the netherworld appear as well.
King Unas’s burial chamber was inscribed with around 300 of these spells, but more than 800 are known today. They can be found in ten of the late Old Kingdom pyramids, none of which display an identical version. The perceived magical nature of hieroglyphic signs—something so important to Egyptian culture—is already evident here. It was their belief that images could animate in certain contexts, either to help or possibly hinder. For instance, repeated symbols for “bread” stacked on a table before the deceased provided that individual unlimited bread in the afterlife, which was viewed as an idealized version of life in Egypt and required provisioning and sustenance. In King Unas’s burial chamber inscription, certain signs like humans and dangerous scorpions were modified to render them harmless. There is a striking level of human and animal signs that are rendered as incomplete, missing arms, stingers, and other vital body parts. Later variations of this practice with mortuary inscriptions saw the horned viper that served as the letter “f” often carved as though they were sliced in half and birds were shown with no legs to prevent them from animating in the tomb and harming the body of the deceased.
A number of the Pyramid Texts were composed from the perspective of a non-royal individual or refer to the king as someone separate from the beneficiary of the spell, characteristics that make no sense if the spells were purely for royal usage, as was once believed by modern scholars. As early as the Fourth Dynasty, tomb biographies of officials include references to their status as an akh, suggesting that the same rites of transfiguration spelled out in the Pyramid Texts had been performed for them. Commonalities between royal and non-royal mortuary practices are also evident in the shared elements of the funerary service, including the ubiquitous offering lists—specifying the numbers of each type of good (bread, jars of beer, hanches of cattle, etc.) hoped to be available in the afterlife—that were included in every tomb, scenes of the deceased seated at a table piled high with offerings, and ritualists shown performing the actions necessary to help the deceased transform into an akh.
Painted wooden inner-coffin of Seni with lid, c.1850 B.C.E. (12th dynasty), painted wood, findspot: Deir el-Bersha, Egypt (@ The Trustees of the British Museum)
Coffin Texts from the Tomb of Harhotep, c. 2008–1630 B.C.E., limestone wall, pigment, 99.1 x 9.9 x 52.7 cm (Brooklyn Museum)
While only a few spells were selected for any given burial, more than 1,100 spells have been identified with around 400 of these reused verbatim from the Pyramid Texts. There was considerable local variation, however, and many spells are only found at one location.
The Pyramid Texts eventually developed into a collection of spells now referred to as the Coffin Texts, since they were often painted on coffins and other grave goods. The Coffin Texts were directly derived from the Pyramid Texts and represent a continuation of the older tradition rather than a distinct and new corpus. They illustrate how important the promise of immortality and the protection of the soul was to all ancient Egyptians across time.
The Coffin Texts emerged during the First Intermediate Period and were used by a wide range of Egyptian society. They were used throughout the Middle Kingdom for private burials; royal pyramid burials during this period did not include mortuary texts inscribed on their walls.
Usually painted in closely spaced columns, the texts are initiated by the term dd-mdw (usually translated as “recitation” or “words to be spoken”) emphasizing their primary purpose as utterances, meant to be spoken aloud rather than just read. Perhaps due to the different local cultic practices and regional styles, the Coffin Texts are highly individualized in terms of which spells were selected, and this selection varied from coffin to coffin—there are around 100 coffins with these texts that are known, and each is quite different.
Coffin Texts were mostly discovered in elite cemeteries in Middle Egypt, such as at Deir el-Bersha and Beni Hasan, where the powerful nomarchs cut elaborate tombs into the cliffs for themselves and their families.
The essential content of the Pyramid Texts continued in the Coffin Texts, including the material basis for continued existence in the afterlife (i.e. the need for offerings, shabtis, and other grave goods), protection of the body and spirit from dangerous beings and locations, and a goal of admission into the cyclical solar journey that rejuvenated the soul. New were transformation spells to help the deceased change into a bird—ascending to the sky and also into various forms, including certain deities.
Another new motif was an expressed desire to reunite with family and loved ones in the afterlife. Apophis, the giant chaos serpent who endangered the course of the sun god’s nocturnal journey through the underworld and had to be defeated every night, makes its first appearance in these spells. Osiris, and the merging of the deceased with this god, increases in importance. Important spells and emphasized words were often written in red to highlight them. The deceased was referred to throughout the texts in first person.
In contrast to the Pyramid Texts that were unillustrated, in Coffin Texts a few spells were accompanied by vignettes (illustrations) that were considered an integral part of the spell. Especially amazing are the maps that are part of the spell known as the Book of Two Ways. Often painted on the interior bottom of coffins, these maps are the earliest known from any culture. They provide guides for two possible routes—by land and by water—through the dangerous realm of the netherworld, with accompanying spells intended to aid the deceased in overcoming obstacles and getting past the dangerous guardians they would encounter on the path. If successful in this endeavor, the deceased would enter an eternal paradise.
Early in the New Kingdom, a collection of mortuary spells, commonly referred to as the Book of the Dead, developed from the Coffin Texts and began to appear in private tombs, usually painted on papyrus scrolls. Known to the Egyptians as the “Spells for Going Forth by Day,” the so-called Book of the Dead was used for non-royal burials from around Dynasty 17 through the Roman era.
Amduat on both walls down to burial chamber, originally tomb of Ramses V (KV9), 20th dynasty, c. 1145 B.C.E., Valley of the Kings, Egypt (photo: Dr. Amy Calvert)
Parallel with this development, a new almost completely royal genre of mortuary texts appeared called “That which is in the Duat.” These complex and enigmatic depictions of the netherworld and the nocturnal solar journey were only placed on the walls of kings tombs throughout the New Kingdom.
Spells from the Book of the Dead also appeared in royal New Kingdom tombs. These evolving texts provided a collection of rituals and practical instructions intended to support the deceased in their dangerous netherworld journey, with the goal of enabling them to enter an eternally effortless and perfected afterlife.
A continuation of the earlier Coffin Texts and the even earlier Pyramid Texts, the Book of the Dead made afterlife texts available to a wider range of Egyptian society. Each copy was different, with passages and illustrations selected on an individual basis. Some of these scrolls were gorgeously produced and lavishly painted with personal details, clearly very expensive, elite items; other examples were extremely basic and contained only the most essential spells—conceptually, both served the deceased Egyptians identically in their function of helping them navigate the afterlife. This collection included nearly 200 spells, although individual copies vary greatly in the number of spells they contained. Sometimes the spells were inscribed on grave goods and funerary equipment, like coffins, but most were written on papyrus scrolls and placed in tombs.
Increasingly, the spells were accompanied by vignettes; eventually, these illustrations could stand alone for the spells and were also portrayed on tomb walls. The spells mention many different deities, but the text was dominated by the gods Ra and Osiris and was focused on outlining the ways that the deceased could become part of the crew on Ra’s solar boat or find a place in Osiris’s court. Spells were set apart by titles in red and many included colophons with specific instructions on their use. These spells were practical in their intent, providing magical assistance to the deceased on their netherworld journey. There appears to have been no required sequence, but there were groupings and preferences that became apparent.
Hunefer’s Judgement in the presence of Osiris, Book of the Dead, 19th Dynasty, New Kingdom, c. 1275 B.C.E., papyrus, Thebes, Egypt (British Museum)
Detail of Ammit. Hunefer’s Judgement in the presence of Osiris, Book of the Dead, 19th Dynasty, New Kingdom, c. 1275 B.C.E., papyrus, Thebes, Egypt (British Museum
Spell 125 was undoubtedly the most vital section of the text. A beautifully painted example can be seen in the papyrus of Hunefer, a Royal Scribe and steward of King Seti I in Dynasty 19. This spell for “descending to the great hall of the Double Ma’at” is now sometimes referred to as the Great Judgment. Standing before the throne of Osiris and a divine jury in the Hall of Justice, the deceased declared themselves innocent of a list of sins. After completing this negative confession, the weighing of the heart on the scales of ma’attook place. This moment decided the fate of the deceased in the netherworld—if their heart was lighter or balanced with the feather of truth, the deceased was allowed into the idyllic Field of Reeds, the Egyptian version of heaven, and lived eternally in bliss. However, if their heart was heavier than the feather, the deceased was condemned to the worst fate an Egyptian could envision: oblivion. Their heart was devoured by a horrifying monster called Ammit—a composite being merging lion, crocodile, and hippopotamus that waited beneath the scales—and they utterly ceased to exist.
An Ongoing, Evolving Tradition
Ancient Egyptian mortuary texts represent an ongoing, ever-evolving tradition that provides valuable insight into the afterlife beliefs and goals of the ancient Egyptians. From the beginnings of its history, the afterlife was available to all segments of Egyptian society. What changed over time was the access to practices that were believed to be necessary to successfully achieving full rebirth and an idealized ongoing existence in the afterlife. The afterlife manuals and collections of mortuary spells included with burials and intended to assist the deceased in their netherworld journey became highly personalized and individual. For example, even after the development of the Coffin Texts and the Book of the Dead, spells from the Pyramid Texts continued to be used until the Late Period by those who chose to include them in their burials. An idealized afterlife as an effective akh was the goal of all Egyptians, no matter their status, and these texts were specifically developed to help make that goal a reality. As such, Egyptians did all they could to include as much of this helpful information in their burials as possible to support them on their dangerous journey to the Field of Reeds.
The Great Pyramids of Giza
by: Dr. Amy Calvert
The Great Pyramids at Giza, Egypt (photo: KennyOMG, CC BY-SA 4.0)
One of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world
The last remaining of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, the great pyramids of Giza, are perhaps the most famous and discussed structures in history. These massive monuments were unsurpassed in height for thousands of years after their construction and continue to amaze and enthrall us with their overwhelming mass and seemingly impossible perfection. Their exacting orientation and mind-boggling construction has elicited many theories about their origins, including unsupported suggestions that they had extra-terrestrial impetus. However, by examining the several hundred years priorto their emergence on the Giza plateau, it becomes clear that these incredible structures were the result of many experiments, some more successful than others, and represent an apogee in line with the development of the royal mortuary complex.
Pyramid of Khafre (photo: MusikAnimal, CC BY-SA 3.0)
The causeway of the Khafre (Chephren) pyramid complex, taken from the entrance of the Khafre Valley Temple (photo: Hannah Pethen, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Three pyramids, three rulers
The three primary pyramids on the Giza plateau were built over the span of three generations by the rulers Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure. Each pyramid was part of a royal mortuary complex that also included a temple at its base and a long stone causeway (some nearly 1 kilometer in length) leading east from the plateau to a valley temple on the edge of the floodplain.
Other (smaller) pyramids, and small tombs
In addition to these major structures, several smaller pyramids belonging to queens are arranged as satellites. A large cemetery of smaller tombs, known as mastabas (Arabic for ‘bench’ in reference to their shape—flat-roofed, rectangular, with sloping sides), fills the area to the east and west of the pyramid of Khufu. These were arranged in a grid-like pattern and constructed for prominent members of the court. Being buried near the pharaoh was a great honor and helped ensure a prized place in the Afterlife.
Map of Giza pyramid complex (map by: MesserWoland, CC BY-SA 3.0)
A reference to the sun
The shape of the pyramid was a solar reference, perhaps intended as a solidified version of the rays of the sun. Texts talk about the sun’s rays as a ramp the pharaoh mounts to climb to the sky—the earliest pyramids, such as the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara—were actually designed as a staircase. The pyramid was also clearly connected to the sacred ben-ben stone, an icon of the primeval mound that was considered the place of initial creation. The pyramid was viewed as a place of regeneration for the deceased ruler.
View up the side of Khufu’s pyramid showing scale of the core blocks (Photo: Dr. Amy Calvert)
Construction
Many questions remain about the construction of these massive monuments, and theories abound as to the actual methods used. The workforce needed to build these structures is also still much discussed. Discovery of a town for workers to the south of the plateau has offered some answers. It is likely that there was a permanent group of skilled craftsmen and builders who were supplemented by seasonal crews of approximately 2000 conscripted peasants. These crews were divided into gangs of 200 men, with each group further divided into teams of 20. Experiments indicate that these groups of 20 men could haul the 2.5 ton blocks from quarry to pyramid in about 20 minutes, their path eased by a lubricated surface of wet silt. An estimated 340 stones could be moved daily from quarry to construction site, particularly when one considers that many of the blocks (such as those in the upper courses) were considerably smaller.
Backstory
We are used to seeing the pyramids at Giza in alluring photographs, where they appear as massive and remote monuments rising up from an open, barren desert. Visitors might be surprised to find, then, that there is a golf course and resort only a few hundred feet from the Great Pyramid, and that the burgeoning suburbs of Giza (part of the greater metropolitan area of Cairo) have expanded right up to the foot of the Sphinx. This urban encroachment and the problems that come with it—such as pollution, waste, illegal activities, and auto traffic—are now the biggest threats to these invaluable examples of global cultural heritage.
The pyramids were inscribed into the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979, and since 1990, the organization has sponsored over a dozen missions to evaluate their status. It has supported the restoration of the Sphinx, as well as measures to curb the impact of tourism and manage the growth of the neighboring village. Still, threats to the site continue: air pollution from waste incineration contributes to the degradation of the stones, and the massive illegal quarrying of sand on the neighboring plateau has created holes large enough to be seen on Google Earth. Egypt’s 2011 uprisings and their chaotic political and economic aftermath also negatively impacted tourism, one of the country’s most important industries, and the number of visitors is only now beginning to rise once more.
UNESCO has continually monitored these issues, but its biggest task with regard to Giza has been to advocate for the rerouting of a highway that was originally slated to cut through the desert between the pyramids and the necropolis of Saqqara to the south. The government eventually agreed to build the highway north of the pyramids. However, as the Cairo metropolitan area (the largest in Africa, with a population of over 20 million) continues to expand, planners are now proposing a multilane tunnel to be constructed underneath the Giza Plateau. UNESCO and ICOMOS are calling for in-depth studies of the project’s potential impact, as well as an overall site management plan for the Giza pyramids that would include ways to halt the continued impact of illegal dumping and quarrying.
As massive as they are, the pyramids at Giza are not immutable. With the rapid growth of Cairo, they will need sufficient attention and protection if they are to remain intact as key touchstones of ancient history.