Letters for George: Ancient Warriors from the Afterworld Visit Cincinnati

Saturday, August 4, 2018

Ancient Warriors from the Afterworld Visit Cincinnati

The First Emperor’s burial tomb mound

Dear George,

The terracotta soldiers on display at our art museum through Aug. 12 are one of the most amazing exhibits I’ve ever seen. Over 2200 years old, their construction was ordered by the First Emperor of China, King Ying Zheng of Qin. In his lifetime the Emperor had enormous impact on China’s development, initiating construction of the Great Wall, a nationwide network of canals and roads, the country’s first centralized government, and the standardization of currency, measurement, and writing. Zheng was born in 259 BCE in Handan in the Zhao state of northwest China. He ascended to the throne at age 13 and promptly ordered the construction of his mausoleum at the base of Mount Li. The mausoleum took 38 years to complete and covered 38 square miles (over three times the size of Menominee and Marinette combined). Archeologists estimate that over 700,000 workers were used in its construction. The mausoleum includes a palace, armory, entertainment area, stables, and three pits containing nearly 8,000 life-size terra-cotta warriors. The terracotta figures include infantrymen, archers, officers, charioteers, and horses. They average 6 feet 3 inches in height. Each individual figure is unique, and some hypothesize that the sculptures are replicas of actual soldiers from the Emperor’s army. Though faded to a gray color today, they were originally painted in bright colors — scarlet, green, purple, yellow, and black. Their purpose was to accompany and guard the First Emperor and his court in the afterlife. The terracotta warriors were discovered in 1974 by farmers digging a well, and much of the site remains unexcavated. The discovery was praised as the Eighth Wonder of the World. The sculptures are exquisite, and, even in our wildest fantasies, it would be hard to envision a creation of this scope. It’s also astonishing that they have survived for more than two millennia. Here are a few of the robust warriors who made their way to Cincinnati.

Love,

Dave

(Sources: cincinnatiartmuseum.org, nationalgeographic.com, todayifoundout.com, travelchinaguide.com, wikipedia.org)

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MARCH 2024 HOLIDAYS

MARCH 2024 HOLIDAYS

Sun., Mar. 10. Daylight Saving Time starts. Clocks move forward one hour at 2 a.m. // Sun., Mar. 17. St. Patrick’s Day. Celebrating one of Ireland’s patron saints and Irish-American culture in the U.S. // Wed., Mar. 20. Spring Equinox. One of two annual equinoxes in which the length of night and day are nearly equal. // Thurs., Mar. 21. World Poetry Day. Promoting linguistic expression through poetry. // Sat., Mar. 23. Purim starts. A Jewish holiday which commemorates Jews being saved from extermination in Persia. // (Source: wincalendar.com)

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Thomas Stearns Eliot was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1888. His father, a prosperous businessman, sent him to Milton Academy and Harvard where he excelled. At Harvard Eliot studied philosophy, earning a master’s degree under George Santayana. He then studied linguistics, poetry, and philosophy at the Sorbonne and at Oxford University, settling in England after his studies, working as a banker, and writing poetry. Eliot published his first masterpiece, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, in 1917, and he followed it with “The Waste Land” in 1922, a long poem that had tremendous impact on Western literature. Andrew Lloyd Webber adapted Eliot’s 1939 children’s book, “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats” into the stage musical “Cats”, one of the longest-running shows in Broadway history. Awarded the Nobel Prize in 1948, Eliot died in 1965. (Tessitore, Extraordinary American Writers, 2004)

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Katja had appointments with her primary care physician and pain doctor. She had a fall at T.J. Maxx, banged her head, and was taken to emergency by ambulance but turned out o.k. We toured the new Clifton Cultural Arts Center, complained that they didn’t have our name in the wall of donors. I put most of my academic library out for graduate students in preparation for moving offices at the university. We had dinner out at Longhorn Steakhouse, chop steak for me, lamb chops for Katja. I shed a tear at Mr. Bates vs. the Post Office on PBS.