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Big noses, curly hair on empress's coffin suggests deep cultural exchange on Silk Road
People's Daily ^ | September 14, 2010 | Xinhua

Posted on 09/20/2010 7:40:59 PM PDT by SunkenCiv

Chinese archeologists have found new evidence of international cultural exchange on the ancient Silk Road.

Four European-looking warriors and lion-like beasts are engraved on an empress's 1,200-year-old stone coffin that was unearthed in Shaanxi Province, in northwestern China.

The warriors on the four reliefs had deep-set eyes, curly hair and over-sized noses -- physical characteristics Chinese typically associate with Europeans.

The 27-tonne Tang Dynasty (618-907) sarcophagus contained empress Wu Huifei (699-737), Ge Chengyong, a noted expert on Silk Road studies, said Tuesday.

Ge said one of the warriors was very much like [Zeus], the "father of gods and men" in Greek mythology.

The coffin was also engraved with deer, tigers and goats.

"It's noteworthy that goats signify tragedy in Greek mythology. The word 'tragedy' itself means 'song of the man-goat singer'," he said.

He said the tragic element coincides with the empress's unhappy life: several of her children died young and she herself lived constantly in fear.

Ge said the exotic sarcophagus is rare for China, where ancient coffins almost always had Buddhist-themed reliefs and murals depicting harmony, happiness and peace.

The elements of Greek mythology on Empress Wu Huifei's coffin suggest cross-cultural exchange was common in Chang'an, capital of the Tang Dynasty, located in today's Xi'an, he said. "There could have even been clergymen from Western countries serving in the Tang imperial court."

Wu Huifei was Emperor Xuanzong's favorite concubine and was posthumously known as Empress Zhenshun, meaning "the virtuous and serene empress."

(Excerpt) Read more at english.peopledaily.com.cn ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: alexanderthegreat; china; godsgravesglyphs; greeks; history; romanempire; romanroads; romantrade; silk; silkroad; silkroute; silktrade; wuhuifei
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To: Eyes Unclouded

“Speaking of the Clinton years... those guys don’t need to sneak out the documents in their pants anymore.”

Well, they tried socks and cucumbers, but a roll of 8.5 x 11’s seemed to impress the ladies more.


21 posted on 09/20/2010 11:08:21 PM PDT by Boogieman
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To: Boogieman
> Jim & the AdminMods, featuring VikingKitty! ... Or we could do more of a punk band and just call it “The Zots”.

Marvelous idea! I've played in club bands for 45 years (approximately since the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan) and am always ready to rock out... "The Zots"... that's priceless! "VikingKitty" has to be the female bassist with the leather outfit, electric hair, and a tattoo of the WTF Cat:

There was an 80's band called "Zot" (http://perrin3.com/zot/ and http://feeds2.feedburner.com/Zot) but I don't think they're still active or would give a damn.

22 posted on 09/20/2010 11:21:26 PM PDT by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
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To: earlJam
...like the guy who posts countless stories about pit bull attacks, one after the other.

We need to know about those vicious brutes. Often, it is a case of a fatality.

23 posted on 09/21/2010 12:25:13 AM PDT by BlackVeil
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To: SunkenCiv

Call the thread hijack police!!


24 posted on 09/21/2010 3:58:43 AM PDT by TheOldLady (Pablo is very wily.)
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To: 6SJ7

hehehe

Good one.


25 posted on 09/21/2010 4:10:53 AM PDT by earlJam
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To: dayglored
dayglored - Since Jun 11, 2005

earlJam - Since Nov 20, 2008

Yeah. That is a type of trump card around here, although I never understood that argument.

I am not necessarily saying you are trying to claim some kind of conservative moral high ground based on sign up date, but lots of people do.

26 posted on 09/21/2010 4:21:14 AM PDT by earlJam
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To: earlJam
I agree that a poster's registration date doesn't make one poster more intelligent than another, and hate when it's used that way. This is a good case that supports that argument though since it relates to the site's operation over time.

< trump > I've been on SunkenCiv's ping list for many years longer than you've been registered, and haven't heard a single complaint until now. In fact, I think it's one of the better user contributions to FR. It's consistently interesting. < / trump > ;-)

Anyways, we're all entitled to our opinions about things. Jim, John and the Admin mods decide whether content is relevant to their site.

27 posted on 09/21/2010 4:38:02 AM PDT by Textide
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To: earlJam

Why are you here on this thread>? are you a niche bitch poster?

just askin


28 posted on 09/21/2010 4:40:10 AM PDT by bert (K.E. N.P. N.C. +12 ..... Greetings Jacques. The revolution is coming)
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To: SunkenCiv
Thread Hijacking Pictures, Images and Photos
29 posted on 09/21/2010 5:09:24 AM PDT by marine86297 (I'll never forgive Clinton for Somalia, my blood is on his hands)
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To: Boogieman

“Well, they tried socks and cucumbers, but a roll of 8.5 x 11’s seemed to impress the ladies more.”

Socks the Cat?!


30 posted on 09/21/2010 5:49:33 AM PDT by Cailleach
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To: earlJam
> I am not necessarily saying you are trying to claim some kind of conservative moral high ground based on sign up date, but lots of people do.

Not at all. My point was that we're all guests in Jim Robinson's living room, and none can claim seniority enough to tell him how to run his site.

Of course we all have opinions about how the site could be improved, and since the more years one has hung around FR, the more one picks up about how it runs, the traditions and so forth, the opinions of the old-timers tend to get more consideration. No surprise there. But I don't consider myself an old-timer, which was my point in mentioning the dates.

Hope you have a great day...

31 posted on 09/21/2010 8:33:26 AM PDT by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
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To: Textide

Cheers to you and the rest.


32 posted on 09/21/2010 8:58:49 AM PDT by earlJam
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To: marine86297

Wow, I guess I missed somethin’ in the stream of semi-consciousness that is FR. :’) Thanks go to the Mod who’s got my back. :’)


33 posted on 09/21/2010 4:33:50 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Democratic Underground... matters are worse, as their latest fund drive has come up short...)
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To: dayglored
Skip over the threads that don't interest you.
Thanks dayglored, and /bingo.

I've actually teased Willie Green about his train fixation (this happened a while before he got banned, he was off FR for some months, maybe it was a year?) and found out he had (at that time) no sense of humor about it at all. :') and [blush]

Grammar police make me a little ill.

I would say I don't like thread hijackers, but since I do that pretty much on a daily basis, I've grown to love them. ;') Well, some of the time.

I used to joke about blog-pimping, and have been known to add something to the keywords regarding that, but there's a small subculture on FR that have taken on the role of pimp-hasslers, and that to me is yet another total waste of bandwidth. So, to quote you once again in closing:
Skip over the threads that don't interest you.

34 posted on 09/21/2010 4:43:13 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Democratic Underground... matters are worse, as their latest fund drive has come up short...)
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To: bvw

That’s a nasty bastard you had to suffer with. I’d have had an airtight alibi, and there wouldn’t have been any trace of him anyway. Speaking of erasure.

But I digress.

It’s amazing the lengths that someone who is obviously on the take (from the sound of it) or completely gonzo (also possible) will go to, and how long they can escape scrutiny for vandalism.


35 posted on 09/21/2010 4:47:10 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Democratic Underground... matters are worse, as their latest fund drive has come up short...)
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To: Little Bill

Well, the truth is, some of them *seem* like they’ve been going on for ten years or longer... ;’)


36 posted on 09/21/2010 4:56:32 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Democratic Underground... matters are worse, as their latest fund drive has come up short...)
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To: Free Vulcan

:’) It’s a matter of more being known, although some of the baldfaced lies are still with us, or more accurately, still be shilled in public schools. I don’t have any use for that “Lies My Teacher Told Me” leftwinger.


37 posted on 09/21/2010 7:42:56 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Democratic Underground... matters are worse, as their latest fund drive has come up short...)
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To: SunkenCiv

New posters, please leave our archaeology threads alone. SunkenCiv has a well establised following.


38 posted on 09/21/2010 8:57:13 PM PDT by marsh2
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To: Textide

Textide, you are too new in my opinion so i won’t listen to you! and more so, since i have been around for a few months longer, your no longer entitled to any opinions that differ from mine! please contact me for your future opinions. thank you!


39 posted on 09/22/2010 8:09:19 AM PDT by Docbarleypop (Archaeologists are dirty guys)
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To: marsh2

Thanks marsh2. Seems to have worked. ;’)


40 posted on 09/22/2010 3:32:50 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Democratic Underground... matters are worse, as their latest fund drive has come up short...)
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