The tomb containing the remains of her son had suffered water damage, but much remained within. A second complete silk banner had been placed over the inner coffin, and the bamboo slips containing an inventory of the grave offerings survived. The tomb banner, slightly longer than that in Tomb 1, contained essentially the same format. Sun and Moon are depicted in the upper register, with a goddess whose lower limbs are in the form of a snake holding out a hand. The dead man is depicted walking, in the upper part of the central register. He wears a red robe and hat. Scenes presumably drawn from his life are also painted. He has six servants and is seen being welcomed by three men. There is a feasting scene and a sacrifice is being undertaken. As with the Tomb 1 banner, these scenes involved the appropriate passage to heaven. There are three other notable paintings on silk. One shows a procession incorporating hundreds of people, chariots, and horses. Another includes women in boats and houses. The last silk had been stored in a LACQUER box and showed rows of people in various postures. The bamboo slip associated with it reveals that they were engaged in deep-breathing exercises, and it is thought that it was a means of maintaining fitness. Similar activities can be seen in China to this day.
TOMB 3 SILK MANUSCRIPTS
Perhaps the most significant of the finds represent the aristocrat’s library of silk manuscripts. About 120,000 characters are included, making up parts of 20 books hitherto known only from later references. This represents one of the most significant archaeological and literary finds from early China, and they reveal a man interested in philosophical writings, divination, history, and medicine. Foremost among this extraordinary collection is the oldest surviving text of the Yijing (Classic of Changes). There are also two astrological almanacs known as the Prognostications of the Five Planets and the Miscellaneous Prognostications of Astronomy and Meteorology. They illustrate a detailed knowledge of the movements of the visible planets and record the passage of comets. The manuscript known as Zhan Gue Ce has 28 chapters that detail diplomatic activity during the warring states period (475-221 b. c.e.). There was also a practical side. One of his manuscripts provides a detailed map of the Xiang River Valley toward the south of the kingdom facing the warlike yue tribes; another shows the principal fortified centers and can be seen as a map central to military intelligence. Leisure time was also represented, in the form of a liubo set, a form of board game, but one of the most arresting documents from this tomb is known as the Zaliao fang (Prescriptions for miscellaneous cures). It is a detailed description of the arts of sexual intercourse, including treatments for impotency and elixirs to improve performance. These are the earliest detailed and complete texts on sexual intercourse known.
See also silk tomb offerings.
Further reading: Chang, L. S., Yu Feng, and Ch’un Chang. The Four Political Treatises of the Yellow Emperor: Origin Mawangdui Texts with Complete English Translations and an Introduction. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1998; Loewe, M. Chinese Ideas of Life and Death. London: Allen and Unwin, 1982; Twitchet, D., and M. Loewe, eds. The Cambridge History of China. Vol. i, The Ch’in and Han Empires, 221 b. c.-a. d. 220. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986; Wang Zhongshu. Han Civilization. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1982; Wu Hung. “Art in Its Ritual Context: Rethinking Mawangdui,” Early China 17 (1992): 111-145.
Megasthenes (c. 350-290 b. c.e.) Megasthenes was the ambassador of King Seleucus I Nicator (356-281 b. c.e.) to the court of Candragupta Maurya (325-297 b. c.e.) at Patal-iputra in India.
His observations of India were later summarized in his book Indika. Although the text has not survived, passages quoted by later authors provide a rare opportunity to read an eyewitness account of the country, settlements, and people. Megasthenes was much impressed by the splendor of Pataliputra and the fertility of a land that produced two crops a year. He also mentioned that peace reigned and that society was divided into castes that included philosophers, farmers, merchants, soldiers, and councilors. There was an army of informants who reported to the king.
Mehrgarh Few archaeological sites have opened such a major new vista on the past in South Asia as Mehrgarh. It is situated on the Kachi Plain of Baluchistan between iran and India, in a position to command the Bolan Pass and therefore trade with the Iranian uplands to the west. The investigations, beginning in 1974, revealed a series of successive settlements, which cover an area of about 200 hectares (500 acres). The excavations of Mehrgarh are vital in any consideration of the origins of the INDUS valley CIVILIZATION, for they reveal a very long sequence of increasing cultural complexity where previously there had been a void in the knowledge of early agriculture, pottery making, and trade.
FIRST SETTLEMENT
The earliest settlement, known as M3, incorporates 10 meters (33 ft.) of stratified deposits, known as Mehrgarh Period 1. Dating from about 7000-6000 b. c.e., this site belongs to what is known as an aceramic Neolithic, in which there is a farming economy but the inhabitants did not make fired pottery vessels. The remains of barley and wheat indicate cultivation. While the earliest faunal remains show a predominance of gazelles and other hunted animals, including elephants and water buffaloes, cattle were domesticated and began to dominate numerically as the proportion of wild animals declined. The remains of mud-BRiCK houses and storerooms lay between areas in which the dead were interred. Bodies were buried, liberally covered in red ocher, in flexed position and in association with a range of grave goods. These included polished stone adzes, stone vessels, and personal ornaments that include beads of lapis lazuli and turquoise and, in one instance, a bead of copper. one person was accompanied by the skeletons of five young goats. The place of pottery seems to have been taken by bitumen-coated basketry, and although no fired pottery vessels were found, the inhabitants were familiar with the plastic qualities of clay in forming human and animal figurines and containers. Flint blades were the most abundant artifacts found in this early settlement. They would have been used with wood or bone to form composite artifacts.
SECOND SETTLEMENT
MR4 is a second occupation area that lies just to the south of the aceramic Neolithic mound, dated to the fifth millennium b. c.e. One of the uses of the flint blades, which were so prolific in the earliest phase of the site, was immediately indicated, since several were found still inserted in bitumen, which would in turn have been inset into a wooden handle to form a knife or sickle. Two such sickles were in fact recovered from a structure with a series of small compartments that still contained the imprints in the clay of barley and wheat grains. These structures are most logically interpreted as granaries. There are also some cottonseeds, which might well indicate interest in weaving. Craft activities included the manufacture of shell and soapstone beads and the firing of pottery vessels. Cattle ultimately dominated the faunal assemblage. Copper was still very rare.
4000 B. C.E. SETTLEMENT
By about 4000 B. C.E. the settlement focus moved to the south. There were further innovations: Houses became larger, the ceramic industry flourished, and wheelmade vessels, decorated with images of birds and goats, were created in considerable numbers. Beads were fashioned on the site from imported lapis lazuli, turquoise, and car-nelian, the holes drilled with a jasper bit. The copper industry became locally established, and crucibles still containing metal were found. The subsistence base now supported a sizable population in a settlement that grew to cover an area of about 50 hectares (125 acres).
3500 B. C.E. SETTLEMENT
A further move to the south in about 3500 B. C.E. saw the foundation of Mehrgarh Site I. The domestic dwellings of mud brick, with plastered clay floors, grew in size, and some rooms contained large storage jars. The ceramic industry further strengthened with an increased output, and the earliest bone and terra-cotta SEALS, which were probably used to indicate personal ownership, occur.
3000-2700 B. C.E. SETTLEMENT
The period from 3000 until about 2700 B. C.E. has provided further evidence, in the form of an abandoned kiln, for the mass production of pottery vessels. Two hundred pots were rejected because of unsuccessful firing; they were probably intended for trade purposes. The clay figurines also provide a glimpse of the appearance of the WOMEN of Mehrgarh at this period. They wore multiple strands of necklaces and elaborate hairstyles. The final phase lasted for a century until about 2600 B. C.E. This is the period when the Indus Valley civilization of the river plains to the east of Mehrgarh was beginning to develop. The houses were now raised over a set of low storage rooms, one of which contained many pottery vessels. There was a specialized area of kilns for ceramic firing, and pots of outstanding merit were produced. Figurines now included men as well as women, once again with a variety of hairstyles and ornaments, which were painted black and yellow, respectively, on the females; men wore turbanlike headdresses and pendants around the neck. The proliferation of terra-cotta seals almost certainly reflects a further growth in trade and exchange; one of the designs was a bull, and another was a geometric design.
Meluhha Meluhha is the name given to one of the trading partners of the Mesopotamian kingdoms in the Tigris and Euphrates Valleys. Along with Magan and Dilmun, Meluhha is cited by Sargon of Akkad (2334-2279 B. C.E.) as the land from which ships anchored at his port. Dilmun has been identified with the land bordering the western shore of the Arabian Gulf. Magan, supplier of copper, probably lay on the shore of the Gulf of Oman. Meluhha almost certainly referred to the INDUS valley civilization, dated between 2500 and 2000 B. C.E. The Mesopotamian documentary sources make it possible to list the products imported from the Indus Valley. Carnelian is mentioned most often. The production of high-quality carnelian beads in the Indus cities is well documented archaeologically Allahdino in Pakistan, for example, is a site that has produced outstanding carnelian ornaments. lapis lazuli and pearls are also mentioned, as are bird figurines, wood, dates, copper, and gold. The texts also describe ships of Meluhhan form. seals and sealings of Indus type, bearing characters in the INDUS valley civilization script, confirm an ocean trade between the Indus and the Near East. An Indus unicorn seal impression has been found at Umma. A seal with Indus script has been found at Ur, as well as others from Tell Asmar and Kish, all in Mesopotamia. The technique of etching carnelian beads was mastered in the Indus civilization, and there is clear evidence for decorating beads in this manner at chanhu-DARO. Many etched carnelians have been found in the Near East, including the royal graves at Ur and at Kish and Nippur in Mesopotamia.
Segmented faience beads are another possible export. These are found at harappa, mohenjo daro, and Chanhu-daro and also recur in the Mediterranean and Near East. Two specimens, one from Knossos on Crete and the other from Harappa, are chemically identical. A particular type of long bead in the form of a cylinder, made of carnelian, lapis lazuli, or terra-cotta, is most commonly found in the Indus Valley sites. At Chanhu-daro, they have been found in various stages of manufacture. Specimens have also been recovered in the Tigris-Euphrates sites, within the appropriate period.
There are many more compelling parallels between the two great civilizations. Dice, for example, were commonly found in the sites of the Indus civilization, and the RIG-VEDA describes a passion for gambling and the use of dice. These are also found, with the same pattern of numeration, at Ur and Tepe Gawra. Gold-capped stone beads have been found at Mohenjo Daro, lothal, and Ur. Ceramic human figurines with movable arms link the two areas. There are shell and ivory inlays with identical heart-shaped patterns, and even the stone weights of the Indus civilization have been found in the Near East.
There is literary evidence, too, for the presence of a translator of the Indus language resident in the Near East.
Gregory Possehl has not only described these links in detail, but he has also suggested that the surge in trade and the demands for exotic jewelry and metals by the rich and powerful Tigris-Euphrates civilization contributed to the swift rise to dominance of the elite groups who developed in the Indus Valley during the first part of the third millennium b. c.e. Likewise, a later decline in demand and a slackening in the intensity of this exchange would have lessened the central role of the urban centers in the Indus civilization and hastened their demise.
Further reading: Possehl, G. L. Harappan Civilization: A Recent Perspective. New Delhi: Oxford University
Press, 1993;-. “Meluhha.” In The Indian Ocean in
Antiquity, edited by J. Reade. London: Kegan Paul, 1996, pp. 133-208.
Menandros (r. 155-130 b. c.e.) Menandros, or Menander, was a BACTRIAN GREEK who ruled a Hellenistic kingdom with its capital at Sakala (probably Sialkot), in the modern Punjab in Pakistan.
He exemplified the mixing of Greek and Indian customs by issuing coinage declaring himself a chakravartin, or supreme king. He is also the subject of a notable treatise known as the Milindapanha, dating to 150-100 b. c.e., in which the king debated buddhism with the monk Nagasena, ultimately to become one of his followers.
Mencius (Mengzi) (372-c. 289 b. c.e.) Mencius was a Chinese philosopher who followed many of the precepts of Confucianism and traveled widely to discourse with rulers and ministers about proper conduct following the course of yi “rightness,” and ren, “humanity.”
The fourth century b. c.e. was part of the warring STATES PERIOD. Some of Mencius’s conversations have survived in written form and provide a fascinating source on both his thoughts and those of various rulers of the warring States. His philosophy centered on the basic requirements for a happy and prosperous society and the need for good agricultural practice. In a conversation with Duke Wen of the state of Teng, Mencius stressed this point. He discussed the importance of proper field boundaries. If there were corrupt officials and unfair boundaries, there would be serious problems. He then pointed out the basic truth of the relationship between the ruler and the countryside: “[Wjithout the country people, there would be no one to feed the noblemen.” Land should be apportioned between the public area, tilled for payment to the central authority, and the private plots to satisfy the peasants. This notion underlines many of Mencius’s basic thoughts. He declared that the people were of the greatest importance, then the soil, and the ruler was least important. Therefore, he argued, if the ruler did not behave prop-
Mencius (Mengzi) lived during the Warring States period in the fourth century b. c.e., and some of his conversations provide a glimpse into the thoughts of a one of the great Chinese philosophers. He is seen here in an 18th-century C. E. portrait. (O Archive Iconografico, S. A./CORBIS) erly toward the people, they had the right to rescind the MANDATE OF HEAVEN and overthrow him.
See also confucius.
Further reading: Cao Raode, and Cao Xiaomei. The Story of Mencius. San Francisco: Foreign Language Press, 2001; Hinton, D. Mencius. Boulder, Colo.: Counterpoint Press, 1999; Lau, D. C., trans. Mencius. London: Penguin, 1970.
Meng Tian (third century b. c.e.) Meng Tian was a general in the Qin army that defeated Qi in 221 b. c.e.
His father and grandfather were high officials in the state of Qin during the warring states period (475-221 b. c.e.), the former leading Qin forces against the state of CHU. The defeat of Qi led to the foundation of the first Chinese empire under qin shihuangdi (259-210 b. c.e.). Six years later the emperor ordered Meng Tian to move north with a large force to counter the threat of the XIONGNU. As part of his duties to secure the borders of the empire, he was responsible for the initial construction of what was to become the great wall of china. The Qin empire saw the standardization of weights, measures, script, currency, and even the widths of roads, and it was Meng Tian who was placed in charge of constructing the great road that was intended to link the northern and southern parts of the state. However, it was never completed. with the intrigues that attended the accession of
HUHAI as second emperor, the cabal of conspirators required Meng Tian to commit suicide. This he at first refused to do, but ultimately he poisoned himself.
Mengzhuang Mengzhuang is one of the largest of the LONGSHAN CULTURE sites in the middle Huang (Yellow) River Valley. It is situated north of the Huang River in Henan province and was occupied over four periods. The first corresponds to the middle and late phases of the Longshan culture and dates from 2300 to 2000 B. C.E. The stamped-earth walls and encircling moat covered an area of about 16 hectares (40 acres), and the walls were 8.5 meters (28 ft.) thick at the base. The site was occupied during the xia, Middle Shang, and westERN ZHOU dynasties.
See also shang state.
Merv Merv (now called Mary), once known as Antiochia Margiana, an oasis in southern Turkmenistan that attracted settlement from the Bronze Age to the Middle Ages, was the seat of several ancient kingdoms and the legendary home of the Aryans. The water of the oasis was a clear attraction, located as it is in the Kara-Kum Desert. Merv was strategically placed on the ancient silk road and was for centuries an important capital and military center. There are at least three successive cities at Merv. The first is known as Gyaur Kala, the walls of which enclose an area of about 400 hectares (1,000 acres). This was occupied from the sixth century B. C.E. until the 10th century C. E., when it was superceded by Sultan Kala, an Islamic Seljuk foundation. The latter was built next to its predecessor and covered an area of 650 hectares (1,625 acres). A still later city, known as Abdullah Khan Kala, was founded in 1409 C. E., more than a century after the Mongols sacked the Seljuk city.
ACHAEMENID CITY
There have been many excavations at Merv, beginning with the expedition of Raphael Pumpelly early in the 20th century. A long program of research began in the 1950s, and renewed interest and fieldwork began in 1992. These have shown that the sequence at Gyaur Kala, with its citadel of Erk Kala, began during the period of the late achaemenid empire (fifth-fourth centuries B. C.E.). At that juncture, Margiana was part of a great empire that stretched from northern India to Egypt. The earliest reference to Margiana is to be found in the Bisi-tun, Iran inscription of the Achaemenid Persian darius THE GREAT (522-486 B. C.E.), a word meaning “grassland” or “lowland.”
SELEUCID AND PARTHIAN CITY
The collapse of the Persian empire at the hands of ALEXANDER THE GREAT (356-323 B. C.E.) led to the foundation of a Hellenistic city on the site. The Seleucid king Antiochus Soter (r. 281-261 B. C.E.) had a defensive wall built round the city. The roughly square walls were two kilometers square, and each contained a city gate. Within, along Seleucid forms of town planning, the roads formed a grid pattern. The Seleucid kingdom was relatively short lived, and Merv was to fall to the Parthians. They had their own mint in the city and defended it with a line of forts along the northern edge of the oasis. This third phase belongs to the first to second centuries B. C.E., and it is possible that some of the prisoners taken at the Parthian defeat of the Roman forces at Carrhae (53 B. C.E.) were settled in Merv.
SASSANIAN CITY
The decline of Parthian power saw Merv change hands yet again, this time to the sassanian empire, whose occupation lasted until the fifth century C. E. Under the Sassanian kings Shapur I (r. 241-272 c. E.) and Shapur II (r. 309-379), the oasis city was placed in the hands of a military governor, or marzban. It was during this phase that the Durnaly fortress in the northern outskirts of Merv was constructed. Christianity flourished there, and by the fifth century there was a metropolitan bishop in residence. buddhism also penetrated as far west as Merv, but no farther. The fourth-century stupa and associated monastery there constitute the westernmost such foundation known.
ARAB CONQUEST
Late Sassanian occupation took the history of Merv to the seventh century, a difficult time because of the appearance of the HEPHTHALITE HUNS. Merv was in the eye of this storm, and it is highly likely that it was from this base that the Sassanian emperor Peroz (459-84) marched to his catastrophic defeat at the hands of the Huns. However, Sassanian power was restored by Khusrau I (531-79), and Merv continued in its traditional role as a military and trading city until 651, when the expanding power of the Arabs led to the death, near Merv, of the last Sassanian king, Yazdigird III. Under new Arab rule, Gyaur Kala continued as the capital of the region until the 10th century.
The economy of this nodal center on the Silk Road linking China with Rome and India depended not only on trade but also on agriculture. Many major irrigation canals are found in the area of the oasis. Merv was also the location of a mint. Coins covering many centuries of its history have been recovered during excavations.
Further reading: Bader, A., V Gaibov, and G. Koshe-lenko. “The Northern Periphery of the Merv Oasis,” Silk Road Art and Archaeology III (1993/1994): 51-70; Herrmann, G. Monuments of Merv: Traditional Building of the Karakum. London: Society of Antiquaries of London, 1999.
Metal-Bound Coffer The Metal-Bound Coffer is a text in the Classic of Documents and was probably written in the fifth or fourth century B. C.E. It describes an incident that clearly illustrates the attitudes of the early Zhou dynasty nobles about their recent overthrow of the shang STATE. In 1045, the Zhou defeated the last Shang king, who had a well-deserved reputation for cruelty and depravity. Legitimization of the new dynasty was provided by the mandate of heaven, whereby heaven decreed that any ruler who failed to observe righteous and caring benevolence toward his people would be replaced by a new lineage imbued with higher moral force. The duke Zhou, the text states, offered his own life in return for the recovery of the ailing king who had been given the Mandate of Heaven. He took soundings of the ORACLE BONES that returned a unanimously favorable prognostication and so lived, while the king himself recovered on the following day
Mikumo Mikumo is a settlement and cemetery site of the middle to late yayoi culture (300 B. C.E.-300 C. E.) of Japan, with evidence for continued occupation into the Kofun period (300-710 C. E.). It is located in northern Kyushu, on a ridge flanked by two streams that cross a rich area of rice fields. This is the area geographically most exposed to influence from the mainland, particularly the PAEKCHE and SHILLA states of Korea and the preceding Chinese LELANG commandery In the 1820s, a jar containing 35 mirrors of Chinese HAN dynasty manufacture was found, together with a bronze spear and sword. This was some of the first evidence for a major cultural transformation in Japan, wherein intensive rice farming, metallurgy, and increasing trade contributed to the development of states. Excavations at Mikumo from 1975 have recovered more Chinese Han mirrors, artifacts that later Japanese accounts suggest gave the owner special magical status. House plans, either circular or rectangular, were also traced, along with burials dug in their vicinity. The dead were placed inside either two ceramic vessels or stone-lined pits. The richer graves contained glass beads, iron arrowheads, gilt bronzes, and mirrors as mortuary offerings, but the presence of many poor graves suggests that social differentiation was already well developed by middle Yayoi times.
Times allowed the formation of a hexagram to provide the basis for answering questions and divining the future. The philosophical basis for milfoil divination changed markedly over time. An example of the application of milfoil divination is in a tomb text from baoshan, dated to the WARRING STATES PERIOD (475-221 B. C.E.). In 316 B. C.E., the diviner Wu Sheng pronounced on the illness of the tomb master, Shao Tuo, who had difficulty in eating and a heart ailment. The finding of the milfoils was that the illness could be cured by prayers and sacrifice of five cattle and five pigs. His prediction of the likelihood of a cure was auspicious.
Mingalazedi stupa The Mingalazedi stupa at pagan in Myanmar (Burma) was built in 1284 by King Narathihap-ati. It is raised on four rectangular terraces, each with a supplementary stupa at the corners. The walls of the terraces are decorated with plaques depicting JATAKA stories.
Mingdi (Liu Xang; Brilliant Emperor) (28-75 c. e.) Mingdi was the second emperor of the Eastern Han dynasty of China.
He was the son of guang wudi, the founder of the dynasty, and his second empress, Yin Lihua. He acceded to the throne in 57 C. E. In general, Mingdi received a poor press from early historians. He was accused of being narrow minded, and his court was filled with fear and repression. Many were punished on specious grounds, and there are reports of considerable extravagance in the construction of new palaces. It was, however, also the case that major public works of considerable benefit were initiated, not least the restoration of the dikes that restrained the flow of the Huang (Yellow) River. It was also under the reign of Mingdi that the Chinese empire began a further period of expansion that was to involve more occupied territory than ever before. under the great general Bao Chao, the tarim basin west of the Jade Gate was taken and absorbed. This gave China increased control over and access to the silk road and its trade links with the West.
Milfoil Milfoil stalks were used in China as a means of divination from at least the beginning of the Zhou dynasty (1045-256 B. C.E.) and quite possibly earlier. This school of divination, which was employed alongside the well-known use of turtle oracle bones, used stalks of the yarrow, a plant with magical properties. The plant is long lived, and the stalks grow to a great length. It was said that when there were peace and harmony and the king was ruling under the mandate of heaven, the yarrow plant would grow to a great height and produce many stalks.
Specialists in milfoil divination would take 50 stalks and remove one. Then they divided the remainder into two groups and reduced each group by four stalks at a time until between zero and four remained. They would form a line with the residue. Repeating this procedure six mingqi Mingqi is a Chinese term that came into vogue during the warring states period (475-221 b. c.e.) to describe a spirit object placed into a grave of a person of high status. It contrasts with a shenqi, which was an item used during the lifetime of the deceased, and a jiqi, a piece of sacrificial equipment. It was customary to display mortuary goods before the funeral and to list them, often on BAMBOO SLIPS that were then positioned inside the tomb. Mingqi had many forms. Bronze vessels, for example, could be represented in clay Ceramic vessels would be copied but would not be functional. They were often fired at a low temperature so that the vessels could not contain water or jugs could not pour. This was deliberate, as has been described in the Li ji. Musical instruments could be stringed, but not in tune. Chime stones or bells could be used, but without a stand. Tomb 13 at the Yan state cemetery of Wuyang illustrates this clearly, for 135 pottery imitations of bronze vessels were included as offerings, and pottery vessels were fired at too low a temperature to be useful. The Guo lineage cemetery of Shangcunling in Henan province, dated to the early eastern zhou dynasty (770-221 B. C.E.), shows that some of the miniature bronzes in elite graves represented earlier ritual practices. Poorer graves contained mingqi ceramic vessels.
HUMAN BEINGS
The concept of mingqi also applied to human beings. Whereas formerly people were sacrificed and interred with the high-status tomb master, figurines began to represent the servants and followers required in the afterlife. Their purpose is seen in a grave inventory from Wang-shan, where they were described as dead servants. The replacement of real people by spiritual representations, however, was gradual. At Langjiahung, for example, 26 people were included in the grave, 17 of whom were young WOMEN in their own individual coffins. The remainder had been butchered or immolated while still alive. This suggests a contrast between those chosen to accompany the master in the next world and others who were sacrificial victims. At the CHU tomb of Chang-taiguan, however, figurines were found in a series of rooms around the main tomb chamber. Wooden models of drivers were found in the stable and cooks in the kitchen. Richly dressed clerks or scribes had been placed in the master’s study and a guard in the storeroom.
CLOTHING
Mingqi also applied to clothing. Where organic material has survived, as at Mazhuan, the corpse was dressed in specially made spirit clothes including embroidered silks. Mingqi can also be a profitable source of information on changing ritual practices. For example, the change during the period of the Zhou dynasty from ritual use of music to music as entertainment can be seen in the inclusion of mingqi musical instruments in mortuary contexts. Thus small representations of bells and chime stones were placed in burials, in many cases of inferior materials.
See also tomb models and reliefs.
Miran Miran is one of the major sites of the kingdom of SHAN-SHAN, which controlled the cities of the oases of the eastern tarim basin between the first century b. c.e. and the mid-fifth century C. E. The kingdom was always under threat of coercion from the Chinese on the one hand and the nomadic xiongnu on the other. Particularly during periods of Chinese power, trade along the silk road flourished, carrying both goods and ideas to Shan-shan from east and west. In 1906 sir aurel stein came across the site of Miran whose ancient name under the shan-shan kings is not known, while seeking the location of a site known from Chinese records to have been a major Shan-shan center. it was located in a bleak and arid desert, but his research that began the following year revealed that formerly the site lay between two rivers, long since dried up, and that canals had moved water to the site. Miran had about 15 Buddhist structures, including small stupas set within walled enclosures, and monasteries. Virtually all that is known of the site depends on sir Aurel stein’s fieldwork of 1907 and 1914. On clearing the interior of two of the stupa shrines, known as Miran structures iii and V, he uncovered some remarkable paintings. These depicted winged men of distinctly Western appearance; the image of a prince leaving his palace gates on horseback, watched from a window by his wife and children; and a man fighting with a centaur. There is also a rendition of the Buddha, again of distinctly Western appearance, with dark hair and a small mustache, accompanied by six disciples. A text in the kharoshthi script identifies the artist of one of these sets of paintings as Tita, who was paid for his efforts. The style of the paintings indicates a date in the third century C. E., when Shan-shan prospered under peaceful conditions; the paintings show strong influence from eastern Roman and Gandharan schools. A monastery wall that was part of structure ii incorporated a row of massive seated Buddha figures, which, together with some detached modeled heads, belong to a rather later date in the fourth century C. E. This confirms what was known from the reports of the monk faxian, visiting Shan-shan on his passage to India in 399 C. E.: buddhism flourished still under royal patronage.
See also gandhara.
Mogao Mogao is located about 25 kilometers (15 mi.) from DUNHUANG on the eastern margin of the tarim basin in western China.
A center of Buddhist monastic life, Mogao has about 1,000 caves cut into the rock, some embellished with sculptures and mural paintings and used for Buddhist worship. The painted caves bear scenes of the Buddha’s life, JATAKA tales depicting his previous existences, and illustrations of aspects of life over the period of a millennium. There are also Buddha images that follow the varying artistic styles as they developed over the centuries, for these caves were often sponsored by noble families, groups of merchants, and, on occasion, members of the royal family of China. While the wall paintings and sculptures alone make Mogao one of the supreme sanctuaries of Buddhist art, the documents hidden around 1000 C. E. in the face of Arab expansion add a unique new dimension to the historic record. They not only represent many centuries in the development of buddhism, but they also include letters, poems, paintings on silk, banners, and other memorabilia. Mogao was a strategic location during the course of the first millennium C. E., because it commanded a vital staging post on the silk road, the great trading route that linked the empires of East and West. At Dunhuang, the traveler heading to the west had the choice of following the route to the north of the Tak-lamakan Desert via bezeklik and Kuqa or kaxgar or the southern route through miran, niya, and hotan. In the opposite direction, any merchant caravan on reaching Dunhuang would have successfully traversed the most arduous and difficult sector of the Silk Road. This region was also the westernmost extremity of the great wall of China, while the Jade Gate was seen as the symbolic and physical entry into China itself.
THE CAVES
Mogao is a long cliff facing a perennial stream that encourages a luxuriant vegetation on the very edge of the desert. Mogaoku, “peerless caves,” is the most fabulous of all the Buddhist monastic sanctuaries on the ancient Silk Road. it is said to have been founded by the monk Yuezun, who in 366 c. e. was attracted to its solitude compared with the bustling border post of Dunhuang, and he cut out a cell in the rock as a location of meditation. Other monks soon followed him, and for a 1,000 years Mogao was a center of Buddhist monastic life. For those who had survived the harsh conditions and banditry of the journey around the desert, here was an opportunity to give thanks and make offerings. Those traveling in the opposite direction could pray and give donations to ensure safety in the journey that lay ahead.
Ultimately, about 1,000 caves were cut into the rock, some large enough only for a single cell for meditation, others of sufficient size for large congregations. Two groups are recognized: the northern and the southern. The latter, numbering almost 500, have painted decoration and are distributed over a distance of more than a kilometer. The 248 caves in the northern sector are not painted and were largely ignored until excavations were undertaken between 1988 and 1995. The caves can be divided into four groups. A few were used for storage. Meditation caves included an antechamber and individual cells equipped with a couch and often a platform. The residential caves were relatively spacious, with high ceilings, a stone fireplace and flue, and a bed. Wall niches were cut to receive lamps to illuminate the interior. There were also burial caves, typically low and small, containing cremated ashes. Rarely, a residential cave was converted for mortuary use, with the flue blocked.
THE PAINTINGS
The caves lie in serried rows and tiers one above the other, overlooking the stream valley below. Despite the ravages of this harsh desert environment, many paintings have survived in remarkably good condition. One, for example, shows a caravan crossing the desert and being attacked by brigands. Another specifically identifies the famous seventh-century monk xuanzang on his return journey to China, accompanied by an auspicious white elephant. Another shows a tranquil domestic building in a courtyard. Horses are being stabled in the foreground, while two oxen haul a plow in the distance. The caves of Mogao thus are a pictorial guide through a millennium of Silk Road history. Some paintings date to the Northern Liang dynasty that controlled the area in the early fifth century c. E. It was during this period that the painting depicting the future Buddha having his own flesh cut away to save the life of a dove, one of the most notable of the jataka stories, was created.
Many caves were founded during the life of the Northern Wei dynasty of China (386-535 C. E.). There were vicissitudes as well as periods of tranquility. During the late sixth century, there was a reaction against Buddhism under the Northern Zhou dynasty, and it is reported that some monasteries that were located in front of the cliff face were destroyed. However, the accession of the Sui dynasty in 589 brought this period of difficulty to an end. What could be described as the golden age of Mogao followed during the Tang dynasty (618-907 C. E.), and during this period the famous monk xuanzang embarked on his epic journey to india and returned to be welcomed at Dunhuang. in 695 the empress Wu ordered the construction of a giant statue of the Buddha 33 meters (109 ft.) high at Mogao. In the late eighth century, with Yang power on the wane, Mogao came under the control of the empire of Tibet, a dominance that lasted until 848 C. E. Thereafter, under a series of local rulers, caves continued to be commissioned or restored until about 1000 C. E., when the Arabs seized Hotan and threatened further expansion to the east. Their aversion to images and representations of deities was probably responsible for the precautionary secreting of precious documents and paintings behind a sealed door in Cave 16.
WESTERNERS AT MOGAO
During the course of the late 19th century, the existence of the painted shrines of Mogao drew the attention of Western explorers. In 1879, the Russian Nikolay Przhevalisky visited Dunhuang and admired the paintings. It was not, however, until 1900 that the local abbot Wang Yuanlu noticed the concealed entrance to the chamber where the documents had been secreted away 1,000 years earlier. Wang Yuanlu was aware of the significance of his discovery and recommended that the cache be taken to Lanzhou for safekeeping. This was not to be, and in 1907 sir aurel STEIN, already well aware of their existence but not knowing of the quantity or their historic significance, arrived at Mogao. In the words of Sir Leonard Woolley, his arrival heralded “the most daring and adventurous raid upon the ancient world that any archaeologist has attempted.” Stein could not read Chinese, but his secretary was able to examine some of the documents and discovered that some were of inestimable historic importance, being Buddhist texts translated into Chinese 1,200 years previously by the famous monk xuanzang. Stein then played on the credulity of his host and persuaded him that such texts should be returned to India, their original home. For an outlay of 130 pounds he obtained 13,000 complete or partial manuscripts as well as paintings and embroidered fabrics of outstanding quality. Presently in the British Museum, in London, England, this assemblage threw a new light on Chinese history and the practice of Buddhism from the early fifth to 10th century.
Sir Aurel Stein’s inability to read Chinese was, however, a major impediment to appreciating the significance of individual items. Paul Pelliot, however, the next Western scholar to visit Dunhuang, was the most brilliant Sinologist of his day, and in 1908 he pored over the large collection of manuscripts still at Mogao before selecting the choicest and most important for removal to the Musee Guimet and the National Library of France in Paris. The remainder were ultimately to be housed away from predatory foreigners in Beijing.
This was not, however, the end of these cultural raids. The American art historian Langdon Warner visited Mogao in the 1920s and hacked a number of wall paintings from the caves and took them back to the Fogg Museum of Harvard University in the United States. Today, despite the loss of so much, the Chinese authorities have established a research center at the site of the Buddhist shrines, and visitors are permitted to visit a selection of the many caves that can veritably be described as the Sistine Chapel of early Buddhist art.
See also han dynasty.
Further reading: Peng Jinzhang. “New Archaeological Discoveries in the Northern Area of the Mogao Caves at Dunhuang,” Orientations 32 (2001): 72-75; Rhie, M. M. Later Han, Three Kingdoms and Western Chin in China and Bactria to Shan-shan. Leiden: Brill, 1999; Whitfield, R., S. Whitfield, and N. Agnew Cave Temples of Mogao: Art and History on the Silk Road. Los Angeles: Getty Conservation Institute and the J. Getty Museum, 2000.
Mohenjo Daro Mohenjo Daro, one of the great cities of the INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION, is located west of the Indus River in the Sind province of Pakistan. Sir John Marshall’s excavations, directed in the field by R. D. Banerji, revealed brick structures, stone seals with an undeciphered script, stone cubes that he thought were a series of weights, and terra-cotta toys. His publication of the seals and the announcement of the discovery of a major new world civilization in 1924 inspired comment among scholars who worked in the Tigris and Euphrates sites that similar seals had been unearthed there. This find provided an indication that the civilization belonged in the third millennium B. C.E. Further parallels, together with radiocarbon dates, now place the occupation of Mohenjo Daro within the period 2500-2000 b. c.e. The name Mohenjo Daro means “mound of the dead men,” and the area and its archaeological potential had been recognized by Henry Cousens
Mohenjo Daro, "mound of the dead men," was one of the major cities of the Indus Valley civilization. There are two mounds, one of which contains elite buildings. Houses were equipped with a sophisticated drainage system. (Borromeo/Art Resource, NY)
In 1897. In 1911 D. R. Bhandakar had visited the site and found it most disappointing. He concluded that it was no more than 200 years old. In 1920 R. D. Banerji took a more sanguine view of the site, noting the huge extent and height of the mound and the fact that it had been quarried for bricks over many generations. The villagers described how the mound had formerly been capped by a huge brick platform bearing the foundations of circular buildings. Banerji suggested that the site had lain on both banks of the Indus River, and his fieldwork there in 1921-22 began a series of excavations there that continued under the aegis of sir John marshall and the ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA until 1931. SIR MORTIMER WHEELER worked there briefly in 1950, and George Dales likewise 14 years later. Further research was initiated in 1979, and currently nearly a third of the site has been examined in one way or another.
World History
