Caiming, who is a well-known scholar, told the reporter that this set of “phoenix pattern tripods” was taken back from the tomb robbers. Although they have lost their due stratum and burial research, they still have extraordinary value.
According to the conclusion of the archaeological excavation in the north of shangcunling, Sanmenxia, these five tripods are the relics of the first-class doctor of the state of Guo. Unfortunately, there are 7 tripods in the whole set. When Henan transferred them to Shenbo in those years, they felt that the other two were not good-looking and seriously rusted, so they didn’t come together.
What kind of country is Guo
Guo State was a vassal state in the late Western Zhou Dynasty. Its cemetery was located in Shangling village in the north of Sanmenxia City, Henan Province. Since the 1950s, it has undergone four drilling and two large-scale excavations. It can be determined that the total number of tombs is more than 500 (including chariot and horse pits and sacrificial pits). According to the excavation report, at the beginning of 1990, when the tomb robbers were chased away, the Henan Institute of cultural relics and the Sanmenxia cultural relics team carried out a large-scale archaeological investigation and excavation in the north of shangcunling, which really opened the true face of the tomb of the king of the state of Guo. Among the nine ancient tombs that have been excavated and cleaned up, three tombs of the monarch of the state of Guo (three generations of monarchs) have been found. More than 3200 cultural relics have been unearthed from the tomb of Guo Ji, the monarch of the state of Guo. The tomb of Guo Zhong, another monarch of the state of Guo, is a nine tripod tomb, with more than 3600 cultural relics. The five “Phoenix shaped tripods” displayed in the Shenzhen Museum are the remains of a great husband of the state of Guo. According to the archaeological data, the cemetery of the state of Guo at shangcunling is divided into three areas: North, middle and south. The north area is the place where the monarch of the state of Guo is located. The cemeteries are arranged orderly and in distinct order, reflecting some characteristics of the patriarchal clan system and funeral system of the Zhou Dynasty.
Caiming said that the state of Guo was a vassal state with the surname of Ji, which was enfeoffed in the early Western Zhou Dynasty. It was first enfeoffed in Baoji, Shaanxi Province, and was called “Western Guo” in history. In the late Western Zhou Dynasty, the Guo State moved to Sanmenxia, Henan Province. In 655 BC, it was destroyed by the state of Jin. The idiom “lips die and teeth are cold” originated from this event. In history, there were four Guo States, which were divided into West Guo, East Guo, South Guo and North Guo – West Guo was the enfeoffment of Uncle Guo, the younger brother of King Wen of Zhou. It was originally enfeoffed in Baoji, Shaanxi, and moved eastward to Sanmenxia, Henan in the late years of the Western Zhou Dynasty; Dongguo was the enfeoffment of Guozhong, the younger brother of King Wen of Zhou. It was in the territory of Xingyang, Henan Province. Later, after King Ping of Zhou moved eastward to Luoyang, it was destroyed by the state of Zheng; According to some experts’ research, the southern Guo and the northern Guo may be the same country, that is, the Western Guo moved to the East and was called the northern Guo because it was north of the riverside. Later, it was forced by the Jin Dynasty to cross the river to the South and move to Shangyang, which is called the southern Guo.
The king of the Guo State violated the etiquette and law like this
Caiming pointed out that the Western Zhou Dynasty had strict grade regulations on the use of tripods: “the emperor has nine tripods and eight tripods, the princes have seven tripods and six tripods, the officials have five tripods and four tripods, and the scholars have three tripods, two tripods or one tripod.” Subordinates are not allowed to overstep. The shape and decoration of the listed tripod are the same, but the volume gradually becomes smaller. The monarch of the state of Guo obviously violated the rites of the Zhou Dynasty at that time, because he was a vassal state under the emperor of the Zhou Dynasty. If seven tripods were used, it would be polite. There were originally seven Fengniao design tripods that were well-known and well-known. The doctor used five at most. Therefore, the doctor also overstepped. However, nine tripods were unearthed from the tomb of Guo Zhong, which also violated the system stipulated by the emperor of Zhou.
Why dare to violate the system? This has to go back to the historical reality from the late Western Zhou Dynasty to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. At that time, the emperor of the Zhou Dynasty was declining and even became a puppet at the mercy of the princes. The vassal states were strong and the tyrannical acts were prevalent. As a result, the situation of “the emperor and the princes used nine tripods and the Qing used seven tripods” was formed. In the tomb of a senior official of the Jin State, archaeologists found that nine tripods, eight bells, three sets of chimes and one set of chimes were used for burial, These are all the “rites and pleasures” that Confucius, born in the late spring and Autumn period, lamented. The excessive use of these tripods reflected the historical facts of that time.