Photos at the museum, of all the different faces;
impressive, how the variations were worked out
to achieve the illusion of individual clay soldiers
impressive, the vast site filled with warriors who've been
pieced together since the farmer found the first bits of
terracotta in his fields. Now theres a roof over them
impressive, the army of craftspeople & others who continue
to resurrect this megalomaniac's memorial to himself
impressive, the extraordinary resources that went into it,
& still do, although tourism must generate a lot of
money, too. A site of many paradoxes
at times they looked like ghosts, or spirits from some
nether world, standing still while we -perhaps- drew conclusions
from their underground captivity
I'd thought the breakage was due to the weight of centuries of earth,
maybe earthquakes, but the current view is they were
deliberately dug up & smashed by subjects who hated the emperor
while he still lived ~ & within weeks of his death.
I think all aspiring dictators should live a
week or so among the terracotta warriors.. & re-think.
