Cover news reporter Zeng Jie
On December 20, the cover news reporter learned from the Jinsha Site Museum that as the annual exhibition of the "World Civilization" series in Jinsha, the "Kaleidoscope of Civilization - Syria's Ancient Cultural Relics Exhibition" will be unveiled on December 30. The exhibition brings together 183 exhibits (sets) from 12 domestic and foreign cultural institutions such as the National Museum of Damascus, the Aleppo Museum, the Deir Ezzor Museum, the Jappal Museum, the Latakia Museum, the Holmes Museum, the Tartus Museum, the Della Museum, the Sveda Museum, as well as the Dunhuang Research Institute, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum, the Xi'an Forest of Steles Museum, etc., telling the story of Syria from the Stone Age, through the bronze, iron, Greek, Roman and Islamic eras. A 500,000-year-long cultural picture paints a magnificent picture of Syria's history.
This exhibition is an active exploration of Jinsha Site Museum to practice the strategic thinking of the "Belt and Road", respond to the "Asian Cultural Heritage Protection Action", deepen the traditional friendship between China and countries along the Silk Road, and carry out cultural exchanges and mutual learning.
The crossroads of civilization
Ancient Syria is located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, extending northeast to the Cradle of Ancient Civilizations, the Two Rivers Valley, to the south to Ancient Egypt, and east to Central Asia through the Iranian plateau. It is the crossroads of the three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa, and is an important transportation hub and trade route between the East and the West in ancient times.
Here, the Horn of the Stone Age sounded on the eve of the birth of civilization, from making stone tools to grinding stone tools, from slash-and-burn farming to building palaces, the prosperity of the ancient kingdom began.
About 5,000 years ago, the Bronze Age came. Its excellent location close to the Euphrates River and the Mediterranean Sea makes it a crossroads for land and sea traffic. In frequent commercial activities, ancient cities and trading centers such as Mali and Ebra have risen. Archaeologists found cargo in Ebla, weighing up to 20 kilograms of lapis lazuli, imported linen fabrics, oil and wood. In addition, the popularity of cuneiform, the circulation of gold products and the refinement of manufacturing processes have also led to cultural and economic exchanges from the Mediterranean coast to Eurasia.
More than 3,000 years ago, the Assyrian Empire, the Neo-Babylonian Kingdom, and the Persian Achaemenid Dynasty appeared in this area in turn. The realistic Assyrian murals depict the expansion of the empire with great achievements; Babylon, which gave birth to the Code of Hammurabi, lay dormant behind it, but was eventually destroyed by the first empire that spanned the three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa, Persia; after the Iron Age conquest, the Syrian region was incorporated into the cultural map of the entire Eurasian continent, experiencing a prosperous picture of cultural integration in the Hellenistic, Roman and Islamic eras, and achieving a rich and colorful cultural heritage.
The epitome of cultural exchange
In this exhibition, the audience can see the hand axe about 500,000 years ago, it is like the first teardrop of human civilization, witnessing the process of human beings getting rid of ignorance and using tools; the cuneiform clay board widely used in the Two Rivers Basin records daily events such as political accusations and legal provisions, as small as the distribution of cooking oil, the production method of bread molds, etc.; the different shapes and rich contents of rolling prints in commercial activities have greatly facilitated the exchange of goods between different regions, which has also become the prototype of modern seals There are also a variety of trade products in ancient Syria - chlorite from Iran, elaborately made into serpentine chlorite jars; lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, a total of 97 gemstones such as carnelian chalcedony and sea shells, showing people's ultimate pursuit of beauty. In addition, the audience can also see the sheep's head sphinx sphinx carved from Egyptian mythology, the statue of the goddess Venus in ancient Greek mythology, and the Arabic-style bronze oil lamp that resembles the "Aladdin lamp"... The exchange and collision of world civilizations is condensed in 183 pieces (sets) of exhibits.
Civilizations are enriched by exchanges, and civilizations are enriched by mutual learning. The exhibition will also feature a number of testimonies of friendly exchanges between ancient China and Syria. In 2021, China and Asian countries signed a bilateral cooperation document on the "Asian Cultural Heritage Protection Action" to start cooperation in the fields of joint archaeology, cultural heritage protection and restoration, world heritage, museum exhibition exchanges and other fields. Against this background, it also coincides with the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Syria. As an important node of the "Silk Road", as early as the Western Han Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago, Syria was connected to China through the Silk Road. On this main artery that runs through China and the West, silk and porcelain from China are exported to Europe, Egypt and other places through Syria with the charm of the East, and the scriptures from Syria have also come to China along this road, depicting the long and long exchange process between the two places.
It is reported that the exhibition will continue to be exhibited from December 30, 2021 to May 8, 2022. As the old leaves the old and welcomes the new, the public may wish to embark on a journey of Syrian culture in the Sands.