Jingyuan County, located on the northwest edge of the Loess Plateau, is located in the middle of Gansu Province, since ancient times is the only passage connecting the Central Plains and the Western Regions, known as "Longshang Mingyi" and "Yellow River Pearl" reputation, is one of the important towns on the northern line of the ancient Silk Road, but also the forefront of the collision of Cultural Exchanges between China and the West.
In 1988, when Xu Lihui, a villager in Beishan Village, Jingyuan County, Baiyin City, Gansu Province, was digging the foundation, he suddenly heard a "poof" sound and fixed his eyes on it, which turned out to be a dilapidated wooden box.
The wooden box was tattered, it looked quite old, Xu Li would secretly rejoice, and his heart would not dig up the treasure, right?
He quickly wiped the mud off the box, and then carefully opened the box, only to find that it was a "broken plate" inside.
The plate was heavy, at least five or six pounds, Xu Li would become more and more excited, blow the plate, and carefully observe.
There are many relief patterns on the inner wall of the plate, which is very exquisite and looks very high-grade. But when he looked at it, Xu Li would almost scold.
It turned out that the middle ring of the plate was lined with the heads of twelve foreigners!
I thought it was the East Zhou and the West Zhou, but it turned out to be last week! Xu Li would be disappointed, throw the plate aside, and continue to work.
In the next few days, Xu Li would take a plate and ask the young people in the village which star the foreigners on it were, but none of the young people knew, but there was an old man who reminded that this thing may not be a cultural relic, and it should be well preserved.
Is it not a foreign cultural relic? Xu Lihui didn't think so, but he listened to it and kept it in the cabinet.
A few days later, a staff member who claimed to be from the Cultural Relics Bureau approached Xu Lihui and said he wanted to see the plate.
Xu Lihui listened, secretly said that it was dangerous, fortunately it was not thrown away.
He hurriedly took out the plate and handed it to the expert, who, after seeing the silver plate, excitedly told Xu Lihui: "Comrade, this is a silver plate, which should be produced in Europe and is a rare cultural relic!" ”
Subsequently, experts suggested that Xu Li donate the silver plate so that it could be studied and better preserved.
Xu Lihui is a simple farmer, after learning the value of the silver plate, although a little reluctant, but under the strong persuasion of experts, finally agreed to donate free of charge to the local museum.
The staff was overjoyed, and in order to commend the spirit of Xu Lihui's free donation of cultural relics, they wrote a letter of commendation on the spot and handed it to Xu Lihui.
Later, it was identified that this plate was a cultural relic of the Eastern Roman period, which was about equivalent to the Southern and Northern Dynasties of the Wei and Jin Dynasties on the mainland, and the staff named it the Eastern Roman God-Man Pattern Gilded Gold and Silver Plate according to its shape.
The Gilded Gold and Silver Plate of the Eastern Roman Gods is 31 cm in diameter, 10.9 cm in diameter, 4.6 cm in height and weighs 3.190 kg. Originally silver gilt, due to severe peeling, the overall lead gray, so Xu Lihui can not see its material.
The production process of the Gilded Gold and Silver Plate of the Eastern Roman Gods and Men is complex, and it is made by combining casting, pounding, molding and gilding. The inner wall is decorated with embossed patterns, which are arranged in three circles: inner, outer and center. The outer ring is decorated with interconnected grape curly grass vines, and more than thirty birds and small animals are hidden in the middle.
The outer edge of the inner circle is decorated with a small beaded pattern, and the inner circumference is lined with twelve heads, and the heads are interspersed with animals, and experts speculate that these twelve heads may be the twelve gods of Mount Olympus in Greek mythology.
At the center of the plate is a tall- relief nude male, clad in a long scarf, holding a Thulsos staff, sitting on a lion, in keeping with Dionysus, the god of wine in Greek mythology.
The question is, although all roads lead to Rome, but the ancient traffic is inconvenient, how can we intersect with Rome during the Wei and Jin Dynasties? In fact, although the Wei and Jin Dynasties and the Southern and Northern Dynasties were quite politically chaotic, from the perspective of cultural exchanges, it can be described as unprecedented. As early as 1973, a tomb of Emperor Zan of Hebei Province unearthed a gold coin minted during the period of Theodosius II of the Eastern Roman Empire, and two gold coins minted in 527 AD, which were jointly ruled by Justin I and Justinian I's nephew. The amazing thing is that the time of burial of the owner of this tomb and the time of printing the gold coin are less than 50 years. In other words, the gold coin was minted in Eastern Rome for less than 50 years before it reached Hebei and became a funerary object.
It can be seen that the exchanges between China and Eastern Rome more than a thousand years ago have been very fast and close!
Based on this, it is not difficult to speculate that the gilded gold and silver plates of the Eastern Roman gods were brought by the Eastern Romans. The Book of Wei also records that the Eastern Roman Empire sent envoys to visit the Northern Wei three times, and perhaps it was during this time that the Eastern Romans brought this silver plate here, passing through Jingyuan, an important town on the northern route of the ancient Silk Road.
The discovery of the gilt and silver plate of the Eastern Roman gods and men is an important physical specimen for the study of the exchange between the West and the West, and it is also a very rare Silk Road relic, which is currently treasured in the Gansu Provincial Museum and has become one of the treasures of the museum.