Re: More on Iraq National Museum Tragedy

From: Lucien Carroll (serapio@linuxmail.org)
Date: Sun Apr 20 2003 - 20:15:49 EDT

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    The Chinese have a had widespread respect for historic literature since early on, and since the Tang dynasty anyway for calligraphy and painting, but their history is also not without holes, due somewhat as you say, to neglect, but also to intentional destruction. Chinese history of ages comparable to the Assyrians and Babylonians is also largely lost, primarily to Qin Shihuang's destruction of traditional writings. And as with many cultures, it was not uncommon for a new dynasty to destroy the writings of the previous one and rewrite their history. As with Assyria and Babylon, the history of pre-Qin China is pieced together from the few remaining writings and from artifacts that were largely ignored until last century.

    Lucien.

    > You might do well to visit a country like China to understand
    > a little better. They were occupied by the Mongolian tribes
    > twice in their history, but the practice of trash and loot was
    > never in China's history. The losses that occurred in China are
    > mostly the fault of neglect or ignorance rather than war. Even
    > with all these immense losses, there is just an enormous quantity
    > of artifacts to cover the 5000 years of their history: to see, to walk
    > on, and even to touch in some cases. And records: volumes and
    > volumes of writing survive. Don't forget that the Chinese invented
    > printing and paper in 300 AD, so they were long ahead of the West (by
    > 1200 years) on that alone.
    >
    > Unfortunately, as a quick read of the scripture will tell you, that
    > was not the case in the Middle East. Trash and loot was the
    > standard operating procedure, and most of what we know about
    > Assyria and Babylon is indirect. What few artifacts are actually
    > recovered, represent but a humble fraction of what must have
    > made up these Mesopotamian civilizations.
    > [clip]
    > by Grace alone we proceed,
    > Wayne 

    -- 
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