Lighting the ever-bright lamp is an ancient custom in my country. On New Year’s Eve, it cannot be blown out until it runs out of oil. Perhaps because of the good meaning of the lanterns, the emperors wanted to bring the lanterns to their underground palaces, so that the lanterns would illuminate the underground palaces, as bright as the splendid palaces in their lifetimes.
The ancients believed that the dead also needed lights to dispel the darkness and light the way to another world.
Some people in the archaeological community have dug up ancient tombs for thousands of years, and found that the lanterns that were placed before the burial of the deceased were still burning. surprise.
In 1400, the tomb of the ancient Roman prince Peles was opened, and people found that there was an ever-bright lantern inside. The tomb sends light.
The ancients valued death and believed that people could continue to live another life underground , The emperor built a luxurious mausoleum for himself is to build himself a palace in another world. Qin Shihuang, who has been searching for immortals to produce medicine, has done nothing in this area before. His mausoleum covers an area of 560,000 square meters.
In the Qin Dynasty with insufficient social productivity and low labor force, Qin Shihuang was able to build such a large-scale mausoleum. It took 720,000 laborers and took 39 years to build it. It is no wonder that the world calls him a tyrant.
The Terracotta Warriors and Horses of the Qin Dynasty
According to the historical records of the Qin Dynasty, The Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang There are various palaces, countless rare treasures are placed, and there are always lanterns inside. Although Qin Shihuang did not get immortality as he wished, he believed that he could still lead thousands of troops underground. So in addition to treasures, he also brought countless terracotta warriors and horses to guard himself. In the huge underground palace, it is hard to imagine how many lanterns he has lit.
Because Qin Shihuang’s mausoleum has not been fully excavated, only some buried terracotta warriors and horses have been unearthed, and the real underground palace cannot be opened. Some people think that It is only a legend that there is an ever-bright lantern in the underground palace.
According to the historical book “Historical Records”: “Mercury is used for hundreds of rivers, rivers and seas, instilled by machines, with astronomy on the top and geography on the bottom. With the merman cream as a candle, it will not be extinguished. ”
“Records of the Grand Historian” is written by Sima Qian, a historian of the Western Han Dynasty. Not far from the Qin Dynasty, Sima Qian’s words must be credible.
Sima Qian mentioned that in the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang, mercury was used to irrigate rivers and seas. This matter has already been verified by archaeologists through field surveys, and there is no need to doubt the ever-brightening lamp. Sima Qian described the practice of the ever-bright lantern, which is made of mermaid paste, so it never goes out.
But mermaids only appeared in myths and legends. The human fish tail can dive into the depths of the sea and survive on the surface. No one has really seen a mermaid, so what is the mermaid that Sima Qian said? People fish are sharks in Chinese myths and legends.
It is recorded in “Sou Shen Ji”: “Beyond the South China Sea there are sharks who live in water like fish, and do not waste their weaving skills. Their tears can produce pearls >.”
Historical materials also record that during the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shihuang sent a large number of people to the sea Kill sharks to make ointment. But combustion requires oxygen. Even the ever-bright lights that people have seen can burn for a long time through clever container design, but they will eventually go out.
The Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang is an archaeological project of interest to both Chinese and foreign scholars, and some American scholars come to China to study it. After many studies, it has been found that merman should be a herbivorous mammal called “dugong”. Because dugongs are upright like humans when feeding their children, and hold their children in their arms, people think that It’s a mermaid.
However, the oil of dugongs is not suitable for long-lasting lamp oil, while the oil of whales is more suitable. The use of whale oil has been documented.
Therefore, it is very likely that the ever-bright lantern in the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang was made of whale oil. However, when experts excavated Mingding Mausoleum, they found a whale oil lamp, but it did not burn all the time.
American scholars have put forward a new view: they have found white phosphorus in the wick of the ever-bright lamp. Phosphorus is flammable and can produce green phosphorescence and white phosphorescence in the dark. Smoke, because of this color, phosphorous fire is also called ghost fire. Animals have phosphorus-containing lipids in their guts, but they still need air to burn.
Scholars believe that after the Everbright Lamp is brought into the underground palace, there is still a certain amount of air in the underground palace for the lamp to burn for a period of time. When the oxygen runs out, it goes out, and if someone opens the burial chamber and air comes in, the phosphorus will spontaneously ignite again, as if it never went out.
Therefore, the ever-bright lantern in the Qin Dynasty did not burn for thousands of years. Even if the tomb was always ventilated, it would go out due to the exhaustion of fuel. In order to preserve the corpse and the environment of the underground palace, the tomb must be sealed and no air can enter.
Eternal lights don’t burn for long. When people open the door of the tomb, the air will enter the tomb before people, allowing the phosphorus to spontaneously combust.