Work of Art of the Han Dynasty Unearthed in China and Observations of Solar Phenomena

In Chinese ancient times the Sun worship was in vogue. Mainly there were two sorts of the worship rites: 1) for rising and setting Sun; 2) for solar eclipses. Many evidences for Sun worship have been found in Chinese ancient books and bone inscriptions (Xu Zhentao et al.1985). The everyday worship t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International Astronomical Union Colloquium 1987, Vol.91, p.51-56
Main Author: Zhen-tao, Xu
Format: Article
Language:English
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:In Chinese ancient times the Sun worship was in vogue. Mainly there were two sorts of the worship rites: 1) for rising and setting Sun; 2) for solar eclipses. Many evidences for Sun worship have been found in Chinese ancient books and bone inscriptions (Xu Zhentao et al.1985). The everyday worship to the Sun certainly caused spontaneous observations for solar phenomena. Since the ancients only had a limited knowledge they could not understand what were these phenomena and they, however, created many wonderful myths to describe them. These myths about Solar phenomena have vividly been expressed in the works of art of the Han Dynasty recently unearthed. So analysing the works of art we may trace the original phenomena of solar activity.
ISSN:0252-9211
DOI:10.1017/S0252921100105858