Ten thousand names : rank and lineage affiliation in the Wenxian covenant texts

View/ Open
Issue Date
2009Author
Williams, Crispin
魏克彬
Publisher
Peter Lang
Type
Article
Article Version
Scholarly/refereed, publisher version
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The following paper looks at evidence of rank distinction and lineage affiliation among partici¬
pants in a covenant recorded on tablets excavated at Wenxian $ 3÷ Henan province, and dated to
the fifth century BC. The covenant is in the form of a loyalty oath to a leader, taken to be the head
of the Han M§ lineage, one of the ministerial families of Jin The text of the covenant is written
in ink on stone tablets, each individualized with the name of a covenantor. Tablets with this partic¬
ular covenant text were found in five separate pits. The number of tablets in each pit ranged from
several dozen to more than 5000. The stone- type and shape of the tablets varied within and among
pits. I argue that these variations are evidence of distinctions in rank among the covenantors. I dis¬
cuss a set of four related names from the tablets that appear to support this conjecture. I then look
at names, of both covenantors and enemies, in which a lineage name is found. I argue that these
names show that it was loyalty to the Han leader, not shared lineage affiliation, which was the
main requirement for participation in the covenanting group. I conclude with a brief discussion on the size of the covenanting group, lineages within political groups, and the wider significance of
these materials.
Description
This is the publisher's official version, also available electronically from: http://dx.doi.org/10.5169/seals-147840.
Collections
Citation
Williams, Crispin. “Ten Thousand Names: Rank and Lineage Affiliation in the Wenxian Covenant Texts”. Asiatische Studien, LXIII•4•2009, pp.959–989. http://dx.doi.org/10.5169/seals-147840
Items in KU ScholarWorks are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.
We want to hear from you! Please share your stories about how Open Access to this item benefits YOU.