Chapter 29 Section 9 The Ancient City of Luoyang in the Han and Wei Dynasties and the Lingtai and Yongning Temple Ruins

The ancient city of Luoyang in the Han and Wei Dynasties is about 15 kilometers east of today's Luoyang City.It is the ruins of the capitals of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Wei Dynasty, Western Jin Dynasty and Northern Wei Dynasty. Survey started in 1954, exploration and excavation since 1962. The city site is roughly rectangular in shape from north to south.According to the actual measurement, the remaining length of the west city wall is 4290 meters, and the width of the wall is about 20 meters.The north wall is about 3700 meters long and 25-30 meters wide.The east wall is 3895 meters long and 14 meters wide.The southern city wall was destroyed due to the northward movement of Luoyang, and its length, calculated based on the distance between the east and west walls, is about 2,460 meters.The circumference of the city is about 14 kilometers.

There are 10 city gates protruding from the west, north and east sides of the city wall, five on the west wall, two on the north wall, and three on the east wall.According to literature records, there were 12 city gates in the Han, Wei and Jin Dynasties, and 13 city gates in the Northern Wei Dynasty. In the northwest corner of Luoyang City, Jinyong City was built during the Cao Wei Dynasty.After investigation, the city is composed of three small cities connected from north to south.Set up a doorway to communicate with each other.The plane is in the shape of "Mu", with a length of 1048 meters from north to south and about 255 meters from east to west.The city wall is 12-13 meters wide and has eight gates.North City: one gate on the west wall and one gate on the south wall.Midtown: Two gates on the west wall.Nancheng: There are one gate on each side, each with a gate opening.The north of the city depends on Mang Mountain, and according to the commanding heights of the terrain, you can overlook the whole city of Luoyang.It's actually a military castle.

In the north-central part of the city, protruding from the palace city of the Northern Wei Dynasty, it is 1398 meters long from north to south and 660 meters wide from east to west.A rectangle long from north to south.There is one door on the south wall, two doors on the west wall, and one door on the east wall.The south gate is the main gate of Miyagi.The gate opening is 46 meters wide.There are four east-west horizontal streets and four north-south vertical streets.Among them, the side street that runs through the south gate of Miyagi (changhe [changhe] gate) to Jianchunmen, with a total length of 2510 meters and a width of 35-51 meters, is the main avenue across Miyagi.There is also Tongtuo Street, which starts from the south gate of the palace city in the north and leads directly to Xuanyang gate in the south, which is the north-south central axis of the whole city.The residual length is 1650 meters and the width is 40-42 meters.There are large areas of rammed earth foundations on both sides of the street.It should be the relics of Situ's Mansion, Captain's Mansion, and Taimiao in "Luoyang Jialan Ji".

The important relics in the south of the city include the prisoner's tomb, Lingtai, Taixue and Yongning Temple in the city. In the cemetery of prisoners, 522 tombs were excavated.Rectangular vertical pit tombs, the length and width of which can only accommodate a person, each buried one person, the vast majority are men, and women account for only about 4%.There are coffins, and traces of fractures or lesions can be seen on some remains.More than 820 prisoner bricks were unearthed, which were inscribed with residual bricks.The inscription records the prisoner's subordinates, prison, name, criminal name, name and death date and other items.These prisoners are all under the management of the left school or the right school who will be masters.A special registration book shall be established after death.There are a total of 229 bricks inscribed with the death date of prisoners.It began on April 3rd in the fifteenth year of Yongyuan (AD 103) and ended on October 22nd in the fourth year of Yanguang (AD 125).The vast majority of these prisoners came from the Central Plains and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and were recruited to serve in Luoyang.He lived a slave-like life during his lifetime, and he was so miserable after his death.

Lingtai is a special institution for observing astronomical phenomena in the Eastern Han Dynasty.Built in the first year of Zhongyuan (AD 56), it was abandoned during the Northern Wei Dynasty.The site is located outside Pingchang Gate in the south of the city, 220 meters from east to west and 200 meters from north to south.After excavation, there are wall foundations on the east and west sides, and a square rammed earth platform in the center of the site.The bottom is 50 meters long and wide.There are two platforms on the platform base.A corridor is built around the lower platform, and there are five buildings on each side of the upper platform.The upper and lower ramps are connected.The plane of the top of the central platform is slightly oval, 11.7 meters from north to south and 8.5 meters from east to west.It was the place to observe the sky at that time.Zhang Heng, a famous astronomer in the Eastern Han Dynasty, served as Lingtai Taicheng (that is, the director of the Observatory), where he designed and manufactured seismographs and wrote "Lingxian" and other astronomical works.Lingtai is the earliest astronomical observatory site in my country so far.

Taixue, founded in the fifth year of Jianwu in the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 29), is the earliest university in my country.The site is located in the northeast of Piyong in the south of the city.It is divided into east and west parts.In the west is a group of rectangular rammed earth buildings, 104 meters from east to west and 90 meters from north to south.In the east is a group of densely packed rammed house foundations, 220 meters from north to south and 150 meters from east to west.Rammed walls around.In the fourth year of Xiping, Emperor Ling of the Eastern Han Dynasty (175 A.D.), the stone scriptures were established in Taixue, commonly known as "Xiping Stone Classics".In the second year of Zhengshi (AD 241), King Wei Qi established a new stone scripture, commonly known as "Zhengshi Stone Classic".This is the original Confucian classic.Since the Song Dynasty, remnants of stone scriptures have been unearthed from time to time, and new discoveries have been made in recent years.

Yongning Temple, built in the first year of Xiping in the Northern Wei Dynasty (AD 516), is the largest temple in Luoyang City.The site of the temple is located about one kilometer southwest of the base site of Changhemen, the south gate of the palace city.The plane is rectangular.Rammed walls around.The circumference is 1040 meters.The center is a square base. "Luoyang Jialan Ji": "In Yongning Temple, there is a nine-story pagoda, made of wood, which is ninety feet high, and there is a temple complex ten feet high. The combined ground is one thousand feet (one foot in the Western Jin Dynasty is 24.2 centimeters today) .Going to the capital for hundreds of miles, I have already seen it."

Today, the base of the pagoda is about eight meters high, and the plane is square. It is divided into three layers and goes up.The rammed foundation of the middle layer is 50 meters long from east to west and from north to south.The top platform foundation is built with adobe, with an area of ​​about 10 meters square, and there are remnants of wooden tower post holes in it.There are first-class relics of remnants of Buddha statues on the surface of the base.In the third year of Yongxi in the Northern Wei Dynasty (534 A.D.), the temple tower was destroyed by fire.