Giant Ancient Bells: Their Otherworldly Purpose | AE Highlights

for regular videos on ancient cultures and forgotten civilizations Please Subscribe look at this magnificent Bell set okay uh on a much grander scale than you would see anywhere else I mean look the size of these things uh now what the bells were for is interesting uh they were to of course uh make music and the music would please the people that listen to it that's probably really the most important thing but it was also believed that the music would uh uh attract the ancestors as well you could call them that way you can make them feel good with the music that you play and uh it was expected that the Marquee himself be good at playing music and play the right kind of music for the various rituals and ceremonies that they would use these for uh now these bells have two tones if you hit them on the front they make One Tone If you hit them on the side they make another tone so you can get two different notes out of the same Bell but look at the size of the ones on the bottom wooden hammers used to strike the bells were also found in the Tomb from what I hear the bells still produce Flawless tones after all this time these bells are called banong in Chinese and they have gold inlaid inscriptions on them that contain musical directions the last of the Bells the 65th which has a flat bottom has an inscription dated to 433 BCE it says it was a gift from xang Jang the king qu of the chu State this gift implies that Marque y of Zen had political ties with the chu State possibly suggesting that Zen was under Cho's protection or even a client state by accepting this gift and incorporating it into his bellchime set Marque ye acknowledged the political patronage of the chu State basically the more bells and Chim stones that you had the more political prominence that you had how many many pieces there were in your bell system how many you hung up and where they were to be placed uh there was a whole system behind that protocols for how they were was to be done and if and if depending on how high of position that you had you know higher or lower official uh there was a way to place them and there are many other musical instruments from the tomb as well another stunning find was the ban King a set of Stone Chimes made from Limestone and marble these Chimes arranged in two groups were hung from horizontal beams and used in ritual music capable of producing clear and bright tones the baning could cover three full octaves and was tuned one semitone lower than the ban Jong bronze Bells the ban Ching was an essential part of ceremonial music in ancient China often paired with the ban Jong to create harmonious metal and stone music the the bells and stone Chimes were often complemented by other instruments like zithers drums flutes and mouth organs The Ensemble required a large crew of musicians showcasing the immense labor and material investment in Marque ye's Court Banquets another giant Bell you can tell from the inscription his name was zho Marquee the bells recount the Deeds of nangang qua or boa who served the Supreme God assisted Kings Wen and Wu defeated the Shang over the Hawaii River Basin and middle yanga communities Jau the first day of the first month during the year of the Joe calendar Lord U of Zen said boa was at the service of the supreme god assisting King Wen and King Wu they defeated the Mandate of the yin that's the Shang and pacified the world under Heaven the king Chang ordered nangong to settle on the confluence of the yanga and Han River governing the Hawaii groups and ruling the southern regions of Jang the yanga river and sha the Han River these inscriptions which follow a four character rhyme structure reminiscent of ODS likely commemorated nangong qua at important ceremonies this narrative aligns with Joe texts such as the analex which refers to nango as buo inscriptions on Lord 's bronze Bells assert their descent from Jes be the Joe's legendary ancestor solidifying the nonong lineage's claim to the Joe Royal Family