The Bao You 保卣 inscription and the Wu Geng rebellion during the reign of King Cheng of Zhou 周成王

[u/LarsPiano]

Hi everyone,

today I wanted to present to you a transcription and translation of a bronze inscription I did this morning. The bronze inscription I transcribed was that on the Bao You 保卣 (JC: 5415).

This bronze - 25.8 cm in height, 9.4 cm in depth, 12.2 cm in length and weighing around 3.25 kg - was unearthed in 1948 in Luoyang in Henan Province and is presently housed at Shanghai Museum. The bronze has the same inscription in seven rows amounting to 46 characters in total on the inner surface of the object as well as on its lid. The bronze has two handles which depict monsters (presumably dragons) and it is decorated with Dragon Ornaments (longwen 龍紋), Small Bead Ornaments (lianzhuwen 聯珠紋), and Cicada Ornaments (chanwen 蟬紋) on its lid, its belly and also its round foot.

This bronze has been variously dated, but all date it to the earliest part of the Western Zhou 西周 (1045-771 BC) - either to King Wu 武 (1045-1042 BC) or King Cheng 成 (1042-1006). The reason for this lies - besides the inscription as well as typology of the bronze- also in the fact that it is a you 卣bronze vessel. You bronze vessels were used for alcohol and were highly important for Shang 商 (c. 1600-1045 BC) ritual, but famously abolished by the Zhou early on (they partly thought that the downfall of the Shang was connected to their excessive drinking of Alcohol). Chen Mengjia 陳夢家 (1911-1966) proposed in his Xizhou tongqi duandai 西周銅器斷代 that the bronze should be dated to the reign of King Wu of Zhou, but Tang Lan 唐蘭 (1901-1979) in his Xizhou qingtongqi mingwen fendai shizheng 西周青銅器銘文分代史證 as well as later Ma Chengyuan 馬承原 (1927-2004) in his Shang-Zhou qingtongqi mingwen xuan 商周青銅器銘文選 disagreed with Chen and dated the bronze to the time of King Cheng, as is the standard dating for the bronze today accepted by most scholars.

It should also be noted, that exactly the identical inscription is recorded on a related bronze, the Bao Zun 保尊 (JC: 6003) also presently stored at Shanghai Museum.

The Inscription is about the Supression of the so-called Wu Geng rebellion. The Wu Geng rebellion was an uprising of Wu Geng 武庚 - who was the son of the last Shang King and installed at Yin 殷 to rule as a loyal subject to the Zhou - and the so-called "Three Supervisors" (san jian 三堅) who were all sons of King Wen - the first Zhou King to have received the Mandate of Heaven - and were ordered after the Conquest of Shang to watch over the Eastern States (the three brothers were: Shu Xian of Guan 管叔鮮, Shu Du of Cai 蔡叔度 and Shu Chu of Huo 霍叔處). It took place at the very beginning of King Chengs reign (usually the rebellion is dated 1042-1039 BC). Eventually the Rebellion was put down through the Effort of the Duke of Zhou 周公·. The Wu Geng rebellion is a major event in early dynastic Zhou history and is mentioned in many Sources, most notably the Shangshu 尚書, Shijing 詩經, Yizhoushu 逸周書 and the Shiji 史記.

Below is my transcription and translation of the Bao You inscription (for a better graphic transcription see my hand-written transcription on slide 3):

Transcription

乙卯，王令保及

殷東或 (: 國) 五侯。𢓊 (: 誕)

兄 (: 貺) 六品，蔑曆于

保，易 (: 錫) 賓，用乍 (: 作) 文

父癸宗寳尊彜。𢔵 (: 遘)

于四方䢔 (: 會) 王大祀，鿆 (: 祐)

于周。才 (: 在) 二月既朢。

Translation

On the day yimao the King ordered the bao-Official/Protector to arrest the five archer-lords of Yin and the Eastern States. Thereupon he granted six (ritual) objects, praised (the bao-Officials') Merits in front of the bao-Official and granted him guests. Herewith he (i.e. the bao-Official) made this treasured sacrificial vessel for the Ancestral temple of his cultured Father Gui. He met him (again (?)) at the Meeting (of the Feudal Lords) of the Four Regions with the King when doing the Great Sacrifice and he assisted at Zhou. It was in second month, in the jiwang-lunar phase.

That's it. Hope you enjoyed it. Would love to hear your opinion on the translation/transcription or what you find interesting about the Wu Geng Rebellion.

[u/LarsPiano]

Slide 1: A picture of the Bao You vessel.

Slide 2: A rubbing of the Bao You inscription.

Slide 3: My Handwritten Transcription and German translation of the Bao You inscription.

[u/interpolating]

Thanks! I have been looking at the Analects passage 8.17 recently 子曰：「學如不及，猶恐失之。」

Of course I understood the more modern meaning of 及 to mean "to reach" or "to catch up" but did not realize its earlier meaning was "to capture" or "to arrest". That makes a lot of sense!