{{Short description|Northern Zhou period (557-581 CE) funeral monument}} {{Infobox artefact | name = Tomb of Li Dan | image = Northern Zhou Dynasty Stone Coffin (9923781185).jpg | image_caption = Tomb of Li Dan, [[Xi'an City Museum]]. | image_size = 250px | material = | size = | writing = | created = 564 CE | discovered = September 2005 | location = | id = | registration = | map = {{Location map|China |width = |float = center |border = |caption = |alt = |relief = yes |AlternativeMap= |overlay_image = |label = Xi'an |label_size = |position = right |background = |mark = |marksize = |link = |lat_deg = 34 |lat_min = 20 |lat_sec = 0 |lat_dir = N |lon_deg = 108 |lon_min = 55 |lon_sec = 0 |lon_dir = E }}}} [[File:Li Dan tomb entrance, line drawing.jpg|thumb|Decorations at the entrance of the tomb of Li Dan, line drawing. It represents two haloed guards in non-Chinese style, and a central fire altar, which could be [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]].<ref name="LY"/>]] The '''Tomb of Li Dan''' ({{lang-zh|s=李诞墓|p=Lǐ Dàn mù}}), is a [[Northern Zhou]] period (557-581 CE) funeral monument to a foreigner named "Lǐ Dàn" (李诞) in the Chinese [[epitaph]]. The tomb was excavated in the east of the ancient city of [[Xi'an]], capital of the [[Western Wei]] (534-557 CE) and [[Northern Zhou]] (557-581 CE) dynasties, in the same area where the tombs of Kangye, [[Tomb of Anjia|Anjia]] and Shijun were discovered. The tomb with its epitaph are now located in the collections of the [[Xi'an City Museum]]. Lǐ Dàn died in 564 CE.<ref name="LY">{{cite journal |last1=Li |first1=Yusheng |title=STUDY OF TOMBS OF HU PEOPLE IN LATE 6TH CENTURY NORTHERN CHINA |journal=Newsletter di Archeologia CISA |date=2016 |volume=7 |pages=94–96 |url=https://www.academia.edu/37360592}}</ref>
==Epitaph== According to the epitaph, Lǐ Dàn was a "[[Brahmin]]" (Chinese: [[:zh:婆罗门|婆罗门]] ''Póluómén'').<ref name="LY"/> He descended from an honourable family, and his grandfather had once been a tribal leader. Between 520 and 525 CE, he and his family migrated from the [[Jibin]] (area of [[Gandhara]] or Kashmir of the Indian subcontinent) to China, and received the favours of Emperor [[Yuwen Tai|Taizu]] (507–556 CE).<ref name="LY"/> Lǐ Dàn died at the age of 59 in his home in Xi'an, in 564 CE. He received posthumously the title of "Prefect of the [[Handan|Hán Prefecture]]" ("邯州刺史") from the Emperor. His son Panti (槃提) wrote the epitaph.<ref name="LY"/>
The epitaph reads:
{{blockquote|[[File:Epitaph of Li Dan.jpg|200px|left|Epitaph of Li Dan]] "Epitaph of Li Dan, also named Li Tuosuo, deceased Prefect of the [[Handan|Province of Han]], who lived in Pingji, [[Zhao County|Zhao country]], descendant of [[Bogar|Bo Yang]]. His grandfather was Feng He, a tribal ruler, who worked hard and maintained the standing of his lineage. The deceased was an honorable man, who traveled from [[Jibin]] to the Imperial court during the [[List of Chinese era names|Zhengguang era]] (520–525 CE). Because he was a [[Brahmin]], [[Yuwen Tai|Emperor Taizu]] offered him plenty of gifts and rewards. The deceased died at the age of 59, on April 9th, in the 4th year of the [[List of Chinese era names|Baoding era]] (564 CE), year of the [[:wikt:甲申|Wood Monkey]], at his home in Wanjili. The Emperor gave him the title of "Prefect of the [[Handan|Province of Han]]", and he was buried in the [[:zh:閏月|leap month]] of that same year in Zhonxiangli. His elder son Panti, fearing cataclisms, and afraid the name of his father might be forgotten, reverently wrote this inscription on a black stone, so that his story can be transmitted unblemished."|Epitaph of Li Dan, written by his son Panti in 564 CE.<ref>Original text of the epitaph: [[Northern Zhou|周]]故[[Handan|邯州]]刺史，李君墓志铭，/君讳诞，字陁娑，[[Zhao County|赵国]]平棘人，其/先伯阳之后。祖冯何，世为民酋，/考傍期，不颓宗基。君禀玄妙气，/正光中自[[Jibin|罽宾]]归阙，[[Yuwen Tai|太祖]]以/君[[Brahmin|婆罗门]]种，屡蒙赏。君春秋五/十九，保定四季歲次甲申四月/九日薨萬季里宅 皇帝授君/[[Handan|邯州]]刺史，其年閏月葬中鄉里/长子槃提恐山移谷徙声谧无/闻敬镌玄石以传不朽。</ref>}}
==Tomb== Li Dan's tomb was discovered in September 2005 by Xi'an Institute of Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeology in the northern suburbs of Xi'an.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Du |first1=Panxin |last2=Xu |first2=Yu |last3=Zhang |first3=Xiaoli |last4=Meng |first4=Hailiang |last5=Zhu |first5=Kongyang |last6=Huang |first6=Zixiao |last7=Ma |first7=Xiaolin |last8=Wang |first8=Rui |last9=Yang |first9=Yini |last10=Xie |first10=Shouhua |last11=Yang |first11=Xiaomin |last12=Xiong |first12=Jianxue |last13=Allen |first13=Edward |last14=Wang |first14=Bangyan |last15=Zhang |first15=Baoshuai |last16=Chang |first16=Xin |last17=Bai |first17=Tianyou |last18=Wang |first18=Lingxiang |last19=Yu |first19=Yao |last20=Xu |first20=Yiran |last21=Zhang |first21=Xiangyu |last22=Hong |first22=Xiuyuan |last23=Ren |first23=Xiaoying |last24=Wu |first24=Xin |last25=Wang |first25=Hui |last26=Han |first26=Sheng |last27=Jin |first27=Li |last28=Feng |first28=Jian |last29=Wang |first29=Chuan-Chao |last30=Wen |first30=Shaoqing |title=Ancient genomic evidence uncovers a 6th-century cross-border couple between South Asia and East Asia |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports |date=December 2025 |volume=68 |article-number=105474 |doi=10.1016/j.jasrep.2025.105474}}</ref> The tomb was a single arc-square brick chambered tomb, with a long sloping passage and tunnel, reflective of traditional Chinese tombs of the Northern Zhou period.<ref name="LY"/> Enclosed by a brick wall, it had a stone gateway, behind which the stone coffin was placed. The coffin contained two skeletons, of a man and a woman, wrapped in three layers of textiles, accompanied by a Byzantine gold coin [[Justinian I]], (527-565 CE) inside the mouth of the woman.<ref name="LY"/><ref>{{cite journal |title=Tomb of Li Dan, Chang'an, the Byzantine gold coin |journal=Dla.library.upenn.edu |url=http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/fisher/image.html?id=FISHER_n2007081135&rotation=0&}}</ref> Traces of pigments suggest that the inside walls of the tomb were originally painted.<ref name="LY"/>
The coffin is decorated with fine incised carvings representing traditional Chinese cosmology. The motifs also included two haloed guards in non-Chinese style, and a fire altar, which could be [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]].<ref name="LY"/>
[[File:Xi'an, location of the tomb of Lidan.jpg|thumb|Xi'an, location of the tomb of Lidan (red dot).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Li |first1=Yusheng |title=STUDY OF TOMBS OF HU PEOPLE IN LATE 6TH CENTURY NORTHERN CHINA |journal=Newsletter di Archeologia |date=2016 |volume=7 |page=115, Fig.2 |url=https://www.academia.edu/27092301}}</ref>]] <gallery class="center"> File:Northern Zhou Dynasty Stone Epitaph for Li Dan (9923955053).jpg|Epitaph from the tomb of Li Dan. File:Solidus of Justinian I, 538-545.png|Type of the gold coin of [[Justinian I]] discovered in the tomb.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Tomb of Li Dan, Chang'an, the Byzantine gold coin |journal=Dla.library.upenn.edu |url=http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/fisher/image.html?id=FISHER_n2007081135&rotation=0&}}</ref> File:Tomb of Li Dan, decorated back panel.jpg|Decorated back panel: the traditional tortoise [[Black Tortoise|Xuanwu]], with a haloed deity holding a sword.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Li |first1=Yusheng |title=STUDY OF TOMBS OF HU PEOPLE IN LATE 6TH CENTURY NORTHERN CHINA |journal=Newsletter di Archeologia CISA |date=2016 |volume=7 |pages=94–96, 118 Fig.7 |url=https://www.academia.edu/37360592}}</ref> File:Tomb of Li Dan, decorated side panel, white dragon.jpg|Side panel decorated with a [[white dragon]]. </gallery>
==Similar coffins== <gallery class="center"> File:Sui Stone Coffin, 582 AD (9913100053).jpg|Sarcophagus of Li He, a [[Northern Zhou]] general, of similar design (李和墓, 505–582).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=RIBOUD |first1=PÉNÉLOPE |title=Bird-Priests in Central Asian Tombs of 6th-Century China and Their Significance in the Funerary Realm |journal=Bulletin of the Asia Institute |date=2007 |volume=21 |page=17 |jstor=24049360 |issn=0890-4464}}</ref> File:Northern Wei Tomb of Emperor Xuanwu, 499-515 AD (06) - Coffin.jpg|Sarcophagus of [[Emperor Xuanwu of Northern Wei|Emperor Xuanwu]] (483-515 CE). </gallery>
==See also== * [[:Template:Sogdian tombs in China|Sogdian tombs in China]]
==References== {{reflist}}
[[Category:Buildings and structures completed in the 6th century]] [[Category:Archaeological discoveries in China]] [[Category:Northern Zhou]] [[Category:Tombs in China]] [[Category:2005 archaeological discoveries]]