Vol. 10 No. 2018/1 (2019)
Articles

Culture Heroes or Officials? Lists of Originators in the 17th Book of the Lüshi chunqiu

Gábor Kósa
MTA–ELTE–SZTE
Bio

Published 2019-03-30

Keywords

  • Lüshi chunqiu,
  • culture heroes,
  • Zhu Rong,
  • Wu Peng,
  • Wu Xian,
  • Xi Zhong
  • ...More
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How to Cite

Kósa, G. (2019). Culture Heroes or Officials? Lists of Originators in the 17th Book of the Lüshi chunqiu. Journal of East Asian Cultures, 10(2018/1), 33–61. https://doi.org/10.38144/TKT.2018.1.2

Abstract

The 17th book of Lüshi chunqiu 呂氏春秋, compiled by Lü Buwei 呂不韋 in the 3rd c. B.C., comprises two lists of officials who are credited with initiating certain cultural phenomena. In this study, I explore the available information on these 26 individuals (Da Nao 大橈, Qian Ru 黔如, Rong Cheng 容成, Xi He 羲和, Shang Yi 尚儀, Hou Yi 后益, Hu Cao 胡曹, Yi Yi 夷羿, Zhu Rong 祝融, Yi Di 儀狄, Gao Yuan 高元, Yu Xu 虞姁, Bo Yi 伯益, Chi Ji 赤冀, Cheng
Ya 乘雅, Han Ai 寒哀, Wang Hai 王亥, Shi Huang 史皇, Wu Peng 巫彭, Wu Xian巫咸, Xi Zhong 奚仲, Cang Jie 蒼頡, Houji 后稷, Gao Yao 皋陶, Kunwu 昆吾, Gun 鯀), and propose a new interpretation of their presence in this early source.