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22-525: Local inhabitants at Sampul cemetery around 14 km (8.7 mi) where art such as the Sampul tapestry has been found, buried their dead from roughly 217 BCE to 283 CE. The analysis of mtDNA haplogroup distribution showed that the Sampula inhabitants had a large mixture of East Asian , Persian and European characteristics. According to Chengzhi et al. (2007), analysis of maternal mitochondrial DNA of

44-643: A cultural link between Loulan and Khotan. The existence of this tapestry tends to suggest that contacts between the Hellenistic kingdoms of Central Asia and the Tarim Basin , at the edge of the Chinese world, occurred from around the 3rd century BC. The tapestry is on permanent display in the Xinjiang Museum, Ürümqi , China . Centaur and head fragments of the tapestry have been a part of

66-461: A dagger tucked on his waist. He wears a tunic with rosette motifs. His headband could be a diadem , a symbol of kingship in the Hellenistic world – and represented on Macedonian and other ancient Greek coinage . The centaur is playing a horn ( salpinx ) while wearing a cape and a hood. Surrounding him is a diamond-shaped floral ornament. His cape is made of the Nemean lion skin and the centaur

88-404: A lion to Zeus; if he did not return within 30 days or he died, the boy would sacrifice himself to Zeus. Another version claims that he met Molorchos, a shepherd who had lost his son to the lion, saying that if he came back within 30 days, a ram would be sacrificed to Zeus . If he did not return within 30 days, it would be sacrificed to the dead Heracles as a mourning offering. While searching for

110-666: A major exhibition China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200–750 AD , held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York , from 12 October 2004 to 23 January 2005. From 18 February to 5 June 2011, they were displayed at the Penn Museum , Philadelphia , in exhibition Secrets of the Silk Road . Nemean lion The Nemean lion ( / n ɪ ˈ m iː ə n / ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : Νεμέος λέων , translit.   Neméos léōn ; Latin : Leo Nemeaeus )

132-593: A pair of man's trousers (all the other trousers found in Sampul had no decoration). It is uncertain where the tapestry was made, although the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom in Central Asia has been suggested to be a possibility. The technique used for the tapestry, with more than 24 threads of different colours, is a typically Western one. The centaur's cape and hood are a central Asian modification of

154-435: Is a reference to both Heracles and Chiron (the mentor of Achilles ). Due to heavy looting at the location, the dating of the material is uncertain. It has been assigned dates from the 3rd century BC to the 4th century AD. The tapestry was excavated in 1983–1984 at an ancient burial ground in Sampul (Shanpula), 30 km east of Hotan (Khotan), in the Tarim Basin . The tapestry was, curiously, fashioned into

176-457: Is provided ): In 2009, villages in Sampul township included: Sampul tapestry Sampul tapestry is an ancient woolen wall-hanging found at the Tarim Basin settlement of Sampul in Lop County , Hotan Prefecture , Xinjiang , China, close to the ancient city of Khotan . The object has many Hellenistic period features, including a Greek centaur and diadem , linking it to

198-555: Is that it is locally made as Tang annal New Book of Tang mentioned that local people of Khotan were good at textile and tapestry work when Emperor Wu of Han (r. 141-87 BC) opened the Silk Road to Khotan during the first century BC. The tapestry may have been made roughly a century before the Han Chinese conquest of the Tarim Basin under Wudi. Hellenistic tapestries have also been found in Loulan by Aurel Stein , indicating

220-635: The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom (formed after the conquest of the Achaemenid Empire by Alexander the Great of Macedon and establishment of the Seleucid Empire ). It may represent a Yuezhi soldier, in red jacket and trousers, from the 1st century CE. Alternatively, the soldier (king) is possibly a Greco-Bactrian, an Hellenized Saka or a Greco-Saka military aristocrat. The man's head features (cheek, mouth, blue eyes, nose, hairband ) and

242-621: The Lernaean Hydra . Heracles wore the Nemean lion's coat after killing it, as it was impervious to the elements and all but the most powerful weapons. Others say that Heracles' armour was, in fact, the hide of the Lion of Cithaeron . According to Alexander of Myndus , Heracles was helped in this labour by an Earth -born serpent , which followed him to Thebes and settled down in Aulis . It

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264-456: The Greek motif. The fact that he plays a horn also distinguishes him from the Greek prototypes. Flower diamond motif on the warrior's lapel is of central Asian origin. Certain motifs, particularly the animal head on the soldier's dagger, suggest that the tapestry originated in the kingdom of Parthia in northern Iran. Rome has also been proposed as a possible source. Another suggestion

286-460: The Nemean lion as the offspring of Orthus and an ambiguous "she", often understood as probably referring to the Chimera, or possibly to Echidna or even Ceto . According to Hesiod, the lion was raised by Hera and sent to terrorise the hills of Nemea. According to Apollodorus , he was the offspring of Typhon . In another tradition, told by Aelian (citing Epimenides) and Hyginus , the lion

308-599: The XUAR Judiciary Office's de-extremization ( 去极端化 ) propaganda team began three days of de-extremization lectures in the county including visits in Sampul. On December 13, 2019, the body of a 5 year old Uyghur boy was found in snow in a stream in Sampul, and viral video of the discovery led to international attention. As of 2018, Sampul included thirty-one villages ( Mandarin Chinese Hanyu Pinyin -derived names, except where Uyghur

330-400: The beast with his club. He eventually killed it by strangling it with his bare hands. After slaying the lion, he tried to skin it with a knife from his belt, but failed. He then tried sharpening the knife with a stone and even tried with the stone itself. Finally, Athena , noticing the hero's plight, told Heracles to use one of the lion's own claws to skin the pelt. When Heracles returned on

352-403: The human remains has revealed genetic affinities at the maternal side to Ossetians and Iranians , an Eastern-Mediterranean paternal lineage. The Sampul tapestry was discovered in Sampul in the mid-1980s. On October 21, 2014, Sampul township ( 山普鲁乡 ) disestablished and Sampul town ( 山普鲁镇 ) was created. In 2016–17, five villages were added to Sampul. On the afternoon of April 7, 2017,

374-418: The left decorative border of what would be a much bigger wall hanging. Made of wool, it comprises 24 threads of various colours. The tapestry depicts a man with Caucasoid features, (including blue eyes), and a centaur . If lost fabric is accounted for, the soldier would be about six times as tall as the centaur. The subject is identified as a warrior by the spear he is holding in his hand as well as

396-460: The lion, Heracles fetched some arrows to use against it, not knowing that its golden fur was impenetrable; when he found the lion and shot at it with his bow, he discovered the fur's protective property when the arrow bounced harmlessly off the creature's thigh. After some time, Heracles made the lion return to his cave. The cave had two entrances, one of which Heracles blocked; he then entered the other. In those dark and close quarters, Heracles stunned

418-511: The spear representation are modeled similarly with the depiction of Alexander the Great on a medallion found from Roman Egypt (215-243 AD) and could represent the king. Overall, the Sampul tapestry belongs to the Greco-Bactrian culture. The full tapestry is 48 cm wide and 230 cm long. The centaur fragment is 45 cm by 55 cm, warrior's face fragment is 48 cm by 52 cm. The recovered tapestry only constitutes

440-407: The thirtieth day carrying the carcass of the lion on his shoulders, King Eurystheus was amazed and terrified. Eurystheus forbade him ever again to enter the city; in the future, he was to display the fruits of his labours outside the city gates. Eurystheus warned him that the tasks set for him would become increasingly difficult. He then sent Heracles off to complete his next quest, which was to destroy

462-452: Was "sprung from" the moon-goddess Selene , who threw him from the Moon at Hera's request. The first of Heracles ' twelve labours , set by King Eurystheus (his cousin), was to slay the Nemean lion. Heracles wandered the area until he came to the town of Cleonae . There, he met a boy who said that if Heracles slew the Nemean lion and returned alive within 30 days, the town would sacrifice

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484-467: Was a monster in Greek mythology that lived at Nemea . Eventually, it was killed by Heracles (Hercules). Because its golden fur was impervious to attack, it could not be killed with mortals' weapons. Its claws were sharper than mortals' swords and could cut through any strong armour. In Bibliotheca , Photius wrote that the dragon Ladon , who guarded the golden apples , was his brother. Hesiod has

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