神物:汉末三国之石刻志异

A Mythical Object:On Stone Inscriptions in Late Han and the Three Kingdoms Period

在汉末三国时代,石刻是一种重要的文献形式,而刻石则是一种蕴涵丰富的文化活动。有关石刻的种种神异现象的载录及其阐释,凝聚成视石刻为"神物"这样一种思想观念。这一观念固然可以远溯其历史文化之渊源,然其在汉末三国表现得尤其突出,则主要是彼时政治与文化环境使然。正史、杂史、地理书以及志怪小说等诸种历史文献对石刻志异现象的关注,以前所未有的广度,反映了石刻文献独特而丰厚的文化意义。

As an important form of text,stone inscriptions played a significant role in the cultural and political life in late Han and the Three Kingdoms period.Creation,narration and interpretation of the mythical tales about stone inscriptions in this period became so alienated that those stones with inscriptions were worshiped as sacredly mythical objects.While this was a traditional practice,deification of objects proved to be very popular especially in the late Han dynasty,due to the cultural and political situation then.The rich and unique significance of stone inscriptions in culture is clearly manifested in the fact that special attention was enthusiastically paid to these mythical stories in various texts,like official histories,unofficial histories,geography books and tales of anomalies.