周公生卒年考

An Inquiry into the Years of Birth and Death of the Duke of Zhou

确立周公生卒年以把准周公所处时代,对研究周公及周初历史文化具有重要意义。由于无法从现有历史文献中获得直接证据,因而对周公生卒年似无从入手考实。将古籍所载周公之兄武王的享年、何种情势下逝世及成王有关史料,放在殷周之际的历史大背景下进行考察,先确定武王的生卒年,然后再推断出周公生卒年份。《古本竹书纪年》等说“武王年五十四”;“夏商周断代工程”确定武王克殷之年为公元前1046年;《金縢》等说武王克殷后二年去世。由上可算出武王克殷时为52岁,进而可算出武王生于公元前1098年。又以周公排行在武王及管叔之后,推算出周公出生之大致年份为公元前1094年。结合《尚书大传》《今本竹书纪年》等记载及何尊铭文,推断出周公去世年份为其还政成王后第四年,即公元前1033年。

The establishment of the years of the Duke of Zhou is indispensable to the study of the Duke of Zhou and other related historical and cultural issues.However,because of the absence of the direct evidence in the existing historical documents,his years of birth and death are still unknown.Based on the years of birth and death of King Wu and the historical documents about King Chen as well as the historical backgrounds of the Shang and Zhou dynasties,the paper explores and analyzes the years of birth and death of the Duke of Zhou.The basic idea is as follows:Grounded on the year of King Wu’s conquest over Shang(1046 BC)determined by The Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project(when King Wu was 52)as well as the records of Bamboo Annals(King Wu died in 54)and Jin Kui(King Wu died two years after Shang was captured),it is deduced that the birth year of King Wu is 1098 BC.Then it is inferred that the birth year of the Duke of Zhou is approximately 1094 BC on the grounds that he is the immediate younger brother of King Wu and Guan Shu.In view of the evidencerecorded in Book of History,Bamboo Annals and the inscriptions on the He Zunvessel,it is deduced that the year of death of the Duke of Zhou is the fourth year from the ending of his regency,namely 1033 BC.