金文所见周初王室祭祖活动新探

A Study of the Royal Ancestor Worship Activities in the Early Zhou Dynasty Based on the Bronze Inscriptions

周初金文记载的王室祭祖活动大多具有特殊的政治目的,而非周人礼制中的常祀。天亡簋、何尊等铭文记录了周初王室的重要宗庙祭祖活动。这些活动服务于周武王、成王及周公的特定政治目的。天亡簋记载的周武王在克殷之后会同三方诸侯在宗庙祭祀周文王,是为了宣传文王受命,宣示周政权的正统性,统合各方诸侯,确立新的天下政治秩序。何尊记载周成王和周公模仿周武王举行祭祖活动,在新邑的宗庙祭祀文王、武王,是为了完成武王遗志,确立成周的都城地位。这些王室祭祖活动在西周的政权巩固和新政治体系建立过程中发挥了重要作用,可见礼制存在广阔的内涵空间和多样的历史形态。周初王室祭祖活动呈现出礼制本身的动态发展过程,也反映出西周政治文明演进的一个独特面向。

Most of the royal ancestor worship activities recorded in the bronze inscriptions of the early Zhou dynasty possessed special political purposes.It was different from the regular worship in the rites of the Zhou people.The inscriptions of Tianwanggui(天亡簋)and Hezun(何尊)recorded the ancestor worship activities in the royal temples at the beginning of the Zhou dynasty.These activities served the specific political purposes of King Wu,King Cheng and the Duke of Zhou(周公)of the Zhou dynasty.It is recorded in Tianwanggui that after the collapse of the Shang dynasty,King Wu invited the feudal lords to offer sacrifices to King Wen in the royal temple so as to publicize that King Wen received the mandate from heaven,declare the legitimacy of the Zhou regime,unify feudal lords from various areas and establish a new political order.It is recorded in Hezun that following the example of King Wu,King Cheng and the Duke of Zhou offered sacrifices to King Wen and King Wu in the royal temples of Chengzhou in order to fulfill King Wu’s political plans and establish Chengzhou’s status as the capital city.These Royal ancestor worship activities played an important role in the consolidation of the Western Zhou regime and the construction of new political system.It shows that the etiquette system had broad connotation space and abundant historical forms.Moreover,these royal ancestor worship activities in the early Zhou dynasty not only display the dynamic development process of the etiquette system,but also reflect a unique dimension in the evolution of the political civilization in the Western Zhou Dynasty.