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2k-year-old wine and the uncanny immediacy of the past

(resobscura.substack.com)
244 points benbreen | 1 comments | 15 Jan 25 21:35 UTC | HN request time: 0.198s | source
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abeppu ◴[16 Jan 25 16:22 UTC] No.42727372[source]▶
The inscription on the Sword of Goujian, the translation for which is displayed in the article, says that the King of Yue made and used the sword himself. How literally do people with knowledge of the period take that? Is it surprising / unlikely for a king of that period to make anything themselves, especially something so ornate, rather than commission it?
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1. int_19h ◴[17 Jan 25 21:31 UTC] No.42743496[source]▶
It wouldn't be unprecedented. Every now and then you get a monarch who just happens to like doing something with his hands. It's rare enough that it's usually specifically noted when it happens, but e.g. consider Peter the Great of Russia, who famously partook in building ships for his fleet as a carpenter (although in his case it seems to have been driven more by relentless perfectionism and dissatisfaction with quality of other people's work).