Sima Qian died in 86 BCE in People's Republic of China, aged about 59. A Chinese historian of the Han dynasty, Sima Qian held the post of Grand Historian at the court of Emperor Wu, which he inherited from his father Sima Tan. He completed the Records of the Grand Historian, the Shiji, a vast work covering Chinese history from the legendary Yellow Emperor to his own time, which combines annals, chronological tables, treatises and biographies. After he defended a disgraced general before the emperor, he was condemned and punished by castration, and he chose to endure it rather than die so that he could finish his history. His book became the model for later dynastic histories and is also admired as literature.
Before and after
- c. 90s BCEPublication of Records of the Grand Historian
- from 91 BCE to 88 BCESocial War of 91-87 BCE
- from 88 BCE to 63 BCEMithridatic Wars
- from September 87 BCE to March 86 BCESiege of Athens
- 86 BCEDeath of Sima Qian
- 83 BCEBirth of Mark Antony
- 78 BCEOrigins of Tabularium
- from 74 BCE to 72 BCEThe slave revolt of Spartacus
- from 73 BCE to 63 BCEThird Mithridatic War
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The era
This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires. You can also browse everything in the 1st century BCE.