Qin and Han · Consort of King Xiao of Liang

Empress Dowager Li 李太后

Li Taihou

Died BC 128

Passages: 6
Chapters: 1
Histories: 1

Overview

Empress Dowager Li was a consort of King Xiao of Liang.

Life and dates

Death

BC 128 to BC 123 元朔中
died of illness 病薨
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 58, passage 110

Attested activity

BC 128 to BC 123 元朔中
Dated from the passage context · Records of the Grand Historian 58, passages 97, 113

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Kin of Liu Xiang (劉襄)
paternal grandmother 大母 · paternal line · 2 generations
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 58, passage 98
Parent of Liu Mai (劉買)
mother 母
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 58, passage 97
Spouse of Liu Wu (劉武)
wife 妻
Strongly inferred · Records of the Grand Historian 58, passage 97

Events and relationships

Relation Illicit affair with · Person Yin Ba (尹霸)
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 58, passage 109
Relation Illicit affair with · Person Chief of the Food Office (食官長)
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 58, passage 109

References in the histories

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 58House of Prince Xiao of Liang · 6 passages

共王母曰李太后。 King Gong's mother was known as Empress Dowager Li.

李太后，親平王之大母也。 Empress Dowager Li was in fact King Ping's grandmother.

平王大母李太后曰：「先王有命，無得以罍樽與人。 King Ping's grandmother, Empress Dowager Li, declared, "The former king left explicit orders that the vessel must not be given to anyone.

李太后大怒，漢使者來，欲自言，平王襄及任王后遮止，閉門，李太后與爭門，措指，遂不得見漢使者。 Empress Dowager Li was furious. When the Han envoys arrived, she wished to speak with them herself, but King Ping and Queen Ren barred her way and shut the gates. The Empress Dowager struggled at the doors and had her finger caught and crushed in them, and in the end was prevented from seeing the Han envoys.

李太后亦私與食官長及郎中尹霸等士通亂，而王與任王后以此使人風止李太后，李太后內有淫行，亦已。 Empress Dowager Li had also been carrying on illicit affairs with the Chief of the Food Office and the Gentleman-in-Attendance Yin Ba, among others. The king and Queen Ren used this knowledge to send people to silence her, and since the Empress Dowager was compromised by her own misconduct, the matter was dropped.

天子曰：「李太后有淫行，而梁王襄無良師傅，故陷不義。」 The Son of Heaven said, "Empress Dowager Li was guilty of misconduct, and King Xiang of Liang had no worthy tutors to guide him, so he fell into wrongdoing."