Qin and Han · Queen Dowager of Nanyue

Jiu clan consort 樛氏女

Attested BC 113

Passages: 21
Chapters: 1
Histories: 1

Overview

The translated histories identify Jiu clan consort as a consort and royal family member. This record brings together 21 passages from 1 chapter across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Jiu clan consort	樛氏女
Title	Queen Dowager	太后
Title	Queen Dowager	王太后
Descriptive kinship	woman of the Jiu clan	樛氏女

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Female

Sex: female
Explicit · shiji:113:s0055, shiji:113:s0064

Roles

Consort
Royal Family Member

Life and dates

Death

Manner: killed · Killer Person Id: Lü Jia (呂嘉)
Explicit · shiji:113:s0099

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 元鼎四年 · Western Year: BC 113
Explicit · shiji:113:s0062, shiji:113:s0064

Family

Immediate source-linked family. Drag to pan, scroll or pinch to zoom, and select a person to open their record.

Spouse of Yingqi (嬰齊)
Kinship Term: consort/queen / 姬/后 · Union Category: marriage · Relationship State: formed
Sibling of Jiu Le (樛樂)
Kinship Term: younger brother / 弟 · Subject Relative Age: younger
Kinship Term: elder sister / 姊 · Subject Relative Age: elder
Parent of Zhao Xing (趙興)
Kinship Term: mother / 母 · Parentage: biological

Origins and identity

Label: person of the Central States / 中國人
Explicit · shiji:113:s0064

Places and affiliations

Place: Handan / 邯鄲
Explicit · shiji:113:s0055

Works and attributed material

Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Quoted: true · Other Person Id: Lü Jia (呂嘉)
Explicit · shiji:113:s0080

Events and relationships

Kind: political · Role: advocate · Action: urged-inner-submission
Explicit · shiji:113:s0066, shiji:113:s0067
Relation: lover-of · Person Id: An Guoshaoji (安國少季)
Explicit · shiji:113:s0061, shiji:113:s0064

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: licentious conduct costing popular support · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · shiji:113:s0088

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 113Treatise on the Nanyue · 21 passages

嬰齊其入宿衛在長安時，取邯鄲樛氏女，生子興。 While serving in the palace guard at Chang'an, Yingqi had taken a woman of the Jiu clan from Handan as his consort and fathered a son named Xing.

及即位，上書請立樛氏女為后，興為嗣。 Upon his accession, he petitioned the Han court to recognize the Jiu woman as his queen and Xing as his heir.

太子興代立，其母為太后。 Crown Prince Xing succeeded to the throne, and his mother was elevated to the rank of Queen Dowager.

太后自未為嬰齊姬時，嘗與霸陵人安國少季通。 Even before the Queen Dowager had become Yingqi's consort, she had carried on an affair with a man named An Guoshaoji from Baling.

及嬰齊薨後，元鼎四年，漢使安國少季往諭王、王太后以入朝，比內諸侯； After Yingqi's death, in the fourth year of the Yuanding era, the Han court dispatched An Guoshaoji to persuade the king and the Queen Dowager to present themselves at court and accept the status of inner feudal lords.

王年少，太後中國人也，嘗與安國少季通，其使復私焉。 The king was young, and the Queen Dowager, who was originally from the Central Plains, had previously been An Guoshaoji's lover. When he arrived as envoy, the two resumed their affair.

國人頗知之，多不附太后。 The people of the kingdom were well aware of the affair, and many withheld their support from the Queen Dowager.

太后恐亂起，亦欲倚漢威，數勸王及群臣求內屬。 The Queen Dowager, fearing that unrest might break out, sought to rely on the might of the Han dynasty. She repeatedly urged the king and his ministers to petition for the status of inner subjects of the Han.

王、王太后飭治行裝重齎，為入朝具。 The king and the Queen Dowager began outfitting their traveling retinue and assembling lavish gifts in preparation for the journey to court.

王、王太后亦恐嘉等先事發，乃置酒，介漢使者權，謀誅嘉等。 The king and the Queen Dowager, fearing that Lu Jia might strike first, arranged a banquet. They planned to use the presence and authority of the Han envoys to assassinate Lu Jia and his faction.

使者皆東鄉，太后南鄉，王北鄉，相嘉、大臣皆西鄉，侍坐飲。 At the banquet, the envoys were seated facing east, the Queen Dowager facing south, the king facing north, and Chancellor Lu Jia and the senior ministers all facing west.

酒行，太后謂嘉曰：「南越內屬，國之利也，而相君苦不便者，何也？」 As the wine flowed, the Queen Dowager turned to Lu Jia and said: "For Nanyue to submit as an inner subject would serve the kingdom's best interests. Yet you, Lord Chancellor, keep objecting that it is inconvenient. Why?"

太后怒，欲鏦嘉以矛，王止太後。 The Queen Dowager flew into a rage and wanted to strike Lu Jia down with a spear, but the king held her back.

太后有淫行，國人不附，欲獨誅嘉等，力又不能。 The Queen Dowager's scandalous conduct had cost her the people's support. She wished to eliminate Lu Jia and his faction single-handedly, but she lacked the power to do so.

天子聞嘉不聽王，王、王太后弱孤不能制，使者怯無決。 When the Son of Heaven learned that Lu Jia defied the king, that the king and the Queen Dowager were too weak and isolated to control him, and that the envoys were timid and indecisive.

又以為王、王太后已附漢，獨呂嘉為亂，不足以興兵，欲使莊參以二千人往使。 He also reckoned that since the king and the Queen Dowager had already aligned with the Han, it was Lu Jia alone who was causing trouble. This did not warrant a full military campaign. He planned to send Zhuang Can with two thousand men on a diplomatic mission.

郟壯士故濟北相韓千秋奮曰：「以區區之越，又有王、太后應，獨相呂嘉為害，願得勇士二百人，必斬嘉以報。」 Han Qianqiu, a bold warrior from Jia and former Chancellor of Jibei, stepped forward and declared: "Yue is a trifling state, and the king and the Queen Dowager are on our side. Only Chancellor Lu Jia stands in the way. Give me two hundred brave men, and I will take Lu Jia's head."

於是天子遣千秋與王太后弟樛樂將二千人往，入越境。 The Son of Heaven then dispatched Han Qianqiu along with the Queen Dowager's younger brother, Jiu Le, at the head of two thousand soldiers to enter Yue territory.

太後，中國人也，又與使者亂，專欲內屬，盡持先王寶器入獻天子以自媚，多從人，行至長安，虜賣以為僮仆。 The Queen Dowager is a woman from the Central Plains who has carried on a sordid affair with the envoy. She is bent on submitting our kingdom to the Han, carrying off all the treasures of the former kings to present to the Son of Heaven and ingratiate herself. She plans to take many of our people along to Chang'an, where they will be seized and sold into servitude.

乃與其弟將卒攻殺王、太后及漢使者。 Lu Jia and his brother then led their soldiers in an assault on the palace, killing the king, the Queen Dowager, and the Han envoys.

樛樂，其姊為王太后，首願屬漢，封其子廣德為龍亢侯。 As for Jiu Le, whose elder sister had been the Queen Dowager—he had been the first to volunteer to submit to the Han. His son Guangde was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Longkang.