Qin and Han · General

Meng Tian 蒙恬

Died BC 210

Passages
31
Chapters
6
Histories
2

Overview

The translated histories identify Meng Tian as an administrator, general, military officer, and official. This record brings together 31 passages from 6 chapters across 2 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

TypeEnglishChinesePinyin
Personal Meng Tian 蒙恬 Meng Tian
Title Duke Meng 蒙公
Surname Meng 蒙 Meng
Personal name Meng Tian
Personal Meng Tian 蒙恬 Méng Tián
Given Tian 恬 Tian

Identity

Historicity
Historical
Identification
Named
Sex
Male

Roles

  • Administrator
  • General
  • Military Officer
  • Official

Life and dates

Death

  • Manner: suicide by poison / 吞藥自殺 · Place: Yangzhou / 陽周 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 二世 · Western Year: BC 210
    Explicit · shiji:088:s0098

Attested activity

  • Source Date: Text: 及至始皇 · Western Year: c. BC 221
    Explicit event contextual date · shiji:048:s0179
  • Source Date: Text: 始皇三十七年 · Western Year: BC 210
    Explicit event contextual date · shiji:088:s0037
  • Source Date: Text: 始皇二十六年 · Western Year: BC 221
    Explicit event contextual date · shiji:088:s0013
  • Source Date: Text: 始皇二十年至二十六年間 · Western Interval: Start: BC 227 · End: BC 221
    Explicit event contextual date · shiji:073:s0132
  • Source Date: Text: 蒙公 · Western Interval: Start: BC 221 · End: BC 210
    Explicit · hanshu:098:s0198

Family

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

  • Descendant of Meng Ao (蒙驁)
    Kinship Term: grandfather / 大父 · Generation Distance: 2 · Line: paternal
  • Child of Meng Wu (蒙武)
    Kinship Term: son / 子 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son
  • Sibling of Meng Yi (蒙毅)
    Kinship Term: younger brother / 弟 · Shared Parentage: full · Subject Relative Age: elder · Subject Role: elder-brother · Object Role: younger-brother

Origins and identity

Career and standing

  • Label: studied penal codes and classics / 書獄典文學
    Explicit · shiji:088:s0009
  • Label: Interior Minister / 內史 · Action: appointed
    Explicit · shiji:088:s0013
  • Label: Qin general / 秦將 · Action: appointed
    Explicit · shiji:088:s0013
  • general / 將兵
    Explicit · hanshu:074:s0258
  • Status: imprisoned · Place: Yangzhou / 陽周 · Action: entered
    Explicit · shiji:088:s0047
  • Label: ordered to suicide / 賜死 · Action: ordered
    Explicit · shiji:088:s0037

Places and affiliations

Works and attributed material

Events and relationships

  • Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: attacked · Target: Qi / 齊 · Outcome: defeated Qi · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 始皇二十六年 · Western Year: BC 221
    Explicit · shiji:088:s0013
  • Kind: fortification · Role: commander · Action: built the Great Wall and drove the Xiongnu back more than seven hundred li
    Explicit · shiji:048:s0179
  • Kind: construction · Role: builder · Action: built-road · Place: Jiuyuan to Ganquan / 九原至甘泉
    Explicit · shiji:088:s0029
  • Kind: construction · Role: builder · Action: built · Object: Great Wall / 長城 · Place: Lintao to Liaodong / 臨洮至遼東
    Explicit · shiji:088:s0015
  • Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: deterred · Target: Xiongnu / 匈奴
    Explicit · shiji:088:s0018
  • Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: drove-out · Target: Rong and Di / 戎狄 · Place: Henan / 河南 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 秦已并天下 · Western Year: BC 221
    Explicit · shiji:088:s0014
  • Kind: military · Action: invaded Chu with Li Xin and won initial victories · Role: commander · Other Person Id: Li Xin (李信) · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 始皇二十年至二十六年間 · Western Interval: Start: BC 227 · End: BC 221
    Explicit · shiji:073:s0132, shiji:073:s0134, shiji:073:s0135
  • Type: appointed-by · Person Id: Qin Shihuang (秦始皇帝)
    Explicit · hanshu:074:s0258

Assessments and attributes

  • Assessment: brothers' execution was fitting because they catered to imperial ambitions rather than remonstrating for the people · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment · Speaker Person Id: Sima Qian (太史公)
    Explicit · shiji:088:s0100
  • Assessment: renowned for loyalty and trustworthiness · Provenance: Mode: narrative
    Explicit · shiji:088:s0021
  • Assessment: undervalued the people's toil in building the wall and straight road · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment · Speaker Person Id: Sima Qian (太史公)
    Explicit · shiji:088:s0099

References in the histories

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

Book of Han, Chapter 74Volume 64a: Yan, Zhu, Wuqiu, Zhufu, Xu, Yan, Zhong, Wang, and Jia 1 · 2 passages
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Book of Han, Chapter 75Volume 64b: Yan, Zhu, Wuqiu, Zhufu, Xu, Yan, Zhong, Wang, and Jia 2 · 1 passage
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Book of Han, Chapter 98Volume 87a: Yang Xiong 1 · 1 passage
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Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 48House of Chen She · 1 passage
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Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 73Biographies of Bai Qi and Wang Jian · 3 passages
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Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 88Biography of Meng Tian · 23 passages
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太史公曰：吾適北邊，自直道歸，行觀蒙恬所為秦筑長城亭障，塹山堙谷，通直道，固輕百姓力矣。 The Grand Historian remarks: I once traveled to the northern frontier and returned by the Straight Road. Along the way I observed the Great Wall, with its watchtowers and fortifications, that Meng Tian had built for Qin — the mountains he carved through, the valleys he filled in, the highway he drove across the land. In all this he plainly undervalued the people's toil.
夫秦之初滅諸侯，天下之心未定，痍傷者未瘳，而恬為名將，不以此時彊諫，振百姓之急，養老存孤，務修眾庶之和，而阿意興功，此其兄弟遇誅，不亦宜乎！ When Qin first conquered the feudal lords, the hearts of the people were not yet at ease, and the wounds of war had not yet healed. Meng Tian was a renowned general, yet he did not use his position to remonstrate forcefully with the Emperor, to relieve the people's suffering, to care for the aged, or to shelter the orphaned. He did not strive to restore harmony among the common people. Instead, he catered to the Emperor's ambitions and pursued grand construction projects. That both brothers met their deaths by execution — was this not fitting!