Ancient China · General

Tian Dan 田單

Attested BC 300 - BC 279

Passages
21
Chapters
4
Histories
2

Overview

The translated histories identify Tian Dan as an administrator, aristocrat, general, and strategist. This record brings together 21 passages from 4 chapters across 2 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

TypeEnglishChinesePinyin
Personal Tian Dan 田單 Tian Dan
Given Dan 單 Dān
Title Lord of Anping 安平君 Ānpíng Jūn
Surname Tian 田 Tián
Personal name Tian Dan 田單 Tián Dān

Identity

Historicity
Historical
Identification
Named
Sex
Male

Roles

  • Administrator
  • Aristocrat
  • General
  • Strategist

Life and dates

Attested activity

  • Source Date: Text: 湣王時 · Western Interval: Start: BC 300 · End: BC 284
    Explicit event contextual date · shiji:082:s0002
  • Source Date: Text: 燕使樂毅伐破齊 · Western Year: BC 284
    Explicit event contextual date · shiji:082:s0003, shiji:082:s0004
  • Source Date: Text: 燕昭王卒，惠王立 · Western Year: BC 279
    Explicit event contextual date · shiji:082:s0012, shiji:082:s0013
  • Source Date: Text: 田單復齊 · Western Interval: Start: BC 284 · End: BC 279
    Explicit event contextual date · hanshu:022:s0021
  • Source Date: Text: 齊七十餘城皆復為齊 · Western Year: BC 279
    Explicit event contextual date · shiji:082:s0048, shiji:082:s0050
  • Source Date: Text: 齊田單...破騎劫於即墨下 · Western Year: BC 279
    Explicit event contextual date · shiji:080:s0037

Family

  • Kinship Role: wives and concubines · Quantity: plural-unspecified · Note: wives and concubines placed among the ranks / 妻妾編於行伍之閒
    Explicit · shiji:082:s0036

Origins and identity

  • Lineage: distant relation of the Tian clan of Qi / 齊諸田疏屬
    Explicit · shiji:082:s0001

Career and standing

  • Label: market assistant of Linzi / 臨菑市掾
    Explicit · shiji:082:s0002
  • Label: general / 將軍 · Action: appointed
    Explicit · shiji:082:s0011
  • Label: market assistant of Linzi / 臨菑市掾 · Action: held
    Explicit · shiji:082:s0002
  • Title: Lord of Anping / 安平君 · Action: enfeoffed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 襄王封田單 · Western Year: BC 279
    Explicit · shiji:082:s0050
  • Title: Lord of Anping / 安平君 · Action: received
    Explicit · shiji:082:s0050

Places and affiliations

Works and attributed material

Events and relationships

Assessments and attributes

References in the histories

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

Book of Han, Chapter 20Table of Ancient and Modern Persons · 1 passage
Open chapter
張晏曰：「老子玄默，仲尼所師，雖不在聖，要為大賢，文伯之母達於禮典，動為聖人所歎，言為後世所則，而在第四。田單以即墨孤城復強齊之大，魯連之博通，忽於榮利，藺子申威秦王，退讓廉頗，乃在第五。大姬巫怪，好祭鬼神，陳人化之，國多淫祀，寺人孟子違於大雅，以保其身，旣被宮刑，怨刺而作，乃在第三。嫪毐上烝，昬亂禮度，惡不忍聞，乃在第七。其餘差違紛錯不少，略舉揚較，以起失謬。獨馳騖於數千歲之中，旁觀諸子，事業未究，而尋遇竇氏之難，使之然乎？」 Zhang Yan said, "Laozi was deep and silent, and Confucius regarded him as a teacher. Though not ranked among sages, he surely counts as a great worthy. Wenbo's mother mastered the ritual classics; the sage praised her conduct and later ages took her words as a model—yet she appears in the fourth grade. Tian Dan restored great Qi from the isolated city of Jimo; Lu Lian was broadly learned yet disdained fame and profit; Lord Lin awed the King of Qin and yielded to Lian Po—yet they are placed in the fifth grade. Great Ji practiced sorcery and loved sacrificing to ghosts and spirits; the people of Chen were transformed by her and the state was full of improper cults. The eunuch Mengzi, turning from the great elegant style to preserve himself—after castration, wrote in resentment—yet is placed in the third grade. Lao Ai committed incest at court and threw ritual order into chaos, in deeds too foul to bear hearing—yet he is placed in the seventh grade. Discrepancies and errors are many; I have cited a few to expose the faults. Did he gallop alone across thousands of years, looking on at the various masters while his work remained unfinished, then soon meet the Dou family's disaster—and did that make it turn out this way?"
Book of Han, Chapter 22Volume 20: Prominent People from the Past Until the Present · 1 passage
Open chapter
Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 80Biography of Yue Yi · 2 passages
Open chapter
Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 82Biography of Tian Dan · 17 passages
Open chapter
燕軍擾亂奔走，齊人追亡逐北，所過城邑皆畔燕而歸田單，兵日益多，乘勝，燕日敗亡，卒至河上，而齊七十餘城皆復為齊。 The Yan army scattered in chaos and flight. The men of Qi gave chase, pursuing the vanquished and routing the fugitives. Every city and town they passed through revolted against Yan and rallied to Tian Dan. His forces grew by the day. Pressing their advantage, they drove the Yan forces back until at last they reached the banks of the Yellow River, and all seventy-odd cities of Qi were restored to the kingdom.