Ban Gu

Ban Gu ( Chinese 班固 , Pinyin Bān Gù ; * 32 in the Empire of China , † 92 in Luoyang , China, executed) was a Chinese historian of the Han dynasty . He came from a literary family. His father Ban Biao was a renowned historian, his brother Ban Chao a famous general. Ban Gu was an advisor to the court official Dou Xian and was executed after the coup against the Dou clan under Emperor He .

Ban Gu was the main author of the Han Shu ( 漢書 , the story of the Earlier Han Dynasty ). The work was started by his father, but Ban Gu could not finish it himself because of his execution, so his sister Ban Zhao continued it. The Han Shu became the model for future court chronicles. The work is divided into three main parts (based on the model of the Shiji , "Historical Records", written by Sima Qian ):

Annals of rulers;
Treatises (on rites, music, astronomy, administration, geography, army, canals, economics, law, etc.);
Biographies of people mainly from the Han period.

Web links

Information about the sister or family ( memento from January 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
A poem by Ban Gu from Liangdu fu , translated by Rafe de Crespigny (English)

Literature by and about Ban Gu in the catalog of the German National Library

personal data
SURNAME	Ban, Gu
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Chinese historian of the Han Dynasty
DATE OF BIRTH	32
PLACE OF BIRTH	China
DATE OF DEATH	92
Place of death	Luoyang , China