Qin Shi Huang (259 BC-210 BC): The Emperor Who Unified China.

As we move forward to our next discussion, it is important to remember the reason why we are brought to China again. For those who keep up with us, it is already well known by now our intention in taking back from the forgotten memory of humanity characters who were important, or not (depending from the point of view), to the societies they were in. Therefore, it is not difficult to comprehend why we are heading to China once more: such is the place whose history and empire date far from a millenium and yet, to most of us the royalty that once ruled such empire remain unknown.

That being said, we are taken to this royal man whose name was Qin Shi Huang and who, apparently, takes the credit for uniting China as a whole. As usual, we rise questions as: who was he as a man and as an emperor? What were his deeds? How did he mirror in power the values which shaped the society he was immersed and prepared to govern? In an attempt to respond such questions, we produce this post for this blog today.

Qin Shin Hugan was a very controversial figure, in particularly to Chinese historians who seemed to view him as a tyrannic ruler and a weak one to the emperor's successors laterwards. His empire, however, did not last long but his measures in general were successfully inherited by those who succeeded his dynasty. Far from judging his character, or judging anything at all, we thus write about him. For a starter, wikipedia informs us that:

"Modern Chinese sources often give the personal name of Qin Shi Huang as Ying Zheng, with Ying taken as the surname and Zheng the given name. In ancient China however the naming convention differed, and Zhao may be used as the surname. Unlike modern Chinese names, the nobles of ancient China had two distinct surnames: the ancestral name comprised a larger group descended from a prominent ancestor, usually said to have lived during the time of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors of Chinese legend, and the clan name comprised a smaller group that showed a branch's current fief or recent title."

Bearing this explanation in mind in order to understand how ancient chineses named their children (royalty here included), we can move forward to this powerful ruler's history. His birth was, as his life would come to be, object of controversy, after all, was Qin Shi Huang born a bastard? Apparently, a story tells us that:

"Prince Yiren had fallen in love at first sight with a concubine of Lü Buwei, a rich merchant from the State of Wey. Lü consented for her to be Yiren's wife, who then became known as Lady Zhao (Zhao Ji) after the state of Zhao. Lady Zhao gave birth to the child on 18 February; and he was given the name Zhao Zheng (...).

However, the Records of the Grand Historian also claimed that the first emperor was not the actual son of Prince Yiren but that of Lü Buwei. According to this account, when Lü Buwei introduced the dancing girl to the prince, she was Lü Buwei's concubine and had already become pregnant by him, and the baby was born after an unusually long period of pregnancy. According to translations of the Annals of Lü Buwei, Zhao Ji gave birth to the future emperor in the city of Handan in 259 BC, the first month of the 48th year of King Zhaoxiang of Qin."

Whatever the truth behind his birth, Qin Shi Huang was raised at Prince Yiren's court, who eventually became King of Qin. But at the time of his father's death, the new king was only thirteen and a regency was raised. It appears that his mother, Lazy Zhao was regent by Lü Buwein's side. This regency would not be carried out without dealing with important political issues as we will see a rebellion was raised from the emperor's half-brother.  

"Zhao Changjiao, the Lord Chang'an, was Zhao Zheng's legitimate half-brother, by the same father but from a different mother. After Zhao Zheng inherited the throne, Chengijao rebelled at Tunliu and surrended to the state of Zhao. Chengjiao's remaining retainers and families were executed by Zhao Zheng."

Another attemptive of coup came from a man named Lao Ai, misfortunately associated with Bowein. This latter was introduced to the queen dowager (and mother to Zhao Zheng, also known as Qin Shi Huang) and soon enough the pair was enamorated. Lao Ai was ennobled, but this was not enough for him as he wished to replace the emperor for one of his children. The result of this would prove to be catastrophic, to say the least:

"According to The Record of Grand Historian, Lao Ai (...) and queen hao Ji got along so well they secretly had two sons together. Lao Ai then became enobbled as Maquis Lào Ai and was showered with riches. Lao Ai's plot was supposed to replace King Zheng with one of the hidden sons. But during a dinner party drunken Lao Ai was heard bragging about being the young king's step father. In 283 BC the king was travelling to the ancient capital of Yong. Lao Ai seized the queen mother's seal and mobilized an army in an attempt to start a coup and rebel. When King Zheng found out this fact, he ordered Lü Buwei to let Lord Changping and Lord Changwen attack Lao Ai and their army killed hundreds of the rebels at the capital, although Lao Ai succeeded in fleeing from this battle. (...) Lao Ai's supporters were captured and beheaded; then [he] was tied up and torn to five pieces by horse carriages, while his entire family was executed to the third degree. The two hidden sons were also killed, while mother Zhao Ji was placed under house arrest until her death (...)."

After this sad event, Lü Bowei committed suicide and Qin Shi Huang finally came to power by himself. This emperor had plans for his empire to build, which meant to subdue all north and south China. It would be a bloody path to cross and it leaves many questions to us unanswered. We know nothing, for example, of his upbringing, we have no collections of his thoughts, of his perspectives of the political events we saw this far. How was his relationship with his mother? Was he aware of the possibility of his illegitimacy? What about his character? At least this latter we may begin to assume, if it is safe to assume at all, that it was a ruthless one. 

We must remember, before going forward, that before Huang's ascension, the background of China's several independent states was known for it's unstability due to constant war affairs between them. Despite this, Confuncionism and literature as Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" came to be. That being said, the sort of philosophy Huang would adopt as he began to subdue Qi, Yan, Zhao, Han, Wei, Chu, Qin and other states was the legalism. In other words: his subjects should obey the law, otherwise they would be punished accordingly. This was also the reflection of three attempts of murder he survived, all of which being instigated for fear of the emperor's constantly growing power. As such:

"The assassination attempts arose in part because of desperation in neighboring kingdoms. The Qin king had the most powerful army and neighboring rulers feared a Qin invasion. The Han kingdom fell to Qin Shi Huang in 230 BCE. In 229, a devasting earthquake rocked another powerful state, Zhao, leaving it weakened. Qin Shi Huang took advantage of the disaster and invaded the region. Wei fell in 225, followed by the powerful Chu in 223. The Qin army conquered Yan and Zhao in 222 (despite another assassination attempt on Qin Shi Huang by a Yan agent). The final independent kingdom, Qi, fell ot the Qin in 221 BCE."

As a result of this pursuit policy over the unification of several territories spread across China (as the quote above explains), there had been reforms upon the areas of economics, politics and culture as well, a somewhat paradox when looking into the tough laws with which he ruled his empire (which can also be explained by how deadly threats such as the Huns from the north needed an iron hand in return). 

"As Emperor, Qin Shi Huang reorganized the bureaucracy, abolishing the existing nobility and replacing them with his appointed officials. He also built a network of roads, with the capital of Xianyang at the hub. In addition, the Emperor simplified the written Chinese script, standardized weights and measures, and minted new copper coins."

Under one ruler, there would naturally concurr to it one legal system of economics, one language spoken and written, creating paths that leaded one region to another, favouring, thus, trades and cultural exchanges. But there were also:

"(...) extremely strict legal code, penalty, harsh taxation and arbitrary exaction of conscript labour. Though with a high efficiency (for example huge projects like the construction of the Great Wall and a nationwide highway network were both accomplished), his governance drained the people of energy and resources. Public discontent simmered and exploded into uprisings soon after his death."

A ruler who did not tolerate oppositions, Huang imposed respect, a centralized authority and earned victories that shaped the empire he created. Despite banning other schools of thought, he put an end to the wars that once dragged one kingdom against the other and swept away the Huns from the north of his empire. But the more his reign came to an end, the more dangerous he appeared to be. After all, this powerful emperor feared death and was constantly pursuing after an elixir of life in order to be an immortal ruler. To some, this could be an indict of madness, but such assumption cannot be affirmed. As seen here:

"Later in his life, Qin Shi Huang feared death and desperately sought the fabled elixir of life, which would supposedly allow him to live forever. He was obsessed with acquiring immortality and fell prey to many who offered him supposed elixirs. He visited Zhifu Island three times in order to achieve immortality."

But "during his fourth tour of Eastern China, the Emperor became seriously ill after he arrived in Pingyuanjin (...) and died on 10 September BC (Julian Calendar) at the palace in Shaqiu prefecture (...) about two months away by road from the capital Xianyang." The news of his death were held back for almost two months and, as a result, a plot to prevent the oldest son, Fusu, to become Emperor was conspired between the second son of Qin Shi Huang and his allies. Fusu was forced to commit suicide in order to let free the path to his brother become emperor. 

However, the empire Qin Shi Huang would collapse under his hands and the dynasty would end there. Eventually, though, with the rise of another dynasty, this emperor's deeds would be properly shaped accordingly the successors' demands, but already cemented the dawn of a new society. 

Bibliography:

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_Shi_Huang

-https://www.thoughtco.com/qin-shi-huang-first-emperor-china-195679

-https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/ruthless-chinese-emperor-qin-shi-huang-how-he-unified-and-tyrannized-his-020762

-https://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/greatwall/Emperor.html

-http://www.absolutechinatours.com/china-travel/qin-emperors.html

-https://owlcation.com/humanities/The-achievements-of-the-First-Emperor-of-China-and-his-faults

-https://www.historytoday.com/archive/china%E2%80%99s-first-empire

Atossa, Achaemenid Ruler: The Controversial Story Of The Persian Queen, Mother Of Persian Kings(550-475)

On today's post we are returning our eyes towards the Persian empire and one of the main figures that History overlooked is this woman named Atossa. She was an achaemenid ruler, daughter of the powerful Cyrus the Great, whom we have already discussed on this blog. Atossa was also mostly remembered for being the mother of the powerful persian king Xerxes I, but was that all she should be entitled for? Despite the lack of profound informations concerning this interesting character, we are interested in trying to bring what we could find about her to the public eye.

Atossa was likely born around the year 550 BC in Pasargadae. She was one the children of Cyrus the Great, allegedly the oldest daughter, and his favourite wife, Cassandane. There is not much about her early life, but it appears that Atossa was taught reading and writing due to the later accounts that suggest her active role in politics, as seen here:

"One might imagine that considering Cyrus's open-mindedness on the one hand and the advanced trend practiced by the Persians in educating their children and youth on the other, as recorded in Xenophon's- the 4th century (BC) historian- book titled Cyropedy, Atossa must have had a distinct character of merit. Given that Atossa had learned how to write and read, she played a decisive role in educating and training her own as well as those of other aristocrats and courtiers."

She was also married to her brother, or half-brother, Cambyses II upon the death of their father. It appears that he was actually very fond of her and the match (one uniting close relatives) was the first to occurr within the royal family. Whether was the case, the marriage was not meant to last long as Cambyses died mysteriously in Egypt, leaving behind a scenario that would propice the rise of Darius the Great as "when Darius I defeated the followers of a man claiming to be Bardiya (Smerdis), the younger brother of Cambyses II in 522 BC, he married Atossa."

There are no records concerning Atossa's thoughts of the marriage, which implies it was a political union for both parties, as Atossa had a noble blood as the daughter of Cyrus the Great. This would later be important to Xerxes' inheritance as king of the persians. As we can see below:

"Atossa played an important role in the Achaemenid royal family, as she bore Darius the Great the next Achaemenid king, Xerxes I. Atossa had a 'great authority' in the Achaemenid royal house and her marriage with Darius I is likely due to her power, influence and the fact that she was a direct descendant of Cyrus."

Furthermore,

"Four sons were born to Darius and Atossa, among whom the oldest was named Xerxes. As told earlier, Darius who had another wife before getting married to Atossa had some other sons from his first wife. Given that Xerxes was not the oldest son and according to  customs, a monarch had to be replaced by his first son, a lot of arguments took place between them. Xerxes claimed that his mother is the 'Savior of Persian Tribe' in view of her being the daughter of Cyrus. Besides when she was born her father was the monarch, while his older brothers were born earlier. On the other hand, Atossa's influence and authority was quite effective in the decisions made by her husband and other officials in this respect, disregarding the absence of any legal and inheritance right to this effect. Eventually, the 35 year old Xerxes was appointed as the crown prince, while the unprecedented measure reflected the high authority of 'The Ladies Lady'. That's how Xerxes, the grandson of Cyrus the Great took reign after his father (486-865 BC), while Darius' older son from his other wife was the best candidate deserving to replace his father and had already been trained for it."

Her power here is evident, though it's not possible to comprehend how she exercized it: through subtle manners or more actively, or a mix of both. What we do know, as far as we may see it, is that she earned her husband's respect so that he trusted her to deal with matters as these. As for the others son Atosse bore him, they were also:

"given important army and administrative positions. That was actually the period when Atossa enjoyed the greatest authority of her long lifetime. As a woman in her middle ages and with high expertise and having been through a lot of ups and downs, she made use of her influence in the state affairs as the queen mother."

 And also, "according to Herodotus, 'Atossa was of great authority, and during the Greek war initially recommended by her, Darius made use of her advice. She was even interested in accompanying her husband in the process of war." Her persona was also very recommendable during her son's reign, which she lived enough to see. However, accounts record that she disagreed with Xerxes in matters of war, specially where the invasion in Greece was concerned. Nonetheless, she remained his great supporter until the end of her life.

Lastly, we do not know anything about her death, except the year it occurred being 475 BC. However, there are some facts which are interested to share. We know, for example, that:

"Herodotus records in The Histories that Atossa was troubled by a bleeding lump in her breast. She wrapped herself in sheets and sought a self-imposed quarantine. Ultimately, a Greek slave, Democedes, persuaded her to allow him to excise the tumor. This is the first recorded case of mastitis."

Also, Atossa was:

"the second female personality who was titled a 'Lady', which was a religious title, after Anahita. Since then such a title was gradually granted to some queens. Aeschylus, the 5th century (BC) Greek dramatist, in his famous play titled 'The Iranians', which is the story of Xerxes' war with the Greek and the significant victory of the Greeks, has called Atossa 'The Ladies Lady'." 

Whilst some sources claim Atossa was a woman who sought to achieve power for herself, seeing in her figure someone who was very ambitious and selfish to the very least, we must regard such views carefully. After all, was every powerful woman in a world dominated by male perspectives and powers necessarily ambitious and power hungry? Some might, as some might not. It is not up to us to (re)produce such judgement, especially when we know that Atossa and others like her were trapped in a male's world where they were expected to be silent and submissive. Not necessarily fitting in such stereotypes does not make any female character desperated for power, selfish or other pejorative adjective. That is what we must bear in mind whenever we look at historical individuals located in different space and time from ours this day.

Bibliography:

BROWN, Julie. "Atossa." In: Atlas Mountains. Pp 170, 171. 2012.

-https://amozhdeh.aminus3.com/image/2010-03-14.html

-http://www.iranchamber.com/history/atossa/atossa.php

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atossa