Sima Bao

Sima Bao (司馬保; 294–320),

courtesy name A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theobald ...

Jingdu (景度),

posthumous name A posthumous name is an honorary name given mostly to the notable dead in East Asian culture. It is predominantly practiced in East Asian countries such as China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan, and Thailand. Reflecting on the person's accomplishments or ...

Prince Yuan (元王), was a

Jin dynasty (266–420) The Jin dynasty (; ) or the Jin Empire, sometimes distinguished as the (司馬晉) or the (兩晉), was an imperial dynasty of China that existed from 266 to 420. It was founded by Sima Yan (Emperor Wu), eldest son of Sima Zhao, who had pr ...

imperial prince who briefly contended for the position of

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

after Emperor Min was captured by

Han Zhao The Han Zhao (; 304–329 AD), or Former Zhao (), was a dynastic state of China ruled by the Xiongnu people during the Sixteen Kingdoms period of Chinese history. In Chinese historiography, it was given two conditional state titles, the Northern ...

forces. Sima Bao's father Sima Mo (司馬模) the Prince of Nanyang was a younger brother of

Sima Yue Sima Yue (司馬越) (died 23 April 311According to Sima Chi's biography in the ''Book of Jin'', Sima Yue died on the ''bingzi'' day in the 3rd month of the 5th year of the ''Yongjia'' era of Emperor Huai's reign. This corresponds to 23 Apr 311 ...

the Prince of Donghai, who was

regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

for Emperor Hui and Emperor Huai. Both Sima Mo and Sima Yue were sons of Sima Tai (司馬泰) the Prince of Gaomi, the son of

Sima Yi Sima Yi ( ; 179 CE – 7 September 251 CE), courtesy name Zhongda, was a Chinese military general, politician, and regent of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He formally began his political career in 208 un ...

's brother Sima Kui (司馬馗). Late in 313, after Emperor Huai was captured by Han Zhao after the fall of the capital

Luoyang Luoyang is a city located in the confluence area of Luo River (Henan), Luo River and Yellow River in the west of Henan province. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the ...

, Sima Mo, who was defending

Chang'an Chang'an (; ) is the traditional name of Xi'an. The site had been settled since Neolithic times, during which the Yangshao culture was established in Banpo, in the city's suburbs. Furthermore, in the northern vicinity of modern Xi'an, Qin Shi ...

, was captured by the Han Zhao general Zhao Ran (趙染) and executed. At the time of his father's death, Sima Bao was at Shanggui (上邽, in modern

Tianshui Tianshui is the second-largest city in Gansu Province, China. The city is located in the southeast of the province, along the upper reaches of the Wei River and at the boundary of the Loess Plateau and the Qinling Mountains. As of the 2020 ce ...

Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...

). He took the title of the Prince of Nanyang, and soon became in control of Qin Province (秦州, modern eastern

). He was known for his generosity and openness, and the people of the province, whether

Han Han may refer to: Ethnic groups * Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group. ** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...

, Di, or Qiang, were said to be open to his leadership. He was also grossly overweight—according to historians, at 800 Chinese pounds (''jin'', 斤) -- or roughly 400 kilograms (880 pounds) and said to be

impotent Erectile dysfunction (ED), also called impotence, is the type of sexual dysfunction in which the penis fails to become or stay erect during sexual activity. It is the most common sexual problem in men.Cunningham GR, Rosen RC. Overview of mal ...

, and therefore had no children. He entered into an alliance with

Zhang Gui Zhang Gui (, 255–314) was the governor of Liang province and first Duke of Xiping under Western Jin. He was the seventeenth generation descendant of King of Changshan Zhang Er from the Chu–Han Contention The Chu–Han Contention ( zh, , ...

(張軌), the governor of Liang Province (涼州, modern central and western

), and Zhang's domain, largely untouched by wars, often supplied Sima Bao's. After Emperor Min assumed the throne in 313, Sima Bao, whose troops were still sizable, was given the title of right prime minister (右丞相), but while he took occasional campaigns to relieve Emperor Min's government, then at Chang'an, from pressures being applied by Han Zhao forces, he took no actual actions to put Emperor Min under his protection. Indeed, in 316, when his generals briefly defeated Han Zhao forces seeking to siege Chang'an, they stopped short of reaching Chang'an, which was then captured by Han Zhao forces, causing Emperor Min to be captured. Sima Bao then considered taking the Imperial title for himself. In 319, he took a title one stop from that by declaring himself the Prince of Jin, the same title that the founding emperor Emperor Wu's father Sima Zhao had taken during his stint as

Cao Wei Wei ( Hanzi: 魏; pinyin: ''Wèi'' <

Middle Chinese

: *''ŋjwei^C'' <

's regent. He believed that

's son and successor Zhang Shi (張寔) would support him, but Zhang decided not to commit, believing that

Sima Rui Emperor Yuan of Jin (; 276 – 3 January 323), personal name Sima Rui (司馬睿), courtesy name Jingwen (景文), was an emperor of the Jin dynasty and the first emperor of the Eastern Jin. His reign saw the steady gradual loss of Jin territor ...

the Prince of Langye, who had claimed the imperial title in 318 after Emperor Min had been executed by Han Zhao, might be the more appropriate emperor. In early 320, when the Han Zhao emperor Liu Yao decided to undertake a major campaign to wipe out Sima Bao, Sima Bao's domain happened to be suffering under a famine, and he fled to Sangcheng (桑城, in modern Dingxi,

), ready to flee to Zhang's domain. Zhang sent a force that ostensibly was to protect Sima Bao, but instead was intended to stop him from arriving in Zhang's domain. Later that year, Sima Bao's generals Zhang Chun (張春) and Yang Ci (楊次) tried to persuade him to execute another general of his, Yang Tao (楊韜) and also to attack a former subordinate, Chen An, who had surrendered to Han Zhao, but who had continued to covertly supply Sima Bao. Sima Bao did not agree with them. Soon, he died—with some historians believing that he was murdered by Zhang and Yang Ci, while some historians believed he died of natural causes. Zhang and Yang Ci, because Sima Bao was sonless, supported a son of the Sima clan, Sima Zhan (司馬瞻) to be Sima Bao's heir. Chen, still bearing some loyalty to Sima Bao and believing that he had been murdered, attacked and killed Sima Zhan. Zhang fled, but Yang Ci was captured, and Chen executed him before Sima Bao's casket, and then buried Sima Bao with honors due an emperor and gave him the posthumous name of Prince Yuan. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sima, Bao Jin dynasty (266–420) generals Jin dynasty (266–420) imperial princes 294 births 320 deaths Executed Jin dynasty (266–420) people People executed by China