Student Number: A0152525L

Compare and contrast how Herodotus and Sima Qian view the role played by women in determining the
course of history: under what circumstances are women’s actions significant; is the role they play
beneficial or harmful?

Title: Women in The Histories and the Shiji

Hailing from two distinct parts of the world, Herodotus and Sima Qian portrayed women in different ways
in The Histories and the Shiji respectively. Their works influenced how subsequent generations in Europe,
Asia and the world read the past and viewed the role of gender in the societal structure. In this essay, the
focus will be the comparison between how Herodotus and Sima Qian viewed the role played by women in
the discourse of history.

In The Histories, Herodotus paradoxically presents women in a subordinate status to men but as essential
players in triggering crucial events. In Book 1, the name of Candaules’ wife is never mentioned, and she is
always referred to as the wife of a man despite her major contribution in the development of the story.
Candaules’ wife tries to avenge the irresponsible and shameful act of her husband who allowed his servant
and subsequent successor, Gyges, to see her naked. As Herodotus himself puts it, “it is a source of great
shame even for a man to be seen naked” (Herodotus, 1.10) Hurt and vengeful, she summons Gyges and
presents him the choice of either getting killed or killing his master, Candaules. Gyges chose to kill his
master and this killing brought him in power of Lydia. Since it is the fourth descendant of the same Gyges,
Croesus, “who will start barbarian aggressions on the Greeks” (Blok, 2012) and the killing of Candaules
“was the first in a series of events that will only end with the killing of Xerxes” (Blok, 2012) Candaules’ wife
undeniably played a key role in the course of Greek history. Whether her contribution was beneficial or
harmful is difficult to argue as the alternative turn of events is unknown. From the Greek perspective,
Croesus’ rule was a difficult one because he was a descendant of Gyges, a non-Greek, and Croesus shared a
tensed relation with them.

Another instance in Book 1 is when Astyages, last king of the Median empire, interprets one of his dreams
as prophesizing that he will be dethroned by his daughter’s child, Cyrus the Great. Hence, Astyages plans
the killing of the latter. Here, Cyrus owes his life to the herdsmen’s wife, Cyno. She was the one who “burst
into tears, flung her arms around her husband’s knees and begged him not to expose it (the baby)” and
offered the idea of swapping her stillborn with the baby of Astyages’ daughter. “Cyno’s role in fact provides
an example of Herodotus’ tendency to illuminate important people and events by focusing on small and
apparently insignificant ones.” Here, Herodotus talked about a woman in a positive whose role in history
can be perceived as beneficial as she saved a to-be King.
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On the other hand, Sima Qian portrays women in a more subordinate way compared to Herodotus to the
point of sometimes denigrating them. If ever, they were to be put in good light, it was always brought back
to the fact that this was a result of a male’s praiseworthy acts. One example is Empress Lü in Shi Ji 8: The
Basic Annals of Emperor Gaozu who was visited by an old man while weeding the fields. He told her,
“Madam will become the most honoured woman in the world” (Sima Qian, Shi Ji 8, Pg. 55). However, he
further added that it will be because of her son that she would gain that honour. The son’s action would
also honour his sister. It is important to note that women in China at that time only had a surname and a
nickname but no first name. Their surname would be that of their father. Hence, this practice and the
above example of Empress Lü show the dominant influence of the males on the family’s honour. In short,
women played less important roles in determining the course of history and have more supporting roles to
men.

In the Shiji, the actions of women were often associated with negative political incidents (Xiucai Zheng,
2012). Queen Dowager’s immoral behaviour with Lao Ai in The Birth of the First Emperor and her liaison
with Lü Buwei caused the deportation of both men to Shu as the King grew increasingly furious against
them. It started when Lü Buwei approached Zichu and later convinced Lady Huayang to consider Zichu, son
of Lady Xia, as heir to the kingdom. Zichu later acceded to the throne and became King Zuangxiang. One
time when Lü Buwei and Zichu were drinking together, the latter was attracted by Lü Buwei’s concubine
who was at that time pregnant. Thinking about the grander plan of gaining benefits from Zichu’s rise to
power, he accepted to let his concubine go. However, after the death of Zichu, his son Zheng was made
king. At that moment Lü Buwei had illicit relations with Queen Dowager which will later cause his
deportation by the King.

In Shi Ji 123: The Account of Dayuan, the Wusun and the Han viewed women as tokens to be exchanged for
settling state relations. The exchange of “1,000 horses to the Han as a betrothal gift” (Sima Qian, Shi Ji 123,
Pg. 243) is downgrading to women as the life of a woman is being exchanged for horses in order build ties
between states. These women of royal lineage surely did not have any agency to accept or refuse this
union.

IV

The comparison and analysis of these two texts give us an idea of the societal structure of their respective
culture (Greek and Chinese). One similarity between The Histories and the Shiji is that in both, women
played subordinate roles. However, in the Shiji, women play less important roles in most instances as
tokens in state exchanges while in The Histories, a woman helped save a to-be king and another
orchestrated the murder of his husband who was at that time the king. All these evidences suffice to say
that women in The Histories appear to play a more decisive role in determining the course of history
compared to women depicted in the Shiji.

(1000 words)