Ancient China · Legendary ruler associated with Shennong

Flame Emperor 炎帝

Yándì

Legendary antiquity

Passages: 9
Chapters: 6
Histories: 4

Overview

Flame Emperor was a Legendary ruler associated with Shennong.

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Alternate name	Shennong	神農	Shennong

Life and dates

Attested activity

炎帝氏
Directly stated · History of Liao 63, passage 7
legendary antiquity
Directly stated · Book of Han 20, passage 198; Old History of the Five Dynasties 10, passage 7; History of Liao 2, passage 197; History of Liao 31, passage 3; Records of the Grand Historian 1, passages 7-8

Family

Ancestor of Qishou (奇首)
ancestor 先
sprang from 出自
Directly stated · History of Liao 2, passage 197
Ancestor of Gewutu (葛烏菟)
Claimed parentage
Directly stated · History of Liao 63, passage 10

Key source chapters

Career and standing

Highest grade: sages 上上聖人
Nine grade table rank · Listed
Directly stated · Book of Han 20, passage 198

Events and relationships

Claimed ancestor of early northern rulers
Lineage · Participant
Directly stated · History of Liao 63, passage 7
Resorted to battle when unavoidable
Military · Legendary ruler · Mode edict-historical-exemplum Speaker Later Liang Last Emperor (末帝)
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 10, passages 5, 7

Source notes

Historicity legendary
Directly stated · History of Liao 31, passage 3; Records of the Grand Historian 1, passage 7

References in the histories

Search passages

History

9 passages

Book of Han, Chapter 20Table of Ancient and Modern Persons · 1 passage

炎帝神農氏 Emperor Shennong of Yan

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 10Volume 10 Book of Later Liang 10: Later Emperors Annals 3 · 1 passage

而炎、黃有戰伐之師，堯、舜有干戈之用，諒不獲已，其猶病諸。 Even the Yellow and Flame emperors and Yao and Shun resorted to arms when they had no choice, though war grieved them.

History of Liao, Chapter 2Volume 2 Annals 2: Taizu 2 · 1 passage

贊曰：遼之先，出自炎帝，世為審吉國，其可知者蓋自奇首雲。 Thus the historian praises them: Liao's ancestors sprang from the Flame Emperor; for ages they were the Shenji people; the record becomes clear, it seems, with Qishou.

History of Liao, Chapter 31Volume 31 Treatises 1: Management of Guards 1 · 1 passage

爰自炎帝政衰，蚩尤作亂，始制干戈，以毒天下。 From when the reign of the Flame Emperor declined and Chiyou raised disorder, weapons were first fashioned to poison the realm.

History of Liao, Chapter 63Volume 63 Tables 1: Lineage · 3 passages

庖犧氏降，炎帝氏、黃帝氏子孫眾多，王畿之封建有限，王政之布濩無窮，故君四方者，多二帝子孫，而自服土中者本同出也。 After Fuxi came down to rule, the lines of the Flame and Yellow Emperors multiplied. Royal fiefs within the heartland were finite, yet royal authority spread without limit; so most who held sway over the four directions were kin of those two emperors, and those who acknowledged rule within the central realm shared the same ancestry.

考之宇文周之書，遼本炎帝之後，而耶律儼稱遼為軒轅後。 Consulting the histories of Northern Zhou, Liao was originally a line of the Flame Emperor, whereas Yelü Yan in his chronicle called Liao a line of the Yellow Emperor.

蓋炎帝之裔曰葛烏菟者，世雄朔陲，後為冒頓可汗所襲，保鮮卑山以居，號鮮卑氏。 A scion of the Flame Emperor named Gewu-tu had long dominated the northern marches; Modun, the Xiongnu chanyu, later overran him, and his people sheltered on the Xianbei Mountains and took the name Xianbei.

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 1Annals of the Five Emperors · 2 passages

炎帝欲侵陵諸侯，諸侯咸歸軒轅。 The Flame Emperor tried to bully the regional lords, and they all rallied to Xuanyuan.

軒轅乃修德振兵，治五氣，藝五種，撫萬民，度四方，教熊羆貔貅貙虎，以與炎帝戰於阪泉之野。 Xuanyuan then cultivated his virtue and mobilized his hosts, set in order the five phases, sowed the five grains, soothed the myriad peoples, surveyed the four quarters, and trained bears, brown bears, leopard-cats, lynxes, and tigers for war, meeting the Flame Emperor on the field of Banquan.