Liu Bang's temple name is Han Taizu, and posthumous title is Gao Emperor. Why did Sima Qian call it Han Taizu?

In many materials and documents, we call Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, the Emperor Gaozu. Over time, people mistakenly thought that Liu Bang's temple name was Emperor Gaozu, but it seemed that there was no problem for Emperor Wendi, Emperor Yangdi and Tang Gaozu, the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty, to call Liu Bang Emperor Gaozu.

In fact, this is a common sense mistake. What is Liu Bang's real temple name? Han Taizu? This article will discuss with you why Liu Bang's temple name is called Han Taizu and why it is called Han Taizu.

Where did the saying that Liu Bang was called Emperor Gaozu come from?

Calling Liu Bang the Emperor Gaozu actually started when Sima Qian was there. Sima Qian wrote a biography of Liu Bang in Historical Records. Biography of Emperor Gaozu, so Liu Bang was called Gaozu. After that, when Ban Gu wrote Hanshu, he continued Sima Qian's statement and called Liu Bang a great-grandfather.

Under the influence of the most influential historical works of the Han Dynasty, people agree that Liu Bang, the Emperor Gaozu, and Zhao Kuangyin, Song Taizu, have the same meaning, but in fact they are quite different.

Liu bang's? Tall? Is it posthumous title, with Emperor Wendi and Emperor Wudi? Words? Wu? It means the same thing. Both of them are posthumous title. The emperor's posthumous title was finally evaluated by the court according to his life's achievements after his death. In Ci Hai, posthumous title explained:? The emperor's obituary was discussed by the etiquette officer, and the courtiers' obituary was given by the court. ?

Tall? Chinese characters must have great significance in ancient times, otherwise there wouldn't be? Gaotu? High evaluation? In this case, in terms of Liu Bang's achievements in creating the inheritance of the Han Dynasty, is it in posthumous title? Tall? It should be worthy of the name.

So what should the Han Dynasty really call Liu Bang? Emperor Gao? Or? Gaudi? .

Let's talk about the temple number. In ancient times, to pay homage to ancestors was to establish temples, which was also a cultural inheritance arranged according to lineal descent. In Ci Hai, the explanation of the temple name is:? Specifically, after the death of the emperor, a company typed out the title of the book. ?

It is also an evaluation system similar to posthumous title's, but relatively speaking, the temple number has always been more valuable than posthumous title's, because there is a ancestral temple as a physical object, which has a certain relationship with sacrifice.

Liu Bang's real temple name is actually Han Taizu.

However, Sima Qian's Biography of Historical Records of Liu Bang should be called Biography of Gaozu, which has been mentioned many times? Gaozu? And then what?

For example, Sima Qian recorded in the text? On the morning of April, Gaozu collapsed in Changle Palace. Gaozu ordered the governors of the county to set up Gaozu Temple, which was built at the age of twenty. ?

Zong Heng believes that the reason for this situation is that the temple number system at that time was not perfect.

Although many historians believe that the temple name system in ancient China originated in Shang and Zhou Dynasties, there was no temple name in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. It was not until the Han Dynasty that Qin Shihuang had posthumous title and temple name.

Liu Bang should be regarded as the first emperor with a temple name. Sima Qian's Historical Records and Ban Gu's Hanshu also have roughly the same records. Emperor Taizu started from the subtleties, set things right and turned things upside down. He was the Han Taizu, with the highest merit. ?

In other words, both Sima Qian and Ban Gu recognized that Liu Bang's temple name was Mao.

I want to say here that the name of Liu Bang's temple did not exist until after his death, but was established by Emperor Han Jing. According to the records of Emperor Han Jingdi, Prime Minister Shentu Jia and others wrote to Emperor Han Jingdi: The merits of the world are greater than those of Emperor Gao and the virtues are greater than those of Emperor Xiaowen. The temple of Emperor Gao should be the temple of Taizu, and the temple of Emperor Xiaowen should be the temple of Taizong. ?

So Han Jing named this temple Taizu Temple? Taizu temple? This is the origin of the ancestral temple number.

Generally speaking, emperors before the Tang Dynasty did not use temple names.

Sima Qian was a historian of the Western Han Dynasty, and his life time was not far from that of Emperor Han Jing. It is impossible for him not to know that Liu Bang's temple name is Mao, and as mentioned above, Sima Qian called Liu Bang in historical records. Pacify the world, for the Han Taizu, the highest merit. ? It also acknowledged the fact that Liu Bang was the ancestor of the Han Dynasty.

Sima Qian knew that Liu Bang was Mao, so why was it called Mao?

This is because Liu Bang's temple number is the first temple number in history. Even in Sima Qian's time, the temple name system was not mature, and even many emperors didn't even have a temple name. For example, Emperor Han Jing, who named Liu Bang and Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty, failed to have a temple number after his death.

Of course, not when Emperor Wu died. Later, I went to Xuan Di, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and added the temple name of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Sejong? The bitter thing is Han Jingdi, because compared with Han Huidi, who didn't decide the temple name, Han Jingdi created half of it during his reign? The rule of Wenjing? The emperor.

Because the Han Dynasty attached great importance to temple names, people who had made great contributions or great virtues did not deserve to have temple names. Besides Liu Bang, there are only Wendi and Taizong, Wudi and Sejong, Yuan Di and Chengdi and Tongzong.

That is to say, there was a temple name in the Western Han Dynasty, but it is gone now. When addressing the emperor, historians will not use it. For example, in the Tang Dynasty, they were all called Tang Gaozu Li Yuan and Emperor Taizong Li Shimin. In the Han Dynasty, that was impossible. You can say Liu Heng (Emperor Wendi) and Liu Che (Emperor Wudi), but you are talking about Liu Ying (Han) and Liu Qi (Emperor Jingdi).

So in the Han Dynasty, emperors were all called posthumous title, but in the Tang Dynasty, because there were too many posthumous title characters, every emperor had a temple number, so he called it the temple number, Li Gaozu and Taizong.

To sum up, before the Tang Dynasty, regardless of the temple number, it was called posthumous title. After the Tang Dynasty, posthumous title flooded, so you were called the temple number (called the year number in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, such as Emperor Kangxi).

Why did Sima Qian call Liu Bang the Emperor Gaozu?

Because of this, Sima Qian will not use Liu Bang's temple name in his article. In other words, if you look at the current historical materials, you will find that the emperors before the Tang Dynasty were basically Wudi, Wendy and Xuan Di, and the names of Emperor Gaozu were unique.

Before the Tang Dynasty, because not every emperor had a temple name, he was only called posthumous title, which is what I said earlier? Emperor Gao? .

Sima Qian, probably out of respect for Liu Bang, directly said that Emperor Gao had no technical content, so he mixed Liu Bang's posthumous title with the temple number.

Liu Bang's temple name is Taizu, so Sima Qian put posthumous title in the front and the temple name in the back, hence the title of Emperor Gaozu.

As for why not say yes? Emperor Gao Taizu, do you think there was no popular temple name at that time, especially the belt? Joe? The temple name was unique before Sima Qian.

And at that time, it was still a history of bamboo slips, which was a word that could be saved.

Sima Qian called Liu Bang? Gaozu? Actually, with Qin? First emperor? The name is also unique and represents the supreme significance.

According to the viewpoint that the temple name comes first and posthumous title comes last, Liu Bang's full name is Emperor Gao, the temple name should be Emperor Mao, and posthumous title is Emperor Gao.

Emperor Gaozu is not a misnomer, but a historical honorific title, just like Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, commonly known as Tang Huangming. It is neither a temple name nor a posthumous title, but an established honorific title. But what are you trying to say? Ming? But his posthumous title is wrong, and posthumous title in Li Longji is: the most holy Daming is filial to the emperor.