Sima (Chinese surname)

Sima (Chinese司马/司马, Pinyin Sīmǎ, W.-G. Ssu -ma) is a Chinese family name. He is one of the less common surnames consist of two characters.

The earliest known member of the family is Sima Rangju, a strategist at the time of the Spring and Autumn Annals, which the work Simas art of war craft is attributed. The eminent historian Sima Qian ( 145-90 BC), author of the Shiji, probably not one of his direct descendants, but is related definitely with him.

The Sima family gained great importance as the general Sima Yi ( 179-251 ) from the advisor to the warlord Cao Cao appointed regent for his later successor Cao Fang ( 231-274 ) swung in the 3rd century AD in China. His sons Sima Shi († 255) and Sima Zhao ( 211-265 ) fixed the power of the family. Sima Zhao's son Sima Yan ( 236-290 ) began in the year 265 from the last Wei emperor and proclaimed himself emperor of the Jin Dynasty, which unified China for the first time since a human life. However, after only a few decades, the Jin Empire broke up, and the last Jin emperor was forced to abdicate 420.

A descendant of the imperial family should be (1019-1086), historian Sima Guang, who lived at the time of the Song Dynasty.

• Individual family