Photo: 663highland, CC BY 2.5

Sun Tzu

c. 544 BCE – c. 496 BCE · exact dates unknown^[1][2]

Politics & Leadership

Fun Facts About Sun Tzu

• Sun Tzu is traditionally credited with The Art of War, but its earliest parts probably date to at least a century after him, and it mentions anachronistic crossbows.^[1]
• "Sun Tzu" is an honorific meaning "Master Sun." Even his reported birth name, Sun Wu, may have been an invented name meaning "the fugitive warrior."^[1]
• According to the earliest biography, a king tested Sun Tzu by having him train 180 palace concubines as soldiers. When they laughed at his orders, he had the king's two favorites executed.^[1]
• In 1972, construction workers in Shandong accidentally unearthed an ancient copy of The Art of War on bamboo slips that had been sealed between 134 and 118 BC.^[1]
• Mao Zedong partly credited his 1949 victory over Chiang Kai-shek to The Art of War, and Ho Chi Minh translated it for his Vietnamese officers to study.^{[1][3][4][5][6]}
• In the 1987 film Wall Street, Gordon Gekko frequently cites The Art of War as a guide to his aggressive trading.^[1]
• By tradition, Confucius and Sun Tzu lived at the same time in ancient China.^[1][2][7][8]
• Sun Tzu was alive at the same time as Lao Tzu — their lives overlapped for about 48 years (c. 544 BCE–c. 496 BCE).^{[1][2][9][10]}

Sun Tzu was a Chinese military general, strategist, philosopher, and writer who lived during the Eastern Zhou period. Sun Tzu is traditionally credited as the author of The Art of War, a Classical Chinese text on military strategy from the Warring States period, though the earliest parts of the work probably date to at least a century after him.^[1]

Contemporaries

Pythagoras

48 yr overlap

Lao Tzu

48 yr overlap

Confucius

48 yr overlap

Gautama Buddha

48 yr overlap

Leonidas I

44 yr overlap

Cyrus the Great

14 yr overlap

Questions About Sun Tzu

When was Sun Tzu born?

Sun Tzu was born about 544 BCE and died about 496 BCE. The exact dates are not known.

What was Sun Tzu known for?

Sun Tzu was known for: Author of The Art of War. Sun Tzu was a Chinese military general, strategist, philosopher, and writer who lived during the Eastern Zhou period. Sun Tzu is traditionally credited as the author of The Art of War, a Classical Chinese text on military strategy from the Warring States period, though the earliest parts of the work probably date to at least a century after him.

Who was alive at the same time as Sun Tzu?

Sun Tzu's closest contemporary was Pythagoras. Their lives overlapped for 48 years.