It provides an overview of the history of China covering more than two thousand years from the legendary Yellow Emperor to Sima's contemporary Emperor Han Wudi ( 漢武帝 ).

His father, Sima Tan, served as the Prefect of the Grand Scribes of Emperor Wu of Han ( Emperor " Han Wudi ").

After his travels, Sima was chosen to be a Palace Attendant in the government, whose duties were to inspect different parts of the country with Emperor Han Wudi.

Emperor Han Wudi attributed the defeat to Li Ling, with all government officials subsequently condemning him for it.

Emperor Han Wudi interpreted Sima ’ s defence of Li Ling as an attack on his brother-in-law, who had also fought against the Xiongnu without much success, and sentenced Sima to death.

* Emperor Han Wudi of China of the Han dynasty launches his first offensive into the northern steppe.

* May 17 – Emperor Jin Wudi, founder of the Western Jin Dynasty, dies after a 25-year reign.

* War of the Eight Princes: After the death of Emperor Sima Yan ( Jin Wudi ) a civil war breaks out among the princes and dukes of the Jin Dynasty.

* 120 BCE: The Chinese Emperor Han Wudi ( 156 – 87 BCE ) receives two golden statues of the Buddha, according to inscriptions in the Mogao Caves, Dunhuang.

Dunhuang was established as a frontier garrison outpost by the Han Dynasty Emperor Wudi to protect against the Xiongnu in 111 BC.

Murals in Mogao Caves in Dunhuang describe the Emperor Han Wudi ( 156-87 BCE ) worshipping Buddhist statues, explaining them as " golden men brought in 120 BCE by a great Han general in his campaigns against the nomads ", although there is no other mention of Han Wudi worshipping the Buddha in Chinese historical literature.

Fresco describing Emperor Han Wudi ( 156-87 BCE ) worshipping two statues of the Buddha, Mogao Caves, Dunhuang, c. 8th century CE

From another direction, Chinese historical sources and mural paintings in the Tarim Basin city of Dunhuang accurately describe the travels of the explorer and ambassador Zhang Qian to Central Asia as far as Bactria around 130 BCE, and the same murals describe the Emperor Han Wudi ( 156-87 BCE ) worshipping Buddhist statues, explaining them as " golden men brought in 120 BCE by a great Han general in his campaigns against the nomads.

Emperor Wu ( 武帝, Wudi ) may refer to a number of Chinese emperors:

The grouping of the five mountains appeared during the Warring States Period, and the term of Wu Yue ( Five Summit ) was made famous during the reign of Emperor Wudi of the Western Han Dynasty 140-87 BC, and the worship of the five mountains has since ingrained in Chinese culture for the next two thousand years.

In 124 BC, the Emperor Wudi established the Imperial Academy, the curriculum of which was the Five Classics of Confucius.

Tiberius, the new Emperor, responded by granting Claudius consular ornaments.

The Emperor Menelik II responded to their protests with disdain, and later used the telephone to give orders to his provincial governors.

However, Photius enjoined the support of the Emperor and responded by calling a Council and excommunicating the pope.

Emperor Yeshaq I responded by gathering a large army and invaded the cities of Yedeya and Jazja but was repulsed by the soldiers of Jamal.

The king's wrath was aimed at Tyndale: Henry asked the Emperor Charles V to have the writer apprehended and returned to England under the terms of the Treaty of Cambrai, however, the Emperor responded that formal evidence was required before extradition.

Among other gifts the Polish ruler presented to Otto III were 300 armored knights, while the Emperor responded with a gift of a copy of the lance of Saint Maurice.

In the encounter Dong Zhuo acted arrogantly and threateningly, causing Liu Bian to be paralyzed with fear ; Liu Xie, the future Emperor Xian, responded calmly with authority and commanded Dong Zhuo to protect the royal family with his army to return to the imperial court.

He responded with a long letter to La Réforme, denouncing the Emperor as a despot and calling for democracy in Russia and Poland ( Carr, p. 139 ).

In 1406, The Yongle Emperor responded to several formal petitions from members of the ( now deposed ) Trần Dynasty, however on arrival to Vietnam, both the Tran prince and the accompanying Chinese ambassador were ambushed and killed.

On being compared to the First Emperor, Mao responded: " He buried 460 scholars alive ; we have buried forty-six thousand scholars alive ... You revile us for being Qin Shi Huangs.

In late 286 or early 287 Carausius learned of this sentence and responded by declaring himself Emperor in Britain and northern Gaul.

Wang responded by sending messengers all around the nation to pledge that he will in fact return the throne to Emperor Ruzi once he was grown.

Wanting to bear the title of Emperor and to restore the prestige, wealth and size of the First Bulgarian Empire, Kaloyan responded in 1202.

Wang Mang responded by sending messengers around the nation to pledge that he would in fact return the throne to Emperor Ruzi once Ruzi was adult.

Emperor Gong responded by summoning Liu Yu back to the capital in summer 419, and Fu then offered him a draft of an abdication edict, requesting that he write it personally.

Abu Jafar al-Mansur responded by sending 4, 000 men who recaptured the city and were well rewarded by the Chinese Emperor.

The city of Dubrovnik appealed to Byzantine Emperor Basil the Macedonian, who responded by sending over one hundred ships.

The British, who had long ceased to take the authority of the Mughal Emperor seriously were astonished at how the ordinary people responded to Zafar's call for war.

The shield had a golden color up to 1483, and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor positively responded to Bogislaw X, Duke of Pomerania's request to change the blue back to golden to follow the heraldic rules.

The Emperor responded with a second punitive expedition in which Vlaardingen and the castle at Rijnsburg were taken from Dirk IV.

As Russian troops carried out a violent intervention against the rebellion, a deputy in the Sejm lamented that Poland was perishing without having even seen a French courier ; the minister responded to similar accusations at home by stating that France was determined not to raise the anger of Emperor Nicholas.

The Emperor then responded " Really, well why not, why not, let them stay ".

In 1333, when Emperor Go-Daigo ( from the Daikakuji-tō ) staged the Kemmu Restoration and revolted against the Kamakura shogunate, the Shōgun responded by declaring Emperor Kōgon, Go-Daigo's second cousin once removed and the son of an earlier emperor, Emperor Go-Fushimi of the Jimyōin-tō, as the new emperor.

At the beginning of the Hippodrome I saw the Kaiser's Fountain, an ugly octagonal building with a glass dome, built in 1895 by the German Emperor, and on my left, directly across from it, the tomb of Sultan Ahmet, who constructed the Blue Mosque, more properly known by his name.

This circular edifice, constructed by Agrippa in B.C. 27, was rebuilt in its present shape by the Emperor Hadrian.

The great column from which the square takes its name was erected by the Emperor Marcus Aurelius.

Among the many severe measures taken by the First Emperor, Shih Huang-ti, in his efforts to insure the continuation of this hard-won national unity, was the burning of the books in 213 B.C., with the expressed intention of removing possible sources for divergent thinking ; ;

In three arduous campaigns, the first two of which were conducted by the emperor himself while the third was directed by Manuel Comnenos ( great-uncle of Emperor Manuel Comnenos ), the Turks were defeated in detail in 1070 and driven across the Euphrates.

Emperor Romanos IV was himself taken prisoner and conducted into the presence of Alp Arslan, who treated him with generosity, and, terms of peace having been agreed to, dismissed him, loaded with presents and respectfully attended by a military guard.

* 1896 – In Athens, the opening of the first modern Olympic Games is celebrated, 1, 500 years after the original games are banned by Roman Emperor Theodosius I.

* 378 – Gothic War: Battle of Adrianople – A large Roman army led by Emperor Valens is defeated by the Visigoths in present-day Turkey.

Schweitzer concludes that the 1st century theology, originating in the lifetimes of those who first followed Jesus, is both incompatible with, and far removed from, those beliefs later made official by the Roman Emperor Constantine in 325 CE.

The Terracotta Army commissioned by the first Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi is a collection of about 8000 life-sized ceramic soldiers and horses buried with the emperor.

He was next appointed by the Emperor Hadrian as one of the four proconsuls to administer Italia, then greatly increased his reputation by his conduct as proconsul of Asia, probably during 134 – 135.

* 435 – Deposed Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius, considered the originator of Nestorianism, is exiled by Roman Emperor Theodosius II to a monastery in Egypt.

He was succeeded as Emperor by his adopted son ( also stepson and former son-in-law ) Tiberius.

* 461 – Roman Emperor Majorian is beheaded near the river Iria in north-west Italy following his arrest and deposition by the magister militum Ricimer.

* 1521 – Martin Luther's first appearance before the Diet of Worms to be examined by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and the other estates of the empire.

Perisapora was captured and destroyed by Emperor Julian in 363, but speedily rebuilt.

Saint Ambrose and Emperor Theodosius by Anthony van Dyck | Van Dyck.

The imperial court was displeased with the religious principles of Ambrose, however his aid was soon solicited by the Emperor.

* 1091 – Battle of Levounion: The Pechenegs are defeated by Byzantine Emperor Alexius I.

* 1183 – Taira no Munemori and the Taira clan take the young Emperor Antoku and the three sacred treasures and flee to western Japan to escape pursuit by the Minamoto clan.