司马迁生年考

Research on Sima Qian's Birth Year

司马迁生年存在两说,此两说均以《博物志》为主要考证依据,抛开《博物志》,以司马迁著述为主要考证对象,可以得出另外一种结论。其推演思路是以《报任安书》的写作时间征和二年为基准点,以"待罪辇毂下二十余年"向前推出司马迁出仕的时间在元狩六年至元鼎六年之间,从而排出"景帝中五年说",在确定了司马迁出仕时间段后,依据"二十而南游江、淮"一句来推算他出仕时的年龄在前117至前111年之间,由此向前推,得出司马迁的生年不是一个"点",而是一个"段",即司马迁生年当在武帝建元三年至七年间(前138—前134)。

There are two versions of Sima Qian′s birth year,both of which are mainly based on Bo Wu Zhi.Aside from Bo Wu Zhi,taking Sima Qian′s writings as the main research objects,a different conclusion can be drawn.The idea of the deduction is to take the writing time of The Letter to Ren An(Sima Qian′s friend)as the reference point,which is the second year of Zhenghe(91BC).From the statement"Serving the Emperor for more than20years with guilt",it can be deduced that Sima Qian started to be an official between the6th year of Yuanshou(117BC)and the6th year of Yuanding(111BC),thus the version of"the5th year of Emperor Jing"can be excluded.After determining the time when Sima Qian became an official,based on the sentence"At the age of twenty,I visited Changjiang and Huaihe River Basins",it can be calculated that the time when he became an official should be between117BC and111BC.Thus,it can be concluded that Sima Qian′s birth year is not a"point",but a"period",that is,his birth year should be between the3rd and the7th year of Jianyuan of Emperor Wu(138BC-134BC).