Summary
Tianma (天馬 Tiānmǎ, "heavenly horse") was a winged (perhaps metaphorically) flying horse in Chinese folklore.
Mythology
editThe Tianma is a flying horse was sometimes depicted with chimerical features such as dragon scales and was at times attributed the ability to sweat blood, possibly inspired by the parasite Parafilaria multipapillosa,[1] which infected the highly sought-after Ferghana horse (大宛馬), sometimes conflated with Tianma. Tianma, the flying horse, is clearly connected to Pegasus from the Western Han dynasty artwork[2] and in the Tang dynasty sources, as coming from Hellenized Central Asia.[3]
In the Western Zhou Empire, Tianma referred to a constellation.[4] Tianma is also associated with Emperor Wu of Han, an aficionado of the Central Asian horse,[5] and the famous poet Li Bo.[6] The bronze statue Gansu Flying Horse is a well-known example.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Schafer 1985, p. 295, note 19.
- ^ "19.07.26.segalen".
- ^ Lucas Christopoulos, Hellenes and Romans in ancient China Sino-Platonic papers. n.230, p38.
- ^ Rutt, Richard (2002). The book of changes (Zhouyi): a Bronze Age document. Routledge. p. 331. ISBN 0-7007-1491-X.
- ^ Kuwayama, George (1997). Chinese Ceramics in Colonial Mexico. University of Hawaii Press. p. 32. ISBN 0-87587-179-8.
- ^ Wong, Laurence (2019). Thus Burst Hippocrene: Studies in the Olympian Imagination. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 269. ISBN 9781527526150.
- Schafer, Edward H. (1985). The Golden Peaches of Samarkand. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-05462-2.
- Weng, Wan-go; Yang Boda (1982). The Palace Museum: Peking. New York: Abrams.