War of the Heavenly Horses
China marches across Asia for a breed of horses
Emperor Wu learned from Zhang Qian that Dayuan, in Fergana, bred swift 'heavenly horses'. When Dayuan refused to sell, a Han army twice crossed thousands of kilometres of desert, besieged its capital and came home with several thousand horses.
Wikipedia (English) · 2nd century BC
Alive at the time
- Emperor Wu of Han (aged 52)
- Sima Qian (aged 41)
- Cicero (aged 2)
- Pompey the Great (aged 2)
- Mithridates VI Eupator (aged 31)