Introduction to Sun Tzu (Sun Wu , c. 544 – 496 B.C.E.) was a Chinese author of The Art of War , an ancient Chinese classic on military strategy. He is also one of the earliest realists in international relations theory. According to a biography written about him in the second century B.C.E. by the historian Sima Qian, Sun Tzu was a general who lived in the state of Wu. According to tradition, King Helü of Wu hired Sun Tzu as a general in approximately 512 B.C.E., after he finished his military treatise, the The Art of War. After he was hired, the kingdom of Wu, previously considered a semi-barbaric state, went on to become the greatest state of the Spring and Autumn period by conquering the powerful state of Chu. Sun Tzu suddenly disappeared when King Helu finally conquered Chu, and the date of his death remains unknown.
The only surviving source on the life of Sun Tzu is the biography written in the second century B.C.E. by the historian Sima Qian, who describes him as a general who lived in the state of Wu in the sixth century B.C.E., and therefore a contemporary of one of the great Chinese thinkers of ancient times, Confucius. According to tradition, Sun Tzu was a member of the landless Chinese aristocracy, the shi, descendants of nobility who had lost their dukedoms during the consolidation of the Spring and Autumn period. Unlike most shi, who were traveling academics, Sun Tzu worked as a mercenary (similar to a modern military consultant).
According to tradition, King Helü of Wu hired Sun Tzu as a general in approximately 512 B.C.E., after he finished his military treatise, the The Art of War. After he was hired, the kingdom of Wu, previously considered a semi-barbaric state, went on to become the greatest state of the Spring and Autumn period by conquering the powerful state of Chu. Sun Tzu suddenly disappeared when King Helu finally conquered Chu, and the date of his death remains unknown.
Sun Tzu also is rumored to be an ancestor of Sun Jian, the founder of the Wu kingdom, which was one of the three competing dynasties during the Three Kingdoms era.