tianma
{{Short description|Winged horse in Chinese folklore}}
{{see also|Ferghana horse}}
{{other uses}}
File:Southern Dynasties Brick Relief 10.jpg brick-relief of a Tianma]]
File:Gansu Museum 2007 257.jpg
Tianma ({{lang|zh|天馬}} {{Transliteration|zh|Tiānmǎ}}, "heavenly horse") was a winged (perhaps metaphorically) flying horse in Chinese folklore.
Mythology
The Tianma is a flying horse that 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,{{sfn|Schafer|1985|p=295, note 19}} which infected the highly sought-after Ferghana horse ({{lang|zh|大宛馬}}), sometimes conflated with Tianma. Tianma, the flying horse, is clearly connected to Pegasus from the Western Han dynasty artwork{{cite web | url=https://amis-musee-cernuschi.org/ombres-de-chine-victor-segalen/19-07-26-segalen/ | title=19.07.26.segalen }} and in the Tang dynasty sources, as coming from Hellenized Central Asia.Lucas Christopoulos, [https://sino-platonic.org/complete/spp230%20hellenes%20romans%20in%20china.pdf Hellenes and Romans in ancient China] Sino-Platonic papers. n.230, p38.
In the Western Zhou Empire, Tianma referred to a constellation.{{Cite book |first=Richard |last=Rutt |title=The book of changes (Zhouyi): a Bronze Age document |page=331 |publisher=Routledge |year=2002 |isbn=0-7007-1491-X }} Tianma is also associated with Emperor Wu of Han, an aficionado of the Central Asian horse,{{Cite book |last=Kuwayama |first=George |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZV_TtfkxYUgC&q=tian+ma&pg=PA32 |title=Chinese Ceramics in Colonial Mexico |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |year=1997 |isbn=0-87587-179-8 |page=32 |author1-link=George Kuwayama}} and the famous poet Li Bo.{{Cite book|title=Thus Burst Hippocrene: Studies in the Olympian Imagination |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FzeEDwAAQBAJ&q=tianma+li+bo&pg=PA269 |first=Laurence |last=Wong |page=269 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |year=2019 |isbn=9781527526150 }} The bronze statue Gansu Flying Horse is a well-known example.
See also
References
{{reflist}}
- {{cite book |author-link=Edward H. Schafer |last=Schafer |first=Edward H. |year=1985 |title=The Golden Peaches of Samarkand |location=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-05462-2}}
- {{cite book |title=The Palace Museum: Peking |first1=Wan-go |last1=Weng |author2=Yang Boda |location=New York |publisher=Abrams |year=1982}}
{{Chinese mythology}}
Category:Chinese legendary creatures
Category:Horses in Chinese mythology
{{China-myth-stub}}