Sun Tzu

The first definitive biography of Sun Tzu was published around 100 BCE as part of Sima Qian’s sweeping Records of the Grand Historian. Sima Qian claimed that shortly before 500 BCE, Sun Tzu wrote and presented a military treatise called The Art of War to Helü, the king of Wu, which was a semi-barbarous kingdom in eastern China. The king supposedly put Sun Tzu’s theories to the test–by seeing if they worked on women.

Sun Tzu rolled out 180 female courtiers, clear, and the soldiers nevertheless disobey, then it is the fault of their officers.”