Early career

It is unclear when Dong became a court official, but it is known that early in Emperor Ai's reign (which lasted from 7 BCE to 1 BCE), Dong was a minor imperial secretary (郎, lang), and he was a colleague of the later-posthumously famous Confucian scholar Yang Xiong.

By 4 BCE, at the age of 19, he was an imperial attendant (侍中, shizhong) and the director of imperial equine operations (駙馬都尉), fuma duwei. (In later dynasties, this became a title for princesses' husbands. That was not true during the Han Dynasty, and it is, in any case, clear that Dong did not marry a princess.) His relationship with Emperor Ai would allow him to suddenly increase his power and prestige.

Relationship with Emperor Ai and quick ascension to great power

Circa 4 BCE, Dong had by this point become a favorite of Emperor Ai's. It was described that whenever Emperor Ai visited places outside the palace, Dong would accompany him, and once Emperor Ai returned to the palace, he would attend to the emperor. Emperor Ai rewarded him with large sums of money. Dong's wife was given unprecedented permission to enter and leave the palace as she wished, and she set up a residence with Dong inside the palace. Emperor Ai also made Dong's sister an imperial consort (with the prestigious title zhaoyi (昭儀)), ranked just below his wife Empress Fu. The three members of the Dong family thereby spent day and night near the emperor. Dong's father Dong Gong (董恭) was made the minister of palace supplies and created an acting marquess (關內侯).

Emperor Ai further ordered the imperial architect to build a luxurious residence for Dong just outside the main imperial palace, Weiyang Palace. The residence was described to be so spacious that it was like an imperial palace. Emperor Ai also gave Dong the best weapons and the most precious jewels from the imperial treasury - so much so that what Dong used was even more precious than what Emperor Ai personally used. Further, imperial burial tools were pre-awarded to Dong in preparation for his eventual burial, and Dong's future tomb was built right next to Emperor Ai's tomb.

In 3 BCE, Emperor Ai became intent on creating Dong a marquess, but could find no good excuse to do it. At the suggestion of a member of his grandmother's clan named Fu Jia (傅嘉), a plan was hatched. In 4 BCE, informants Xifu Gong (息夫躬) and Sun Chong (孫寵) had, through the eunuch Song Hong (宋弘), reported that Liu Yun (劉雲), the Prince of Dongping, was using witchcraft; as a result, Prince Yun was demoted to commoner status and committed suicide. Emperor Ai announced that the plot was reported through Dong, not Song, and then created Dong, Xifu, and Sun acting marquesses. Later that year, over Prime Minister Wang Jia's objection, Emperor Ai created the three of them marquesses.

A good number of officials tried to curb Dong's power by begging Emperor Ai not to overly reward him, and they suffered for it. There is no evidence indicating that Dong was behind the punishment of these officials; rather, it appears that Emperor Ai was personally offended that these officials attacked his lover and therefore punished them for it. The officials included:

• Zheng Chong (鄭崇), the palace secretary general, who was arrested and who died while in prison in 3 BCE; the governor of the capital province, Sun Bao (孫寶), who tried to get Zheng released, was himself relieved of his post.

• Wujiang Long (毋將隆), the security chief for the capital Chang'an, who refused to transfer the weapons to Dong and was demoted to the post of security chief for the Commandery of Pei.

• Wang Jia (王嘉), the prime minister, who several times tried to prevent Dong from being created a marquess and being promoted; he was imprisoned and committed suicide within the prison in 2 BCE; Emperor Ai's own uncle Ding Ming (丁明), the commander of the armed forces, who was friendly with Wang and grieved for his death, was relieved of his post and returned to his march.

However, Wang Hong (王閎), an imperial attendant and grandnephew of Grand Empress Dowager Wang Zhengjun, the step-grandmother of Emperor Ai, who also made similar requests of Emperor Ai, was not punished (because Emperor Ai was impressed by his bravery) but was also not listened to.

In late 2 BCE, after Ding's successor Wei Shang (韋尚) died of an illness, Emperor Ai made Dong, at the age of 22, the commander of the armed forces (大司馬, da sima) - one of the Three Excellencies, along with the prime minister (大司徒, da situ) and the prime examiner (大司空, da sikong) - and the security chief for the capital. The edict read:

:Heaven gave you to be the helper for Han Dynasty. I know your faithfulness, and I hope that you can guide the great affairs of the empire and follow what is good.

The edict's wording followed that of the alleged wording of Emperor Yao when he passed his throne to Emperor Shun, and greatly surprised and shocked all who read it.

Despite his ascension to such great post, Dong continued to accompany Emperor Ai at all times in the palace, not handling the important matters that his post should have required him to handle. At the same time, his father Dong Gong was promoted to an honorary post while his younger brother Dong Kuanxin (董寬信) was made the director of imperial equine operations, succeeding Dong Xian. Many members of the Dong clan were made imperial attendants or deputy ministers.

Death

In summer 1 BCE, Emperor Ai suddenly died without an heir. Dong Xian, as the commander of the armed forces, was the most powerful official at court, but he was paralyzed by this sudden event. Grand Empress Dowager Wang took decisive action; she proceeded to Weiyang Palace and seized the imperial seal. She then summoned Dong, who was caught by surprise and was unable to act. Grand Empress Dowager Wang summoned her nephew Wang Mang back to the palace as well and transferred the command of the imperial guard from Dong to Wang.

Wang Mang then ordered the palace secretary to issue an article of impeachment against Dong, accusing Dong of failing to attend to Emperor Ai when he had been ill. Dong was prohibited from entering the palace, and was relieved of his post the next day. That night, he and his wife committed suicide, and were buried quickly. Wang Mang disinterred him to make sure that he was in fact dead, and then had him reburied within a prison. The entire Dong clan was exiled to Hepu (合浦, in modern Zhanjiang, Guangdong) and their assets forfeited to the imperial treasury.

生平

董賢是西漢御史董恭之子，姿容端麗，長相柔媚。劉欣任太子時，十五六歲的董賢初任執掌東宮宿衛太子舍人，並無什麼要緊事務，劉欣登基後，董賢升為郎官，負責在未央宮殿下傳報時辰，兩年後的一天，劉欣在殿內遠遠看到當班的董賢怦然心動，便親切詢問董賢姓名，當場授予董賢黃門郎的官職，並讓他坐在自己腿上聊天，自此漢哀帝和董賢便有了肉體關係。

哀帝很寵愛董賢，封他為駙馬都尉，甚至升他為大司馬，而他的妹妹因容貌與董賢不分伯仲，也被董賢送進宮來，第二日董氏也被封為昭儀，而哀帝顧念董賢家中尚有妻子，便讓其回家與妻子相聚，但董賢誓死不肯，無奈讓董賢其妻一同入宮侍奉。漢哀帝與董賢同起同坐，同睡在龍榻上。據說有一次，哀帝睡覺醒時董賢尚未醒，哀帝乃命人割裂衣袖起身，以免驚醒董賢，這就是男色典故「斷袖」的由來。

哀帝賞賜了董賢很多財物，為其建造華府，又升他的父親為少府，賜爵關內侯，董賢妻子父親獲封將作大匠，妻弟也當上了執金吾，等若幹家人亦獲任官職，甚至董賢家的僮僕亦受到哀帝賞賜。董氏家族迅速崛起，成為傅丁兩氏之外的第三大外戚勢力。

然而哀帝欲封董賢為侯，卻遭丞相王嘉反對，認為「往古以來，貴臣未嘗有此，流聞四方，皆同怨之」，董賢應該「千人所指，無病而死」。沖昏頭腦的劉欣強行封董賢為高安侯，王嘉其後獲罪，在獄中絕食二十餘日，嘔血而死。王嘉死後，劉欣封董賢為大司馬，22歲的董賢成為百官之首。

元壽二年（前1年），匈奴單于來朝，出席宴會，看見群臣中的董賢年輕，覺得奇怪，便詢問傳譯，哀帝令傳譯回報：「大司馬年少，以大賢居位。」單于信以為真，恭賀朝廷得賢臣。哀帝後來在一次宴會中笑望董賢，曰「吾欲法堯禪舜，何如？」中常侍王閎勸諫哀帝不宜有此想法，哀帝默然不語，從此冷落王閎，但以後也沒有再公開提及此事。

西漢在漢哀帝和一個沒有能力的董賢的統治下，國勢更加衰弱。哀帝突然駕崩，令西漢朝廷手足無措，大司馬董賢毫無政治經驗，整日只知哭啼，太皇太后王政君立即召王莽回朝主政。漢平帝元始元年（1年），外戚王莽以太后名義把董賢趕出皇宮，又以董賢年輕為由，罷去他的大司馬官職，當天董賢與妻自盡，年僅24歲。不久，無辜的傅皇后也被廢為庶人，她不堪屈辱也自殺身亡。董賢死後，朝廷沒收董家財產，家人被徙往遠處。