生平

他繼承父親毌丘興（曾任武威太守）的爵位高陽鄉侯，任平原侯文學。魏明帝即位後，先後任尚書郎及羽林監，因為曾在東宮辦事，得到曹叡親待。後出任洛陽典農，曾上疏勸魏明帝停止加建皇宮的工程，因而升為荊州刺史。

征討高句麗

明帝青龍三年（235年），毌丘儉徙為幽州刺史，加度遼將軍、使持節、護烏丸校尉。青龍四年（236年），率兵討伐自稱燕王的公孫淵，但被公孫淵擊敗。明年再聯合司馬懿進攻公孫淵，最終平定。毌丘儉因功封安邑侯。正始五年（244年），毌丘儉帶步騎兵萬人出玄菟討伐高句麗，先後在沸流水、梁口兩度大敗高句麗東川王，將號稱有二萬人的高句麗軍誅滅一萬八千餘人，東川王偕同妻子及千餘騎逃竄往東沃沮（又稱南沃沮）。毌丘儉又屠殺丸都內官員數千人，之後退兵。不久又再次進攻，東川王逃到買溝，隨後，毌丘儉自在丸都一帶坐鎮，毌丘儉又派玄菟太守王頎追擊到沃沮，另一路由樂浪太守劉茂、帶方太守弓遵攻打曾依附于高句麗的不耐等濊貊種落。王頎的軍隊追至竹嶺，再度大破東川王餘部。隨後，魏軍殺至沃沮境內，將協助高句麗的邑落一併攻破，斬殺三千餘人。東川王再逃入北沃沮境內，魏軍進一步追討。但高句麗王終于在部下的忠誠保衛下擊殺一小隊魏軍而得以隱匿。王頎軍主力則進一步向東北行，一直抵達北沃沮與肅慎的邊境地帶。而劉茂、弓遵也成功擊潰了濊貊各邑，逼迫不耐濊侯舉邑降，將東漢初廢棄的臨屯郡故地再次納入版圖。整個征剿行動至245年初基本結束，最終毌丘儉等刻石紀功並于245年5月回師凱旋。

才識拔幹

後來遷任左將軍，假節監豫州諸軍事，領豫州刺史，轉為鎮南將軍。嘉平四年（252年），與鎮東將軍諸葛誕的防區互換，並任毌丘儉為鎮東將軍都督揚州。次年與揚州刺史文欽、司馬孚擊退圍攻合肥新城的東吳太傅諸葛恪。

毌丘儉文欽之亂

正始十年（249年）發生高平陵之變後，與曹爽關係密切的文欽，見曹爽被司馬懿所誅，已經非常畏懼，後想用敵兵首級換賞賜又屢被司馬師拒絕，心懷怨念；而毌丘儉與夏侯玄、李豐友好，但二人在正元元年（254年）卻被司馬師誅殺，令毌丘儉不安。同時毌丘儉兒子毌丘甸亦鼓勵父親反抗司馬師，於是在正元二年正月乙丑日（255年2月5日），毌丘儉與文欽於壽春舉兵討伐司馬師，並將毌丘宗等四子送入東吳為質以求外援（此為壽春三叛中的第二次）。

司馬師於是親征毌丘儉，又派諸葛誕、胡遵、王基等到附近駐守，同時命令各路大軍不可與毌丘儉交戰。毌丘儉、文欽不能進攻，退軍又怕壽春被襲擊。但是淮南將士的家屬都在北方，於是士氣低落，越來越多士兵投降，只有淮南新加入的農民仍然效忠。司馬師調遣兗州刺史鄧艾調泰山諸軍一萬多人至樂嘉，並要求他示弱以引誘毌丘儉，而司馬師率大軍從汝陽潛兵與鄧艾會合。文欽不察，率軍攻打鄧艾而中了司馬師設下的誘敵之計，被魏軍擊破敗走。毌丘儉聽到文欽戰敗的消息後慌忙棄城，乘夜逃遁。走至慎縣，左右侍從各自逃命，毌丘儉和幼弟毌丘秀和孫毌丘重藏匿在草叢中。平民張屬射殺毌丘儉，因而被封侯，毌丘儉梟首送入洛陽。毌丘秀、毌丘重和文欽都逃入東吳。其餘均降。

毌丘儉事後被誅滅三族。後來西晉滅吳，其在東吳的子孫得以重返中原，毌丘宗、毌丘奧父子等還成為了西晉官員。

毌丘儉紀功碑

1904年，毌丘儉刻石紀功碑在吉林輯安被發現，現存于遼寧省博物館。

首列：正始三年高句麗反

二列：督七牙門討句麗五

三列：複遺寇六年五月旋

四列：討寇將軍魏烏丸單于

五列：威寇將軍都亭侯

六列：行裨將軍領玄

七列：裨將軍

毌丘儉遇難碑

2005年，毌丘儉遇難紀念碑在山西省聞喜縣桐城鎮上邱村被發現，紀念碑在4世紀末左右樹立。

文學才能

毌丘儉曾經寫詩贈與杜摯，在《昭明文選》中留有毌丘儉詩句佚文。

逸聞

管輅的預言：毌丘儉起兵之前，管輅曾路過毌丘家的祖墓，靠在樹邊哀嘆說：「林木雖茂，無形可久；碑誄雖美，無後可守。玄武藏頭，蒼龍無足，白虎銜尸，朱雀悲哭，四危以備，法當滅族，不過兩載，其應至矣」。

評價

• 鄧袤：「毌丘儉好謀而不達事情。」

• 陳壽：「毌丘儉才識拔幹……咸以顯名，致茲榮任，而皆（同王凌、諸葛誕、鐘會）心大志迂，不慮禍難，變如發機，宗族塗地，豈不謬惑邪！」

• 習鑿齒：「毌丘儉感明帝之顧命，故為此役。君子謂毌丘儉事雖不成，可謂忠臣矣。夫竭節而赴義者我也，成之與敗者時也，我苟無時，成何可必乎？忘我而不自必，乃所以為忠也。古人有言：『死者複生，生者不愧。』若毌丘儉可謂不愧也。」

文學形象

• 明朝羅貫中歷史小說《三國演義》將毌丘儉死因改為投靠慎縣縣令宋白，被其設宴灌醉後誘殺。另虛構了部下先鋒葛雍。

家屬

父

• 毌丘興，黃初年間（220-226）任武威郡太守，治理的名聲僅次於金城郡太守蘇則。

同輩及後代

• 弟

　• 毌丘秀

• 子女

　• 毌丘甸

　• 毌丘宗，字子仁

　• 其餘三子

• 孫

　• 毌丘重

　• 毌丘奧，毌丘宗之子

　• 毌丘芝，毌丘甸之女，潁川太守劉子元妻

　• 毌丘氏，沛國人劉含之母

　• 毌丘氏，晉羽林監王虔前妻

Life

Guanqiu Jian was from Wenxi County (聞喜縣), Hedong Commandery, which is present-day Wenxi County, Shanxi. His father, Guanqiu Xing (毌丘興), served as the Administrator of Wuwei Commandery (武威郡) under the Cao Wei state and held the peerage "Marquis of Gaoyang District" (高陽鄉侯). After his father's death, Guanqiu Jian inherited his father's peerage and served as a clerk to the Marquis of Pingyuan (平原侯).

In 226, after Cao Rui, the second emperor of Wei, ascended the throne, he appointed Guanqiu Jian as a Gentleman of Writing (尚書郎) and supervisor of the Imperial Guards. As Guanqiu Jian was previously an assistant official serving under Cao Rui when the latter was still crown prince, Cao Rui treated him exceptionally well. Guanqiu Jian later rose to the position of Agricultural Officer of Luoyang (洛陽典農). During this time, he wrote to Cao Rui, advising the emperor to scale down on his extravagant palace building projects. Later, he was promoted to Inspector (刺史) of Jing Province.

In 237, Guanqiu Jian led an army to Liaodong to attack the warlord Gongsun Yuan, who was previously a vassal of the Cao Wei state but decided to rebel against Wei rule. However, the campaign had to be aborted due to heavy flooding. In the following year, Guanqiu Jian and Sima Yi led another campaign against Gongsun Yuan, defeated him, and restored stability in Liaodong. In recognition of his efforts during the campaign, Cao Rui promoted Guanqiu Jian from a district marquis to a county marquis under the title "Marquis of Anyi" (安邑候).

In 244, Guanqiu Jian led a punitive expedition to Goguryeo, leading to the Goguryeo–Wei Wars. He defeated the Goguryeo army led by King Dongcheon near the Tongjia River and then captured the Goguryeo capital Hwando. During the follow-up campaign in the next year, he conquered Hwando again and forced King Dongcheon to flee southeast. A subsection of the army reached the eastern coast of the peninsula and another reached northern Manchuria, but soon retreated. A stone carving was created to commemorate Guanqiu Jian's victory in the campaign. In 1905, a fragment of the monument was discovered. It is called the Stele of Guanqiu Jian's Inscribed Achievements (毌丘儉紀功碑).

In 255, Guanqiu Jian and Wen Qin started a rebellion in Shouchun (壽春; around present-day Shou County, Anhui) against the Wei regent Sima Shi, who came to power in 251 and monopolised state power, effectively rendering the Wei emperor a puppet ruler. Some historians argue that Guanqiu Jian rebelled because he remained loyal to the Wei emperor, Cao Mao, and was displeased that the Sima family was controlling the Wei government behind the scenes. Other sources state that he was close to Xiahou Xuan, who was purged by Sima Shi in 254 around the time Sima Shi deposed the third Wei emperor Cao Fang and replaced him with Cao Mao; Guanqiu Jian, fearing that he would end up like Xiahou Xuan, decided to rebel against Sima Shi. The rebellion was effectively suppressed within months and Guanqiu Jian was slain by one Zhang Shu (張屬) after escaping from Shouchun to Shen County (慎縣; present-day Feidong County, Anhui). Most of Guanqiu Jian's family members were killed while the surviving ones escaped and defected to Wei's rival state, Eastern Wu.

Name

Guanqiu Jian's name is often read as Wuqiu Jian (毋丘儉), and appears as such in Volume 73 of Sima Guang's Zizhi Tongjian. However, Wu Jinhua (吳金華) argued that the original reading was Muqiu (母丘; also alternatively written as Wuqiu 毋丘 and Manqiu 曼丘), and that Guanqiu (毌丘) was a later transcription error dating back to the Tang and Song dynasties. He supports his argument with the occurrence of Muqiu as a family name on a tomb stele from the Three Kingdoms period and also in the Ri Zhi Lu (日知錄) by early Qing dynasty scholar Gu Yanwu; as well as the occurrence of Wuqiu as a surname on an ancient seal and a bamboo strip from the Yinwan (尹灣) Han-period tomb excavated in 1993. Wu also points out that a general named Manqiu Chen (曼丘臣) is mentioned in the second part of Emperor Gao's biography in the Book of Han, and that an annotation by the Tang dynasty historian Yan Shigu mentions that "Manqiu and Muqiu were originally the same family name".