生平

曾祖父班況，漢成帝時為越騎校尉。班固年少時，班固的父親班彪教其讀書識字，九歲能寫文章，十六歲入首都洛陽太學，博覽群書，「九流百家之言，無不窮究」。班彪採集前史遺事，著「後傳」數十篇。建武三十年（54年），班彪卒，班固自太學返鄉服喪。

班固繼承父業，撰寫《漢書》，共一百篇，包括紀十二、表八、志十、傳七十，後人析為一百二十卷。《漢書》更改《史記》體例，廢除世家一體。班固編寫過程中，有人告發其「私修國史」，因而被捕入獄。他的弟弟班超向皇帝說明班固修《漢書》的目的是頌揚漢德，讓後人了解歷史，從中獲取教訓，並無毀謗朝廷之意。後來無罪開釋，明帝更給班家一些金錢，協助編寫史書。有一天，漢明帝問班固：「卿弟安在？」班固回答說：「為官寫書，受直以養老母」。

漢明帝頗賞識班固的才能，召為蘭台令史（中央檔案典籍管理員），奉詔與陳宗、伊敏、孟異等撰《世祖本紀》及諸傳記，後轉遷為郎，典校秘書，又撰功臣、平林、新市、公孫述等列傳，共成列傳、載記28篇。當時蘭台令史傅毅是他的同僚，二人皆以文聞名，班固與弟班超書曰：「武仲以能屬文，為蘭台令史，下筆不能自休。」此即文人相輕的流傳。班固又奉敕詔完成其父所著書。

漢章帝時，班固任玄武司馬。建初四年（79年）章帝效法西漢宣帝石渠閣故事，詔諸王、諸儒趙博、李育等集合于白虎觀講論五經異同，由班固纂成《白虎通義》。章帝建初七年（82年），基本完成《漢書》的寫作。

漢和帝永元元年（89年），因遭母喪，辭官守孝在家，這時竇憲率兵伐匈奴，班固任中護軍，行中郎將事，大破匈奴後，勒石燕然山之銘文，即出自班固手筆。班固另撰有《竇將軍北征頌》一文，對竇憲北征匈奴大加歌頌。班固「不教學諸子，諸子多不遵法度」，洛陽令種競被班固家奴醉罵，懷恨未忘。和帝永元四年竇憲失勢，被迫自殺，班固受牽連而被免官，種競利用竇憲事敗之機，逮捕班固，日加笞辱，班固在獄中去世，年六十一歲。此時所著《漢書》，八〈表〉及〈天文志〉均未完成。

班固著《漢書》未完成而卒，和帝命其妹班昭就東觀藏書閣（東漢皇家圖書館）所存資料，續寫固之遺作，然尚未畢便卒。同郡馬續，乃昭之門人，博覽古今，皇帝乃召其補成七〈表〉及〈天文志〉。

思想

班固具有深厚的儒家思想，愛用古字和駢句，他的文章顯得典雅且富於文採，與《史記》平暢的口語化文字形成鮮明對照。范曄說：「遷文直而事核，固文贍而事詳。」班固在《漢書》中批評司馬遷「又其是非頗繆于聖人，論大道則先黃老而後六經，序游俠則退處士而進奸雄，述貨殖則崇勢利而羞賤貧，此其所蔽也。」因此《漢書》在遣詞用字上很謹嚴。

作品

此外，班固也是東漢最著名的辭賦家之一，著有《兩都賦》、《答賓戲》、《幽通賦》等，後來張衡寫《二京賦》、左思寫《三都賦》，都受他的《兩都賦》影響。《答賓戲》依仿東方朔《答客難》，表現自己「篤志于儒學，以著述為業」的志趣。明人輯有《班蘭臺集》，有《漢魏六朝百三名家集》本。

世系圖

Family background

The Ban family was one of the most distinguished families of the Eastern Han dynasty. They lived in the state of Chu during the Warring States Period but, during the reign of the First Emperor, a man named Ban Yi (斑 or Bān Yī) fled north to the Loufan (t s Lóufán) near the Yanmen Pass in what is now northern Shanxi Province. By the early Han Dynasty, Ban Gu's ancestors gained prominence on the northwestern frontier as herders of several thousand cattle, oxen, and horses, which they traded in a formidable business and encouraged other families to move to the frontier. Ban Biao later moved the family to Anling (near modern Xianyang, Shaanxi).

Ban Gu's great-aunt Consort Ban was a scholar and poet, and his father Ban Biao was a prominent historian. He took over from his father responsibility for writing a history of the former Han Dynasty, a book known in modern times as the Hanshu or Book of Han. However, his work was interrupted by political problems, as his association with the family of Empress Dowager Dou led to his imprisonment and death (either by execution or torture). A few volumes of his book in 13–20th (eight chronological charts) and 26th (astronomical biography), however, was completed by his younger sister, Ban Zhao, and became a model for many other works about later dynasties.

Ban's twin brother Ban Chao was a famous military leader and explorer of Central Asia. His sister, Ban Zhao, was one of the most famous female scholars in Chinese history, and contributed to the Han Shu, after Ban Gu's imprisonment and subsequent death.

Life

Ban's father, Ban Biao, died in AD54 when Ban was twenty-two. After his father's death, Ban spent a period of time pondering what path he should pursue in life, eventually composing a long fu on his situation entitled "Fu on Communicating with the Hidden" (幽通賦 Yōutōng fù), which is famous as one of the earliest known fu used to discuss philosophical questions. Ban did not immediately begin an official career, but remained in the Ban family home in Anling to work on the completion of his father's historical sequel to Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian.

Around AD60, rumors were reported to Emperor Ming of Han that Ban was "privately revising the national history", which caused the imperial court to become concerned about the type of account Ban would write of the fall of the Western Han and the rise of the Eastern Han. Ban was subsequently arrested and the Ban family library confiscated, though Ban's brother Ban Chao was able to intercede on his behalf and secure Ban's release. Ban was assigned to compile the annals of Emperor Guangwu of Han, the first Eastern Han emperor, and in AD64 was assigned to the collation of books in the imperial library and promoted to the rank of gentleman. Emperor Ming was so impressed with the quality of Ban's work that in AD66 he gave him permission to resume his work on the history of the Western Han, which he worked on for the rest of his life.

Ban continued to serve in the imperial library and at the imperial court throughout the second half of the 1st century AD. During the reign of Emperor Zhang of Han, Ban was promoted to the position of "Marshal of the Black Warrior Gate". Ban later served as a high-ranking literary official under Dou Xian, the brother of Emperor Zhang's empress. Although Dou won prestige for two successful campaigns against the Xiongnu, in AD92 he was suspected by Emperor He of Han of plotting a rebellion and forced to commit suicide. Immediately thereafter, Ban was dismissed from office and arrested by an old rival, Chong Jing, who was serving as the prefect of Luoyang. Ban died in prison that same year at 61 years old.

Legacy

The modern historian Hsu Mei-ling states that Ban Gu's written work in geography set the trend for the establishment of geographical sections of history texts, and most likely sparked the trend of the gazetteer in ancient China.

The tendency of both Chinese and Western scholars to view China's history in a dynastic framework is thought to be a direct result of Ban Gu's decision to write the Book of Han in the manner in which he did.

Ban family

• Ban Biao (班彪; 3–54; father)

　• Ban Gu (班固; 32–92; first son)

　• Ban Chao (班超; 32–102; second son)

　　• Ban Xiong (班雄; ?–after 107; Ban Chao's eldest son)

　　　• Ban Shi (班始; ?–130; Ban Xiong's son)

　　• Ban Yong (班勇; ?–c. 128; youngest son of Ban Chao)

　• Ban Zhao (班昭; c. 45 – c. 117; daughter)