Sima Gan

Biography & Historical Record

Sima Gan (司马干, Tư Mã Kiền), courtesy name Ziliang (子良, Tử Lương), was the sixth son of Sima Yi (司马懿, Tư Mã Ý) by Lady Fu (伏夫人, Phục phu nhân) and Prince of Pingyuan (平原王). Enfeoffed among the many Sima princes when the clan seized Wei power, Sima Gan became notorious in Jin-era anecdotes for morbid eccentricities — treating concubines with detachment in life yet refusing burial after their deaths, keeping corpses in open coffins until decomposition forced disposal. Historians also remember him for political innocence: he rejected bribes, distributed his stipends to commoners, and stayed entirely aloof from the War of the Eight Princes (八王之乱) that bloodied Western Jin after 291 AD.

His brothers Sima Shi (司马师, Tư Mã Sư) and Sima Zhao (司马昭, Tư Mã Chiêu) dominated Wei politics; Sima Gan survived their era and the early Jin founding, dying peacefully in Luoyang around 311 AD at roughly eighty sui — shortly before the Yongjia catastrophe.

Role in Romance of the Three Kingdoms

General: Sima Gan does not appear in Luo Guanzhong’s novel, which ends before the Sima princes’ Jin-era careers. His father Sima Yi (司马懿, Tư Mã Ý) is a major antagonist from Zhuge Liang’s northern campaigns through the Gaoping tombs coup; Sima Gan belongs to the next generation’s Jin princely roster recorded in Jin Shu and Pei-era anecdotes.

Sima Gan (司马干) — Historical & Literary Timeline

For detailed historical records, explore Sima Yi’s sons on Wikipedia and Jin Shu princely biographies.

Key Relationships

Family

• Sima Yi (司马懿, Tư Mã Ý): Father — Wei regent who overthrew Cao Shuang and laid the Sima dynastic foundation.
• Lady Fu (伏夫人, Phục phu nhân): Mother — Sima Yi’s consort; mother also of Sima Jun.
• Sima Jun (司马骏, Tư Mã Tuấn): Younger brother — celebrated frontier prince of Fufeng (homonym note: not Sima Jun 司马均, Sima Yi’s brother).
• Sima Shi (司马师, Tư Mã Sư) and Sima Zhao (司马昭, Tư Mã Chiêu): Elder half-brothers — dominant Wei regents.

Friends

• Commoners and household retainers who received his princely stipends — the beneficiaries of his detachment from court faction.

Enemies

• None in political record — deliberate neutrality kept him outside the Eight Princes’ vendettas.

Other

• Sima Liang (司马亮, Tư Mã Lượng) and Sima Lun (司马伦, Tư Mã Luân): Princely uncles/nephews in the Eight Princes wars Sima Gan refused to join.