Tianma

See also: Ferghana horse

For other uses, see Tianma (disambiguation).

Tianma (天馬 Tiānmǎ, "heavenly horse") was a winged (perhaps metaphorically) flying horse in Chinese folklore.

Liu Song dynasty brick-relief of a Tianma

Flying Horse, East Han dynasty.Bronze. Gansu Provincial Museum.

Mythology

The Tianma is a flying horse that was sometimes depicted with chimerical features such as dragon scales and was at times attributed the ability to sweat blood, possibly inspired by the parasite Parafilaria multipapillosa,^[1] which infected the highly sought-after Ferghana horse (大宛馬), sometimes conflated with Tianma. Tianma, the flying horse, is clearly connected to Pegasus from the Western Han dynasty artwork^[2] and in the Tang dynasty sources, as coming from Hellenized Central Asia.^[3]

In the Western Zhou Empire, Tianma referred to a constellation.^[4] Tianma is also associated with Emperor Wu of Han, an aficionado of the Central Asian horse,^[5] and the famous poet Li Bo.^[6] The bronze statue Gansu Flying Horse is a well-known example.

See also

• Han–Xiongnu War
• Horse in Chinese mythology
• Shanghai Tianma Circuit