Jean Joseph Marie Amiot value, the language having been previously quite unknown in Europe. In 1772 he translated "The Art of War", one of the most influential war strategy and tactics treatises in military history, written around the 6th century BCE and attributed to General Sun Tzu, into French. The first successful translation to English would not be achieved before another 138 years, in 1910. His other writings are to be found chiefly in the "Mémoires concernant l'histoire, les sciences et les arts des Chinois" (15 volumes, Paris, 1776–1791). The "Vie de Confucius", the twelfth volume of that collection, was more complete and accurate
Sun Tzu most of the notable figures from the Spring and Autumn period. The name "Sun Wu" () does not appear in any text prior to the "Shiji", and may have been a made-up descriptive cognomen meaning "the fugitive warrior": the surname "Sun" can be glossed as the related term "fugitive" ("xùn" ), while "Wu" is the ancient Chinese virtue of "martial, valiant" ("wǔ" ), which corresponds to Sun Tzu's role as the hero's "doppelgänger" in the story of Wu Zixu. The only historical battle attributed to Sun Tzu, the Battle of Boju, has no record of him fighting in that battle.