 It has been long debated whether or not Sun Tzu and the traditional dating of The Art of War existed . Skeptics cite possible historical inaccuracies and anachronisms in the text , and that the book was actually a compilation from different authors and military strategists . Attribution of the authorship of The Art of War varies among scholars and has included people and movements including Sun ; Chu scholar Wu Zixu ; an anonymous author ; a school of theorists in Qi or Wu ; Sun Bin ; and others . Traditionalists attribute the authorship of The Art of War to the historical figure Sun Wu who is chronicled in the Records of the Grand Historian and the Spring and Autumn Annals . However , his place of origin varies from the two books ; in the former he was from the Kingdom of Wu , while the latter stated that he was from the State of Qi . The name " Sun Wu " ( <unk> ) does not appear in any text prior to the Records of the Grand Historian , and has been suspected to be a made @-@ up descriptive cognomen meaning " the fugitive warrior " : the surname " Sun " is glossed as the related term " fugitive " ( <unk> <unk> ) , while " Wu " is the ancient Chinese virtue of " martial , valiant " ( wǔ <unk> ) , which corresponds to <unk> 's role as the hero 's doppelgänger in the story of Wu Zixu . Historically , Sun Tzu name is not mentioned in the Commentary of Master Tso and the Zuo <unk> , which are the primary record of events from the 4th century BC . The name Sun Wu does appear in other sources such as Shih chi and the Wu Yueh ch 'un @-@ <unk> . The only historical battle attributed to Sun Tzu , the Battle of Boju , had no records of him fighting in that battle . The scholar Eno writes , “ The Spring and Autumn Annals … is brief , not very informative , and inconsistent in its choice of events to note . " 
