Li Ban

Li Ban (李班) (288–334), courtesy name Shiwen (世文), posthumous name initially Crown Prince Li (戾太子), later Emperor Ai of Cheng (Han) (成(漢)哀帝), was briefly an emperor of the Chinese/Ba-Di state Cheng Han.

Li Ban was the founding emperor Li Xiong (Emperor Wu)'s nephew—the son of his older brother Li Dang (李蕩), who died in battle in 303. After Li Dang's death, Li Ban was said to have been raised by Li Xiong and his wife Empress Ren—even though his mother Lady Luo was still alive.

Although Li Xiong himself had more than 10 sons by concubines, Empress Ren was sonless. Li Xiong was resolved to make one of the sons of his brother Li Dang crown prince and his successor. Initially, he considered Li Han (李琀), Li Ban's older brother, but Li Han died in battle against Yang Nandi in 323. In 324, he created Li Ban crown prince, reasoning that the empire's foundation was actually built by Li Te and Li Dang, and that it would be proper for him to pass the throne to Li Dang's son. He also valued Li Ban highly for his kindness and studiousness. Li Xiang (李驤) and Wang Da (王達), foreseeing that this action would bring succession issues, objected, but were overruled by Li Xiong.

Lí Ban

Lí Ban (from Old Irish lí, meaning "beauty", and ban, meaning "of women", perhaps to be understood as paragon of women') is a name that occurs in two different places in Irish mythology.

Sister of Fand

Lí Ban was a sister of the otherworldly woman Fand and wife to Labraid Luathlám ar Claideb ("Labraid of the swift sword-hand"), the ruler of Magh Mell.

She appears primarily in the Irish tale of Serglige Con Culainn (The Wasting Sickness of Cú Chulainn), where she is the daughter of Áed Abrat. She appears first in the form of a sea bird, then as an otherworldly woman who inflicts the story's eponymous sickness on Cú Chulainn. In the story Lí Ban acts as messenger and mediator; she and Cú Chulainn's charioteer Láeg work together to see that Cú Chulainn is healed in exchange for his aid in Fand's battle in the Otherworld.

Christian mermaid

This Lí Ban may be identical in origin with the sister of Fand, or may be an independent tradition. In Irish Christian legend, Lí Ban was a woman most prominently mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters, in which she is the daughter of one Eochaid. She turned into a mermaid when a spring burst under her house to form Lough Neagh (Loch nEchach in Old Irish, in what is now Northern Ireland). She and her dog (who in the flood became an otter) lived trapped under the lake for 300 years, until she was fished out by a group of monks in the time of Saint Comgall. The mermaid was brought to shore and baptized Muirgen ("sea-born")—thereby sacrificing her immortality for a Christian soul.