Making and Remaking Silla Origins

In the paper

“Although the earliest extant Silla inscription dates to about 501”

In the paper

“because they are not attested in Silla epigraphy and are not supported by Chinese historiography.”

In the paper

“In addition, Chinese historians of the seventh century had no problem equating Silla to the earlier state Chinhan 辰韓/秦韓 and Paekche to Mahan.”

In the paper

“Although in surviving sixth-century inscriptions, Silla's founding king is not referred to by name, in extant epigraphs dating to the late seventh century through the mid-ninth century, Silla's founder is a figure called Sŏnghan.”

In the paper

“What is significant about all of these Chinese accounts of early Silla is that they generally agree that the early Silla polity coalesced around immigrants from multiple states and polities and, more importantly, that no name for the Mahan (or Paekche) king who first ruled this state is remembered or recorded.”

In the paper

“Both Mich'u and Pŏphŭng are sons of kalmunwangs, 33 and both had daughters who either married the ruler's brother (Pŏphŭng) or the ruler's son (Mich'u) and thereby produced progeny who eventually ascended the throne.”

In the paper

“Pŏphŭng not only made Kim Yusin's grandfather, Kim Kuhae 金仇亥, a grandee (sangdŭng 上等), thereby granting him membership in Silla's powerful council of nobles, but he also returned to him his erstwhile domain of Kŭmgwan Kaya as his prebendal fief (sigŭp 食邑).”

In the paper

“This passage was repurposed by Kim Pusik and, with some slight modifications, appears as the entry for the twenty-sixth year of King Naemul (382).”

In the paper

“It is important to recognize that there is no viable linguistic connection between the Samguk sagi's name of Naemul and the name Nuhan 樓寒 (Ch.Louhan) that appears in the excerpt from the Qin shu preserved in the Tongdian and the Taiping yulan.”

In the paper

“Although Naemul's reality cannot be corroborated outside of the Samguk sagi narrative”

In the paper

“What seems important here is that the purported ancestor bears or was gifted with the surname Jin 金 (Kim in Korean), and that he was a loyal servant of the legitimate Son of Heaven.”

In the paper

“This is an interesting choice of words because the Sinograph 降 often suggests descent in terms of coming down from heaven or another realm.”

In the paper

“Are they really asserting their independence from the Tang Chinese sphere of influence and descent from the Xiongnu, or are they claiming to be non-Chinese but loyal participants in the Sinitic world?I believe that the latter is more reasonable and fits the historical context better.”

In the paper

“Even the Liang shu 梁書 (History of the Liang) compiled in the early seventh century claims that the surname of the Silla king (read in modern Korean pronunciation) was Mo 募 and his given name was Chin 秦, 19 probably mistaking part of the transliterated given name of Silla king Pŏphŭng 法興 (r.514-540), rendered in a Silla inscription as Mojŭkchi 牟卽 智.”

In the paper

“Silla royalty probably did not start using the Kim surname until sometime in the mid-sixth century, because it is not found in the earliest stele inscriptions, such as the Chungsŏng stele (P'ohang Chungsŏngni Silla pi 浦項中城里新羅碑, 501), 16 Naengsu stele (Yŏngil Naengsuri Silla pi 迎日冷水里 新羅碑, 503), 17 and the Pongp'yŏng stele (Ulchin Pongp'yŏng Silla pi 蔚珍鳳坪新羅碑, 524).”

In the paper

“Silla had miraculously expelled Tang forces from the conquered Paekche 百濟 (trad.18 bCe-660 Ce) territory in the southwest of the peninsula and the southern part of the subjugated Koguryŏ 高句麗 (trad.37 bCe-668 Ce) domain by 676-perhaps due to Tang's supply lines being destroyed by a storm or the Tang military's withdrawal because of a greater military threat on its western flank from proto-Tibetans.”

In the paper

“The Jin shu 晉書 (History of the Jin; compiled in 644) reports that Chinhan 秦韓, the predecessor polity to Silla, was partly populated by people of the first Chinese empire of Qin 秦 (221-207 bCe) who fled to Han 韓 (i.e., the Three Korean Han states) to avoid corvée labor when Qin fell in 207 bCe.”

In the paper

“For example, in early medieval England, most Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies converged on and claimed descent from the Germanic god-hero Woden, and then after Latin Christianity had taken root, the blood lines of English rulers were traced back to either Noah or Adam.”

In the paper

“Indeed, it was not until the early eighth-century reign of King Sŏngdŏk 聖德 (r.702-737) that Silla firmly achieved détente with Tang and resumed frequent and regular tribute/diplomatic relations with the Chinese court.”

In the paper

“Taken as a whole, the Chinese accounts assert that Silla's population was comprised of refugees from many states and polities on the continent and the peninsula-but particularly the early Qin state and Koguryŏ-and that Silla was ruled by a man of Paekche or Mahan 馬韓.”

In the paper

“The account of Silla reports that ancestors of the current Silla people comprise refugees and absconders from the fallen, short-lived conquest dynasty of Qin 秦 (221-207 bCe).”

In the paper

“In 674, Tang emperor Gaozong 高宗 (r.649-683) threatened to replace King Munmu with his brother Kim Inmun.”

In the paper

“If Silla royal descent from Du-hou (the Marquis Du; Kor.Kim Ilche), the Xiongnu prince who flourished in the early second century bCe, was actually an important historical memory, it would probably be recorded in more than one place.Because it is not mentioned on any other royal stele inscription, however, I am skeptical of its historicity.”

In the paper

“There are certainly important cultural similarities between Koreans and the Turko-Mongol peoples, but I think it constitutes a serious overstatement to make a blanket claim regarding descent from the Xiongnu.”

In the paper

“This is evidence of a fundamental anachronistic problem with Mich'u's relationship with his successors, as described in the Samguk sagi and Samguk yusa, and strongly suggests that he was fabricated to fill a space in a king list crafted at a later date.”

In the paper

“it would be hard to believe that a woman born in 285-if, for the sake of argument-we hypothesize that she was conceived in the last year of her father's life, could give birth to a child who would eventually assume the throne in 417, 132 years later.”

In the paper

“This should not be taken as an early account of the founding of Silla, but it does suggest that Chinese historians may have had something like this in mind in their crafting of a narrative on Silla origins in later dynastic histories.”

In the paper

“(3) he was the first king to expand the domain of Silla by absorbing Kŭmgwan Kaya 金官伽倻, in the region of present-day Kimhae 金 海 in southeastern Korea, in 532, beginning the process of amalgamating the Chinhan and Pyŏnhan regions”

In the paper

“This narrative about King Mich'u dates at earliest to the late eighth century-and thus likely after the end of the troubled reign of King Hyegong (765-780), whose reign ended with his murder by subordinates-officials who were also probably his relatives.”

In the paper

“Both Chinese and Korean sources confirm that, over the course of the sixth century, Silla had diplomatic contact with not only the Liang, but also with the Northern Qi 北齊 (550-577) and Sui 隋 (581-618) dynasties”

In the paper

“By the ninth century, the true-bone scholar-officials of Silla had fully imbibed Confucianism and adapted Chinese-style statecraft to preserve their hereditary privileges.”

In the paper

“(4) he is remembered as having established civil and penal codes 律令 and court dress for official positions”

In the paper

“That the compilers of Chinese standard histories commonly borrowed and reused material from earlier histories associated with geographic regions, notwithstanding great temporal distances, such as in this case, is a well-known quandary.”

In the paper

“Kim Yusin was the scion of the royal family of Kŭmgwan Kaya, which submitted to Silla rule in 532, during the reign of King Pŏphŭng.”

In the paper

“(2) he was the first Silla king to formally recognize Buddhism”

In the paper

“According to the story, Hyŏkkŏse is given the surname Pak 朴 or Ho 瓠 because both Sinographs rendered the sound palk 밝 (bright) when read in the Korean vernacular.”

In the paper

“Of course, it is also certainly possible that the Chinese text has either been highly edited or is purposefully misleading”

In the paper

“The mid-eleventh-century Xin Tang shu 新唐書 (New History of the Tang), as well, suggests that there was only one royal family of Silla: His [the king’s] family is called the first bone and they are distinguished from the second bone.48”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites [48]

In the paper

“Curiously, an interlinear note in the Samguk yusa also says that he may also be designated as Alchi kŏsŏgan ilgi 閼智居西干一起, 43 which will be analyzed later.”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites [43]

In the paper

“An extant remnant of the Han yuan 翰苑 (Literary Collection), which likewise dates to the seventh century, also clearly records that the surname of the Silla royal family is Kim, mentions no other royal surnames for Silla, and refers to now lost texts that assert that the Kim family had lasted for thirty generations.46”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites [46]

In the paper

“The Samguk yusa explains that Hyŏkkŏse means “Bright Noble One” 光明理世, and may also be styled “King Bright One” 弗矩內王.”

In the paper

“The mid-tenth-century Jiu Tang shu 舊唐書 (Old History of the Tang) reports: “Many of the people of the state have the two surnames Kim and Pak, and they are unable to marry anyone with a different surname” 國人多金，朴兩姓，異姓不為婚.47”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Jiu Tang shu 199A.5334

In the paper

“Both the Samguk sagi and Samguk yusa have narratives presenting Pak Hyŏkkŏse-who is described as a miraculous child who seemingly radiated light and was hatched from an egg, and whose birth was heralded by a neighing horse-as the founder of Silla.”

In the paper

“something significant seems to have happened at the highest levels of Silla society and government in the late fourth century to cause it to reach out to the Former Qin state.”

In the paper

“From these data, the royalty and nobility of early Silla clearly practiced endogamy, marriage between close relatives, especially at the highest echelons of power and privilege in society.”

In the paper

“Yet the inscription on neither of these steles alleges that either of these high-ranking monks’ ancestors, or even that any individual surnamed Pak, ever ruled Silla.51”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites [51]

In the paper

“The epigraphs on the steles of the monks from the Kim descent groups proudly proclaim the three clerics to have been, respectively, an eighth-generation descendant of King Muyŏl, 52 “a sprout of Sŏnghan” 星漢之苗, 53 and “of the royal family of Imna” 任那王族-Imna being here employed as a geographically derived euphemism for the small, but important, royal polity of Kŭmgwan Kaya that Silla subjugated in 5”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites [52]
• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites [53]
• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites [54]

In the paper

“The great Buddhist historian Daoxuan 道宣 (596-667) recorded the monk-scholar Wŏn’gwang’s 圓光 (ca.540-640) surname as Pak, but mentioned nothing about his descending from royal heritage in the Xu gaoseng zhuan 續高僧傳 (Further Lives of Eminent Monks), which was first completed in 649.56”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites [56]

In the paper

“Although three generations of rulers at the end of the Silla period are represented in both the Samguk sagi and the Samguk yusa as having possessed the Pak surname: the kings Sindŏk 神德 (r.912-917), Kyŏngmyŏng 景明 (r.917-924), and Kyŏngae 景哀 (r.924-927)”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites [50]

In the paper

“Funerary steles of two monks surnamed Pak remain from the late Silla period: the stele of Hyech’ŏl 慧澈 (785-861), the Taeansa Chŏgin Sŏnsa choryun ch’ŏngjŏng t’appi 大安寺寂忍禪師照輪淸淨塔碑, which was erected in 872, and that of Taet’ong 大通 (816-883), the Wŏlgwangsa Wŏllang Sŏnsa taebo sŏn’gwang t’appi 月光寺圓朗禪師大寶禪光塔碑, erected in 890.”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites [51]

In the paper

“In this narrative, when King T’arhae opens the golden chest, Alchi immediately stood up.”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites [61]

In the paper

“The account of the nisagŭm Mich’u in the Samguk sagi reports: “His ancestor Alchi appeared at Kyerim.King T’arhae took him and raised him in the palace and later made him Grand Protector” 其先閼智出於鷄林。 脫解王得之養於宮中 後拜爲大輔.59”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Samguk sagi 2.35 (Mich'u 1)

In the paper

“The informative details of this narrative that need to be considered carefully for the topic at hand are, first, that the day of Alchi’s “birth,” or more precisely his “descent from heaven,” is an interesting reverse juxtaposition of the Buddha’s birthday.The Buddha Śākyamuni was born on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, but Alchi manifested in the world on the fourth day of the eighth”

In the paper

“In the biography of the Silla monk Chajang 慈藏 (fl.632-650), Daoxuan reports that his surname is Kim and seems to imply, but does not state explicitly, that Chajang’s ancestors were members of the royal family of Silla.58”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites [58]

In the paper

“Michael Rogers asserted that Koryŏ’s shattered legitimacy had to be strengthened and reshaped; hence, the creation of “a new national myth” in the P’yŏnnyŏn t’ongnok.68”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Rogers, "P'yŏnnyŏn t'ongnok," 50-51

In the paper

“In the early Koryŏ period, the powerful and distinguished Pak clan provided assistance to the Wang 王 royal family and wielded overwhelming influence in the realm.”

In the paper

“Five epitaphs and one inscription on a stone coffin remain from the early to mid-Koryŏ period 63 and, in addition, eight scholarofficials surnamed Pak have biographies in the Koryŏsa 高麗史 (History of Koryŏ).64”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites [63]
• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites [64]

In the paper

“The assertion of Pak ascendancy in Silla’s antiquity can be seen on the one hand to emphasize the importance of the Pak family in its relationship with the royal Kim family of Silla, and simultaneously to serve the purpose of enhancing the authority of the Pak family by designating its founder as having been both an individual of miraculous birth and the first occupant of the Silla throne.”

In the paper

“Four of the Koryŏ founder king T’aejo’s 太祖 (Wang Kŏn 王建, r. 918-943) twenty-eight queen consorts were from the Pak descent group-the most from any of the distinguished clans affiliated through marriage with the Koryŏ founder, T’aejo.”

In the paper

“Pak Illyang was active in the second half of the eleventh century and is traditionally held to be the author and compiler of the Silla sui chŏn 新羅殊異傳 (Tales of the Bizarre in Silla), a collection of strange and miraculous tales of Silla that was used by Iryŏn and other writers of the late Koryŏ and Chosŏn period 朝鮮 (1392-1910) and of which only fragments remain.70”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites [70]

In the paper

“This embroidered and exaggerated information was then inserted into early Silla history when the Samguk sagi was compiled, serving the useful and convenient purpose of enabling Kim Pusik and his associates to push the “origins” of Silla back before those of Koguryŏ and Paekche.”

In the paper

“Perhaps especially significant in this regard are both the marriage of Koryŏ’s founder and first monarch, Wang Kŏn, to several Silla women surnamed Pak during his rise to power on the peninsula in the early tenth century and the number of male members of the Pak family that Wang Kŏn and his royal descendants appointed to high office during the first half-century of Koryŏ rule.”

In the paper

“Thus, it is apparent that an official narrative on the early history of the Silla state was repeatedly revised and probably not clearly charted-and perhaps not even conceptualizeduntil the late seventh or early eighth century.”

In the paper

“King Naemul was not advanced as an important ancestor to Silla’s sovereigns seemingly until the late Silla-early Koryŏ period because he makes his first appearance in extant epigraphy in 939, or four years after Silla’s demise.”

In the paper

“The origin of this fabrication was probably not a directive from the official historiographers of Koryŏ’s Bureau of State Records (Ch’unch’u kwan 春秋 館), but was rather something chroniclers of a latter period did to add luster to “lineage chart books” 家乘 of the Pak family.”

In the paper

“Neither the time of the foundation of the royal state of Silla nor the name of the founder can be known with certainty.”

In the paper

“By the time of the reign of King Hyegong (765-780), King Mich’u was likely conceptualized as a double of Pŏphŭng and as the first Silla king surnamed Kim.”

In the paper

“Pak Hyŏkkŏse, the Silla founder in the narratives recorded in the Samguk sagi and Samguk yusa, is probably a creation of the twelfth century, the time of Kim Pusik, or perhaps a little before, because references to the kings of Silla surnamed Pak do not appear in the extant epigraphic record until the mid-twelfth century-and thus well after the fall of the dynasty-and early Chinese historical”

In the paper

“Munmu’s stele also asserts that the royal family of Silla are descendants of Du-hou (Marquis Du), a Xiongnu prince named Jin Ridi-Kim Ilche in Korean-who was loyal to the Han dynasty during the age of the great Han-Xiongnu war in the second century bCe.”