Baeri Samneung, Gyeongju
Historic Site No. 219, 73-1, Bae-dong, Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do.
Located on the western slope of Mt. Namsan, Gyeongju, the tumulus consists of three tombs. Samneung, literally meaning three tombs is said to belong to King Adala, the eighth king, King Sinduk, and King Gyeongmun, the 53rd and 54th rulers fo the Silla kingdom respectively.
But King Adala has no record of where he buried after his death.
His distant descendant, King Shindeok, was buried in Jukseong according to Samguk Sagi, whereas in Samguk Yusa, he was cremated and buried south of Jamhyeon.
Buried in the northern part of Hwangboksa Temple according to Samguk Sagi, King Gyeongmyeong, who succeeded to the throne as the prince of Shindeok, was cremated in Hwangboksa Temple and his bones were scattered on the western slope of Mt. Seongdeungyingsan in Samguk Yusa.
Thus it is hard to believe that these three tombs belong to those three kings.
In that all the tombs have a circular mound, they are similar in size and style to the royal tombs of the Unified Silla Period. However, because there is no decoration or stone monument, they are not enough to look as royal tombs.
Among the three tombs, the one of what appears to belong to King Sindeok was surveyed internally twice in 1935 and 1963 respectively. As a result, a stone chamber with a corridor, a popular tomb style in the Unified Silla Period has been found.
The chamber is flat on a square, and with the vaulted ceiling is constructed of natural stones.
The passage leads to the center of the south wall of the chamber. Between the passage and chamber was closed by a door made of two flat stones.
The chambet has four walls of 3.04 to 3.09 m in length and a height of 3.91 m from the floor to the capstone on the ceiling.
The passage is 2.2m long and 1.2m wide.
In the center of the chamber was found stone podiums that coffins were placed on.
The podiums were made of natural stones with a 35cm-height rectangular shaft, and two flat stones, each 5cm thick, were placed on the north and south.
Thus, this tomb can be said to be a burial site where two bodies were sealed in the east-west direction.
All walls, ceilings, and sides of the podiums andj the passage were covered with lime.
Most notable in this burial mound is the fact that there are colored murals on the north and part of the east and west walls, as if the screens were turned upside down. Looking from the entrance, there are six widths on the front wall of the north, and 12 widths on the east and west walls, three on each side.
The murals are nothing more than simple paintings, but they are the most noticeable material in Silla history where there are few murals.
The five colors, however, may be related to the five elements or the associated ideology, and the fact that the width of the picture is twelve wide is thought to be related to the idea of twelve zodiac animals.
댓글