It is firs time I post on Shilla dynasty. Until now I have posted mainly on the relics of Baek Jae Dynasty and Choson Dynasty. It was because I have stayed near the area of Bank Jae Dynasty and Seoul.
As I had posted several time, I had a job in the central area in Korea. Back Jae dynasty had existed in this area. Whenever I had travel around my working place, I could look at the relics of Baek Jae Dynasty. It was so helpful for me to post on the relics of BaekJae Dynasty.
From this posting, I’d like to post on Shilla dynasty. Before posting on Shilla, some brief explanation would be helpful to understand forward posting on Shilla dynasty.
In ancient world of Korea, There were 3 kingdoms in Korean peninsular and Manchuria.
Goguryeo, Baek Jae and Shilla. This 3 kingdoms were formed in the iron age. Before the 3 kingdoms, the kingdom Gochoson had been existed in Korean Peninsular and Manchuria.
Goshoson was destroyed by the Han dynasty of China.
Actually Gochoson was the bronze civilization.
(pics from google)
After the fall of Go choson, 3 kingdoms appeared in the area of Go Choson.
Goguryeo took the Manchuria and the northern part of Korean peninsular. Back Jae Dynasty took the south western part of Korean peninsular, Chungcheong-Do and Jeolla-Do province.
Shilla dynasty was built in the south east area, Gyeonsang-Do province.
Besides 3 Kingdoms, There had been existed Gaya civilization between Shilla and Baek Jae. Gaya had adopted the iron civilization very early than other areas. But strangely enough Gaya couldn’t form the ancient country system. Gaya had been just a confederation among the tribe country until it had been destroyed by other country, Shilla and Baek Jae.
(pics from google)
Shilla was the last country which could formed ancient country system. In forming the ancient country system, Buddhism had played very important role. The ideological unification was inevitable to unify the various tribes which had each religion.
Buddhism was not a religion but a ideology to unify various tribes. But the resistance seemed serious for accepting Buddhism. So Buddhism had to mitigate the resistance of tribes’ religion. The mountain god building in Korean Buddhist temple must be the trace of various tribes’ religion.
Shilla was the one of the small countries scattered in South east area. The reason this small and tiny country could unify the Korean Peninsula was an enigma. But Shilla seemed to have the common denominator like Rome.
Even though the scale and size were different between Shilla and Rome, but there seemed to be exist the common factor in my opinion. What the most important common factor between two countries seems the openness of managing country in my guess.
Shilla was very open minded country. They had a close relations with Persia, India and Vietnam. It is curious how Shilla dynasty had the contact with these countries.
The relics of Shilla dynasty would be the result of these open minded. I’d like to show you these results from next posting.
Thank you for reading