Cheonmachong (), formerly Tomb No. 155, is a

tumulus A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found through ...

located in

Gyeongju Gyeongju (, ), historically known as Seorabeol (, ), is a coastal city in the far southeastern corner of North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. It is the second largest city by area in the province after Andong, covering with a population of ...

, South Korea. It is located inside the tomb complex Daereungwon.

History

This tomb was built in the style of

Silla Silla (; Old Korean: wikt:徐羅伐#Old Korean, 徐羅伐, Yale romanization of Korean, Yale: Syerapel, Revised Romanization of Korean, RR: ''Seorabeol''; International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ) was a Korean kingdom that existed between ...

. Excavation of the tomb began on April 16, 1973 and is believed to date probably from the fifth century but perhaps from the sixth century CE. The tomb was for an unknown king of the Silla Kingdom.Barbara Ann Kipfer
''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology'', p. 232
/ref> There is a strong view that this tomb is the tomb of King Jijeung. The deceased is estimated to be around 5 feet 3 inches (160 cm) tall.

Architecture

The tomb, in typical Silla style, is a wood-lined chamber running east to west and is covered in a mound of boulders and earth. Sarah Milledge Nelson
''The Archaeology of Korea'', p. 250
/ref> This kind of tomb is said to follow the pattern of a Scytho-Iranian tomb in Pazyryk,

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

.Richard Rutt, Keith L. Pratt
''Korea: A Historical and Cultural Dictionary'', p. 165
/ref> The tomb is 47 metres in diameter, 157 metres in circumference, and 12.7 metres in height.

Chamber

The chamber of the tomb contained a lacquered wooden coffin which had burial goods placed around it. A total of 11,500 artifacts were recovered from the tomb. The name of the tomb derives from a famous painting of a white horse which is depicted on a birch bark saddle flap, also referred to as a mud-guard. The horse, a ''Cheonma'' ( Korean Flying horse), has eight legs and is depicted with wings on its feet. This painting is a rare example of extant Silla painting and indicates a strong influence by the Korean

Goguryeo Goguryeo (37 BC – 668 AD) (; ; Old Korean: Guryeo) also later known as Goryeo (; ; Middle Korean: 고ᇢ롕〮, ''kwòwlyéy''), was a Korean kingdom which was located on the northern and central parts of the Korea, Korean Peninsula an ...

Kingdom. The burial of horse trappings and the sacrifice of a horse with the king shows the importance of horse culture in Silla society and indicates the central role of the king in

shamanism Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into ...

practiced by the people. The other side of the saddle flaps depict horsemen and the phoenix. The tomb also yielded many other treasures including a gold crown and a gold girdle, both replete with

jade Jade is an umbrella term for two different types of decorative rocks used for jewelry or Ornament (art), ornaments. Jade is often referred to by either of two different silicate mineral names: nephrite (a silicate of calcium and magnesium in t ...

comma-shaped beads. These trappings of royalty indicate that a king was buried in the tomb. Additionally, the fact that the girdle in the Heavenly Horse Tomb is similar to a girdle found in the Gold Crown Tomb and the use of the dragon motif in gold plates which matches treasures in the

Baekje Baekje or Paekche (; ) was a Korean kingdom located in southwestern Korea from 18 BCE to 660 CE. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla. While the three kingdoms were in separate existence, Baekje had the h ...

King Muryeong also indicate a royal king was interred in the tomb. Besides the crown and girdle, the chamber also held gold bracelets and gold rings for every finger of the buried king. The tomb also contained a chest full of burial goods which including the aforementioned painted saddle flap, and also iron kettles, pottery, bronze vessels, lacquerware, saddles, and a 98 centimeter long sword.

Crown

The crown is considered one of the most valuable gold crowns in Silla. It features a large cluster with three branch shaped ornaments and two deer horn shaped ornaments, and it is full of jade and spangles. The crown and cap was made by combining four gold plates decorated with bore patterns. It is believed to have been placed on top of a hat made of birch bark. Various types of patterns were precisely drilled into it to make it beautiful, including the T-charge pattern, the diamond-shaped pattern, and the twisted dragon pattern.

Gallery

File:Korea-Silla-Cheonmado-01.jpg, ''Cheonmado'' (Painting of the Heavenly Horse), National Treasure No. 207 File:Gold_crown_from_Cheonmachong.jpg, Gold crown of Silla, National Treasure No. 188 File:Korea-Silla Kingdom-Golden hat-01.jpg, Gold hat. National Treasure No. 189

Notes

References

*Kim, Jeong-gi et al. :1974 ''Cheonmachong Balguljosa Bogoseo'' heonmachong Excavation Site Report Office of Cultural Properties, Seoul.

External links

{{commons category, Cheonmachong
Cheonmachong - World History Encyclopedia

Asian Historical Architecture: Heavenly Horse Tomb
Tombs of Silla monarchs Archaeological sites in South Korea Buildings and structures in Gyeongju Tumuli in Gyeongju Gyeongju Historic Areas