[KS] Attendants interred in royal Silla graves?

Tommy Che Vorst tommychevorst at gmail.com
Wed Nov 20 14:56:08 EST 2013


On a visit in 2011, I heard (official?) guides in the Gyeongju tumuli 
park refer to this practice.  While not the definitive answer you're 
looking for, it certainly seems to have become part of the 'accepted 
wisdom' of those on the site.

"Best, Jonathan" <jbest at wesleyan.edu> schreef:

    At a recent conference in New York a curator from one of Korea's national museums said that definitely some Silla royal graves in Kyo(ngju, including the Hwangnam Great Tomb, contain in addition to the king and/or queen the remains of five to ten others who chose or were chosen to attend the principal occupant(s) of the tomb in the afterlife. Although I know that such attendant burials occurred in Kaya, I thought that at least as late as the 1990s it was still debated whether or not there is material evidence that this practice was ever actually done in Kyo(ngju, despite the fact that it is banned in a Samguk sagi passage dated 502.

    So I would be very interested in knowing whether there is definitive evidence of the practice in Silla and, if so, in which tombs attendant burials have been unearthed.

    Thanks in advance for any assistance,

    Jonathan


-- 
peace,
Tommy
----
Assistant Professor,
Yeungnam University Foreign Language Institute

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