Monument in Changnyeong Commemorating the Border Expansion by King Jinheung of Silla

King Jinheung raised this stone after taking Bitbeolgaya — present-day Changnyeong — into Silla and touring it to see how the people stood. Changnyeong was then the pivot of Silla's advance westward, the point where the ribs of the fan meet. It was annexed in 555, and in 565 it was joined with Daeya-ju, now Hapcheon, and called Bisabeol or Bijahwa county. The stone stood on the slope below Mokmasanseong until 1924, when it was moved to its present position inside a pavilion. The front face of a natural boulder was dressed flat for the inscription, with a line cut round it as a border. Unlike the other stelae it carries no heading reading inspection of the borders, so it is called a border-expansion stele; but the list of officials who accompanied the king puts it with the inspection stelae all the same. The text is badly worn and hard to read, though the second half is clear enough. Judging by the other stelae, it recorded the king's taking of Bitbeolgaya and the extension of his territory, and his principles and ambitions as a ruler. The second half lists the officials attending him by office, rank and affiliation, which is of great help in understanding the provincial administration, the rank system and the social organisation of the time. It was raised in 561, the year before Dae Gaya fell, and the king's political purpose — to make this district the foothold for his advance into Gaya — shows through it. By recording the facts of his reign it also supplements the Samguk Sagi, and it has contributed a great deal to what is known of the period.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Changnyeong, Gyeongnam

Designation

National Treasure · 국보