Five Royal Tombs, Gyeongju

By tradition these are the tombs of Bak Hyeokgeose, who founded Silla in 57 BC, of his queen Aryeong, and of the second, third and fifth kings. The founding legend says he was born from an egg found by a well; the burial legend says that seven days after his death his body fell from the sky in five parts, and that when his people tried to bury the parts together a great serpent stopped them — so five mounds it was. Archaeology says something simpler: the mounds are typical Silla royal burials of the fifth and sixth centuries, several hundred years after the men they are named for, and have never been excavated. The attribution is Joseon-era scholarship, and the shrine among the trees, Sungdeokjeon, dates from 1429, when the Joseon court decided the founders of earlier kingdoms deserved rites. Behind the mounds, a small enclosure marks the well where Aryeong is said to have been born from the side of a dragon. The whole site is a pine wood with paths, and empty on weekdays.

Original Text

Where it is

Region

Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk

Designation

Historic Site · 사적