Talhae of Silla - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Talhae of Silla was the fourth king of Silla

Silla

Silla was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, and one of the longest sustained dynasties in...

Three Kingdoms of Korea

The Three Kingdoms of Korea refer to the ancient Korean kingdoms of Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla, which dominated the Korean peninsula and parts of Manchuria for much of the 1st millennium...

. He is commonly called Talhae Isageum or Seok Talhae, isageum being the royal title in early Silla.

Background

He was a member of the Gyeongju Seok

Seok

Seok is an international term for a clan used in Eurasia from the Middle Asia to the Far East. Seok is usually a distinct member of the community, the name implies that its size is smaller than that of a distinct tribe.-Korean:...

clan, one of the noble clans that shared the Silla throne during the early Common Era

Common Era

Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...

.

He was born in a small kingdom 1000 li
Li
Li or li may refer to:* Li , the Confucian concept of ritual** Li , philosophical concept of principle* Li people, an ethnic group of China...

¹ northeast of Wa (Japan)

Wa (Japan)

Japanese is the oldest recorded name of Japan. Chinese, Korean, and Japanese scribes regularly wrote Wa or Yamato "Japan" with the Chinese character 倭 until the 8th century, when the Japanese found fault with it, replacing it with 和 "harmony, peace, balance".- Historical references :The earliest...

. (The name of the kingdom is Dapana-guk 다파나국 多婆那國² according to Samguk Sagi

Samguk Sagi

Samguk Sagi is a historical record of the Three Kingdoms of Korea: Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla. The Samguk Sagi is written in Classical Chinese and its compilation was ordered by Goryeo's King Injong Samguk Sagi (History of the Three Kingdoms) is a historical record of the Three Kingdoms of...

, or Yongseong-guk 용성국 龍城國 "Dragon Castle/City" according to Samguk Yusa

Samguk Yusa

Samguk Yusa, or Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms, is a collection of legends, folktales, and historical accounts relating to the Three Kingdoms of Korea , as well as to other periods and states before, during, and after the Three Kingdoms period.The text was written in Classical Chinese, which was...

.) His father, King Hamdalpa, was a king of this kingdom, his mother was a queen or princess of another small kingdom.

According to the Samguk Sagi

Samguk Sagi

, when he was born as an egg, his father considered it an ill omen and had it boxed and floated at sea. The egg floated past Geumgwan Gaya

Geumgwan Gaya

Geumgwan Gaya , also known as Bon-Gaya or Garakguk , was the ruling city-state of the Gaya confederacy during the Three Kingdoms Period in Korea. It is believed to have been located around the modern-day city of Gimhae, Southern Gyeongsang province, near the mouth of the Nakdong River...

and landed east of Gyerim

Gyerim

The Gyerim is a small woodland in Gyeongju National Park, Gyeongju, South Korea. The name literally means "rooster forest." The grove lies near the old site of the Silla kingdom palace in central Gyeongju. Nearby landmarks include the Banwolseong fortress, Cheomseongdae, the Gyeongju National...

(near today's Gyeongju

Gyeongju

Gyeongju is a coastal city in the far southeastern corner of North Gyeongsang province in South Korea. It is the second largest city by area in the province after Andong, covering with a population of 269,343 people according to the 2008 census. Gyeongju is southeast of Seoul, and east of the...

, South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

), where he was raised by an old man as a fisherman. His family is said to have taken over a high official's house by claiming to be metalsmiths.

His birth year is unknown, but he was probably an old man when he assumed the throne, having married the daughter (or younger sister) of Silla's King Namhae

Namhae of Silla

Namhae of Silla was the second king of Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. He is commonly called Namhae Chachaung, chachaung being an early Silla title.Namhae is the only king who is called Chachaung...

in the year 8. He was offered the throne as successor to the second king Namhae

Namhae of Silla

, but the older Yuri

Yuri of Silla

Yuri of Silla was the third king of Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. He is commonly called Yuri Isageum.- Name :As a descendent of Silla's founder Hyeokgeose, his surname was Park....

served as king first. Yuri in turn designated Talhae his successor.
¹li is roughly equivalent to 400-500 meters.

²Tamba no kuni

Tamba Province

was an old province of Japan. The ambit of its borders encompassed both the central part of modern Kyoto Prefecture and the east-central part of Hyōgo Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with Tango Province...

was located 460km northeast of Wa no Nakoku
Nakoku
' was a state which was located in and around modern-day Fukuoka City, on the Japanese island of Kyūshū, from the 1st to early 3rd centuries. Much of what is known about it comes from ancient records of both China and Japan....

(倭奴國).

Reign

In 64, the rival Korean kingdom Baekje

Baekje

Baekje or Paekche was a kingdom located in southwest Korea. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla....

attacked several times. Silla battled the Gaya confederacy

Gaya confederacy

Gaya was a confederacy of territorial polities in the Nakdong River basin of southern Korea, growing out of the Byeonhan confederacy of the Samhan period.The traditional period used by historians for Gaya chronology is 42–532 CE...

in 77.

According to legend, in 65 the infant Kim Alji

Kim Alji

Kim Alji was a historical figure in Korean history. His descendents formed the Kim royal clan of Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea....

, ancestor of the Gyeongju Kim

Kim (Korean name)

Kim, sometimes spelled Gim, is the most common family name in Korea. The name is common in both modern-day North Korea and South Korea. The hanja used for the name means "gold," and although the character is usually pronounced 금 geum, it is pronounced 김 gim when used for the family name and...

family, was found by Hogong

Hogong

Hogong was a minister of Silla in the age of nation-building. It is recorded that he was originally from the Wa people of Japan, though his family name or clan name was unknown to the compiler of the Historical Records of the Three Kingdoms. He was called Hogong because he was putting on his...

in a golden box in the royal Gyerim

Gyerim

forest. Talhae named his kingdom Gyerim at this time (the name Silla was officially adapted much later).

A tomb believed to be Talhae's is located in northern Gyeongju

Gyeongju

City.

Background

Reign

See also