The Tomb of the General (Korean

Korean language

Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...

: Janggun-chong, Hangul

Hangul

Hangul,Pronounced or ; Korean: 한글 Hangeul/Han'gŭl or 조선글 Chosŏn'gŭl/Joseongeul the Korean alphabet, is the native alphabet of the Korean language. It is a separate script from Hanja, the logographic Chinese characters which are also sometimes used to write Korean...

: 장군총, Hanja

Hanja

Hanja is the Korean name for the Chinese characters hanzi. More specifically, it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated into the Korean language with Korean pronunciation...

: 將軍塚, Chinese

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

: Jiangjun-zhong), also known as the Pyramid of the East, is thought to be the burial tomb of King Gwanggaeto

Gwanggaeto the Great of Goguryeo

Gwanggaeto the Great of Goguryeo was the nineteenth monarch of Goguryeo, the northernmost of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. His full posthumous name roughly means "Very Greatest King, Broad Expander of Territory, buried in Gukgangsang.", sometimes abbreviated to Hotaewang or Taewang...

 or his son King Jangsu

Jangsu of Goguryeo

Emperor Jangsu of Goguryeo was the 20th monarch of Goguryeo, the northernmost of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. He was born in 394, the eldest son of King Gwanggaeto the Great...

, both kings of the Korean kingdom

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...

 of Goguryeo

Goguryeo

Goguryeo or Koguryŏ was an ancient Korean kingdom located in present day northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula, southern Manchuria, and southern Russian Maritime province....

. http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0521407834&id=sANORB_MSRUC&pg=PA213&lpg=PA213&dq=%22tomb+of+the+general%22&sig=tNK4aSXmN3G5mSSlIubmZIxf5zQ. http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0700704647&id=vj8ShHzUxrYC&pg=PA474&lpg=PA474&dq=koguryo+pyramid&sig=meatVraKpqy2YvawFBBO78ZLwIk.

The pyramid is located in Ji'an, Jilin

Ji'an, Jilin

Ji'an is a county-level city in southwestern Jilin province, Northeast China. It belongs to the prefecture-level city of Tonghua. Ji'an has an area of and a population of approximately 230,000. The city was established as a city in 1988....

 province China, a former capital of Goguryeo. The pyramid was "rediscovered" in 1905. http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0700704647&id=vj8ShHzUxrYC&pg=PA474&lpg=PA474&dq=koguryo+pyramid&sig=meatVraKpqy2YvawFBBO78ZLwIk.

The base of the pyramid measures approximately 75 meters on each side, about half the size of the Egyptian pyramids

Egyptian pyramids

The Egyptian pyramids are ancient pyramid-shaped masonry structures located in Egypt.There are 138 pyramids discovered in Egypt as of 2008. Most were built as tombs for the country's Pharaohs and their consorts during the Old and Middle Kingdom periods.The earliest known Egyptian pyramids are found...

 and is eleven meters in height. http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0521407834&id=sANORB_MSRUC&pg=PA213&lpg=PA213&dq=%22tomb+of+the+general%22&sig=tNK4aSXmN3G5mSSlIubmZIxf5zQ. http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0700704647&id=vj8ShHzUxrYC&pg=PA474&lpg=PA474&dq=koguryo+pyramid&sig=meatVraKpqy2YvawFBBO78ZLwIk. The pyramid is composed of 1,100 dressed stone blocks. http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0700704647&id=vj8ShHzUxrYC&pg=PA474&lpg=PA474&dq=koguryo+pyramid&sig=meatVraKpqy2YvawFBBO78ZLwIk. Large stones, each measure approximately 3 x 5 meters were placed around the base of the pyramid and can still be seen today. http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0521407834&id=sANORB_MSRUC&pg=PA213&lpg=PA213&dq=%22tomb+of+the+general%22&sig=tNK4aSXmN3G5mSSlIubmZIxf5zQ. The monumental size of the tomb suggests that the Goguryeo elite were very powerful and the kingdom had the ability to mobilize large numbers of people for building projects. http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0521407834&id=sANORB_MSRUC&pg=PA213&lpg=PA213&dq=%22tomb+of+the+general%22&sig=tNK4aSXmN3G5mSSlIubmZIxf5zQ.

The pyramid-style tomb was typical of Goguryeo culture and was transmitted to the Korean kingdom of 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....

's burial practices. http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0700704647&id=vj8ShHzUxrYC&pg=PA474&lpg=PA474&dq=koguryo+pyramid&sig=meatVraKpqy2YvawFBBO78ZLwIk.

The body of the dead elite was placed on a "stone base, surrounded by stones, and then surmounted by a rectangular platform or pyramid of dressed stones." http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0700704647&id=vj8ShHzUxrYC&pg=PA473&lpg=PA473&vq=tomb&dq=koguryo+pyramid&sig=R13zHMSpnRaRONsg6EHwdDPeqAI. http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0700704647&id=vj8ShHzUxrYC&pg=PA474&lpg=PA474&vq=tomb&dq=koguryo+pyramid&sig=meatVraKpqy2YvawFBBO78ZLwIk.

The design of the tombs incorporated entrances and passageways which facilitated grave robbery and so like most Goguryeo and Baekje tombs, the General's Tomb contains no archaeological artifacts. http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0521407834&id=sANORB_MSRUC&pg=PA213&lpg=PA213&dq=koguryo+pyramid&sig=tNK4aSXmN3G5mSSlIubmZIxf5zQ.

Four dolmen

Dolmen

A dolmen—also known as a portal tomb, portal grave, dolmain , cromlech , anta , Hünengrab/Hünenbett , Adamra , Ispun , Hunebed , dös , goindol or quoit—is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of...

 tombs were also placed on each corner of the pyramid. http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0521407834&id=sANORB_MSRUC&pg=PA213&lpg=PA213&dq=%22tomb+of+the+general%22&sig=tNK4aSXmN3G5mSSlIubmZIxf5zQ.

Kim Il-sung

Kim Il-sung

Kim Il-sung was a Korean communist politician who led the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from its founding in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of Prime Minister from 1948 to 1972 and President from 1972 to his death...

's reconstruction of the supposed tomb of Dangun

Mausoleum of Dangun

The Mausoleum of Dangun is ancient burial site in Kangdong near Pyongyang, North Korea. It is claimed by North Korea to be the tomb of Dangun, legendary founder of Gojoseon, the first Korean kingdom....

 is based on the Tomb of the General. http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN1861892365&id=zWH05CbG02kC&pg=PA106&lpg=PA106&dq=koguryo+pyramid&sig=uc9A1p3FCPkE1EtxKLliber1BUU.

See also

• List of Korea-related topics
• Three Kingdoms of Korea
  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...
  
  
• Goguryeo
  Goguryeo
  Goguryeo or Koguryŏ was an ancient Korean kingdom located in present day northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula, southern Manchuria, and southern Russian Maritime province....
  
  
• History of Korea
  History of Korea
  The Korean Peninsula was inhabited from the Lower Paleolithic about 400,000-500,000 years ago. Archeological evidence indicates that the presence of modern humans in northeast Asia dates to 39,000 years ago. The earliest known Korean pottery dates to around 8000 BC, and the Neolithic period began...
  
  
• Korean architecture
  Korean architecture
  Korean architecture refers to the built environment of Korea from c. 30,000 BC to the present.-Introduction:From a technical point of view, buildings are structured vertically and horizontally...