Pohang Naengsu-ri Silla Stele
Datedc. 503 CE
Photo Eggmoon · CC BY-SA 3.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
The Pohang Naengsu-ri Silla Stele is an inscribed stone stele of the Silla period, found at Naengsu-ri in Singwang-myeon, formerly Yeongil county and now part of Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. It is thought to have been made in 503 (the fourth year of King Jijeung of Silla). It was discovered in 1989 and designated National Treasure No. 264 on 15 March 1991.
The inscription records a decision by representatives of the six bu of Silla on a question of inherited property.
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Article
Pohang Naengsu-ri Silla Stele
The front carries 12 lines with 152 characters, the back 7 lines with 59 characters and the top 5 lines with 20 characters, a total of 231 characters.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Korean): 포항 냉수리 신라비CC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Korean): 포항 냉수리 신라비CC BY-SA 4.0
The stele is a natural stone inscribed on three faces: the front, the back and the top. The front carries 12 lines with 152 characters, the back 7 lines with 59 characters and the top 5 lines with 20 characters, a total of 231 characters. Several readings of the text have been proposed, but nothing has changed greatly from the earliest readings.
InterpretationSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Korean): 포항 냉수리 신라비CC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Korean): 포항 냉수리 신라비CC BY-SA 4.0
According to the inscription, seven representatives of the six bu of Silla, King Jijeung among them, discussed the matter and recognised the acquisition of property by an individual named Jeolgeori of Jinimachon. After Jeolgeori’s death the property was to pass to his younger brother (or the brother’s son), and other parties concerned were forbidden to contest the inheritance. The content is significant as a rare record, not found in other historical sources, of a property dispute in the Silla period.
Research historySources for this section
- Wikipedia (Korean): 포항 냉수리 신라비CC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Korean): 포항 냉수리 신라비CC BY-SA 4.0
When it was found, the stele was the oldest surviving stele of the Silla period. It lost that position in September 2009, when the Pohang Jungseong-ri Silla Stele was discovered, which is thought to have been made in 501 or 441.
VisitingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Korean): 포항 냉수리 신라비CC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Korean): 포항 냉수리 신라비CC BY-SA 4.0
The stele is now located in the yard of the Singwang-myeon office, in Buk-gu, Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Korean): 포항 냉수리 신라비CC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Korean): 포항 냉수리 신라비CC BY-SA 4.0
A stele is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected as a monument. Its surface often carries text, ornament, or both, and steles were made as grave markers, as government notices and boundary markers, and as memorials to battles. In East Asia the inscribed stele was a major medium for recording history and law.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
East Asian steles and standing stones
A stele is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected as a monument. Its surface often carries text, ornament, or both, inscribed, carved in relief or painted, and steles were made for many reasons: as grave markers, as government notices and boundary markers, and as memorials to battles. In East Asia the inscribed stele was a major medium for recording history and law, and the Atlas records those that have survived as monuments in Korea, China and Taiwan.
The Gwanggaeto Stele in Ji'an, Jilin Province, China, is the best known. It is a memorial for the tomb of Gwanggaeto the Great of Goguryeo, erected in 414 by his son Jangsu, and is the largest engraved stele in the world. It is carved out of a single mass of granite, stands about 6.39 metres tall with a girth of nearly four metres, and has an inscription written exclusively in Classical Chinese. It is one of the major primary sources for the history of Goguryeo. The stele stands near the tomb on the Yalu River, in what was then the capital of the kingdom.
A stele with an inscription that names a reign is among the best-dated monuments in the Atlas. Uninscribed standing stones in Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia, which the Atlas also lists under this heading, cannot be dated closely.
When visiting, look at the inscription if there is one, and at the base that holds the stone.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Stele, Wikipedia: Gwanggaeto Stele, Wikipedia: Kofun period · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photographs
2 photographs, each with its author and licence
More photographs
Where it stands
South Korea
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 36°07′48″ N, 129°15′47″ EFor a GPS or map app: 36.12991, 129.26309
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
1 source behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q11282048wikidata.org
Image files
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "포항 냉수리 신라비" (Korean), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors
- Wikipedia (Korean): 포항 냉수리 신라비CC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q11282048CC0