▲This photo, provided by Gyeongju National Museum, shows the display of the knives. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

 

▲This photo, provided by Gyeongju National Museum, shows  knives. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

 

 

SEOUL, August 19 (Yonhap) -- Among the relics excavated from an ancient Silla tomb Geumgwanchong in Gyeongju, swords with words “King Isaji” engraved on are gathering at one place.

The National Museum of Gyeongju announced that it will display three large swords engraved with characters such as “King Isaji” in the second room of the Silla History Gallery, where a large number of golden relics showing the culture of Silla are displayed beginning Friday.

Geumgwanchong, where Silla glod crown was first found in Korea, was discovered by chance during a house construction in 1921. Among relics excavated from the tombs in 2013 and 2015, relics with inscriptions “King Isaji” and “Isajiwangdo” respectively were confirmed.

Two artifacts were exhibited at the National Museum of Korea and one at the Gyeongju National Museum. But the relics at the National Museum of Korea moved to Gyeongju so that they can be seen along with the major excavated artifacts of the Geumgwanchong.

Geumgwanchong, presumed to be a royal tomb, is a representative tomb of Silla.

Excavating a sword engraved with the word 'King Isaji' from Geumgwanchon is historically significant in that the owner of the tomb can be inferred, considering that many Silla tombs can not verify who the owner is.

King Isajji is presumed to be one of the kings of Silla sanggogi appearing in the Samguk sagi and Samguk Yusa, but who exactly he is unknown.

Gyeongju National Museum official explained, "It is not known for sure who King Isajji is, but based on the sword, it can be predicted that he is the king of Silla, who died 500 years ago or one of the highest-ranking royalty."

The museum explained that the sword engraved with 'King Isaji' also has great academic significance as the oldest relic with the name of the Silla king engraved on it.

It is known that the name of the king of Silla written on Sillabi Monument in Naengsu-ri, Pohang (estimated in 503) is the oldest, but 'King Isajji' is presumed to be older.

(This article is translated from Korean to English by Jiwon Woo.)

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