고대 신라 서방 유물에 관한 연구

Abstract

The main purpose of this article is to note ancient Shinla relics excavated from the great royal tombs in Kyeongju area, viz Gold-filigreed Sword, Inlaid Glass Beads, and Roman Glass, all imported from the West including Rome, and to suggest how these foreign relics could have been introduced to ancient Shinla. I show that the transmission routes for the above relics proposed in the existing studies are not convincing from the historical and geological point of view. It has been a common view that those relics were imported to Kyeongju area through international trade from the North via Silkroad. It has also been claimed by some that the relics were produced within ancient Shinla. However, considering the fact that ancient Shinla located in the remote southeastern part of the Korean peninsula was the weakest in power and tardiest in culture among the then kingdoms, the very rarity that the relics of the above kind can be found only in Shinla but not in any other neighboring countries and those along the Silkroad strongly suggests that they were directly conveyed by a particular group of mediators. This paper claims that the mediating role was played by the Huns, European Xiongnu, on the basis of historical background and ethnic and cultural affinities between ancient Shinla and the Huns. When the original Xiongnu moved to the West to become the Huns, part of them also came down to Shinla; the Huns returned to the East after their empire in Europe was destroyed and then moved down to Kyeongju area. Consequently, this immigration hypothesis can naturally explain the introduction of the Western relics in question as well as the temporary lasting of gold culture including gold crowns.