신라 ‘党項城’의 연혁과 善德王代 羅唐關係

Abstract

Silla’s Tanghang Castle(Tanghang sŏng ; 党項城) was a gateway to the Tang Dynasty and bridgehead of diplomatic and cultural exchange between Silla and Tang. Originally, the name of the castle had been written as Tanghang Castle(Tanghang sŏng ; 唐項城). in Chinese characters, meaning a “castle on the road to Tang.” Silla organized Namyang region into Tangsŏng county(唐城郡), with Tanghang Castle as the capital city of the county. The name of the county, Tangsŏng(唐城), came from the Tanghang Castle, omitting the word “hang(項)” from Tanghang Castle(唐項城). Later, Silla changed Chinese characters of the name from Tanghang sŏng(唐項城) to Tanghang sŏng(党項城) in the second year of King Sŏndŏk(善德王). The new Chinese characters for the castle, Tanghang(党項), referred to Tangut(党項), an ethnic group in the west frontier of the Tang Dynasty. Silla’s intention to change the name was to congratulate the Emperor of Tang on Tangut’s submission to his rule. It was a desperate diplomatic measure of King Sŏndŏk, who was embroiled in controversy about her legitimacy of succession because of her gender; the king attempted to conciliate Emperor Taizong(太宗), who had boycotted installation of King Sŏndŏk, and ultimately pacify the opposition in the political sphere of Silla. During the period of the unification war in the 7th century, Tanghang Castle consistently played a critical role as a gateway to the Tang Dynasty from Silla. Yet after the end of the war, Silla reorganized the system of regional governments on a nationwide scale during the reign of King Sinmun(神文王). In this process, the capital city of Tangsŏng county transferred to flatland, and evidently Tanghang Castle lost its status as a capital city, and role as a gateway to the Tang Dynasty.