Overview
The founding of Gojoseon is a founding tradition contained in the Dangun myth, which runs from Hwanin to Hwanung to Dangun. According to the myth, Dangun Wanggeom established his capital in Pyongyang Castle and named the state "Joseon." The founding year of 2333 BCE, widely used today, does not come from contemporary records but was compiled by histories written thousands of years later. This article explains the content of the tradition, the process by which the date was created, and the interpretations of academic historians.
The years and locations in this article are symbolic values based on myth and tradition. The map marker is placed at Pyongyang, which the myth gives as the capital, but the theory that the central area of early Gojoseon lay in the Liaodong region is the more plausible one (see "Debate on the Central Region" below).
Content of the Tradition
The oldest record is the entry "Gojoseon (Wanggeom Joseon)" in Volume 1 of the Samguk Yusa (Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms), compiled around 1281 by the Goryeo-period monk Iryeon. Iryeon cited the Weishu (Book of Wei) and the Gogi (Old Records), neither of which survives today. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture divides this story into seven parts, which can be summarized as follows.
- Hwanung, son of Hwanin, the king of heaven, wished to rule the human world, and Hwanin gave him three Heavenly Seals and sent him down.
- Hwanung led three thousand followers down to the divine tree (Sindansu) atop Mount Taebaek, called the place Sinsi (Divine City), and, with Pungbaek, Useo, and Unsa as attendants, governed more than 360 human affairs such as grain, lifespan, disease, punishment, and good and evil.
- When a bear and a tiger prayed to become human, Hwanung gave them mugwort and garlic and told them not to see sunlight. The bear kept this and became a woman (Ungnyeo), while the tiger could not endure it.
- Dangun Wanggeom was born between Ungnyeo and Hwanung.
- Dangun Wanggeom established his capital at Pyongyang Castle and first called the state "Joseon." Later he moved the capital to Asadal at Mount Baek and ruled the country for 1,500 years.
- When King Wu of Zhou enfeoffed Gija in Joseon, Dangun moved to Jangdang-gyeong; he later returned to Asadal, hid, and became a mountain spirit. He is said to have lived 1,908 years.
The Jewang Ungi (1287) of Yi Seung-hyu also contains a record of Dangun, but its content differs: instead of a bear, a granddaughter of Hwanung took medicine and became human, then married Dansu-sin and bore Dangun. The geography section of the Sejong Sillok of early Joseon followed the Jewang Ungi version on this point.
The Year 2333 BCE
Notation in the Samguk Yusa
The Weishu cited in the Samguk Yusa says only that "2,000 years ago, there was Dangun Wanggeom," while the Gogi records that Dangun established his capital at Pyongyang in "the 50th year of the reign of Tanggao (King Yao), the year gyeongin." However, Iryeon himself noted in a commentary that if the first year of King Yao's reign was the year musin, then the 50th year would be the year jeongsa, not gyeongin, and he left this as a question. In other words, even the oldest record did not fix the date.
The Compilation in the Dongguk Tonggam
The Dongguk Tonggam, an official history completed in 1485 during the reign of King Seongjong of Joseon, organized the account so that Dangun founded the state in the year musin of King Yao's era. Converting this musin year into the Western calendar gives 2333 BCE, and this year subsequently came to be used as the standard. Immediately after the establishment of the Republic of Korea government, the Dangun era (Dangi), which counted from this as year one, was also used as an official era name (1948–1961).
How to Understand the Date
The year 2333 BCE is therefore understood as a date that reflects the later historical consciousness of emphasizing "a long history equal to China's": the perception that the state was founded at the same time as King Yao, a legendary sage king of China. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture entry "Gojoseon" also evaluates the founding year in the Samguk Yusa as showing the historical consciousness of each era rather than Gojoseon itself. The entry "Dangungogi" points out that this date does not match the point at which the Bronze Age, necessary for the formation of a state, began. Bronze culture in the Korean Peninsula and Liaodong generally became full-fledged after the latter half of the second millennium BCE, and Gojoseon first appears in written records in the Chinese text Guanzi, which relates events from around the 7th century BCE.
Interpretations in Academia
Meaning as Myth
Scholars regard the Dangun myth not as a direct record of historical fact but as a founding myth in which the ruling group of Gojoseon explained its origins and the legitimacy of its rule. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture entry "Gojoseon" interprets it as a kind of "bonpuri" that reveals the origins of the Gojoseon royal house, and explains that it was a political ideology that located the king's authority in a heavenly bloodline and a device for social integration through collective ritual.
Interpretation of Mythic Elements
- Union of heavenly and indigenous groups: Some view the marriage of Hwanung, who descended from heaven, and Ungnyeo, who had transformed from a bear, as a union between a migrating group that worshipped heavenly gods and an indigenous group that worshipped the bear.
- Unity of religion and government: Interpreting "Dangun" as a shaman priest (jeju) and "Wanggeom" as a political chief, scholars read it as referring to a ruler of a society in which ritual and politics were combined.
- Reflection of an agrarian society: The passage in which Pungbaek, Useo, and Unsa govern wind, rain, and clouds is seen as showing a society that valued farming.
- Later embellishment: Some scholars argued that the myth was a late Goryeo creation because of Buddhist expressions, such as a commentary that interprets Hwanin as the Buddhist Indra (Jeseok). However, the prevailing view is that later expressions were added as an orally transmitted myth was fixed in writing.
Debate on the Central Region
Since the Silhak scholars of the late Joseon period, three theories have been proposed regarding the central region of Gojoseon.
- Daedong River central theory (Pyongyang-centered theory): The view that the Pyongyang area was the center from the beginning.
- Liaoning central theory (Liaoning-centered theory): The view that the Liao River basin was the center. It was the established view in North Korean academia but changed after 1993.
- Theory of shifting center: The view that the center was initially in Liaodong and moved to Pyongyang around the 3rd century BCE, when it was attacked by Yan. The entry "Gojoseon" in the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture follows this theory.
In 1993, North Korea announced that it had excavated the "Tomb of Dangun" in Gangdong County, Pyongyang, and gave the date of the excavated human remains as 3011 BCE. However, South Korean academia regards it as a tomb of the Goguryeo period, based on its structure (a stone chamber tomb with a corbelled ceiling) and artifacts such as gilt-bronze crowns.
Connection with Archaeology
The culture of Gojoseon is often discussed in connection with the distribution of bipyeonghyeong bronze daggers and table-type dolmens. However, the distribution of artifacts does not necessarily indicate a single state territory, so the range of interpretation varies considerably among researchers.
Influence and Significance
Dangun began to be recognized as the common ancestor of the people during the period of Mongol invasions in the late Goryeo period, and in the reign of King Sejong of Joseon a shrine to Dangun was built in Pyongyang and made an object of state rites. After modern times, he became a symbol of national identity, and October 3 was designated as a national holiday, Gaecheonjeol. Afterwards, Gojoseon passed through the stage of Wiman Joseon and was destroyed by the Han dynasty's invasion in 108 BCE.
Alternative Views and Disputes
- Founding year: Records differ in their notation, such as the Gogi in the Samguk Yusa (the 50th year of Yao's reign, year gyeongin), the Jewang Ungi (the same year musin as Yao), and the Dongguk Tonggam (the year musin in Yao's era). Daejonggyo calculates separately the year in which Hwanung opened heaven as 2457 BCE.
- During the Japanese colonial period, Japanese scholars claimed that the Dangun records were later fabrications, a claim criticized as coming from the context of colonial historiography that sought to deny the origins of Korean history.
References