Cheomseongdae › Susanoo » Ancient origins
Articles and Definitions › Contents
- Cheomseongdae › Ancient History
- Susanoo › Who Was
Ancient civilizations › Historical and archaeological sites
Cheomseongdae › Ancient History
Definition and Origins
Cheomseongdae (Chomsongdae) is a 7th-century CE observatory tower located in Gyeongju (Kyongju), the capital of the Silla Kingdom of ancient Korea. It is the oldest surviving astronomical observatory in East Asia and is listed as no. 31 on the official list of National Treasures of Korea.
GYEONGJU – CITY OF ARTS & SCIENCE
It is believed that the observatory tower, sometimes known as the Cheomseongdae Royal Observatory, was, according to the 13th-century CE Samguk yusa text, built in the early years of the reign of Queen Seondeok (632-647 CE), who reigned just before the Silla kingdom would reach the height of its prosperity and go on to control all of the Korean peninsula in 668 CE.The capital at Gyeongju became a centre of culture, arts, and science with a particular flourishing in mathematics, astronomy, and astrology. It is likely that the Cheomseongdae tower was the centrepiece of an entire scientific district, such was the importance given to the effect of celestial bodies on human affairs in Korean culture. The name Cheomseongdae may be translated as the 'reverently regarding the stars platform.'
DESIGN & FUNCTION
The granite observatory tower is constructed in the shape of a bottle. Nine metres (29 ft) tall, it was made using 362-5 (scholars cannot agree on the exact number) large stone rectangular blocks set in a circular arrangement of 27 courses.These numbers are significant according to some historians. The number of blocks symbolises the days of the year and Queen Seondeok was the 27th monarch of the Silla kingdom. Further, the small square window of the tower is so positioned that there are 12 layers of bricks above and below it, representing the calendar months. The tower stands on a square base constructed using a single course of bricks. The tower narrows as it rises and is topped by a square platform made from eight long blocks, two on each side. The overall design is thus thought to encapsulate the traditional Chinese worldview of the 'round-heaven, square-earth.'
THE TOWER ACTED LIKE THE GNOMON OF A SUNDIAL. IT ALSO HAS A SOUTH-FACING WINDOW WHICH CAPTURES THE SUN'S RAYS ON THE SPRING & AUTUMN EQUINOXES.
The tower acted like the gnomon of a sundial. It also has a south-facing window which captures the sun's rays on the interior floor on the spring and autumn equinoxes. Originally there may also have been an armillary sphere (model of celestial bodies) on top of the tower. Astronomy and astrology were an important part of everyday life in ancient Korea, governing such activities as agriculture and giving divine authority to the actions of the sovereign. The science of observation was also highly developed and Silla scientists produced detailed star charts, no doubt, using such observatories as Cheomseongdae.
ALTERNATIVE THEORIES
More controversial theories as to the purpose of the tower are that it was designed to imitate the holy Buddhist mountain Mt.Sumeru and was a site of worship and prayers of the state religion at that time. Another theory is that the tower was built in honour of the Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar ( Inanna ), who was associated with the heavens and who may have been worshipped by Queen Seondeok. Still another suggestion is that the tower represents the female form and was, therefore, a temple dedicated to worship of the queen, the first female ruler in the history of the Silla kingdom. Lacking any convincing evidence to support such propositions, however, the scholarly consensus remains that the tower was, in fact, an observatory.
This article was made possible with generous support from the British Korean Society.
Susanoo › Who Was
Definition and Origins
Take-haya- Susa -no-wo or Susanoo is the storm god of the Shinto religion. Younger brother of the sun goddess Amaterasu, he is infamous for his mischievous and sometimes destructive behaviour and therefore has a reputation as being something of a trickster. He is also associated with the wind and the sea and in more recent times has become associated with love and marriage.
SUSANOO - A TROUBLESOME CHILD
The god was born when his father Izanagi washed his nose in the river Woto whilst performing ritual cleansing rites following his experience in the underworld. Initially, Susanoo ruled the Takama no Hara (High Celestial Plain) with his sister Amaterasu but from the very beginning, Susanoo caused trouble by destroying forests and mountains and killing local inhabitants down on earth. For this reason he was banished from heaven.
SUSANOO CAUSED TROUBLE BY DESTROYING FORESTS & MOUNTAINS & KILLING LOCAL INHABITANTS DOWN ON EARTH & SO WAS BANISHED FROM HEAVEN.
Giving a last farewell to his sister, the storm god once again caused great destruction on his way to the palace of the sun and even the very mountains trembled in his wake. At this, Amaterasu was convinced her brother was up to no good but when challenged, Susanoo claimed he merely wanted to say goodbye and to prove his good intentions he said that if he could miraculously bring into the world five new deities and they turned out to be male, it would prove his honesty. Susanoo then took the 500-jewel necklace of his sister, ate them and spat them out as a mist from which five male deities were born. These new gods or kami, along with three female gods produced when Amaterasu performed a similar feat by eating Susanoo's sword and spitting out three deities, became the ancestors of the Japanese nobility.
CAUSING THE EXILE OF AMATERASU
Full of exuberant joy at having won his challenge with his sister, Susanoo went on another wild rampage in celebration. Once again, trees were destroyed and so too many rice-fields. Then, to add insult to injury, in a rather tasteless joke Susanoo flayed a divine horse and threw it through the roof of the palace where Amaterasu was quietly weaving. Furious at her brother's outrageous behaviour, the sun goddess shut herself in a cave and only came out again after much palaver and enticements from the other gods. Susanoo, perhaps not unjustly, was immediately exiled from heaven. In some accounts Susanoo took up residence with his mother Izanami in Yomi, the underworld, in other versions he rules the realm of the seas.
Amaterasu
SUSANNO & THE EIGHT-HEADED DRAGON
Descending to the earthly realm, Susanoo landed at Tori-kami in the province of Izumo and whilst wandering along the river Hi, the god was arrested by the sound of weeping. Investigating further, Susanoo found three pitiful figures - an old man and woman and their beautiful young daughter - all sobbing uncontrollably and absolutely terrified by something. On enquiry, they told the god that their distress was caused by a gigantic serpent (known as Yamato-no-Orochi or the Koshi) which came to terrorize the region every year and every visit ate one of the aged couple's daughters.
Now the distressed parents were down to their last daughter, Kusha-nada-hime. Susanoo struck a bargain with them that if he killed the monster he could marry the beautiful girl. Agreeing to this, the parents followed the god's instructions and placed eight cups filled with extra strong sake at each of the doorways of their house. After a while, the monstrous serpent duly arrived with fire spitting from each of his eight heads. When the fearsome creature smelt the sake, it could not resist and each head drank from one of the cups. Consequently, the serpent collapsed completely drunk and Susanoo nonchalantly stepped out from his hiding place and lopped off each of the serpent's heads with his sword. Then opening the creature's belly, Susanoo discovered the special sword, the Kusanagi or 'grass-cutter' (in other versions of the story he extracts it from the serpent's tail). This sword, he presented to his sister, no doubt by way of apology for his earlier misdeeds. The sword was then given by Amaterasu to her grandson Ninigi who was the first ancestor of the Japanese imperial family and it became a part of the imperial regalia, preserved in the temple of Atsuta near Nagoya.
Susanoo & the Koshi Dragon
SUSANOO'S GIFTS TO HUMANITY
Despite his reputation as a bit of a bad boy amongst the Shinto gods, Susanoo is credited with giving certain cultural gifts to mankind, including agriculture. He is also credited with founding the ruling dynasty in Izumo, through his son-in-law Oho-kuni-nushi. It is also the location of a major Shinto shrine which is dedicated to the god. In Japanese art, Susanoo is most often depicted with wild hair blowing in the winds, wielding a sword and fighting the eight-headed monster Yamato-no-Orochi.
LICENSE:
Article based on information obtained from these sources:with permission from the Website Ancient History Encyclopedia
Content is available under License Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported. CC-BY-NC-SA License