Tomb of King Beopheung, Gyeongju

About this place

This is believed to be the tomb of Beopheung, the 23rd king of Silla (r. 514–540), who completed the transformation of Silla into a centrally governed ancient state. To strengthen royal authority, he established the Sangdaedeung (prime minister) and the Ministry of Military Affairs, and promulgated a code of law in 520. In 532 he absorbed the Geumgwan Gaya confederacy, extending Silla's reach to the Nakdong River basin for the first time. He was the first Silla king to adopt an independent era name — Geonwon — and dispatched envoys to the Chinese Liang dynasty. In 527, following the martyrdom of Ichadon, he adopted Buddhism as the state religion, providing the ideological foundation of the ancient state. The mound stands 2 m high and 14 m in diameter — comparatively small for a Silla royal tomb. Royal tombs before Beopheung are concentrated in the flat burial grounds of Gyeongju and difficult to identify; those after him are situated on hillsides or in the outskirts in small clusters of two or three, with recorded locations. This shift in burial practice begins with the Tomb of King Beopheung and is of great historical significance.