Figurines from the Tomb
Under the Tang Empire, China helped the Silla state become rulers of the whole Korean peninsula (c. 668 AD). In return, the Chinese emperors expected the Silla kings to act as Chinese vassals. The politics of this were complex and contentious. One piece of the relationship was that some members of elite Korean families were taken to the Chinese capital of Chang'an and lived there as high-class hostages.
The epitaph, made of bluestone, consists of a square cover and base. The domed cover is adorned with incised cloud and floral motifs, with peonies carved on all four corners. At the center, an inscription in seal script reads: "Epitaph of the Late Lord Kim of the Great Tang." The main epitaph block features an incised grid containing 557 Chinese characters written in regular script.
According to the inscription, Kim Young was a Silla prince who served as a political hostage, or zhizi, in Tang China. He was born in the sixth year of the Tianbao reign (747) and died in 794 at the age of 48 in the Taipingli guest residence in Chang'an.
According to historical records, three generations of his family served as hostages in the Tang Dynasty and were granted official posts. Kim Young himself twice accompanied Tang envoys on diplomatic missions to Silla and participated in ceremonial duties, including mourning and investiture missions. His funeral was organized by Tang officials, with the magistrate of Chang'an county overseeing the arrangements. Both his burial site and coffin were bestowed by imperial decree, demonstrating the Tang court's favor and respect for him.
The inscription also mentions Kim's wife, which is important because otherwise we know next to nothing about that part of the hostage-host arrangement. Kim married into one of the top noble clans of Tang Dynasty China:
His wife was from the influential Wang clan of Taiyuan and the daughter of Wang Qianling, magistrate of Yanshi county. This suggests that hostage Silla princes stationed at the Tang court often married into elite Chinese families.
And how fascinating that in 668 AD a Korean could have the name "Kim Young."
1 comment:
And how fascinating that in 668 AD a Korean could have the name "Kim Young."
I'd probably render it a Kim Yeong myself, but eh.
As for the same name persisting for so long, we have the same thing in English - names like Harold, Edward, Alfred, Edgar, Chad, Audrey, Edith, etc, are still extremely common, despite dating to the Anglo-Saxon period.
Biblical names are even older and often even more common - Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Adam, Isaac, Jacob, Mary, Anna, etc.
The one distinction between those and "Kim Yeong" is that the Korean name has a surname, but that difference is only due to the fact that surnames weren't common in English until after the Norman invasion. But even then, English surnames which date just as far back as "Yeong" do exist in pretty good numbers, and are often extremely familiar to us - Astley, Bradley, Churchill, Davenport, Enfield, Fishbourne, Graham, Hamilton, etc.
The spellings have changed over time, naturally, but "Kim Yeong" is about as surprising to still be in use as "John Anderson" or some other common, generic English name.
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