The Shrine Theory of the Sin-gung Palace of Silla Cheomseongdae and the Empirical Myth of the Total Solar Eclipse in the Tale of Yeonorang-Seonyeo

This article is a new study on two subjects related to astronomy in the history of Silla, Cheomseongdae and the myth of the sun and moon, through an integrated methodology of the triangular intersection of astronomy, mythology, and ritual. When cross-analyzing the records of eclipses and mythology, it was analyzed that the tale of Yeonorang-Seonyeo from the reign of King Adalla in the 2nd century was not a simple fiction, but a narrative that was passed down for a thousand years in the Samguk Yusa, as a myth of the restoration of the light of the sun and moon, based on the amazing experience of the first total solar eclipse (158.7.13) that occurred in the capital of Silla. In short, the tale of Yeonorang-Seonyeo was viewed as a new site where astronomy and mythology meet, based on the empirical mythology of the first total solar eclipse. Next, a new interpretation is presented that Cheomseongdae, known as the Silla astronomical observatory, was actually the ceremonial site of Shingung ritual, the highest state ritual and coronation ceremony of Silla for the latter half of the 450 years (487-935). The first clue is the expression ‘Shingungwon’ (843.7), which indicates that the Shingung, the palace of the gods, was installed in a wide plain space. If this is connected to the fact that the location of the Shingung founded in the 9th year of King Soji’s reign (487.2) is recorded as ‘Naeul’, the birthplace of the founder, it is based on the landscape condition that Cheomseongdae, towering over the wide fields of Primeval forest (present-day Gyerim), is the most suitable. Next, in the <Monument to the Tomb of King Munmu> (682), the foundation myth of the ‘15th ancestor Seonghanwang’ who lived in the sky palace and came down to the Land of the Immortals to establish the country of Silla is recorded. If the 15th ancestor is calculated using the ‘simple royal lineage generation method,’ he is identified as the first Kim king, Michuwang. He is repeatedly recorded as ‘Taejo Hanwang’ in the <Kim Inmun Stele> (694) and ‘Taejo Seonghan’ in the <King Heungdeok Stele> (836), indicating that the first ancestor of the Kim family, Michuwang, was the lord Taejo and the king of the Milky Way in the sky, Seonghanwang. Through this, the reason it was uniquely named Singung, meaning the palace of the gods, is interpreted as the establishment of the second foundation myth of Michuwang, the king of the Milky Way, which is different from the foundation myth of Hyeokgeose, and it is analyzed that the motif of the myth of the descent that the Milky Way flows down to the sky well on earth was realized in the well-shaped Cheomseongdae structure. This story is not a Confucian-style shrine ritual, but a Silla-style heavenly ritual in the palace format, a type of myth that combines Taoism and astronomy, and it was considered to be a national ritual of New Year's washing to report the king's enthronement to the god of Seonghan.