봉선대전(封禪大典), 그 기념물로서의 진흥왕 ‘순수비’

King Jinheung’s ‘travelling monuments’ and the Fengshan sacrifice

There has not been any doubt that the four ‘travelling monuments’(巡狩碑) of King Jinheung(眞興王) of the Silla kingdom were to erected to confirm his sovereignty over the newly conquered people and territory and to gather the wholehearted support of the people by praising and rewarding persons who has done distinguished service to the kingdom. But such a opinion are completely denied by the locations of the monuments. Three of the four monuments are located in each high and dangerous mountaintop. That means the monuments have no readers! It has no doubt that any king cannot gather the support of the people or praise and reward a medal for merit on such a mountaintop. However, the monuments definitely have each reader. Who are their readers? They are Heaven(天神) and Earth(地祇). Mt. Bukhansanbi(北漢山碑), one of the three monuments have records that the kingdom and its king are well reigned by the thanks of Heaven and Earth. The king who helped by Heaven and Earth should reward them in turn. Therefore, the monuments that contain such records were erected to praise Heaven and Earth. And we can see they are the monuments for the celebration of the Fengshan(封禪) sacrifice, which was begun by the First Emperor(Qin Shihuangdi. 秦始皇帝) of the Qin dynasty right after his unification of China.