The Possible Interpretation of a Mural in a Sixth Century Koguryo Tumulus as an AD 555 Solar Eclipse Record

摘要

Large numbers of tumuli are a feature of the Koguryo Kingdom (37 BC to AD 668), one of the Three Kingdoms in ancient Korea, and their interiors contain an extremely diverse range of murals. Quite a number of these murals include astronomical motifs, including the stars, the Sun and the Moon. The No. 5 Tomb in the Five Tombs group is thought to date to the sixth century AD, and this contains a mural with an unusual figure of the Sun partially shielded by the legs and tail of a strange flying animal. In this paper we suggest that this tomb was associated with King Yangweon who died in ad 558, and that this distinctive mural depicts a partial solar eclipse that was visible in this region on 6 February 555 and acted as a warning of his forthcoming death.