King Suro of Gaya (r. 42-199) was the legendary founder of the state of Geumgwan Gaya in southeastern Korea. His name is sometimes also given as Sureung (수릉/首陵). According to the foundation legend of Geumgwan Gaya, King Suro was one of six princes who were borne from eggs that descended from the sky in a golden box. This legend is recounted in the 11th century chronicle Garakguk-gi (가락국기/駕洛國記), reproduced at the end of volume 2 in the Samguk Sagi. According to the tale, Suro was the leader among the princes, who went off to found the other states of Gaya. This presumably reflects the leadership role which Geumgwan Gaya long played in the Gaya confederacy. Hangul is the native alphabet used to write the Korean language (as opposed to the Hanja system borrowed from China). ... Hanja (lit. ... The Revised Romanization of Korean is the official Korean language romanization system in South Korea. ... McCune-Reischauer is one of the two most widely used Korean language romanization systems, along with the Revised Romanization of Korean, which replaced McCune-Reischauer as the official romanization system in South Korea in 2000. ... Events Romans take control of Ceuta. ... Events Pope Zephyrinus succeeds Pope Victor I Geodeung succeeds Suro as king of the Korean kingdom of Gaya. ... Geumgwan Gaya, also known as Bongaya (본가야, 本伽倻) (meaning the original Gaya) was a major chiefdom of the Gaya confederacy. ... Korea (occasionally spelled Corea) is a formerly unified country, situated on the Korean Peninsula in northern East Asia, bordering on China to the west and Russia to the north. ... (10th century - 11th century - 12th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 11th century was that century which lasted from 1001 to 1100. ... Samguk Sagi (Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms) is a historical record of the Three Kingdoms of Korea: Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla. ... This article is about the Gaya confederacy of ancient Korea. ...

Also according to legend, King Suro's queen Heo Hwang-ok was a princess from the Indian country of Ayuta (아유타/阿踰陀). She is said to have arrived in Gaya by boat in the year 48. They had ten sons in all, two of whom took the mother's family name. Ayuta is today often identified with Ayodhya in India, and the tale has gained modern significance in the light of the modern-day relations between Korea and India [1] (http://www.hinduunity.org/articles/politics/koreaseeksties.html) [2] (http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1205728.stm). An Indian princess from the ancient Indian kingdom of Ayodhya or Ayuta. ... For other uses, see number 48. ... Ayodhya (अयोध्या) is an ancient city of India, the old capital of Awadh, in the Faizabad district of Uttar Pradesh. ...

Whether King Suro actually existed is an open question. Certainly few historians today would take the claim that he ruled for more than 150 years at face value, any more than they would accept the traditional account of his birth. The legend as a whole is seen as indicative of the early view of kings as descended from heaven; notably, the founder of Goguryeo was also born from an egg. Aspects of the legend have been mined for information about the customs of Gaya, of which little is known. For example, Lee (1984, p. 7) cites the legend of his being raised to the kingship as one among various "embellished accounts of ... selecting a tribal leader." Kwon (2003) analyzes the tale of Queen Heo to gain information about the types of clothing worn at the time.

A tomb attributed to King Suro is still maintained in modern-day Gimhae. Members of the Gimhae Kim clan, who continue to play important roles in Korean life today, trace their ancestry to King Suro. So do members of the Gimhae Heo clan. Gimhae, also commonly referred to as Kimhae, is a city in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. ... Kim is the most common family name in Korea. ...

References

Kwon, J.-h. (2003). 가야인의 삶과문화. (Gayain-ui salm-gwa munhwa/Life and culture of the Gaya people). Seoul: Hyean. ISBN 89-8494-221-9

Lee, K.-b. (1984). A new history of Korea. Tr. by E.W. Wagner & E.J. Schulz, based on the Korean rev. ed. of 1979. Seoul: Ilchogak. ISBN 89-337-0204-0

See also

• History of Korea
• List of Korea-related topics
• Rulers of Korea
• Three Kingdoms of Korea

This article is about the history of Korea. ... This is a list of Wikipedia articles on Korea-related people, places, things, and concepts. ... Korea has been ruled by a number of kingdoms/empires and republics over the last several millennia. ... The Three Kingdoms of Korea were Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla, which dominated the Korean peninsula and parts of Manchuria for much of the 1st millennium CE. The Three Kingdoms period in Korea is usually considered to run from the 4th century CE until Sillas triumph over Goguryeo in 668. ...

Korea has been ruled by a number of kingdoms/empires and republics over the last several millennia. ...