The Place of Hwarang

Among the Special Military Corps

of Antiquity

Maurizio Riotto
Universit degli studi di Napoli LOrientale

The Journal of Northeast Asian History

Volume 9 Number 2 (Winter 2012), 99-155

Copyright 2012 by the Northeast Asian History Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
No portion of the contents may be reproduced in any form without
written permission of the Northeast Asian History Foundation.
The Place of Hwarang Among the Special Military
Corps of Antiquity

Despite having represented a noble flag of Korean nationalism in the course of

the twentieth century, Hwarang may actually have been a para-religious order
composed of bands of commoners or even low-born subjects acting under the
command of aristocratic leaders. Since their origin, Hwarang were related to the
ethnic, religious, and socio-political nature of Silla. There is no reason for doubting
that they also were engaged in military operations, even if, almost surely, this was
not their only and unique task. Some religious/military aspects of Hwarang make
them similar to other special corps of antiquity. This structuralism-oriented paper
tries to individuate both common and different elements shared by Hwarang with
other special organizations that flourished in ancient times, with particular
reference to sacredness and sexual ambiguity. In this regard, the author emphasizes
the character of the sacredness/alienation relationship traceable in western special
corps and, possibly, within Hwarang, too.

Keywords: Hwarang, special corps of antiquity, sexual ambiguity, sacredness,

Silla society
 The Place of Hwarang
Among the Special Military Corps
of Antiquity

Maurizio Riotto
Universit degli studi di Napoli LOrientale

Prologue: The Naked Ape

According to todays most widely followed biological classification,

man is a mammal of the order of the primates. A naked ape,
paraphrasing the famous book of Desmond Morris (Morris, 1967), in
which he explains, apart from the differences that have intervened in the
external aspect, human beings still carry the heritage of their origins.
After all, in the past decades French Structuralism, beginning from
Claude Levi-Strauss and Henri Laborit, has insisted on the importance of
the most primitive part of the human brain (the so-called reptile brain;
Laborit, 1971) and its reactions in front of the superstructures imposed
by the cultural experiences.
Therefore, if man is a primate, beginning from the way of reporting
him with the counterpart inside the same group, there will inevitably be
behavioral resemblances with the biological relatives more similar to
him. Among such behaviors is also the one that most interests us in this
study: the creation, from a supreme authority, of special military corps
trusted with the defense of the sovereign and the whole group (in the
specific case of humans, the people, and the nation) and, in a more

101
general way, the existence inside the same ethnic and/or social entity, of
individuals, united by a same cultural condition, gathered to form
special corps separated from the rest of community. If we observe well,
this deals with phenomena that already blink in the behavioral patterns of
the so-called social animals, including, obviously, the primates.
The social structure of the primates (and not solely the primates)
shows the presence of a dominant male, that checks a harem of females
and a number of males which are not allowed to mate, so that they live
more or less on the borders of the community waiting to constitute an
autonomous group or replacing themselves with the leader in the moment
when this is about to accuse the effects of the inexorable law of the time.
Therefore, the condition of the unmated samples is particular: they
belong to the group and yet theirs is a status of social precariousness.
They are male but they cannot practice their masculinity. Transported in
the human sphere, theirs is almost a caste of untouchables, a
condition of sacredness intended as social alienation. At the same time,
theirs is a condition of sexual ambiguity, unable as they are to mate.
Moreover, they are forced to live an existence in which the only social
counterpart is represented by similar samples, within the limits of the
same caste or group. Mutatis mutandis, it is what in the humans world
is called comradeship or camaraderie.
In other words, we are in front of sacredness and sexual ambiguity.
These are elements that we can find in many ancient and less ancient
military organizations. The creation of special military corps, in fact,
often represented in every part of the world at an attempt from the central
power to organize, to frame (and then to control), and to give a social
meaning to all young people that, as the unmarried Primates, were
excluded from the power. These lite corps were at once blessed and
accursed. Members of such organizations were considered sacred, and
they often referred themselves and made sacrifices to precise divinities.
At the same time their inevitable comradeship made them sexually
ambiguous and, rightly or wrongly, targets of insinuations of sexual

102
character. Not by chance, among the accusations to the Knights Templar
(a sacred order for excellence), during the trial that brought their
annihilation, sodomy had a great importance.
For the sake of convenience, I have divided the ancient military
corps into structures of type I and type II, intending in the first case
organizations that are tightly related, from the ethnic-cultural point of
view, to the people and the nation for which they worked. This concerns
the most archaic organizations that, at least conceptually, were different
from those of type II, where the organizations themselves set aside the
ethnicity of their components that instead were united only and
exclusively from a political idea or from superior religious beliefs. To
offer a practical example, the corps of the so-called Immortals of the
Achaemenid Empire was of type I (the members were to be Medians or
Persians), whereas the Praetorians of the Roman Empire represented an
organization of type II, hailing as they did from various regions and
provinces.
This study, mainly conducted through a structuralism-related
perspective, represents an attempt to add the Hwarang () of the Silla
() period in Korean history among the special military corps of
antiquity (of type I?) with particular reference to the sexual sphere and
sacredness. On the basis of what I have affirmed above, I believe there
are constant and characteristic elements verifiable in various military
organizations of ancient times. I will first treat the cultural motives that
could have produced the sacredness and the ambiguity, at least in those
military corps that may be placed in well-defined (and, as far as possible,
also documented) historical contexts and periods. I will then describe
examples of such military corps, not refraining from also treating
Amazonism, which, here considered a special military corps, will also
represent an important element in the economy of the discourse on
Hwarang. Finally, I will try to analyze the nature of the same corps of the
Hwarang with the purpose to insert it into a broader cultural context
within a so far neglected comparative approach. In this regard, I will

103
offer evidence, together with the Hwarangs peculiarities, and also the
elements in common with military organizations in other cultures and in
other epochs. I must state here that in my analysis of the sources on
Hwarang I will not take into consideration the text Hwarang segi (
, Chronicles of Hwarang), the presumed work of Kim Dae-mun (
) which miraculously reappeared in 1989 after centuries during which
it had been considered lost. There is a fierce academic debate regarding
this texts authenticity1 in a cultural context such as the East Asian one
where the creation of historical forgeries would not represent an absolute
novelty.

Homo Sacer

The creation of a special military corps implies the separation between it

and the rest of the community, especially in periods and historical
contexts where military activity concerned, as a rule, all free citizens.
The idea of separation from the human community implies the approach
of the excluded people to the divinity. In other words, it implies to make
them sacred. The concept of sacred, therefore, takes an ambiguous
nature: to separate one from the community of the living people, in fact,
means to make him belong to the world of the dead. As a matter of fact,
the ambivalence of the sacredness actually springs from the experience
of the spiritualization of the dead persons connected with the very
funerary cults. Sacred means separated: who is sacred does not
belong to the community of the men, but to another dimension, much
more ineffable and mysterious. The opposite of sacred is profane,
from the Latin pro (before) and fanum (temple; hence the word

1
Against the authenticity of Hwarang segi are, among others, McBride (2005, pp. 236-48), No
Tae-don (1997), and Bak Jae-min (p. 216ff.). On the contrary, the authenticity of the manuscript
is not excluded by among others Yi Hui-jin (2010, p. 263ff.) and Yi Jong-uk (2010, pp. 9-14). On
the two extant manuscripts of Hwarang segi in particular see McBride (2008).

104
fanatical). Therefore, profane is one who is out of the temple, or
rather out of the sacred dimension, as sacred and profane are
dimensions typical to humans. In the ancient Greek world the naos
() was the cell of the temple where the statue of the divinity was
placed, the most sacred space where only the priest could enter. This
space was preceded by the pronaos (), an area free from
sacredness more or less corresponding to the Latin profanus. Still today,
in the Greek-orthodox churches, the sacred zone of the altar, also called
presbytery, is separated from the zone reserved for the believers from
an architectural element called iconostasis ().
To be declared sacer in ancient Rome meant to be condemned to
the civil death (Cantarella, 2007, pp. 242-6). Whoever was found guilty
of a particularly serious crime (such as violation of the confinements,
violence towards ones parents, or deception perpetrated inside the
relationship between patrons and clientes) was consecrated to the
gods by the formula sacer esto! (Be him sacred!). After all, the term
sacrificium means to make sacred. A man that had been declared
sacred was excluded by the community and could be killed by anyone:
this killing, offered to the gods infernal, was not in fact considered a
homicide. The negativity of the term sacer, compared to a formula of
accurse, also emerges unequivocally in Latin literature: Quid non
mortalia pectora cogis, auri sacra fames! (To what crimes you drive the
hearts of men, accursed hunger for gold!) (Virgil, Aeneid, III, pp. 56-7).
In a more general context, Durkheims definition is acceptable
(Durkheim, 1968, p. 454), for which the sphere of the sacred is essential-
ly a peculiar world, where the sacred actually is separated from the rest
of the community. Sacredness often characterized special military corps
as well as other legal organizations, such as that of the gladiators2, that

2
Even if occasionally used as military trainers for legionaries of regular army, gladiators cannot be
considered a true special corps. However, their sacredness springs from their status of outcast
(Kyle, 1998, p. 128ff.) and from their devotion to particular gods, to whom they sacrificed in

105
were similar to them. Their special status, in fact, represented a pecu-
liarity that, while making them different, actually enacted, at once,
their isolation and separation from the common people. In the West, the
sacredness of some special corps was evident, in the medieval period, in
organizations such as those of the Templars or the Knights of the Teuton-
ic order, whose members not rarely were the younger sons of the nobility
excluded from marriage and from succession, as the bachelors of pri-
mates are. In more ancient cases the sacredness of special corps, even if
less evident, immediately jumped to the eyes of the contemporaries and
of those people who treated subsequently of them. The Sacred Battal-
ion ( ) of ancient Thebans is not remembered by that name
for mere chance.
And what about the East? The Hwarang of Silla, which constitutes
the main topic here, were certainly a special military corps with unique
characteristics, but perhaps referable under the commune, great
denominator of that sacredness and sexual ambiguity that I have already
mentioned. But of this I will treat further below.

Sharing Weapons, Sharing Souls

Let us look at the following inscription, found in Sicily and reported in

CIL, X.2: 758 nr. 7297:

FLAMMA SEC VIX AN XXX

PVGNAT XXXIIII VICIT XXI
STANS VIIII MIS IIII NAT SYRVS
HVI DELICATVS COARMIO MERENTI FECIT

order to get protection. Indeed, it seems that venerated gods changed according to the various
types of gladiators: retiarii made sacrifices to Neptune, secutores to Vulcan, as but two examples.
In this regard see Isidore of Seville (XVIII, pp.54-5). Also see Guidi (2009, p. 92).

106
After filling the abbreviations we can read: Flamma, secutor, vixit annos
XXX. Pugnavit XXXIIII, vicit XXI, stans VIIII, missus IIII. Natione syrus.
Huic Delicatus coarmio merenti fecit.
The translation is: Flamma, secutor3, lived thirty years. He fought
thirty-four times, won twenty-one times, fought to a draw nine times,
was defeated and pardoned four times, and was a Syrian by nationality.
Delicatus made [this inscription] for this comrade-in-arms who deserved
it.
This inscription is the epitaph of a famous gladiator who lived
around the second and third centuries CE. Flamma (Flame) clearly is a
nickname, as well as Delicatus (Delicate), the comrade-in-arms who
took care of his burial.
The key word in this inscription is coarmio, dative of
coarmius, a word composed by co (with) and arma (weapon).
Therefore, the primitive meaning is he who shares weapons, and then
comrade-in-arms. Sharing weapons meant sharing the same destiny in
the military life, in the camp, in training, and on the battlefield. Sharing
weapons meant sharing fear, rage, pain, and death. In other words, it
meant sharing souls. The correspondence between the concept of
weapon and soul may be easily traceable from very ancient times. As
souls, weapons are a part of humans. In English, the term arm means
either a part of the human body or weapon (also see the Greek word
meaning join or articulation). Swords or spears were
considered a mere extension of the arm. In Japan, the soul of a samurai
was believed to live in his sword. In the West, proper names were given
to famous swords: Durendal is the sword of Roland, Colada is the
sword of the Cid, Excalibur is the sword of King Arthur, and Joyeuse
is the sword of Charlemagne. In the East, we cannot but recall Ama no

3
The secutor was a gladiator heavily armed with a helmet, a sword, and a large shield. As his
opponent usually was the retiarius (a gladiator lightly armed with a fishnet and a trident), he often
was also called contrarete (anti-fishnet).

107
Murakumo () (also called Kusanagi no tsurugi []) of
Japanese mythology (Naumann, 1992, pp. 158-60). Weapons, in fact,
originally belong to Gods. In various cultures of antiquity, blacksmiths
were sacred people, respected and feared, since they forged weapons. In
many Romance languages, the words soul and weapon (anima and
arma in Latin), even if they have different etymologies, still have a
nearly identical sound in identifying inner strength, courage, and
bravery. 4 Indeed, a weapon is anything able to increase human
strength. A Sicilian proverb says: Larmi dunanu arma (Weapons give
soul [and then bravery]). In modern Italian, anima (soul) is called the
internal part of a gun. No wonder, then, that weapons often become
sacred objects, connected with the sacredness of the soul. Frequently we
find weapons in ancient tombs, but weapons also are tools able to unite
and join the thoughts and the feelings (and then the souls) of a whole
human group. The so-called Mnnerbnde, a confraternity of sacred,
initiated warriors typical to Indo-European people since very ancient
times, probably is to be considered among the forerunners of special
military corps. One of the most widely used words (from Asia to the Pre-
Columbian cultures of America) is toki, (stone) axe which is, at the
same time, a tool of daily life, a weapon, and a ritual object.5 In this
regard, we must not forget that in modern Korean the axe is exactly
called dokki ().
Therefore, sharing weapons means sharing souls. But sharing souls
also means loving or sharing the same sleeping spot. In Latin, the
word contubernium means, at once, the smallest unit (eight men) of a
legion and the tent where these men slept. Generally, the soldiers of a
contubernium were rewarded or punished together. We begin to glimpse
a relationship between the concept of comrade-in-arms and intimacy,

4
See, for example, the terms alma (Ancient Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Catalan) and
arme (ancient French), equally meaning soul.
5
On the toki and its symbolism see Tucci (1974, p. 10).

108
an intimacy that can easily evolve toward love. In the case of men
sharing military life, this means homosexual love. The semantic passage
from comrade-in-arms to lover is clearly perceivable in ancient
Greek. In Homer, the term hetairos mainly has the meaning of
companion, comrade-in-arms (Homer, Il., IV, 294), but in later
epochs it also means lover (Semonides, 7, 49; Aristophanes, Ec., 912).
The term hetera, indicating a female entertainer (or courtesan)
in some aspects similar to Indias ganika, Koreas gisaeng (), and
Japans geisha (), comes exactly from hetairos. Indeed, the
relationship soldier-lover is explicitly stated by Plato (Sym. 5):

,


.
,
. (So, if we could conceive the
possibility of a city or an army composed of lovers and their loves, they
surely could find the best way of living, refraining from any evil act and
competing with each other for honor. In this way, when fighting side by
side, even a handful of such men would be able to crush and be
victorious over any enemy. A man in love, in fact, would surely choose
rather to be seen by everyone than by his beloved either when
abandoning his post or while flinging away his arms. Rather than this, he
would prefer to die several times.)
To conclude this paragraph, let us return to the gladiators epitaph.
We will never know the truth, but the nickname of his comrade-in-arms,
the author of the inscription, was Delicatus, a word meaning deli-
cate, but also meaning effeminate. To hypothesize an intimate relation
between the two gladiators is not absurd. As an individual sharing weap-
ons and feelings, a comrade-in-arms often can also be a lover, and this
becomes more evident when we deal with comrades of special military

109
corps, from the most ancient ones to the medieval Templars up to the
Schutzstaffel ( ), the ill-famed Nazi paramilitary organization which
paradoxically also had the task to fight homosexuality (Burleigh and
Wippermann, 1992, pp. 171-2; Chiappano, 2001). In some cases the
inter-comrade relationship can start after entering military life, where the
older-to-younger sexual initiation may also become an authentic rite
of passage from the ordinary life to the sacral, secluded reality of spe-
cial corps, in a kind of master-pupil relationship. (Templars were
strongly suspected of that.) In other cases, an inter-comrade relationship
can develop within the limits of an already existing relationship. (This
was the case of the Sacred Battalion of Thebans.) I will call this kind of
relationships tutorage. In sum, we find again sexual ambiguity con-
nected with sacredness, and both being related with camaraderie.
Of course, somebody may say that, in order to be sexually
ambiguous one does not need to enter a special corps. Others may say
that not all members of an lite organization are necessarily sexually
ambiguous. Someone also may ask what I mean when I write sexual
ambiguity. First, I must answer such a question. For sexual ambiguity,
here I mean a sexual attitude representing not only a minority in the
social context of a certain period, but also one strictly linked to the rules
(written or not) of a certain organization. In this regard, the practice of
celibacy as provided in the rules of a religious or military organization
here is considered sexual ambiguity, as well as the homosexuality
practiced by the Thebans of the Sacred Battalion, that, even if
maintaining the traditional aspect of the erastes-eromenos relationship,
was something different from the paiderastia at that time common in
Greek culture. In other words, the sexual ambiguity I am discussing is
an attitude that, rather than being an authentically free and individual
cultural choice, is strictly connected to a precise context and
organization, controlled by political power, and mutually dependent with
it while representing a rule. This is, in my opinion, the anthropological
legacy of the naked ape. That is, in other words, a further element of

110
separation (sacredness) from the rest of human community.
Before dealing with Hwarang, I will examine briefly some famous
warriors organizations of antiquity in order to establish a comparison
with the Asian world, looking for common patterns able to lead back to
military corps, even in their historical specificity, to a pre-cultural
anthropological state.

Samnites Legio linteata

The Legio linteata (Linen-covered legion) was an lite corps of ancient

Samnites, an italic people who were a formidable opponent of Rome at
the time of Roman expansion in Italy. From the most complete (and
extant) record (Livy, X, p. 38)6 regarding it, we know that the Legio
linteata was composed of 16,000 men who were chosen and enrolled
after a dramatic ceremony in which: Iurare cogebant diro quodam
carmine, in exsecrationem capitis familiaeque et stirpis composito, nisi
isset in proelium quo imperatores duxissent et si aut ipse ex acie fugisset
aut si quem fugientem uidisset non extemplo occidisset. (They were
forced to swear, in a dreadful kind of form, containing curses on their
own person, on their family, and on their descendants, if they did not go
to battle, whithersoever the commanders should lead, and if either he
himself fled from the battlefield, or, in case he should see any other
fleeing, did not immediately kill him).
The Legio linteata probably took its name from the linen textiles
covering the oath field (locus est consaeptus cratibus pluteisque et
linteis contectus [There is a place enclosed with hurdles and boards,
and covered overhead with linen cloth]), but the possibility that its sol-
diers used to wear linen clothes cannot be ruled out (Salmon, 1995, p.
111).7 This organization actually was a kind of kamikaze () corps, as

6
On the Legio linteata also see Pliny (XXXIV, p. 43) and Festus, in Lindsay (1913, p. 102).

111
its members were sacred to Jupiter by means of devotio,7a special oath,
made in the name of a god, according to which warriors promised to win
or die in battle.8
The creation of the Legio linteata could have been a political
purpose connected with the Ver sacrum (Sacred Spring), a ritual that
seems to have been common among the ancient people of Italy.
According to the ritual of Ver sacrum, in case of an emergency putting at
risk the very existence of a tribal group, almost all the goods of the clan
or the tribe were sacrificed to gods by Spring. Young people representing
a burden, rather than being killed, were expelled from the community
and forced to challenge death every day by wandering and living on their
own strength. In this way, soldiers of Legio linteata could have been the
survivors of a Ver sacrum, ready to fight until death in exchange for
retaking their original place inside the community. If so, the political-
military use of once-excluded members of the tribe would confirm on the
one hand the close relationship between power and special corps, and on
the other hand the typical primates social structure still present in forms
of aggregation of humans.

Thebes Sacred Battalion

In the book On the Art of Besiegement () attributed to

Aeneas Tacticus (fourth century BCE) is written (X, p. 20):
,
. (In case of besiegement, first of all it is necessary to be sure
of the concord the citizens, which is the most precious thing.). The
concord between citizens, in Greek called Homnoia, refers to political

7
The passage by Livy here reported refers to 293 BCE. However, Livy, himself, in a passage of his
work dated to 309 BCE says that the Legio linteatas soldiers wore linen clothes (Livy, IX, p. 40).
8
Devotio seems to have been a kind of oath common to all of ancient Italys people, including
Rome. See DAGR (II, 1, pp. 113-9).

112
harmony, but also to social equity. The concord implies a situation in
which the gap between rich (privileged) and poor (discriminated)
must be filled. However, Aeneas is aware that, because of their private
interest (as well as for their poor military skill), the defense of a state
trusted to ordinary citizens is problematic (III, 6. XV, 2. XVI, 2.). At the
same time, he does not ignore the danger represented by mercenary
soldiers who, even if more skilled than common citizens, can overthrow
the government for which they work (X, 7, XII, 4). This was a great
dilemma in the war policies of ancient states. Homnoia was of course
necessary, but how to choose between citizens and mercenary soldiers
when the state was at risk? These were crucial points also affecting
Eastern societies, and, as we will see, Silla was not an exception. (I
suspect that the creation or the promotion of Hwarang actually
represented, first of all, an attempt by King Jinheung to establish
concord inside his kingdom and, at the same time, to strengthen the
national army by giving emarginated citizens the possibility of making
better their position through their [political and military] devotion to the
state.)9
To conciliate the patriotic love of citizens with the military skill of
mercenary soldiers, the Greek polis of Thebe was one of the ancient

9
Some Korean scholars, such as Yi Gi-dong (1984) and Kim Sang-hyeon (1999, p. 502ff.) claim
that the institution of Hwarang included the assimilation of the conquered Gaya lite into Silla
society. I do not agree with such a hypothesis. I think that in a historical period plentiful of
conflicts the institutionalization of Hwarang aimed to increase the number of common soldiers
and, in order to do that, the Silla king had to emancipate, first of all, the outcast people of Silla,
probably the offspring of former Jinhan () people. As a matter of fact, King Jinheung did
not need a few aristocratic men from a conquered kingdom, but rather many warriors from the
lowest stratum of Silla society. I think something similar happened in all of the Three Kingdoms.
(The tale of Ondal [], reported in Samguk sagi [, Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms],
45, indicates that even the King of Koguryo [], in the sixth century, actually transformed
an outcast into a brilliant commander.) An example that may support my theory is given by the
Spartan government, which on the occasion of the dramatic battle against Persians at Plataea
(August 20, 479 BCE) enrolled up to 35,000 slaves helots in the army (Herodotus, IX, p. 10).
Helots were the offspring of Messene people subjugated by the Spartans in the course of the
eighth century BCE.

113
societies able to put this concept into practice. The Thebans created a
special battalion formed of 300 selected citizens, completely devoted to
war, called the Sacred Battalion ( ) or the Sacred Band
(DeVoto, 1992). The origin of the name is not clear. Perhaps it is linked
to the Platonic concept according to which a lovely friend is a gift from
Heaven. We do not know whether they were sacred to a god; in any case,
they were sacred, as they represented an entity that was separate from
the rest of the citizens. The sexual ambiguity of this corps is evident. The
battalion was in fact formed by 150 homosexual couples united in a
relationship that should have been different from the ephebic love
(pederasty) typical in the ancient Greek world (Ogden, 1996). To fight to
death in the ranks of a hoplites phalanx, while managing military
equipment weighing as much 40 kilograms, in fact, should have been a
task reserved to adult males only. The couples, however, had a
predominant individual (tutelage).
According to Plutarch (Pel., p. 18), these lite soldiers were created
by Gorgidas. They operated from at least 378 BCE. Plutarch, himself, by
quoting a passage of Plato (see above), explains the reason why an army
formed by lovers and beloved was to be preferred to one composed of
normal soldiers.
The warriors of the Sacred Battalion were able to crush Spartas
army (which was considered invincible) in 371 BCE (the Battle of
Leuctra) and in 362 BCE (the Battle of Mantinea) and give Thebe the
supremacy over all the cities of Greece. Eventually, they were
annihilated in the battle of Chaeronea (338 BCE) by the Macedonians of
Philip II. On that occasion, while the rest of Thebes disrupted army
abandoned the battlefield, the warriors of the Sacred Battalion fought to
the very last, and at least 254 of them were killed there. King Philip II,
himself, after the tremendous fight, was moved in seeing the dead bodies
of the lovers fallen one next to the other, as they never could endure the
shame of retreat. If victory was impossible, they must die. As they were
sacred, they were blessed, and they were cursed.

114
 In spite of being deadly warriors, the members of the Sacred
Battalion were aware of the traditional aesthetics. They did not ignore the
motto (Beautiful and Good [especially at war]), a
principle that also should have inspired King Jinheung in choosing
hwarang or, at least, their leaders. Epaminondas, the famous commander
in chief of Thebes army at Leuctra and Mantinea, also was a
professional dancer and musician (Cornelius Nepos, XV).The search for
aesthetics by Hwarang should not be seen as a contradiction. Military
skill and, at the same time, love for beauty were normal in many ancient
cultures and we must not make the mistake of judging according to
modern cultural parameters.

Achaemenid Persias Immortals

Very little is known about this special corps. Little information is given
by Herodotus (VII, p. 83), according to whom that of the Immortals
was an lite infantry corps formed by 10,000 men, united in a strong
camaraderie, all of Median or Persian origin. Perhaps created by Cyrus
the Great (Xenophon, Cyr., VII), they actually represented the Royal
Guard and, once in battle, their main task was to defend the king at any
cost (Arrianus, III, p. 13). They were given special food and wore
splendid cloths and jewels (Curtius Rufus, III, p. 3). Perhaps they also
concealed their face (at least on some occasions) behind masks. When
going to war, they were followed by chariots bringing their wives,
concubines, and servants (Cook, 1983, p. 105ff.).
Herodotus says that the term immortals derives from the fact that
anyone killed, seriously wounded, or sick was immediately replaced by a
new member so that the number of 10,000 could never decrease.
However, what Herodotus translated by the Greek word
(immortals) probably is not the Persian term Anaua (immortals), but
Aniya, which simply means comrades. In any case, in the ancient
world, they also were called (apple [or pomegranate]

115
bearers) since their spears were counterbalanced by a pomegranate/
apple-shaped weight (Athenaeus, XII). Some 1,000 members of the
immortals had this weight made of gold, the others of silver.

Macedonian Hetairoi

The Macedonian Hetairoi are a good example of how the character of a

special corps can change according to the historical context. Hetairoi (lit.
comrades, companions; see above) should have been originally a
kind of private guard of the Macedonian King, formed by his barons,
friends, and relatives (Lane Fox, 2004, p. 22). Therefore, it was a type
I corps. However, following the Macedonian expansion under Philip II
and, above all, under Alexander the Great, it turned into a type II corps
as even foreigners were admitted to it. We do not know much about their
sacredness, but, as for sexual ambiguity, a fragmentary record by
Theopompus of Chios (FGrH, 115 F 225, Jacoby) is worth quoting:
< >

(Therefore one rightly could maintain that they were not heteri but
heterae They were killers by nature and prostitutes by disposi-
tion).
Even if some modern scholarship thinks of Theopompus as a hyper-
moralistic writer (Shrimpton, 1991), this record cannot be taken lightly.
Theopompus, in fact, was born around 380 BCE. In the record quoted
above he is referring to a period preceding the Macedonian expansion,
that is, a period in which Hetairoi still are a type I corps. In this phase,
they must have had a stronger spirit of camaraderie. And the reference to
them as male prostitutes only means that they practiced adult-adult
homosexuality, in other words, something similar to what we can suspect
was apropos of the Sacred Battalion warriors.

116
The Knights Templar

Studies on the Knights Templar are legion, and this is not the place to
discuss the Knights Templar in detail. I only will recall certain aspects of
this organization that I believe could have been similar, in some way, to
that of Sillas Hwarang.
Their original name was Pauperes commilitones Christi templique
Salomonis (Poor Comrades-in-arms of Christ and Solomons Temple).
They actually were members of a Catholic monastic order officially
established in 1128-29. In this regard, their institutionalization has been
seen as an attempt by the Church to recycle those younger sons of
nobility whose abuses and misdeeds against ordinary people were
motives for embarrassment in the relationships between the Pope and
other European kings (Partner, 1987, p. 8). Even if their main purpose
was to defend Christian peregrines visiting the Holy Land, they soon
acquired a strong political and economic weight. In particular, while
excelling in financial activities, they succeeded in amassing a huge
wealth by means of which they founded authentic credit institutions able
to provide various monarchs of Europe with economic support. Because
of their growing power they eventually met the hostility of King Philip
IV of France who, in accord with Pope Clement V, put under arrest the
most eminent members of the Order in 1307. After a dramatic trial, in the
course of which they were accused, among other charges, of blasphemy,
idolatry, pederasty, and sorcery, many of them were sentenced to death.
Pope Clement eventually dismantled the Order in 1312 (Martin, 2005, p.
121ff.), and Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights
Templar, was executed in 1314.
The precepts of the Knights Templar were not very different from
those of other monastic orders. An exception was represented by the
authorization to use weapons in order to protect Christianity.
Nevertheless, they had to refrain from all other acts of violence,
including hunting. The three duties common to other monastic orders

117
(poverty, obedience, and chastity) had to be practiced even if not
explicitly declared. Married men, however, could be accepted in some
cases. Collective prayers were widely practiced, too.
Despite the fact that they are known by the name of Knights
Templars, only a few of them (perhaps less than 10 percent) actually
were knights. The heavily armed knights formed the core of the corps.
Many of them were the younger sons of noble families, unable to marry
and come into possession of an inheritance, this due to the feudal rules of
that time. This is not different, as we can see, from the young males of
primates. But most of the Templars were common or humble people
charged with various tasks. There were the so-called sergeants forming
troops of light chivalry, stablemen, farmers, blacksmiths, servants,
administrators of the property of the Order, and even priests whose duty
was that of celebrating Mass for other members.
Eventually the Templars faced a tragic destiny, as they were
accused of horrible practices especially performed in the course of the
rites of admission to the Order. In particular, according to accusations,
ambiguous and obscene acts were performed within the limits of the
tutorage, or master-pupil (or elder-younger) relationship. Possibly
some accusations against them were false. In any case, they were
strongly suspected of sexual ambiguity (homosexuality) and blasphemy.
Indeed, their very nature as monk-warriors was an ambiguous one.
Sacred and feared, blessed and cursed, they were not different from
Asias shamans (who even today are sacred and feared), and eventually
they disappeared from history, as Hwarang did. However, several
centuries later, the Templars have known an authentic revival and a great
amount of (more or less scientific) research has been written about them.
Beyond the history there is legend. The Templars as guardians of the
Holy Grail and masters of esotericism continue enticing both scientists
and common readers. If we consider that, the case of Hwarang appears
as a true instance of dj-vu.

118
Amazons

By the term Amazonism I mean a cultural pattern according to which a

significant part of the women of a certain society not only receive regular
military training but also participate actively in military events. This is
the reason why, in spite of many records concerning real (Teuta,
Boudicca) or imaginary/literary (Brunhild, Camilla, Bradamante, etc.)
figures of queens and/or female warriors, to find a culture where
Amazonism was actually practiced is anything but easy. In recent times,
Amazonism was surely practiced by some tribal groups in todays Benin
(formerly Dahomey, in Africa)10 and, perhaps, in South America. In these
cases, Amazonism was practiced in a religious context characterized by
animism. However, whenever considering Amazons, we immediately
think of the fabulous people often quoted in western classical texts. The
term Amazon () itself seems to have a Greek origin and is
composed by the negative prefix a (without) and the substantive
mazos (breast). The term then would mean breastless because,
according to a legend reported by several classical authors, 11 such
formidable female warriors used to cut off (or burn out one) of their
breasts in order to make easier the use of bow. However, the etymology
of the term is uncertain and all Amazons portrayed in ancient art show
both breasts.
Despite the legendary halo surrounding Amazons and their land, we
have various reasons to believe that some nomadic or semi-nomadic
tribes of the southern part of what today is called the Sarmatia Low-

10
Capone & Ceccherini (2010). In todays Benin, a special corps composed by women, created
in the early eighteenth century, lasted until 1933. It seems that women were recruited among
members of the Royal House, but also from among war female/prisoners and divorced women.
They were equipped with a rifle and a machete and also had sharpened teeth, to be used as
weapons in case of emergency.
11
See, for example, Diodorus Siculus (II, p. 3); Pseudo-Hippocrates (p. 17).

119
land, actually practiced Amazonism. Some historical accounts are so
precise and detailed that they cannot be pure invention and, in some
cases, they have been confirmed through archaeological finds. For this
reason we are almost sure that at least a people known as Sauromatae
(and perhaps Massagetae and Issedonians, too), probably of Iranic origin
and not necessarily to be identified with Sarmatians, practiced Ama-
zonism. According to Herodotus (IV, pp. 110-7), Sauromatae was a race
that derived from the fusion of Scythians with Amazons. Pseudo-Hip-
pocrates record apropos of Sauromatae women (Pseudo-Hippocrates,
17) leaves no room for doubt: ,
, ,
. ,
, ,
.
,
. , ,
. (In Europe there is a Scythian people
called Sauromatae that inhabits the confines of the Palus Maeotis [today
the Sea of Azov]. They are different from all other races. Their women
ride on horseback, use the bow, throw the javelin from their horses, and
fight with their enemies as long as they are virgins. They do not lay aside
their virginity until they kill at least three enemies, nor do they take hus-
band until they perform the sacrifices according to law. Once they marry,
they refrain from riding horses unless they are forced by the necessity of
a general expedition.)
The aspect regarding the connection between the sexual life and
bravery in war is particularly interesting. Killing enemies for the first
time is an authentic rite of passage, as it is necessary to assert and
confirm both the femaleness and the belonging to the tribe by means of
marriage. As Herodotus explains (IV, p. 117), No maiden may marry
before killing a foe. For this reason some of them grow old and even die
unmarried, since they have not been able to comply with that precept. In

120
other words, Sauromatae women must act like men in order to prove
their feminine nature and become full members of the community. I think
there is no doubt that this is to be considered sexual ambiguity. But that
is not all. Sauromatae women seem to have had a true leadership in their
people. Nicolaus of Damascus, while confirming the relationship
between bravery and marriage existing among Sauromatae women, goes
as far as stating that Sauromatae obey their women as slaves obey their
owners(FGrH, 90 F 103 Jacoby). And in Periplus ponti Euxini: 161, we
also can read: , .
,
:
(According to Ephorus, this is the
people of Sauromatae. The tradition says they are mixed with Amazons
since the battle fought near the river Thermodon. This is the reason why
they are called Gynaikratoumenoi, or ruled by women.).
What has been stated by ancient historiographers has been
confirmed, in some way, by archaeological finds. The tumuli (kurgan)
attributable to Sauromatae in fact show many cases of individual burials
(rather than men and women buried together), where at least 20% of the
tombs of women contain weapons among the grave goods. Weapons are
found in women tombs together with typically feminine objects, such as
mirrors (David, 1976, p. 214ff.). Moreover, grave goods found in
Sauromatae women tombs suggest that warrior women should have had a
high social status. In particular, some goods, such as stone slabs with feet
(probably altars), make one think that warrior women also could have
performed sacerdotal functions.
In sum, Amazons (intended as that part of Sauromatae women who
dedicated themselves to war for a part of their lives) may be considered a
true special corps. They should have played an important role in the
warfare of their people, either as warriors or priestesses. In this regard,
their sacredness and sexual ambiguity emerge very clearly. Such ambigu-
ity probably ceased after marriage, when they finished representing a

121
special corps separated from the rest of the community and returned to
their functions of mothers inside the tribal group.

Hwarang: Their Nature and Social Role

The Hwarang of ancient Silla is commonly believed to have been an lite

corps trained in order to cultivate ethics and military skills. More exactly,
we should say that, as they were educated and trained in the respect of
moral values, they also were expected to fight in battle more fiercely than
ordinary soldiers. As a matter of fact, Samguk sagi, the oldest record
about the Hwarang, never states explicitly that they received any special
military training nor does it state that war was their main task. 12
According to Samguk sagi, 4, King Jinheung (), In 576 CE, for
the first time supported the Wonhwa (). We will deal
soon with this organization, which, at first glance, seems to have been
nothing but a group of female entertainers. After the initial success of
Wonhwa (, also written as ) in entertaining people, two beautiful
girls, Junjeong (, called Gyojeong [] in Samguk yusa [,
Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms]) and Nammo (), quarreled over
jealousy matters, and eventually Junjeong killed her rival. After such a
tragic episode, the Wonhwa were dissolved and, instead of them, Men of
beautiful mien, with their faces made-up and beautifully dressed, were
again supported, and they were called Hwarang (
). Around these Hwarang people gathered as clouds and,

12
Doubts regarding military activity as the main task of the Hwarang have been expressed in
recent scholarship. See, for example, Tikhonov (1998, pp. 324-31). However, the military
importance of the Hwarang within the process of unification by Silla is suggested in Hong Sun-
chang (1996, p. 156ff.). On the trends of research on the Hwarang, see Kim Gwon-taek & Yi
Yeong-cheol (2010, p. 4ff.). The Hwarangs participation to battles (as well as their participation
in the political life of the country) as part of the project for strengthening the centralization of the
state (especially after the crisis of the Yukbu [] system) is rightly hypothesized by Bak Nam-
su (2008, p. 105ff.).

122
following the path of moral principles, they enjoyed each other, amusing
themselves with songs and visits to famous mountains and great rivers.
This reference to the mutual () relationship, emphasized by Kim Bu-sik
in Samguk sagi, is important, as it could imply a form of that tutorage
which I discussed apropos of other special corps in the West. Indeed, the
tutelage also emerges from hyangga () poems such as Mo
Jukjirangga () and in other episodes such as those of Burye
( ) and Ansang ( ) (Samguk yusa, 3) that seem to echo a
hierarchical (and erotic?) friendship similar to that of Achilles and
Patroclus in Iliad.
The image of the Wonhwa and the Hwarang given by Kim Bu-sik
(a Confucian scholar) is not idealized yet as it will be later in an
intellectual context represented by Buddhist writers like Gakhun ()
and Iryeon (, 1206-89). Nevertheless, the biography of Kim Yusin
( 595-673) (starting from his noble status) reported in Samguk
sagi, 41, has represented a kind of Bible able to influence generations of
specialists in Korean studies. If we look at Samguk sagi, it is not an
exaggeration to state that whereas the nobility of the Wonhwa and the
Hwarang never is clearly claimed, the nature of such groups seems to be
(since their first apparition) that of entertainers, hunters, shamans, or
street artists (in other words, something like the mujari [] of
Goryeo) rather than that of an lite corps. Their nobility, in fact, would
have been explicitly noticed by Kim Bu-sik who, on the contrary,
emphasizes the quarrel and murder between the two leaders, due to a
typically feminine (and negative) quality like jealousy. Moreover, when
Kim Bu-sik writes that the king, in order to create Hwarang for the
benefit of the country, looked for talented people, can only refer,
mainly, to commoners or low-born people: in fact, what was the
necessity to seek talented people if the people of noble birth already
were inside the court and well-known by the king himself?
The only reference to the general nobility of the Hwarang found
in Samguk sagi is a passage quoted from a problematic work, the

123
Xinluoguoji (, Records of the Silla Kingdom), written by a certain
Linghu Cheng () of Tang () China, perhaps to be considered a
literary invention of Kim Bu-sik.13 The marvelous and mysterious way,
called pungnyu (), Choe Chi-won () (b. 857) would have
mentioned in his preface to the Nangnangbi () stele. And as
recorded in Samguk sagi, pungnyu seems to refer (if that stele actually
deals with the Hwarang) to the traditional religious spirit of the country,
a spirit animated, first of all, by Shamanism and divinized nature that,
according to some nationalistic views, has been considered a true
archetype of Korean-style physical training (Kim Bu-chan, 2005, pp.
1802-4). This religious attitude (which later would have represented the
philosophical basis of Samgyo (), in a unique syncretism already
remarked upon by Yi Gyu-bo [Dongguk yi sanggukjip, 9]), should have
been the basic beliefs not only of Silla people, but also of the people that
preceded the foundation of the Silla state. In any case, Shamanism
represented the religious world of ordinary people in spite of the
Buddhist Revolution that occurred in Silla in the sixth century. To
teach Confucian and Buddhist principles to Hwarang was nothing but a
political project aimed to establish a religious (and then political)
harmony (homonoia) inside the kingdom for the sake of the country
itself. The moral principles of Sesok ogye () and the very
conceptual synthesis contained in Samgyo were more than a mere
imported from China and elaborated more coreano in Silla, as
suggested by Kim Chung-nyeol (1989, p. 128ff.). In particular, the
Confucian elements were necessary in order to strengthen the cognition
of monarchy (and then of the centralized state) per se, regardless of the
religious orientation of the Royal House. On the other hand, such a
process of social transformation implied the necessity to turn as many

13
According to McBride (2005, p. 234), the Xinluoguoji, now lost, was not written by Linghu
Cheng but represented only one of his sources.

124
people as possible into followers of Buddhism, and this policy involved
Hwarang too.
The legend of the Hwarang actually starts from Gakhun and his
Haedong goseung jeon (, Lives of Eminent Korean Monks), a
controversial work about which some recent scholarship has raised the
specter of forgery. This book is suspected to be a fake created by Yi Hoe-
gwang (, 1862-1933; a Buddhist monk also known by the religious
name of Saseon []) in the late nineteenth century (Srensen, 2008, p.
205). Whether a forgery or not, however, this book put Hwarang at the
service of Korean nationalism. In the late Goryeo period, when the
homeland was harassed by Mongols and Confucianism was gaining
ground, a Buddhist Master (Iryeon) created the image of the Hwarang as
the pure, fearless knight sacred to Maitreya, the ancient protector of the
country. After a long silence, during which Hwarang are substantially
portrayed in a negative way, in the late nineteenth century, when the
Confucian state was agonizing and Korea was about to become the prey
of foreign powers, another Buddhist monk could have renewed the
legend of the perfect, sacred warriors inspired by the highest moral
principles in the defense of the homeland. If so, this would be another
proof of that defensive fundamentalism which is not rare to find in the
course of Korean history (Riotto, 2011).
Therefore, all information given in Haedong goseung jeon is to be
judged with prudence. There is no doubt that Samguk yusa emphasizes
the sacredness of Hwarang. The term gukseon (), for example,
does not appear in Samguk sagi. Gukseon is a synonym of Hwarang
and is formed by two characters recalling, respectively, the nation and
sacredness. Despite attempts to faithfully translate this term, the basic
idea remains that of sacred people put at the service of the country.
Samguk yusa has many episodes regarding Hwarang and their
relationship with Buddhism and the cult of Maitreya in particular. The
impression is that Iryeons reconstruction of facts and episodes
concerning Hwarang is aimed to restore credibility to an institution, that

125
of the Hwarang, which at that time had little or nothing to be proud of. In
this regard, there is a curious episode, preceding the realization of
Samguk sagi and Samguk yusa (that is to say, what now are the basic
sources on the Hwarang), which is worth being recalled. This episode,
already recorded by Yi Gok (, 1298-1351) in his Dongyugi (,
Diary of a Travel to East), also is reported in Dongmunseon (,
Anthology of Eastern Literature), 71. After describing the zone of
Samilpo () and its lake, the text adds: People say that in this lake
the Four Sages14 used to play and hence go to the 36 peaks. On the
peaks there were steles.
Ho Jong-dan took all the steles and threw them into the water (
. .). Ho Jong-dan (C.
Hu Zongdan []) was an enigmatic character who must have had
strong influence at the Goryeo court during the reigns of King Yejong (
, r. 1105-22) and King Injong (, r. 1122-46) in a period when the
presence of influential foreigners in Goryeo was not rare (Yun, 2002).
Korean sources on Goryeo portray him in a positive way (Goryeosa [
, History of Goryeo], 74; Dongguk tonggam [, Compre
hensive Mirror of the Eastern Kingdom], 20-21; Goryeosa jeolyo [
, Essentials of Goryeo History], 7-9. Yeosa jegang [,
Abridgement of History of Goryeo], 7, etc.). A native of Fuzhou (), in
Song () China, he arrived in Goryeo aboard a merchant ship. For the
good character and his talent in literature and sorcery () he was
respected (and perhaps also feared) by the king and ended up holding
several positions in the Goryeo administration. His role in the episode of
the steles is anything but clear. However, we can assume that those steles
were connected with the Four Sages and then with the Hwarang. I do

14
The Four Sages are, of course, Namseokhaeng (, also called Namnang []), Sullang
(), Yeongnang (), and Ansang (). (On the Four Sages related to Samil-po see Lee
(1968, 68 n., p. 320). On the Four Sages, their stele, and their relationship with the Hwarang,
also see Cha Ju-hwan (1989, pp. 46-8).

126
find it difficult to think of someone who, while wandering the country,
spends his time by throwing steles into the water for fun. If Ho really did
that, he acted under a precise order received from the king. The question
then becomes: what terrible words were engraved on those steles to make
them disappear? And why did the king entrust the task to a foreigner and
not to a Korean? The case seems to imply an authentic damnatio
memoriae of the Hwarang, the will to erase even their memory. In such a
case, may this episode have had something to do with the portrait of the
Hwarang in Samguk sagi, the history commissioned by King Injong and
completed in 1145? To erase the memory of the Hwarang in order to
create a new and more positive image of that very institution, this is a
hypothesis we must consider seriously.
Ho Jong-dan also had an important part in the folktales of Jeju (
) Island. However, contrary to official documents, Ho is seen in Cheju
in a very negative way. This is due, perhaps, to his role as representative
of the official power in Gaeseong (), which was the Goryeo capital,
and to the complex situation existing at that time between Goryeo and
Tamna (; Jeju).
The historical works that followed Samguk yusa add little or
nothing about the Hwarang. Nevertheless, many of them concord in
depicting Hwarang as outcasts separated from the rest of the community.
This is an image very different from that shown by the Goryeo sources,
but one which still confirms the sacredness (intended as isolation and
separation) of the Hwarang themselves. In this regard, in Seong Hae-
eung (, 1760-1839)s Yeongyeongjae jeonjip oejip (
, Collected Writings by Yeongyeongjae), 53, we read: According to
today customs, (the term hwarang) indicates the male shamans (
). Indeed, the correspondence between baksu (male shaman)
and hwarang also is unequivocally already attested in Hunmong jahoe
(, Collection of Characters for Training the Unenlightened), a
sixteenth century Chinese-Korean lexicon that clearly reports: :
. The identification of Hwarang with male shamans (at least in

127
the period in which the writer lived) is reiterated in Jibong yuseol (
, Classified scripts by Jibong), 18: .
(Today it is custom to use hwarang also to indicate male shamans. The
old meaning is lost.). The term, however, seems to have degenerated to
the meaning of male prostitute (Rutt, 1961, p. 8). Other minor refer
ences on Hwarang are provided by Dongguk tonggam, 5-7; Samguksa
jeolyo (, Epitome of the History of the Three Kingdoms), 7;
Sinjeung Dongguk yeoji seungnam (, New Enlarged
Geographical Treatise on Korea), 21; Daedong unbugunok (
, Gems collected from rhymes of Korea), passim; Haedong yeoksa (
, Historical treatise on Korea), 10; Dongsa gangmok (, A
Profile of Eastern Korean), 3 and passim, and other texts.
Contrary to the common-place created by ancient and modern
historiography, we must think that a remarkable part of the Hwarang
consisted of common or humble people organized in brigades or groups
under the command of leaders who could be of noble birth. Many
elements strengthen this hypothesis. We know that 1,000 people (perhaps
the so-called Nangdo () who, of course, could not all be nobles)
served under the Hwarang Sadaham and Burye.15 The number 1,000
probably is to be considered a symbolic one. However, a certain
Dongnyang Paljin ( ), believed to be an incarnation of
Avalokitevara, is said to have formed a brigade of 1,000 followers
divided in two groups, one destined for manual work and one for more
intellectual activities (Samguk yusa, 5). We do not know whether the
followers of Paljin were Hwarang: in any case, given their considerable
number, we can hypothesize that also in the Hwarang were members
charged with different tasks, probably according to their original social
status. When Master Weolmyeong ( ) was ordered by King

15
A part from the fact that Nangdo should not be considered in toto as jingol (), their
relationship with the Hwarang seems in any case to have been one of submission or even one of
servant-master. In this regard see Jo Beom-hwan (2008, p. 421ff.).

128
Gyeongdeok () to compose a prayer in 760, he replied: As one
belonging to the group of Gukseon, I am not good at Indian hymns. I
only know vernacular songs. (, . ;
Samguk yusa, 5). He thus revealed his poor literary level. When Gwisan
() and Chuhang () ask Master Wongwang () to teach them
the rules of the path toward Virtue, they confess their ignorance (Samguk
sagi, 45) in a way (, ) that cannot be simply intended as
youthful immaturity. After their heroic deaths, Gwisan and Chuhang
were promoted post mortem to the ranks of naema () and daesa (
), respectively the eleventh rank and the twelfth rank in the Silla
government. Therefore, if we consider that another Hwarang, Burye, was
appointed Dae gakkan (), one of the highest grades, Gwisan and
Chuhang were rewarded with quite low ranks, which demonstrates, on
the one hand, their formerly humble status, and on the other hand, the
fact that even if ordinary people Hwarang could be rewarded in cases of
meritorious acts and deeds. The Gukseon Gudam certainly cannot be
considered a gentleman, as his rude manners arouse the monk Hyesuk
()s indignation (Samguk yusa, 4). He is very far from being a
perfect Knight. In this regard, Kim Bu-sik is more reliable than Iryeon
when he says, quoting Kim Dae-mun, that from the Hwarang came
capable officers, loyal subjects, good generals, and brave warriors.
An interesting record, apropos of the Hwarangs social status, can
be found in book 3 of Muye dobo tongji (, General,
Systematic and Illustrated Treatise of Military Arts). This record
concerns Hwang Chang ( or also ), a Silla Hwarang who,
according to the popular tradition, went to Baekje () at the age of 7
(. ...). In Baekje, he started to perform
his unique dance of swords, enticing and fascinating a large number of
spectators. His fame reached the King of Baekje who summoned him.
However, when requested to show his skills in front of the enemy king,
Hwang killed the monarch and was then put to death. In this tale, a
Hwarang is portrayed as an authentic wanderer, a street artist. Moreover,

129
he spent almost his entire life abroad, and it is difficult to think that he
was made a Hwarang while in Baekje. This only means that he was
already a Hwarang at the tender age of 7, when he crossed the border
between Silla and Baekje. Hwarang possibly was not only a juridical
status that included people of different origin, but also a true social status
that could be transmitted from parents to sons. But if so, what kind of
people were Hwarang by birth?
I suspect that the original core of Hwarang could have been formed
by socially marginal people or even by ethnic groups different from that
of Silla. Perhaps they were the aboriginal people, settled in Jinhan since
the late Bronze Age who of course did not disappear at once after the rise
of Silla. That different ethnic groups lived (more or less peacefully)
together in the Korean Peninsula in the crucial period ranging from the
end of the first millennium BCE to the Proto-Three Kingdoms period is a
realistic possibility, made even stronger by the differences traceable in
burial systems (Riotto, 1995). In this case, the condition of the Hwarang
could have been similar to that of mujari in Goryeo. The lists of
Hwarang recorded in the yellow book ()16 Iryeon writes about in
Samguk yusa appears to be a census register of a particular category of
people, divided in bands and recycled by King Jinheung as true and
fully Silla citizens. Indeed, the necessity of further investigation on the
relationship between Hwarang and the Silla nation has already been
stated by Korean scholars, too (Ju Bo-don, 1997, p. 126).
In sum, there is enough to state that all questions regarding the
Hwarang have to be reconsidered, possibly from a perspective free from
any prejudice or nationalistic influence. Unfortunately, modern
scholarship has to deal with forgery-like sources that, after appearing
more or less miraculously, only add confusion to confusion. The solution
to the problem is so far away.

16
On the yellow book see Mohan (2001, p. 163).

130
Hwarang: Their Sacredness and Sexual Ambiguity

In Samguk sagi, the verb used to indicate the establishment of the

Hwarang by the king is . This character, however, means either to do
something for someone or to support, to sponsor, to promote, to take
care of. If we accept the last meaning, we have to think that King
Jinheung actually did not create the Wonhwa and the Hwarang, but
simply recognized and gave an official character to already existing
organizations. If we accept such a hypothesis, we do not need to
anticipate the date of the kings official act as, for example, Yi Byeong-
do does on the basis of some events, like that regarding Sadaham (
), reported as preceding the year 576 (Samguk sagi, 4: the case of
Sadaham dates to 562). 17 But there is another, enticing possibility.
Samguk yusa states that some years passed from the dismantling of the
Wonhwa to the creation of the Hwarang. What if the Sadaham is to be
referred to as the Wonhwa? What if the Wonhwa themselves were tasked
with military actions, making Korea the only culture in the Far East to
have practiced Amazonism (see above)?
Sadaham died of grief for the death of his comrade Mugwan (),
a grief that possibly implies a relationship stronger than simple
friendship. What kind of love existed between the two? The episodes
related to Wonhwa/Hwarang often show couples affairs (Junjeong/
Nammo, Sadaham/Mugwan, Burye/Ansang, Gwisan/Chuhang, and
others). These are stories of love and jealousy also common to other
famous couples of ancient literature, such as Achilles/Patroclus in Iliad,
Euryalus/Nisus in Aeneid, Cloridano/Medoro in Orlando furioso, and
others. All are relationships where the homoerotic context is more or less
evident. But tales about Wonhwa/Hwarang are presented as historical

17
However, McBride (2005, p. 243) notices that, when identifying the concepts of Hwarang and
pungwolju (), the origin of Hwarang themselves could be dated back to 514.

131
facts illustrating, together with strong passions, a formidable sense of
camaraderie. If we consider, at once, the sexual ambiguity of the term
hwarang, the association, in later times, of the Hwarang with male
shamans or even male prostitutes, and their feminine look, we can
suspect inside the Hwarang corps the existence of homosexual
relationships similar to those present in Thebes Sacred Battalion. The
sexual ambiguity of Hwarang is so evident that the author of Haedong
goseung jeon felt the necessity to drive away any suspicion by means of
a comment that seems to be an authentic excusatio non petita. After
dealing with the Hwarang corps, the author praises King Jinheung, so
different from the corrupted Emperor Ai (, r. 7-1 BCE) of the Former
Han ( ) dy n a s t y. I n p a r t i c u l a r, a p assage by the Chinese
historiographer Ban Gu (, 32-92) is analyzed18: Emperor Ai only
loved futile lewdness, so Ban Gu said: To incline towards those delicate
and beautiful things that entice humans mind not only is natural to
women but also to men. However, if we look, this is not right when we
speak about those days [of Silla] (
). Even if the passage is
obscure in its final part, there is no doubt that the author of Haedong
goseung jeon tried to separate the Chinese customs from Silla history.
Emperor Ai is well known for his homosexuality (Hinsch, 1990, p. 44ff.),
and it is not mere chance that his name is countered with that of
Jinheung. This was an attempt to clarify the name of a king whose zeal in
choosing beautiful boys could have given rise, in later periods, to some
suspects.
The Hwarangs sexual ambiguity is perceived, after Ayukai
Fusanoshin19, also by Richard Rutt (1961, pp. 57-61), who, however,

18
The original passage is in Qian Han shu, 93.
19
Ayukais ideas are quite original in a context that, however, sees Japanese scholars such as
Mishina Shei and Suematsu Yasukazu to give perhaps excessive (and uncritical) importance
to Shamanism in Silla. See Ayukai (1931- [especially the fourth part]), Mishina (1974) and

132
only uses as main terms of comparison the groups of wandering
performers, like the Namsadang (), typical to the Joseon period.
Eventually Rutt suspends any judgment on Hwarangs homosexuality,
perhaps because he refuses to accept the idea that what represented an
exception in Joseon society could have been quite normal at the time of
Silla. Actually, the Namsadang only are relics, the extant tip of the
iceberg of a past that Goryeo and Joseon intellectualism has tried to
bury at any cost.20
Whatever is the truth, there is no doubt that the establishment (or
the officialization) of Wonhwa and Hwarang are two faces of an
identical project in the course of which Hwarang eventually replaced
Wonhwa. The continuity between the two organizations is clearly
expressed in Haedong goseungjeon (Life of Beobun = King Jinheung),
where a passage taken from Hwarang segi says that according to the
content of (Hwarang) segi, from the Wonhwa to the end of Silla there
were around two hundred Hwarang, of whom the Four Sages were the
wisest (). En passant, it
should be noticed that, as it is hard to imagine that only 200 people
belong to Hwarang in about 350 years, this record (if authentic) must be
only referred to those Hwarang who achieved special merits: probably
they must have been commanders of Hwarang brigades.
However, the impression is that the analyses of Hwarang (starting
from their very name) made by ancient (and less ancient) authors have
been biased not only by the scarcity of elements at the disposal of
historiographers, but also by a kind of self-imposed censorship aimed to
not investigate, in an in-depth way, some evident contradictions. This is

Suematsu (1954). The views of Japanese scholars are sharply criticized by Bak Yun-seop (Bak
Yun-seop, 2006: especially pp. 47-50), whose attack seems heavily influenced by a Confucian-
oriented mind.
20
In this regard, I will only recall the fact that Namsadang actually replaced groups formed by
women. The resemblance with the passage from the Wonhwa to the Hwarang is impressive.

133
probably due to cultural changes that have occurred in Korea since the
Silla period. Still today, much of the scientific production regarding
Hwarang deals with their education and, especially, their military
training associated with their road to virtue. This is an attitude clearly
deriving from Confucian thought still influencing Korean scholars. It is
also a fact that the oldest records about Hwarang date from the middle
and late Goryeo period, that is to say no less than 600 years after the
establishment of Hwarang corps. How embarrassing would it have been
for a Greek of the fourth century CE (then in a Christian context) to deal
with the Sacred Battalion of Thebe that flourished 600 years earlier? We
must think that something similar has happened with the authors of the
sources about Hwarang that we can read today.
Before attempting any hypothesis regarding the terms wonhwa
and hwarang, we should consider that these Sino-Korean words are
probably translations of pure Silla terms. We know nothing about such
hypothetical terms, but what is sure is that the terms wonhwa and
hwarang, as they are, are full of sexual ambiguity. In English, these
terms are often translated as Original Flowers and Flowers Youth.
However, we do not need a doctoral degree in linguistics to understand
that such translations are nearly meaningless. As a matter of fact, the
character also indicates woman. Indeed, the identity of the concepts
of flower and woman is easily traceable in many cultures, and Korea
does not represent an exception from ancient times. In this regard, it is
enough to think of Nakhwaam (), the Rock of fallen flowers,
from which the court ladies of Baekje voluntarily fell into the river in
order to avoid any abuse from Silla-Tang soldiers, acts celebrated since
the Goryeo period in epic poems such as Jewang ungi (,
Register of Verses of Emperors and Kings), 2: The Silla King called the
Tang army, that came quickly under Su Dingfang, and attacked Baekjes
capital. Arrows and projectiles fell like rain for land and water. And then
many ladies, for a long time acquainted with the Court, chose to put an
end to their lives, by throwing themselves into the river. And the rugged

134
cliff dominating the once called Kings River shore, now is the Rock
of fallen flowers.

The term wonhwa means then original women, perhaps in the sense
of true, authentic women. We must keep in mind this meaning when
we will consider the concept of hwarang.
In the case of Hwarang, we must start from the second character,
. Despite the numerous translations with youth, the semantic sphere
of this word refers, first of all, to masculinity and maleness in general,
regardless of the age. We are not able to know whether Hwarang had a
retirement age after which they were not considered and called
Hwarang any longer.21 However, it is a fact that in Samguk yusa the
term -rang is used not only for youths, but also for aged people, as in
the already quoted Mo Jukjirangga, a poem seemingly written by a pupil
in memory of the lost beauty of his Master. We also should exclude the
use of -rang in Korean texts as a reference to a precise, bureaucratic
position, even though we cannot be certain whether the term rang
following proper nouns always implies belonging to the Hwarang corps
or, in certain cases, is a mere appellation. Moreover, the character is
countered with another, similar homophone ideogram with which it can
be easily confused. (In fact, the two characters occasionally appear
confused also in ancient texts such as Samguk yusa, 3: .

21
According to Yi Jong-uk (2002, pp. 100-3), after their retirement Hwarang devoted themselves
to agriculture or military roles, or even became leaders of their villages. Yis views, however, are
based on a record reported by the controversial Hwarang segi.

135
. . .) This character is
rang () and concerns the feminine world. It appears frequently in the
literary world and still is used, for example, in the Sino-Korean word
nangja () (girl, virgin, maid. However, the Dohwarang ()
reported in Samguk yusa, 1, is a married woman.), that is nothing but an
aulic, polite synonym of the pure Korean . It must also be
added that, at least in Middle Korean, this character was also pronounced
nyang (maid, virgin; a title still used for young, unmarried women but
today usually written ) as is unequivocally reported in Dongguk
jeongun (, Correct sounds of Korea), Hunmong jahoe, and Jaryu
juseok (, Explanations of the Various Characters).22
The word hwarang is therefore composed by two characters
indicating opposite semantic spheres: hwa (feminine sphere) and
rang (masculine sphere). But if hwa also means woman (and we
have no reason for denying this), the term hwarang becomes a mere
synonym of yeorang (), a word that, according to Yi Hui-seung
(1971: 2008), means: 1) a strong tempered woman acting like a man, and
2) prostitute. Therefore, to give hwarang a meaning such as women-
like men,men-like women, or women and men is anything but
impossible. In any case, the term hwarang mirrors per se a strong
sexual ambiguity, and it is not for a mere chance that, starting from the
Joseon period, Hwarang will be associated with male shamans 23, a
category of people where sexual ambiguity is easy to find. I will not go
as far as say that all Hwarang actually were women. In this regard, I

22
To be precise, Dongguk jeongun reports : ; Hunmong jahoe reports : ; and Jaryu
juseok reports : .
23
T he use of the word hwarang to indicate the male shaman (and not simply shamaness
husband) still survives in some areas of Gyeongsang Province and Gangwon Province (Seo
Jeong-beom, 1974, p. 78). Moreover, Seo Jeong-beom himself individuates in the character hwa
() the basic concept of the words hwarang and wonhwa. In this regard, he associates the
term flower with the artificial flowers, symbolizing both the masculine and the feminine sex,
created by shamans for their ceremonies (Seo Jeong-beom, 1974, pp. 79-80).

136
cannot accept the hypothesis of Sin Bong-nyong (2001). Nevertheless,
the objection raised by Sin is reasonable: what is the sense of choosing
beautiful men if they are destined to serve the nation (either as warriors
or officers) and then they should be selected on the basis of their talent
rather than beauty?
I think that this can be explained in two ways. On the one hand, it is
possible that, according to the esthetic parameters of ancient Silla, beauty
was associated with virtue. Indeed, this relationship is common to
various cultures. To give only two examples, the association of beauty
with good, summarized in the motto (Beautiful and
Good), represented the basis of esthetics in Classical Greece, but such an
association is traceable in ancient Rome, too. It is condensed in the Latin
proverb Mens sana in corpore sano (Healthy mind in healthy body),
which is still widely used. On the other hand, we do not have to forget
the sacred character of Hwarang or, at least, of their leaders. Their
connection with Buddhism is so clear that it leaves no room for doubt,
but we have good reasons for believing that Hwarangs sacredness
preceded Buddhism itself. The sacred Hwarang portrayed by Gakhun (or
pseudo-Gakhun) and Iryeon are only an attempt by the authors to make
Hwarangs primordial sacredness converge in the new faith, Buddhism,
once this became the state religion. We do not know whether the two
people whose oath is engraved in the so-called Imsin seogiseok (
, Stone of the oath made in the Imsin year24) were Hwarang or not.
What is sure is that once again we come across a couple, and this
couple dedicated and consecrated itself by making a pledge in the name
of Heaven, in accord with the oldest tradition.
Make-up and beautiful dresses imply a ritual of sacrifice. In many
cultures the victims of a sacrifice (either humans or animals) were richly

24
In the case of Imsin seogiseok, the year may be either 676 or 732. See Yi Byeong-do, 1957. Bak
Yeon-su, 1982, identifies the two authors of the stele as Hwarang, but he thinks the year to have
been earlier, during the reign of King Jinpyeong, or 579-632.

137
adorned before being sacrificed. In this regard, I only will recall the case
of the capacocha child sacrifice in Inca culture (Bray and others, 2005).
Moreover, since they are offered to gods, victims must be physically
perfect. The Samnites of Legio linteata and the immortals of Persia are
said to have worn splendid armor as proof of their special status,
obtained (at least in the case of Samnites) after a sacred ritual. Thanks to
make-up and beautiful dresses, Hwarang entered a new dimension, and
this dimension is a feminine one, after the failure of Wonhwa. Were they
made eunuchs after a particular ceremony? We do not have any evidence
about the existence of official eunuchs in Silla, even if in Balhae ()
the Hangbaekguk () office seems to have been concerned with the
management of court eunuchs, too. In any case, still in Goryeo, Seollang
(, a term that is to be considered a synonym of Hwarang, at least the
Hwarang of noble birth 25) were beautifully dressed before dancing
(Pahan-jip, 3) and received attention for their pleasant look, as in the
case of a certain boy Bak () reported in Dongguk yi sanggukjip, 9 (
...).
More probably, once made up and beautifully dressed, Hwarang
were ideally transported to pre-Silla times or to the very roots of Silla
culture, a historical past, preceding Buddhism, where women had a
leading role and homoeroticism was more widely accepted. Perhaps, the
creation/officialization of Wonhwa and Hwarang represented for King
Jinheung a kind of arrangement, a price to pay to his people in
exchange for the acceptance of Buddhism. However, if this hypothesis is
correct, we should also consider the possibility that in the pre-Silla
period (or in the most remote phase of Silla history), women joined men

25
The Seollang, seen as descendants of the Hwarang, are sometimes quoted in early Goryeo
documents, including epigraphs (as in the case of Gwang Hyeop [] and Kim Hyeop [
]): (Hwang Su-yeong, 1976, p. 182). They are generally said to have been
of noble origin and they seem to be connected with (and to have had a role as performers in) the
Palgwanhoe festival (). Seollang also are quoted in the Chinese text Xuanhe fengshi Gaoli
tujing (, Illustrated Record of an Embassy to Goryeo in the Xuanhe Era), 21.

138
in military activity. In other words, we have to consider the possibility of
the existence of Amazonism in Korea, and this would be an exceptional
fact. As we have seen above, in ancient times the only known cases of
Amazonism referred to the nomadic people (presumably of Iranic origin)
that settled in the plains ranging from the Black Sea to the Ural
Mountains.
But the situation in the Far East is very different. The existence of
Amazonism is not proven, despite the high number of warrior-women
portrayed in literature. The Amazons in Far Eastern literature, however,
seem to live with embarrassment regarding their condition, probably
under the influence of patriarchism affecting the collective conscience.
With reference to Chinese literature, when Mulan () returns home
after twelve years spent as a soldier in disguise, she acts as follows
(Mulan-shi [], in Gushi yuan [], 13): After opening the
door of East Pavilion, I sit in the bed of the western room. After getting
rid of the war-time cloak, I again dress in my old skirt. Near the window
I put in order the cloud of my hair, in front of the mirror I adorn myself
with a yellow flower.

In sum, suddenly after her return, the first thought of Mulan is that of
retaking her femaleness. As a matter of fact, the main virtue of Mulan is
not her military skill, but the Confucian duty of filial piety.
Korean literature presents various examples of Amazonism, gener-
ally traceable in the classical novels. However, even in this case Ama-
zonism seems to be something occasional and embarrassing. We can say

139
that Amazonism was already considered a case of sexual ambiguity.
Shortly before her death, the main character of the classical novel Bujang
yangmun rok () states: My only regret is to have been born
with a Commanders spirit in a womans body (
). As we can see, Far Eastern literature finds
it difficult to reconcile femaleness and military skill. The only possible
case of true Amazonism I was able to find in Far Eastern texts concerns
the Central Asian Xiongnu () people. The source is Qian Han shu
(, History of the Former Han), 70. The passage refers to 35 BCE
and regards the episode of the siege by the Chinese of a fortress con-
trolled by Zhizhi (), the rebel emperor of the Xiongnu. In the dramat-
ic phases of the fight, when the Chinese are about to overwhelm the
resistance of the defenders: The Shanyu (emperor) himself, after wear-
ing an armor, went up a tower, while the empress and several tens of
other wives, all equipped with bow, shot the besiegers (
, ). Of course, one can say that necessity
could have forced Zhizhis wives and concubines to become warriors,
but, as rightly pointed out by Daffin (1982, p. 82), archery skill cannot
be learned in a single day, and thus we must assume that the women who
fought the Han should have received some kind of training.
Apart from this episode, to find evidence of Amazonism in Far East
is difficult. As for Korea, the presence of ruling queens at Silla cannot
authorize maintaining the existence of Amazonism, not even supported
by convincing archaeological finds. Regarding Silla, we only may forge
a theory leading to hypothesize the presence of warrior-women:
Hwarang also carried out military actions. Hwarang represent the logical
continuation of Wonhwa. Therefore, Wonhwa also performed military
actions.26

26
On Wonhwa, also with reference to their possible involvement in military actions, see Kim Yeol-
gyu (1996, p. 72ff.) and Hong Sun-chang (1996, especially p. 157).

140
 This is an enticing theorem which also is very hard to demonstrate.
Nevertheless, we have to think that Korean women in the Three
Kingdoms period were at least expert in managing typically masculine
activities. The well-known saga of Ondal (), reported in Samguk
sagi, 45, shows a Koguryo princess able to give her husband advice
about the quality of horses. The princess also had supernatural powers
(as Queen Seondeok [] also had) and followed her husband to
the battlefield, as we can understand from the episode of Ondals bier,
that could be transported to Koguryo only thanks to the magic words
pronounced by the princess herself. Some oral variants of the same saga
report that the princess taught Ondal even the use of the sword. In any
case, oral literature admits more easily the existence of warrior women in
Korea. In this regard, an interesting record comes from Carlo Rossetti, an
Italian diplomat who directed Italys Legation for about eight months
starting from November 1902. In his Corea e coreani (Korea and
Koreans), the first encyclopedia of Korea in the western world, Rossetti
wrote, apropos of the origin of kite games in Korea: According to a
legend A King of Goryeo decided to declare war on the island of
Quelpart, at that time called Tamna, ruled by dreadful Amazons
(Rossetti, 1905, p. 166).
Rossetti was not a Korean reader/speaker and we do not know what
word he translated as Amazons. However, legends often have a basis
in truth. If their content is added to the massive literary production
regarding the military deeds of heroines, to the hints traceable in
historical sources and to the undisputable importance women had in
ancient Korea, the hypothesis of the existence of some kind of
Amazonism in the Korean peninsula (especially from the late Bronze
Age to the Proto-Three Kingdoms period) appears less absurd than it
could seem at a first glance.

141
Conclusions

The sixth century represents for Silla an epoch of dramatic changes

during which the various kings tried to find a new way to approach the
geo-political asset of Northeast Asia. This required shedding some
traditional cultural patterns (that is, human sacrifices, attested until the
first part of the sixth century [Yi Seung-jun & Kim Su-hwan, 2011, pp.
121-6]), or transforming them into social elements more suitable to the
new political projects. The aim of such reforms was to secure internal
harmony and strengthen national conscience by founding a strongly
centralized state ruled by monarchs in the name of Buddhism, the new
religion of which Silla must be both representative and defender. This
great political process also implied an increase of military activity (the
conquest of Gaya, between 532 and 562, was perhaps the most
significant military event of the sixth century for Silla) and then the
necessity to have as many troops as possible at the nations disposal. This
need for new military forces probably concerned Baekje and Koguryo in
the same period, too. Ondal (who also lived in the sixth century) may be
seen as an outcast transformed by King Pyeongwon (, r. 559-90)
into an excellent commander (see note 9 above).
It is almost certain that Hwarang were part of this project. Perhaps,
originally they were marginalized people (belonging to an ethnic
minority?), strongly connected with shamanistic rituals they used to
practice in the course of their nomadic or semi-nomadic life. In this
regard, they could have been similar to the Samnites of Legio linteata.
Inside these groups, women should have had a primary, leading role, and
even Amazonism cannot be ruled out. Perhaps, hence comes the term
wonhwa: original women, with a meaning similar to the expression
the first people, which refers to native Americans.
King Jinheung gave these groups an official character by dividing
them into brigades controlled by a representative of official power. As
Hwarang used to wander the country, their noble commanders were

142
forced to stay with them, particularly when far from the capital. The
noble commanders then ceased to represent a danger for the central
power. In this regard, the hypothesis of a growth of Hwarangs military
power after the crisis of monarchy and its relationship with Sillas fall
(Jeon Gi-ung, 1994, p. 123ff.). Was exactly that the terrible secret of
Hwarang?) is surely fascinating.
In order to eliminate a possible source of internal conflict and make
them good Silla citizens, they were taught Confucian and Buddhist
principles to be harmonized with their original customs and beliefs. King
Jinheung tried to preserve some original cultural patterns, such as
womens superiority, but, as this experiment ended in failure, he opened
the groups leadership to men, too. However, before being admitted, men
were beautifully dressed and made up: a rite of passage able to make
them sacred and transform them into women. This may explain the
sexual ambiguity of the term hwarang.
There is no reason for doubting that a part of the Hwarang served
as Silla soldiers. In this regard I imagine the organization of Hwarang
quite similar to that of the Knights Templar. There were warriors, of
course, but most of them should have been stablemen, servants,
secretaries, equerries, and others. These humbler individuals probably
represented the variegated world of Nangdo (), whose importance is
rightly remarked by Jo Beom-hwan (2008, p. 404ff.). Some of them
could have received prizes or rewards for their value or honesty and
promoted to court officers. Some others could have become entertainers
or male/female concubines. However, at least those Hwarang destined to
perform military action seem to have been organized in bands where
couple-relationships were privileged. In this case, their resemblance with
the Theban Sacred Battalion or the Sacred Band appears very close.
My personal theory is that they always remained something apart
from the ordinary people, and when the historical scenario changed,
making them unnecessary or simply embarrassing, they were discharged
from history as the Knights Templar were. Since they had remained

143
followers of ancient beliefs and customs, they practiced sexual
promiscuity and probably homosexuality and perhaps, in the early days,
Amazonism, too. Their effeminacy, their shamanistic rituals, and the role
of women inside their organization became something intolerable and
shameful. In the collective conscience of Koreans, they simply turned
into shamans and prostitutes in spite of the attempts, especially by
Iryeon, to recycle them as unblemished and blessed heroes. Indeed, in
Goryeo, even if sexual promiscuity and freedom continued, until to
shock, in 1123 a foreign envoy such as Xu Jing () (Xuanhe fengshi
Gaoli tujing, 23 and passim), the sexual ambiguity had already been
institutionalized and regularized thanks to the creation of precise
figures, as eunuchs and gisaeng, that do not seem attested in Silla, at
least in an official way. To think of someone who was, at once, shaman,
warrior and (possibly) homosexual should have been almost impossible:
a destiny similar to that of Thebes Sacred Battalion. What is sure is
that in Goryeo the perception of Hwarang drastically changed (Kim
Sang-hyeon, 1989, p. 231ff.) and the attempt to transform them into
Buddhist heroes seems an act of political-nationalistic propaganda aimed
to oppose the rise of Confucianism and, at the same time, to recover the
national identity violated by the foreign invasions.
In the twentieth century, the Hwarang have resurfaced from their
obscure past. Once again, they were called to help the country by
representing the best part of Korean people in ethnic and ideological
nationalism. No wonder that this has happened. Simply, for their
particular nature, Hwarang deserved that and still they are passing
through what happens to those declared sacred: to be, at once, blessed
and cursed.

144
 A TENTATIVE TABLE ILLUSTRATING SOME FEATURES OF HWARANG
IN COMPARISON WITH OTHER SPECIAL CORPS OF ANTIQUITY

Organization Type Sacredness Sexual Ambiguity Tutorage

Samites Legio Yes (Sacred to

I(?) ? ?
linteata Jupiter <Zeus>)

? (Despite
Thebes Sacred the name, its Yes (Adult-Adult
I Yes
Battalion sacredness is not Homosexuality)
certain)

Achaemenid ? (For certain, they

Persias I Probable had wives and ?
Immortals children)

Possible (first
Macedonian I (first phase) ? (first phase) ? (first phase)
phase)
Hetairoi II (second phase) No (second phase) No (second phase)
No (second phase)

Yes (They were Yes (Celibate and

Knights Templar II Yes
monks) chastity)

Probable
Amazons (actually Probable (Female
(Relationship
Sauromatae I(?) warriors with ?
marriage/bravery
women) religious power?)
in war)

Yes (Strong
Probable
relations with
(Androgyny;
Sillas Hwarang I(?) shamanistic Yes
Perhaps
practices and
Amazonism, too)
Buddhism)

145
REFERENCES

Aeneas Tacticus. (fourth century BCE). La difesa di una citt assediata (How to
Defend a Besieged City). Original title: . Pisa: ETS, 1990.

Aristophanes. (c. 450-385 BCE). Ecclesiazuse. Le donne allAssemblea. (The

Assemblywomen). Original title: . In Aristofane: Le
commedie, Vol. V, 238-375. Milano: Istituto Editoriale Italiano, 1964.

Arrianus. (Lucius Flavius Arrianus, c. 95-175). Anabasi di Alessandro (The

Campaigns of Alexander). Original Title: , 2 Vols.
Milano: Rizzoli, 1994.

Athenaeus. (2nd-3rd century CE). I Deipnosofisti. I dotti a banchetto

(Philosophers on Banquets). Original title: , 4 Vols. Roma:
Salerno. (Ed.). 2001.

Ayukai Fusanoshin [ ]. (1931-). Zakk ( ; Various Studies).

Gyeongseong (Seoul): Chsen insatsu, 1931-1938.

Bak Jae-min []. (2010). Bak Changhwa pil Hwarang segi jinwiseong
geomto: Uijaksiga reul jungsim euro (
; A Study on The Authenticity of Hwarang segi as It is
Recorded by Bak Chang-hwa, with Particular Reference to the Fake Poems).
Gojeon munhak yeongu, 38, 213-39.

Bak Nam-su []. (2008). Silla jung-gogi Hwarangdo ui gyoyuk gwa chulsa
( ; Education of Hwarang in Early-Middle
Silla and Their Entering Government Posts). Yeoksa gyoyuk, 108, 99-125.

Bak Yeon-su []. (1982). Imsin seogiseok e gwanhan gochal (

; A Study of the Stone of the Oath Made in the Imsin Year). Yuksa
nonmunjip, 23, 115-25.

Bak Yun-seop []. (2006). Hwarang jedo e daehan Ilbonin yeongujadeul ui

sigak bipan ( ; A Criticism of
Japanese Researchers Opinions on Hwarang). Gyoyukhak yeongu, 44(2),
27-56.

Bray, Tamara et al. (2005). A Compositional Analysis of Pottery Vessels Associated

with the Inca Ritual of Capacocha. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology,
24(1), 82-100.

146
Bu-Jang yangmunnok (; Record of the Bu-Jang Families). In Jeon Uchi-
jeon/Bujang yangmun yeolhyorok (/; The Dyeon
Uchi-jeon/The Pujang yangmun yeolhyorok). A 72-page manuscript held at
Gyujanggak, Seoul National University.

Burleigh, Michael. & Wippermann, Wolfgang. (1992). Lo stato razziale. Germania

1933-45 (The Racial State. Germany 1933-45). Rizzoli: Milano.

Cantarella, Eva. (2007). I supplizi capitali (Capital Punishments). Milano: Rizzoli.

Capone, Franco. & Ceccherini, Federica. (2010). Le vere Amazzoni (The True
Amazons). Focus (May 2010). References are to the website http://www.
focus.it/curiosita/storia/le-vere-amazzoni_C7.aspx.

Cha Ju-hwan []. (1989). Hwarangdo wa Sinseon sasang ( ;

Hwarang and Sinseons Thought). Silla munhwaje haksul balpyo nonmunjip
( ), 10, 37-57.

Chiappano, Alessandra. (2001). Il triangolo rosa: Nazismo e omosessualit (The

Pink Triangle: Nazism and Homosexuality). Agor V, 583-606.

CIL (Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum; Corpus of Latin Inscriptions), 17 Vols.

Berlin: Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1863-.

Cook, John Manuel. (1983). The Persian Empire. New York: Schocken Books.

Cornelius Nepos (c. 100-27 BCE). Le vite (Lives). (Original title: Liber de
excellentibus ducis exterarum gentium). Milano: Bompiani, 1991.

Curtius Rufus (Quintus Curtius Rufus: first century CE?). Storie di Alessandro
Magno (Histories of Alexander the Great). Original title: Historiae
Alexandri Magni Macedonis. Milano: Rizzoli, 2005.

Daedong unbugunok (; Gems Collected from Rhymes of Korea). 20

books. Written by Gwon Mun-hae [] (1534-1591). Seoul: Seomyeong
chulpan, 2003.

Daffin, Paolo. (1982). Il nomadismo centroasiatico (The Nomadism of Central

Asia). Roma: Il bagatto.

DAGR (Dictionnaire des Antiquits Grecques et Romaines; Dictionary of Greek

and Roman Antiquity), 5 Vols, 10 tomes, by Daremberg, Charles and Saglio,
Edmond (Eds,). Paris: Librairie Hachette et Cie., 1877-1919.

David, Thrse. (1976). Amazones et femmes de nomades. A propos de quelques

147
 reprsentations de liconographie antique (The Amazons and the Women of
Nomads: Some Representations of the Old Iconography). Arts Asiatiques,
32, 203-31.

DeVoto, James G. (1992). The Theban Sacred Band. The Ancient World, 23(2),
319.

Diodorus Siculus (c. 90-27 BCE). Bibliotheca historica (Historical Library).

Original title: . 6 vols. Leipzig: Bibliotheca Scriptorum
Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana, 1888-1906 (reprint 1985-1991).

Dongguk jeongun (; Correct sounds of Korea). 6 books. Commissioned by

King Sejong [, (r. 1418-50), written by Sin Suk-ju [] (1417-75)
and others, first published in the ninth month of 1447. Seoul: Geonguk
daehakkyo chulpanbu, 1988.

Dongguk tonggam (; Comprehensive Mirror of the Eastern Kingdom

[Korea]). 56 books. Commissioned by King Sejo [] (r. 1455-68), written
by Seo Geo-jeong [ (1420-88), Jeong Hyo-hang [], and others.
Completed in 1485. Seoul: Sejong daewang ginyeom saeophoe, 1996.

Dongguk Yi sangguk-jip (; Collection of Scripts by Minister Yi of

Korea). 53 books. Written by Yi Gyu-bo [] (1168-1241), published by
his son Ham [] in 1241-42, 6 Vols. Seoul: Minjok munhwa chujinhoe,
1989.

Dongmunseon (; Anthology of Eastern Literature). 133 books. A collection

of writings ranging from Silla to Early Joseon periods, commissioned by
King Seongjong [] (r. 1469-94) and completed in 1478 by a committee
of scholars among which there were Seo Geo-jeong [] (1420-88), No
Sa-sin [] (1427-98), Gang Hui-maeng [] (1424-83), and Yang
Seong-ji [] (1415-82). Seoul: Minjok munhwa chujinhoe, 1998. This
work has a continuation, titled Sok Dongmunseon (), in twenty-
three books, completed in 1518 by Sin Yong-gae [] (1463-1519), Kim
Jeon [] (1458-1523), and others.

Dongsa gangmok (; A Profile of Eastern Korean History). 20 books.

Written by An Jeong-bok [] (1712-91). Seoul: Minjok munhwa
chujinhoe, 1985.

Durkheim, mile. (1912). Les formes lmentaires de la vie religieuse. Le systme

totmique en Australie (Elementary Forms of Religious Life: The Totemic
System in Australia). Paris: Les Presses universitaires de France.

148
Festus. (Sextus Pompeius Festus: second century CE). De verborum significatu
(On the Meaning of Words). Fragments collected in Lindsay, Wallace H.:
Festus. Sexti Pompei Festi De verborum significatu quae supersunt cum
Pauli Epitome, Teubner: Leipzig, 1913.

FGrH (Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum; Fragments by Greek Historiographers).

Teil B, (Zeitgeschichte) [Nr. 64-105]. Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung,
1926.

FGrH (Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum; Fragments by Greek Historiographers).

Teil B (Zeitgeschichte) [Nr. 106-153]. Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhand-
lung, 1927.

Guidi, Federica. (2009). Morte nellarena (Death in the Circus). Milano: Mondadori.

Gushi yuan (; The Source of Ancient Poems). 14 books. Written by Shen

Deqian [] (1673-1769). Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2000.

Haedong goseung jeon (; Lives of Eminent Monks of Korea). 2 books

extant. This work, attributed to Gakhun and said to have been completed in
1215, is suspected to be a forgery made in the late nineteenth century by the
Buddhist monk Saseon. Seoul: Jihacheol mungosa, 1981.

Haedong yeoksa (; Historical Treatise on Korea). 85 books. Written by

Han Chi-yun [] (1765-1814) during King Jeongjos reign (1776-
1800), and enlarged by his nephew Han Jin-seo []. Seoul: Gyeongin
munhwasa, 1982.

Herodotus. (484-425 BCE). Storie (History). Original title: , 4 Vols.

Milano: Rizzoli, 1999.

Hinsch, Bret. (1990). Passions of the Cut Sleeve. Berkeley: University of

California Press.

Homer: Iliade (Iliad). Original title: . Milano: Rizzoli, 2003.

Hong Sun-chang []. (1996). Hwarang gwa Silla ui jeongchi sahoe:

Gunsajeok yeokhal eul jungsim euro (
; Hwarang and Sillas Political Society: With Particular Reference to
Military Roles). In Kim Taek-gyu [] (Ed.), Hwarang munhwa ui sin
yeongu ( ; New Studies on Hwarang Culture). Seoul:
Mundeoksa, 153-78.

Hunmong jahoe (; Collected Characters for Training Ignorant). 3 books.

149
 Written by Choe Se-jin [] (1473?-1542), first edited in 1527. Chsen
kbunkai [] edition, printed in Gyeongseong (Seoul) in 1913.

Hwang Su-yeong []. (1976). Hanguk geumseok yumun (;

Surviving Epigraphic Scripts from Korea). Seoul: Iljisa.

Isidore of Seville (c. 560-636). Etimologie o origini (Etymologies or Origins).

Original title: Etymologiae, 2 Vols. Torino: UTET, 2006.

Jaryu juseok (; Explanations of the Various Characters). 2 books. Written

by Jeong Yun-yong [] (1792-1865), first published in 1856. Seoul:
Geonguk daehakkyo chulpanbu, 1985.

Jeon Gi-ung []. (1994). Silla hadae ui Hwarang seryeok (

; The Power of Hwarang in the Late Silla Period). Silla munhwa, 10(11),
111-32.

Jewang ungi (; Register of Verses of Emperors and Kings). 2 books.

Written by Yi Seung-hyu [] (1224-1300) Probably completed in 1287.
Seoul: Doseo chulpan Yeongnak, 1999.

Jibong yuseol (; Classified Scripts by Jibong [pseudonym of the author, Yi

Su-gwang [] (1563-1628]). 20 books. First published in 1614. Seoul:
Eulyu munhwasa, 1994.

Jo Beom-hwan []. (2008). Silla junggogi Nangdo wa Hwarang (

; Nangdo and Hwarang of the Early-Middle Silla Period).
Hanguk godaesa yeongu, 52, 403-33.

Ju Bo-don []. (1997). Silla Hwarangdo yeongu ui hyeonhwang gwa gwaje

( ; Present Situation and Topics of Research on
Silla Hwarangdo). Gyemyeong sahak, 8(1), 87-127.

Kim Bu-chan []. (2005). Hwarangdo ui cheyuk cheolhak euroseo ui

pungnyudo ( ; Pungnyudo as Philosophy of
Physical Education in Hwarangdo). Hanguk seupocheu riseochi, 16(3),
1801-08.

Kim Chung-nyeol []. (1989). Hwarang ogye wa Samgyo sasang ui

hyeonsiljeok guhyeon ( ; The Practical
Realization of the Samgyo Concept and the Five Commands in the Hwarang
Corps). Silla munhwaje haksul balpyo nonmunjip, 10(1), 121-38.

Kim Gwon-taek [] & Yi Yeong-cheol []. (2010). Silla sidae Hwarang

150
 yeongu ui donghyang ( ; Trends of Research on
Sillas Hwarang). Daehan mudohakhoeji, 12(1), 1-11.

Kim Sang-hyeon []. (1989). Goryeo sidae ui Hwarang insik (

; The Cognition of Hwarang in the Goryeo Period). Silla munhwaje
haksul balpyo nonmunjip ( ), 10(1), 217-42.

Kim Sang-hyeon []. (1999). Silla ui sasang gwa munhwa (

; Ideology and Culture of Silla). Seoul: Iljisa.

Kim Yeol-gyu []. (1996). Wonhwa wa Hwarang: Seong ui galdeung gwa

Hwarangdo: Wae Wonhwa raya haenneunga? ([] - []
: < > ?; Wonhwa and Hwarang: Sexual
Conflict and Hwarangdo - Why Were they Called Wonhwa?). In Kim
Taek-gyu [] (Ed.) (1996), Hwarang munhwa ui sin yeongu (
; New Studies on Hwarang Culture). Seoul, Mundeoksa, 71-96.

Kyle, Donald G. (1998). Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome. London: Routledge.

Laborit, Henri. (1971). Lhomme et la ville (Man and the City). Paris: Flammarion.

Lane Fox, Robin. (2004). Alessandro il Grande (Alexander the Great). Torino:
Einaudi.

Lee, Peter H. (Ed.). (1969). Lives of Eminent Korean Monks. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press.

Livy (Titus Livius: 59 BCE- 17CE?). Storia di Roma (History of Rome). Original
title: Ab urbe condita libri CXLII, 6 Vols. Roma: Newton & Compton, 1997.

Martin, Sean. (2005). The Knights Templar: The History & Myths of the Legendary
Military Order. New York: Thunders Mouth Press.

McBride, Richard D. (2005). The Hwarang segi Manuscripts: An In-Progress

Colonial Period Fiction. Korea Journal, 45(3), 230-60.

McBride, Richard D. (2008). Pak Changhwa and the Hwarang segi Manuscripts.
Journal of Korean Studies, 13(1), 5788.

Mishina Shei []. (1974). Shiragi kar no kenky (;

Studies on Hwarang of Silla). Tokyo: Heibonsha.

Mohan, Pankaj N. (2001). Maitreya Cults in Early Silla: Focusing on Hwarang as

Maitreya-Incarnate. Seoul Journal of Korean Studies, 14, 149-73.

Morris, Desmond. (1967). The Naked Ape. London: Jonathan Cape Ltd.

151
Mulan shi (; The Ballad of Mulan). Poem by unknown author written around
the fourth/fifth century CE. References are to Gushi yuan, 13.

Muye dobo tongji (; General, Systematic and Illustrated Treatise of

Military Arts). 4 books. Commissioned by King Jeongjo [] (r. 1776-
1800). Written by Yi Deok-mu [] (1741-93), Bak Je-ga []
(1750-1805), Baek Dong-su [] (1743-1816), and others. Completed in
1790. Seoul: Dongmunseon, 1998.

Naumann, Nelly. (1992). The Kusanagi Sword. In Mller, Klaus (Ed.), Nenrin-
Jahresringe: Festgabe fr Hans A. Dettmer. Wiesbaden: Harassowitz, 1992:
158-70.

No Tae-don []. (1997). Pilsabon Hwarang segi neun jinboninga? (

; Is the Manuscript of Hwarang segi Authentic?).
Hanguksa yeongu, 99(100), 347-61.

Ogden, Daniel. (1996). Homosexuality and Warfare in Ancient Greece. In Lloyd,

Alan B. (Ed.), Battle in Antiquity. London: Duckworth,10768.

Pahan-jip (; Collection of Scripts for Killing Time). 3 books. Written by

Yi Il-lo [] (1152-1220). First published in 1260, first extant edition
dated 1659. Seoul: Goryeo daehakkyo minjok munhwa yeonguso, 1964.

Partner, Peter. (1987). I Templari (The Templars). Torino: Einaudi.

Periplus ponti Euxini (Periplus of the Black Sea). In .

. . (Arrianus. Three Anonymous
Authors. Agathemeros. Two Fragments.), 158-203. Edidit S.F. Guil.
Hoffmann. Lipsiae: Sumptibus C.L. Fritzschii, 1842.

Plato (427-347 BCE). Simposio (Symposium). Original title: . Milano:

Mondadori, 2001.

Pliny (Pliny the Elder: Gaius Plinius Secundus: 23-79 CE). Storia naturale
(Natural History). Original title: Naturalis historia. 5 Vols., 6 tomes. Torino:
Einaudi, 1982-1988.

Plutarch (c. 45-127). Pelopida (Life of Pelopidas). Original title: .

Plutarco, Vite parallele: Pelopida e Marcello. Milano: Rizzoli, 1998:
85-276.

Pseudo-Hippocrates. , , (On Airs, Waters, and Places). In

Hippocrate. Hippocratis opera quae feruntur omnia (Vol. I), 31-71. Lipsiae:

152
 Teubner, 1894.

Qian Han shu (; History of the Former Han). (206 BCE-24CE). 120 books.
Compiled 58-76 by Ban Gu [] (32-92). Peking: Zhonghua shuju, 1962.

Riotto, Maurizio. (1995). Jar Burials in Korea and Their Possible Social
Implications. Korea Journal, 35(3), 40-53.

Riotto, Maurizio. (2011). Korean Reaction to Matteo Ricci and Christianity: A

Case of Defensive Fundamentalism? Ming-Qing Studies, 601-19.

Rossetti, Carlo. (1905). Corea e coreani. Impressioni e ricerche sullimpero del

Gran Han (Korea and Koreans: Impressions and Researches on the Great
Han Empire). Vol. II. Bergamo: Istituto darti grafiche.

Rutt, Richard. (1961). The Flower Boys of Silla. Transactions of the Royal Asiatic
Society (Korea Branch), 38, 1-66.

Salmon, Edward Togo. (1995). Il Sannio e i Sanniti (Samnium and The Samnites).
Torino: Einaudi.

Samguk sagi ( ; Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms). 50 books.

Commissioned by King Injong [] (r. 1122-46), written by Kim Bu-sik
[]. Completed in 1145. Seoul: Eulyu munhwasa, 1986.

Samguk yusa (; Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms). 5 books. Written by

Iryeon [] (1206-89). Completed around 1280. Seoul: Eulyu munhwasa,
1992.

Samguksa jeolyo (; Epitome of the History of the Three Kingdoms). 14

books. Written by No Sa-sin [] (1427-98), Seo Geo-jeong []
(1420-88) and others. Completed under King Seongjongs reign (1469-94).
Seoul: Sejong daewang ginyeom saeophoe, 1996.

Semonides of Amorgos (Seventh century BCE). (A Criticism of

Women). Pellizer, Ezio & Tedeschi, Gennaro (Eds.), Semonides: testimonia
et fragmenta. Roma, Edizioni dellAteneo, 1990, 18-29.

Seo Jeong-beom []. (1974). Hwarangeo go (; A Study of The Term

Hwarang). Hanguk minsokhak, 7(1), 77-89.

Shrimpton, Gordon S. (1991). Theopompus the Historian. Montreal: McGill-

Queens University Press.

Sin Bong-nyong []. (2001). Hwarang gwa sangmu jeongsin ( ;

153
 Hwarang and Martial Spirit). Dong A Ilbo (April 7, 2011). References are to
t h e w e b s i t e h t t p : / / b l o g . n a v e r. c o m / a k r t e m ? R e d i r e c t = L o g & l o g
No=100013776974

S i n j e u n g D o n g g u k y e o j i s e u n g n a m ( ; N e w E n l a rg e d
Geographical Treatise on Korea). 55 books. Written by Yi Haeng []
(1478-1534) and others, completed around 1530. Seoul: Minjok muhwa
chujinhoe, 1970.

Srensen, Henrik H. (2008). Book Review. Jonathan W. Best: A History of The

Early Korean Kingdom of Baekje. Cambridge (MA) and London. Harvard
University Asia Center, 2006. Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies, 8(2),
203-06.

Suematsu Yasukazu []. (1954). Shiragishi no shomondai (;

Problems in Sillas History). Tokyo: Ty Bunko.

Tikhonov, Vladimir. (1998). Hwarang Organization: Its Functions and Ethics.

Korea Journal, 38(2), 318-38.

Tucci, Giuseppe. (1974). Introduzione (Introduction). Anonymous: Armi e

armature asiatiche (Asian Arms and Armors). Milano: Bramante editrice,
7-12.

Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro: 70-19 BCE). Eneide (Aeneid). Original title:
Aeneis. Milano: Mondadori, 2007.

Xenophon (c. 430-355 BCE). Ciropedia (The Education of Cyrus). Original title:
, 2 Vols. Milano: Rizzoli, 2001.

Xuanhe fengshi Gaoli tujing (; Illustrated Record of an Embassy

to Goryeo in the Xuanhe Era). 40 books, illustrations are lost. Written by Xu
Jing [] (1091-1153). Probably completed in 1124. Seoul: Minjok
munhwa chujinhoe, 1978.

Yeongyeongjae jeonjip - oejip ( ; Collected Writings by

Yeongyeongjae [pseudonym of Seong Hae-eung [, 1760-1839]:
Appendix). 6 vols. Seoul: Oseongsa, 1982.

Yeosa jegang (; Abridgement of History of Goryeo). 23 books. Written by

Yu Gye [] (1607-64) with a preface by Song Si-yeol [] (1607-89).
Seoul: Sejong daewang ginyeom saeophoe, 1998.

Yi Byeong-do []. (1957). Imsin seogiseok e daehayeo ( ;

154
 Apropos of the Stone of the Oath Made in the Imsin Year). Seoul daehakkyo
nonmunjip, 5, 1-7.

Yi Gi-dong []. (1984). Silla golpumje sahoe wa Hwarangdo (

; Sillas bone-rank society and the Hwarang). Seoul: Iljogak.

Yi Hui-jin []. (2010). Choegeun jegidoen Hwarang segi pilsabon jojakseol e

daehan bipanjeok gochal ( <>
; A Critical Consideration on the Recently Proposed Fabrication
of Manuscript in Hwarang segi). Hanguk godaesa tamgu, 5, 259-97.

Yi Hui-seung []. (1971). Gugeo daesajeon (; Great Dictionary of

Korean Language). Seoul: Minjungseogwan.

Yi Jong-uk []. (2002). Silla Hwarangdo ui hwaldong ( ; The

Activities of Sillas Hwarang). Seogang inmun nonchong, 16, 63-104.

Yi Jong-uk []. (2010). Hwarang segi reul boneun nun ( ;

Views of Hwarang segi). Hanguk godaesa tamgu, 6, 5-27.

Yi Seong-jun [] & Kim Su-hwan []. (2011). Hanbando godae sahoe ui

sunjang munhwa ( ; The Culture of Human
Sacrifices in the Ancient Society of Korean Peninsula). Hanguk gogohakbo,
81, 109-38.

Yun, Peter. (2002). Mongols and Western Asians in the Late Goryeo Ruling
Stratum. International Journal of Korean History, 3, 51-69.

155