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A Comparative Study on the Historicization and Mythologization of the Goryeo Foundation Myth: Focusing on Goryeo segye and Jewang ungi

  • Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University
  • 2026, 83(3), pp.125~154
  • Publisher : Institute of Humanities, Seoul National University
  • Research Area : Humanities > Other Humanities
  • Received : July 11, 2026
  • Accepted : August 10, 2026
  • Published : August 31, 2026

Ji, Haein 1

1한국학중앙연구원

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Goryeo segye (高麗世系) is the founding and ancestral myth of the Goryeo dynasty recorded in Goryeosa (高麗史), based on Kim Gwanui’s (金寬毅) Pyeonnyeon tongrok (編年通錄), and extensive historical and literary research on this myth has accumulated over the years. However, comparative mythological studies reading the Goryeosegye alongside the “Bonjo gunwang segye yeondae” (本朝君王世系年代) in the second volume of Jewang ungi (帝 王韻紀), which records the same ancestral lineage, remain scarce. Utilizing Bruce Lincoln’s concept of myth as an ideology in narrative form, this study compares the strategies of mythologization and historicization employed by the compilers of both texts, thereby critically examining the ideological mechanisms embedded within them. The analysis reveals that the “Bonjo gunwang segye yeondae” of Jewang ungi actively pursued the mythologization and legitimization of the Goryeo ancestral myth based Academy of Korean Studies 154 인문논총 83권 3호 2026. 8. 31. on a supernatural view of history, such as the explicit deification of Hogyeong (虎景), the defense of the Tang Emperor Sukjong lineage, and Monk Doseon’s (道詵) geomantic prophecy mandated by the Holy Mother of Mount Jirisan. In contrast, while the compilers of the Goryeosa distrusted the supernatural elements in Pyeonnyeon tongrok as absurd and groundless, they paradoxically appropriated the Confucian historicization already latent within the text as a tool for demythologization. The implicit deification of Hogyeong, the explicit identification of Gangchung’s (康忠) human maternal lineage, the violation of the taboo in the tale of Jakjegeon (作帝建), and the reduction of Monk Doseon’s prophecy to a historical event were not mere passive repetitions of the Pyeonnyeon tongrok; rather, as evidenced by the strategic placement of powerful counter-discourses, such as Yi Jehyeon’s (李齊賢) critical appraisal and Minji’s (閔漬) oral transmission, they served to fracture the divine authority of the Goryeo dynasty and achieve systematic historicization and demythologization. In conclusion, the distinct narrative stances of these two texts demonstrate that they are the products of the compilers’ dynamic ideological practices to naturalize and legitimate the ruling order by modifying myth amid the sociopolitical upheavals of their respective eras.

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