As there were no male sacred bone heirs left, Seondeok was chosen to succeed her father. “Sacred bone” refers to top rank of Silla’s “ bone rank system,” a caste system which was determined by the heritage of ones’ parents. Although Silla preferred male heirs, more important than the sex of the heir was that they were of the “sacred bone” rank. Seondeok took the throne as queen when her father died without a male heir. However, after being reprimanded by the Tang ambassador for her precociousness, her father suppressed her studies of the stars. It was also during her time as a princess that she took up an interest in astronomy and had Cheomseongdae, the oldest extant astronomical observatory in the world, constructed. She had inferred this fact because the painting did not depict any butterflies, which are attracted to flowery scents. A story included in both the History of the Three Kingdoms ( Samguk sagi) and Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms ( Samguk yusa) retells how when her father received peony seeds and a painting of the flower from the emperor of Tang China, Seondeok remarked how it was a shame such a beautiful flower did not have a scent before the seeds had even been planted.

The daughter of King Jinpyeong and Lady Maya, Seondeok, named Kim Deok-man at birth, displayed clever insightfulness from an early age. She was not only a politically strategic ruler, but also facilitated many cultural achievements. She was the first reigning female monarch in Korean history and the second in East Asian history.

632-647) was the 27th monarch of Silla, one of the kingdoms of the Three Kingdoms period.

Queen seondeok korean history