When Rome Ruled the West: Korea’s Three Kingdoms
Korea Through 5,000 Years — Episode 2 A History in Parallel with the West When Augustus became the first emperor of Rome in 27 BCE, the Mediterranean world was entering one of the most famous imperial ages in human history. Rome would build roads across continents, command enormous armies, construct monumental cities, and eventually rule tens of millions of people from Britain to Egypt. But thousands of kilometers to the east, another political transformation was beginning. On and around the Korean Peninsula, the communities that would become Goguryeo, Baekje, Silla, and Gaya were emerging from the political world that followed the fall of Gojoseon. Over the next several centuries, they would develop into powerful states with armies, fortresses, royal courts, diplomatic networks, sophisticated metalworking, distinctive burial cultures, and new religious traditions. By the fourth and fifth centuries, while the Roman Empire was converting to Christianity and struggling with internal div...