3. A Comparison of the Atlantis Myth and Jeju Mythology

Joseph Campbell once put forward the theory of a single archetypal myth (monomyth), holding that all the stories of the world (myths, legends, folktales, films, etc.) share a common basic structure.^[11] Campbell's theory of a single archetypal myth argues that myth is not merely the superstition of primitive people but the crystallization of the highly developed science and unconscious of ancient people, and that the various myths of the world, though outwardly different, possess the same structure at a deep level.

The reason the myths of the world can be a single archetypal myth has until now been sought mainly in the commonality of the human unconscious, but diffusionism regards it as having been propagated from a single myth. Among humanity's archetypal myths, the Sumerian myth found on Sumerian clay tablets has drawn attention, but with the emergence of Sundaland—an even more ancient civilization than Sumer—research seeking the world's archetypal myth from Sundaland has been actively conducted.

Research that regards Sundaland as the origin of myth appears today in three groups: research that regards the Southeast Asian region as the center of Sundaland^[12]; research centered on South American Atlantis, which pays attention to the Sundaland civilization transmitted to South America after Sundaland's subsidence^[13]; and Korea-centered research that regards Jeju Island as the center of Sundaland. These commonly present various theories by synthesizing linguistic, mythological, and historical methods on the basis of existing archaeological and anthropological discoveries.

The research that regards the Southeast Asian region as the center of Sundaland first proposed the importance of Sundaland, and the Atlantis-centered research proposed the connecting link between the Sundaland civilization and later civilizations. The research that regards Jeju Island as the center of Sundaland presents a comprehensive theory centered on Korea, which becomes the intermediate link between the two lines of research. Research that regards Korea as the center of Sundaland includes that of Kim Sang-il, centered on the calendar,^[14] but the research of Im Hwan-yeong, which employs even linguistic methods, presents the most comprehensive theory.^[15] Im Hwan-yeong additionally synthesizes Korea's Budoji and the like, applying to Jeju Island the "Eden in the East" theory proposed by Stephen Oppenheimer.

Im Hwan-yeong uses in his research Kinyarwanda and Sesotho, African languages still used by more than 100 million people even today. Im Hwan-yeong regards these two languages as the languages of people who, 70,000 years ago while modern humans were migrating out of Africa, halted their migration and were left behind in Africa. Therefore, he says that if one compares Korean with Korea—the final destination of the humans who migrated from Africa—and with Kinyarwanda and Sesotho, the languages first used by humans, one can discover many facts not found in mythology or archaeology. He says that the archetype of Eastern and Western mythology can be found in the process by which humans who escaped from the sinking Sundaland passed through South America, moved as far as Sumer and Egypt, and then returned to the region where Sundaland had been. Im Hwan-yeong says that, on the basis of the <Damsugye Section> of the Tamnaji (耽羅誌), which records Seolmandugo (雪慢頭姑), Seolmundae Halmang can be regarded as the Mago of the Budoji written by Bak Je-sang, and that if one connects the records found on the Sumerian clay tablets with the Budoji, one can find the archetype of world mythology in Sundaland. Im Hwan-yeong's view of Jeju mythology as the archetype of world mythology seen through Sundaland can be examined as follows.^[16]

Im Hwan-yeong regards the Sumerian King List found on the Sumerian clay tablets as records of the Budoji from the time of Sundaland, transmitted by way of South America. He says that if the figures on the Sumerian clay tablets, recorded as hundreds of thousands of years, are divided by 60, they become an accurate chronology of human history. In the <Sumerian King List>, if one adds up all the history before the <Great Flood> of 3,500 BC, one arrives at 12,000 BC, the origin of the Mago Kingdom of Seolmundae Halmang established on the Korean Peninsula. The Mago Kingdom lasted from 12,000 BC for 1,080 years, and in the Sumerian records it is recorded as the period of Eridug (Eridug), humanity's first dynasty. This period is again divided into the Alulim period and the Alalgar period. The Alulim era is 8 sars, or 480 years. This period was the age of farming and herding, when humanity settled in one place from a primitive gathering economy, formed villages, and began agriculture and herding. The Alalgar era of 10 sars is 600 years; this period was when full-scale fishing began, when fishing and fishermen appeared and boats were made. This Eridug era is the <Mago> era, so Mago history is 1,080 years, and this is precisely the Millennial Kingdom of the Old Testament. The history from the Eridug period as summarized by Im Hwan-yeong is as follows.

(End of the last, fourth Ice Age); the continental shelf of the West Sea
- 11,200 BC ~ 10,130 BC ; Mago
- 10,130 BC ~ 9,500 BC ; Hwanggung-ssi (黃穹氏)
- 9,500 BC ~ 9,000 BC ; Hwanggung-ssi and Atlantis (Cheonggung-ssi; 靑穹氏)

(Post-glacial period); the North China, Manchuria, and Mongolia regions <※ Human settlements moved from the continental shelf to the continent due to seawater inundation of the shelf>
- 9,000 BC ~ 8,300 BC ; Hwanggung-ssi
- 8,300 BC ~ 7,197 BC ; Yuin-ssi (有因氏)
- 7,197 BC ~ 3,897 BC ; Hwanin-ssi (桓因氏)
- 3,897 BC ~ 2,333 BC ; Hwanung-ssi (桓雄氏; Baedalguk)
<※ Including Noah's flood period: 3,500 BC ~ 2,800 BC>
- 2,333 BC ~ 232 BC ; Dangun Joseon

Im Hwan-yeong says that, through etymological analysis of Kinyarwanda and Northern Sotho, the four tribes expressed in the Budoji represent the tribes of modern humans who escaped the glaciers and had lived on the Eurasian continent and in Southeast Asia, then came together to live on the southwestern-sea continental shelf. The Mago civilization of Mt. Halla and the West Sea continental shelf—the beginning of human civilization—began 11,200 years ago and spanned some 2,000 years before it was submerged beneath the sea with the arrival of the post-glacial period around 9,000 BC; but its golden age was about 1,000 years, while the remaining 1,000 years were an age of chaos like the Armageddon of the Book of Revelation. The early 1,000-year golden age was precisely the Eden era, when the utopia in which Adam and Eve lived existed. The Garden of Eden means a garden shining with dazzling sunlight; it was the island region of today's Sinan-gun in South Jeolla, where the Yeongsan River dispersed into four rivers and flowed into the West Sea plain.

Adam, who had lived bound in the Garden of Eden for 1,000 years, at the instigation of the Aryans (Satan) colluded with his own kinswoman Eve and raised a rebellion—and that was precisely the war of Armageddon (meaning "prison"). Im Hwan-yeong says that the Armageddon myth of the Book of Revelation is not a tale of the future but a record of the past. The war of Armageddon began from the Garden of Eden, when the locusts (the Gori tribe, Hwanggung-ssi, the yellow race) led by Adam and Eve, together with Satan (the Aryans), attacked the Mago tribe. The eagle that appears in the Book of Revelation to aid Christ is the symbol of the Slavs.

The Slavs were the Sesotho people, the first people to come from Africa, the tribe of Mago Halmi's husband, and were a friendly force to Christ; the eagle holding a serpent in its mouth, the symbol of the Aztec civilization of Mexico, is said to signify precisely the Slavs repelling the Aryans. Mt. Halla is the mountain of Mago Halmi, and Baengnokdam signifies Svarog, the chief deity of the ancient Slavs; the Slavs originally lived on the Korean Peninsula and Jeju Island but, having lost the war of Armageddon, were said to have been driven north.

The symbol of the Aryans is the serpent, and even today at tourist sites in India, vipers dance to the sound of the flute; the reason Satan is still depicted as a serpent is that the word "Satan" does not mean serpent, but rather that "Aryan" means serpent.

Mt. Halla is the mountain of Mago Halmi, and Baengnokdam signifies Svarog, the chief deity of the ancient Slavs; the Slavs originally lived on the Korean Peninsula and Jeju Island but, having lost the war of Armageddon, were driven north.

Furthermore, the Mago tribe, including Mago Halmi, left the region of the Maenggol Archipelago—Jerusalem (meaning "fortress")—and migrated to the new Jerusalem in Mexico, America. <Jerusalem (Yerushalayim)> is the Kinyarwanda yerurutsa (to hide) + <Sesotho sala + Kinyarwanda ima>, meaning to hide one's household goods, signifying a <castle> made of a fortress. The Mago Fortress of the Budoji likewise carries the meaning of a fortress. The Maenggol Archipelago in the south of Jindo was precisely the Atlantis of which Plato spoke. The Indians of Mexico were the Northern Sotho people, the descendants of Mago; the Sesotho people, the Celts, migrated in the post-glacial period north to the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River basin, then crossed the Atlantic and landed on the west coasts of Europe and North Africa. The civilization they built at that time throughout South America was given the existing name of Atlantis, and this becomes the origin of the South American theory of Atlantis argued by researchers of the Atlantis code. Atlantis is the Northern Sotho <atla (to prosper) + ntisa (to care)>; atla is the etymology of the Korean <adeul> (son) and signifies a capital that has been relocated.

Furthermore, the Mago tribe, including Mago Halmi, left the region of the Maenggol Archipelago—Jerusalem (meaning "fortress")—and migrated to the new Jerusalem in Mexico, America. The Indians of Mexico were the Northern Sotho people, the descendants of Mago; the Sesotho people, the Celts, migrated in the post-glacial period north to the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River basin, then crossed the Atlantic and landed on the west coasts of Europe and North Africa. They founded the Egyptian Old Kingdom and built the pyramids, and later, when Sumer fell and Abraham and his company took refuge in Egypt, they transmitted to them the history of Mago, whereupon Moses took over the history of the Old Testament.

They founded the Egyptian Old Kingdom and built the pyramids, and later, when Sumer fell and Abraham and his company took refuge in Egypt, they transmitted to them the history of Mago, whereupon Moses is said to have taken over the history of the Old Testament.

Meanwhile, the descendants of Adam and Eve and the Aryans maintained peace, and Jerusalem became Atlantis and prospered again for a thousand years. But around 9,000 BC, when the Ice Age ended and the post-glacial period came, the seawater overwhelmed Atlantis and the Gori tribe perished; some of them advanced as far as Greece and formed Greek civilization, and Plato made his ancestors' story into a dialogue and transmitted the myth of Atlantis.

Thereupon, the new virgin land of the continent revealed in the post-glacial period became the possession of the Aryans who dwelt on the western frontier; the meaning of "Aryan" was the right to the virgin land of the continent in the post-glacial period. The 1,000-year history of Mago became the Genesis and the Book of Revelation of the Bible, and the 1,000-year history of the Gori tribe of the other Adam and Eve became the myth of Atlantis. The scene of land emerging from the flood is said to be the story of Genesis.

Thus maritime culture came to an end, and continental civilization finally began around 7,000 BC, at the end of the 1,500-year history of the Aryans, with a revolution involving the Brahmanic nature deities of Hwanin—rain, cloud, and wind. But when the 600-year period of Noah's flood came again, Hwanung and the Dangun Joseon of Sumer, succeeding Hwanin, ruled the Northeast Asia region. Hwanung advanced into the Sumer region and conquered Sumer, but, driven back by the Akkadian dynasty, returned once more to the Korean Peninsula. Of course, not all of them migrated—only some migrated.

The inhabitants of the Sumer region are said to have entered the Korean Peninsula on three occasions. The first was Lugalzagesi (Dangun Wanggeom), the last king of Sumer, who brought Sumerian hieroglyphs eastward, and these are the origin of the Chinese characters. The second was when the Akkadian regime that had destroyed Sumer again flocked from Mesopotamia into Dangun Joseon, revived the Chinese characters, and abolished the Garimto script. They moved the capital from Jolbon—Pyongyang (meaning "basin")—to Asadal near Beijing (meaning the goddess Ishtar, the chief deity of Akkad). Thereafter the Aryan-lineage Guti tribe (the Gye lineage) again flocked in and seized power, and after several decades the Akkadian lineage (the U lineage) again took power, achieved the division of the three Han (implementing the Samhan Gwangyeong system), and brought about peace among the three peoples of the Western Regions.

Lugalzagesi, destroyed by Akkad in 2334 BC, returned to the Korean Peninsula in 2333 BC together with 2,000 soldiers, became Dangun Wanggeom, made his capital at Pyongyang, and founded Joseon. Pyongyang (平壤) means a basin among mountains, and is Jolbon, the entrance to the Korean Peninsula. Lugalzagesi (lugal jage si) means regent king. The Akkadian dynasty, which arrived second, named its capital Asadal after Astarte, the goddess of Venus who was their chief deity, and established its capital near Beijing.

The four-great-rivers civilization arose naturally when Noah's flood ended in 2,700 BC and the fertile land that had been submerged beneath the sea reemerged, whereupon the humanity that had been scattered in mountainous regions again gathered densely on the plains; it was a worldwide, simultaneous, multi-focal phenomenon. The mainstream of the Korean people is said to have begun around 2,700 BC, after Noah's flood ended, when the seawater called <Cheonhae (天海 = the sea that covered the land)> receded in the North China region and villages formed along the banks of the Yellow River.

Against the background of such theories, Im Hwan-yeong compares Jeju mythology anew by connecting it with world mythology. Existing research comparing Jeju mythology with world mythology had also long pointed out that there are commonalities with South American mythology and biblical mythology. Shin Yeon-woo says that the framework of Jeju Island's creation myth has commonalities with the Bible and the Popol Vuh myth.^[17] Go Hye-gyeong noted that the Seolmundae Halmang myth, representative of Jeju mythology, is a great female mythic archetype rare in the world.^[18] Joo Ho-min, who drew great attention with the animation and film "Along with the Gods," is also said to have found his motifs in Jeju mythology.^[19]

Im Hwan-yeong says that the Seolmundae Halmang myth is a legend that symbolically expresses the period after the Mago era. Seolmundae Halmang is the goddess said to have created Jeju Island. Depending on the region, she appears as Seonmundae Halmang, Seolmundae Halmang, Seolmyeongdu Halmang, Semyeongdwi Halmang, and so on, and in the <Damsugye Section> of the Tamnaji (耽羅誌) she is also written as Seolmandugo (雪慢頭姑). Moreover, in the <Pyohaerok (漂海錄)> written by Jang Han-cheol (張漢喆) in the 18th century, there is a depiction of people looking at Mt. Halla and praying to be saved, and the word that comes from their mouths at that time is Seonmago (詵麻姑). It is said that Seolmundae Halmang was written with the Chinese characters Seonmago, meaning that they prayed to Mago.

The main outline of the Seolmundae Halmang legend is as follows.

1) Long ago on Jeju Island there was an old woman at the level of a <goddess who created heaven and earth>.
2) That old woman <put earth in her skirt and made countless oreum (volcanic cones)>, and Mt. Halla was one of them.
3) The old woman had the ability to <connect Jeju with the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula>, and actually tried to connect them.
4) But the old woman's <condition was 100 rolls of silk>, and the people <failed to pay it in full>.
5) In the end, the old woman <failed to connect the mainland> and <drowned in the water>.

This is said to be analyzed as follows through the Budoji, in which Mago appears.

1) Seonmundae Halmang was a goddess who created heaven and earth... This indicates that she was a female chieftain of the period when the seawater of the last Ice Age receded and the continental shelf emerged as dry land.
2) She made many pyramid earthen mounds out of earth. This means that, because floods periodically overflowed the great plain of the southwestern-sea continental shelf, people built high earthen mounds and dwelt on them in order to survive, and in ordinary times came down to farm or hunt.
3) She tried to connect Jeju Island with the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula. During the Ice Age, the sea level fell 130 meters below the present level and Jeju Island was connected to the Korean Peninsula, but since a great river—formed by the merging of the Yellow River, the Yalu River, the Han River, and others—flowed between them, a bridge had to be built...
4) The halmang demanded 100 rolls of silk from the people but received only 99... The currency of that time was the representative commodity hemp (ma), but in the later historical era silk replaced it as currency, and the halmang, as ruler, demanded taxes from the people. And the fact that the people failed to pay in full the taxes the halmang demanded indicates that there was a rebellion, that the halmang was deprived of power, and that the country fell into great chaos.
5) The halmang failed to connect the mainland and drowned in the water... This means that, upon reaching the post-glacial period, the glaciers melted and the seawater overflowed, the country perished, countless people were submerged, and the age of the halmang vanished forever beneath the sea.

Im Hwan-yeong says that the Seolmundae Halmang myth is also connected to the Atlantis of which Plato speaks. The main outline of the Atlantis myth that appears in Plato's writings is as follows.

1) Poseidon, god of the sea, holds in his right hand a trident, a kind of spear, and in his left hand a dolphin; he was one of the sons of Cronus, king of the gods, and together with his brothers divided and ruled the world.
2) Zeus held the earth, Hades the underworld, and Poseidon was the god who held dominion over the sea; the gods of Greece had Poseidon rule the island of Atlantis.
3) On a hill in the plain region of the island there were a pair of humans, a married couple born from the earth, and their only daughter Cleito; after the couple died, Poseidon, feeling desire for the daughter, married her.
4) Poseidon broke the earth around the hill and drew in the seawater, and as a result the central part of the island came to be surrounded doubly by rings of land, with the hill as its axis.
5) Because people of that time knew nothing at all of ships or navigation, not one of them could approach Cleito's dwelling in the center; on this land Poseidon dug two springs, one gushing hot water and one cold, and made the earth bear abundant fruit of all kinds of crops—this place was later called the central island and became the capital of the kingdom.
6) Here Poseidon and the human daughter bore five pairs of twin sons, and dividing the island of Atlantis into ten parts, he made the sons kings of each; the eldest son became their leader, the king of kings.
7) Because that son's name was Atlas, this island came to be called Atlantis; the house of Atlas produced many talented people, but the eldest always inherited the kingship, and prosperity continued for several generations; the other kingdoms likewise prospered, but among these kingdoms there was a strict discipline, and this discipline was always observed.
8) That discipline was that fighting within Atlantis was strictly forbidden, and that if in any kingdom a rebellion arose to overthrow the royal house, the kings of each kingdom would join forces to fight against it and would follow the command of the house of Atlas; moreover, even the king of kings, if he could not obtain the consent of a majority of the ten kings, had no authority to punish any of his brother kings.
9) The descendants of Poseidon's ten kings united with one another and strove to organize and develop the land: first they built bridges over the sea-channels surrounding the central island, the dwelling of their founder, dug tunnels at key points, and built temples; they also made broad, deep canals crisscrossing the land so that even large ships could pass through, and installed docks at the canal entrances.
10) Among the several temples, the one that was especially luxurious and magnificent was the temple that enshrined Poseidon, a massive structure about 180 meters long and about 90 meters wide, its exterior all covered with silver plate and its roof with gold plate, its interior ceiling all of ivory, decorated with gold, silver, brass, and platinum.
11) In this temple stood many golden statues, the largest of which was a statue of Poseidon standing on a chariot driving six winged horses; around the temple were arrayed golden statues of successive kings, offerings dedicated by citizens, and gifts presented by the kings of other nations.
12) On the ring-shaped land surrounding this central island, various structures such as a chariot racecourse and quarters for the royal guard were built according to their uses, and on the outermost part ordinary houses were densely packed; the harbor was enormously crowded with trading merchants and sailors who had come from all parts of the world.
13) According to Plato's detailed record, to the south of this island there was a vast continent, surrounded by high mountains and a broad plain where green grass grew, and the kingdom made canals on this land too, orderly like a go board.
14) The plain was a rectangle 533 kilometers east to west and 355 kilometers north to south, surrounded by a great canal 180 meters wide, with dozens of waterways crossing it in all four directions; people used these waterways to transport timber and crops, and thanks to the canals this plain could be harvested twice a year.
15) The plain portion of Atlantis was divided into 60,000 districts, and in each of these districts one male leader was selected, and the military system too was organized separately under the command of these leaders.
16) A duty was imposed to conscript, for every six districts, one chariot; and in each district two chariot horses, two riders, one cavalryman and one runner each, two heavy-armed infantry archers and slingers each, three lightly-equipped slingers and javelin-throwers each, and four crew members each for as many as 1,200 ships—so that even by rough calculation it amounts to their having had a powerful military organization of one million army troops and 240,000 navy troops.
17) The kingdom of Atlantis, possessing abundant produce and with lively trade as well, developed greatly, but even this paradise, which had seemed as though it would continue forever, gradually began to be overshadowed by an evil shadow.
18) Plato comments that the reason for this was that the people of Atlantis, having acquired a taste for luxury and pursued only wealth and material things, thereby lost their divine character.
19) The people of Atlantis were originally a mixture of gods and humans; in the first few generations the divine nature held sway within them, so they could remain gentle, thoughtful, and of very lofty spirit; but as generational change continued and the human nature gradually grew stronger, their immense wealth became rather a burden, and they fell into luxury, lost their self-control, and for the sake of wealth ceased to regard other important things.
20) Plato says that the kingdom of Atlantis attempted an invasion of Athens but, due to the bold counterattack of the Athenian army, was defeated and withdrew, and he explains this as the result of the god shifting his power from the side of Atlantis to the side of Athens.
21) Moreover, a great earthquake and flood struck suddenly, and Atlantis sank into the sea with its people and cultural heritage intact, and a great quantity of earth and sand piled up on the sea floor, so that the Strait of Gibraltar came to hinder the navigation of the Greeks.

Im Hwan-yeong says that the above Atlantis legend can be compared with the history of Jeju Island seen through the Budoji as follows.

1. Period of Atlantis's existence ; around 9,570 BC ~ 9,000 BC
2. Cause of destruction ; great earthquake and great flood
3. Location ; a harbor of a continent located in a vast ocean outside the Mediterranean

Im Hwan-yeong says that the Atlantis of which Plato speaks can be said to be a new Ice Age civilization born in America, to which the Mago tribe migrated. Looking at items 1, 2, and 3, since it was the end of the Ice Age and the post-glacial period began around 9,000 BC, when the sea level rose 140 meters, Atlantis must surely have been near the West Indies of America, where a vast continental shelf was well developed, or near Okinawa in East Asia. Europe before Greece and Rome is said to have been continually subject to invasions from America.

The source of such a story was transmitted by an Egyptian priest to Solon, and it was transmitted to his friend Dropides, and again Plato recorded it in the form of a dialogue with that friend's great-grandson Critias; since Critias was the maternal great-grandfather of Plato, it is said that Plato appears to have dramatized the part about Poseidon, the god of the sea.

Solon was one of Greece's leading statesmen and by no means a figure who would accept and transmit an idle tale, and Plato too was a representative philosopher of Greece and a great scholar still frequently spoken of on people's lips even today, not a great man who would utter nonsense; there was considerable basis for it, and Plato's famous theory of Ideas may even be seen as having originated from Atlantis.

Both the Korean word adeul (son) and Atlantis derive from Northern Sotho; the Korean <mul> (water) too derives from the Northern Sotho moela (stream), and among Korean words, riddle-like words related to water such as eogiya and eoyeocha are all Northern Sotho, and most American Indian languages too derive from Northern Sotho.

Besides Im Hwan-yeong, researchers who have connected Sundaland and Jeju Island also reinterpret the Samseonghyeol myth. The Go, Bu, and Yang of the Samseonghyeol myth are regarded as surrounding peoples who migrated to the high highlands of Jeju Island to escape the flood. Go, Bu, and Yang were the most common surnames on the Shandong Peninsula, where the civilization of the Hwanin era is said to have been built.