Angkor Thom
Angkor Thom
Angkor Thom
Contents [hide]
1 History
2 Style
3 The site
4 Gallery
5 In popular culture
6 References
7 External links
History[edit]
Bas-relief at Bayon.
Angkor Thom was established as the capital of Jayavarman VII's empire, and was the
centre of his massive building programme. One inscription found in the city refers
to Jayavarman as the groom and the city as his bride.[3]121
Angkor Thom seems not to be the first Khmer capital on the site, however.
Yasodharapura, dating from three centuries earlier, was centred slightly further
northwest, and Angkor Thom overlapped parts of it. The most notable earlier temples
within the city are the former state temple of Baphuon, and Phimeanakas, which was
incorporated into the Royal Palace. The Khmers did not draw any clear distinctions
between Angkor Thom and Yashodharapura even in the fourteenth century an
inscription used the earlier name.[3]138 The name of Angkor Thomgreat citywas in
use from the 16th century.
The last temple known to have been constructed in Angkor Thom was Mangalartha,
which was dedicated in 1295. Thereafter the existing structures continued to be
modified from time to time, but any new creations were in perishable materials and
have not survived.
The Ayutthaya Kingdom, led by King Borommarachathirat II, sacked Angkor Thom,
forcing the Khmers under Ponhea Yat to relocate their capital southeast.[4]29
Angkor Thom was abandoned some time prior to 1609, when an early western visitor
wrote of an uninhabited city, as fantastic as the Atlantis of Plato.[3]140 It is
believed to have sustained a population of 80,000150,000 people.
Style[edit]
Angkor Thom is in the Bayon style. This manifests itself in the large scale of the
construction, in the widespread use of laterite, in the face-towers at each of the
entrances to the city and in the naga-carrying giant figures which accompany each
of the towers.
The site[edit]
South gate of Angkor Thom along with a bridge of statues of gods and demons. Two
rows of figures each carry the body of seven-headed naga.
The faces on the 23 m towers at the city gates, which are later additions to the
main structure, take after those of the Bayon and pose the same problems of
interpretation. They may represent the king himself, the bodhisattva
Avalokiteshvara, guardians of the empire's cardinal points, or some combination of
these. A causeway spans the moat in front of each tower these have a row of devas
on the left and asuras on the right, each row holding a naga in the attitude of a
tug-of-war. This appears to be a reference to the myth, popular in Angkor, of the
Churning of the Sea of Milk. The temple-mountain of the Bayon, or perhaps the gate
itself,[5]82 would then be the pivot around which the churning takes place. The
nagas may also represent the transition from the world of men to the world of the
gods (the Bayon), or be guardian figures.[6] The gateways themselves are 3.5 by 7
m, and would originally have been closed with wooden doors.[5]82 The south gate is
now by far the most often visited, as it is the main entrance to the city for
tourists. At each corner of the city is a Prasat Chrungcorner shrinebuilt of
sandstone and dedicated to Avalokiteshvara. These are cruciform with a central
tower, and orientated towards the east.
Within the city was a system of canals, through which water flowed from the
northeast to the southwest. The bulk of the land enclosed by the walls would have
been occupied by the secular buildings of the city, of which nothing remains. This
area is now covered by forest.
Most of the great Angkor ruins have vast displays of bas-relief depicting the
various gods, goddesses, and other-worldly beings from the mythological stories and
epic poems of ancient Hinduism (modified by centuries of Buddhism). Mingled with
these images are actual known animals, like elephants, snakes, fish, and monkeys,
in addition to dragon-like creatures that look like the stylized, elongated
serpents (with feet and claws) found in Chinese art.
But among the ruins of Ta Prohm, near a huge stone entrance, one can see that the
roundels on pilasters on the south side of the west entrance are unusual in design.
What one sees are roundels depicting various common animalspigs, monkeys, water
buffaloes, roosters and snakes. There are no mythological figures among the
roundels, so one can reasonably conclude that these figures depict the animals that
were commonly seen by the ancient Khmer people in the twelfth century.[6]
Gallery[edit]
Baphuon
Phimeanakas
Khleang
Jump up ^ Higham, C., 2014, Early Mainland Southeast Asia, Bangkok River Books Co.,
Ltd., ISBN 9786167339443
Jump up ^ Coeds, George (1968). Walter F. Vella, ed. The Indianized States of
Southeast Asia. trans.Susan Brown Cowing. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-
8248-0368-1.
^ Jump up to a b c Higham, Charles. 2001. The Civilization of Angkor. Phoenix. ISBN
1-84212-584-2.
Jump up ^ Chakrabongse, C., 1960, Lords of Life, London Alvin Redman Limited
^ Jump up to a b c Glaize, Maurice. 2003. English translation of the 1993 French
fourth edition. The Monuments of the Angkor Group. Retrieved 14 July 2005.
^ Jump up to a b Freeman, Michael and Jacques, Claude 1997. Angkor Cities and
Temples. Bangkok River Books.
Bibliography
Albanese, Marilia (2006). The Treasures of Angkor (Paperback). Vercelli White Star
Publishers. ISBN 88-544-0117-X.
Freeman, Michael; Jacques, Claude (2003). Ancient Angkor (Paperback). Bangkok River
Books. ISBN 974-8225-27-5.
Jessup, Helen Ibbitson; Brukoff, Barry (2011). Temples of Cambodia - The Heart of
Angkor (Hardback). Bangkok River Books. ISBN 978-616-7339-10-8.
External links[edit]
Geographic data related to Angkor Thom at OpenStreetMap
Media related to Angkor Thom at Wikimedia Commons
Angkor Thom Website (English only)
[hide] v t e
Angkorian sites
[show]
Angkorian sites in Cambodia
[show]
Angkorian sites in Thailand
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Angkorian sites in Laos
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Disputed Angkorian sites
[show] v t e
Siem Reap Province
Categories Angkorian sites in Siem Reap Province12th-century establishments in
AsiaFormer populated places in Cambodia
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