Angkor Thom
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Angkor Thom was the last and most enduring capital city of the Khmer empire. It was established in the late twelfth century by king Jayavarman VII. It covers an area of 9 km², within which are located several monuments from earlier eras as well as those established by Jayavarman and his successors. At the centre of the city is Jayavarman's state temple, the Bayon, with the other major sites clustered around the Victory Square immediately to the north.
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[edit] History
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. (Higham, 121)
It was not the first Khmer capital on the site, however. Yashodharapura, 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. (Higham 138) The name of Angkor Thom — great city — was 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. In the following centuries Angkor Thom remained the capital of a kingdom in decline until it was abandoned some time prior to 1609, when an early western visitor wrote of an uninhabited city, "as fantastic as the Atlantis of Plato" which some thought to have been built by the Roman emperor Trajan. (Higham 140)
[edit] Style
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.
[edit] The site
The city lies on the right bank of the river Siem Reap, a tributary of Tonle Sap, about a quarter of a mile from the river. The south gate of Angkor Thom is 7.2 km north of Siem Reap, and 1.7 km north of the entrance to Angkor Wat. The walls, 8 m high and flanked by a moat, are each 3 km long, enclosing an area of 9 km². The walls are of laterite buttressed by earth, with a parapet on the top. There are gates at each of the cardinal points, from which roads lead to the Bayon at the centre of the city. As the Bayon itself has no wall or moat of its own, those of the city are interpreted by archaeologists as representing the mountains and oceans surrounding the Bayon's Mount Meru. (Glaize 81). Another gate — the Victory Gate — is 500 m north of the east gate; the Victory Way runs parallel to the east road to the Victory Square and the Royal Palace north of the Bayon.
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, (Glaize 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. (Freeman and Jacques 76). The gateways themselves are 3.5 by 7 m, and would originally have been closed with wooden doors. (Glaize 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 Chrung — corner shrine — built 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.
Other than the Bayon, all the main sites are located west or east of the Victory Square. From south to north these are to the west Baphuon, the Terrace of the Elephants, Phimeanakas and the Royal Palace, the Terrace of the Leper King, Tep Pranam and Preah Palilay; to the east, the Prasats Suor Prat, the South Khleang, the North Khleang, and Preah Pithu.
Recently, it has been noticed that on one of the ruins, there appears to be a dinosaur carved into the wall. This is most intriging considering the site is centuries old and that the dinosaur carving is surrounded by animals of today, such as elephants, snakes, horses and various other creatures.
[edit] Angkor Thom in popular culture:
In the Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem video game, Angkor Thom is the resting place of Mantorok, the god of Chaos, guardian of the Ancients. In the series, the Khmer people worshipped him as a fertility god until Pious bound him with magic.
[edit] References
- Freeman, Michael and Jacques, Claude (1999). Ancient Angkor. River Books. ISBN 0-8348-0426-3.
- Glaize, Maurice (2003 edition of an English translation of the 1993 French fourth edition). The Monuments of the Angkor Group. Retrieved 14 July 2005.
- Higham, Charles (2001). The Civilization of Angkor. Phoenix. ISBN 1-84212-584-2.
| Angkorian Sites edit | |
|---|---|
| Angkor | Angkor Thom | Angkor Wat | Bakong | Baksei Chamkrong | Banteay Kdei | Banteay Samré | Banteay Srei | Baphuon | The Bayon | Chau Say Tevoda | East Baray | East Mebon | Kbal Spean | The Khleangs | Krol Ko | Lolei | Neak Pean | Phimeanakas | Phnom Bakheng | Phnom Krom | Prasat Ak Yum | Prasat Kravan | Preah Khan | Preah Ko | Preah Palilay | Preah Pithu | Pre Rup | Spean Thma | Srah Srang | Ta Prohm | Ta Som | Ta Keo | Terrace of the Elephants | Terrace of the Leper King | Thommanon | West Baray | West Mebon | Yasodharapura |
| Rest of Cambodia | Banteay Chhmar | Beng Mealea | Koh Ker | Prasat Preah Vihear |
| Thailand | Lopburi | Phanom Rung | Muang Tum | Phimai | Mueang Sing | Sdok Kak Thom |
| Laos | Wat Phou | Oum Moung |
