Angkor Thom, as you may recall from last week, was built by the Khmer King Jayavarman VIII sometime after A.D. 1181 following the looting of the capitol of Yasodharapura by the Champa people. Jayavarman, a devout Buddhist, started a building program that lasted through the 37 years of his reign.
At its height, Angkor Thom had a population of between 80,000 and 150,000. Access to the city was controlled by 5 gates, 4 set at the cardinal points (North, South, East, West) and another named The Victory Gate. About a quarter of a mile from the Siam Reap river, the city is surrounded by a moat. The walls of Angkor Thom stood 8 meters (26 ft) in their heyday.
The approach to the South Gate, the best preserved gate.
The moat is 100 m (328 ft) wide.
The moat is crossable via a causeway. Lining the causeway are statues of devas and asuras.
At the head of the causeway stands a naga (less the carved heads at this point).
The gate stands 20 m (65 ft) high.
Mounting the top of each gate are four faces facing four directions. They are believed to be either King Jayavarman or Brahma.
A 100 meter wide moat? That's a long bowshot eh? Enjoying your SE Asia Tour TB and BTW, OAF gave you some pub this day....very good sir......:)
ReplyDeleteNylon12, the scale of everything we saw at Angkor was stunning, especially when you consider that this was built by humans (with maybe some draft animal help).
DeleteGlad you are enjoying the tour! It makes me happy that I can share it. And man, OAF pub...I have arrived.
The scale is stunning in picture. I can't imagine how it felt in person.
ReplyDeleteEd, I think the stunning thing to me is just how large they are, even in ruin. To date, my experience with ruins is pieces and parts, not essentially whole buildings. Probably helped by the fact that this was not an area lived in largely after the 15th Century, so the ruins were more or less intact, unlike places like Rome or Athens where the building blocks of the old were re-used.
DeleteSuch an ancient city. Truly impressive.
ReplyDeleteLeigh, I can honestly say I have never seen anything like it.
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