IN THE SHADOWS OF UTOPIA
  • About
  • Episodes
  • Video Essays
  • Blog
  • Show Content
    • Dramatis Personae
  • Support
  • Lachlan

EPISODES

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

2. The Early Khmer EMpire

12/2/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
How did the Khmer civilisation begin? How were they able to prosper to the point of building the megacity of Angkor?

Time period covered: 2000 BC – 900 AD

In this episode, Lachlan seeks to explain the early processes that developed amongst the Khmer civilisation in and around the region that would eventually become Cambodia. This involves an explanation of the different cultural influences from India and China that would see a kind of hybridised people come to prominence on the Indochinese mainland. The story of early Funan and Chenla, as well as the development of the ‘Devaraja cult’; a system where a universal monarch is regarded as a kind of incarnation of a deity is discussed as well as the establishment of the early cities which will become the seat of the vast Khmer Empire. The ingenious methods of water management that will support the kinds of society and architecture the civilisation is famous for is also explained. 

The episode ends at the reign of Suryavarman and the construction of Phnom Bakheng and the vast baray, in the era just before the ‘peak’ of the civilisation. 

Sources
David Chandler A History of Cambodia
​
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Categories
    ​

    All
    Angkor
    Communism
    First Indochina War
    French Indochina
    Interviews
    Khmer Rouge Tribunal
    Modern History
    Pre Modern Cambodia
    Saloth Sar
    Second Indochina War


    Providers
    ​

    The show is available on all major podcast providers, as well as visually represented on YouTube. 

    Visit Audioboom for a full list of listening options


    Credit
    ​

    All Episodes Written, Recorded and Produced by Lachlan Peters ​©

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • About
  • Episodes
  • Video Essays
  • Blog
  • Show Content
    • Dramatis Personae
  • Support
  • Lachlan