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Deep in the Cambodian Jungle, a ruined city crumbles among the roots of banyan trees.

In this episode, we look at the Khmer Empire of medieval Cambodia, and the ancient mega-city of Angkor. I want to explore how this great civilization rose to a size and wealth virtually unprecedented in the world, how it overcame the challenges of its climate and landscape, and all the factors that led to its final, dramatic collapse.

** Fall of Civilizations the book is now available to pre-order: linktr.ee/fallofcivilizations **

Credits:

Sound engineering by Thomas Ntinas

Voice Actors:

Rhy Brignell
Lou Millington
Sebastian Garbacz

Music by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Artist: incompetech.com/

Title theme: Home At Last by John Bartmann. johnbartmann.com/

** Special thanks to Tom Chandler, Brent McKee, Mike Yeates and Chandara Ung of SensiLab, Monash University Faculty of IT for kindly sharing their digital recreations of ancient Angkor. **

View their project here:

Project website: www.virtualangkor.com/

Simulating 24 hours at Medieval Angkor Wat:    • Simulating 24 Hours at Medieval Angko...  

SOURCES

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Behnke, Alison. Angkor Wat. United States, Twenty-First Century Books, 2008.
Bergaigne, Abel Henri Joseph. Inscriptions sanscrites de Campa et du Cambodge. Paris, Imprimerie Nationale, 1893.
Briggs, Lawrence Palmer. The Ancient Khmer Empire. United States, American Philosophical Society, 1951.
Chandler, David. A History of Cambodia. Boulder, Westview Press, 1992.
Coedès, George and Pierre Dupont, ‘Les stales de Sdok Kak Thorn, Phnom Sandak et Prah Vihar,’ BEFEO, 43, 1943–46, pp. 63–64.
Coe, Michael D, and Damian Evans. Angkor and the Khmer Civilization. United Kingdom, Thames & Hudson, 2018.
DiBiasio, Jame. The Story of Angkor. Silkworm Books, 2013.
Diskul, M. C. Subhadradis. ‘Ancient Kingship in Mainland Southeast Asia.’ In A. L. Basham (ed.). Kingship In Asia and Early America. Colegio de Mexico, 1981, pp. 143–160.
Fletcher, R. ‘Angkor, food production, water management and climate change: The trajectory of urbanism in SE Asia to the mid-second millennium CE.’ Water and Society from Ancient Times to the Present: Resilience, Decline, and Revival, edited by Federica Sulas, Innocent Pikirayi. Oxford, Routledge, 2018, pp. 238–258.
Hall, Kenneth R. ‘Temples as Economic Centers in Early Cambodia.’ Maritime Trade and State
Hawken, Scott. ‘Designs of Kings and Farmers: Landscape Systems of the Greater Angkor Urban Complex.’ Asian Perspectives, vol. 52, no. 2, 2013, pp. 347–367.
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—————. ‘The Origins of the Civilisation of Angkor.’ Proceedings of the British Academy, Volume 121, 2002 Lectures. United Kingdom, OUP/British Academy, 2003. pp. 41–90.
Jacques, Claude and Philippe Lafond. The Khmer Empire: Cities and Sanctuaries from the 5th to the 13th Century. Thailand, River Books, 2007.
MacDonald, Malcolm. Angkor and the Khmers. Singapore, Oxford University Press, 1987.
McCurry, Steve. Sanctuary: The Temples of Angkor. London, Phaidon Press, 2002.
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Rooney, Dawn and Peter Danford. Angkor: An Introduction to the Temples. Hong Kong, Odyssey, 1999.
Smith, Robert. The Kings of Angkor. Independently published, 2019.
So, Kenneth T. The Khmer Kings and the History of Cambodia. Thailand, Bangkok, Thailand, 2017.
Stargardt, Janice. ‘Water for the State or Water for the People?: Wittfogel in South and Southeast Asia in the First Millennium.’ Water Societies and Technologies from the Past and Present, edited by Yijie Zhuang and Mark Altaweel. UCL Press, 2018, pp. 256–268.
Stewart, Frank, et al., editors. Out of the Shadows of Angkor: Cambodian Poetry, Prose, and Performance Through the Ages. University of Hawaii Press, 2022.
Sutherland, Heather. ‘Geography as Destiny?: The Role of Water in Southeast Asian History.’ In: Peter Boomgaard (ed.). A World of Water: Rain, Rivers and Seas in Southeast Asian Histories. Brill, 2007, pp. 27–70.