In 1296, the Chinese Emperor Temür Khan despatched a diplomatic mission to Angkor. Zhou Daguan was a member, arriving in August 1296 and leaving the following July. On his return, he wrote a memoir of his visit, a unique eye-witness account of Angkor under the reign of King Indravarman III. Exactly 253 years later, the Portuguese historian Diogo do Couto recorded reports from missionaries of a largely abandoned city overtaken by the jungle and occupied as he reported, by wild beasts. A few decades later, in 1586, the monk Antonio da Magdalena wrote: ‘The city is square, with four principal gates. It is surrounded by a moat, crossed by five bridges. They have on each side a cordon held by giants. Their ears are all pierced and are very long. The gates are magnificently sculpted. In the middle of the city is an extraordinary temple.’ He was referring to Angkor Thom, the square, walled city founded by King Jayavarman VII, who reigned from 1181 to 1218. The city today is almost completely covered in jungle: only the central precinct incorporating the royal palace and two temple mausolea is easily accessible. This presents a great challenge to archaeologists, for the description by Zhou Daguan is so detailed, but the actual remains are silent, or have been until very recently.
What does Zhou Daguan tell us? About ten years ago, in a restaurant on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, I shared a table at a conference dinner with Solang and Beling Uk, and naturally we began talking about matters of mutual interest. It soon transpired that they had translated from the Chinese Zhou Daguan’s story and, within a matter of weeks, a copy of their book arrived in my letter box. Reading it brings the silent city to life. We learn of a royal progress, with the king on a massive elephant holding the sacred sword of state. It must have been quite a spectacle. In the words of Solang and Beling: ‘Every time the king goes out, there are horse-mounted troops in front, and flag carriers, drummers and musicians at the rear. There are 300-500 palace women wearing floral patterned dresses, with flowers in their hair… there are other palace women who carry spears and shields as inner soldiers. From a distance, one sees an overwhelming number of red parasols. Next are the king’s wives and concubines on palanquins or elephants, all with gold speckled parasols.’
Wandering the streets, Daguan noted how the populace at large lived in thatched houses, while the nobility had homes roofed with tiles. The status of officials was signalled by the size of their palanquins and decorated parasols. I empathise with one insight in particular. He wrote that ‘the place is dreadfully hot; one could not be able to endure it without bathing many times a day… two or three houses share a pool’. Having excavated at Angkor with the temperature pushing 40°C, I regularly jumped into the massive Western Reservoir constructed more than 1,000 years ago to cool off at the end of the day. This statement on the houses and the pool resonates with new findings not only about Angkor Thom, but from other sites as well.
