Angkor Wat: Who Built It, and How the Khmer Empire Survived 1177

Angkor Wat: who built it, when, and why? The story of King Suryavarman II's temple, the Cham raid of 1177, and the king who rebuilt the Khmer capital. Angkor Wat was begun around 1122 as a Hindu temple for Vishnu. A few decades after its king died, a Cham fleet sailed up the Tonle Sap and looted the capital. This animated history documentary follows the temple, the stone, the carvings, the lidar surveys, the 1177 shock, and the Buddhist king Jayavarman VII, who rebuilt the city around the Bayon. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN Who built Angkor Wat? King Suryavarman II (reigned 1113 to about 1150), who by one account seized the throne by force. Why was Angkor Wat built? As a state temple for Vishnu and a statement of royal power; why it faces west is still debated. When was Angkor Wat built? From about 1122; sources give about 30 years, 37 years, or say the length is unknown. What is the history of Angkor Wat after the king? The 1177 Cham sack, Jayavarman VII's recovery, the Bayon, and the slow shift to Buddhism. What did lidar and tree rings show about Angkor? CHAPTERS 0:00 Angkor Wat and the Cham raid of 1177 0:49 Who built Angkor Wat? Suryavarman II takes the throne (1113) 1:24 Why Angkor Wat was built: Vishnu and Mount Meru 2:14 How Angkor Wat was built: Kulen sandstone and canals 2:47 Angkor Wat carvings and why it faces west 3:40 Suryavarman II's wars and death (about 1150) 4:23 Lidar at Angkor: the city inside the temple moat 5:09 The Cham fleet sacks Angkor (1177) 5:51 Jayavarman VII drives out the Chams (1181) 6:30 Angkor Thom, the Bayon and a religious change 7:17 Zhou Daguan, drought and Angkor Wat's rediscovery 8:26 Who built Angkor Wat? The short answer SOURCES AND FURTHER READING World History Encyclopedia, "Angkor Wat" and "Khmer Empire": https://www.worldhistory.org/Angkor_Wat/ and https://www.worldhistory.org/Khmer_Em... Evans et al., "Uncovering archaeological landscapes at Angkor using lidar," PNAS 2013: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles... Buckley et al., "Climate as a contributing factor in the demise of Angkor, Cambodia," PNAS 2010: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles... UNESCO World Heritage Centre, "Angkor": https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/668/ National Geographic, "Tree rings reveal two droughts that sealed the fate of Angkor" (2010) Wikipedia pages on Angkor Wat, Suryavarman II, Jayavarman VII, the Khmer Empire and the Khmer-Cham wars (used as leads and cross-checked) A NOTE ON DISPUTED POINTS How long Angkor Wat took to build, why it faces west, whether Suryavarman II killed his great-uncle, the date and details of the 1177 raid (the scholar Michael Vickery doubts them), the dates of the conquest of Champa, and whether Angkor Wat was ever fully abandoned are all debated. The narration gives ranges and says when sources disagree. CREDITS Script researched and written for this channel. Illustrations are AI-generated (Agnes AI). The narration is an AI voice (Deepgram). Music and sound effects are synthesized. If you enjoyed this, subscribe for more animated history. Which king deserves more credit: the builder or the rebuilder? Tell me in the comments. #AngkorWat #KhmerEmpire #History