INTRODUCTION
In 1580 a Portuguese Capuchin friar, Antonio da Madalena, left the famous Alcobaca Monastery in central Portugal and set out for Goa in India, little knowing the adventure, accidental discovery, and misfortune that awaited him on his journey.
Madalena followed the sea-route from Europe to India that was first discovered by the Portuguese sailor Vasco da Gama just eighty-two years earlier in 1498. The voyage took him down the west coast of Africa and around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa and on to Goa in India, where he established a library for his order.
Three years later, in 1583, he set out to travel overland to what is today Cambodia. For the next three years he and his party explored the monuments, people, cultures, religions and dense jungles of south-east Asia, until one day in 1586 he and his party burst through an opening in the jungle. Before him lay one of the most stunning ancient stone complexes in all the world!
Stretching out for as far as the eye could see, was an extensive and far-flung expanse of mysterious ruins. There were ancient terraces, pools, moated cities, walls, towers, palaces and a multitude of temples – all expertly worked in stone.
Antonio da Madalena had stumbled upon Angkor – a long-abandoned metropolis of stone. It spread over 400 square kms. or about 150 square miles. At its heart lies Angkor Wat, a city of Temples and the largest religious monument in the world, that covers 160 hectares or 400 acres and is a testament to a culture of immense wealth and great architectural skill.
All the temples, towers and structures were built out of millions of stones balanced perfectly on top of one another without the aid of mortar or machines. Angkor Wat is a masterpiece of stone – a masterpiece of stone carving and craftsmanship.
But who built this mysterious stone city? When was it built, and why? As Antonio da Madalena wandered through the abandoned city and examined the stone buildings, he wondered if it could be the work of Alexander the Great. Or, could it be a temple of the lost tribes of Israel. And then, judging by the architecture and design he wondered if there could be an Indian or local Khmer origin to this magnificent complex.
Join me on an incredible journey into the heart of Cambodia as we explore this amazing Kingdom of Stone and discover its secrets. And you may be surprised at just what we discover. Because we will uncover the identity of the true builders of these grand monuments, along with an ancient message in stone that is hidden here, [one] that’s relevant to us today. It’s a message that could bring you peace and change your life forever.
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VISITOR FROM EUROPE
Antonio da Madalena was the first European visitor to Angkor Wat. He was awestruck by its beauty and splendour and said that
“It is of such extraordinary construction that it is not possible to describe it with a pen, particularly since it is like no other building in the whole world.”
He went on to praise the sprawling stone complex saying, “It has towers and decoration and all the refinements which the human genius can conceive of.”
Madalena made a detailed description of Angkor Wat along with an account of his journey which he gave to the historian Diogo do Couto, the main chronicler of the Archives of Portuguese exploration in Asia.
Following his detailed study and description of Angkor Wat, Madalena attributed the splendid complex, not to Alexander the Great, or the lost tribes of Israel, but rather to local Khmer Hindu kings. But was he correct?
After spending nine years exploring and traveling through India, Malacca, Siam and Cambodia, Madalena decided to return home to Europe aboard the caravel Sao Tome, a small Portuguese sailing ship. But tragically he never made it. He perished when the vessel was shipwrecked and sank off the coast of Natal in South Africa.
LOST AND FOUND
Although Madalena’s description of Angkor Wat survived, along with his travel journal, European interest in the great stone monument diminished and waned due to lack of further information. It was almost as if the magnificent site was lost again for nearly 300 years,
until in 1860 it was rediscovered by the French naturalist and explorer Henri Mouhot.
He set up a base in Bangkok and made four journeys into the interior of Siam, Laos, and Cambodia in search of butterflies, other exotic insects, and new zoological specimens for the Royal Geographical Society and the Zoological Society of London.
It was dangerous work, and Mouhot endured extreme hardships and had to fend off wild animals to save his life, as he explored some previously uncharted jungle territory.
WIn January 1860, at the end of his second and longest journey, while chasing an elusive butterfly with his net, he stumbled out of the jungle and into the grounds of Angkor Wat.
And like Antonio da Madalena nearly 300 years earlier he was overwhelmed by its sheer size and beauty. The ancient stone terraces, pools, moated cities, palaces, and temples, especially Angkor Wat, left him awestruck.
He wrote of Angkor:
“One of these temples – a rival to that of Solomon, and erected by some ancient Michelangelo – might take an honourable place beside our most beautiful buildings. It’s grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome…”
He recorded his visit in his travel journal and spent the best part of a month making detailed observations and drawings of the site which were forwarded on to The Royal Geographical Society and The Zoological Society in London.
Mouhot asserted that these grand buildings were built on such a grand and majestic scale that they must be the work of a much earlier and much more advanced civilisation – a long lost race dating back thousands of years to the time of the Romans.
Sadly, Henri Mouhot died of a malarial fever on his fourth expedition, in the jungles of Laos, but not before he had popularised and opened Angkor to Europe and the West so that archaeologists and specialists could research and discover the origins of the mysterious site.
THE KHMER EMPIRE
Soon pioneers, archaeologists and researchers poured in to study and examine the site. Their excavations and research revealed that Antonio da Madalena was correct – the vast Angkor complex was constructed between the ninth and fifteenth centuries by successive kings of the local Khmer Empire who ruled from 802 to 1431 AD.
During this entire period, these Khmer rulers utilised the vast resources of labour and wealth at their disposal to carry out a series of prodigious construction projects designed to glorify themselves, their gods, and their capital city.
The majestic buildings and extensive monuments of Angkor revealed the Khmer Empire’s immense power and wealth, its impressive art and culture, as well as its religion, and architectural and building skills that were heavily influenced by India. In fact, Indian religion, culture and trade had a great impact on the Khmer Empire.
From Angkor these powerful Khmer kings ruled one of the largest, most prosperous, and most sophisticated kingdoms in the history of Southeast Asia. They ruled over a territory that covered modern-day Cambodia, Laos, and much of Thailand and Vietnam.
Now, the sheer size of Angkor is breathtaking. It’s spread over 1,000 square kms or about 400 square miles and is filled with over one thousand temples. At its height in the late Medieval Era, around the 13th century AD, the city of Angkor was the largest city in the world, supporting many monuments, temples, hospitals, housing, markets, and a population of about one million people – about 10 times more than London at the time.
NO EASY FEAT
Tens of millions of sandstone blocks were used to construct the temples and buildings of Angkor. Some of them weighed as much as one and a half tonnes.
The entire city of Angkor used far greater amounts of stone than all the Egyptian pyramids combined. The stones were quarried from the sacred Mountain of Phnom Kulen over 40 kms or 25 miles away.
And getting these stones to Angkor was no easy feat. They had to be chiselled out of the mountain, and then loaded on to rafts and ferried along a series of canals and waterways to Angkor, where they were unloaded and transported to the building site.
ANGKOR THOM
There they were carved and finally placed in position to produce some of the most spectacular man-made buildings of the ancient world. Many of these stones were used to build Angkor Thom, the last and most enduring capital city of the Khmer Empire.
It was built in the late 12th Century by the famous King Jayavarman Vll who was one of the most important figures in the Khmer Empire. He was a Buddhist, and during the time of his reign oversaw a wholesale conversion of the Khmer people from Hinduism to Buddhism.
He was a great believer in public works, and his new capital contained palaces, temples, army barracks, viewing platforms, schools, hospitals, reservoirs, shops and houses.
Angkor Thom is a square fortress city surrounded by impressive defensive walls 8m or 26 ft high and 12 km or 8 miles long. Each side of the square was 3 km or about 2 miles long. The city was in turn enclosed by a 100m or 320 ft wide moat.
Entrance to the city was through five massive stone tower-gates, one at the centre of each wall and a fifth on the east wall leading directly to the royal palace.
Jayavarman was a powerful warrior-king, and attached to his palace he built this 350m or 1,150 ft long terrace or platform, from which he viewed his victorious returning army. The stairs are decorated with lions and garudas, and life-sized images of elephants and their mahouts which are displayed on the platform walls from which the terrace gets its name – Terrace of the Elephants.
BAYON TEMPLE
Jayavarman was both a warrior and a worshipper. He was a devout Buddhist and built exquisite temples like Bayon Temple with its mysterious smiling faces. It’s one of the most impressive Buddhist temples in Angkor. It was built as the state temple of King Jayavarman, and stands at the very centre of his capital.
Its great mountain-like structure is topped by 54 towers. Each tower has 4 giant, serene, smiling faces. So, there’s over 200 hundred of them and each of these smiling faces is slightly different. With so many smiles around, it’s no surprise that it’s called Asia’s happiest temple.
But it was also one of the most spectacular. The main temple is surrounded by two galleries depicting an extraordinary collection of bas-relief scenes of religious and historical events. On the outer wall of the outer gallery which stretches for about one and a half kms or 1 mile, there are more than 11,000 carved figures. Just imagine the work and effort that’s gone into building and decorating this exquisite temple!
But that’s not all: there’s even more to this amazing temple complex. Some of its towers were originally covered completely in gold. Zhou Daguan, a Chinese emissary of the Yuan dynasty visited Angkor in 1296AD and kept a detailed record of his year-long stay here.
He describes how the central tower of the Bayon Temple was covered with gold. And that the temple was reached on the eastern side by a golden bridge guarded by lions of gold. And eight golden Buddhas were housed in chambers around the central tower. It must have been magnificent and awe-inspiring in its heyday.
PREAH KHAN TEMPLE
Then, a short distance outside the city walls and northeast of Bayon Temple there’s Preah Khan Temple. Its name means ‘Royal Sword’. This temple was also built by King Jayavarman Vll in honour of his father.
The temple is flat in design, with a basic plan of successive rectangular galleries around the Buddhist temple with 430 shrines dedicated to other deities. Today Preah Khan has been left largely unrestored, with numerous trees and other vegetation growing among the ruins.
But in its heyday, it was a veritable treasure trove, filled with 60 tonnes of gold, silver, precious gems, over one hundred thousand pearls and a cow with golden horns. The complex combined the roles of city temple, treasury, and Buddhist university. There were over 100,000 attendants, officials and servants, including 1000 dancers and 1000 teachers.
TA PROHM TEMPLE
However, King Jayavarman Vll wasn’t satisfied with building a magnificent temple dedicated to himself, and another temple treasure house dedicated to his father. He also built Ta Prohm Buddhist Temple in 1186 AD which he dedicated to his mother. It’s one of the few temples at Angkor where an inscription provides information about the temple’s function and operation.
Over 80,000 people were required to maintain and service the temple. This included more than 12,500 people who lived here, as well as 18 high priests and 615 dancers. Like Preah Khan, this temple was also home to a bounty of treasures that took in gold, pearls and silks.
Ta Prohm is a temple of towers, closed courtyards and narrow corridors. But like Preah Khan the jungle has encroached on the temple and many of the corridors are impassable, and the courtyards clogged with tree roots and other jungle debris.
In fact, for hundreds of years, Ta Prohm was swallowed up by the Cambodian jungle. Trees began to grow from the tops of the walls, and as they got bigger, they began to topple the stone walls. These ancient trees, with their invasive, gigantic tree roots, are what add to the beauty and mystery of Ta Prohm today.
And this provided the perfect backdrop for the Hollywood blockbuster movie Tomb Raider starring Angelina Jolie. Today it’s still dubbed the Tomb Raider temple and mystical root-riddled Ta Prohm continues to capture the imagination of millions of tourists.
But that’s not all Ta Prohm is famous for. It’s also associated with dinosaurs. Yes, you heard right – dinosaurs! Ta Prohm is home to a mysterious stone carving of what appears to be a stegosaurus.
The carving has triggered a flurry of debate over whether it’s a genuine dinosaur depiction, a hoax, or something else. I mean, what would Angkor artisans be doing drawing dinosaurs in the 12th century, right? Well, many people come here looking for answers.
ANGKOR WAT TEMPLE
Despite the Hollywood glitz and glamour and the dinosaur fascination that these temples at Angkor Thom have, the centre stage at Angkor is found a short distance further south at Angkor Wat. It’s a masterpiece of Khmer architecture with a shimmering reflective pool at its feet and five lotus-shaped towers etching an imposing silhouette against the sky.
Angkor Wat, which literally means ‘city of temples’ was built one hundred years earlier than Angkor Thom by King Suryavarman ll, another of the great kings of the Khmer Empire. It was his state temple and capital city. It’s been called one of mankind’s most impressive and enduring architectural achievements.
Its construction took around 10 million tons of sandstone and is thought to have taken 35 years to build with 300,000 labourers, and 6,000 elephants. It was all built by hand without the aid of any machinery.
It comprises more than a thousand buildings and is one of the great cultural and architectural wonders of the world.
STARS ALIGN
The architects were highly skilled and had an intimate knowledge of astronomy. Angkor Wat is aligned with the stars. As many as 18 astronomical alignments have been identified within its walls.
The most famous occurs on the morning of the spring equinox when Angkor Wat temple features a very distinctive and spectacular sunrise event. The sun rises exactly behind the pinnacle of the central tower, the most sacred point of the temple rising 65 metres or 200 ft above the ground.
Angkor Wat is the world’s largest religious complex covering some 160 hectares or 400 acres. It’s four times the size of Vatican City. The temple was shared by two religions. It was originally dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu before becoming a Buddhist temple at the end of the 12th century.
The temple was designed to symbolise the sacred Hindu mountain, Mount Meru. The five central towers of Angkor Wat represent the five peaks of Mount Meru, which according to Hindu mythology is the dwelling place of the gods.
The surrounding moat stood in for the ocean believed to circle the mythical mountain of the gods. All of the temple walls, surfaces, columns and lintels, and even the roof, are decorated with thousands of storytelling bas-reliefs or stone carvings. They represent important gods, deities and figures in the Hindu and Buddhist religions, and key events from their sacred texts.
MULTITUDE OF DEITIES
There are literally kilometres of carvings showing Hindu deities – the gods and goddesses of Hinduism. The gallery walls alone are decorated with almost 1,000 square metres or [nearly] 11,000 square feet of religious carvings.
Hindus worship many gods and goddesses. In some traditions there are 33 core gods. In others there’s a vast number of deities in the Hindu pantheon – as many as 330 million gods and goddesses.
Angkor Wat is a reminder that almost all ancient civilisations and religions were polytheistic, that is, they worshipped many different gods. The Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians, all worshiped many different gods and goddesses.
Across in South America the Incas, along with the Mayans and Aztecs were all polytheists and worshiped many gods. In India and Asia, it’s the same. Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Japanese Shintoism, as well as the tribal religions in Africa – all worshiped many gods.
The same is true of Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. All of the ancient civilisations and religions were polytheists – they worshiped many gods.
ONE EXCEPTION
With one exception – the Jews, the children of Israel. They, in contrast to all the nations around them, were monotheists.
They worshipped only one God, an all-supreme being – Yahweh, Jehovah, the Creator of heaven and earth. Judaism traces its heritage and faith back to Abraham. Abraham became the father of the faith, the foundation, and link to the three great monotheistic religions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Christianity birthed from Judaism. Christian scripture includes the Jewish scriptures, whose promises and prophecies are fulfilled in Jesus, the Messiah who fully reveals the true God. And so this belief in only one God, an all-supreme Being, who is the Creator, who rules the universe, who loves, judges, punishes and also forgives, is the heart of Christianity.
And it was this God and belief system that the early Christians proclaimed to the world. The person who led out in spreading this message to the first-century world was Paul the Apostle. He was the major figure who turned Christianity into a worldwide religion. He travelled from city to city, from region to region, from province to province, and from country to country.
He travelled over 30,000kms or 20,000 miles, he was shipwrecked 3 times, he was beaten, imprisoned, exiled, stoned, starved, slandered, and robbed. But nothing could stop him fulfilling his mission.
Paul knew that he was particularly called to share the Christian message with Gentiles, that is, to polytheists who worshipped many gods. Here’s what he said,
“I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish.” (Romans 1:14)
And he continues and says:
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” (Romans 1:16)
Paul wanted to reach as many people as possible and tell them about the one true God and the Good News of Jesus. And he had a particular burden to share this message with Greeks. So, he makes his way to Athens – the very heart of Greece where the people worshipped many gods.
THE UNKNOWN GOD
The first thing Paul notices in Athens is the number of gods. Their statues, altars, and carvings lined the streets. They were everywhere. There were literally thousands of different gods. In fact, there were more altars and statues of gods than there were people in Athens. There was even an altar to ‘the unknown god’ just in case they left any out.
Well, Paul didn’t waste any time. He immediately started telling people about Jesus and the one true God. He went to the local synagogue and told the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles. And then he went to the Market Place and told the general public.
Now, there were some philosophers there who were fascinated by what Paul was saying about Jesus, and so they invited him to come to the Areopagus and tell them more about these strange new ideas he was proclaiming. The Areopagus was a prominent rock outcrop on the Acropolis where the city councillors and philosophers met.
So, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, surrounded by the leading councillors and philosophers, Paul starts by complimenting them for being very religious, having seen all the many gods and objects of worship in their city. He tells them that one altar in particular had caught his attention – the altar to ‘the unknown god.’
Paul then masterfully uses this altar as an opportunity to introduce them to the one true God. Since the Greeks obviously didn’t know who this god was, Paul explains that this ‘unknown god’ that they worshipped was actually the biblical God, the Creator God of heaven and earth. That one true God, of whom they knew nothing, Paul knew personally. He presented Him as the Creator of heaven and earth.
Here’s what he said:
“Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.
Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.” (Acts 17:22-24)
Now, the Greeks taught that the many gods they worshipped were far away and disinterested in what happened to people here on earth and didn’t really care about them. But Paul contrasts this with the One true God, who is very near, and cares deeply about people.
We are His children who are made in His image, we don’t make God in our image out of stone, gold or silver. Paul then quotes one of their poets,
“for in Him we live and move and have our being.”
NO MORE IGNORANCE
Paul goes on to say that there was a time when God overlooked people’s ignorance about Him, but not anymore. Now he wants everyone everywhere to repent. Turn from our ignorance, turn from our sin because there’s a judgement day coming. This judgement will be conducted by Jesus who was raised from the dead.
The great Greek philosophers and polytheists listened intently to Paul’s message about the One true God. There were 3 main reactions. First, some mocked and sneered outright, particularly at the idea of a resurrection. Second, some put off making a decision. They wanted more time to think about what Paul had said. But it’s always dangerous to delay.
Third, some believed. The wise recognise that accepting Jesus and believing in the true God brings lasting peace and happiness.
Most of us today still fall into one of these 3 categories when we hear the message of the One true God. We mock and reject. Or, we delay and put off making a decision. Or, we accept Jesus and worship the true God.
You see, the ‘unknown God’ desires to be known. That’s why He has spoken to us through His Word the Bible; that’s why He sent His Son into the world.
We don’t need to go through life searching for an unknown god, because the one true God has already revealed Himself to us through His Son. That’s why Jesus came – to show us what God is like. The moment we accept Jesus as our personal Saviour, we come to know the Creator Himself.
Yes, God can be known through faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus said,
“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9).
You may not know him now. But this ‘unknown God’ loves you and wants to establish a relationship with you.
SPECIAL OFFER AND PRAYER
If you’d like to know more about the One true God and the lasting peace and happiness He can provide, then I’d like to recommend the gift we have for all our Incredible Journey viewers today, it’s the booklet What is God Like?
This booklet is our gift to you and is absolutely free. I guarantee there are no costs or obligations whatsoever. So make the most of this wonderful opportunity to receive your free gift today.
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If you have enjoyed our journey to the fabulous temple complex of Angkor Wat and our reflections on having a relationship with the one true God then be sure to join us again next week when we share another of life’s journeys together. Until then, let’s pray to the great Creator God.
Dear Heavenly Father, We thank you for the privilege of being able to know you and have a relationship with you. We pray that you will continue to lead and guide our lives and we ask that you will bless us and our families. And we ask these things in Jesus’ name, Amen.
