67 been transmitted thus over a period of 600 years, never ceases to evoke the appeal of people. The Prosperity of the Angkor Dynasty The prosperity of the Angkor dynasty is referred to in the Chinese historical source, “Ming History.” In that text, Chinese who had either heard of or witnessed the prosperity of the Angkor dynasty acclaimed it as “Fùguì Zhēn là (Prosperous Cambodia).” Moreover, Zhou Daguan, a Chinese who visited the place at the close of the 13th century, recorded the gorgeous and luxurious appearance of the city in “Shinrōfudoki,” the “Customs of Cambodia.” The Angkor capital city was thronged with people. At the market of the temple gate town Chinese rush mats, silk mosquito nets, Indian chintz, and precious metals such as beads were sold, and one may say that lavish household effects and furniture as well as medicinal stones for everyday use, were also lined up and vended. The bustle of the market where fish caught at the Tonle Sap Lake in the morning was sold on a balcony, is engraved on the wall of Bayon temple. This type of unique affluence that existed around 1000 to 800 years ago in the past currently survives as the relics of the large stone temple and city, and Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom which we are currently inspecting and researching, constitute a part of them. It was undeniably a thriving 600 years, and the Angkor dynasty was a vast empire that swept continental Southeast Asia. At that time, the current peninsula of the Southeast Asian continent was linked from west to east (and vice versa), by the rammed earth embankment road built by the king. The road, which was filled with earth and compacted so that it would not get flooded even in the rainy season, served particularly as an ox cart caravan road, leading from the Bay of Bengal in the west to the South China Sea in the east. The
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