Visiting Phimeanakas in Cambodia

Hello Steemians,

In this post, I will talk about Phimeanakas in Cambodia, a Hindu temple built at the end of the 10th century.

The name Phimeanakas translates to “Celestial Temple”. The temple's shape resembles a three tier pyramid, on top of which there was a tower. The tower must originally have been crowned with a golden pinnacle (1).

According to the legend, in the "Golden Tower" at the top of the pyramid, lived a spirit in the form of a nine headed snake. That snake was in essence the Khmer Kingdom. Every night, the spirit would take the form of a woman. The King had to climb to the top of the tower, and sleep with the spirit (woman). If he failed to do so, even for one night, a great disaster would strike his Kingdom. If the spirit failed to appear, the King's days were numbered (2). Royal duties I guess.

I love ancient pyramids, so I thought I'd better write a post about this one too.

Entry Gate

The temple

View from the top of the temple

If you are wondering how the temple looked like at its peak, more than one thousand years ago, then here is a possible answer:

Reconstruction from i166.photobucket.com

And that's the end of today's post. I hope you liked it, and that you will follow me to my next post. Have a good day, and we'll speak again soon!

References:
1.Text from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phimeanakas.
2.Text from https://www.renown-travel.com/cambodia/angkor/phimeanakas.html.