Angkor and Koh Ker: Rival Capitals of the Khmer Empire

At the height of Southeast Asia's most powerful premodern state, the Khmer Empire briefly fractured its own center of gravity. Angkor and Koh Ker: Rival Capitals of the Khmer Empire explores one of the most dramatic and least understood episodes in Khmer history—the deliberate abandonment of Angkor and the rise of Koh Ker as an imperial capital. Spanning the reigns from Harshavarman I to Rajendravarman II, this book traces how kings, courtiers, priests, and architects reshaped political authority through sacred geography, monumental construction, and competing visions of divine kingship. Koh Ker was not a provincial anomaly, but a bold experiment in imperial control, cosmology, and legitimacy that challenged Angkor's dominance at the very core of the empire. Drawing on archaeology, inscriptions, temple architecture, and regional power dynamics, this study reveals how rival capitals reflected deeper struggles over sovereignty, religious authority, and statecraft. The eventual return to Angkor did not erase Koh Ker's significance—it clarified it. By examining why the empire moved, fractured, and ultimately reconsolidated, this book offers a new lens on how Southeast Asian empires governed space, ritual, and memory. Essential reading for students of Khmer civilization, Angkor studies, and the history of ancient capitals, Angkor and Koh Ker illuminates how empires define themselves not only by expansion, but by where they choose to rule.