VISHNU, ANCIENT HINDU GOD AND BUDDHA LATER

I start my series about Angkor Wat presenting you Vishnu, an ancient hindu God.

Angkor Wat was constructed in XII century as a temple dedicated to Vishnu.

Let´s start the tour with Vishnu, this is the most interesting and original God in the temple.

Let’s hope he brings us luck.

Vishnu, God of Protection, Preservation of Good, Dharma restoration. I think this hindu god is lovable. Old God of old Khmer people.

Later on, khmer civilization abandoned Vishnu to honor Buddha, and Angkor Wat became a budhist temple.

Buddha is better showed in Myanmar and Bangkok´s temples.

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If you want read more about Angkor Wat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angkor_Wat
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A WORLD HERITAGE TEMPLE

Famous and world-wide known Vishnu Temple of Angkor Wat.

APSARAS AND DANCERS

Female spirit of the clouds and waters in Hindu culture. In Angkor Wat Temple, you can see them all around as much as the dancers. In fact, we cannot distinguish well if Apsaras are also the dancers or if the dancers are other character…

These girls compound the beauty of this super temple by appearing in hundreds or thousands of sculptures.

ENTRANCES AND SECONDARY TEMPLES IN ANGKOR WAT – CAMBODIA

Fine architecture on entries of Angkor Wat Temple. Note the big snakes, protectors of the entrances.

EXTERIORS AND SURROUNDINGS TEMPLES

CORRIDORS AND PASSAGES

Succession of portals forming a crazy perpective in the endless corridors of Angkor Wat.

FINEST ART AT ANGKOR WAT

Introducing the famous khmer old architecture: Angkor Wat! Cambodia the fine art temple from XII centurie.

TOWERS

Grandiosity of famous Angkor Wat Towers at Cambodia, the largest religious temple in the world.

CENTRAL PATIO

Central courtyard at Angkor Wat reveals well the architectural refinement of the ancient Khmer civilization in present-day Cambodia.

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Nowadayr Umm Qais in Jordan used to be called Gadara, founded about 300 B.C. and was one of the ten cities united at the time as the Decapolis.

These ancient cities of hellenistic origin were founded by Greek merchants, to the east of Jordan River. They didn’t represent an official group, but were united by the similarities in language and the same origin. Although they were attached to the Roman Empire, they had certain autonomy in regard to it. They represented a cultural counterpoint in a region where the Semitic influence predominated, composed by Nabataean, Aramaic and Judaic cultures.

Gadara became famous for being home to the famous miracle of the pigs performed by Jesus. As said in the Bible, after having crossed the Sea of Galilee, Jesus arrived at Gadara, finding a man possessed by a legion of demons who terrorized the city. Jesus ordered the demons to leave the body of the man and transfer themselves to the body of pigs that grazed on the hills. It was told there was about two thousand pigs there. After his command, the demons entered the pigs and then suddenly ran down the hills, at last drowning themselves in the sea, freeing the city and the possessed man from the subjection of the demons.

Little remained of this ancient Greek-Roman city. Built in basaltic stones, it has buildings of a characteristic dark grey color. There are still remnants of a circular church, apparently erected to celebrate the miracle of Jesus, built over an even more ancient tomb, very mysterious.

In this archeological site, one can see the typical roman main avenue, flanked on both sides by adorned pillars.

After the Christian period, the city was conquered by the Arabs and finally was abandoned after an earthquake in 747 A.D.

(This post is an excerpt from my book “Jordan´s Historical Treasures”, from 2014, ISBN 978-85-67911-01-4)

Photos, video and text by Marcelo Ozorio

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One of the most famous archeological sites of Jordan, Jerash is one of the most well-preserved Greek-Roman cities from the beginning of the Christian Era, where you can admire the urban and architectonic labor of that period.

Buried because of earthquakes during the Middle Age, Jerash was rediscovered in 1806. When the excavations began, proofs were found that its occupation dated from before the Bronze Age.

Jerash was one of the cities that composed Decapolis.

(This post is an excerpt from my book “Jordan´s Historical Treasures”, from 2014, ISBN 978-85-67911-01-4)

Photos, video and text by Marcelo Ozorio

Marcelo Ozorio at Jerash – Jordan

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The Citadel is an admirable place and is one of the few spots in all the planet where man is constantly present since very remote times.

The Citadel is the historical and civilizational axis of Amman, the beautiful capital of present-day Jordan, for all cultures, in their ancestry, posted there first their legacy.

Occupied since Prehistory, the Citadel houses vestiges and objects that date back to the beginning of civilization (6000 to 7000 B.C.).

When entering the Citadel, the first thing you see are slabs representing this long journey of human saga. The slabs show all the different civilizations that lived there throughout the ages.

Located on the top of a circular mountain offering a 360 degree view, it gives us the impression of being in a majestic and strategic Olympus, which reigns until today as a geographical and testimonial vestige of times and ages past…

We can admire, surprised, the pharaonic grandeur of giant pillars of the monumental Temple of Hercules. Little has remained, except for two or three whole columns and a few others partially preserved, but one can clearly realize the architectural power of the Greek-Roman civilization that resided in Amman, called at the time as Philadelphia, one of the pillars of sustenance and power in the East.

Entering the simple museum, we realize all the legacy of the place. We find the oldest statues created by human beings, preserved to this day, dated to 6500 B.C.

Besides pre-historical pieces, the museum also brings collections of Rome, the Nabataean kingdom and other ancient civilizations, some not very known in the West, found in Jordan lands. Interesting are the clay sarcophagus, which points to the practice of burying the dead vertically, until then never found at another place or culture.

The Citadel still brings testimony to the passage of religions through time, showing the polychrome faith of the Romans, passing from the monotheistic Christian Byzantine civilization that pulsed from the neighbor Constantinople, evolving to the current mosques of Muslin faith.

At the Citadel, the many archeological sites reveal this indivisible line of the history that goes through the labyrinthine centuries of human adventure.

(This post is an excerpt from my book “Jordan´s Historical Treasures”, from 2014, ISBN 978-85-67911-01-4)

Photos, video and text by Marcelo Ozorio

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Photos, video and text by Marcelo Ozorio

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Located in a region close to Amman, Madaba is known as the city of the mosaics. The mosaic is an ancient art which dates to Mesopotamia. At Madaba, it consists of puzzle tablets forming images commonly organized horizontally on the churches’ floors.

It’s inhabited since 4500 B.C., in other words since pre-historical times, which basically makes this city a land deep in so much saint history. Just to have an idea, it was one of the cities divided between the twelve tribes of Israel in the time of the exodus. You know what that is? Just like me, probably not, but one thing we know for sure: this is all very remote! Biblical quotes, Israelite kings, Nabataean Period, annexation by Rome, Byzantine Christian Empire, the beginning of the Christian Age, Jerusalem, map of the Holy Land, Promised Land, Moses, Mount Nebo and so many other terms make Madaba an endless mosaic complex of ancient history.

The city today is well organized to receive visitors from the whole world. It has many churches with well preserved mosaics and a restoration and conservation service through worldwide effort, which permits the visitor to dive in this unfathomable biblical atmosphere.

Madaba is an interesting and curious destination.

Photos, video and text by Marcelo Ozorio

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“Teachings of the Buddha consisting of commentaries and sub commentaries inscribed on 1774 marble slabs erected by Ukhan TI the Ermit
in A.D 1313″

This is an inscription found on a scoreboard of the entrance of Sandamuni Pagoda, an old pagoda from XIV century.

It is a fantastic place, with all these marble boards containing teachings of the Buddha.

Each board is housed within its own sanctuary, all being equal and arranged geometrically.

Intriguing, labyrinthine, special and mysterious. A rather unique place. And that continues in the nearby Kuthodaw Pagoda.

At the central point of the complex, you meet this gorgeous solid iron Buddha, which is known as the Buddha that shines as the moon.

Mandalay is a very interesting and nice old city.

Photos, video and text by Marcelo Ozorio

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