Siem Reap: History
=== Angkor period settlement of Dvijendrapura ===
During the Angkor period, according to R. C. Majumdar, Siem Reap was the site of a town called Dvijendrapura, whose former site is probably marked by the old temple of Prah Einkosei. An old stele inscription at Prah Einkosei, written in both Sanskrit and Old Khmer and dated to 890 and 892 of the Shaka era (corresponding to 968 and 970 CE), records religious endowments made by the princess Indralakṣmī (daughter of Rājendravarman II) and her husband Divākara-bhaṭṭa in those two years, including an image of Viṣṇu called Dvijendra and an āśrama. They also founded a temple at a place called Madhuvana, which Majumdar identified with present-day Prasat Komphus near Phnom Sandak. A corresponding inscription at Prasat Komphus states that the temples at Dvijendrapura and Madhuvana were jointly endowed with a commonly shared property (miśrabhoga) so that "the territories of the gods of Madhuvana and Dvijendrapura are joined together".
The name "Siem Reap" can be translated to mean 'defeat of Siam' (siem in Khmer) and is commonly taken as a reference to an incident in the centuries-old conflict between the Siamese and Khmer kingdoms, although this is probably apocryphal. According to oral tradition, King Ang Chan I (1516–1566) had named the town "Siem Reap" after he repulsed an army sent to invade Cambodia by the Thai king Maha Chakkraphat in 1549. Scholars such as Michael Vickery consider this derivation to be simply a modern folk etymology, and maintain that while the names Siem Reap and Chenla, the old Chinese name for Cambodia, may perhaps be related, the actual origin of the name is unknown.
The traditional tale claims that King Ang Chan of Cambodia tried to assert greater independence from Siam, which was then struggling internally. The Siamese king Chairacha had been poisoned by his concubine, Lady Sri Sudachan, who had committed adultery with a commoner, Worawongsathirat, while the king was away leading a campaign against the Kingdom of Lan Na. Sudachan then placed her lover on the throne. The Thai nobility lured them outside the city on a royal procession by barge to inspect a newly discovered white elephant. After killing the usurper, along with Sudachan and their new-born daughter, they invited Prince Thianracha to leave the monkhood and assume the throne as King Maha Chakkraphat (1548–1569). With the Thais distracted by internal problems, King Ang Chan attacked. He seized the Siamese city of Prachinburi in 1549, sacking the city and making slaves of its inhabitants. Only then did he learn that the succession had been settled and that Maha Chakkraphat was the new ruler. Ang Chan immediately retreated to Cambodia, taking captives with him. King Maha Chakkraphat was furious over the unprovoked attack, but Burma had also chosen to invade through Three Pagodas Pass. The Burmese army posed a much more serious threat, as it captured Kanchanaburi and Suphanburi. It then appeared before Ayutthaya itself.
The Thai army managed to defeat the Burmese, who quickly retreated through the pass. Maha Chakkraphat's thoughts then turned to Cambodia. Not only had Ang Chan attacked and looted Prachinburi, turning its people into slaves, but he also refused to give Maha Chakkraphat a white elephant he had requested, rejecting even this token of submission to Siam. Maha Chakkraphat ordered Prince Ong, the governor of Sawankhalok, to lead an expedition to punish Ang Chan and recover the Thai captives. …