Reconsidering the Ptolemy’s Southeast Asia Map in the Archaeological and Chinese Documentary Contexts: A Case of Study of Funan and Óc Eo

The Ptolemy’s Southeast Asia Map, or the so-called “India beyond the Ganges,” dated between the 1st and 2nd centuries CE was created with relatively accurate nautical geographical information. The map contains the locations of capes, river mouths, cities, and regions recognized at that time, but they appear to be mysterious places that could not be directly related to known historical and archaeological contexts of Southeast Asia. As an aid to solving the riddles of Ptolemy’s Southeast Asia map ancient Chinese sources have been cross-referenced. The historical book “Sānguó zhì” (Records of the Three Kingdoms) and Kang Tai’s work “Wúshí wàiguó zhuán” (Accounts of foreign states in Wu times), for example, which date from the 3rd century CE, reported on the existence of “Funan” as the most powerful state of the Southern Sea barbarians. Geographical and toponymical relations between Ptolemy’s and the Chinese information were studied to reveal their cognates. The results are suggestive that (1) Ptolemy’s Great Cape and the city of Zabai correspond geographically to the Cape Cà Mau and the Óc Eo archaeological site in Southern Vietnam, respectively; and (2) Ptolemy’s “Balonga” (Metropolis) is cognate to Kang Tai’s “Funan” (Hokkien: Hûlâm). Archaeological evidence of both Chinese and Indo-Roman maritime trading networks found in the region are also suggestive that protohistoric states could have existed in Southeast Asia at least since the 1st Century CE as scattered trading communities around the sub-continent, whose received coordinates were understood by Ptolemy in the 2nd century CE. The existence of these cities and states and their sovereignty were confirmed by representatives of Funan in the Palace of Wu State in the 3rd Century CE and afterward.

Trongjai Hutangkura

Dr. Trongjai Hutangkura is a researcher at The Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre (SAC), Bangkok, Thailand. He graduated with a BA from Faculty of Archaeology at Silpakorn University (Thailand) in 1994. His MA from the Faculty of Environment and Resources at Mahidol University (Thailand) in 2000 was entitled, Pollen Analysis of Holocene Sediments from Kanchanaburi Province: Palaeo-vegetation and Palaeo-environment. The project focused on the archaeological study of shoreline evolution in the Lower Central Plain of Thailand. In 2012, Trongjai graduated from the University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis (France) with the thesis, Pollen Analysis of the Holocene Sedimentary Sequences from the Lower Central Plain of Thailand and Its Implications for Understanding Palaeo-Environmental and Phytogeographical Changes. Although, palaeo-shoreline evolution of the Lower Central Plain in Thailand remains central to Trongjai’s research,  he has a special interest in ancient documents in Indian, Greco-Roman, Chinese and Arabo-Persian, which mention Southeast Asia before 1500 CE.