Historical Documentation
Primary Sources
Translations from Chinese dynastic histories, Greco-Roman geography, and Sanskrit inscriptions that document the ancient port of Óc Eo and the Kingdom of Funan.
Chinese Dynastic Records
3rd - 6th century CE
The most detailed accounts of Funan come from Chinese dynastic histories, particularly records of diplomatic missions. Kang Tai and Zhu Ying visited Funan circa 250 CE as Wu kingdom envoys, leaving extensive descriptions.
Distribution of Óc Eo culture sites in the Mekong Delta - the "great river" described in Chinese records
Geographic Location
Liang Shu (Book of Liang)
"The kingdom of Funan is south of the Je-nan commandery, in a great bay at the west of the sea. It is about 7000 li from Je-nan, more than 3000 li southwest of Lin-yi. The town is 500 li from the sea. There is a great river which flows from the northwest and goes east to reach the sea."
Tidal Patterns
Kang Tai's Account
"Water flows abundantly throughout the lake and at high tide, flows to the west. The tide each day and each night raises the water level by seven or eight feet."
Trade Goods
Liang Shu
"The country produces gold, silver, copper, tin, aloes perfume, ivory, peacocks, kingfishers, parrots of five colours."
Ship Construction
Liang Shu
"They make boats of 8 to 9 tchang [approximately 80-90 feet]. They are cut to the width of 6 or 7 feet. The stem and stern are like the head and tail of a fish."
The Inhabitants
Jin Shu (Book of Jin)
"The men are all ugly and black; their hair is fuzzy; they are naked and walk barefoot. They have a simple nature and are not thieves. They farm. They sow one year and harvest over three."
Writing System
Jin Shu
"They have books, storehouses for archives and other things. Their script is like that of the Hou."
Trial by Ordeal
Liang Shu
"If there is a dispute they throw gold rings or eggs into boiling water; [the disputants] have to fish them out. Or they have to carry a red-hot chain in their hands for seven paces. The guilty man's hands completely lose their skin; the innocent is unhurt."
Foundation Legend
Jin Shu
"Their ruler was originally a woman called Ye-lieou. At that time there was a foreigner, called Houen-hoeui [Hun-t'ien], who worshipped genies; he dreamt that the genie gave him a bow... He arrived outside the town of Funan. Ye-lieou brought troops to fight him. Houen-hoeui raised his bow. Ye-lieou took fright and submitted to him. Whereupon Houen-hoeui took her for his wife and seized the kingdom."
King Jayavarman's Petition (484 CE)
Nan Qi Shu (Book of Southern Qi)
"Your subject once sent an embassy to offer you various objects and to trade in Kouang-tchou [Canton]. The Hindu monk Çakya Nagasena, who was in Canton at the time, came on to your servant's junk, as he wished to go to Funan."
Source: Translations primarily from Paul Pelliot, "Le Fou-nan," Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient 3, no. 1 (1903): 248-303. Available online.
Greco-Roman Sources
1st - 2nd century CE
Greek and Roman geographers documented the eastern terminus of maritime trade routes. Ptolemy's "Kattigara" has been tentatively identified by scholars as Óc Eo, based on geographic coordinates and the voyage of Alexander the merchant.
Maritime trade routes connecting the Roman world to Southeast Asia via the Indian Ocean
Ptolemy's Kattigara
Geography (c. 150 CE)
"Kattigara is situated at 177 degrees longitude east from the Fortunate Isles, positioned on the Magnus Sinus [Great Gulf] beyond the Golden Peninsula [Χρυσῆ Χερσόνησος]."
The Voyage of Alexander
Via Marinus of Tyre, preserved in Ptolemy
"A merchant named Alexander who sailed from India along the coast of the Malay Peninsula northward to the region of Bangkok, then southeast to Kattigara."
Scholarly Identification
Albrecht Dihle, Cambridge Philological Society (1964)
"From the account of the voyage of Alexander referred to by Ptolemy, Kattigara can actually be located only in the Mekong delta, because Alexander went first along the east coast of the Malacca peninsula, northward to Bangkok, from thence likewise only along the coast toward the south east, and so came to Kattigara."
Periplus Maris Erythraei
Anonymous Greek merchant (c. 40-70 CE)
"After these, the course turns toward the east again, and sailing with the ocean to the right and the shore remaining beyond to the left, Ganges comes into view, and near it the very last land toward the east, Chryse."
"After this region under the very north, the sea outside ending in a land called This [China], there is a very great inland city called Thinae, from which raw silk and silk yarn and silk cloth are brought on foot through Bactria to Barygaza."
Etymology of Kattigara
The name "Kattigara" derives from Sanskrit:
- कीर्ति-नगर (Kīrti-nagara) — "Renowned City" or "City of Glory"
- कोटि-नगर (Koṭi-nagara / Kotti-nagara) — "Strong City" or "Fort City"
Sources: Ptolemy translation from J. Lennart Berggren and Alexander Jones, Ptolemy's Geography (Princeton, 2000). Periplus from Lionel Casson, The Periplus Maris Erythraei (Princeton, 1989).
Sanskrit Inscriptions
2nd - 5th century CE
Sanskrit inscriptions in early Pallava script attest to Indian religious and political influence in Funan. These provide indigenous perspectives absent from Chinese records.
K5 Inscription from Go Thap
5th century CE, Sanskrit in Pallava Grantha script
This stele commemorates Prince Gunavarman of the "Kaundinya line," describing his governance of territory "wrested from the mud"—likely referring to the hydraulic engineering projects that transformed the swampy Mekong Delta into productive agricultural land.
Publication: George Coedès, "Études cambodgiennes: XXV. Deux inscriptions sanskrites du Fou-nan," BEFEO 31 (1931): 1-23.
Museum of Vietnamese History, Hồ Chí Minh City
Vo Canh Inscription (C.40)
2nd-5th century CE (dating disputed), early Pallava script
One of the oldest Sanskrit inscriptions in Southeast Asia, found near Nha Trang. It mentions King Sri Mara, possibly identifiable with Fan Shih-man of Chinese sources. Now housed in the National Museum of Vietnamese History, Hanoi.
Note: The dating of this inscription is contested. Earlier scholars dated it to the 2nd-3rd century CE based on paleography, while recent analysis by Zakharov and Sircar suggests the 4th-5th century CE based on linguistic features found in Gupta-era inscriptions.
Designated a National Treasure of Vietnam in 2013.
Further Reading: George Coedès, The Indianized States of Southeast Asia, trans. Susan Brown Cowing (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1968).