# Angkor's Poison Wells: The Biological Warfare That Collapsed an Empire

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-khmer-empire-s-sudden-collapse-explained-fexingo-history-7829682/angkor-s-poison-wells-the-biological-warfare-that-collapsed-an-empire
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-khmer-empire-s-sudden-collapse-explained-fexingo-history-7829682/angkor-s-poison-wells-the-biological-warfare-that-collapsed-an-empire.md
Podcast: [The Khmer Empire's Sudden Collapse Explained — Fexingo History](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-khmer-empire-s-sudden-collapse-explained-fexingo-history-7829682)
Published: 2026-07-10T00:59:06+00:00
Episode link: https://audio.fexingo.com/history/the-khmer-empires-sudden-collapse-explained/episode-0150.mp3
Audio file: https://audio.fexingo.com/history/the-khmer-empires-sudden-collapse-explained/episode-0150.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-khmer-empire-s-sudden-collapse-explained-fexingo-history-7829682/episodes/angkor-s-poison-wells-the-biological-warfare-that-collapsed-an-empire
Duration seconds: 445

## Resource

In 1431, the Siamese army besieged Angkor Thom. But instead of storming the walls, they poisoned the city's wells. Drawing on the Ming shi lu and recent archaeological forensics from the Greater Angkor Project, Lucas and Luna piece together how biological warfare—not just drought or invasion—broke the Khmer capital. They trace the wells from the royal plaza to the outer suburbs, examine the symptoms described in chronicles, and ask why Ponhea Yat's final flight to Phnom Penh may have been a desperate quarantine. A dark, specific chapter in Angkor's final decades, with echoes in the Chola and Mongol sieges of Southeast Asia. #Angkor #KhmerEmpire #PonheaYat #Ayutthaya #BiologicalWarfare #MingShiLu #GreaterAngkorProject #AngkorThom #PhnomPenh #SoutheastAsia #SiameseHistory #SiegeWarfare #WaterContamination #MedievalWarfare #CambodiaHistory #Archaeology #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

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