Le Vietnam Ancien

Ancient Vietnam is an intriguing mosaic of ethnic groups who have each contributed their own unique genius to the edification of a country that extends from China to the Mekong Delta. Between the tenth and fifteenth centuries, the Viet and Cam peoples fought each other and eventually intermixed, resulting in a spectacular cultural and ideological confrontation between the Sinicized world and the Indianized world. What emerged from this interaction was a subtle and symbolic art—a means of expression both refined and violent— which later served as the foundation of modern Vietnam.Anne-Valérie Schweyer holds a doctorate from Université de Paris I-Sorbonne. A historian and epigraphist, she specializes in Champa inscriptions,which were written in Sanscrit and Cham in Central Vietnam from the sixth to the fourteen century. Her deciphering work has made it possible to write the history of a vanished civilization which borrowed elements from India to build its ethnic identity.