Throughout history, there have been many great rulers of many great ancient civilizations. Some of them might be Julius Caesar, Ramses II, Hammurabi, or Octavian Caesar. The list of them could go on forever. One of the most influential of his civilization, known for his wisdom, was King Ramkhamhaeng or Rama the Valiant, of the Thai people. He claimed to be the "sovereign lord of all the Thai." Researchers guess that he lived from 1239 AD to after 1317 AD. During his lifetime, King Ramkhamhaeng invented the modern Thai script, expanded his kingdom far and wide, and made the Sukhothai Kingdom one of the greatest in Thai history.
             When the ancient Thai people moved into mainland Southeast Asia, they came across a people speaking the Mon-Khmer languages who had inhabited the region for a long period before then. During the first millennium, strong Indian and China influences brought Hindu and Buddhist beliefs to the area. Some of the groups that adopted these beliefs were the Mon of Myanmar who were the first people of Southeast Asia to adopt Buddhism. Between the sixth and ninth centuries, the Mon established several small Buddhist civilizations within modern-day Myanmar and Central Thailand. From their two "capitals," Nakhon Pathom and Lop Buri, they extended their power east across the Khorat Plateau and north as fat as Chiang Mai. They extended their civilization northeast to present day Laos. This period was known as the Dvaravati period of Thailand. It was a period that was noted for its artwork; particularly its Buddhist sculptures made of terra cotta or stucco.
             When the Thai people moved south into the mainland of Southeast Asia, they also came across the Khmer from Cambodia. Between the 9th and 13th centuries, Khmer rulers expanded their civilizations from their capital of Angkor, establishing an empire that at its height, extended over approximately half of modern Thailand. This kingdom wa...