The Old Tibetan Annals. An annotated Translation of Tibet´s first history.

The Old Tibetan Annals is Tibet`s oldest extant history. Principally a bureaucratic register of events, it is the single most reliable source for the history of the first half of the Tibetan Empire (c. 600-850 CE). This record was maintained more or less contemporaneously with the events it describes, with entries added at the end of each year from 650 to 764. In each yearly entry the Old Tibetan Annals records information such as the summer and winter residences of the Tibetan emperor, the place at which the summer and winter political councils were convened, who convened them, and what measures were taken. Visits from foreign dignitaries, military engagements, dynastic marriages, the birth of a future sovereign, the deaths of important figures, and the performance of funeral rites for the royal family are also recorded. This book offers an annotated translation of the Old Tibetan Annals, along with transliteration of the Tibetan text and photographic reproductions of the original Dunhuang documents. A long introduction serves to situate the Old Tibetan Annals within its cultural and historical milieu by exploring the history of the Tibetan Empire, its political geography, and administrative practices. A set of appendices follows the translation, and the work is complemented greatly by Guntram Hazod`s annotated cartographical survey of territorial divisions and place names in the Annals. The work is completed by indices and a glossary that render the Annals easily accessible, and by photographic reproductions of the Dunhuang documents that give scholars access to the original text.