早期蒲甘：阿奴律陀登基与小公国诞生
有证据显示，缅甸人迁移到骠国境界的速度是缓慢的。事实上，斯里兰卡或任何其他骠国地区都没有发现明确的迹象，表明这里曾经有一场暴力战争。放射性碳测年表明，直到公元870年，人类活动一直存在于哈林城，直到这座骠国城市被832年来自南诏古国的一场突袭摧毁。公元9世纪中后期，也许是已经进入10世纪的时候，蒲甘地区接受了一批批缅甸人来此定居。虽然赫曼南指出，在公元849年——更准确地说，是在公元876年，蒲甘王国强化了防御力量，那是在赫曼南日期做调整以适应国王阿奴律陀登基的碑文验证日期之后——编年史指出，这个日期可能是建立时期，而不是巩固时期。放射性碳测年表明，蒲甘城墙最早存在时期为公元980年。另一方面，有关蒲甘王国最早的几个国王的石刻证据将时间指向公元956年。有关蒲甘王国的外部史料在中国宋朝的文献中有所记载，上面写道：1004年，蒲甘王国的使者来到宋朝的首都汴京进行访问。而占族人和孟人的铭文分别于1050年和1093年首次提到蒲甘王国。
无论如何，到10世纪中期的时候，蒲甘王国的缅甸人已经大大推广了以灌型为基础的栽培技术，那是从骠族的佛教文化普遍借鉴而来的。蒲甘的早期影像学、建筑学和脚本显示着早期缅甸和骠国文化形式的微小差异。此外，好像在缅甸人和有语言关联的骠族人之间没有什么特别的民族差别。这座城市是几个相互竞争的城邦之一，直到10世纪末时，它的权力和规模不断壮大。1044年，阿奴律陀即位的时候，蒲甘王国已经成长为一个小公国，其南北长约320公里（200英里），东西长大约130公里（80英里），大致包含了如今的以下地区：曼德勒、密铁拉、敏建县、皎克西、央米丁县、马圭、实皆古城，以及岷布镇和木各具城的部分河流。它的北边是南昭王国，东边很大程度上仍然是放荡不羁的掸人占领的山脉，南边和西边是骠族人，更远的南方是孟人。这个小公国的面积大小大约是现代缅甸的1/6。
Pagan Empire：The effective extent of Anawrahta’s authority
In December， 1044， a Pagan prince named Anawrahta came to power. Over the next three decades， he would turn this small principality into the First Burmese Empire—the "charter polity" that formed the basis of modernday Burma. Historically verifiable Burmese history begins with his accession.
Anawrahta proved an energetic king. His acts as king were to strengthen his kingdom’s economic base. In the first decade of his reign， he invested much effort into turning the arid parched lands of central Burma into a rice granary， successfully building/enlarging weirs and canals， mainly around the Kyaukse district， east of Pagan. The newly irrigated regions attracted people， giving him with an increased manpower base. He graded every town and village according to the levy it could raise. The region， known as Ledwin， became the granary， the economic key of the north country. History shows that one who gained control of Kyaukse became kingmaker in Upper Burma.
By the mid-1050s， Anawrahta’s reforms had turned Pagan into a regional power， and he looked to expand. Over the next ten years， he founded the Pagan Empire， the Irrawaddy valley at the core， surrounded by tributary states. Anawrahta began his campaigns in the nearer Shan Hills， and extended conquests to Lower Burma down to the Tenasserim coast to Phuket and North Arakan. The Burmese and Siamese chronicles report an empire which covered the present-day Burma and northern Thailand. The Siamese chronicles assert that Anawrahta conquered the entire Menam valley， and received tribute from the Khmer king. One Siamese chronicle states that Anawrahta’s armies invaded the Khmer kingdom and sacked the city of Angkor， and another one goes so far as to say that Anawrahta even visited Java to receive his tribute.
Archaeological evidence however confirms only a smaller empire of the Irrawaddy valley and nearer periphery. Anawrahta’s victory terracotta votive tablets emblazoned with his name in Sanskrit have been found along the Tenasserim coastline in the south， Katha in the north， Thazi in the east and Minbu in the west. In the northeast， a series of 43 forts Anawrahta established along the eastern foothills， of which 33 still exist as villages， reveal the effective extent of his authority.
蒲甘帝国：阿奴律陀的皇权威力
在1044年12月，一个名叫阿奴律陀的蒲甘王子继位。在接下来的30年中，他把这个小公国建设成为第一个缅甸帝国——那是形成现代缅甸基础的“宪章政体”。历史证明，缅甸的历史起源于他的登基时期。
阿奴律陀是一个精力充沛的国王，他的业绩就是增强了本国的经济基础。在他统治的第一个10年当中，他投入了大量的精力，把缅甸中部干旱炎热的土地转变为米粮仓，成功地建立或扩大了蒲甘东部皎克西地区的堤坝和运河。这个新的灌溉区吸引了人们，增加了人力基地。阿奴律陀根据每一个城镇和村庄的供养水准，将这些城镇和村庄分成不同的等级，那个名叫莱德温的地区成为了米粮仓以及帝国北部的经济重点区。历史表明，能够控制皎克西地区的人就能成为上缅甸的拥王者。
11世纪50年代中期，阿奴律陀的改革将蒲甘变成了一个地区性大国。他希望继续拓展，在接下来的10年中，他以伊洛瓦底江流域为核心创立了蒲甘帝国，周围全是他的附属国。阿奴律陀开始在附近掸人的山脉地区进行一些扩展活动，并征服到了下缅甸，他的统治区域沿着丹那沙林沿岸一直到普吉岛和北阿拉干。缅甸和暹罗编年史上说，这个帝国覆盖了如今的缅甸和泰国北部地区。暹罗编年史断言，阿奴律陀征服了整个湄南河流域，并收到了来自高棉国王的朝拜。某个暹罗纪事报上说，阿奴律陀的军队入侵高棉王国并洗劫了吴哥城；另一个纪事报上说，阿奴律陀甚至入侵了爪哇，并收到了爪哇的朝拜。
然而，考古证据证实，这里只有一个统治着伊洛瓦底江流域及其边缘地带的小帝国。在南边沿着丹那沙林海岸线，北边的卡萨，东边的达真和西边的敏巫地带都发现了阿奴律陀的胜利陶俑，铭文上印有他的梵文名字。在东北方，阿奴律陀沿着东部山麓建立了43个系列堡垒，其中33个至今仍然做为村庄而存在，它们见证着这个古国统治者的皇权威力。
2. The glorious Buddhist civilization and the rich civilian culture
Pagan is a famous historical city of Burma. Here， people can not only feel the glorious and resplendent culture of Buddhism， but also experience Burmese people’s friendship and intelligence.
璀璨的佛教文化与丰富的平民文化
蒲甘是缅甸的一座历史名城，在这里人们不仅可以感受到缅甸佛教文化的灿烂辉煌，还可以体验到缅甸人民的友好和智慧。
Architecture：The beautiful Pagan temples
Pagan is well known today for its architecture， and over 2000 remaining temples that dot the Pagan plains today. Other， non-religious aspects of Pagan architecture were equally important to later Burmese states.
Pagan stands out not only for the sheer number of religious edifices but also for the magnificent architecture of the buildings， and their contribution to Burmese temple design. The Pagan temple falls into one of two broad categories： the stupa-style solid temple and the gu-style hollow temple.
A stupa， also called a pagoda， is a massive structure， typically with a relic chamber inside. The Pagan stupas or pagodas evolved from earlier Pyu designs， which in turn were based on the stupa designs of the Andhra region， particularly Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda in present-day southeastern India， and to a smaller extent to Ceylon. The Pagan-era stupas in turn were the prototypes for later Burmese stupas in terms of symbolism， form and design， building techniques and even materials.