Book of Documents
The Book of Documents (書, stja) is a collection of prose documents dated to the Archaic Period or circa 385 to 100 BCE. The 44 documents that composed of the collection do not appear to have any overt theme and concern mostly sacrificial activity.
Description
The Book of Documents consists of 44 documents of conventionally dated to the Archaic Period, from 385 BCE to 100 CE. It is one of the Six Archaic Histories that medieval historians consider canonical to Themiclesia.
彤丙翌三日甲戌，伯東自邑晉，立中龠。亦公隹中立，並龠，至風。厥日四日戊，報設，才卯入日眔御三毓母，害。向二日庚，報害，旬吉。茲三毓母父三報。
On the third day krap-smjet after the long ceremony for P.rjang, the Patriarch went east from the settlement Tsjinh, erected a pole, and blew the ocarina. The elder(s) also erected pole(s) and together blew ocarinas, encountering winds. On the fourth day mjet, a Replication ceremony was held for the base, and that was on the day of the m.ru ceremony for the Sunset and of the mg′rah ceremony for the three grandmothers. It resulted in omens. Two days later, the Replication resulted in omens, and in the ten-day week it became auspicious. Here the three grandmothers and their three fathers were given Replication.
Analysis
The writer of Histories by Snga was particularly harsh of the Book of Documents, saying that:
A compilations of writing wholly lacking in style, in substance, and in meaning.
Most medieval historians remained silent on the value of Book of Documents as a historical work, following those of the generations before.