  We study anti-de Sitter black holes in 2+1 dimensions in terms of Chern
Simons gauge theory of anti-de Sitter group coupled to a source. Taking the
source to be an anti-de Sitter state specified by its Casimir invariants, we
show how all the relevant features of the black hole are accounted for. The
requirement that the source be a unitary representation leads to a discrete
tower of states which provide a microscopic model for the black hole.
