Why is Herodotus called “The Father of History”? - Mark Robinson

翻译人员: Rocky Zuo 校对人员: Jenny Yang

Giant gold-digging ants,

巨型挖金蚁，

a furious king who orders the sea to be whipped 300 times,

愤怒的国王命令大海受刑300鞭，

and a dolphin that saves a famous poet from drowning.

海豚救起了一位快淹死的著名诗人。

These are just some of the stories from The Histories by Herodotus,

这些仅是《历史》中的一部分故事，作者希罗多徳，

an Ancient Greek writer from the 5th century BCE.

公元前5世纪古希腊作家。

Not all the events in the text may have happened

并不是所有发生的故事

exactly as Herodotus reported them,

都是希罗多徳记录的那样，

but this work revolutionized the way the past was recorded.

但他的作品彻底改变了人们记录历史的方式。

Before Herodotus, the past was documented as a list of events

在希罗多徳之前，历史文件就是一条条的历史事件，

with little or no attempt to explain their causes

几乎不会去解释事件的原由，

beyond accepting things as the will of the gods.

即使有，也不过解释为“上帝的意愿”。

Herodotus wanted a deeper, more rational understanding,

希罗多徳希望有更深刻、更理智的解释，

so he took a new approach:

因此他采用了一个新的方法：

looking at events from both sides to understand the reasons for them.

调查事件的双方，从而理解他们行为的原因。

Though he was Greek, Herodotus's hometown of Halicarnassus

尽管希罗多徳是希腊人，但他的家乡哈利卡尔那索斯

was part of the Persian Empire.

是波斯帝国的一部分。

He grew up during a series of wars between the powerful Persians

他幼年经历了波斯与希腊的一系列战争，彼时波斯强大，

and the smaller Greeks,

希腊弱小，

and decided to find out all he could about the subject.

他决定尽自己所能找出有关这些战争的一切。

In Herodotus's telling, the Persian Wars began in 499 BCE,

在希罗多徳的描述中，波斯战争开始于公元前499年，

when the Athenians assisted a rebellion by Greeks living under Persian rule.

雅典人协助希腊人发起了一场反抗波斯统治的战争。

In 490, the Persian King, Darius, sent his army to take revenge on Athens.

公元前490年，波斯皇帝达利斯出兵报复雅典人。

But at the Battle of Marathon, the Athenians won an unexpected victory.

但在这场持久战中，雅典人意外地获得了胜利。

Ten years later, the Persians returned, planning to conquer the whole of Greece

十年后，波斯人重返，计划征服整个希腊，

under the leadership of Darius's son, Xerxes.

统帅为达利斯的儿子，薛西斯。

According to Herodotus, when Xerxes arrived,

据希罗多徳记载，当薛西斯抵达时，

his million man army was initially opposed by a Greek force

他的百万军队立刻遭到了由斯巴达300勇士带领的希腊军队的反抗，

led by 300 Spartans at the mountain pass of Thermopylae.

战役发生在塞莫皮莱的山道上。

At great cost to the Persians,

波斯付出了巨大的代价

the Spartans and their king, Leonidas, were killed.

斩杀了斯巴达勇士和他们的国王列奥尼达斯。

This heroic defeat has been an inspiration to underdogs ever since.

这一英雄式的战败自此成为了弱者的模范。

A few weeks later, the Greek navy tricked the Persian fleet

几周后，希腊海军将波斯战队诱至

into fighting in a narrow sea channel near Athens.

雅典附近一窄小海峡，双方交战。

The Persians were defeated and Xerxes fled, never to return.

波斯战败，薛西斯逃跑，再也没有回来。

To explain how these wars broke out and why the Greeks triumphed,

为了解释这些战争是如何发生，以及希腊为何获胜，

Herodotus collected stories from all around the Mediterranean.

希罗多徳收集了地中海所有的故事。

He recorded the achievements of both Greeks and non-Greeks

他赶在人们淡忘之前记录下来

before they were lost to the passage of time.

希腊人和非希腊人双方的重大事件。

The Histories opens with the famous sentence:

《历史 》以这一名句开篇：

"Herodotus, of Halicarnassus, here displays his inquiries."

“来自哈利卡尔那索斯的希罗多徳在此展现他的调查。”

By framing the book as an “inquiry,”

因为将这本书定位为“调查”，

Herodotus allowed it to contain many different stories,

希罗多徳在其中记载了很多不同的故事，

some serious, others less so.

有的严肃、有的没那么严肃。

He recorded the internal debates of the Persian court

他记载了波斯法庭的内部辩论，

but also tales of Egyptian flying snakes

但也同时记录了埃及飞蛇的传说

and practical advice on how to catch a crocodile.

以及抓住鳄鱼的可行方法。

The Greek word for this method of research is "autopsy,"

这种研究方法在希腊文中称为“autopsy”，

meaning "seeing for oneself."

意为“亲眼查看”。

Herodotus was the first writer to examine the past

希罗多德是第一个运用这一方法的作家：

by combining the different kinds of evidence he collected:

他将所有搜集的证据都综合起来去调查过去的事情。

opsis, or eyewitness accounts,

这些证据包括：opsis（目击证人的描述）

akoe, or hearsay,

akoe（传闻）

and ta legomena, or tradition.

和ta legomena（传统）。

He then used gnome, or reason,

之后他有用gnome（逻辑）

to reach conclusions about what actually happened.

来得出结论，推断出发生的事实。

Many of the book's early readers were actually listeners.

他书本早期的读者是听众。

The Histories was originally written in 28 sections,

《历史》一书最初由28部分组成，

each of which took about four hours to read aloud.

每一部分都要朗读4个小时。

As the Greeks increased in influence and power,

随着希腊影响力与权力与日俱增，

Herodotus's writing and the idea of history spread across the Mediterranean.

希罗多徳的作品和对历史的看法传遍了地中海。

As the first proper historian, Herodotus wasn't perfect.

希罗多徳是第一个历史学家，因为他并不完美。

On occasions, he favored the Greeks over the Persians

有时，他会偏向希腊、贬低波斯，

and was too quick to believe some of the stories that he heard,

并且会很快相信他听到的一些故事，

which made for inaccuracies.

从而导致一些不准确性。

However, modern evidence has actually explained

不过，现代证据已经解释了

some of his apparently extreme claims.

部分明显极端的事件。

For instance, there's a species of marmot in the Himalayas

例如，在喜马拉雅山上，有一种土拨鼠，

that spreads gold dust while digging.

在挖洞时，会扬起金粉。

The ancient Persian word for marmot is quite close to the word for ant,

在古波斯语中，“土拨鼠”这个单词与“蚂蚁”非常接近，

so Herodotus may have just fallen prey to a translation error.

所以，希罗多徳可能是在翻译时弄错了。

All in all, for someone who was writing in an entirely new style,

总而言之，对于一个用全新风格写作的人来说，

Herodotus did remarkably well.

希罗多徳已经出奇的出色。

History, right down to the present day, has always suffered from the partiality

历史，从古至今，都多多少少有些历史学家的

and mistakes of historians.

偏见与错误 。

Herodotus’s method and creativity earned him the title

希罗多徳的方法与创造性为他赢得了名声，

that the Roman author Cicero gave him several hundred years later:

罗马作家西塞罗在几百年后称他为

"The Father of History."

“历史学之父”。