The city of walls: Constantinople - Lars Brownworth

君士坦丁堡：城墙之城 —— 拉尔斯·布朗沃斯

Translator: tom carter Reviewer: Bedirhan Cinar

翻译人员: Yixiong Zhu 校对人员: Yoyo Yu

The most important walls in western history aren't even in the West.

西方历史上最重要的墙并不在西方。

They surround the modern city of Istanbul, Constantinople as the Romans called it.

它所环绕的城市今称伊斯坦布尔，也就是罗马人的君士坦丁堡。

And for a thousand years, the fate of Europe depended on them.

一千年来，欧洲的命运依附于这座城墙。

Constantinople was designed to be the center of the world.

君士坦丁堡被创设为世界之都。

When the frontiers of the Roman Empire began to crumble in the 4th Century,

公元4世纪，罗马帝国的边境开始瓦解，

the capital was moved to the cultured, wealthy, and still stable East.

帝国的首都迁移到了文明，富饶，而依旧稳定的东方。

There, at the crossroads between Europe and Asia, the hub of the major trade routes of the ancient world,

在这欧洲和亚洲的交汇处，在这古代重要商贸路线的枢纽，

the Emperor Constantine built his city.

君士坦丁大帝创立了这座城市。

This was the city of libraries and universities,

这做城市布满了图书馆和学院，

20 times the size of London or Paris at the time.

面积20倍于当时的伦敦巴黎。

It contained the priceless knowledge of the classical world which was fading in the West.

她守护着西方世界逐渐消逝的古典文明。

To protect this masterpiece from its many enemies,

为了抵抗那为数众多的敌人，

Constantine's successors built the finest defensive fortifications ever made.

君士坦丁的继任者们建造了最精细的防御工事。

The first line of protection was a moat 60 feet wide and 22 feet deep,

第一道防御，是60尺宽22尺深的护城河。

stretching all four miles from coast to coast.

全长4英里，贯通南北。

Pipes from inside the city could fill it at the first sight of the enemy,

一经发现敌人，城内的输水管就能灌满护城河，

and a short wall protected archers who could fire at the soaked soldiers trying to swim across.

弓箭手可以在一座矮墙的掩护下向泅水的敌人射击。

Those who were lucky enough to clear the moat had to contend with an unceasing barrage from the 27 foot outer wall above.

即便少数人游过了护城河，他们要面对的是27尺外城墙上的武力倾泻。

Arrows, spears, or far worse, Greek fire -- an ancient form of napalm that would ignite on contact

弓箭，长矛，还有可怕的希腊火 —— 古代的凝固汽油，一触即燃，

and couldn't be extinguished by water -- would rain down on them.

水也无法扑灭 —— 将倾泻在敌人头上。

Squads of Roman defenders would carry portable flame throwers,

罗马的小股防御部队还带有便携式喷火器，

spraying anyone trying to climb out of the moat.

喷向任何游出护城河的敌人。

The terrified victims would leap back, only to find that they still burned underwater.

恐惧的敌人向后溃逃，但他们在水下仍在燃烧。

At times, the Romans would also mount siphons onto the ramparts,

有时，罗马人还会在城墙上安置管道口，

and launch clay pots full of Greek fire from catapults at an invading army.

并用投石机将满瓦罐的希腊火掷向敌军。

The front lines would turn into an inferno,

敌军前线一片火海，

making it appear as if the earth itself was on fire.

就像大地在燃烧一样。

If, by some miracle, the outer wall was compromised,

即便，外城墙神奇地被攻占，

attackers would be faced with the final defense: the great inner wall.

进犯者还将面临最后一道防线：内城墙。

These walls were wide enough to have four men ride side by side,

这些城墙非常宽阔，足够四个人并排站立，

allowing troops to be rushed wherever they were needed.

部队可以快速调向需要的地点。

Attilla the Hun, destroyer of civilizations, who named himself the Scourge of God,

匈奴王阿提拉，无数文明毁于其手，自称“上帝之鞭”，

took one look at them and turned around.

只看了君士坦丁堡一眼就调转马头。

The Avars battled the walls uselessly til their catapults ran out of rocks.

阿尔瓦人徒劳的用着投石机攻城，最后竟用尽石头。

The Turks tried to tunnel under them, but found the foundations too solid.

土耳其人试图挖地道，却发现地基太过牢固。

The Arabs tried to starve the city into submission,

阿拉伯人想通过围困来让君士坦丁堡就范，

but ran out of food themselves and had to resort to cannibalism.

结果自己却用尽粮草，不得不自我相食。

It took the guns of the modern world to finally bring them down.

只有当现代大炮出现，君士坦丁堡才最终沦陷。

In 1453, the Turks brought their super weapon:

1453年，土耳其人带着他们的超级武器：

a monster cannon that could fire a 15 hundred pound stone ball over a mile.

一座能发射1500磅弹丸，射程超过1英里的巨型大炮。

Together with more than a hundred smaller guns,

外加上百们小炮，

they kept up a steady bombardment day and night.

他们日夜不断轰炸。

A section of the old walls collapsed, but even in their death throes they proved formidable.

老城的一段塌陷了，但塌陷的城墙甚至也十分坚挺。

The rubble absorbed the shock of the cannonballs better than the solid wall.

破碎的瓦砾比完好的城墙更能吸收弹丸的冲击。

It took a month and a half of continuous blasting to finally open a breach.

一个半月之后缺口才被轰开。

The last Roman Emperor, Constantine the 11th, drew his sword

最后的罗马皇帝，君士坦丁11世，拔剑

and jumped into the gap to stop the onrushing horde,

冲向涌入缺口的敌人，

disappearing into legend.

消失在传说之中。

The city was taken, and the Roman Empire finally disappeared.

城沦陷了，罗马帝国终于消亡了。

But those broken walls had one last gift.

但这破碎的城墙带给了我们最后的礼物。

As the survivors fled the doomed city, they brought with them their precious books and their ancient traditions.

幸存者逃难时，他们携带者宝贵书籍和古老传统。

They traveled west to Italy, reintroduced the Greek language and learning to western Europe, and ignited the Renaissance.

他们往西来到了意大利，向西欧重新传播了希腊语和古典文化，开启了文艺复兴。

Thanks to Constantinople's walls, that pile of brick and marble that guarded them for so long,

多亏君士坦丁堡的砖瓦和石墙，这些知识才能长久的保留下来，

we still have our classical past.

我们才能拥有我们的古典过去。