The rise and fall of history’s first empire - Soraya Field Fiorio

翻译人员: Lily Xu 校对人员: Shu Fei Chow

History’s first empire rose out of a hot, dry landscape,

历史上的第一个帝国 地处一片炎热干燥的地区，

without rainfall to nourish crops, without trees or stones for building.

那里既没有雨水灌溉农作物， 也没有建造房屋的树木和石头。

In spite of all this, its inhabitants built the world’s first cities,

尽管如此，这里的居民依然 建造出了世界上的第一座城市，

with monumental architecture and large populations—

有着宏伟壮观的建筑 和庞大的人口——

and they built them entirely out of mud.

且这些城市完全是由泥土建造的。

Sumer occupied the southern part of modern Iraq

苏美尔（Sumer）位于 当代伊拉克的南部，

in the region called Mesopotamia.

地处美索不达米亚平原。

Mesopotamia means “between two rivers”—

美索不达米亚意为“两河流域”——

the Tigris and the Euphrates.

即底格里斯河和幼发拉底河。

Around 5000 BCE, early Sumerians used irrigation channels, dams, and reservoirs

大约在公元前 5000 年，早期的 苏美人建造了水渠、水坝和水库，

to redirect river water and farm large areas of previously bone-dry land.

将河水引进这些 极其干燥的大面积耕作土地。

Agricultural communities like this were slowly springing up around the world.

像这样的农业社区 逐渐在世界各地慢慢兴起。

But Sumerians were the first to take the next step.

但苏美尔人是最早 采取下一步行动的人。

Using clay bricks made from river mud,

他们开始利用 由河泥制成的黏土砖

they began to build multi-storied homes and temples.

建造高层住宅和神庙。

They invented the wheel—

他们发明了陶轮——

a potter’s wheel, for turning mud into household goods and tools.

利用泥土制作家具用品和工具。

Those clay bricks gave rise to the world’s first cities,

约公元前 4500 年左右，

probably around 4500 BCE.

在这些黏土砖上诞生了 世界上第一座城市。

At the top of the city’s social ladder were priests and priestesses,

处在这座城市最高社会阶层的 是男祭司与女祭司，

who were considered nobility,

他们被视为贵族。

then merchants, craftspeople, farmers, and enslaved people.

其后是商人、工匠、农民和奴隶。

The Sumerian empire consisted of distinct city-states

苏美尔帝国由不同的城邦组成，

that operated like small nations.

各个城邦如同 小型国家那样运作。

They were loosely linked by language and spiritual belief

他们依靠语言和宗教信仰 而松散地联系在一起，

but lacked centralized control.

但缺乏集中管理。

The earliest cities were Uruk, Ur, and Eridu,

乌鲁克（Uruk）、乌尔（Ur） 和埃里都（ Eridu）是最早的城市，

and eventually there were a dozen cities.

随后出现了十几座城市。

Each had a king who served a role somewhere between a priest and a ruler.

每个城邦都有一个国王， 职责介于祭司与统治者之间。

Sometimes they fought against each other to conquer new territories.

有时, 他们为了占领新领地 而互相争斗。

Each city was dedicated to a patron deity, considered the city’s founder.

每个城邦都供奉著一位 被视为该邦的创始者——守护神。

The largest and most important building in the city was this patron god’s home:

城中最大且最重要的建筑 就是这位守护神的住所：

the ziggurat, a temple designed as a stepped pyramid.

之字形塔庙（ziggurat）， 外形很像阶梯式的金字塔。

Around 3200 BCE, Sumerians began to expand their reach.

公元前 3200 年左右， 苏美尔人开始扩张自己的势力范围。

The potter’s wheel found a new home on chariots and wagons.

陶轮发明开始 被应用在战车和马车上。

They built boats out of reeds and date palm leaves,

他们用芦苇和椰枣叶建造了船,

with linen sails that carried them vast distances by river and sea.

用亚麻做成了帆， 带领他们前往海上航行。

To supplement scarce resources, they built a trade network

为了补充稀缺的资源，

他们与埃及、安纳托利亚、埃塞俄比亚 这些新兴的王国建立了商业贸易网络，

with the rising kingdoms in Egypt, Anatolia, and Ethiopia,

importing gold, silver, lapis lazuli, and cedar wood.

引进了黄金、白银、青金石和雪松木。

Trade was the unlikely impetus

商业贸易看起来 是个影响力不大的动力，

for the invention of the world’s first writing system.

但它却推动了世界上第一个 书写系统的发明。

It started as a system of accounting for Sumerian merchants

书写系统最初 是用来记录苏美商人

conducting business with traders abroad.

与国外贸易商 展开业务往来的会计系统。

After a few hundred years, the early pictogram system

几百年后， 早期的象形文字系统，

called cuneiform turned into a script.

也称楔形文字， 发展成抽象文字。

The Sumerians drafted up the first written laws

苏美尔人随后起草了 第一部成文律法，

and created the first school system, designed to teach the craft of writing—

创建了第一个学校系统 用来传授书写能力——

and pioneered some less exciting innovations, like bureaucracy and taxes.

并开创了一些不太受欢迎的新制度， 比如官僚机构和税收。

In the schools, scribes studying from dawn to dusk,

在学校，文人学士 从童年直到成年，

日复一日，年复一年， 从黎明到黄昏都在学习。

from childhood well into adulthood.

They learned accounting, mathematics, and copied works of literature—

他们学习会计、数学、 抄写文学作品——

hymns, myths, proverbs, animal fables, magic spells,

赞美诗、神话、谚语、 动物寓言、魔咒，

and the first epics on clay tablets.

以及第一部 写在泥板上的史诗。

Some of those tablets told the story of Gilgamesh,

其中的泥板记录了 吉尔伽美什（Gilgamesh）的故事。

a king of the city of Uruk who was also the subject of mythical tales.

他是乌鲁克的国王， 也是神话故事的主角。

But by the third millennium BCE, Sumer was no longer the only empire around,

但是到了公元前 3000 年，

苏美尔不再是世上, 甚至不再是 美索不达米亚的唯一帝国。

or even in Mesopotamia.

Waves of nomadic tribes poured into the region from the north and east.

一群又一群的游牧部落 从北部和东部涌入了苏美尔。

Some newcomers looked up to the Sumerians, adopting their way of life

这些初来乍到的人们因仰慕苏美尔人， 而接受了他们的生活方式，

and using the cuneiform script to express their own languages.

并采用楔形文字来 表达他们自己的语言。

In 2300 BCE, the Akkadian king Sargon conquered the Sumerian city-states.

公元前 2300 年，阿卡德国王 萨尔贡（Sargon）征服了苏美城邦。

But Sargon respected Sumerian culture,

但是萨尔贡尊重苏美尔人的文化，

and Akkadians and Sumerians existed side-by-side for centuries.

因而让阿卡德人 和苏美尔人的文化并存了数世纪。

Other invading groups focused only on looting and destruction.

其他的侵略者 则仅仅是为了劫掠和破坏。

Even as Sumerian culture spread,

即便苏美尔文化 得到了广泛的流传，

a steady onslaught of invasions killed off the Sumerian people by 1750 BCE.

侵略者持续不断的杀戮依然 使苏美尔人在公元前 1750 年惨遭屠戮。

Afterward, Sumer disappeared back into the desert dirt,

此后，苏美尔便消失在 茫茫的历史尘埃之中，

not to be rediscovered until the 19th century.

直到 19 世纪才被重新发现。

But Sumerian culture lived on for thousands of years—

但是苏美尔人的文化 却持续延续了数千年——

first through the Akkadians, then the Assyrians, then the Babylonians.

先后被阿卡德人、亚述人 和巴比伦人传承。

The Babylonians passed Sumerian inventions and traditions through

巴比伦人将苏美尔人的 发现和传统传入了

along Hebrew, Greek, and Roman cultures.

希伯来、希腊和罗马文化，

Some persist today.

有些依然留存至今。