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

譯者: C Cheng 審譯者: Helen Chang

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

歷史上的第一個帝國 自一片炎熱乾燥的地帶崛起，

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

沒有降雨滋養農作物， 沒有樹木或石頭建造房屋。

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

儘管如此，它的居民 建造了世界上最初的城市，

with monumental architecture and large populations—

有著宏偉的建築和龐大的人口——

and they built them entirely out of mud.

而且這些城市完全由泥土建成。

Sumer occupied the southern part of modern Iraq

蘇美位於當代伊拉克的南部，

in the region called Mesopotamia.

在美索不達米亞地區。

Mesopotamia means “between two rivers”—

美索不達米亞意為「兩河之間」——

the Tigris and the Euphrates.

即底格里斯河和幼發拉底河。

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

大約在公元前 5000 年，

早期蘇美人利用灌溉溝渠 水壩和水庫來引導河水，

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

耕作大片原本極度乾燥的土地。

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

類似的農業社區 在世界範圍內逐漸興起。

But Sumerians were the first to take the next step.

但蘇美人是最早 採取下一步行動的人。

Using clay bricks made from river mud,

利用由河泥製成的粘土磚，

they began to build multi-storied homes and temples.

他們開始建造多層住宅和神廟。

They invented the wheel—

他們發明了製作陶器的轉盤， 將泥土轉變成了家用物品和工具。

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

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

約公元前 4500 年左右， 這些粘土磚帶來了世界上最早的城市，

probably around 4500 BCE.

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

在城市社會階層的頂部是男女祭司。

who were considered nobility,

他們被視為貴族。

then merchants, craftspeople, farmers, and enslaved people.

其後是商人、工匠、農民和奴隸。

The Sumerian empire consisted of distinct city-states

蘇美帝國由不同的城邦組成，

that operated like small nations.

它們如同小型國家那樣運作。

They were loosely linked by language and spiritual belief

它們因語言和精神信仰 而鬆散地聯繫在一起，

but lacked centralized control.

但缺乏集中控制。

The earliest cities were Uruk, Ur, and Eridu,

烏魯克、烏爾和埃里是最早的城市。

and eventually there were a dozen cities.

最終出現了十幾個城市。

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

每個城邦都有一個國王 承擔某種介於祭司與統治者間的職責。

Sometimes they fought against each other to conquer new territories.

有時為了佔領新的領地， 他們互相爭鬥。

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

每個城邦都供奉著一位 被視為該城創始者的守護神。

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

城中最大、最重要的建築 是這位守護神的住所：塔廟，

the ziggurat, a temple designed as a stepped pyramid.

一種如同階梯式金字塔的神廟。

Around 3200 BCE, Sumerians began to expand their reach.

公元前 3200 年左右， 蘇美人開始擴大影響範圍。

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

陶器轉盤在戰車和馬車上 找到了新歸宿。

They built boats out of reeds and date palm leaves,

他們用蘆葦和椰棗葉建造了船，

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

用亞麻做成了帆， 船將他們帶到了河與海的遠方。

To supplement scarce resources, they built a trade network

為了補充稀缺的資源，

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

他們與埃及、安納托利亞、衣索比亞的 新興王國建立了貿易網絡，

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

引進黃金、白銀、青金石和雪松木。

Trade was the unlikely impetus

儘管看起來不像，

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

貿易卻推動了世上第一個書寫系統。

It started as a system of accounting for Sumerian merchants

最初它是一種用來記錄蘇美商人

conducting business with traders abroad.

與國外貿易商 開展業務往來的會計系統。

After a few hundred years, the early pictogram system

幾百年後，早期被稱為楔形文字的 象形文字系統發展成了抽象文字。

called cuneiform turned into a script.

The Sumerians drafted up the first written laws

蘇美人起草了第一部成文律法

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

並創建了第一個學校系統， 用來傳授書寫技能。

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

也開拓了一些不怎麼振奮人心的創新， 比如官僚機構和稅收。

In the schools, scribes studying from dawn to dusk,

在學校裡，文士從黎明到黃昏、 從童年到成年一直在學習。

from childhood well into adulthood.

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

他們學習會計、數學、文學作品——

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

讚美詩、神話、諺語、動物寓言、魔咒，

and the first epics on clay tablets.

和第一部史詩——抄錄在粘土板上。

Some of those tablets told the story of Gilgamesh,

其中一些粘土板講述了 吉爾伽美什的故事。

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

他是烏魯克的國王 也是神話故事的主題。

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

但是到了公元前三千年，

蘇美不再是世上， 甚至美索不達米亞的唯一帝國。

or even in Mesopotamia.

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

一波波的游牧部落 從北部和東部湧入這個地區。

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

一些新來乍到的人仰慕蘇美人， 接受了他們的生活方式，

and using the cuneiform script to express their own languages.

並採用楔形文字來 表達他們自己的語言。

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

公元前 2300 年，阿卡德國王 薩爾貢征服了蘇美城邦。

But Sargon respected Sumerian culture,

但是薩爾貢尊重蘇美人的文化，

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

阿卡德人和蘇美人並存了數百年。

Other invading groups focused only on looting and destruction.

其他入侵者只關注於劫掠和破壞。

Even as Sumerian culture spread,

即便是在蘇美文化傳播之際，

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

侵略者的持續攻擊使蘇美人 於公元前 1750 年慘遭滅絕。

Afterward, Sumer disappeared back into the desert dirt,

此後，蘇美消失在沙漠的塵埃之中，

not to be rediscovered until the 19th century.

直到 19 世紀才被重新發現。

But Sumerian culture lived on for thousands of years—

但是蘇美人的文化 卻繼續存在了數千年——

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

先後被阿卡德人、亞述人 和巴比倫人傳承。

The Babylonians passed Sumerian inventions and traditions through

巴比倫人將蘇美人的 發明和傳統傳遞給了

along Hebrew, Greek, and Roman cultures.

希伯來、希臘和羅馬文化。

Some persist today.

有些存在迄今。