美国学生人类历史第39期:爱琴海(2)

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　　如果谢尔曼只找到几把打磨过的石锤或者几个粗陶罐，没人会为此吃惊。人们通常就是将这些器物与在希腊人之前定居此地的史前人类联想在一起的。可事实上，谢尔曼在废墟里发现了做工精美的小雕像、贵重的珠宝和饰有非希腊图案的花瓶。

　　He ventured the suggestion that fully⁶ ten centuries before the great Trojan war, the coast of the Aegean had been inhabited by a mysterious race of men who in many ways had been the superiors of the wild Greek tribes who had invaded their country and had destroyed their civilisation⁷ or absorbed it until it had lost all trace of originality⁸. And this proved to be the case.

　　根据这些发现，谢尔曼大胆提出：距伟大的特洛伊战争1000年以前，爱琴海沿岸就居住着一个神秘的种族。他们的文化在许多方面都比入侵他们的国土、摧毁或吸收他们的文明的希腊野蛮部落要优越得多。"谢尔曼的推测最后被证实。

　　In the late seventies of the last century, Schliemann visited the ruins of Mycenaeruins which were so old that Roman guide-books marvelled⁹ at their antiquity¹⁰. There again, beneath the flat slabs¹¹ of stone of a small round enclosure, Schliemann stumbled upon a wonderful treasure-trove, which had been left behind by those mysterious people who had covered the Greek coast with their cities and who had built walls, so big and so heavy and so strong, that the Greeks called them the work of the Titans, those godlike giants who in very olden days had used to play ball with mountain peaks.

　　19世纪70年代末，谢尔曼考察了迈锡尼废墟。这些废墟曾让古罗马的旅行指南对其悠久的历史表示过惊叹，更别说现代人了。在一道小圆围墙的方石板下面，谢尔曼再度意外发现了令人惊羡的藏宝库。留下这些宝物的仍是那个早于希腊人1000年的神秘种族。他们在希腊海岸到处修筑城市，其城墙高大、厚实、坚固，被古希腊人敬羡地称为"巨人泰坦的作品"。泰坦相传是古代希腊像天神一样的巨人，他常与山峰掷球为戏。

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