纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 027人马怪和拉皮斯人（4）

（单词翻译）

Nonetheless, it remains a wonderful and moving piece of sculpture.

但这无损于这幅雕像的动人魅力。

But what does it mean?

然而，这图案究竟代表了什么意思？

And how can it sum up, in itself, a view of the Athenian state?

我们又如何从中了解当时的雅典城邦呢？

I'm fairly certain that these sculptures are using myths to present a heroic version of recent events.

这些雕像无疑是在以一种神话的方式讲述当时现实中发生的英雄事迹。

A generation before these sculptures were made, Athens was one of a number of fiercely competitive city states,

在雕像制作者的父辈生活的时期，由于波斯入侵希腊本土，

who were suddenly forced into a coalition with each other by the Persian invasion of the Greek mainland.

像雅典这样原本处于激烈斗争中的城邦不得不团结一致，抵御外敌。

So, in the metopes, when we see Greeks fighting Centaurs, these mythical battles stand proxy for the real-life struggle between Greeks and Persians.

在排档间饰上，我们看到希腊人大战半人马，这场神话中的战役代表了现实中希 腊与波斯间的战争。

Here's Mary Beard, Cambridge classicist, on what the sculptures would have meant to the people who first saw them:

剑桥大学的古典学者玛丽·彼尔德这样解释雕像在当时所代表的意义：

"Ancient Greece is a world which sees-sees-issues in terms of conflict, of winning, and losing.

在古希腊人的世界里，凡事都通过争斗来解决。输赢决定一切。

It's a conflictual society, and one of the ways that Athenians thought about their position in the world,

希腊人在世界上为自己定位的方式之一，

and their relationship to those they conquered, or abominated, was they saw the enemy or the other in terms that were not, in a sense, human.

就是将敌人及他者都视作非人。这便是他们与自己征服或痛恨的人之间的关系。

So what you have on the Parthenon is different ways of understanding the otherness of your enemy.

帕台农神庙的雕像展示了表现敌人的他者性的不同方式。

I mean, the best interpretation of the metopes, is that you see the heroic conflicts as necessary in order to ensure order.

对这些排档间饰最好的一种诠释，便是将英勇的战斗视为确保秩序的必然手段。

And part of that is a feeling that we can very easily empathise with.

其中有一部分我们很容易感到认同:

I mean, we don't want to live in a culture that the Centaurs-the half-men half-horse run, we don't want to live in Centaur World!

我们不愿意生活在半人马的世界，

Nor do we want to live in Amazon World. We want to live in Greek World, and Athenian World."

我们希望生活在希腊的世界，雅典的世界。