纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 050传丝公主画版（7）

（单词翻译）

"These painted tablets, like all the others subsequently discovered... were undoubtedly¹ still in the same position in which they had originally been deposited as votive offerings by pious² worshippers. The last days of worship at this small shrine³ were vividly⁴ recalled by far humbler yet equally touching⁵ relics⁶. On the floor near the principal base, and near the corners, I discovered several ancient brooms, which had manifestly been used by the last attendants to keep the sacred objects clear of the invading dust and sand." ('Ancient Khotan', p. 251)

And it was not just the painting of the silk princess that these brooms kept clean. This Buddhist⁷ shrine also contained painted images of the Buddha⁸, as well as the Hindu gods Shiva and Brahma. Other shrines⁹ in the complex have pictures of Buddhist, Hindu and Iranian gods, as well as very local deities¹⁰. The gods that travelled the Silk Road were, like the traders themselves, happy to share accommodation.

In this programme, we've been in the company of a legendary¹¹ princess, uncovering the meaning of her story. Next week we will be with other princesses and great ladies - real ones - praying and plotting, suffering and singing, in the courts of the world's great powers around 800 AD.

And we'll begin with an extraordinary tale of blood-letting, a long way from the Silk Road... we'll be with a Maya queen, in Mexico