纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 045阿拉伯青铜手(4)

It's a pretty baffling series of names and places.

这一大串人名和地名确实有点儿让人头晕。

But if you're a historian trying to reconstruct the society and the religion of ancient Yemen, pretty well all you have to go on is inscriptions² like this one.

但历史学家重建古代也门社会与宗教信仰的工作几乎全部建立在这样的铭文上，它们的信息量很大。

There are about 10,000 of them known, each one, it has to be said, more opaque³ than the other.

大约每个都有10000,不得不说,一个比另一个更晦涩难懂。

But if you actually unpick the inscription¹ on this hand, it does in fact contain a great deal of information.

但是如果你真正破解出铭文后,它实际上包含大量的信息。

From it we learn that this bronze hand was dedicated⁴ at the temple of the god Ta'lab Riyam, in a place called Zafar, high in the Yemeni hills.

专家破译出文字后，我们了解到，这只手曾被供奉在也门山丘高处一个叫萨法城的地方的塔拉布里阳神庙里。

The owner of the hand, Wahab Ta'lab, tells us that he belongs to a clan⁵, and that that clan in turn is part of a larger tribal⁶ organisation⁷, whose god was Ta'lab.

手的原主人瓦哈塔拉布来自某个部落，而这个部落属于一个规模更大的、信奉塔拉布神的族群。

So, Wahab Ta'lab had obviously been named after his own god.

因此, 塔拉布的名字显然来自他所敬拜的神祇。

And as a further sign of faith he's dedicated his hand publicly to Ta'lab, at the centre of the city of Zafar, where it would have been seen along with other offerings of gold, bronze or alabaster⁸, representing human figures, animals, arrows, spear heads, that sort of thing.

为了表现虔诚，他将自己的手公开献给萨法城中心的神庙，与人们献上的其他供品摆在一起，其中包 括塑造成人、动物、弓、箭头等形象的金、铜与雪花石奇制品。

But in return for these offerings, the god Ta'lab was expected, in general terms, to see the donors⁹ alright.

供奉者希望神能够赐福他们作为回报。

But Wahab Ta'lab must have been pretty alright to start with, only a man of real wealth could offer a bronze hand as beautifully made as this.

但瓦哈塔拉布一定相当富有，只有富人才能供奉如此精美的青铜手。

But, by the international standards of the day, his whole society was wealthy.

不过按照当时的国际标准，他整个族群的成员都很富有。

At the time of our hand most of south Arabia was effectively one state-a confederation of tribes like Wahab Ta'lab's, known to historians as the Himyarite kingdom.

青铜手制作时期，几乎整个阿拉伯半岛南部都属于一个国家，一个由类似塔拉布所属族群所组成的城邦联合体，历史学家称之为希米亚里特王国。

1 inscription   

n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文

参考例句：

• The inscription has worn away and can no longer be read.铭文已磨损，无法辨认了。
• He chiselled an inscription on the marble.他在大理石上刻碑文。

2 inscriptions   

（作者）题词( inscription的名词复数 )； 献词； 碑文； 证劵持有人的登记

参考例句：

• Centuries of wind and rain had worn away the inscriptions on the gravestones. 几个世纪的风雨已磨损了墓碑上的碑文。
• The inscriptions on the stone tablet have become blurred with the passage of time. 年代久了，石碑上的字迹已经模糊了。

3 opaque   

adj.不透光的；不反光的，不传导的；晦涩的

参考例句：

• The windows are of opaque glass.这些窗户装着不透明玻璃。
• Their intentions remained opaque.他们的意图仍然令人费解。

4 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

5 clan   

n.氏族，部落，宗族，家族，宗派

参考例句：

• She ranks as my junior in the clan.她的辈分比我小。
• The Chinese Christians,therefore,practically excommunicate themselves from their own clan.所以，中国的基督徒简直是被逐出了自己的家族了。

6 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

7 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。

8 alabaster   

adj.雪白的；n.雪花石膏；条纹大理石

参考例句：

• The floor was marble tile,and the columns alabaster.地板是由大理石铺成的，柱子则是雪花石膏打造而成。
• Her skin was like alabaster.她的皮肤光洁雪白。

9 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》