纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 045阿拉伯青铜手(7)

Arabian aromatics¹ had powered the religious life of the pagan Roman Empire,but when that empire converted to Christianity and no longer needed frankincense for worship, the incense² trade was dealt a massive blow, contributing to a collapse³ in the Yemen economy.

阿拉伯的香料曾极广泛地应用于信仰异教 的罗马帝国的宗教生活。但当罗马帝国转而信仰基督教时，他们便不再需要焚烧乳香了。香料贸易的大幅下滑导致了也门的经济衰落。

Local gods, like Ta'lab, disappeared, perhaps because they were no longer delivering the promised prosperity.

塔拉布等本土神消失了，也许是因为他们不能再给人民带来富足。

Suddenly, in the 370s, offerings to traditional gods just stop, and their place is taken by other gods with a wider, universal reach-these are the religions of today.

公元370年左右，也门人对本土神的敬拜戛然而止，取而代之的是在全世界都有信徒的大宗教，也就是那些延续至今的教派。

Within the next couple of centuries the rulers of Yemen shift from Judaism to Christianity to Zoroastrianism and finally, in 628, to Islam, which has remained the dominant⁴ religion of Yemen ever since.

在接下来的数百年间，也门统治者从犹太教转向基督教，又转向祆教，最后在628年改信伊斯兰教，直至今日，伊斯兰教仍是也门占支配地位的宗教信仰。

Gods like Ta'lab no longer stood a chance.

在这些超越国境的大宗教面前，塔拉布等本土神再也没有任何机会。

But some elements of Ta'lab's world did live on. We know for example that, like many Arabian gods, he was venerated⁵ through pilgrimages to his shrine⁶.

但塔拉布信仰的一些元素仍保留了下来。比如人们仍会前往他和其他一些阿拉伯神的神庙朝圣。

The religious historian Philip Jenkins, of Pennsylvania State University, is fascinated by elusive⁷ survivals like this:

宾夕法尼亚州立大学的宗教历史学家菲 利普?詹金斯教授对这种残存的信仰元素很感兴趣：

"There are aspects of the old pagan Arabian religion which do live on into Islam, and into Muslim times.

阿拉伯的这些古老宗教确实有一些元素延续到了伊斯兰和穆斯林时期，

Especially in the practice of the pilgrimage, the Hajj-what goes on at Mecca.

其中影响最大的便是到圣地麦加的朝覲仪式。

Muslims would absolutely reject any pagan context, obviously-they frame it in terms of Abraham and his story,but probably the events of the Hajj closely recall what would have happened in pagan times at that centre.

穆斯林排斥一切异教教义，因此将这种观念融入了易卜拉欣的故事里。但其实这种朝觐行为很可能曾受到发生在这一宗教中心的古代异教信仰仪式的影响。

1 aromatics   

n.芳香植物( aromatic的名词复数 )；芳香剂，芳香药物

参考例句：

• The simplest member of the aromatics series is benzene. 芳香烃系列中最简单的一个化合物是苯。 来自辞典例句
• Its hydrogenation activity in aromatics saturation and ring opening activity were investigated. 芳烃加氢饱和及开环反应是一种提高柴油十六烷值的有效途径。 来自互联网

2 incense   

v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气

参考例句：

• This proposal will incense conservation campaigners.这项提议会激怒环保人士。
• In summer,they usually burn some coil incense to keep away the mosquitoes.夏天他们通常点香驱蚊。

3 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

4 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

5 venerated   

敬重（某人或某事物），崇敬( venerate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• My father venerated General Eisenhower. 我父亲十分敬仰艾森豪威尔将军。
• He used the sacraments and venerated the saints. 他行使圣事，崇拜圣人。 来自英汉非文学 - 文明史

6 shrine   

n.圣地，神龛，庙；v.将...置于神龛内，把...奉为神圣

参考例句：

• The shrine was an object of pilgrimage.这处圣地是人们朝圣的目的地。
• They bowed down before the shrine.他们在神龛前鞠躬示敬。

7 elusive   

adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的

参考例句：

• Try to catch the elusive charm of the original in translation.翻译时设法把握住原文中难以捉摸的风韵。
• Interpol have searched all the corners of the earth for the elusive hijackers.国际刑警组织已在世界各地搜查在逃的飞机劫持者。