纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 046阿卜杜勒马立克金币(5)

But something quite unexpected happened to those coins with Abd al-Malik standing¹ on them. After a few years, they simply vanished. During the Hijra year 77 (697 AD), the Standing Caliph coin was suddenly replaced with a design that could hardly be more different. There's no caliph, there's no figure, only words. This is the defining moment for Islamic public art. From now on no human image would be used in such a public arena² for well over a thousand years.

但令人意想不到的是，短短几年，这些带有马利克像的货币竟消失了。希吉拉77年（公元697年>，铸有哈里发站姿的货币被一种截然不同的货币取代。新的货币上没有哈里发，也没有任何图像，只有文字。这是伊斯兰公共艺术的 一个决定性时刻。此后长达千年的时间内，都不再有人像在公共场所出现。

Back in the Coins and Medals department, I'm examining the reformed coin in more detail.It's exactly the same size and weight as the earlier coin, it's also made of solid gold, but it says that it was made in the year 77, so one year later than the previous coin. And now there's nothing to see but text. On the front it reads: "There is no god except God alone, he has no partner; Muhammad is the Messenger of God whom he sent with guidance and the religion of truth that he may make it victorious³ over every other religion." This is an adaptation of a text from the Qu'ran.

至于硬币部分,我更详细地端详这枚历经改革过后的硬币。第二枚金币的尺寸与重量都与第一枚完全相同，也用纯金制成。它的制作时间只比上一枚晚一年,但上面镑刻的内容只剩下文字。正面是：“万物非主，唯有真主。穆罕默德是真主的使者，真主以正道和真教的使 命委托他的使者，以便他使真教胜过一切宗教。”这段话出自《古兰经》。

And on the back of the coin is another Qu'ranic text: "God is One, God is the Eternal. He begets⁴ not, neither is he begotten⁵."

硬币的背面还有另一段《古兰经》文字：“他是真主，是独一的主，真主是万物所仰赖的，他没有生产，也没有被生产。”

The inscriptions⁶ on this coin make, I think, two extraordinarily⁷ interesting points. Firstly, this is almost the oldest Qu'ranic text to have survived. Before Muhammad, Arabic was barely a written language at all, but now there was of course a vital need to record God's words accurately⁸, and so the first developed Arabic script-the "kufic" script-was created.

金币上的文字引发两点有趣的思考。首先，这是现存最古老的《古兰经》经文。在穆罕默德之前，阿拉伯世界几乎没有任何文字，但精确抄录神的话语的需求促成了最早的阿拉伯文字—库法文诞生。

1 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

2 arena   

n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台

参考例句：

• She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
• He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。

3 victorious   

adj.胜利的，得胜的

参考例句：

• We are certain to be victorious.我们定会胜利。
• The victorious army returned in triumph.获胜的部队凯旋而归。

4 begets   

v.为…之生父( beget的第三人称单数 )；产生，引起

参考例句：

• It begets at least seven standard type offspring from such matings. 这类交配中生下至少七个标准型后代。 来自辞典例句
• Violence begets violence until the innocent perish with the guilty. 暴力招致暴力直到这因罪行而无缘无故的毁灭。 来自电影对白

5 begotten   

v.为…之生父( beget的过去分词 )；产生，引起

参考例句：

• The fact that he had begotten a child made him vain. 想起自己也生过孩子，他得意了。 来自辞典例句
• In due course she bore the son begotten on her by Thyestes. 过了一定的时候，她生下了堤厄斯式斯使她怀上的儿子。 来自辞典例句

6 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。

7 extraordinarily   

adv.格外地；极端地

参考例句：

• She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
• The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨，大海出奇地宁静。

8 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。