How Art Made The World 说服的艺术 -06

Around 500 BC, this problem was particularly acute for one king above all. He'd taken control of a kingdom so large. It was the world's first empire. He needed to find a new way to impose his power across all of this vast territory. He was Darius the Great, the king of the Persians and his capital was Persepolis.

Persepolis is in Iran, one of the wonders of the ancient world. 2,500 years ago, it stood at the heart of Darius’s vast empire, an empire that stretched thousands of miles from the Mediterranean¹ in the west to India in the east. From here, Darius ruled over millions of people across more than twenty nations. He carved the names of the most far-flung nations on a block of solid gold and buried it under Persepolis for posterity². But how on earth could he rule over so many diverse peoples? Darius came up with a plan, a new kind of political leadership which he outlined in a series of inscriptions³. Their message was radical⁴. Rather than war and brutality⁵, Darius offered peace and cooperation.

In a war between two nations, I intervene to protect the weak. I am justice and have been asked by God to promote happiness.

Well, it's visionary stuff. The challenge to Darius, however, was how to communicate this to everyone else. His empire was one in which very few people could read, also one in which there were dozens of different languages. So how was he going to spread the word? Darius's brainwave was the beginning of nothing less than an artistic⁶ revolution. The walls of Persepolis are covered with awe-inspiring images. But there was something unusual about them. These stone reliefs are not just from one artistic style, but combined elements from all over the empire.

words to remember:

1.far-flung: distant 遥远的

2.brainwave: 灵机

3. relief: 浮雕

1 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

2 posterity   

n.后裔，子孙，后代

参考例句：

• Few of his works will go down to posterity.他的作品没有几件会流传到后世。
• The names of those who died are recorded for posterity on a tablet at the back of the church.死者姓名都刻在教堂后面的一块石匾上以便后人铭记。

3 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。

4 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

5 brutality   

n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• a general who was infamous for his brutality 因残忍而恶名昭彰的将军

6 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。