纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 023中国西周康侯簋(5)

If you look inside our basin, there is a surprise.

簋的内部给人惊喜，

At the bottom, where it would have normally been hidden by food when in use, there is an inscription written in Chinese characters,

表明它既是祭祀用品，也是权力工具。在通常会被食物掩盖的底部，

that are not so unlike the ones still used today.

刻着一些与现代汉字不尽相同的文字，

And this inscription tells us that this particular bowl was made for a Zhou warrior, one of the invaders who overthrew the Shang Dynasty.

表明这个簋是为一名曾参与推翻商王朝的武士制造的。

At this date, any formal writing is prestigious, but writing in bronze carries a very particular authority.

在那个时代，所有的书面文字都极有分量，青铜器上的铭文更是极具权威。

The inscription at the bottom of the gui tells us of a significant battle in the Zhou's ultimate triumph over the Shang:

铭文记述了周人对商人的最终胜利：

"The King, having subdued the Shang country, charged the Marquis Kang to convert it into a border territory to be the Wei state.

王来讨伐商的城池，把卫封赏给了康侯，

Since Mei Situ Yi had been associated in effecting this change, he made in honour of his late father this sacral vessel.

沬司徒疑为纪念亡父,铸造了这尊青铜器。

So the man who commissioned the gui, Mei Situ Yi, did so in order to honour his dead father, and at the same time, as a loyal Zhou,

铸造此簋的沬司徒疑，不仅纪念了自己的亡父，同时也作为一名忠实的周人，

he chose to commemorate the quashing of a Shang rebellion in about 1050 BC by the Zhou king's brother, the Marquis K'ang.

纪念了公元前1050年周王的兄弟康侯平定一场商人叛乱的战争。

It's through inscriptions in bronze like this one that we can reconstruct the continued tussling between the Shang and the Zhou throughout this period.

由于竹片与木片上的文字记载都已消失，

As writing on bamboo or wood has perished, these bronze inscriptions are now our principal historical source.

类似这样的青铜铭文是我们最重要的历史信息来源。