第5章 古希腊——西方历史与文化的开源(4)

Around 1100 BC， the Mycenaean civilization collapsed. Numerous cities were sacked， and the region entered what historians describe as a dark age， with some Mycenaeans fleeing to Cyprus as well as other Greek islands and coastal parts of Anatolia. During this period， Greece experienced decreasing population and the limited literacy， connected with bureaucrats of palace culture， disappeared.

迈锡尼文明的黄金时代

迈锡尼文明是希腊青铜时代晚期的文明，它由希腊南部的伯罗奔尼撒半岛的迈锡尼城而得名。这是古希腊青铜时代的最后一个阶段，包括荷马史诗在内，大多数的古希腊文学和神话历史设定皆为此时期。

迈锡尼文明蓬勃发展时期大致在公元前1600～前1100年，它随着地中海东部的青铜文明的崩溃而灭亡。这种崩溃归咎于多利安人的入侵，尽管其他理论描述的自然灾害和气候变化也同样意义重大。主要的迈锡尼城市包括：迈锡尼和阿尔戈利斯的梯林斯，麦西尼亚的皮勒斯，阿提卡的雅典、底比斯和维奥蒂亚的奥尔科墨诺斯，以及色萨利的奥柯斯。

迈锡尼的壁画是在宫殿里发现的，尤其是在皮洛斯、迈锡尼、奥尔霍迈诺斯、梯林斯、底比斯的宫廷里；也有一些非宫殿的遗物，可能是某些私人收藏的。这些壁画主题紧贴克里特的传统：半狮半鹫的怪兽。

公元前1100年左右，迈锡尼文明走向瓦解，许多城市被洗劫一空，该地区进入了历史学家所描述的黑暗时代，迈锡尼人逃往塞浦路斯以及安纳托利亚的其他希腊岛屿和沿海地区。在这个时期，希腊的人口减少，知识受限，文明与官僚主义宫廷文化一起消失殆尽。

Troy and Trojan War：Fight for the world’smost beautiful woman

Troy was a city， both factual and legendary， innorthwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey， south ofthe southwest end of the Dardanelles. It is best known for being the setting of the Trojan War described in the Greek Epic Cycle and especially in the Iliad， one of the two epic poems attributed to Homer. This is the story：

At a wedding party Eris， the goddess of discord， threw a golden apple bearing the words For the fairest！ Hera， Athena and Aphrodite， each wanting to get it for herself， were sent to Paris for judgment. A shepherd on Mt Ida， Paris gave the apple to Aphrodite because she had promised to obtain for him the love of the most beautiful woman in the world.

Paris was the son of Priam，the king of Troy. At his birth his mother Queen Hecuba dreamed of holding a piece of burning wood.So he was regarded as likely to bring destruction on the city， and was by chance exposed to the sun，wind and rain on MtIda. He was finally saved and brought up by the herdsmen there. Now acting on the instruction of Aphrodite， he went down the mountain to take part in the game held in Troy， and there so famous did he become that King Priam and Queen Hecuba received him joyfully back into the royal palace.

Soon he was sent to Greece at the head of a great team of boats.he went to Sparta，where，as Aphrodite had told him， the most beautiful woman of the time， Helen， lived. King Menelaus， Helen’s husband， generously received him but Paris returned his host’s kindness with no thanks. In the king’s absence he persuaded Helen to elope with him to Troy.To payback， Greek took up arms.The Trojan war broke out.

As the Greek ships gathered at the port of Aulis， no favouring wind blew up. A prophet told the comander of the expedition， Agamemnon， that he had to offer his daughter Iphigenia as a sacrifice to Artemis. Iphigenia was placed before the goddess’altar but Artemis took her away at the last minute， putting a red deer in her place. Agamemnon’s wife Clytemnestra was greatly enraged at her husband’s cruelty.

The war lasted ten years，during which both sides suffered the misfortunes of war. Agamemnon fought with Achilles over a captive princess， and in anger， Achilles refused to fight. His friend， Patroclus， borrowed his armour and went out to change the situation of war， but was killed by Hector， the eldest son of Priam. Bent on revenge， Achilles no longer fought with Agamemnon， and putting on his new armour made by Hephaestus， went out to avenge his friend. He killed Hector and dragged his dead body three times around the walls of Troy. But soon after， Achilles was wounded in the heel by Paris and died in battle. Paris had not long to live either， for he was killed by a friend of Achilles. As Achilles left his armour to the bravest of the Greeks， a bitter struggle happened between its two worthy contestants； and when the weapons were given to Odysseus by judge， Ajax took his own life for grief and shame.