古埃及的瑰宝（2014）

我在多塞特郡，想在英国乡村里感受一下埃及的风情
I'm in Dorset, seeking a little bit of Egypt in the English countryside.
这似乎不太可能
It seems unlikely,
但我就是在这里第一次领略了古埃及神奇而奇异的世界
but this is where I had my first taste of the magical and exotic world of ancient Egypt.
我记得孩提时期和我的家人第一次来到金斯敦莱西
I remember first coming here to Kingston Lacy with my family when I was a child,
和成千上万的人一样，我被我的发现所吸引
and I was fascinated like millions of others by what I found.
这座粉红色的花岗岩方尖碑已有2000多年的历史
This pink granite obelisk is well over 2,000 years old,
由于英国潮湿的气候，今天它布满了地衣和苔藓
and today it's spotted with lichen and moss as a result of the damp English climate,
但它曾经矗立于埃及南部菲莱岛上的伊希斯神庙里
but it once stood in front of the sunbaked temple of Isis on the island of Philae in southern Egypt,
在1815年
where in 1815
它引起了金斯顿莱西的主人威廉·班克斯的注意
it caught the eye of the owner of Kingston Lacy William Banks.
他是一位旅行家
He was a traveler,
也是业余的考古学家、审美家和鉴赏家
he was an amateur archaeologist, an aesthete, and a connoisseur,
他花了数年的时间
and he spent years
将方尖碑从埃及搬到多塞特的草坪上
endeavoring to bring this obelisk from Egypt to his Dorset lawn.
除了方尖碑
As well as the obelisk,
班克斯还积聚了英国最大的埃及艺术品私人收藏
Banks amassed the largest private collection of Egyptian art in Britain.
班克斯收集的大部分埃及文物都陈列在这里的台球室里
Most of the Egyptian antiquities that Banks collected are on display here in the billiards room,
但我估计大部分人会认为这些物品更像是奇怪的手工制品而不是艺术品
but I suspect that most people would consider these objects more as curious artifacts than works of art,
古埃及人的确没有“艺术”这个词
and it's true that the ancient Egyptians didn't have a word for art,
但是他们也没有宗教这个词
but they didn't have a word for religion either,
他们是历史上最虔诚的民族之一
and they are among the most religious peoples in history.
这部巨著是《埃及描述》的第一卷
This enormous tome is the first volume of "The Description of Egypt,"
1809年开始出现
which began to appear in 1809,
太美了！
and it is beautiful.
书里面全是手绘插图和地图
It's filled with hand-colored illustrations and maps,
这些清晰、完美的雕刻
and these crisp, really immaculate engravings
记录了古埃及的遗迹
that record the monuments of ancient Egypt.
你很容易理解为什么威廉·班克斯如此痴迷
You can readily understand why William Banks became so besotted
当他坐在这个图书馆里，翻阅着这些书的时候
as he sat in this very library and leafed through these pages.
我想追随班克斯和他的同龄人的脚步
I want to follow in the footsteps of Banks and his contemporaries
去亲身探索古埃及
and explore ancient Egypt for myself.
在本系列里，通过三个节目
In this series, over 3 programs,
我将走遍埃及
I'll travel the length of the country
寻找30件宝藏
in search of 30 treasures
讲述埃及艺术的迷人故事
that tell the bewitching story of Egyptian art...
但最重要的是
but above all,
我不想从考古学家的角度来审视埃及的宝藏
I want to look at the treasures of Egypt not through the eyes of an archaeologist
而是从艺术爱好者的角度
but through the eyes of an art lover.
我的探险开始于撒哈拉沙漠深处
My adventure begins deep in the Sahara,
我在那里寻找最早的埃及艺术
where I'm searching for the very earliest Egyptian art,
这种不屈不挠的风格的起源
the origins of the indomitable style
定义了这个最伟大的古代文明
that would define this greatest of ancient civilizations.
所以我直接驶入西部沙漠
So I've driven right out into the Western Desert,
令人振奋的风景
which is this exhilarating landscape,
它是撒哈拉沙漠的一部分，基本上绵延不绝
and it's part of the Sahara, which basically stretches on
一直延伸到数千英里外的大西洋
unbroken to the Atlantic thousands of miles away,
这肯定是我来过的最遥远的地方看一件艺术品
and this must be easily the most remote place that I've ever come to see a work of art.
实际上，就在这里，我们做到了
In fact, right here, we've made it.
太好了
Excellent.
我的向导是艺术家和考古学家：约翰·奥卡洛尔
My guide is artist and archaeologist John O'Carroll.
这是我们的第一站，约翰
Well, this is our first site, John,
您在车上说这就是画廊
and you were saying in the car that this is known as The Gallery.
画廊，这是一块新石器时代的岩石艺术品
O'Carroll: The Gallery. It's a superb piece of Neolithic rock art.
这是四名妇女的游♥行♥队伍
It's a procession of 4 women,
其中三人怀孕
3 of them pregnant,
带领着六头长颈鹿
leading about 6 giraffe.
一件奇妙的艺术品
A wonderful piece of art.
- 它什么时候开始的？ - 它的历史…
- Sooke: And when does it date from? - It dates from,
可以追溯到公元前6~7000年
I would say, 6000 to 7000 B.C..
它是一种叫做巴申迪文化的文化
It was a culture called the Bashendi culture.
那么，这能告诉我们有关产生它的社会的信息吗？
So what can this tell us about the society that produced it?
这是他们的印记，我们看到的是一扇窗户，通向这些巴桑蒂人的思想
It's their stamp, and we're looking at a window to the mind of these Bashendi people,
这真是奇妙
which is quite marvelous,
在这幅作品中，你会感受到一种美妙的动感
and in this piece, you get a wonderful sense of movement,
一种进阶的感觉
a processional way
与这些女士和长颈鹿一起
with the women, with the giraffe.
长颈鹿作为雨神是一种非常有效的图腾
The giraffe was a highly effective totem as a rain god.
它很高，接触到天空
It was tall, it was touching the sky,
因此驾驭这种动物
and so to harness that type of animal
在某种意义上就是驾驭自然
was to harness nature in a sense.
我可能会试着去看看这头长颈鹿
Sooke: I might try and scramble up to have a look at this giraffe
如果您认为我不会自杀的话
if you think I'm not going to kill myself.
让我印象深刻的第一件事
I guess the first thing that strikes me coming up here
是简单而有效的方法
is the simplicity but effectiveness
就是在岩石上使用切口来捕捉阳光
of just using incision in the rock to catch the sunlight.
这样就创建了轮廓
That creates the outline.
它的传达方式几乎是
The way it's been conveyed is in quite
几何的，抽象的，直线的方式
almost geometric, abstract, rectilinear fashion.
这些都是直线，直角
These are straight lines, right angles.
这真是个蒙德里安...是的！
O'Carroll: This is a quite a Mondrian--
蒙德里安的史前作品
a Mondrian prehistoric piece.
在其他地方也有这种点缀的效果
Sooke: And then elsewhere, this sort of dotted skittled effect
好像是在模仿长颈鹿的皮肤或兽皮
as though trying to imitate the skin or the hide of the giraffe.
兽皮
The hide.
这是个很好的设计
It's a very good device for that.
- 这是个好设计 - 非常有效，简单但有效
- It's a good device. - It's very effective, simple but effective.
揭示了早期埃及人的艺术和信仰
What's revealing is how the art and beliefs of the early Egyptians
是如何与自然世界的动物紧密联♥系♥在一起
were so entwined with animals in the natural world.
大约公元前6000年，在新石器时代
Round about 6000 B.C., back in the Neolithic period,
西部沙漠是一个完全不同的地方
the Western Desert was a completely different place.
它更加郁郁葱葱
It was much more lush and verdant.
它更像非洲大草原
It was more like a sort of African savannah,
点缀着一些驴子，还有许多犀牛
sprinkled with a few donkeys, lots of rhinoceroses,
水牛、羚羊、长颈鹿
buffalos, gazelles, giraffes,
而且有可靠的夏季降雨
and there were reliable summer rains
形成了超过7米深的湖泊
that fed lakes that were more than 7 meters deep.
然而，随着时间的推移，所有的雨水都消失了
Over time, though, all of the rains disappeared,
气候也发生了灾难性的变化
and the climate changed catastrophically.
潮湿的草地干涸了
The wet grasslands dried up.
最终，生活在这里的半游牧人
Eventually, the people who lived here, who were seminomadic cattle herders,
在这样恶劣干旱的条件下被迫离开
were forced by these tough and arid conditions to leave altogether
去寻找更肥沃的平原
and head off in search of much more fertile plains
和可持续的水源
and a sustainable source of water.
他们在东边几百英里处找到了它
They found it hundreds of miles to the east.
尼罗河
The River Nile.
“埃及是尼罗河的礼物”
"Egypt is the gift of the Nile."
这就是希腊作家希罗多德所说的
That's what the Greek writer Herodotus said,
用一种非常优雅的方式来表达一个简单但本质的真理
and it was a really elegant way of expressing a simple but essential truth,
就是古埃及文明
which is that the civilization of ancient Egypt
根本不会繁荣，甚至不可能存在
simply would never have flourished or even existed
如果不是因为这片广阔的水域的话
if it wasn't for this vast, broad body of water,
埃及人称它为“Iteru” 或“河”，
which the Egyptians called Iteru, or the River,
但尼罗河也有一种特殊的，相当神奇的，几乎不可思议的特质
but the Nile also had a special, quite magical, almost miraculous quality.
每年夏末
Every year in late summer,
洪水从这里的第一瀑布呼啸而下
flood waters roared down from the First Cataract here
淹没了两边的山谷
and inundated the valley on either side,
覆盖着厚厚的黑色淤泥，非常肥沃
covering the land with this thick, black silt, very fertile,
有助于农业的发展
which aided agriculture.
所以对古埃及人来说，尼罗河意味着富饶
So for the ancient Egyptians, the Nile meant fertility,
它意味着繁荣，也象征性地
it meant prosperity, but also symbolically
意味着重生，意味着生命
it meant rebirth, and it meant life,
尼罗河开始主宰…
and the Nile came to dominate and...
并真正塑造了他们思考和看待周围世界的方式
really shape the way that they thought about and also saw the world around them.
所以，我的第二件宝物是庆祝尼罗河
So fittingly my second treasure is a celebration of the Nile.
这些纳卡达罐子是在河岸附近的坟墓中发现的
The Naqada pots were discovered in graves near the riverbank,
里面装着食物和饮料，供死者在来世食用
filled with food and drink to sustain the dead in the afterlife.
上面装饰着后来在埃及艺术中占主导地位的图案
They were decorated with images that would come to dominate Egyptian art.
我来看看陶罐之父挖掘出来的收藏品
I've come to see a collection excavated by the father of pots
埃及古物学家弗林德斯·皮特里爵士
Egyptologist Sir Flinders Petrie.
令人吃惊的是想想这些陶罐
It's quite startling to think that these pots,