Episode 1a – An Introduction to Byzantine History
发布时间 2012-05-02 16:00:00 来源
Hello everyone and welcome to the history of Byzantium Episode 1A, an introduction to Byzantine history. This episode is being recorded in early 2015, three years after the podcast launched.
大家好，欢迎收听拜占庭历史的第一集介绍，这是拜占庭历史的入门篇。此集录制于2015年初，即我们的播客上线三年后。
The history of Byzantium is a series that continues the narrative of the history of Rome podcast by Mike Duncan. The purpose of this episode is to offer a quick introduction to the series if you haven't already listened to the history of Rome. And of course I do recommend that you do, it's an amazing series, but I appreciate that it's 179 episodes long and you may just want to dive into the Byzantine story. So today I'm going to try and tell you a few important things that you need to know to become quickly immersed in the narrative of politics and theology that the regular episodes present.
拜占庭帝国的历史是Mike Duncan的罗马历史播客系列的一个延续。这一集的目的是为了给还没有听过罗马历史的人提供一个快速介绍，而且我当然强烈推荐你去听一下，那是一个令人惊叹的系列，但我理解它有179集，你可能只想深入拜占庭故事。所以今天我打算告诉你一些重要的事情，让你能够迅速沉浸在政治和神学叙述中，这些都是普通集数中会呈现的。
As we begin, I'm going to assume that you know the outline of the story of Rome and history. That the city-state of Rome grew from its mythical origins in 750 BC into a republic which began to politically dominate the other states of Italy. By about 250 BC, Rome essentially controlled all of modern Italy. A series of major wars with the Carthaginians, Hannibal and his elephants and all of that, led to the Romans picking up a number of overseas colonies. These started around the Mediterranean Basin, but soon men like Julius Caesar and his nephew Augustus dragged France, Spain, the whole of the North African coast, Palestine, Syria, Turkey and the Balkans into the empire.
我们开始之前，我假定你知道罗马和历史的概述。罗马城国起源于公元前750年的神话故事，发展成为共和国，并开始在政治上统治意大利其他州。到公元前250年左右，罗马基本上控制了现代意大利的所有地区。一系列重大战争与迦太基人、汉尼拔及其大象等人士导致罗马人获得了许多海外殖民地。这些开始于地中海盆地，但很快像朱利叶斯·凯撒和他的侄子奥古斯都那样，法国、西班牙、整个北非沿岸、巴勒斯坦、叙利亚、土耳其和巴尔干半岛的人将他们的帝国卷入其中。
By the time Augustus died in AD 14, the rough boundaries of the Roman world were set. A few more areas like Britain were added later, but the basis of the empire was around the Mediterranean. Transport by sea was so much cheaper than land that the Mediterranean facilitated the economic integration of Europe. Spices and silks could arrive in Egypt or Syria and be shipped to France and Italy. Grain fed the giant metropolis of Rome and intellectuals, laborers, and soldiers could zip around the Roman world in a way which made the empire possible.
到公元14年时，奥古斯都去世，罗马世界的 gro 大致边界已经确定。稍后还添加了一些地区，如不列颠，但帝国的基础在地中海周围。由于海上运输比陆上运输便宜得多，地中海促进了欧洲的经济一体化。香料和丝绸可以运到埃及或叙利亚，然后发往法国和意大利。谷物滋养着罗马这个巨大的大都市，知识分子、劳动者和士兵可以快速穿梭于罗马世界中，从而使帝国成为可能。
Any real introduction to Byzantine history begins with what is often called the crisis of the third century. The second century AD is often thought of as the golden age of the empire. Men like Trajan, Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius ruled the empire at a time when the Roman army could dominate its enemies, the disunited German tribes north of the Rhine and Danube rivers, and the pathian empire based in Iraq and Iran to the east of the Syrian desert. The economy was solid with the odd conquest bringing in a fresh influx of slaves and gold, and generally if you lived near the Mediterranean, your family might have been untouched by war for several generations.
任何一部真正的拜占庭历史介绍都始于所谓的第三个世纪危机。公元二世纪通常被视为帝国的黄金时代。特拉亚努斯、哈德良和马尔库斯·奥勒留斯等人在这个时代统治着帝国，罗马军队可以征服敌人——莱茵河和多瑙河以北的不团结的德国部落以及以伊拉克和伊朗为基础的帕提亚帝国——以东叙利亚沙漠。经济稳步增长，偶尔的征服带来了新的奴隶和黄金流入，通常情况下，如果你住在地中海附近，你的家族可能已经几代人没有被战争影响过了。
That all began to change during the third century. The power and dominance of Rome forced those outside the empire to improve their military capabilities. The German tribes for example, would trade with the Romans and could see the vast riches on offer inside the empire. Some wanted to take it by force, some wanted a better trade deal, some wanted to migrate there. The constant friction of living next door to such sheltered wealth saw the German tribes slowly develop what are called super confederations.
一切都开始在第三个世纪发生变化。罗马的权力和支配迫使帝国之外的人们提高他们的军事能力。例如，德国部落会与罗马人进行贸易，并可以看到帝国内提供的巨大财富。有些人想用武力占领它，有些人想要更好的贸易协议，有些人想要迁往那里。住在如此封闭财富旁边的不断摩擦使得德国部落缓慢地发展出所谓的超级联合。
Men put aside their local rivalries to accept the overlord ship of one king. This is now groups formed that give us the famous names of the Franks, the Goths and the Vandals. Meanwhile over in Iran, a Persian aristocrat called Ardashir overthrew the pathian king and began to reform that state into the Sassanid Empire or Persian Empire. Better utilizing the resources of his domains and determined to prove his right to rule with victories over the Romans, Ardashir and his successors began to make periodic war on the Roman Empire and more than held their own on the battlefield.
男人放下本地的敌对关系，接受一个国王的领导。这样形成了一些团体，我们熟知的有法兰克人、哥特人和万达尔人。同时，在伊朗，一个名叫阿尔达希尔的波斯贵族推翻了帕提亚王，开始将该国改革成萨珊帝国或波斯帝国。他更好地利用了自己的土地资源，并决心通过战胜罗马人来证明自己统治的合法性。阿尔达希尔和他的继任者开始在罗马帝国上定期发动战争，并在战场上远远胜出。
At the same time that the enemies on the frontiers were becoming stronger, the Romans suffered from two very nasty bouts of plague, possibly smallpox and measles. This all led to a series of military disasters and constant political coups. Dozens of emperors and would-be emperors came and went as the armies marched around stamping out these fires.
与此同时，边境上的敌人变得更加强大，罗马人也遭受了两次非常可怕的瘟疫，可能是天花和麻疹。这一切导致了一系列的军事灾难和不断的政治政变。数十位皇帝和有志之士来来去去，当军队在周围行军并扑灭这些火灾时。
The man who emerged to reform the Roman state was the emperor Diocletian. He determined that the empire needed many more soldiers to protect the frontiers and therefore needed more tax revenue to pay for them. Diocletian set up a far more complicated and professional bureaucracy than had existed before. He also split the job of emperor into four so that each corner of the empire could have a military and political leader on hand to deal with the various crises in their region.
出现改革罗马国家的人是皇帝戴克里先。 他确定帝国需要更多士兵来保护边境，因此需要更多的税收来支付他们。 戴克里先建立了一个比以前更为复杂和专业的官僚机构。 他还把皇帝的工作分成四个部分，以便帝国的每个角落都有一位军事和政治领袖处理其地区的各种危机。
One of Diocletian's successes, Constantine, would do away with this system in a series of bloody civil wars he reunited the empire under his rule in the early 300s AD. However, several important changes had taken place which began to show us the classical Roman Empire morphing into something more recognizably like the medieval Byzantine state.
狄克里先的一个胜利者康斯坦丁，在早期的公元300年代通过一系列血腥内战废除了这个制度，重建了帝国统一。然而，发生了几个重要的变化，开始显示古典罗马帝国逐渐转变为更像中世纪拜占庭国家的状态。
The rise of the Roman Republic was based in part on a fact that men competed with one another for political prominence. This meant that the wealthy used their own money to build public buildings, throw entertainments and maintain the roads. They would also compete for military commands, a prestigious and necessary part of political advancement.
罗马共和国的兴起部分是基于一个事实，即人们竞争政治上的重要地位。这意味着富有的人使用自己的钱来建造公共建筑、举办娱乐活动和维护道路。他们还会争夺军事指挥权，这是政治晋升中威望和必要的部分。
And this type of behaviour was common across the cities of the Mediterranean thanks to the spread of Greek culture under Alexander the Great and his successes. So when the Roman Empire was formed, the emperors could rely on the fact that men in the provinces already were administrators, army officers and politicians. And more to the point, they wanted to be. That's how men made their names and their fortunes.
这种行为在地中海诸城市中很普遍，这要归功于亚历山大大帝及其征服成功下希腊文化的传播。所以当罗马帝国形成时，皇帝们可以依赖这样一个事实：省份中的人们已经是行政人员、军官和政治家了。更重要的是，他们想成为这些人。这就是男人们如何成名致富的方法。
But things had now changed. Centuries of peace within the Roman world meant that wealthy men didn't need to serve in the army to make money. Then the raids of the Goths and the Vandals fractured the sense of security that had led men to live in towns with no walls. And the easygoing tax regime of the early empire was replaced by the imperial bureaucrat carefully evaluating your wealth. In other words, men began to retreat from the old ways of political participation. They kept their money to themselves. They made sure that their sons avoided a hard military life. And they stayed at home instead of going into town.
但是事情现在已经改变了。罗马世界内几个世纪的和平意味着富人不需要服兵役来赚钱。随后，哥特人和万得人的袭击打破了导致人们住在没有城墙的城镇中的安全感。早期帝国宽松的税收制度被皇家官僚的谨慎评估财富所取代。换句话说，人们开始从政治参与的旧方式中撤退。他们将自己的钱收为己有。他们确保他们的儿子避免艰苦的军事生活。他们呆在家里而不是去城里。
That's a huge simplification, of course. Men and women, for example, did still get together, but instead of the Fora-Model Theatre, increasingly it was the Church, which drew in the crowds. Since his death in the 30s AD, the worship of Jesus Christ had spread throughout the empire. It had gathered paste during the third century and was officially endorsed as the religion of the Roman state by Constantine. Who became a Christian himself.
当然，那是一个极度简化的说法。男人和女人例外，仍然会在一起，只不过越来越多的是教堂吸引人群，而不是福拉模型剧场。自公元30年代他去世以来，耶稣基督的崇拜在帝国内得到了广泛传播。它在第三世纪积累了一定的力量，并被康斯坦丁批准为罗马国家官方宗教。康斯坦丁本人也成为了基督徒。
And even though Constantine reunited the empire under one ruler, he couldn't do away with the realities that had pushed Diocletian to split the empire into quarters. The empire still had dangerous frontiers in different places. This had meant that, for example, Rome, a city hundreds of miles from these trouble spots, had become far less relevant by the fourth century. None of Diocletian's colleagues worked from the Imperial city, instead preferring fortified towns closer to the empire's edges.
即使君士坦丁将帝国重新统一在一位统治者的领导下，他仍然无法摆脱推动戴克里先将帝国分成四个部分的现实。帝国在不同地方仍然存在危险的前沿。这意味着，例如，与这些问题地区相隔数百英里的罗马，在第四世纪已经变得不那么重要了。戴克里先的同事们都没有在帝国城市工作，而是更喜欢在靠近帝国边际的加强型城镇工作。
Constantine saw the need for a new capital for himself, both to place him closer to the frontiers and to be free of the old pagan cults so that his new Christian worship could have a center of its own. This brings us to Byzantium.
Constantine发现需要一个新的首都，这样他就能更接近边境，并且能够摆脱旧的异教崇拜，使他的新基督教礼拜能够有自己的中心。这就是我们来到拜占庭的原因。
Modern Istanbul is built on the last piece of land in Mediterranean Europe before you reach Asia. The city which occupied this vital crossing was the Greek city of Byzantium. Thanks to a unique inlet of seawater, the city had the virtually unique position of being surrounded on three sides by water. This meant that only one land wall was needed to keep an invader out. Constantine's shrewd eye could see the basis for a city that no-goth or Persian would be able to sack. Construction began and the city was consecrated by the emperor in 324 AD.
现代伊斯坦布尔建立在地中海欧洲最后一块土地上，达到亚洲之前。占据这个重要交汇处的城市是希腊城市拜占庭。由于海水的独特入口，这座城市具有被三面水包围的几乎独特的位置。这意味着只需要一堵城墙就能防止入侵者进入。君士坦丁的明察秋毫能看到一个哥特人或波斯人无法攻破的城市基础。建设开始，这座城市于公元324年由皇帝祝圣。
When Constantine died, his successes reluctantly returned to a political division of the empire. Rather than four, more often two emperors would now rule one in the west and one in the east. The latter, ruling from Constantinople, the city of Constantine. This practical division is what leads to the decline and fall of the Roman Empire in the west and the survival of the east, which historians have come to call the Byzantine Empire.
当君士坦丁逝世后，他的继承者们不情愿地重新分割了帝国政治权力。现在，往往只有两位皇帝统治帝国，一位在西方，一位在东方，后者在君士坦丁的城市君士坦丁堡执政。这种实际的分割导致了罗马帝国在西方的衰落和灭亡，而东方帝国幸存下来，历史学家称之为拜占庭帝国。
The eastern empire had several advantages over its western half. Despite the powerful threat which the sassanid Persians presented, this was also the source of much wealth as traders made their way down the Silk Road through Persia to Syria. Or ships came around Arabia to Egypt. The fertility of the Nile Valley was also a key asset. It brought an annual surplus of grain that could feed the population of Constantinople.
东部帝国比它的西部半部分有几个优势。 尽管波斯萨珊王朝呈现出强大的威胁，但这也是许多贸易商通过波斯到叙利亚沿着丝绸之路走向的财富来源。或者，船只绕过阿拉伯到达埃及。 尼罗河谷的肥沃是另一个关键的资产。 它带来了一年一度的谷物盈余，可以满足君士坦丁堡的人口的食物需求。
And in general, the east survived the transition from the crisis of the third century better than the west. Its cities were less exposed to the German tribes. Its trade networks were more ancient and deeply embedded than those in the west. And above all, Constantinople stood solidly untouched by the sackings and pillaging, which other cities suffered. This meant that the new imperial bureaucracy had a safe base to work from. And this new source of employment drew ambitious and intelligent men into the service of the state.
总体来说，东方比西方更好地度过了三世纪危机的转型期。其城市没有受到德国部落的太大影响。其贸易网络比西方更古老、更深入。尤其是君士坦丁堡，没有遭受其他城市所受的洗劫和掠夺，因此新的帝国官僚机构有了一个安全的基础。这个新的就业来源也吸引了有野心、有才智的人加入国家服务。
Meanwhile in the west, the poorer and less secure towns were abandoned in the face of increasing German immigration. Rome itself was sacked twice and barbarian kingdoms sprouted up, while the regiments of the western army dwindled away. So in 476 AD, the German warlord Odowesa simply relieved the last western Roman emperor of his office. German military commanders now began making themselves king in France, Spain and Italy. While the Romans of the east, the Byzantines continued business as usual.
同时，在西部，随着德国移民的不断增加，贫穷和不安全的城镇被遗弃。罗马本身遭受了两次掠夺，蛮族王国涌现出来，西部军队的团队逐渐减少。因此，在476年，德国军阀奥多威莎干脆解除了最后一位西方罗马皇帝的职务。德国军队指挥官现在开始在法国、西班牙和意大利自封为国王。而东罗马人，拜占庭人则继续像往常一样进行生意。
And what kind of business was this by 476 AD? It was an increasingly Christian world for a start. The rabble rousing preachers and bishops of Alexandria and Antioch had become the great men of their day. Theological arguments dominated intellectual discussion and could turn violent.
那么，公元476年的时候，这是一种什么样的业务呢？一开始它是一个日益基督教化的世界。亚历山大和安提阿的煽动性传教士和主教成为了他们所处时代的伟人。神学论点主宰了知识论述并可能变得暴力。
The government in Constantinople was run on the basis of access and influence over the emperor. This meant in practice that the palace became a place of intrigue and backstabbing. The various administrative office holders would vie with imperial princesses, barbarian generals, and eunuchs of the bed chamber to gain the emperor's ear. The emperors were now distant, semi-divine figures, long gone with the days when Augustus might dine with the family of a leading aristocrat.
君士坦丁堡的政府是通过获得对皇帝的影响力和接近程度来运作的。实际上，这意味着宫殿成为了一个阴谋和背叛的地方。各种行政官员们会与皇家公主、野蛮的将军和太监争夺皇帝的好感。现在的皇帝已经成了遥远的、半神圣的人物，不再像奥古斯都和领先的贵族家庭一起进餐的时代那样亲近。
The emperor now only left the palace to take part in a procession or go to church. They almost never went out on campaign themselves. Meanwhile out in the streets of the capital the population was developing a sense of its own importance in matters of state and theology.
皇帝现在只有在参加游行或去教堂时才离开宫殿。他们很少亲自出征。而在首都的街道上，人民正逐渐意识到自己在国家和神学方面的重要性。
The passion of the crowds could be turned to loud demonstrations or even arsonous riots should they strongly disagree with imperial policy. They were the people of the Christian capital of the world after all and they reveled in their outspokenness.
如果人民强烈反对帝国政策，群众的热情可能会转化为大声示威甚至是纵火骚乱。他们毕竟是基督教世界之都的人民，且热衷于直言不讳。
The language of the east was increasingly Greek and little else. The spread of Christianity had seen Greek come to replace most local dialects and slowly Latin was seeping out of official circles. The east, like the west, had come to rely increasingly on German troops to run its armies. Most of the eastern field armies had German commanders during the 5th century.
东方的语言越来越多地使用希腊语，几乎没有别的语言了。基督教的传播使得希腊语逐渐取代了大多数当地的方言，慢慢地拉丁语也不再是官方语言了。和西方一样，东方也开始越来越依赖于德国军队来管理它的军队。在5世纪，大部分的东方战地军队都有德国指挥官。
It only made sense given that the best fighting men were of German stock. But this meant that there was a very real danger that the east could go the same way as the west. In fact, the eastern empire almost fell into such a crisis as our story begins.
考虑到最优秀的战士都是德国血统，这样做是很有道理的。但这意味着东方存在着非常真实的危险，可能会像西方一样走向衰亡。事实上，我们的故事开始时，东方帝国几乎陷入了这样的危机。
When the emperor Theodosius died unexpectedly in 450 there was no rightful successor in place to take over. The emperor's sister Pulsarria was the closest blood relative to the throne and she was determined to maintain her own power at court. She made a deal with one of those barbarian generals Aspar and married one of his lieutenants a man of Roman birth named Marcian.
当皇帝提奥多修斯于450年意外去世时，没有合法的继任者接替。皇帝的妹妹普尔萨里亚是最接近王位的亲属，她决心在宫廷维护自己的权力。她和一个名叫阿斯帕尔的野蛮将领达成了一项交易，并嫁给了他的一名罗马出生的中尉马尔希安。
Marcian would prove to be a decent emperor but he was in his 60s when his reign began and by 457 he and Pulsarria had both died of natural causes. This left no obvious imperial candidate and Aspar the barbarian general now held all the power.
Marcian表现出了像样的皇帝素质，但他在60岁才开始执政，到457年时他和Pulsarria都已经因自然原因去世了。这并没有留下明显的皇帝候选人，而野蛮将领Aspar现在拥有了所有的权力。
This was a crucial moment for the empire and it's where our story begins. Would Aspar's choice of successor cement him in power or prove to be his undoing? Find out on episode 2 of the history of Byzantium.
这是帝国的关键时刻，也是我们故事的开端。Aspar的继任者选择会巩固他的权力还是导致他的失败？在《拜占庭史》的第二集中揭晓答案。
If you feel like you would rather have longer to get used to the sights and sounds of the eastern empire then you can go straight to episode 10 where I walk the streets of Constantinople and describe what was there and how the city functioned. If you want you can take a whole tour of the empire and its government through episodes 9 to 13.
如果你觉得更喜欢多些时间适应东方帝国的景象和声音，那么你可以直接跳到第10集，在那里我走过君士坦丁堡的街道，描述了那里有什么和城市的运作方式。如果你想要的话，你可以通过第9到第13集来全面了解帝国和它的政府。
The choice is yours. I hope you come to find the story of the East Roman Empire as fascinating as I have and if you have any specific feedback on whether this extended introduction was helpful then drop me a line at the history of Byzantium at gmail.com. Thanks for listening.
这个选择取决于你。我希望你也像我一样着迷于东罗马帝国的故事，如果你对这个扩展的介绍有任何具体的反馈，请到historyofbyzantium@gmail.com给我留言。谢谢你的聆听。