農(nóng)民發(fā)現(xiàn)了失落已久的城市的線索，傳說國王曾征服了神話中的邁達(dá)斯國王

農(nóng)民發(fā)現(xiàn)了失落已久的城市的線索，傳說國王曾征服了神話中的邁達(dá)斯國王

A happenstance discovery made by a Turkish farmer has led to the uncovering of an ancient city belonging to a king rumored to have defeated King Midas, a mythical Greek ruler whose infamous greed granted him the ability to turn anything he touched into solid gold.

一位土耳其農(nóng)民偶然發(fā)現(xiàn)了一座古城，這座古城屬于傳說中擊敗邁達(dá)斯國王的國王，邁達(dá)斯是希臘神話中的統(tǒng)治者，他臭名昭著的貪婪使他有能力將他接觸到的任何東西變成純金。

An international team of researchers surveying a site in southern Turkey known as Türkmen-Karahöyük was tipped off by a local farmer who found a large inscribed stone while dredging an irrigation canal the previous winter.

一個國際研究小組在土耳其南部一個名為“土庫曼-卡拉霍尤克”的地方進(jìn)行調(diào)查。去年冬天，一位當(dāng)?shù)剞r(nóng)民在挖掘灌溉渠時發(fā)現(xiàn)了一塊刻有文字的大石頭。

“We rushed straight there, and we could see it still sticking out of the water, so we jumped right down into the canal – up to our waists wading around,” said Assistant Professor of Anatolian Archaeology James Osborne in a statement. Osborne is an archaeologist with the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago and was mapping the site as part of the Türkmen-Karahöyük Intensive Survey Project. The area is known to have been home to other famous ancient cities throughout the millennia.

安納托利亞考古的助理教授詹姆斯·奧斯本在一份聲明中說:“我們徑直沖過去，看到它還露在水面上，所以我們就跳進(jìn)了運(yùn)河里——一直到我們的腰。”奧斯本是芝加哥大學(xué)東方研究所的一名考古學(xué)家，正在繪制該遺址的地圖，這是土庫曼-卡拉霍尤克強(qiáng)化調(diào)查項(xiàng)目的一部分。數(shù)千年來，該地區(qū)一直是其他著名古城的所在地。

“Right away it was clear it was ancient, and we recognized the script it was written in: Luwian, the language used in the Bronze and Iron Ages in the area.”

“很明顯，它很古老，我們認(rèn)出了它的文字:Luwian，這是該地區(qū)青銅和鐵器時代使用的語言。”

The stone was extracted using the farmer’s tractor and transported to a Turkish museum for cleaning, photographing, and to be readied for translation.

這塊石頭是用農(nóng)民的拖拉機(jī)挖出來的，然后運(yùn)到土耳其的一家博物館進(jìn)行清潔、攝影，最后準(zhǔn)備好進(jìn)行翻譯。

Scholars from the Oriental Institute translated the hieroglyphic markings written in Luwian, one of the oldest branches of Indo-European languages native to the Turkish region and read by alternating between right to left and left to right. Markings indicated that the message came from a king named Hartapu towards the end of the 8th century BCE – the same time as Midas’ mythical rule – and boasted of defeating the golden-handed kingdom of Phrygia. It's possible that Midas is based on a real 8th-century king called Mita.

東方研究所的學(xué)者們翻譯了盧瓦揚(yáng)語的象形文字標(biāo)記，盧瓦揚(yáng)語是原產(chǎn)于土耳其地區(qū)的印歐語系最古老的分支之一，閱讀時從右到左、從左到右交替進(jìn)行。標(biāo)記表明，這條信息來自于公元前8世紀(jì)末一位名叫哈塔普的國王——與邁達(dá)斯的神話統(tǒng)治是同一時期——并吹噓自己打敗了金手佛里吉亞王國。邁達(dá)斯很可能是根據(jù)一個真實(shí)的8世紀(jì)國王米塔的故事改編的。

A stone slab uncovered from a nearby dig exemplifies the Luwian language. Oriental Institute

“The storm gods delivered the [opposing] kinds to his majesty,” reads the tablet.

碑文上寫道:“風(fēng)暴之神將(對立的)種類交給國王陛下。”

King Hartapu likely ruled the area surrounding Türkmen-Karahöyük, an ancient city that would have covered an expanse of around 120 hectares (300 acres) at its peak, making it one of the largest cities of the Bronze and Iron Age in Turkey. The tablet aligns with another hieroglyphic inscription previously discovered 16 kilometers (10 miles) south, which describes King Hartapu. Until now, experts had no indication of who the ancient ruler was.

國王哈塔普可能統(tǒng)治著土庫曼-卡拉霍尤克周圍的地區(qū)，一個古老的城市，在它的巔峰時期占地約120公頃(300英畝)，使它成為土耳其青銅和鐵器時代最大的城市之一。碑文與之前在南方16公里(10英里)處發(fā)現(xiàn)的另一幅象形文字文字相符，描繪了哈塔普國王。直到現(xiàn)在，專家們還不知道這位古代統(tǒng)治者是誰。

“We had no idea about this kingdom. In a flash, we had profound new information on the Bronze Age Middle East,” said Osborne.

“我們對這個王國一無所知。剎那間，我們獲得了有關(guān)青銅時代中東的深刻新信息。”奧斯本說。

Today, a large earthen mound covers what archaeologists believe was a large empire 3,000 years ago.

今天，一個大土丘覆蓋著考古學(xué)家認(rèn)為是3000年前的一個大帝國。

“Inside this mound are going to be palaces, monuments, houses. This stele was a marvelous, incredibly lucky find – but it’s just the beginning,” said Osborne, adding that his team plans to return this summer for further surveys and potential excavations.

“在這個土堆里將會有宮殿、紀(jì)念碑和房屋。這顆石碑是一個不可思議的、令人難以置信的幸運(yùn)發(fā)現(xiàn)，但它只是一個開始。”

Full view of the archaeological mound at Türkmen-Karahöyük. At its height, the unknown city is believed to have covered about 120 hectares (300 acres). James Osborne