世界上10座失落的城市(2)

his

5.孟菲斯

Founded in 3,100 B.C., Memphis was the capital of ancient Egypt, and served as the civilization's administrative center for hundreds of years before being abandoned with the rise of Thebes and Alexandria. At its height, Memphis is estimated to have had a population of more than 30,000, which would have made it the biggest city of antiquity. Over the years, the location of Memphis became lost, and it was a subject of much debate among archeologists before it was rediscovered by a Napoleonic expedition in the late 1700s, and it was then that the city's sphinx, statues and temples were first seriously studied. Unfortunately, stones from the ruins had been appropriated to build nearby settlements, and many important parts of the site remain lost to historians.

建於公元前3100年，孟菲斯是古埃及的首都，在隨着底比斯和亞歷山大的崛起而被荒廢之前作爲這個文明的行政中心長達數百年。在鼎盛時期，孟菲斯據估計有超過3萬人口，可說是古代最大的城市。多年以來，孟菲斯的位置已經失傳，考古學家們圍繞這個話題有過許多爭論，直到18世紀晚期它被一隻拿破崙的遠征隊重新發現，那以後城市的獅身人面像、雕像和廟宇才第一次被認真地研究。不幸的是，遺蹟的石頭已經被用來修築附近的設施，歷史學家們還缺少遺蹟的許多重要部分。

or

4.吳哥

The Angkor region of Cambodia served as the center of power for the Khmer Empire from 800 AD well into the 1400s. The region was abandoned after a slow decline that ended with an invasion by a Thai army in 1431, leaving the massive city and its thousands of Buddhist temples to be reclaimed by the jungle. The city lay relatively untouched until the 1800s, when a group of French archeologists began to study and restore it. Angkor and its surroundings– which rival Los Angeles in size– have since been recognized as the biggest pre-industrial city in the world, and its famed temple of Angkor Wat is commonly considered to be the largest religious monument in existence.

柬埔寨的吳哥地區從公元800年到15世紀都是高棉帝國的權力中心。這個區域在經歷緩慢衰退後被1431年一次泰國軍隊的入侵所終結，把這個大城市和它數以千計的佛寺留在了叢林中以待發現。城市此後沒怎麼被外界打擾，直到19世紀，一隊法國的考古學家開始研究並修復它。吳哥及其周邊——有洛杉磯那麼大——自此以後被認爲是世界上最大的前工業城市，而吳哥窟的著名寺廟被普遍認爲是現存的最大的宗教建築羣。

eii

3.龐貝

The Roman city of Pompeii was destroyed in AD 79 after the nearby volcano Vesuvius erupted and buried the entire community under 60 feet of ash and rock. The city was estimated to have had around 20,000 inhabitants at the time, and it was considered one of the premier vacation spots for the upper class of Roman society. After the eruption, the ruins stood for 1,700 years before being accidentally rediscovered in 1748 by workmen building a palace for the King of Naples, and since then Pompeii has been the source of constant excavations by archeologists. Ironically, the devastation caused by Vesuvius also helped preserve the city's architecture, which along with countless frescoes and sculptures, have helped make Pompeii a key part of modern historians' understanding of life in ancient Rome.

公元79年，羅馬城市龐貝附近的維蘇威火山爆發後將整個社區淹沒在了60英尺的火山灰和岩石之下。據估計這個城市當時有大約20000名居民，並且還是羅馬上層社會的度假點之一。火山爆發後，這個遺蹟經過1700餘年才被爲那不勒斯國王修建宮殿的工人在1748年意外發現，此後龐貝才被考古學家們不斷地發掘出來。諷刺的是，維蘇威火山的破壞力同時也幫助保護了城市的建築，一道留存下來的還有數不盡的壁畫和雕像，這些使龐貝成爲了現代歷史學家瞭解古羅馬生活的一把關鍵的鑰匙。

ntis

2.亞特蘭蒂斯

At this point it is fairly easy to write Atlantis off as nothing more than a myth, but this legendary city has been a source of speculation ever since the philosopher Plato first wrote about it in 360 B.C. Described by Plato as an advanced civilization and formidable naval power, Atlantis is said to have conquered much of Europe before sinking into the sea as the result of some kind of environmental disaster. While Plato's story is seen by most as a work of fiction, his description of a massive civilization years ahead of its time technologically has captured the imaginations of countless writers and would-be adventurers, and there have been numerous expeditions launched in search of the city. Perhaps the most infamous occurred at the beginning of WWII, when the Nazis supposedly organized a journey to Tibet with the hope of finding remnants of Atlantaen culture.

到了這裏，可以輕鬆的帶出可說只是個傳說的亞特蘭蒂斯了，但這個傳說的城市自哲學家柏拉圖在公元前360年第一次寫到後即一直不斷受到猜測。柏拉圖將亞特蘭蒂斯描述成擁有先進文明和強大海軍力量的城市，在遭遇某種自然災害沉入海底前曾征服大半個歐洲。雖然柏拉圖的故事被許多人認爲是虛構的，但他對超出自身科技水平的巨大文明的描寫吸引了數不盡的作家和潛在的冒險家們的想象力，且已經有許多遠征隊出發尋找過這個城市了。也許最臭名昭著的一次發生在二戰開始時，納粹組織了一次前往西藏的遠征，希望找到亞特蘭蒂斯文化的殘留。

u Picchu

1.馬丘比丘

Of all the lost cities that have been found and studied, perhaps none is more mysterious than Machu Picchu. Isolated near the Urubamba Valley in Peru, the city was never found and plundered by conquistadors, and it was not until historian Hiram Bingham visited it in 1911 that it became known outside of the region. The city is divided into districts, and features over 140 different structures bordered by polished stone walls. It is said to have been built in the 1400s by the Incas and abandoned less than 100 years later, most likely when its population was wiped out by smallpox brought over from Europe. There has been much speculation as to what Machu Picchu was used for, as well as why the Incas chose such to build it in such a strange location. Some have said it was a holy temple of sorts, while others have maintained that it was used as a prison, but recent research suggests that it was probably a personal estate of the Inca emperor Pachacuti, and its location was chosen because nearby mountains figured prominently in Inca astrological mythology.

在所有已經被找到和研究的失落之城中，恐怕沒有誰會比馬丘比丘更神祕。這座城市在祕魯的印加聖谷旁獨立於世，從未被征服者發現和掠奪過，直到1911年曆史學家海拉姆·賓厄姆（Hiram Bingham）造訪後，它才被外界知曉。城市被分了區，由140座不同的建築打磨過的石牆組成的邊界是它的特色。據說它由印加人在15世紀修建，並於不到100年後被拋棄，可能是從歐洲帶來的天花病毒導致了人口銳減。關於馬丘比丘的用途有許多猜測，人們同樣疑惑的是爲什麼印加人要選擇這樣奇怪的位置修建它。有的人說它是不同類型的聖殿，另一些人堅持它被用來做監獄，但最近的研究顯示它可能是一處印加皇帝帕查庫特克（Pachacuti）的私人財產，而它所在地周圍的羣山位置在印加占星神話中十分顯著。

翻譯：bansu 來源：前十網