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一口气读完欧洲史
李清如 |
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欧洲是一块古老的土地。在这块土地上，人类创造了令人眩目的古希腊文明、罗马文化，是人类现代文明和现代科技的源头。
自文艺复兴、工业革命以来，欧洲人凭借其发达的技术、开放的思想独领世界风骚。从 “海上马车夫” 到 “日不落帝国” ，欧洲人在这个星球上曾是何等风光。然而，两次世界大战的爆发，欧洲人使自己的家园成为烽火连天的战场，大战虽有胜败之分，但敌对双方都是人财两空，昔日美丽富饶的故园也变得满目疮痍。
但是，欧洲虽然历经两次世界大战而元气大伤，但由于重视教育、科技以及拥有高效率的市场经济体制，使得战后的欧洲得以迅速恢复和繁荣。今天的欧洲在科技水平和经济发展方面仍居世界前列，拥有许多在全世界仍是家喻户晓的顶尖级高科技产品。欧洲人今天在享受工业文明和高福利生活的同时，正在谋求建立统一的欧洲，按照诺贝尔经济学奖获得者——美国经济学家萨缪尔森的话来说就是，欧洲人正在从事一项前无古人的和平统一的伟大试验……
翻开本书，欧洲历史的长廊将在您的面前徐徐展开，数百年的沧海桑田、旖旎风光将在您的脑海中重现往日的激情澎湃。
总之，不论是古老的欧洲，还是现代的欧洲，都有很多令人感兴趣的话题。让我们一起走进欧洲这片神奇的土地，去体味那美丽富饶、富丽堂皇、和平宁静、腥风血雨以及战火纷飞吧……
本书是《一口气读完欧洲史》英语学习白金版。这部宝典，不仅让你学到有关欧洲的历史知识，也是你提高英语能力，学习英语的有用工具。欧洲是英语文化的发源地，在欧洲的历史长河中体味历史的厚重，感受英语文化的源远流长，这会让你的英语学习变得饶有兴趣。
本书将欧洲历史分为十个阶段，每个阶段都以那段欧洲历史中的代表事件和重要史实为出发点，来将欧洲各个历史阶段的风貌和概况展现在读者面前。本书对欧洲历史的介绍采用中英文结合的方式，通过中文的阶段介绍和背景讲述来帮助你进行阅读，从而让你的英语学习通畅和顺利。同时，每篇介绍后面都有生词注解，能够让你在没有词典的情况下同样能够轻松地阅读本书。
开场的锣鼓已经敲响，敞开心胸，在历史的波澜和英语文化的海洋中尽情享受吧！
希腊的 “黑暗时代”
提起希腊，我们的第一反应就是美丽的爱琴海和影响了西方两千年的希腊文明以及那些瑰丽的希腊神话。可你知道吗？希腊也有一段 “黑暗时代” （Greek Dark Ages），正是在那段Dark Ages中，诞生了欧美历史上最璀璨的着作之一——荷马史诗。因此，希腊的黑暗时代又被称为荷马时代（Homeric Age）。那是一段怎么样的历史呢，为什么 “黑暗” 呢？
Reading in a single sitting 一口气读完这段历史
The Greek Dark Age or Ages (1100 BC–800 BC) are terms which have regularly been used to refer to the period of Greek history from the presumed Dorian（多里安人）invasion and end of the Mycenaean（迈锡尼）Palatial civilization around 1200 BC, to the first signs of the Greek city–states in the 9th century BC. These terms are gradually going out of use, since the former lack of archaeological evidence in a period that was mute in its lack of inscriptions (thus “dark” ) has been shown to be an accident of discovery rather than a fact of history.
The archaeological evidence shows a widespread collapse of Bronze Age（青铜时代）civilization in the eastern Mediterranean（地中海）world at the outset of the period, as the great palaces and cities of the Mycenaean’ s were destroyed or abandoned. Around this time, the Hittite（赫梯） civilization suffered serious disruption and cities from Troy（特洛伊）to Gaza（加沙）were destroyed. Following the collapse, fewer and smaller settlements suggest famine and depopulation. In Greece the Linear B writing of the Greek language used by Mycenaean bureaucrats ceases. The decoration on Greek pottery after ca 1100 BC lacks the figurative decoration of Mycenaean ware and is restricted to simpler, generally geometric styles (1000–700 BC). It was previously thought that all contact was lost between mainland Hellenes and foreign powers during this period, yielding little cultural progress or growth; however, artifacts from excavations show that significant cultural and trade links with the east, particularly the Levant coast, developed from 900 BC onwards, and evidence has emerged of the new presence of Hellenes in sub–Mycenaean Cyprus and on the Syrian coast at Al Mina.
With the collapse of the palatial centres, no more monumental stone buildings were built and the practice of wall painting may have ceased; writing in the Linear B script ceased, vital trade links were lost, and towns and villages were abandoned. The population of Greece was reduced, and the world of organized state armies, kings, officials, and redistributive systems that offered security to individuals disappeared. Most of the information about the period comes from burial sites and the grave goods contained within them. To what extent the earliest Greek literary sources, Homeric epics (8th–7th century) and Hesiod’ s（赫西奥德，希腊诗人）Works and Days (7th century) describe life in the 9th–8th centuries remains a matter of considerable debate.
The fragmented, localized and autonomous cultures of reduced complexity are noted for such diversity of their material cultures in pottery styles (conservative in Athens, eclectic at Knossos), burial practices and settlement structures, that generalizations about a “Dark Age society” are misleading. Tholos tombs are found in early Iron Age Thessaly and in Crete but not in general elsewhere, and cremation is the dominant rite in Attica（阿提卡，古希腊的一个地方）, but nearby in the Argolid it was inhumation. Some former sites of Mycenaean palaces, such as Argos（阿哥斯）or Knossos（克诺索斯）, continued to be occupied; other sites’ experienceing an expansive “boom time” of a generation or two before they were abandoned, James Whitley has associated with the “Big–man social organization”, based on personal charisma and inherently unstable: he interprets Lefkandi in this light.
Some regions in Greece, such as Attica, Euboea（埃维厄岛）and central Crete（克里特岛）, recovered economically from these events faster than others, but life for the poorest Greeks would have remained relatively unchanged as it had done for centuries. There was still farming, weaving, metalworking and potting in this time, albeit at a lower level of output and for local use in local styles. Some technical innovations were introduced around 1050 BC with the start of the Proto–geometric style (1050–900 BC), such as the superior pottery technology, which resulted in a faster potter’ s wheel for superior vase shapes and the use of a compass to draw perfect circles and semicircles for decoration. Better glazes were achieved by higher temperature firing of clay. However, the overall trend was toward simpler, less intricate pieces and fewer resources being devoted to the creation of beautiful art.
During this time the smelting of iron was learnt from Cyprus（塞浦路斯）and the Levant, exploited and improved upon, using local deposits of iron ore previously ignored by the Mycenaeans: edged weapons were now within reach of less elite warriors. Though the universal use of iron was one shared feature among Dark Age settlements, it is still uncertain when the forged iron weapons and armour achieved superior strength to those that had been previously cast and hammered from bronze. From 1050 BC many small local iron industries appeared, and by 900 almost all weapons in grave goods were made of iron.
The distribution of the Ionic Greek dialect in historic times indicates early movement from the mainland of Greece to the Anatolian coast to such sites as Miletus（米利都）, Ephesus（以弗所）, and Colophon, perhaps as early as 1000 BC, though the contemporaneous evidence is scanty. In Cyprus some archaeological sites begin to show identifiably Greek ceramics, a colony of Euboean（埃维亚岛）Greeks was established at Al Mina on the Syrian（叙利亚）coast, and a reviving Aegean（爱琴海）Greek network of exchange can be detected from 10th–century Attic Proto–geometic pottery found in Crete and at Samos（萨摩斯）, off the coast of Asia Minor（小亚细亚）.
从约公元前1200年至公元前800年，多利安人入侵、迈锡尼文明灭亡、最早的希腊城邦开始崛起、荷马史诗等最早的希腊文写作出现……这就是 “黑暗时期” 的大致轮廓。在这一时期，希腊的文明世界开始衰落，迈锡尼人雄伟的宫殿被摧毁或是遗弃，希腊语停止被书写，陶器只有简单的几何装饰。人口急剧减少，国际贸易逐渐丧失，与其他文明的联络也消失了，导致社会文化等的全面停滞。希腊先民在经济、文化的 “黑暗” 中度过了整整400年，等待着希腊城邦崛起的曙光。
invasion：入侵，侵略
Palatial：壮丽的、宫殿般的
archaeological：考古学的
bureaucrat：官僚、官僚主义者
artifact：手工艺品
monumental：不朽的、纪念碑的
tholos：圆屋、圆形建筑
charisma：魅力、非凡领导力
pottery：陶器、制陶术
intricate：复杂的、纠缠的
armour：盔甲、护面
contemporaneous：同时期的
Key Words in History 历史关键词
1. Homer荷马
In the Western classical tradition Homer is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics are at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.
When he lived is controversial. Herodotus estimates that Homer lived 400 years before Herodotus’ own time, which would place him at around 850 BC; while other ancient sources claim that he lived much nearer to the supposed time of the Trojan War, in the early 12th Century BC.
For modern scholars “the date of Homer” refers not to an individual, but to period when the epics were created. The formative influence played by the Homeric epics in shaping Greek culture was widely recognized, and Homer was described as the teacher of Greece.
2. Iliad伊利亚特
The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set in the Trojan War, the ten–year siege of Ilium by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles. Although the story covers only a few weeks in the final year of the war, the Iliad mentions or alludes to many of the Greek legends about the siege. Along with the Odyssey, also attributed to Homer, the Iliad is among the oldest extant works of Western literature, and its written version is usually dated to around the eighth century BC. The Iliad contains over 15, 000 lines, and is written in Homeric Greek, a literary amalgam of Ionic Greek with other dialects.
3. Odyssey奥德赛
The Odyssey is one of the two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work traditionally ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon. Indeed it is the second–the Iliad being the first–extant work of Western literature. It was probably composed near the end of the 8th century BC, somewhere in Ionia, the Greek–speaking coastal region of what is now Turkey.
The poem mainly centers on the Greek hero Odysseus (or Ulysses, as he was known in Roman myths) and his long journey home following the fall of Troy. It takes Odysseus ten years to reach Ithaca after the ten–year Trojan War. In his absence, it is assumed he has died, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus must deal with a group of unruly suitors, the Mnesteres or Proci, competing for Penelope’ s hand in marriage.
It continues to be read in the Homeric Greek and translated into modern languages around the world. The original poem was composed in an oral tradition by an aoidos (epic poet/singer), perhaps a rhapsode (professional performer), and was more likely intended to be sung than read. The details of the ancient oral performance, and the story’ s conversion to a written work inspire continual debate among scholars. The Odyssey was written in a regionless poetic dialect of Greek and comprises 12, 110 lines of dactylic hexameter. Among the most impressive elements of the text are its non–linear plot, and that events seem to depend as much on the choices made by women and serfs as on the actions of fighting men. In the English language as well as many others, the word odyssey has come to refer to an epic voyage.
Background Knowledge 背景知识补充
“黑暗时代” 开始于迈锡尼文明的没落。而迈锡尼文明的衰落，在时间上恰恰与赫梯文明、埃及文明的衰落相对应，其原因可能为某个装备有铁兵器的海上民族的入侵。当多利安人南下希腊的时候，他们也装备有更为先进的铁兵器，可以轻易地将已然衰弱的迈锡尼人逐走。于是，这些武器先进，但是文明欠发达的民族，开创了希腊的黑暗时代。
这一历史时期之所以被称为 “黑暗” 主要有两个原因：黑暗，最明显的理由，是因为我们没有任何关于他们的史料和记录，我们找不到这些记录，因此称之为黑暗。另一个理由是，黑暗从悲观的角度来说就是不好的、坏的。这是一个艰难的时代，一个困苦的时代，一个不幸的时代，一个悲惨的时代，这就是黑暗时代。黑暗时代紧随着迈锡尼文明的陨落到来，这段历史的部分内容，是迈锡尼文明与地中海地区源远流长的关系，尤其是与东部港口城市的联系切断了。不管是政治、经济还是文化，希腊成了一个孤岛。
现在，我们只能从考古学发现以及《荷马史诗》中去追寻那一时期的历史踪迹。人们相信，荷马史诗中含有一些黑暗时代口头传承下来的传统，但是荷马作品的历史真实性仍广为争论。因为荷马史诗中所塑造的大多为半人半神的英雄（Hero) ，是介于人和神（God) 之间的一种生物。所以，黑暗时代的真相到底如何，还有待历史学家和考古学家进一步研究。
爱琴文明
爱琴文明是希腊及爱琴地区史前文明的总称。它曾被称为 “迈锡尼文明” ，因为这一文明的存在被海因里希? 施里曼对迈锡尼始于1876年的发掘而进入人们的视野。然而，后续的发现证明迈锡尼在爱琴文明的早期（甚至任何时期）并不占中心的地位，因而后来更多地使用更为一般的地理名称来命名这个文明。
Reading in a single sitting 一口气读完这段历史
The missing Minoans: 20th–15th century BC
It is astonishing that history should lose all track of a civilization which lasts for six centuries, makes superb ceramics and metalwork, trades extensively over a wide region, and houses its rulers in palaces elaborately decorated with superb fresco paintings. Yet this has been the case with the Minoans in Crete, until the excavation of Knossos.
We still know little more about them than is suggested by Minoan art and artefacts. It is typical that the name they have been given derives from a figure of myth rather than history–Minos, the legendary king of Crete whose pet creature is the Minotaur, a monster with the body of a man and the head of a bull which feeds on young human flesh.
Three very similar palaces have been excavated in Crete from the Minoan period–at Knossos, Mallia and Phaistos. Built from around 2000 BC, each is constructed round a large public courtyard; each has provision for the storage of large quantities of grain; each is believed to be the administrative centre for a large local population. The number at Knossos has been variably estimated as between 15, 000 and 50, 000 people.
Administrative records and accounts are kept on clay tablets in a script as yet undeciphered (it is known as Linear A). Archaeological discoveries reveal that trade is carried on round the entire Mediterranean coast from Sicily in the west to Egypt in the southeast.
Overseas there are outposts of Minoan culture. It is not known whether they are colonies or more in the nature of trading partners, influenced by the culture of Crete. Notable among them is the city of Akrotiri, on the island of Thera. Its houses, apparently those of rich merchants, have survived with their frescoes intact. Several of the houses stand to a height of three storeys, with their floors still in place.
The reason for their preservation is the eruption of the island’ s volcano in about 1525 BC. Like Pompeii a millennium and a half later, Akrotiri is pickled in volcanic ash.
Defensive walls are notably absent in Minoan Crete, as also are paintings of warfare. This seems to have been a peaceful as well as a prosperous society. But its end is violent. In about 1425 BC all the towns and palaces of Crete, except Knossos itself, are destroyed by fire.
It is not known whether this is a natural disaster, which gives Greeks from the mainland their chance, or whether Greek invaders destroy Minoan Crete–keeping only the main palace for their own use. But it is certain that the next generation of rulers introduce the culture of mainland Mycenae, and they keep their accounts in the Mycenaean script–Linear B. It seems probable that a Mycenaean invasion ends Minoan civilization.
The first Greek civilization: from the 16th century BC
The discovery that Linear B is a Greek script places Mycenae at the head of the story of Greek civilization. Its right to this place of honour is reinforced in legend and literature. The supposed occupants of the Mycenaean palaces are the heroes of Homer’ s Iliad.
Archaeology reveals the rulers of these early Greeks to have been as proud and warlike as Homer suggests.
Their fortress palaces are protected by walls of stone blocks, so large that only giants would seem capable of heaving them into place. This style of architecture has been appropriately named Cyclopean, after the Cyclopes (a race of one–eyed giants encountered by Odysseus in the Odyssey). The walls at Tiryns, said in Greek legend to have built by the Cyclopes for the legendary king Proteus, provide the most striking example.
At Mycenae it is the gateway through the walls which proclaims power, with two great lions standing above the massive lintel.
Royal burials at Mycenae add to the impression of a powerful military society. The tombs of the 16th century (known as ‘shaft graves’ because the burial is at the bottom of a deep shaft) contain a profusion of bronze swords and daggers, of a kind new to the region, together with much gold treasure, including death masks of the kings.
By the 14th century the graves themselves become more in keeping with the status of their occupants, with the development of the tholos or ‘beehive’ style of tomb. The most impressive is the so–called Treasury of Atreus at Mycenae, with its high domed inner chamber (independently pioneered in Neolithic western Europe 2500 years previously).
The earliest known suit of armour comes from a Mycenaean tomb, at Dendra. The helmet is a pointed cap, cunningly shaped from slices of boar’ s tusk. Bronze cheek flaps are suspended from it, reaching down to a complete circle of bronze around the neck. Curving sheets of bronze cover the shoulders. Beneath them there is a breast plate, and then three more circles of bronze plate, suspended one from the other, to form a semi–flexible skirt down to the thighs. Greaves, or shinpads of bronze, complete the armour.
The Mycenaean warrior’ s weapons are a bronze sword and a bronze–tipped spear. His shield is of stiff leather on a wooden frame. Similar weapons are used, several centuries later, by the Greek hoplites.
Trade and conquest: 13th–12th century BC
By the 13th century Mycenaean rulers control to varying degrees the whole of the Peloponnese, together with the eastern side of mainland Greece as far north as Mount Olympus, the large islands of Crete and Rhodes and many smaller islands. This is indeed a civilization which spreads around and through most of the Aegean.
Mycenaeans trade the length of the Mediterranean, from the traditional markets of the eastern coasts to new ones as far away as Spain in the west. They also have long–range trading contacts with Neolithic societies in the interior of Europe.
In the latter half of the 13th century, according to well–established oral tradition, the rulers of Mycenaean Greece combine forces to assault a rich city on the other side of the Aegean Sea. The city is Troy. Some four centuries later the oral tradition will be written down as the Iliad.
In Homer’ s poem it takes many years before Troy is finally subdued. If there is truth in this, the war perhaps fatally weakens the Greeks. Certainly archaeology reveals that the successful Mycenaean civilization comes to an abrupt end not very much later–in about 1200 BC.
The sudden destruction of Mycenaean palaces in Greece is part of a wider pattern of chaos in the eastern Mediterranean. As far away as Egypt, the pharaohs fight off invasion by raiders whom they describe as people “from the sea”. It is a mystery, then as now, exactly where these predators come from.
The most likely answer is the southern and western coasts of Anatolia. The rulers of Anatolia, the Hittites, are among their victims. So also are the communities of the eastern Mediterranean, where some of the Sea Peoples settle–to become known as the Philistines.
Doric and Ionic: from the 12th century BC
In muted form Mycenaean Greece survives this first assault. But it suffers a final blow later in the 12th century at the hands of the Dorians–northern tribesmen, as yet uncivilized, who speak the Doric dialect of Greek. The Dorians move south from Macedonia and roam through the Peloponnese. They have the advantage of iron technology, which helps them to overwhelm the Bronze Age Mycenaeans.
The Dorian incursion plunges Greece into a period usually referred to as a dark age. But Dorian military traditions survive to play a profound part in the heyday of classical Greece. The ruthlessly efficient Spartans will claim the Dorians as their ancestors, and model themselves upon them.
The rival tradition in classical Greece is linked with Athens, an outpost of Mycenaean culture. Athens successfully resists the Dorians and becomes something of a place of refuge for those fleeing the invaders.
With the encouragement of Athens, from about 900 BC, non–Dorian Greeks migrate to form colonies on the west coast of Anatolia. These colonies eventually merge to form Ionia (Ionic is the dialect spoken by the Athenians and by many other Greek tribes). In subsequent centuries Ionia, with Athens, becomes a cradle of the classical Greek civilization. So there is a genuine continuity from Mycenae. It is reflected in the romantic idea of Mycenaean Greeks expressed by Homer–himself probably a native of Ionia.
存在了至少三千多年的爱琴文明在多大程度上可以被认为是持续的？考古发掘提供了许多证据以回答这一问题。爱琴文明的根可以追溯到漫长的原始新石器时代，这一时期代表为克诺索斯将近6米厚的地层，它包含了石器以及手工制作打磨的器皿的碎片，显示了从底层到顶端持续的技术发展。
米诺斯文明层可能比希沙立克（Hissarlik）的最底层年代更早。它的结束标志为对陶器上白色充填的锯齿状装饰的引进，还发现了以其单色颜料对其主题的复制品。在这一阶段的结束后，紧接着的是青铜时代的开端以及米诺斯文明的第一阶段。因此，对于分层的仔细观察可以辨认出另外八个阶段，每一个阶段都标志有陶器风格的重要进步。这些阶段占据了整个青铜时代，而后者的终结，标志为铁这一更为先进的材料的引入，也宣告了爱琴时代的落幕。
astonishing：使人吃惊的，惊人的
eruption：喷发，爆发
prosperous：普罗斯珀勒斯
civilization：文明，文化
military：军事的，军用的; 军人的；武装的
bronze：青铜，深红棕色的，青铜色的
migrate：迁移; 移往
Key Words in History 历史关键词
1. Commerce商业
Commerce was practiced to some extent in very early times, as is proved by the distribution of Melian obsidian throughout the Aegean area. We find Cretan vessels exported to Melos, Egypt and the Greek mainland. After 1600 B.C. E. there are indications of very close commerce with Egypt, and Aegean things made their way along the coasts of the Mediterranean. No traces of currency have been found, unless certain axeheads, too slight for practical use, were used for this purpose. The Aegean written documents found outside the area, have not yet proved to be epistolary (letter writing) correspondence with other countries. Representations of ships are not common, but several have been observed on Aegean gems, gem–sealings and vases. They are vessels of low free–board, with masts. Their familiarity with the sea has been proven by the free use of marine motifs in their decorating.
Later in the twentieth century, discoveries of sunken trading vessels along the coasts have brought to the forefront an enormous amount of new information regarding the culture.
2. The Minoan Civilization米诺斯文明
The origin of the Minoans is unknown, but by 1600 BC they dominated the Aegean region. They lived on Crete from about 2500 BC to 1400 BC, when they were conquered by Mycenaeans from the Greek mainland. Their prosperity depended upon seafaring and trade, especially with the Middle East and with Egypt.
In 1900 the British archaeologist Arthur Evans began excavations at Knossos that eventually revealed a great palace that covered 5.5 acres (2.2 hectares). There were no surrounding walls at Knossos, as in the Mycenaean cities. The palace and the city had been protected by a powerful navy. Evans found storerooms with huge oil jars still in place, elaborate bathrooms, ventilation and drainage systems, and waste disposal chutes. The pottery was as fine as porcelain. Paintings on walls and pottery showed the dress of the women, with puffed sleeves and flounced skirts. The palace of Knossos was destroyed during the 14th century BC.
The Minoans worshiped a mother goddess, whose symbol was the double–bladed ax, called a labrys. The name of the symbol and the maze of rooms in the palace recall the story of the labyrinth. According to Greek mythology, Daedalus built a labyrinth for Minos to house the man–eating Minotaur, half man and half bull. Painted on the palace walls are pictures of acrobats vaulting over the backs of bulls. This sport may have given rise to the myth. After the Greeks conquered the Minoans they absorbed such stories into their mythology.
3. Mycenae Cities迈锡尼城邦
In 1876 Heinrich Schliemann began excavating Mycenae. Still visible today is the acropolis, with its broken stone walls and Lion Gate. Within the walls Schliemann uncovered the graves of bodies covered with gold masks, breastplates, armbands, and girdles. In the graves of the women were golden diadems, golden laurel leaves, and exquisite ornaments shaped like animals, flowers, butterflies, and cuttlefish.
Schliemann thought he had found the burial place of Agamemnon and his followers. Later study proved the bodies belonged to a period 400 years earlier than the Trojan War. Rulers of another dynasty were buried outside the walls in strange beehive tombs.
Other great cities of the same period were Pylos, the legendary capital of King Nestor, and Tiryns. It is not known to what extent Mycenae controlled other centers of the Achaean civilization. It is known that Mycenaean trade extended to Sicily, Egypt, Palestine, Troy, Cyprus, and Macedonia.
Background Knowledge 背景知识补充
爱琴文明是指公元前20世纪至公元前12世纪间的爱琴海域的上古文明。它是指公元前20世纪至前12世纪存在于地中海东部的爱琴海岛、希腊半岛及小亚细亚西部的欧洲青铜时代的文明，因围绕爱琴海域而得名。在希腊文明之前，是最早的欧洲文明，是西方文明的源泉。主要包括米诺斯文明和迈锡尼文明两大阶段，前后相继。有兴旺的农业和海上贸易，宫室建筑及绘画艺术均很发达，是世界古代文明的一个重要代表。公元前2000年左右，爱琴文明发祥于克里特岛，后来文明中心移至希腊半岛，出现迈锡尼文明。克里特岛文明和迈锡尼文明合称爱琴文明，历史约800年，它是古希腊文明的开端。
现在这里所称的 “爱琴地区” 已经扩大到了包括克里特和塞浦路斯在内的爱琴海群岛、希腊半岛、爱奥尼亚诸岛、西安那托利亚。它的分支可以延伸到西地中海地区，西西里、意大利、撒丁那、西班牙以及东地中海地区，包括叙利亚和埃及。而对于昔兰尼卡地区，还需更多的了解。
希波战争
希波战争是古代波斯帝国为了扩张版图而入侵希腊的战争，战争以希腊获胜，波斯战败而告结束。这次战争对东西方经济与文化的影响远大过战争本身。
Reading in a single sitting 一口气读完这段历史
The Greco–Persian Wars (also often called the Persian Wars) were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire of Persia and city–states of the Hellenic world that started in 499 BC and lasted until 449 BC. The collision between the fractious political world of the Greeks and the enormous empire of the Persians began when Cyrus the Great conquered Ionia in 547 BC. Struggling to rule the independent–minded cities of Ionia, the Persians appointed tyrants to rule each of them. This would prove the source of much trouble for both Greeks and Persians alike.
In 499 BC, the then tyrant of Miletus, Aristagoras, embarked on an expedition to conquer the island of Naxos, with Persian support; however, the expedition was a debacle, and pre–empting his dismissal, Aristagoras incited all of Hellenic Asia Minor into rebellion against the Persians. This was the beginning of the Ionian Revolt, which would last until 493 BC, progressively drawing more regions of Asia Minor into the conflict. Aristagoras secured military support from Athens and Eretria, and in 498 BC, these forces helped to capture and burn the Persian regional capital of Sardis. The Persian king Darius the Great vowed to have revenge on Athens and Eretria for this act. The revolt continued, with the two sides effectively stalemated throughout 497BC–495 BC. In 494 BC, the Persians regrouped, and attacked the epicentre of the revolt in Miletus. At the Battle of Lade, the Ionians suffered a decisive defeat, and the rebellion collapsed, with the final members being stamped out the following year.
Seeking to secure his empire from further revolts, and from the interference of the mainland Greeks, Darius embarked on a scheme to conquer Greece, and to punish Athens and Eretria for burning Sardis. The first Persian invasion of Greece began in 492 BC, with the Persian general Mardonius conquering Thrace and Macedon before several mishaps forced an early end to the campaign. In 490 BC a second force was sent to Greece, this time across the Aegean Sea, under the command of Datis and Artaphernes. This expedition subjugated the Cyclades, before besieging, capturing and razing Eretria. However, while on route to attack Athens, the Persian force was decisively defeated by the Athenians at the Battle of Marathon, ending Persian efforts for the time being. Darius then began to plan the complete the conquest of Greece, but died in 486 BC and responsibility for the conquest passed to his son Xerxes I. In 480 BC, Xerxes personally led the second Persian invasion of Greece with one of the largest ancient armies ever assembled. Victory over the “Allied” Greek states (led by Sparta and Athens) at the Battle of Thermopylae allowed the Persians to overrun most of Greece. However, while seeking to destroy the Allied fleet, the Persians suffered a severe defeat at the Battle of Salamis. The following year, the Allies went on the offensive, defeating the Persian army at the Battle of Plataea, and ending the invasion of Greece.
The Allies followed up their success by destroying the rest of the Persian fleet at the Battle of Mycale, before expelling Persian garrisons from Sestos (479 BC) and Byzantium (478 BC). The actions of the general Pausanias at the siege of Byzantium alienated many of the Greek states from the Spartans, and the anti–Persian alliance was therefore reconstituted around Athenian leadership, as the so–called Delian League. The Delian League continued to campaign against Persia for the next three decades, beginning with the expulsion of the remaining Persian garrisons from Europe. At the Battle of the Eurymedon in 466 BC, the League won a double victory that finally secured freedom for the cities of Ionia. However, the League’ s involvement in an Egyptian revolt (from 460BC–454 BC) resulted in a disastrous defeat and a further campaigning was suspended. A fleet was sent to Cyprus in 451 BC, but achieved little, and when it withdrew, the Greco–Persian Wars drew to a quiet end. Some historical sources suggest the end of hostilities was marked by a peace treaty between Athens and Persia, the so–called Peace of Callias.
前479年，波斯王派大将统率50000大军再度进攻希腊，这次特米斯托克利斯再次使用空城计移师海面。而斯巴达则统率伯罗奔尼撒半岛联军共三万与波斯陆军于普拉提亚进行决战，并击毙了波斯大将，结果波斯军大败，只得再次撤回东方。该年，以雅典为首的希腊海军反攻波斯，攻进小亚细亚，使小亚细亚诸希腊城邦脱离波斯的统治。公元前478年，希波战争以双方签订卡里阿斯和约而告结束，波斯帝国从此承认小亚细亚之希腊城邦的独立地位，并且将其军队撤出爱琴海与黑海地区。
conflict战斗，斗争
collision碰撞，冲突，抵触
embark乘船，装载，从事
progressively前进地，日益增加地，逐渐地
pevolt造反，起义，反抗，违抗，起义，叛乱
conquer攻克，征服
command命令，指挥，控制
alliance联盟，同盟
Key Words in History 历史关键词
1. Battle of Marathon马拉松战役
The Persian fleet next headed south down the coast of Attica, landing at the bay of Marathon, roughly 25 miles (40 km) from Athens [80] Under the guidance of Miltiades, the general with the greatest experience of fighting the Persians, the Athenian army marched to block the two exits from the plain of Marathon. Stalemate ensued for five days, before the Athenians (for reasons that are unclear) decided to attack the Persians. Despite the numerical advantage of the Persians, the hoplites proved devastatingly effective against the more lightly armed Persian infantry, routing the wings before turning in on the centre of the Persian line. The remnants of the Persian army fled to their ships and left the battle. Herodotus records that 6, 400 Persian bodies were counted on the battlefield; the Athenians lost only 192 men.
As soon as the Persian survivors had put to sea, the Athenians marched as quickly as possible to Athens. They arrived in time to prevent Artaphernes from securing a landing in Athens. Seeing his opportunity lost, Artaphernes ended the year’ s campaign and returned to Asia.
The Battle of Marathon was a watershed in the Greco–Persian wars, showing the Greeks that the Persians could be beaten. It also highlighted the superiority of the more heavily armoured Greek hoplites, and showed their potential when used wisely. The Battle of Marathon is perhaps now more famous as the inspiration for the Marathon race.
2. Battle of Salamis萨拉米斯战役
Victory at Thermopylae meant that all Boeotia fell to Xerxes; and left Attica open to invasion. The remaining population of Athens was evacuated, with the aid of the Allied fleet, to Salamis. The Peloponnesian Allies began to prepare a defensive line across the Isthmus of Corinth, building a wall, and demolishing the road from Megara, abandoning Athens to the Persians. Athens thus fell to the Persians; the small number of Athenians who had barricaded themselves on the Acropolis were eventually defeated, and Xerxes then ordered Athens to be razed.
The Persians had now captured most of Greece, but Xerxes had perhaps not expected such defiance; his priority was now to complete the war as quickly as possible. If Xerxes could destroy the Allied navy, he would be in a strong position to force an Allied surrender; conversely by avoiding destruction, or as Themistocles hoped, by destroying the Persian fleet, the Allies could prevent conquest from being completed. The Allied fleet thus remained off the coast of Salamis into September, despite the imminent arrival of the Persians. Even after Athens fell, the Allied fleet remained off the coast of Salamis, trying to lure the Persian fleet to battle. Partly because of deception by Themistocles, the navies met in the cramped Straits of Salamis. There, the Persian numbers became a hindrance, as ships struggled to maneuver and became disorganised. Seizing the opportunity, the Allied fleet attacked, and scored a decisive victory, sinking or capturing at least 200 Persian ships, therefore ensuring the safety of the Peloponnessus.
According to Herodotus, after the loss of the battle Xerxes attempted to build a causeway across the channel to attack the Athenian evacuees on Salamis, but this project was soon abandoned. With the Persians’ naval superiority removed, Xerxes feared that the Allies might sail to the Hellespont and destroy the pontoon bridges. His general Mardonius volunteered to remain in Greece and complete the conquest with a hand–picked group of troops, while Xerxes retreated to Asia with the bulk of the army. Mardonius over–wintered in Boeotia and Thessaly; the Athenians were thus able to return to their burnt–out city for the winter.
3. Battles of Plataea and Mycale普拉提亚战役
Over the winter, there was some tension between the Allies. In particular, the Athenians, who were not protected by the Isthmus, but whose fleet was the key to the security of the Peloponnesus, felt hard done by, and refused to join the Allied navy in Spring. Mardonius remained in Thessaly, knowing an attack on the Isthmus was pointless, while the Allies refused to send an army outside the Peloponessus. Mardonius moved to break the stalemate, by offering peace to the Athenians, using Alexander I of Macedon as an intermediate. The Athenians made sure that a Spartan delegation was on hand to hear the offer, but rejected it. Athens was thus evacuated again, and the Persians marched south and re–took possession of it. Mardonius now repeated his offer of peace to the Athenian refugees on Salamis. Athens, with Megara and Plataea, sent emissaries to Sparta demanding assistance, and threatening to accept the Persian terms if they were not aided. In response, the Spartans summonded a large army from the Peloponnese cities and marched to meet the Persians.
When Mardonius heard the Allied army was on the march, he retreated into Boeotia, near Plataea, trying to draw the Allies into open terrain where he could use his cavalry. The Allied army, under the command of the regent Pausanias, stayed on high ground above Plataea to protect themselves against such tactics. After several days of maneuver and stalemate, Pausanias ordered a night–time retreat towards the Allies’ original positions. This maneuver went awry, leaving the Athenians, and Spartans and Tegeans isolated on separate hills, with the other contingents scattered further away near Plataea. Seeing that the Persians might never have a better opportunity to attack, Mardonius ordered his whole army forward. However, the Persian infantry proved no match for the heavily armoured Greek hoplites, and the Spartans broke through to Mardonius’ s bodyguard and killed him. After this the Persian force dissolved in rout; 40, 000 troops managed to escape via the road to Thessaly, but the rest fled to the Persian camp where they were trapped and slaughtered by the Greeks, finalising the Greek victory.
Herodotus recounts that, on the afternoon of the Battle of Plataea, a rumour of their victory at that battle reached the Allies’ navy, at that time off the coast of Mount Mycale in Ionia. Their morale boosted, the Allied marines fought and won a decisive victory at the Battle of Mycale that same day, destroying the remnants of the Persian fleet, crippling Xerxes’ sea power, and marking the ascendancy of the Greek fleet. Whilst many modern historians doubt that Mycale took place on the same day as Plataea, the battle may well only have occurred once the Allies received news of the events unfolding in Greece.
Background Knowledge 背景知识补充
希波战争是人类历史文化的一次前所未有的大融合，其影响远远超出波斯、希腊的范围。它大大加强了东西方文化交流，促进了东西方文化发展和科学、艺术的进步，打破了东西方几乎完全隔绝的局面，从而推动了人类社会发展进步。这是希波战争最重要的影响。
希腊在希波战争中取胜，使得西方世界的历史中心由两河流域向地中海地区推移，希腊文明得以保存并发扬光大，成为日后西方文明的基础。而且希腊胜利也确保了希腊诸城邦的独立及安全，使得希腊继续称霸东地中海数百年。 斯巴达：对斯巴达来说，大量战利品的流入和与外界接触，使斯巴达原有的经济和朴素生活失去平衡，原已平息的矛盾重新出现，斯巴达在希腊城邦中的军事统帅地位受到来自雅典的挑战。
雅典：对雅典来说，希波战争爆发后，迅速转移了雅典内部平民和贵族之间的矛盾。雅典海战的胜利，一方面削弱了贵族所依赖的陆军的社会作用；另一方面提高了在海军中服役的第四等级公民的政治地位和经济地位，使民主力量得以壮大。战争后期雅典霸权的建立及奴隶制经济的发展，则保障了民主制度的有效实施。因此，希波战争及希腊方面的胜利，为雅典民主政治的繁荣创造了十分有利的客观条件。
波斯在这场战争里战败，使其对外扩张的气焰受挫，并逐渐走向衰落，最后被马其顿的亚历山大大帝所灭。
希腊城邦的衰落
以雅典和斯巴达为代表的希腊城邦，在公元前5世纪经历了繁荣时期，从公元前4世纪起逐渐衰落。由于公民中贫富分化加剧，公民权与土地的关系日趋松弛，公民集体内部矛盾增加，公民兵制开始瓦解。公元前338年马其顿国王亚历山大大帝的征服以及公元前323至前30年的希腊化时代，许多国王对希腊的奴役，剥夺了希腊绝大多数城邦的政治独立，瓦解了原有的公民集体，使这些城邦演变成在庞大的中央集权管辖下的地方自治单位。
Reading in a single sitting 一口气读完这段历史
If the Persian Wars were the great epic of Greek history, the century of conflict between Greek poleis from 431 to 338 B.C. E. was its great tragedy. During this time, the Greeks wasted their energies fighting one another and left the way open for an outside power, Macedon, to come in and take over. There were three main lines of development that led to the final fall of the polis in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. E.
Economic and military changes
First of all, the Persian wars exposed the Greeks to a wider world of trade as well as different military tactics that could threaten the powerful, but largely immobile hoplite phalanx. Athens especially adapted to these new challenges, relying more on trade, foreign grain, and a money economy, along with the navy and Long Walls to protect its empire. Growing fear of Athens and the resulting Peloponnesian War would force other poleis to adapt in order to be able to compete with Athens. Sparta, in particular, built a navy and, after the Peloponnesian War, relied increasingly on mercenaries to bolster its power. In addition, lightly armed troops known as peltasts were used to give Greek armies more flexibility.
As a result, more and more Greeks were drawn from the countryside by the lure of riches to be made as traders and mercenaries. Trade and a money economy grew in importance compared to the small family farms that had previously been the mainstay of the polis’ economy. Also, warfare became professional, sophisticated, chronic, and expensive. This contrasted sharply with the previous style of cheap, amateur, and less destructive warfare waged by hoplite farmers over the last 250 years. Rising taxes to support this new style of warfare put increasing burdens on the farmer hoplites who started to decline economically, militarily, and politically. Gradually, large estates worked by tenant farmers or slaves would replace the small family owned farms worked by independent farmers. And once these farmers, the backbone of the traditional polis, went into decline, so did the polis itself. The Greeks were still a dynamic people, but the polis itself was starting to decay.
Continuing warfare after the Peloponnesian War (404–355 B.C. E. )
We have already seen in detail how Sparta defeated Athens in the Peloponnesian War. However, Sparta’ s victory hardly meant peace for the Greek world. Many of Athens’ subjects had joined Sparta, believing they would be free to run their own lives. Instead, the Spartans installed pro–Spartan oligarchies that were watched over by Spartan governors and garrisons in many poleis. Sparta also failed to turn over Ionia to Persia in return for its aid against Athens. Naturally, such high–handed actions angered both Persia and most other Greeks. Leading the way were the Athenians who replaced the Spartan backed and repressive oligarchy of The Thirty with a new democracy.
All this led to the Corinthian War (395–387 B.C. E. ). The Spartans in Ionia could more than hold their own against the Persian forces there. However, what Persian armies could not accomplish, Persian gold could by funding Athens, Thebes, and Corinth against Sparta, which drew the Spartan forces out of Ionia and back to Greece. Persia also gave Athens a navy that crushed the Spartan fleet, sailed to Athens, and oversaw the rebuilding of the Long Walls. Sparta’ s gains from the Peloponnesian War were quickly slipping away.
Faced with such a powerful coalition, Sparta made peace with Persia, handing Ionia over in return for help against the other Greeks. In 387 B.C. E. Persia dictated a treaty called the King’ s Peace to all the Greeks, taking Ionia for itself, and putting its ally Sparta back on top of the Greek world. The irony of it all was that the Persians, without striking a blow, had accomplished what Xerxes’ huge army had failed to do a century before.
Naturally, the Greeks, did not abide by this decision for long, with Thebes and Athens leading the resistance against Sparta. The Thebans drove the Spartan garrison from their citadel and formed the Boeotian League in direct defiance of Sparta and the King’ s Peace. At Leuctra in 37l B.C. E... the Theban general, Epaminondas stacked one flank of his phalanx 50 ranks deep, crushed the opposing Spartan wing, and then rolled up the rest of their army. A similar battle at Mantinea nine years later destroyed the mystique of Spartan invincibility, and with it most of Sparta’ s power and influence. Unfortunately for Thebes, Epaminondas was killed, and with him died Thebes’ main hope to dominate the Greek world.
Meanwhile, the Athenians had formed a second Delian League with various Aegean states, promising to treat them better than they had treated the first Delian League. But Athens soon reverted to its old imperialist behavior. This triggered a revolt known as the Social War that ended Athens' imperial ambitions once and for all. Thus by 355 B.C. E., after 75 years of almost constant warfare, Athens’ empire was gone, Sparta’ s army and reputation were wrecked, and Thebes’ hopes for dominance were virtually laid to rest with Epaminondas. The polis’ resulting exhaustion combined with the long–range forces undermining the polis due to the Persian Wars and Greek colonization left the polis was in serious decline opened the way for a new power to step in.
The rise of Macedon (355–336 B.C. E. )
Macedon was a country north of Greece inhabited by tribes speaking a dialect related to Greek. While the Greeks considered them barbarians, the Macedonians liked to think of themselves as Greeks, and had played a minor role in Greek history from time to time. However, Macedon had never been a strong power until Philip II came to the throne in 359 B.C. E. after invading tribes from the north had killed his predecessor.
Philip was one of the most remarkable figures in Greek history, only being overshadowed by his son Alexander. He was a shrewd, ambitious, and unscrupulous politician who knew how to exploit the hopes, fears, and mutual hatreds of the Greeks to his own advantage. The key to much of Philip’ s success was control of the gold mines of Amphipolis, which gave him the money to do three things: build roads to tie his country together, bribe Greek politicians, and build up his army. Philip was an outstanding organizer and general who built what was probably the best army up to that point in history. Its main striking arm was an excellent cavalry, but it also utilized a phalanx armed with thirteen–foot long pikes (spears) and lightly armed peltasts. Together, these gave him the flexibility and coordination to deal with almost any situation on a battlefield.
Preferring diplomacy to fighting whenever possible, Philip was able to work his way into the confidence of various Greek states to undermine their resistance to him when he finally decided to strike. For example, he gained a foothold in Greece by defending Delphi from another city–state, Phokis. He also undermined Athens’ power by taking and then freeing one of its allies and posing as the champion of all Greek liberties. Bit by bit, Philip worked his way southward, with only a few Greeks recognizing what was happening. Among these was Demosthenes, probably the greatest orator of the ancient world. In a masterful series of speeches known as Philippics, he repeatedly warned the Athenians of the danger to the north, but they did little.
Historians through the ages have blamed the Athenians for their failure to react well to the Macedonian threat. However, in all fairness, the Athens faced a difficult dilemma, since acting against Philip could have been as ruinous as not moving to stop him. On the one hand, failing to act against Philip would allow him to conquer Greece. However, on the other hand, without an empire to provide it with the full treasury it had the previous century, Athens could no longer sustain a prolonged war against such a power as Macedon. Therefore, fighting such a war very likely would have wrecked Athens’ finances and given Philip the victory anyway.
Athens and Thebes did finally band together to meet the Macedonians at Chaeronea in 338 B.C. A tricky back–stepping maneuver by the Macedonian phalanx lured the Athenians out of position, exposing the Thebans to the decisive cavalry charge led by Philip’ s eighteen–year old son, Alexander. Demosthenes and others fled the field, leaving their shields and Greek liberty in the dust. For all intents and purposes, the age of the Greek polis was dead. The age of Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic kingdoms was about to dawn.
古代希腊最强大的城邦中，雅典第一，斯巴达第二。所谓城邦，就是一个国家，它以城市为中心，周围是乡镇。
所有希腊城邦都是小国。希腊城邦的居民按照政治地位可以分为三大类： 拥有公民权因而能够参加政治活动的自由人。
没有公民权的自由人。他们或是来自外邦的移民（例如雅典的 “异邦人” ），或是由于特定的历史原因而与当权的公民集体处于不平等地位者（例如斯巴达的 “边民” ），或是因贫困而失去公民资格者，或是因违法而被剥夺了公民权者，或是被释放的奴隶。
处于被剥削、奴役地位的奴隶。奴隶多系非希腊人，但也有一部分是希腊人，例如斯巴达的 “黑劳士” 。
adapt to：变得习惯于……, 使适应于, 能应付……
rely：信任，信赖，依赖，依靠
flexibility：柔韧性，机动性，灵活性，易曲性，适应性，弹性
contrast：对比，对照，差异，差别
warfare：战争，战争状态
oversaw（oversee的过去式）：视察，观察
accomplish：完成，贯彻，实现（计划）
ambition：抱负，雄心，野心
remarkable：异常的，不寻常的，非凡的
Key Words in History 历史关键词
1. Peloponnesian war 伯罗奔尼撒战争
War fought between the two leading city–states in ancient Greece, Athens and Sparta. Each stood at the head of alliances that, between them, included nearly every Greek city–state. The fighting engulfed virtually the entire Greek world, and it was properly regarded by Thucydides, whose contemporary account of it is considered to be among the world’ s finest works of history, as the most momentous war up to that time.
2. Macedon 马其顿王国
Amyntas had three sons; the first two, Alexander II and Perdiccas III reigned only briefly. Perdiccas III’ s infant heir was deposed by Amyntas’ third son, Philip II of Macedon, who made himself king and ushered in a period of Macedonian dominance of Greece. Under Philip II, (359–336 BC), Macedon expanded into the territory of the Paeonians, Thracians, and Illyrians. Among other conquests, he annexed the regions of Pelagonia and Southern Paeonia.
Philip redesigned the army of Macedon adding a number of variations to the traditional hoplite force to make it far more effective. He added the hetairoi, a well armoured heavy cavalry, and more light infantry, both of which added greater flexibility and responsiveness to the force. He also lengthened the spear and shrank the shield of the main infantry force, increasing its offensive capabilities.
Philip began to rapidly expand the borders of his kingdom. He first campaigned in the north against non–Greek peoples such as the Illyrians, securing his northern border and gaining much prestige as a warrior. He next turned east, to the territory along the northern shore of the Aegean. The most important city in this area was Amphipolis, which controlled the way into Thrace and also was near valuable silver mines. This region had been part of the Athenian Empire, and Athens still considered it as in their sphere. The Athenians attempted to curb the growing power of Macedonia, but were limited by the outbreak of the Social War. They could also do little to halt Philip when he turned his armies south and took over most of Thessaly.
Control of Thessaly meant Philip was now closely involved in the politics of central Greece. 356 BCE saw the outbreak of the Third Sacred War that pitted Phocis against Thebes and its allies. Thebes recruited the Macedonians to join them and at the Battle of Crocus Field Phillip decisively defeated Phocis and its Athenian allies. As a result Macedonia became the leading state in the Amphictyonic League and Phillip became head of the Pythian Games, firmly putting the Macedonian leader at the centre of the Greek political world.
In the continuing conflict with Athens Philip marched east through Thrace in an attempt to capture Byzantium and the Bosphorus, thus cutting off the Black Sea grain supply that provided Athens with much of its food. The siege of Byzantium failed, but Athens realized the grave danger the rise of Macedon presented and under Demosthenes built a coalition of many of the major states to oppose the Macedonians. Most importantly Thebes, which had the strongest ground force of any of the city states, joined the effort. The allies met the Macedonians at the Battle of Chaeronea and were decisively defeated, leaving Philip and the Macedonians the unquestioned master of Greece.
Background Knowledge 背景知识补充
从希波战争到丧失独立的公元前5世纪上半叶，希腊诸邦进行了数十年反抗波斯侵略的战争，并取得最后胜利。雅典在希波战争中起了重大作用，一跃成为公元前478年建立的提洛同盟的首领。这大大促进了雅典奴隶占有制经济的发展，引起雅典公民内部不同阶层力量对比的变化，导致公元前462年（或公元前461年）厄菲阿尔特和伯里克利所领导的改革。这次改革剥夺了由卸任的执政官组成的战神山议事会（即贵族会议）的权力，将其分别交给公民大会、民众法庭和五百人议事会，使民主政治发展到一个新阶段。军事殖民制度、各种社会公益捐献和对公民的津贴以及大兴土木，使占公民多数的小生产者享有得到一定保障的物质生活和精神生活。在伯里克利当政时期（公元前443至前429年），雅典在经济、政治和文化方面臻于极盛，成为左右希腊世界局势的霸国和主要文化中心。
公元前 431年，雅典及其同盟者与以斯巴达为首的伯罗奔尼撒同盟之间爆发战争，公元前404年，战争以雅典失败告终。提洛同盟瓦解。雅典一度屈从于斯巴达。公元前404年，民主政体被推翻， “三十僭主” 肆虐一时。公元前403年，民主政治得到重建。公元前4世纪上半叶，雅典利用波斯和忒拜等希腊城邦与斯巴达的矛盾，在一定程度上恢复了自己的势力，于公元前378年建立了第二次雅典海上同盟。国内政局比较稳定，经济、文化都有一些发展。但公民内部贫富分化加剧，矛盾加深。从公元前4世纪50年代起，新兴的马其顿日益严重地威胁着在色雷斯和黑海海峡地区有重大利益关系的雅典的独立和安全。雅典内部反马其顿派和亲马其顿派之间展开了激烈的斗争，两派交替占据上风。公元前338年的喀罗尼亚之役，马其顿击败了希腊各邦的反抗，从而确立了对包括雅典在内的许多希腊城邦的霸主地位。公元前323–前322年，雅典与马其顿战于拉米亚，结果失败，附属于马其顿，从此完全失去政治独立，民主政体名存实亡。公元前2世纪中叶并入罗马版图。
伯罗奔尼撒战争
伯罗奔尼撒战争，英文名为Peloponnesian War，是提洛同盟与伯罗奔尼撒联盟之间的战争，战争的双方是雅典和斯巴达之间。该战争使雅典走出了全胜时期，结束了希腊的民主时代。
Reading in a single sitting 一口气读完这段历史
The Peloponnesian War, 431 to 404 BC, was an ancient Greek war fought by Athens and its empire against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases. In the first phase, the Archidamian War, Sparta launched repeated invasions of Attica, while Athens took advantage of its naval supremacy to raid the coast of the Peloponnese attempting to suppress signs of unrest in its empire. This period of the war was concluded in 421 BC, with the signing of the Peace of Nicias. That treaty, however, was soon undermined by renewed fighting in the Peloponnese. In 415 BC, Athens dispatched a massive expeditionary force to attack Syracuse in Sicily; the attack failed disastrously, with the destruction of the entire force, in 413 BC. This ushered in the final phase of the war, generally referred to either as the Decelean War, or the Ionian War. In this phase, Sparta, now receiving support from Persia, supported rebellions in Athens’ subject states in the Aegean Sea and Ionia, undermining Athens’ empire, and, eventually, depriving the city of naval supremacy. The destruction of Athens’ fleet at Aegospotami effectively ended the war, and Athens surrendered in the following year.
The Peloponnesian War reshaped the Ancient Greek world. On the level of international relations, Athens, the strongest city–state in Greece prior to the war’ s beginning, was reduced to a state of near–complete subjection, while Sparta became established as the leading power of Greece. The economic costs of the war were felt all across Greece; poverty became widespread in the Peloponnese, while Athens found itself completely devastated, and never regained its pre–war prosperity. The war also wrought subtler changes to Greek society; the conflict between democratic Athens and oligarchic Sparta, each of which supported friendly political factions within other states, made civil war a common occurrence in the Greek world.
Greek warfare, meanwhile, originally a limited and formalized form of conflict, was transformed into an all–out struggle between city–states, complete with atrocities on a large scale. Shattering religious and cultural taboos, devastating vast swathes of countryside, and destroying whole cities, the Peloponnesian War marked the dramatic end to the fifth century BC and the golden age of Greece.
伯罗奔尼撒战争（Peloponnesian War）是以雅典为首的提洛同盟与以斯巴达为首的伯罗奔尼撒联盟之间的一场战争。这场战争从公元前431年一直持续到公元前404年，其中双方几度停战，最后斯巴达获胜。这场战争结束了雅典的经典时代，结束了希腊的民主时代。几乎所有希腊的城邦都参加了这场战争，其战场几乎涉及了整个当时希腊语世界。在现代研究中也有人称这场战争为古代世界大战。
invasion：侵略，入侵
attempt：企图，试图，努力做某事
suppress：平定，压制
conclude：结束，终止
renew：重新开始，继续
effectively：有效地，实际上，事实上
establish：建立，成立
widespread：分布广的，普遍的，广泛的
Key Words in History 历史关键词
1. Peace of Nicias 尼西阿斯和平
With the death of Cleon and Brasidas, zealous war hawks for both nations, the Peace of Nicias was able to last for some six years. However, it was a time of constant skirmishing in and around the Peloponnese. While the Spartans refrained from action themselves, some of their allies began to talk of revolt. They were supported in this by Argos, a powerful state within the Peloponnese that had remained independent of Lacedaemon. With the support of the Athenians, the Argives succeeded in forging a coalition of democratic states within the Peloponnese, including the powerful states of Mantinea and Elis. Early Spartan attempts to break up the coalition failed, and the leadership of the Spartan king Agis was called into question. Emboldened, the Argives and their allies, with the support of a small Athenian force under Alcibiades, moved to seize the city of Tegea, near Sparta.
The Battle of Mantinea was the largest land battle fought within Greece during the Peloponnesian War. The Lacedaemonians, with their neighbors the Tegeans, faced the combined armies of Argos, Athens, Mantinea, and Arcadia. In the battle, the allied coalition scored early successes, but failed to capitalize on them, which allowed the Spartan elite forces to defeat the forces opposite them. The result was a complete victory for the Spartans, which rescued their city from the brink of strategic defeat. The democratic alliance was broken up, and most of its members were reincorporated into the Peloponnesian League. With its victory at Mantinea, Sparta pulled itself back from the brink of utter defeat, and re–established its hegemony throughout the Peloponnese.
2. The Second War 二次战争
The Lacedaemonians were not content with simply sending aid to Sicily; they also resolved to take the war to the Athenians. On the advice of Alcibiades, they fortified Decelea, near Athens, and prevented the Athenians from making use of their land year round. The fortification of Decelea prevented the shipment of supplies overland to Athens, and forced all supplies to be brought in by sea at increased expense. Perhaps worst of all, the nearby silver mines were totally disrupted, with as many as 20, 000 Athenian slaves freed by the Spartan hoplites at Decelea. With the treasury and emergency reserve fund of 1, 000 talents dwindling away, the Athenians were forced to demand even more tribute from her subject allies, further increasing tensions and the threat of further rebellion within the Empire.
The Corinthians, the Spartans, and others in the Peloponnesian League sent more reinforcements to Syracuse, in the hopes of driving off the Athenians; but instead of withdrawing, the Athenians sent another hundred ships and another 5, 000 troops to Sicily. Under Gylippus, the Syracusans and their allies were able to decisively defeat the Athenians on land; and Gylippus encouraged the Syracusans to build a navy, which was able to defeat the Athenian fleet when they attempted to withdraw. The Athenian army, attempting to withdraw overland to other, more friendly Sicilian cities, was divided and defeated; the entire Athenian fleet was destroyed, and virtually the entire Athenian army was sold off into slavery.
Following the defeat of the Athenians in Sicily, it was widely believed that the end of the Athenian Empire was at hand. Her treasury was nearly empty, her docks were depleted, and the flower of her youth was dead or imprisoned in a foreign land. They overestimated the strength of their own empire and the beginning of the end was indeed at hand.
Background Knowledge 背景知识补充
伯罗奔尼撒战争给希腊世界带来前所未有的破坏，促使小农经济与手工业者破产，不少城邦丧失了大批劳动力，土地荒芜，工商业停滞倒闭。大奴隶主、大土地所有者、投机商人和高利贷者乘机而入，大肆兼并土地、聚敛财富和奴隶，中小奴隶制经济逐渐被吞没，代之而起的是大地产、大手工业作坊主为代表的大奴隶主经济。大批公民破产，兵源减少，城邦的统治基础动摇了。贫民过着衣不蔽体，食不果腹的生活，不满富人和豪强的统治。柏拉图曾经写道： “每个城邦，不管分别如何的小，都分成了两个敌对部分，一个是穷人的城邦，一个是富人的城邦。” 因此，在斯巴达、科林斯等城邦，都曾先后发生贫民起义，打死了许多奴隶主，瓜分了他们的财产。风起云涌的起义打击了奴隶主的统治，进一步加速了希腊城邦的衰落。伯罗奔尼撒战争不仅结束了雅典的霸权，而且使整个希腊奴隶制城邦制度逐渐退出了历史舞台。
这场战争，使得斯巴达称霸于全希腊，使其寡头政制得以推行；各邦民主势力同时遭到迫害。寡头政制的蛮横统治又引起各国的强烈不满，许多城邦起兵反抗，伯罗奔尼撒同盟趋于瓦解。接着，几个比较强大的城邦如底比斯、雅典又为争夺希腊霸权继续战争。公元前3世纪前半期，希腊境内战火不绝，各邦力量彼此消耗下去，后来终于被早已对其觊觎的外敌马其顿所灭。
伯罗奔尼撒战争在古代军事史上占有相当地位。对抗双方对海上通路的争夺，从海上对敌的封锁和侵入都达到了很大规模。夺取要塞创造了许多新方法，如使用水淹、火焚和挖掘地道等。方阵虽还是战斗队形的基础，但步兵能以密集队形和散开队形在起伏地机动行动。职业军人开始出现……这些都对希腊以及西欧军事产生了深远影响。