纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 051玛雅宫廷放血仪式浮雕（6）

For the Maya, blood-letting was an ancient tradition, and it marked all the major points of Maya life - especially the path to royal and sacred power. In the sixteenth century, 800 years after this lintel was carved, and long after the Maya civilisation¹ had collapsed², the Spanish encountered similar blood-letting rites³ that still survived, as the first Catholic bishop⁴ of Yucatan reported:

"They offered sacrifices of their own blood, sometimes cutting themselves around in pieces, and they left them in this way as a sign. Sometimes they scarify certain parts of their bodies, at others they pierce their tongues in a slanting⁵ direction from side to side, and pass bits of straw through the holes with horrible suffering. Others slit⁶ the superfluous⁷ part of the virile⁸ member, leaving it as they did their ears."

The unusual thing about our sculpture is that it shows a woman playing the principal role in the ritual. Here's Virginia Fields, expert on Maya iconography and art:

"This particular lintel at the British Museum is just an extraordinary example of the kinds of rights and ceremonies that a queen would engage in, they are extremely unusual. We don't have a series like this from another Maya city.

"We know that the royal women were part of lineages in every city. Lady K'abal Xook actually is from a local lineage in Yaxchilan, but by taking her as a wife, they may have been joining two powerful lineages. And then bringing in another wife from a foreign city extended the alliances that he had been creating with different powerful cities around the realm."

K'abal Xook's husband, Shield Jaguar¹⁰, had an immensely long reign⁹ for the age, but within a few decades of their deaths, all the great cities of the Maya were in chaos¹¹. On the later Maya monuments, warfare¹² is the dominant¹³ image, and the last monuments we know are around 900 AD. An ancient political system that had lasted for more than a thousand years had disintegrated¹⁴, and a landscape where millions had lived became desolate¹⁵. Why, remains¹⁶ one of the great historical mysteries.

1 civilisation   

n.文明，文化，开化，教化

参考例句：

• Energy and ideas are the twin bases of our civilisation.能源和思想是我们文明的两大基石。
• This opera is one of the cultural totems of Western civilisation.这部歌剧是西方文明的文化标志物之一。

2 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

3 rites   

仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• to administer the last rites to sb 给某人举行临终圣事
• He is interested in mystic rites and ceremonies. 他对神秘的仪式感兴趣。

4 bishop   

n.主教，（国际象棋）象

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• Two years after his death the bishop was canonised.主教逝世两年后被正式封为圣者。

5 slanting   

倾斜的，歪斜的

参考例句：

• The rain is driving [slanting] in from the south. 南边潲雨。
• The line is slanting to the left. 这根线向左斜了。

6 slit   

n.狭长的切口；裂缝；vt.切开，撕裂

参考例句：

• The coat has been slit in two places.这件外衣有两处裂开了。
• He began to slit open each envelope.他开始裁开每个信封。

7 superfluous   

adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的

参考例句：

• She fined away superfluous matter in the design. 她删去了这图案中多余的东西。
• That request seemed superfluous when I wrote it.我这样写的时候觉得这个请求似乎是多此一举。

8 virile   

adj.男性的；有男性生殖力的；有男子气概的；强有力的

参考例句：

• She loved the virile young swimmer.她爱上了那个有男子气概的年轻游泳运动员。
• He wanted his sons to become strong,virile,and athletic like himself.他希望他的儿子们能长得像他一样强壮、阳刚而又健美。

9 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

10 jaguar   

n.美洲虎

参考例句：

• He was green with envy when he saw my new Jaguar car.看见我那辆美洲虎牌新车，他非常妒忌。
• Should you meet a jaguar in the jungle,just turn slowly,walk away.But slowly,never look back.你在丛林中若碰上美洲虎，就慢慢转身走开，可一定要慢，切莫回头看。

11 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

12 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。

13 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

14 disintegrated   

v.（使）破裂[分裂，粉碎]，（使）崩溃( disintegrate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The plane disintegrated as it fell into the sea. 飞机坠入大海时解体了。
• The box was so old;it just disintegrated when I picked it up. 那箱子太破旧了，我刚一提就散了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 desolate   

adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂

参考例句：

• The city was burned into a desolate waste.那座城市被烧成一片废墟。
• We all felt absolutely desolate when she left.她走后，我们都觉得万分孤寂。

16 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。