纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 062希伯来星盘（5）

 

"The inscriptions¹ are all in Hebrew, you can see the finely engraved² Hebrew letters quite clearly. But what's so intriguing³ about the piece is that not all the words are Hebrew. Some of them have Arabic origins and some are medieval Spanish. So just to give you an example, beside a star in the constellation⁴ that we call Aquila - the eagle - we can see written in Hebrew 'nesher me'offel' - 'the flying eagle'. But other star names are given in their Arabic form. So Aldebaran in Taurus has its Arabic name, 'al-dabaran', written in Hebrew letters. And when you read out the Hebrew letters for the names of the months, they give you the medieval Spanish names, like October, November, December. So what you have here is the knowledge of the classical Greek astronomers⁵ who charted the heavens, combined with the contributions of Muslim, Jewish and Christian⁶ scholars - and all of that in the palm of your hand!"

The Spain in which this astrolabe was made was the only place in Christian-ruled Europe where there were significant populations of Muslims, and it was also home to an extensive Jewish population. From the eighth to the fifteenth centuries, the mixing in medieval Spain of the people of three religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam - was one of Spanish society's most distinctive⁷ elements. Of course, there was no such place as Spain yet, in the fourteenth century it was still a patchwork⁸ of states. The biggest was Castile, which shared a border with the last independent Muslim state in the peninsula, the kingdom of Granada. Throughout Christian Spain there were large numbers of Jewish and Muslim people, all three groups living together but keeping their separate traditions in what might be described as an early example of multi-culturalism. This coexistence, extremely rare in European history, is often referred to by the Spanish term 'convivencia'. Here's the distinguished⁹ historian of Spain, Sir John Elliott:

星盘上的铭文皆为希伯来字母，字母精雕细琢，可以清晰分辨。不过这块星盘最有意思的一点在于，铭文并非都是希伯来语，有的使用了阿拉伯语，还有的是中世纪的西班牙语。比方说，在被我们称为天鹰座的星座中的某一颗旁刻着希伯来文“nesher me'offel”,意为飞翔的鹰。但其他星辰的名字则用了阿拉伯语，如在金牛座的毕宿五旁便用希伯来字母雕刻着它的阿拉伯语称法“al-dabaran'”。而那些希伯来字母雕刻的月份名称十月、十一月和十二月，其读音则是中世纪西班牙语。所以你看到，古希腊天文学家绘制星相图的知识与穆斯林、犹太人和基督教学者的贡献相结合，全都掌握在你手中。

这块星盘制成时期的西班牙正是当时中世纪基督教盛行的欧洲大陆上唯一有众多穆斯林定居的地方，同时，犹太人的规模也很可观。八世纪至十世纪，这三种不同宗教的信徒的混居是西班牙社会最明显的特征之一。当然，其时这一地区尚不存在类似现代西班牙的国家，直到十四世纪，它仍是多个分立的城邦。其中最大的是卡斯提尔，它与半岛上最后一个独立的穆斯林城邦格拉纳达接壤。在当时信仰基督教的西班牙，有不少地区散居着大量犹太人与穆斯林，三者混居在一起，但都承袭了各自的传统，这也许可以用“早期多元文化楷模”来形容。这种多元并存的情况?在同期的欧洲极为罕见，西班牙语称之为“convivencia”。著名西班牙历史学教授约翰·埃利奥特爵士解释了这种多元社会的成因：

 

1 inscriptions   

（作者）题词( inscription的名词复数 )； 献词； 碑文； 证劵持有人的登记

参考例句：

• Centuries of wind and rain had worn away the inscriptions on the gravestones. 几个世纪的风雨已磨损了墓碑上的碑文。
• The inscriptions on the stone tablet have become blurred with the passage of time. 年代久了，石碑上的字迹已经模糊了。

2 engraved   

v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中）

参考例句：

• The silver cup was engraved with his name. 银杯上刻有他的名字。
• It was prettily engraved with flowers on the back. 此件雕刻精美，背面有花饰图案。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 intriguing   

adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心

参考例句：

• These discoveries raise intriguing questions. 这些发现带来了非常有趣的问题。
• It all sounds very intriguing. 这些听起来都很有趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 constellation   

n.星座n.灿烂的一群

参考例句：

• A constellation is a pattern of stars as seen from the earth. 一个星座只是从地球上看到的某些恒星的一种样子。
• The Big Dipper is not by itself a constellation. 北斗七星本身不是一个星座。

5 astronomers   

n.天文学者，天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Astronomers can accurately foretell the date,time,and length of future eclipses. 天文学家能精确地预告未来日食月食的日期、时刻和时长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Astronomers used to ask why only Saturn has rings. 天文学家们过去一直感到奇怪，为什么只有土星有光环。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

7 distinctive   

adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
• This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。

8 patchwork   

n.混杂物；拼缝物

参考例句：

• That proposal is nothing else other than a patchwork.那个建议只是一个大杂烩而已。
• She patched new cloth to the old coat,so It'seemed mere patchwork. 她把新布初到那件旧上衣上，所以那件衣服看上去就象拼凑起来的东西。

9 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。