纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 045阿拉伯青铜手(6)（在线收听）

Both frankincense and myrrh were very expensive. A pound of frankincense cost the equivalent of a Roman labourer's salary for a month, and a pound of myrrh twice as much. So when the magi bring frankincense and myrrh to the infant Jesus, they're bringing not only gifts fit for a god - they're also as valuable as their other gift, gold.

乳香和没药都十分昂贵。一磅乳香的价格等同于一个罗马劳工一个月的工钱，而一磅没药的价钱是它的两倍。因此，当东方三贤将乳香和没药带给刚出生的耶稣时，他们送上的不仅是合适的敬神之物，而且价值也像他们另外送上的黄金一样珍贵。

We've got no contemporary written sources, but this hand, other pieces of bronze sculpture of similar quality, and the ancient industrial slag recently discovered in south Arabia, show that Yemen was then a major centre of bronze production. Wahab Ta'lab's hand is clearly the product of skilled metal-workers. If you look at it carefully you can see that it's been cast using the lost wax technique, and very beautifully finished at the wrist. So our bronze hand is definitely a complete object, not a fragment broken off from a larger sculpture.

除了铜手上这种简短晦涩的铭文之外，古代也门没有给我们留下任何书面文献。但众多质盘相当的青铜工艺品以及最近在阿拉伯南部发现的古代工业矿渣堆，证明当时的也门也是一个青铜制造中心。瓦哈·塔拉布的手一定是工艺娴熟的金属加工匠的作品。仔细观察，你会发现它曾使用了脱蜡工艺，且腕部有精细打磨的痕迹，证明它并非某件大型工艺品的一部分，而是一件完整的作品。

Offering replica body parts to the gods is by no means peculiar to Arabia. You find them in Greek temples, in medieval pilgrim shrines and in many modern Roman Catholic churches - used to ask a god or a saint for bodily healing or as a thank-you for recovery. So perhaps Wahab Ta'lab wanted his broken finger healed, although the inscription suggests that it was a broader prayer, for general good health.

向神灵敬献自己身体某一部分的复制品并非阿拉伯人独有的做法。在希腊神庙、中世纪神坛以及现代罗马天主教堂里都能看到类似的供品, 用于向神或圣人祈求病体康复，或用于康复后的还愿。

Wahab Ta'lab's hand speaks to us from a religious world that was dominated by local gods, who looked after particular places and peoples. But it was a world that wasn't going to last.

瓦拉·塔拉布献上自己的手时，他们的信仰世界还处于本土神庇佑一方子民的时代。但这样的时代很快便要终结了。