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还记得周杰伦的《爱在西元前》吗？每次听到这首歌，感觉时间好像一下子跨越了几千年，把人带到一片遥远而神秘的地方——美索不达米亚。这片深埋在时间流沙的地方曾经孕育出人类最早的文明之一。那么美索不达米亚在哪里？其文明又给世人留下了什么？片言只语当然无法说清几千年的历史，但本文从宏观角度为我们描绘了美索不达米亚文明的概况，对古文明感兴趣的同学不妨多听几遍。
It is known as the “cradle of civilization.” Beneath the desert of modern Iraq, in the greatest depths of history, the civilizations of Mesopotamia developed
between the Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers. Much of what we know has come from the painstaking[艰苦的] excavations of ruined cities and intensive translations of clay tablets[碑，匾]. Archaeologists have found traces of early agriculture in the north that date back 9,000 years.
But recorded history begins further
south with a group known as the
Sumerians注1. Around 5,000 BC, people settled into an agricultural lifestyle in the fertile alluvial[冲积的] plain fed by the Tigris and Euphrates. In a land of little rainfall, Mesopotamians built dikes[堤防], created canals and channels to capture the life-giving floodwaters. These irrigation[灌溉]
systems ensured bountiful[丰富的] harvests every year. What
developed were the world’s first string of cities with names like Ur and Eridu. Crop surpluses[剩余] allowed the population to
expand and its society to flourish[繁荣]. Towns of brick were built with the temple at their centre. The temple grounds housed many functions of daily life. There, one could find grain stores, a treasury[金库，国库] and quarters[聚居地] for priests, officials,
entertainers and craftsmen. Above it all rose the Ziggurat注2, a holy tower with a spiraling[螺旋形的] ramp[斜坡].
Kings were revered[尊敬] as representatives[代表] of the Gods on Earth. From this model, towns evolved into city-states and even empires. As society became more complex, people needed tools for recording the trade of animals and food.
Using tablets made of raw clay, early Mesopotamians
developed Cuneiform[楔形文字], the first written language. By pressing wedge[楔]-shaped forms into the soft wet material, they kept transaction records of commodities[商品] like sheep and grain. It spread to other uses and scribes[抄写员] recorded the first major literary work known to western civilization, The Epic of Gilgamesh注3, following the story of King Gilgamesh, who embarks on[从事] a quest for immortality[永生] but ultimately fails.
Perhaps the best known of Mesopotamia’s civilizations was Babylon. During the second millennia注4 BC, it rose from a provincial capital to become the centre of a kingdom that encompassed[包围] southern Iraq and beyond. Its hanging gardens注5 were famous throughout the western world as an ancient wonder and its King, Hammurabi注6, left his mark with a collection of laws. Hammurabi’s Code, as it’s known today, defined private property as well as legal decisions for crimes, family disputes and commerce.
Although it was eventually lost to the sands of time,
Mesopotamia left a legacy of law, literature and engineering for modern civilizations to build on.
这里被称为“文明的摇篮”。在现今伊拉克的沙漠之下，在历史最深远的地方，美索不达米亚文明在底格里斯河与幼发拉底河之间孕育。关于这个文明，我们的大多数知识都来自对荒城的艰苦挖掘和黏土碑文的深入翻译。考古学家已在北部发现早期农业的痕迹，其历史可追溯到九千年前。
而有记载的历史则始于更南方的一族——苏美尔人。公元前5000年左右，在底格里斯河与幼发拉底河孕育的这片肥沃的冲积平原上，人们以农耕的生活方式安家落户。这片土地常年少雨，美索不达米亚人筑堤修渠以贮存犹如生命之源的洪水。这些灌溉系统确保了每年的丰收，这里随之出现了世界上最早的一批城市，如乌尔和埃利都。充足的粮食使人口得以增加，社会也越趋繁荣。在众多砖制城镇的中心建有寺庙。寺庙一带具有许多日常生活的功能。在那里，你可以找到粮店和国库，还有祭司、官员、艺人和工匠的居住区。在这中间是拔地而起的“庙塔”——一座有螺旋坡道的圣塔。
国王都被尊为众神在人间的代表。依据此模式，市镇逐步发展为城邦，甚至帝国。随着社会日趋复杂，人们需要记录动物和食品交易的工具。于是美索不达米亚人利用生黏土板发明了楔形文字——第一种书写文字。通过把楔状的形象压入湿软的材料，人们保留下诸如绵羊和谷物等商品的交易记录。此后楔形文字也被运用于其它方面，抄写员记载下了第一部为西方熟知的文学著作——《吉尔伽美什史诗》。这部史诗讲述了追求永生、但最终失败的国王吉尔伽美什的故事。
也许，美索不达米亚文明最为人所知的还是巴比伦。公元前二千年期间，巴比伦从一个省会城市跃身成为一个疆土跨越今天伊朗南部甚至更远处的王国的中心。它的空中花园是闻名于西方的古代奇迹，其国王汉谟拉比则以一套律法给世人留下了印记。今天人们所知的汉谟拉比法典给私人财产下了定义，同时也对犯罪、家庭纠纷和商业矛盾作出法律裁决。
虽然美索不达米亚最终失落于时间的沙海中，但它还是为我们留下了法律、文学和工程学的丰厚遗产，为现代文明奠定根基。
注1：苏美尔人是历史上两河流域早期的定居民族，他们所建立的苏美尔文明是整个美索不达米亚文明中最早，同时也是目前所知的世界上最早产生的文明。
注2：为了供奉神，苏美尔人建造了许多神庙。主神庙往往建在城市最重要的地方，是城市的中心。这些大神庙往往高达数层，地基宽广，上面建筑层层缩小，呈现出塔的形状，因此叫做塔庙。
注3：古代两河流域的文学创作十分丰富，其中最著名的是《吉尔伽美什史诗》。它是人类历史上的第一部史诗，早在四千多年前就已在苏美尔人中流传，经过千百年的加工提炼，终于在古巴比伦王国时期（公元前19世纪-前16世纪）用文字形式固定下来，成为一部巨著。
注4：口误，应为millennium（millennia的复数形式）。
注5：详见CE:Teens 06年11月号“探索区”。
注6：古巴比伦王国第六代国王汉谟拉比（公元前1792-1750年在位）因统一两河流域与颁行法典的历史活动而著称。他所颁布的法典《汉谟拉比法典》（The Code of Hammurabi）是迄今所知古代第一部最完备的成文法。现在我们看到的汉谟拉比法典刻在一块黑色玄武岩石柱上，是1901年由法国考古学家戴摩根在伊朗古城苏萨发现的，现存巴黎卢浮宫博物馆。
还记得周杰伦的《爱在西元前》吗？每次听到这首歌，感觉时间好像一下子跨越了几千年，把人带到一片遥远而神秘的地方——美索不达米亚。这片深埋在时间流沙的地方曾经孕育出人类最早的文明之一。那么美索不达米亚在哪里？其文明又给世人留下了什么？片言只语当然无法说清几千年的历史，但本文从宏观角度为我们描绘了美索不达米亚文明的概况，对古文明感兴趣的同学不妨多听几遍。
It is known as the “cradle of civilization.” Beneath the desert of modern Iraq, in the greatest depths of history, the civilizations of Mesopotamia developed
between the Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers. Much of what we know has come from the painstaking[艰苦的] excavations of ruined cities and intensive translations of clay tablets[碑，匾]. Archaeologists have found traces of early agriculture in the north that date back 9,000 years.
But recorded history begins further
south with a group known as the
Sumerians注1. Around 5,000 BC, people settled into an agricultural lifestyle in the fertile alluvial[冲积的] plain fed by the Tigris and Euphrates. In a land of little rainfall, Mesopotamians built dikes[堤防], created canals and channels to capture the life-giving floodwaters. These irrigation[灌溉]
systems ensured bountiful[丰富的] harvests every year. What
developed were the world’s first string of cities with names like Ur and Eridu. Crop surpluses[剩余] allowed the population to
expand and its society to flourish[繁荣]. Towns of brick were built with the temple at their centre. The temple grounds housed many functions of daily life. There, one could find grain stores, a treasury[金库，国库] and quarters[聚居地] for priests, officials,
entertainers and craftsmen. Above it all rose the Ziggurat注2, a holy tower with a spiraling[螺旋形的] ramp[斜坡].
Kings were revered[尊敬] as representatives[代表] of the Gods on Earth. From this model, towns evolved into city-states and even empires. As society became more complex, people needed tools for recording the trade of animals and food.
Using tablets made of raw clay, early Mesopotamians
developed Cuneiform[楔形文字], the first written language. By pressing wedge[楔]-shaped forms into the soft wet material, they kept transaction records of commodities[商品] like sheep and grain. It spread to other uses and scribes[抄写员] recorded the first major literary work known to western civilization, The Epic of Gilgamesh注3, following the story of King Gilgamesh, who embarks on[从事] a quest for immortality[永生] but ultimately fails.
Perhaps the best known of Mesopotamia’s civilizations was Babylon. During the second millennia注4 BC, it rose from a provincial capital to become the centre of a kingdom that encompassed[包围] southern Iraq and beyond. Its hanging gardens注5 were famous throughout the western world as an ancient wonder and its King, Hammurabi注6, left his mark with a collection of laws. Hammurabi’s Code, as it’s known today, defined private property as well as legal decisions for crimes, family disputes and commerce.
Although it was eventually lost to the sands of time,
Mesopotamia left a legacy of law, literature and engineering for modern civilizations to build on.
这里被称为“文明的摇篮”。在现今伊拉克的沙漠之下，在历史最深远的地方，美索不达米亚文明在底格里斯河与幼发拉底河之间孕育。关于这个文明，我们的大多数知识都来自对荒城的艰苦挖掘和黏土碑文的深入翻译。考古学家已在北部发现早期农业的痕迹，其历史可追溯到九千年前。
而有记载的历史则始于更南方的一族——苏美尔人。公元前5000年左右，在底格里斯河与幼发拉底河孕育的这片肥沃的冲积平原上，人们以农耕的生活方式安家落户。这片土地常年少雨，美索不达米亚人筑堤修渠以贮存犹如生命之源的洪水。这些灌溉系统确保了每年的丰收，这里随之出现了世界上最早的一批城市，如乌尔和埃利都。充足的粮食使人口得以增加，社会也越趋繁荣。在众多砖制城镇的中心建有寺庙。寺庙一带具有许多日常生活的功能。在那里，你可以找到粮店和国库，还有祭司、官员、艺人和工匠的居住区。在这中间是拔地而起的“庙塔”——一座有螺旋坡道的圣塔。
国王都被尊为众神在人间的代表。依据此模式，市镇逐步发展为城邦，甚至帝国。随着社会日趋复杂，人们需要记录动物和食品交易的工具。于是美索不达米亚人利用生黏土板发明了楔形文字——第一种书写文字。通过把楔状的形象压入湿软的材料，人们保留下诸如绵羊和谷物等商品的交易记录。此后楔形文字也被运用于其它方面，抄写员记载下了第一部为西方熟知的文学著作——《吉尔伽美什史诗》。这部史诗讲述了追求永生、但最终失败的国王吉尔伽美什的故事。
也许，美索不达米亚文明最为人所知的还是巴比伦。公元前二千年期间，巴比伦从一个省会城市跃身成为一个疆土跨越今天伊朗南部甚至更远处的王国的中心。它的空中花园是闻名于西方的古代奇迹，其国王汉谟拉比则以一套律法给世人留下了印记。今天人们所知的汉谟拉比法典给私人财产下了定义，同时也对犯罪、家庭纠纷和商业矛盾作出法律裁决。
虽然美索不达米亚最终失落于时间的沙海中，但它还是为我们留下了法律、文学和工程学的丰厚遗产，为现代文明奠定根基。
注1：苏美尔人是历史上两河流域早期的定居民族，他们所建立的苏美尔文明是整个美索不达米亚文明中最早，同时也是目前所知的世界上最早产生的文明。
注2：为了供奉神，苏美尔人建造了许多神庙。主神庙往往建在城市最重要的地方，是城市的中心。这些大神庙往往高达数层，地基宽广，上面建筑层层缩小，呈现出塔的形状，因此叫做塔庙。
注3：古代两河流域的文学创作十分丰富，其中最著名的是《吉尔伽美什史诗》。它是人类历史上的第一部史诗，早在四千多年前就已在苏美尔人中流传，经过千百年的加工提炼，终于在古巴比伦王国时期（公元前19世纪-前16世纪）用文字形式固定下来，成为一部巨著。
注4：口误，应为millennium（millennia的复数形式）。
注5：详见CE:Teens 06年11月号“探索区”。
注6：古巴比伦王国第六代国王汉谟拉比（公元前1792-1750年在位）因统一两河流域与颁行法典的历史活动而著称。他所颁布的法典《汉谟拉比法典》（The Code of Hammurabi）是迄今所知古代第一部最完备的成文法。现在我们看到的汉谟拉比法典刻在一块黑色玄武岩石柱上，是1901年由法国考古学家戴摩根在伊朗古城苏萨发现的，现存巴黎卢浮宫博物馆。