This recent grad may go from Princeton to primetime after writing his senior thesis as the first of a 12-episode TV series.
《居魯士的教育(》 Cyropaedia);《遠征記》( Anabasis );《波斯帝國史》
已故美國波斯古代史權威學者奧姆斯特德教授的畢生心血結晶『波斯帝國史』,死前還未完全定稿,是學生與子女繼續整理完畢才出版的.
可是,我驚訝的看到,他能引用古代石刻不一樣史料,並多處指出希臘歷史之父希羅多德著作中的虛構與謬誤.
同樣的,伊朗史,不同的立場學者,也出現不一樣的寫法.所以,史家的著作是否存活後代,也同樣受考驗.
可是,我驚訝的看到,他能引用古代石刻不一樣史料,並多處指出希臘歷史之父希羅多德著作中的虛構與謬誤.
同樣的,伊朗史,不同的立場學者,也出現不一樣的寫法.所以,史家的著作是否存活後代,也同樣受考驗.
《長征記》的題材應該很適合以流浪漢和無賴為題材的故事,或是模仿英雄氣概的故事:經過偽裝的一萬名希臘傭兵受僱於波斯王子小居魯士(Cyrus the Younger),長征至小亞細亞的內陸,其真正目的是要驅逐居魯士的哥哥,阿爾泰薛西斯二世(Artaxerxes II);不過他們在克納科薩(Cunaxa)的戰場被擊敗了,如今他們群龍無首,而且離鄉背井,必須在充滿敵意的人當中,找到歸鄉的路。他們只想歸鄉,可 是他們所做的一切都造成了公共威脅:他們一共是一萬人,全身武裝,可是卻缺乏糧食,所以他們像是蝗蟲過境般地肆虐、摧毀所到之處,並且擄走大批婦女。
現在要列出所謂各行(包括經營管理)的百本書,並非難事。許多名家出書量近數十本。如果加上我們談過的「從經典學 MBA」等等,更是汗牛充棟。
我舉個有趣的例, Peter Drucker 曾說過,他認為領導學的最佳「教科書」,莫過於古希臘色諾分著的「歷史小說」『居魯士的教育』( Cyropaedia)。
( hc讀過摘要本;台大等有英文本)不過,我懷疑果真如此。這意見也可見之於名歷史學者吉朋,他說『居魯士的教育』既含糊又萎靡,倒不如讀色諾分另本『遠征記』( Anabasis ,這本書我門介紹過),既詳實又生動。他認為,這就是小說描寫與事實之間的「永恆的差別」。
The Cyrus Cylinder is one of the most famous objects to have survived from the ancient world. It was inscribed in Babylonian cuneiform on the orders of Persian King Cyrus the Great after he captured Babylon in 539 BC. Introduced by former Director of the British Museum Neil MacGregor, discover the story of this incredible object and its enduring legacy in this video.
這影片告訴我們Cyropaedia 對於Jefferson 與美國建國有大影響。
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Lost for centuries, the royal capital of the Achaemenid Empire was finally confirmed by Ernst Herzfeld
SMITHSONIAN.COM
Alexander the Great rode into the city of Pasargadae with his most elite cavalry in their bronze, muscle-sculpted body armor, carrying long spears. Some of his infantry and archers followed. The small city, in what is today Iran, was lush and green. Alexander had recently conquered India. Greece, Macedonia, Asia Minor and parts of Egypt were all part of his new empire. The people of Pasargadae likely expected the worst—when the world's most dangerous cavalry shows up on your street, you are probably going to have a bad day. But he hadn't come to fight (the city was already his).
The world's most powerful ruler had come to pay tribute to someone else.
The young conqueror was looking for a tomb containing the remains of Cyrus the Great. But it had recently been ransacked (probably for political reasons). Alexander the Great was furious. An investigation was launched, trials were held.
Alexander ordered the tomb's contents replaced and restored. According to one Greek historian, this included “a great divan with feet of hammered gold, spread with covers of some thick, brightly colored material, with a Babylonian rug on top. Tunics and a Median jacket of Babylonian workmanship were laid out on the divan, and Median trousers, various robes dyed in amethyst, purple, and many other colors, necklaces, scimitars, and inlaid earrings of gold and precious stones. A table stood by it, and in the middle of it lay the coffin which held Cyrus' body.”
Cyrus had been dead for about two hundred years. Alexander idolized him. In the year 559 BCE, Cyrus ordered the construction of Pasargadae.
This city became the first capital of the Achaemenid empire that Cyrus built. “It was the super power of its day,” says Massumeh Farhad, chief curator of the Smithsonian's Freer and Sackler Galleries of Art. “This is the first super power ever. It was Cyrus who captured Babylon. His empire reached from what is now Afghanistan, included much of Egypt and went as far as the Mediterranean.”
Cyrus' Persian-dominated empire would come to serve as both inspiration and eventual rival to Alexander. Cyrus created a template for not only military conquest but also the political infrastructure to manage and maintain an empire. A postal system, roads, taxation and irrigation systems; all begun years before the Roman Republic even existed.
Pasargadae was the capital of an empire known as well for its mercy and relatively liberal government as for its ability to invade and dominate. Cyrus made a point of allowing freedom of religion, language and culture within his empire.
Both the Christian and Jewish bibles laud him for issuing the Edict of Restoration. After years during which many Jews were kept as captives in Babylon, Cyrus captured Babylon, gave them their freedom and allowed them to return home. For this act, he is the only non-Jew in Jewish scripture who is referred to as 'messiah' or 'His anointed one' (Cyrus is presumed by many scholars to have been a Zoroastrian but it isn't clear that he followed any particular religion).
Yet somehow, both the city and the tomb were essentially misplaced. The buildings and gardens fell into disrepair and crumbled. The mausoleum remained standing but locals eventually became confused about who was buried in it. “The tomb was known as that of the mother of Solomon,” says Farhad.
“It's one of the most iconic buildings of the ancient world. But its function was forgotten.”
By the early 20th century, nobody was sure exactly where Cyrus had been buried and it wasn't clear where the former capital of his empire was.
Thousands of years after Alexander paid his respects, Pasargadae was visited by another foreign adventurer looking for the same tomb as Alexander.
This time it was a German rather than a Macedonian. Ernst Herzfeld arrived in 1928 to begin mapping and photographing the city. He was the world's first professor of middle east archeaology. Herzfeld determined that the tomb was that of Cyrus, who had become a historical icon and a part of Iran's national identity.
Modern archeology was still a new replacement for the haphazard looting that had passed for exploration before. Herzfeld was meticulous, scientific and careful. He soon produced maps of the site that showed how Pasargadae had been more than just an administrative capital. It was a miracle of design. Herzfeld's journals, photographs and other materials are now found in the collections of Smithsonian's Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, where an exhibition of his drawings, notes and photographs is now on view.
“It was an effort to create a palace city with gardens,” says Farhad. “The gardens play a critical role. The buildings were built around these gardens. There were pavilions... But they had integrated the landscape into the architecture, which was a novel and new idea. That's why the plans for Pasargadae are so important. It was a type of palace that didn't exist before.”
“He was right in the middle of empire building,” says David Hogge, head of the Freer and Sackler Archives. “But the architecture that is there very much indicates the international character of the empire; Persian, Greek and even Egyptian elements in the architecture.”
Pasargadae was never a huge city, even by the standards of the time it was founded. But it was Cyrus' personal vision and probably a very pleasant place to visit. “There was a complex system of irrigation canals which Herzfeld discovered,” Hogge says. “It really was very novel when it was built.” The gardens may have contained almond, pomegranate and cherry trees. Clover, roses and poppies probably flowered. It would have been a fragrant place (the Persians also happened to be the first people known to use perfume).
Herzfeld methodically probed for the outlines of foundations and canals. He sketched reconstructions of shattered statues. And in his drawings and maps he brought Cyrus' city back to life for us, just a little bit. “He really made the foundation,” says Farhad. “You cannot do any research on the ancient world without going back to his work. He's not as well known as he should be.”
After Cyrus' death in 530 BCE, the empire's capital was moved to the nearby city of Persepolis (which was also probably founded by Cyrus). Some of the buildings that were still under construction at the time of his passing were never completed. The region gradually became less politically important. “What happened, clearly it was no longer the center of the empire,” says Farhad, “and then with the coming of Islam, the center of importance sort of shifted. . . Persepolis and Pasargadae represented the pre-Islamic period.”
In spite of his pre-war international archeological expeditions, Herzfeld was no Indiana Jones. He was known for being dry, down-to-Earth and serious (although he did travel to Iran with a pet boar named Bulbul). He was also Jewish. In 1935 he lost his support from the German government. The rise of the Nazi party forced him to seek employment and backing elsewhere. Ironically, the Jewish man who discovered the tomb of the emperor responsible for the Edict of Restoration was himself forced away from his home because of his religion.
Herzfeld ended up in the United States teaching at Princeton at the same time as Albert Einstein. He died in Switzerland in 1948 at the age of 68. Cyrus may have lived to be as old as 70 (his exact birth date is unclear) and is thought to have died in battle.
By the time Herzfeld found his tomb, it had been looted again and Cyrus' bones were gone.
Alexander's empire exceeded that of his hero but he died of a sudden illness believed by some to be the result of poisoning. He was only 32. Modern archaeologists are still searching for his tomb.
“Heart of an Empire: Herzfeld’s Discovery of Pasargadae” is on view at the Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington, D.C. through July 31, 2016.
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