Alexios Komnenos, Byzantine emperor, led his army to meet the Scythian hordes in battle. For good luck, he carried one of the holiest relics in Christendom: the veil that had belonged to the Virgin Mary. Unfortunately, it didn’t help. Not only was his army defeated, but as they fled, the Emperor was stabbed in the buttocks. To make matters worse, a strong wind made the relic too heavy to carry, so he stashed it in some bushes as he escaped. But even as he fled, he managed to slay some Scythians and rescue a few comrades.
拜占庭皇帝阿歷克塞一世, 領導他的軍隊在戰役中 迎戰一群塞西亞人。 為了帶來好運,他會帶著 基督教界最神聖的聖物之一: 曾經屬於聖母瑪利亞的面紗。 不幸的是,它沒有幫上忙。 不但他的軍隊被擊敗, 在逃亡時, 這位皇帝的屁股還被刺傷。 更糟的是,一陣強風 讓這聖物變得太重無法攜帶, 所以他在逃亡過程中把它 藏暱在樹叢中。 但即使他是在逃, 他仍然殺死了一些塞西亞人, 並拯救了幾個夥伴。
At least, this is how Alexios' daughter Anna recounted the story, writing nearly 60 years later. She spent the last decade of her long life creating a 500-page history of her father’s reign called The Alexiad. Written in Greek, the book was modeled after ancient Greek epics and historical writings. But Anna had a different, trickier task than the writers in these traditions: as a princess writing about her own family, she had to balance her loyalty to her kin with her obligation to portray events accurately, navigating issues like Alexios’s embarrassing stab to the buttocks. A lifetime of study and participation in her father’s government prepared Anna for this undertaking.
至少,阿歷克塞的女兒安娜 在近六十年後寫下這個故事時 是這樣講述的。 她長壽人生中的最後十年, 她寫了一本五百頁的書,叫做 《阿歷克塞傳》, 內容是她父親統治的歷史。 這本書是用希臘文寫的, 並以古希臘史詩 和歷史文學作品當作典範。 但安娜和這些傳統的作家不同, 她有個更棘手的任務: 身為一名為自己的家人 撰寫歷史的公主, 她得要在對家族的忠誠 和她精確描述事件的義務 之間找到平衡, 引導各種議題,像是阿歷克塞 屁股被刺傷的難堪事件。 安娜一生都在研究 和參與她父親的治理, 讓她準備好可以來寫這本書。
Anna was born in 1083, shortly after her father seized control of the Roman Empire following a decade of brutal civil wars and revolts. The empire was deep in decline when he came to power, and threatened from all sides: by the Seljuk Turks in the East, the Normans in the West, and Scythian raiders to the north. Over the course of Anna’s childhood and adolescence, Alexios fought constant military campaigns to secure the frontiers of his empire, even striking up an uneasy alliance with the Crusaders.
安娜生於 1083 年, 她出生前不久,她父親才剛 取得羅馬帝國的控制權, 在這之前則是長達十年的 殘酷內戰以及叛亂。 他掌權時,帝國正在嚴重衰敗中, 且受到各方威脅: 東邊有塞爾柱帝國, 西邊有諾曼第人, 北邊有塞西亞的掠奪者。 在安娜的童年和青少女時期, 阿歷克塞常常會發動軍事戰役 來確保他的帝國的邊界安全, 甚至和十字軍結盟, 這是件很不容易的事。 同時,在君士坦丁堡,
Meanwhile in Constantinople, Anna fought her own battle. She was expected to study subjects considered proper for a Byzantine princess, like courtly etiquette and the Bible, but preferred classical myth and philosophy. To access this material, she had to learn to read and speak Ancient Greek, by studying secretly at night. Eventually her parents realized how serious she was, and provided her with tutors. Anna expanded her studies to classical literature, rhetoric, history, philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, and medicine. One scholar even complained that her constant requests for more Aristotle commentaries were wearing out his eyes.
安娜也有自己的仗要打。 她被期望要去學習 拜占庭公主應該要學習的科目, 比如宮廷禮儀和聖經, 但她偏愛的是古典神話和哲學。 為了使用這些素材, 她得要學習讀和說古希臘文, 做法是在晚上偷偷學習。 最終,她的父母 了解到她有多認真, 而提供她私人教師。 安娜將她的學習領域 擴展到古典文學、修辭學、 歷史、哲學、數學、 天文學,和醫學。 甚至有一位學者抱怨 她經常要求更多亞里斯多德評論, 都快把他搞瞎了。 安娜在十五歲時,嫁給了 尼基弗魯斯布林尼烏斯,
At age fifteen, Anna married Nikephoros Bryennios to quell old conflicts between their families and strengthen Alexios’s reign. Fortunately, Anna and Nikephoros ended up sharing many intellectual interests, hosting and debating the leading scholars of the day. Meanwhile, Alexios’s military excursions began to pay off, restoring many of the empire’s former territories. As her father aged, Anna and her husband helped her parents with their imperial duties. During this time, Anna reportedly advocated for just treatment of the people in their disputes with the government.
以平息她的家人 和強化阿歷克塞統治之間 存在已久的衝突。 幸運的是,安娜和尼基弗魯斯 有很多共同的知識興趣, 他們會招待當時的 重要學者並與他們辯論。 同時,阿歷克塞的軍隊旅行 開始有成果, 恢復了許多以前屬於帝國的領土。 當安娜的父親年邁, 她和她先生協助她的父母 處理帝國的事務。 據說在這段時間,安娜支持 在人民和政府有爭執時, 給予人民公正的待遇。
After Alexios’s death, Anna’s brother John ascended to the throne and Anna turned back to philosophy and scholarship. Her husband had written a history arguing that his grandfather would have made a better emperor than Alexios, but Anna disagreed. She began working on the Alexiad, which made the case for her father's merits as emperor.
在阿歷克塞過世後, 安娜的弟弟約翰登上王位, 安娜則回去研究哲學和做學問。 她先生所寫的歷史中 指出他的祖父 本來可以成為 比阿歷克塞更好的皇帝, 但安娜不同意。 她開始寫《阿歷克塞傳》, 提出論據,說明她父親 身為皇帝的優點。 《阿歷克塞傳》時間 橫跨拜占庭歷史的
Spanning the late 11th and early 12th centuries of Byzantine history, the Alexiad recounts the tumultuous events of Alexios’s reign, and Anna’s own reactions to those events, like bursting into tears at the thought of the deaths of her parents and husband. She may have included these emotional passages in hopes that they would make her writing more palatable to a society that believed women shouldn't write about battles and empires. While her loyalty to her father was evident in her favorable account of his reign, she also included criticism and her opinions of events.
十一世紀末期和十二世紀初期, 記述了阿歷克塞 治理期間的混亂事件 以及安娜自己對那些事件的反應, 比如一想到她父母和先生的死亡, 就會大哭出來。 她在書中納入這些情緒性的段落, 可能是希望讓她的作品 能更符合當時社會的口味, 因為社會相信女性不應該 寫關於戰役和皇帝的內容。 她對她父親的忠誠很明顯呈現在 她對他的治理多是做好的描述, 但她也寫了些批評 和她對於事件的意見。 在安娜過世後的幾個世紀,
In the centuries after her death, Anna’s Alexiad was copied over and over, and remains an invaluable eyewitness account of Alexios’s reign today. And through her epic historical narrative, Anna Komnene secured her own place in history.
她的《阿歷克塞傳》一再被複製, 至今,都還是本無價的書, 對於阿歷克塞的統治 做了見證性的描述。 透過她史詩級的歷史敘事, 安娜科穆寧娜也在 歷史上穩固了她自己的地位。