The things we make have one supreme quality -- they live longer than us. We perish, they survive; we have one life, they have many lives, and in each life they can mean different things. Which means that, while we all have one biography, they have many.
我哋人類創造嘅事物有一個特點 就係佢哋壽命好長,甚至超越人類 就算人類滅亡,佢哋依然存在 我哋只有一條命 但佢哋卻能夠保存好多代 喺唔同嘅時代 佢哋代表嘅意義都唔一樣 就好似當一個人一世只會有一份傳記 但一件文物因為經歷好多世紀 都唔會只得一份傳記
I want this morning to talk about the story, the biography -- or rather the biographies -- of one particular object, one remarkable thing. It doesn't, I agree, look very much. It's about the size of a rugby ball. It's made of clay, and it's been fashioned into a cylinder shape, covered with close writing and then baked dry in the sun. And as you can see, it's been knocked about a bit, which is not surprising because it was made two and a half thousand years ago and was dug up in 1879. But today, this thing is, I believe, a major player in the politics of the Middle East. And it's an object with fascinating stories and stories that are by no means over yet.
我想今日主題係 一件物件嘅一份傳記 正確嚟講係一件物件嘅好幾份傳記 我所講嘅物件非常之奇特 我同意佢睇起嚟冇咩特別 大概就同一個橄欖球差唔多大 由陶土做成 倒模成為圓柱體 有人先喺上面刻滿密密麻麻嘅文字 之後放喺太陽底下曬乾 唔難發現佢有一部分受損 受損其實好正常 因為佢有 2,500 歲嘞 直到 1879 年先至被挖出來 我相信呢件嘢喺中東政局上 扮演咗好重要嘅角色 呢件文物承載咗好多膾炙人口嘅故事 而呢啲故事到而家仲未結束
The story begins in the Iran-Iraq war and that series of events that culminated in the invasion of Iraq by foreign forces, the removal of a despotic ruler and instant regime change. And I want to begin with one episode from that sequence of events that most of you would be very familiar with, Belshazzar's feast -- because we're talking about the Iran-Iraq war of 539 BC. And the parallels between the events of 539 BC and 2003 and in between are startling. What you're looking at is Rembrandt's painting, now in the National Gallery in London, illustrating the text from the prophet Daniel in the Hebrew scriptures. And you all know roughly the story.
故事係從兩伊戰爭嗰時開始嘅 亦係伊拉克被攻打、獨裁政權垮臺 政權改變嗰段時間開始嘅 我會從上述一連串嘅事件當中 揀一段講起 我諗大部分嘅人應該都好熟呢個故事 就係伯沙撒嘅盛宴 因為我哋要講嘅 係公元前 539 年嘅兩伊戰爭 公元前 539 年嘅兩伊戰爭 同公元 2003 年嘅兩伊戰爭 兩個戰爭嘅相似程度真係好令人意外 宜家你哋睇到嘅係 現存於倫敦國家美術館嘅林布藍作品 呢幅畫描述希伯來經文中 先知但以理嘅預言 呢個故事你哋或多或少都知道少少
Belshazzar, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar who'd conquered Israel, sacked Jerusalem and captured the people and taken the Jews back to Babylon. Not only the Jews, he'd taken the temple vessels. He'd ransacked, desecrated the temple. And the great gold vessels of the temple in Jerusalem had been taken to Babylon. Belshazzar, his son, decides to have a feast. And in order to make it even more exciting, he added a bit of sacrilege to the rest of the fun, and he brings out the temple vessels. He's already at war with the Iranians, with the king of Persia.
伯沙撒係尼布甲尼撒嘅仔 尼布甲尼撒征服咗以色列 再劫掠耶路撒冷 俘虜當地人民 將猶太人仲有神殿嘅神器帶返巴比倫 佢褻瀆神殿再搜刮神殿嘅寶物 耶路撒冷神殿嘅大型金屬容器 都被帶返巴比倫 尼布甲尼撒嘅仔伯沙撒 決定辦一場宴會 為咗要炒熱氣氛 佢將褻瀆神嘅行為加入餘興節目當中 佢攞出神器…… 當時佢正喺度同伊朗人打仗 同波斯王打仗
And that night, Daniel tells us, at the height of the festivities a hand appeared and wrote on the wall, "You are weighed in the balance and found wanting, and your kingdom is handed over to the Medes and the Persians." And that very night Cyrus, king of the Persians, entered Babylon and the whole regime of Belshazzar fell. It is, of course, a great moment in the history of the Jewish people. It's a great story. It's story we all know. "The writing on the wall" is part of our everyday language. What happened next was remarkable, and it's where our cylinder enters the story.
嗰晚,但以理話畀我哋聽 喺宴會嘅關鍵時刻出現咗一隻手 嗰隻手喺牆上寫︰ 「你被秤喺天秤上,秤出你虧欠人, 你嘅國要交畀瑪代人同波斯人。」 就喺嗰晚 波斯王居魯士出征巴比倫 就咁,伯沙撒嘅王國滅亡 當然對於希伯來人嚟講 呢段係非常重要嘅歷史 呢個故事唔單止犀利,仲家傳戶曉 英文「牆上嘅字」就係咁嚟 接落嚟發生嘅事十分精彩 就係同我哋剛才講嘅圓柱有關
Cyrus, king of the Persians, has entered Babylon without a fight -- the great empire of Babylon, which ran from central southern Iraq to the Mediterranean, falls to Cyrus. And Cyrus makes a declaration. And that is what this cylinder is, the declaration made by the ruler guided by God who had toppled the Iraqi despot and was going to bring freedom to the people. In ringing Babylonian -- it was written in Babylonian -- he says, "I am Cyrus, king of all the universe, the great king, the powerful king, king of Babylon, king of the four quarters of the world." They're not shy of hyperbole as you can see. This is probably the first real press release by a victorious army that we've got. And it's written, as we'll see in due course, by very skilled P.R. consultants. So the hyperbole is not actually surprising.
波斯王居魯士不費一兵一卒 就得到巴比倫 巴比倫王國 一路從伊拉克中南部到地中海 最後都落喺居魯士度 後來居魯士發表一項宣言 於是個宣言就刻喺個圓柱體上 所以圓柱嘅意義在︰ 上帝帶領統治者頒布宣言 叫佢推翻伊拉克暴君 令人民得享自由 為咗低訊息畀巴比倫人 居魯士喺圓柱上用巴比倫文寫 「朕乃居魯士、宇宙之王、 偉大之王、強盛之王、 巴比倫之王、世界之王。」 由此可見波斯人鐘意誇張講嘢 亦係歷史上第一份 由戰勝國發佈嘅新聞稿 稍後我哋就會知道 呢段內容係由技巧高超嘅公關寫出嚟嘅 所以誇張成咁都冇咩大不了
And what is the great king, the powerful king, the king of the four quarters of the world going to do? He goes on to say that, having conquered Babylon, he will at once let all the peoples that the Babylonians -- Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar -- have captured and enslaved go free. He'll let them return to their countries. And more important, he will let them all recover the gods, the statues, the temple vessels that had been confiscated. All the peoples that the Babylonians had repressed and removed will go home, and they'll take with them their gods. And they'll be able to restore their altars and to worship their gods in their own way, in their own place. This is the decree, this object is the evidence for the fact that the Jews, after the exile in Babylon, the years they'd spent sitting by the waters of Babylon, weeping when they remembered Jerusalem, those Jews were allowed to go home. They were allowed to return to Jerusalem and to rebuild the temple.
咁接落嚟 嗰個偉大之王、強盛之王、世界之王 要做咩呢? 佢接著又講,既然已經征服巴比倫 佢馬上要畀嗰啲 被巴比倫人俘嘅 尼布甲尼撒人同伯沙撒人 重獲自由同返返家鄉 但更重要嘅係 佢仲歸還咗曾被沒收嘅 神像、塑像以及神器 於是 所有被巴比倫人鎮壓、被趕走嘅人 都可以回家 都能夠帶埋佢哋嘅神返去 佢哋亦都可以重修祭壇 以佢哋嘅方式、喺屬於佢哋嘅地方 崇拜佢哋嘅神 所以呢件文物就係最好嘅證物 證明猶太人流亡到巴比倫之後 坐喺巴比倫水邊為耶路撒冷而啜泣 到最後重獲自由嘅嗰段歲月 佢哋得以返回耶路撒冷重建神殿
It's a central document in Jewish history. And the Book of Chronicles, the Book of Ezra in the Hebrew scriptures reported in ringing terms. This is the Jewish version of the same story. "Thus said Cyrus, king of Persia, 'All the kingdoms of the earth have the Lord God of heaven given thee, and he has charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem. Who is there among you of his people? The Lord God be with him, and let him go up.'" "Go up" -- aaleh. The central element, still, of the notion of return, a central part of the life of Judaism. As you all know, that return from exile, the second temple, reshaped Judaism. And that change, that great historic moment, was made possible by Cyrus, the king of Persia, reported for us in Hebrew in scripture and in Babylonian in clay.
呢段係猶太歷史中嘅核心文獻 喺希伯來經文中嘅《歷代志》 同《以斯拉記》之中 都有記載到同一件事 猶太版本裏面 波斯王居魯士話︰ 「耶和華天上嘅神 已將天下萬國賜畀我, 又囑咐我 喺猶大嘅耶路撒冷為佢建造殿宇。 你哋凡做佢子民嘅, 可以上去。 願你與耶和華同在。」 至於「上去」 即重返耶路撒冷,呢個想法 依然係猶太教文化嘅核心 相信大家都知 耶路撒冷嘅回歸,以至日後嘅第二神殿 都重塑咗猶太教 呢個改變係歷史上嘅重要一刻 亦係全靠波斯王居魯士實現 佢仲將件事寫喺希伯來文經文裏邊 同用巴比倫文寫喺陶器上
Two great texts, what about the politics? What was going on was the fundamental shift in Middle Eastern history. The empire of Iran, the Medes and the Persians, united under Cyrus, became the first great world empire. Cyrus begins in the 530s BC. And by the time of his son Darius, the whole of the eastern Mediterranean is under Persian control. This empire is, in fact, the Middle East as we now know it, and it's what shapes the Middle East as we now know it. It was the largest empire the world had known until then. Much more important, it was the first multicultural, multifaith state on a huge scale. And it had to be run in a quite new way. It had to be run in different languages. The fact that this decree is in Babylonian says one thing. And it had to recognize their different habits, different peoples, different religions, different faiths. All of those are respected by Cyrus.
所以兩份都係好優秀嘅文獻 咁政治方面又係點呢? 接落嚟發生嘅事 對中東歷史產生咗重大嘅轉變 居魯士統治伊朗帝國、瑪代人同波斯人 建立世上第一個大帝國 居魯士嘅霸業從西元前 530 年開始 及至佢個仔大流士時 整個地中海東部都納入咗波斯帝國版圖 事實上,呢個帝國 即係我哋宜家所知嘅中東 因為有呢個帝國,先至有宜家嘅中東 波斯帝國係當時世界上最大嘅帝國 更重要嘅係 佢係第一個大規模出現多元文化 同多元信仰嘅國家 所以佢必須以新嘅方式治理 必須以各種語言運作 巴比倫語版本嘅政令就證明真有此事 波斯帝國必須包容國內 唔同嘅習俗、種族、宗教、信仰 居魯士不單尊重呢啲差異
Cyrus sets up a model of how you run a great multinational, multifaith, multicultural society. And the result of that was an empire that included the areas you see on the screen, and which survived for 200 years of stability until it was shattered by Alexander. It left a dream of the Middle East as a unit, and a unit where people of different faiths could live together. The Greek invasions ended that. And of course, Alexander couldn't sustain a government and it fragmented. But what Cyrus represented remained absolutely central.
居魯士仲樹立咗典範 教我哋點樣治理 一個蘊含多元種族、信仰同文化嘅社會 結果就係 佢建立咗一個橫跨好多地方嘅大帝國 就好似螢幕見到一樣 呢個帝國維持咗 200 年咁耐 直到亞歷山大出現為止 波斯帝國為統一中東埋下伏筆 雖則統一,但唔同信仰嘅人都可以共融 但係希臘人入侵令統一夢落空 因為亞歷山大無力維持政權 令呢個帝國隨後四分五裂 但居魯士所代表嘅仍然係文化核心
The Greek historian Xenophon wrote his book "Cyropaedia" promoting Cyrus as the great ruler. And throughout European culture afterward, Cyrus remained the model. This is a 16th century image to show you how widespread his veneration actually was. And Xenophon's book on Cyrus on how you ran a diverse society was one of the great textbooks that inspired the Founding Fathers of the American Revolution. Jefferson was a great admirer -- the ideals of Cyrus obviously speaking to those 18th century ideals of how you create religious tolerance in a new state.
喺希臘史學家色諾芬所寫嘅書 《居魯士嘅教育》 佢推崇居魯士係偉大嘅統治者 及至喺日後歐洲文化裏面 居魯士仍然係一個不朽嘅典範 呢幅係 16 世紀時嘅圖畫 用嚟證明啲人推崇居魯士到有幾交關 色諾芬喺書中描述 居魯士點樣治理一個多元嘅社會 而呢本書非常之偉大 因為佢啟發咗發起美國獨立戰爭嘅人 傑佛遜就係其中一位仰慕居魯士嘅人 居魯士示範咗 要點樣喺 18 世紀嘅新國家當中 創造寬容嘅宗教氛圍
Meanwhile, back in Babylon, things had not been going well. After Alexander, the other empires, Babylon declines, falls into ruins, and all the traces of the great Babylonian empire are lost -- until 1879 when the cylinder is discovered by a British Museum exhibition digging in Babylon. And it enters now another story. It enters that great debate in the middle of the 19th century: Are the scriptures reliable? Can we trust them? We only knew about the return of the Jews and the decree of Cyrus from the Hebrew scriptures. No other evidence. Suddenly, this appeared. And great excitement to a world where those who believed in the scriptures had had their faith in creation shaken by evolution, by geology, here was evidence that the scriptures were historically true. It's a great 19th century moment.
宜家我哋返到巴比倫 但嗰度嘅情況似乎唔太樂觀 喺亞歷山大之後 巴比倫日漸衰落 所有證明巴比倫曾經強盛嘅證據 都消失匿跡 直到 1879 年 大英博物館嘅人員 喺巴比倫挖出嘅呢個圓柱 宜家又喺另一個故事嘞 19 世紀中葉時 曾經有一場大規模嘅辯論 就係「經文真係可信嗎? 我哋應該信經文嗎?」 喺希伯來經文裏邊 我哋只能瞭解到 猶太人嘅回歸同居魯士嘅法令 當我哋搵唔到其他證據時 進化論同地質學卻開始冒起 震驚當時相信經文同創世紀嘅人 但有證據指經文內容係真嘅 所以呢個係 19 世紀嘅偉大時刻
But -- and this, of course, is where it becomes complicated -- the facts were true, hurrah for archeology, but the interpretation was rather more complicated. Because the cylinder account and the Hebrew Bible account differ in one key respect. The Babylonian cylinder is written by the priests of the great god of Bablyon, Marduk. And, not surprisingly, they tell you that all this was done by Marduk. "Marduk, we hold, called Cyrus by his name." Marduk takes Cyrus by the hand, calls him to shepherd his people and gives him the rule of Babylon. Marduk tells Cyrus that he will do these great, generous things of setting the people free. And this is why we should all be grateful to and worship Marduk.
但從此以後,事情越嚟越複雜 要點樣去詮釋經文,係更加困難嘅課題 因為圓柱所陳述嘅 同希伯來經文中陳述嘅 有一個主要嘅差異 圓柱體上嘅巴比倫語 係由信奉巴比倫之神 馬爾杜克嘅祭司所寫嘅 可想而知 佢哋會講︰ 「呢一切都係馬爾杜克嘅神蹟, 我哋所信奉嘅神馬爾杜克召喚居魯士。 馬爾杜克拉著居魯士嘅手, 命佢帶領佢嘅子民, 並授予佢統治巴比倫嘅權力。 馬爾杜克同居魯士講, 佢會釋放異族人民。 咁偉大而慷慨嘅壯舉 就係我哋要感激同崇拜 馬爾杜克嘅原因。」
The Hebrew writers in the Old Testament, you will not be surprised to learn, take a rather different view of this. For them, of course, it can't possibly by Marduk that made all this happen. It can only be Jehovah. And so in Isaiah, we have the wonderful texts giving all the credit of this, not to Marduk but to the Lord God of Israel -- the Lord God of Israel who also called Cyrus by name, also takes Cyrus by the hand and talks of him shepherding his people. It's a remarkable example of two different priestly appropriations of the same event, two different religious takeovers of a political fact.
而喺希伯來嘅舊約聖經 作者對呢件事有截然不同嘅睇法 但其實又冇咩好驚奇嘅 當然對佢哋嚟講 呢一切絕唔可能係馬爾杜克嘅功勞 因為只有係耶和華先做得到 以賽亞書寫話︰ 「功勞皆屬以色列嘅主, 而唔係馬爾杜克。 以色列嘅主同樣召喚咗居魯士, 同樣拉住居魯士嘅手, 同樣命佢管好佢嘅子民。」 呢個例子講明 同一件事可以有不同嘅宗教詮釋 或者同一件政治事件 可以有不同嘅宗教取態
God, we know, is usually on the side of the big battalions. The question is, which god was it? And the debate unsettles everybody in the 19th century to realize that the Hebrew scriptures are part of a much wider world of religion. And it's quite clear the cylinder is older than the text of Isaiah, and yet, Jehovah is speaking in words very similar to those used by Marduk. And there's a slight sense that Isaiah knows this, because he says, this is God speaking, of course, "I have called thee by thy name though thou hast not known me." I think it's recognized that Cyrus doesn't realize that he's acting under orders from Jehovah. And equally, he'd have been surprised that he was acting under orders from Marduk. Because interestingly, of course, Cyrus is a good Iranian with a totally different set of gods who are not mentioned in any of these texts.
我哋都知道神多數站喺強大嘅一方 問題係,到底邊個嘅神做嘅? 呢場辯論,令 19 世紀嘅人睇到 希伯來經文 只係偌大嘅宗教世界嘅一小部分 可以肯定嘅係 圓柱比以賽亞書更早出現 而耶和華所講嘅語言 同馬爾杜克所講嘅十分類似 以賽亞知道呢件事,應該唔合理 因為佢話——當然係神嘅話語︰ 「你哋雖然唔識我, 但我叫你哋個名。」 我諗大家都同意 居魯士並唔知自己 依照緊耶和華嘅指令行事 同樣,如果佢知道 佢係聽咗馬爾杜克嘅話先做呢件事 佢會嚇一大跳 因為有趣嘅係,居魯士係伊朗人 而伊朗人會拜神 喺呢兩份經文中 根本就冇提過伊朗人嗰班嘅神
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
That's 1879. 40 years on and we're in 1917, and the cylinder enters a different world. This time, the real politics of the contemporary world -- the year of the Balfour Declaration, the year when the new imperial power in the Middle East, Britain, decides that it will declare a Jewish national home, it will allow the Jews to return. And the response to this by the Jewish population in Eastern Europe is rhapsodic. And across Eastern Europe, Jews display pictures of Cyrus and of George V side by side -- the two great rulers who have allowed the return to Jerusalem. And the Cyrus cylinder comes back into public view and the text of this as a demonstration of why what is going to happen after the war is over in 1918 is part of a divine plan. You all know what happened. The state of Israel is setup, and 50 years later, in the late 60s, it's clear that Britain's role as the imperial power is over. And another story of the cylinder begins.
呢年係 1879 年 再過 40 年 我哋嚟到 1917 年 亦係呢個圓柱體進入另一個世界嘅一年 1917 年可以話係現代政治嘅一年 因為呢年發表咗貝爾福宣言 而且中東嘅新王國同英國 決定建立一個猶太人國家 畀猶太人返去建國 東歐嘅嘅猶太人一聽到就反應熱烈 幾乎到咗瘋狂嘅地步 因為整個東歐嘅猶太人 會將居魯士同喬治五世嘅畫像平排展示 因為呢兩位偉大君王都曾經 應允猶太人回歸耶路撒冷 呢一刻居魯士圓柱 又再一次吸引大眾嘅目光 圓柱上嘅文字描繪咗 1918 年戰事完結之後發生嘅事 亦視為係神嘅旨意嘅一部份 我諗大家都清楚接住落嚟嘅事 以色列復國 然後再多 50年 到 1960 年代尾,英國失去咗帝國地位 但同時圓柱體嘅另一段故事就開始咗
The region, the U.K. and the U.S. decide, has to be kept safe from communism, and the superpower that will be created to do this would be Iran, the Shah. And so the Shah invents an Iranian history, or a return to Iranian history, that puts him in the center of a great tradition and produces coins showing himself with the Cyrus cylinder. When he has his great celebrations in Persepolis, he summons the cylinder and the cylinder is lent by the British Museum, goes to Tehran, and is part of those great celebrations of the Pahlavi dynasty. Cyrus cylinder: guarantor of the Shah.
英國同美國決定 為咗唔令以色列受到共產主義嘅荼毒 英美於是建立咗伊朗、推舉咗伊朗王 於是伊朗王建立伊朗歷史 或者可以話帶領伊朗重回歷史正軌 令伊朗王自己成為伊朗傳統嘅核心 伊朗王下令發行 刻有自己肖像以及居魯士圓柱嘅硬幣 伊朗王喺波斯波利斯舉行慶典時 希望居魯士圓柱能回歸伊朗 於是大英博物館借出圓柱 運往德黑蘭 用嚟做巴列為王朝慶典 居魯士圓柱就係伊朗王權力嘅保證
10 years later, another story: Iranian Revolution, 1979. Islamic revolution, no more Cyrus; we're not interested in that history, we're interested in Islamic Iran -- until Iraq, the new superpower that we've all decided should be in the region, attacks. Then another Iran-Iraq war. And it becomes critical for the Iranians to remember their great past, their great past when they fought Iraq and won. It becomes critical to find a symbol that will pull together all Iranians -- Muslims and non-Muslims, Christians, Zoroastrians, Jews living in Iran, people who are devout, not devout. And the obvious emblem is Cyrus.
十年過後 喺1979 年嘅伊朗革命裏面 發生咗另一段故事 今次唔再講居魯士圓柱 因為伊斯蘭革命先係主角 我哋有興趣嘅係 俾伊拉克打之前嘅伊斯蘭時期嘅伊朗 當時伊拉克被公認為區內大國 而呢場又係另一場兩伊戰爭 伊朗喺呢場仗裏面致勝關鍵在於 伊朗人記得佢哋輝煌嘅過去 同時揾到一個團結嘅象徵 令所有伊朗人團結一致 唔理係伊斯蘭教徒、非伊斯蘭教徒 定係基督教徒、祆教徒、伊朗嘅猶太人 虔誠嘅人、唔虔誠嘅人 都因為居魯士圓柱而團結
So when the British Museum and Tehran National Musuem cooperate and work together, as we've been doing, the Iranians ask for one thing only as a loan. It's the only object they want. They want to borrow the Cyrus cylinder. And last year, the Cyrus cylinder went to Tehran for the second time. It's shown being presented here, put into its case by the director of the National Museum of Tehran, one of the many women in Iran in very senior positions, Mrs. Ardakani. It was a huge event. This is the other side of that same picture. It's seen in Tehran by between one and two million people in the space of a few months. This is beyond any blockbuster exhibition in the West. And it's the subject of a huge debate about what this cylinder means, what Cyrus means, but above all, Cyrus as articulated through this cylinder -- Cyrus as the defender of the homeland, the champion, of course, of Iranian identity and of the Iranian peoples, tolerant of all faiths. And in the current Iran, Zoroastrians and Christians have guaranteed places in the Iranian parliament, something to be very, very proud of.
所以當大英博物館 同德黑蘭國家博物館合作時 就好似我哋一直以嚟做緊一樣 伊朗人只係同我哋借一樣嘢 佢哋只想要呢樣嘢 佢哋想借嘅就係居魯士圓柱 嚿年 居魯士圓柱第二次運往德黑蘭 正如你哋見到嘅 佢由德黑蘭國家博物館館長 艾達卡妮女士親手放入盒裡邊 艾達卡妮女士同好多伊朗婦女一樣 坐到好高職位 嗰次圓柱入盒係大事 呢張係另一張相,但拍攝角度相反 幾個月之後 已經有一二百萬人嚟過呢度 一睹居魯士圓柱嘅風采 咁嘅人次超過西方國家 最高嘅展覽入場人次 今次展覧引發啲人辯論圓柱嘅意義 同居魯士想表達嘅係乜 但最終,居魯士就好似圓柱描述咁 係守衛家園嘅勇士 係伊朗人心目中嘅英雄 同埋各信仰裏面嘅精神人物 喺現代伊朗議會 有一啲席位係留畀祆教徒同基督教徒 呢個係值得引以為傲嘅事
To see this object in Tehran, thousands of Jews living in Iran came to Tehran to see it. It became a great emblem, a great subject of debate about what Iran is at home and abroad. Is Iran still to be the defender of the oppressed? Will Iran set free the people that the tyrants have enslaved and expropriated? This is heady national rhetoric, and it was all put together in a great pageant launching the return. Here you see this out-sized Cyrus cylinder on the stage with great figures from Iranian history gathering to take their place in the heritage of Iran. It was a narrative presented by the president himself.
數以千計嘅猶太人從伊朗趕到德黑蘭 就為咗睇居魯士圓柱嘅廬山真面目 圓柱係偉大嘅象徵 亦係用嚟辯論伊朗對內與對外嘅意義 伊朗仲會唔會 為被欺壓嘅人民挺身而出? 伊朗會唔會 畀被暴君奴役、剝削嘅人重獲自由? 呢個係好多人討論嘅全國議題 呢個議題仲喺一次 慶祝文物回歸嘅盛會之中討論 相裏邊係放大版嘅居魯士圓柱 同好多伊朗歷史偉人 伊朗總統喺展覽開幕當日親自發表演講
And for me, to take this object to Iran, to be allowed to take this object to Iran was to be allowed to be part of an extraordinary debate led at the highest levels about what Iran is, what different Irans there are and how the different histories of Iran might shape the world today. It's a debate that's still continuing, and it will continue to rumble, because this object is one of the great declarations of a human aspiration. It stands with the American constitution. It certainly says far more about real freedoms than Magna Carta. It is a document that can mean so many things, for Iran and for the region.
對我嚟講,能夠將居魯士圓柱帶返伊朗 代表圓柱能夠成為 一場高層次、偉大辯論嘅材料 去探討伊朗嘅定位 探討世界上存在著幾多個伊朗 探討伊朗唔同嘅歷史 點樣塑造今日嘅世界 呢場辯論仲未結束 正反論述會繼續出現 居魯士圓柱係人類其中一個 申明己志嘅物件 佢嘅地位有如美國憲法咁高 佢肯定比大憲章 更能論述咩叫真正嘅自由 佢亦係一份文獻 對伊朗同成個地區有好多嘅意義
A replica of this is at the United Nations. In New York this autumn, it will be present when the great debates about the future of the Middle East take place. And I want to finish by asking you what the next story will be in which this object figures. It will appear, certainly, in many more Middle Eastern stories. And what story of the Middle East, what story of the world, do you want to see reflecting what is said, what is expressed in this cylinder? The right of peoples to live together in the same state, worshiping differently, freely -- a Middle East, a world, in which religion is not the subject of division or of debate.
居魯士圓柱嘅複製品存放喺聯合國 今年秋天喺紐約辯論中東未來嘅會上 你會見到佢嘅蹤影 我希望以一個問題完結我今日嘅演講 居魯士圓柱接住會咩新故事呢? 可以肯定嘅係 居魯士圓柱會出現喺更多中東故事裏邊 而你哋想 中東,以至全世界會有點樣嘅故事 去應驗圓柱所講嘅嘢呢? 意思係,不同種族、不同信仰嘅人民 能夠喺同一個國家自由生活 做唔同嘅事 意思係,無論係中東 抑或係世界嘅任何一角落 宗教唔分化人或者引起紛爭 但喺宜家嘅中東世界
In the world of the Middle East at the moment, the debates are, as you know, shrill. But I think it's possible that the most powerful and the wisest voice of all of them may well be the voice of this mute thing, the Cyrus cylinder.
紛爭,依然激烈 但我相信 喺紛爭當中,最明智、最強大嘅聲音 好可能係靜默嘅居魯士圓柱
Thank you.
多謝
(Applause)
(掌聲)