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.
我們人類所製造出來的東西 有個最出眾的特性 就是它們的壽命很長 甚至超越人類 人類滅亡了 而它們依然存在 我們只有一條命 它們卻能留存好幾個世紀 在不同的時間點 它們所代表的意義也不相同 就像一份傳記就能代表一個人的一生 人造產物卻不然
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.
今天我想講的是 一個故事 一份傳記 應該說是好幾份傳記 這些傳記都跟一項 非常驚人的文物有關 我承認 它看起沒什麼特別的 大概就跟一顆橄欖球差不多大 它是用陶土做成的 定型為 圓柱體 有人先在上面刻滿了密密麻麻的文字 之後就放在太陽底下曬乾 應該不難發現 它有一部分缺損 但這其實很正常 畢竟它已經有2500年的歷史了 然後在1879年 才被挖出來 我相信 這個東西 在中東政局上 扮演了很重要的角色 這個文物 蘊藏了許多膾炙人口的故事 而這些故事還沒有結束
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.
故事是從 兩伊戰爭那時候開始的 而這一系列故事的 最高潮 是在伊拉克 被外國勢力入侵時 獨裁政權垮臺 政權隨之改變 我會從一連串的事件中 挑一段講起 伯沙撒的盛宴 我想大部分的人應該都很熟悉這個故事 因為我們要談的 是西元前539年時的兩伊戰爭 西元前539年 與西元2003年的兩伊戰爭 兩個戰爭的相似程度 真的很令人吃驚 你們現在看到的是 現存於倫敦國家美術館的倫勃朗(林布藍)的作品 這幅畫描述了希伯來經文中 先知但以理所說的場景 這個故事 你們或多或少都知道一點
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.
伯沙撒是尼布甲尼撒的兒子 尼布甲尼撒征服了以色列 劫掠耶路撒冷 俘虜當地人民 將猶太人 及神殿中的神器帶回巴比倫 他褻瀆神殿 搜刮神殿中的寶物 耶路撒冷神殿中的大型金屬容器 也被帶回巴比倫 尼布甲尼撒的兒子伯沙撒 決定舉辦一場宴會 為了要炒熱氣氛 他把褻瀆神的行為加入餘興節目之中 他拿出神器 當時 他們正和伊朗人打仗 與波斯王打仗
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.
那天晚上 但以理說 在宴會的最高潮 出現了一隻手 那隻手在牆上寫道 "你被秤在天平裏 顯出你的虧欠 你的國要歸與 瑪代人和波斯人" 就在那天晚上 居魯士 波斯之王 進軍巴比倫 伯沙撒的王國 毀於一旦 想當然耳 這對希伯來歷史而言 這是個多麼重要的一刻 這真是個很棒的故事 而我們都知道這個故事 牆上的字 就是我們現代用語中的一部分 接下來所發生的事 十分精彩 而我們剛講的圓柱 就要登場了
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 偉大的王國 巴比倫 一路從南伊拉克中部 竄逃到地中海 最後還是臣服於居魯士 後來居魯士公布了一項宣言 那個宣言就刻在這個圓柱體上 這項宣言是由接受上帝指引的統治者頒布的 他不僅推翻了伊拉克的暴君 更帶給人民自由 圓柱上的 巴比倫語寫道 我乃居魯士 宇宙之王 偉大之王 強盛之王 我乃巴比倫之王 世界之王 看來他們誇飾法用得一點也不害臊 這應該是 我們所獲的 第一份真正由勝利方 發布的新聞稿 稍後 我們就能知道 這是由經驗豐富的公關顧問寫出來的 所以 誇飾法用成這樣也就沒什麼大不了了
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.
那麼接下來 那偉大之王 強盛之王 世界之王要做什麼呢 他接著又說 巴比倫既已征服 他馬上要讓那些 被尼布甲尼撒與伯沙撒所俘虜 所奴役的異族人 重獲自由 他要讓他們重回故國 但更這要的是 他還歸還了那些 曾被沒收的 神像 塑像 以及神器 所有被巴比倫人鎮壓 被俘虜的人 都能回家 都能與他們的神一同離去 他們也能重修祭壇 以他們的方式 在屬於他們的地方 崇敬他們的神 就是這個法令 這就是最好的證物 它證明了猶太人 流亡巴比倫後 坐在巴比倫水邊 詠懷耶路撒冷 不停啜泣的那段歲月 而最後 他們終於重獲自由 他們得以返回耶路撒冷 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.
這是猶太歷史中的 核心文獻 在希伯來經文中的 歷代志及以斯拉記之中 都叨叨切切地記下這一切 這是同一個故事 只是是猶太版本的 "波斯王古列(居魯士)如此說 '耶和華天上的神 已將天下萬國賜給我 又囑咐我 在猶大的耶路撒冷為他建造殿宇 你們中間凡作他子民的 可以上去 願耶和華他的神與他同在'" 上去 重回故國 重返耶路撒冷這個想法的 核心元素 依然是猶太教文化的 核心思想 相信大家都知道 耶路撒冷的回歸與第二神殿 重新塑造了猶太教 波斯王居魯士實現了 這個轉機 這歷史上的重要一刻 希伯來文的經文 巴比倫語的陶器 都詳細記載了這一切
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.
兩份都是很重要的文獻 那政治方面又是如何呢 接下來發生的事 對中東歷史產生了重大的轉變 居魯士統一了 瑪代人與波斯人的伊朗 建立了第一個世界性大帝國 居魯士的霸業從西元前530年開始 及至其子大流士時 整個東地中海地區 也已經納入了波斯帝國版圖 事實上 這個帝國統治了 我們現在所知的中東地區 因為有這個帝國 才有現今的中東地區 它是當時世界上最大的帝國 更重要的是 它是第一個 大規模融合了多元文化 與多元信仰的國家 它必須以新的方式治理 必須以各種語言傳達政令 巴比倫語版本的政令 就證明了真有此事 它必須承認 在同個國家裡 會有不同的習俗 不同的種族 不同宗教 不同信仰 居魯士尊重這些差異
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.
居魯士設立了典範 教我們如何治理 一個蘊含多元種族 多元信仰 多元文化的社會 結果就是 他建立了一個橫跨許多地區的大帝國 就像你們在螢幕上看到的一樣 這個帝國維持了200年之久的穩定強盛 直到被亞歷山大征服 這個帝國為中東的統一留下了一個夢 一個不同信仰的人 也能共同生活的夢 但希臘人的入侵粉碎了這一切 當然 亞歷山大無力維持政權 這個帝國隨後便分崩離析 但居魯士所代表的 仍是絕對的核心意義
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.
在希臘史學家色諾芬所寫的 居魯士的教育一書中 他推崇居魯士是個偉大的統治者 在後來的整個歐洲文化中 居魯士仍然是個不朽的典範 這是16世紀時的形象 用以證明人們 推崇他的程度究竟有多廣 色諾芬在書中描述了 居魯士如何治理一個多元的社會 而這本偉大的書 啟發了美國革命的 諸位國父 傑佛遜就是其中一位仰慕者 居魯士證明了 要如何在 18世紀的新國度之中 創造宗教寬容的氛圍
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.
現在 讓我們回到巴比倫 但情況似乎不太樂觀 在亞歷山大之後 有幾位君王 讓巴比倫日漸衰頹 只剩斷垣殘壁 所有能證明巴比倫曾經強盛的蛛絲馬跡 都已經消失無蹤 直到1879年 大英博物館為了展覽 在巴比倫挖出這個圓柱 現在 又是另一個故事了 19世紀中葉時 曾有一場大規模的辯論 經文真的可信嗎 我們真能相信經文嗎 從希伯來經文中 我們只能瞭解到 猶太人的回歸與居魯士的法令 沒有其他佐證 突然 它出現了 對當時 相信經文與創世紀 卻被演化論與地質學所動搖的人來說 它帶來了多麼大的震撼 它證實了 經文在歷史上 是真實存在的 這是19世紀的偉大時刻
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.
但當然 從此以後 事情越來越複雜 事實都是真的 在考古學上無疑是好消息 但要如何詮釋 卻是更加困難的課題 因為圓柱所陳述的 與希伯來經文中陳述的 有個關鍵的差異 圓柱體上的巴比倫語 是由信奉巴比倫之神 馬爾杜克的祭司所寫的 所以可想而知 他們會說 這一切都是馬爾杜克的神蹟 馬爾杜克 我們所信奉的神 以祂之名 召喚了居魯士 馬爾杜克拉著居魯士的手 命他帶領他的子民 並授予他統治巴比倫的權力 馬爾杜克告訴居魯士說 他會釋放那些異族人民 多麼偉大而慷慨的壯舉 這就是我們要感激 並且崇拜馬爾杜克的原因
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.
而在希伯來的舊約聖經中 對此卻有 截然不同的看法 但這也沒什麼好驚奇的 想當然耳 對他們而言 這一切絕不可能是馬爾杜克的功勞 只能是耶和華的神蹟 在以賽亞書中的描述也是如此 功勞皆屬 以色列之主 而不是馬爾杜克 而是以色列之主 以色列之主 同樣召喚了居魯士 同樣拉住居魯士的手 也同樣命他管好他的子民 這是個絕佳的例子 說明了同一件事 卻可以有不同的宗教詮釋 同一個政治事件 卻可以有不同的宗教描述
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.
我們都知道 神總是站在強大的一方 問題是 到底是哪個神做的 這場辯論 將19世紀搞得人心惶惶 也讓大家瞭解到 希伯來經文只是 偌大的宗教世界中的一小部分 可以確定的是 圓柱比以賽亞書還更早出現 而耶和華所使用的語言 與馬爾杜克所使用的 十分類似 以賽亞知曉這件事 應該還算合理 因為他說 當然 是神說 "你雖不認識我 我也加給你名號" 我想 大家都會承認 居魯士並不知道 他其實是依照耶和華的指令行事 同樣地 要是他知道他是聽了馬爾杜克的話才做這事的 他會嚇一大跳 因為很有趣的是 居魯士是個純百分之百的伊朗人 對於神 他們自有一套完全不同的說法 而在這兩份經文中 根本就沒提到過他們的神
(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.
這是在1879年發生的事 40年過後 我們來到了1917年 而這個圓柱體又進入了另一個世界 此時 已經可以算是 現代世界的真實政治時代 這一年 發表了貝爾福宣言 這一年 中東與英國的新興帝國勢力崛起 決議建立一個 猶太人的國家 允許猶太人 回歸家園 東歐的猶太人對這件事 反應十分熱烈 幾乎到了狂熱的地步 橫跨整個東歐 猶太人並列展示了 居魯士 與喬治五世的畫像 因為這兩位偉大君王都允許 猶太人回歸耶路撒冷 這時候 居魯士圓柱又吸引了大眾的目光 上面的文字紀錄 被視為神的旨意的一部份 說明了戰後所發生的事 為什麼在1918年才宣告結束 而接著又會發生什麼事 我想大家都知道 接下來發生了什麼事 以色列建國 而50年後 時間到了1960年代晚期 英國顯然失去了 它在新興帝國勢力之中的地位 關於這個圓柱體的另一段故事 就此展開
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.
英國與美國決議 不讓民族國家受到共產主義的戕害 而能夠保護民族國家的 即將誕生的伊朗 由沙阿領導的超級強國 伊朗 因此 沙阿間接創造了伊朗歷史 或者是說 他回歸了歷史的本質 他讓自己成為伊朗偉大傳統的核心 下令發行 刻有自己肖像 與居魯士圓柱的硬幣 他在波斯波利斯舉行慶典時 他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 成為巴列為王朝 偉大慶典中的一部分 居魯士圓柱 就是沙阿權力的保證
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.
10年過後 發生了另一段故事 1979年的伊朗革命 不再談居魯士圓柱了 伊斯蘭革命才是主角 我們對那段歷史不感興趣 我們有興趣的是伊斯蘭文化下的伊朗 直到伊拉克 這個我們都認為 應該出現在這個地區的新興強權國家 對伊朗發動攻擊 這又是另一場兩伊戰爭了 伊朗與伊拉克打仗時 獲勝的關鍵就是 伊朗人永遠記得他們的過去 那段輝煌的過去 一定得找到一個團結的象徵 才能讓所有伊朗人團結一致 不管是不是伊斯蘭教徒 不管是基督教徒 祆教徒 或是猶太人 不論虔誠與否 只要是住在伊朗的人 都是伊朗人 都必須團結起來 顯然 居魯士圓柱就是團結的象徵
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 當大英博物館與德黑來國家博物館合作時 就像我們一直以來都在做的一樣 伊朗人 只跟我們借一樣東西 他們只想要這個東西 他們想要借的就是居魯士圓柱 去年 居魯士圓柱 第二次被運往德黑蘭 就像你們能看到的 它是由德黑蘭國家博物館的館長親手放進盒子裡的 是艾達卡妮女士 在伊朗婦女中 地位相當崇高 這可是一件大事 這是另一張相片 但拍攝角度相反 幾個月後 已經有一兩百萬人來到這裡 來一睹居魯士圓柱的風采 這樣的盛況空前 超越西方所舉辦的任何一場展覽 它也是一場辯論的主角 辯論的主題是 居魯士圓柱真正的意涵為何 居魯士真正想表達什麼 但最重要的是 就像圓柱所描述的居魯士 居魯士是守衛家園的勇士 他為伊朗的認同 為伊朗各民族 為包容所有信仰而戰 他是贏家 在現代伊朗議會中 祆教徒與基督教徒都有保留席位 這是很值得驕傲的一件事
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.
數以千計的猶太人 從伊朗趕到德黑蘭 就為了看看居魯士圓柱的廬山真面目 它是一個偉大的象徵 也是辯論會的主角 伊朗對內與對外的真正意義為何 伊朗會不會 再次為了那些被欺壓的人們 挺身而出 伊朗會不會讓那些 被暴君奴役 被暴君剝削的人們 重獲自由 這是一場振奮人心的全國性議題 在歡慶回歸的盛會之中 所有的議題 都被放在一起討論 這是放大版的居魯士圓柱 為了要在伊朗的後繼歷史中 保有一席之地 它跟伊朗歷史中的偉人一齊登臺 這是伊朗總統 親自發表的演講
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.
對我而言 能將居魯士圓柱 帶回伊朗 就代表能成為 一場偉大辯論的一部分 這場辯論 是由最高層人士所舉辦的 而辯論的主題則是 伊朗的定位 不同的伊朗有何意義 不同的伊朗歷史 又如何能塑造今日的世界 這場辯論還沒結束 它不會默不做聲 因為居魯士圓柱 是人類渴望自由的 偉大聲明之一 它與美國憲法具有同等效力 它肯定比大憲章 更能陳述何謂真正的自由 這份文獻能夠有很多層的意義 對伊朗 對這整個中東地區 都有不同的意義
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.
居魯士圓柱的複製品 被存放在聯合國 今年秋天 在紐約 在討論中東未來的辯論會上 你們能看見它的身影 我希望以一個問題 為我今天的演講畫下句點 居魯士圓柱接著又會產生什麼新的故事呢 可以肯定的是 居魯士圓柱會成為更多中東故事的一部分 而你們希望 中東會有什麼樣的故事 世界上會有怎樣的故事 能夠體現居魯士圓柱所說的 所想要表達的意涵 不同種族 不同信仰的人們 能夠在同一個國家自由生活的權利 無論是中東 或是世界的任一角落 宗教信仰不會再是引發分裂 或引發爭論的原因了
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.
在現今的中東世界 這場爭論 依然激烈 但我相信 在他們之中 最睿智 最強大的聲音 將會代替這 無語的居魯士圓柱 發聲
Thank you.
謝謝
(Applause)
(掌聲)