Chapter 16 - The Return of Assyria / 第十六章 - 亚述的归来

Do you remember记住，记起/rɪˈmembər/ reading about Shamshi-Adad沙姆西-阿达德（亚述国王）/ˈʃæmʃi ˈædæd/, the Assyrian亚述的/əˈsɪriən/ king who wanted to rule统治，管理/ruːl/ the whole world世界/wɜːrld/? He led his armies军队/ˈɑːrmiz/ out to conquer征服/ˈkɑːŋkər/ the cities all around him, and he built an empire帝国/ˈempaɪər/—the Assyrian Empire.

But when they fought the Babylonians巴比伦人/ˌbæbɪˈloʊniənz/, the Assyrians lost失败，失去/lɔːst/. They became part of Babylon's empire, and had to obey服从/oʊˈbeɪ/ the king of Babylon. But all the time they were thinking, "One day we will be free自由的/friː/, and we will try to conquer the world again!"

Finally, that day came. The Assyrians rebelled反叛/rɪˈbeld/ against their masters主人，统治者/ˈmæstərz/, the Babylonians. They dug canals运河/kəˈnælz/ through the city of Babylon and flooded淹没/ˈflʌdɪd/ it with water, washing the city away. And then they started out to rebuild重建/ˌriːˈbɪld/ their empire.

"We are like an evil邪恶的/ˈiːvəl/ rain that washes its enemies敌人/ˈenəmiz/ away!" they boasted吹嘘/ˈboʊstɪd/. "We are like a net网/net/ that tangles缠住/ˈtæŋgəlz/ the feet of those who fight against us!"

The Assyrians raged愤怒地行进/reɪdʒd/ up and down the Tigris底格里斯河/ˈtaɪgrɪs/ and Euphrates幼发拉底河/juːˈfreɪtiːz/ rivers, taking over every city in their path. They stampeded冲击/stæmˈpiːdɪd/ over to Canaan迦南/ˈkeɪnən/ and scattered驱散/ˈskætərd/ the Israelites以色列人/ˈɪzriəlaɪts/ like dust.

The Israelites were never allowed to return back to their own land again. They marched up into Asia Minor小亚细亚/ˈeɪʒə ˈmaɪnər/ and forced the people there to obey them. And one of the greatest Assyrian kings of all, Ashurbanipal亚述巴尼拔/ˌæʃərˈbænɪˌpæl/, led his soldiers all the way down into Egypt埃及/ˈiːdʒɪpt/—and took it over! Even the mighty pharaohs法老/ˈferoʊz/ of Egypt had to obey Assyria.

Ashurbanipal became king of Assyria around 668 BC/BCE. He terrified使恐惧/ˈterəˌfaɪd/ his enemies. For fun, he went on lion-hunts狩猎狮子/ˈlaɪən hʌnts/, chasing the lions down on horseback骑马/ˈhɔːrsˌbæk/ and shooting arrows箭/ˈæroʊz/ at them. And when he led his soldiers into battle战斗/ˈbætəl/, he fought like an angry lion himself.

Why were they so hard to conquer? The Assyrian soldiers fought in pairs成对/perz/. One man would hold a shield盾牌/ʃiːld/ made out of baskets篮子/ˈbæskɪts/, tied together with leather皮革/ˈleðər/. The other would shoot arrows from behind the shield. These basket shields were very light轻的/laɪt/—but they kept arrows and spear-points矛尖/spɪr pɔɪnts/ out.

The Assyrians would put their basket shields side by side and march towards their enemies like a moving wall with arrows spitting喷射/ˈspɪtɪŋ/ out from behind it. Soon, the only way to escape the invading Assyrians was to hide inside a city with strong brick or stone walls.

But Ashurbanipal, the king who was as strong as a lion, knew how to get over city walls. First, he ordered his soldiers to build a ramp斜坡/ræmp/ out of dirt. They hauled拖拉/hɔːld/ buckets桶/ˈbʌkɪts/ of earth up to a city's wall, holding their basket-shields over their heads to protect themselves. They dumped倾倒/dʌmpt/ the earth into a heap堆/hiːp/ against the wall and went back for more.

Slowly, the heap grew larger and larger until it reached all the way up to the top of the wall. Then Ashurbanipal commanded his men to build a siege tower攻城塔/siːdʒ taʊər/—a wooden tower on wheels. The soldiers pushed the tower up the ramp, towards the city walls. On top of the tower, Assyrian archers弓箭手/ˈɑːrtʃərz/ fired arrows into the city. A battering ram攻城锤/ˈbætərɪŋ ræm/ jutted out of the tower's front.

The soldiers pushed it right into the wall, breaking up the brick and stone. Soon, a section of the wall tottered摇摆/ˈtɑːtərd/ and fell. The Assyrian army poured涌入/pɔːrd/ through the gap, into the city. Another city had fallen to Ashurbanipal and his army.

Ashurbanipal was cruel残忍的/kruːəl/ and ruthless无情的/ˈruːθləs/ to the cities he conquered. He burned houses, smashed walls, and killed anyone who tried to disobey不服从/ˌdɪsəˈbeɪ/ him. He scattered salt盐/sɔːlt/ in their fields, poisoning毒害/ˈpɔɪzənɪŋ/ the land so that no crops庄稼/krɑːps/ would grow.

He took captured people off to be slaves奴隶/sleɪvz/ and never let them go home again. Most cities were too frightened to resist抵抗/rɪˈzɪst/ Ashurbanipal for long. They agreed to become part of the Assyrian empire and to pay part of their money to the Assyrian king.

Ashurbanipal became very rich. He ruled the biggest empire that the world had ever seen. But all across Assyria, people hated憎恨/ˈheɪtɪd/ him. The cities conquered by Ashurbanipal obeyed him because they were afraid, but all the time they hoped that Assyria would soon collapse崩溃/kəˈlæps/. "When we finally hear the news of your destruction毁灭/dɪˈstrʌkʃən/," one conquered man wrote, "we will clap our hands with joy! And no one will cry over you."

Ashurbanipal, the king of all Assyria, stood on his palace宫殿/ˈpæləs/ walls looking out over the city of Nineveh尼尼微/ˈnɪnəvə/. He had spent years making Nineveh beautiful. It was his favorite city, and he was the strongest king in the world! He had built himself a magnificent宏伟的/mægˈnɪfɪsənt/ palace, full of high, cool rooms hung with silk丝绸/sɪlk/ and painted with rich colors: royal blue, scarlet猩红色/ˈskɑːrlət/, and yellow as bright as the sun.

The fifteen great gates of Nineveh's walls had been decorated装饰/ˈdekəˌreɪtɪd/ with sculptures雕塑/ˈskʌlptʃərz/ of bulls and lions and edged with gold. Carved pictures of Ashurbanipal's conquests征服/ˈkɑːŋkwests/ lined the walls of Nineveh's greatest buildings. Canals运河/kəˈnælz/ brought water into the city, so that all Nineveh's people could drink; and throughout Nineveh, Ashurbanipal had planted gardens花园/ˈgɑːrdənz/ of strange and beautiful plants.

"But it isn't enough!" Ashurbanipal thought. "I have made this city beautiful, but will it last after I am dead? A hundred years from now, how will anyone know of my greatness伟大/ˈgreɪtnəs/?" "Excuse me, sir." A voice interrupted him. He turned to see one of his chief scribes书记员/skraɪbz/, holding a clay tablet石板/ˈtæblət/. The scribe held the tablet out. Ashurbanipal saw that it was covered with writing文字/ˈraɪtɪŋ/.

"Have you brought me a new book to read?" he asked. Ashurbanipal's scribes, the men who were in charge of writing down all the events of his reign统治/reɪn/, knew that he loved to read. They were always on the lookout寻找/ˈlʊkaʊt/ for new books for him. And in those days, books weren't written on paper纸/ˈpeɪpər/. They were carved into clay.

"We've found you a wonderful book!" the chief scribe said. "It's a tale from the court of Hammurabi汉谟拉比/ˌhæməˈrɑːbi/, the great king who ruled Babylon so long ago. No one has ever read it before! One of your men found it in the ruins废墟/ˈruːɪnz/ of Babylon's old walls, and kept it safe until we could bring it here to you."

Ashurbanipal glanced down at the tablet. This was indeed a find—a story from the days of a famous king of old. Now he could look forward to a good long evening of reading. That night, as Ashurbanipal sat in his room reading his new tablet by lamplight灯光/ˈlæmplaɪt/, he had an idea.

"How many of these tablets are left in the ruins of old cities?" he said to himself. "If they are not rescued拯救/ˈreskjuːd/, they will crumble崩裂/ˈkrʌmbəl/ away into dust. Then we'll never know these stories from old times. What if I were to collect收集/kəˈlekt/ them all together, and keep them here in my palace? That would be a great project项目/ˈprɑːdʒekt/ indeed!"

"And then I would become known as the king who collected books—and people could read my books hundreds of years from now." Ashurbanipal set his new idea into action at once. He sent his scribes out into all parts of the vast kingdom of Assyria, ordering them to collect all the tablets they could find and bring them back to Nineveh.

He commanded other scribes to go out and ask the people of Assyria to repeat the stories they had heard from their grandfathers祖父/ˈgrænfɑːðərz/ and grandmothers祖母/ˈgrænmʌðərz/. These stories had been told to children for centuries世纪/ˈsentʃəriz/—but no one had ever written them down. Ashurbanipal's scribes wrote them on clay tablets, so that they could be kept forever.

He ordered the priests祭司/priːsts/ of Assyria to write down the words of their prayers祈祷/prerz/. The court astrologers占星师/əˈstrɑːlədʒərz/ wrote down the movements of the sun, moon and stars. The court doctors医生/ˈdɑːktərz/ wrote down everything that they knew about illness and medicine医学/ˈmedəsən/. The court historians历史学家/hɪˈstɔːriənz/ recorded all of the details of Ashurbanipal's reign.

All of those clay tablets were thick and heavy. So Ashurbanipal built more and more rooms to keep them in. Soon he had collected thousands and thousands of clay tablets full of stories, prayers, instructions, history, science, medicine, and law. He had created the first library图书馆/ˈlaɪbreri/ in the world.

And Ashurbanipal's wish came true. Although many of the tablets were destroyed in Assyria's wars with other countries, some of them still survive存活/sərˈvaɪv/ today, thousands of years later. They can still be read. And because we have Ashurbanipal's clay tablets, we remember him as the king who collected books—the first librarian图书管理员/laɪˈbreriən/ ever.