Chapter 18: Life in Early Crete / 第十八章：早期克里特岛的生活

We've been learning学习/ˈlɜːrnɪŋ/ about people who lived near rivers河流/ˈrɪvərz/: the Egyptians, the people of the Indus Valley, the Chinese of the Yellow River Valley, and the Assyrians and Babylonians who lived near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, in Mesopotamia美索不达米亚/ˌmesəpəˈteɪmiə/. But if we look over in the Mediterranean Sea地中海/ˌmedɪtəˈreɪniən siː/, we'll find something different—people who lived completely surrounded包围，环绕/səˈraʊndɪd/ by water水/ˈwɔːtər/. These people built their homes家园/hoʊmz/ on an island岛屿/ˈaɪlənd/ called Crete.

Crete is a long, skinny瘦长的/ˈskɪni/ island in the Mediterranean Sea, a sea that is shaped形状的/ʃeɪpt/ a little bit like a duck flying. Long, long ago, a tribe部落/traɪb/ called the Minoans米诺斯人/mɪˈnoʊənz/ settled down on the island of Crete.

The Minoans entertained娱乐/ˌentərˈteɪnd/ themselves in an unusual不寻常的/ʌnˈjuːʒuəl/ way—by leaping跳跃/ˈliːpɪŋ/ over bulls公牛/bʊlz/.

Imagine that you're standing站立/ˈstændɪŋ/ on a hard dirt floor地面/flɔːr/, in the middle of a huge arena竞技场/əˈriːnə/. All around you, crowds人群/kraʊdz/ are shouting喊叫/ˈʃaʊtɪŋ/ your name and cheering欢呼/ˈtʃɪrɪŋ/. You glance around you and see two other people in the arena with you, a boy and a girl. None of you have any weapons武器/ˈwepənz/. Your hands are empty空的/ˈempti/, and all you're wearing is a simple loose garment衣服/ˈgɑːrmənt/ that allows your arms and legs to move freely.

Suddenly a wooden door swings open in the arena wall. A huge black bull charges冲锋/ˈtʃɑːrdʒɪz/ out into the arena. The shouts of the crowd get louder and louder. The bull paws用爪子刨/pɔːz/ the earth and shakes his head back and forth. His horns角/hɔːrnz/ are sharp and tipped with gold金子/goʊld/. He swings his head towards you and sees you. He snorts喷鼻息/snɔːrts/ and charges straight at you.

But you don't run away. You wait until he's only inches英寸/ˈɪntʃɪz/ away from you—and then you grab his horns and push yourself upwards. You somersault翻筋斗/ˈsʌmərsɔːlt/ through the air, do a handstand倒立/ˈhændstænd/ on the bull's back, and land on your feet behind him. The girl who's in the arena with you is there to catch接住/kætʃ/ you. The crowd roars咆哮/rɔːrz/! You turn and see your other teammate vault跳跃/vɔːlt/ onto the bull.

If you were a boy or girl in ancient古代的/ˈeɪnʃənt/ Crete, you might find yourself part of a bull-jumping team! The Minoans, who lived on the island of Crete, trained athletic运动的/æθˈletɪk/ children to become bull-jumpers. The children learned the kind of gymnastics体操/dʒɪmˈnæstɪks/ that children still learn today—somersaulting翻筋斗/ˈsʌmərsɔːltɪŋ/, balance exercises, tumbling翻滚/ˈtʌmblɪŋ/, and vaulting跳跃/ˈvɔːltɪŋ/.

Bull-jumping festivals节日/ˈfestɪvəlz/ were held to honor尊敬/ˈɑːnər/ the Minoan gods, who were thought to take the form of bulls. At the end of every bull-jumping festival, the bulls were sacrificed祭祀/ˈsækrɪfaɪst/ to the gods.

The Minoans were known both for bull-jumping and for ship-building造船/ˈʃɪp ˌbɪldɪŋ/. In ancient times, the Mediterranean Sea was full of pirates海盗/ˈpaɪrəts/. No one ruled the sea; it was controlled by bandits强盗/ˈbændɪts/ who sailed their small boats near the shore. These bandits attacked and robbed抢劫/rɑːbd/ anyone who ventured out onto the water.

But the king of the Minoans was different. He knew that the Minoans had to be able to sail safely across the Mediterranean Sea to land, so that they could trade贸易/treɪd/ with other countries. So he ordered his craftsmen工匠/ˈkræftsmən/ to build great ships that he could use to wipe out pirates and patrol巡逻/pəˈtroʊl/ the Mediterranean Sea.

The Minoan craftsmen learned how to build the ships. They were the greatest ship-builders of the ancient world. And the king of the Minoans became the first king to have a navy海军/ˈneɪvi/—an army that knew how to fight on the water. This navy drove the pirates out of the Mediterranean Sea and carried Minoan traders to other ancient countries so that they could buy and sell goods.

The Minoans who lived on Crete were named after a legendary传说的/ˈledʒənderi/ king named Minos. The Minoans told this story about Minos:

Minos was a son of the god Zeus, the chief of all the gods. But because he was half-human, Minos couldn't live with the other gods. Instead, he lived on Crete, in a great and beautiful palace宫殿/ˈpæləs/. But this shining palace concealed a dark secret. Below the foundation of the palace, in a maze迷宫/meɪz/ so twisty and complicated that no one could find the way in or out, lived a horrible monster怪物/ˈmɑːnstər/—the Minotaur牛头人/ˈmɪnətɔːr/.

King Minos didn't want to feed his own people to the Minotaur, so he ordered the nearby city of Athens to send him victims受害者/ˈvɪktɪmz/ for the Minotaur's dinner. Every year, Athens had to send seven girls and seven boys to King Minos, or else (he threatened) he would destroy their city. Year after year, the Athenians sent this dreadful tribute贡品/ˈtrɪbjuːt/ to Minos.

On his eighteenth birthday, Theseus忒修斯/ˈθiːsiːəs/, the son of the king of Athens, decided to walk down to the seaside. The sea was blue, the sky was clear, and the sun shone. But the beach was full of weeping fathers and mothers, and the ship drawn up to the shore had black sails.

"But that's not right!" Theseus said. "Let me go to Crete in the place of one of the young men. I'll face the Minotaur, and try to kill him. If I succeed, we'll put a white sail on this ship instead of the black one, and sail home to Athens. And no one will ever have to be sacrificed牺牲/ˈsækrɪfaɪst/ as tribute to King Minos again."

Theseus's father, King Aegeus, begged him not to go. But Theseus was determined, and in the end he had his way. He sailed to Crete with the other victims. On the shore of Crete, they were greeted by the cruel King Minos himself, with his beautiful daughter Ariadne阿里阿德涅/ˌæriˈædni/ walking meekly behind him.

But Ariadne阿里阿德涅/ˌæriˈædni/ had fallen in love with Theseus at first sight. Just before dark, she found a torch, a sword, and a ball of wool, and crept secretly out of King Minos's palace, down to Theseus's prison cell. "I've brought you a torch to light your way," Ariadne said, "and a sword to kill the monster. Take this ball of wool and tie it to the doorframe of the Labyrinth迷宫/ˈlæbərɪnθ/."

Theseus started forward, but the monster woke and leaped from his sofa with a roar. They fought together for hours, until finally Theseus struck the Minotaur dead with his sword. Then he made his way back up to the entrance of the Labyrinth, following the wool string until he saw the door to the outside up ahead of him.

But in their haste, they had forgotten to put a white sail on their ship! The people of Athens came forward to meet them, but although some were rejoicing, others were weeping. "Your Highness," one of them said to Theseus, "your father the king was waiting for you, on top of that far distant cliff. When the sun struck the sails of your ship, and he saw that the sails were black, he thought that you were dead. So he threw himself off the cliff and into the water."

The Minoans of Crete disappeared, mysteriously, more than two thousand years ago. Their civilization文明/ˌsɪvəlɪˈzeɪʃən/ came to a sudden end. All the Minoans left Crete. Why did they do this?

Although no one knows for sure, many historians历史学家/hɪˈstɔːriənz/ think that the Minoans left when a volcano火山/vɑːlˈkeɪnoʊ/ erupted on a nearby island called Thera. Thera looked like a small island, and people lived on it, grew crops and raised animals in its fields. But Thera was actually the top of an active volcano that poked up from the Mediterranean Sea.

One day, the small island began to shake underfoot. The people of Thera could feel constant small earthquakes地震/ˈɜːrθkweɪks/. Many left the island at once, taking all their possessions with them! But the earthquakes died away, and the people who were still on Thera decided to stay. They started to rebuild the walls that had fallen down.

But the volcano wasn't finished. Bits of rock called pumice浮石/ˈpʌmɪs/ started to spray out of the volcano's funnel. It covered the whole countryside. Smoke began to come out of the ground. The rest of the people of Thera decided to leave—and just in time! The volcano exploded爆炸/ɪkˈsploʊdɪd/, spraying lava and rock all over the island.

The island of Crete was still there. But a tidal wave海啸/ˈtaɪdəl weɪv/ thrown up by the volcano swept its shores. Huge clouds of ash, dust and smoke floated down the wind to cover it. Ash covered the crops. Food supplies were wiped out. People could hardly breathe, because of all the dust and smoke in the air. Historians think that many of the Minoans left the island of Crete because the volcano ruined the air and land.