Chapter 21 - The Medes and the Persians / 第二十一章 - 米底人和波斯人

Let's take a minute分钟/ˈmɪnɪt/ to review回顾，复习/rɪˈvjuː/ the story故事/ˈstɔːri/ of the Assyrians亚述人/əˈsɪriənz/. Earlier, we read about the Assyrian king国王/kɪŋ/ Shamshi-Adad. He wanted to rule统治/ruːl/ the world世界/wɜːrld/.

He conquered征服了/ˈkɒŋkərd/ the cities城市/ˈsɪtiz/ all around him and made them obey服从/əˈbeɪ/ him. He put his soldiers士兵/ˈsoʊldʒərz/ in the conquered cities, and told them to punish惩罚/ˈpʌnɪʃ/ anyone who disobeyed his laws法律/lɔːz/. Soon the Assyrians ruled the whole northern part of Mesopotamia美索不达米亚/ˌmesəpəˈteɪmiə/—the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

But the Babylonian巴比伦的/ˌbæbɪˈloʊniən/ kingdom王国/ˈkɪŋdəm/ ruled the southern part of Mesopotamia, and they were even stronger更强的/ˈstrɔːŋɡər/ than the Assyrians. The Babylonian king, Hammurabi汉谟拉比/ˌhæməˈrɑːbi/, marched his army军队/ˈɑːrmi/ up and took over Assyria. For a little while, the Assyrians had to obey the Babylonians.

But the Assyrians didn't like belonging属于/bɪˈlɔːŋɪŋ/ to the Babylonian empire帝国/ˈempaɪər/. Eventually, they rebelled反叛了/rɪˈbeld/ and took their kingdom back. Now the Assyrians were in charge掌权/tʃɑːrdʒ/, and the Babylonians had to obey them.

The Assyrians went back to conquering all the cities around them. They fought their way all the way over to Canaan迦南/ˈkeɪnən/. They captured俘虏了/ˈkæptʃərd/ the Jews犹太人/dʒuːz/ who lived there and made them leave their homes家园/hoʊmz/.

But the Babylonians made friends朋友/frendz/ with another nation国家/ˈneɪʃən/, Media米底/ˈmiːdiə/. Together, the Babylonians and the Medes米底人/miːdz/ got together and destroyed摧毁了/dɪˈstrɔɪd/ Assyria. Now Babylon and Media were in charge, and the Assyrians had to obey. This must have been a very strange奇怪的/streɪndʒ/ time to live! The rulers of the world kept changing—first they were Assyrian, then Babylonian, then Assyrian, then Babylonian again.

The Babylonians and the Medes must have been pleased高兴的/pliːzd/ with themselves. They had finally gotten rid of Assyria. Now they were the most powerful强大的/ˈpaʊərfəl/ nations in Mesopotamia! But the Medes and Babylonians weren't in charge for very long. A new nation was becoming stronger and stronger. This new nation was called Persia波斯/ˈpɜːrʒə/.

At first, the Persians were just a tribe部落/traɪb/ of shepherds牧羊人/ˈʃepərdz/. They lived at the edge of Media, and obeyed the king of the Medes. The Persian shepherds were ruled by a man named Astyges阿斯蒂亚格斯/ˈæstɪˌdʒiːz/. He wasn't a good man; he liked ruling the Persians, and he would do anything to keep his crown王冠/kraʊn/.

One night, Astyges had a dream梦/driːm/ that scared him. He dreamed that his baby grandson孙子/ˈɡrændsʌn/ would grow up, take his power away, and become the ruler of the Persians. When he woke up, he was frightened害怕的/ˈfraɪtənd/! "If I don't do something about this," he thought, "my grandson will throw me off my throne王座/θroʊn/, and become king in my place!" Astyges sat up all night, thinking about his dream.

In the morning, he called his chief advisor顾问/ədˈvaɪzər/, a man named Harpagus哈帕格斯/ˈhɑːrpəɡəs/. "I have a job for you," he said. "I will do anything you tell me to, O King!" said Harpagus. "Good!" Astyges said. "Take my grandson out to the mountains山/ˈmaʊntənz/ and kill him. And don't let anyone know what you're doing. Now go!"

Harpagus didn't want to do this terrible可怕的/ˈterəbəl/ thing. But he was afraid to disobey违抗/ˌdɪsəˈbeɪ/ the king. So he took the baby and walked out to the mountains. "I have to obey my king!" he thought to himself. "I have to kill the baby. But I can't make myself do it!" He looked around and saw a shepherd牧羊人/ˈʃepərd/, grazing his sheep羊/ʃiːp/ nearby.

He called the shepherd over. "Here," he said. "The king wants to get rid of this baby. You do it! If you do, I'll reward奖励/rɪˈwɔːrd/ you with much wealth财富/welθ/. But if you don't, I'll send the king's soldiers to punish you." The shepherd looked at the baby, and had an idea想法/aɪˈdiːə/. "All right," he said to Harpagus. "I'll get rid of the baby." He took the baby and ran home to his wife妻子/waɪf/, who had no children of her own.

"Wife!" he said. "The gods神明/ɡɑːdz/ have sent us a son! We can raise him as our own!" His wife took the baby with tears眼泪/tɪrz/ of joy. And then the shepherd killed a goat山羊/ɡoʊt/, wiped his hands in the blood血/blʌd/, and ran back to Harpagus. "Look," he said. "I've done as you told me!" So Harpagus went back to Astyges and told him that the baby was dead. But the shepherd and his wife named the baby Cyrus居鲁士/ˈsaɪrəs/, and brought him up there on the mountainside.

Cyrus grew up to be tall and strong. He was faster and smarter更聪明的/ˈsmɑːrtər/ than any other shepherd's son. And he stood head and shoulders肩膀/ˈʃoʊldərz/ above every other boy his age. One day, the shepherd took him down from the mountainside into town to help with the selling of the sheep. While they were at the marketplace市场/ˈmɑːrkɪtpleɪs/, Astyges, the ruler of the Persians, came by along with Harpagus. As soon as Astyges saw the young boy selling sheep, he knew that this was his grandson.

That evening he sent for Harpagus. "You disobeyed me!" he said to Harpagus. And Harpagus admitted承认了/ədˈmɪtəd/ that he had given the baby to a shepherd, rather than killing him. Astyges was so furious愤怒的/ˈfjʊriəs/ that he tried to kill Harpagus and his whole family. But Harpagus fled逃跑了/fled/ to the mountains and found Cyrus. "If you want to take the king's power away, and become king of the Persians yourself," he told Cyrus, "I will help you."

Together, Harpagus and Cyrus convinced说服了/kənˈvɪnst/ the Persians to follow Cyrus, rather than Astyges. Cyrus took power away from his grandfather祖父/ˈɡrændfɑːðər/ and became the ruler of the Persians, just as Astyges had dreamed, so many years ago. And then he led the Persians in a war战争/wɔːr/ against the great empire of Media. After three years of fierce激烈的/fɪrs/ fighting, Cyrus conquered the king of Media as well. Now Cyrus, who had been raised by a shepherd on a mountain, ruled over the combined empires of the Medes and the Persians.

Cyrus was now the king of the Medes and the Persians. He was a great warrior战士/ˈwɔːriər/—but he was also known as a good and fair king. Even though he had conquered the Medes, he let the Median people stay in their own homes. He even let Median noblemen贵族/ˈnoʊbəlmən/ have some of the power in his new, combined empire. After all, his empire was so big that he needed help. He couldn't collect all the taxes税收/ˈtæksəz/, judge all the court cases, and settle all the problems himself!

So he made both Persians and Medians officials官员/əˈfɪʃəlz/ in his kingdom. The Medians felt that they were being treated well—and so they didn't try to rebel against Cyrus's rule. Now Cyrus decided to make his empire even bigger. He wanted to conquer Asia Minor小亚细亚/ˈeɪʒə ˈmaɪnər/. Asia Minor was ruled by King Croesus克罗伊斯/ˈkroʊsəs/, who was the richest king in the world. He had more gold黄金/ɡoʊld/ than anyone else.

Cyrus knew that if he could conquer Croesus, he would be rich as well. So he marched his army up to the kingdom of Croesus and conquered it. He captured Croesus and made him stand up on the walls of his city and watch as Persian soldiers looted掠夺了/ˈluːtəd/ it. The soldiers went all through the city, carrying away armloads of treasures财宝/ˈtreʒərz/, gold coins, and jewelry珠宝/ˈdʒuːəlri/. But Croesus just watched, calmly.

Finally, Cyrus said, "How can you be so calm平静的/kɑːm/? They are robbing you of all your gold!" "No, they aren't," Croesus said. "The city belongs属于/bɪˈlɔːŋz/ to you now. So they are actually stealing偷窃/ˈstiːlɪŋ/ from you." When Cyrus heard this, he stopped the soldiers at once and took all the gold back!

Next, Cyrus turned his army to the east. Cyrus marched the Persian army all the way over to the Indus River印度河/ˈɪndəs ˈrɪvər/. Now he ruled all the land between Asia Minor and India. The Persian Empire was as wide as it was tall. Cyrus wasn't done conquering yet. There was one big enemy left for him: Babylon巴比伦/ˈbæbɪˌlɑːn/. Remember, the Babylonians had been ruling in Mesopotamia for a long time! They were an old kingdom—and a very powerful kingdom.

Cyrus wanted all that good, fertile肥沃的/ˈfɜːrtəl/ land between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. But he knew that the Babylonian army was very strong. However, Cyrus had one big advantage优势/ədˈvæntɪdʒ/ over Babylon. The Persians liked Cyrus, because he was a good, fair king. But the Babylonians hated讨厌/ˈheɪtəd/ their king. He had left the city of Babylon and had gone away to live in a distant desert沙漠/ˈdezərt/.

In his place, he had given his son Belshazzar伯沙撒/belˈʃæzər/ control over the city. Belshazzar spent too much money on feasting宴会/ˈfiːstɪŋ/ and drinking, and not enough on the people of Babylon. So when Cyrus marched his army to Babylon, he didn't meet much resistance抵抗/rɪˈzɪstəns/. The Babylonians were sick and tired of their own king. So they didn't fight very hard when Cyrus's army arrived at the walls. Some of the Babylonians even opened the gates大门/ɡeɪts/ from the inside and let him in! Babylon fell to the Persians in 539 BC/BCE.

When Cyrus took over Babylon, he also took over Canaan. Canaan (also called Palestine巴勒斯坦/ˈpæləˌstaɪn/) had been the home of the Jewish people, until Babylon and Assyria conquered it. The Babylonians and Assyrians had made the Jewish people leave their homes. But Cyrus was a merciful仁慈的/ˈmɜːrsɪfəl/ king. When he became the king of Babylon, he let the Jews go back to Palestine. And he let them go back to worshipping崇拜/ˈwɜːrʃɪpɪŋ/ their own god.

This made him even more popular受欢迎的/ˈpɑːpjələr/. The Jews were so grateful感激的/ˈɡreɪtfəl/ to Cyrus that they called him, "The Anointed受膏者/əˈnɔɪntəd/ of the Lord." Now Cyrus was the greatest king in the world. But there was still one country that didn't obey Cyrus: Greece希腊/ɡriːs/. And soon the Greeks and the Persians would meet in battle战斗/ˈbætəl/.