Chapter 24 - The Wars of the Greeks / 第二十四章 - 希腊的战争

Athens雅典 - 古希腊的重要城邦/ˈæθɪnz/ and Sparta斯巴达 - 古希腊的军事城邦/ˈspɑːrtə/ didn't have much in common共同的，相同的/ˈkɒmən/ except for their language语言/ˈlæŋɡwɪdʒ/ and their gods. As a matter of fact, they fought战斗，争斗/fɔːt/ with each other. Sometimes the Athenians attacked攻击/əˈtækt/ Sparta. Sometimes Sparta attacked Athens. They went on fighting, off and on, for years年，岁月/jɪərz/.

But then something frightening可怕的，令人恐惧的/ˈfraɪtənɪŋ/ happened. The Persians波斯人/ˈpɜːrʒənz/ started to invade入侵，侵略/ɪnˈveɪd/ Greece. After all, the Persians had conquered征服，占领/ˈkɒŋkərd/ almost all the rest of the land土地，领土/lænd/ around them! Greece was one of the few countries国家/ˈkʌntriz/ that didn't obey服从，遵守/əˈbeɪ/ the Persian empire波斯帝国/ˈpɜːrʒən ˈempaɪər/. And the Persians wanted Greece too.

At first, the Persians just sent messengers信使，使者/ˈmesɪndʒərz/ to Greece. The messengers came to Athens and Sparta and announced宣布，通告/əˈnaʊnst/, "We are from the great king国王/kɪŋ/ of the Persians! He wants you to be part of his empire帝国/ˈempaɪər/. If you agree同意/əˈɡriː/, send him back some earth土壤，泥土/ɜːrθ/ and some water水/ˈwɔːtər/ from your cities. Then he won't attack you."

The Athenians and the Spartans were furious愤怒的，狂怒的/ˈfjʊəriəs/. How dare敢于/deər/ the king of the Persians demand要求，命令/dɪˈmænd/ that they surrender投降/səˈrendər/ without even a fight战斗/faɪt/? So they grabbed抓住，抓取/ɡræbd/ the messengers and threw扔，投掷/θruː/ them down a well井/wel/. "There!" they said. "There's plenty of earth and water for you down there!"

After that, Persia was determined决心的，坚定的/dɪˈtɜːrmɪnd/ to attack. The Persian army军队/ˈɑːrmi/ advanced前进，推进/ədˈvænst/ on Greece. Athens and Sparta decided that they had better stop fighting each other, and become friends朋友/frendz/ and allies盟友，同盟/ˈælaɪz/ so that they could defend保卫，防御/dɪˈfend/ themselves against the Persians.

The war战争/wɔːr/ against Persia began around 500 BC/BCE. It dragged on拖延，持续/dræɡd ɒn/ for years and years. Athens and Sparta fought battle战役，战斗/ˈbætl/ after battle against the Persian invasion入侵/ɪnˈveɪʒn/.

One of the most famous著名的/ˈfeɪməs/ battles of the war was the Battle of Marathon马拉松战役/ˈbætl əv ˈmærəθən/. Marathon was a little village村庄/ˈvɪlɪdʒ/ near the coast海岸/koʊst/ of Greece, close to the Aegean Sea爱琴海/ɪˈdʒiːən siː/.

One day in the year 490 BC/BCE, a ship船/ʃɪp/ came to Athens with frightening news消息，新闻/nuːz/: The Persians were coming! They were sailing航行/ˈseɪlɪŋ/ from Asia Minor across the Aegean Sea, straight for the village of Marathon. The Athenians knew that if the Persians could land登陆/lænd/ all of their soldiers士兵/ˈsoʊldʒərz/ at Marathon, they could march行军，前进/mɑːrtʃ/ into Athens and destroy摧毁/dɪˈstrɔɪ/ it.

So the Athenian army sent a message信息，消息/ˈmesɪdʒ/ to Sparta, saying "Come and help帮助/help/ us!" But the Spartans were having a religious宗教的/rɪˈlɪdʒəs/ festival节日，庆典/ˈfestɪvl/, and refused拒绝/rɪˈfjuːzd/ to leave Sparta until the festival was over.

The Athenians were outnumbered数量上处于劣势/ˌaʊtˈnʌmbərd/. There were too many Persian soldiers for the army of Athens to defeat击败/dɪˈfiːt/ alone. But the men of Athens had no choice选择/tʃɔɪs/. They marched from Athens to Marathon and waited等待/ˈweɪtɪd/ for the Persians to land.

When the Persian army landed, they launched发射，发动/lɔːntʃt/ thousands of arrows箭，弓箭/ˈæroʊz/ at the Athenian army. But the men of Athens charged冲锋/tʃɑːrdʒd/ through the arrows and attacked the Persians. The Persians were so startled惊吓的/ˈstɑːrtld/ and disorganized混乱的/dɪsˈɔːrɡənaɪzd/ that they lost the battle. They were forced to retreat撤退/rɪˈtriːt/.

When the Athenians saw that they had won the battle, they sent a runner跑步者，信使/ˈrʌnər/ back to Athens, to tell the people who were anxiously焦虑地/ˈæŋkʃəsli/ waiting at home that the Persian threat威胁/θret/ had been driven back. The runner, Pheidippides菲迪皮德斯/faɪˈdɪpɪdiːz/, ran over twenty-six miles英里/maɪlz/, up steep hills山丘/hɪlz/ and through rough country乡村，地区/ˈkʌntri/, to reach Athens. When he arrived at the city, he gasped喘气/ɡæspt/ out, "We have won!" And then—according to legend传说/ˈledʒənd/—he died of exhaustion疲惫，精疲力竭/ɪɡˈzɔːstʃən/.

Today we have a race比赛/reɪs/ named after the village of Marathon. The race is a little over twenty-six miles long, and it is called the marathon马拉松/ˈmærəθən/. It is run in the Olympics奥运会/əˈlɪmpɪks/ in honor of the brave勇敢的/breɪv/ Athenian who ran from Marathon to Athens with the good news of victory胜利/ˈvɪktəri/.

The Battle of Marathon didn't end the war, though. The Persians and Greeks went on fighting until the Greeks finally defeated the Persians, once and for all, in a great sea battle海战/siː ˈbætl/ at a place called Salamis萨拉米斯/ˈsæləmɪs/. After the Battle of Salamis (which took place in 480 BC/BCE) the Persians finally gave up attacking Greece. The Greek cities would remain free自由的/friː/ and independent独立的/ˌɪndɪˈpendənt/ from Persia.

Now Greece was at peace和平/piːs/. Instead of putting all their time and energy精力/ˈenərdʒi/ into fighting the Persians, the Greeks were able to do other things. They became famous for their architecture建筑学/ˈɑːrkɪtektʃər/—the way they designed and built buildings建筑物/ˈbɪldɪŋz/. The Greeks built enormous buildings from marble大理石/ˈmɑːrbl/. One of the most famous Greek buildings is called the Parthenon帕特农神庙/ˈpɑːrθənɑːn/. The Parthenon was a temple神庙/ˈtempl/ built in honor of Athena雅典娜/əˈθiːnə/, the Greek goddess女神/ˈɡɑːdəs/ of war. Its ruins废墟/ˈruːɪnz/ still stand in Greece, in the city of Athens, on a hill called the Acropolis卫城/əˈkrɑːpəlɪs/.

Inside the Parthenon were pictures图画/ˈpɪktʃərz/, carved in marble, of different Greek battles. These pictures were called friezes雕带/friːzɪz/. One of the friezes shows a legendary battle between the Greeks and an army of centaurs半人马/ˈsentɔːrz/. Centaurs were imaginary想象的/ɪˈmædʒɪneri/ creatures生物/ˈkriːtʃərz/ that were half man and half horse马/hɔːrs/.

The soldiers and centaurs on the friezes look very real真实的/riːl/. You can see the muscles肌肉/ˈmʌslz/ in the arms of the soldiers, and the expression表情/ɪkˈspreʃn/ on the faces of the soldiers. The Greeks tried very hard to make their pictures and statues雕像/ˈstætʃuːz/ look like real people. The faces of their statues look like the faces of real men and women. And the folds褶皱/foʊldz/ of their clothing衣服/ˈkloʊðɪŋ/ look like they are made from real cloth布料/klɔːθ/. It is hard to believe that they are carved from stone石头/stoʊn/.

With the Persians defeated, Athens and Sparta no longer had to fight. The Greeks could have gone on making their beautiful buildings and creating their statues in peace. But they didn't. Sparta and Athens were both afraid害怕的/əˈfreɪd/ that the other city would become too powerful强大的/ˈpaʊərfl/. So instead of remaining on friendly友好的/ˈfrendli/ terms, Sparta and Athens began to fight with each other again.

The war between Sparta and Athens began in 431 BC/BCE. It had a very long name—the Peloponnesian War伯罗奔尼撒战争/ˌpeləpəˈniːʒən wɔːr/. And the Peloponnesian War went on for a long time, over 25 years.

At first, Sparta gathered聚集/ˈɡæðərd/ all its armies together and marched towards Athens to invade it. But the Athenians decided that the Spartan soldiers were too strong to fight. They didn't march out to meet the Spartan army. Instead, they stayed inside the walls墙壁/wɔːlz/ of Athens and waited for the Spartan army to go away. "We will fight with the 'Long Walls' of Athens!" the people said. Instead of fighting with swords剑/sɔːrdz/, they would let the strong walls of the city protect保护/prəˈtekt/ them.

The Athenians waited and waited. Maybe their strategy策略/ˈstrætədʒi/ would have worked—if something terrible hadn't happened. The plague瘟疫/pleɪɡ/ broke out, inside the city walls. The plague was a sickness疾病/ˈsɪknəs/ spread by the fleas跳蚤/fliːz/ that lived on rats老鼠/ræts/. But the Athenians didn't know this. They just knew that people were getting sick and dying死亡/ˈdaɪɪŋ/ all over the city.

They couldn't leave the city, because of the Spartan army camped outside. And inside the city, sickness was everywhere. The greatest Athenian general将军/ˈdʒenərəl/, a man named Pericles伯里克利/ˈperɪkliːz/, and many of the strongest young men of Athens died. The Athenians panicked恐慌/ˈpænɪkt/. How could they defeat the Spartans now?

Finally one Athenian decided that he was tired of waiting for the siege围攻/siːdʒ/ to end. His name was Alcibiades阿尔基比亚德斯/ˌælsɪˈbaɪədiːz/, and he wanted to be the king of Athens. He thought to himself, "If I can defeat the Spartans, the Athenians will want to follow me!" So he called out to the Athenians, "Follow me! Let's get rid of these Spartans once and for all. We'll attack the Spartan army and defeat it!"

Alcibiades led the Athenians outside the city walls and attacked the Spartan camp. But the men of Athens were sick and weak虚弱的/wiːk/, and the Spartans defeated them. The survivors幸存者/sərˈvaɪvərz/ straggled散乱地走/ˈstræɡld/ back into Athens, angry and embarrassed尴尬的/ɪmˈbærəst/. "Let's get rid of Alcibiades!" they shouted. "He led us into defeat!"

But Alcibiades was nowhere to be found. When he saw how angry the Athenians were, he deserted抛弃，背叛/dɪˈzɜːrtɪd/ the city and went over to the Spartan camp. "Follow me back into Athens!" he told the Spartan general. "I know a secret秘密的/ˈsiːkrət/ passageway通道/ˈpæsɪdʒweɪ/ into the city. We can sneak偷偷地走/sniːk/ in after dark and take over before the Athenians know what has happened to them!"

The Spartans agreed to follow Alcibiades. So late one night, the traitor叛徒/ˈtreɪtər/ led the Spartans into his own city. The Spartan army captured占领/ˈkæptʃərd/ Athens and took over. Sparta became the strongest city in Greece.

But most of the Athenian men and many of the Spartan soldiers had died in the long, long Peloponnesian War. Now Greece no longer had the men they needed to keep other invaders侵略者/ɪnˈveɪdərz/ away. The Greeks had spent all their energy fighting each other; they had none left to defend themselves. And soon, invaders would come.