【新译 X 世界】NO.67:埃及的第一位法老

Five thousand years ago, there was no single nation of Egypt. There were, and had been for thousands of years, two lands: Upper Egypt in the south and Lower Egypt in the north. Around 3100 B.C., a king of Upper Egypt, known as Narmer, changed all that. By incorporating the lands west of the fertile, triangular Nile Delta region into his own kingdom—which spanned the lush Nile Valley area in the south—he created a united Egypt, the world’s first great territorial state.

五千年前，没有一个单一的埃及国家。几千年来，有两块土地：南部的上埃及和北部的下埃及。公元前 3100 年左右，上埃及国王纳尔迈改变了这一切。通过将肥沃的尼罗河三角洲地区以西的土地纳入他自己的王国——横跨南部郁郁葱葱的尼罗河谷地区——他创建了一个统一的埃及，这是世界上第一个伟大的国家。

When the two lands united, it marked not only the beginnings of a political state, but also the origins of a great cultural one. Beginning with Narmer, Egypt began developing its own distinctive visual style, one that would echo through the ages as the iconography and symbols embraced by Narmer and his successors took hold. These symbols became tools used by pharaohs—from Khufu to Hatshepsut to Ptolemy XII—to convey power, strength, and unity for millennia.

上下埃及统一后，不仅标志着一个政治国家的开始，也标志着一个伟大的文化起源。从纳尔迈开始，埃及开始发展自己独特的视觉风格，随着纳尔迈及其继任者所采用的象形和符号的流行，这种风格将在各个时代得以延续。这些符号成为法老（从胡夫到哈特谢普苏特到托勒密十二世）数千年来用来传递权力、力量和团结的工具。

Narmer commissioned such a votive siltstone palette. Now popularly known as the Narmer Palette, the shield-shaped object dates to circa 3200-3000 B.C., and it appears the ruler consecrated the palette to the temple of the falcon-headed god Horus, symbol of cosmic and political power. Today the 25-inch-tall artifact (which features some of the world’s earliest hieroglyphics) can be seen in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

纳尔迈委托制作了这样一个还愿的粉砂岩调色板。现在通常被称为纳尔迈调色板，这个盾形物体的历史可以追溯到大约公元前3200到3000年，统治者似乎将调色板奉献给了鹰头神荷鲁斯的神庙，荷鲁斯是宇宙和政治权力的象征。今天，在开罗的埃及博物馆可以看到这件高25英寸的文物（其中包含一些世界上最早的象形文字）。

The Narmer Palette was carved on both sides. Both the front and back feature depictions of the king. It is the earliest monumental representation of a pharaoh found to date. On one side, Narmer wears a hedjet of Upper Egypt, grasps an enemy by the hair, and raises a mace to strike. On the other side, the ruler sports a deshret from Lower Egypt as he surveys his fallen foes. It is the first time that an Egyptian king is depicted wearing each crown on the same work of art. Egyptologists see the appearance of both crowns as evidence of Narmer’s creation of a unified Egypt under his rule. 

纳尔迈调色板的两面都雕刻了。正面和背面都有对国王的描绘。这是迄今为止发现的最早的法老纪念雕像。在一面，纳尔迈戴着上埃及的王冠，抓住敌人的头发，举起狼牙棒进行攻击。在另一面，纳尔迈戴着下埃及的王冠，看着敌人倒下。这是埃及国王第一次在同一件艺术品上佩戴两顶王冠。埃及学家将这两个王冠的出现视为纳尔迈在他的统治下建立埃及的证据。

The smiting tableau on the front of the Narmer Palette stood the test of time in Egyptian art. The positioning of Narmer’s body— with one upraised hand holding a mace while the other clutches a helpless enemy—can be found in almost every era of pharaonic Egypt.

纳尔迈调色板正面的精彩画面在埃及艺术中经受住了时间的考验。纳尔迈的身体姿势——一只手举起拿着狼牙棒，另一只手抓着一个无助的敌人——几乎在每个埃及法老时代都能找到。