【新译 X 世界】NO.57:奇幻之地卡帕多奇亚

Erosion shaped the incredible landscape of Turkey's Göreme valley, but thousands of years ago humans took a cue from Mother Nature and began carving an incredible chamber and tunnel complex into the soft rock. Beginning in the fourth century A.D., an urbanized—but underground—cultural landscape was created here.

侵蚀作用塑造了土耳其格雷梅山谷不可思议的景观，但数千年前，人类从大自然母亲那里得到了灵感，开始在柔软的岩石中雕刻出令人难以置信的洞穴和隧道群。从公元四世纪开始，这里形成了地下的城市文化景观。

Ancient volcanic eruptions blanketed this region with thick ash, which solidified into a soft rock—called tuff—tens of meters thick. Wind and water went to work on this plateau, leaving only its harder elements behind to form a fairy tale landscape of cones, pillars, pinnacles, mushrooms, and chimneys, which stretch as far as 130 feet (40 meters) into the sky.

古老的火山喷发用厚厚的火山灰覆盖了这片区域，这些火山灰凝固成一种叫做凝灰岩的软岩，厚度有数十米。风和水在这个高原上发挥作用，只留下更坚硬的元素，形成了一个由锥体、柱子、尖峰、蘑菇和烟囱组成的童话般的景观，延伸 130 英尺（40 米）至天空。

But human hands performed equally incredible works here. The rocky wonderland is honeycombed with a network of human-created caves; living quarters, places of worship, stables, and storehouses were all dug into the soft stone. In fact, tunnel complexes formed entire towns with as many as eight different stories hidden underground.

但人类的双手在这里也完成了同样令人难以置信的工作。岩石仙境与人造的洞穴网络成蜂窝状; 人们也从软石中挖出了起居室、礼拜场所、马厩和仓库。事实上， 隧道群构成了整个城镇，地下隐藏着多达八层不同的楼层。

The site became a religious refuge during the early days of Christianity. By the fourth century Christians fleeing Rome’s persecution had arrived in some numbers and established monastic communities here. The monks excavated extensive dwellings and monasteries and created Byzantine frescoed paintings in cave chapels beginning in the seventh century, which endure in well-preserved isolation to this day.

在基督教早期，该遗址为宗教避难所。到了四世纪，逃离罗马迫害的基督徒已经有一部分人来到这里，并建立了修道院社区。从七世纪开始，僧侣们挖掘了大量的住宅和修道院，并在洞穴教堂中创作了拜占庭壁画，这些壁画至今仍保存完好。

This rocky wonderland was shaped by millions of years of natural phenomena， but human hands performed equally incredible works here. Göreme is rich with history, but not all of Cappadocia’s troglodyte dwellings are museums. Some still serve as homes and others as hotels, which offer a truly unique hospitality experience.

这个岩石仙境是由数百万年的自然现象塑造的，但人类的双手在这里也创造了同样不可思议的作品。格雷梅历史悠久，但卡帕多奇亚的所有穴居住房并非都是博物馆。有些仍然作为住宅，有些则作为酒店使用，提供真正独特的款待体验。