Byblos was the ancient Phoenician port city of Gebal (called Byblos by the Greeks) on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in what is, today, Lebanon. According to the historian Durant, “Byblos thought itself the oldest of all cities; the god El had founded it at the beginning of time, and to the end of its history it remained the religious capital of Phoenicia." Because papyrus was one of the principal articles in its trade, the Greeks took the name of the city as their word for book - biblos - and from their word for books named our Bible - ta biblia - which means 'the books'. Byblos is among the cities listed as candidates for the distinction of 'oldest city in the world' as it has been continuously inhabited for over 7,000 years. Byblos is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

? ? ? ? ? 朱拜勒是古代腓尼基人的港口城市比布魯斯（希臘人稱之為比布魯斯），位于今天黎巴嫩的地中海沿岸。根據(jù)歷史學(xué)家杜蘭特的說法，“比布魯斯的居民認(rèn)為自己的城市是所有城市中最古老的；伊爾神在時間之初就建立了它，直到其歷史結(jié)束，它始終是腓尼基的宗教首都”。由于紙莎草是其貿(mào)易中的主要物品之一，希臘人將這座城市的名字作為書籍的單詞“biblos”，并將圣經(jīng)稱作“ta biblia”，意思是“書”。比布魯斯被列為“世界上最古老城市”的候選城市之一，因?yàn)樗呀?jīng)連續(xù)有人居住了7000多年。比布魯斯已被聯(lián)合國教科文組織列為世界文化遺產(chǎn)。

城市的起源

The city began as a small fishing village called Gubal or Gebal while the coastal region of the land, which the Greeks named Phoenicia, was known to the inhabitants as Canaan. By 3000 BCE the little village had grown to a prosperous city through trade. The cedars of Lebanon were highly prized by other countries for use in construction, and Byblos became the single most important shipping port for timber to Egypt and elsewhere. Byblos was also the first city to perfect shipbuilding, and it is largely due to the craftsmanship of the shipwrights of Byblos that Phoenicians acquired their fame as sailors and "princes of the sea" (as they are referred to in the biblical book of Ezekiel). It was primarily through trade with Egypt that Byblos grew so incredibly wealthy. The Egyptians flooded Byblos with material wealth but also with aspects of their culture and Egyptian religion.

? ? ? ? ? 這座城市最初是一個名為Gubal 或 Gebal（迦巴勒） 的小漁村，而這塊土地的沿海地區(qū)，希臘人稱之為腓尼基，當(dāng)?shù)鼐用駛儎t稱之為迦南。到公元前3000年，這個小村莊已經(jīng)通過貿(mào)易發(fā)展成為一個繁榮的城市。黎巴嫩的雪松被其他國家高度重視用于建筑，比布魯斯成為通往埃及和其他地方最重要的木材運(yùn)輸港口。比布魯斯也是第一個擁有完善造船業(yè)的城市，在很大程度上歸功于比布魯斯造船者的技能，腓尼基人獲得了水手和“海洋王子”的美譽(yù)（正如圣經(jīng)《以西結(jié)書》中所說）。比布魯斯之所以如此富有，主要?dú)w功于與埃及的貿(mào)易。埃及人用物質(zhì)財富淹沒了比布魯斯，腓尼基文化也對埃及的文化以及宗教等方面產(chǎn)生了影響。

In Egyptian mythology, Byblos is cited as the city where Isis located the body of her dead husband Osiris in the trunk of a tree that had grown around him after his murder by his brother Set. The Phoenicians of Byblos also exported their own tales concerning Phoenician religion, and it is thought that the stories surrounding war in the heavens and an eternal battle between a great god of good and another deity of evil grew out of the Phoenician myths concerning the eternal war between Baal (god of the sky) and Yamm (god of the sea). This myth may have come from the Egyptian tale of the war between Osiris' son Horus and the dark god Set or transference may have gone from the Phoenicians to the Egyptians. The tale of the war in heaven related in the biblical book of Revelation bears many similarities to both these much older myths in the same way that there are many motifs in the Bible borrowed by the scribes who wrote it from earlier tales of other cultures. So closely-knit were the ties between Egypt and Byblos that some historians and scholars have claimed that Byblos was almost an Egyptian colony.

? ? ? ? ? 在埃及神話中，比布魯斯被認(rèn)為是伊西斯將她死去的丈夫奧西里斯的尸體放在一棵樹的樹干里的城市，這棵樹在他被他的兄弟塞特謀殺后圍繞著他生長。比布魯斯的腓尼基人也輸出了自己關(guān)于腓尼基宗教的故事，人們認(rèn)為圍繞著天上的戰(zhàn)爭和一個偉大的善神與另一個惡神之間的永恒戰(zhàn)斗的故事是由腓尼基人關(guān)于巴勒（天神）和亞姆（海神）之間永恒戰(zhàn)爭的神話發(fā)展而來的。這個神話可能來自埃及的奧西里斯之子荷魯斯和黑暗之神塞特之間的戰(zhàn)爭故事，也可能是從腓尼基人轉(zhuǎn)移到埃及人那里的。《圣經(jīng)》中有關(guān)天堂戰(zhàn)爭的故事與這兩個更古老的神話有許多相似之處，同樣，《圣經(jīng)》中的許多主題也是由撰寫《圣經(jīng)》的文士從其他文化的早期故事中借鑒而來的。埃及和比布魯斯之間的聯(lián)系是如此緊密，以至于一些歷史學(xué)家和學(xué)者聲稱比布魯斯就像是埃及的殖民地。

亞摩利人、?？怂魉谷耍ㄏ部怂魉谷耍┖碗枘峄说谋炔剪斔?/strong>

The Amorites burned the city in their invasion of 2150 BCE. After subduing the populace, they rebuilt and settled in the area. Their control of the region ended in 1725 BCE with the invasion of the Hyksos people who ruled until they were driven out by the Egyptians in 1580 BCE. The Egyptians then lay claim to the coast of Canaan.

? ? ? ? ? ?亞摩利人在公元前2150年的入侵中燒毀了這座城市。在征服了民眾之后，他們重建并在該地區(qū)定居。公元前1725年，隨著?？怂魉谷说娜肭郑瑏喣藢υ摰貐^(qū)的控制結(jié)束。直到公元前1580年，?？怂魉谷吮话＜叭粟s出。埃及人聲稱占領(lǐng)了迦南海岸。

It is during the period of Egyptian occupation that the Phoenician culture developed arguably their most important contribution to the world: their alphabet of 22 characters which replaced cuneiform in written communication. Through trade, the Phoenician alphabet traveled first to Greece around 800 BCE and then spread to other countries through Greek merchants.

? ? ? ? ? 正是在埃及占領(lǐng)期間，腓尼基文化發(fā)展了可以說是對世界最重要的貢獻(xiàn)：他們22個字符的字母，取代了楔形文字進(jìn)行書面交流。通過貿(mào)易，腓尼基字母在公元前800年左右首先傳到希臘，后來被希臘商人傳播到其他國家。

比布魯斯的衰落

Between 1100 and 725 BCE Byblos declined in importance as its sister city, Tyre, grew. After the conquest of the region by Alexander the Great, and the destruction of Tyre in 332 BCE, Byblos again prospered and became completely Hellenized, adopting Greek culture, dress, and language. During the Hellenistic period (330-64 BCE) Byblos became most famous for the production of papyrus which would give it its Greek name. In 64 BCE the region was conquered by the Roman general Pompey the Great and continued as a Roman colony from 64 BCE to 395 CE. The Romans, as usual, improved upon the city they found, ordering the streets and building large temples, Roman baths, and civic gardens.

? ? ? ? ? 在公元前1100年至公元前725年間，由于其姐妹城市提爾的發(fā)展，比布魯斯的重要性有所下降。在亞歷山大大帝征服該地區(qū)，并在公元前332年摧毀提爾之后，比布魯斯再次繁榮起來，并完全希臘化，逐步采用希臘文化、服飾和語言。在希臘化時期（公元前330-64年），比布魯斯因生產(chǎn)紙莎草紙而聞名，它的希臘名字也由此而來。公元前64年，該地區(qū)被羅馬將軍龐培大帝征服，從公元前64年到公元前395年一直是羅馬的殖民地。羅馬人像往常一樣，對他們發(fā)現(xiàn)的城市進(jìn)行了改進(jìn)，整理街道，建造大型寺廟、羅馬浴場和市政花園。

After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire controlled Byblos from 395-637 CE when the Muslim Arab invaders took the region and drove the Byzantines out. Under Muslim rule, Byblos steadily declined in wealth and importance. Now known as the city of Jbail, the Muslims considered it of so little importance that they did not even bother to rebuild the defences they had destroyed in taking the city. The great port was virtually ignored for centuries and provided an easy target for invading Crusaders in 1098 CE during the First Crusade. Once the Crusaders had been driven out, the Muslim rulers continued to neglect the city, busying themselves with rule further inland. Byblos was forgotten for centuries until the work of the French historian Ernest Renan brought the city back to light in 1860 CE.

? ? ? ? ? 羅馬帝國滅亡后，拜占庭帝國在公元395-637年控制了比布魯斯，后來阿拉伯穆斯林入侵者占領(lǐng)了該地區(qū)并將拜占庭人趕走。在穆斯林的統(tǒng)治下，比布魯斯逐漸失去了它的財富和重要性。阿拉伯穆斯林稱其為Jbail，穆斯林認(rèn)為它不重要，所以他們甚至懶得重建他們在攻占該城時破壞的防御設(shè)施。幾個世紀(jì)以來，這個偉大的港口幾乎被忽視了，在公元1098年第一次十字軍東征期間，為入侵的十字軍提供了一個容易攻擊的目標(biāo)。、十字軍被趕走后，穆斯林統(tǒng)治者繼續(xù)無視這座城市，忙于在內(nèi)陸地區(qū)進(jìn)行統(tǒng)治。比布魯斯被遺忘了幾個世紀(jì)，直到公元1860年法國歷史學(xué)家歐內(nèi)斯特·雷南的工作讓這座城市重新煥發(fā)生機(jī)。

參考書目：

Byblos, Sidon and TyreAccessed 1 Dec 2016.

ByblosAccessed 1 Dec 2016.

Durant, W. Our Oriental Heritage. Simon & Schuster, 1954.

Miles, R. Carthage Must Be Destroyed. Viking Adult, 2010.

Worthington, I. Alexander the Great. Routledge, 2004.

原文作者：Joshua J. Mark

? ? ? ? ? 作家，紐約馬里斯特學(xué)院的前兼職哲學(xué)教授，曾旅居希臘和德國。曾是大學(xué)歷史、寫作、文學(xué)和哲學(xué)教授。

原文網(wǎng)址：https://www.worldhistory.org/Byblos/

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