书城外语英语PARTY——神话圣地·希腊
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第17章 人文景观Human Landscapes(2)

That is when the powerful bastion must have been built. Later, during Archaic times, that is, during the period of Peisistratides, a very small temple was erected on the Mycenaean fortification fortification n.防御工事, 要塞, 筑城术, dedicated to the worship of Athena. The Persians destroyed them in 480 B.C., but the space was included in building program and later the bastion was completed and dressed with poros limestone limestone n.石灰石 thus becoming the tower we see today.

The Ionian temple, made entirely of pentelic marble which was erected on a podium, magnifies the unaffected grandeur grandeur n.庄严, 伟大 of the sacred rock and gives a different spirit to the entire cluster cluster n.串, 丛 vi.丛生, 成群 of monuments.

It is a monument of small dimensions, amphiprostyle and fourpillared. It has monolithic monolithic n.单片电路, 单块集成电路 columns with relatively low proportions and high bases with a large scotia. The eastern side of the nave was divided into pilasters and two pillars and the openings were enclosed with railings.

The religious statue of the Nike, with its cutoff wings, was housed in the nave, which was fashioned into a crypt by three steps. That is why Pausanias said in the 2nd century A.D. that the temple was dedicated to the Wingless Victory (Nike=Victory).

Around 410 B.C. the tower was enclosed with a parapet on the top on the south, west and north sides. The marble plaques of the parapet are of great artistic value containing exceptional basreliefs which depict Nikes and a repetition of the image of the seated Athena. Important fragments of these marble plaques have survived. Both the figures on the frieze and the figures on the parapet are superb superb adj.庄重的, 堂堂的, 华丽的, 极好的 examples of the mature socalled “rich” style.

The Classical temple is considerably smaller than the other temples of the Acropolis. It is the first building that greets the visitors who approach the Propylaia and its elegant Ionic features balance the dominating Doric character of the Propylaia. It faces to the east and its entrance is lined with four monolithic Ionic columns that support a shallow porch. The west end is similarly treated with four Ionic columns and a porch, but they preceded a blind wall. The inclusion of a tetrastyle tetrastyle adj.正面有四根柱的,四柱式的 (four columns) at the back of the temple was necessary for this side faced the entrance to the Acropolis.

The temple was designed by Kallikrates and is 11 feet tall from the stylobate to the apex of its pediment. As was customary customary adj.习惯的, 惯例的 in Attica (but not in Ionia) the temple was decorated with a continuous frieze.

The temple,s ratio of the column height to its length is 7:1 instead of the customary 9:1 of other Ionic temples.

The parapet parapet n.栏杆, 低墙, 扶手, 胸墙 of the Temple of Athena Nike surrounded the temple and acted as a guardrail to protect people from falling off the steep bastion. It was elaborately decorated by relief sculptures which were seen best by the visitors ascending the ramp towards the Propylaia. It depicted not a coherent story like the Parthenon frieze, but instead it was decorated with a number of Nike relief sculptures in various states of activity. The parapet was built after the temple was complete, perhaps as late as 410 B.C.E..

Much later in its history in 1687, during Ottoman occupation the temple of Athena Nike was dismantled dismantle v.拆除 when the “Venetians” besieged the Turks at the Acropolis. The Turks used the stones from the temple to build a bastion next to the Propylaia. The “Venetians” finally forced the Turks to surrender after eight days of intense bombardment, and the temple stones remained as part of the bastion until the liberation of Greece. In 1834 during systematic systematic adj.系统的, 体系的 excavations and rebuilding of the Acropolis by Ross and Hansen the bastion was dismantled and the temple was reconstructed during the next four years.

In the late 1930s under the direction of N. Balanos and Orlandos the entire bastion along with the temple was dismantled in order to address structural problems with the substructure and was reconstructed by 1940. In 1998 the temple began a new cycle of reconstruction. The frieze was removed and placed in the Acropolis museum, and the temple dismantled completely once again to replace the corroded concrete floor and the iron beams beam n.梁, 桁条, (光线的)束, 柱, 电波, 横梁 v.播送 that were present as the result of previous reconstructions.

The Acropolis of Athens雅典卫城

卫城是雅典以及全希腊的一颗明珠,是雅典的象征。雅典是古希腊的政治文化中心,卫城是供奉雅典庇护者雅典娜的地方。卫城海拔156米,从雅典市的任何地方都可以看到。自然的山体使人们只能从西侧登上卫城。

雅典卫城雄踞于市中心一座高150多米的四面陡峭的山丘上,19世纪的考古学家们在这里发现了许多古代的遗址,它们包括道路、水井、墓穴和住宅,这些遗址证明此处于公元前2800年便有人居住,一千年后的雅典王也是在这里建起了他的王宫,宫殿被一道牢固的围墙完全圈在里面,利用雅典卫城的陡峭山冈进行有效的防卫。

公元前8世纪至公元前6世纪,雅典作为希腊第一个城市国家出现,这里成了雅典奴隶主民主政治时期的宗教中心。

公元前480年至479年,贵族出身的杰出的政治家和军事家伯里克利成为雅典国家的实际统治者,他委任当时希腊最有名的雕塑家费迪亚斯重新建筑雅典卫城的神庙,鉴于雅典国家的政治机构早已被迁移到城市的底部,这里完全成为了雅典人膜拜崇尚诸神,尤其是雅典城的守护女神雅典娜的宗教圣地。

卫城东西长280米,南北最宽处130米,地势险峻,仅在西面有一上下出入的通道,战争中又是坚固的要塞。

古堡由着名的巴特农神庙、埃雷赫修神庙、雅典娜胜利神庙和卫城山门等古建筑组成,这些建筑,几乎全部用洁白的大理石建成。因考虑到从山下四周仰望卫城的良好景观,这些建筑物基本沿周边布置。

卫城山门是雅典卫城的入口,建于公元前437~前431年,由尼西克利斯设计,是继巴特农神庙后的又一杰作,以简洁洗炼的体形屹立于卫城两侧。它的立面前后均用六根多立克柱,中央一跨最为宽大,以强调大门的特征。

山门以西内坡道两侧,各有三根秀拔的爱奥尼立柱,在它们顶托着的爱奥尼式梁枋上,彩绘着鲜艳的盾剑画。这两排装饰华丽的列柱作为山门的借景,背后又是湛蓝的天空,更烘托出没有装饰的山门的刚劲、庄重和动人的效果。

门廊的两翼不对称,北翼过去曾是绘画陈列馆,南翼是敞廊。土耳其人占领时期,曾将山门作为火药库,土耳其总督也曾在此居住。1640年,山门因遭雷击而受到严重破坏。