网帖翻译

Spencer McDaniel
B.A. Classical Studies & History, Indiana University Bloomington (2022)
You are kidding, right? The Persians were not the “constant loser of the Classical Period.” If anything, they were near-constant winners. The only reason why we hear so much about their defeats is because of how rare and astonishing such defeats were. The Persians were so powerful that, whenever someone actually beat them, they always made sure to make a big deal about it.

你在开玩笑吗？说波斯人在古代是经常性的输家，这当然是错的。就算他们被击败过，他们大多数时候也是赢家。我们之所以如此多地听到他们的失败，是因为对于波斯来说，失败是非常罕见和令人惊讶的。波斯人非常强大，以至于每当有人真正击败他们时，胜利者总是会对此大做文章。

The Achaemenid Empire was forged through years of Persian victories and conquests. In 546 BC, the Achaemenid Persians under Cyrus II the Great decisively defeated King Kroisos of the Lydian Empire and conquered his whole domain. In 539 BC, the Achaemenid Persians under Cyrus decisively defeated and conquered the Neo-Babylonian Empire, annexing all of its territory.

波斯通过不断的胜利和扩张征服建立了阿契美尼德王朝。公元前546年，居鲁士二世（居鲁士大帝）统治下的阿契美尼德王朝的波斯人彻底击败了吕底亚王国的克洛伊索斯国王（ Kroisos），并征服了其整个领地。公元前539年，居鲁士统治下的阿契美尼德王朝彻底地击败并征服了新巴比伦帝国，吞并了它的全部领土。
（译注：波斯阿契美尼德王朝又被称为波斯第一帝国，是古波斯地区第一个横跨欧亚非三洲的帝国。极盛时期的领土疆域，东起印度河平原、帕米尔高原，南到埃及、利比亚，西至小亚细亚、巴尔干半岛，北达高加索山脉、咸海。与公元前330年，被亚历山大大帝征服灭亡。
译注：居鲁士大帝：即居鲁士二世，本是伊朗西南部一个小首领，经过一系列的征战打败了3个帝国，即米底，吕底亚，新巴比伦，统一了大部分的古中东地区，建立了从印度到地中海的特大帝国，当代伊朗人将居鲁士尊称为“伊朗国父”。）
吕底亚（小亚细亚中西部古国（公元前1200 - 公元前546年，国祚六百五十余载），吕底亚财力雄厚，其末代君主克洛伊索斯，主动出击波斯帝国，但是遇到的是波斯居鲁士大帝，棋逢对手，身俘国灭。）

In 525 BC, the Achaemenid Persians under Cyrus II’s successor Cambyses II conquered Egypt, which was ruled by Pharaoh Psamtik III, and added it to their growing empire. Further conquests were made by Darius I, who expanded the empire into Europe. The Persians seemingly won victory after victory. To the Greeks, they seemed like an unstoppable war machine. Many Greek city-states simply surrendered to the Persians without even giving a fight because they knew they did not stand a chance against Persia’s unstoppable might.

公元前525年，在居鲁士大帝的继任者冈比西斯二世的领导下，阿契美尼德王朝波斯人征服了非洲的埃及，击败了埃及第二十六王朝末代法老王普萨美提克三世，并将埃及变成了他们日益壮大的帝国的一部分。之后，大流士一世开启了进一步的征服，并把帝国扩张到了欧洲。波斯人似乎赢得了一次又一次的胜利。在希腊人看来，他们就像一台无法阻挡的战争机器。许多希腊城邦一兵不出，直接就向波斯人投降，因为他们知道他们没有机会对抗波斯不可阻挡的力量。
（译注：冈比西斯二世其父居鲁士大帝。征服埃及，迫使昔兰尼和利比亚臣服，版图扩张至北非。后在入侵埃塞俄比亚和古实王国时相继受挫，冈二世回国平叛，在途中神秘死去。
（译注：埃及法老普萨美提克三世：结局凄惨，被冈比俘虏，子被处死，女儿成奴，朋友变乞，这些都被带到他面前测试他的反应，但是他只对朋友变成乞丐愤怒，最后被免死，获得优待，后因策划谋反，被冈二世下令灌喝牛血而死。
译注：大流士一世：波斯帝国第三位皇帝，出身于阿朝波斯皇族旁系，冈二世的亲侄子。曾随冈二世远征埃及，被任命为万人不死军的总指挥，冈二世神秘死亡后称王，继位一年之内铲除八方诸侯，统一波斯，并对外扩张到了欧洲和印度。他自称为“万王之王，万国之王”，后世尊称为“铁血大帝”。）

ABOVE: Map from Wikimedia Commons depicting the expansion of the Persian Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus II, Cambyses II, and Darius I

上图：维基公共地图描绘了在居鲁士大帝、冈比西斯二世和大流士一世统治下波斯阿契美尼德王朝的扩张。
(上图中，绿色为居鲁士大帝时期，蓝色为肛门二世的扩张，红色为大流士一世的继续扩张。）

The Greek cities who resisted the Persians were not uniformly successful. People forget that, immediately before the Persians confronted the Athenians in the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC, they sacked and burned the city of Eretria in Euboia. The Spartans and other Greeks may have fought valiantly in the Battle of Thermopylai, which took place during the Second Persian Invasion of Greece in 480 BC, but that does not change the fact that the battle was still an unambiguous victory for the Persians.

抵抗波斯人的希腊城邦并不是一帆风顺的。人们忘记了，在公元前490年的马拉松战役中，即在波斯人面对雅典人之前，他们洗劫并烧毁了尤卑亚的埃雷特里亚城。斯巴达人和其他希腊人可能在公元前480年第二次波斯入侵希腊期间的温泉关战役中英勇作战，但这并没有改变这场战役仍然是波斯人明确的胜利这一事实。
（译注：温泉关战役是希波战争中的一次著名战役，也是西方历史上一次重要的战役，具有极高的历史意义和军事意义。希腊邦国斯巴达的国王列奥尼达一世率领三百名斯巴达精锐战士与部分希腊城邦联军于温泉关抵抗波斯帝国，成功拖延波斯军队进攻，争取到雅典及其他城邦准备战役的宝贵时间，为之后希腊的胜利立下大功。但因寡不敌众，三百名（一说298）斯巴达战士及殿后的志愿军全部阵亡，列奥尼达被枭首。）

During that invasion, the Persians sacked and burned the already-evacuated city of Athens itself before the Athenians finally defeated them in the Battle of Salamis. Even after the Greeks drove the Persians out of Europe, the Persians still remained the dominant imperial power and still continued to meddle in Greek affairs, funding one Greek city-state and then another to ensure none of them got too powerful.

在那次入侵中，波斯人对已经撤离了市民的雅典城进行了洗劫和毁灭，即使在萨拉米斯战役之后，希腊人把波斯人赶出了欧洲，波斯帝国的力量仍然主导着这些地区，仍然继续干涉希腊事务，资助了一个又一个的希腊城邦，以确保他们中的任何一个都不会变得太强。

The reason the Greeks made such a big deal about having defeated Persia was not because the Persians were weak and easily defeated, but rather for the opposite reason: because they had defeated an enemy that had previously seemed totally undefeatable.

希腊人战胜波斯，变得如此出名，并不是因为波斯人软弱而容易被打败，而是因为相反的原因，即他们打败了一个以前似乎完全无法战胜的敌人。

ABOVE: Map from Wikimedia Commons showing the Greek world during the Greco-Persian Wars

上图：来自维基公共地图，显示了希波战争期间的希腊

Sure, Alexander the Great did eventually conquer the Achaemenid Empire, but that was partially because he got extraordinarily lucky. Alexander happened to attack just as the Persians were in the midst of a period of major political instability and when the Persians were under the leadership of Darius III, who was both a mediocre ruler and a mediocre commander. Alexander’s victory was also partly a result of the fact that he was an extraordinary strategic genius.

当然，亚历山大大帝最终征服了波斯帝国，但这在一定程度上是因为他非常幸运。因为亚历山大攻打波斯人的时候，波斯人正处于重大的政治动荡时期。而当时波斯人处于大流士三世的领导之下，大流士三世既是一个平庸的统治者，也是一个平庸的指挥官。当然，亚历山大的胜利在一定程度上也是因为他是一位非凡的战略天才。
（译注：大流士三世是波斯阿契美尼德王朝末代君主，他的经历有点类似于中国历史上的一些皇帝。出生旁支，当时大宦官巴古把持朝政，大流士只好与其虚与委蛇，取得信任。因巴古杀得王室凋零，只好轮到大流士三世继位，其获得统治权之后让巴古喝下毒酒死亡。主要成就镇压了埃及叛乱。）

Alexander’s victory was the result of perfect storm. If Alexander had not gotten lucky, then, even with all his cunning, he still would not have been able to conquer the Persians. If he had gotten lucky, but had not been as strategically talented, he would not have been able to conquer the Persians then either. Only with both factors going in his favor was he able to pull such a stunning conquest.

亚历山大的胜利是当时波斯各种糟糕的事情接憧而至的结果。如果亚历山大没有运气，那么，即使他再狡猾，他仍然无法征服波斯人。如果他只有运气好，没有过人的谋略，那么他也就不可能征服波斯人。只有这两种因素都有利于他，他才能取得如此惊人的胜利。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

Alexander’s conquest of the Achaemenid Empire was not the end of Persia, however. The Persians began building a new empire in the third century BC: the Parthian Empire. The Parthian Empire never reached the same territorial extent as the earlier Achaemenid Empire, but it still conquered a lot of land.

然而，亚历山大征服阿契美尼德帝国并不是波斯的终结。波斯人在公元前三世纪开始建立一个新的帝国：帕提亚帝国。帕提亚帝国从未达到与早期阿契美尼德帝国相同的领土范围，但它仍然征服了许多土地。
（译注：帕提亚帝国也就是我们中国所记载的安息国，是波斯人所建立，但是是波斯少数民族建立的，类似于中国的清王朝。安息帝国与罗马，汉朝，贵霜帝国成为同时期的世界四大并列强国。）

ABOVE: Map of the Parthian Empire at its greatest territorial extent

上图：帕提亚帝国全盛时期的地图。

The Parthians were able to hold more than their own against the Romans. In 53 BC, the Parthian general Surena famously utterly trounced a much larger Roman army under the command of the Roman general Crassus in the Battle of Carrhae.

帕提亚人非常善于对付罗马人。公元前53年，帕提亚将军苏雷纳在卡莱战役中彻底击败了由罗马将军克拉苏指挥的一支规模比他们更大的罗马军队。
（译注：卡莱战役：两万安息人对阵四万人的罗马军团，罗马军队全军覆没，罗马三巨头之一的克拉苏被杀，罗马军团的鹰旗被夺，是罗马帝国最耻辱的战斗之一。）

The Battle of Carrhae was one of the worst defeats Rome ever suffered. The Parthians killed or captured nearly all of the Romans who were at the battle and killed Crassus himself. That defeat was utterly humiliating for the Romans on its own, but the Parthians also captured numerous Roman golden eagles. Ultimately, partially because of that battle and partially because of the ensuing collapse of the Roman Republic, the Romans never conquered the Parthian homeland.
Although the Parthian Empire remained a thorn in Rome’s side for many centuries, it ultimately collapsed on its own and was replaced by the Sassanian Empire, which was stronger and more of a real threat to the Roman Empire during its waning years. The Roman emperor Julian the Apostate was famously killed in battle against the Sassanians in the Battle of Samarra on 26 June 363.

卡莱战役是罗马遭受的最严重的失败之一。帕提亚人杀死或俘虏了几乎所有参加战斗的罗马人，并杀死了克拉苏。这一失败对罗马人来说是一种彻底的羞辱，但帕提亚人也俘获了无数的罗马金鹰（译注：指鹰旗）。最终，因为这场战争和之后罗马共和国的崩溃，导致罗马人从来没有征服过帕提亚的家园。
虽然许多世纪以来，帕提亚帝国一直是罗马一侧的威胁，但最终帕提亚自己崩溃了，取而代之的是萨珊帝国，萨珊帝国在衰败的废墟中诞生崛起，并且更加强大，对罗马帝国构成了更大的威胁。公元363年6月26日，罗马皇帝尤利安在泰西封战役战役中与萨珊王朝的战斗中被杀。
（译注：萨珊帝国就是大家所熟知的萨珊波斯。尤利安，英文作“朱利安 Julian”，是战功卓越的东罗皇帝，最后一位罗马多神教拥戴者，他野心勃勃远征波斯，但是他的对手也是一位野心勃勃的强人，即波斯皇帝沙普尔二世。）

ABOVE: Map of the Sassanian Empire at its greatest territorial extent in around 620 AD

上图：公元620年左右全盛时期的萨珊帝国领土。

So, yeah, the ancient Persians actually won quite a lot.

所以，是的，古波斯人其实是经常性的赢家。