10個終於被解開但仍耐人尋味的歷史之謎(上)

For some of us, the oldest mysteries, the ones before our time, are the most compelling. Sometimes, we stumble upon an answer like a happy accident. Other times, someone just won't let go until he or she finds the solution.

對於我們中的大多數人來說，最能引起我們注意的古老祕密往往是早於我們所生活的這個時代的。有時，我們偶然得到一個答案就像是經歷了一次快樂的歷險，而有時候對於有的人來說，不找到結果他們就不會放手向前。

10. The 20-Year Search For A Missing Opera

10.尋找失蹤了20年的歌劇

Enrique Granados, a renowned Spanish composer, wrote an unpublished opera called Maria del Carmen in 1898. The story of a love triangle in Murcia, the opera was so celebrated when it opened in Madrid that the Queen of Spain gave Granados the distinguished Charles III Cross for his music. Even so, the original version of the opera was never performed again.

著名的西班牙作曲家恩裏克·格拉納多斯在1898年譜寫的歌劇“瑪利亞德爾卡門”，這是一個發生在穆爾西亞的三角戀故事，歌劇在馬德里第一次演出，隨後迅速成名，西班牙女王爲格拉納多斯頒發了查爾斯三世十字勳章，以顯示其傑出的音樂才能。但是即便如此,歌劇的最初版本也不會再現。

When the New York Metropolitan Opera performed another of the composer's works in 1916, Granados and his wife sailed to America with the only copy of Maria del Carmen. Granados hoped to persuade the Met to perform his masterpiece. When they didn't agree, the Granados set sail to Spain via England, but a German submarine torpedoed their boat in the English Channel.

1916年，當時紐約的大都市都在演出另一個作曲家的作品，格拉納多斯和他的妻子帶着“瑪利亞德爾卡門”的唯一副本前往美國，格拉納多斯希望在那裏能說服他們演出他的傑出作品。因爲他們不同意，格拉納多斯於是啓航通過英格蘭回西班牙,但德國潛艇在英吉利海峽擊沉了他們的船。

The couple drowned, but the three-volume opera survived, as did their six children whom they'd left in Barcelona. Two decades later, a son who needed money sold the opera to an American musician against the wishes of other family members. For the next few decades, the music's ownership was litigated. Before the issue was settled, the opera was supposedly destroyed in a New York warehouse fire in 1970.

這對夫婦淹死了，但是三卷本歌劇倖存了下來，當時他們的六個孩子留在巴塞羅那。二十年後,急需用錢的一個兒子在違背其他家庭成員意願的情況下將歌劇賣給美國音樂家。在接下來的幾十年裏，一直是對於音樂所有權的訴訟。問題還未解決，1070年，歌劇被毀於紐約倉庫的一場大火裏。幾年後，音樂專業的沃爾特·克拉克寫研究生論文，瞭解到那個失蹤的傑作。在接下來的20年時間裏，他堅定不移的懷疑着它的命運。“我想知道它是否真的被摧毀了，畢竟在那場大火以後沒有人做了完全的清單詳情。”克拉克這樣說到，“在大火之後，沒有人做了適當的庫存。當我研究2006年格拉納多斯的傳記,我聯繫了從他孫子那裏購買歌劇的人瑪利亞，他也一直在不停地尋找。

A couple of decades later, Walter Clark, a graduate student writing a dissertation on music, learned of the missing masterpiece. For the next 20 years, he couldn't shake his doubts about its fate. “I wondered if it was really destroyed,” Clark said. “No one had done a proper inventory after the fire. When I was researching my [2006 biography of Granados], I contacted the grandson of the man who had purchased Maria, and he kept looking.” Finally, in 2009, the opera was found, although it had been damaged by smoke and water. Thanks to the music professor who played detective, Maria del Carmen has been restored and subsequently published by the company, Trito. For the first time since 1899, the opera will also be performed in Spain in 2015.

最終，歌劇在2009年被發現,儘管它已經被煙燻、被水浸泡。多虧音樂教授Maria del Carmen才得以將其復原，隨後Trito公司將其發行。由於其第一次演出是在1899年的西班牙，歌劇也將於2015年在西班牙演出。

9. The Moroccan Village Built On A Rock Pile

9.建在岩石堆上的摩洛哥村莊

At about 3,900 meters (13,000 ft) above sea level, the village of Arroumd sits perilously atop a huge pile of rocks in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco. For over 130 years, the origin of that rock pile has mystified scientists. Most assumed the movement of a glacier deposited the rocks, but modern dating techniques point to seismic activity 4,500 years ago as the culprit. The village is located near a major tectonic fault that sits below the face of a cliff.

在海拔約3900米(13000英尺)的地方，Arroumd村莊坐落在摩洛哥阿特拉斯山脈的一大堆岩石之上。130多年來，岩石堆的起源一直困擾着科學家們。大多數人認爲是冰川沉積岩的運動，但是現代最先進的技術指出，4500年前的地震活動是罪魁禍首，這個村莊坐落於靠近臨近懸崖下面的主要構造斷層。

Although a glacier probably eroded the face of the cliff, making it vulnerable to collapse, the avalanche occurred approximately 7,000 years after the glacier melted. So the glacier may have made the cliff more likely to collapse, but an earthquake was probably the actual trigger of the avalanche of rocks. Even beyond the huge pile of rocks, Arroumd is a mysterious place. “Several incidents occurred at the site, including some accidents—minor, thankfully–and mystery ailments to those who went there,” said lead researcher Philip Hughes. “I always joke about the ‘curse' of the Arroumd landform. This year, we encountered severe whirlwinds when entering the valley . . . We were unable to stand on our feet, which is rather unusual for this part of the world, where climate is often hot and calm.”

儘管雪崩之後的7000年，冰川融化可能侵蝕懸崖，使它容易斷裂。所以我們認爲冰川可能使懸崖崩潰，但實際上可能是地震引發雪崩落下的岩石。

8. How Mary Ingalls Really Went Blind

8.瑪麗·英格爾（Mary Ingalls）失明之謎

In the Little House on the Prairie children's book series, author Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote that her real-life sister, Mary, was blinded by scarlet fever at age 14. The event was also dramatized on a television series based on the books. But pediatricians say the explanation for Mary's blindness doesn't make sense.

在兒童系列圖書《草原上的小屋》中，作家勞拉·英格爾斯·懷爾德曾提到她的親姐姐瑪麗在14歲時因患猩紅熱而失明。這一事件在由該書改編而成的電視劇中同樣被戲劇化。然而兒科醫生卻認爲瑪麗失明原因行不通。

Dr. Beth Tarini was surprised by that discovery even as a medical student. "I was in my pediatrics rotation," said Tarini. "We were talking about scarlet fever, and I said, 'Oh, scarlet fever makes you go blind. Mary Ingalls went blind from it.' " Her professor disagreed, which propelled Tarini on a detective mission to find out what really happened to Mary.

在貝斯·塔瑞尼博士還是一名醫科學生時就對這一發現頗感驚訝。塔瑞尼說：”當時我正在兒科輪班”。”我們談論着猩紅熱，我說，‘哦，是猩紅熱使你失明的，瑪麗·英格爾斯就是這樣。”但她的教授並不同意她的觀點，這使得塔瑞尼決定調查出瑪麗失明的真正原因。

Tarini and her team researched the issue for 10 years. They found that Mary had scarlet fever as a young child, but her illness at 14 was referred to as "brain fever." There was also no reference to her having the distinctive rash of scarlet fever as a teenager. While scarlet fever had a mortality rate for children of up to 30 percent in the 1800s, most cases of blindness from the disease were temporary.

塔瑞尼和她的團隊花了十年來研究這個問題。他們發現，瑪麗小時候患有猩紅熱，但她在14歲所患的病應被稱爲“腦膜炎”。另外，也沒有資料顯示她在青少年時期出現猩紅熱皮疹症狀。雖然在19世紀猩紅熱導致的兒童死亡率高達30％，但大多數情況下失明是暫時性的。

As the team continued to investigate, they discovered that Laura wrote a letter to her daughter, Rose, in 1937 describing Mary's illness. Laura sent the letter right before the publication of her book By the Shores of Silver Lake, which described Mary's blindness as being caused by scarlet fever. However, an excerpt from the letter stated: "Mary had some sort of spinal sickness. I am not sure if the Dr. named it. We learned later when Pa took her from De Smet, South Dakota to Chicago, Illinois to a specialist that the nerves of her eyes were paralyzed and there was no hope."

進一步的調查發現，1937年勞拉曾寫了一封信給她的女兒露絲描述瑪麗的病情。勞拉寫這封信時正好是她的新書《銀湖畔》出版之前，書中寫到瑪麗由於患猩紅熱而失明。然而信的摘錄卻寫到：“瑪麗有某種脊柱病，我不確定醫生是否這麼叫它，我們後來才知道，當爸爸帶着她從南達科他州的迪斯梅特到伊利諾伊州的芝加哥時，專家已認爲她的眼睛的神經壞了，沒有希望了。”

After poring over historical records, including the Ingalls' town newspaper that reported that Mary had suffered from severe headaches and partial paralysis on one side of her face, the researchers now believe that Mary contracted viral meningoencephalitis, which inflames the brain and spinal cord. By inflaming the optic nerve, it can also lead to blindness.

通過研究歷史記錄，包括英格爾居住小鎮報紙上的報道，該報道稱瑪麗患有嚴重的頭痛，臉部也有一側部分癱瘓。研究人員現在相信，瑪麗所患的病毒性腦膜炎損害了她的大腦和脊髓。從而引起視神經的損害，也可導致失明。

7. Gospel Of The Lots Of Mary

7．《瑪麗福音》之謎

Recently translated by Princeton University religion professor Anne Marie Luijendijk, the 1,500-year-old "Gospel of the Lots of Mary" is not a gospel describing the life and death of Jesus Christ, as everyone had assumed. Instead, it's a sort of Magic 8 Ball to predict the future and help people solve their problems.

最近，普林斯頓大學宗教學教授安妮·瑪麗·路易簡德克翻譯了《瑪麗福音》，與所有人認爲的相反，這本有1500 年曆史的福音書並不描述耶穌基督的生與死，而像是神奇8號球一樣預測未來，幫助人們解決問題。

This Christian oracle book was written in the Egyptian Coptic language, which uses the Greek alphabet. The book opens like this: “The Gospel of the lots of Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ, she to whom Gabriel the Archangel brought the good news. He who will go forward with his whole heart will obtain what he seeks. Only do not be of two minds.”

本基督教預言書由採用希臘字母的埃及科普特語寫成。這本書的開頭是這樣寫的：“瑪麗福音，耶穌基督母親的福音，她爲加布裏埃爾天使帶來好消息。一心向前的人會得償所願。只要他不三心二意。”

That opening led Luijendijk to believe the book contained a standard type of gospel. However, she found that the heavily used book was made up of 37 oracles, which rarely mentioned Jesus. If a person needed help with a problem, he would ask a question of the book's owner. Then they would select an oracle at random to solve the problem. The book's owner would interpret the oracle's answer.

這樣的開頭使路易簡德克認爲這是本標準的福音書。然而，她發現這本年代久遠的書由 37 個預言組成，而其中很少提到耶穌。如果有人需要幫助，他會問書的主人一個問題。然後他們會隨意選擇一個預言來解決這個問題。書的主人會解釋這個預言。

Each oracle is written so vaguely that it could be used for many situations. An example would be: “Stop being of two minds, o human, whether this thing will happen or not. Yes, it will happen! Be brave and do not be of two minds. Because it will remain with you a long time and you will receive joy and happiness.”

每個預言是如此含糊以至於它可以被用於很多情況。一個例子是：“不要再三心二意，人類，不論這件事情是否會發生。是的，它會發生！要勇敢，不要三心二意。因爲它會陪伴你很長的時間，你會得到快樂和幸福。”

Ancient "lot books" were consulted to predict people's futures. Overall, this book takes a positive view of what lies ahead. However, Luijendijk had never known of another lot book that was referred to as a “gospel,” which translates as "good news." That leads Luijendijk to believe that gospels may have been viewed differently in ancient times, perhaps not solely as texts about the life and death of Jesus.

古代有很多書被用來預測人們的未來。總體而言，這本書對於未來持正面看法。然而，路易簡德克從來不知道的另一些被稱爲“福音”的書，被譯爲“好消息”。這使得路易簡德克相信福音書的解讀可能與古時不同，它也許並不僅僅有關耶穌的生命和死亡。

In 1984, the text was donated to Harvard University by the daughter-in-law of an antiquities trader. However, no one knows how or when the family acquired the book.

1984年，這本書被一名古董商人的女婿捐贈給哈佛大學。然而，沒有人知道這個家庭如何得到這本書。

6. Why Palmyra Was Located In The Syrian Desert

6.爲什麼巴爾米拉坐落於敘利亞的沙漠之中

Palmyra was an important trading hub in the Roman Empire around 2,000 years ago. But historians could never understand how Palmyra's 100,000 residents were able to thrive in the middle of the Syrian desert—or why they would live there in the first place.

2000年前，巴爾米拉是羅馬帝國重要的貿易樞紐。但是歷史學家永遠不明白巴爾米拉的十萬居民是如何在敘利亞沙漠的中部生存下來的，或者說，他們一開始爲什麼要選擇在那裏生活。

However, a team of Norwegian and Syrian researchers has finally solved the mystery. Palmyra and over three dozen surrounding (but forgotten) ancient Roman farming villages used a network of water reservoirs to make their arid steppe green. By collecting and channeling the yearly rainfall of 12–15 centimeters (5–6 in) from seasonal storms into these reservoirs, the ancient inhabitants farmed the land with a variety of crops. This gave Palmyra a stable source of food, even during droughts, making it a grand oasis of avenues, arches, and columns in a vibrant desert marketplace.

然而，一支由挪威和敘利亞研究人員共同組成的研究小組最終解開了這一謎題。巴爾米拉以及在它周圍超過36個的古羅馬村莊（但是被遺忘了）利用一種水庫網來使他們乾燥的大草原保持常綠。每年暴雨季節降水量有12-15公分，古代居民收集和引導這些降水到他們的水庫，並利用這些水耕作多種多樣的農作物。這給了巴爾米拉一個穩定的食物來源，即使在旱季巴爾米拉也是一片壯觀的綠洲，在其充滿活力的集市中，有着樹木茂密的林蔭道，各式各樣精美的拱門和圓柱。

The city also prospered as a major trading hub linking Eastern civilizations with Western ones. Although the Persians and Parthians controlled the East and the Romans dominated the West, there were small independent kingdoms located between the two. Each of their rulers demanded payments from travelers to use their water routes—along parts of the Euphrates and Nile Rivers, for example.

這個城市作爲連接東方和西方文明的主要貿易樞紐，也十分繁榮。雖然當時是波斯人和帕提亞人統治東方而羅馬人主導西方，但是也有一些小的獨立的國家處在它們之間。每個國家的統治者要求旅遊者有償使用他們境內的水路，比如幼發拉底河和尼羅河。

Rather than pay all those exorbitant river taxes to take the direct routes, tradesmen would cut through the desert and stop at Palmyra. There, they could purchase the items and services they needed to safely complete their journeys. This greatly contributed to Palmyra's prosperity in ancient times.

比起選擇徑直的航線需要付出過高的河稅，商人們更願意從沙漠穿過並停留在巴爾米拉。在巴爾米拉，他們可以購買他們所需要的商品和服務以保證安全地走完這一段旅程。這在古代極大地促進了巴爾米拉的繁榮。

注：本文轉載自前十網，譯者：Freya然