纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 061刘易斯棋子（7）

 

The Lewis chess pieces were discovered in 1831, at Uig Bay on Lewis, in a small stone chamber¹ concealed² in a sandbank. By far the most likely explanation for their being there, is that they were hidden for safety by a merchant, who may have been intending to sell them on Lewis itself. A thirteenth-century poem, for example, names a powerful figure, Angus Mor of Islay, as King of Lewis, and has him inheriting his father's set of ivory chess pieces:

"To you he left his position, yours his breastplate ... each treasure ... his slender swords, his brown ivory chessmen."

By playing chess, a ruler like Angus Mor indicated that although his local power base was on the extreme outer edge of the continent, he was nonetheless part of an elite³ high culture that embraced all the courts of Europe. And the figure on the board that more than any other represents those European courts is, of course, the queen.

Unlike Islamic society, where the rulers' wives would generally have remained hidden from public view, the European queen enjoyed a public role and the high status of adviser⁴ to the king. So, on the Islamic chess board the king is accompanied by his male adviser, the vizier, while the European king sits beside his queen. In the Lewis chess pieces, the queens all sit staring into the distance, holding their chin in their right hand - suggesting to their contemporaries intense thought and wise counsel, but to us looking comically glum⁵.

刘易斯棋子是一八三一年在刘易斯岛乌伊格湾一间掩埋在沙丘中的小石屋里被发现的。它们的幸存迄今为止最合理的解释是，它们是某个商人出于安全考虑而藏在此处的，而他原本想在刘易斯将其出售。有一首作于十三世纪的诗歌提到了一个大权在握的人物，刘易斯王、艾拉岛的君主安格斯·摩尔，他从父亲手中继承了一套象牙国际象棋。

为你，他留下了王位，他的护胸甲，他所有的宝物……他的长剑，他的棕色象牙棋子。

通过国际象棋这一娱乐形式，如安格斯这样的统治者暗示，尽管其辖地位于大陆的最边缘，但他仍属于席卷欧洲宫廷的精英文化。棋盘上最能代表欧洲宫廷的则是王后。

在伊斯兰社会中，统治者的妻子不能抛头露面，与之相反，欧洲王后则充当了公众人物的角色，享有身为国王智囊所带来的尊崇地位。在欧洲，女性也可以继承土地和权力。因此，伊斯兰棋盘上的国王身边伴随的是男性谋臣，而欧洲棋盘上的国王身边坐的是王后。刘易斯棋子中的王后们都呈坐姿，右手托腮，望向远方。她们想为身边人出谋划策，呈现出滑稽又忧郁的神情。

 

1 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

2 concealed   

a.隐藏的，隐蔽的

参考例句：

• The paintings were concealed beneath a thick layer of plaster. 那些画被隐藏在厚厚的灰泥层下面。
• I think he had a gun concealed about his person. 我认为他当时身上藏有一支枪。

3 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

4 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

5 glum   

adj.闷闷不乐的，阴郁的

参考例句：

• He was a charming mixture of glum and glee.他是一个很有魅力的人，时而忧伤时而欢笑。
• She laughed at his glum face.她嘲笑他闷闷不乐的脸。