How Art Made The World 说服的艺术 -09

But how, as a foreign invader¹, would he ever win the hearts and minds of his new subjects? Alexander understood the power of the visual techniques used by Darius, but he had to come up with an image all of his own.

Archaeologists had always known how Alexander had won the war. But what's still remained a mystery was how he had planned to win the peace. Where did his image come from, the image he would use to win hearts and minds? The obvious place to start the search was where he had planned his campaign, his homeland, Macedonia.

Macedonia is now part of modern Greece, but back in the 4th century B.C., it was an independent kingdom with a warlike reputation. The problem for the archaeologists was that little remained of Alexander's palaces. They'd already been destroyed. So they turned to the royal tombs underground. Here again, it was a similar story of destruction.

"Tomb after tomb was discovered, but each one had already been ransack²ed by raiders. Then in 1978, a team of Greek archaeologists at last found one that was intact. It was one of the great archaeological discoveries of our time."

They came across a tunnel leading deep underground. It revealed the face of a tomb, still intact.

"The moment the tomb opened, it was like a dream. I had no idea of the significance of our discovery. It was just a miracle."

"They had discovered the secret tomb of Philip of Macedonia, Alexander's father. Its walls were still covered with the traces of magnificent paintings and what awaited them inside was a huge treasure trove⁴."

The centerpiece was a gold sarcophagus with the symbol of the Macedonian king.


words to remember:

1. warlike : 好战的

2. ransack: ravage⁵ , plunder⁶ 掠夺

eg: ransack a dictionary to find just the right word
The house had been ransacked³ of all that was worth anything.

3. sarcophagus : 石棺

1 invader   

n.侵略者，侵犯者，入侵者

参考例句：

• They suffered a lot under the invader's heel.在侵略者的铁蹄下，他们受尽了奴役。
• A country must have the will to repel any invader.一个国家得有决心击退任何入侵者。

2 ransack   

v.彻底搜索，洗劫

参考例句：

• He began to ransack his mother's workbox for a piece of thread.他要找一根线,开始翻腾妈妈的针线盒。
• She ransack my apartment for the bankbook.她在我公寓里到处搜索寻找存折。

3 ransacked   

v.彻底搜查( ransack的过去式和过去分词 )；抢劫，掠夺

参考例句：

• The house had been ransacked by burglars. 这房子遭到了盗贼的洗劫。
• The house had been ransacked of all that was worth anything. 屋子里所有值钱的东西都被抢去了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

4 trove   

n.被发现的东西，收藏的东西

参考例句：

• He assembled a rich trove of Chinese porcelain.他收集了一批中国瓷器。
• The gallery is a treasure trove of medieval art.这个画廊是中世纪艺术的宝库。

5 ravage   

vt.使...荒废，破坏...；n.破坏，掠夺，荒废

参考例句：

• Just in time to watch a plague ravage his village.恰好目睹了瘟疫毁灭了他的村庄。
• For two decades the country has been ravaged by civil war and foreign intervention.20年来，这个国家一直被内战外侵所蹂躏。

6 plunder   

vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠

参考例句：

• The thieves hid their plunder in the cave.贼把赃物藏在山洞里。
• Trade should not serve as a means of economic plunder.贸易不应当成为经济掠夺的手段。