The kings of the Greek cities clearly learnt a great deal from them.
各希臘城市的國王曾向克里特人學(xué)習(xí)過這些。
But by 1,200 BC this time of splendor1 was over.
但是到公元前1200年這一時(shí)期的繁華景象消失了。
For it was at around that time (some 200 years before the reign2 of King Solomon) that new tribes came down from the north.
因?yàn)楫?dāng)時(shí)(所羅門王統(tǒng)治時(shí)期的前200年左右)從北方來了新的部族。
Whether they were related to the former builders of Mycenae nobody knows for sure, but it is likely.
他們是否與先前在希臘居住過并建造了邁錫尼的部族有血親關(guān)系,這一點(diǎn)人們并不確切知道,但是這是極有可能的。
In any event, they drove out the kings and installed themselves in their place.
總之,他們趕走了國王們并自己取而代之當(dāng)了國王。
Meanwhile, Crete had been destroyed.
同時(shí),克里特在這之前就已經(jīng)被毀壞,
But the memory of its magnificence lived on in the minds of the invaders3,
但是外來的移民們心中依然記得全部昔日的繁華,
even when they founded new cities and built their own shrines4.
雖然他們定居新城市并建立他們自己的圣地。
And as the centuries went by, the tales of the kings of ancient Mycenae became confused with those of their own battles and conquests, until they became part of their own history.
歷經(jīng)世紀(jì)的滄桑,他們把他們自己的征服和戰(zhàn)斗的歷史跟邁錫尼的國王們的古老歷史融合在一起了。
These newcomers were the Greeks, and the myths and songs sung in the courts of their nobles were the very same Homeric poems with which this chapter began.
這個(gè)新的民族就是希臘人,而在其上等人的庭院里吟唱的傳說和歌則正是我在這章開始就講述的荷馬史詩。
It is worth remembering that they were composed shortly before 800 BC.
我們應(yīng)該記?。核鼈?cè)诩s公元前800年就已經(jīng)寫成了。