A brief survey of Byzantine history

拜占庭的歷史簡(jiǎn)述（第一部分）

????????? By the later 5th century the western part of the Roman empire had been transformed into a patchwork of barbarian successor states. Emperors at Constantinople continued to view all the lost territories as part of their realm, however, and in some cases to treat the kings of the successor kingdoms as their legitimate representatives, governing Roman affairs in the provinces in question until Constantinople could re-establish a full administrative and military presence. This is most obviously the case with the Ostrogothic leader Theoderic who, although he ruled nominally in the name of the Emperor, established a powerful state in Italy. The leader of the Salian Franks in northern Gaul, Clovis, had quite deliberately adopted Orthodox Christianity in the last years of the 5th century in order to gain papal and imperial recognition and support for his rule, where he also claimed, at least nominally, to represent Roman rule. Roman Emperors considered the west not as 'lost', but rather as temporarily outside direct imperial authority.

（到了5世紀(jì)后期，羅馬帝國(guó)的西部變成了由蠻族繼承國(guó)組成的大雜燴。然而，君士坦丁堡的皇帝繼續(xù)將所有失去的領(lǐng)土視為他們領(lǐng)土的一部分，并且在某些情況下將繼承王國(guó)的國(guó)王視為他們的合法代表，管理有關(guān)省份的羅馬事務(wù)，直到君士坦丁堡可以重建全面的行政和軍事存在。最明顯的例子就是東哥特領(lǐng)袖狄?jiàn)W德里克，雖然他名義上以皇帝的名義統(tǒng)治，但他在意大利建立了一個(gè)強(qiáng)大的國(guó)家。高盧北部薩利安法蘭克人的領(lǐng)袖克洛維斯在5世紀(jì)的最后幾年相當(dāng)刻意地接受了東正教，以獲得教皇和帝國(guó)對(duì)其統(tǒng)治的認(rèn)可和支持，他還聲稱(chēng)，至少在名義上， 代表羅馬統(tǒng)治。羅馬皇帝并不認(rèn)為西方是“丟失的”，而是暫時(shí)處于直接帝國(guó)權(quán)力之外。）

????????? The Emperor Justinian (527-65) used this as the justification for a series of remarkable reconquests, aimed at restoring Rome's power as it had been at its height - north Africa from the Vandals by 534, Italy from the Ostrogoths by 552. But the plan was too ambitious to have had any chance of permanent success. And while the Emperor nevertheless came very close to achieving a major part of his original aims, the problems that arose after his death illustrated the problems his policies brought with them. Warfare with the Persian empire in t he cast meant that resources were always stretched to the limit and there were never enough soldiers for all fronts. Upon his death in 565 Justinian left a vastly expanded but perilously overstretched empire, in both financial and military terms. His successors were faced with the reality of dealing with new enemies, a lack of ready cash, and internal discontent over high taxation and constant demands for soldiers and the necessities to support them. The Persian war was renewed, while in 568 the Germanic Lombards crossed from their homeland along the western Danube and Drava region into Italy, in their efforts to flee the approaching Avars, a Turkic nomadic power which was establishing a vast steppe empire. The Lombards soon overran Roman defensive positions in the north of the peninsula, founding a number of independent chiefdoms in the centre and south, while the Avars established themselves as a major challenge to imperial power in the northern Balkan region. between the mid-570s and the end of the reign of the Emperor Maurice (582-602), the empire was able to re-establish a precarious balance in the east and along the Danube.

（查士丁尼皇帝（527-65年）以此為理由進(jìn)行了一系列非凡的征服，旨在恢復(fù)羅馬鼎盛時(shí)期的實(shí)力——534 年從汪達(dá)爾人手中奪回北非，在552年從東哥特人手中奪回意大利。他的計(jì)劃過(guò)于雄心勃勃，以至于沒(méi)有任何永久成功的機(jī)會(huì)。盡管皇帝已經(jīng)非常接近實(shí)現(xiàn)他最初目標(biāo)的主要部分，但他死后出現(xiàn)的問(wèn)題說(shuō)明了他的政策帶來(lái)的問(wèn)題。與波斯帝國(guó)的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)意味著資源總是捉襟見(jiàn)肘，所有戰(zhàn)線都沒(méi)有足夠的士兵。查士丁尼于565年去世后，留下了一個(gè)在財(cái)政和軍事方面都非常擴(kuò)張但極度擴(kuò)張的帝國(guó)。 他的繼任者面臨著與新敵人打交道的現(xiàn)實(shí)，缺乏現(xiàn)成的現(xiàn)金，內(nèi)部對(duì)高稅收的不滿(mǎn)以及對(duì)士兵和支持他們的必需品的不斷要求。波斯戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)再次爆發(fā)，而在568年，日耳曼倫巴第人從他們的家鄉(xiāng)沿著多瑙河西部和德拉瓦地區(qū)進(jìn)入意大利，以逃離即將到來(lái)的阿瓦爾人，這是一個(gè)正在建立龐大草原帝國(guó)的突厥游牧民族。倫巴第人很快占領(lǐng)了半島北部的羅馬防御陣地，在中部和南部建立了許多獨(dú)立的酋長(zhǎng)領(lǐng)地，而阿瓦爾人則將自己確立為對(duì)巴爾干北部地區(qū)帝國(guó)權(quán)力的主要挑戰(zhàn)。在570年代中期到莫里斯皇帝（582-602）統(tǒng)治結(jié)束之間，帝國(guó)才能夠在東部和多瑙河沿岸重新建立不穩(wěn)定的平衡。）

????????? Maurice was deposed in 602 following a mutiny of the Danube forces, and the centurion Phokas was raised to the throne. Phokas (602-10), popularly regarded in later Byzantine sources as a tyrant, ruled until he was overthrown in 610, when he was in turn replaced by Heraclius, the son of the military governor of Africa. Heraclius was crowned Emperor and ruled until 641.

（602年多瑙河軍隊(duì)叛變后，莫里斯被廢黜，百夫長(zhǎng)?？ㄋ沟巧贤跷弧?/span> ?？ㄋ梗?/span>602-10年）在后來(lái)的拜占庭文獻(xiàn)中被普遍認(rèn)為是暴君，他一直統(tǒng)治到610年被推翻，隨后他被非洲軍事總督的兒子赫拉克利烏斯取代。赫拉克略被加冕為皇帝并統(tǒng)治到 641 年。）

????????? But the empire was unable to maintain its defences against external pressure. Within a few years the Avars and Slays had overrun much of the Balkans, while the Persians occupied and set up their own provincial governments in Syria and Egypt between 614 and 618, and continued to push into Asia Minor. Italy was left to its own devices and became increasingly autonomous. In spite of a great siege of Constantinople by a Persian and an Avaro-Slav army in 626, Heraclius proved an able strategist and by 628 had utterly destroyed the Persian armies in the east, restoring the situation at the end of Maurice's reign. The regional dominance of the Roman empire seemed assured. But while the Danube remained nominally the frontier, much of the Balkan region was no longer under imperial authority, except when an army appeared. The financial situation of the empire, whose resources were quite exhausted by the long wars, was desperate.

（但帝國(guó)無(wú)法抵御外部壓力。幾年之內(nèi)，阿瓦爾人和斯萊人占領(lǐng)了巴爾干的大部分地區(qū)，而波斯人在614至618年間占領(lǐng)并在敘利亞和埃及建立了自己的省政府，并繼續(xù)向小亞細(xì)亞推進(jìn)。 意大利被放任自流，變得越來(lái)越自治。盡管626 年波斯人和阿瓦羅-斯拉夫軍隊(duì)對(duì)君士坦丁堡進(jìn)行了大圍攻，但赫拉克略證明了他是一位能干的戰(zhàn)略家，并在 628 年徹底摧毀了東方的波斯軍隊(duì)，恢復(fù)了莫里斯統(tǒng)治末期的局勢(shì)。羅馬帝國(guó)的地區(qū)統(tǒng)治地位似乎得到了保證。雖然多瑙河名義上仍然是邊境，但巴爾干地區(qū)的大部分地區(qū)不再處于帝國(guó)統(tǒng)治之下，除非軍隊(duì)出現(xiàn)。資源被長(zhǎng)期戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)消耗殆盡的拜占庭帝國(guó)，財(cái)政狀況十分危急。）

????????? The origins of Islam lie in the northern Arabian peninsula, where different forms of Christianity, Judaism and indigenous beliefs coexisted, in particular in the much-travelled trading and caravan communities of Mecca and Medina. Mohammed was himself a respected and established merchant who had several times accompanied the trade caravans north to Roman Syria. Syria and Palestine already had substantial populations of Arabs, both farmers and herdsmen, as well as mercenary soldiers serving the empire as a buffer against the Persians. Although Mohammed's preaching - a synthesis of his own beliefs with Judaic and Christian ideas met initially with stiff resistance from his own clan, by 628-29 he had established his authority over much of the peninsula and begun to consider the future direction of the new Islamic community. On his death (traditionally placed in 632) there followed a brief period of warfare during which his immediate successors had to fight hard to reassert Islamic authority. The raids mounted against both Roman and Persian territories were in part a response to the political demands generated by this internal conflict. A combination of incompetence and apathy, disaffected soldiers and inadequate defensive arrangements resulted in a series of disastrous Roman defeats and the loss of Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia and Egypt within the short span of 10 years, so that by 642 the empire was reduced to a rump of its former self. The Persian empire was completely overrun and destroyed by the 650s. The Arab Islamic empire was horn.

（伊斯蘭教起源于阿拉伯半島北部，在那里不同形式的基督教、猶太教和土著信仰共存，特別是在麥加和麥地那人來(lái)人往的貿(mào)易和商隊(duì)。穆罕默德本人是一位受人尊敬的老牌商人，曾多次陪同貿(mào)易商隊(duì)向北前往羅馬敘利亞。敘利亞和巴勒斯坦已經(jīng)有大量的阿拉伯人，包括農(nóng)牧民，以及為帝國(guó)服務(wù)的雇傭兵，作為對(duì)抗波斯人的緩沖。盡管穆罕默德的講道——將他自己的信仰與猶太教和基督教思想相結(jié)合，最初遭到了他自己氏族的強(qiáng)烈抵制，但到628-29年，他已經(jīng)在半島的大部分地區(qū)建立了自己的權(quán)威，并開(kāi)始考慮新伊斯蘭教的未來(lái)方向。 在他去世（傳統(tǒng)上定于632年）之后，他的勢(shì)力經(jīng)歷了一段短暫的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)，在此期間，他的直接繼任者不得不為重新確立伊斯蘭權(quán)威而艱苦奮斗。對(duì)羅馬和波斯領(lǐng)土的突襲在一定程度上是對(duì)這場(chǎng)內(nèi)部沖突產(chǎn)生的政治要求的回應(yīng)。無(wú)能和冷漠、心存不滿(mǎn)的士兵和不適當(dāng)?shù)姆烙才畔嘟Y(jié)合，導(dǎo)致羅馬在短短10年內(nèi)遭受了一系列災(zāi)難性的失敗以及敘利亞、巴勒斯坦、美索不達(dá)米亞和埃及的丟失，從而到642年帝國(guó)淪為一個(gè)只有最初大小領(lǐng)土的國(guó)家。波斯帝國(guó)在650年代被完全占領(lǐng)和摧毀，阿拉伯伊斯蘭帝國(guó)是吹響這場(chǎng)毀滅的號(hào)角。）

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