关于埃及的神秘文化你不知道的10件事

习主席19日至23日将对沙特阿拉伯、埃及、伊朗进行国事访问。

这是中国最高领导人时隔12年后再次踏上尼罗河畔的这片肥沃土地。

古埃及一直以人类最先进文明的姿态屹立于世几近3000年。但是，这个以金字塔闻名全球的国度，仍隐藏着一些不为人知的故事。

下面就是一些罕为人知的关于埃及文化的10大奇闻。

1. Cleopatra was not Egyptian.

埃及艳后克里欧佩特拉竟不是埃及人

Along with King Tut, perhaps no figure is more famously associated with ancient Egypt than Cleopatra VII. But while she was born in Alexandria, Cleopatra was actually part of a long line of Greek Macedonians originally descended from Ptolemy I, one of Alexander the Great’s most trusted lieutenants.

说起古埃及，除了图特王（King Tut），最有名的人物大概就是克里欧佩特拉七世了。尽管她出身于埃及亚历山大，但她实际上是希腊马其顿人的后裔，而马其顿人则是亚历山大大帝麾下最受信任的将军托勒密一世的后代。

The Ptolemaic Dynasty ruled Egypt from 323 to 30 B.C., and most of its leaders remained largely Greek in their culture and sensibilities. In fact, Cleopatra was famous for being one of the first members of the Ptolemaic dynasty to actually speak the Egyptian language.

从公元前323年到公元前30年，托勒密王朝统治了埃及，并且大部分君主在文化和情感上都延续着希腊人的传统。事实上，克里欧佩特拉闻名于世的原因却在于她是托勒密王朝第一批会说埃及语的王室成员。

2. Egyptians of both sexes wore makeup.

古埃及人不论男女都化妆

Vanity is as old as civilization, and the ancient Egyptians were no exception. Both men and women were known to wear copious amounts of makeup, which they believed gave them the protection of the gods Horus and Ra.

有文明存在就有虚荣，古埃及也并不例外。男女都会画浓妆，他们认为这样会得到鹰神与太阳神的庇护。

These cosmetics were made by grinding ores like malachite and galena into a substance called kohl. It was then liberally applied around the eyes with utensils made out of wood, bone and ivory.

他们所使用的化妆品都是磨碎的矿石，如孔雀石、方铅矿均能制成一种称为眼影粉的东西。接着用木、骨头或象牙做的用具来将其涂在眼睛周围。

Women would also stain their cheeks with red paint and use henna to color their hands and fingernails, and both sexes wore perfumes made from oil, myrrh and cinnamon.

女人们还会将自己的脸颊涂成红色，并用指甲花给手或指甲染色。埃及男女都要喷香水，这种香水是由油、没药、肉桂混合制成。

The Egyptians believed their makeup had magical healing powers, and they weren’t entirely wrong: Research has shown that the lead-based cosmetics worn along the Nile actually helped stave off eye infections.

埃及人认为化妆有着神奇的治愈功能，这种想法并非无稽之谈：研究表明，在尼罗河畔劳作时画着以铅为原料的化妆品确实可以抑制眼部感染。

3. Ancient Egyptians loved board games.

古埃及人热爱棋盘游戏

After a long day’s work along the Nile River, Egyptians often relaxed by playing board games. Several different games were played, including “Mehen and “Dogs and Jackals, but perhaps the most popular was a game of chance known as “Senet.

在尼罗河畔辛勤劳作了一天后，古埃及人通常会玩玩棋类游戏来放松一下。他们会玩各种各样的棋类游戏，例如“盘蛇图、“狗和豺等。但其中最受欢迎的当属“赛尼特（Senet），这个游戏全靠运气取胜。

This pastime dates back as far as 3500 B.C. and was played on a long board painted with 30 squares. Each player had a set of pieces that were moved along the board according to rolls of dice or the throwing sticks.

关于这一游戏，历史可追溯到公元前3500年。棋盘是一个画有30个方格的长桌，每个玩家各执一套棋子，通过掷骰子或抛木棍来决定步数，按规定将棋子沿着桌面移动。

4. Egyptian women had a wide range of rights and freedoms.

古埃及女性具有广泛的权利和自由

While they may have been publicly and socially viewed as inferior to men, Egyptian women enjoyed a great deal of legal and financial independence. They could buy and sell property, serve on juries, make wills and even enter into legal contracts.

人们普遍认为古埃及女性地位不如男性，尽管如此，但她们仍享有广泛的法定权利，并且经济相对独立。她们可以自由买卖财产，参与陪审，订立遗嘱，甚至签订合同。

Egyptian women did not typically work outside the home, but those who did usually received equal pay for doing the same jobs as men.

在古埃及，一般女性并不会在外劳作，但在外劳作的女性通常能获得和男性相等的报酬。

Unlike the women of ancient Greece, who were effectively owned by their husbands, Egyptian women also had the right to divorce and remarry.

古希腊的女性实际上是丈夫的所有物，而与之不同的是，古埃及女性同样有权利选择离婚或再婚。

Egyptian couples were even known to negotiate an ancient prenuptial agreement. These contracts listed all the property and wealth the woman had brought into the marriage and guaranteed that she would be compensated for it in the event of a divorce.

这里的夫妻甚至还会签订婚前协议。在婚前协议上会清楚列出女性结婚时所携带的嫁妆，并且，一旦离婚，将确保女性能得到一定的赔偿。

5. Egyptian pharaohs were often overweight.

古埃及法老大都是胖子

Egyptian art commonly depicts pharaohs as being trim and statuesque, but this was most likely not the case. The Egyptian diet of beer, wine, bread and honey was high in sugar, and studies show that it may have done a number on royal waistlines.

在古埃及艺术中，法老画像通常是通过精挑细琢的，法老个个身材健美挺拔，但事实并非如此。埃及人爱喝的啤酒、葡萄酒，爱吃的面包、蜂蜜大都是高糖分的，研究表明，这些食物的过度饮食是古埃及人身圆体胖的一大帮手。

Examinations of mummies have indicated that many Egyptian rulers were unhealthy and overweight, and even suffered from diabetes.

通过对埃及人木乃伊的检测发现，大部分埃及上层人士的身体健康状况并不乐观，并且体重超标，甚至有些还患有糖尿病。

A notable example is the legendary Queen Hatshepsut, who lived in the 15th century B.C. While her sarcophagus depicts her as slender and athletic, historians believe she was actually obese and balding.

哈特谢普苏特王后（Queen Hatshepsut）就是一个典型的例子。她生活在公元前15世纪，可谓是埃及一个传奇人物。她石棺上的画像身材苗条，看上去体格健康，但历史学家们认为，她实际上是个秃顶的胖女人。

6. Egyptian workers were known to organize labor strikes.

古埃及工人会组织罢工

Even though they regarded the pharaoh as a kind of living god, Egyptian workers were not afraid to protest for better working conditions.

在古埃及，尽管法老是工人们心中永活的神，但工人并不会因为害怕触犯法老而停止对工作环境的追求。

The most famous example came in the 12th century B.C. during the reign of the New Kingdom pharaoh Ramses III. When laborers engaged in building the royal necropolis at Deir el-Medina did not receive their usual payment of grain, they organized one of the first recorded strikes in history.

最好的例证莫过于公元前12世纪的大罢工，当时正值拉美西斯三世上位期间，工人们在修建位于德尔麦迪娜（Deir el-Medina）的皇家陵墓时，因未能得到与往常等量的粮食作为报酬，他们愤而组织了一起史无前例的罢工运动。

The protest took the form of a sit-in: The workers simply entered nearby mortuary temples and refused to leave until their grievances were heard. The gamble worked, and the laborers were eventually given their overdue rations.

罢工的工人不工作，只是纷纷走进附近的祭庙，在里面打坐，并且拒绝离开，除非他们不公待遇的申诉得以受理。最终，工人们如愿得到了自己被克扣的粮食。在这场争取权利的赌注中，他们赢了。

7. The pyramids were not built by slaves.

埃及金字塔并非奴隶修建

The life of a pyramid builder certainly wasn’t easy—skeletons of workers commonly show signs of arthritis and other ailments—but evidence suggests that the massive tombs were built not by slaves but by paid laborers.

大部分修建金字塔的工人尸骨上都有着关节炎等多种疾病的痕迹，这表明他们的生活并不容易。但也由证据表明，这些巨型陵墓并非奴隶所建，而是一些高价聘请的劳工建的。

These ancient construction workers were a mix of skilled artisans and temporary hands, and some appear to have taken great pride in their craft.

这么劳工要么是技艺娴熟的工匠，要么是一些临时工，似乎还有一些人对自己的手艺相当自豪。

Graffiti found near the monuments suggests they often assigned humorous names to their crews like the “Drunkards of Menkaure or the “Friends of Khufu.

有纪念碑旁的涂鸦提醒我们，他们经常给工友起一些搞笑的绰号，例如“孟卡拉的酒鬼，还有“胡夫的好友。

The idea that slaves built the pyramids at the crack of a whip was first conjured by the Greek historian Herodotus in the fifth century B.C., but most historians now dismiss it as myth.

公元前5世纪，希腊历史学家希罗多德首次提出了奴隶在鞭声中建造了金字塔的观点，然而现在有很多历史学家否认了这一猜测。

While the ancient Egyptians were certainly not averse to keeping slaves, they appear to have mostly used them as field hands and domestic servants.

尽管古埃及人并不反对买卖奴隶，但奴隶通常都在用来在田间劳作或是堂内打杂的。

8. Some Egyptian doctors had specialized fields of study.

部分古埃及医生早已开始细化医学研究

An ancient physician was usually a jack-of-all-trades, but evidence shows that Egyptian doctors sometimes focused on healing only one part of the human body.

一般来说，古代的内科医师都是杂家，但有史料表明，在埃及，部分医师有时只专门治疗身体某部位的疾病。

This early form of medical specialization was first noted in 450 B.C. by the traveler and historian Herodotus. Discussing Egyptian medicine, he wrote, “Each physician is a healer of one disease and no more…some of the eye, some of the teeth, some of what pertains to the belly.

早在公元前450年，希罗多德，古希腊著名旅行家、历史学家，他首次发现了这种医学分科细化的早期形式。关于埃及医学，他写道：“每位医师只专注于治疗一种疾病，仅限于一种......有人治疗眼睛疾病，有人治疗牙齿，有人研究肚子里的器官。

These specialists even had specific names. Dentists were known as “doctors of the tooth, while the term for proctologists literally translates to “shepherd of the anus.

这些专家还有专业的名字。如牙医被称为“牙齿专用医师，直肠科医师的名称字面意思就是“肛门的看管者。

9. Egyptians kept many animals as pets.

古埃及人养有许多宠物

The Egyptians saw animals as incarnations of the gods and were one of the first civilizations to keep household pets.

古埃及人将动物视为神的化身，并且古埃及人是最早饲养家宠的文明之一。

Egyptians were particularly fond of cats, which were associated with the goddess Bastet, but they also had a reverence for hawks, ibises, dogs, lions and baboons.

古埃及人尤其喜欢养猫，因为猫总是和贝斯特女神联系在一起。他们也尊重其他动物，如鹰、朱鹭、狗、狮子以及狒狒。

Many of these animals held a special place in the Egyptian home, and they were often mummified and buried with their owners after they died.

这些动物大部分都在埃及人家中有着特殊的地位，死后通常还会被作成木乃伊，与主人陪葬。

Other creatures were specially trained to work as helper animals. Egyptian police officers, for example, were known to use dogs and even trained monkeys to assist them when out on patrol.

另外，一些动物经过特殊的培训会成为埃及人的助手。比如，警察外出巡查时便会带上训练有素的狗，有时甚至是猴子。

10. The ancient Egyptians forged one of the earliest peace treaties on record.

有史以来第一部和平协定出自埃及人之手

For over two centuries the Egyptians fought against the Hittite Empire for control of lands in modern day Syria. The conflict gave rise to bloody engagements like 1274 B.C.’s Battle of Kadesh, but by time of the pharaoh Ramses II neither side had emerged as a clear victor.

古埃及与赫梯帝国（Hittie）进行了长达两个世纪的土地争夺战争，争夺的焦点便是如今叙利亚所在的那片土地。国家冲突难免发生腥风血雨的战役，例如公元前1274年的卡叠什战役（Kadesh）。但直至法老拉美西斯二世（Ramses II）执政，两国都还没有分出一个胜负。

With both the Egyptians and Hittites facing threats from other peoples, in 1259 B.C. Ramses II and the Hittite King Hattusili III negotiated a famous peace treaty. This agreement ended the conflict and decreed that the two kingdoms would aid each other in the event of an invasion by a third party.

而且当时，两国都同时腹背受敌。于是，公元前1259年，拉美西斯二世和赫梯国国王哈图西里三世（Hattusili III）签订了著名的和平协定。协定结束了两国长期以来的纷争，并且颁布了法令，规定两国两国任何一方面临外敌入侵，另一方都要予以援助。

The Egyptian-Hittite treaty is now recognized as one of the earliest surviving peace accords, and a copy can even be seen above the entrance to the United Nations Security Council Chamber in New York.

古埃及与赫梯国签订的这部和平协定是目前世界上现存最早的和平文献之一，并且在纽约联合国安理会会议大厅入口处还展示着这份协定的副本。