History of Silk (2)
丝绸的历史（2）
A number of archaeological discoveries showed that silk had become a luxury material appreciated in foreign countries well before the opening of the Silk Road by the Chine. For example, silk has been found in the Valley of the Kings in a tomb of a mummy dating from 1070 BCE.[12] First the Greeks, then the Romans began to speak of the Seres (people of silk), a term to designate the inhabitants of the far-off kingdom, China. According to certain historians, the first Roman contact with silk was that of the legions of the governor of Syria, Crassus. At the Battle of Carrhae, near to the Euphrates, the legions were said to be so surprid by the brilliance of the banners of Parthia that they fled.[12]
许多考古发现表明，丝绸远在中国人开辟丝绸之路前就已经成了外国人所欣赏的一种奢侈用品。比如，考古人员已经在埃及帝王谷一具公元前1070年的木乃伊坟墓里发现了丝绸。首先是希腊人，然后是罗马人开始讲到丝绸之地的人民（丝民）。这个素语用来称呼遥远王国——
中国的居民。根据某些历史学家所说，首次与丝绸取得联系的罗马人是叙利亚执政者——
克拉苏的古罗马军团内的人。据说，在卡雷战役的幼发拉底河附近，古罗马军团非常惊奇他们逃跑过的帕提亚旗帜的鲜亮。
The main silk roads between 500 B.C. and 500 A.D.
公元前500年到公元500年之间的主要丝绸之路。
The silk road toward the west was opened by the Chine in the 2nd century CE. The main road left from Xi'an, going either to the north or south of the
Taklamakan dert, one of the most arid in the world, before crossing the Pamir Mountains. The caravans that employed this method to exchange silk with other merchants were generally quite large, including from 100 to 500 people as well as camels and yaks carrying around 140 kg (300 lb) of merchandi. They linked to Antioch and the coasts of the Mediterranean, about one year's travel from Xi'an. In the South, a cond route went by Yemen, Burma, and India before rejoining the northern route.[13][14]
中国人在公元二世纪开辟了通往西方的丝绸之路。主要的道路就是从西安出发，要么走塔克拉玛干沙漠（世界上最干旱地区之一）的北部，要么走塔克拉玛干沙漠的南部，然后再跨越帕米尔高原。一般来讲，那些利用这种方式来和其他商人交换丝绸的旅行队的人很多，包括100到500人不等，还有扛着大约140公斤（300磅）货物的骆驼和牦牛。这些旅行队和安提阿以及地中海的沿海地区连接在了一起。从西安到这些地方大概需要一年的旅行时间。在中国南部，第二条路线通过也门、缅甸和印度，
然后重新加入北方路线。
Not long after the conquest of Egypt in 30 BCE regular commerce began between the Romans and Asia, marked by the Roman appetite for silk cloth coming from the Far East, which was then resold to the Romans by the Parthians. The Roman Senate tried in vain to prohibit the wearing of silk, for economic reasons as well as moral ones. The import of Chine silk resulted in vast amounts of gold leaving Rome, to such an extent that silk clothing was perceived as a sign of decadence and immorality.
公元前30年，埃及被征服后不久，古罗马和亚洲之间的正常贸易开始了。这种贸易以罗马人对来自远东丝绸的欲望为市场，之后由帕提亚人再重新出售给罗马人。罗马元老院禁止穿戴丝绸的企图白白浪费了，因为经济，还有道德原因。中国丝绸的进口导致了大量的黄金流出了罗马。后来，以致到了这样一种程度，丝绸衣服被认为是一种颓废和不道德的迹象。
“ I can e clothes of silk, if materials that do not hide the body, nor even one's decency, can be called clothes. ... Wretched flocks of maids labour so that the
adulteress may be visible through her thin dress, so that her husband has no more acquaintance than any outsider or foreigner with his wife's body. ”
“我能看见被称作服装的丝绸服装，如果这些料子没有把人的身体掩藏起来的话，甚至没有把某人的颓废掩藏起来的话。…可怜的成群女佣在一块儿劳作，那么奸妇可能穿过她那薄薄的裙子看到，因此她的丈夫再也不比任何外人或陌生人更熟悉他妻子的身体。”
—Seneca the Younger, Declamations Vol. I.[15]
——卢修斯•厄尼厄斯•塞内加（Lucius Annaeus Seneca），《演讲》第一册
Although silk was well known in Europe and most of Asia, China was able to keep a near monopoly on silk production. The monopoly was defended by an imperial decree, condemning to death anyone attempting to export silkworms or their eggs. Only around the year 300 CE did a Japane expedition succeed in taking some silkworm eggs and four young Chine girls, who were forced to teach their captors the art of riculture.[16] Techniques of riculture were subquently introduced to Japan on a larger scale by frequent diplomatic exchanges between the 8th century and 9th centuries.
虽然丝绸在整个欧洲和大部分亚洲地区闻名遐迩，但中国在丝绸产品方面能保持一种几近垄断的地位。这种垄断地位受到一则帝国法令的保护：判处任何企图出口桑蚕或桑蚕卵之人死刑。只有大约在公元300年，一个日本考察队成功地虏走了一些桑蚕卵和四位年轻中国女孩。这些女孩被迫教授俘获
她们的人养殖桑蚕的技术。结果，在8世纪和9世纪期间，养蚕技术通过频繁外交交换更大规模地被引进日本。
Starting in the 4th century BCE silk began to reach the West by merchants who would exchange it for gold, ivory, hors or precious stones. Up to the frontiers of the Roman Empire, silk became a monetary standard for estimating the value of different products. Hellenistic Greece appreciated the high quality of the Chine goods and made efforts to plant mulberry trees and
breed silkworms in the Mediterranean basin. Sassanid Persia controlled the trade of silk destined for Europe and Byzantium.
从公元前四世纪开始，商人们将丝绸交换黄金，象牙，马匹或贵重的石头而使其到达了西方社会。通往罗马帝国的边境上，丝绸成了估计不同产品价值的货币标准。希腊化时代的希腊欣赏中国物品的高质量并不遗余力地在地中海盆地种植桑树和饲养桑蚕。萨珊王朝的波斯控制着指定运往欧洲和拜占庭的丝绸贸易。
The monks nt by
查士丁尼一世派出的修道士送桑蚕给皇帝。
According to story by Procopius[17], it was not until 552 CE that the Byzantine emperor Justinian obtained the first silkworm eggs. He had nt two Nestorian monks to Central Asia, and they were able to smuggle silkworm eggs to him hidden in rods of bamboo. While under the monks' care, the eggs hatched, though they did not cocoon before arrival. The Byzantine church was thus able to make fabrics for the emperor, with the intention of developing a large silk industry in the Eastern Roman Empire, using techniques learned from the Sassanids. The gynecia had a legal monopoly on the fabric, but the empire continued to import silk from other major urban centres on the Mediterranean.[18] The magnificence of the Byzantine techniques was not a result of the manufacturing process, but instead of the meticulous attention paid to the execution and decorations. The weaving techniques they ud were taken from Egypt. The first diagrams of mple looms appeared in the 5th century.[19]
根据普罗科匹厄斯的故事，直到公元552年，拜占庭皇帝查士丁尼一世才获得了首批桑蚕卵。他已经派出了聂斯脱利的修道士到中亚，因而他们能把桑蚕卵藏在竹罐里偷运给他。而在这些修道士的照顾下，虽然它们没有在到达之前结茧，但蚕卵还是孵出来了。随着在东罗马帝国发展一个巨大的丝绸行业的意图以及使用从萨珊王朝学到的技术，拜占庭教堂因此能给皇帝制造织物。这些修
道士在织物方面有着合法的控制权，但东罗马帝国继续从地中海的其它城市中心进口丝绸。拜占庭技
术的重要意义在于，并不是制造加工的结果，而是对表演和装饰所付出的谨小慎微的注意。他们使用的编织技术取自埃及。十五世纪出现了首批简单织机的简图。
The Arabs, with their widening conquests, spread riculture across the shores of the Mediterranean. Included in the were Africa, Spain and Sicily, all of which developed an important silk industry.[20] The mutual interactions among Byzantine and Muslim silk-weaving centers of all levels of quality, with imitations made in Andalusia and Lucca, among other cities, have made the identification and date of rare surviving examples difficult to pinpoint.[21]
阿拉伯人凭借逐渐扩大的征服而把养蚕业传播到整个中海沿岸。这些地区还包括非洲，西班牙和西西里岛。所有这些国家和地区发展成了一个重要的丝绸工业。拜占庭和穆斯林各种质量的织丝中心彼此影响，其它城市当中还有安达鲁西亚（西班牙的一个自治区）和卢卡（意大利的一个城市）的仿制品，已经使得极少幸存下来样品的鉴定和日期很难准确描述。
While the Chine lost their monopoly on silk production, they were able re-established themlves as major silk supplier (during the Tang dynasty) and industrialize their production in a large scale (during the Song dynasty)[22]. China continued to export high-quality fabric to Europe and the Near East along the silk road.
与此同时，中国人失去了丝绸生产的垄断地位，不过，他们能重新建立作为主要丝绸提供者（在唐朝期间）并大规模工业化（在宋朝期间）丝绸产品。中国继续沿着丝绸之路向欧洲和近东出口高质量的丝绸。
Much later, following the Crusades, techniques of silk production began to spread across Western Europe. In 1147 while Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos was focusing all his efforts on the Second Crusade, the Norman king Roger II of Sicily attacked Corinth and Thebes, two important centres of Byzantine silk production. They took the crops and silk production
