2015-06-20

【Aiden in English】

        Mount Olympus is the place of the Greek gods. There are twelve, to be exact. They are the Twelve Olympians, rulers in each aspect. Everything revolved around these gods, the Earth and beyond.

        Zeus, the king of basically everything, rules with his specialty as the god of the skies. In Athens, Zeus is a celebrated god since he’s the king. Zeus was the son of Kronos, a Titan. The story goes that Kronos killed his father Uranus, god of the sky, and the Golden Age of the Titans began. Kronos was superb, and he had a suspicion that history would repeat itself, his children, would someday overthrow him like he did. So when he fell in love with a Titaness named Rhea, he swallowed his children. In total, Kronos swallowed six gods. Rhea was horrified of these incidents and decided to hide away her newest child, Zeus. She faked Kronos into eating a rock instead. Don’t ask me how, but if Kronos was that stupid, no wonder that Zeus killed him later on. So Zeus was hidden away on Crete Island until he grew old enough. He overthrew Kronos and freed the six other swallowed gods. 

        Athens also celebrated, hence the name, Athena. She is the goddess of wisdom and war tactics usually in defensive strategies. She is known as the goddess of wisdom from the way she was born. Zeus one day awoke with a terrible headache. He went to Hephaestus, the blacksmith god. Using a double-headed ax, Zeus asked for his head cracked open. If you can’t get rid of a headache, just bang it open, and don’t come back saying it didn’t get any better. So out from Zeus’s open skull (please do not try at home), popped out Athena. It was logical to make her the goddess of wisdom. She is the patron goddess of Athens. However, there was a contest between Poseidon, the sea god and Zeus’s elder brother, and Athena to see who would be Athens’s patron. The contest meant to determine whoever could provide the best gift to the city. Poseidon slammed the butt of his trident into a stone and a spray of water shot out. Athena introduced the olive tree to the Greek empire, symbolizing peace and victory. Now, this would’ve been a tough contest. Only thing was, Poseidon gave the people of Athens not just water, but a side of salt as well. So what are you going to do with salt water? Well, that’s why Athena won. And so in Athena’s honor, the Parthenon was built in Acropolis in 432 B.C., not to be confused with the Pantheon in Rome. The Parthenon was a temple at the time probably the largest architectural feat in the world. The structure itself was unique. A weird illusion that tends to happen to large buildings is that Doric columns sometimes seem to bend outward. To counter that, the pillars holding up a triangular roof were tilted centimeters inward than a vertical line. It was also the first to really use 3D sculpting. Next to the Parthenon stood Poseidon’s temple or the Erechtheion in 406 B.C., considering he was still important to Athens although he lost. The temple had a section of pillars that were replaced with six marble sculptures of ladies with the roof being carried on their heads in the famous Porch of the Caryatids. The world of art had finally broken through the barrier of 2D to 3D. The art of man had long awaited the moment, and it was glorious. 

        Of course, nowadays the British has taken everything and aren’t going then back. But hey! Although they may have the artifacts, Greece has the history. The glorious moments of the Greeks can never be stolen.

【红霞译文】

        奥林匹斯山是希腊众神的发源地，准确地说总共有十二位，这些神主宰宇宙万物，天地人间所有一切都是它们创造的。

        宙斯为众神之王，是奥林匹斯十二神至高无上的天父,因其统治地位，他在雅典极受推崇。宙斯系泰坦即神权贵族克洛诺斯的儿子，故事追溯到早前克洛诺斯曾弑杀亲生父亲乌拉诺斯天王并开创了泰坦盛世新纪元。克洛诺斯能力超强且疑心重重，害怕历史重演，担心自己的孩子会步其后尘，总有一天也把他赶下台来。于是当与时光女神瑞亚相爱之后，克洛诺斯干脆吃掉所有新出生的孩子，前后一共有六位神灵夭折。瑞亚见状惊恐万分，决定要把即将问世的宙斯藏起来。她骗丈夫吃下石头，结果救了宙斯一命。千万别问我怎么回事，莫非克洛诺斯蠢得发愚，否则后来岂能让宙斯杀死。宙斯一直躲在希腊克里特岛生活，推翻父王的同时还解救出其他六位被吞下的神灵。

        雅典全城欢腾，由此取名雅典娜。雅典娜实为掌管智慧与战争（侧重防御战略）的主神，一向聪颖睿达，其出生方式与众不同。话说有一天宙斯醒来感觉头疼得厉害，便去找铁匠神赫菲斯托斯，要他用双头斧将自个的脑袋劈开。假如你无法消除头痛，照例行事准保有效，千万别怨这招不灵。宙斯头颅大开（切忌在家效仿），雅典娜趁机钻了出来，所以说封她为智慧女神合情合理。雅典娜还是雅典的守护神，然而那是经过与海神波塞冬即宙斯的哥哥较量之后才获此殊荣，比赛宗旨无非在于挑选谁最适合雅典。波塞冬将其三叉戟尾戳入岩石，一泉清水旋即喷射出来；而雅典娜则把象征和平胜利的橄榄树引入古希腊帝国，即使现在看来，要想在这场斗智比赛中取胜决非轻而易举。当时波塞冬给雅典人不仅送上水，而且还带来盐，但咸水能干什么？没错，这正是雅典娜巧胜之处。为了纪念雅典娜，雅典人于公元前432年在雅典卫城修建了巴特农神庙，这里指的不是古罗马万神庙。巴特农神庙堪称那个时代世界上最壮观的祭祀殿堂，其结构独一无二，不过高大建筑常常令人产生错觉，好像多立克石柱时不时朝外弯曲，为了矫正视差，建筑师让撑起三角形房顶的支柱向内倾斜若干厘米。此外，巴特农神庙还成为天下第一个拥有三维立体浮雕的建筑。尽管波塞冬输给了雅典娜，但雅典人依然尊重他，并在距离巴特农神庙不远的地方建起波塞冬神庙，也叫伊瑞克提翁神庙。神庙本身专设石柱门面，著名的“少女门廊”由六根大理石雕像柱组成，她们个个亭亭玉立，人人头顶石顶，世界艺术终于冲破束缚，在平面视觉的基础上增添了立体效果，艺术家们得以如愿以偿，并给人带来美的享受。

        当然，英国人曾不失时机地将这里的文物化为己有，至今尚无计划退还任何收藏。嘿！即使希腊国宝被盗，丝毫改变不了先辈所创下的丰功伟绩，希腊人辉煌的过去将永垂青史。