2015-06-22

【Aiden in English】

        The geography of a place is always the deciding factor that history revolves around. There wouldn’t be an Egyptian civilization without the Nile River. There wouldn’t be Mesopotamia including Turkey without the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. And there wouldn’t be Greece without the mountains.

        Yesterday, we experienced the Meteora’s monasteries built on rock pillars 400 years ago. The theme continues today, except a few things were different. Overnight we sailed to Khios, the fifth-largest island in Greece near Anatolia. The Nea Moni of Chios we visited was built on “a cross-in-square plan with a large dome supported by squelches defining an octagonal space” in the 11^th century A.D. Its interior was decorated with superb marble works and the Byzantine mosaics on a gold background. As usual, it seemed just as isolated as the others away from the town.

        This island with the Turks had a bloody history. The monastery was used as a base when Barbary pirates invaded and the Ottomans conquered. What’s interesting was how freedom was earned. In 1822, the Turks were tired of the rebellions that had the futile attempts for freedom. An admiral of the Ottoman Empire brought a thousand mercenaries and with the permission from the empire demanded them to slaughter any person they saw. The mercenaries buried down villages and structures, and slew everyone no matter what age, gender, or social class. All in all, 25,000 people were killed, and another 30,000 were sold in slave markets. At the time, it cut off over 50 percent of the population. The mercenaries were driven also by the extra payment for every ear or nose they brought back. The cruelty led to inspire the famous paintings of “Massacre at Chios” and “The Death of Sardanapalus” by Eugene Delacroix, a French Romantic painter. The horrified scenes motivated and captured the attention of the rest Europe. What didn’t seem like 25,000 people being killed can be gone without notice either. The entire continent of Europe became enraged at such commend. Lord Byron and Victor Hugo joined their voices in protest. When Greece fought for its freedom after the massacre, it had many allies to back them up, turning the stacked tables. In 1832, Greece got its independence from the Turks that had ruled for 4 centuries.  The Ottoman Empire came to its end, starting to break apart piece by piece. To be honest, I’d like where the Turkey stands now and prefer the Greek people being in charge of their own culture since they have inhabited this land so long and know it best.

        The price of conquering is the death toll on both sides. It is also the fact that you make enemies, which brought the Turks to their knees. It looks like being the bully at school. As soon as one kid stands up, all of the bully’s enemies follow. Well, there is a payback.

【紅霞譯文】

        一個地方的地理環境足以構成歷史發展的決定性因素。沒有尼羅河，根本談不上古埃及文明；沒有幼發拉底和底格里斯兩河流域，包括土耳其在內的美索不達米亞充頂多成為天方夜譚；同樣地，沒有聖山靈智，希臘不足以發展到充滿神奇色彩的國度。

        昨天，我剛參觀了具有四百年悠久歷史的梅特奧拉“天空之柱”，今日又繼續欣賞修道院，只不過彼此背景略有差異。遊輪經過一夜航行，帶我們來到靠近小亞細亞希臘第五大島──希俄斯，眼前這個十一世紀拜占庭式新修道院建在“廣場中間呈十字形，巨大穹窿屋頂由突角拱支撐，形成一個八角結構”，內部牆壁全部使用大理石和馬賽克，並鑲有黃金裝飾。不獨有偶，希俄斯新修道院遠離鬧區，地腳偏僻。

        希俄斯島與突厥族之間有本血淚史，新修道院曾被巴巴裏海盜和奧斯曼軍隊用作戰事基地，對希俄斯人來說，自由來之不易。1822年，突厥人對島上居民頻繁為爭取獨立而進行的不懈鬥爭深感煩惱，於是，奧斯曼帝國海軍上將接到指令，親自帶領上千名僱傭兵對當地民族進行殘酷屠殺，村莊被毀房屋被炸，婦幼老少無人得以倖免，最後兩萬五千人喪失性命，另外三萬人被逼作奴隸背井離鄉，全島人口因此而驟減了50%。僱傭兵越殺越凶，因為每上繳一隻耳朵或一個鼻子都能請功領賞。他們這種滅絕人性的惡行激發了法國浪漫主義畫家尤金·德拉克洛瓦強烈憤慨，《希俄斯島的屠殺》和《邁索隆其翁廢墟上的希臘》駭人聽聞的場面引起全歐洲大陸極大關注，兩萬五千人的鮮血豈能白流，拜倫勳爵和維克多·雨果立刻加入伸張正義的行列之中。大屠殺之後，希臘人爭取自由的心願得到眾多歐洲盟友的支持，在歷經四個世紀突厥族統治之後，希臘終於1832年獲得獨立，奧斯曼帝國逐漸日落西山，直至最后土崩瓦解。坦率地說，我喜歡土耳其現在這種狀態，希臘民族本應掌管自己的事物，因為這裡早已成為世世代代生活的家園，所以他們才是這片土地的主人。

        其實暴君統治到處樹敵造成兩敗俱傷，得到多助失道寡助，結果無法逃脫像突厥族一樣失敗的命運。學校時有類似事件發生，一旦有肇事者欺負學生，必然會引起公憤，過街老鼠人人喊打。