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.

【红霞译文】

        一个地方的地理环境足以构成历史发展的决定性因素。没有尼罗河，根本谈不上古埃及文明；没有幼发拉底和底格里斯两河流域，包括土耳其在内的美索不达米亚充顶多成为天方夜谭；同样地，没有圣山灵智，希腊不足以发展到充满神奇色彩的国度。

        昨天，我刚参观了具有四百年悠久历史的梅特奥拉“天空之柱”，今日又继续欣赏修道院，只不过彼此背景略有差异。游轮经过一夜航行，带我们来到靠近小亚细亚希腊第五大岛──希俄斯，眼前这个十一世纪拜占庭式新修道院建在“广场中间呈十字形，巨大穹窿屋顶由突角拱支撑，形成一个八角结构”，内部墙壁全部使用大理石和马赛克，并镶有黄金装饰。不独有偶，希俄斯新修道院远离闹区，地脚偏僻。

        希俄斯岛与突厥族之间有本血泪史，新修道院曾被巴巴里海盗和奥斯曼军队用作战事基地，对希俄斯人来说，自由来之不易。1822年，突厥人对岛上居民频繁为争取独立而进行的不懈斗争深感烦恼，于是，奥斯曼帝国海军上将接到指令，亲自带领上千名雇佣兵对当地民族进行残酷屠杀，村庄被毁房屋被炸，妇幼老少无人得以幸免，最后两万五千人丧失性命，另外三万人被逼作奴隶背井离乡，全岛人口因此而骤减了50%。雇佣兵越杀越凶，因为每上缴一只耳朵或一个鼻子都能请功领赏。他们这种灭绝人性的恶行激发了法国浪漫主义画家尤金·德拉克洛瓦强烈愤慨，《希俄斯岛的屠杀》和《迈索隆其翁废墟上的希腊》骇人听闻的场面引起全欧洲大陆极大关注，两万五千人的鲜血岂能白流，拜伦勋爵和维克多·雨果立刻加入伸张正义的行列之中。大屠杀之后，希腊人争取自由的心愿得到众多欧洲盟友的支持，在历经四个世纪突厥族统治之后，希腊终于1832年获得独立，奥斯曼帝国逐渐日落西山，直至最后土崩瓦解。坦率地说，我喜欢土耳其现在这种状态，希腊民族本应掌管自己的事物，因为这里早已成为世世代代生活的家园，所以他们才是这片土地的主人。

        其实暴君统治到处树敌造成两败俱伤，得到多助失道寡助，结果无法逃脱像突厥族一样失败的命运。学校时有类似事件发生，一旦有肇事者欺负学生，必然会引起公愤，过街老鼠人人喊打。