2018-07-18

【Aiden in English】

        Day two of the repeated sites. This stop was mainly to send tourists to Rome, a highlight of the cruise. However, after spending three extra days in Rome three years ago, I think it would be better to move on. While it is possibly my favorite city to revisit, there is still much to explore in Italy, such as Etruscan Necropolises in Tarquinia and the medieval treasures of Tuscania.

        Ever since people possessed a higher power from the 9^th to the 1^st BC, there had been tombs for nobles to rejuvenate souls in the afterlife. When being influenced by the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt, people strongly believed the second life after death. The further back you go, the more expensive tombs were to build. Therefore, Etruscan Necropolis of Monterozzi from 700 B.C., while not the most exciting, was constructed for strictly the richest family in the early Etruscan history, the Tarquins. Singular, one-chambered tombs buried twenty feet underground, each holding one person at a time. This was the main attraction of the earliest urban civilization in the northern Mediterranean that we were going to see.

        It may not compare to King Tut's underground labyrinth, but it holds value in its own way. Each burial was spaced apart neatly, small cozy conclaves, almost like office cubicles. The graves were cut in rock and topped by mounds, shaped like mushroom huts or houses. Many decorations were carved on the interior walls. Unfortunately, time played a role in almost every tomb, fading color, eroding rock, and even collapsing some. But most survived, and with modern imaging and virtual reconstruction, we have a pretty good idea of each one. 

        Not going to lie, before the guide turned on the lights, the steps down into the depths seemed pretty terrifying. Luckily, a small press of a button, a tiny light flickers on. A glass wall separates me and the tiniest compartment I've ever seen. Faded painting on the walls of happy hunting and glory in battle, decorated ceilings with checkerboard patterns, a decent living space for thousands of years. Each burial brought something new, and every time I walked down the flight of creaky wooden steps, it smelled like opening a very moldy box of chocolates.

        The day was only half over. After lunch at the volcanic lakeside of Bolsena, we continued to the medieval Tuscania, one of the oldest towns of Italy, where we walked around a bit like lost mice. The 8^th-century Paleo-Christian Church of San Pietro, acropolis outside the town walls... I will say, the highlight definitely was the morning run. At the end of the day, however, I wasn't thinking about what I saw in the morning. No, far from it. I was thinking about tomorrow's plans, a trip to the leaning tower of Pisa, and the enchanting city of Florence.

【紅霞譯文】

        今天到了我第二次重複去過的地方，這一站主要把咱大夥送往羅馬，當屬整條航線最熱門的景區。然而三年前我來羅馬時曾多呆了三天，這回覺得最好另闢新路，羅馬固然令我百看不厭，不過世間尚有很多從未欣賞的美景，譬如：塔斯奎尼亞古城伊特魯里亞人陵墓和圖斯卡尼亞古鎮中世紀珍寶，值得親自感受。

        自從公元前九世紀到公元前一世紀以來，凡是既得權力者一直把墓葬視為來世靈魂重生的歸宿，當時由於深受古埃及法老影響，貴族們堅信人死後一定會有第二次生命，當你回首歷史，越是年代久遠的地方越是講究陵園的規模，公元前700年曼特羅契的伊特魯里亞人墓葬群便是例證，雖然談不上氣派，但在伊特魯里亞早期歷史上只有首富──伊特魯里亞王室家族才有資格大興土木，20英尺/6米深獨門單間地下墓穴，每人一座，成為北地中海早期城市文明的代表，正是我們出遊的目標。

        伊特魯里亞人墓葬群也許沒法與圖坦卡門王地下迷宮同日而語，但卻別有特色，墓穴與墓穴之間保持距離，墓室狹窄愜意，跟當今辦公隔間差不多大。靈柩用岩石砌成，外表覆蓋泥土，形似蘑菇狀墩子窩或毛坯房之類的結構；室內牆壁裝飾有不同圖案，可惜日久天長，壁畫褪色石塊變酥墳地塌陷，每座古冢漸已變老變舊，好在憑藉現代成像技術及虛擬手段可以讓多數倖存下來的墓穴恢復原樣，從而幫助我們撫今追昔。

        說心裡話，在導遊打開電燈之前，摸黑下樓梯非常恐怕，幸虧小不點按鈕開關帶來一線光明，透過玻璃擋板一個從未見過的微小房間讓我大開眼界，四周牆壁繪畫的快樂獵殺與勝利喜悅、天花板裝飾的棋盤圖案等雖已失去光澤但依稀可辨，幾千年前優裕的生活環境尚可略見一斑，各具靈柩陪葬裝飾標新立異，但每當我踏上陡峭且吱嘎作響的木板台階，一股像剛開盒捂得發霉的巧克力餿味撲鼻而來。

        行程到這裡為止僅僅過半。博賽納火山湖畔吃罷午餐，我們繼續遊覽中世紀古鎮號稱意大利最老的小城之一圖斯卡尼亞，沿街隨便轉悠，感覺猶如找不到北的耗子，八世紀修建的早期基督教聖彼得教堂、城牆外的衛城、等等，可以說上午所到之處絕對是今天出遊的精華所在，不過一天下來，我不再回味早起參觀的景點，不，遠非如此，而要考慮明天的計劃：比薩斜塔和佛羅倫薩城市奇觀。

Today in History(歷史上的今天):

2016: Seine Estuary, France(法國塞納河口)

2016: Le Havre the Rebuilt City, France(法國勒阿弗爾—重建之城)

2016: The Seine in Paris, France(法國巴黎塞納河畔)

2016: Public Arts in Paris, France(法國巴黎公共藝術)

2016: Paris the City of Lights, France(法國巴黎—光明之城)

2016: Capital Paris, France(法國首都巴黎)

2014: GHCS Camp—Chinese Chess(光華營中國像棋)

Crosslinks(相關博文):

Italy(出遊意大利)

Europe(歐洲掠影)