歷史留下的10幅驚人的塗鴉(上)
How often have you visited a historical site and been stunned that someone would be so selfish as to carve their names into it? This type of vandalism might seem to be the product of modern narcissism. But in reality, the human urge to leave their mark goes back millennia.
還記得你有多少次在遊覽歷史遺蹟的時候看見有人將他們的名字刻在上面而對這種自私的行爲感到震驚嗎？這種故意毀壞文物的行爲看起來是自戀的現代人獨有的，但實際上，早在幾千年前，人們就已經急着留下屬於自己的印記了。10. Medieval Church Graffiti
10. 中世紀教堂塗鴉
The medieval church was powerful in a way that today's churches can only dream of. We might imagine that this would lead to them being inviolable, but even a cursory glance at medieval churches will show how untrue this is. Any surface in reach is likely to be marked in some way—in either pious devotion or distracted doodling. Some of the graffiti looks as if it was inspired by the sermons the vandals were listening to. Crosses, angels, and the Virgin Mary all appear etched into the walls and pillars of churches. Perhaps this was a form of worship for those unable to speak the Latin of the mass or too illiterate to write out their faith. Other forms of graffiti speak of graffiti as prayer. Medieval ships are a common motif. It has been suggested that these may have been made as a form of prayer of protection for those on the sea. Portraits of individuals also turn up. Kings and queens often feature, as do saints, but images of common men and women can tell us lots about the clothes and appearance of people who would otherwise be forgotten.
中世紀教堂所具有的權利之大，是現今的教堂想都不敢想的。在我們的觀念中，中世紀教堂都是神聖不可侵犯的，但只要看過實物，哪怕只是匆匆一瞥，就會知道事實並非如此。在教堂中，只要夠得着的地方都或多或少都被塗畫過了——有虔誠的誓詞，也有無意義的塗鴉。一些塗鴉的靈感看起來是受了佈道者的啓發——教堂的牆上很多地方刻着十字架，天使，聖母瑪利亞——這可能也是一種崇拜的形式，是那些不能用拉丁文說彌撒或不會寫字的人表達信仰的方法。也有一些其他樣式的塗鴉表現的是祈福的願望——中世紀海上貿易繁榮，據推測有些塗鴉是爲海上的船員們祈福的一種方式。當然，也有些塗鴉是個人肖像，比如國王和王后，還有聖人。不過歸根結底，還是那些普通人的畫像塗鴉能更好地展現當時芸芸衆生的穿着打扮和精神風貌。
9. Pompeian Prostitutes
9. 龐貝娼妓
Many depictions of Ancient Rome show it as a glittering citadel of white marble. In fact, the Romans were as earthy and real as any living people. The proof of this can be seen engraved in the walls of Pompeii. The ancient city was destroyed by a volcanic eruption that ironically preserved it far better than any other Roman site. Pompeii boasted an impressive number of brothels to cater to all tastes. These houses can be recognized from the stone beds packed into tiny rooms and erotic frescos showing guests what was on the menu. When customers staggered out into the street, or even while they were engaged in their cubicles, they liked to leave notes about the joys of their visit. "Hic ego puellas multas futui," one man wrote—"Here I have f—ked many girls." Anothers left a review: "Murtis bene felas"—"'Myrtis, you suck well." "Rufa ita vale quare bene felas."—"Rufa, may life be as good as your sucking." Not all customers were as pleased with their service: "Sabina felas no belle fasces."—"Sabina you are sucking it, but not well." One man seems to have become disillusioned with the whole profession, as this graffito on a brothel shows: "Weep, you girls. My penis has given you up. Now it penetrates men's behinds. Goodbye, wondrous femininity!"
人們對古羅馬的描述通常是白色大理石鑄就的光輝城堡。但事實上，羅馬人和普通人一樣粗俗現實，證據就刻在龐貝城的牆上。我們知道，龐貝城毀於一次火山爆發，但諷刺的是，正是因爲這一點，龐貝古城保存得比其他羅馬遺蹟還要完整。龐貝城裏曾有大量的妓院，可滿足顧客各種品味。無論是擠在小房間裏的石牀，還是被當作“菜單”展示給嫖客看的色情壁畫，這些妓院處處可見“風情”。嫖客晃到大街上時，甚至還在小房間裏快活時，就會留下對消費過程的評價。“Hic ego puellas multas futui,”一個男子寫下，——“我在這裏上了很多女孩。”另一個評論道“Murtis bene felas”——Myrtis，吹得一手好簫。“Rufa ita vale quare bene felas.”——Rufa，願人生和你吹的簫一樣好。但並不是所有的顧客都對服務滿意：“Sabina felas no belle fasces.”——Sabina，雖然你在吹，但技術不好。還有一個男人似乎對這個行業徹底失望了，因爲這家妓院的塗鴉寫着：“哭泣吧，女孩們。我的老二已經不想要你們。他現在渴望着男人的後庭。永別了，奇女子們！8. Vikings—Hagia Sophia
8. 維京傳奇——聖索菲亞大教堂
Sometimes, graffiti can be deeply revealing about the world of those who made it, and sometimes, it is more revealing of human nature itself. The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul is one of the grandest religious structures in the world. It was begun in 532 and has been a church, a mosque, and museum over the course of the centuries. It has also been a writing pad for Vikings. On a marble banister is a string of runes left at some point in the ninth century. While the years have worn it away, the name Halfdan can still be made out. One reading of the rest of the inscription could be that it simply says "Halfdan was here." In a different part of the building, another runic graffito has been found, badly eroded. All that can really be read is the name Arni or Ari—another Viking with a fondness for leaving his own name in stone. It seems likely that these men served in the Varangian Guard, an elite corps of troops used by the Byzantine emperors. This body was made up mostly of Scandinavians, who apparently brought their runic writings with them.
有時候，塗鴉揭示的是繪畫者的內心世界，而有時候，它更多地揭露人性本身。伊斯坦布爾的聖索菲亞大教堂是世界上最大的宗教建築之一。它始建於532年，在之後的數個世紀裏被當作爲教堂、清真寺和圖書館。可以說，它是維京傳奇的見證者。在公元9世紀某時，有人在一根大理石欄杆上留下了一串北歐文字。儘管時光荏苒，它慘遭侵蝕，不過其中的“Halfdan”這個名字還是依稀可見。只是通過上下文聯繫，這串文字可能只是簡單的“Halfdan到此一遊”。在教堂的另一個侵蝕嚴重的地方還發現了一個北歐文字，只能看見一個名字，有點像Arni，也有點像Ari——是另一個熱衷於在石頭上留名的維京人，估計是瓦蘭吉人，拜占庭皇帝的精英衛士。因爲這些精英衛士大部分由斯堪的納維亞人組成，他們顯然很喜歡到處播散他們的北歐文字。7. Tower Of London
7. 倫敦塔
When people are locked up for long periods, graffiti can be a tempting way to pass the time. Just check out the desks in detention room. The Tower of London is a castle that has long been used by English monarchs as both a place of safety for themselves and a place to keep troublemakers out of the way. These noble prisoners often took their chance to leave a reminder of their existence in case they never walked out of the prison. Some of the graffiti is simply a name. A "remember me." Others are whole sentences such as a Latin inscription left by Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel in 1587, which says, "The more affliction we endure for Christ in this world, the more glory we shall get with Christ in the world to come." Noble crests and insignia also abound on the walls. Other prisoners seem to have undermined their defenses with their graffiti. One man who was imprisoned on a charge of sorcery took the time to scratch a detailed horoscope in his cell.
當成爲階下囚時，塗鴉是打發時間的好辦法，不信的話去看看拘留室的桌子吧。倫敦塔長期被英國君主作爲自己的城堡或關押麻煩鬼的地方。貴族囚犯們常在這裏面刷存在感——因爲他們可能永遠也出不去了。一些塗鴉僅僅是一個名字或是一句“記住我”。也有一些是一句完整的拉丁文，比如1587年阿倫德爾的伯爵Philip Howard則留下的：“此生爲我主受盡折磨，來生方與其共享榮耀。” 還有些牆上寫滿了貴族家徽和印章。而且似乎有些囚犯在創作塗鴉相當“放飛自我”，比如一個被控告巫術的人在牢裏不慌不忙地刻下了占卜圖的所有細節。6. Alexamenos Graffito
6. 亞歷克門羅塗鴉
In 1857, an excavation on the Palatine Hill in Rome turned up a piece of graffito in the plaster of a wall. We've already seen that the Romans were not shy with the things they were willing to write on a wall, but it seems they were not afraid of blasphemy either. The Alexamenos Graffito, dating from around AD 200, may be the earliest depiction of Jesus—and it is not flattering. The Alexamenos Graffito shows a figure hanging from a cross with a man at the base looking up. Text, in Greek, says "Alexamenos worships his god." What stops this being a standard image of the crucifixion is that the person on the cross has the head of a donkey. This shows some of the aggression toward the relatively new Christian religion that must have existed at the time. Tertullian, an early Christian author, refers to the idea that "our god is the head of an ass." The graffito is also an important source on the act of crucifixion as it was made at a time when people would have seen criminals nailed up by the roadside.
1857年，人們在挖掘羅馬帕拉蒂諾山的時候發現牆裏的石膏上有一塊塗鴉。我們已經見識過羅馬人什麼都敢往牆上寫的“美德”，但似乎他們對褻瀆行爲也不以爲意。亞歷克門羅塗鴉可追溯到公元200年，可能是對耶穌基督最早的描述——而且還不是什麼讚美之詞。亞歷克門羅塗鴉畫的是一個人在低處向上看着掛在十字架上的人，塗鴉下方用希臘文註釋“亞厲克門羅崇拜上帝”。不過它和標準的基督受難像沒有半毛錢關係，因爲十字架上的人是個驢頭。這表明當時基督教還是個新教的時候，受到了不少的攻擊。早期的基督教作家德爾圖良就提出“我們的上帝是驢腦袋”的說法。創造這個石膏像的時候人們還多是將罪犯用釘子釘死在路邊，所以看起來，這幅塗鴉很可能是“釘十字架”這種刑罰的重要來由。
