评论
打印
We can date the making of the cup to around the year 10.
我们能确定它的制作时间大约在公元十年左右。
About 50 years later, the Roman occupation of Jerusalem sparked tensions between the rulers and the Jewish community,
约五十年后，罗马对耶路撒冷的统治激起了统治阶层与犹太人的矛盾。
and in AD 66 that exploded and the Jews took back the city by force. There were violent confrontations,
公元六十六年，矛盾爆发了。犹太人用武力夺回了这座城市。当时的战况极为惨烈，
and it is thought that our cup may have been buried at this date by the owner fleeing from the fighting.
银杯有可能是它的主人在逃跑前埋起来的。
After this, the cup disappears for almost two thousand years, until it was bought by Edward Warren in Rome in 1911.
之后，银杯消失了约两千年。1911年，爱德华沃伦在罗马购买了它。
For years after his death in 1928, it proved impossible to sell-the subject-matter was just too shocking for any potential collector.
1928年，沃伦去世。杯面上惊世骇俗的绘画主题让银杯在他逝后多年仍无人问津。
In London, the British Museum declined to buy it, as did the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and, at one point, it was even refused entry to the United States of America,
伦敦的大英博物馆和剑桥的菲茨威廉博物馆都拒绝购买。有一段时间，它甚至无法进入美国境内，
when the explicit nature of its imagery offended a customs official.
因为杯上的图案过于露骨，激怒了美国海关官员。
It was only in 1999-long after public attitudes to homosexuality, and indeed the law, had changed-that the British Museum bought the Warren Cup,
直到1999年，公众对同性恋的态度已有了极大转变，大英博物馆才购买了沃伦杯，
then the most expensive acquisition it had ever made. A cartoon at the time showed a Roman barman saucily asking a customer,Do you want a straight goblet or a gay goblet?
它成为当时收购价格最高的文物。当时有幅漫画，一位罗马酒吧侍者傲慢地问顾客：你想要普 通杯子还是同性恋杯子？
A hundred years after he bought it, Warren's cup is now on permanent public display here in the British Museum, and it serves I think a very useful purpose.
在沃伦买下它一百年后，沃伦杯终于成为大英博物馆的永久公开藏品。
It's not just a superb piece of Roman Imperial metalwork-from party cup to scandalous vessel
它不仅是罗马帝国精湛的金属加工工艺的代表。它的历史变迁从宴会用品到有伤风化的容器，
and finally to an iconic museum-piece-this object reminds us that the way societies view sexual relationships is never fixed.
再到博物馆的标志性展品，这一过程让我们看到，社会对性关系的态度一直在改变。
