text istoric

Text istoric: traducere din romana in engleza

Rosemarie Schuster III LMA G-E .

Regele Irod se dezvaluieLa aproape 13 km spre sud de Ierusalim, acolo unde ultimii maslini pitici si culturile de porumb pe terenuri cu pietre se pierd in desertul iudeu, un deal se iveste brusc, un con abrupt cu varful taiat, ca un mic vulcan. E Herodium, una dintre cele mai marete creatii arhitecturale ale lui Irod cel Mare, regele Iudeei, care a transformat un delusor intr-un memorial impunator, lucrat in piatra alba, si l-a inconjurat cu palate ale desfatarii, cu piscine si gradini terasate. Conducator abil si generos, stralucit general si unul dintre cei mai plini de imaginatie si energici constructori ai antichitatii, Irod si-a condus regatul spre o noua prosperitate si putere. Si totusi azi el e cunoscut mai ales ca monarhul viclean si ucigas din Evanghelia lui Matei, care a ucis toti pruncii de sex masculin din Betleem, intr-o incercare esuata de a-l omori pe Isus cel nou-nascut, regele din profetiile iudeilor. E aproape sigur ca Irod nu e vinovat de aceasta crima, despre care nu exista o alta referire in afara celei a lui Matei. Dar cu siguranta ca el a ucis copii, inclusiv trei dintre propriii sai fii, laolalta cu sotia, cu soacra si cu numerosi alti membri ai curtii sale. De-a lungul vietii, el a impletit creativitatea cu cruzimea, armonia cu haosul. Arheologul israelian Ehud Netzer a petrecut ultima jumatate de secol in cautarea adevaratului Irod, cel infatisat nu in vorbe, ci in piatra. El a excavat numeroase situri ale constructiilor lui Irod de pe cuprinsul Tarii Sfinte, explorand palatele in care a locuit regele, fortaretele in care a luptat, peisajele in care se simtea cel mai confortabil. Dintre numeroasele proiecte de constructii pline de imaginatie ale lui Irod, Herodium e singurul care-i poarta numele si poate cel mai apropiat sufletului sau. Aici, la sfarsitul carierei sale indraznete si manjite de sange, a fost inmormantat intr-un impunator mausoleu. Amplasamentul exact al mormantului lui Irod a ramas un mister timp de aproape doua milenii, pana in aprilie 2007, cand Netzer si colegii sai de la Universitatea Evreiasca din Ierusalim l-au dezgropat pe pantele superioare ale Herodiumului. . Descoperirea a inlesnit patrunderea intr-una dintre cele mai enigmatice minti ale antichitatii si noi dovezi ale urii pe care Irod o starnea printre contemporanii sai. Acesta a devenit si un incident de natura politica, palestinienii sustinand ca artefactele din sit le apartin, iar colonistii evrei spunand ca prezenta mormantului le intareste pretentiile la Cisiordania. Irod s-a nascut in anul 73 i.HR. si a crescut in Iudeea, un regat din inima vechii Palestine sfasiat de razboi civil si prins intre dusmani puternici. Monarhia hasmoneeana, care condusese Iudeea timp de 70 de ani, era divizata de lupta crancena pentru tron dintre doi frati, printii Hyrcanus II si Aristobulus II. Regatul era, la randul sau, prins intr-o lupta geopolitica de amploare intre legiunile romane, de la nord si vest, si parti, dusmanii istorici ai Romei, la est. Tatal lui Irod, principalul sfetnic al lui Hyrcanus si un inzestrat general, a mizat pe romani, care l-au indepartat pe Aristobulus si l-au facut pe Hyrcanus rege al Iudeei. Inca din copilarie, Irod a inteles avantajele unei aliante cu suveranii romani pozitie care a fost mult timp privita ca o tradare a poporului evreu si romanii sunt cei care l-au facut in cele din urma rege pe Irod. De-a lungul carierei, el s-a straduit sa impace cererile acestora cu cele ale supusilor sai evrei, care isi pazeau cu mare atentie independenta politica si religioasa. . Pastrarea acestui echilibru fragil era ingreunata de originea lui Irod; mama sa era de etnie araba, iar tatal sau edomit si, desi Irod a fost crescut ca evreu, ii lipsea statutul social al familiilor vechi si puternice din Ierusalim, care i-ar fi permis sa slujeasca drept mare preot, asa cum facusera in mod traditional regii hasmoneeni. . Multi dintre supusii sai il considerau pe Irod un intrus pe jumatate evreu, asa cum va scrie mai tarziu primul sau biograf, soldatul si aristocratul evreu Flavius Josephus si au continuat sa lupte pentru o teocratie hasmoneeana. In 43 i.Hr., tatal lui Irod a fost otravit de un agent hasmoneean. -1-



Trei ani mai tarziu, cand partii au invadat pe neasteptate Iudeea, o factiune hasmoneeana rivala s-a aliat cu invadatorii, l-a detronat si mutilat pe Hyrcanus si s-a intors impotriva lui Irod. In acest moment de criza, Irod a cautat sprijin la romani. El a parasit Ierusalimul impreuna cu familia sa, la adapostul intunericului, si, dupa infrangerea partilor si a aliatilor lor evrei intr-o batalie crancena, purtata pe locul unde ulterior va construi Herodiumul, a calatorit la Roma, unde Senatul, amintindu-si de loialitatea sa neabatuta, l-a numit rege al Iudeei. . A iesit din cladirea Senatului brat la brat cu cei mai puternici doi oameni din Imperiul Roman: Marc Antoniu, soldatul si oratorul care conducea jumatatea de rasarit a imperiului, si Octavian, tanarul patrician care o conducea pe cea de apus si care, noua ani mai tarziu, il va infrange pe Antoniu si va prelua comanda intregului imperiu, luandu-si ulterior titlul de Augustus. Apoi, intr-un act care simboliza numeroasele compromisuri pe care avea sa le faca pentru a-si pastra nesigura putere, Irod a condus procesiunea pe Capitoliu pana la templul lui Jupiter, cel mai sacru altar al Romei, unde regele Iudeei le-a oferit sacrificii zeilor Romei pagane. Acum Irod avea un regat, dar mai trebuia sa-l si cucereasca, lucru care s-a intamplat dupa trei ani de lupte grele. . In cele din urma, in 37 i.Hr., el a cucerit Ierusalimul, iar Iudeea a devenit a sa cel putin din punct de vedere politic. Pentru a-si intari autoritatea sociala si religioasa, el a divortat de prima sa sotie, Doris, si s-a casatorit cu Mariamne, o printesa hasmoneeana. Dar amenintarea hasmoneeana n-a incetat. . Doi ani mai tarziu, de Pastele evreiesc, fratele adolescent al Mariamnei, mare preot la cel de Al Doilea Templu, a fost ovationat calduros de multimea de credinciosi; Irod, temandu-se ca intr-o buna zi tanarul i-ar putea uzurpa tronul, a pus ca acesta sa fie inecat intr-un bazin din palatul sau de la Ierihon. . Hasmoneenii nu erau singura lui grija. Intre 42 si 31 i.Hr., cand Marc Antoniu a condus partea de rasarit a imperiului, Irod a ramas prietenul si aliatul sau de nadejde, in ciuda ambitiilor frumoasei regine egiptene a lui Antoniu, Cleopatra, care l-a convins pe sotul sau amorezat sa cioparteasca pentru ea partile dorite din regatul lui Irod si chiar a incercat sa-l seduca pe Irod. (Acesta i-a declinat avansurile.) . In 31 i.Hr., peisajul politic s-a schimbat dupa Batalia de la Actium, in care Octavian a zdrobit armatele reunite ale lui Antoniu si Cleopatrei si a devenit primul imparat al Romei. Irod, stiind ca Octavian nu-l va privi cu ochi buni din pricina indelungatei prietenii cu Antoniu, s-a dus degraba in Insula Rodos pentru a-l intalni pe imparat si i s-a prezentat fara a purta coroana, dar cu toata demnitatea regeasca. Sursa: http://www.natgeo.ro/istorie/personalitati-si-evenimente/8819-regele-irod-se-dezvaluie

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King Herod reveals himselfAt about 13 km south of Jerusalem, where the last tiny olive trees and rocky cornfields fade into the Judean desert, a hill rises suddenly, a steep cone with the top sliced off like a small volcano. It is Herodium, one of the greatest architectural creations of Herod the Great, king of Judaea, who turned a knoll into an imposing memorial worked in white stone, surrounded it with pleasure palaces, with pools and terraced gardens. A skilful and generous leader, a brilliant general and one of the most imaginative and energetic builders of antiquity, Herod led his kingdom to a new prosperity and power. Yet today he is best known as a cunning and murderous monarch of the Gospel of Matthew, who killed all male infants in Bethlehem in an inefficient attempt to kill the newborn Jesus, the king from the Jewish prophecies. Herod is almost certainly not guilty of this crime, of which there is no other reference than that from Matthew. But he surely killed children, including three of his own sons, together with his wife, his mother-in-law and numerous other members of his court. Throughout his life, he blended creativity with cruelty, harmony with chaos. Israeli archaeologist Ehud Netzer has spent the past half century in search for the real Herod, the one portrayed not in words but in stone. He excavated numerous sites of Herod's buildings across the Holy Land, exploring the palaces where the king lived, the fortresses where he fought, the landscapes where he felt most comfortable. Of Herod's many imaginative building projects, Herodium is the only one which bears his name and perhaps the closest to his soul. Here, at the end of his bold and blood- smeared career, he was buried in an imposing mausoleum. The exact location of Herod's tomb has remained a mystery for nearly two millennia, until April 2007, when Netzer and his colleagues at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem have unearthed it on Herodiums upper slopes. The discovery facilitated the penetration of one of the most enigmatic minds of antiquity- and new evidence of the hatred that Herod aroused among his contemporaries. This incident became one of political nature, because Palestinians were saying that the artifacts

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from the site belonged to them and Jewish settlers were saying that the tombs presence strengthened their claims to the West Bank. .

Herod was born in 73 B.C. and grew up in Judaea, a kingdom in the heart of ancient civil wartorn Palestine and caught between powerful enemies. The Hasmonaean monarchy, which had ruled Judaea for 70 years, was divided by the fierce fight for the throne between two brothers, princes Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II. The kingdom was in turn caught in a major geopolitical struggle between the Roman legions to the north and west and the Parthians, historic enemies of Rome, to the east. Herod's father, Hyrcanus' principal adviser and a gifted general, relied on the Romans, who got rid of Aristobulus and made Hyrcanus king of Judaea. Since childhood, Herod understood the advantages of an alliance with the Roman suzerains- a position that has long been seen as a betrayal of the Jewish people - and the Romans are the ones that made Herod finally king. Throughout his career, he struggled to reconcile their demands with those of his Jewish subjects, who carefully guarded their political and religious independence. Maintaining this delicate balance was difficult because of Herod's origin; his mother was an ethnic Arab, and his father an Edomite, and although Herod was raised as a Jew, he lacked the social status of the ancient and powerful families in Jerusalem, which would have allowed him to serve as high priest, as the Hasmonaean kings had traditionally done. Many of his subjects thought of Herod as an intruder- "half-Jew", as his first biographer, the Jewish soldier and aristocrat Flavius Josephus will later write- and continued to fight for a Hasmonaean theocracy. In 43 BC, Herod's father was poisoned by a Hasmonaean agent. Three years later, when the Parthians suddenly invaded Judaea, a rival Hasmonaean faction allied with the invaders, deposed and mutilated Hyrcanus and turned his back against Herod. In this moment of crisis, Herod sought the assistance of the Romans. He left Jerusalem with his family under cover of darkness, and after defeating the Parthians and their Jewish allies in a fierce battle, carried on where later he built Herodium, he traveled -4-



to Rome where the Senate, remembering his unabated loyalty, appointed him king of Judaea. He left the Senate building arm in arm with the two most powerful men in the Roman Empire: Mark Antony, soldier and orator who ruled the eastern half of the empire, and Octavian, the young patrician who ruled the west, and who, nine years later, will defeat Antony and will assume command of the entire empire, and later taking the title "Augustus." Then, in an act that symbolized the many compromises that he would make to keep his uncertain power, Herod led the procession from the Capitol to the Temple of Jupiter, Rome's most sacred shrine, where the King of Judea gave sacrifices to the gods of pagan Rome. Now Herod had a kingdom, but he had to conquer it, which happened after three years of heavy fighting. Finally, in 37 BC, he conquered Jerusalem, and Judea became his- at least in political terms. To strengthen his social and religious authority, he divorced his first wife, Doris, and married Mariamne, a Hasmonaean princess. But the Hasmonaean threat did not stop. Two years later, at the Jewish Passover, the teenage brother of Mariamne, the high priest in the Second Temple, was warmly cheered by the crowd of believers; Herod, fearing that one day the young man might usurp his throne, had him be drowned in a pool in his palace in Jericho. The Hasmonaeans were not his only concern. Between 42 and 31 BC, when Mark Antony ruled the eastern part of the empire, Herod has remained his reliable friend and ally, despite the ambitions of Antony's beautiful Egyptian queen, Cleopatra, who convinced her husband and lover to chop for her the desired parts of Herods kingdom and even tried to seduce Herod. (He declined her advances.) In 31 BC, the political landscape changed after the Battle of Actium, where Octavian crushed the combined armies of Antony and Cleopatra and became the first emperor of Rome. Herod, knowing that Octavian will not look kindly to him because of his long-standing friendship with Antony, went to the island of Rhodes to meet the emperor and presented himself without wearing the crown, but with all the royal dignity.

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Text istoric: traducere din engleza in romana


The King HerselfWhat motivated Hatshepsut to rule ancient Egypt as a man while her stepson stood in the shadows? Her mummy, and her true story, have come to light. There was something strangely touching about her fingertips. Everywhere else about her person all human grace had vanished. The ravelled linen around her neck looked like a fashion statement gone horribly awry. Her mouth, with the upper lip shelved over the lower, was a gruesome crimp. (She came from a famous lineage of overbites.) Her eye sockets were packed with blind black resin, her nostrils unbecomingly plugged with tight rolls of cloth. Her left ear had sunk into the flesh on the side of her skull, and her head was almost completely without hair. . I leaned toward the open display case in Cairo's Egyptian Museum and gazed at what in all likelihood is the body of the female pharaoh Hatshepsut, the extraordinary woman who ruled Egypt from 1479 to 1458 B.C. and is famous today less for her reign during the golden age of Egypt's 18th dynasty than for having the audacity to portray herself as a man. There was no beguiling myrrh perfume in the air, only some sharp and sour smell that seemed minted during the many centuries she had spent in a limestone cave. It was hard to square this prostrate thing with the great ruler who lived so long ago and of whom it was written, "To look upon her was more beautiful than anything." The only human touch was in the bone shine of her nailless fingertips where the mummified flesh had shrunk back, creating the illusion of a manicure and evoking not just our primordial vanity but our tenuous intimacies, our brief and passing feel for the world. The discovery of Hatshepsut's lost mummy made headlines two summers ago, but the full story unfolded slowly, in increments, a forensic drama more along the lines of CSI than Raiders of the Lost Ark. Indeed the search for Hatshepsut showed the extent to which the trowels and brushes of archaeology's traditional toolbox have been supplemented by CT scanners and DNA gradient thermocyclers. In 1903 the renowned archaeologist Howard Carter had found Hatshepsut's sarcophagus in the 20th tomb discovered in the Valley of the KingsKV20. The sarcophagus, one of three Hatshepsut had prepared, was empty. Scholars did not know where her mummy was or whether it had even survived the campaign to eradicate the record of her rule during the reign of her co-regent and ultimate successor, Thutmose III, when almost all the images of her as king were systematically chiseled off temples, monuments, and obelisks. The search that seems to have finally solved the mystery was launched in 2005 by Zahi Hawass, head of the Egyptian Mummy Project and secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. Hawass and a team of scientists zeroed in on a mummy they called KV60a, which had been discovered more than a century earlier but wasn't thought significant enough to remove from the floor of a minor tomb in the Valley of the Kings. KV60a had been cruising eternity without even the hospitality of a coffin, much less a retinue of figurines to perform royal chores. She had nothing to wear, eitherno headdress, no jewelry, no gold sandals or gold toe and finger coverings, none of the treasures that had been provided the pharaoh Tutankhamun, who was a pip-squeak of a king compared with Hatshepsut. And even with all the high-tech methods used to crack one of Egypt's most notable missing person cases, if it had not been for the serendipitous discovery of a tooth, KV60a might still be lying alone in the dark, her royal name and status unacknowledged. Today she is enshrined in one of the two Royal Mummy Rooms at the Egyptian Museum, with plaques in Arabic and English proclaiming her to be Hatshepsut, the King Herself, reunited at long last with her extended family of fellow New Kingdom pharaohs. .

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Text istoric: traducere din engleza in romana Surs: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/04/hatshepsut/brown-text


nsi regina

Ce a motivat-o pe Hatshepsut s conduc Egiptul antic ca un brbat n timp ce fiul ei vitreg sttea n umbr? Mumia ei i povestea ei adevarata au ieit la lumin.

Era ceva foarte ciudat cu privire la degetele ei. Orice frumusee uman de pe restul corpului ei a disprut. Pnza nfurat n jurul gtului ei arta ca o ncercare euat de elegan. Gura ei, cu buza de sus lsat peste cea de jos, era o nspimnttoare ncreitur. (Ea era de descenden celebr de prognai.) Orbitele ii erau ambalate cu rin neagr, nrile ei astupate dezgusttor cu role strmte de pnz. Urechea stng i se cufundase n carne pe partea lateral a craniului ei, iar capul ei era aproape complet fr pr. .

M-am aplecat spre vitrina deschis de la muzeul egiptean din Cairo i m-am uitat la ceea ce, dup toate probabilitile este corpul faraonului Hatshepsut, femeia extraordinar care a domnit n Egipt de la 1479- 1458 .Hr. i care astzi este renumit mai puin pentru domnia ei n timpul epocii de aur a celei de-a XVIII-a dinastii a Egiptului, dect pentru curajul de a se prezenta ca brbat. n aer nu era niciun parfum seductor de smirn, doar un miros neptor i acru, care preau a fi produse de-a lungul secolelor petrecute ntr-o peter de calcar. Acest obiect prosternat era greu de asemanat cu marea conductoare care a trit cu att de mult timp n urm i despre care a fost scris c "a o privi era mai frumos dect orice." Singura trstur uman era doar n strlucirea oaselor de la vrful degetelor ei fr unghii, unde carnea mumificat s-a retras, crend iluzia unei manichiuri i evocnd nu numai vanitatea noastr primordial, dar i intimitile noastre fragile, scurta i trectoarea noastr prezen n lume. Descoperirea mumiei pierdute a lui Hatshepsut a provocat liduri n ziare cu dou veri n urm, dar ntreaga poveste s-a dezvluit lent, n incrementuri, mai mult ca ntr-o dram medico-legal CSI dect Raiders of the Lost Ark. ntr-adevr cutarea lui Hatshepsut a artat -7-

Text istoric: traducere din engleza in romana


msura n care fraul i pensulele setului de instrumente tradiionale ale arheologiei au fost suplimentate cu tomografe computerizate i aparate pentru aflarea ADN-ului. n 1903, renumitul arheolog Howard Carter a descoperit sarcofagul lui Hatshepsut n mormntul al XX-lea descoperit n Valea Regilor-KV20. Sarcofagul, unul dintre cele trei pregtite de Hatshepsut, era gol. Oamenii de tiin nu tiau unde era mumia ei sau dac aceasta a supravieuit mcar campania de eliminare a urmelor dominei ei, n timpul domniei coregentului ei i n final succesorul ei, Thutmos III, atunci cnd aproape toate imaginile cu ea fiind rege au fost sistematic terse de pe temple, monumente, i obeliscuri. Cutare care pare s fi rezolvat n sfrit misterul a fost lansat n 2005 de ctre Zahi Hawass, eful Proiectului Mumiile Egiptene i secretarul general al Consiliului Suprem al Antichitilor. Hawass i o echip de oameni de tiin s-au limitat la o mumie pe care au numit-o KV60a, care a fost descoperit cu mai mult de un secol nainte, dar nu a fost considerat suficient de semnificativ pentru a fi mutat de pe podeaua unui mormnt nesemnificativ din Valea Regilor. KV60a a mers n eternitate fr mcar cu ospitalitatea unui sicriu, cu att mai puin o suit de figurine pentru a efectua sarcinile regale. Ea nu a avut nici mbrcminte- nicio frizur, nici bijuterii, nici sandale de aur sau acoperiri de aur pentru degetele de la picioare i mini, niciuna dintre comorile cu care faraonul Tutankhamon a fost furnizat, care a fost un rege nensemnat n comparaie cu Hatshepsut. i chiar cu toate metodele de high-tech utilizate pentru a crpa unul din cazurile cele mai notabile ale persoanelor disprute, dac nu s-ar fi descoperit un dinte, KV60a ar putea fi nc situat singur n ntuneric, numele i statutul ei regal nerecunoscute. Astzi, ea este situat ntr-una din cele dou Camere ale Mumiilor Regale de la Muzeul Egiptean, cu plci n arab i englez proclamnd c ea este Hatshepsut, nsi regina, reunit n sfrit cu familia ei extins de faraoni al Regatului Nou.

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