Chapter 8 A bridge connecting ancient Asia and emerging Europe

The Greek peninsula is located at the southernmost tip of the Balkan peninsula, living next to Asia, facing the Black Sea, the Sea of ​​Marmara, the Bosporus Strait and the Aegean Sea in the east; facing the Mediterranean Sea in the south, and facing Africa across the sea; The Adriatic Sea is connected to Italy by one water; the north is connected to the Danube River. I have never had a bird's-eye view of the Balkans in the air, but with my rich imagination, looking down on the Balkans from the blue sky, its outline must be like a palm, stretching from Europe to Asia and Africa.On this palm, the thumb is Greece, the little finger is Thrace, and Constantinople is the nail on the little finger. As for the other fingers of this palm, they are those that stretch from Macedonia and Thessaly to Asia Minor. of mountains.These mountains stretch from north to south all the way to the blue waves of the Aegean Sea. If you look at them from a high altitude, they will undoubtedly be as clear as fingers half-submerged in a clear water basin.

And the rows of majestic and tall mountains are the bones of this palm, and they extend diagonally from northwest to southeast.These mountains are also called by various names, such as Bulgarians, Montenegrins, Serbs, Turks, Albanians and Greeks.There are several mountain ranges that play a significant role in this region. One of these is the Dirac Alps, which stretches from the Swiss Alps to the Gulf of Corinth.The Gulf of Corinth is a wide bay. The Greek peninsula is divided into two by it. The south of the peninsula is similar to the triangle. The isthmus is only 3.5 miles wide), and they called this "island" the Pelops or the Peloponnese.And Pelops is the main god in ancient Greek legends—the grandson of Zeus, Tantalus (the son of Zeus in ancient Greek legends. Because he leaked the secrets to humans and killed his son Pelops He died, and made him into a dish for the gods to eat to test their observation power, which angered the gods and punished him to suffer in the underworld: he stood in the neck-deep water, and when he was thirsty and wanted to drink, he could not The water receded; the fruit was still hanging on his head, but when he was hungry and wanted to eat the fruit, the fruit was blown away by the wind. father.

In the Middle Ages, the Venetians appropriated Greece for themselves, and the Venetians were nothing more than a group of unimaginative businessmen, who were not at all interested in this young man who had been prepared by his father as a dish for entertaining guests. The Loponnese Peninsula looks like a mulberry leaf from the map, so it was given a new name, the Morea Peninsula.This name is still used today. There are also two mountain ranges here that are not connected to each other. One is in the north, called the Balkan Mountains. It is just the southern end of a semi-circular mountain system. The northern end of this mountain system is the Carpathian Mountains. The entire peninsula is named after the Balkan Mountains. of.The two mountains are separated by the "iron gate", and the canyon left by the Danube River breaking through the mountains is the "iron gate". "Original intention", resolutely turned around and headed eastward, heading straight for the Black Sea.

Unfortunately, although this "wall" spans between the Greek peninsula and Romania, it is not as high as the Alps and cannot withstand the cold wind blowing from the Russian plains to the Balkans. Therefore, the northern part of the peninsula has constant rain and snow all year round. With the wind.However, the second "wall", the Rhodope Mountains, blocked the Russian clouds arriving in Greece.Rhodope means "mountain of roses", you can find the same root in other words like rose tree, Rhodes in the Aegean Sea means "island full of roses", Greek climate The warmth and pleasantness is fully explained here.

The Rhodopes are 9,000 feet high, while the highest point in the Balkans is only 8,000 feet (it is near the famous Shipka pass, which Russian troops suffered heavy losses in 1877).The Rhodope Mountains make a major contribution to the climate of the peninsula behind it.In addition, the 10,000-foot, perennial snow-covered Mount Olympus also protects the Thessaly Plain at all times.It was on this plain that the Greek nation was born. The plain of Thessalia was fertile, but it was once an inland sea, and later in the middle of the famous valley of the Tenby River, the Pinios River (now the Salamibia River) opened a channel for itself, Thessalia All the water of Lake Saria poured into the Gulf of Thessaloniki, and since then, it has become a piece of land.Thessaly was a land of fish and rice for the ancient Greeks, but the Turkish invaders turned a blind eye to it. It is not so much that their usual indifference comes from evil hearts, it is better to say that it comes from the lazy nature of Muslims.To all the crucial questions of the immediate reality, the Turks shrugged their shoulders and said, "What's the use?" People are in the palm of their hands, and they continue to suffer from the previous extortion.Today, the main product of the Thessaly Plain is tobacco.Volo is a port here, from which the heroes of Argos set out to find the Golden Fleece The heroes, in order to snatch the golden fleece of the magic ram, went to the kingdom of Colchis after many hardships——Translator's Note), and their heroic deeds were already known to every household before the heroes of Troy were born.Larissa is an industrial city on the plain of Thessalysia and also a railway junction.There is an interesting incident which shows how inexplicably the ancient people were mixed together.There is a black ghetto in Larissa city.This black ghetto is a memorial left by the war that year.In order to suppress the uprising of the Greeks from 1821 to 1829, Turkey dispatched several legions from their African territory --- Sudan. The Turkish rulers didn't care who was bleeding and dying for them.Turkey made the base camp of that crackdown in Larissa.When the repression ended, the poor Sudanese were stranded and abandoned here, where they still don't know what to do to this day.

There are, however, more inexplicable stories told in this work.You will know that there are red-skinned Indians in North Africa, that Jews live in eastern China, and that there are horses on the deserted islands in the Atlantic Ocean!Such anecdotes should be read best by "pure-blood" fanatics. From the plains of Thessalysia, over the Pindus Mountains, you come to the region of Epirus.Pindus, a natural barrier between Epirus and the rest of Greece, is as tall and majestic as the Balkans.But in addition to the endless mountains and listless cattle, the people's livelihood in this area is poor, there is no seaport, there is no decent road, and even the early local residents are few, because after a battle, 150,000 Epiru Slaves were sold into slavery by the Romans (one of the Romans' notorious means of establishing legal order).But back then, why was this area considered by Aristotle as the birthplace of mankind?This remains a mystery to this day.But there are two other places worth mentioning here, the island of Ithaca and the island of Corfu, separated from the mainland by the narrow waterway of Ionia.Ithaca is the hometown of the mythical hero Odysseus who suffered all kinds of hardships.The birthplace of the Huaiakans is Kerkyra Island, and the king of the Huaiakans, Alcinous, is the father of Nausicaa.In classical literature, Nausicaa is the most lovely woman, always a model of warmth and grace.Corkyra belongs to the Ionian Islands. It was first occupied by the Venetians, and later it was assigned to the French, and then the British were in charge here. It was not until 1869 that it returned to the arms of the Greeks. middle.It is now famous for having used the island as a retreat hideout for routed Serbian troops in 1916, and for being inadvertently shelled by the Fascist navy a few years earlier.In the future, here may become a winter health resort, but it is located on the famous earthquake zone in Europe.

The Dinaric Alps are notorious for being the main culprit of earthquakes. In 1893, the nearby island of Zakynthos suffered one of its worst earthquakes.However, people did not stop going to those places with earthquake risk but beautiful scenery because of the earthquake disaster.If you've ever traveled around the world, you'll see that many gentle volcanic slopes are populated, even more densely than in other temperate regions of the earth's fragile surface.Whatever it is! Now continue south from Epirus and we'll check out Boeotia. The region of Boeotia lay like a gigantic empty soup dish, surrounded by the hills of Attica to the south, and the mountains of Thessaly and Epirus to the north.Boeotia is a model and can fully support the influence of nature on people that I mentioned at the beginning of this work. This is the main reason why I talk about the Boeotia region.To the ordinary Greek of the golden age, a Boeotian, though he came from Parnassus, from the shrine of the Muse, came from Delphi (a The city of ancient Greece, the most important holy place of worship in ancient Greece, the famous temple of Apollo and the domed temple were all built here A countryman, a slow-witted bastard, a fool, a foolish fool, a clown, a man destined to be the butt of all the gross farces of ancient Greece, a fool, a fool.

In fact, the Boeotians were no less gifted than other Greeks.Ancient Greek military strategist Epaminondas (from about 410 BC to 362 BC, an ancient Greek statesman and general who reformed Greek tactical conventions and broke the Spartan military advantage———Translator’s Note) He and the ancient Greek biographer Plutarch (about 46-about 119 years, a classical writer, one of the most influential classical writers in Europe from the 16th to the beginning of the 19th century——Translator’s Note) were both born in Boeotia, However, they left their hometown when they were very young.And the miasma in the swamp area of ​​Lake Kopis has been poisoning those who have been living in Boeotia all the year round. From the perspective of modern medicine, the Boeotia people are probably victims of malaria. Of course, this disease cannot produce smart people. Come.

In the 13th century, the French Crusader knights became the new generation of rulers of Athens.They drained the swamp and improved the basic conditions of Boeotia.Later, the Turks allowed the mosquitoes to breed, and the environment here tended to deteriorate.Finally, the waters of Lake Kopis were drained into the Sea of ​​Evic by their successors, the French and the British. After being completely drained, the seabed of this inland sea became a rich pasture. In the past, the land has been mocked as an A-grade exhibit area for dumbasses and mentally retarded.As the former miasma-infested swamps were drained, the swamps disappeared, the miasma disappeared, the malaria mosquitoes disappeared, and those bad days are gone forever.The Boeotians of today, like the Athenians or the shoe-shiners of Brooklyn, are not the same as the Boeotians of the past, they are very different.They are already smart enough to get the Armenians or Scots out of their own pockets as much as possible.

Next, let's go to the most interesting place in Greece --- Attica.It is now possible to take a train from Larissa to Athens, and this railway is also connected to the European main line.But from Thessaly in the north to Attica in the south, the ancient Greeks had only one way, and that was through the hot spring pass (emopylae).The so-called pass between Mount Iti and the Gulf of Hailay in the Evian Sea is actually a narrow ravine, only 45 feet wide, between the two mountains.In 480 BC, King Leonidas of Sparta and his 300 Spartan soldiers tried to stop Xerxes (the king of the ancient Persian Empire, who was born and died about 519-465 BC and reigned BC 486-before 465. He led the sea and land army to expedition to Greece, and suppressed the anti-Persian uprisings in Egypt, Babylon and other places. He was headstrong and became more tyrannical in his later years. Rescued from the iron heels of the barbarians, they all died heroically in front of this hot spring pass. It was here, 200 years later, that the Greeks kept the barbaric Gauls out of their country.Even in the Greco-Turkish War of 1821-1822, the pass played an important military role.Today, Thermopylae is gone.The sea receded for about three miles, leaving only a crude bathing place where rheumatism and sciatica sufferers sought relief from their ailments (the Greek word "thermos" means "heat," and the English word "thermometer" is the same as "Hot water bottle" comes from this).However, for those heroes who died for the failed cause, as long as human beings have not forgotten, this battlefield named after "Hot Spring" will be immortalized in history forever.

The Attica area is a rocky promontory lying in the blue waves of the Aegean Sea, with a small area and a triangular shape.There are many mountains in this area, and there are many small valleys in the mountains, each of which leads directly to the sea. The breeze blows from the sea, and the air is fresh and pleasant.The ancient Athenians claimed that their intelligence and foresight benefited from the pleasing air they breathed.This statement is not false.The stagnant, backwater swamps of Boeotia do not exist here, nor do the vigorous malaria mosquitoes breed there.The clean air made the Athenians very healthy and healthy for a long time.The Athenians were the first people to realize that the body and spirit are one. They realized that the body and spirit are inseparable. The health of the body will inevitably promote the health of the mind. is indispensable. The air is so clean that from Acropolis one can see the Pentrace Hill, which overlooks the plain of Marathon, and which produces the marble that adorns the city.Climate isn't the only factor that makes Athens, though. The factor that makes the Atticans go directly to every corner of the world is the ocean, and the Atticans leave their footprints everywhere, whether it is a densely populated town or seaport, or an inaccessible corner of the world.Placing a steep and flat-topped hill similar to a square platform in the middle of the plain is a geographical miracle created by nature's uncanny workmanship.This flat-topped hill is 435 feet wide, 500 feet high, and 870 feet long. The mountains of Hymitos (which produce the finest Athenian honey), Pendelikon, and Mount Egelius (in those days, it was in this Egelius On the hill, the unfortunate refugees from Athens saw Xerxes' warships at sea sinking in the bay of Salamis, after Xerxes's army had burned their city to the ground just a few days ago) wrap around it.Immigrants from the north were attracted by the flat, craggy hill and became its first inhabitants because it provided them with food and security. The following phenomenon is interesting.Athens and Rome (or London, Amsterdam), the most important ancient cities of Europe, were always miles away from the sea, not built right next to it.This may be because Knossos, the central city of the early Mediterranean world on Crete, was close to the sea and was often raided by pirates. Therefore, Rome and Athens, which appeared hundreds of years later, had to accept the lessons of history.However, ancient Athens was closer to the sea than ancient Rome.After the ancient Greek sailors landed in Piraeus (now the port of Athens), they were able to reunite with their families very quickly, but after the Roman merchants abandoned their ships and landed, it took three days to get home. This is indeed too far away a little bit.Therefore, they no longer returned to their hometown in Rome, but settled at the mouth of the Tiber River.In this way, Rome gradually lost its close connection with the sea, a place of great benefit to all nations that aspired to world supremacy. These people who lived on Fangtai Mountain --- the residents of the "Gaocheng" (the Acropolis) gradually migrated to the plains.Around Fangtai Mountain, they built houses and built walls, and finally joined Piraeus and became one. Relying on trade and robbery, these residents have lived a prosperous life ever since.For a long period of time, the richest city-state in the entire Mediterranean region was this impregnable castle.Their "high city" was no longer inhabited, but a holy place--white marble temples stood proudly against the lavender sky of Attica.Although the Turks blew up part of the temple of the Acropolis (here refers to the Parthenon Temple on the Acropolis of Athens. It was built in 447-432 BC. In 1687, the Turks used it as a gunpowder depot, Venice Unfortunately, the fleet's shells hit and destroyed it——Translator's Note), but, among all the historical relics that can perfectly display human wisdom, it is still the most unique and brilliant representative. Greece regained its independence in 1829, and Athens had been reduced to a small village with a population of only 2,000 at the time.Its population ballooned to 45,000 by 1870.Today, it has a population of 700,000, and the population growth rate is similar to that of cities in the western United States.After the end of the world war, if Greece hadn't joked about its own fate and was so stupid as to give up all the extremely important colonies in Asia Minor, Athens might become the new overlord of the Aegean region.But in the near future, it will still emerge.Although good things take time, they will eventually appear.Taking the most intelligent and witty daughter of Zeus (that is, Athena, it is said that she has no biological mother, she was born fully armed from the forehead of Zeus. In ancient Greek religion, she is the goddess of war, craft and wisdom, and also the goddess of the city. The patron saint, especially the goddess of cities and civilization. The city named after Athens from her——Translator's Note) must have the same magical power as the patron goddess who sprang out of her father's head. Strength, able to rise from the dead, rejuvenated. The southernmost tip of the Greek peninsula is our last stop.Here, human blessings and self-confidence are no longer valid.Pelops was cursed by his wicked father, and the land this unfortunate prince named never escaped his curse.Here, the ocean is blocked by majestic mountains, and behind them is the idyllic beauty of Acadia.Poets have always loved to devote their passions to things they least understand.Arcadia is the home of honest, simple, and lovely shepherdesses and boys, so it has been praised by all the poets.And the Acadians were no more honest than the other Greeks.If the Acadians were not as fond of deceit as the other sophisticated Greeks, it was not because they did not like to lie, but because they had not yet learned the art.Indeed they did not steal, for there was nothing worth stealing in this place of dates and goats.They don't lie because the village they live in is so small that everyone knows everything about everyone else.If they don't worship the gods as piously and extravagantly as Eleusis or other holy people, they should have their own The God of God——Pan (the god of fertility in ancient Greek mythology, looks a bit like a beast. With goat's horns, legs and ears. Usually described as an energetic and lustful god——Translator's Note).Pan was as good as any of the gods of Olympus in making cheap jokes and acting like a redneck. The Acadians are always good at fighting, but it doesn't do them any good.Like most country bumpkins, they were undisciplined and never approved of anyone as their commander-in-chief. The plain of Laconia stretches south of the mountains of Arcadia, a fertile loam richer than all the valleys of Attica.However, this place is barren and desolate, and there is nothing else except the materials necessary for maintaining life.The city of Sparta --- a strange monument is located on this plain.The Spartans agreed with everything the northerners opposed.If the Athenians said "Yes", the Spartans must have said "No".The Athenians proudly boasted of divinely empowered great men, while the Spartans reduced everyone to mediocre mediocrity.The Athenians believed in the radiance of inspiration, while the Spartans advocated efficiency and service.Athens opened its doors to the world, while the Spartans killed anyone who tried to set foot on their soil.The Athenians were born to do business, and the Spartans didn't let their hands stink of copper.If success or failure is used to measure heroes, then the Spartans are undoubtedly a failed nation.The spirit of the Athenians has spread throughout the world, but the soul of the Spartans has gone with the wind along with the city where they were born. On the territory of Greece today, the name "Sparta" can still be found.It was a small village where poor peasants and humble silkworm farmers lived.This small village was established in 1839 on the legendary site of ancient Sparta, the necessary construction funds were provided by an enthusiastic Englishman, and a German drew up the architectural drawings.However, people don't want to live there.After nearly a century of hard work, his population is only 4,000.Curse of Pelops! It is an ancient curse!It is even more effective at the other end of the peninsula, fully fulfilled on the prehistoric ancient castle of Mycenae! The ruins of ancient Mycenae are located near the famous port city of Nafplio in the Peloponnese Peninsula.The city-state was destroyed in the 5th century BC.However, because human civilization first landed on the coast of primitive Europe in Mycenae, and at that time, human history with written records was far from beginning, so for modern people, Mycenae has Significance is more immediate than that of Athens and Rome. Take a look at the three semi-submerged and semi-floating "fingers" of the huge Balkan "hand" extending from Europe to Asia, and you will have a clearer understanding of the situation at that time.These three finger-like ridges form a series of islands in the sea.Except for a few small islands in the eastern part of the Aegean Sea which are occupied by Italy, most of these islands are owned by Greece. Still within the territory of Italy.For convenience, these islands are divided into two groups, one group is the Cyclades Islands near the coast of Grecia, and the other is the Sporades Islands near Asia Minor.The islands are not far apart, as Saint Paul knew.As a result, these islands became bridges for the civilizations of ancient Egypt, Babylon, and Assyria to advance westward, transmitting Asian civilizations to the European continent.The "Orientalization" of these civilizations was evident under the influence of the early settlers from Asia living on the Aegean islands.When they finally reached ancient Mycenae, Mycenae was supposed to become the center of the ancient Greek world, as Athens later appeared. But why didn't it become a reality? We have no way of knowing.Mycenae's short-lived glory and rapid fall will always remain a mystery.It’s like we don’t understand why Marseille—the natural successor of Athens and the new overlord of the Mediterranean—has to hand over this great honor to a small rising village and upstart of the era—Rome. Maybe you will protest, because what I'm talking about is history, not geography.But in Greece, as in many other ancient countries, history and geography are so intertwined that it is impossible to treat them in isolation.And, from a modern point of view, Greece has only a tiny bit of geography worth mentioning. A canal only three miles long cuts off the Isthmus of Corinth, but the canal is too narrow and the water too shallow for large ships to pass.Thanks to a series of wars with Turkey (and Bulgaria, Serbia, and Montenegro, individually or together), Greece nearly doubled in size.But, in its dream of supremacy, Greece again underestimated the fighting power of the Turks; half the new territory was lost.Greeks today are as ready to go to sea as their ancestors were.The blue-and-white Greek flag (the old Varian colors adopted by the founding king when Greece regained its independence in 1821) flutters across the Mediterranean.It can even be seen in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.However, those Greek ships are famous for being lazy and dirty, but there is no British poet Keats (British romantic poet, 1795-1821. Famous works include "Ode to the Nightingale", "Ode to Autumn", etc. Poetry had a great influence——Translator's Note) as elegant and beautiful as the ancient Greek vase described.It should be added that Greece also produces figs, olives and currants and exports them to countries that enjoy these delicacies. Can Greece be restored to its former glory, as her people hoped? Maybe. Macedonians, Romans, Goths, Vandals, Herulians, Slavs successively invaded this country, Normans, Byzantines, Venetians and those crusader thugs whose crimes are beyond description have occupied this country, And reduced it to their own colony, the Algerians almost drove out the Greeks, the new immigrants almost assimilated the Greeks, and the Greeks were forced to live under the rule of the Turks for a full 400 years. However, the Allied Powers also used Greece as an army logistics supply base and a battlefield—the suffering of this nation is so deep that it is really difficult to revive it.As long as the great hope is so slim, don't give up hope as long as there is a breath left.