迈锡尼文明、“黑暗时代”与希腊城邦的兴起

Mycenae,the "Dark Age" and the Rise of the Greek Polis

关于早期希腊国家的兴起,主流观点认为,迈锡尼文明衰亡后经历了一个黑暗时期,之后城邦于公元前8世纪中期遽然兴起,两者之间存在着明显的中断。这一观点为古典学界普遍接受,成为诸多研究的出发点。本文意在重新审视这一说法,提出西方学者之所以强调两者之间的中断,是因为西方社会的价值观念起了作用。城邦文明历来被看成是现代西方文明的源头,因此它必须同被认为带有专制王权色彩的迈锡尼文明区分开来。然而这样的解释忽略了迈锡尼文明和希腊城邦文明之间的诸多联系,而且考古学证据表明所谓"黑暗时代"亦非通常认为的那般黑暗,希腊人群体的活动在一定程度上得以延续。还有,荷马史诗所反映的历史面貌更可能是公元前8世纪以前而非此后的情形。由此本文认为,更为合理的解释是把城邦兴起看成是迈锡尼王国解体之后希腊社会渐次演化的结果,而非所谓革命性变革的结果。荷马史诗所描绘的情形很可能是迈锡尼文明和城邦文明之间的中间环节。

The dominant view on the rise of the early Greek states holds that after the decline of the Mycenaean civilization,there was a Dark Age,before the polis rose abruptly in the middle of the 8th century BC.This thesis has formed the point of departure for many later studies.This paper reviews this narrative and argues that Western values have played a part in emphasizing the discontinuity between the two periods of civilization.The world of the polis has long been seen as the roots of Western civilization,and it has therefore been sought to distance it from such despotic rules of the Mycenaean kingdoms.However,this interpretation has ignored the various ties between Mycenaean civilization and the world of the polis.Moreover the archaeological evidence shows that the so-called Dark Age may not have been as 'dark' as has been assumed.Large group movements in the Post-Mycenaean period have been attested,and it seems probable that the Homeric poems described a society before the 8th century rather than afterwards.It is the contention of this paper that the rise of the polis should be regarded as the result of a gradual,long-term transformation of Greek society that began with the collapse of central power in the Mycenaean kingdoms rather than a result of a so-called revolutionary change.What the Homeric poems described was probably an intermediate link between the Mycenaean civilization and the world of the polis.