Rare 4th century mosaic unearthed in Cyprus
西元四世紀罕見的馬賽克遺跡在賽普勒斯被挖掘出
Archaeologist Fryni Hadjichristofi knew she may have run up on something special when she noticed an oddity under a road near the site where she was excavating. She just didn't know how special.
考古學家Fryni Hadjichristofi 正挖掘遺跡時，注意到一個奇特的地下道。但她並不知道這個地下有多特殊的事物在等著他發覺。
What Hadjichristofi and her crew uncovered was a rare 4th century mosaic, the only one of its type found in Cyprus and one of very few found in the world.It depicts a chariot race -- with four chariots, their drivers and horses -- in the hippodrome, ancient Rome's racing venue.
當Hadjichristofi 和他的夥伴挖出西元4世紀馬賽克遺跡，這在賽勒普斯是典型的發現並且是世界上稀有的發現。馬賽克描繪了戰車賽--有四個戰車，騎士和馬在賽馬場古代羅馬競技場。
Hadjichristofi, an archaeologist with Cyprus' Department of Antiquities, and her seven-person crew found the mosaic last year while working on a site about 20 miles from Nicosia, Cyprus' capital.
擁有賽勒普斯古物系背景的考古學家Hadjichristofi，上個月，她和她七個考
古夥伴在20公里的Nicosia賽勒普斯的首都工作時發現發現馬賽克壁畫。
Something big
何等壯觀
When they first uncovered a small bit of the mosaic, they couldn't immediately do a full-scale excavation because of where it was.
"We noticed that there was something under the road," Hadjichristofi told CNN. "But we really didn't suspect we had this important thing underneath."
當他們初次挖出一小塊馬賽克，他們並沒有立刻深度規模往下挖掘，因為那
邊就是--
「我們注意到那裏有個東西在地表之下」，Hadjichristofi告訴CNN記者，
「但是我們的確沒懷疑我們挖掘了一個重要的東西」
Eventually the road was removed to reveal the stunning mosaic, incredibly well preserved and measuring 36 feet long and 13 feet wide. But that's not all of it; there's still work to do to dig out the rest of it, Hadjichristofi said.
「最終這個地面被挖掘並揭露令人驚豔的馬賽克，令人難以置信的是它被妥
善保存，面積有36尺長和13尺寬。但這還不是全貌，他們持續往下挖掘剩餘的土。」
The mosaic may have been part of the floor in a villa belonging to a wealthy person during the days the Romans ruled the island.One of the reasons the mosaic is such an archaeological find is it because of what it shows.
"To have the whole (chariot) race in the hippodrome represented in a mosaic makes this very rare indeed," she said.
「部分的馬賽克是屬於有錢人家在家中裝潢的地板，於羅馬統治的時候留存
下的。」其中一個理由讓馬賽克如此成為考古學的發現則是因為它顯示出一
個全面的戰車賽的競技場可顯示出這個的確是相當稀有的遺址。
Names in Greek
以希臘文命名
The mosaic shows four chariots with horses and a driver, or charioteer, and appears to show four phrases of a race. There's Greek lettering above each chariot. That's important too.
馬賽克顯示出四個騎乘馬的戰士或戰車手，顯示出比賽中的四個字母。這是
刻在每個戰車上的刻字，也是重要的遺跡。
What Hadjichristofi and her crew uncovered was a rare 4th century mosaic, the only one of its type found in Cyprus and one of very few found in the world.It depicts a chariot race -- with four chariots, their drivers and horses -- in the hippodrome, ancient Rome's racing venue.
當Hadjichristofi 和他的夥伴挖出西元4世紀馬賽克遺跡，這在賽勒普斯是典型的發現並且是世界上稀有的發現。馬賽克描繪了戰車賽--有四個戰車，騎士和馬在賽馬場古代羅馬競技場。
Hadjichristofi, an archaeologist with Cyprus' Department of Antiquities, and her seven-person crew found the mosaic last year while working on a site about 20 miles from Nicosia, Cyprus' capital.
擁有賽勒普斯古物系背景的考古學家Hadjichristofi，上個月，她和她七個考
古夥伴在20公里的Nicosia賽勒普斯的首都工作時發現發現馬賽克壁畫。
Something big
何等壯觀
When they first uncovered a small bit of the mosaic, they couldn't immediately do a full-scale excavation because of where it was.
"We noticed that there was something under the road," Hadjichristofi told CNN. "But we really didn't suspect we had this important thing underneath."
當他們初次挖出一小塊馬賽克，他們並沒有立刻深度規模往下挖掘，因為那
邊就是--
「我們注意到那裏有個東西在地表之下」，Hadjichristofi告訴CNN記者，
「但是我們的確沒懷疑我們挖掘了一個重要的東西」
Eventually the road was removed to reveal the stunning mosaic, incredibly well preserved and measuring 36 feet long and 13 feet wide. But that's not all of it; there's still work to do to dig out the rest of it, Hadjichristofi said.
「最終這個地面被挖掘並揭露令人驚豔的馬賽克，令人難以置信的是它被妥
善保存，面積有36尺長和13尺寬。但這還不是全貌，他們持續往下挖掘剩餘的土。」
The mosaic may have been part of the floor in a villa belonging to a wealthy person during the days the Romans ruled the island.One of the reasons the mosaic is such an archaeological find is it because of what it shows.
"To have the whole (chariot) race in the hippodrome represented in a mosaic makes this very rare indeed," she said.
「部分的馬賽克是屬於有錢人家在家中裝潢的地板，於羅馬統治的時候留存
下的。」其中一個理由讓馬賽克如此成為考古學的發現則是因為它顯示出一
個全面的戰車賽的競技場可顯示出這個的確是相當稀有的遺址。
Names in Greek
以希臘文命名
The mosaic shows four chariots with horses and a driver, or charioteer, and appears to show four phrases of a race. There's Greek lettering above each chariot. That's important too.
馬賽克顯示出四個騎乘馬的戰士或戰車手，顯示出比賽中的四個字母。這是
刻在每個戰車上的刻字，也是重要的遺跡。
"Each chariot is accompanied by two names above each chariot, written in Greek," Hadjichristofi said. "One is the name of a charioteer and the other is the name of a horse. It is rare to have this."
「每輛車伴隨著兩個名字在每個戰車上，寫著希臘文」，Hadjichristofi說道
，「其一是戰車手的名字，另一個則是馬的名字，這是相當稀有的事。」
，「其一是戰車手的名字，另一個則是馬的名字，這是相當稀有的事。」
The names usually express some kind of special characteristic about the chariot driver and the horse.
名字通常是表示戰車手和馬的特點
Hadjichristofi predicts it'll take about two more years of work to dig out all of the mosaic, because they can't work in the rain or during the winter months. But since the mosaic is in good condition, restoration work won't be difficult and it'll then be ready to be viewed by the public.
Hadijichristofi預測會花兩年多的時間去挖掘所有的馬賽克壁畫，畢竟在風雨
及暴雪的情況下無法工作。因為馬賽克壁畫擁有好的保存狀態，恢復該壁畫
的工作就不太困難，之後可展示於大眾。
及暴雪的情況下無法工作。因為馬賽克壁畫擁有好的保存狀態，恢復該壁畫
的工作就不太困難，之後可展示於大眾。
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reference from CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/11/travel/cyprus-mosaic-trnd/index.html
