（书籍翻译）拜占庭的味道：传奇帝国的美食 （第二十一部分）
（补更昨天的）
作者生平：
安德鲁·达尔比（Andrew Dalby）是一位古典学者、历史学家、语言学家和翻译家，以他关于食物史（尤其是希腊和罗马帝国）的书籍而闻名。 《Siren Feasts》 是安德鲁·达尔比的第一本美食书籍，获得了 Runciman（朗西曼）奖，他的第二本书《dangerous Tastes》在2001年获得了美食作家协会年度美食书籍。他还是《The Classical Cookbook》和《Empire of Pleasures》以及巴克斯和维纳斯的传记的作者。
《Tastes of Byzantium ：The Cuisine of a Legendary Empire》于 2003 年首次出版
ISBN: 978 1 84885 165 8
本书完整的 CIP 记录可从大英图书馆、美国国会图书馆获得
由 Thomson Press India Ltd 在印度印刷和装订
Christmas at the Palace
宫殿的圣诞节
Byzantine festivity, as we have seen elsewhere in this book, was generous in scale. At the marriage of the emperor Maurice, in 582, 'the city celebrated for seven days and was garlanded with silverware: deep platters, basins, goblets, bowls, plates and baskets. Roman wealth was spent; a luxury of golden display, secrets of the Household, formed a theatre for all who wished to feast upon visions. Flutes, pipes and lyres sounded, at once carefree and seductive. Many conjurors, all day long, presented their different acts to eager audiences. The actors who abuse whomever they wish presented their satirical plays with rivalry as keen as if engaged in something serious. Chariot-races were performed. The emperor entertained men of rank in the Palace,' so the historian Theophylact Simocatta (History I.IO.IO-II) summarizes the occasion.
正如本书所说，拜占庭式的庆祝活动规模宏大。 在 582 年莫里斯皇帝的婚礼上，“这座城市庆祝了 7 天，并用银制作了花环：深盘、盆、高脚杯、碗、盘子和篮子。罗马的财富被花光了；豪华的金色奢侈品展示了家庭的秘密，为所有希望享受这场视觉盛宴的人提供了一个坐在剧院里般的感受。 笛子、管子和七弦琴响起，既轻盈又扣人心弦。许多魔术师整天都在向热切的观众展示他们不同的表演。演员们随心所欲地表演者他们的讽刺剧，就像在从事严肃的事情一样激烈。 活动还包括战车比赛。皇帝在宫中招待有地位的人，’所以历史学家 Theophylact Simocatta (History I.IO.IO-II) 描述了这一场景。
There are no fewer than four descriptions, extending chronologically over three centuries, of how the emperor and his guests dined in the House of the Nineteen Couches on Christmas Day itself. The first description is a theoretical one: it forms part of the Book of Ceremonies, whose compiler was Liutprand's host on the occasion to be described below. Here we are told of the procession in which the emperor was conducted from St Sophia to the Palace; we are told with what fulsome acclaim the monarch was greeted on this special day by those who attended him at dinner, and we find confirmation that his guests would include people from beyond the Empire, including Phrangoi or Franks like Liutprand, and Agarenoi or Arabs like Hamn. But we are not told what went on in the dining hall.
有不少于四个描述，按时间顺序延伸超过三个世纪，关于皇帝和他的客人如何在圣诞节当天在十九沙发之家用餐。 第一个描述是理论上的描述：它构成了礼仪之书的一部分，其编译者是柳特普朗的主持人，下面将对此进行描述。 在这里，我们了解到皇帝从圣索菲亚到皇宫的游行队伍。 我们被告知在这个特殊的日子里，与他共进晚餐的人对这位君主表示了热烈的欢迎，我们发现他的客人包括来自帝国以外的人，Phrangoi 或像 Liutprand 这样的法兰克人，以及像 Agarenoi 或像这样的阿拉伯人哈姆。但我们没有被告知餐厅里发生了什么。
The second description comes from Liutprand, on the first of his visits, in 949, when Constantinople still had power to impress him. By that time, so he tells us, the practice of reclining at dinner had become exceptional even at the Palace.
On the day when our Lord Jesus Christ was born in the flesh, nineteen covers are always laid here at the table. The emperor and his guests on this occasion do not sit at table, as they usually do, but recline on couches: and everything is served in vessels, not of silver, but of gold. After the solid food fruit is brought on in three golden bowls, which are too heavy for men to lift and come in on carriers covered over with purple cloth. Two of them are put on the table in the following way. Through openings in the ceiling hang three ropes covered with gilded leather and furnished with golden rings. These rings are attached to the handles projecting from the bowls, and with four or five men helping from below, they are swung on to the table by means of a movable device in the ceiling and removed again in the same fashion.
第二个描述来自 949 年柳特普朗第一次访问时，君士坦丁堡仍然给他留下了深刻的印象。在那时，他告诉我们，即使是皇宫里，吃晚饭时靠在斜倚的做法也已成为例外。
在我们的主耶稣基督道成肉身的那一天，餐桌上总是摆着十九张椅子。皇帝和他的客人在这个场合并不像往常那样坐在餐桌上，而是斜靠在沙发上：所有的东西都是用器皿盛的，不是用银子做的，而是用金子做的。 干粮果子装在三个金碗里端上来，这碗太重了，力气较小的人举不起来，侍者提着用包着紫布的提篮送进来。其中两个按以下方式放在桌子上。通过天花板上的开口悬挂三根绳子，上面覆盖着镀金皮革，并配有金戒指。 这些圆环固定在从碗中伸出的把手上，四五个人从下面帮忙，通过天花板上的可移动装置将它们摆到桌子上，然后以同样的方式再次取下。
Slightly earlier than this is the narrative of the Syrian hostage Harun Ibn Yahya. The description is made to sound generalized: in fact it is of the one Christmas dinner at which Harun was present, in 911.
This is what happens at Christmas. He sends for the Muslim captives and they are seated at these tables. When the emperor is seated at his gold table, they bring him four gold dishes, each of which is brought on its own little chariot. One of these dishes, encrusted with pearls and rubies, they say belonged to Solomon son of David (peace be upon him); the second, similarly encrusted, to David (peace be upon him); the third to Alexander; and the fourth to Constantine. They are placed before the emperor, and no one else may eat from them. They remain there while the emperor is at table: when he rises, they are taken away. Then, for the Muslims, many hot and cold dishes are placed on the other tables, and the imperial herald announces: 'I swear on the emperor's head that there is no pork at all in these dishes!' The dishes, on large silver and gold platters, are then served to the emperor's guests.
Then they bring what is called an organon. It is a remarkable wooden object like an oil-press, and covered with solid leather. Sixty copper pipes are placed in it, so that they project above the leather, and where they are visible above the leather they are gilded. You can only see a small part of some of them, as they are of different lengths. On one side of this structure there is a hole in which they place a bellows like a blacksmith's. Three crosses are placed at the two extremities and in the middle of the organon. Two men come in to work the bellows, and the master stands and begins to press on the pipes, and each pipe, according to its tuning and the master's playing, sounds the praise of the emperor. The guests are meanwhile seated at their tables, and twenty men enter with cymbals in their hands. The music continues while the guests continue their meal.
稍早于此的是叙利亚人质 Harun Ibn Yahya 的故事。他的描述听起来很笼统：实际上是在 911 年哈伦出席的一次圣诞晚宴。
这就是圣诞节发生的事情。皇帝派人把穆斯林俘虏送来，他们就坐在这些桌子旁。 当皇帝坐在他的金桌旁时，他们给他带来了四个金盘子，每个盘子都放在自己的小车上。 这些盘子之一，镶嵌着珍珠和红宝石，据说属于大卫的儿子所罗门（愿主福安之）； 第二个，同样镶嵌在大卫身上（愿他平安）； 第三个给亚历山大；第四个给君士坦丁。 它们被放在皇帝面前，任何人都不能吃它们。 当皇帝在餐桌上时，他们留在那儿：当他起身时，他们被带走。 然后，对于穆斯林来说，许多冷热菜肴都放在其他桌子上，传令官宣布：“我在皇帝的头上发誓，这些菜肴中根本没有猪肉！” 这些盘子盛在大银盘和金盘上，然后端给皇帝的客人。
然后他们带来了所谓的演奏器。 它是一个非凡的木制物品，就像榨油机一样，上面覆盖着实心皮革。 六十根铜管被放置在其中，因此它们突出在皮革上方，并且在它们在皮革上方可见的地方被镀金。 您只能看到其中的一小部分，因为它们的长度不同。 在这个结构的一侧有一个洞，他们在其中放置一个像铁匠一样的风箱。 三个十字架被放置在两个末端和演奏器的中间。 两个人进来拉风箱，师父站起，开始按管子，每根管子，根据它的调音和师父的演奏，发出皇帝的赞美。 客人们同时坐在他们的桌子旁，二十个人手持铙钹进入。当客人继续用餐时，他们也在持续演奏音乐。
未完待续！
