He was the first official emperor of the Roman Empire.

他是羅馬帝國的第一位正式皇帝。

And if you've ever had to study Roman history,

如果你曾經學習過羅馬歷史，

You might be familiar with this little sculpture's very famous original.

你可能對這個小雕塑非常著名的原件很熟悉。

It's called the “Augustus of Prima Porta.” It was carved in the 1st century AD,

它被稱為 "普里馬波爾塔的奧古斯都"。它是在公元1世紀雕刻的。

during his reign as emperor.

在他當皇帝期間。

Then it was lost to time, before it was dug up in the 1860s.

後來被時間遺忘了，19世紀60年代才被挖出來。

Today it lives in the Vatican Museums,

今天它住在梵蒂岡博物館。

alongside a bunch of other famous sculptures.

和其他一些著名的雕塑一起。

But Augustus? He's not supposed to look like this.

但是奧古斯都？他不應該是這個樣子的。

He's supposed to look like this.

他應該是這個樣子的。

Let's get this out of the way:

讓我們把這個問題解決了。

Ancient Greece and Rome were really colorful.

古希臘和羅馬真的是豐富多彩。

Their buildings were full of intricate frescoes and elaborate mosaics

他們的建築充滿了複雜的壁畫和精緻的馬賽克。

and covered with vibrantly painted statues Of things like epic battles, glimmering gods,

上面佈滿了栩栩如生的雕像，比如史詩般的戰鬥，閃閃發光的神。

and pretty flowers.

和漂亮的花朵。

But today, most of us picture something more

但今天，我們大多數人想象的東西更多

like this - brilliant white marble as far as the eye can see.

就像這樣--眼睛所能看到的明亮的白色大理石。

We're wrong. But it's not our fault. It's Hollywood's fault

我們錯了但這不是我們的錯是好萊塢的錯

And our high school textbooks' fault. But most of all, it's this guy's fault.

還有我們高中課本的錯。但最重要的是，是這傢伙的錯。

Well, not him. He's just a statue. The blame lies with Michelangelo, the guy

嗯，不是他。他只是一尊雕像。要怪就怪米開朗基羅吧，那個傢伙。

who sculpted him – And with many others who made white marble

和其他許多人一起製作白色的大理石

statues during the Renaissance. When European artists, philosophers, and scientists

文藝復興時期的雕像。當歐洲的藝術家、哲學家和科學家們

developed a renewed interest in the creations of classical Greece and Rome.

對古典希臘和羅馬的創作產生了新的興趣。

Artists like Michelangelo began studying Roman sculptures - like this one:

像米開朗基羅這樣的藝術家開始研究羅馬雕塑--比如這個。

“Laocoön and his Sons.”

"拉科恩和他的兒子們"

They fell in love with its lifelike figures,

他們愛上了它那栩栩如生的人物。

dramatic scene, and pristine, white surface.

戲劇性的場面，和純淨的白色表面。

But sculptures like this weren't meant to be white.

但這樣的雕塑本來就不是白色的。

Their paint had just faded after being buried

他們的油漆在被埋葬後剛剛褪色。

or left out in the open air for hundreds of years.

或露天放置數百年。

So when the Renaissance artists set out to imitate them,

所以當文藝復興時期的藝術家們開始模仿他們的時候。

they left their masterpieces bare too.

他們把自己的傑作也裸露了出來。

And that style took over inspiring generations of sculptors.

而這種風格接管了激勵一代又一代的雕塑家。

White marble became the norm.

白色大理石成了常態。

Along the way, art historians reinforced this bias.

一路走來，藝術史學家們強化了這種偏見。

Namely this guy - Johann Joachim Winckelmann He's sometimes known as the father of Art history.

也就是這個人--約翰-約阿希姆-溫克爾曼 他有時被稱為藝術史之父。

In the 18th century, he wrote a hugely influential book on ancient art.

在18世紀，他寫了一本影響巨大的古代藝術書。

In it he argued that statues like this one

他在其中認為，像這樣的雕像。

- the Apollo of Belvedere - were the epitome of beauty.

- Belvedere的阿波羅--是美麗的縮影。

Because, “the whiter the body is, the more beautiful it is.”

因為，"身體越白，越美"。

He went out of his way to ignore obvious evidence of colored marble,

他不惜無視彩色大理石的明顯證據。

And there was a lot of it, especially after the re-discovery of the ancient Roman city

而且有很多，特別是在古羅馬城被重新發現之後

of Pompeii in the 1700s.

17世紀的龐貝城。

Pompeii's near perfectly preserved frescoes,

龐貝的壁畫保存得近乎完美。

featured all sorts of colored statues. And one particular mural of an artist in the

設有各種彩色的雕像。而有一幅特別的壁畫，是一位藝術家在。

act of painting a sculpture. This colorful sculpture was also found in Pompeii.

畫雕塑的行為。這種彩色雕塑在龐貝城也有發現。

Winckelmann claimed it was too primitive to have been made by them.

溫克爾曼稱這太原始了，不可能是他們製造的。

But evidence wasn't just ignored. Some of it might have been destroyed.

但證據並不只是被忽略了。有些可能已經被銷燬了。

Remember Augustus?

記得奧古斯都嗎？

When archaeologists rediscovered him in the 1860s, they said his tunic was crimson, his

當考古學家在19世紀60年代重新發現他時，他們說他的外衣是深紅色的，他的。

armor was yellow, and his “mantle” (that's this thing) was purple.

盔甲是黃色的，而他的 "衣缽"（就是這個東西）是紫色的。

And this is him now. It's unclear if Augustus lost his color

這就是他現在的樣子。不清楚奧古斯都是否失去了他的顏色。

by accident, as a result of over-cleaning, or if it was removed on purpose.

偶然的，由於過度清潔的結果，或如果它是故意去除。

But either way, the same thing happened to a bunch of other famous monuments and sculptures.

但無論如何，同樣的事情也發生在其他一堆名勝古蹟和雕塑上。

Like the Parthenon in Athens - which once looked something like this.

就像雅典的帕臺農神廟--它曾經的樣子是這樣的。

By the 18th century, it had faded to something more like this, with just hints of color left.

到了18世紀，它已經漸漸地變成了這樣的東西，只剩下一絲顏色。

But today, even those are gone. Luckily, art historians have since shifted

但今天，連這些都消失了。幸運的是，藝術史家們後來已經轉移到了

to believe that it's not about what people think looks better

相信這不是人們認為什麼更好看的問題。

It's about what's accurate. But how do they get from this to this?

這是關於什麼是準確的。但他們是如何從這個到這個的呢？

To start, there are some surviving ancient descriptions of more famous sculptures,

先說說現存的一些比較著名的雕塑的古代描述。

which is how we know that the Parthenon once held a statue of the goddess Athena

這就是為什麼我們知道帕臺農神廟曾經有雅典娜女神的雕像的原因

that was “ivory and gold” wearing a helmet adorned with “a likeness of the sphynx”

象牙金身，頭戴 "赫尼克斯 "頭盔

And If you look closely at some sculptures, there are still obvious traces of color

而如果你仔細觀察一些雕塑，還能看到明顯的色彩痕跡。

like the remnants of deep purple on this statue's clothing.

就像這尊雕像衣服上的深紫色的殘影。

That's how early reconstructions like these were made.

早期這樣的重建就是這樣做的。

Today, scientists can extract and test those tiny samples to determine the original pigments used.

如今，科學家們可以提取並測試這些微小的樣本，以確定所用的原始顏料。

But when there aren't any visible colors,

但當沒有任何可見的顏色。

they have another tool: Ultraviolet light. Certain pigments glow under UV light, exposing

他們有另一種工具。紫外線某些顏料在紫外線的照射下會發亮，從而暴露出...

traces that would have been otherwise invisible. When scientists photographed this archer's

的痕跡，否則是看不到的。當科學家們拍下這個弓箭手的照片時...

legs under UV light, They saw this:

紫外線下的腿，他們看到了這一點。

a dizzying array of geometric patterns and saturated colors.

一系列令人眼花繚亂的幾何圖案和飽和的色彩。

And when they compared it to trace pigments

而當他們把它與微量顏料相比

on a similar statue, they were able to make this reconstruction.

在類似的雕像上，他們能夠進行這種重建。

Which, to be clear, is about as ancient as mine

清楚的說，這和我的一樣古老

Because conservationists never add color to the original - they use 3D scanners to create

因為保護者從不給原作添加色彩--他們使用3D掃描儀來製作。

plaster replicas. Which they then painstakingly repaint, with

石膏複製品。然後，他們費盡心思地重新塗抹，用的是

far greater accuracy than I can.

遠遠比我更準確。

Seeing these sculptures in full color might

看到這些全綵的雕塑，可能會

be a little shocking at first But that's probably because we've only seen

但這可能是因為我們只見過... ...

them one way for centuries.

幾百年來，他們以一種方式。

To the Greeks and Romans, painting a sculpture made it complete.

對希臘人和羅馬人來說，畫一個雕塑就完整了。

Color could make marble seem human, or godlike.

色彩可以讓大理石看起來像人，或者像神。

It infused them with drama and emotion.

它為他們注入了戲劇性和情感。

It brought history and mythology to life And even though these reconstructions aren't perfect,

它把歷史和神話帶到了生活中 儘管這些重構並不完美。

Seeing these statues in color can bring us

看到這些色彩斑斕的雕像，可以給我們帶來

a little closer to understanding what the ancient world might have looked like.

更加接近了解古代世界的模樣。