I work at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, where I am a lecturer in Ancient Near Eastern Studies.

我在倫敦亞非學院工作，是古代近東研究講師。

I study the ancient civilisation of the Sumerians.

我研究古代蘇美爾文明。

They spoke a language called Sumerian, and lived in an area called Sumer.

他們說一種叫蘇美爾語的語言，生活在一個叫蘇美爾的地區。

They also spoke many other languages, and many other groups of people who lived in the same area also spoke their language.

他們還講許多其他語言，而生活在同一地區的許多其他人群也講他們的語言。

There were many languages in the ancient world, but at that time and in that place, there was only one language of state, and this was Sumerian.

古代世界有許多語言，但在當時那個地方，只有一種國家語言，那就是蘇美爾語。

The area of Sumer is nowadays southern Iraq, particularly the areas around Nasiriyah and Basra, where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow into the Persian Gulf.

蘇美爾地區就是今天的伊拉克南部，特別是底格里斯河和幼發拉底河流入波斯灣的納西里耶和巴士拉一帶。

The Sumerians are best known for inventing writing, which they did around 3400-3200 BC.

蘇美爾人最著名的是發明了文字，大約在公元前 3400-3200 年。

The writing they used was called cuneiform, a script that was formed by making triangular shapes onto clay with an instrument that had a corner on it, a kind of pen.

他們使用的文字被稱為楔形文字，這種文字是用一種帶角的工具（一種筆）在粘土上畫出三角形而形成的。

They wrote like this.

他們是這樣寫的

They are also well known for inventing mathematics, for living in cities, and for inventing the practice of law and law codes.

他們還以發明數學、居住在城市、發明法律和法典而聞名。

The writing we use today is quite different to the writing that the Sumerians used, but we do use their mathematics in some special cases.

我們今天使用的文字與蘇美爾人使用的文字大相徑庭，但在某些特殊情況下，我們確實使用了他們的數學。

The Sumerians counted using the number 60, just as we count using the number 10.

蘇美爾人用 60 來計數，就像我們用 10 來計數一樣。

That is why we still have 60 seconds in a minute, and 60 minutes in an hour, and 360 degrees in a circle.

這就是為什麼我們仍然把一分鐘分為 60 秒，把一小時分為 60 分鐘，把一個圓圈分為 360 度。

The Sumerians lived in cities, and these cities were divided into different areas according to whether they were used for religion, business, storage, or government.

蘇美爾人居住在城市中，這些城市根據宗教、商業、倉儲或政府用途被劃分為不同的區域。

They had different forms of government at different periods of their history, but most of the time they had a king, who was responsible for everyone being happy and well fed, and a royal family that lived in a palace.

在不同的歷史時期，他們有不同形式的政府，但大多數情況下，他們都有一個國王，國王負責讓每個人都幸福安康，王室成員住在宮殿裡。

From the later period of Sumerian history, we have thousands and thousands of economic documents that tell us about many aspects of daily business life in ancient Sumer.

在蘇美爾歷史的晚期，我們有成千上萬的經濟文獻，向我們講述了古代蘇美爾人日常商業生活的方方面面。

Most of these documents come from royal institutions, so the impression we get is that this was a state, a totalitarian state if you like, where the royal family controlled every aspect of life.

這些文件大多來自王室機構，是以給我們的印象是，這是一個國家，一個極權國家，王室控制著生活的方方面面。

But in fact, there was probably a lot of private business going on outside the palaces.

但事實上，宮殿外可能有很多私人生意要做。

The most unusual thing about the Sumerians is that they are just like us.

蘇美爾人最與眾不同的地方在於，他們和我們一樣。

They had the same needs and worries as we do, they needed a place to live, they needed to love, they needed food, and they knew that they had to die.

他們有著和我們一樣的需求和憂慮，他們需要住的地方，需要愛，需要食物，他們知道他們必須死去。

These fears and preoccupations are expressed in their literature which survives until today.

這些恐懼和擔憂在他們流傳至今的文學作品中得到了表達。

The most famous story is that of the hero Gilgamesh.

最有名的故事是英雄吉爾伽美什的故事。

This is the ultimate story of a hero who has to come to terms with the fact that he is not immortal and that he is going to die.

這是一個英雄的終極故事，他必須接受自己並非不朽、終將死去的事實。

A basic model for all literature ever since.

從那時起，它就成為所有文學作品的基本範本。