The Trojan War: For ten grueling years, the Greeks laid siege to Troy, scattering ships and encampments across the city's shores.

特洛伊戰爭：希臘人圍攻特洛伊長達十年之久，船隻和營地遍佈特洛伊城的海岸。

But as the Trojans awoke for another day of battle, they found their enemies had vanished overnight, leaving behind only an enormous wooden horse.

但是，當特洛伊人在新一天的戰鬥中醒來時，他們發現敵人一夜之間消失了，只留下一匹巨大的木馬。

Seeing this as a symbol of the Greeks' surrender, the soldiers dragged their prize into the city and began to celebrate. But one Trojan wasn't happy.

阿兵哥們認為這是希臘人投降的象徵，於是將戰利品拖入城中，開始慶祝。但有一個特洛伊人並不高興。

Laachuan, a seer and priest, was deeply suspicious of the Greek gift.

拉川是一位先知和祭司，他對希臘人的禮物深表懷疑。

He reminded his fellow Trojans of their enemy's reputation for trickery and cautioned them not to accept this strange offering.

他提醒特洛伊同胞，他們的敵人以詭計多端而聞名，並告誡他們不要接受這個奇怪的禮物。

The crowd jeered at his warning, but Laachuan was undeterred.

眾人對他的警告嗤之以鼻，但拉川毫不氣餒。

He forced his way to the wooden beast and thrust his sword into its belly, yet his blade drew no blood, and if there were men shifting inside, Laachuan couldn't hear them over the crowd. Still grim with foreboding, Laachuan retreated home and enlisted his sons in preparing a sacrifice to the gods.

他強行衝到木獸面前，一劍刺入木獸的腹部，然而他的劍沒有刺出鮮血，如果裡面有人在晃動，拉川在人群中也聽不到。拉川仍然心有餘悸，他回到家中，讓兒子們準備祭神。

But his fate, and that of his fellow Trojans, was already sealed.

但他和他的特洛伊同胞們的命運早已註定。

The gods had decided to grant the Greeks victory by ensuring the success of their scheme to infiltrate Troy, and Poseidon sought to punish the priest for threatening that plan.

眾神決定通過確保希臘人潛入特洛伊的計劃成功來給予希臘人勝利，而波塞冬則試圖懲罰這位威脅到這一計劃的祭司。

Two great serpents emerged from the sea's rolling waves and descended on Laachuan and his sons.

兩條大蛇從波濤滾滾的大海中竄出，向拉川父子撲來。

The seer's violent death went unnoticed amidst the celebrations.

在一片歡慶聲中，先知的暴死無人知曉。

But that night, when tragedy struck, the Trojans finally remembered the old priest's warning. Laachuan's tragic tale inspired countless retellings across the ancient world.

但當晚悲劇發生時，特洛伊人終於記住了老祭司的警告。拉川的悲劇故事在古代世界被無數人傳頌。

Virgil describes the seer's demise in his epic poem "The Aeneid," and Sophocles composed an entire play about the ill-fated priest.

維吉爾在史詩《埃涅伊德》中描述了這位先知的死，索福克勒斯則為這位命運多舛的牧師創作了整部戲劇。

However, his most famous and influential depiction is a marble statue called "Laachuan and His Sons." Likely carved by a trio of artists from Rhodes, the exact origins of this piece remain mysterious, with current theories dating its creation anywhere from 200 BCE to 68 CE.

然而，他最著名、最具影響力的作品是一尊名為 "拉川父子 "的大理石雕像。這尊雕像可能是由來自羅得島的三位藝術家雕刻的，但其確切的起源至今仍是個謎，目前的理論認為其創作年代在公元前 200 年到公元 68 年之間。

Whenever it was made, this sculpture remains the epitome of the Hellenistic Baroque style. But even within a tradition known for its dramatic facial expressions and contorted figures, no other piece in this style comes close to the intensity of "Laachuan and His Sons." The nearly life-sized figures are writhing in agony, straining to untangle massive snakes from their limbs.

無論創作於何時，這件雕塑作品都是希臘巴洛克風格的縮影。但是，即使在這個以戲劇性的面部表情和扭曲的人物形象著稱的傳統中，也沒有任何一件這種風格的作品能與《拉川父子》的強烈程度相媲美。這些近乎真人大小的人物痛苦地扭動著身體，努力從四肢上解開巨大的蛇。

Their faces are packed with desperation and hopelessness, yet Laachuan's expression is fiercely determined to resist.

他們的臉上寫滿了絕望和無助，然而拉川的表情卻充滿了抵抗的決心。

The scene is also uniquely brutal, paused precisely as the serpent's venomous jaws are about to bite down. Displayed as the centerpiece of Emperor Nero's Domus Aurea palace complex, this gruesome sculpture was one of the most talked-about artworks of its time.

這一場景也是獨一無二的殘酷，在毒蛇的毒顎即將咬下時恰好暫停。這尊令人毛骨悚然的雕塑是尼祿皇帝宮殿建築群 Domus Aurea 的中心裝飾，是當時最受關注的藝術作品之一。

Renowned Roman writer Pliny the Elder even went so far as to call it preferable to any other production of the art of painting or of statuary.

聞名遐邇的羅馬作家老普林尼（Pliny the Elder）甚至稱其勝過任何其他繪畫或雕像藝術作品。

Unfortunately, the statue was lost when Domus Aurea was consumed by fire in 109 CE.

不幸的是，這座雕像在公元 109 年 Domus Aurea 被大火燒燬時遺失了。

But Laachuan's tale was far from finished. In 1506, Michelangelo Buonarroti, then the most famous sculptor in Rome, received a message that Pope Julius II had unearthed something marvelous.

但拉川的故事遠未結束。1506 年，當時羅馬最著名的雕塑家米開朗基羅-布奧納羅蒂收到了教皇朱利葉斯二世的消息，說他發現了一件奇妙的東西。

Even caked with dirt, Laachuan and his sons astonished Michelangelo.

即使滿身泥土，拉川父子也讓米開朗基羅驚歎不已。

The dramatic musculature was over the top, but all the more powerful for being so extreme.

誇張的肌肉線條非常誇張，但卻因為如此極端而更加有力。

And the curving shapes of its serpent and human figures drew his eyes in constant motion.

蛇形和人形的曲線吸引著他不斷移動的目光。

Pope Julius prominently displayed the piece at the Vatican, but its influence on Michelangelo is what made the statue truly famous. The sculpture's emotive, exaggerated elements transformed his approach to representing the human body.

教皇朱利葉斯在梵蒂岡的顯著位置展示了這件作品，但它對米開朗基羅的影響才是這座雕像真正聞名於世的原因。這尊雕塑的表情豐富，誇張的元素改變了他表現人體的方法。

His paintings and sculptures began to feature contorted poses, referred to as figura serpentinata, meaning snake-like shapes.

他的繪畫和雕塑開始以扭曲的姿勢為特色，被稱為 figura serpentinata，意為蛇形。

And his celebrated work in the Sistine Chapel centered on muscular, hyperextended figures.

他在西斯廷教堂的著名作品以肌肉發達、過度伸展的人物為中心。

Soon, Michelangelo's new style sparked an entire artistic movement called Mannerism, influencing artists throughout the 1500s to exaggerate and twist human bodies for dramatic effect.

很快，米開朗基羅的新風格引發了一場名為 "風格主義"（Mannerism）的藝術運動，影響了整個 15 世紀的藝術家，他們為了戲劇效果而誇張和扭曲人體。

Since artists of the Renaissance revered ancient Greco-Roman art above all else, perhaps it's not surprising that Laachuan and his sons made such a large impact.

由於文藝復興時期的藝術家們對古希臘羅馬藝術推崇備至，是以拉川父子產生如此大的影響也許並不奇怪。

But not even the real Laachuan could have predicted that his likeness would become one of the most influential sculptures ever made. For more UN videos, visit www.un.org.

但即使是真正的拉川也無法預料到，他的肖像會成為有史以來最具影響力的雕塑之一。更多聯合國視頻，請訪問 www.un.org。