We can date the making of the cup to around the year 10.
我們能確定它的制作時間大約在公元十年左右。
About 50 years later, the Roman occupation of Jerusalem sparked tensions between the rulers and the Jewish community,
約五十年后,羅馬對耶路撒冷的統治激起了統治階層與猶太人的矛盾。
and in AD 66 that exploded and the Jews took back the city by force. There were violent confrontations,
公元六十六年,矛盾爆發了。猶太人用武力奪回了這座城市。當時的戰況極為慘烈,
and it is thought that our cup may have been buried at this date by the owner fleeing from the fighting.
銀杯有可能是它的主人在逃跑前埋起來的。
After this, the cup disappears for almost two thousand years, until it was bought by Edward Warren in Rome in 1911.
之后,銀杯消失了約兩千年。1911年,愛德華沃倫在羅馬購買了它。
For years after his death in 1928, it proved impossible to sell-the subject-matter was just too shocking for any potential collector.
1928年,沃倫去世。杯面上驚世駭俗的繪畫主題讓銀杯在他逝后多年仍無人問津。
In London, the British Museum declined to buy it, as did the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and, at one point, it was even refused entry to the United States of America,
倫敦的大英博物館和劍橋的菲茨威廉博物館都拒絕購買。有一段時間,它甚至無法進入美國境內,
when the explicit nature of its imagery offended a customs official.
因為杯上的圖案過于露骨,激怒了美國海關官員。
It was only in 1999-long after public attitudes to homosexuality, and indeed the law, had changed-that the British Museum bought the Warren Cup,
直到1999年,公眾對同性戀的態度已有了極大轉變,大英博物館才購買了沃倫杯,
then the most expensive acquisition it had ever made. A cartoon at the time showed a Roman barman saucily asking a customer,Do you want a straight goblet or a gay goblet?
它成為當時收購價格最高的文物。當時有幅漫畫,一位羅馬酒吧侍者傲慢地問顧客:你想要普 通杯子還是同性戀杯子?
A hundred years after he bought it, Warren's cup is now on permanent public display here in the British Museum, and it serves I think a very useful purpose.
在沃倫買下它一百年后,沃倫杯終于成為大英博物館的永久公開藏品。
It's not just a superb piece of Roman Imperial metalwork-from party cup to scandalous vessel
它不僅是羅馬帝國精湛的金屬加工工藝的代表。它的歷史變遷從宴會用品到有傷風化的容器,
and finally to an iconic museum-piece-this object reminds us that the way societies view sexual relationships is never fixed.
再到博物館的標志性展品,這一過程讓我們看到,社會對性關系的態度一直在改變。