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As dawn breaks in the Babylonian city of Sippar, Beltani receives an urgent visit from her brother.
在巴比伦城市西尔帕，天刚破晓，贝尔塔妮的哥哥就急着来找她。
It's 1762 B.C.E., during the reign of King Hammurabi. Beltani is a naditu -- a priestess and businesswoman, promised to the temple at birth.
这一年是公元前1762年，在位的国王是汉摩拉比。贝尔塔妮是“纳迪图”--女祭师及女商人，在出生时就被许诺给神殿。
At puberty, she changed her name and gained her elevated naditu status in a ceremony where a priest examined the entrails of a sacrificed animal for omens.
青春期时，她改了名字，通过仪式取得了崇高的纳迪图身分，仪式中，祭师会检视献祭动物的内脏来看出预示。
The naditu are an esteemed group drawn from Babylonia's most affluent families.
纳迪图很受敬重，成员都来自巴比伦最富裕的家庭。
Though the rules are different for naditu in each city, in Sippar they are celibate and never marry.
虽然在每个城市中纳迪图要遵守的规定不同，在西帕尔，她们要单身，不可结婚。
They live inside the gagum, a walled area inside the temple complex, but are free to come and go, and receive visitors.
她们住在加贡里面，加贡是神殿中用墙围起来的一块区域，但可以自由来去，且可以接待访客。
Beltani owns barley fields and a tavern. Her brother manages these businesses while she fulfils her duties as a priestess.
贝尔塔妮拥有大麦田和一间小酒馆。这些生意由她哥哥来管理，她则要履行女祭师的职责。
This morning, he makes a troubling accusation: her tavern keeper has been diluting wine with water.
今天早上，他提出了让人烦恼的指控：她的小酒馆经理人一直把水掺在酒里稀释。
If true, this means she's been undermining the business Beltani relies on to sustain her in old age.
若真是如此，她就是一直在破坏这事业，而贝尔塔妮还得靠这事业养老呢。
But the consequences would be even higher for the tavern keeper: the punishment of diluting wine is death by drowning.
但小酒馆经理人会遭受的后果更糟：将酒稀释的惩罚是淹死。
The temple court is meeting this afternoon. Beltani has just a few short hours to find out whether there's any truth to these allegations.
神殿法庭下午要开会。贝尔塔妮只有短短几个小时可以查明这些指控当中有多少事实。
But she can't go to the tavern to investigate. Taverns are off limits for priestesses, even priestesses who own them.
但她不能去小酒馆调查。女祭师不可进入小酒馆，就算身为小酒馆的老板也一样。
She could be burned to death for entering. So she sends for the tavern keeper to meet her at the temple of Shamash, the patron god of Sippar.
光是进入小酒馆就可能让她被火刑烧死。所以她派人去请小酒馆经理人到沙玛什神殿和她碰面，沙玛什是西尔帕的守护神。
The temple is a stepped pyramid called a ziggurat, in the heart of the city and visible from twenty miles away.
该神殿是有阶梯的金字塔，称为金字神塔，位在城市的心脏地带，从二十英里外就看得见。
It symbolically connects heaven and earth and is viewed as the literal home of the god Shamash, who gave humanity the code of laws and is the judge of the Babylonian pantheon.
它象征着天堂和地球的连结，被视为是天神沙玛什的家，他给予人类法典，是巴比伦诸神当中的判官。
Beltani leaves an offering of bread and sesame oil in a private room.
贝尔塔妮在一间私人房间中留下面包和芝麻油当作祭品。
She never enters the inner chamber of the temple where the god lives, a place so holy only high priestesses and kings visit.
她不会进入到神所居住的内房间，内房间非常神圣，只有大祭司和国王可以参访。
Outside, worshippers play music and leave gifts, which are later collected and used to feed temple workers, including the naditu.
在外面，崇拜者会演奏音乐并留下礼物，这些礼物后续会被收集起来，提供给神殿工作人员，包括纳迪图在内。
The tavern keeper is waiting with grim news. She says Beltani's brother has been altering the weights used to measure payments to cheat customers.
小酒馆经理人带着残酷的消息在等着。她说，贝尔塔妮的哥哥一直在改变用来测量付款金额的砝码，欺骗客人。
When the tavern keeper confronted him, he falsely accused her of watering down the wine.
当小酒馆经理人和他对质时，他便诬告她将酒稀释。
If true, Beltani's brother is the dishonest one -- and altering weights is another crime punishable by death.
若真是如此，那么，贝尔塔妮的哥哥才是不诚实的人--而改变砝码也是可以判死刑的罪行。
Beltani is running out of time to get to the bottom of this.
贝尔塔妮快要没时间可以弄清真相了。
Though she can't go to the tavern, she can check on the barley fields her brother manages to see if he's been honest there.
虽然她无法前往小酒馆，她可以去视察她哥哥管理的大麦田，看看他在那里有没有诚实。
In the granary, she sees much more grain than he reported to her. He's been cheating her out of her share.
在谷仓里，她看到的谷物比他呈报给她的还多。他一直在偷拿她的份。
Like all naditu in Sippar, Beltani inherited the same portion of her father's property as her brother.
和西尔帕所有的纳迪图一样，贝尔塔妮从父亲那里继承到的资产和她哥哥均等。
These were rare circumstances for women in a time and place where property passed through men. Still, their families didn't always honor their rights.
在资产通过男性传承的时代和地方，这种情况对女性而言很罕见。不过，他们的家人不见得会承认他们的权利。
Although naditu traditionally went into business with male relatives, the law stated they can choose someone else if their brothers or uncles weren't up to the task.
虽然在传统上，纳迪图会和男性亲戚合伙做生意，但法律规定，如果她们的兄弟或叔伯不适任，也可以改选别人。
With the evidence she needs, she hurries to court. A judge presides over the temple court along with two naditu -- the overseer of the gagum and a scribe.
得到必要的证据后，她赶往法庭。主持神殿法庭的是一位法官和两位纳迪图--加贡的监督者和一名抄写员。
Beltani asks to remove her brother as her business manager, citing the granary as evidence that he is mismanaging her properties.
贝尔塔妮请求革除她哥哥管理她生意的经理职位，她引用谷仓当作证据，说明他没有好好管理她的资产。
The judge grants her request. The scribe records the new contract in cuneiform into a wet clay tablet, and the matter is settled.
法官核准了她的请求。抄写员用楔形文字记录了新的合约，写在一片湿泥板上，此事就宣告解决。
She's protected her income and spared her brother's life by withholding the true extent of his crimes.
她保住了她的收入，也饶了她哥哥一命，没有供出他的全部罪行。
Perhaps it is time to adopt a younger priestess: someone to take care of her in old age and inherit her property, who might do a better job of helping with her business.
也许该是挑选更年轻的祭师的时候了：这个人选要能在她年迈时照顾她，并继承她的资产，且可能更能协助她的事业。
