Was it the world that succeeded that Bronze Age that we call the Dark Ages?

还是之后被我们称作黑暗时代的世界呢
Was it the world in which tradition says Homer himself lived,

或是那个传说中荷马曾经生活的时代吗
the transition first to the Archaic

那个时代先经历了古代的转变
and then to the Classical Period,

而后到了古典主义时期
the period in which we think about the dawn of the polis?

也就是我们所说的城邦萌芽的时期
That really is the question we are wrestling with and,

这确实是一个很棘手的问题
of course, behind it all is

不管怎样
can we seek any historical information

我们是否能从荷马史诗中
from Homer's poems at all?

得出当时的史实呢
It would be a terrible blow to me

如果我们不能
and everybody else in the field if the answer was "No,"

那么这对我们所有人将是一次沉重的打击
because just about everything we have to say about this period

因为我们将要讲到的这个时期是在