The kings of the Greek cities clearly learnt a great deal from them.

各希腊城市的国王曾向克里特人学习过这些。

But by 1,200 BC this time of splendor was over.

但是到公元前1200年这一时期的繁华景象消失了。

For it was at around that time (some 200 years before the reign of King Solomon) that new tribes came down from the north.

因为当时（所罗门王统治时期的前200年左右）从北方来了新的部族。

Whether they were related to the former builders of Mycenae nobody knows for sure, but it is likely.

他们是否与先前在希腊居住过并建造了迈锡尼的部族有血亲关系，这一点人们并不确切知道，但是这是极有可能的。

In any event, they drove out the kings and installed themselves in their place.

总之，他们赶走了国王们并自己取而代之当了国王。

Meanwhile, Crete had been destroyed.

同时，克里特在这之前就已经被毁坏，

But the memory of its magnificence lived on in the minds of the invaders,

但是外来的移民们心中依然记得全部昔日的繁华，

even when they founded new cities and built their own shrines.

虽然他们定居新城市并建立他们自己的圣地。

And as the centuries went by, the tales of the kings of ancient Mycenae became confused with those of their own battles and conquests, until they became part of their own history.

历经世纪的沧桑，他们把他们自己的征服和战斗的历史跟迈锡尼的国王们的古老历史融合在一起了。

These newcomers were the Greeks, and the myths and songs sung in the courts of their nobles were the very same Homeric poems with which this chapter began.

这个新的民族就是希腊人，而在其上等人的庭院里吟唱的传说和歌则正是我在这章开始就讲述的荷马史诗。

It is worth remembering that they were composed shortly before 800 BC.

我们应该记住：它们在约公元前800年就已经写成了。