What do fans of atmospheric post-punk music have in common with ancient barbarians? Not much.
充满神秘感的后朋克音乐的粉丝们，与古代野蛮人有什么共同之处呢？看上去毫无关联。
So why are both known as goths?
那为何他们都被称为哥特人。
Is it a weird coincidence or a deeper connection stretching across the centuries?
这是个奇怪的巧合，还是二者间有长达几个世纪的深层联系？
The story begins in Ancient Rome.
故事开始于古罗马。
As the Roman Empire expanded, it faced raids and invasions from the semi-nomadic populations along its borders.
随着罗马帝国不断扩张，它面临着国境线附近半游牧民族的入侵和袭击。
Among the most powerful were a Germanic people known as Goths
其中最强大的势力是一伙德国人--哥特，
who were composed of two tribal groups, the Visigoths and Ostrogoths.
他们由两个部落构成：东哥特人和西哥特人。
While some of the Germanic tribes remained Rome's enemies, the Empire incorporated others into the imperial army.
虽然一些德国部落始终与罗马为敌，但罗马帝国将其他部落收归整合入军队。
As the Roman Empire split in two, these tribal armies played larger roles in its defense and internal power struggles.
当罗马帝国一分为二时，这些部落军队在防御和内部权力斗争上起到了很大作用。
In the 5th century, a mercenary revolt lead by a soldier named Odoacer captured Rome and deposed the Western Emperor.
5世纪时，由一名名叫Odoacer的士兵领导了一次雇佣兵反叛，他们抓住并废黜了西罗马国王。
Odoacer and his Ostrogoth successor Theoderic technically remained under the Eastern Emperor's authority and maintained Roman traditions.
Odoacer及东哥特首领Theoderic理论上仍受东罗马皇帝统治，并保持着罗马的传统。
But the Western Empire would never be united again.
但此时西罗马帝国不再团结。
Its dominions fragmented into kingdoms ruled by Goths and other Germanic tribes who assimilated into local cultures,
该帝国分裂成不同的国家，其统治者为哥特人以及融入当地文化的其他德国部落，
though many of their names still mark the map.
但现在的地图上仍能够反映出当时部落的名称。
This was the end of the Classical Period and the beginning of what many call the Dark Ages.
这标志着古典时期的终结以及黑暗时期的开始。
Although Roman culture was never fully lost, its influence declined
尽管罗马文化从未完全消失，但它的影响力不断减少，
and new art styles arose focused on religious symbolism and allegory rather than proportion and realism.
新的艺术风格逐渐产生，它们关注宗教符号和寓言，而不是和谐的比例和现实意义。
This shift extended to architecture with the construction of the Abbey of Saint Denis in France in 1137.
这种转变也延伸到了建筑风格，1137年法国圣丹尼斯修道院建立。
Pointed arches, flying buttresses, and large windows made the structure more skeletal and ornate.
尖拱、飞拱、大窗这样的设计使得建筑结构显得更加瘦削豪华。
That emphasized its open, luminous interior rather than the sturdy walls and columns of Classical buildings.
它强调室内要开放、明亮，而不是充满古典建筑中的结实墙面和柱子。

Over the next few centuries, this became a model for Cathedrals throughout Europe. But fashions change.
在接下来的几个世纪，这成为欧洲教堂风格的范本。但是时尚易变。
With the Italian Renaissance's renewed admiration for Ancient Greece and Rome,
意大利文艺复兴重新燃起了对古希腊古罗马的崇敬，
the more recent style began to seem crude and inferior in comparison.
哥特这种近代风格相比之下显得原始简陋。
Writing in his 1550 book, 'Lives of the Artists,' Giorgio Vasari was the first to describe it as Gothic,
1550年，在《艺术家的生活》中，作者Giorgio Vasari首次将这种风格称为哥特，
a derogatory reference to the Barbarians thought to have destroyed Classical civilization.
但这是一种意指野蛮人的贬义说法，并认为这种思想毁了古典文明。
The name stuck, and soon came to describe the Medieval period overall,
这个词语一直存在，并且开始用于描述整个中世纪时期，
with its associations of darkness, superstition, and simplicity.
因为它让人联想到黑暗、迷信以及原始。
But time marched on, as did what was considered fashionable.
时间推进，时尚也在推进。
In the 1700s, a period called the Enlightenment came about, which valued scientific reason above all else.
在18世纪，启蒙时期到来，科学理性最受推崇。
Reacting against that, Romantic authors like Goethe and Byron
与此相对，浪漫主义作家例如歌德与拜伦，
sought idealized visions of a past of natural landscapes and mysterious spiritual forces.
则寻求将自然景观理想化的视角以及神秘的精神力量。
Here, the word Gothic was repurposed again to describe a literary genre that emerged as a darker strain of Romanticism.
于此，哥特一词的含义被重新定义，它用来描述由浪漫主义衍生的一种更黑暗的文学体裁。
The term was first applied by Horace Walpole to his own 1764 novel, 'The Castle of Otranto'
Horace Walpole于1764年在他的小说《奥特兰托堡》中首次使用这个词，
as a reference to the plot and general atmosphere.
用来描述小说情节及整体氛围。
Many of the novel's elements became genre staples inspiring classics and the countless movies they spawned.
小说中的众多元素成为了哥特体裁的典型，并启发了众多经典故事及改编电影。
The gothic label belonged to literature and film until the 1970s when a new musical scene emerged.
直到20世纪70年代，哥特一直是文学和电影的风格，之后一种新的音乐剧开始出现。
Taking cues from artists like The Doors and The Velvet Underground,
受到门户乐队、地下丝绒乐队的启发，
British post-punk groups, like Joy Division, Bauhaus, and The Cure,
英国的大量后朋克群体，例如Joy Division乐队、Bauhaus乐队、The Cure乐队，
combined gloomy lyrics and punk dissonance with imagery inspired by the Victorian era, classic horror, and androgynous glam fashion.
他们的音乐混合了阴郁的歌词、朋克的不协调音乐、维多利亚时代的意象、经典的恐惧元素以及中性魅力。
By the early 1980s, similar bands were consistently described as Gothic rock by the music press,
直到20世纪80年代初期，这类风格相似的乐队都被音乐媒体称为哥特摇滚。
and the stye's popularity brought it out of dimly lit clubs to major labels and MTV.
这种风格日渐流行，表演也由灯光阴暗的俱乐部转向主流唱片公司和音乐电视。
And today, despite occasional negative media attention and stereotypes,
如今，尽管偶尔会有媒体的负面评价和刻板印象，
Gothic music and fashion continue as a strong underground phenomenon.
哥特音乐和时尚仍然是活跃的地下现象。
They've also branched into sub-genres, such as cybergoth, gothabilly, gothic metal, and even steampunk.
它们出现了更多的细分种类，例如赛博哥特、哥特比利、哥特金属，甚至是蒸汽朋克。
The history of the word gothic is embedded in thousands of years worth of countercultural movements,
哥特这个词伴随了上千年的历史，它是一种反对传统文化的运动，
from invading outsiders becoming kings to towering spires replacing solid columns to artists finding beauty in darkness.
开始于哥特民族作为外族入侵称王，而后高耸的尖塔代替了粗壮的圆柱，艺术家在黑暗中发现了美。
Each step has seen a revolution of sorts and a tendency for civilization to reach into its past to reshape its present.
每一步都是一种改革，也是文明回溯过去进而重塑现在的趋势。