考古发现:马可·波罗竟是个骗子?

小编物语：马可·波罗，13世纪来自意大利的世界著名的旅行家和商人。17岁时跟随父亲和叔叔，途经中东，历时四年多到达蒙古帝国。他在中国游历了17年，曾访问当时中国的许多古城，到过西南部的云南和东南地区。回到威尼斯之后，写下著名的《马可·波罗游记》记述了他在东方最富有的国家——中国的见闻，激起了欧洲人对东方的热烈向往，对以后新航路的开辟产生了巨大的影响。

One of history's greatest explorers, may in fact have been a conman, it was claimed yesterday.

昨日有消息称，历史上最伟大的探险家之一可能事实上是个大骗子。

Far from being a trader who spent years in China and the Far East, he probably never went further east than the Black Sea, according to a team of archaeologists.

据一个考古队称，马可．波罗可能根本不是在中国和远东行走多年的商人，很可能都没到过比黑海更远的地方。

They suspect the Venetian adventurer picked up stories about the mysterious lands of the Orient from fellow traders around the Black Sea who related tales of China, Japan and the Mongol Empire in the 13th century.

他们怀疑这位威尼斯探险家从一些黑海地区的商人伙伴那里听来了很多关于那片神秘的东方大地的故事。他们向他讲述了很多13世纪中国、日本和蒙古帝国的传说。

He then put the stories together in a book commonly called The Travels of Marco Polo, hailed as one of the first travel books; it purports to be his account of his journeys through Persia, Asia and the Far East between 1271 and 1291.

后来他将这些故事集成一本书，也就是为世人所熟知的《马可．波罗游记》，这本书号称是最早的旅游书籍之一，并包含他1271年到1291年间游历波斯、亚洲和远东的记录。

It details his relations with Kublai Khan, the Mongol ruler who became Emperor of China.

书中详细讲述了他和蒙古统治者忽必烈的交情，忽必烈后来成为了中国的一代帝王。

But now an Italian team of archaeologists studying in Japan have cast doubts about one of Italy's great national heroes — although there have been competing claims to him from Croatia, which argues he was born there.

但如今一个在日本开展研究的意大利考古队对这位意大利民族大英雄产生了质疑。不过关于马克．波罗的国籍，克罗地亚坚称他是克罗地亚人，说他出生在那里。