GREEK COLONIZATION OF THE NORTHERN BLACK SEA REGION Ancient society and its culture had an outstanding significance in the history of mankind. His numerous achievements in various fields of human activity became an integral part of the basis of the European

The Greek colonization of Italy is one of the most interesting pages of Antiquity. It was in Italy that there were the most Greek colonies, it was here that they reached an unprecedented flourishing very early, surpassing their Greek metropolises in size and power.

For the first time, the Achaean Greeks landed on the shores of Italy back in the Mycenaean era in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. Then they mastered the Anipar Islands in the southern part of the Tyrrhenian Sea and the coast of Campania. Archaeologists have found traces of the Greeks even in the area where Rome arose centuries later. An important transit point in the trade of the Mycenaean Greeks with the Italic tribes was Apulia in the southeast of the Apennine Peninsula. There, near the town of Skolodel Tonno, a whole settlement of the Mycenaean Achaeans was excavated. Their trade relations had a considerable influence on the development of the tribes of the notorious Apennine culture.

And on the other side of the Apennine "boot", on the island of Ischia and in the town of Luni in South Etruria, fortifications and cemeteries from the Bronze and Early Iron Ages were discovered! Moreover, there are many fragments of ceramics brought from Mycenaean Greece! Probably, these settlements were some kind of transit points in the difficult journey of the Mycenaean sailors to the north along the western coast of Italy. A brilliant confirmation of this was a sensational discovery near Cape Gelidoniya. There, at the bottom of the Tyrrhenian Sea, underwater archaeologists in the 60s of the XX century. found a whole Mycenaean merchant ship under a layer of silt. It sank, according to experts, in 1200 BC!

Isle of Ischia - Italy

With the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization at the end of the II millennium BC. life in the Mycenaean trading outposts fades. But after a few centuries, a new stage of the "great Greek colonization" begins. And one of its main directions, already beaten by the Mycenaean Greeks, was Italy and Sicily. Around 750 BC natives of the city of Chalkis, on Euboea, landed on the shores of a vast bay in Campania and laid the city of Cuma here - the first Greek colony in Italy. In 734 BC they also founded the first colony in Sicily - the city of Naxos. After that, the Greeks enthusiastically rush to the friendly bays and fertile fields of Italy. As from a cornucopia, more and more new colonies rained down, which over time densely fill the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea south of Cum to Sicily and again north along the coastal strip of the Ionian Sea as far as Calabria. The Corinthians found Syracuse in Sicily (733 BC), the Achaeans establish a colony of Sybaris in Bruttia (721 BC), the Rhodians and Cretans - Gela (688 BC). Even the Spartans succumbed to the general craze and brought to Italy in 706 BC. his only colony, but what a Tarentum!

The first Greek colony - Kuma

Having reached prosperity, many Greek colonies themselves sent the surplus of their population to new emporia. Thus, the Kumas founded a whole galaxy of colonies: Naples, Dikearchia (the Romans renamed it Puteoli), Abela, Nola and Zanclo in Sicily opposite the narrow strait that separated the island from the mainland. (Subsequently, Zancla was given the new name Messana.) Sybarites, pampered inhabitants of Sybaris, circa 700 B.C. they brought the colony of Posidonia, and Gela founded Acragas in Sicily, which soon came to the fore among the Greek cities of the island.

Akraganth

Trade was a powerful engine of colonization, so the colonies were always located by the sea on the shore of a convenient bay or at the mouth of a river. No wonder the Greeks themselves jokingly called their colonies "frogs croaking along the banks of the pond", i.e. Mediterranean Sea. The surrounding lands were cultivated by farmers. Relations with local tribes developed in different ways. Sometimes they were peaceful and promoted the development of trade. But many tribes - Bruttii, Iapigi, Lukans or Osci, as well as Sikans in Sicily - were warlike and hostile for a long time, conflicts often broke out, and the colonists had to think about their own defense. Therefore, cities were surrounded by powerful walls and towers, and all citizens served in the militia.

The convenience of the geographical location, the mild climate and the fertility of the soil, which were so lacking in their mountainous homeland, gave reason to the ancient Greeks to christen Southern Italy and Sicily Great Greece. In the cities of Magna Graecia, agriculture, crafts and trade with the entire Mediterranean flourished, coins were minted, art and architecture developed, and new philosophical schools arose. Thus, the philosopher Pythagoras preached his ideas in Cum, whose teaching was widely spread not only in Italy, but throughout the Greek world, in Tarentum in the 4th century. BC. - His follower Archytas. From here, from Qom, the Etruscans borrowed the Greek alphabet and many customs and beliefs. In Locri, almost earlier than Greece, the laws of Zaleucus were written down, and in Sicily, rhetoric first arose, which played a large role in Greek education.

Life in the Greek city-states was full of vicissitudes. They were threatened not only by the internal strife of democrats and oligarchs, which often elevate ambitious tyrants to the pinnacle of power, but also by external dangers. Dissensions broke out between different cities. Often subjugated surrounding tribes revolted. The peoples living in the depths of Italy also disturbed the Greeks with their raids, attracted by the news of their unheard-of wealth. In 491 BC the warlike Samnites defeated the Greeks, and since then the threat of invasion has constantly hung over Tarentum in Calabria, Rhegium and Thurii in Bruttia. The main opponents of the Greeks in Italy were the Etruscans and the Carthaginians. The Etruscans have long burrowed into the fertile regions of Campania and sought to settle there, entering into confrontation with the Campanian Greeks. During the V-III centuries. BC. Campanian, and after them the Greek colonies on the southwestern coast of Italy fell into decay and submitted to the new ruler - Rome.

Greek colonization.

Later, the Greeks entered the path of colonial expansion of the Phoenicians. The heyday of the colonization activity of the Greeks refers to the VIII-VI centuries. BC. This time is called the era of the Great Greek colonization. It coincides with the archaic era of the history of Greece, the time of the formation of the ancient Greek policy. It was in the conditions of Greece at that time that one must look for the causes of colonization.

The great Greek colonization was a particular manifestation of the general law of the correspondence of the population to the level of the productive forces. “In the ancient states, in Greece and Rome, forced emigration, which took the form of the periodic foundation of colonies, constituted a permanent link in the social order (...). But why was it so? Because these states were completely unaware of the application of science in the field of material production (...). The insufficient development of the productive forces made the rights of citizenship dependent on a certain quantitative ratio, which could not be violated. The only salvation was forced emigration ”(Marx K. Forced emigration. - Marx K, and Engels F. Collected works. 2nd ed. Vol. 8, pp. 567-568.). This provision is valid for all cases of colonization in antiquity. However, in each case, there were also specific reasons. This also applies to the Great Greek colonization.

At all times in Greece, there was a relatively weak development of agricultural technology, primitive methods of cultivating the land, as well as low soil fertility in many Greek policies that were small. This constantly led to the fact that part of the population could not feed themselves in their homeland. In the archaic era, this was joined by social causes peculiar to it.

In the course of the decomposition of tribal relations, the aristocracy, using its position at the head of tribal communities, usurped many tribal lands, and the peasantry, increasingly ruined, fell into bondage to the rich and noble. Debt slavery went hand in hand with the ruin of the peasants. Under these conditions, many peasants were forced to leave their fields. But cities as centers of crafts and trade then, especially at the beginning of the archaic era, were just emerging. In addition, the use of slavery, which began to expand more and more, made it even more problematic for the peasants who came to the city to use labor. Some part of the peasants was able to adapt to the new conditions: otherwise the development of the Hellenic handicraft and trade would have been impossible. But very many had only one way out - departure to distant countries.

In those cities where trade was developing more and more, merchants sought to gain a foothold on their way to foreign countries and settle there. In the absence of international law, every foreigner was a potential slave or, in any case, an object of easy money. Therefore, only in cities connected with the metropolis by kinship, spiritual and economic ties, merchants felt relatively safe. Such cities became their bases in trade with the locals or strong stops on the way to the most desirable places of trade. And the colonies at first bought, first of all, the goods of their compatriots who remained in the metropolis, received merchants who arrived from there, and distributed their goods among the surrounding population.

An important factor in the colonial movement was the political struggle in the mother country, which in this era reached unprecedented sharpness and was accompanied in a number of cases by savage terror. Under these conditions, the defeated group had only one choice: death at home or departure to distant lands. According to tradition, Miletus founded more than 70 colonies on the western coast of Asia Minor. This number is clearly exaggerated, but it gives an idea of ​​the extent of the Milesian colonization. Perhaps this is due to the bitterness that the political struggle has taken in this city.

In the course of the development of Greek society, groups of people who occupied a lowered position stand out in it. Such people either tried to achieve equality in their homeland, or were forced to seek happiness in foreign lands. Such were, for example, the "parthenii" in Sparta. After an unsuccessful attempt to achieve equality with the citizens, they sailed to southern Italy and founded the city of Tarentum there.

Finally, it is necessary to note such an important factor as the defeat in the war, when the vanquished were faced with the question of whether to become a subject population or to seek a new homeland. Many chose the latter. So, for example, did the Messenians, who were defeated in the war with Sparta and moved to the West. Some of the inhabitants of Asia Minor Phocaea, who did not want to submit to the Persian king, also moved.

The complex interweaving of all these circumstances created a picture that was characteristic of the archaic era - the era of the formation of the policy. The main thing in this was, perhaps, the decomposition of tribal relations and the associated “liberation” of the mass of the peasantry, as well as the development of commodity-money relations, which led, in particular, to the desire to find new markets for raw materials and sales, to acquire new sources of obtaining slaves. When tribal relations as a whole became a thing of the past and a polis was formed, the political struggle took on new forms. And the time of the Great Colonization is over. Forced emigration took other forms.

Various regions and cities of Hellas took part in the Great Greek colonization: both more backward, in which the inhabitants were mainly engaged in agriculture, like Achaia, and more developed, which became significant trade and craft centers, like Miletus or Phocaea. In accordance with this, either the agrarian or the trade and handicraft aspect prevailed in the colonial expansion. This depended on the degree of socio-economic development of the metropolis, its geographical conditions, connections with the environment, and also on what the colonists found in new places. It should be emphasized, however, that colonization was not purely agrarian or trade and handicraft. Indeed, even in the backward regions of Greece at that time, trade was already penetrating, at the same time, all ancient cities were based on landed property and agriculture. Without the surrounding land area, no matter how scarce it was, the colony could not exist. On this territory there were plots of colonists, which were sometimes distributed even before the start of the resettlement, as was the case, for example, during the preparation of the Corinthian expedition to Sicily, which led to the founding of Syracuse. Therefore, we can only talk about the predominance of one or another aspect of colonization.

Depending on which aspect prevailed, the issue of relations with the local population was also decided. If the colonization was predominantly agrarian, the colonists did not need the cooperation of the locals, it even interfered with them. With the predominance of the trade aspect, it was necessary that the natives be prepared to trade with the Greeks, which was possible only with a relatively developed economy and a fairly high level of social relations. Moreover, the latter should not have been excessively high. Where the Greeks encountered developed and centralized states, the possibilities for the founding of Hellenic cities, as well as those of the Phoenicians, were sharply narrowed.

Depending on the predominance of one or another aspect of colonization, its preparatory stage also differed. In one case, intelligence was enough to find out what awaited the settlers, in the other, the establishment of economic ties had to precede the withdrawal of the colony. The colonists-farmers were looking for fertile soil, and merchants - places convenient for trade, for example, estuaries, which made it possible to penetrate deep into the territory of local tribes. It was important for artisans to have the right raw materials.

There were also general rules for the Greeks to choose a place for settlement. The city had to lie on the seashore, or at least not far from it, for the sea was the only connection with the metropolis. For the settlement, a place was chosen that could be easily defended, which had fresh water and, if possible, surrounding territory that could feed the colonists. At the same time, the land did not have to be suitable for grain farming, but, for example, for viticulture and olive growing, which gave the Greeks the products they needed to exchange for the goods they needed, the colonists took fire with them from the sacred hearth of their native city and, apparently, some priests. An oikist became the head of the expedition, who also turned out to be the head of a new settlement.

Regardless of whether the expedition was initiated by the whole community, or it was the work of its individual members, new settlements, as a rule, became independent (unlike the colony of Tyre). There were exceptions to this rule. So the city of Corinth tried to create a powerful maritime power on the basis of its colonies. The cities he founded were to ensure Corinthian dominion over the routes in the western and northeastern directions. However, the attempt to create a colonial power failed. And although a long time later, a governor poured down from Corinth to Potidea on the northern coast of the Aegean Sea, this city actually pursued a completely independent policy, sometimes even contradicting the interests of the metropolis.

Despite their independence, the colonies were connected with the mother country by spiritual ties. At a time when the ideas of a tribal society had not yet been erased from consciousness, the inhabitants of the metropolis and the colony felt like relatives, close people in the face of a foreign world. The colonies usually did not fight with the mother countries, they supported each other and the colonies of the same mother country. So, in the II century. BC. the inhabitants of Lampsacus in Asia Minor turned to the citizens of Massalia (now Marseilles) in Galdia with a request to help them in negotiations with Rome, for both cities had been founded by the same Phocaea 500 years later. Although the colonies and mother countries usually did not form unions and did not have common citizenship, the inhabitants of the metropolis who arrived in the colony became its citizens, and the colonists who returned to the old hearth easily restored their civil status. Initially, a semblance of a community left in the homeland arose in a new place. But over time, the paths of political development of the colony and the metropolis could diverge quite far.

Many colonies were brought out not by one but by several mother countries. For example, the Cums in Italy were founded by the Chalcidians and Eretrians from the island of Euboea and, perhaps, the Kimeips from Asia Minor, the Rhegiums - by the Chalcidians and the Messets Gela-Rhodians and Cretans. In this case, the metropolis was considered the city that was the direct initiator of the introduction of the colony. So, the metropolis of Epidamnus, founded by Kerkyra and Corinth, was Kerkyra. But even if the settlers left one city, it is unlikely that all of them were its citizens. The population of Greek cities was then still small, and some cities founded quite a few colonies. It is hard to imagine that in the metropolitan cities there were so many inhabitants that they were enough for numerous resettlements and for the continuation of the life of the mother city. Therefore, it is likely that these cities became distribution centers from where expeditions were sent. In such cases, apparently, the rule was in effect, according to which the resettlement center was considered the metropolis.

Starting life in a new place, people really wanted to gain confidence in the happy future of their enterprise. Therefore, they sought not only to study the real conditions of the place, but also to enlist divine protection. A particularly important role was given to the god Apollo, who was considered the leader of colonial expeditions (like the Phoenicians had the Tyrian Melkart) and the patron of newly founded cities. God gave his predictions about the future of such expeditions in the oracle at Delphi. Gradually, the temple of Apollo at Delphi, which had extensive international connections and received extensive information from almost all areas of the then world, became a kind of regulatory center for migrations, directing specific flows of colonial expeditions.

The great Greek colonization followed three main directions: 1) the west (the coast and islands of the Ionian Sea northwest of Greece, Italy, Sicily, Corsica, Southern Gaul and Spain), 2) the northeast (the northern coast of the Aegean, the Hellespont, Propontis and Thracian Bosporus, Black Sea coasts), 3) southeast (southern coast of Asia Minor, eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, Africa).

The Euboean cities of Chalkis and Eretria were the pioneers of colonization. Already in the first half of the eighth century. BC. they were quite advanced. Located on the shores of the strait, which is the most important sea route between Northern and Central Greece, they concentrated in their hands a significant share of trade at that time. In addition, they possessed copper deposits and fertile territory, which was in the hands of aristocrats. When by the last third of the 7th c. BC. between these cities a war broke out for the possession of the Lelantian plain lying between them, many cities of Greece took part in it on one side or the other (confirming the significance of these cities). Until the war broke out, both cities acted together in the colonial field. Following them, Corinth and Megara entered the path of colonization. They were significant craft and trade centers, but their land was infertile, so that the inhabitants went overseas not only for trade, but also in search of good land. No wonder the villagers from the village of Tegei took an active part in the Corinthian colonization. These cities were followed by other centers of Greece. In the 8th and early 7th centuries BC. more backward agrarian communities and regions, such as Locris, Achaia, Sparta, also brought out colonies.

First of all, the Hellenes rushed to the west. In 774 BC on the small island of Pitecussa off the western coast of Italy, a settlement of the Chalcidians and Eretrians appeared. This year can be considered the beginning of the Great Greek colonization. Half a century later, the Euboeans also settled on the mainland, creating Capua, and later other cities, including Naples. The area where these cities appeared (Campania) was one of the most fertile in Italy, but still in the Euboean, especially Chalcidian, colonization, the commercial aspect was very strong. Through Pitecussa, the Chalcidians traded actively with the Etruscans and the western Phoenicians. To control the sea route between Greece and Etruria, they founded colonies on both sides of the strait separating Italy from Sicily - Regius and Zanclo. The Eretrians led a colony to the island of Kerkyra, which occupied an important position on the route from Greece to Italy and Sicily. The inhabitants of Euboea also took an active part in the colonization of Sicily.

Syracuse became the most important Greek city in Sicily. They were founded, apparently, in 733 BC. Corinthian expedition led by Archius, who was forced to leave his homeland due to strife. Along the way, the Corinthians ousted the Euboeans from Kerkyra, and when they arrived in Sicily, they created a settlement on the islet of Ortigia near the Sicilian coast. Somewhat later, Syracuse stepped into Sicily itself, but Ortigia remained for a long time a fortress and the administrative center of the city. Possessing an excellent harbor, actively developing crafts and trade, and acquiring fertile lands, Syracuse soon became the largest center of Sicily and the entire western Hellenism. Under their leadership, a powerful power arose, competing with Carthage and striving for power over all Western Greeks.

Other Greeks also took part in the colonization of Sicily. The Megarians founded Megara of Gible to the north of Syracuse, and the Rhodians and Cretans founded Gela on the south coast. Other Greek cities also appeared. At the same time, the Hellenes entered into a struggle both with the local population - Sicules and Sikans, and with the Sicilian Phoenicians, who later came under the rule of Carthage.

The agricultural cities and regions of Greece preferred the fertile lands of Southern Italy. Here in the VIII - early VII century. BC. the inhabitants of Achaia founded Croton and Sybaris, famous for its luxury, the Spartans - Tarentum, the Locrians - the Locris of Epizephyria. Of the more developed cities, only the Colophon of Asia Minor sent an expedition here: under the threat of the Lydian conquest, part of the Colophonians went to Italy, where they created Siris, whose wealth and free life aroused the envy of the poet Archilochus. Soon so many Greek cities appeared in southern Italy that this part of the Apennine peninsula began to be called Magna Graecia.

Colonies in Southern and Central Italy and Sicily were withdrawn until the beginning of the 7th century. BC. Later, new Hellenic cities were created here by already existing colonies. Only in the VI century. BC. individual cities of Greece tried to settle in these areas: for example, the Cnidians entrenched themselves on the Aeolian Islands, the Samians in Dikearchia (now Pozzuoli on the outskirts of Naples). When on the verge of the VII-VI centuries. BC. the citizens of Phocaea appeared in these waters, they preferred to move further west. Phocaean colonization proceeded in two streams. One was heading along the coast of Italy, southern Gaul and northeastern Spain. Here Massalia on the Gallic and Emporion on the Spanish coast became the most important Phocian colonies, and on the way to them the Greeks created several strongholds. The second stream moved through Corsica and the Balearic Islands directly to Southeast Spain. In southern Spain, the Greeks made contact with Tartessos. The Tartessians saw in the Greeks allies in the fight against the Phoenicians, and with the consent of the Tartessian king, the Phocians founded colonies here, including the Harbor of Menestheus, which arose already behind the Pillars of Hercules. This settlement became the westernmost limit of Greek colonization.

In the northeast direction, the Chalcidians and Eretrians already in the 8th century. BC. began to develop a large peninsula in the northern part of the Aegean Sea, which, because of the Chalkid colonies created there, was called Halkidiki. East of Chalkidiki, on Thasos, the inhabitants of the island of Paros created a colony. Among the Parians who settled in Thasos was the famous poet Archilochus, whose poems expressively tell about the hard life of the colonist.

At the end of the VIII - beginning of the VII century. BC. the Greeks penetrated the Hellespont and further north. Now the leading role is played by Megara and the Greek cities of Asia Minor (Samoe, Chios, Mytilene, Phocaea, Miletus, Colophon). Soon, the European and Asian shores of the Hellespont, the Propontis (Sea of ​​Marmara), the Thracian Bosporus were covered with a network of Hellenic colonies, of which the Megarian colony of Byzantium, located at the beginning of the Bosporus Strait leading to the Black Sea, became especially famous in the future. The Iranian-speaking peoples who lived on the shores of this sea called it, as they believe, Akhshaina - "Dark". The Greeks took this name in their own way, as Aksinsky Pontus, i.e. "Inhospitable Sea". The absence of a chain of islands, which so facilitated travel in the Aegean Sea, winds and storms, perhaps, and thoughts about the suffering of heroes whose adventures were transferred by mythology to these lands, strengthened the Hellenes in the idea of ​​​​the inhospitable Black Sea waters and coasts. Believing in the magic of names, they believed that such a name did not bode well for them. However, soon the newcomers were convinced of the wealth of these waters and coasts. Therefore, they changed the old name to a new one - Euxine Pontus - "Hospitable Sea", and under this name it went down in history.

In the Black Sea region, colonies were founded mainly Megara and Miletus. Megarians acted mainly near the exit from the Thracian Bosporus: to the east and north-west of it, Heraclea Pontus, Mesambria, Callatis arise. Only much later did the inhabitants of Heraclea in the southern Black Sea region cross the Euxine Pontus and founded Chersonesos on the southwestern coast of Taurida (modern Crimea).

Most of the other cities of the Black Sea region were founded by Miletus. The most important Milesian colony of the southern coast was Sinope, which led from the 6th century. BC. the union of the cities of this region is Pontus, which probably included the cities of Amis, Kotiora, Trebizond and, possibly, Phasis. Moving along the western coast of the Euxine Pontus, the Miletians founded Apollonia, Odessa, Istria and appeared in the Northern Black Sea region. The first place in the area where the Milesian colonists settled was the island of Berezan, as it is now called, not far from the mainland. This happened, apparently, in 643 BC. Better acquainted with local conditions, the Greeks moved to the mainland. At the mouth of the river Gipanis (Southern Bug) at the very beginning of the VI century. BC. the city of Olbia (“Happy”) appeared, and other settlements arose around it. To the west of Olbia, the city of Tyra was created at the mouth of the river of the same name (modern Dniester).

Another center of Greek colonization was the Cimmerian Bosporus (Kerch Strait). The Greeks, apparently, penetrated here in the last decades of the 7th century. BC. The city of Panticapaeum was founded here (It means in Scythian "Fish Way".) (modern Kerch), which became the largest Hellenic city of Eastern Taurida and Taman. In the VI century. BC. Mirmekiy, Nimfey, Feodosiya appeared on the Crimean coast, and Phanagoria, Kepy, Germonassa, Gorgippia appeared on the Caucasian (according to Greek ideas, Asian) coast. Around 480 BC all these cities united in the Bosporus kingdom with its capital in Panticapaeum. The Bosporites also penetrated the Meotid (now the Azov) Sea and in its northeastern corner at the mouth of the river. Tanais (Don) founded a settlement that became the farthest northeastern colony of the Greeks.

To the south of the Bosporan border, on the eastern bank of the Pontus, the Hellenic cities of Pitiunt (Pitsunda), Dioscuria (Sukhumi), Fasis (Poti) appeared. Thus, the entire Black Sea coast was covered with a dense network of Greek colonies.

The southern direction in the era of the Great Colonization did not play a big role, no matter how the Greeks were attracted by trade with eastern countries and Africa. And this is natural: the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea was occupied by Phoenician cities that competed with the Greeks. In the VIII-VII centuries. BC. the struggle between Assyria and Egypt did not favor foreign trade, and even more so settlement on these shores. To the west of Egypt, the Hellenes faced the rivalry of the Carthaginians, and although the Greeks tried to settle there, they were soon driven out. Only in the area of ​​Cyrenaica, between Egypt and Carthage, the Hellenes managed to create several cities, the first of which was Cyrene, founded by the Fereys in 631-630. BC. In the VI century. the Cyrenians together with the Cretans built Barca. The colonization of Cyrenaica, although rather late, was purely agrarian.

In Egypt, the Greeks acted as mercenaries and traders. When Egypt freed itself from Assyrian power, its pharaohs, looking for allies and helpers in the Greeks, gave them the opportunity to settle in the country. The main Hellenic settlement in Egypt was Navkratis, founded at the end of the 7th century. BC, - a very unusual colony. Naucratis had as many as twelve metropolises (Rhodes, Chios, Theos, Phocaea, Clazomene, Cnidus, Halicarnassus, Phaselis, Mytilene, Miletus, Samo, Aegina), but at the same time he was under the strict control of the Egyptian authorities. The degree of its internal autonomy was determined by the policy of Egypt (and later the Persian satraps of Egypt), but it never was a completely independent city. It did not have an agricultural district, remaining a purely trade and craft settlement, a center for the import of Greek goods into Egypt and the export of Egyptian goods and imitations of them to all countries of the ancient world. Apparently, the position of the Greek colonies (or trading posts) on the Syrian coast near the ruins of Ugarit - Sukas and Al-Mina (modern names, Greek unknown) was similar. But they probably did not last as long as Naucratis.

On the southern coast of Asia Minor, the hostility of the highlanders prevented widespread Greek colonization. The Greeks managed to create only a few strongholds there on the way from Hellas to the East.

Some cities themselves later became metropolises; thus, the Bosporites founded Tanais, the Sybarites founded Posidonia, the Massaliotes founded Nicaea (now Nice), etc. Sometimes they resorted to the help of their mother countries; for example, the Corcyrians brought out a colony and Epidami along with Corinth, and the Gelians - Acragas along with the Rhodians. It often happened that this secondary colonization, or subcolonization, was of a different character than the primary one. Thus, the Fox colonization in the west was predominantly trade and handicraft, and the Massaliot colonization was more agrarian. On the contrary, the agrarian aspect prevailed in the Achaean colonization of Italy, but the Achaean Sybaris created colonies as strongholds for trade with Etruria and other regions of Italy, bypassing the Chalcidians, who fortified by the strait.

For two and a half centuries, the Greeks mastered a significant part of the Mediterranean coast, the entire Black Sea region, and most of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov. The Greek colonies spread over a vast territory from the Harbor of Menestheus beyond the Pillars of Hercules to Tanais at the mouth of the modern Don, from Massalia and Adria in the north to Naucratis in the south. Relying on these cities, merchants and travelers penetrated even further into the depths of the foreign-speaking (in Greek "barbarian") world, rising along the Dnieper, Danube, Rhone and Nile, floating out into the dangerous waters of the ocean. When colonies were founded, the most enterprising people went to distant countries, and this contributed to the faster development of the colonies. Many new cities became developed economic centers, far ahead of the metropolis. Achaia remained a poor and backward region for a long time, and the Achaean Sybaris became one of the richest cities in Italy. Its wealth was so great that, despite its relatively short existence (it was destroyed in 510 BC), the luxury and effeminacy of its inhabitants - the Sybarites - became proverbial.

Many cities founded by the Greeks still exist today. You can, for example, call Istanbul (Istanbul, ancient Byzantium) in Turkey, Marseilles (Phocaean Massalia) in France, Naples in Italy, Kerch (Panticapeum) in the Crimea, Sukhumi (Dioscuria) in the Caucasus, Durres in Albania ( Epidamnus), in Romania - Constanta (Thomas).

The relations of the colonists with the local population developed differently. As some researchers believe, the Dorian settlers already at the time of colonization placed the natives in a dependent position, while the Ionians maintained more equal relations with them at first. But always these two groups of the population influenced each other. The Hellenic influence accelerated the course of the economic, social and cultural development of the "barbarians", as the examples of the Celts in Gaul and the Scythians in the Northern Black Sea region show. And the environment influenced the Greeks. This is especially clear in the culture of the colonists. Cultural historians distinguish the culture of the Greek cities of the Northern Black Sea region and Greater Greece as separate and peculiar variants of the common Greek.

The impact of colonization on the metropolis was significant. Whatever the nature of colonization, the colonists could not exist without any connection with Greece. From there they received some products, without which the Hellenes did not consider it possible to lead a normal life: grapes and wine, olive oil and handicrafts, especially art. They resold some of these products to the local population, drawing them into the Mediterranean trade turnover. They exported grain, metals, timber, fish, and slaves to the metropolis. These goods were vital to Greece. Greek trade acquires a truly international character. And this leads to the further development of commodity-money relations in Hellas, to the growth of the craft and trade circles of the archaic city and their role in society.

Among the goods that went to Greece, an important place was occupied by slaves. The influx of significant numbers of overseas slaves created economic opportunities for the elimination of debt slavery. The slavery of foreigners becomes a constant factor in Greek life.

On the other hand, this led to the isolation of the Greeks, to a certain unification of them in the face of slaves, to the formation of the concept of "Hellenism".

In the course of colonization, poor people often left the metropolis, who had nothing to lose in their homeland. The most important result of the Great Greek colonization was the overcoming of relative overpopulation, moreover, due to the departure of part of the most disadvantaged segments of the population. As a result, the importance of the middle strata increased. And they were increasingly determined to achieve their economic, social and political goals.

Thus, colonization, on the one hand, led to an aggravation of the social and political struggle in the metropolis, and on the other hand, created conditions for the stabilization of society, for its unification into a natural association in the face of slaves, as the ancient civil community was defined by K. Marx and F. Engels (K. Marx and F. Engels. German Ideology. - K. Marx and F. Engels. Collected Works. Ed. 2-in. Vol. 3, p. 21.).

Finally, it should be noted that acquaintance with distant countries expanded the horizons of the Greeks, brought up curiosity and interest in someone else's, unusual, made them think about many things. The Greeks were convinced that there was no place in the world for terrible, unnatural monsters, but that, in general, the world was much more diverse and multicolored than it seemed to them before the Great Colonization. And this was the psychological basis for the emergence of Hellenic science and Hellenic rationalism in general.

And in conclusion, it must be said that as a result of the Phoenician and Greek colonization, the history of individual regions of the Mediterranean began to merge into a single process.

Literature:

Tsirkin Yu.B. Phoenician and Greek colonization. / History of the Ancient World. Early Antiquity. - M.: Knowledge, 1983 - p.351-368

2. List of colonies of the 8th-6th centuries

The dates of the founding of the colonies are in most cases approximate. If the second date is given in parentheses, it means the date the colony was refounded.

Colonies on the Black Sea and on the approaches to it

Colonies in the northern Aegean

Colonies in northwestern Greece and Illyria

Colonies in Italy, Sicily and the West

Colonies in Emporia and the Southwestern Mediterranean