Lecture 4. Ancient civilization
Plan:
1. Ancient Greek Civilization
2. Ancient Roman civilization
ancient greek civilization
Ancient civilization arose at the junction of three parts of the world (Europe, Asia, Africa), is closely connected with the sea and belongs to the type of marine civilizations. The chronological framework of ancient civilization is determined by the VIII century. before. AD - mid 5th c. AD In its history, two local civilizations are clearly distinguished: Ancient Greek (VIII-I centuries BC) and Ancient Roman (VIII century BC - V century AD).
Ancient Greek civilization developed in the Aegean Sea on two continents (Europe and Asia) and many islands. The life of the population of this region is closely connected with the sea, which contributed to the development of navigation, colonization, trade, opened up opportunities for acquaintance with the civilizations of the East.
There were no large rivers in Greece, which did not allow the creation of irrigation systems here, characteristic of the river civilizations of the East. The main sectors of the economy were agriculture, cattle breeding (goats, sheep) and gardening. Greece was rich in minerals (silver, gold, copper, lead, iron) and building materials (limestone, marble, clay). The Greeks learned how to melt bronze from copper and tin and use it to make tools and weapons.
At the turn of the III-II millennium BC. The Balkan Peninsula is experiencing the invasion of the Greek Achaean tribes. From the end of the XIII century. BC. Dorians began to penetrate into Greece from the north. The creators of the ancient Greek civilization called themselves Hellenes, and the Romans gave them the name Greeks. The Greeks belong to the Mediterranean race, and their language belongs to the Indo-European language family.
The history of ancient Greek civilization is divided into the following periods: the Homeric period (dark ages) of the 11th-9th centuries. BC.; archaic Greece (period of the Great Greek colonization) VIII-VI centuries. BC.; Classical Greece, 5th-6th centuries BC.; the era of Hellenism IV-I centuries. BC.
Already in the III millennium BC. on the northwestern coast of Asia Minor at the entrance to the Hellespont, a Trojan proto-urban culture arose, with its center in the city of Troy (Hissarlik). In the III millennium BC. on the islands of the Cycladic archipelago, a peculiar Cycladic culture was formed. At the turn of the III-II millennium BC. on the island of Crete, the formation of the Minoan civilization began. The palace civilization of Crete covers the period around 2000-1500 BC. BC. Around 1450 BC most of the settlements and palaces on Crete perished as a result of a grandiose volcanic eruption on the island of Thera.
The Minoan culture is being replaced by the Achaean culture, which flourished in the 15th-12th centuries. BC. It was formed in the Peloponnese (Argolis), gradually spreading to Central and partly Northern Greece, to the Cyclades, Rhodes, Crete. In the XII century. BC. the process of civilizational development of the Achaean Greeks was interrupted by the invasion of the Trimendorians, who by this time already possessed iron weapons.
XI-IX centuries BC. a period of prolonged decline and stagnation. This time is called the dark ages, the Homeric period and the prepolis period. In its development, Greece was thrown back to the turn of the III-II millennium BC. and experienced the decline of agriculture and crafts. At this time, the Greeks mastered iron, property stratification occurred in society.
The archaic era (VIII-VI centuries BC) is associated with the development of the technological base and the economy in the conditions of the victory of iron production, the deepening of the social division of labor, the formation of genuine urban centers and a developed type of slavery (slavery of foreigners).
The period of formation of the Ancient Greek civilization coincides with the great Greek colonization. Colonization developed in three directions: western Sicily, southern Italy, southern France, the east coast of Spain; the northern Thracian coast of the Aegean Sea, the straits connecting the Mediterranean and Black Seas, the Black Sea coast; southeastern North Africa and the Levant.
In the VIII-VI centuries. BC. a policy arose - a city-state, where from 5 to 10 thousand people lived. The largest policies were Sparta and Athens, whose population was up to 200 thousand people. The city-state of the city is a community of free citizens-owners, a civil community, the core of which was a city with an adjacent rural district - the choir. Its center was considered the agora - the market square. In the city there was a citadel, which the Greeks called the acropolis, i.e. upper city. The Greek polis was characterized by autarchy (self-sufficiency): the economic basis of the life of the polis was provided by agriculture, which its citizens were engaged in, they also solved the civil and military issues that confronted the city-state.
In general, the polis was characterized by 2 types of government: oligarchic (Sparta) and democratic (Athens). The two main factors in the development of Greek democracy were: the high importance of the people's assembly and the elective power. According to its social structure, the polis was divided into three layers: full-fledged citizens, members of the community-polis; not members of the policy - peasants who have lost their land and have meteks (foreigners); slaves (only prisoners of war became slaves).
In the era of the classics for several centuries (VI-V centuries BC - the middle of the 4th century BC), the polis-polis system of values finally took shape. However, already in the classical period, the crisis of ancient Greek civilization manifested itself. During the Greco-Persian Wars (500-449 BC), rivalry was born between Athens - the Delian Maritime Union (478 BC) and Sparta - the Peloponnesian Union. As a result of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC), the victory went to Sparta.
In 338, the Macedonian kingPhilip II at the Battle of Chaeronea defeated the Greek army and created a pan-Greek union of cities. His father's work was continued by his son Alexander the Great (356-323 BC). As a result of his military campaigns against the Persian state, a vast world empire was created, which included Greece, Persia, Egypt, Babylonia, Central Asia, part of India, stretching from the Danube to India from the Caucasus to Egypt. Only sudden death prevented Alexander from capturing Arabia and North Africa. The empire was short-lived and soon after the death of Alexander broke up into a number of Hellenistic states: Bithynia, Pergamum, Cappadocia, Pontus, the Aetolian Union, the Achaean Union, which were a kind of unity of the Eastern despotisms and the Greek polis system.
The reason for the death of the Hellenistic states was not only their internal instability and mutual wars, but also the growing ambitions of the Roman state. From the 3rd century BC. the attack on the Hellenistic world begins, which ends with the conquest in 30 BC. the last Hellenistic state of Ptolemaic Egypt.
The role of the Ancient Greek civilization in the history of mankind is great, complex and multifaceted. Democracy and private property, human freedom and civic duty, materialism and idealism, all these most important components of modern civilizational development were born in Ancient Greece. The most important achievement of ancient Greek civilization is the flourishing of the human personality. It is the Greek philosopher Protagoras who owns the words: "Man is the measure of all things."
It is to the first ever free community of Greeks that we owe the emergence of scientific thinking. The Greeks created the foundations of philosophical science in its dialectical unity of the idealistic and materialistic view of the world. It was they who, realizing the significance of the past for the present and future, created the science of history. Ethics and geography, psychology and trigonometry, physics and anatomy, these and many other sciences owe the ancient Greeks not only their birth, but also their names.
The contribution of Ancient Greece to world culture and art is unique. Ancient Greece gave the world theater, the genres of tragedy and comedy. The ancient Greek civilization gave that ideal of the harmonious beauty of man, which, with all the diversity of culture of subsequent millennia, remained unsurpassed.
Connoisseurs of the ancient world argue that European culture and European civilization as a whole would not have been possible without Ancient Greece. Indeed, we Europeans owe a lot to Hellas. It contains the beginnings of all those spiritual values that are dear to us today. The concepts of freedom, democracy originate in those days.
Greece is the progenitor of the European theatre. Greek poets and playwrights left a great legacy that fueled later European culture. In Greece, the foundations of the sciences that have flourished in our time were laid. The great Greek philosophers Socrates, Plato, Aristotle laid the foundations of ideas about the world.
Greek athletes were the first Olympic champions... The list is endless. Whatever branch of knowledge or art we take, its roots go back to Ancient Greece - the country of the Olympic gods and fearless heroes.
Let's try to look through the darkness of centuries into the bright world of Hellas, in which our beginnings are lost, and try to imagine what they were like - the ancient Greeks, how they lived, what they were interested in ...
ancient greek city
The population of Greece at the dawn of the first millennium BC. e. occupied mainly by agriculture. Most of the cultivated land is occupied by cereals, an important role is given to horticulture and winemaking, and olives remain one of the leading crops, for which Greece is famous today. Cattle breeding is developing, and cattle even act as a kind of universal monetary equivalent. So, in the Iliad, twelve bulls are given for a large tripod.
In the VIII-VII centuries BC. e., when a wave of peoples who came earlier in the XIII-XI centuries from the north, including the Dorian Greeks, firmly settled on the territory of modern Greece, and the foundations of that Greek civilization were laid, which never ceases to amaze us with its achievements today, and which had such an impact on our lives today. And in fact, modern theatre, poetry, painting would be impossible without the Greek theater, without the great Homer, without sculptures and picturesque portraits, which have survived to this day and amaze with their perfection.
We all have heard a little about Greek poetry, because who does not know Homer with his famous "Odyssey" and "Iliad" ...
Wrath, O goddess, sing Achilles son of Peleus
These words of the great poem by Homer, translated by the Russian poet Gnedich, are familiar to almost everyone. This is how the Iliad begins, telling about the Trojan War - a bloody civil strife between Greek cities, which arose, according to Homer, due to the abduction by the Trojan Paris from the king of Sparta Menelaus of his beautiful wife Helen. Whatever the reasons for this war, which was considered just a beautiful myth a hundred and fifty years ago, but, as it turned out thanks to the efforts of archaeologists (primarily Heinrich Schliemann, the famous explorer of Ancient Greece), it really took place, and the Iliad, written "in hot pursuit", to a certain extent devoted to real events.
Homer
We put the words "in hot pursuit" in quotation marks because the Trojan War took place in the 13th century BC. e., and the "Iliad" was created in the IX-VIII centuries BC. e. Unfortunately, due to the prescription of years, more accurate information is not available. Yes, and the very personality of Homer causes controversy among scientists. Legends speak of him as a blind wandering singer, and some scholars argue that this is some kind of collective image.
Plowing
Of the Greek poets who have not been lost for centuries, we will name a few more names. Hesiod, considered one of the first (in time) poets of Ancient Greece (VIII-VII centuries BC), the author of the poem "Works and Days", praising peasant labor. Sappho (7th-6th centuries BC), a poetess who lived on the island of Lesvos and wrote love poems.
Trojan horse
An outstanding legacy was left by Greek historians and, above all, by the “father of history”, as he is commonly called, Herodotus, who lived in the 5th century BC. e. His works are devoted to the Greco-Persian wars, the description of the history of the Persians and Egyptians. Herodotus was the first in whose writings the name of the Scythians and a story about them appeared, which is especially important for us Russians, because the Scythians lived in the territory on which the first Slavic principalities eventually appeared.
Another famous ancient Greek historian is Thucydides (about 460 - about 400 BC), who wrote a book called "History". His work is devoted to the Peloponnesian War and is considered one of the greatest historical works of antiquity.
Plate painting
Greek science is famous for such names as Archimedes and Pythagoras
Archimedes (about 287-212 BC) not only discovered the law that bears his name, he also wrote works on hydrostatics, he was one of the first to apply mathematics to solve problems in other sciences. Archimedes is also known as an outstanding inventor. When the Romans attacked Syracuse, his hometown in Sicily, he managed to organize a defense using special engineering equipment, which allowed the townspeople to hold out for a long time against superior enemy forces.
No less famous is Pythagoras (who lived in the 6th century BC). His legacy, of course, is not limited to the proof of the theorem that bears his name. Pythagoras was an outstanding mathematician, philosopher and politician.
And the most famous philosopher of Ancient Greece is Socrates (about 470-399 BC), who became the embodiment of the sage for subsequent eras. Socrates was sentenced to death, accused of worshiping new deities, when he was just a philosopher trying to understand the world. The student of Socrates Plato (about 427 - about 348 BC) left outstanding philosophical works, the so-called dialogues - one of them contains a mention of Atlantis, an island or mainland that disappeared as a result of some natural disaster.
Socrates
Another scientist of antiquity, Aristotle (384-322 BC), was, as they would say now, a real encyclopedist - he wrote essays on biology, mathematics, astronomy, that is, on all branches of knowledge that existed then.
Aristotle and Plato
The Greek theater deserves special mention. And not only because it combines at least two types of art (the creation of dramatic works and performance), but also because the theater had a huge impact on the life of the ancient Greeks.
The structure of the solar system according to Aristarchus of Samos (320-250 BC)
It is not surprising - after all, the theater was born from cult festivals dedicated to the god Dionysius.
And these festivities were truly national. They were celebrated at the beginning of spring, which in Greece falls on the first days of January, and began with a procession to the altar of Dionysius - wine, fruit were brought to the god, and a sacrificial animal was also led. After the "ceremonial part" - the rite of sacrifice - one could also have fun: there were round dances, and dances, and verbal skirmishes, and mummers in masks and goat skins. A choir also appeared, which praised the gods, and first of all Zeus and, of course, Dionysius.
It was from these festivities, so called - Dionysius, that the Greek theater was born. It is useful to recall what the Greek words that we widely use today meant in those distant times. Theatron, to which the modern "theatre" goes back, in Greek means "a place for spectacles." Skena, to which the modern scene dates back, meant "performance area". Orchestra, to which the modern orchestra dates back, meant "a place for dancing." Tragodia, to which modern tragedy goes back, literally meant "goat song", which directly indicates the origin of the theater from pagan festivities.
theatrical mask
Dionysius gradually turned from a pagan holiday into a theatrical performance. A special performer began to be introduced into the choir of the inhabitants - an actor who recited pre-prepared texts, and this already marked the transition from the pagan rite to the theater, for which the great ancient Greek playwrights - Aeschylus (circa 525-456 BC), who turned tragedy into the dramatic genre, Sophocles (circa 496-406 BC), whose tragedies "Oedipus Rex", "Antigone", "Electra" are staged to this day, Euripides (circa 480-406 BC e.) - an outstanding reformer of the ancient theater.
Acrobats (painted vase)
The Greek theater (that is, a place for performances) was built in a hollow between the hills (fortunately, Greece is a mountainous country, and there are enough hills) and was an open cone-shaped structure, in the center of which there was an orchestra - that was the name of the round platform for the choir; just above the orchestra was the stage. Thanks to this architecture, the acoustics in the theater were excellent, and any of the spectators heard all the replicas of the actors, and in fact the Greek theaters were, by today's standards, huge and could accommodate several thousand people. Actors (and actors were only men who played female roles) always performed their roles in masks that corresponded to the character of the characters. There were tragic masks, there were comic ones.
ancient greek theater
The religion of the ancient Greeks, which played such an important role in their lives, is called polytheism (from the Greek words "poly" - "many" and "theos" - "god"), or polytheism. The Greeks believed that the world was ruled by immortal almighty beings who could be appeased with the help of sacrifices. The main gods, according to the ideas of the ancient Greeks, lived on Mount Olympus, located in northern Greece, and the main gods belonged to the thunder god Zeus, his wife Hera, the goddess of love Aphrodite, the god of the seas Poseidon, the sun god and patron of the arts Apollo, the goddess of wisdom and justice. Wars Athena. Greek mythology - a collection of legends about the life and deeds of Greek gods and heroes - is a unique and fascinating literary heritage of antiquity.
Honoring their gods, the Greeks built temples to them. The cities seemed to compete with each other - who will build the temple richer and larger, and the remains of these magnificent structures have survived to this day, testifying to the high art of the ancients.
Inside the temple there was a statue of the god to whom this temple was dedicated, and often the city treasury was also kept right there.
Greek architects created masterpieces that still amaze the world with their perfection. The Greeks used the rule of the golden section, which guided the construction of many of their structures. The rule of the golden ratio states that segment AC should be divided into two parts so that its larger part AB is related to the smaller BC in the same way that the entire segment AC is related to part AB. This principle, when used in architecture, made it possible to achieve ideal proportions, a sense of harmony.
The architectural style of the Greeks is not without reason called classical. The builders of St. Petersburg managed to repeat it, many of whose buildings, built in the 18th-19th centuries, copy the best Greek examples.
Zeus Athena
In the facade of the ancient Greek temple of the Parthenon, proportions of the golden section were found, and during excavations near the temple, compasses were found, with the help of which ancient architects and sculptors introduced the golden ratio into their creations. The Parthenon is a temple in Athens dedicated to the goddess Athena. It was built on a rock that rose to a height of about 150 m above sea level, and was visible not only from any part of the city, but also from ships sailing to Athens.
The architects surrounded the temple with a colonnade of 46 columns, and behind the columns on the wall of the building a relief frieze was made (this is the name of the ornament on the wall of the building), in the creation of which a whole team of craftsmen participated, under the guidance of the outstanding sculptor of antiquity Phidias, who was born at the beginning of the 5th century BC. e. He owns the grandiose statues of Athena Promachos on the Acropolis in Athens and Athena Parthenos. The statues were made of gold and ivory.
Apollo Venus
The ancient Greeks were first-class craftsmen, and the samples of sculpture and ceramics left from that time amaze with their high art. The Greeks adopted a lot from the masters of the Ancient East, but also brought their own style and their own unique understanding of beauty to their products.
Of course, educated people were required to create such values. And in ancient Greece there was an education system - schools, where mostly boys went after they reached the age of seven.
Parthenon
girls were also taught to read, but they were primarily prepared for the role of housewife and mother. They taught reading, writing, and music in Greek schools. The school had a playground for sports. There, the boys could engage in wrestling - after all, many of them became warriors.
Statue of goddess Nike
The training program certainly included an acquaintance with the work of the great Homer. The boys memorized entire passages from the Iliad and the Odyssey.
At the end of the school, or palestra, as it was called in Greek, young men of 16 years old from wealthy families of slave owners attended a gymnasium (this institution, of course, looks like a modern gymnasium only in its name). Here they were engaged in gymnastics, literature, philosophy, politics. Education ended at the age of 18. Gymnasiums were most widespread in the 5th-4th centuries BC. e.
The tradition of the Olympic sports so popular today was founded in ancient times by the Greeks. The first games took place in 776 BC. e. and from then on were held every four years until 394. n. e. At the time of the games, all internecine wars stopped and the best athletes came to compete in Olympia. Together with the athletes, spectators flocked to Olympia, who were rooting for their compatriots.
Literacy education (vase painting)
The games lasted five days and were dedicated to the supreme god Zeus. The competition program, of course, was not as extensive as it is today. The ancient Greeks competed in running, horse racing, long jump, wrestling, fisticuffs, discus throwing... To emphasize the importance of military disciplines, competitions in throwing darts and running in military armor were introduced into the program.
fist fighter
The most dangerous part of the program was the chariot race. Since the tracks for these races were in the shape of a circle, the chariots often collided, which happened to result in injuries or even death to the participants.
The winner was awarded an olive wreath - no other rewards existed. But they were not required. From the first games, one victory was already considered the greatest honor, the champions were greeted with enthusiasm at home when they returned to their hometowns with a victory.
Quadriga
And in their hometowns, athletes who had just competed on an equal footing at the Olympic Games were not always equal. Someone belonged to a rich family, someone to a poor one. Rich houses were built of brick, and brick walls were brought under a tiled roof. The houses were usually two-story, and the floors were laid out with mosaic tiles. If the owner could not afford tiles, then the floors on the first floor were earthen. An indispensable accessory of any house was an altar, on which sacrifices were made to the gods in order to gain their favor.
The furniture in the houses was very simple, purely functional, as they would say now, without any frills. Each house had a pantry where food supplies were stored - grain, oil, wine.
The device of the ancient Greek house
If the Greek man spent most of the day outside the home, then the lot of women was home neighborliness. A woman in a Greek house is a worker (although the hardest work was done by slaves and slaves). She and the spinning wheel, she and the cook. When a man returned home in the evening, he could bring friends with him. A cheerful company was located in a room specially designated for this, where there were special couches, as they treated themselves in those days and had philosophical disputes in a horizontal position - reclining. Such meetings were called symposia (the modern word symposium came from there, although it has nothing to do with a fun meeting with wine).
At the feasts the companions reclined
This male company was served dishes of fish, meat, vegetables, while the daily food of the ancient Greeks consisted mainly of barley bread and olive oil. The Greeks diluted wine with water, and poured it into earthenware. And although it was considered indecent to get drunk, it happened that the guests forgot about the measure, and then they could begin to sort things out, as evidenced by the paintings of some pottery, on which we see drunken fights.
Guests - and they were mostly educated and wealthy slave owners - could arrange a competition in singing and playing the lyre, could recite poetry and engage in philosophical debate. Sometimes guests were entertained by dancers - usually they were slaves, and wives were not allowed to attend such men's gatherings (or rather, “laying down”). Women had other interests and their own responsibilities.
ancient greek vases
Girls in ancient Greece were usually given in marriage at the age of about 15 years (young husbands were five years older). Before the wedding, it was customary to arrange a bath for the bride with water from a special source - this symbolized that a new life was beginning for her. A wedding feast was held in the bride's house, and the bride had to hide her face under a veil, which was removed only in the groom's house, where the young went after the feast.
mistress and maid
The bride entered the groom's house, but until the birth of her first child, she was not considered a full member of the family. True, no one freed her from performing household duties because of this. Although there is no need to talk about equality between husband and wife in the ancient Greek family, formally the wife could divorce her husband.
Artist at work
There was also no equality in Greek society, although all citizens (except, of course, slaves, who were not citizens) were free. The aristocracy played a leading role in the life of the Greek city-states - justice, administration, and the army were in their hands. And, of course, the Greek nobility did not get their livelihood by labor - for this there were slaves and simple farmers.
Weapon making
The services of slaves were also used by Greek artisans. As a rule, the craftsman owned one or two slaves who helped him in his work. The labor was exclusively manual, and the tools used were very simple. Craftsmen of the same profession settled in the same area. So, in Athens, as we know, there was a large area where about 200 potters and artists who painted ceramics lived and worked.
The Greeks, apparently, led a fairly healthy lifestyle. In any case, those Greeks who did not need to get their daily bread in the sweat of their brow. Many lived to a ripe old age. Socrates, for example, lived to be 71 years old (and died because he was forced to take poison by a court verdict), and Plato - to 79 years. On the other hand, infant mortality was also high, because then they did not know how to treat diseases that today's medicine can easily cope with. True, then many believed that diseases were sent by the gods for the faults of this or that person, and therefore the best way to cure them was to turn to the gods with a penitential prayer.
However, there were also doctors in ancient Greece, and among them such a luminary of medical science as Hippocrates, who is a remarkable example of longevity: he lived for about ninety years (about 460 - about 370 BC). The works of Hippocrates laid the foundations for future medicine, and the notion of a high moral character of a doctor is also associated with his name. Hippocrates is credited with the text of the doctor's code of ethics, called the Hippocratic Oath. This oath is taken today by young doctors, entering their difficult career.
healer
Greek doctors already understood how important exercise, fresh air, and proper nutrition were for health. They knew how to heal wounds, broken bones, they knew the healing properties of plants. However, the ancient Greeks considered the god of healing Asclepius to be the best healer - many temples were dedicated to him in Ancient Greece, in which the sick prayed for the return of their health ...
Western type of civilization: the ancient civilization of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome
The next global type of civilization that developed in antiquity was western type of civilization. It began to emerge on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and reached its highest development in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, societies that are commonly called the ancient world in the period from the 9th-8th centuries. BC e. to IV-V centuries. n. e. Therefore, the Western type of civilization can rightfully be called the Mediterranean or ancient type of civilization.
Ancient civilization has come a long way of development. In the south of the Balkan Peninsula, for various reasons, early class societies and states emerged at least three times: in the 2nd half of the 3rd millennium BC. e. (destroyed by the Achaeans); in the XVII-XIII centuries. BC e. (destroyed by the Dorians); in the IX-VI centuries. BC e. the last attempt was a success - an ancient society arose.
Antique civilization, as well as Eastern civilization, is a primary civilization. It grew directly out of primitiveness and could not take advantage of the fruits of a previous civilization. Therefore, in ancient civilization, by analogy with the eastern, in the minds of people and in the life of society, the influence of primitiveness is significant. The dominant position is religious and mythological worldview. However, this worldview has significant features. Ancient worldview cosmologically. Cosmos in Greek is not only the world. The universe, but also order, the world whole, opposing Chaos with its proportionality and beauty. This order is based on measure and harmony. Thus, in ancient culture, on the basis of worldview models, one of the important elements of Western culture is formed - rationality.
The setting for harmony throughout the cosmos was also associated with the culture-creating activity of the “ancient man”. Harmony is manifested in the proportion and connection of things, and these proportions of connection can be calculated and reproduced. Hence the formulation canon- a set of rules that determine harmony, mathematical calculations of the canon, based on observations of a real human body. The body is the prototype of the world. Cosmologism (ideas about the universe) of ancient culture anthropocentric character, i.e. man was considered as the center of the universe and the ultimate goal of the entire universe. The cosmos was constantly correlated with man, natural objects with human ones. This approach determined the attitude of people to their earthly life. The desire for earthly joys, an active position in relation to this world are the characteristic values of ancient civilization.
The civilizations of the East grew up on irrigated agriculture. Ancient society had a different agricultural basis. This is the so-called Mediterranean triad - cultivation without artificial irrigation of cereals, grapes and olives.
Unlike Eastern societies, ancient societies developed very dynamically, since from the very beginning a struggle flared up in it between the peasantry and the aristocracy, enslaved into shared slavery. Among other peoples, it ended with the victory of the nobility, and among the ancient Greeks, the demos (people) not only defended freedom, but also achieved political equality. The reasons for this lie in the rapid development of crafts and trade. The trade and craft elite of the demos quickly grew rich and economically became stronger than the landowning nobility. The contradictions between the power of the trade and craft part of the demos and the fading power of the landowning nobility formed the driving spring for the development of Greek society, which by the end of the 6th century. BC e. resolved in favor of the demos.
In ancient civilization, private property relations came to the fore, the dominance of private commodity production, oriented mainly to the market, manifested itself.
The first example of democracy appeared in history - democracy as the personification of freedom. Democracy in the Greco-Latin world was still direct. The equality of all citizens was envisaged as a principle of equal opportunities. There was freedom of speech, the election of government bodies.
In the ancient world, the foundations of civil society were laid, providing for the right of every citizen to participate in government, recognition of his personal dignity, rights and freedoms. The state did not interfere in the private life of citizens, or this interference was insignificant. Trade, crafts, agriculture, the family functioned independently of the government, but within the law. Roman law contained a system of rules governing private property relations. The citizens were law-abiding.
In antiquity, the question of the interaction of the individual and society was decided in favor of the first. The personality and its rights were recognized as primary, and the collective, society as secondary.
However, democracy in the ancient world was of a limited nature: the obligatory presence of a privileged stratum, the exclusion from its action of women, free foreigners, slaves.
Slavery also existed in the Greco-Latin civilization. Assessing its role in antiquity, it seems that the position of those researchers who see the secret of the unique achievements of antiquity not in slavery (the labor of slaves is inefficient), but in freedom, is closer to the truth. The displacement of free labor by slave labor during the period of the Roman Empire was one of the reasons for the decline of this civilization (see: Semennikova L.I. Russia in the world community of civilizations. - M., 1994. - S. 60).
Civilization of Ancient Greece. The peculiarity of Greek civilization lies in the emergence of such a political structure as "polis" - "city-state", covering the city itself and the territory adjacent to it. The policies were the first republics in the history of all mankind.
Numerous Greek cities were founded along the shores of the Mediterranean and Black Seas, as well as on the islands - Cyprus and Sicily. In the VIII-VII centuries. BC e. a large stream of Greek settlers rushed to the coast of southern Italy, the formation of large policies in this territory was so significant that it was called "Great Greece".
Citizens of policies had the right to own land, they were obliged to take part in public affairs in one form or another, and in case of war they were made up of a civil militia. In the Hellenic policies, in addition to the citizens of the city, personally free people usually lived, but deprived of civil rights; often they were immigrants from other Greek cities. At the bottom rung of the social ladder of the ancient world were completely disenfranchised slaves.
The polis community was dominated by the ancient form of ownership of land, it was used by those who were members of the civil community. Under the polis system, hoarding was condemned. AT In most policies, the supreme body of power was the people's assembly. He had the right to make a final decision on the most important polis issues. The cumbersome bureaucratic apparatus, characteristic of Eastern and all totalitarian societies, was absent in the policy. The polis was an almost complete coincidence of political structure, military organization and civil society.
The Greek world has never been a single political entity. It consisted of several completely independent states that could enter into alliances, usually voluntarily, sometimes under duress, wage wars among themselves or make peace. The sizes of most of the policies were small: usually they had only one city, where several hundred citizens lived. Each such town was the administrative, economic and cultural center of a small state, and its population was engaged not only in crafts, but also in agriculture.
In the VI-V centuries. BC e. the polis developed into a special form of the slave-owning state, more progressive than the Eastern despotisms. Citizens of the classical polis are equal in their political and legal rights. No one stood above the citizen in the polis, except for the polis collective (the idea of the sovereignty of the people). Every citizen had the right to publicly express his opinion on any issue. It became a rule for the Greeks to make any political decisions openly, jointly, after a comprehensive public discussion. In the policy, there is a separation of the highest legislative power (the people's assembly) and the executive (elected fixed-term magistracies). Thus, in Greece, the system known to us as ancient democracy is being established.
Ancient Greek civilization is characterized by the fact that it most vividly expresses the idea of the sovereignty of the people and the democratic form of government. Greece of the archaic period had a certain specificity of civilization in comparison with other ancient countries: classical slavery, a polis management system, a developed market with a monetary form of circulation. Although Greece of that time did not represent a single state, however, constant trade between individual policies, economic and family ties between neighboring cities led the Greeks to self-awareness - to be them in a single state.
The heyday of ancient Greek civilization was achieved during the period of classical Greece (VI century - 338 BC). The polis organization of society effectively carried out economic, military and political functions, became a unique phenomenon, unknown in the world of ancient civilization.
One of the features of the civilization of classical Greece was the rapid rise of material and spiritual culture. In the area of the development of material culture, the emergence of new technology and material values was noted, handicrafts developed, sea harbors were built and new cities arose, the construction of sea transport and all kinds of cultural monuments, etc., went on.
The product of the highest culture of antiquity is the civilization of Hellenism, the beginning of which was laid by the conquest by Alexander the Great in 334-328. BC e. Persian power, covering Egypt and a significant part of the Middle East to the Indus and Central Asia. The Hellenistic period lasted three centuries. In this wide space, new forms of political organization and social relations of peoples and their cultures developed - the civilization of Hellenism.
What are the features of the Hellenistic civilization? The characteristic features of the civilization of Hellenism include: a specific form of socio-political organization - a Hellenistic monarchy with elements of eastern despotism and a polis system; growth in the production of products and trade in them, the development of trade routes, the expansion of money circulation, including the appearance of gold coins; a stable combination of local traditions with the culture brought by the conquerors and settlers by the Greeks and other peoples.
Hellenism enriched the history of mankind and world civilization as a whole with new scientific discoveries. The greatest contribution to the development of mathematics and mechanics was made by Euclid (3rd century BC) and Archimedes (287-312). The versatile scientist, mechanic and military engineer Archimedes of Syracuse laid the foundations of trigonometry; he discovered the principles of analysis of infinitesimal quantities, as well as the basic laws of hydrostatics and mechanics, which were widely used for practical purposes. For the irrigation system in Egypt, an "Archimedean screw" was used - a device for pumping water. It was an obliquely located hollow pipe, inside of which there was a screw tightly attached to it. A propeller rotated with the help of people scooped up water and lifted it up.
Traveling overland created the need to accurately measure the length of the path traveled. This problem was solved in the 1st century. BC e. Alexandrian mechanic Heron. He invented a device that he called a hodometer (path meter). In our time, such devices are called taximeters.
World art has been enriched with such masterpieces as the Altar of Zeus in Pergamon, the statues of Venus de Milo and Nike of Samothrace, and the sculptural group Laocoön. The achievements of ancient Greek, Mediterranean, Black Sea, Byzantine and other cultures entered the golden fund of the Hellenistic civilization.
Civilization of Ancient Rome compared to Greece was a more complex phenomenon. According to ancient legend, the city of Rome was founded in 753 BC. e. on the left bank of the Tiber, the validity of which was confirmed by archaeological excavations of this century. Initially, the population of Rome consisted of three hundred clans, the elders of which constituted the senate; at the head of the community was the king (in Latin - reve). The king was the supreme commander and priest. Later, the Latin communities living in Latium attached to Rome received the name of plebeians (plebs-people), and the descendants of the old Roman clans, who then constituted the aristocratic stratum of the population, were called patricians.
In the VI century. BC e. Rome became a fairly significant city and was dependent on the Etruscans, who lived northwest of Rome.
At the end of the VI century. BC e. with the liberation from the Etruscans, the Roman Republic is formed, which lasted about five centuries. The Roman Republic was originally a small state, less than 1000 square meters. km. The first centuries of the republic - the time of the stubborn struggle of the plebeians for their equal political rights with the patricians, for equal rights to public land. As a result, the territory of the Roman state gradually expands. At the beginning of the IV century. BC e. it has already more than doubled the original size of the republic. At this time, Rome was captured by the Gauls, who settled somewhat earlier in the Po Valley. However, the Gallic invasion did not play a significant role in the further development of the Roman state. II and I centuries. BC e. were times of great conquests that gave Rome all the countries adjacent to the Mediterranean, Europe to the Rhine and Danube, as well as Britain, Asia Minor, Syria and almost the entire coast of North Africa. Countries conquered by the Romans outside of Italy were called provinces.
In the first centuries of the existence of Roman civilization, slavery in Rome was poorly developed. From the 2nd century BC e. the number of slaves increased due to successful wars. The situation in the republic gradually worsened. In the 1st century BC e. the war of the inferior Italians against Rome and the uprising of slaves led by Spartacus shook all of Italy. It all ended with the establishment in Rome in 30 BC. e. the sole power of the emperor, based on armed force.
The first centuries of the Roman Empire were the time of the strongest property inequality, the spread of large-scale slavery. From the 1st century BC e. the opposite process is also observed - the release of slaves into the wild. In the future, slave labor in agriculture was gradually replaced by the labor of colonies, personally free, but attached to the land of cultivators. Previously prosperous Italy began to weaken, and the importance of the provinces began to increase. The disintegration of the slaveholding system began.
At the end of the IV century. n. e. The Roman Empire is divided approximately in half - into the eastern and western parts. The Eastern (Byzantine) Empire lasted until the 15th century, when it was conquered by the Turks. Western Empire during the 5th c. BC e. was attacked by the Huns and Germans. In 410 AD e. Rome was taken by one of the Germanic tribes - the Ostrogoths. After that, the Western Empire eked out a miserable existence, and in 476 its last emperor was dethroned.
What were the reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire? They were associated with the crisis of Roman society, which was caused by the difficulties of reproduction of slaves, the problems of maintaining the manageability of a huge empire, the increasing role of the army, the militarization of political life, the reduction of the urban population and the number of cities. The Senate, the bodies of city self-government turned into a fiction. Under these conditions, the imperial government was forced to recognize the division of the empire in 395 into Western and Eastern (the center of the latter was Constantinople) and abandon military campaigns in order to expand the territory of the state. Therefore, the military weakening of Rome was one of the reasons for its fall.
The rapid fall of the Western Roman Empire was facilitated by the invasion of the barbarians, the powerful movement of Germanic tribes on its territory in the 4th-7th centuries, culminating in the creation of "barbarian kingdoms".
A brilliant connoisseur of the history of Rome, the Englishman Edward Gibbon (XVIII century), among the reasons for the fall of Rome, names the negative consequences of the adoption of Christianity (adopted officially in the IV century). It instilled in the masses a spirit of passivity, non-resistance and humility, forced them to bend meekly under the yoke of power or even oppression. As a result, the proud warlike spirit of the Roman is replaced by the spirit of piety. Christianity taught only to "suffer and submit."
With the fall of the Roman Empire, a new era in the history of civilization begins - the Middle Ages.
Thus, in the conditions of antiquity, two main (global) types of civilization were defined: the western, including European and North American, and the eastern, absorbing the civilization of the countries of Asia, Africa, including the Arab, Turkic and Asia Minor. The ancient states of the West and East remained the most powerful historical associations in international affairs: foreign economic and political relations, war and peace, establishing interstate borders, resettlement of people on an especially large scale, maritime navigation, compliance with environmental problems, etc.
topic 3 Place of the Middle Ages in the world-historical process. Civilization of Ancient Russia.
1 / The Middle Ages as a stage in world history.
Major civilizational regions
2/ Russia's place in world civilization
3/ The emergence of the Old Russian society
II semester
Historical Geography of Ancient Greece.
Written sources on the history of Ancient Greece.
Minoan civilization in Crete.
Mycenaean Greece.
Trojan War.
Dark Ages" in the history of Greece.
Greek mythology: the main plots.
Poems of Homer.
Great Greek colonization.
Sparta as a type of polis.
Formation of the policy in Athens (VIII-VI centuries BC).
Solon's reforms.
Tyranny of Pisistratus.
Reforms of Cleisthenes.
Greco-Persian Wars.
Athenian democracy in the 5th century. BC.
Athenian maritime power in the 5th century. BC.
Peloponnesian War.
The Crisis of the Polis in Greece, 4th c. BC.
Greek culture of the archaic period.
Greek culture of classical times.
Rise of Macedonia.
Campaigns of Alexander.
Hellenism and its manifestations in economics, politics, culture.
Major Hellenistic States.
Northern Black Sea region in the classical and Hellenistic era.
Periodization of the history of Rome.
Historical Geography of Rome, Italy and the Empire.
Written sources on Roman history.
Etruscans and their culture.
The royal period of the history of Rome.
Early Republic: the struggle of patricians and plebeians.
Roman conquest of Italy.
Second Punic War.
Roman conquest of the Mediterranean in the 2nd century BC. BC.
Reforms of the Gracchi brothers.
Struggle between the optimates and the popular. Marius and Sulla.
Political struggle in Rome in the 1st half. 1st century BC.
Caesar's conquest of Gaul.
Rise of Spartacus.
The struggle for power and the dictatorship of Caesar.
Struggle between Antony and Octavian.
Principate of Augustus.
Emperors from the dynasty of Tiberius-Juliev.
Roman provinces in the I-II centuries. AD and their romanization.
Golden Age" of the Roman Empire in the II century. AD
Roman culture during the civil wars.
Roman culture of the era of the principate.
The era of "soldier emperors".
Reforms of Diocletian-Constantine.
Ancient Christian church. The adoption of Christianity in the IV century.
The onslaught of the Germanic tribes on the borders of the empire in the IV-V centuries.
Eastern provinces in the IV-VI centuries. Birth of Byzantium.
Fall of the Western Roman Empire.
Culture of the Late Empire.
Antique traditions in the culture of subsequent eras.
The main features of ancient civilization, its differences from the civilizations of the Ancient East.
Ancient civilization is an exemplary, normative civilization. Events took place here, which then only repeated, there is not a single event and reality, which were not meaningful, did not occur in Other Greece and Other. Rome.
Antiquity is clear to us today, because: 1. in antiquity they lived according to the principle of "here and now"; 2. religion was superficial; 3 the Greeks had no morals, conscience, they maneuvered through life; 4 private life was a person's private life, if not affect public morality.
Not similar: 1. There was no concept of ethics (good, bad). Religion was reduced to rituals. And not to assess good and bad.
1. In ancient civilization, man is the main subject of the historical process (more important than the state or religion), in contrast to the civilization of the ancient East.
2. Culture in Western civilization is a personal creative expression, in contrast to the Eastern, where the state and religion are glorified.
3. The ancient Greek hoped only for himself, not for God, nor for the state.
4. The pagan religion for antiquity did not have a moral standard.
5. Unlike the ancient Eastern religion, the Greeks believed that life on earth is better than in the other world.
6. For the Ancient civilization, the important criteria of life were: creativity, personality, culture, i.e. self-expression.
7. In ancient civilization there was basically a democracy (people's assemblies, a council of elders), in the Other East - monarchies.
Periodization of the history of Ancient Greece.
Period
1. Civilization of Minoan Crete - 2 thousand BC - XX - XII century BC
Old palaces 2000-1700 BC - appearance of several potential centers (Knossos, Festa, Mallia, Zagross)
The period of new palaces 1700-1400 BC - the palace at Knossos (Mitaur's Palace)
Earthquake XV - the conquest of Fr. Crete from the mainland by the Achaeans.
2. Mycenaean (Achaean) civilization - XVII-XII centuries BC (Greeks, but not yet ancient)
3. The Homeric period, or the Dark Ages, or the prepolis period (XI-IX centuries BC), - tribal relations in Greece.
Period. Antique civilization
1. Archaic period (archaic) (VIII-VI centuries BC) - the formation of a polis society and state. Settlement of the Greeks along the shores of the Mediterranean and Black Seas (Great Greek colonization).
2. The classical period (classics) (V-IV centuries BC) - the heyday of ancient Greek civilization, a rational economy, a polis system, Greek culture.
3. Hellenistic period (Helinism, postclassical period) - end. IV - I in BC (expansion of the Greek world, dwindling kul-ra, lightened historical period):
Eastern campaigns of Alexander the Great and the formation of a system of Hellenistic states (30s of the 4th century, BC - 80s of the 3rd century BC);
The functioning of Hellenistic societies and states (80s of the 3rd century BC, - the middle of the 2nd century BC);
The crisis of the Hellenistic system and the conquest of the Hellenistic states by Rome in the West and Parthia in the East (mid-2nd century - 1st century BC).
3. Historical geography of Ancient Greece.
The geographical boundaries of ancient Greek history were not constant, but changed and expanded as historical development progressed. The main territory of the ancient Greek civilization was the Aegean region, i.e. Balkan, Asia Minor, Thracian coast and numerous islands of the Aegean Sea. From the 8th-9th centuries. BC, after a powerful colonization movement from the Aeneid region, known as the Great Greek colonization, the Greeks mastered the territories of Sicily and South. Italy, which received the name Magna Graecia, as well as the Black Sea coast. After the campaigns of A. Macedon at the end of the 4th century. BC. and the conquest of the Persian state on its ruins in the Near and Middle East up to India, Hellenistic states were formed and these territories became part of the ancient Greek world. In the Hellenistic era, the Greek world covered a vast territory from Sicily in the west to India in the East, from the Northern Black Sea region in the north, to the first rapids of the Nile in the south. However, in all periods of ancient Greek history, the Aegean region was considered its central part, where Greek statehood and culture were born and reached their dawn.
The climate is Eastern Mediterranean, subtropical with mild winters (+10) and hot summers.
The relief is mountainous, the valleys are isolated from each other, which prevented the construction of communications and assumed the maintenance of nat-go agriculture in each valley.
There is an indented coastline. There was communication by sea. The Greeks, although they were afraid of the sea, mastered the Aegean Sea, did not go out to the Black Sea for a long time.
Greece is rich in minerals: marble, iron ore, copper, silver, wood, good quality pottery clay, which provided the Greek craft with a sufficient amount of raw materials.
The soils of Greece are stony, moderately fertile and difficult to cultivate. However, the abundance of sun and the mild subtropical climate made them favorable for agricultural activities. There were also spacious valleys (in Boeotia, Laconica, Thessaly), suitable for agriculture. In agriculture, there was a triad: cereals (barley, wheat), olives (olives), from which oil was produced, and its pomace was the basis of lighting, and grapes (a universal drink that did not spoil in this climate, wine 4 -5%). Cheese was made from milk.
Cattle breeding: small cattle (sheep, bulls), poultry, because there was nowhere to turn around.
4. Written sources on the history of Ancient Greece.
In ancient Greece, history is born - special historical writings.
In the 6th century BC, logographs appeared - word writings, the first prose, and a description of memorable events. The most famous are the logographs of Hecatea (540-478 BC) and Hellanicus (480-400 BC).
The first historical study was the work "History" by Herodotus (485-425 BC), who was called "the father of history" by Cicero in ancient times. "History" - the main type of prose, has public and private significance, explains the whole history as a whole, broadcasts, transmits information to descendants. The work of Herodotus differs from the chronicles, chronicles in that there are causes of events. The purpose of the work is to present all the information brought to the author. The work of Herodotus is devoted to the history of the Greco-Persian wars and consists of 9 books, which in the III century. BC e. were named after 9 muses.
Another outstanding work of Greek historical thought was the work of the Athenian historian Thucydides (about 460-396 BC), dedicated to the events of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC). The work of Thucydides consists of 8 books, they outline the events of the Peloponnesian War from 431 to 411 BC. e. (The work was left unfinished.) However, Thucydides does not confine himself to a thorough and detailed description of military operations. He also gives a description of the internal life of the belligerents, including the relationship between different groups of the population and their clashes, changes in the political system, while partially selecting information.
A diverse literary legacy was left by Thucydides' younger contemporary, historian and publicist Xenophon of Athens (430-355 BC). He left behind many different works: "Greek History", "Education of Cyrus", "Anabasis", "Domostroy".
The first Greek literary monuments - Homer's epic poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey" - are practically the only sources of information on the history of the dark ages of the XII - VI centuries. BC e., i.e.
Among the writings of Plato (427-347 BC), his extensive treatises "State" and "Laws", written in the last period of his life, are of the greatest importance. In them, Plato, starting from an analysis of the socio-political relations of the middle of the 6th century. BC e., offers his version of the reorganization of Greek society on new, fair, in his opinion, principles.
Aristotle owns treatises on logic and ethics, rhetoric and poetics, meteorology and astronomy, zoology and physics, which are informative sources. However, the most valuable works on the history of Greek society in the 4th c. BC e. are his writings on the essence and forms of the state - "Politics" and "The Athenian Poured".
Of the historical writings that give a coherent presentation of the events of Hellenistic history, the most important are the works of Polybius (the work details the history of the Greek and Roman world from 280 to 146 BC) and Diodorus' Historical Library.
A great contribution to the study of history Dr. Greece also has the works of Strabo, Plutarch, Pausanias, and others.
Mycenaean (Achaean) Greece.
Mycenaean civilization or Achaean Greece- a cultural period in the history of prehistoric Greece from the 18th to the 12th centuries BC. e., Bronze Age. It got its name from the city of Mycenae on the Peloponnese peninsula.
Internal sources are Linear B tablets deciphered after World War 2 by Michael Ventris. They contain documents on economic reporting: taxes, on the lease of land. Some information about the history of the Archean kings is contained in Homer's poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey", the works of Herodotus, Thucydides, Aristotle, which is confirmed by archeological data.
The creators of the Mycenaean culture were the Greeks - the Achaeans, who invaded the Balkan Peninsula at the turn of III-II millennium BC. e. from the north, from the region of the Danube lowland or from the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region, where they originally lived. The aliens partially destroyed and devastated the settlements of the conquered tribes. The remnants of the pre-Greek population gradually assimilated with the Achaeans.
In the early stages of its development, Mycenaean culture was strongly influenced by the more advanced Minoan civilization, for example, some cults and religious rites, fresco painting, plumbing and sewage, styles of men's and women's clothing, some types of weapons, and finally, a linear syllabary.
The heyday of the Mycenaean civilization can be considered the XV-XIII centuries. BC e. The most significant centers of the early class society were Mycenae, Tiryns, Pylos in the Peloponnese, in Central Greece Athens, Thebes, Orchomenos, in the northern part of Iolk - Thessaly, which never united into one state. All states were at war. Male warlike civilization.
Almost all Mycenaean palaces-fortresses were fortified with Cyclopean stone walls, which were built by free people, and were citadels (for example, the Tiryns citadel).
The bulk of the working population in the Mycenaean states, as in Crete, were free or semi-free peasants and artisans, who were economically dependent on the palace and were subject to labor and natural duties in its favor. Among the artisans who worked for the palace, blacksmiths occupied a special position. Usually they received from the palace the so-called talasiya, that is, a task or lesson. Craftsmen who were involved in public service were not deprived of personal freedom. They could own land and even slaves like all other members of the community.
At the head of the palace state was a "vanaka" (king), who occupied a special privileged position among the ruling nobility. The duties of Lavagete (commander) included the command of the armed forces of the Pylos kingdom. C ar and military leader concentrated in their hands the most important functions of both economic and political nature. Directly subordinate to the ruling elite of society were numerous officials who acted locally and in the center and together constituted a powerful apparatus for the oppression and exploitation of the working population of the Pylos kingdom: carters (governors), basilei (supervised production).
All land in the kingdom of Pylos was divided into two main categories: 1) land of the palace, or state, and 2) land belonging to individual territorial communities.
Mycenaean civilization survived two invasions from the north with an interval of 50 years. In the period between the invasions, the population of the Mycenaean civilization united with the goal of dying with glory in the Trojan War (not a single Trojan hero returned home alive).
Internal reasons for the death of the Mycenaean civilization: a fragile economy, an undeveloped simple society, which led to destruction after the loss of the top. The external cause of death is the invasion of the Dorians.
Civilizations of the Eastern type are not suitable for Europe. Crete and Mycenae are the parents of antiquity.
7. Trojan War.
The Trojan War, according to the ancient Greeks, was one of the most significant events in their history. Ancient historians believed that it occurred around the turn of the XIII-XII centuries. BC e., and began with it a new - "Trojan" era: the ascent of the tribes inhabiting Balkan Greece to a higher level of culture associated with life in cities. Numerous Greek myths were told about the campaign of the Greek Achaeans against the city of Troy, located in the northwestern part of the peninsula of Asia Minor - Troad, later combined into a cycle of legends - cyclic poems, among them the poem "Iliad", attributed to the Greek poet Homer. It tells about one of the episodes of the final, tenth year of the siege of Troy-Ilion.
The Trojan War, according to the myths, began at the will and fault of the gods. All the gods were invited to the wedding of the Thessalian hero Peleus and the sea goddess Thetis, except for Eris, the goddess of discord. The angry goddess decided to take revenge and threw a golden apple with the inscription "To the most beautiful" to the feasting gods. Three Olympian goddesses, Hera, Athena and Aphrodite, argued which of them it was meant for. Zeus ordered the young Paris, the son of the Trojan king Priam, to judge the goddesses. The goddesses appeared to Paris on Mount Ida, near Troy, where the prince was tending herds, and each tried to seduce him with gifts. Paris preferred the love offered to him by Aphrodite to Helen, the most beautiful of mortal women, and handed the golden apple to the goddess of love. Helena, daughter of Zeus and Leda, was the wife of the Spartan king Menelaus. Paris, who was a guest in the house of Menelaus, took advantage of his absence and, with the help of Aphrodite, convinced Helen to leave her husband and go with him to Troy.
Offended, Menelaus, with the help of his brother, the powerful king of Mycenae Agamemnon, gathered a large army to return his unfaithful wife and stolen treasures. All the suitors who once wooed Elena and swore an oath to defend her honor came to the call of the brothers: Odysseus, Diomedes, Protesilaus, Ajax Telamonides and Ajax Oilid, Philoctetes, the wise old man Nestor and others. Achilles, the son of Peleus and Thetis. Agamemnon was chosen as the leader of the entire army, as the ruler of the most powerful of the Achaean states.
The Greek fleet, numbering a thousand ships, assembled at Aulis, a harbor in Boeotia. To ensure the fleet's safe navigation to the shores of Asia Minor, Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to the goddess Artemis. Having reached Troas, the Greeks tried to return Helen and the treasures by peaceful means. Odysseus and Menelaus went as messengers to Troy. The Trojans refused them, and a long and tragic war began for both sides. The gods also took part in it. Hera and Athena helped the Achaeans, Aphrodite and Apollo helped the Trojans.
The Greeks could not immediately take Troy, surrounded by powerful fortifications. They built a fortified camp on the seashore near their ships, began to devastate the outskirts of the city and attack the allies of the Trojans. In the tenth year, Agamemnon insulted Achilles by taking away the captive Briseis from him, and he, angry, refused to enter the battlefield. The Trojans took advantage of the inaction of the bravest and strongest of their enemies and went on the offensive, led by Hector. The Trojans were also helped by the general fatigue of the Achaean army, which had been unsuccessfully besieging Troy for ten years.
The Trojans broke into the Achaean camp and almost burned their ships. The closest friend of Achilles, Patroclus, stopped the onslaught of the Trojans, but he himself died at the hands of Hector. The death of a friend makes Achilles forget about the offense. Trojan hero Hector dies in a duel with Achilles. The Amazons come to the aid of the Trojans. Achilles kills their leader Penthesilea, but soon dies himself, as predicted, from the arrow of Paris, directed by the god Apollo.
A decisive turning point in the war occurs after the arrival of the hero Philoctetes from the island of Lemnos and the son of Achilles Neoptolemus to the camp of the Achaeans. Philoctetes kills Paris, and Neoptolemus kills an ally of the Trojans, the Mysian Eurynil. Left without leaders, the Trojans no longer dare to go out to battle in the open field. But the powerful walls of Troy reliably protect its inhabitants. Then, at the suggestion of Odysseus, the Achaeans decided to take the city by cunning. A huge wooden horse was built, inside which a select detachment of warriors hid. The rest of the army took refuge not far from the coast, near the island of Tenedos.
Surprised by the abandoned wooden monster, the Trojans gathered around him. Some began to offer to bring the horse into the city. Priest Laocoön, warning about the treachery of the enemy, exclaimed: "Beware of the Danaans (Greeks), who bring gifts!" But the speech of the priest did not convince his compatriots, and they brought a wooden horse into the city as a gift to the goddess Athena. At night, the warriors hidden in the belly of the horse come out and open the gate. The secretly returned Achaeans break into the city, and the beating of the inhabitants taken by surprise begins. Menelaus with a sword in his hands is looking for an unfaithful wife, but when he sees the beautiful Elena, he is unable to kill her. The entire male population of Troy perishes, with the exception of Aeneas, the son of Anchises and Aphrodite, who received an order from the gods to flee the captured city and revive its glory elsewhere. The women of Troy became captives and slaves of the victors. The city perished in a fire.
After the death of Troy, strife begins in the Achaean camp. Ajax Oilid incurs the wrath of the goddess Athena on the Greek fleet, and she sends a terrible storm, during which many ships sink. Menelaus and Odysseus are carried by a storm to distant lands (described in Homer's poem "The Odyssey"). The leader of the Achaeans, Agamemnon, after returning home, was killed along with his companions by his wife Clytemnestra, who did not forgive her husband for the death of her daughter Iphigenia. So, not at all triumphant, the campaign against Troy ended for the Achaeans.
The ancient Greeks did not doubt the historical reality of the Trojan War. Thucydides was convinced that the ten-year siege of Troy described in the poem was a historical fact, only embellished by the poet. Separate parts of the poem, such as the "catalog of ships" or the list of the Achaean army under the walls of Troy, are written as a real chronicle.
Historians of the XVIII-XIX centuries. were convinced that there was no Greek campaign against Troy and that the heroes of the poem are mythical, not historical figures.
In 1871, Heinrich Schliemann began excavations of the Hissarlik hill in the northwestern part of Asia Minor, identifying it as the location of ancient Troy. Then, following the instructions of the poem, Heinrich Schliemann conducted archaeological excavations in the "gold-abundant" Mycenae. In one of the royal graves discovered there, there were - for Schliemann there was no doubt about this - the remains of Agamemnon and his companions, strewn with gold ornaments; Agamemnon's face was covered with a golden mask.
The discoveries of Heinrich Schliemann shocked the world community. There was no doubt that Homer's poem contains information about real events and their real heroes.
Later, A. Evans discovered the palace of the Minotaur on the island of Crete. In 1939, the American archaeologist Carl Blegen discovered the "sandy" Pylos, the habitat of the wise old man Nestor on the western coast of the Peloponnese. However, archeology has established that the city that Schliemann took for Troy existed for a thousand years before the Trojan War.
But it is impossible to deny the existence of the city of Troy somewhere in the northwestern region of Asia Minor. Documents from the archives of the Hittite kings testify that the Hittites knew both the city of Troy and the city of Ilion (in the Hittite version of "Truis" and "Vilus"), but, apparently, as two different cities located in the neighborhood, and not one under a double title, like in a poem.
Poems of Homer.
Homer is considered the author of two poems - the Iliad and the Odyssey, although the question of whether Homer actually lived or whether he is a legendary person has not yet been resolved in modern science. The set of problems associated with the authorship of the Iliad and the Odyssey, their emergence and fate until the moment of recording, has received the name "Homeric question".
In Italy, G. Vico (17th century) and in Germany, fr. Wolf (18) recognized the folk origin of the poems. In the 19th century, the “theory of small songs” was proposed, from which both poems subsequently arose mechanically. The Grain Theory assumes that the Iliad and the Odyssey are based on a small poem, which over time has acquired details and new episodes as a result of the work of new generations of poets. Unitarians denied the participation of folk art in the creation of Homeric poems, they considered them as a work of art created by one author. At the end of the 19th century, a theory of the folk origin of poems was proposed as a result of the gradual natural development of collective epic creativity. Synthetic theories arose in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, according to which the Iliad and the Odyssey appear to be an epic edited by one or two poets.
The plots of both poems date back to the Mycenaean time, which is confirmed by numerous archaeological materials. The poems reflect the Cretan-Mycenaean (the end of the 12th century - information about the Trojan War), Homeric (XI-IX - most of the information, because the information about the Mycenaean time did not reach oral form), early archaic (VIII-VII) era.
The content of the Iliad and the Odyssey was based on legends from the cycle myths about the Trojan War, that took place in the 13th-12th centuries. BC uh. The plot of the Iliad is the anger of the Thessalian hero Achilles at the leader of the Greek troops besieging Troy, Agamemnon, because he took away his beautiful captive. The oldest part of the Iliad is the 2nd song about the "Lists of ships". The plot of the Odyssey is the return of the island of Ithaca by Odysseus to his homeland after the Greeks destroyed Troy.
The poems were written down in Athens under the tyrant Peisistratus, who wanted to show that there was a sole power in Greece. The poems acquired their modern form in the 2nd century BC during the Alexandrian monsoon (the Hellenistic era).
Meaning of the poems: a book for learning to read and write, the "handbook" of the Greeks.
One of the most important compositional features of the Iliad is the "law of chronological incompatibility" formulated by Thaddeus Frantsevich Zelinsky. It consists in the fact that “In Homer the story never returns to the point of its departure. It follows from this that Homer's parallel actions cannot be depicted; Homer's poetic technique knows only a simple, linear dimension. Thus, sometimes parallel events are depicted as sequential, sometimes one of them is only mentioned or even hushed up. This explains some imaginary contradictions in the text of the poem.
A complete translation of the Iliad into Russian in the size of the original was made by N. I. Gnedich (1829), the Odyssey by V. A. Zhukovsky (1849).
Sparta as a type of polis.
The Spartan state was located in the south of the Peloponnese. The capital of this state was called Sparta, and the state itself was called Laconia. Polis could not be conquered, but only destroyed. All policies developed, but only Sparta in the 6th century. mothballed.
The main sources on the history of the Spartan state are the works of Thucydides, Xenophon, Aristotle and Plutarch, the poems of the Spartan poet Tyrtaeus. Archaeological materials acquire significance.
During the IX-VIII centuries BC, the Spartans waged a stubborn struggle with neighboring tribes for dominance over Laconia. As a result, they managed to subdue the area from the southern borders of the Arcadian Highlands to the Capes Tenar and Malea on the southern coast of the Peloponnese.
In the 7th century BC, an acute land hunger began to be felt in Sparta, and the Spartans undertook an aggressive campaign in Messenia, also inhabited by the Dorians. As a result of two Messenian warriors, the territory of Messenia was annexed to Sparta, and the bulk of the population, with the exception of the inhabitants of some coastal cities, was turned into helots.
The fertile lands in Laconia and Messenia were divided into 9,000 allotments and were distributed to the Spartans. Each allotment was processed by several families of helots, who were obliged to support the Spartan and his family with their labor. The Spartan could not dispose of his allotment, sell it or leave it as an inheritance to his son. Nor was he the master of the helots. He had no right to sell or release them. Both the land and the helots belonged to the state.
Three population groups formed in Sparta: the Spartans (the conquerors themselves were Dorians), the perieks (the inhabitants of small towns scattered at some distance from Sparta, along the borders, called periekami ("living around"). They were free, but did not have civil rights) and helots (dependent population).
ephors - in the highest control and administrative body of Sparta. Elected for a year in the number of 5 people. They monitor the behavior of citizens, being overseers in relation to the enslaved and dependent population. They declare war on the helots.
The constant threat of a helot rebellion, looming under the ruling class of Sparta, demanded from him maximum unity and organization. Therefore, simultaneously with the redistribution of land, the Spartan legislator Lycurgus carried out a whole series of important social reforms:
Only a strong and healthy person could become a real warrior. When a boy was born, his father brought him to the elders. The baby was examined. A weak child was thrown into the abyss. The law obliged each Spartiate to send their sons to special camps - agels (lit. Herd). Boys were taught to read and write only for practical purposes. Education was subordinated to three goals: to be able to obey, courageously endure suffering, win or die in battles. . The boys were engaged in gymnastic and military exercises, learned to wield weapons, live in a Spartan way. They walked all year round in one cloak (himation). They slept on hard cane, plucked with bare hands. They fed them starving. To be dexterous and cunning in war, teenagers learned to steal. The boys even competed to see which of them would endure the beatings longer and more worthily. The winner was praised, his name became known to everyone. But some died under the rods. The Spartans were excellent warriors - strong, skillful, brave. The laconic saying of one Spartan woman who accompanied her son to war was famous. She gave him a shield and said: "With a shield or on a shield!"
Sparta also paid great attention to the education of women, who were highly respected. To give birth to healthy children, you need to be healthy. Therefore, the girls did not do household chores, but gymnastics and sports, they knew how to read, write, and count.
According to the law of Lycurgus, special joint meals were introduced - sisstia.
The principle of equality was put at the heart of the "Lykurgov system", they tried to stop the growth of property inequality among the Spartans. In order to withdraw gold and silver from circulation, iron obols were put into circulation.
The Spartan state forbade all foreign trade. It was only internal and took place in local markets. The craft was poorly developed, it was carried out by the perieks, who made only the most necessary utensils for equipping the Spartan army.
All transformations contributed to the consolidation of society.
The most important elements of the political system of Sparta are the dual royal power, the council of elders (gerousia) and the popular assembly.
The people's assembly (apella), in which all full-fledged citizens of Sparta took part, approved the decisions taken by the kings and elders at their joint meeting.
Council of Elders - Gerousia consisted of 30 members: 28 geronts (elders) and two kings. Gerontes were elected from Spartans no younger than 60 years old. The kings received power by inheritance, but their rights in everyday life were very small: military leaders during military operations, judicial and religious functions in peacetime. Decisions were made at a joint meeting of the council of elders and kings.
The city of Sparta itself had a modest appearance. There were not even defensive walls. The Spartans said that the best defense of a city was not the walls, but the courage of its citizens.
By the middle of the 6th c. BC. Corinth, Sicyon and Megara were subordinated, as a result of which the Peloponnesian Union was formed, which became the most significant political association of Greece at that time.
Solon's reforms
Solon went down in history as an outstanding reformer, who largely changed the political face of Athens and thus made it possible for this policy to outstrip other Greek cities in its development.
The socio-economic and political situation in Attica continued to deteriorate for almost the entire 7th century. BC e. The social differentiation of the population led to the fact that already a significant part of all Athenians eked out a miserable existence. The poor peasants lived in debt, paid huge interest, mortgaged the land, gave their rich fellow citizens up to 5/6 of the harvest.
The failure in the war for the island of Salamis with Megara at the end of the 7th century added fuel to the fire.
Solon. came from an ancient but impoverished noble family, was engaged in maritime trade and was thus connected both with the aristocracy and with the demos, whose members respected Solon for honesty. Pretending to be crazy, he publicly called on the Athenians for revenge in verse. His poems caused a great public outcry, which saved the poet from punishment. He was instructed to assemble and lead the fleet and army. In a new war, Athens defeated Megara, and Solon became the most popular man in the city. In 594 BC. e. he was elected the first archon (eponym) and was also instructed to perform the functions of aisimnet, that is, he was supposed to become an intermediary in settling social issues.
Solon resolutely undertook reforms. To begin with, he conducted the so-called sisachfia (literally "shaking off the burden"), according to which all debts were canceled. Mortgage debt stones were removed from the mortgaged land plots, for the future it was forbidden to borrow money against the mortgage of people. Many peasants got their plots back. The Athenians sold abroad were redeemed at public expense. These events in themselves improved the social situation, although the poor were unhappy that Solon did not carry out the promised redistribution of land. On the other hand, the archon established the maximum maximum rate of land ownership and introduced freedom of will - from now on, if there were no direct heirs, it was possible to transfer property by will to any citizen, allowing land to be given to non-members of the clan. This undermined the power of the tribal nobility, and also gave a powerful impetus to the development of small and medium landownership.
Solon carried out a monetary reform, making the Athenian coin lighter (reducing the weight) and thereby increasing the monetary circulation in the country. He allowed olive oil to be exported abroad and wine was forbidden to export grain, thus contributing to the development of the most profitable sector of Athenian agriculture for foreign trade and preserving scarce bread for fellow citizens. A curious law was adopted to develop yet another progressive branch of the national economy. According to the law of Solon, sons could not provide for their parents in old age if they had not taught the children some trade in their time.
The most important changes took place in the political and social structure of the Athenian state. Instead of the former estates, Solon introduced new ones based on the property qualification he had carried out (census and income records). From now on, the Athenians, whose annual income was at least 500 medimns (about 52 liters) of bulk or liquid products, were called pentakosiamedimns and belonged to the first category, at least 300 medimns - horsemen (second rank), at least 200 medimns - zeugites (third rank) , less than 200 medimns - feta (fourth category).
From now on, the Areopagus, the bule and the People's Assembly were the highest state bodies. The bule was a new organ. It was the Council of Four Hundred, where each of the four Athenian phyla elected 100 people. All issues and laws were to be discussed in the bule before they were subject to consideration in the National Assembly. The National Assembly itself (ekklesia) under Solon began to gather much more often and acquired greater importance. The archon decreed that during the period of civil strife, every citizen should take an active political position under the threat of deprivation of civil rights.
3. Western type of civilization: the ancient civilization of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome
The next global type of civilization that developed in antiquity was western type of civilization. It began to emerge on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and reached its highest development in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, societies that are commonly called the ancient world in the period from the 9th-8th centuries. BC e. to IV-V centuries. n. e. Therefore, the Western type of civilization can rightfully be called the Mediterranean or ancient type of civilization.
Ancient civilization has come a long way of development. In the south of the Balkan Peninsula, for various reasons, early class societies and states emerged at least three times: in the 2nd half of the 3rd millennium BC. e. (destroyed by the Achaeans); in the XVII-XIII centuries. BC e. (destroyed by the Dorians); in the IX-VI centuries. BC e. the last attempt was a success - an ancient society arose.
Antique civilization, as well as Eastern civilization, is a primary civilization. It grew directly out of primitiveness and could not take advantage of the fruits of a previous civilization. Therefore, in ancient civilization, by analogy with the eastern, in the minds of people and in the life of society, the influence of primitiveness is significant. The dominant position is religious and mythological worldview. However, this worldview has significant features. Ancient worldview cosmologically. Cosmos in Greek is not only the world. The universe, but also order, the world whole, opposing Chaos with its proportionality and beauty. This order is based on measure and harmony. Thus, in ancient culture, on the basis of worldview models, one of the important elements of Western culture is formed - rationality.
The setting for harmony throughout the cosmos was also associated with the culture-creating activity of the “ancient man”. Harmony is manifested in the proportion and connection of things, and these proportions of connection can be calculated and reproduced. Hence the formulation canon- a set of rules that determine harmony, mathematical calculations of the canon, based on observations of a real human body. The body is the prototype of the world. Cosmologism (ideas about the universe) of ancient culture anthropocentric character, i.e. man was considered as the center of the universe and the ultimate goal of the entire universe. The cosmos was constantly correlated with man, natural objects with human ones. This approach determined the attitude of people to their earthly life. The desire for earthly joys, an active position in relation to this world are the characteristic values of ancient civilization.
The civilizations of the East grew up on irrigated agriculture. Ancient society had a different agricultural basis. This is the so-called Mediterranean triad - cultivation without artificial irrigation of cereals, grapes and olives.
Unlike Eastern societies, ancient societies developed very dynamically, since from the very beginning a struggle flared up in it between the peasantry and the aristocracy, enslaved into shared slavery. Among other peoples, it ended with the victory of the nobility, and among the ancient Greeks, the demos (people) not only defended freedom, but also achieved political equality. The reasons for this lie in the rapid development of crafts and trade. The trade and craft elite of the demos quickly grew rich and economically became stronger than the landowning nobility. The contradictions between the power of the trade and craft part of the demos and the fading power of the landowning nobility formed the driving spring for the development of Greek society, which by the end of the 6th century. BC e. resolved in favor of the demos.
In ancient civilization, private property relations came to the fore, the dominance of private commodity production, oriented mainly to the market, manifested itself.
The first example of democracy appeared in history - democracy as the personification of freedom. Democracy in the Greco-Latin world was still direct. The equality of all citizens was envisaged as a principle of equal opportunities. There was freedom of speech, the election of government bodies.
In the ancient world, the foundations of civil society were laid, providing for the right of every citizen to participate in government, recognition of his personal dignity, rights and freedoms. The state did not interfere in the private life of citizens, or this interference was insignificant. Trade, crafts, agriculture, the family functioned independently of the government, but within the law. Roman law contained a system of rules governing private property relations. The citizens were law-abiding.
In antiquity, the question of the interaction of the individual and society was decided in favor of the first. The personality and its rights were recognized as primary, and the collective, society as secondary.
However, democracy in the ancient world was of a limited nature: the obligatory presence of a privileged stratum, the exclusion from its action of women, free foreigners, slaves.
Slavery also existed in the Greco-Latin civilization. Assessing its role in antiquity, it seems that the position of those researchers who see the secret of the unique achievements of antiquity not in slavery (the labor of slaves is inefficient), but in freedom, is closer to the truth. The displacement of free labor by slave labor during the period of the Roman Empire was one of the reasons for the decline of this civilization (see: Semennikova L.I. Russia in the world community of civilizations. - M., 1994. - S. 60).
Civilization of Ancient Greece. The peculiarity of Greek civilization lies in the emergence of such a political structure as "policy" - "city-state", covering the city itself and the territory adjacent to it. The policies were the first republics in the history of all mankind.
Numerous Greek cities were founded along the shores of the Mediterranean and Black Seas, as well as on the islands - Cyprus and Sicily. In the VIII-VII centuries. BC e. a large stream of Greek settlers rushed to the coast of southern Italy, the formation of large policies in this territory was so significant that it was called "Great Greece".
Citizens of policies had the right to own land, they were obliged to take part in public affairs in one form or another, and in case of war they were made up of a civil militia. In the Hellenic policies, in addition to the citizens of the city, personally free people usually lived, but deprived of civil rights; often they were immigrants from other Greek cities. At the bottom rung of the social ladder of the ancient world were completely disenfranchised slaves.
The polis community was dominated by the ancient form of ownership of land, it was used by those who were members of the civil community. Under the polis system, hoarding was condemned. AT In most policies, the supreme body of power was the people's assembly. He had the right to make a final decision on the most important polis issues. The cumbersome bureaucratic apparatus, characteristic of Eastern and all totalitarian societies, was absent in the policy. The polis was an almost complete coincidence of political structure, military organization and civil society.
The Greek world has never been a single political entity. It consisted of several completely independent states that could enter into alliances, usually voluntarily, sometimes under duress, wage wars among themselves or make peace. The sizes of most of the policies were small: usually they had only one city, where several hundred citizens lived. Each such town was the administrative, economic and cultural center of a small state, and its population was engaged not only in crafts, but also in agriculture.
In the VI-V centuries. BC e. the polis developed into a special form of the slave-owning state, more progressive than the Eastern despotisms. Citizens of the classical polis are equal in their political and legal rights. No one stood above the citizen in the polis, except for the polis collective (the idea of the sovereignty of the people). Every citizen had the right to publicly express his opinion on any issue. It became a rule for the Greeks to make any political decisions openly, jointly, after a comprehensive public discussion. In the policy, there is a separation of the highest legislative power (the people's assembly) and the executive (elected fixed-term magistracies). Thus, in Greece, the system known to us as ancient democracy is being established.
Ancient Greek civilization is characterized by the fact that it most vividly expresses the idea of the sovereignty of the people and the democratic form of government. Greece of the archaic period had a certain specificity of civilization in comparison with other ancient countries: classical slavery, a polis management system, a developed market with a monetary form of circulation. Although Greece of that time did not represent a single state, however, constant trade between individual policies, economic and family ties between neighboring cities led the Greeks to self-awareness - to be them in a single state.
The heyday of ancient Greek civilization was achieved during the period of classical Greece (VI century - 338 BC). The polis organization of society effectively carried out economic, military and political functions, became a unique phenomenon, unknown in the world of ancient civilization.
One of the features of the civilization of classical Greece was the rapid rise of material and spiritual culture. In the area of the development of material culture, the emergence of new technology and material values was noted, handicrafts developed, sea harbors were built and new cities arose, the construction of sea transport and all kinds of cultural monuments, etc., went on.
The product of the highest culture of antiquity is the civilization of Hellenism, the beginning of which was laid by the conquest by Alexander the Great in 334-328. BC e. Persian power, covering Egypt and a significant part of the Middle East to the Indus and Central Asia. The Hellenistic period lasted three centuries. In this wide space, new forms of political organization and social relations of peoples and their cultures developed - the civilization of Hellenism.
What are the features of the Hellenistic civilization? The characteristic features of the civilization of Hellenism include: a specific form of socio-political organization - a Hellenistic monarchy with elements of eastern despotism and a polis system; growth in the production of products and trade in them, the development of trade routes, the expansion of money circulation, including the appearance of gold coins; a stable combination of local traditions with the culture brought by the conquerors and settlers by the Greeks and other peoples.
Hellenism enriched the history of mankind and world civilization as a whole with new scientific discoveries. The greatest contribution to the development of mathematics and mechanics was made by Euclid (3rd century BC) and Archimedes (287-312). The versatile scientist, mechanic and military engineer Archimedes of Syracuse laid the foundations of trigonometry; he discovered the principles of analysis of infinitesimal quantities, as well as the basic laws of hydrostatics and mechanics, which were widely used for practical purposes. For the irrigation system in Egypt, an "Archimedean screw" was used - a device for pumping water. It was an obliquely located hollow pipe, inside of which there was a screw tightly attached to it. A propeller rotated with the help of people scooped up water and lifted it up.
Traveling overland created the need to accurately measure the length of the path traveled. This problem was solved in the 1st century. BC e. Alexandrian mechanic Heron. He invented a device that he called a hodometer (path meter). In our time, such devices are called taximeters.
World art has been enriched with such masterpieces as the Altar of Zeus in Pergamon, the statues of Venus de Milo and Nike of Samothrace, and the sculptural group Laocoön. The achievements of ancient Greek, Mediterranean, Black Sea, Byzantine and other cultures entered the golden fund of the Hellenistic civilization.
Civilization of Ancient Rome compared to Greece was a more complex phenomenon. According to ancient legend, the city of Rome was founded in 753 BC. e. on the left bank of the Tiber, the validity of which was confirmed by archaeological excavations of this century. Initially, the population of Rome consisted of three hundred clans, the elders of which constituted the senate; at the head of the community was the king (in Latin - reve). The king was the supreme commander and priest. Later, the Latin communities living in Latium attached to Rome received the name of plebeians (plebs-people), and the descendants of the old Roman clans, who then constituted the aristocratic stratum of the population, were called patricians.
In the VI century. BC e. Rome became a fairly significant city and was dependent on the Etruscans, who lived northwest of Rome.
At the end of the VI century. BC e. with the liberation from the Etruscans, the Roman Republic is formed, which lasted about five centuries. The Roman Republic was originally a small state, less than 1000 square meters. km. The first centuries of the republic - the time of the stubborn struggle of the plebeians for their equal political rights with the patricians, for equal rights to public land. As a result, the territory of the Roman state gradually expands. At the beginning of the IV century. BC e. it has already more than doubled the original size of the republic. At this time, Rome was captured by the Gauls, who settled somewhat earlier in the Po Valley. However, the Gallic invasion did not play a significant role in the further development of the Roman state. II and I centuries. BC e. were times of great conquests that gave Rome all the countries adjacent to the Mediterranean, Europe to the Rhine and Danube, as well as Britain, Asia Minor, Syria and almost the entire coast of North Africa. Countries conquered by the Romans outside of Italy were called provinces.
In the first centuries of the existence of Roman civilization, slavery in Rome was poorly developed. From the 2nd century BC e. the number of slaves increased due to successful wars. The situation in the republic gradually worsened. In the 1st century BC e. the war of the inferior Italians against Rome and the uprising of slaves led by Spartacus shook all of Italy. It all ended with the establishment in Rome in 30 BC. e. the sole power of the emperor, based on armed force.
The first centuries of the Roman Empire were the time of the strongest property inequality, the spread of large-scale slavery. From the 1st century BC e. the opposite process is also observed - the release of slaves into the wild. In the future, slave labor in agriculture was gradually replaced by the labor of colonies, personally free, but attached to the land of cultivators. Previously prosperous Italy began to weaken, and the importance of the provinces began to increase. The disintegration of the slaveholding system began.
At the end of the IV century. n. e. The Roman Empire is divided approximately in half - into the eastern and western parts. The Eastern (Byzantine) Empire lasted until the 15th century, when it was conquered by the Turks. Western Empire during the 5th c. BC e. was attacked by the Huns and Germans. In 410 AD e. Rome was taken by one of the Germanic tribes - the Ostrogoths. After that, the Western Empire eked out a miserable existence, and in 476 its last emperor was dethroned.
What were the reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire? They were associated with the crisis of Roman society, which was caused by the difficulties of reproduction of slaves, the problems of maintaining the manageability of a huge empire, the increasing role of the army, the militarization of political life, the reduction of the urban population and the number of cities. The Senate, the bodies of city self-government turned into a fiction. Under these conditions, the imperial government was forced to recognize the division of the empire in 395 into Western and Eastern (the center of the latter was Constantinople) and abandon military campaigns in order to expand the territory of the state. Therefore, the military weakening of Rome was one of the reasons for its fall.
The rapid fall of the Western Roman Empire was facilitated by the invasion of the barbarians, the powerful movement of Germanic tribes on its territory in the 4th-7th centuries, culminating in the creation of "barbarian kingdoms".
A brilliant connoisseur of the history of Rome, the Englishman Edward Gibbon (XVIII century), among the reasons for the fall of Rome, names the negative consequences of the adoption of Christianity (adopted officially in the IV century). It instilled in the masses a spirit of passivity, non-resistance and humility, forced them to bend meekly under the yoke of power or even oppression. As a result, the proud warlike spirit of the Roman is replaced by the spirit of piety. Christianity taught only to "suffer and submit."
With the fall of the Roman Empire, a new era in the history of civilization begins - the Middle Ages.
Thus, in the conditions of antiquity, two main (global) types of civilization were defined: the western, including European and North American, and the eastern, absorbing the civilization of the countries of Asia, Africa, including the Arab, Turkic and Asia Minor. The ancient states of the West and East remained the most powerful historical associations in international affairs: foreign economic and political relations, war and peace, establishing interstate borders, resettlement of people on an especially large scale, maritime navigation, compliance with environmental problems, etc.
topic 3
Place of the Middle Ages in the world-historical process. Civilization of Ancient Russia.
1/ Middle Ages as a stage of world history.
Major civilizational regions
2/ Russia's place in world civilization
3/ The emergence of the Old Russian society
1. The Middle Ages as a stage in world history. Major civilizational regions
The era of Antiquity in Europe is replaced by the Middle Ages. What is the name of this era? The concept of "Middle Age" was introduced by Italian humanists, who thus wanted to emphasize the fundamental difference between the culture of their time and the previous historical period. They believed that they were really reviving the culture of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. And the period between the fall of the Roman Empire and their own time was presented to them as an inter-time, a period of cultural decline, when nothing worthy of attention happened in the life of Europeans, when religious fanaticism dominated and illiteracy reigned. In other words, for the development of culture, this is an empty period of time, about which there is nothing meaningful to say - “medium aerum” - “Middle Ages”.
For Italian humanists, the "Middle Age" is the "Dark Age". On the contrary, historians of the so-called "romantic" school, many religious thinkers looked at medieval society as an ideal society, which is the exact opposite of modern "civilized" society. As you can see, there are extremes in the assessment of the Middle Ages. It is necessary to clarify the concept of the Middle Ages and specifically understand what is the significance of the Middle Ages in world history in general and in the history of Russia in particular.
In historiography, there are different opinions about the definition of the time frame of the Middle Ages. Historians of the Annaly school date the Middle Ages to the beginning of the 2nd-3rd centuries. n. e. - the end of the XVIII century. Most historians are inclined to date the beginning of the Middle Ages to the 5th century AD. e. - the end of the 16th - the middle of the 17th centuries. Within the millennium period of the Middle Ages, it is customary to distinguish at least three periods:
Early Middle Ages - V c. - the beginning of the XI century.
Classical Middle Ages - XI-XV centuries.
Late Middle Ages - XV century. - mid-17th century
The Middle Ages has special typological features that distinguish it from other historical eras.
medieval society - it is, for the most part, an agrarian society based on manual labor and feudal socio-economic relations. The main economic cell of this society is the economy of the direct producer - the peasant under the conditions of private ownership of the feudal lords on the main means of production of that time - the land.
This society is characterized by a stable and inactive system of values and ideas, based on religious precepts and the teachings of the church. Medieval man is largely focused on his inner world, intense spiritual life, the creation of prerequisites for the "salvation" of the soul, the achievement of the "Kingdom of God".
Important characterological features of this society are also the desire for internal unity and external isolation, the corporate isolation of estates and other social groups, and the weak development of individualism.
At the same time, it should be noted that despite the conservative nature of the general value and worldview attitudes, medieval society is an internally dynamic society. Quite complex ethnogenetic and cultural-creative processes took place in it. During the Middle Ages, the birth and formation of modern peoples take place: French, Germans, British, Spaniards, Italians, Czechs, Poles, Bulgarians, Russians, Serbs, etc. The Middle Ages created a new urban way of life, high examples of spiritual and artistic culture, including institutions of scientific knowledge and education, among which are highlight the institution of the university. All this, taken together, gave a powerful impetus to the development of world civilization.
We have given a generalized description of the Middle Ages. In real history, civilizational processes in different regions had their own significant differences. The main civilizational regions of the Middle Ages were Asia and Europe.
In Asia in accordance with the specific features of the cultural heritage, geographical environment, economic system, social organization and religion, a Arab-Muslim civilization. To some extent, it is the historical successor of the eastern type of civilization and shows all the most characteristic features of it. The distinctive features of this form of civilization are associated with the characteristics of its culture. This culture is based on Arabic language, creeds and the cult of Islam. Islam (Islamism) (Arabic - “submission”) arose in the 7th century. n. e. on the Arabian Peninsula. The foundation of the Muslim religion is the belief in the one God of Allah and Muhammad as his messenger, as well as the steadfast observance of the five basic cult prescriptions, the so-called "pillars of faith", the pronunciation of the main creed during worship: "There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger" , daily prayer five times (namaz), fasting (uraza) in the month of Ramadan, obligatory payment of tax (zalyat), pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj). Faith in divine predestination is strongly expressed in Islam, the idea of unconditional obedience to the divine will, which left a deep imprint on the entire way of life and Islamic culture.
Islam was formed in the Arab environment. The birthplace of Islam is the Arab cities of Mecca and Medina. The adoption of Islam by the Arab tribes contributed to their consolidation, on the basis of Islam a powerful state grew - the Arab Caliphate, which during its heyday included Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Khiva, Bukhara, Afghanistan, a significant part of Spain, Armenia, Georgia. Islam contributed not only to the political consolidation of the peoples included in the Arab Caliphate, but also facilitated trade relations and economic interaction of regions with different economies. Active trade in the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean stimulated the development of crafts and agriculture. The Arab-Muslim world was distinguished by a high level of urbanization (urban development). Baghdad was considered one of the greatest cities of the then world. Here they traded timber, porcelain, furs, spices, silk, wine, everything that was produced in India, East Africa, China, and Central Asia. An unusually original and vibrant culture was created in the Middle Ages in the Arab-Muslim East. The Arabic "zero" added to the Babylonian numeral system made a real revolution in mathematics.
Arab astronomy, medicine, algebra, philosophy, no doubt, were an order of magnitude higher than the European science of that time. The irrigation system of the fields, some agricultural crops (rice, citrus fruits) were borrowed by Europeans from the Arabs. The Arab-Muslim influence on medieval Europe was mainly limited to borrowing certain innovations and discoveries. The reason is one - religious differences. Christian Europe preferred to inflame religious hatred of Islam, seeing in Muhammad the incarnation of the Antichrist. The sermon against the "infidels" laid the foundation for the crusades (end of the 11th-end of the 13th centuries).
In Europe The Middle Ages is the period of the formation of a new form of Western civilization - European Christian civilization. European civilization is being formed on the territory of the former Roman Empire. The Roman Empire, as noted above, split into two parts: the Eastern (Byzantine) and Western Roman Empire. The Western Roman Empire ceased to exist as a result of internal contradictions and the invasion of the so-called "barbarians" in 476. Therefore, the civilizational processes in both parts of the Roman Empire, along with general laws, also had significant differences. As a result of these differences, two varieties of European civilization were formed - eastern and western. The formation of European civilization took place as a result of the synthesis of ancient civilization and the barbarian way of life during the processes of Romanization, Christianization, the formation of statehood and culture of the new peoples of Europe.
The cultural base of European civilization is antiquity. Byzantium never broke with antiquity. Its culture, economic activity and political institutions were largely based on the ancient tradition and were organic forms of its development. The greatest originality of the Byzantine way of life is associated with the modernization that Christianity acquired in Byzantium.
Christianity in antiquity was not a single organization. On the territory of the Roman Empire, there were a number of Christian churches that had doctrinal, ritual and organizational differences. Between the leadership of these churches there was a fierce struggle for hegemony in the Christian world. This struggle was most actively waged by the head of the Western Roman Church - the Pope of Rome and the head of the Byzantine Church - the Patriarch of Constantinople. The Pope of Rome declared himself the vicar of Jesus Christ, the successor of the Apostle Peter, the supreme pontiff of the Ecumenical (Catholic) Church, while the Patriarch of Constantinople took the title of Ecumenical Patriarch of the Orthodox, i.e., the truly Christian Church, since he recognized the decisions of only the first seven Ecumenical Councils of Christian churches. The formal act of splitting Christianity into the Catholic and Orthodox churches was the mutual anathema (church curse) to which the Pope of Rome and the Patriarch of Constantinople betrayed each other on June 16, 1054.
The Byzantine Empire as an independent state disappeared in the 15th century. But it laid the foundations of Eastern European civilization, the bearers of which are Russians, Bulgarians, Greeks, Serbs, Ukrainians, Belarusians and many other peoples of Europe.
The formation of Western European Catholic civilization is associated with the great migration of peoples - the invasion of the so-called barbarians into the Roman Empire: numerous Germanic tribes, Huns, etc. The degree of backwardness, "barbarism" of these peoples should not be exaggerated. Many of them by the III-V centuries. had a fairly developed agriculture, owned crafts, including metallurgy, were organized in tribal unions on the principles of military democracy, maintained lively trade contacts with the Romans and with each other.
Thus, penetration beyond the Rhine and Danube began long before the start of mass migrations. Separate Germanic tribal unions from the III century. n. e. settled on the territory of the Roman Empire and, as federate allies, were included in the Roman army. Their tribal aristocracy received a good ancient education, achieved significant influence in the political life of Roman society and in the military leadership. Thus, by the beginning of the great migration of peoples in Western Europe, a rather intensive process of Romanization of the barbarian peoples was already underway. Mass invasions of barbarian tribes at the initial stage of the Medieval era to some extent slowed down this process. Conquest wars, the destruction of the former statehood of the Western Roman Empire were accompanied by the decline and destruction of the centers of cultural life - cities, the destruction of cultural monuments, and a decrease in the general cultural level of the region.
However, already in the period of the early Middle Ages, Western Europe began to overcome these consequences of aggressive wars and revive. In the V-VII centuries. on the territory occupied by barbarian tribes, new state formations begin to form, and the 7th-10th centuries. they flourish. Among these states, first the kingdom, and then the empire of the Franks, which reached the highest point of its development during the reign of Charlemagne (768-814), the kingdom of the Germans - transformed under King Otto I in 962 into the Holy Roman Empire are especially distinguished.
New state formations for the regulation of social relations carried out a large law-making activity (capitulary of Charlemagne, etc.), in which they largely relied on Roman law. At the court of the emperor, special learned societies are formed, in which thinkers from different countries participate, ancient Latin and Greek manuscripts are collected and copied, and schools are created at the bishoprics to train competent clergy and officials (judges, secretaries, scribes, etc.) .
With the creation of strong state formations, trade and craft begin to revive, which contribute to the rapid rise of cities and the urban culture associated with it. In the classical Middle Ages, scientific and educational centers began to take shape in cities - the first universities appeared.
Among all the achievements of ancient civilization, a special place belongs to Christianity. Despite the internal contradictions of the Christian churches, Christianity is the spiritual basis of all European civilization. In the conditions of the collapse of the Roman Empire, its political and economic institutions, the decline of culture, Christianity and its organizations - the Catholic and Orthodox Church - for many centuries were the only spiritual and social institutions common to all countries and peoples of Europe. Christianity formed a single worldview, moral norms, values and patterns of behavior, and the Catholic and Orthodox churches were not only spiritual, but also very influential political organizations. Therefore, the process of formation of European civilization to a large extent was Christianization process- familiarizing pagan peoples with Christian culture, beliefs and customs, joining Christian organizations - the Catholic and Orthodox churches.
Even in the days of the Roman Empire, the church carried out extensive missionary activities on the periphery of the empire among the barbarians. At the end of the 4th century, and especially in the 5th century, many of the neighboring barbarian tribes had already adopted Christianity. Later, the newly formed medieval states pursued an aggressive policy. The capture of certain peoples, as a rule, was accompanied by their forced Christianization.
The influence of the church on state affairs in Western Europe is evidenced by the fact that medieval kings sought to legitimize their leadership by receiving signs of royal power from the hands of the pope or his representatives during the coronation rite. In the eyes of the Western European peoples, the Pope of Rome remained the only authority of the shaken but not vanished authority of Great Rome. In 800 Charlemagne, king of the Franks, was crowned emperor of the Romans in Rome. In 962 the Saxon king Otto I was crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by the Pope.
The Catholic Church possessed colossal material resources. She owned a significant amount of land, large financial resources. For a long period, she waged a struggle with secular sovereigns for political power. In 751, a theocratic state (the Exarchate of Ravenna) was created in Western Europe on the territory of Italy, in which the Pope of Rome was both spiritual and secular leader. The jurisdiction of the spiritual authority of the pope was not limited to the equal exarchate. It spread throughout Western Europe.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church repeatedly came up with ideas that initiated broad social movements. The most striking of these ideas is the idea of liberating the Holy Sepulcher and Christian shrines from infidels, which formed the basis of the so-called crusades.
The Catholic Church occupied an exceptional position in the field of education and science. Monasteries were the centers of education in the Middle Ages. The monasteries had rich libraries, scriptoria (workshops for copying books), contained elementary schools. Under the full control of the church were the medieval centers of scientific research and higher education - universities.
So, on the basis of economic, political and cultural processes in the medieval world, the main civilizational regions were formed: Arab-Muslim, Western European and Eastern European. All events of medieval history, economic activity, trade, wars, exchange of cultural achievements and ideas.
