General and special in the development of ancient Eastern statehood.

Chapter 2

§ 3. The most ancient states

Civilizations of the Ancient World

The period of primitiveness in the most developed regions of the earth at that time ended at the turn of the 4th - 3rd millennium BC. It is being replaced by a period called civilization (from Latin civilis - state, civil). The word "civilization" is connected with the word "city". The construction of cities is one of the first signs of the birth of civilization.

Civilization finally took shape after the emergence of states. Gradually, a culture characteristic of civilization was formed. A huge role in the life of ancient society began to play writing, the emergence of which is also considered the most important sign of the transition to civilization.

Civilization differed among different peoples. The development of civilization was influenced by natural and climatic conditions, the circumstances of the historical formation of peoples, etc. Sometimes the term "civilization" refers to the history of a particular people or state (ancient Egyptian civilization, Sumerian civilization, Chinese civilization, ancient Greek civilization, Roman civilization, etc.). However, all the civilizations of the Ancient World had a lot in common, which makes it possible to combine them into two groups - the ancient Eastern and ancient civilizations.

The states in the valleys of the great rivers - the Nile, the Euphrates and the Tigris, the Indus, the Yellow River - became the oldest form of ancient Eastern civilization. Then states began to emerge outside the river valleys.

All ancient Eastern states were characterized by the enormous power of the rulers-monarchs, which was strengthened by state officials, who also played a key public role.

The predominant population was the peasantry, united, as a rule, in communities. The non-free part of the population was represented by slaves. Ancient Oriental society can be compared to a pyramid: at the top - the ruler, in the middle part - bureaucracy, at the base - peasants and slaves.

Ancient civilization developed later. It mainly covered the Mediterranean region. True, the first states here are also usually attributed to the ancient Eastern civilization. However, later, for reasons that are not yet fully explained, development took a different path.

In the structure of ancient states, the features of self-government began to predominate. The rulers were elected at popular assemblies, the role of state bodies was performed by the former community structures, for example, the council of elders (Areopagus, Senate). Later, self-government was replaced by monarchical power. In ancient states, a significant part of the population lived in cities. Along with agriculture, handicrafts and trade acquired great importance. Slave labor played a significant role.

Ancient Egypt

The inhabitants of Egypt created one of the first civilizations in the Nile Valley - a fertile strip from 1 to 20 km along both banks of the river, expanding into the delta.

Once a year, the Nile overflowed its banks, and streams of water, destroying everything in its path, filled the valley. Spills were a disaster for its inhabitants, but they brought masses of fertile silt. Thanks to the silt, the land gave unprecedented harvests, but in order to save crops, complex irrigation facilities had to be built and maintained in the valley.

The first states in Egypt are called nomes. In the IV millennium BC. in Egypt there were about forty nomes. The needs of the development of agriculture led to the unification of the entire Nile Valley. After long wars, two states remained - Upper and Lower Egypt. Upper Egypt (Southern Kingdom) was located in the upper reaches of the Nile, Lower Egypt (Northern Kingdom) - in the Nile Delta. The rulers of Egypt are called pharaohs. Around 3000 B.C. the ruler of Upper Egypt, Mene (Mena), united the country.

The history of Ancient Egypt is divided into Early (3000 - 2800 BC), Ancient (2800 - 2250 BC), Middle (2050 - 1750 BC), New (1580 -1085 BC) and Later (1085 - 525 BC) kingdoms ruled by pharaohs of about thirty dynasties.

The main occupation of the Egyptians was agriculture. Soft soil was loosened with a hoe or a light plow. For a long time, the Egyptians used a wooden sickle with microliths to harvest. Later, agricultural tools made of copper and bronze appeared. The Egyptian documents also speak of artisans of many dozens of professions.

Even in ancient times, communities in Egypt disappeared, and the entire population was united under the rule of the pharaoh. Every year, officials held a review of children who had reached working age. They selected the strongest into the army, the most quick-witted were appointed junior priests. The rest were assigned to various jobs: someone became a farmer, someone a builder, someone an artisan.

Initially, Egyptian farmers worked on the farms of the pharaoh, the nobility and temples. Later, they began to allocate a plot of arable land to their property. The work of artisans was organized in a similar way. The most difficult types of work were performed by slaves, as a rule, foreigners.

The state power in Egypt had the character of despotism.

Despotism is a form of government in which the ruler has unlimited power.

By order of the pharaoh, construction of irrigation facilities, work on the construction of cities, fortresses and temples were carried out; the pharaoh established the laws, was the high priest, he commanded the army and at the head of it fought the enemies. The pharaoh was revered as a living god.

The period of the Old Kingdom was the time of the greatest power of the pharaohs. However, over time, the central government weakened, and the state broke up into nomes. In the era of the Middle Kingdom, Egypt was united under the rule of the ruler of one of the southern nomes with the capital in Thebes. Around 1680 BC hordes of Hyksos nomads attacked Egypt from Asia. The Middle Kingdom also broke up into separate nomes, who paid tribute to the conquerors. Only Thebes did not submit.

In the fight against the Hyksos, the Theban pharaohs relied on ordinary warriors, who were given small plots of land for their service. Pharaoh Ahmose I, who became the founder of the 18th dynasty, in 1580 BC. managed to drive the Hyksos out of Egypt.

The pharaohs of the New Kingdom period fought constant wars. Egypt received huge tribute, and the number of slaves increased. The state reached its greatest power under Pharaoh Amenhotep III (1455-1419 BC). However, powerful powers soon appeared in Western Asia, which began a struggle with Egypt. With varying success, this struggle continued for about two centuries. Eventually the Egyptian forces were exhausted. In the country itself there was a struggle between pharaohs, nobles and priests. In 525 BC Egypt was conquered by Persia.

City-states of Sumer

At the same time or even earlier than in Egypt, a civilization developed in southern Mesopotamia (Mesopotamia, or Mesopotamia - between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris). This land, like the Nile Valley, had extraordinary fertility, and the birth of civilization was also associated with the need to build and use irrigation systems.

Mesopotamia was inhabited by different peoples. The Semites lived in the north. In the south, the first tribes appeared, whose linguistic affiliation scientists cannot establish. In the V - IV millennia BC. the Sumerians came to southern Mesopotamia - also a people of unknown origin. They built cities, created the most ancient writing - cuneiform. The Sumerians are also considered the inventors of the wheel.

In the IV millennium BC. Sumerian cities became the centers of small states, similar to the Egyptian nomes. They are called city-states: Uruk, Kish, Lagash, Umma, Ur.

Some cities at times managed to subdue neighboring city-states, but the unity of Sumer, unlike Egypt, was fragile. The first serious attempt to create a unified state was made in the 24th century. BC. Sargon the Ancient. He came from the lower classes of society, was a Semite, who increasingly settled in Sumer. Sargon conquered vast lands, introduced uniform measures of length, area and weight in his kingdom. Under him, canals and dams were actively built.

At the end of the XXII century. BC. the Kingdom of Sumer and Akkad arose. It is known for its centralized organization of power and economic life. Everyone worked on state land under the strict control of officials. Around 2000 B.C. the kingdom of Sumer and Akkad was captured by nomadic Semitic tribes. Over time, the Sumerians merged with the Semites and other peoples of Mesopotamia. The inhabitants spoke Semitic languages, and the Sumerian language remained the language of writing, science and culture.

Babylonian kingdom. Laws of Hammurabi

At the beginning of the II millennium BC. the city of Babylon on the Euphrates was strengthened. Under King Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC), the Babylonians conquered almost all of Mesopotamia. We have detailed information about the life of the Babylonian kingdom thanks to the famous laws of Hammurabi. This well-thought-out code served as a model for the subsequent legislation of many states. According to the laws of Hammurabi, all land in the country belonged to the king. Peasant communities and nobility were considered land users. A significant role in the economic life was played by slaves from among the prisoners. There was another source of slavery: they sold their children into slavery for debts, and sometimes themselves, but the law limited debt slavery.

Eastern Mediterranean in antiquity

In the areas adjacent to the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, the ancient Eastern civilization had a peculiar form. Trade routes from Egypt to Mesopotamia, from Asia and Africa to Europe ran here.

A narrow strip of the Mediterranean coast on the territory of modern Lebanon and part of Syria was called Phoenicia. Here was one of the oldest centers of agriculture. Due to the presence of many minerals, handicrafts also flourished. But the main occupation of the inhabitants of Phenicia was international trade. The Phoenicians sold their goods - wood, resin, purple fabrics, glass, metals. Intermediary trade was even more important for them.

In Phoenicia, several city-states arose, among which the city of Tire stood out. In the X century. BC. the king extended his influence to other cities, although the Phoenicians did not have a single state. For a significant part of its history, Phenicia was dependent on Egypt, and later on the states of Western Asia, but at the same time retained internal self-government.

The Phoenicians became famous as brave sailors. Back in the II millennium BC. they reached the Iberian Peninsula, where they built the city of Gades, which later became the Center for mining and trading in silver and tin. At the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. Phoenician settlements (colonies) spread throughout the Mediterranean coast. Over time, the colonies became independent states, although they kept in touch with Tire and other cities of Phoenicia. The largest of the states - the former colonies - was Carthage.

The Phoenicians are the creators of the world's first alphabet, the letters of which denoted only consonants. The Phoenician alphabet was borrowed and improved by the ancient Greeks. Through them, the alphabet came to the Romans and formed the basis of most modern writing systems (Latin). Slavic and later Russian alphabets were created on the basis of the Greek alphabet.

The Phoenicians had comprehensive ties with another people of the Eastern Mediterranean - the ancient Jews. In the middle of the II millennium BC. part of the tribes of Mesopotamia moved west. The settlers formed a new people who called themselves "ibrim" (Jews), which meant "crossed the river." The farmers of the Eastern Mediterranean fought the newcomers, but partly mixed with them. Later, the Jews encountered the Philistines here - newcomers from Europe. From the name "Philistines" came the word "Palestine".

Around the 13th century BC. Jewish (Israeli) tribes have become the dominant force in Palestine. In addition to cattle breeding, they also began to engage in agriculture. At the end of the XI century. the Israeli-Jewish kingdom is formed. It flourished in the 10th century. BC. under kings David and his son Solomon. Then the united state broke up into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. In 722 BC the kingdom of Israel perished. In 587 BC Jerusalem, the capital of Judah, was captured by the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, and many Jews were taken into Babylonian captivity. Later, the Kingdom of Judah was reborn as a dependent state.

Ancient Civilizations of the Indus Valley

The first settlements of farmers and pastoralists in India arose in the 4th millennium BC. in the valley of the Indus River. In addition to wheat, barley, peas, melons, and later cotton were grown in the Indus Valley. By the second half of the III millennium BC. here the Harappan civilization is formed.

The oldest Indian cities are striking in their size. Some of them were inhabited by 100 thousand people.

The decline of the ancient civilization of India began about 600 years after its emergence. At the beginning of the II millennium BC. the first cities perish. The last of these disappeared after 1500 BC. The cause of the death of the Harappan civilization is not exactly known. It is believed that the climate worsened, the Indus changed its course and stopped irrigating the fields, the jungle began to attack the cities.

India under Aryan rule

In the II millennium BC. Aryans appeared in India. This is how the Indo-European tribes who came to India from the steppes of Eastern Europe called themselves. It used to be thought that it was the Aryans who destroyed the Harappan civilization, but now it has been proven that the first cities died about 500 years before they arrived. Nevertheless, the Aryans waged cruel wars with the inhabitants of India, exterminated and enslaved them. These wars are described in the sacred books of the Aryans - the Vedas - collections of hymns in honor of the gods. There was also a merging of the Aryans with the local peoples. The conquerors adopted their farming techniques, and they began to speak the language of the Aryans.

In the north of India, in the valley of the Ganges River, small states were formed, headed by the leaders of the Aryans - the Rajas.

A feature of the Aryan society was its division into classes - varnas: priests (brahmins), warriors and rulers (kshatriyas), farmers, cattle breeders and some artisans (vaishyas). After the arrival of the Aryans in India, class boundaries became insurmountable. Members of the third varna, formerly free community members, fell into dependence and began to be considered as part of the fourth, lower, varna of shudras - servants.

Later, the inhabitants of India were divided into even smaller groups according to occupation. These groups - castes existed along with the Varnas. There were castes of blacksmiths, weavers, fishermen, merchants, etc. Some people occupied such a low position that they were not included in any castes (untouchables). They lived outside the villages so as not to defile the rest of the inhabitants.

Later, the rights and obligations of each varna were written in the laws of Manu (Manu is the legendary progenitor of people). This is a collection that establishes the rules of behavior, the relationship of various varnas. In the first place were the Brahmins. However, in reality, the kshatriyas were often much more powerful than the brahmins. Wealthy people also met among artisans or farmers, and even in the Shudra varna. On the contrary, there were many impoverished Brahmins leading a beggarly life.

The community played a huge role in the life of India. The Indians had to do a lot of work together: clearing fields from tropical trees, building irrigation facilities, fighting predators, etc. Fields, canals, dams remained in the possession of the community.

The Birth of Ancient Chinese Civilization

Ancient Chinese civilization arose in the middle reaches of the Yellow River. Initially, the ancestors of the Chinese inhabited only the valley of this river. Later, they also captured the Yangtze River valley, where the ancestors of modern Vietnamese lived in ancient times.

The soil in the Huang He valley and its tributaries was very soft and fertile, but the river, often changing its course, destroyed the fields and washed away entire villages along with the inhabitants. The construction of dams, dams and canals here was necessary not only for the development of agriculture - the very possibility of life in those places depended on it.

In the middle of the II millennium BC. in the Huang He valley lived the Shang tribe, one of the first to master agriculture. Shang united several tribes into an alliance, which turned into the state of Shang (Yin) headed by a king (wang). The Shang state waged constant wars. The main purpose of the wars was the capture of prisoners for sacrifice. Archaeologists find burials with tens of thousands of beheaded people.

Gradually, other tribes also have the beginnings of the state. The Zhou tribe put up a particularly strong resistance to the Shang state. Its ruler united the neighboring tribes and defeated the bloody state of Shang. In the state of Zhou, human sacrifice was discontinued, but many of the achievements of the Shang survived. Wang Zhou began to call their country the Middle Kingdom, or the Middle Kingdom. At the beginning of the 8th century BC. Zhou has declined. The governors of large regions declared themselves vans, only formally recognizing the power of the Zhou ruler.

QUESTIONS AND TASKS

What are the signs by which scientists speak about the origin of civilization. What were the main differences between the ancient Eastern and ancient civilizations.

How was the state formed in Egypt? Describe the main stages of the history of ancient Egypt.

What peoples inhabited Mesopotamia in ancient times?

What states of Mesopotamia do you know? Why, in your opinion, did united states in ancient Mesopotamia turn out to be relatively short-lived?

What can we learn about the life of the Babylonians from the laws of Hammurabi?

What were the features of the history of Phenicia? Which of the achievements of the Phoenicians had a particularly great impact on the development of mankind?

How did the ancient Jews appear in Palestine? Briefly describe the history of this people.

How was the life of Indian society arranged after the arrival of the Aryans?

When and how did civilization develop in China? Tell us about the first Chinese states.

Compare the ancient Eastern states known to you. List the common features and characteristics of each.

Document

From the laws of King Hammurabi

117. If a person has a debt and will give for silver or give his wife, his son or his daughter into debt bondage, [then] they must serve in the house of their buyer or lender for three years; in the fourth year they should be set free.

118. If he gives a slave or a slave into debt bondage, [then] the usurer can transfer [him or her] further, can give [him or her] for silver; [he or she] cannot be demanded [or demanded back] by legal process...

QUESTIONS TO THE DOCUMENT

How did the laws restrict debt slavery? Why do you think this was done?

Based on the document, draw a diagram showing the composition of Babylonian society.

Civilization; - ancient civilization... primitive to civilization. Ancient Egypt: natural conditions, population. emergence states in Ancient Egypt. ...

The work program of the curriculum of the history of the Ancient World for the 5th grade for the 2013 2014 academic year

Working programm

Formation of man and human society, with the most important civilizations ancient peace. In this case, only the general ... , plow, inequality, know, classes, State. Section 2 Ancient East. Civilization, pharaoh, tax, artisans, farmers...

Educational and methodological complex in the discipline "History of the Ancient World" direction of preparation

Training and metodology complex

... states. Forms and functions ancient states. Features of the social structure of ancient Eastern societies. State and communities. Contribution ancient civilizations ... . The oldest civilization Middle East. - M., 1982. Nemirovsky A.I. Ancient world, ...

The program of the course "History of the Ancient World"

Course program

Training equipment: map " Ancient Greece"; map " ancient states peace". Topic 22. Greece and the island ... I.A. Seven Wonders ancient peace. M., 1966. Oppenheim L. Ancient Mesopotamia. Portrait of the deceased civilization/ Per. with him...

General and special in the development of ancient Eastern statehood

The concept of the East is used in science as geographical, historical, cultural and civilizational. Of particular acuteness is always the dispute about the peculiarities of development and the "lag" of the East in comparison with Western civilization. Since at the moment it is not our task to study the subject of this dispute, let us dwell on a brief description of the East.

From a geographical point of view, we call the states that appeared in Ancient Egypt, Ancient Mesopotamia, Ancient China, Ancient India, by ancient Eastern states.

At present, the most common is the civilizational approach to characterizing the level of development of states. From the standpoint of this approach, awareness of the national, racial and cultural specifics of the countries and peoples of the East is brought to the fore.

Thanks to the testimonies of Christian missionaries, in the 16th - 17th centuries, who were the first to draw attention to the significant difference between the regions in the political structure and value orientations of people, two directions appeared in the assessment of the East: panegyric and critical. Within the framework of the first, the East, and, above all, China - a country of general prosperity, learning and enlightenment - was set as an example to European monarchs as a model of wisdom in governance. Within the framework of the second, attention was focused on the spirit of stagnation and slavery that reigned in the eastern despotisms.

Features of the formation of despotic ancient Eastern states were due, first of all, to geographical factors. Economic work on the creation of irrigation facilities played an important role in the formation of statehood. The main task of the emerging state apparatus was the organization of public works for the construction of canals to combat drought.

In ancient Egypt, where nomadic tribes first lived on the banks of the Nile, people gradually switched to a settled life. They acquired labor skills, learned to cope with the annual floods, and distributed the waters of the Nile over vast areas with the help of canals and water-lifting devices. Irrigation work, due to its complexity and laboriousness, required skillful organization. It began to be carried out by specially appointed people who were able not only to organize the execution of the necessary work, but also to control the entire course of irrigation construction.

A similar climate existed in Asia Minor, where the Babylonian kingdom arose. The plain along two large rivers - the Tigris and the Euphrates - only gets wet by the end of spring. And here, too, great efforts were required to turn the swamps formed by the floods and the steppes that dry up after the floods into lands suitable for agriculture. In addition, irrigation facilities had to be constantly maintained in order.

The earliest state forms (proto-states) began to take shape in ancient Eastern civilizations - in Ancient Egypt, Ancient Mesopotamia, Ancient China, Ancient India as early as the 4th-3rd millennia BC. in the course of the decomposition of the communal-tribal organization. They arose as the division of labor deepened, the complexity of managerial functions, and at the same time, the transformation of people who performed these functions into an estate that did not take part in the production process, standing above ordinary community members. The strengthening of the position of the rural community was facilitated by the collective efforts of its members to create irrigation facilities. The community had a huge impact not only on slowing down the process of class formation, but also on the forms of land ownership, methods of exploitation in the states of the Ancient East. The community itself was the owner of the land. Its rights to the land were expressed in the fact that there were actually communal lands, as well as in the right of control by the community over how the owner disposes of his land. The state also acted as the owner of the land, its power-proprietary rights were expressed and implemented in the form of receiving a tax - land rent from community members.

In the process of the emergence of administrative structures, royal temple households began to take shape. They were created in different ways: primarily through the appropriation of communal lands. Here, the labor of slaves and other categories of forced persons began to be used early. Only people who performed this or that work for the state or were in the public service could own plots of royal temple lands.

In connection with the multistructural nature of economic life, a rather variegated social composition of the ancient Eastern states was formed, which was represented mainly by three social class formations:

1. The lowest layer - various categories of people who do not have the means of production, dependent forced laborers, as well as slaves.

2. The communal peasants and artisans are free small producers who live by their own labor.

3. The dominant social stratum, which included the court and service aristocracy, the commanding staff of the army, the wealthy top of the agricultural communities.

There were categories of the dependent population, occupying intermediate positions between the free and the slaves, as well as people occupying a transitional position from the middle to the dominant stratum. There were no clear boundaries in the social class structure at this stage.

Thus, the despotic states that emerged in the East were characterized by the absence of private property and economic classes. In these societies, the dominance of the administrative apparatus and the principle of centralized redistribution (tribute, taxes, duties) was combined with the autonomy of communities and other social corporations in solving all internal problems. The arbitrariness of power in contact with the individual gave rise to the syndrome of the "servile complex", i.e. slavish obsequiousness. A society with such a social genotype had strength, which manifested itself, among other things, in an ineradicable potential for regeneration: on the basis of a state that collapsed for one reason or another, a new one easily, almost automatically, arose, with the same parameters, even if this state appeared with a new ethnic group .

As this society evolved, commodity relations and private property appeared. But from the moment of their emergence, they automatically fell under the control of the authorities, and turned out to be completely dependent on it.

Many eastern states had developed trade and a prosperous economy. But all these attributes of a privately owned market economy were deprived of what could ensure their self-development: all market participants were hostages of the authorities and at any time could be ruined by the will of officials, sometimes the displeasure of the authorities led to death and confiscation of property in favor of the treasury.

In Asian societies, the principle of "power - property" dominated, in which power gave birth to property. In the states of the East, only people involved in power had social significance, while wealth and property meant little. People who lost power became powerless.

Persistent diversity, historical continuity of social, political, legal forms and institutions, the dominant religious ideology give grounds to define their traditional character as the main distinguishing feature of ancient Eastern societies. This confirms the fact that the foundations of social culture, illuminated by the unshakable ideological and religious principles of such states as Ancient India and (Assyria, Sumer and Babylon), have survived centuries.

In their political development, the states of the Ancient East went through a similar path - from small tribal formations, nome city-states to hegemonies-kingdoms, then to relatively centralized empires, since the latter were created, as a rule, by conquering neighboring territories.

In the ancient Eastern states, in the religious mass consciousness, there was a mystical attitude towards the supreme ruler. The recognition of his divine authority led to the recognition of unlimited despotic powers. It was a fundamental element of Eastern culture, religious ideology, which determined various aspects of the life of the Eastern states. Given these circumstances, the concept of "Eastern despotism" should be distinguished in the cultural-civilizational, socio-historical, and formal-legal senses.

In this regard, we can single out the functions common to all ancient Eastern states:

1. The ancient Eastern state, with a weak development of market relations, was called upon to perform control and regulatory functions, which ensured a special status of the ruling class.

2. The state was also engaged in activities to maintain the religious and cultural unity of ancient Eastern societies, ensuring the preservation of their original, fundamental values. The significance of religious ideology in the ancient Eastern states was also determined by the weakness of economic ties and market relations, the dominance of natural economy. Under these conditions, religion was a unifying factor, a unified worldview was formed, and the ruler was assigned a binding role.

3. In the mass consciousness, rulers were endowed with omnipotent, despotic powers not only because of the divine nature of their power, but also because they were given the most important function of maintaining security, justice, and justice in society. These ideas about the role of the ruler were supported by social activities to protect the poor strata of the population (limitation of debt slavery, restrictions on interest, etc.). The strengthening of the despotic features of Eastern states was usually associated with a struggle with the nobility, and not with the people.

At the same time, with the general patterns of ancient Eastern multi-structural societies, there were specific features of each of the ancient Eastern states, which were formed depending on the time of their existence, the dominant position of one or another way of life with various forms of their interaction, with the peculiarities of their social and political institutions, with specificity of their religious and cultural traits.

The assertion that one, despotic form of state is inherent in all eastern states was firmly held throughout the 8th - 20th centuries, until recently. For the concept of "eastern despotism" scientists have derived a number of features. Despotism is a monarchical form of government with the unlimited power of a hereditary, deified monarch, acting as the sole legislator and supreme judge; a centralized state with a strict totalitarian regime, with all-encompassing supervision over powerless subjects.

This concept of "oriental despotism" is attributed by modern scholars primarily to the centralized empires of Ancient China and Ancient Egypt. Indeed, in China, the emperor was considered the "son of heaven", there was a special cult of the emperor. One of the most important signs of his unlimited powers was the supreme legislative power. There was a centralized multi-stage administrative apparatus, headed by the emperor. All officials were strictly controlled by the central government.

At the same time, other ancient Eastern states did not have such a rigid system of dependence on imperial power. In particular, the power of the rulers was limited by the council, consisting of the nobility or the popular assembly, or urban communities.

In ancient India, the rulers did not have unlimited legislative powers. Here collegiate authorities were of great importance, such as the advisory body under the king - rajasabha and the council of dignitaries - mantriparishad. For example, one of the features of the Mauryan Empire was the inclusion of semi-autonomous state entities - gan and sang.

Unlike China, in India fragmentation was the rule and a centralized state the exception. As for the heredity of power, it was not clearly visible everywhere. For example, in Mesopotamia, the supreme power was transferred to one of the sons, but the decisive word belonged to the oracle priests. In this state, the king did not belong to the highest supreme power. The self-government of communities has been preserved here. Public self-government bodies took care of the well-being of the community, the organization of public works, and the timely payment of land rent to the treasury.

Thus, the ancient Eastern states can not all be characterized as despotic. Despite the presence of common features, in many of them the supreme power was limited by the power of the priests and the activities of the community.

With the advent of the state, law arises. The features of the law of the Ancient East were that it is inextricably linked with religion. Almost all legal norms coincided with religious norms. Customs were the main source of law, in all monuments of ancient Eastern law there are references to the ancient sages.

When written code of laws appeared, customs became legal norms, acquiring a more modern character. It is with the norms of custom that a rather complex legal practice is associated, the casuistic nature of legal norms that did not have clear formulations, but were based on precedent. Common to all ancient Eastern states was the downgraded position of women, which was reflected in the norms of family and inheritance law. There is also no clear understanding of the branches of law. The fact is that the presentation of legal norms has its own logic. It is determined by the severity of crimes from a religious point of view. And the legal norms are not arranged by industry, but by the severity of the crime.

Despite the common features, the legal norms of the ancient Eastern states have their own characteristics. For example, in ancient Egypt there was not even the slightest idea of the legal status of an individual.

In China, both religion and law initially rejected the idea of equality of people, so there were no prerequisites not only for the development of civil society, private property, rights and freedoms, but also for private law as such. Chinese law is, first of all, criminal law, which includes norms of both civil and family law, the violation of which entailed criminal punishment.

Indian law has a pronounced religious character. All aspects of life in ancient Indian society were regulated by the strictest ethical and caste norms, traditional rules of conduct, different for different social groups. The fulfillment of these rules brought religious merit, and their violation led to social and religious degradation. In this regard, in Indian society, a large role was assigned to the learned brahmins, who educated people in the spirit of following the rules of conduct prescribed by religion. Therefore, in ancient Indian law, a significant place is given to Brahmin instructive works.

Thus, the ancient Eastern states have a lot in common, both in the formation of statehood and in the main socio-economic and religious functions performed by states. The legal norms of these states also have similar features, characterized primarily by the religious and traditional content of legal norms. At the same time, the differences in these states gave rise to the distinctive features of individual states of the Ancient East.

1. History of the state and law of foreign countries. Part 1. Textbook for universities. Under. Ed. Prof. Krasheninnikova N.A. and prof. Zhidkova O.A. - M.: Publishing group INFRA M - NORMA, 1997. - 480 p.

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3. Philosophy: Textbook for higher educational institutions. - Rostov-n / D .: "Phoenix", 1996 - 576 p.

General and special in the development of ancient Eastern statehood

From a geographical point of view, we call the states that appeared in Ancient Egypt, Ancient Mesopotamia, Ancient China, Ancient India, by ancient Eastern states.

Thanks to the testimonies of Christian missionaries, in the 16th-17th centuries, who were the first to draw attention to the significant difference between the regions in the political structure and value orientations of people, two directions appeared in the assessment of the East: panegyric and critical. Within the framework of the first, the East, and, above all, China - a country of general prosperity, learning and enlightenment - was set as an example to European monarchs as a model of wisdom in governance. Within the framework of the second, attention was focused on the spirit of stagnation and slavery that reigned in the eastern despotisms.

The earliest state forms (proto-states) began to take shape in ancient Eastern civilizations - in Ancient Egypt, Ancient Mesopotamia, Ancient China, Ancient India as early as the 4th-3rd millennium BC. in the course of the decomposition of the communal-tribal organization. They arose as the division of labor deepened, the complexity of managerial functions, and at the same time, the transformation of people who performed these functions into an estate that did not take part in the production process, standing above ordinary community members. The strengthening of the position of the rural community was facilitated by the collective efforts of its members to create irrigation facilities. The community had a huge impact not only on slowing down the process of class formation, but also on the forms of land ownership, methods of exploitation in the states of the Ancient East. The community itself was the owner of the land. Its rights to the land were expressed in the fact that there were actually communal lands, as well as in the right of control by the community over how the owner disposes of his land. The state also acted as the owner of the land, its power-ownership rights were expressed and implemented in the form of receiving a tax - land rent from community members.

1. The lowest layer - various categories of people who do not have the means of production, dependent forced laborers, as well as slaves.

2. The communal peasants and artisans are free small producers who live by their own labor.

3. The dominant social stratum, which included the court and service aristocracy, the commanding staff of the army, the wealthy top of the agricultural communities.

Persistent diversity, historical continuity of social, political, legal forms and institutions, the dominant religious ideology give grounds to define their traditional character as the main distinguishing feature of ancient Eastern societies. This confirms the fact that the foundations of social culture, illuminated by the unshakable ideological and religious principles of such states as Ancient India and Ancient China (Assyria, Sumer and Babylon), have survived centuries.

In this regard, we can single out the functions common to all ancient Eastern states:

1. The ancient Eastern state, with a weak development of market relations, was called upon to perform control and regulatory functions, which ensured a special status of the ruling class.

The assertion that one, despotic form of the state is inherent in all eastern states was firmly held throughout the 8th - 20th centuries, until recently. For the concept of "eastern despotism" scientists have derived a number of features. Despotism is a monarchical form of government with the unlimited power of a hereditary, deified monarch, acting as the sole legislator and supreme judge; a centralized state with a strict totalitarian regime, with all-encompassing supervision over powerless subjects.

Bibliography

3. Philosophy: Textbook for higher educational institutions. - Rostov-n / D .: "Phoenix", 1996 - 576 p.

Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation

University of Moscow

Department of History of State and Law

abstract

on the topic

"Features and General Features of Ancient Oriental Law"

Checked: Executed:

Moscow 2014

Introduction

Relevance of the topic. The origin of law is a problem from the category of " eternal ", which is why she is philosophical ; its specificity and enduring historical relevance lies in the fact that throughout the history of the study of the question of the causes of the emergence of law, it has been debatable. Due to the natural development of science, the accumulation of new facts and a deeper interpretation of the old ones, today it is expedient again to turn to the problem right genesis , objectively consider the origin of law as a social phenomenon and as a phenomenon by its natureworldly order.

In the modern world, three circumstances can be distinguished that increase the relevance of the study of legal genesis. The first is the revealed objective need to include humanities scholars in the process of formation of global (transnational, universal) law taking place in the world, which, back in the 18th century, was a representative of classical German law. philosophy I. Kant called " the right of a citizen of the world" and " law of civilized peoples". There is a really significant modernization of the norms, institutions and procedures in the field of international legal order, and success in the field of legal globalization will depend on the willingness and ability of the participants in the upcoming transformations of world law, understanding its essential basis, to retain the positive achievements of the past and enrich them with new, more developed legal forms. domestic and international relations.

The second, most important, reason for the modern study of the universal nature of legal reality is the disunity of the modern world and, most importantly, the regional division into West and East, which create the illusion of an essential difference between their legal systems. It is difficult for the West to realize that law in Eastern countries is based not on an economic-centric idea and not on the primacy of the individual, but on the primacy of spiritual tribal life. However, as many have argued thinkers past, the basis that unites all people is their belonging to a single humanity, which is inherent in intelligence (logos, law), which determines the rationality of actions, determines the legal law, and therefore is an essential integral component of law.

The third circumstance that actualizes this study is that at present the dogmas of legal positivism have ceased to be the ultimate truth, the study of the external forms of legal reality has ceased to satisfy humanities scholars, government officials and politicians. A return to the question of the nature of law at a new historical stage in the development of science has again become in demand. At the same time, the natural law paradigm, which reveals itself in the study of the origin of law, reveals its sociocultural potential, which lies in the initial relationship of law with religion, morality and philosophy also attracts attention.

These circumstances are currently conducive to intensifying the efforts of researchers with the aim of penetrating into the depths of the most complex, cosmic phenomenon in its nature, as a right.

The purpose of the work is the historical and philosophical analysis of the problems associated with the definition of the essence of ancient Eastern law, due to the reasons for its origin and further development.

To achieve the goal, the following tasks were set:

Analyze the philosophical and socio-political prerequisites for the emergence in the history of society of legal institutions and legal consciousness;

Reveal the specifics of understanding the interpretation of law from the point of view of the thinkers of the Ancient East;

Reveal the Western European specifics of the origin and development of law, the formation of legal consciousness and the natural-legal paradigm of philosophical jurisprudence in the ancient world;

Conduct a comparative analysis, find common and difference in right genesis East and West.

Features of the development of state and law in the countries of the Ancient East

The concept of the East in historical science is used not so much as a geographical one, but as a historical, cultural, civilizational one. Here, for the first time in the history of the development of human society, those social and political institutions, the state, law, and world religions were formed, which gave rise to since the emergence of ancient states (Ancient Greece and Rome) in the 1st millennium BC. East-West dichotomy 1 .

The fundamental differences between the Eastern and Western civilizational paths of development were that in the East, unlike the West, where private property played a dominant role, private property relations, relations of private commodity production oriented to the market, did not occupy a significant place.

This, in turn, affected the stagnant nature of Eastern social structures, the absence in the East of conditions for the development of those political and legal institutions that were designed to serve the needs of the emerging civil society: democratic public self-government with the rights and obligations of every full citizen, member of the polis-republic, legal guarantees of his private interests, rights and freedoms.

The East in ancient times was represented by many countries, a number of major regional civilizations (Indo-Buddhist, Assyrian-Babylonian, Confucian-Chinese), but the above features (lack of the dominant role of private property, the stagnant nature of development) were the main defining features of their typological similarity, in contrast to dynamically developing ancient countries, and then the countries of Western Europe, the successor to ancient civilization.

One of the main social forms that played a decisive role in the evolution of ancient Eastern societies was the rural community, which retained in many respects the features of a patriarchal-clan organization. To a large extent, it determined the nature of political power in these societies, the role and regulatory and control functions of the ancient Eastern state, and the features of legal systems. 2

In ancient China, for example, the basis of social life for a long time was patronymics (zong), which were united by “several” edema (up to a thousand or more) families belonging to the same kindred group. The structure of closed rural communities with a subsistence nature of production, with a combination of crafts and agriculture within each community, and a weak development of commodity-money relations formed the basis of social life in ancient India as well.

The strength of communal, tribal, large-family and other ties hindered the processes of class formation, in particular the development of slavery here, but could not contain social and property stratification in society. 3

The earliest state forms (proto-states) began to take shape in ancient Eastern civilizations (in Ancient Egypt, Ancient India, Ancient Mesopotamia, Ancient China - as early as the 4th-3rd millennium BC) in the course of the decomposition of the communal-clan organization. They took shape as the division of labor intensified, the complexity of managerial functions, and at the same time the transformation of persons performing these functions into a class of nobility that did not participate in production, stood above. ordinary community members. The self-sustaining rural community, whose position was strengthened by the collective efforts of its members to create irrigation facilities, had a huge impact on slowing down the processes of class formation, forms of land ownership and methods of exploitation in ancient Eastern societies. Here, the community itself was the direct owner-owner of the land. At the same time, the state also acted as the supreme owner of the land, whose power-ownership rights were realized in receiving rent-tax from the community members.

As supra-communal administrative structures emerged, royal-temple households proper began to take shape, created mainly by appropriating communal lands. Owning plots of royal temple lands could only be done by people performing this or that job, serving the ruler or the temple. Here, the labor of slaves, various categories of forced persons, began to be used early.

The structure of a multi-structural economic life determined the exceptionally variegated social composition of ancient Eastern societies, which can be differentiated within the boundaries of three main social class formations: 1) various categories of people deprived of the means of production, dependent forced laborers, which included races; 2) free small producers - communal peasants and artisans who live by their own labor; 3) the ruling social stratum, which included the court and service aristocracy, the commanding staff of the army, the wealthy elite of agricultural communities, etc. 4

In the East, there was no clarity of social class boundaries, for example, there were various categories of the dependent population, occupying intermediate positions between the free

and slaves or some transitional categories of the free (from small landowners to the dominant, in particular, to the small merchants and bureaucracy). The estate-legal status of an individual in society, as a rule, did not coincide, diverged from his socio-economic position.

Persistent diversity, historical continuity of social, political, legal forms and institutions, the dominant religious ideology give grounds to define as the main distinguishing feature of ancient Eastern societies - their traditional character. This confirms the fact that the foundations of the social structure, statehood and law of such large ancient Eastern societies as Ancient India and Ancient China (Ancient Egypt and Ancient Babylon, as relatively centralized states), consecrated by unshakable ideological and religious principles, ceased to exist even before Christ. .e.), survived the centuries.

The general patterns of development of ancient Eastern multi-structural societies cannot cross out the specific features of each of them, associated both with the dominant position of one or another way of life and various forms of their interaction, and with the peculiarities of their social and political institutions, with the specific features of their cultural and civilizational development, features life, world outlook of people, their ways of religious orientation. 5

In Ancient Babylon, for example, a large royal temple economy coexisted with a relatively isolated community-private economy, the basis of which was the labor of free community members-peasants who paid rent-tax to the state. In the tsar-temple farms, the labor of slaves and persons who were in varying degrees of dependence was used, the ranks of which were replenished at the expense of free farmers who had lost their communal plot. The presence of a strong tsar-temple economy with a relatively developed handicraft, widely conducting trade operations with the help of tamkar merchants, weakened the tax exploitation of community peasants.

In ancient Egypt, the communal-private sector as early as the 2nd millennium BC. was absorbed by the royal-temple economy based on slave and semi-slavish exploitation.

The specific features of the ancient Indian society were associated with a rigid class division into four varnas (Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras), with its inherent special community organization, which was distinguished by a high degree of isolation and autonomy. Slavery relations here were closely intertwined with class-varna and caste relations. The traditional social humiliation of the lower castes, the almost complete lack of rights of those who were outside the varnas of Indian society, created opportunities for semi-slavish forms of exploitation of various categories of dependent people. 6

In ancient China, a system of exploitation of communal peasants by the administrative nobility was early formed by collecting rent-tax, first in the form of public fields, and then by appropriating part of the crop from the peasant allotment by the ruling elite.

At present, according to the unanimous opinion of all domestic Sinologists, throughout the long history of Chinese traditional society (from the second half of the 2nd millennium BC to the second half of the 19th century AD), there has been only one radical qualitative change in the development of productive forces and social production - in the V-IV centuries. BC. This period was accompanied by the destruction of communal land ownership, the growth of large-scale private landownership, and the spread of rental forms of exploitation of land-poor and landless peasant sharecroppers sitting both on privately owned and state lands.

In the last centuries BC. in China, in the centralized Qin-Han empires (3rd century BC - 3rd century AD), the formation of the traditional system of exploitation by the state of taxable small peasant landowners by levying a rent-tax calculated from the amount of cultivated land is completed. This system was preserved here until the beginning of the 20th century.

Specific features of the political organization of ancient Eastern societies. Even from the “father of history” Herodotus (5th century BC), who wrote about the Egyptian kings-despots, forcibly closing temples and forcing the whole people to build colossal tombs for them, the concept of “oriental despotism” originates. The assertion that both the ancient and medieval societies of the East were organically inherent in one despotic form of the state was firmly held throughout the 18th-20th centuries, until recently. The concept of "Eastern despotism" was characterized by a number of features. This is a monarchical form of government with the unlimited power of a hereditary, deified monarch, acting as the sole legislator and supreme judge; a centralized state, with a strict totalitarian regime, with all-encompassing supervision of powerless subjects of a branched administrative apparatus subordinate to a despot. At the same time, the actual diversity of the political structures of ancient Eastern civilizations, their subsequent evolution, was crossed out. 7 .

The formalized concept of “Eastern despotism”, which has the above features, can be attributed with certain grounds to the centralized empire of Ancient China and the kingdoms of Ancient Egypt. In China, for example, the emperor was deified, there was a special cult of the emperor - "the son of heaven." The supreme legislative power was one of the important signs of his broad powers. A centralized multi-stage bureaucratic apparatus, headed by the ruler himself, also formed early. All imperial officials, regardless of rank and position, were placed under the strict control of the central authorities.

But in many ancient Eastern states, the power of the supreme rulers was limited to the council of the nobility or the people's assembly, or self-governing large-family "city" communities, etc.

Ancient Eastern societies were also aware of republican state forms, in which the traditions of primitive tribal democracy played a significant role), for example, republics in city-states - Phoenicia, Mesopotamia. Some eastern states did not differ in the complete set of the above formal characteristics of “eastern despotism”.

The rulers of ancient India, for example, did not have unlimited legislative powers. Even in the large, relatively centralized state of the Mauryas (4th-2nd centuries BC), collegial bodies of state power, such as the advisory body under the king - the raja-sabha and the council of dignitaries - the mantriparishad, were of great importance. One of the most striking features of the Mauryan empire was the inclusion of semi-autonomous republican state entities - the gan and sangha. 8

In their political development, the countries of the Ancient East went on a generally common path - from small tribal formations, nome city-states to hegemonies-kingdoms, and then to relatively centralized empires, as a rule, polyethnic, created by conquering and annexing their neighbors.

But in India, unlike China, fragmentation was the rule and the centralized state the exception. In Mesopotamia, royal power can be considered hereditary with reservations. When transferring power to one of the sons of the ruler, the final word belonged to the oracle priests. There was no king and the highest court. Here, as in India, a certain self-government of communities was preserved at almost all stages of development. The organs of community self-government bore the main burden of concern for the well-being of the community, the timely payment of rent-tax to the treasury and the organization of public works.

At the same time, it cannot be denied that in the ancient Eastern civilizations in the religious mass consciousness there was a special mystical attitude towards power, royalty, and the ruler.

Recognition of the highest, divine authority, organically arising from the existing world order, and, consequently, the unlimited despotic powers of the ruler, was a fundamental element of Eastern spiritual culture, religious ideology, which largely determines various aspects of the life of ancient Eastern societies. Given these circumstances, one should distinguish between the concept of "Eastern despotism" in the cultural-civilizational, socio-historical and formal-legal senses.

Acting, like any other state, as an instrument of social class domination, the ancient Eastern monarchical state was also called upon to perform the functions associated with coordinating disparate communal production, while ensuring the essential conditions for its development. In the absence or weak development of market relations, the state with its administrative-command apparatus performed special controlling and regulating functions, which ensured the exclusive place and importance of the ruling elite in Eastern society.

But no less important was the activity of power structures, the state to maintain the religious and cultural unity of ancient Eastern societies, ensured on the basis of preserving their original, fundamental values. The significance of purposeful conservation and the strengthening of religious ideology in ancient Eastern societies was also determined to a large extent by the weakness of economic ties, the almost complete absence of market relations with the natural nature of communal production. Religious ideology, which plays an important role in maintaining the unity of this or that Eastern society, was built on the basis of various moral, ethical, religious values, but invariably assigned a special place to the "binding unity" - the ruler.

So, for example, even in the ancient kingdom (3rd millennium BC), the Egyptian pharaohs began to be given the sacred title of “son of the sun god”, and a particularly solemn ritual of their burial was developed. As a symbol of the greatness of the pharaohs, the famous pyramids were built, which suppressed the imagination of people, inspired them with sacred fear and reverence for the throne. In ancient Egypt, a significant sector of the economic activity of government officials, priests was one way or another connected with the funeral service around the tombs of the pharaohs. “You are Ra (the god of the Sun), your image is his image, you are a celestial,” it was said about the young Tutankhamun in one of the ancient Egyptian papyri. The Egyptian king is the guardian of life on earth, without him life in the afterlife is impossible. Giving strength to the construction of the majestic tombs of the pharaohs, the Egyptians also took care of their own posthumous existence. 9

Of particular importance was the ideological function in despotic China. Here, the state for centuries formed a unified worldview, glorifying the despot ruler, supported the myth of the divine origin of the emperor - the “son of heaven”.

And in ancient India, and in ancient Babylon, despite their historical features, the kings were also invariably exalted. Their names were placed next to the names of the gods. In Babylon, the king appears as a man, who, however, by virtue of his chosenness by the gods, is endowed with divine royalty, which elevates him above people.

In the mass consciousness, the rulers were endowed with omnipotent, despotic powers not only because of the divine nature of their power - royalty, but also because of the sole role assigned to them in maintaining security, justice, social justice in society. The stability of patriarchal-communal relations, on the basis of which the early state despotic regimes developed, formed in the public mind the image of the ruler-father, the protector of the weak and disadvantaged. For example, Confucianism, the dominant ideology of Ancient China, directly transferred the structure of a large patriarchal family to the entire Chinese society, headed by the emperor.

The Hindu politico-religious concept of a charitable king (devaradmey) enjoined him to perform a special dharma (duty). One of the main duties is to protect the authentic. “Whatever the king does is right. This is the recognized law,” is written in Narada, one of the religious and legal treatises of Ancient India. “After all, he is entrusted with the dharma of the world, and he protects it, based on power and mercy to all living.” The king was also entrusted with the administration of justice with the help of experienced brahmins. He, the guardian of all minors and widows, was to lead the fight against natural disasters, hunger. An important function of the kings, according to the ancient political treatise of India - Arthashastra, was the organization of public works, the construction of irrigation facilities. These ideas about the good deeds of the rulers had to be supported by their general socially significant activities, which were especially characteristic, for example, of Ancient Babylon (this is the practice of royal orders “misharum”, freeing the poor from debts, and the rule of law, limiting debt slavery to a three-year period , and fixed interest on usurious loans, etc.). It is also characteristic that the strengthening of the despotic features of the ancient Eastern state often occurs in the process of struggle not with the people, but with the nobility, with aristocratic and priestly circles, with separatism. The strengthening of the powers of the eastern rulers was often accompanied not so much by arbitrariness as by active lawmaking, the creation of written legal codes, codes (Sudebnik of Hammurabi in the 18th century BC in Babylon, etc.). 10

The desire to maintain law and order was characteristic of the Eastern monarchies, as a rule, during their heyday and rise.

Together with the state in ancient Eastern societies, law also developed, which in the countries of the Ancient East had a number of common features. In particular, it openly consolidated social inequality, which was manifested primarily in the humiliated position of slaves. Regardless of whether a slave could have a family or own this or that property in the interests of the owner, in the East he acted as a thing and was considered as such by the current law. Ancient Eastern legislation also fixed the class inequality of the free. It was present in one form or another in all ancient Eastern legal systems of public service.

The law of the Ancient East is inextricably linked with religion and religious morality. The legal norm here, with rare exceptions, had a religious justification. An offense is a simultaneous violation of a norm, religion and morality.

For centuries, the main source of law in the ancient Eastern states remained customs, which, being the product of communal creativity, were not recorded for a long time, but were preserved in the oral tradition and memory of fellow tribesmen. References to the ancient sages, possessing sacred authority, guardians of customs, can be found in almost all monuments of ancient Eastern law, which was reflected in its traditional character. The norms of law relied on the established patterns of behavior that had developed in the past, were guided by them. The custom, filled with new social content, sanctioned by the state, remained the main source of law even when written judicial books, Brahmin compilations, etc., appeared. 11

The first monuments of law basically consolidated the most common customs, established judicial practice. This is connected with their incompleteness, underdevelopment of a number of institutions and norms, their casuistic nature, because the legal norm was fixed not in an abstract form, but in the form of a specific case. The legal systems that were formed in the slowly evolving ancient Eastern societies reflected the norms of the old tribal system, for example, providing for the collective responsibility of family members or even all members of the neighboring community for offenses committed by one of them, blood feud, lynching, talion. On the example of such universal customs as blood feud and talion, which reflected the principle of equal retribution of the tribal system (an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth), one can trace from the monuments of ancient Eastern law how these old customs were filled with new content. The appearance of property, estate, professional and other differences led to a direct perversion in the norms of ancient Eastern law of the idea of the primitive communal system of equal retribution. These norms began to proceed from the fact that the price of the blood of the noble, the rich, is higher than the price of the blood of the poor, the humble.

The common traditional features of ancient Eastern law were determined to a large extent by the long existence in the countries of the Ancient East of such social forms as a community, a large patriarchal family. In all the norms of the ancient Eastern marriage and family and inheritance law, for example, such traditional features as the subordinate, degraded position of women, children in a patriarchal family, inequality of the inheritance rights of women with men, etc.

In ancient Eastern law, one cannot find ideas about the branches of law, about clear differences between crimes and private offenses. At first glance, the legal documents of the Ancient East are presented not only haphazardly, but also without any internal logic. But the internal logic of the presentation of norms is present in these legal monuments. It is determined either by religious concepts about the severity, sinfulness of a particular human behavior in Ancient Babylon and Ancient China, or by the religious concept of the universe, class-varna division in Ancient India.

Speaking about the common elements of the legal systems of the countries of the Ancient East, one cannot fail to see the specific features of their legal principles, institutions and norms associated with the peculiarities of spiritual culture, religion, a particular system of values.

So, in ancient Egypt, the country of "permanent slavery", in the conditions of the dominance of the administrative-command royal apparatus, with its hypertrophied control and regulatory functions, conditions were not created even for general ideas about the legal capacity, the legal status of the individual. 12

In ancient Confucian China, both religion and law initially rejected the idea of equality of people, proceeded from the recognition of differences between members of Chinese society depending on gender, age, place in the system of kinship relations and social hierarchy. Here, the creation of prerequisites was excluded not only for the development of civil society, private property, subjective rights and freedoms, but also for private law as such. Chinese traditional law is primarily criminal law, including the norms of marriage and family, civil law, the violation of which entailed criminal punishment.

Unlike China, where theology as such did not play a significant role (Confucianism can only conditionally be called a religion, it is rather an ethical and political doctrine), Indian civilization has a pronounced religious character. All aspects of life in ancient Indian society were regulated by the most strictly developed ethical and caste norms, traditional rules of conduct, different for different social groups and ashrams (stage of human life), the implementation of which brought religious merit, the violation of which led to religious and social degradation. In ancient Indian society, a learned brahmin was of particular value in this regard, performing the functions of educating people in the spirit of strict adherence to dharma, the rules of conduct of a religious Hindu, caste norms and ritual. This largely explains both the specifics of the sources of law in ancient India, among which Brahmin instructive works, the dharmashastras, occupied a special place, as well as other features of the traditional Indian law that survived the centuries. 13

2 Ancient Eastern civilizations: main features.

The concept of the East in historical science is used not so much as a geographical one, but as a civilizational one. The ancient East is rightfully considered the cradle of statehood. Here, almost simultaneously and on large territories, the first institutions of the state and law in the history of mankind arose, judicial bodies appeared.
The states of the Ancient East arose in those territories that were the valleys of the great rivers: the Nile, the Tigris and the Euphrates, the Indus and the Ganges, the Yangtze and the Yellow River. This provided people with river water for individual land irrigation, and thus made it possible to increase food production, which was an incentive to create a system of division of labor and mutual cooperation. The rivers also served as transport arteries.
World civilizations originated where the average annual isotherm is equal to +20 ° C. This isotherm passes through Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, East China and further across the ocean to the places of Mesoamerican civilizations. No wonder the temperature of +20 ° C is called room temperature - this is the temperature of maximum comfort for the human body.
It was here that the optimal ecological environment created favorable conditions for the production of a constant surplus product with fairly primitive tools, which led to the decomposition of the tribal organization of society and allowed humanity to make a breakthrough into civilization. 14
Within the framework of ancient Eastern societies, special social, political and legal structures are formed.
Eastern society was characterized by the following features:
1) patriarchy. Its preservation was facilitated by the dominance of subsistence farming, the stability of state forms of land ownership, and the extremely slow development of individual private property;
2) collectivism. Ancient Eastern civilizations can be attributed to civilizations of the agricultural type. Economic activity in these regions was possible only in the presence of complex irrigation systems that regulate the flow regime of the great rivers. Great collective efforts of people were necessary for their creation and use. One cannot discount the special role of collective mutual assistance and support in everyday life;
3) community. The originality of the social system of the ancient Eastern states was created primarily by its social base - the community. With its conservatism, its alienation from the outside world and unwillingness to interfere in politics, the community contributed to the transformation of the central government into despotism. The suppression of a person, his personality, his will began already within the community to which he belonged. At the same time, the communities could not do without the organizing role of the central government;
4) traditional. This confirms the fact that the foundations of the social structure, statehood and law of ancient Eastern societies survived the centuries;
5) religiosity. Religion determined the way of life of man. Man was focused on spiritual self-improvement;
6) a motley social composition. It can be differentiated within three groups:
- the ruling stratum (officialdom, court and service aristocracy, military leaders, priests, etc.);
- free small producers (peasants, artisans);
- various categories of persons deprived of the means of production (forced workers, including slaves).
Ancient Oriental law - Egyptian, Babylonian, Hindu, Chinese - is of interest primarily as stable legal systems that are in a certain mutual dependence with the religious beliefs and culture of that time and at the same time in succession with the previous institutions of customary law.
The law of the Ancient East was characterized by the following features:
- it was customary law;
- it has been greatly influenced by religion;
- it was a class right;
- the downgraded position of women and children was clearly manifested;
- legal responsibility was mainly criminal in nature. The talion law was in effect (retribution, equal in strength to a crime);
- the community, the collective was placed at the center of the legal system.
The basis of any legal proceedings was the established procedure for collecting, fixing and evaluating evidence, any changes in this order led, respectively, to a change in the structure of the court and the forms of the process.
The history of law knows two ways of differentiated construction of the trial:
– creation of local courts, simple in arrangement, accessible to residents, with a simplified form of legal proceedings, considering cases on minor offenses,
– Creation of courts to deal with more complex cases of serious crimes 15 .

Conclusion

The history and theory of the development of law and the state and the processes of their universalization indicate that at the heart of one or another form of official-power regulation and streamlining of social relations, including a global one, lies a certain type of legal understanding and the corresponding conceptual and legal perception and interpretation of the concept states. Traditionally, the problems of state-legal unification and universalization were theoretically developed and practically solved from the positions of two opposite, in many respects antagonistic, types of legal understanding - jusnaturalism (natural-legal approach) and positivism (legalism). In modern international and domestic legal acts, the external, pragmatic compromise of these two fundamentally different approaches is expressed in the form of a requirement that the norms of positive law comply with generally recognized natural and inalienable human rights and freedoms. As a new conceptual approach that retains the cognitively valuable moments of the other two types and at the same time overcomes their significant shortcomings, antagonism and one-sidedness, in our opinion, the libertarian legal general theory of law and state can be used, which allows a more adequate and consistent interpretation of the content , forms and prospects of the processes of legal universalization and unification, the meaning, directions and features of these processes in the conditions of modern general social globalization.

Within the framework of the libertarian-juridical approach, the essence of law (the principle of formal equality) is distinguished, that is, that which is objectively inherent in law and does not depend on the will and arbitrariness of the official legal authority. authorities, and an external phenomenon that claims (not always legitimately) for legal significance - generally binding official-authoritative normative regulations (various acts and sources of current domestic and international law, generally speaking, law). The desired (in line with the libertarian doctrine) unity of essence and phenomenon in the field of law is a legal law, when a generally binding normative phenomenon (law, norms of positive law in force) corresponds to the essence of law (the principle of formal equality), i.e., it is precisely and only legal obligatory phenomenon, and not just any (moral, religious or arbitrary) obligatory phenomenon. In those cases (very common both in the past and today), when a generally binding phenomenon (law) contradicts the essence of law, we are dealing with an illegal (offending, anti-legal) law (with norms of positive law that contradict the principle of formal equality).

The principle of formal equality is a unity of three essential properties (characteristics) of law that imply each other - a universal equal measure (and scale) of regulation, freedom and justice. This trinity of essential properties of law (three components of the principle of formal equality) can be characterized as three interrelated meanings of the same meaning: one without the other (one property without other properties) is impossible. The universal equal measure inherent in law is precisely an equal measure of freedom and justice, and freedom and justice are impossible outside and without equality (universal equal measure and a single scale of regulation).

The legal type (form) of relationships between people is relationships regulated by a single abstract universal scale and an equal measure (norm) of permissions, prohibitions, rewards, etc. This type (form) of relationships includes: 1) formal equality of participants ( subjects) of a given type (form) of relationships (in fact, different subjects are equalized by a single measure and a common form); 2) their formal freedom (formal independence from each other and at the same time subjection to a single and equal measure, action according to a single general form); 3) formal justice in their relationship (abstractly universal, equally equal for all of them, the measure and form of permissions, prohibitions, etc., excluding anyone's privileges). Equality (universal equal measure) presupposes and includes freedom and justice, freedom - equal measure and justice, justice - equal measure and freedom. At the same time, equality, freedom and justice, as properties of the legal essence (moments of the principle of formal equality), are formal (formally-substantive, and not actually-substantial) in nature, are formal-legal qualities (and categories), are included in the concept of law, it is possible and are expressible only in a universal universal legal form.

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FEDERAL AGENCY FOR EDUCATION

SEI HPE "VOLOGDA STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY"

Test

on the history of the state and the law of foreign countries

Ancient Eastern state and law. Laws of Hammurabi.

Completed by a student

Faculty of Law

correspondence department

Kovaleva Oksana Mikhailovna

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WORK PLAN

INTRODUCTION 3

ANCIENT EASTERN STATE AND LAW 5

LAWS OF HAMURABI 11

CONCLUSION 14

LITERATURE 15

INTRODUCTION

Primitive society developed extremely slowly. Primitive society consisted of tribal communities, whose members were connected by family ties. The issues of managing the tribal community were decided by the elder - the most respected member of the clan. The most important issues were decided at the meeting, in which all adult members of the community participated. In the future, the communities united in tribal unions for more efficient management, successful reflection of enemies, etc. The tribal union was ruled by a council of elders, consisting of the elders of all clans included in the union. The regulation of social relations was carried out through numerous customs.

The economy of primitive society for a long time had an appropriating character. Its distinguishing features were reciprocity - everything produced is rented "into a common pot", and retribution - everything produced is redistributed among the members of the community. With the development of labor tools, the transition to a productive economy, labor productivity increased. A surplus product appeared, which became the economic prerequisite for the creation of the state apparatus. There was a differentiation of society, tribal nobility appeared. The interests of the tribal nobility gradually began to diverge from the interests of the other members of the tribal union.

After the Neolithic revolution, which took place 10-15 thousand years ago, much more advanced tools appeared. This made it possible to sharply increase labor productivity and significantly increase the amount of surplus product. Primitive society entered a new stage of development, which is usually called the "proto-state". The proto-state is characterized by public ownership, differentiation of society, rapid population growth, concentration of population in a certain territory, the emergence of cities that were administrative, economic and cultural centers. During this period, there is a demarcation into the eastern and western paths of development of the state.

ANCIENT EASTERN STATE AND LAW.

The first states appeared in the areas of irrigated agriculture on the banks of the Nile, the Yangtze, and others. Irrigated agriculture required large-scale irrigation works that could not be carried out by one family or tribal community.

In the ΧVІІІ century BC. as a result of the conquest of another tribe by the Yin tribes, the state of Ancient China is formed. The main occupation of the inhabitants of ancient China was agriculture. In addition, the development of agriculture among the ancient Chinese was at a fairly high level for that time. They used such agricultural devices as a hoe, a plow, etc. Along with agriculture, crafts, trade, and even money circulation existed in Ancient China.

The head of state in ancient China was the emperor, relying on an extensive apparatus of officials. The territory of Ancient China was divided into regions and counties. Each county and region was ruled by two officials - military and civil governors. Already during the reign of the Han Dynasty, the sale of positions and the examination of officials before taking office were introduced.

In the middle of the 4th century BC. The official of Ancient China, Shang Yang, carried out a reform that was an attempt to destroy the tribal community. Families living in the same house and running a common household were ordered to settle. The reform maintained mutual responsibility. In connection with mutual responsibility, the rural community was brought into the following system. Five families made up the "five-yard". "Pyatidvorka" was led by an elder - he was responsible for all members of the "pyatidvorka". Five “five-yards” formed a village, five villages formed a clan, and so on. Something similar to the “five-yard” was introduced in the army - five soldiers were punished for the fault of one soldier.

Slavery in ancient China was not as widely used as, for example, in ancient Egypt, but formally free community members can hardly be considered truly free people. The community was in distress. There were frequent peasant uprisings. Responding to peasant uprisings, the government tried to alleviate the fate of the community members a little. Wang Mang's reform stands out in this regard. This reform announced the nationalization of land, as a result of which the sale of land was prohibited. All landless peasants could receive a land allotment from the state. Wang Mang's reforms were not successful and were soon cancelled.

In the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. The northern territory of India was conquered by tribes calling themselves the Aryans. They completely destroyed the tribes living there, and remained unknown. The Aryans were mainly engaged in cattle breeding. Settling in the vastness of India, the Aryans mastered agriculture. The leadership of the Aryan tribes was carried out by elders and leaders, called rajas. The position of Rajah was at first elective, but not wanting to lose the advantages of this position, over time it was made hereditary.

The society of the ancient Indian state was divided into four classes, called varnas. The highest varna was considered the varna of the brahmins - the varna of the priests. The next most important is the varna of the kshatriyas. Both varnas represented the aristocracy, the ruling class. The third and fourth varnas were represented by vaishyas and sudras. Brahmins had practically unlimited rights and opportunities. This was largely due to the fact that the Brahmins were priests. In ancient society, clergy were treated as possessors of the highest divine power. Kshatriyas were representatives of the secular nobility. Vaishyas - Varna of peasants, merchants, artisans. Shudras were people who were expelled or left the community. A sudra is not much different from a slave. It can be sold and bought. However, a sudra was allowed to have a family and the children of a sudra were heirs of his property, while a slave could have a family in exceptional cases with the permission of his master. The transition from one varna to another was impossible. In general, in ancient society there was practically no social mobility. Within the privileged varnas, castes began to form, which later turned into closed groups. Castes were formed along professional lines. Caste was determined by birth. Transfer to another caste was impossible. In the 4th century BC

Ancient India was not a state as such. On the territory of India there were tribes led by rajas. Tribes united in unions of tribes, called kingdoms. After the conquest of India by Alexander the Great, the formation of the state of Ancient India accelerated significantly.

At the end of the 4th century BC. Maurya state is formed. The head of the Mauryan state was a king. The power of the king was significantly limited. The Brahmins in the Mauryan state had a great influence. The laws of Manu, for example, were created by the Brahmins. Officials were divided into metropolitan and provincial officials. Their powers were strictly limited. The army of the Mauryan state was professional.

Ancient Egypt and Ancient Sumer deserve special attention.

At the end of IV - beginning of III millennium BC. in ancient Egypt, forty regions are formed, called "40 nomes". Subsequently, they were forcibly united by Pharaoh Narmen. Further, the history of Ancient Egypt can be divided into three parts - the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom and the New Kingdom. Already at the beginning of the Old Kingdom in Ancient Egypt, a state and a class society developed.

During the period of the Old Kingdom, all Egyptian nomes were fairly independent. Immunity letters from the government exempted them from paying taxes and taxes in favor of the state. That is why the collapse of the Old Kingdom occurred.

During the period of the Middle Kingdom, despite the ongoing centralization of power, the nomes retain many privileges. Possessions, positions and titles of the Nome aristocracy become hereditary.

During the period of the New Kingdom, the power of the pharaoh increases dramatically, which negatively affects the aristocracy. The elders, who previously ruled the community, gradually emerged into a special class of managers headed by the monarch. It was they who decided the issues of redistribution of products between themselves and their subjects. A phenomenon has emerged that can be described as "power-property". Power became profitable, it gave access to all economic resources, and, consequently, to personal enrichment. The interests of the nobility in power were increasingly at odds with the interests of ordinary members of the community. Treasurers, controllers, etc. appeared in the community to seize the surplus from the community members. They constituted the main structural link of the bureaucracy. Managers sought to make their posts lifelong and hereditary.

Thus, the bureaucracy became a closed privileged stratum of society. In general, the structure of the state of the eastern type, including Ancient Egypt, can be compared with a pyramid: at the top of the pyramid is a sovereign monarch with unlimited and deified power, then his closest associates and at the lowest level were members of agricultural communities.

The community remained the basic structural unit of society. The collapse of the rural community in the conditions of irrigated agriculture and the need to build large-scale irrigation systems was impossible. Subsequently, the forced labor of slaves began to actively compete with the labor of free community members, and during the period of the New Kingdom, there was practically no difference in the position of slaves and free community members.

In addition to the peasants in ancient Egypt, there were artisans, merchants, merchants. Great influence in ancient Egypt, as in India, was used by the priests. Ancient Egypt had a professional army. The police apparatus of ancient Egypt was incredibly advanced for that time. There were open and secret police, border guards, and even the security service of the pharaoh and his closest associates.

At the beginning of the 3rd millennium, the state of Ancient Sumer was formed. The peasants were against the stateization of land and exploitation by a minority of the majority. Popular uprisings began to take place. One of the most famous is the popular uprising in Lagash led by Urukagina. Urukagina's popular uprising was victorious, but after six years the regime established by Urukagina was destroyed.

The monarchical form of government appeared in Ancient Sumer only by the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. Up to this point, the Sumerian cities were city-republics like Novgorod and Pskov in Russia.

In the ΧVІІІ century BC. Pharaoh of Babylon Hammurabi conquered all the lands from the Persian Gulf to Nineveh. The social structure of Babylon is similar to that of Egypt. The difference lies in the position of free people. In Babylon, free people were divided into two categories - avilum and mushkenum. Avilum were considered completely free people. Mushkenum were in the position of semi-slaves.

The power of Hammurabi was unlimited. He himself called himself "the king of the four countries of the world."

Laws of Hamurabi.

The reign of Hammurabi was also marked by the creation of a code of laws called the "laws of Hammurabi". The code of laws consists of 282 articles. True, not all of them have survived to this day. The "Laws of Hammurabi" were written on a stone pillar, which was exhibited in the city square, where justice was done. In addition, it allowed all subjects of the pharaoh to get acquainted with the laws in force in this state.

The laws of Hammurabi were distinguished by their casual form of presentation. For example, article 8 says: “If a person steals either an ox, or a sheep, or a donkey, or a pig, or a boat, then if it is God’s or if it is palace, he can give it 30 times the amount, and if it belongs mushkenum - he can compensate in 10 times the amount; if the thief has nothing to give, then he must be killed.” It does not say anything about other types of property.

In the code of laws there is no distinction between civil and criminal law, which is very typical for the codifications of antiquity. In addition, in the Laws of Hammurabi, nothing is said at all about many crimes, for example, state ones. It seems that the punishment for these crimes was so natural and obvious that the legislator did not see the point in explaining them.

In the Laws of Hammurabi, the principle of talion was widely used. This is perfectly illustrated by articles 196 and 197 of the Laws of Hammurabi: "if a person damages the eye of any of the people, then his eye must be damaged" and "if a person breaks the bone of any person, then his bone must be broken."

The idea of a talion is a continuation of the idea of blood feud. Blood feud was limited by the legislator, since it was no longer relevant. Blood feud dominates society until an excess product appears in the economy. Then the main measure of punishment becomes material compensation for damage - a fine. Blood feud, which has become a tradition, is reborn into the idea of a talion.

The laws of Hammurabi had a pronounced estate character. For example, if a free person dies during an operation, then the doctor, in accordance with the Laws of Hammurabi, should cut off his fingers. If a slave of the muskenum dies during the operation, the doctor must compensate the muskenum for the slave.

In the Laws of Hammurabi, objective imputation is actively used. Members of the offender's family could be held accountable for the crime committed.

In inheritance law, there are two types of inheritance - by law and by will. The first to appear was a testament to the law. The legislator sought to provide for the descendants of the owner and limit the testamentary freedom of the testator. According to the Laws of Hammurabi, a father can only disinherit his son as a punishment for a "serious sin", and not at his own discretion. In accordance with the Laws of Hammurabi, brothers and sisters receive inheritance in equal shares.

Very interesting is the regulation of family life, which is so characteristic of Eastern states. The family of ancient Egypt was patriarchal. The wife and children were to obey their husband and father unconditionally. A father has the right to sell his children.

The husband has practically unlimited right to divorce. The wife's right to obtain a divorce is severely limited. She can demand a divorce only in three cases - in the case of her husband's infidelity, unfounded accusations of infidelity, and in the case of her husband leaving home and area of residence.

A childless wife could give her husband a concubine who would bear him children. At the same time, the wife remains the full mistress of the house.

A husband has no right to dispose of his wife's property without the consent of his wife. Interestingly, in the event of a divorce, the wife can take her property. An analysis of some articles of the Laws of Hammurabi allows us to conclude that an unmarried and unguarded woman, such as a priestess, has considerable economic freedom.

CONCLUSION

1. Almost all states of the Eastern type were despotisms with all its inherent features - the unlimited power of the monarch, the combination of secular and ecclesiastical power in one person, power is exercised by a numerous bureaucracy, individual freedom is suppressed in every possible way.

2. The states of the eastern type were distinguished by the presence of a professional army, and the state of Ancient Egypt was also characterized by an incredibly powerful police apparatus.

3. In all states of the eastern type, the priesthood played a huge role in public and state life.

4. The law of the ancient Eastern states was particularly cruel (talion, ordeals, objective imputation), although this was quite consistent with the ideas of justice of that time.

LITERATURE

1. Chernilovsky Z.M. General History of State and Law. - M.: Jurist, 2002. - 576 p.

2. General theory of law and state: Textbook / Ed. V.V. Lazarev. - 3rd ed., revised. and additional - M.: Jurist, 2002. - 520 p.

3. Reader on the history of the state and the law of foreign countries: textbook. allowance / comp. V. N. Sadikov. - 2nd ed., revised. and additional - M. : TK Velby, Prospekt Publishing House, 2005. - 768 p.

Numbering of articles is conditional

God's property of the temple

Portal for the student. Self-training

The work program of the curriculum of the history of the Ancient World for the 5th grade for the 2013 2014 academic year

Educational and methodological complex in the discipline "History of the Ancient World" direction of preparation

The program of the course "History of the Ancient World"

Introduction

2 Ancient Eastern civilizations: main features.

Conclusion

Bibliography

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