Another cultural center that arose in the Mediterranean was called "ancient civilization". It is customary to attribute the history and culture of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome to ancient civilization. This civilization was based on qualitatively different foundations and was more dynamic economically, politically and socially than the ancient Eastern societies. The achievements of the ancient Greeks and Romans are impressively astonishing in all fields, and on them all European civilization is based. Greece and Rome, two eternal companions, accompany European humanity along its entire path. Ancient civilization, if calculated from Homeric Greece (XI-IX centuries BC) to late Rome (III-V centuries AD), owes many achievements to the even more ancient Crete-Mycenaean (Aegean) culture, which existed simultaneously with the ancient Eastern cultures in the eastern Mediterranean and some areas of mainland Greece in the III-II millennium BC. The centers of the Aegean civilization were the island of Crete and the city of Mycenae in southern Greece. The Aegean culture was distinguished by a high level of development and originality, however, the invasions of the Achaeans, and then the Dorians, influenced its further fate. In the historical development of Ancient Greece, it is customary to distinguish the following periods: Homeric (XI-IX centuries BC); archaic (VIII-VI centuries BC); classical (V-IV centuries BC); Hellenistic (end of IV-I centuries BC). The history of Ancient Rome is divided into only three main stages: early, or royal Rome (VIII-VI centuries BC); the Roman Republic (V-I centuries BC); Roman Empire (I-V centuries AD). Roman civilization is considered the era of the highest flowering of ancient culture. Rome was called the eternal city”, and the saying “All roads lead to Rome” has survived to this day. The Roman Empire was the largest state, covering all the territories adjacent to the Mediterranean. Its glory and greatness were measured not only by the vastness of the territory, but also by the cultural values ​​of the countries and peoples that were part of it. Many peoples who were subordinate to Roman power, including the population of the ancient Eastern states, in particular Egypt, took part in the formation of Roman culture. A special role in the formation of Roman statehood and culture belonged to the Greeks. As the Roman poet Horace wrote, “Greece, having become a prisoner, captivated the victors of the rude. Contributed to the art of Latiumselsky. From the Greeks, the Romans borrowed more advanced farming methods, the polis system state structure, the alphabet on the basis of which Latin writing was created, and, of course, the influence of Greek art was great: libraries, educated slaves, etc. were taken to Rome. It was the synthesis of Greek and Roman cultures that formed the ancient culture, which became the basis of European civilization, the European path of development. Despite the differences in the development of the two largest centers of ancient civilization - Greece and Rome, we can talk about some common features that determined the originality of the ancient type of culture. Since Greece entered the arena of world history before Rome, it was in Greece during the archaic period that the specific features of the civilization of the ancient type were formed. These features were associated with socio-economic and political changes, called the archaic revolution, the cultural upheaval. Important role the Greek colonization played in the archaic revolution, which brought the Greek world out of the state of isolation and caused the rapid flowering of Greek society, made it more mobile, receptive. It opened wide scope for personal initiative and creativity each person, helped release the individual from the control of the community and accelerated the transition of society to a higher level of economic and cultural development. Antique countries were more developed, unlike the countries of the Ancient East.

5. Eastern Slavs in the 6th - 9th centuries: resettlement, economy, social organization, beliefs.

The tribes of the Eastern Slavs occupied a vast territory from the Onega and Ladoga lakes in the north to the northern Black Sea region in the south, from the foothills of the Carpathians in the west to the interfluve of the Oka and Volga in the east. In the VIII-IX centuries. the Eastern Slavs formed about 15 of the largest unions of tribes. The picture of their settlement looked like this:

· clearing- along the middle course of the Dnieper;

· Drevlyans- in the north-west, in the basin of the Pripyat River and in the Middle Dnieper;

· Slavs (Ilmen Slavs)- along the banks of the Volkhov River and Lake Ilmen;

· Dregovichi- between the rivers Pripyat and Berezina;

· Vyatichi- in the upper reaches of the Oka, along the banks of the Klyazma and the Moscow River;

· krivichi- in the upper reaches of the Western Dvina, Dnieper and Volga;

· Polotsk- along the Western Dvina and its tributary, the Polota River;

· northerners- in the basins of the Desna, Seim, Sula and Northern Donets;

· radimichi- on Sozh and Desna;

· Volhynians, Buzhans and Dulebs- in Volyn, along the banks of the Bug;

· street, tivertsy- in the very south, in the interfluves of the Bug and the Dniester, the Dniester and the Prut;

· white croats- in the foothills of the Carpathians.

Next to the Eastern Slavs lived Finno-Ugric tribes: the whole, Karel, Chud, Muroma, Mordva, Mer, Cheremis. Their relations with the Slavs were built mostly peacefully. The basis of the economic life of the Eastern Slavs was agriculture. The Slavs, who lived in the forest-steppe and steppe zones, were engaged in arable farming with two-field and three-field crop rotation.

The main tools were a plow with an iron tip, a sickle, a hoe, but a plow with a plowshare was already used. The Slavs of the forest zone had slash-and-burn agriculture, in which forests were cut down and burned, ash mixed with the top layer of soil served as good fertilizer. For 4-5 years, a good harvest was taken, then this area was abandoned. They grew barley, rye, wheat, millet, oats, peas, buckwheat. Flax and hemp were important industrial crops. The economic activity of the Slavs was not limited to agriculture: they were also engaged in cattle breeding, raising cattle and pigs, as well as horses, sheep and poultry. Hunting and fishing were developed. Valuable furs paid tribute, they were the equivalent of money. The Slavs were also engaged in beekeeping - collecting honey from wild bees. Drinks were made from honey. An important branch of the economy was the production of iron. It was mined from iron ore, deposits of which were often found in swamps. From iron, iron tips for plows and plows, axes, hoes, sickles, and scythes were made. Pottery was also a traditional branch of the economy of the ancient Slavs. The main form of dishes among the Slavs throughout the Middle Ages were pots. They were used for cooking, food storage and as ritual utensils: in pre-Christian times, the dead were burned and the ashes were placed in a pot. Burial mounds were piled up at the place of burning. The low level of development of agricultural technology also determined the nature of the organization of economic life. The basic unit of economic life was the tribal community, whose members jointly owned tools, jointly cultivated the land and jointly consumed the resulting product. However, as the methods of iron processing and the manufacture of agricultural implements are improved, slash-and-burn agriculture is gradually being replaced by a plowed system. The consequence of this was that the family became the basic economic unit. The tribal community was replaced by a neighboring rural community, in which families settled not on the principle of kinship, but on the principle of neighborhood. In the neighboring community, communal ownership of forest and hay lands, pastures, and reservoirs was preserved. But the arable land was divided into allotments, which each family cultivated with their own tools and disposed of the harvest itself. Further improvement of tools and technology for growing various crops made it possible to obtain a surplus product and accumulate it. This led to property stratification within the agricultural community, the emergence of private ownership of tools and land. The main deities of the Slavs were: Svarog (god of heaven) and his son Svarozhich (god of fire). Rod (god of fertility), Stribog (god of the wind), Dazhdbog (god of the sun), Veles (god of cattle), Perun (god of thunder). In honor of these gods, idols were erected, to which sacrifices were made. As the social organization of East Slavic society became more complex, changes took place in the pagan pantheon: Perun, who turned into the god of war, became the main deity of the military nobility. Instead of wooden idols, stone statues of deities appeared, and pagan sanctuaries were built. The decomposition of tribal relations was accompanied by the complication of cult rites. So, the funeral of princes and nobles turned into a solemn ritual, during which huge mounds were poured over the dead - barrows, one of his wives or a slave was burned along with the deceased, a feast was celebrated, that is, a commemoration, accompanied by military competitions.

The next global type of civilization that developed in antiquity was western type of civilization. It began to appear on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and reached its highest development in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, societies that are commonly called the ancient world in the period from the 9th-8th centuries. BC e. to IV-V centuries. n. e. Therefore, the Western type of civilization can rightfully be called the Mediterranean or ancient type of civilization.

Ancient civilization has come a long way of development. In the south of the Balkan Peninsula, for various reasons, early class societies and states emerged at least three times: in the 2nd half of the 3rd millennium BC. e. (destroyed by the Achaeans); in the XVII-XIII centuries. BC e. (destroyed by the Dorians); in the IX-VI centuries. BC e. the last attempt was a success - an ancient society arose.

Antique civilization, as well as Eastern civilization, is a primary civilization. It grew directly out of primitiveness and could not take advantage of the fruits of a previous civilization. Therefore, in ancient civilization, by analogy with the eastern, in the minds of people and in the life of society, the influence of primitiveness is significant. The dominant position is religious and mythological worldview. However, this worldview has significant features. Ancient worldview cosmologically. Cosmos in Greek is not only the world. The Universe, but also order, the world whole, opposing Chaos with its proportionality and beauty. This order is based on measure and harmony. Thus, in ancient culture, on the basis of worldview models, one of the important elements of Western culture is formed - rationality.

The setting for harmony throughout the cosmos was also associated with the culture-creating activity of the “ancient man”. Harmony is manifested in the proportion and connection of things, and these proportions of connection can be calculated and reproduced. Hence the formulation canon- a set of rules that determine harmony, mathematical calculations of the canon, based on observations of a real human body. The body is the prototype of the world. Cosmologism (ideas about the universe) of ancient culture anthropocentric character, i.e. man was considered as the center of the universe and the ultimate goal of the entire universe. The cosmos was constantly correlated with man, natural objects with human ones. This approach determined the attitude of people to their earthly life. The desire for earthly joys, an active position in relation to this world are the characteristic values ​​of ancient civilization.

The civilizations of the East grew up on irrigated agriculture. Ancient society had a different agricultural basis. This is the so-called Mediterranean triad - cultivation without artificial irrigation of cereals, grapes and olives.

Unlike Eastern societies, ancient societies developed very dynamically, since from the very beginning a struggle flared up in it between the peasantry and the aristocracy, enslaved into shared slavery. Among other peoples, it ended with the victory of the nobility, and among the ancient Greeks, the demos (people) not only defended freedom, but also achieved political equality. The reasons for this lie in the rapid development of crafts and trade. The trade and craft elite of the demos quickly grew rich and economically became stronger than the landowning nobility. The contradictions between the power of the trade and craft part of the demos and the fading power of the landowning nobility formed the driving spring for the development of Greek society, which by the end of the 6th century. BC e. resolved in favor of the demos.

In ancient civilization, private property relations came to the fore, the dominance of private commodity production, oriented mainly to the market, manifested itself.

The first example of democracy appeared in history - democracy as the personification of freedom. Democracy in the Greco-Latin world was still direct. The equality of all citizens was envisaged as a principle of equal opportunities. There was freedom of speech, the election of government bodies.

In the ancient world, the foundations of civil society were laid, providing for the right of every citizen to participate in government, recognition of his personal dignity, rights and freedoms. The state did not interfere in the private life of citizens, or this interference was insignificant. Trade, crafts, agriculture, the family functioned independently of the government, but within the law. Roman law contained a system of rules governing private property relations. The citizens were law-abiding.

In antiquity, the question of the interaction between the individual and society was decided in favor of the first. The personality and its rights were recognized as primary, and the collective, society as secondary.

However, democracy in the ancient world was of a limited nature: the obligatory presence of a privileged stratum, the exclusion from its action of women, free foreigners, slaves.

Slavery also existed in the Greco-Latin civilization. Assessing its role in antiquity, it seems that the position of those researchers who see the secret of the unique achievements of antiquity not in slavery (the labor of slaves is inefficient), but in freedom, is closer to the truth. The displacement of free labor by slave labor during the period of the Roman Empire was one of the reasons for the decline of this civilization (see: Semennikova L.I. Russia in the world community of civilizations. - M., 1994. - S. 60).

Civilization of Ancient Greece. The peculiarity of Greek civilization lies in the appearance of such political structure, as "polis" - "city-state", covering the city itself and the territory adjacent to it. The policies were the first republics in the history of all mankind.

Numerous Greek cities were founded along the shores of the Mediterranean and Black Seas, as well as on the islands - Cyprus and Sicily. In the VIII-VII centuries. BC e. a large stream of Greek settlers rushed to the coast of southern Italy, the formation of large policies in this territory was so significant that it was called "Greater Greece".

Citizens of policies had the right to own land, they were obliged to take part in public affairs in one form or another, and in case of war they were made up of a civil militia. In the Hellenic policies, in addition to the citizens of the city, personally free people usually lived, but deprived civil rights; often they were immigrants from other Greek cities. At the bottom rung of the social ladder of the ancient world were completely disenfranchised slaves.

The polis community was dominated by the ancient form of ownership of land, it was used by those who were members of the civil community. Under the polis system, hoarding was condemned. AT In most policies, the supreme body of power was the people's assembly. He had the right to make a final decision on the most important polis issues. The cumbersome bureaucratic apparatus, characteristic of Eastern and all totalitarian societies, was absent in the policy. The polis was an almost complete coincidence of the political structure, military organization and civil society.

The Greek world has never been a single political entity. It consisted of several completely independent states that could enter into alliances, usually voluntarily, sometimes under duress, wage wars among themselves or make peace. The sizes of most of the policies were small: usually they had only one city, where several hundred citizens lived. Each such town was the administrative, economic and cultural center of a small state, and its population was engaged not only in crafts, but also in agriculture.

In the VI-V centuries. BC e. the polis developed into a special form of the slave-owning state, more progressive than the Eastern despotisms. Citizens of the classical polis are equal in their political and legal rights. No one stood above the citizen in the polis, except for the polis collective (the idea of ​​the sovereignty of the people). Every citizen had the right to publicly express his opinion on any issue. It became a rule for the Greeks to make any political decisions openly, jointly, after a comprehensive public discussion. In the policy, there is a separation of the highest legislative power (the people's assembly) and the executive (elected fixed-term magistracies). Thus, in Greece, the system known to us as ancient democracy is being established.

Ancient Greek civilization is characterized by the fact that it most vividly expresses the idea of ​​the sovereignty of the people and the democratic form of government. Greece of the archaic period had a certain specificity of civilization in comparison with other ancient countries: classical slavery, a polis management system, a developed market with a monetary form of circulation. Although Greece at that time did not represent united state However, constant trade between individual policies, economic and family ties between neighboring cities led the Greeks to self-awareness - to be them in a single state.

The heyday of ancient Greek civilization was achieved during the period of classical Greece (VI century - 338 BC). The polis organization of society effectively carried out economic, military and political functions, became a unique phenomenon, unknown in the world of ancient civilization.

One of the features of the civilization of classical Greece was the rapid rise of material and spiritual culture. In the field of development of material culture, the emergence of new technology and material assets, craft developed, built sea ​​harbors and new cities arose, the construction of sea transport and all kinds of cultural monuments, etc.

The product of the highest culture of antiquity is the civilization of Hellenism, the beginning of which was laid by the conquest by Alexander the Great in 334-328. BC e. Persian power, covering Egypt and a significant part of the Middle East to the Indus and Central Asia. The Hellenistic period lasted three centuries. In this wide space, new forms of political organization and social relations peoples and their cultures - the civilization of Hellenism.

What are the features of the Hellenistic civilization? The characteristic features of the civilization of Hellenism include: a specific form of socio-political organization - a Hellenistic monarchy with elements of eastern despotism and a polis system; growth in the production of products and trade in them, the development of trade routes, the expansion of money circulation, including the appearance of gold coins; a stable combination of local traditions with the culture brought by the conquerors and settlers by the Greeks and other peoples.

Hellenism enriched the history of mankind and world civilization as a whole with new scientific discoveries. The greatest contribution to the development of mathematics and mechanics was made by Euclid (3rd century BC) and Archimedes (287-312). The versatile scientist, mechanic and military engineer Archimedes of Syracuse laid the foundations of trigonometry; he discovered the principles of analysis of infinitesimal quantities, as well as the basic laws of hydrostatics and mechanics, which were widely used for practical purposes. For the irrigation system in Egypt, an "Archimedean screw" was used - a device for pumping water. It was an obliquely located hollow pipe, inside of which there was a screw tightly adjacent to it. A propeller rotated with the help of people scooped up water and lifted it up.

Traveling overland created the need to accurately measure the length of the path traveled. This problem was solved in the 1st century. BC e. Alexandrian mechanic Heron. He invented a device that he called a hodometer (path meter). In our time, such devices are called taximeters.

World art has been enriched with such masterpieces as the Altar of Zeus in Pergamon, the statues of Venus de Milo and Nike of Samothrace, the sculptural group Laocoön. The achievements of ancient Greek, Mediterranean, Black Sea, Byzantine and other cultures entered the golden fund of the Hellenistic civilization.

Civilization of Ancient Rome compared to Greece was a more complex phenomenon. According to ancient legend, the city of Rome was founded in 753 BC. e. on the left bank of the Tiber, the validity of which was confirmed archaeological excavations present century. Initially, the population of Rome consisted of three hundred clans, the elders of which constituted the senate; at the head of the community was the king (in Latin - reve). The king was the supreme commander and priest. Later, the Latin communities living in Latium attached to Rome received the name of plebeians (plebs-people), and the descendants of the old Roman clans, who then constituted the aristocratic stratum of the population, were called patricians.

In the VI century. BC e. Rome became a fairly significant city and was dependent on the Etruscans, who lived northwest of Rome.

At the end of the VI century. BC e. with the liberation from the Etruscans, the Roman Republic is formed, which lasted about five centuries. The Roman Republic was originally a small state, less than 1000 square meters. km. The first centuries of the republic - the time of the stubborn struggle of the plebeians for their equal political rights with the patricians, for equal rights to public land. As a result, the territory of the Roman state gradually expands. At the beginning of the IV century. BC e. it has already more than doubled the original size of the republic. At this time, Rome was captured by the Gauls, who settled somewhat earlier in the Po Valley. However, the Gallic invasion did not play a significant role in the further development of the Roman state. II and I centuries. BC e. were times of great conquests that gave Rome all the countries adjacent to the Mediterranean, Europe to the Rhine and Danube, as well as Britain, Asia Minor, Syria and almost the entire coast of North Africa. Countries conquered by the Romans outside of Italy were called provinces.

In the first centuries of the existence of Roman civilization, slavery in Rome was poorly developed. From the 2nd century BC e. the number of slaves increased due to successful wars. The situation in the republic gradually worsened. In the 1st century BC e. the war of the inferior Italians against Rome and the uprising of slaves led by Spartacus shook all of Italy. It all ended with the establishment in Rome in 30 BC. e. the sole power of the emperor, based on armed force.

The first centuries of the Roman Empire were the time of the strongest property inequality, the spread of large-scale slavery. From the 1st century BC e. the opposite process is also observed - the release of slaves into the wild. In the future, slave labor in agriculture was gradually replaced by the labor of colonies, personally free, but attached to the land of cultivators. Previously prosperous Italy began to weaken, and the importance of the provinces began to increase. The disintegration of the slaveholding system began.

At the end of the IV century. n. e. The Roman Empire is divided approximately in half - into the eastern and western parts. The Eastern (Byzantine) Empire lasted until the 15th century, when it was conquered by the Turks. Western empire during the 5th century BC e. was attacked by the Huns and Germans. In 410 AD e. Rome was taken by one of the Germanic tribes - the Ostrogoths. After that, the Western Empire eked out a miserable existence, and in 476 its the last Emperor was dethroned.

What were the reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire? They were associated with the crisis of Roman society, which was caused by the difficulties of reproduction of slaves, the problems of maintaining the manageability of a huge empire, the increasing role of the army, the militarization of political life, the reduction of the urban population and the number of cities. The Senate, the bodies of city self-government turned into a fiction. Under these conditions, the imperial government was forced to recognize the division of the empire in 395 into Western and Eastern (the center of the latter was Constantinople) and abandon military campaigns in order to expand the territory of the state. Therefore, the military weakening of Rome was one of the reasons for its fall.

The rapid fall of the Western Roman Empire was facilitated by the invasion of the barbarians, the powerful movement of Germanic tribes on its territory in the 4th-7th centuries, culminating in the creation of "barbarian kingdoms".

A brilliant connoisseur of the history of Rome, the Englishman Edward Gibbon (XVIII century), among the reasons for the fall of Rome, names the negative consequences of the adoption of Christianity (adopted officially in the IV century). It instilled in the masses a spirit of passivity, non-resistance and humility, forced them to bend meekly under the yoke of power or even oppression. As a result, the proud warlike spirit of the Roman is replaced by the spirit of piety. Christianity taught only to "suffer and submit."

With the fall of the Roman Empire, a new era in the history of civilization begins - the Middle Ages.

Thus, in the conditions of antiquity, two main (global) types of civilization were defined: the western, including European and North American, and the eastern, absorbing the civilization of the countries of Asia, Africa, including the Arab, Turkic and Asia Minor. The ancient states of the West and East remained the most powerful historical associations in international affairs: foreign economic and political relations, war and peace, establishing interstate borders, resettlement of people on an especially large scale, maritime navigation, compliance with environmental problems, etc.

Ancient civilization is the greatest and most beautiful phenomenon in the history of mankind. It is very difficult to overestimate the role and significance of ancient civilization, its merits to the world-historical process. The civilization created by the ancient Greeks and the ancient Romans, which existed from the 8th century. BC. until the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. AD, i.e. more than 1200 years - was not only an unsurpassed cultural center of its time, which gave the world outstanding examples of creativity in essentially all areas of the human spirit. It is also the cradle of two modern civilizations close to us: Western European and Byzantine-Orthodox.

Ancient civilization is divided into two local civilizations:

• a) ancient Greek (VIII-I century BC);
• b) Roman (VIII century BC - V century AD).

Between these local civilizations, a particularly bright era of Hellenism stands out, which covers the period from 323 BC. before 30 BC

A progressive type of civilization associated with constant changes in human life and aspirations for the future, based on the lessons of the past, began to emerge on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. In ancient times, it reached its highest development in ancient Greece and ancient Rome.

In ancient civilization, private property relations came to the fore, the dominance of private commodity production, oriented mainly to the market, manifested itself. The world's first sample of democracy appeared - democracy.

In the economic history of ancient Greece, a number of periods are distinguished:

• 1. Crete-Mycenaean (Crete and the city of Mycenae on the Peloponnese peninsula) - III millennium BC. -XII century. BC.
• 2. Homeric period - XI-IX centuries. BC.
• 3. "Great Greek colonization", polis society - VIII-VI centuries. BC.
• 4. Athenian slave state - VI-IV centuries. BC.

In Greece in the 7th-6th centuries. BC e. socio-economic and political phenomena developed that gave ancient society a certain specificity in comparison with other civilizations: classical slavery; money circulation system and market; polis - the main form of political organization; the idea of ​​the sovereignty of the people and the democratic form of government.

At the same time, the basic principles of morality and aesthetic ideals were developed, which had an impact on the entire ancient world. Finally, during that period, the most important elements of ancient culture were born - science and philosophy, the main genres of literature, theater, order architecture, and sports.

In ancient Greece, cities with their rural districts were separate slave-owning states - policies. Cities were centers of handicraft production, trade and culture, where population growth and material wealth. The province surrounding these cities was a village with backward forms of production, with many remnants of primitive society. Despite the fact that in the archaic period Greece was not a single state, however, regular trade relations between individual policies led to the gradual formation of ethnic self-consciousness, one of the manifestations of which was the famous, carried out from 776 BC. e. The Olympic Games, where only Hellenes were allowed. The main feature of the moral consciousness of the ancient Greek society of that period was the combination of a sense of collectivism and a competitive principle. By the VIII-VI centuries. BC. includes the emergence of perfect architecture, mainly public (temples, theaters); the creation of alphabetic writing, the emergence of philosophy.

The most important achievements of the civilization of the archaic period were developed during the period of classical Greece (from the turn of the 6th-5th centuries BC to 338 BC). This was the period of the great flourishing of the polis organization of society, which influenced all aspects of life. The policy was a civil community, an important feature of which was a combination of a communal character and peculiar features that distinguished this community from tribal, family, territorial, etc.

It was based on the ancient form of ownership, which was both public (joint) and private. Only those who were full members of the civil community could become the owner of the main means of production (land). Only a collective of citizens had the supreme right to land (the right to own, use and dispose of it). The interconnection and interdependence of land ownership and civil rights contributed to the recognition of all citizens as equal.

Among the free members of society were various property strata. The rich were, as a rule, representatives of the old tribal nobility, they actually exercised power in policies. They called themselves "the best people", in Greek - "aristocrats". Therefore, the polis system of cities, where the power of the tribal nobility was established, began to be called the aristocracy. The rest, most of the free population were peasants and artisans. It was called "demos", which means "people" in Greek.

Various government bodies operated in the policies, but the supreme body in most policies was the people's assembly, which had the right to make a final decision on all major issues (democracy). Another feature of the policies was the coincidence of political and military organization. The citizen-owner was at the same time a warrior, who ensured the inviolability of the policy, and hence his property.

The economy of the policy was based on agriculture and cattle breeding, viticulture and horticulture. The basic principle of his economy was the idea of ​​autarky (self-sufficiency). The means of subsistence, not dependent on external, natural factors, were seen as the economic basis of freedom. Surplus products were the subject of sale and were exchanged through the market. The sea played a huge role in the life of the Greeks. The abundance of convenient bays and islands contributed to early development navigation and exchange.

Thus, the policy carried out economic, military and political functions. In accordance with the basic principles of the policy, the policy system of values ​​has been developed: the policy is the highest good; the existence of a person outside its framework is impossible, and the well-being of an individual depends on the well-being of the policy. The values ​​of the policy also included recognition of the superiority of agricultural labor over other types of activity (the only exception was Sparta, where war was also considered a value); unchanged economic basis and priority of traditions. The desire for hoarding was condemned as anti-value.

During that period, the spread of slavery of the classical type began. For example, in Athens, the slave not only had no ownership of the means of production, but also represented a "talking tool" that belonged to his master. The right of ownership of the slave owner to the slave was not limited in any way. The children of slaves were called "offspring" and also became slaves. Slaves in Greece are, as a rule, prisoners of war captured during military campaigns or pirate raids, who entered the slave markets and became a “human commodity”. The source of slaves was also debt slavery as a result of the seizure of the best lands by the noble elite (eupatrides) and the enslavement of impoverished community members. However, the debt slavery of fellow tribesmen was eliminated rather quickly; only prisoners of war became slaves, which is probably why, as historians suggest, the border between slave and free was so distinct, and the attitude towards slaves was especially cruel (compared to domestic slavery in the East).

The formation of slave-owning city-states coincided with the colonization of a number of foreign territories and regions by the Greeks in pursuit of slaves, bread, cattle, metal, salt, fish, in an effort to conquer new lands with the aim of settling them.

There are three main directions of Greek colonization:

• 1. The northern and eastern shores of the Black Sea - Chersonese, Feodosia, Panticapaeum (Crimea), Phanagoria (the mouth of the Kuban, Olbia (the mouth of the Bug).
• 2. To the west, towards the Apennine and Iberian peninsulas - the coast of Italy and the island of Sicily - the cities of Syracuse, Neapolis, Tarentum, etc.
• 3. North Africa.

Colonization gave impetus to the development of trade relations between Ancient Greece and the rest of the (non-Hellenic) world, which contributed to the even greater development of slave relations. Colonization opened up huge opportunities for trade, which accelerated the development of shipbuilding and all the various crafts associated with it. Colonization caused a massive exodus of the population, who left their homeland due to lack of land or frequent internal strife. As a result, the number of dissatisfied among the free population of Greece was reduced, and this to some extent relieved social tension.

The final period in the economic history of ancient Greece - IV centuries. BC. - the heyday of the Athenian slave state (southeast of Greece). Athens managed to strengthen its power as a result of victory in bloody battles. Greco-Persian Wars ah (500-479 BC), when a lot of booty and a lot of prisoners were captured. Athens led the union of all Greek states, forming the Athenian Maritime Union, from which the Athenian maritime power then grew. Athens became the center of the political and economic life of ancient Greece.

In the 5th century BC. the life of Athens reached its highest peak, which was based on the widespread exploitation of slave labor. Slaves began to be used in all sectors of the economy: in agricultural work, in the construction of new buildings, as rowers on ships, in craft workshops, quarries, and mines. In Athens, the bulk of the slaves were used in industrial production.

Slave-owning craft workshops - ergasteria - were widely used in Athens, in which slaves made various metal products, weapons, pottery, furniture, shoes, and jewelry. Workshops with 10-12 slaves predominated, but there were ergasterii with several dozen slaves. Ergasteria brought a large income, no less than maritime trade, which was considered the most profitable industry. Ergasterium was the main, but the only form of exploitation of slaves. Large slave owners rented out their slaves to work in state mines, quarries, and construction. Agriculture was dominated by small peasant farms, and slave labor was used on a limited scale.

Athens was adorned with magnificent buildings. The harbor of Piraeus developed into the largest trading port of that time. Through Piraeus, Athens and other Greek policies exported wine, olive oil, various handicrafts, and imported bread from Sicily and the Black Sea, spices and luxury goods from the countries of the East, ivory from Africa, iron and copper from Italy. Of particular importance for Athens was the import of grain, since grain production did not meet the needs of the growing urban population. The grain trade was under the control of the state.

Along with trade in ancient Greece, usury developed, which was mainly carried out by the owners of change shops - repasts. Usurers gave loans secured by property (land, city houses, ships, goods) at 12-18, and often 30%. Large usurious operations were carried out by temples. Metal money was widely used. The merchants of antiquity are, first of all, slave traders. The development of usurious capital, which bears interest, is connected with the development of commodity and money circulation. As a rule, usurious capital bankrupted small producers and turned them into slaves. One of the most important consequences of the development of merchant capital and usury in a slave-owning society was the transformation of land into an object of purchase and sale and the emergence of mortgage debt, i.e., the mortgage of land by ruined producers. But the heyday of Athens was short-lived.

In 431 BC as a result of the aggravation of contradictions, a war broke out between Athens and Sparta, a strong aristocratic slave state in southern Greece. The victory was for Sparta and the political and economic hegemony of Athens came to an end. But Sparta itself was weakened in the war. As a result, in the IV century. BC. Greece was under the rule of a new slave state - Macedonia, located in the north of the country. As a result of the campaigns to the East of Tsar Alexander the Great, a huge empire arose, which soon collapsed.

After that, the centers of political and economic life of the ancient world began to move west, to the Apennine Peninsula, where an even more powerful slave state, Ancient Rome, was formed.

The culture of Ancient Rome - in many respects the successor of the ancient traditions of Greece - is distinguished by religious restraint, internal severity and external expediency. The practicality of the Romans found a worthy expression in urban planning, politics, jurisprudence, and military art. The culture of Ancient Rome largely determined the culture of subsequent eras in Western Europe.

The ancient Roman civilization is interesting in its own system of spiritual values, different not only from those prevailing in the East, but also in Ancient Greece. The main spiritual guidelines were: 1) patriotism; 2) the "special chosenness of God" of the Roman people; 3) the idea of ​​Rome as the highest value. In addition, not only craft, but also occupations were considered unworthy for a Roman citizen. artistic creativity(sculpture, painting, stage acting, dramaturgy), even pedagogy. The peculiarity of this civilization also lies in the fact that it allows us to judge the most diverse forms of socio-political structure known in antiquity: from an early class society headed by a “king” (seven legendary Roman kings, most likely, were the supreme leaders of tribal unions) to an early republic, then a developed republic (with the gradual development of an oligarchic, polis system) and, finally, to the emergence of a huge and fairly stable state - the Roman Empire (a new type of monarchy, different from the long-known eastern despotism), which absorbed almost all other civilizations of antiquity.

Thus, ancient culture showed an amazing wealth of forms, images and ways of expression, laying the foundations of aesthetics, ideas about harmony and thus expressing its attitude to the world.

Common to the ancient states were the ways social development and a special form of ownership - ancient slavery, as well as a form of production based on it. Their civilization was common with a common historical and cultural complex. This does not, of course, deny the presence of indisputable features and differences in the life of ancient societies.

Acquaintance with the rich cultural heritage of ancient Rome and ancient Greece, which was the result of the synthesis and further development of the cultural achievements of the peoples of antiquity, makes it possible to better understand the foundations of European civilization, show new aspects in the development of the ancient heritage, establish living links between antiquity and modernity, and better understand modernity. .

Ancient civilization was the cradle of European civilization and culture. It was here that those material, spiritual, aesthetic values ​​were laid, which, to one degree or another, found their development in almost all European peoples.

II semester

Historical geography Ancient Greece.

Written sources on the history of Ancient Greece.

Minoan civilization in Crete.

Mycenaean Greece.

Trojan War.

Dark Ages" in the history of Greece.

Greek mythology: main stories.

Poems of Homer.

Great Greek colonization.

Sparta as a type of polis.

Formation of the policy in Athens (VIII-VI centuries BC).

Solon's reforms.

Tyranny of Pisistratus.

Reforms of Cleisthenes.

Greco-Persian Wars.

Athenian democracy in the 5th century. BC.

Athenian maritime power in the 5th century. BC.

Peloponnesian War.

The Crisis of the Polis in Greece, 4th c. BC.

Greek culture of the archaic period.

Greek culture of classical times.

Rise of Macedonia.

Campaigns of Alexander.

Hellenism and its manifestations in economics, politics, culture.

Major Hellenistic States.

Northern Black Sea region in the classical and Hellenistic era.

Periodization of the history of Rome.

Historical Geography of Rome, Italy and the Empire.

Written sources on Roman history.

Etruscans and their culture.

The royal period of the history of Rome.

Early Republic: the struggle of patricians and plebeians.

Roman conquest of Italy.

Second Punic War.

Roman conquest of the Mediterranean in the 2nd century BC. BC.

Reforms of the Gracchi brothers.

Struggle between the optimates and the popular. Marius and Sulla.

Political struggle in Rome in the 1st half. 1st century BC.

Caesar's conquest of Gaul.

Rise of Spartacus.

The struggle for power and the dictatorship of Caesar.

Struggle between Antony and Octavian.

Principate of Augustus.

Emperors from the dynasty of Tiberius-Juliev.

Roman provinces in the I-II centuries. AD and their romanization.

Golden Age" of the Roman Empire in the II century. AD

Roman culture during the civil wars.

Roman culture of the era of the principate.

The era of "soldier emperors".

Reforms of Diocletian-Constantine.

Ancient Christian church. The adoption of Christianity in the IV century.

The onslaught of the Germanic tribes on the borders of the empire in the IV-V centuries.

Eastern provinces in the IV-VI centuries. Birth of Byzantium.

Fall of the Western Roman Empire.

Culture of the Late Empire.

Antique traditions in the culture of subsequent eras.

The main features of ancient civilization, its differences from the civilizations of the Ancient East.

Ancient civilization is an exemplary, normative civilization. Events took place here, which then only repeated, there is not a single event and reality, which were not meaningful, did not occur in Other Greece and Other. Rome.

Antiquity is clear to us today, because: 1. in antiquity they lived according to the principle of "here and now"; 2. religion was superficial; 3 the Greeks had no morals, conscience, they maneuvered through life; 4 private life was a person's private life, if not affect public morality.

Not similar: 1. There was no concept of ethics (good, bad). Religion was reduced to rituals. And not to assess good and bad.

1. In ancient civilization, man is the main subject of the historical process (more important than the state or religion), in contrast to the civilization of the ancient East.

2. Culture in Western civilization is a personal creative expression, in contrast to the Eastern, where the state and religion are glorified.

3. The ancient Greek hoped only for himself, not for God, nor for the state.

4. The pagan religion for antiquity did not have a moral standard.

5. Unlike the ancient Eastern religion, the Greeks believed that life on earth is better than in the other world.

6. For the Ancient civilization, the important criteria of life were: creativity, personality, culture, i.e. self-expression.

7. In ancient civilization there was basically a democracy (people's assemblies, a council of elders), in the Other East - monarchies.

Periodization of the history of Ancient Greece.

Period

1. Civilization of Minoan Crete - 2 thousand BC - XX - XII century BC

Old palaces 2000-1700 BC - appearance of several potential centers (Knossos, Festa, Mallia, Zagross)

The period of new palaces 1700-1400 BC - the palace at Knossos (Mitaur's Palace)

Earthquake XV - the conquest of Fr. Crete from the mainland by the Achaeans.

2. Mycenaean (Achaean) civilization - XVII-XII centuries BC (Greeks, but not yet ancient)

3. The Homeric period, or the Dark Ages, or the prepolis period (XI-IX centuries BC), - tribal relations in Greece.

Period. Antique civilization

1. Archaic period (archaic) (VIII-VI centuries BC) - the formation of a polis society and state. Settlement of the Greeks along the shores of the Mediterranean and Black Seas (Great Greek colonization).

2. The classical period (classics) (V-IV centuries BC) - the heyday of ancient Greek civilization, a rational economy, a polis system, Greek culture.

3. Hellenistic period (Helinism, postclassical period) - end. IV - I in BC (expansion of the Greek world, dwindling kul-ra, lightened historical period):

Eastern campaigns of Alexander the Great and the formation of a system of Hellenistic states (30s of the 4th century, BC - 80s of the 3rd century BC);

The functioning of Hellenistic societies and states (80s of the 3rd century BC, - the middle of the 2nd century BC);

The crisis of the Hellenistic system and the conquest of the Hellenistic states by Rome in the West and Parthia in the East (mid-2nd century - 1st century BC).

3. Historical geography of Ancient Greece.

The geographical boundaries of ancient Greek history were not constant, but changed and expanded as historical development. The main territory of the ancient Greek civilization was the Aegean region, i.e. Balkan, Asia Minor, Thracian coast and numerous islands of the Aegean Sea. From the 8th-9th centuries. BC, after a powerful colonization movement from the Aeneid region, known as the Great Greek colonization, the Greeks mastered the territories of Sicily and South. Italy, which received the name Magna Graecia, as well as the Black Sea coast. After the campaigns of A. Macedon at the end of the 4th century. BC. and the conquest of the Persian state on its ruins in the Near and Middle East up to India, Hellenistic states were formed and these territories became part of the ancient Greek world. In the Hellenistic era, the Greek world covered a vast territory from Sicily in the west to India in the East, from the Northern Black Sea region in the north, to the first rapids of the Nile in the south. However, in all periods of ancient Greek history, the Aegean region was considered its central part, where Greek statehood and culture were born and reached their dawn.

The climate is Eastern Mediterranean, subtropical with mild winters (+10) and hot summers.

The relief is mountainous, the valleys are isolated from each other, which prevented the construction of communications and assumed the maintenance of nat-go agriculture in each valley.

There is a rugged coastline. There was communication by sea. The Greeks, although they were afraid of the sea, mastered the Aegean Sea, did not go out to the Black Sea for a long time.

Greece is rich in minerals: marble, iron ore, copper, silver, wood, pottery clay good quality which provided the Greek craft with a sufficient amount of raw materials.

The soils of Greece are stony, moderately fertile and difficult to cultivate. However, the abundance of sun and the mild subtropical climate made them favorable for agricultural activities. There were also spacious valleys (in Boeotia, Laconica, Thessaly), suitable for agriculture. In agriculture, there was a triad: cereals (barley, wheat), olives (olives), from which oil was produced, and its pomace was the basis of lighting, and grapes (a universal drink that did not spoil in this climate, wine 4 -5%). Cheese was made from milk.

Cattle breeding: small cattle (sheep, bulls), poultry, because there was nowhere to turn around.

4. Written sources on the history of Ancient Greece.

In ancient Greece, history is born - special historical writings.

In the 6th century BC, logographs appeared - word writings, the first prose, and a description of memorable events. The most famous are the logographs of Hecatea (540-478 BC) and Hellanicus (480-400 BC).

The first historical study was the work "History" by Herodotus (485-425 BC), who was called "the father of history" by Cicero in ancient times. "History" - the main type of prose, has public and private significance, explains the whole history as a whole, broadcasts, transmits information to descendants. The work of Herodotus differs from the chronicles, chronicles in that there are causes of events. The purpose of the work is to present all the information brought to the author. The work of Herodotus is devoted to the history of the Greco-Persian wars and consists of 9 books, which in the III century. BC e. were named after 9 muses.

Another outstanding work of Greek historical thought was the work of the Athenian historian Thucydides (about 460-396 BC), dedicated to the events of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC). The work of Thucydides consists of 8 books, they outline the events of the Peloponnesian War from 431 to 411 BC. e. (The work was left unfinished.) However, Thucydides does not confine himself to a thorough and detailed description of military operations. He also gives a description of the internal life of the belligerents, including the relationship between different groups of the population and their clashes, changes in the political system, while partially selecting information.

A diverse literary legacy was left by Thucydides' younger contemporary, historian and publicist Xenophon of Athens (430-355 BC). He left behind many different works: Greek history”,“ Education of Cyrus ”,“ Anabasis ”,“ Domostroy ”.

The first Greek literary monuments - Homer's epic poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey" - are practically the only sources of information on history dark ages XII - VI centuries. BC e., i.e.

Among the writings of Plato (427-347 BC), his extensive treatises "State" and "Laws", written in the last period of his life, are of the greatest importance. In them, Plato, starting from an analysis of the socio-political relations of the middle of the 6th century. BC e., offers his own version of the reorganization of Greek society on new, fair, in his opinion, principles.

Aristotle owns treatises on logic and ethics, rhetoric and poetics, meteorology and astronomy, zoology and physics, which are informative sources. However, the most valuable works on the history of Greek society in the 4th c. BC e. are his writings on the essence and forms of the state - "Politics" and "The Athenian Poured".

Of the historical writings that give a coherent presentation of the events of Hellenistic history, the most important are the works of Polybius (the work details the history of the Greek and Roman world from 280 to 146 BC) and Diodorus' Historical Library.

A great contribution to the study of history Dr. Greece also has the works of Strabo, Plutarch, Pausanias, and others.

Mycenaean (Achaean) Greece.

Mycenaean civilization or Achaean Greece- a cultural period in the history of prehistoric Greece from the 18th to the 12th centuries BC. e., bronze age. It got its name from the city of Mycenae on the Peloponnese peninsula.

Internal sources are Linear B tablets deciphered after World War 2 by Michael Ventris. They contain documents on economic reporting: taxes, on the lease of land. Some information about the history of the Archean kings is contained in Homer's poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey", the works of Herodotus, Thucydides, Aristotle, which is confirmed by archeological data.

The creators of the Mycenaean culture were the Greeks - the Achaeans, who invaded the Balkan Peninsula at the turn of III-II millennium BC. e. from the north, from the region of the Danube lowland or from the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region, where they originally lived. The aliens partially destroyed and devastated the settlements of the conquered tribes. The remnants of the pre-Greek population gradually assimilated with the Achaeans.

In the early stages of its development, Mycenaean culture was strongly influenced by the more advanced Minoan civilization, for example, some cults and religious rites, fresco painting, plumbing and sewerage, styles of men's and women's clothing, some types of weapons, and finally, a linear syllabary.

The heyday of the Mycenaean civilization can be considered the XV-XIII centuries. BC e. The most significant centers of the early class society were Mycenae, Tiryns, Pylos in the Peloponnese, in Central Greece Athens, Thebes, Orchomenos, in the northern part of Iolk - Thessaly, which never united into one state. All states were at war. Male warlike civilization.

Almost all Mycenaean palaces-fortresses were fortified with Cyclopean stone walls, which were built by free people, and were citadels (for example, the Tiryns citadel).

The bulk of the working population in the Mycenaean states, as in Crete, were free or semi-free peasants and artisans, who were economically dependent on the palace and were subject to labor and natural duties in its favor. Among the artisans who worked for the palace, blacksmiths occupied a special position. Usually they received from the palace the so-called talasiya, that is, a task or lesson. The artisans involved in public service not deprived of personal freedom. They could own land and even slaves like all other members of the community.

At the head of the palace state was a "vanaka" (king), who occupied a special privileged position among the ruling nobility. The duties of Lavagete (commander) included the command of the armed forces of the Pylos kingdom. C ar and military leader concentrated in their hands the most important functions of both economic and political nature. Directly subordinate to the ruling elite of society were numerous officials who acted locally and in the center and together constituted a powerful apparatus for the oppression and exploitation of the working population of the Pylos kingdom: carters (governors), basilei (supervised production).

All land in the kingdom of Pylos was divided into two main categories: 1) land of the palace, or state, and 2) land belonging to individual territorial communities.

Mycenaean civilization survived two invasions from the north with an interval of 50 years. In the period between the invasions, the population of the Mycenaean civilization united with the goal of dying with glory in the Trojan War (not a single Trojan hero did not return home alive).

Internal reasons for the death of the Mycenaean civilization: a fragile economy, an undeveloped simple society, which led to destruction after the loss of the top. The external cause of death is the invasion of the Dorians.

Civilizations of the Eastern type are not suitable for Europe. Crete and Mycenae are the parents of antiquity.

7. Trojan War.

The Trojan War, according to the ancient Greeks, was one of the most significant events in their history. Ancient historians believed that it occurred around the turn of the XIII-XII centuries. BC e., and began with it a new - "Trojan" era: the ascent of the tribes inhabiting the Balkan Greece to more high level culture associated with urban life. Numerous Greek myths were told about the campaign of the Greek Achaeans against the city of Troy, located in the northwestern part of the peninsula of Asia Minor - Troad, later combined into a cycle of legends - cyclic poems, among them the poem "Iliad", attributed to the Greek poet Homer. It tells about one of the episodes of the final, tenth year of the siege of Troy-Ilion.

The Trojan War, according to the myths, began at the will and fault of the gods. All the gods were invited to the wedding of the Thessalian hero Peleus and the sea goddess Thetis, except for Eris, the goddess of discord. The angry goddess decided to take revenge and threw a golden apple with the inscription "To the most beautiful" to the feasting gods. Three Olympian goddesses, Hera, Athena and Aphrodite, argued which of them it was meant for. Zeus ordered the young Paris, the son of the Trojan king Priam, to judge the goddesses. The goddesses appeared to Paris on Mount Ida, near Troy, where the prince was tending herds, and each tried to seduce him with gifts. Paris preferred the love offered to him by Aphrodite to Helen, the most beautiful of mortal women, and handed the golden apple to the goddess of love. Helena, daughter of Zeus and Leda, was the wife of the Spartan king Menelaus. Paris, who was a guest in the house of Menelaus, took advantage of his absence and, with the help of Aphrodite, convinced Helen to leave her husband and go with him to Troy.

Offended, Menelaus, with the help of his brother, the powerful king of Mycenae Agamemnon, gathered a large army to return his unfaithful wife and stolen treasures. All the suitors who once wooed Elena and swore an oath to defend her honor came to the call of the brothers: Odysseus, Diomedes, Protesilaus, Ajax Telamonides and Ajax Oilid, Philoctetes, the wise old man Nestor and others. Achilles, the son of Peleus and Thetis. Agamemnon was chosen as the leader of the entire army, as the ruler of the most powerful of the Achaean states.

The Greek fleet, numbering a thousand ships, assembled at Aulis, a harbor in Boeotia. To ensure the fleet's safe navigation to the shores of Asia Minor, Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to the goddess Artemis. Having reached Troas, the Greeks tried to return Helen and the treasures by peaceful means. Odysseus and Menelaus went as messengers to Troy. The Trojans refused them, and a long and tragic war began for both sides. The gods also took part in it. Hera and Athena helped the Achaeans, Aphrodite and Apollo helped the Trojans.

The Greeks could not immediately take Troy, surrounded by powerful fortifications. They built a fortified camp on the seashore near their ships, began to devastate the outskirts of the city and attack the allies of the Trojans. In the tenth year, Agamemnon insulted Achilles by taking away the captive Briseis from him, and he, angry, refused to enter the battlefield. The Trojans took advantage of the inaction of the bravest and strongest of their enemies and went on the offensive, led by Hector. The Trojans were also helped by the general fatigue of the Achaean army, which had been unsuccessfully besieging Troy for ten years.

The Trojans broke into the Achaean camp and almost burned their ships. The closest friend of Achilles, Patroclus, stopped the onslaught of the Trojans, but he himself died at the hands of Hector. The death of a friend makes Achilles forget about the offense. Trojan hero Hector dies in a duel with Achilles. The Amazons come to the aid of the Trojans. Achilles kills their leader Penthesilea, but soon dies himself, as predicted, from the arrow of Paris, directed by the god Apollo.

A decisive turning point in the war occurs after the arrival of the hero Philoctetes from the island of Lemnos and the son of Achilles Neoptolemus to the camp of the Achaeans. Philoctetes kills Paris, and Neoptolemus kills an ally of the Trojans, the Mysian Eurynil. Left without leaders, the Trojans no longer dare to go out to battle in the open field. But the powerful walls of Troy reliably protect its inhabitants. Then, at the suggestion of Odysseus, the Achaeans decided to take the city by cunning. A huge wooden horse was built, inside which a select detachment of warriors hid. The rest of the army took refuge not far from the coast, near the island of Tenedos.

Surprised by the abandoned wooden monster, the Trojans gathered around him. Some began to offer to bring the horse into the city. Priest Laocoön, warning about the treachery of the enemy, exclaimed: "Beware of the Danaans (Greeks), who bring gifts!" But the speech of the priest did not convince his compatriots, and they brought a wooden horse into the city as a gift to the goddess Athena. At night, the warriors hidden in the belly of the horse come out and open the gate. The secretly returned Achaeans break into the city, and the beating of the inhabitants taken by surprise begins. Menelaus with a sword in his hands is looking for an unfaithful wife, but when he sees the beautiful Elena, he is unable to kill her. The entire male population of Troy perishes, with the exception of Aeneas, the son of Anchises and Aphrodite, who received an order from the gods to flee the captured city and revive its glory elsewhere. The women of Troy became captives and slaves of the victors. The city perished in a fire.

After the death of Troy, strife begins in the Achaean camp. Ajax Oilid incurs the wrath of the goddess Athena on the Greek fleet, and she sends a terrible storm, during which many ships sink. Menelaus and Odysseus are carried by a storm to distant lands (described in Homer's poem "The Odyssey"). The leader of the Achaeans, Agamemnon, after returning home, was killed along with his companions by his wife Clytemnestra, who did not forgive her husband for the death of her daughter Iphigenia. So, not at all triumphant, the campaign against Troy ended for the Achaeans.

The ancient Greeks did not doubt the historical reality of the Trojan War. Thucydides was convinced that the ten-year siege of Troy described in the poem - historical fact, only embellished by the poet. Separate parts of the poem, such as the "catalog of ships" or the list of the Achaean army under the walls of Troy, are written as a real chronicle.

Historians of the XVIII-XIX centuries. were convinced that there was no Greek campaign against Troy and that the heroes of the poem are mythical, not historical figures.

In 1871, Heinrich Schliemann began excavations of the Hissarlik hill in the northwestern part of Asia Minor, identifying it as the location of ancient Troy. Then, following the instructions of the poem, Heinrich Schliemann conducted archaeological excavations in the "gold-abundant" Mycenae. In one of the royal graves discovered there, there were - for Schliemann there was no doubt about this - the remains of Agamemnon and his companions, strewn with gold ornaments; Agamemnon's face was covered with a golden mask.

The discoveries of Heinrich Schliemann shocked the world community. There was no doubt that Homer's poem contains information about real events and their real heroes.

Later, A. Evans discovered the palace of the Minotaur on the island of Crete. In 1939, the American archaeologist Carl Blegen discovered the "sandy" Pylos, the habitat of the wise old man Nestor on the western coast of the Peloponnese. However, archeology has established that the city that Schliemann took for Troy existed for a thousand years before the Trojan War.

But it is impossible to deny the existence of the city of Troy somewhere in the northwestern region of Asia Minor. Documents from the archives of the Hittite kings testify that the Hittites knew both the city of Troy and the city of Ilion (in the Hittite version of "Truis" and "Vilus"), but, apparently, as two different cities located in the neighborhood, and not one under a double title, like in a poem.

Poems of Homer.

Homer is considered the author of two poems - the Iliad and the Odyssey, although in modern science the question of whether Homer actually lived or whether he is legendary figure. The totality of the problems associated with the authorship of the Iliad and the Odyssey, their origin and fate until the moment of recording, was called the "Homeric question".

In Italy, G. Vico (17th century) and in Germany, fr. Wolf (18) recognized the folk origin of the poems. In the 19th century, the “theory of small songs” was proposed, from to mechanical both poems subsequently arose. The Grain Theory assumes that the Iliad and the Odyssey are based on a small poem, which over time has acquired details and new episodes as a result of the work of new generations of poets. Unitarians denied participation folk art in the creation of the Homeric poems, regarded them as work of fiction created by one author. At the end of the 19th century, a theory of the folk origin of poems was proposed as a result of the gradual natural development of collective epic creativity. Synthetic theories arose in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, according to which the Iliad and the Odyssey appear to be an epic edited by one or two poets.

The plots of both poems date back to the Mycenaean time, which is confirmed by numerous archaeological materials. The poems reflect the Cretan-Mycenaean (the end of the 12th century - information about the Trojan War), Homeric (XI-IX - most of the information, because the information about the Mycenaean time did not reach oral form), early archaic (VIII-VII) era.

The content of the Iliad and the Odyssey was based on legends from the cycle myths about the Trojan War, that took place in the 13th-12th centuries. BC uh. The plot of the Iliad is the anger of the Thessalian hero Achilles at the leader of the Greek troops besieging Troy, Agamemnon, because he took away his beautiful captive. The oldest part of the Iliad is the 2nd song about the "Lists of ships". The plot of the Odyssey is the return of the island of Ithaca by Odysseus to his homeland after the Greeks destroyed Troy.

The poems were written down in Athens under the tyrant Peisistratus, who wanted to show that there was a sole power in Greece. Poems purchased modern look in the 2nd century BC in the Alexandrian monsoon (the era of Hellenism).

Meaning of the poems: a book for learning to read and write, the "handbook" of the Greeks.

One of the most important compositional features The Iliad is the "law of chronological incompatibility" formulated by Thaddeus Frantsevich Zelinsky. It consists in the fact that “In Homer the story never returns to the point of its departure. It follows from this that Homer's parallel actions cannot be depicted; Homer's poetic technique knows only a simple, linear dimension. Thus, sometimes parallel events are depicted as sequential, sometimes one of them is only mentioned or even hushed up. This explains some imaginary contradictions in the text of the poem.

A complete translation of the Iliad into Russian in the size of the original was made by N. I. Gnedich (1829), the Odyssey by V. A. Zhukovsky (1849).

Sparta as a type of polis.

The Spartan state was located in the south of the Peloponnese. The capital of this state was called Sparta, and the state itself was called Laconia. Polis could not be conquered, but only destroyed. All policies developed, but only Sparta in the 6th century. mothballed.

The main sources on the history of the Spartan state are the works of Thucydides, Xenophon, Aristotle and Plutarch, the poems of the Spartan poet Tyrtaeus. Archaeological materials acquire significance.

During the IX-VIII centuries BC, the Spartans waged a stubborn struggle with neighboring tribes for dominance over Laconia. As a result, they managed to subdue the area from the southern borders of the Arcadian Highlands to Capes Tenar and Malea on south coast Peloponnese.

In the 7th century BC, an acute land hunger began to be felt in Sparta, and the Spartans undertook an aggressive campaign in Messenia, also inhabited by the Dorians. As a result of two Messenian warriors, the territory of Messenia was annexed to Sparta, and the bulk of the population, with the exception of the inhabitants of some coastal cities, was turned into helots.

The fertile lands in Laconia and Messenia were divided into 9,000 allotments and were distributed to the Spartans. Each allotment was processed by several families of helots, who were obliged to support the Spartan and his family with their labor. The Spartan could not dispose of his allotment, sell it or leave it as an inheritance to his son. Nor was he the master of the helots. He had no right to sell or release them. Both the land and the helots belonged to the state.

Three population groups formed in Sparta: the Spartans (the conquerors themselves were Dorians), the perieks (the inhabitants of small towns scattered at some distance from Sparta, along the borders, called periekami ("living around"). They were free, but did not have civil rights) and helots (dependent population).

ephors - in the highest control and administrative body of Sparta. Elected for a year in the number of 5 people. They monitor the behavior of citizens, being overseers in relation to the enslaved and dependent population. They declare war on the helots.

The constant threat of a helot rebellion, looming under the ruling class of Sparta, demanded from him maximum unity and organization. Therefore, simultaneously with the redistribution of land, the Spartan legislator Lycurgus carried out a whole series of important social reforms:

Only a strong and healthy person could become a real warrior. When a boy was born, his father brought him to the elders. The baby was examined. A weak child was thrown into the abyss. The law obliged each Spartiate to send their sons to special camps - agels (lit. Herd). Boys were taught to read and write only for practical purposes. Education was subordinated to three goals: to be able to obey, courageously endure suffering, win or die in battles. . The boys were engaged in gymnastic and military exercises, learned to wield weapons, live in a Spartan way. They walked all year round in one cloak (himation). They slept on hard cane, plucked with bare hands. They fed them starving. To be dexterous and cunning in war, teenagers learned to steal. The boys even competed to see which of them would endure the beatings longer and more worthily. The winner was praised, his name became known to everyone. But some died under the rods. The Spartans were excellent warriors - strong, skillful, brave. The laconic saying of one Spartan woman who accompanied her son to war was famous. She gave him a shield and said: "With a shield or on a shield!"

Sparta also paid great attention to the education of women, who were highly respected. To give birth to healthy children, you need to be healthy. Therefore, the girls did not do household chores, but gymnastics and sports, they knew how to read, write, and count.

According to the law of Lycurgus, special joint meals were introduced - sisstia.

The principle of equality was put at the heart of the "Lykurgov system", they tried to stop the growth of property inequality among the Spartans. In order to withdraw gold and silver from circulation, iron obols were put into circulation.

The Spartan state forbade all foreign trade. It was only internal and took place in local markets. The craft was poorly developed, it was carried out by the perieks, who made only the most necessary utensils for equipping the Spartan army.

All transformations contributed to the consolidation of society.

The most important elements of the political system of Sparta are double royal power, the council of elders (gerousia) and the people's assembly.

The people's assembly (apella), in which all full-fledged citizens of Sparta took part, approved the decisions taken by the kings and elders at their joint meeting.

Council of Elders - Gerousia consisted of 30 members: 28 geronts (elders) and two kings. Gerontes were elected from Spartans no younger than 60 years old. The kings received power by inheritance, but their rights in Everyday life were very small: military leaders during hostilities, judicial and religious functions in Peaceful time. Decisions were made at a joint meeting of the council of elders and kings.

The city of Sparta itself had a modest appearance. There were not even defensive walls. The Spartans said that the best defense of a city was not the walls, but the courage of its citizens.

By the middle of the 6th c. BC. Corinth, Sicyon and Megara were subordinated, as a result of which the Peloponnesian Union was formed, which became the most significant political association of Greece at that time.

Solon's reforms

Solon went down in history as an outstanding reformer, who largely changed the political face of Athens and thus made it possible for this policy to outstrip other Greek cities in its development.

The socio-economic and political situation in Attica continued to deteriorate for almost the entire 7th century. BC e. The social differentiation of the population led to the fact that already a significant part of all Athenians eked out a miserable existence. The poor peasants lived in debt, paid huge interest, mortgaged the land, gave their rich fellow citizens up to 5/6 of the harvest.

The failure in the war for the island of Salamis with Megara at the end of the 7th century added fuel to the fire.

Solon. came from an ancient but impoverished noble family, was engaged in maritime trade and was thus connected both with the aristocracy and with the demos, whose members respected Solon for honesty. Pretending to be crazy, he publicly called on the Athenians for revenge in verse. His poems caused a great public outcry, which saved the poet from punishment. He was instructed to assemble and lead the fleet and army. In a new war, Athens defeated Megara, and Solon became the most popular man in the city. In 594 BC. e. he was elected the first archon (eponym) and was also instructed to perform the functions of aisimnet, that is, he was supposed to become an intermediary in settling social issues.

Solon resolutely undertook reforms. To begin with, he conducted the so-called sisachfia (literally "shaking off the burden"), according to which all debts were canceled. Mortgage debt stones were removed from the mortgaged land plots, for the future it was forbidden to borrow money against the mortgage of people. Many peasants got their plots back. The Athenians sold abroad were redeemed at public expense. These events in themselves improved the social situation, although the poor were unhappy that Solon did not carry out the promised redistribution of the land. On the other hand, the archon established the maximum maximum rate of land ownership and introduced freedom of will - from now on, if there were no direct heirs, it was possible to transfer property by will to any citizen, allowing land to be given to non-members of the clan. This undermined the power of the tribal nobility, and also gave a powerful impetus to the development of small and medium landownership.

Solon carried out a monetary reform, making the Athenian coin lighter (reducing the weight) and thereby increasing the monetary circulation in the country. He allowed olive oil to be exported abroad and wine was forbidden to export grain, thus contributing to the development of the most profitable sector of Athenian agriculture for foreign trade and preserving scarce bread for fellow citizens. A curious law was adopted to develop yet another progressive branch of the national economy. According to the law of Solon, sons could not provide for their parents in old age if they had not taught the children some trade in their time.

The most important changes took place in the political and social structure of the Athenian state. Instead of the former estates, Solon introduced new ones based on the property qualification he had carried out (census and income records). From now on, the Athenians, whose annual income was at least 500 medimns (about 52 liters) of bulk or liquid products, were called pentakosiamedimns and belonged to the first category, at least 300 medimns - horsemen (second rank), at least 200 medimns - zeugites (third rank) , less than 200 medimns - feta (fourth category).

Higher government bodies henceforth there were the Areopagus, the bule, and the People's Assembly. The bule was a new organ. It was the Council of Four Hundred, where each of the four Athenian phyla elected 100 people. All issues and laws were to be discussed in the bule before they were subject to consideration in the National Assembly. The National Assembly itself (ekklesia) under Solon began to gather much more often and acquired greater importance. The archon decreed that during the period of civil strife, every citizen should take an active political position under the threat of deprivation of civil rights.

Introduction

Ancient civilization is the greatest and most beautiful phenomenon in the history of mankind. It is very difficult to overestimate the role and significance of ancient civilization, its merits to the world-historical process. The civilization created by the ancient Greeks and the ancient Romans, which existed from the 8th century. BC. until the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. AD, i.e. more than 1200 years - was not only an unsurpassed cultural center of its time, which gave the world outstanding examples of creativity in essentially all areas of the human spirit. It is also the cradle of two modern civilizations close to us: Western European and Byzantine-Orthodox.

Ancient civilization is divided into two local civilizations;

• a) Ancient Greek (8-1 centuries BC)
• b) Roman (8th century BC - 5th century AD)

Between these local civilizations, a particularly bright era of Hellenism stands out, which covers the period from 323 BC. before 30 BC

The purpose of my work will be a detailed study of the development of these civilizations, their significance in the historical process and the causes of decline.

Ancient civilization: general characteristics

The Western type of civilization has become a global type of civilization that has developed in antiquity. It began to emerge on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and reached its highest development in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, societies that are commonly called the ancient world in the period from the 9th-8th centuries. BC e. to IV-V centuries. n. e. Therefore, the Western type of civilization can rightfully be called the Mediterranean or ancient type of civilization.

Ancient civilization has come a long way of development. In the south of the Balkan Peninsula, for various reasons, early class societies and states emerged at least three times: in the 2nd half of the 3rd millennium BC. e. (destroyed by the Achaeans); in the XVII-XIII centuries. BC e. (destroyed by the Dorians); in the IX-VI centuries. BC e. the last attempt was successful - an ancient society arose.

Antique civilization, as well as Eastern civilization, is a primary civilization. It grew directly out of primitiveness and could not take advantage of the fruits of a previous civilization. Therefore, in ancient civilization, by analogy with the eastern, in the minds of people and in the life of society, the influence of primitiveness is significant. The dominant position is occupied by the religious and mythological worldview.

Unlike Eastern societies, ancient societies developed very dynamically, since from the very beginning a struggle flared up in it between the peasantry and the aristocracy, enslaved into shared slavery. Among other peoples, it ended with the victory of the nobility, and among the ancient Greeks, the demos (people) not only defended freedom, but also achieved political equality. The reasons for this lie in the rapid development of crafts and trade. The trade and craft elite of the demos quickly grew rich and economically became stronger than the landowning nobility. The contradictions between the power of the trade and craft part of the demos and the fading power of the landowning nobility formed the driving spring for the development of Greek society, which by the end of the 6th century. BC e. resolved in favor of the demos.

In ancient civilization, private property relations came to the fore, the dominance of private commodity production, oriented mainly to the market, manifested itself.

The first example of democracy appeared in history - democracy as the personification of freedom. Democracy in the Greco-Latin world was still direct. The equality of all citizens was envisaged as a principle of equal opportunities. There was freedom of speech, the election of government bodies.

In the ancient world, the foundations of civil society were laid, providing for the right of every citizen to participate in government, recognition of his personal dignity, rights and freedoms. The state did not interfere in the private life of citizens, or this interference was insignificant. Trade, crafts, agriculture, the family functioned independently of the government, but within the law. Roman law contained a system of rules governing private property relations. The citizens were law-abiding.

In antiquity, the question of the interaction between the individual and society was decided in favor of the first. The individual and his rights were recognized as primary, and the collective, society as secondary.

However, democracy in the ancient world was of a limited nature: the obligatory presence of a privileged stratum, the exclusion from its action of women, free foreigners, slaves.

Slavery also existed in the Greco-Latin civilization. Assessing its role in antiquity, it seems that the position of those researchers who see the secret of the unique achievements of antiquity not in slavery (the labor of slaves is inefficient), but in freedom, is closer to the truth. The displacement of free labor by slave labor during the period of the Roman Empire was one of the reasons for the decline of this civilization.