History as a science is the most ancient of humanity. The Secret History of Humanity

2.1. The primitive world and the birth of civilization. Sources of information about primitiveness

The primitive history of mankind is reconstructed using a whole complex of sources, since no single source is able to provide us with a complete and reliable picture of a given era. The most important group of sources—archaeological sources—make it possible to use
10

follow the material foundations of human life. Objects made by a person carry information about himself, his activities and the society in which he lived. From the material remains of a person one can obtain information about his spiritual world. The difficulty of working with this type of sources lies in the fact that not all objects related to man and his activities have reached us. Items made from organic materials (wood, bone, horn, clothing), as a rule, are not preserved. Therefore, historians build their concepts of the development of human society in the primitive era on the basis of materials that have survived to this day (flint tools, pottery, dwellings, etc.). Archaeological excavations contribute to the acquisition of knowledge about the very beginning of human existence, because the tools made by man were one of the main features that separated him from the animal world. Ethnographic sources make it possible, using the comparative historical method, to reconstruct the culture, life, and social relations of people of the past. Ethnography explores the life of relict (backward) tribes and nationalities, as well as remnants of the past in modern societies. For this purpose, scientific methods are used, such as direct observations of specialists, analysis of the records of ancient and medieval authors, which contribute to the acquisition of certain ideas about societies and people of the past. There is one serious difficulty here - one way or another, all tribes and peoples of the earth have been influenced by civilized societies and researchers must remember this. We also have no right to talk about the complete identity of the most backward societies - the Aboriginal tribes of Australia and the primitive bearers of similar cultures. Ethnographic sources also include folklore monuments, which are used to study oral folk art.
Anthropology studies the skeletal remains of primitive people, restoring their physical appearance. From bone remains we can judge the volume of the brain of a primitive man, his gait, body structure, diseases and injuries. Anthropologists can reconstruct the entire skeleton and appearance of a person
11

from a small fragment of bone and thus restore the process of anthropogenesis - the origin of man.
Linguistics is the study of language And identifying within its framework the most ancient layers that were formed in the distant past. Using these layers, you can not only restore ancient forms of language, but also learn a lot about the life of the past - material culture, social structure, way of thinking. Reconstructions by linguists are difficult to date and are always somewhat hypothetical.
There are, in addition to the main ones listed above, many other auxiliary sources. These are paleobotany - the science of ancient plants, paleozoology - the science of ancient animals, paleoclimatology, geology and others. A researcher of primitiveness must use data from all sciences, studying them comprehensively And offering your interpretation.
Periodization and chronology of primitive history. Periodization is a conditional division of human history in accordance with certain criteria into time stages. Chronology is a science that allows us to identify the time of existence of an object or phenomenon. Two types of chronology are used: absolute and relative. Absolute chronology precisely determines the time of an event (at such and such a time: year, month, date). Relative chronology only establishes the sequence of events, noting that one occurred before the other. This chronology is widely used by archaeologists in the study of various archaeological cultures.
To establish an exact date, scientists use methods such as radiocarbon dating (based on the content of carbon isotopes in organic remains), dendrochronological (based on tree rings), archaeomagnetic (dating items made from baked clay) and others. All these methods are still far from the desired accuracy and allow us to date events only approximately.
There are several types of periodization of primitive history. Archaeological periodization uses the sequential change of tools as the main criterion. Main stages:
12

1. Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) - divided into lower (earliest in time), middle and upper (late). The Paleolithic began more than 2 million years ago and ended around the 8th millennium BC. e.;
2. Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) - VIII-V millennium BC. e.;
3. Neolithic (New Stone Age) – V— III thousand BC e.;
4. Chalcolithic (Copper Stone Age) - a transitional stage between the Stone and Metal periods;
5. Bronze Age - III— II thousand BC e.;
6. Iron Age - begins in the 1st millennium BC. e.

These dates are very approximate And different researchers offer their own options. Moreover, in different regions these stages occurred at different times.
Geological periodization.
The history of the Earth is divided into four eras. The last era is the Cenozoic. It is divided into the Tertiary (began 69 million years ago), Quaternary (began 1 million years ago) and modern (began 14,000 years ago) periods. The Quaternary period is divided into the Pleistocene (pre-glacial and glacial eras) and the Holocene (post-glacial era).
Periodization of the history of primitive society. There is no unity among researchers on the issue of periodization of the history of ancient society. The most common is the following: 1) the primitive human herd; 2) tribal community (this stage is divided into the early tribal community of hunters and gatherers And fishermen and a developed community of farmers And pastoralists); 3) primitive neighboring (proto-peasant) community. The era of primitive society ends with the emergence of the first civilizations.
Origin of man (anthropogenesis). IN Modern science has several theories of the origin of man. The most well-reasoned is the labor theory of human origin, formulated by F. Engels. Labor theory emphasizes the role of labor in the formation of teams of the first people, their unity and the formation of new connections between them. According to this concept, work activity influenced the development of a person’s hand, and the need for new means of communication led to the development of language. The appearance of man is thus associated with the beginning of the production of tools.
13

The process of anthropogenesis (the origin of man) went through three stages in its development: 1) the appearance of anthropoid ancestors of man; 2) the appearance of the most ancient and ancient people; 3) the emergence of a modern type of man. Anthropogenesis was preceded by intensive evolution of higher apes in different directions. As a result of evolution, several new species of monkeys arose, including Dryopithecus. Australopithecines, whose remains were found in Africa, descend from Dryopithecus.
Australopithecines were distinguished by a relatively large brain volume (550-600 cc), walking on their hind limbs, and using natural objects as tools. Their fangs and jaws were less developed than those of other monkeys. Australopithecines were omnivores and hunted small animals. Like other anthropomorphic apes, they formed herds. Australopithecus lived 4 - 2 million years ago.
The second stage of anthropogenesis is associated with Pithecanthropus (“the ape-man”) and the related Atlantropus and Sinanthropus. Pithecanthropus can already be called the most ancient people, since they, unlike Australopithecus, made stone tools. The brain volume of Pithecanthropus was about 900 cubic meters. cm, and in Sinanthropus - the late form of Pithecanthropus - 1050 cubic meters. see Pithecanthropus retained some of the features of monkeys - a low cranial vault, a sloping forehead, and the absence of a chin protrusion. The remains of Pithecanthropus are found in Africa, Asia and Europe. It is possible that the ancestral home of man was in Africa and Southeast Asia. The most ancient people lived 750-200 thousand years ago.
Neanderthal was the next stage of anthropogenesis. He is called ancient man. The Neanderthal brain volume is from 1200 to 1600 cubic meters. cm - approaches the volume of the modern human brain. But Neanderthals, unlike modern humans, had a primitive brain structure and the frontal lobes of the brain were not developed. The hand was rough and massive, which limited the Neanderthal’s ability to use tools. Neanderthals spread widely across the Earth, inhabiting different climatic zones. They lived 250-40 thousand years ago. Scientists believe that not all were the ancestors of modern man
14

Neanderthals; Some Neanderthals represented a dead-end branch of development.
Man of the modern physical type - the Cro-Magnon man - appeared at the third stage of anthropogenesis. These are tall people with a straight gait and a sharply protruding chin. The brain volume of a Cro-Magnon man was 1400 - 1500 cubic meters. see Cro-Magnons appeared about 100 thousand years ago. Probably, their homeland was Western Asia and adjacent areas.
At the last stage of anthropogenesis, raceogenesis occurs - the formation of three human races. The Caucasoid, Mongoloid and Negroid races can serve as an example of people's adaptation to the natural environment. Races differ in skin color, hair, eyes, features of facial structure and physique, and other features. All three races emerged in the Late Paleolithic, but the process of race formation continued in the future.-
The origin of language and thinking. Thinking and speech are interconnected, so they cannot be considered separately from each other. These two phenomena arose simultaneously. Their development was in demand by the labor process, during which human thinking constantly developed, and the need to transfer acquired experience contributed to the emergence of the speech system. The basis for the development of speech was the sound signals of monkeys. On the surface of casts of the internal cavity of the skulls of synanthropes, an increase in the parts of the brain responsible for speech was found, which allows us to speak with confidence about the presence of developed articulate speech and thinking in synanthropes. This is quite consistent with the fact that Sinanthropus practiced developed collective forms of labor (driven hunting) and successfully used fire.
In Neanderthals, brain sizes sometimes exceeded the corresponding parameters in modern humans, but poorly developed frontal lobes of the brain, responsible for associative, abstract thinking, appeared only in Cro-Magnons. Therefore, the system of language and thinking most likely took final shape in the Late Paleolithic era, simultaneously with the appearance of the Cro-Magnons and the beginning of their working activity.
15

Appropriating farming. The appropriating economy, within which people exist through the appropriation of natural products, is the oldest type of economy. Hunting and gathering can be distinguished as the two main occupations of ancient people.” Their ratio was not the same at different stages of the development of human society and in different natural and climatic conditions. Gradually, people master new complex forms of hunting - driven hunting, traps and others. For hunting, cutting up carcasses, and gathering, they used stone tools (made of flint and obsidian) - choppers, scrapers, and pointed points. Wooden tools were also used - digging sticks, clubs and spears.
During the period of the early tribal community, the number of tools increases. New stone processing technologies emerged, marking the transition to the Upper Paleolithic. Now man has learned to break off thin and light plates, which are then brought to the desired shape using chipping and pressing retouching - a method of secondary processing of stone. New technologies required less flint, which facilitated expansion into previously uninhabited areas poor in flint.
In addition, new technologies led to the creation of a number of specialized tools - scrapers, knives, chisels, and small throwing spear tips. Bone and horn are widely used. Spears, darts, stone axes, and forts appear. Fishing plays an important role. Hunting productivity increased sharply as a result of the invention of the spear thrower - a plank with a stop that allows you to throw a spear at a speed comparable to the speed of an arrow from a bow. The spear thrower was the first mechanical means to complement human muscular strength. The first so-called gender-age division of labor occurs: men are primarily engaged in hunting and fishing, and women are engaged in gathering and housekeeping. Children helped the women.
At the end of the Late Paleolithic, the era of glaciation began. During glaciation, wild horses and reindeer become the main prey. To hunt these animals, driven methods were widely used, allowing
16

kill a large number of animals in a short time. They provided ancient hunters with food, skins for clothing and housing, horn and bone for tools. Reindeer make seasonal migrations - in the summer they move to the tundra, closer to the glacier, in the winter - to the forest zone. While hunting deer, people simultaneously explored new lands.
With the retreat of the glacier, living conditions changed. The deer hunters followed them, following the retreating glacier, and those who remained were forced to adapt to hunting small animals. The Mesolithic era has arrived. During this period, a new microlithic technique appeared. Microliths are small flint products that were inserted into wooden or bone tools and formed the cutting edge. Such a tool was more multifunctional than solid flint products, and its sharpness was not inferior to metal products.
A huge achievement of man was the invention of the bow and arrow - a powerful, rapid-fire, long-range weapon. Takeke boomerang was invented - a curved throwing club. During the Mesolithic era, man domesticated the first animal - the dog, which became a faithful hunting assistant. Fishing methods are being improved, nets, a boat with oars, and a fish hook appear. In many places, fishing is becoming the main economic sector. Glacial retreat and climate warming are leading to an increased role for gathering.
Mesolithic man had to unite in small groups that did not stay in one place for a long time, wandering around in search of food. The dwellings were built temporary and small. In the Mesolithic people move far to the north and east; Having crossed the land isthmus, the place of which is currently occupied by the Bering Strait, they populate America.
Producing farm. The productive economy arose in the Neolithic era. The last stage of the Stone Age is characterized by the emergence of new techniques in the stone industry - grinding, sawing and drilling stone. Tools were made from new types of stone. During this period, such a weapon as an ax became widespread.
17

One of the most important inventions of the Neolithic was ceramics. The production and subsequent firing of pottery allowed people to facilitate the preparation and storage of food. Man has learned to produce a material not found in nature - baked clay. The invention of spinning and weaving was also of great importance. Fiber for spinning was produced from wild plants, and later from sheep's wool.
During the Neolithic era, one of the most significant events in human history took place - the emergence of animal husbandry and agriculture. The transition from an appropriating to a producing economy was called the Neolithic revolution. The relationship between man and nature is becoming fundamentally different. Now a person could independently produce everything necessary for life and became less dependent on the environment.
Agriculture arose from highly organized gathering, during which man learned to care for wild plants in order to obtain a larger harvest. Collectors used sickles with flint inserts, grain grinders, and hoes. Gathering was a woman's occupation, so agriculture was probably invented by women. Regarding the place of origin of agriculture, scientists come to the conclusion that it arose in several centers at once: in Western Asia, Southeast Asia and South America.
Animal husbandry began to take shape in the Mesolithic era, but constant movements prevented hunting tribes from breeding any animals other than dogs. Agriculture contributed to the greater sedentarization of the human population, thereby facilitating the process of domestication of animals. First, young animals caught during the hunt were tamed. Among the first living jthbix to suffer this fate were goats, pigs, sheep and cows. Hunting was a male occupation, so cattle breeding also became a male prerogative. Cattle breeding arose somewhat later than agriculture, since a strong food supply was required to maintain animals; it also appeared in several foci, independent of each other.
At first, animal husbandry and agriculture could not compete with highly specialized hunting.
18

whose And fishing, but the producing economy is gradually taking first place in a number of regions (primarily in Western Asia).
Social relations in primitive times. Developmentfamilies. Primitive herd.
Ancient people, who appeared at the dawn of the human era, were forced to unite in herds in order to survive. These herds could not be large - no more than 20-40 people - because otherwise they would not be able to feed themselves. The primitive herd was headed by a leader who rose to prominence thanks to his personal qualities. Individual herds were scattered over vast territories and had almost no contact with each other. Archaeologically, the primitive herd corresponds to the Lower and Middle Paleolithic.
Sexual relations in the primitive herd, according to a number of scientists, were disordered. Such relationships are called promiscuous. According to other scientists, within the primitive herd there was a harem family, and only the leader participated in the reproduction process. The herd, as a rule, consisted of several harem families.
Early clan community. The process of transformation of a primitive herd into a clan community is associated with the growth of productive forces that united ancient groups, as well as with the emergence of exogamy. Exogamy is the prohibition of marrying within one's group. An exogamous dual-clan group marriage gradually developed, in which members of one clan could only marry members of another clan. Moreover, from birth, men of one clan were considered the husbands of women of another clan, And vice versa. At the same time, men had the right to have sexual intercourse with all women of a different kind. In such relationships there is a danger of incest And conflicts between men of the same kind were eliminated.
In order to finally avoid the possibility of incest (for example, a father could have an affair with his daughter), people resorted to dividing the clan into classes. One class included men (women) of one generation, and they could only enter into communication with the same class of another generation. The set of marriage classes usually included four or eight classes. With such a system
19

kinship was accounted for on the maternal side, and the children remained in the mother’s family. Gradually, an increasing number of restrictions were established in group marriage, as a result of which it became impossible. As a result, a paired marriage is formed, which was very often fragile and easily dissolved.
The dual-clan organization of the two clans formed the basis of the clan community. The clan community was united not only by marriage relations between clans, but also by production relations. Indeed, due to the custom of exogamy, a situation arose when some relatives went to another clan and were included in production relations here. In the early clan community, management was carried out by a meeting of all adult relatives, which decided all the main issues. The leaders of the clan were elected at a meeting of the entire clan. The most experienced people, who were the guardians of customs, enjoyed great authority, and they, as a rule, were elected leaders. Power was based on the strength of personal authority.
In the early clan community, all products obtained by members of the community were considered the property of the clan and were distributed among all its members. This was a necessary condition for survival for ancient societies. The land and most of the tools were in the collective ownership of the community. It is known that in tribes at this level of development, it was allowed to take and use other people’s tools and things without asking.
All people in the community were divided into three age and gender groups: adult men, women, children. The transition to the group of adults was considered a very important milestone in a person’s life and was called initiation (“dedication”). The meaning of the initiation rite is to introduce the teenager to the economic, social and ideological life of the community. Here is the initiation scheme, the same for all peoples: removal of initiates from the collective and their training; trials of initiates (hunger, humiliation, beatings, wounds) and their ritual death; return to the team in a new status. Upon completion of the initiation rite, the “initiate” received the right to enter into marriage.
20

Late clan community. The transition to an appropriating economy led to the replacement of the early tribal community by the later community of farmers and pastoralists. Within the framework of the late tribal community, ancestral ownership of the land was preserved. However, an increase in labor productivity gradually led to the appearance of a regular surplus product, which the community member could keep for himself. This trend contributed to the formation of a prestigious economy. The prestigious economy arose in the conditions of the emergence of a surplus product that was used V gift exchange system. This practice increased the social prestige of the donor, and he, as a rule, did not incur losses, since there was a custom of obligatory return. The exchange of gifts strengthened relationships between members of both the same and different communities, strengthened the position of the leader and family ties.
Due to the high productivity of labor, communities, growing, were divided into groups of relatives on the maternal side - the so-called maternal families. But the clan unity had not yet disintegrated, since, if necessary, families were united back into the clan. Women, who play the main role in agriculture and in the home, have greatly displaced men in the maternal family.
The paired family gradually strengthened its position in society (although there are known cases of the existence of “additional” wives or husbands). The emergence of surplus product made it possible to provide financially for children. But the couple family did not have property separate from the ancestral family, which hindered its development.
Late clan communities united into phratries, and phratries into tribes. A phratry is an original gens divided into several daughter gens. The tribe consisted of two phratries, which were exogamous marriage halves of the tribe. Economic and social equality was maintained in the late tribal community. The clan was governed by a council, which included all members of the tribe and an elder elected by the clan. During military operations, a military leader was elected. If necessary, a tribal council was assembled, consisting of the elders of the tribal clans and military leaders. One of the elders, who did not have very much power, was elected as the head of the tribe. Women entered
21

to the council of the clan, and in the early stages of the development of the late clan community they could become the heads of clans.
Decomposition of the tribal community. The appearance of a neighborcommunities. The Neolithic Revolution contributed to a radical change in human lifestyle, sharply accelerating the pace of development of human society. People moved to the targeted production of basic food products based on integrated farming. In this economy, cattle breeding and agriculture complemented each other. The development of complex farming and natural and climatic conditions inevitably led to the specialization of communities - some switched to cattle breeding, others to agriculture. This is how the first major social division of labor took place - the separation of agriculture and cattle breeding into separate economic complexes.
The development of agriculture led to settled life, and the increase in labor productivity in areas favorable for agriculture contributed to the gradual expansion of the community. In Western Asia and the Middle East, the first large settlements appeared, and then cities. In the cities there were residential buildings, religious buildings, and workshops. Later, cities appeared in other places. The population in the first cities reached several thousand people.
Truly revolutionary changes occurred due to the advent of metals. First, people mastered metals that can be found in the form of nuggets - copper and gold. Then they learned to smelt metals themselves. The first alloy of copper and tin known to people, bronze, which was superior in hardness to copper, appeared and began to be widely used.
Metals slowly replaced stone. The Stone Age gave way to the Chalcolithic - the Copper-Stone Age, and the Chalcolithic - to the Bronze Age. But tools made of copper and bronze could not completely replace stone ones. Firstly, the sources of raw materials for bronze were located in only a few places, and stone deposits were everywhere. Secondly, in some qualities stone tools were superior to copper and even bronze ones.
22

Only when man learned to smelt iron did the era of stone tools finally become a thing of the past. Iron deposits are found everywhere, but iron is not found in its pure form and is quite difficult to process. Therefore, humanity learned to smelt iron after a relatively long period of time - in the 2nd millennium BC. e. The new metal surpassed all materials then known in terms of availability and performance, opening a new era in human history - the Iron Age.
Metallurgical production required knowledge, skills, and experience. To manufacture new, difficult-to-manufacture metal tools, skilled labor was required - the labor of artisans. Artisan blacksmiths appeared, passing on their knowledge and skills from generation to generation. The introduction of metal tools caused an acceleration in the development of agriculture, cattle breeding and an increase in labor productivity. Thus, after the invention of the plow with metal working parts, arable farming appeared, based on the use of livestock draft power.
In the Eneolithic, the potter's wheel was invented, which contributed to the development of pottery. With the invention of the loom, weaving production developed. Society, having acquired sustainable sources of livelihood, was able to implement the second major social division of labor - the separation of crafts from agriculture and cattle breeding.
The social division of labor was accompanied by the development of exchange. Unlike the previously sporadic exchange of wealth from the natural environment, this exchange was already of an economic nature. Farmers and cattle breeders exchanged the products of their labor, artisans exchanged their products. The need for continuous exchange even led to the development of a number of public institutions, primarily the institution of hospitality. Gradually, societies develop means of exchange and measures of their value.
During these changes, the matriarchal (maternal) clan is replaced by a patriarchal one. It was due to the displacement of women from the most important spheres of production. Hoe farming is being replaced by plow farming, and only a man could manage the meadow. Sco-
23

Farming, like commercial hunting, is also a typically male occupation. During the development of a productive economy, a man acquires significant power, both in society and in the family. Now upon entry V After marriage, a woman passed into her husband's clan. Kinship was calculated through the male line, and family property was inherited by children. A large patriarchal family appears - a family of several generations of paternal relatives, headed by the oldest man. The introduction of iron tools meant that a small family could feed itself. The large patriarchal family is breaking up into small families.
The formation of surplus product and the development of exchange were an incentive for the individualization of production and the emergence of private property. Large and economically strong families sought to distinguish themselves from the clan. This trend led to the replacement of the clan community with a neighboring one, where clan ties gave way to territorial ones. The primitive neighborhood community was characterized by a combination of relations of private ownership of the yard (house and outbuildings) and tools of labor and collective ownership of the main means of production - land. Families were forced to unite, since an individual family was unable to cope with many operations: land reclamation, irrigation and shifting agriculture.
The neighboring community was a universal stage for all peoples of the world at the pre-class and class stages of development, playing the role of the main economic unit of society until the era of the industrial revolution.
Political genesis (state formation). It should be noted that there are different concepts of the origin of the state. Marxists believe that it was created as an apparatus of violence and exploitation of one class by another. Another theory is the “theory of violence,” whose representatives believe that classes and the state arose as a result of wars and conquests, during which conquerors created the institution of the state in order to maintain their dominance. If we consider the problem in all its complexity, it becomes clear that the war required powerful organiza-
24

nization structures, and was more a consequence of polylithogenesis than its cause. However, the Marxist scheme also needs correction, because the desire to squeeze all processes into one scheme inevitably encounters resistance from the material.
The increase in labor productivity led to the emergence of surplus products that could be alienated from producers. Some families accumulated these surpluses (food, handicrafts, livestock). The accumulation of wealth occurred primarily in the families of the leaders, since the leaders had great opportunities to participate in the distribution of products.
Initially, this property was destroyed after the death of the owner or used in ceremonies, such as the “potlatch”, when all this surplus at a festival was distributed to all those present. With these distributions, the organizer gained authority in society. In addition, he became a participant in reciprocal potlatches, at which part of what was given out was returned to him. The principle of giving and giving back, characteristic of a prestigious economy, put ordinary community members and their rich neighbors in unequal conditions. Ordinary community members became dependent on the person organizing the potlatch.
The leaders gradually seize power into their own hands, while the importance of popular assemblies declines. Society is gradually being structured - the top is emerging from among the community members. A strong, rich and generous, and therefore authoritative leader, subjugated weak rivals, spreading his influence over neighboring communities. The first supra-communal structures emerge, within which government bodies are separated from the tribal organization. Thus, the first pro-state formations appear.
The emergence of such formations was accompanied by a fierce struggle between them. War is gradually becoming one of the most important trades. Due to the widespread occurrence of wars, military technology and organization are developing. Military leaders assume a greater role. A squad is formed around them, which included warriors who have proven themselves in the best way
25

in battles. During the campaigns, booty was captured and distributed among all the warriors.
The head of the proto-state simultaneously became the chief priest, since the power of the leader in the community remained elective. Acquiring the functions of a priest made the leader a bearer of divine grace and a mediator between people and supernatural forces. The sacralization of the ruler was an important step towards his depersonalization and transformation into a kind of symbol. The power of authority is replaced by the authority of power.
Gradually the power became lifelong. After the death of the leader, the members of his family had the greatest chance of success. As a result, the leader's power became hereditary within his family. This is how the pro-state is finally formed - a political structure of society with social and property inequality, developed division of labor and exchange, headed by a ruler-priest who had hereditary power.
Over time, the proto-state expands through conquest, complicates its structure and turns into a state. The state differs from the proto-state in its larger size and the presence of developed governance institutions. The main features of a state are territorial (and not tribal) division of the population, army, court, law, taxes. With the advent of the state, the primitive neighboring community becomes a neighboring community, which, unlike the primitive one, loses its independence.
The state is characterized by the phenomenon of urbanization, which includes an increase in the urban population, monumental construction, construction of temples, irrigation structures and roads. Urbanization is one of the main signs of the formation of civilization.
Another important sign of civilization is the invention of writing. The state needed to streamline economic activities, record laws, rituals, acts of rulers and much more. It is possible that writing was created with the participation of priests. In contrast to pictographic or rope symbols, characteristic of undeveloped societies, for the development of hieroglyphic
26

writing required lengthy training. Writing was the privilege of priests and nobility and only with the advent of alphabetic writing it became generally available. The mastery of writing was the most important stage in the development of culture, since writing serves as the main means of accumulating and transmitting knowledge.
With the advent of the state and writing, the first civilizations emerged. Characteristic features of civilization: a high level of development of the productive economy, the presence of political structures, the introduction of metal, the use of writing and monumental structures.
Agricultural and pastoral civilizations. Agriculture developed most intensively in river valleys, especially in countries stretching from the Mediterranean in the west to China in the east. The development of agriculture ultimately led to the emergence of ancient Eastern centers of civilization.
Cattle breeding developed in the steppes and semi-deserts of Eurasia and Africa, as well as in mountainous areas, where cattle were kept on mountain pastures in the summer and in the valleys in the winter. The term “civilization” can be used in relation to a pastoral society with certain reservations, since pastoralism did not provide the same economic development as agriculture. An economy based on cattle breeding provided a less stable surplus product. Also, a very important role was played by the fact that cattle breeding requires large spaces, and population concentration in societies of this type, as a rule, does not occur. The cities of pastoralists are much smaller than those of agricultural civilizations, so we cannot talk about any large-scale urbanization.
With the domestication of the horse and the invention of the wheel, significant changes occurred in the economy of pastoralists - nomadic cattle breeding appeared. Nomads moved across the steppes and semi-deserts on their carts, accompanying herds of animals. The emergence of a nomadic economy in the steppes of Eurasia should be attributed to the end of the 5th millennium BC. Only with the advent of nomadic cattle breeding did a pastoral economy that did not use agriculture finally take shape (although many nomadic societies were engaged in cultivation).
27

some land). Among nomads, in conditions of an economy isolated from agriculture, exclusively proto-state associations, tribal proto-states, arise. While in an agricultural society the neighboring community becomes the main unit, in a pastoral society clan relations are still very strong and the clan community retains its position.
For nomadic societies were characterized by belligerence, since their members did not have reliable sources of subsistence. Therefore, nomads constantly invaded the areas of farmers and plundered them or subjugated them. The entire male population of nomads usually took part in the war, and their cavalry army was very maneuverable And could travel long distances. Quickly appearing and disappearing just as quickly, the nomads achieved significant success in their unexpected raids. In the event of the subjugation of agricultural societies, nomads, as a rule, settled on the land themselves.
But one should not exaggerate the fact of confrontation between sedentary and nomadic societies and talk about the existence of a constant war between them. There have always been stable economic relations between farmers and cattle breeders, since both of them needed a constant exchange of the products of their labor.
Traditional society. Traditional society appears simultaneously with the emergence of the state. This model of social development is very sustainable And characteristic of all societies except European. In Europe, a different model has emerged, based on private property. The basic principles of traditional society were in effect until the era of the industrial revolution, and in many countries they still exist in our time.
The main structural unit of traditional society is the neighboring community. The neighboring community is dominated by agriculture with elements of cattle breeding. Communal peasants are usually conservative in their way of life due to the natural, climatic and economic cycles and monotony of life that repeat from year to year. In this situation, the peasants demanded from the state, first of all, stability, which could only be ensured by a strong state.
28

quality The weakening of the state was always accompanied by unrest, arbitrariness of officials, invasions of enemies, and economic breakdown, which was especially disastrous in the conditions of irrigated agriculture. The result is crop failure, famine, epidemics, and a sharp drop in population. Therefore, society has always preferred a strong state, transferring most of its powers to it.
Within a traditional society, the state is the highest value. As a rule, it operates under conditions of a clear hierarchy. At the head of the state was a ruler who enjoyed practically unlimited power and represented a deputy of God on earth. Below was a powerful administrative apparatus. The position and authority of a person in a traditional society is determined not by his wealth, but, first of all, by participation in public administration, which automatically ensures high prestige.
The culture of primitive society. In the course of his development and in the process of work, a person mastered new knowledge. In the primitive era, knowledge was exclusively applied in nature. Man knew the natural world around him very well, since he himself was part of it. The main areas of activity determined the areas of knowledge of ancient man. Thanks to hunting, he knew the habits of animals, the properties of plants and much more. The level of knowledge of an ancient person is reflected in his language. Thus, in the language of the Australian aborigines there are 10,000 words, among which there are almost no abstract and general concepts, but only specific terms denoting animals, plants, and natural phenomena.
The man knew how to treat illnesses, wounds, and apply splints for fractures. Ancient people used procedures such as bloodletting, massage, and compresses for medicinal purposes. Since the Mesolithic era, amputation of limbs, trepanation of the skull, and a little later, filling of teeth have been known.
The counting of primitive people was primitive - they usually counted with the help of fingers and various objects. Distances were measured using body parts (palm, elbow, finger), days of travel, and arrow flight. Time was calculated in days, months, seasons.
29

The question of the origin of art is still accompanied by controversy among researchers. Among scientists, the prevailing point of view is that art arose as a new effective means of cognition and understanding of the world around us. The beginnings of art appear in the Lower Paleolithic era. Incisions, ornaments, and drawings were found on the surface of stone and bone products.
In the Upper Paleolithic, man created painting, engraving, sculpture, used music and dance. Drawings of animals (mammoths, deer, horses) made in color using black, white, red and yellow paints were found in the caves. Caves with drawings are known in Spain, France, Russia, and Mongolia. Graphic drawings of animals, carved or carved on bone and stone, were also found.
In the Upper Paleolithic, figurines of women with pronounced sexual characteristics appeared. The appearance of figurines is possibly associated with the cult of the foremother and the establishment of a maternal clan community. Songs and dances played a large role in the life of primitive people. Dance and music are based on rhythm, and songs also originated as rhythmic speech.

2.2. Civilizations of the ancient world

Civilizations of the Ancient East. The Ancient East became the cradle of modern civilization. Here the first states, the first cities, writing, stone architecture, world religions and much more appeared, without which it is impossible to imagine the current human community. The first states arose in the valleys of large rivers. Agriculture in these areas was very productive, but this required irrigation work - drainage, irrigation, construction of dams and maintaining the entire irrigation system in order. The community alone could not cope with this. There was a growing need to unite all communities under the control of a single state.
For the first time, this happens in two places at once, independently of each other - in Mesopotamia (the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers) and Egypt at the end of the 4th-3rd millennium BC. e. Later the state
30

appears in India, in the Indus River valley, and at the turn of the 3rd - 2nd millennium BC. e. - in China. These civilizations received the name in science river civilizations.
The most important center of ancient statehood was the region Mesopotamia. Unlike other civilizations, Mesopotamia was open to all migrations and trends. From here trade routes opened and innovations spread to other lands. The civilization of Mesopotamia continuously expanded and involved new peoples, while other civilizations were more closed. Thanks to this, West Asia is gradually becoming a flagship in socio-economic development. Here the potter's wheel and wheel, bronze and iron metallurgy, the war chariot and new forms of writing appear. Scientists trace the influence of Mesopotamia on Egypt and the civilization of ancient India.
Farmers settled Mesopotamia in the 8th millennium BC. e. Gradually they learned to drain wetlands. In the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates there is no stone, forests, or metals, but they are very rich in grain. Residents of Mesopotamia exchanged grain for items missing from the household in the process of trading with neighbors. Stone and wood were replaced by clay. They built houses from clay, made various household items, and wrote on clay tables.
At the end of the 4th millennium BC. e. Several political centers arose in the Southern Mesopotamia, which united into the state of Sumer. Throughout its ancient history, the Mesopotamia region was the scene of a fierce struggle, during which power was seized by a city or conquerors who came from outside. From the 2nd millennium BC e. The city of Babylon begins to play a leading role in the region, becoming a powerful power under King Hammurabi. Then Assyria strengthens, which from the XIV to the VII centuries. BC e. was one of the leading states of Mesopotamia. After the fall of the Assyrian power, Babylon strengthened again - the Neo-Babylonian kingdom emerged. The Persians, immigrants from the territory of modern Iran, managed to conquer Babylonia in the 6th century. BC e. found the huge Persian kingdom.
Ancient civilization Egypt owes its appearance to the world's largest river, the Nile, and its annual floods.
31

Egypt was divided into Upper (Nile Valley) and Lower (Nile Delta). Along the Nile, the first state associations arose - nomes, the center of which became temples. As a result of a long struggle, the nomes of Upper Egypt united and annexed Lower Egypt.
China how the state was formed in the Yellow River valley. Another great Chinese river, the Yangtze, flowing further south, was developed later. The Yellow River very often changed its course, flooding vast areas. To control the river, hard work was required to build dams and dams.
Egypt and China, despite their distance from each other, have a number of common features, which is explained by several reasons. These countries initially had an ethnically homogeneous population, the state apparatus was very stable; at the head of the state was a deified ruler. In Egypt this is the pharaoh - the son of the Sun, in China - the van, the son of Heaven. Within both civilizations, there was total control over the population, which was recruited to perform heavy duties. The basis of the Egyptian population were community members who were called “servants of the king” and were obliged to hand over the entire harvest to the state, receiving in return food or an allotment of land for cultivation. A similar system operated in China.
A huge role in a state of this type was played by priest-officials who controlled the apparatus and distributed food among the entire population. In Egypt, it was the priests who played the main role in the process of distributing material wealth. The temples had significant power, which allowed them to successfully resist the Center. Unlike Egypt, in China the religious component of the power of the state apparatus has faded into the background.
IN India, In the Indus River valley, a proto-Indian civilization arose. Large irrigation systems were created here and large cities were built. The ruins of two cities were found near the modern settlements of Haralpa and Mohen-jo-Daro and. bear these names. Civilization has reached a high level of development here. This is evidenced by the presence of crafts, a sewer system, and writing. However, the writing of the proto-Indian civilization, in contrast to the hierog-
32

Lifs of Egypt and cuneiform writing of Mesopotamia, has not yet been solved by scientists, and this civilization continues to remain a mystery to us. The reasons for the death of the civilization of Ancient India, which existed for several centuries, are also unknown.
In the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. e. The Aryan tribes invaded India. The Aryan language belongs to the Indo-European language family and is close to the Slavic languages. The Aryans settled the Ganges River valley, subjugating the local population. The arriving Aryans lived primarily in a tribal system. At the head of the tribes were leaders - rajas, who relied on a layer of kshatriya warriors. Brahmin priests fought with kshatriyas for first place in society and the state.
The Aryans, not wanting to dissolve among the large local population, were forced to establish the varna system. According to this system, the population was distributed into four varnas - Brahmin priests, Kshatriya warriors, Vaishya producers, and Shudras - the conquered local population. Belonging to Varna was inherited, and it was impossible to change it. Marriages always took place between members of the same varna.
The varna system contributed to the conservation of Indian society. Since the Varnas took over some of the functions of the state, the state apparatus in India did not become as strong and influential as in other civilizations of the Ancient East.
IN Eastern Mediterranean A new form of civilizations emerges, different from the classical river states. The most ancient centers of agriculture and cattle breeding existed here, and the first urban centers arose here. The city of Jericho in Palestine is known as the oldest city in the world (8th millennium BC). The Eastern Mediterranean is a region located at the crossroads of major trade routes, connecting Asia, Europe and Africa.
C W thousand BC e. The cities of the Eastern Mediterranean are becoming important centers of transit trade. The rich cities and fertile lands of this region constantly served as the object of claims of major powers - Egypt, Assyria, and the Hittite Kingdom (in Asia Minor). The Eastern Mediterranean is divided into three parts - in the north

re Syria, Palestine in the south, Phenicia in the center. The Phoenicians managed to become experienced sailors, engaged in transit trade, and founded their colonies throughout the Mediterranean. The Phoenicians invented alphabetic writing to help them formalize trade transactions. This alphabet formed the basis of all modern alphabets.
Phenicia turned out to be a transitional form of civilization, close to the ancient model.

Ancient civilization.

Greece. The oldest civilization in Europe arose on the islands of the Aegean Sea and on the Balkan Peninsula And known as the Crete-Mycenaean civilization (after the names of the centers - the islands of Crete and Mycenae, cities in southern Greece). The Cretan-Mycenaean civilization was a typical ancient Eastern civilization that existed in the 2nd millennium BC. e. Crete, like Phenicia, became famous as a maritime power with a powerful fleet. The death of the Cretan-Mycenaean civilization is associated with a number of natural disasters and the invasion of Greece and the islands of the Aegean Sea by northern tribes. This invasion led to the establishment of more backward tribal relations on the ruins of civilization. XII - IX centuries BC e. known in Greece as the Dark Ages.
In the VIII-VI centuries. BC e. Ancient civilization begins to take shape in Greece. The appearance of iron and corresponding tools played a major role in its development. In Greece there is not enough land for cultivation, so cattle breeding and then crafts have developed widely here. The Greeks, familiar with maritime affairs, were actively engaged in trade, which gradually led to their development of the surrounding territories located along the coast. Due to a catastrophic shortage of land resources, the Greeks were forced to found colonies in Italy, Asia Minor, and the Black Sea region.
With the division of labor and the emergence of a surplus product, the clan community is replaced by a neighboring community, but not a rural one, but an urban one. The Greeks called this community a polis. Gradually the policy was formalized into a city-state. There were hundreds of policies in Greece. Colonies were also created according to this model. Within the framework of the policy, there was a fierce struggle between the tribal nobility, who did not want to settle
34

to blunt their power, and demos - humble members of the community.
The Greeks were aware of their unity - they called their homeland Hellas, and themselves Hellenes. They had a single pantheon of Olympian gods and pan-Hellenic sports competitions. However, all this did not stop them from regularly fighting among themselves.
One of the main features of Hellenic culture is the principle of competition and the desire for primacy, which is not typical for the civilizations of the East. In the polis, a situation arose when its power depended on citizens, who, in turn, were assigned certain responsibilities, but at the same time significant rights.
Greece was not united by one polis - their fragmentation and disunity prevented this. As a result, Greece found itself conquered first by Macedonia and then by Rome. But the Roman state, which conquered Greece, experienced the strongest influence of Greek culture. The achievements of Greek culture ultimately formed the basis of all European culture and civilization.
Ancient Rome. Rome was founded in 753 BC. e. in the region of Latium in central Italy. During its development, Rome borrowed the culture and achievements of its neighbors. The Etruscans, Rome's northern neighbors, had a particularly significant influence on Rome. According to legend, the Etruscans were immigrants from Asia Minor.
In the process of a long and stubborn struggle, Rome first conquered Latium, then neighboring regions. Rome managed to win victories thanks to an effective state and military organization. Using its location in the center of the Apennine Peninsula, Rome managed to separate the forces of its enemies and in turn conquer the Etruscans, the Celts of Italy, Magna Graecia (as the Greek colonies in Italy were called) and other tribes.
In the 3rd century. BC e. Rome, having subjugated all of Italy, collided with Carthage, a Phoenician colony in northern Africa. During three fierce wars, Rome defeated its rival and became the most powerful power in the Mediterranean. Lacking the culture of its rivals,

Rome resorted to borrowing it, introducing its own state order and structure to the conquered lands.
In the II - I centuries. n. e. Rome experienced a serious crisis. The Roman state was structured in the likeness of a polis. However, it is obvious that if a polis device can be effective for a city and its surroundings, then it is absolutely unsuitable for a huge power. After a difficult and lengthy civil war, imperial power is established in Rome. During the era of the empire, Rome achieved its greatest power, uniting the lands of Western and Southern Europe, North Africa and Western Asia under its rule. During this period in the history of Ancient Rome, the slaveholding system began to play a major role.
BIII century n. e. The Roman Empire experienced a severe shock that affected all spheres of life in Roman society. The onslaught of barbarians on the borders of the empire, associated with the Great Migration of Peoples, and profound changes in the life of the empire led to a deep and irreversible crisis of ancient civilization. As a result, the Roman Empire split into two parts - Western and Eastern, and in the 5th century. n. e. The Western Roman Empire fell. 476, the year when the last Roman emperor was overthrown, is considered to be the milestone year between antiquity and the Middle Ages. The successor to Rome was the Eastern Roman Empire, centered in Constantinople.

Economy of the Ancient World.

Economy of the Ancient East. In the first states of the Ancient East, the state sector of the economy predominated, which existed simultaneously with the communal form of farming. The community members had the hereditary right to cultivate the land and use the necessary resources (forests, pastures, water). The land and other resources were controlled by the apparatus of power - the state or temple, which existed due to the surplus product obtained from direct producers. The duties of community producers took on various forms—the most common was the practice of the community allocating part of the harvest to the state, working in the fields of the temple, and working in the form of labor service. So, based on the re-
36

distributive (distribution) relations created the material basis for the functioning of the state and its institutions.
Subsequently, the process of privatization developed, accompanied by the emergence of private property and market relations. New phenomena arise in the economy - land rent, hired labor, market orientation of producers and usury. If earlier society was more homogeneous, now it is differentiated according to property. Rich community members began to use the labor of the poor, and debt slavery appeared. This new type of economic relations did not gain further acceptance. The state restrained its development, since these processes contributed to the disruption of the stability of society and the weakening of the influence of the state.
Basically, the excess product went to the cities, where crafts and trade were concentrated. In the Ancient East, transit trade prevailed, since in a society of this type the internal market and market relations could not be highly developed. The state and society, interested in the stability of existence, restrained the development of the city by artificial means. Therefore, the city, like the whole society, focused not on development, but on the conservation of existing relations.
A different situation arose in the cities of the Eastern Mediterranean, where there was no such strong state institution. This is especially true for Phoenician cities focused on transit trade. The Phoenicians anticipated and largely contributed to the formation of ancient civilization, which took shape in Greek society.
Economy of Ancient Greece and Rome. In Ancient Greece, favorable conditions developed for the formation of an economy based on private property. In the 1st millennium BC. e. Iron is distributed, increasing labor productivity. In Greece there are few fields suitable for grain crops, so horticulture and the cultivation of olives and grapes mainly developed here. The Greeks were in dire need of grain exports. During colonization, they settled in countries favorable for agriculture - Italy,
37

Black Sea region, Egypt. In Greece itself, crafts developed, the products of which were exchanged for bread during trade.
The development of trade was facilitated by the emergence of money - a generally accepted unit of exchange. The first money appeared in Asia Minor and was immediately borrowed by the Greeks. In ancient Greek policies, commodity-money relations were formed and a market was formed. The favorable geographical location of Greece at the intersection of trade routes gave the Greeks great advantages. Greece consisted of many policies that were not united into a single state. A competitive struggle developed between these policies, developing entrepreneurship and initiative among the Greeks. The Greeks acquire private property, which is so uncharacteristic of the East.
At the center of the economy was the city-state (polis). Cities, as a rule, were located near the sea. Traders and artisans lived here, peasants came here to exchange the fruits of their labor - livestock, olives, grapes - for grain and handicraft products. With all this, one should not exaggerate the role of commodity-money relations in antiquity - the economy was mainly of a subsistence nature, and the degree of development of policies varied greatly.
Among the Romans, commodity-money relations began to develop only as a result of the empire’s conquest of vast territories. Constant wars contributed to the enrichment of the Roman nobility and the ruin of ordinary citizens. The plunder of conquered territories allowed Rome to maintain a huge professional army, which contributed to social order in society. Many impoverished citizens went to serve in the army. At the same time, in Rome there lived citizens who did not want to work and serve. Funds flowing in from all over the empire made it possible to support them through distributions of bread and money.
The institution of slavery was of great importance for the economy of Greece and Rome. Slavery also existed in the states of the Ancient East, being patriarchal. Under patriarchal slavery, the slave performs the function of a servant or helps his master in the household (there were relatively few such slaves and they did not play a significant role in the economy). In antiquity, classical slavery developed, within
38

in which the number of slaves increases significantly, their exploitation intensifies, and the products of slave labor are often oriented towards the market. Slaves were preferred to be used in artisans' workshops and in mines. In agriculture, supervision was difficult and slaves were not used as often.
A constant source of replenishment of the number of slaves were wars continuously waged between policies. Debt slavery was not practiced by the Greeks for long; the realization of unity by citizens of one polis led to the destruction of this institution.
In Rome, the number of slaves was even greater than in Greek cities, since the Roman Empire continuously waged successful wars of conquest for several centuries. The enslavement of foreigners allowed the Romans to use mass slave labor in crafts and agriculture. Latifundia appeared - large land farms in which, under the leadership of overseers, exclusively slave labor was used. In some places, slaves became the main producers, which led to the ruin of ordinary community members.
It should be noted that slavery brought the ancient economy to a standstill. The use of slavery did not allow the intensification of production. The extensive path of development, aimed at expanding production and increasing the number of slaves, ended in a deep crisis after the end of the wars of conquest. As a result, new, proto-feudal economic relations gradually began to mature in the depths of antiquity.

Social structure of societies of the Ancient world.

Social structure of the Ancient East. Eastern society was strictly hierarchical and organized like a pyramid. The top of the pyramid was occupied by a ruler with power sanctified by the gods. Below him were the nobility, priests, and senior officials. A large apparatus of officials monitored the management and functioning of the state. Warriors serving as part of the standing army ensured internal order in the state and its protection from external enemies.
39

The bulk of society was made up of communal peasants. The rural community was the main production unit of society, and the main unit of the community was the large patriarchal family. During the privatization process, property inequality appears and, as a result, dependent categories of the population. Dependence could take the form of debt bondage or land lease relations.
Traders and artisans lived in the cities. Craftsmen often became dependent, finding themselves part of the state or temple economy. Among the traders, there is a privileged stratum of merchants engaged in transit trade with other countries.
At the very bottom of society were slaves. The source of obtaining slaves was, first of all, the capture of prisoners of war and only later debt slavery. As already mentioned, slavery was patriarchal, the slave was part of a large patriarchal family.
In the East, a system of corporations has emerged as a structure organizing society. Partly these corporations became already known social institutions (families, clans, communities), partly new ones (castes, sects, guilds). Corporations in the East were cohesive and organized groups of the population, having their own charter and their own standards of behavior that distinguished them from other corporations. The corporation provided its member with certain guarantees of protection from arbitrariness common in Eastern society. The man was closely involved in the life of the corporation. The downside of this involvement was a kind of dissolution of the person in the team. A person recognized himself, first of all, as part of a team, and not as a separate person, independent of others.
Through corporations it was easier for the state to control society. Government officials only had to turn to the head of the corporation to achieve what they wanted.
IN India a structure of society developed that was different from other ancient Eastern societies. Indian society consisted of varnas and castes. The four varnas were mentioned above.
40

Over time, the fourth, lower varna of the Shudras began to increase their status, drawing closer in their position to the Vaishyas, who accordingly lost some of their positions.
The Kshatriya and Brahmin varnas were at the very top of Indian society. There was a constant struggle for power between them. The Brahmins relied on unquestioned religious authority. According to Brahmanism, the oldest Indian religion, Brahmins occupy a higher social position than Kshatriyas. As a result, this confrontation ended in favor of the Brahmins. The attempt of the Kshatriyas to replace Brahmanism with Buddhism and Jainism ended in failure. Until now, Hinduism, which developed from Brahmanism, has dominated in India.
According to the ideas of the inhabitants of Ancient India, a person during his earthly life could not leave the composition of his varna. But, according to the law of karma, good and bad deeds were summed up, and as a result, a person could change varna to a better one in a future life. If bad deeds prevailed, the person was reborn as a sudra or animal. The law of karma led to the passivity of Indians in social life, contributing to their concentration on moral improvement.
Over time, the varna system only became tougher and more extensive. Varnas were divided into subcategories - castes. The whole society became a strict caste system. The conquerors who invaded India found a certain place in this structure and joined it as a new caste. Below the caste system were the untouchables, outside society and the law, any contact with them was prohibited.
Social structure of Ancient Greece. The Greek polis functioned as a community state. The pillars of the policy were citizens - full members of the policy. Citizens had rights and responsibilities in accordance with the laws of the policy, and participated in its management and protection. All citizens, depending on their wealth, were divided into categories, according to which they were assigned corresponding property responsibilities. The policy guaranteed the citizen's rights, including, very importantly, the right to private property.
41

Incomplete members of the polis included dependent peasants who had lost their land, and foreigners. Both those and others did not have the right to participate in the management of the policy, since they did not own the land. Foreigners, who were called metics, could be rich people, but did not have political rights.
If a citizen of the polis enjoyed greater freedom than a representative of ancient Eastern society, then slaves in Greece and Rome were in a worse position than in the East. Stable Eastern society, by and large, did not seek to increase the exploitation of slaves. Under patriarchal slavery, the slave was considered the youngest member of the family.
In Greece and then Rome, commodity-money relations and a market-oriented economy led to increased exploitation of slaves. Slaves began to be seen not as people with any rights, but as means of making profit. The owner treated the slave as his property and could do with him what he wanted. A common situation was when a slave was sent to the mines, where he quickly died, and was replaced by a new slave bought at the market. In the Roman Empire, a special category of slaves appeared who fought among themselves for the entertainment of citizens - gladiators.
In Greece there was no powerful priestly layer. The Greeks treated their gods differently than in the East. The Greek gods were similar to people, had advantages and disadvantages, and there was not such a huge distance between the gods and people as in the East.
Social structure of Ancient Rome. In Rome, unlike the Greek city-states, ancestral remnants existed longer and had a stronger influence on public life. The Roman family is a classic example of a large patriarchal family. The head of the family had complete control over his home and could execute, sell into slavery, or punish his relatives. He also performed priestly functions in his home.
Roman citizens were called Quirites. Initially, only patricians—descendants of the first inhabitants of Rome—had citizenship rights. Plebeians - descendants of later settlers - did not participate in political, social
42

noah and religious life of the community, despite the fact that they were more numerous. After a long struggle, the plebeians forced the patricians to cede some of their rights to them. As a result, Roman society was divided into three classes: nobility (nobility); horsemen (representatives of this class at one time served in the cavalry); plebeians. The nobility occupied government positions, the horsemen were traders and financiers, the plebeians were direct producers. Plebeians could not apply for election to public office.
The main occupation of citizens in Rome, unlike Greece, was agriculture, which was not market-oriented. Citizen-farmers formed the basis of the Roman army, conscripted into service V case of war. Later, when the Romans could no longer simultaneously wage war throughout the Mediterranean and run their own household, the Roman army became professional. Impoverished peasants became professional soldiers.
The number of Roman citizens was small compared to the number of inhabitants of the lands conquered by Rome. Gradually, the Romans were forced to divide the conquered lands into several categories (provinces), imposing various taxes on them. Residents of the provinces sought to become Roman citizens. Typically, Roman citizenship was acquired through service in the Roman army. Over time, the provincial nobility gained great influence and began to nominate Roman emperors as their representatives. Finally, in 212 AD. e. All inhabitants of the Roman Empire received Roman citizenship.

States of the Ancient World.

The state in the societies of the Ancient East. Several types of government systems have developed in the East.
Within the framework of despotism, there is a strong state power necessary to maintain irrigation systems. Characterized by the unlimited power of the ruler and an extensive state apparatus consisting of officials and soldiers. These are Egypt, China, the states of Mesopotamia.
In a military monarchy, the corresponding aggressive function of the state came first. Wars of conquest and plunder were constantly taking place here.
43

Russian campaigns to neighboring lands. This type of government was the most widespread in the East (Hittite kingdom, Assyria).
The city-state arose, as a rule, by the sea, where there were no large states. The economy of such a state was closely connected with transit trade (states of the Eastern Mediterranean - Tire, Sidon, Ugarit).
The military-administrative state differed from the military monarchy in that a single system of administrative management was established in all conquered countries (the military monarchy retained the old system of management in the conquered country, limiting itself to the collection of tribute). This type of state is characteristic of world powers - the Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian and Persian kingdoms.
State in Ancient Greece. At first, royal power was widespread in Greece, but later the Greek kings - basileus - were removed from government. The monarchy was replaced by aristocracy - “the power of the best,” that is, the nobility came to power. But the demos fought with the aristocrats, and as a result, tyrants seized power. The word "tyrant" initially did not have a negative connotation. This is the name given to a person who illegally seized power. At the same time, tyrants used their power for the benefit of the people, weakening the position of the aristocracy. The tyrant could enjoy great authority. His rule usually came to naught only in the second generation, when the sons of the tyrant, who did not have his experience and authority, came to power.
In Athens, a new type of state developed and reached its peak - democracy - “power of the people.” Within the framework of Athenian democracy, the highest power belonged to the people's assembly. Nine archons were elected annually in Athens to govern the polis. Applicants for many government positions were chosen by lot, which prevented the richest and most powerful from usurping power. Public positions were paid for, which favored the participation of poor citizens of the policy in government. Classical democracy developed in Athens as an example of a new government system. However, Athenian democracy provided democratic rights only to citizens.
44

In the Spartan state there was an aristocratic form of government. The popular assembly of Sparta could only reject or approve proposals put forward by the council of elders. At the head of the governance system of Sparta were two kings, whose power was elective. There was a constant struggle between Sparta and Athens for dominance in Hellas. Despite the fact that Sparta won this war, not a single policy had sufficient power to unite all of Hellas. Other conquerors were able to do this - first Macedonia, then Rome.
The Macedonian king Philip managed to subjugate all of Greece to his power. His son Alexander the Great became famous as the greatest conqueror of antiquity. Having crushed the Persian kingdom at the head of his small army, he founded a power that stretched from the Mediterranean to India. After Alexander's death, the state broke up into several states, headed by Alexander's comrades-in-arms. These states are called Hellenistic. The Hellenistic period lasted from the end of the 4th century. BC e. to the 1st century BC e. Hellenism combined the features of Eastern and Greek civilizations.
State in Ancient Rome. Rome was also originally ruled by kings. But their power was gradually overthrown. As a result, a republican system was formed in Rome (the republic is a “common cause”). Within the framework of the republic, power was exercised exclusively by the nobility, since the Quirites holding certain positions did not receive any payment for this, but, on the contrary, were obliged to organize holidays at their own expense.
The main body of the republic was the Senate, which included only the nobility. Each year two consuls were elected to govern Rome. The interests of the plebeians were defended by the tribunes of the people, elected from among them.
Republican governing bodies could not provide effective governance when Rome began to turn into the largest Mediterranean power. As a result of civil wars that took place in the 2nd - 1st centuries. BC e., Octavian Augustus established his sole rule in power in Rome. Rome became an empire. Republican institutions were preserved, and Rome formally remained a republic.
45

The crisis that erupted in III V. n. e., led to further transformation of the Roman state. Rome became an empire of the eastern type - a dominant. In an effort to strengthen the influence of the empire in the conquered territories, Emperor Constantine adopted the Eastern religion - Christianity - and moved the capital to the East - to Constantinople (modern Istanbul). But these measures only allowed for a temporary extension of the existence of the Roman Empire. Barbarian invasions and a deep internal crisis led to the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. n. e.

Picture of the world of ancient people.

Each era in the history of mankind is distinguished by its own special, unique rhythm of life, its values, norms and ideas about the world. All this is in close relationship with human economic activity, the level of development of his knowledge, methods of meeting various needs, known as the method of farming. The above together forms the worldview of a person of a certain era, developing into a special picture of the world.
What is it "painting peace"? How can we define this concept? Scientists, as a rule, distinguish three of its components:

1. a person's sense of self;
2. their idea of ​​space, their vision of it;
3. sense of time.

These three general categories fully characterize the changing structure of the world and the place of man in it. Thus, the picture of the world is a person’s sense of self, based on ideas about space and time. It should be noted that “space” and “time” here are not only and not so much absolute physical quantities, but subjective forms of their perception in individual eras. Space in this case acts as a really existing world space with all the diversity of its constituent objects and phenomena, characterized by different properties, origin and purpose. The concept of time is also specific and includes both astronomical time and biological
46

social (the time of successive generations), individual (stages of human development from birth to death), social (development of society, individual people, state).
The picture of the world is, of course, reflected in the monuments of material culture, but due to the complexity and ambiguity of their decoding, as well as their very incomplete (fragmentary) reflection of the period under study, they are not able to recreate the picture of the world of ancient man on a full scale.
The most vivid and complete picture of the world is presented in spiritual culture, especially within the framework of the religious beliefs of representatives of the primitive era.
For a person during the period of appropriating economy and tribal organization, primitive religious beliefs are characteristic - fetishism, magic and fortune telling, animism, totemism, the cult of the mother goddess, etc. With the transition to an appropriating economy and the creation of states and a slave society, mythology and mythological consciousness are formed. (Myth is a special way of reflecting the world in the human mind, characterized by sensory-figurative ideas about unprecedented creatures, phenomena, and processes.) The emergence of feudal relations and the associated system of moral norms were embodied in new, more complex religious teachings. Ancient civilizations on this path gave birth to Confucianism and Buddhism, which were still closely associated with the previous, mythological worldview. A new stage in the development of mankind is the emergence of monotheism, which preceded the emergence of world religions - Christianity and Islam. Christianity, in particular, drew a line under the previous spiritual experience of mankind, creating on its basis a fundamentally new worldview system built on different values.
Primitive cults of the pre-civilization period are a kind of illustration of the process of formation of human self-awareness. A person has not yet felt himself as an individual, imagining himself as an integral part of a tribe or clan. This is supported by rock carvings in which people are deprived of individual characteristics: features are not drawn
47

The faces and figures are very sketchy. Only dark silhouettes predominate. In addition, people were mostly depicted in groups performing some action together (hunting, ritual, etc.).
The world seemed to be one and whole, and man was only a part of this huge organism. Man was not yet able to influence the processes taking place; his life depended entirely on the world around him. He felt a strong attachment, interconnection and close kinship with this world. This is how totemism appears - a system of beliefs according to which a separate clan or tribe traced its origins to a common ancestor - some animal or plant. A tribe or clan bore the name of its totem, which was considered a kind and caring patron.
Severe dependence on the surrounding world, the inability to understand the causes and essence of the phenomena occurring in it contributed to the emergence of magic and fortune telling. Magic was a more active form of expression, suggesting the ability to somehow influence the world through appealing to its individual forces. Not only animals and plants were spiritualized, but also the inanimate world and natural phenomena (rain, wind, storm, etc.). By addressing them, speaking their language, sharing with them something vitally important and acquired at the cost of great effort, a person tried to change the world around him in a direction favorable to himself.
Fortune telling was a consequence of a person’s guess 6 of the pattern and interconnection of phenomena occurring in the world. Having no idea about the systemic nature of the world, a person could only discover individual chains of this system. Starting from the idea of ​​the universal interdependence of natural and social phenomena, man began to guess by the cracks on bones and shards, by the flight of an eagle. Then the first rudiments of abstract and mathematical thinking began to penetrate into the process of fortune telling. A classic example is the Chinese Book of Changes.
Man - a representative of the primitive era - saw life in everything, all objects and phenomena of the world were spiritualized by him. This is how animism developed - the belief in the existence of spirits, the spiritualization of the forces of nature, animals, plants and inanimate objects, attributing to them intelligence, capacity and supernatural power.
48

Over time, the abilities and possibilities of humanity grow, the economic structure changes: from an appropriator, a person moves to a producing economy. The first states appear. Civilization is born. The picture of the world is also changing. It acquires greater systematicity and orderliness, a sense of time, and a mythological consciousness is formed. During this period, the mythology of the Ancient East and the states of antiquity was formed.
Mythology of the Ancient East well known from the ideas of the societies of Ancient Egypt and Sumer. There was a whole pantheon of gods here, each of which was “responsible” for a certain area, category of natural phenomena or human activity. Among them, one with outstanding abilities and qualities gradually stands out. At certain points in history, he begins to claim absolute supremacy among other deities. The emergence of a pantheon of gods, the formation of certain relationships and hierarchies between them, often interpreted as relationships of dominance and subordination, reflected changes in the structure of society and ideas about the world. From now on, relations within the community are extrapolated to the natural world, and not vice versa, as was the case before. Man finally highlights his active transformative role, which is expressed in the anthropomorphization of religious ideas. Egyptian gods, for example, were depicted with the body of a man and the heads of various animals. The latter can be considered not only an echo of previous beliefs, but also simply a way of illustrating the character, individual traits of a particular deity.
Ideas about the otherworldly existence of the soul are becoming more complex, as a result of which the understanding of space and time has expanded in human consciousness. The ordering, hierarchization of the sometimes extremely inflated (as in Sumer) pantheon of gods, the gradual schematization of their images, abstract reflections on extra-experimental phenomena (the afterlife, the world of the gods) speak of the development of abstract thinking. Thus, the categories of space and time in human consciousness expand and become multifaceted.
49

In Eastern mythology, the idea of ​​evil and its struggle with good appears, while ancient mythology postulated the principle of harmony and completeness of the world. The word, which is understood both as a designation of a phenomenon, and as knowledge, and as a process of cognition, and as a specific form of existence of a phenomenon, acquires important significance. At the same time, the idea of ​​space as a structured, ordered world is limited to the boundaries of the community’s habitat. Beyond these limits, the world turns into nothing, that is, into chaos. A textbook example is the idea of ​​the ancient Greeks that a ship, going out to sea beyond the limits of visibility, would disappear completely.
Space in mythological thinking becomes wider and more multifaceted, time acquires a more complex rhythm, returning to the source and becoming cyclical. The world is therefore thought to be infinite. From isolating parts of the world during the period of primitive cults, humanity moved on to synthesizing these parts and creating a whole, harmonious and complete picture of the world. In the previous era, man mastered space, now he began to master time.
Mythology is being replaced by more complex religious teachings. So, in the VI - V centuries. BC originates in India Buddhism. According to this teaching, human life invariably represents suffering. Suffering is a consequence of man's never-ending and ever-increasing desires that cannot be satisfied. Final and endless bliss comes only with the achievement of nirvana (enlightenment). Nirvana was understood as liberation from the endless chain of rebirths and dissolution into space. Rebirths occur as a result of a constant flow of elementary particles of matter and consciousness - dharmas - interlocking into different forms. A person’s current life is determined by the entire complex of his previous existence, or karma. Everything in this world is doomed to an endless and meaningless chain of rebirths (samsara). Buddha proclaimed the “middle way” of achieving nirvana - a renunciation of both the extremes of asceticism and self-deception by the delights of this world, which was considered illusory. Space in Buddhism has expanded even more, embracing the world of elementary invisible particles, but this reality
50

became unsteady. Time has retained cyclicality and infinity.
Confucianism It is difficult to call it a religion in the full sense of the word. Having originated as a complex of moral and ethical ideas, it was subsequently sacralized and received the status of an official ideology. This teaching has a very real founder - this is Kun Tzu, or Confucius (551 - 479 BC). Confucius created the concept of ren, love of humanity. It was expressed through devotion to the sovereign - “zhong”, fidelity to duty - “i”, filial piety - “xiao”, generosity - “kuan” and a number of other positive characteristics. The ideal of Confucius was “junzi” - “noble man”. Confucianism represented Heaven as the highest power, which determines the destiny of man. Confucianism preached a strict hierarchical order, sanctified by tradition, according to which the younger in age and position should obey the elder, and the elder, in turn, should take care of the younger.
An unusual and very interesting phenomenon in the history of mankind is Judaism. The emergence of this religion is associated with a radical restructuring of man’s ideas about the world and his place in it. From now on, a direct and directly connecting vertical was built between man and the highest power, God. The destinies of the whole world became subject only to him, and man found himself in second place in the world, after God. The world is changing its structure. From limited he becomes infinite, in accordance with the all-encompassing power of God. From relatively amorphous and spherical to clearly aligned vertically. From being subject to the desires of a person through magic - subject only to God and favorable to a person in accordance with the measure of his faith in God and the God-pleasing of his actions.
The next stage in the development of the human worldview was Christianity. It symbolized the crisis of ancient ideas about the world, establishing a new understanding of the world order. What are the differences between Christianity and previous religions? Firstly, in Christianity there is only one God, as opposed to the political
51

theism of the ancient world. Secondly, he appears as the absolute ruler and creator of the world, in contrast to the Olympian gods, who personified individual natural forces and were subject to the absolute harmony of the Cosmos. God in Christianity is separated from the world, which is only his creation, and is endowed with supernatural powers. And, finally, this same God created man himself as the pinnacle of his creation, created him in his own image, placing man above the rest of the world, endowing him with a unique ability to create.
The appearance of such ideas meant the final separation of man from nature, as well as the isolation of the individual from the collective. Personality enters the arena of world history.
But the world itself is changing. Time ceases to be cyclical. According to the norms of Christianity, everything has its beginning from the moment of creation by God and the end, seen in the future as the Last Judgment. Man has truly become a grain of sand in this world, but at the same time the most significant and “outstanding” grain of sand.
Cultural heritage of ancient civilizations.
One of the oldest on earth is Egyptiancivilization. Within the framework of this civilization, during the three thousand years of its existence, many outstanding cultural monuments were created, many of which have survived to our time.
“By the beginning of the Old Kingdom era in Egypt, a writing system emerged that was called hieroglyphic (from the Greek hieros - “sacred”). At the same time, cursive writing and cursive (demotic) writing existed in Egypt. All three types of writing were used for different purposes. They wrote on stone and papyrus. The writing system had both ideograms, which conveyed individual concepts, and phonograms, which conveyed sounds. Writing was valued as an art, and the position of a scribe was considered one of the most honorable.
Egypt is always associated primarily with the pyramids, which are one of the most grandiose creations of mankind in its entire history. Erected in
52

era of Ancient Egypt, the pyramids served as tombs of kings, reflecting the boundless faith in the power of the gods and the kings (pharaohs) representing them on earth. First, step pyramids were built (the pyramid of Djoser, 28th century BC), then pyramids with broken edges appeared. However, for the most part these are structures with smooth smooth edges and a square base. In Giza, near Cairo, there are three great pyramids built by the pharaohs of the TV dynasty. All three have the same axis direction and the same orientation. The height of the largest is 147 m, it is known as the Pyramid of Cheops. The mass of each block in it is approximately 2.5 tons. The pyramids are the only one of the seven wonders of the world that have survived to this day. Giza was an entire architectural complex, which also included pyramid-tombs of nobles and mortuary temples attached to the pyramid on the eastern side. In addition to the pyramids, there were rock tombs characteristic of the New Kingdom. During the eras of the Middle and New Kingdoms, majestic temples in honor of gods and pharaohs, and palaces of rulers were also created. The temple architecture is distinguished by its monumentality and extraordinary richness of decoration.
The sculpture of Ancient Egypt was also closely associated with the mortuary cult. The figurines were considered to be the residence of one of the souls of the deceased, and they were placed in temples and tombs. The pharaoh was always depicted in the prime of his life with an impassive and majestic expression of face and posture. There were certain canonical requirements in the genre of sculpture. Standing statues are always strictly frontal, their figures are tensely straightened, their heads are set straight, their arms are lowered and pressed tightly to the body, their left leg is slightly pushed forward. The statues were made of wood, granite, basalt and other rocks, and they were usually painted: male figures in brick red, and female figures in yellow. On the bas-reliefs the head and legs were depicted in profile, the shoulders and chest were depicted in front. Egyptian sculpture reached its peak during the New Kingdom.
Characteristic feature Sumerian-Akkadian culture is the creation of a unique writing system - cuneiform, which was not sound writing, but contained ideas
53

grams denoting whole words, vowels or syllables. There were about 600 characters in total. A special genre in literature consists of lamentations - works about the destruction of Sumerian cities due to raids by neighbors. The most common were etiological (explanatory) myths about the creation of the world and man, the Great Flood, the death and resurrection of the fertility gods.
The temple architecture of Sumer was unique, characterized by the use of high platforms. Temple towers - ziggurats - followed the Sumerians by the Akkadians and Babylonians. The ziggurats consisted of three stages, built in accordance with the divine triad, and were built from raw brick.
One of the most magnificent cities of ancient Mesopotamia was Babylon. Protected by a double wall, it had eight gates, the most famous being the 12-meter-high gate of the goddess Ish-tar. Lined with turquoise glazed bricks and decorated with ornaments of sculptures of lions, dragons and bulls, they made a stunning impression. Situated on both banks of the Euphrates, the city was connected by a stone bridge - one of the first in the world.

The specificity of the literature of ancient Babylon was in the initial presentation of the plot and its subsequent development. Babylonian literature was largely borrowed from Sumerian sources, most of the works were written in poetic form. One of the main topics was the problem of undeserved human suffering and the inevitability of death.

Developed much more dynamically Greek culture. An outstanding monument of Cretan-Mycenaean (3rd - 2nd millennium BC) architecture was the Knossos Palace of King Minos. The main attraction of this palace was the fresco painting. The ancient Greeks created their greatest epic works - the Iliad and the Odyssey. A significant discovery of the Greeks was the creation of their own writing system. Having borrowed the alphabet from the Phoenicians, they significantly improved it by adding vowels. Ancient Greek architecture is characterized by the presence of two directions, or styles - Doric and Ionic. Doric style is strict, solemn and massive. Before-
54

The ric column had no base, growing directly from the base of the temple. The Ionic order was distinguished by lighter proportions, grace and widespread use of decorative elements. The Ionic column always had a base and was lighter and thinner than the Doric.
The Greek temple was considered the dwelling of a god; as a rule, it contained a statue of the god in whose honor it was erected. The ensemble of the Athens Acropolis occupies a special place in the history of architecture. The largest building here is the Temple of Athena the Virgin, the Parthenon.
The sculpture, amazing in its skill, was devoid of individual and psychological traits, depicting people according to ancient ideas about beauty.
The outstanding achievement of the Greeks was the art of making ceramics and vase painting. It featured black-figure and red-figure styles. Greek theater and Attic tragedy are of great importance. Some works created by ancient Greek playwrights still occupy an important place in the repertoire of modern theaters. Ancient culture revealed an amazing wealth of forms, images and methods of expression, laying the foundations of aesthetics, ideas about harmony and thus expressing its attitude to the world.

Questions for section 2

1. What types of periodization of the history of primitive society
used in science? What are their main criteria?
2. Name the main stages of anthropogenesis.
3. How does a proto-state differ from a state?
4. What is the “Neolithic Revolution”? What are its consequences?
5. List the main forms of primitive religion.
6. How does a pastoral civilization differ from an agricultural civilization?
7. What are the consequences of introducing metal into production?
8. What is a prestige economy?
9. Why did the head of the proto-state need to concentrate priestly power in his hands?

10. Trace the evolution of human society from the primitive herd to the rural neighboring community.
11. What forms of states of the Ancient World do you know?
12. What is the reason for the enormous role that the state played in the life of Eastern society?
13. How do ancient civilizations differ from ancient Eastern ones?
14. What are the characteristic features of the policy?

15. What forms of slavery do you know and how do they differ from each other?
16. Tell us about the structure of Eastern society. What are the specifics of Indian society?

17. Why is Eastern society so stable?
18. What role did the sea play in the economy of ancient states?
19. How was time represented in mythological consciousness and why?
20. How did the crisis of the ancient worldview manifest itself?
21. Describe the dynamics of ideas about space
and time through three eras: the time of primitive cults,
the time of mythological consciousness, the time of monotheism.
22. What is the meaning of the canon in Egyptian culture?
23. Describe the similarities and differences in the culture of Egypt and Mesopotamia.
24. What achievements can be considered the most significant contribution of the Greeks to the treasury of world culture?

Introduction.

History - (Greek Ιστορία, “research”) - the sphere of humanitarian knowledge that deals with the study of man (his activities, condition, worldview, social connections and organizations, etc.) in the past; in a narrower sense, it is a science that studies all kinds of sources about the past in order to establish the sequence of events, the objectivity of the described facts and draw conclusions about the causes of events.

Herodotus is considered the father of history as a science, who wrote the treatise “History”, describing the Greco-Persian wars.

Herodotus.

History tells us about the past and what role one person or group of people played in certain events. History is an interesting science because... it allows us to trace how, as a result of certain actions of people, events change, eras come to replace one another, how revolutions are made, wars begin, or truces are concluded. What could be more interesting than a person and his life? By studying history, you can try to understand why people act in a certain way in certain situations, and how to learn from the mistakes of others to make less of your own. History is one of the most voluminous sciences, because... includes not only a presentation of specific events, but also all kinds of interpretations of them. There is no way to cover the immensity within the framework of one textbook. Therefore, in classes and in the textbook only the tip of the iceberg of historical knowledge will be shown, a small part of what can be known.

History is a humanitarian science. Therefore, the human factor plays a big role in it. Consequently, history is prone to subjectivism more than any other science. Try to imagine if you had a conflict with a friend, and each of you tells someone else about it... Most likely, the stories will turn out far from the same. And this will not happen because you deliberately tried to distort events in your favor. It’s just human nature to put your personal attitude into a story. But we were looking at a situation that happened recently. What can we say about the affairs of bygone days? Therefore, the question arises about the reliability of historical knowledge and the sources that give it to us.

Reliability and sources of historical knowledge. The historical method consists of following the principles and rules of working with primary sources and other evidence found during research and then used in writing a historical work.

Historical science deals with facts that form the basis of all historical knowledge. All ideas and concepts are based on facts. The perception and explanation of historical reality, the ability to comprehend the essence of the historical process depend on the reliability of facts. In historical science fact is considered in two senses: 1) as a phenomenon that took place in history; and 2) as its reflection in historical science (fact - knowledge).

But there is a close connection between them. The second is impossible without the first. By themselves, “bare facts” as “fragments of reality” may not tell the reader anything. Only a historian gives a fact a certain meaning, which depends on his general scientific and ideological-theoretical views. Therefore, in different belief systems, the same historical fact receives different interpretations and different meanings. Thus, between a historical fact (event, phenomenon) and the corresponding scientific-historical fact there is an interpretation. It is she who turns the facts of history into facts of science.

History is the science of the past, therefore it is not possible to observe the object of its study. In most cases, the only source of information about the past for him is a historical monument, thanks to which he receives the necessary specific historical data, factual material that forms the basis of historical knowledge.

All historical sources can be divided into 6 groups:

1. Written sources (epigraphical monuments, i.e. ancient inscriptions on stone, metal, ceramics, etc.; graffiti - texts scratched by hand on the walls of buildings, dishes; birch bark letters, manuscripts on papyrus, parchment and paper, printed materials and etc.).

2. Material monuments (tools, handicrafts, household items, dishes, clothing, jewelry, coins, weapons, remains of dwellings, architectural structures, etc.).

3. Ethnographic monuments - remains that have survived to this day, remnants of the ancient life of various peoples.

4. Folklore materials - monuments of oral folk art, i.e. legends, songs, fairy tales, proverbs, sayings, anecdotes, etc.

5. Linguistic monuments - geographical names, personal names, etc.

6. Film and photo documents.

Studying the maximum number of all types of sources allows us to recreate a fairly complete and reliable picture of the historical process.

The following 4 sciences can be named as sciences that provide most of the information:

Archeology is the science of antiquities, the study of the life and culture of ancient peoples based on the material monuments that have come down to us.

Ethnography is a science that studies the life of backward (relict) tribes and remnants of the past in modern societies.

Anthropology is a science that studies the skeletal remains of primitive people.

Linguistics is a science that studies language and reveals the most ancient layers in it that were formed in the distant past.

Civilizations. Variants of their typology.

Civilization - integral sociocultural systems with their own patterns, which include :

Religion

Economic organization

Social organization

Political organization

System of education and upbringing

Signs of civilization

High level of development of the production economy

Availability of political structures

Use of writing

Monumental structures

Natural community. historical communities living within the natural cycle.

For civilization, the natural community is characteristic deification of nature, traditionalism in culture and collectivism in social life, power is based on tradition or blood relationship

Eastern civilization. Traditionalism, n low mobility and weak diversity of all forms of human life, the idea of ​​complete unfreedom of man, an attitude of contemplation, political organization - despotism, collectivism

Western civilization. Signs of Western civilization can be considered: dynamism, orientation towards novelty, importance of the human person, individualism, rationality, freedom, equality, tolerance, respect for private property, democracy. A subtype of Western civilization is a technogenic civilization that began to take shape at the beginning of the 15th century and spread throughout the entire territory of the Earth.

Modern (global) civilization. In the modern world, a new global type of civilization has emerged, in which it is impossible for one civilization to exist in isolation from another. Peoples and cultures constantly influence each other, exchange the latest achievements in all areas of life.

Factors of historical development

Natural-climatic – determines the type of management in a given territory, the activities that people will primarily engage in. Nature determines not only the type of activity that people will engage in in a given area, but also their relationships with each other, as well as the form of government. If the climate conditions are harsh, the greater the likelihood of the emergence of collective forms of management, and the easier the living conditions, the more people will be prone to individualism. In softer living conditions, government will be more democratic. A tough climate also requires a fairly authoritarian leadership capable of collecting taxes in conditions of scarcity of resources.

Geographic - Different geographic areas provide different opportunities for this. Some of them are so well suited to human life that they do not create prerequisites for changes in the environment, and therefore for an increase in needs and, ultimately, development. Others are so unfavorable that they prevent any transformation.
The most rapidly developing territories are those located at the crossroads of geographical routes connecting different peoples, near the centers of civilizations. Progress is facilitated by proximity to more developed countries. This creates a sustained desire for improvement.

Economic factor.The idea that economics plays a vital role in history came to light in the second half of the 19th century. many historians. This direction, which is usually called historical-economic, or simply economic (“economism”), has become most widespread in the historical science of Germany, France, Great Britain, and Russia. Moreover, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries it became the leading one, which was recognized by both its advocates and its opponents.

Ethnic factor . Ethnic community (ethnos) - historically an emerging type of stable social grouping of people, represented by a tribe, nationality, nation, group of peoples (Slavic ethnic community, etc.). The ethical factor can be clearly seen in the history of Russia, located at the intersection of Western and European civilizations. Russia borders on many peoples, interacts with them, adopts customs and traditions. Many words in the Russian language that we now perceive as native are actually borrowed. In the process of cultural exchange, peoples develop noticeably. Ethnic interaction occurs in the process of human economic activity and military campaigns.

Periodization of world history.

1. Paleolithic (2 million years - 8 thousand years BC) - the era of the existence of fossil humans, as well as fossil, now extinct animal species. In the Paleolithic era, the Earth's climate, its flora and fauna were quite different from modern ones. People of the Paleolithic era used only chipped stone tools, not yet knowing how to polish them and make pottery - ceramics. They hunted and collected plant foods. Fishing was just beginning to emerge, and agriculture and cattle breeding were unknown. The beginning of the Paleolithic coincides with the appearance on Earth of the most ancient apes

2. Mesolithic (8 thousand years ago - 5 thousand years BC) is the Stone Age era, transitional between the Paleolithic and Neolithic. Mesolithic cultures of many territories are characterized by miniature stone tools - microliths. Beaten chopping tools made of stone were used - axes, adzes, picks, as well as tools made of bone and horn - spearheads, harpoons, fishhooks, points, picks, etc. Bows and arrows, various devices for fishing and hunting sea animals became widespread ( dugout canoes, nets). Pottery appeared mainly during the transition from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic. The dog, which was probably domesticated in the Late Paleolithic, was widely used in the Mesolithic; The domestication of some other animal species (pig, etc.) also began. The basis of the economy was hunting, fishing and gathering (including the collection of edible shellfish). Prerequisites arose for the transition (already at the Neolithic stage) to productive forms of economy - agriculture and cattle breeding.

3. Neolithic (5 thousand years ago - 3 thousand years BC) - the era of the later Stone Age, characterized by the use exclusively of flint, bone and stone tools (including those made using sawing, drilling and grinding techniques) and, as a rule, a wide distribution of pottery. The tools of the Neolithic era represent the final stage of the development of stone tools, which were then replaced by metal products appearing in increasing quantities. According to cultural and economic characteristics, Neolithic cultures fall into two groups: 1) farmers and cattle breeders and 2) developed hunters and fishermen. Neolithic cultures of the first group reflect the consequences of the transition to fundamentally new forms of obtaining products through their production (the so-called producing economy).

4. Chalcolithic (3 thousand years ago - 2 thousand years BC) Copper-Stone Age, the era of transition from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age.

5. Bronze Age (2 thousand years ago - 1 thousand years BC) - a historical and cultural period characterized by the spread of bronze metallurgy in the advanced cultural centers and its transformation into the leading material for the production of tools and weapons.

6. Iron Age

The oldest stage of human history.

Separation of man from the animal world. Anthropogenesis.

Anthropogenesis commonly referred to as the part of biological evolution that led to the emergence of a species Homo sapiens, separated from apes and placental mammals. It is believed that the closest common ancestor of humans and anthropomorphic apes was the group Dryopithecus (tree monkeys), lived 25-30 million years ago. About 25 million years ago, Dryopithecus split into two branches, which later led to the emergence of two families: pongid, or anthropomorphic monkeys(gibbon, gorilla, orangutan, chimpanzee), and hominid (humans).

Table 1.1. The main stages of human evolution.

Temporal boundaries

Stages of anthropogenesis

Characteristic features of development

40 thousand years ago

Stage neoanthropa (Cro-Magnon). Homo sapiens

Formation of the appearance of modern man. The emergence of society. Domestication of plants and animals

200-500 thousand years ago

Stage paleoanthropa (Neanderthal). Neanderthal man

Brain volume is 1200-1400 cm3. High culture of manufacturing tools. Improving speech and tribal relations

1-1.3 million . years ago

Stage archanthrope (pithecanthropa). Homo erectus (Pithecanthropus - Java; Sinanthropus - China, Atlantropus - Africa, Heidelberg Man - Europe)

Brain volume 800-1200 cm3. Formation of speech. Mastering Fire

2-2.5 million years ago

A skilled man

Transitional stage to the formation of the type of modern person. Brain volume 500-800 cm 5 . Making the first tools (pebble culture)

9 million years ago

Stage protanthropus. Australopithecus - the predecessors of humans

Transitional form of ape to man. Erectus. Use of primitive “tools” (sticks, stones, bones). Further development of herding

25 million years ago

Common ancestors of apes and humans - Dryopithecus

Arboreal lifestyle, gregariousness

Our ancient ancestors grouped themselves into human herds(ancestral communities) numbering from 20 to 40 people. This number of individuals in a herd is most beneficial for the survival of humans as a biological species. Fewer members of the herd would not be able to cope with the harsh conditions of the surrounding life. The main occupations at that time were hunting or gathering, i.e. assigning type of management. While the men were in search of food, the women took care of the children, whose survival was also necessary for the continued existence of the herd; Women's duties also included maintaining the fire. A larger number of individuals in a herd is also impractical, because As the herd size increases, it becomes more difficult to manage. People lived as one big family, earning food together and caring for their common children. Relations between men and women were most likely disordered - promiscuity. If the size of the herd increased, it was divided into two.

However, gradually people begin to notice that fewer and fewer healthy offspring are being born in their society, and therefore the herd is becoming less viable. This was associated with close relatives having sexual contact. Therefore, a ban gradually appears on members of the same herd entering into relationships - exogamy. With the advent of exogamy there appears tribal community. Every clan community had to maintain friendly relations with other clan communities with which it exchanged spouses. There have always been two or more communities nearby. The women of the community had the right to men from the neighboring community, but not to their own. Likewise, men had the right to the women of the neighboring community only. At that time, the social structure was based on the power of women, i.e. matriarchy reigned. Children born from group marriages of spouses from friendly communities lived in the maternal community, because It was not always possible to identify the father. But in this case, there is a danger of a relationship between father and daughter, which can again lead to the birth of unhealthy offspring. Then the division into age groups was adopted. Gradually, more and more restrictions were introduced into marriage until it became monogamous and produced the largest number of healthy children. By that time, the main occupation of people became cattle breeding, and a little later, agriculture, i.e. The type of economy evolves from an appropriating one into a producing one. People stayed together as a large clan community until they had perfect tools for cultivating the land, and while this activity required joint efforts.

With the advent of a plow with an iron plowshare, an iron axe, a shovel, and a bow and arrows, the clan community is replaced neighbor's People live in smaller groups, but some physically demanding activities (clearing arable land) are carried out jointly by several neighboring communities.

Since, when earning a living, people become more and more independent and need their neighbors less, then what they earn remains within the same family. Thus, private property begins to emerge, which must be protected. In this regard, those who are physically stronger become stronger economically. They can afford to hire labor to meet their needs. In connection with the growth of incomes, there is a need to protect them, that is, to hire an army. Thus, the first states begin to form. We will look at this process in more detail in the following chapters.

Early civilizations

Ancient world- a period in human history between the prehistoric period and the beginning of the Middle Ages in Europe. The period began with the advent of writing. The duration of the written period of history is approximately 5-5.5 thousand years, starting from the appearance of cuneiform writing among the Sumerians. The end of the Ancient Period is the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 under the blows of barbarian troops and the subsequent sharp decline in the culture and standard of living of the people.

Let's look at some of the oldest known civilizations. While people were still weak and wild, they settled in the most favorable climatic conditions. This explains the appearance of the first civilizations in river valleys in the warm climate of the East. The river provided food to the human herd at the beginning of evolution (and then to the community and proto-states). The warm climate facilitated human settlement and survival. However, the same river also required significant effort, both physical and intellectual. The man had to solve difficult problems. How to escape from the annual floods? How to protect yourself from the attacks of neighbors who came along the same river? How can a river be made to irrigate a large soil? How to pass on your knowledge to descendants? Solving these issues, people created calendars, built protective structures and an irrigation system, and created writing.

Life required the efforts of each member of society, therefore collectivism is characteristic of Eastern civilization. The team could not afford for anyone to shirk their duties, so the punishment system was cruel, the authorities were despotistic. The hot climate made it impossible to work all day, and the darkness made it impossible to work at night. The short period when it was possible to do something was replaced by a period of forced inaction. Therefore, an Eastern person is characterized by contemplation and a mood for reflection. As a result of these thoughts, scientific discoveries were born that could make work easier in the short hours of coolness.

The Ancient East is a fairly broad concept. From the point of view of a medieval European, the East is everything except Europe. Thus, the East includes such diverse countries and cultures as Islamic, China, India, Indochina, as well as the northern tip of Africa.

Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia (Mesopotamia, Greek: Μεσοποταμία) is the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, on the territory of modern Iraq, one of the cradles of Eurasian civilization.

Mesopotamia

In the territory between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, several states were located at different times. The largest and most famous are Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, Babylonia.

Sumer

The Sumerians are a people who inhabited the Southern Mesopotamia (the area between the Euphrates and Tigris in the south of advanced Iraq) at the very beginning of the historical period. The Sumerians probably discovered the discovery of wheels, baked bricks, irrigation systems and beer.

The oldest known writing system is considered to be Sumerian writing, which later developed into cuneiform. Cuneiform is a system of messaging in which symbols are pressed with a reed stick (stylus) onto a tablet of wet clay.

Sumerian cuneiform

It is not known for certain where the Sumerians came from, but when they appeared in Mesopotamia, people were already living there. The tribes that inhabited Mesopotamia in ancient times lived on islands rising among the swamps. They built their settlements on artificial earthen embankments. By draining the surrounding swamps, they created an ancient artificial irrigation system.

The disunity of city-states created a problem with the exact dating of events in Ancient Sumer. The fact is that each city-state had its own chronicles. The history of Sumer can be roughly dated as follows:

2900 - 2316 BC - the heyday of the Sumerian city-states
2316 - 2200 BC - unification of Sumer under the rule of the Akkadian dynasty (Semitic tribes of the northern part of Southern Mesopotamia who adopted Sumerian culture)
2200 - 2112 BC - Interregnum. The period of fragmentation and invasions of the nomadic Kutians
2112 - 2003 BC - Sumerian Renaissance, the heyday of culture
2003 BC - the fall of Sumer and Akkad under the onslaught of the Amorites (Elamites). Anarchy
1792 - rise of Babylon under Hammurabi (Old Babylonian Kingdom)

Assyria

The Assyrian Empire lasted for over a thousand years, starting in the 17th century BC. e. and until its destruction in the 7th century BC. e. (about 609 BC) Media and Babylonia.

Assyria, an ancient state on the territory of modern Iraq. Ashur was the core of Assyria. The ethnic composition of its primary population is unknown, by 2000 BC. e. the bulk of the inhabitants were Semites-Akkadians.

Ancient Assyria was characterized by a self-governing rural and urban community (alu), which owned a periodically redistributed land fund, which was directly owned by household communities (bitu). The nobility, who were part of trading companies, profited from the caravan trade. The cities that later formed the core of the Assyrian state (Nineveh, Ashur, Arbela, etc.) until the 15th century. BC, apparently, did not represent a single political or even ethnic whole. One of the most important items of intermediary trade in the 2nd millennium BC. were textiles and ores, and its central points were Ashur, Nineveh and Arbela. Gradually the communal system is disintegrating, the population is stratified. Some fall into bondage and are forced to perform duties in favor of richer fellow tribesmen.

In the 18th century Ashur and adjacent cities were subject to the Babylonian king Hammurabi, and in the 16-15 centuries. - to the kings of Mitanni. The ruler of Ashur, Ashuruballit I [late 15th - early 14th centuries] managed to create a strong power and subjugate Babylonia to his influence. His descendants took the title "kings of Assyria". In the 14th-13th centuries. they managed to conquer Northern Mesopotamia and seize supply routes to Babylonia. The Assyrian rulers were very educated people. Libraries were created in their palaces. The most famous of them is the library of King Ashurbanipal. It was discovered during excavations of Nineveh.

From the end of the 9th century. In Assyria, a crisis began associated with the devastation of agricultural areas during wars, as well as civil wars between the party of the priesthood and the privileged trading and serving nobility and the military party.

The military-technical achievements of Assyria ceased to be its monopoly. At the end of the 7th century. The coalition of Babylonia and Media defeated Assyria, destroyed its main cities and destroyed (626-605) the Assyrian state. The Assyrian nobility were slaughtered during the war, and the rest of the population mixed with the Arameans of Mesopotamia.

A very interesting cultural, historical and everyday monument of the era are the so-called “Middle Assyrian laws”.

The laws are grouped in accordance with the subject of regulation into very large “blocks”, each of which is dedicated to a special tablet, for the “subject” is understood in Central Assyrian laws extremely broadly. So, Table. A (fifty-nine paragraphs) is devoted to various aspects of the legal status of a free woman - “daughter of a man,” “wife of a man,” widow, etc., as well as harlots and slaves. This also includes various offenses committed by or against a woman, marriage, property relations between spouses, rights to children, etc. In other words, the woman appears here both as a subject of law and as its object, and as a criminal, and as a victim. “At the same time” this also includes actions committed by “a woman or a man” (murder in someone else’s house; witchcraft), as well as cases of sodomy. Such a grouping, of course, is much more convenient, but its disadvantages are also obvious: theft, for example, appears in two different tablets, false accusations and false denunciations also appear in different tablets; the same fate befalls the rules regarding inheritance. However, these shortcomings are obvious only from our modern point of view. New, in comparison with the Laws of Hammurabi, is also the extremely widespread use of public punishment - flogging and “royal work”, i.e. a kind of hard labor (in addition to monetary compensation to the victim). This phenomenon is unique for such early antiquity and can be explained both by the unusually high development of legal thought and by the preservation of community solidarity, which considered many offenses, especially in the field of land relations or against the honor and dignity of free citizens, as affecting the interests of the entire community. On the other hand, Central Assyrian laws, as already noted, also contain archaic features. These include laws according to which the murderer is handed over to the “master of the house,” i.e. the head of the victim's family. The “master of the house” can do with him at his own discretion: kill him or release him, taking a ransom from him (in more developed legal systems, ransom for murder is not allowed). This mixture of archaic features with features of relatively high development is also characteristic of Middle Assyrian society itself, as it is reflected in the Middle Assyrian laws.

Babylonia

There are many people who have not heard about the Pandemonium of Babylon or one of the wonders of the world, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Both of these grandiose buildings were located in Babylonia.

According to biblical legend, the inhabitants of Ancient Babylon set out to reach heaven and for this purpose began to build a high tower. Then, according to the Bible, “all people on earth had the same language and the same words.” An angry God confused their language so that they could no longer understand each other, and chaos ensued. This legend gives us the opportunity to draw conclusions about the life of the ancient Babylonians. If there are legends about such monumental buildings, then the inhabitants of this area were excellent architects and builders. If we are talking about the division of languages, we can draw a conclusion about the multinational composition of the state, as well as the fact that these diverse peoples did not find a common language with each other.

Tower of Babel

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon are one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The correct name of this structure is the Hanging Gardens of Amytis: this was the name of the wife of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, for whose sake the gardens were created.

According to legend, at the beginning of the 6th century BC. King Nebuchadnezzar II ordered the creation of hanging gardens for one of his wives, Amyits, who was yearning in lowland Babylonia for her homeland in the mountainous part of Iran. Then where does the name Semiramis come from? There is a Greek legend, transmitted by Herodotus and Ctesias, about the creation of the “Hanging Gardens” in Babylon in honor of Semiramis. According to legend, the king of Babylon Shamshiadat V fell in love with the Assyrian Amazon queen Semiramis. In her honor, he built a huge structure consisting of an arcade - a series of arches stacked on top of each other. On each floor of such an arcade, earth was poured and a garden was laid out with many rare trees. Fountains gurgled among the amazingly beautiful plants and bright birds sang. The Gardens of Babylon were cross-cutting and multi-story. This gave them lightness and a fabulous look.

Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Babylonia, or the Babylonian kingdom, is an ancient kingdom in the south of Mesopotamia (the territory of modern Iraq), which arose at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. and lost its independence in 539 BC. e.. The capital of the kingdom was the city of Babylon, from which it received its name. The Semitic people of the Amorites, the founders of Babylonia, inherited the culture of the previous kingdoms of Mesopotamia - Sumer and Akkad. The official language of Babylonia was the written Semitic Akkadian language, and the unrelated Sumerian language, which fell out of use, was preserved for a long time as a cult language.

The rise of Babylonia is associated with the name of King Hammurabi.

King Hammurabi receives laws from the sun god Shamash (relief of the upper part of the pillar of the Code of Laws)

The basis of the well-being of the inhabitants of Babylonia was agriculture. Taking care of the harvest, they restored old and laid new irrigation systems. However, due to land salinization, typical of irrigation in climates with low rainfall, yields gradually fell. Agriculture remained largely communal. Having been deprived of land for debts, a person was deprived of the entire complex of civil rights; moreover, he could no longer practice the most important cult of his ancestors. During the reign of Hammurabi, the disintegration of the rural community and enslavement for debt had already become significant. From the laws of Hammurabi it is clear that slavery has lost its former patriarchal character.

The rise of Babylon led to its transformation into the largest religious center: the local god occupied the place of the head of the Sumerian-Akkadian pantheon. The New Year celebrations held here, during which the king touched the hands of Marduk, became the culmination of the cult and recognition of the divinity of royal power.

In the 7th century. BC e. The Assyrians destroyed Babylon twice (689 and 648 BC), but, taking advantage of the weakening of Assyria, the governor of Babylon, a Chaldean by origin, in 626 proclaimed the separation of Babylonia from Assyria and, together with the king of Media, divided the territory of the Assyrian kingdom. Nabopolassar became the founder of the Neo-Babylonian kingdom, the first of the Chaldean dynasty. His son, whose forty-year reign was a time of great territorial acquisitions, is the last significant ruler on the Babylonian throne.

Our story about Babylon began with a legend about the most notable architectural structures, and it will end with the legend about the fall of a powerful state.

Belshazzar was the last Chaldean ruler of Babylon, the son of Nebuchadnezzar. According to the Bible, on the night of the capture of Babylon by the Persians, at the last feast organized by Belshazzar, he sacrilegiously used sacred vessels taken by his father from the Temple of Jerusalem for food and drinks. In the midst of the fun, the words inscribed by a mysterious hand appeared on the wall: “mene, mene, tekel, upharsin.” The Prophet Daniel interpreted the inscription, translated from Aramaic, meaning: “Numbered, numbered, weighed, divided” - and deciphered them as a message from God to Belshazzar, predicting the imminent destruction of him and his kingdom. That same night Belshazzar died.

Persian kingdom

Persia is the ancient name of a country in South-West Asia, which since 1935 has been officially called Iran.

In ancient times, Persia became the center of one of the greatest empires in history, stretching from Egypt to the river. Ind. It included all previous empires - the Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians and Hittites. The later empire of Alexander the Great included almost no territories that had not previously belonged to the Persians, and it was smaller than Persia under King Darius.

Since its inception in the 6th century. BC. before the conquest by Alexander the Great in the 4th century. BC. for two and a half centuries, Persia occupied a dominant position in the Ancient World.

In 553 BC Cyrus II the Great, the Achaemenid ruler of Parsa, led a rebellion against the Median king Astyages, son of Cyaxares, which resulted in the creation of a powerful alliance of Medes and Persians. In 539 BC Cyrus occupied Babylonia, and by the end of his reign expanded the borders of the state from the Mediterranean Sea to the eastern outskirts of the Iranian plateau, making Pasargadae, a city in southwestern Iran, the capital.

Darius (reigned from 522 to 485 BC) is the greatest of the Persian kings, he combined the talents of a ruler, builder and commander. Under him, the northwestern part of India up to the Indus River and Armenia up to the Caucasus Mountains came under Persian rule. Darius divided the country into regions - satrapies, which were ruled by officials - satraps.

Eastern Mediterranean.

In the east of the Mediterranean Sea, different climatic conditions developed, and therefore the civilizations that developed in this region differed significantly from the river ones. The opportunity to engage in arable farming was limited due to the lack of good lands, but those that were available could still be used quite intensively, since the sea winds brought heavy rains. Gardening prevailed here; olives, dates, and grapes were cultivated.

Phoenicia

As some researchers suggest, the first inhabitants of Phenicia spoke a non-Semitic language. However, already in the 3rd millennium BC, according to Egyptian sources, Semitic tribes lived here.

The ancient Phoenicians were also involved in fishing, which is natural for a sea people. It is no coincidence that the name of one of the Phoenician cities is Sidon, which means “place of fishing.” The forests of Mount Lebanon, which abounded in cedar and other valuable species, represented great wealth for the country.

The name “Phoenician” is found already in Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions of the mid-3rd millennium BC. in the form of “fenech”. Later, the ancient Greeks used the word “foinikes”, which meant “reddish”, “swarthy”. This is where the name of the country comes from.

Another version interprets the name of the state from the Greek. φοινως - “purple”, possibly associated with the production of purple dye from a special type of mollusk that lived off the coast of Phenicia, which was one of the main industries of the local residents.

One of the most significant achievements of the Phoenicians was the invention of alphabetic writing. The Phoenician scribes actually brought the discovery of the Egyptians to its logical conclusion. As you know, the Egyptians created 24 consonant signs, but also retained hundreds of syllabic signs and signs denoting entire concepts.

Ancient Palestine - historical region in Western Asia, located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea between Egypt and Syria.

Here in ancient times agriculture received significant development. A large trade route from Egypt to Syria passed through this area. The Saron Lowland was especially notable for its fertility, which was sometimes called the “Garden of Eden.” Some of the interior regions of Western Palestine are no less fertile. Such is the plain of Jericho, beautifully watered by the Wadi Kelt.

Archaeological excavations indicate that man lived in Palestine already in the Old Stone Age.

Biblical traditions have preserved distant and vague information about those tribes that in ancient times inhabited the territory of Palestine.

On the Mediterranean coast, south of Tire, lived the Aegean tribe of the Philistines (Pelishtim in Hebrew), who gave the name to the country Palestine (Peleshet in Hebrew, Peleset in Ancient Egyptian).

About three and a half thousand years ago, nomadic tribes of Semites came to the land of Canaan, who had previously lived beyond the Euphrates River, then crossed it and roamed the Arabian Desert. These tribes called themselves “the people of Israel.” Other peoples called them "Ibrim", or "Jews", which probably meant "those who crossed the river" or "who came from beyond the river." There is every reason to believe that the name of the Khabiri tribe is identical with the biblical name of the Hebrew tribe (Ibrim), as well as with the ancient Egyptian word “aperu”, which the Egyptians during the New Kingdom used to designate prisoners captured in Palestine during their conquests in Syria

Let us remember the biblical lines about how Moses led his people out of the land of Egypt and led them to the Promised Land. The 40-year wandering through the desert was also not accidental. Firstly, during the long wanderings, the people’s faith in this strengthened. That only God can help them in difficult life situations. Secondly, the people became one. During this period, 2 generations of people were born. Communicated only within the circle of their national group. Thirdly, a free generation appeared that did not know slavery, and therefore, it will be able to live in new conditions and not allow itself to be conquered by any other tribe.

From the point of view of considering the formation of statehood among the ancient Jews, the legends about David and Goliath and Solomon are interesting.

Goliath was a Philistine warrior, distinguished by his extraordinary strength and enormous height - 6 cubits and a span or 2 meters 89 centimeters (1 cubit = 42.5 cm, 1 span = 22.2 cm). The Philistine giant was dressed in scale armor weighing approximately 57 kilograms (5000 shekels of copper, 1 shekel = 11.4 g) and copper knee pads, on his head was a copper helmet, and in his hands was a copper shield. Goliath carried a heavy spear, the tip of which alone weighed 600 shekels of iron (6.84 kg), and a large sword.

David had no armor at all, and his only weapon was a sling. The Philistine giant considered it an insult that a young man, just a boy, came out to fight him. Goliath and David were chosen by their fellow tribesmen for single combat, which was supposed to decide the outcome of the battle: the winner in the duel won victory for his side. During the battle, David kills the giant Goliath. For this, his fellow tribesmen elect him as their king.

No less interesting is the life story of David’s son, the legendary King Solomon. Solomon is the tenth son of King David. When the time came for his father to die, he bequeathed the throne to Solomon, as the most capable, the most intelligent among his many children. “And the trumpets sounded, and all the people cried, Long live King Solomon.”

During the reign of Solomon, the Jerusalem Temple, the main shrine of Judaism, was built in Jerusalem.

After Solomon became king, he made a great sacrifice to the Lord, and the Lord appeared to him at night and asked: “What shall I give you?” The young king did not want anything for himself, he did not need either fame or wealth, he asked only for one thing - to give him a reasonable, kind heart in order to fairly judge and govern the numerous people of Israel. The Lord promised.

However, at the end of his life, Solomon renounced God and began building pagan temples. For this, God was angry with him and promised many hardships to the people of Israel, but after the end of Solomon’s reign. Thus, the entire reign of Solomon passed quite calmly.

Ancient Egypt

The history of Ancient Egypt is divided into five periods, during which 30 dynasties of pharaohs ruled: Early, Ancient, Middle, New and Late Kingdoms (III-I millennium BC). Pharaohs were considered the embodiment of the supreme god Horus on earth. The first pharaoh was Menes, who united Upper and Lower Egypt.

During the Old Kingdom, the deification of the pharaohs, who bore the title “Son of the Sun,” reached its apogee. The symbol of their greatness was the construction of giant pyramids - the tombs of the pharaohs.

The Egyptian pyramids are the greatest architectural monuments of Ancient Egypt, among which one of the “seven wonders of the world” is the pyramid of Cheops (Khufu).

Pyramids are huge pyramid-shaped stone structures that were used as tombs for the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. The word "pyramid" is Greek. According to some researchers, a large pile of wheat became the prototype of the pyramid. According to other scientists, this word comes from the name of a pyramid-shaped funeral cake. A total of 118 pyramids have been discovered in Egypt.

After the period of construction of the pyramids, a time of unrest began, the weakening of the power of the pharaohs, the collapse of Egypt into warring semi-independent principalities (nomes). During the Middle Kingdom, the country reunited, but was rocked by uprisings of slaves and the urban poor. Egypt, weakened by uprisings, was captured by wild Asian tribes - the Hyksos. Having damaged civilization, they simultaneously introduced the Egyptians to their military equipment: bronze weapons and chariots with horses. The pharaohs of the 18th dynasty managed to expel the Hyksos and create a grandiose power that, in addition to Egypt itself, covered the entire modern Middle East, part of Libya, and Namibia.

During the reign of Ramses II, Egypt expanded even more, and the successful conqueror built new cities, canals and giant temples. The successors of Ramses II fought a lot, but unsuccessfully and weakened the country, which at the end of the kingdom became the prey of foreign conquerors.

The Libyans were the first to invade Egypt, then the Ethiopians and Assyrians. Egypt's last period of independence ended in the 6th century BC. its capture by the powerful Persian kingdom. In the 4th century BC. Persia itself fell into decline and, together with Egypt, fell under the blows of the troops of Alexander the Great. Alexander's commander Ptolemy received Egypt after the collapse of the Macedonian Empire. A new period began for Egypt - Hellenism, closely connected with the history of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome.

In Ancient Egypt, family was considered a great value. Women were respected in society. They had the right to property and could go to court. There were even female rulers, which is not typical for Eastern countries. One of the most famous female pharaohs was Hatshepsut.

Hatshepsut, granddaughter of the dynasty's progenitor, Queen Ahmose-Nofretari, was the daughter and chosen successor of Thutmose I, the pharaoh who restored Egyptian influence in Palestine and Syria. Hatshepsut's reign began after the death of her father (c. 1525 BC), although her sickly half-brother and husband Thutmose II was considered pharaoh. About seven years later, Thutmose II died, and Hatshepsut appropriated the regalia of the pharaoh - a beard and crown. Her young stepson Thutmose III married the queen's young daughter, Hatshepsut II, and became her junior co-ruler.

Sources consider Hatshepsut’s most important act to be a grand journey by sea and land to a rich and exquisite country called “Punt,” or “God’s Land” (its biblical parallel is the story of Solomon’s visit to the Queen of Sheba, who in the story of Joseph is called the ruler of Egypt and Ethiopia) . The mortuary temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri, in which she left a description of her campaign at Punt, is perhaps the greatest masterpiece of Egyptian architecture. Its builder, Senmut, was the queen's closest adviser and mentor to her youngest daughter Nefrura. After 22 years on the pharaonic throne, Hatshepsut was overthrown by Thutmose III. It is not known whether she was killed or (as Ethiopian tradition says) expelled. Her tomb does not contain a burial, nor does the nearby tomb of Senmut. On the instructions of Thutmose III, the front part of the statues of Hatshepsut was chipped off, and some of the inscriptions with her biography were also destroyed.

Queen Hatshepsut as a Sphinx.

In Ancient Egypt there was no one general religion, but a wide variety of local cults dedicated to specific deities. Most of them were henotheistic in nature (focusing on the worship of one deity while recognizing others), so the Egyptian religion is considered polytheistic.

The religion of Egypt has gone through a long development path over 3000 years from fetishism and totemism to polytheism and monotheistic thinking. In Egypt, the concept of monotheism was first formulated - Pharaoh Akhenaten attempted religious reform, the purpose of which was to centralize Egyptian cults around the sun god Aten.

At different periods, the most revered deities were Ra and later identified with him Amon, Osiris, Isis, Set, Ptah, Anubis.

- Sumer

- Sumer

- Assyria

- Assyria

– Babylonia

- Babylonia

- Babylonia

- Persian kingdom

- Persia

- Phenicia

- Palestine

– Legends

- Legends

- Egypt

- Egypt

- Egypt

Ancient civilization

Ancient civilization is an ancient civilization belonging to the Western type.

According to legend, the ancestor of the Greeks was King Hellenes, so the Greeks themselves called themselves Hellenes and the country Hellas.

Ancient civilization begins to form on the forks of the Cretan-Mycenaean civilization, which perished as a result of natural disasters.

As we can see on the map, there are no large rivers in Greece that contributed to the development of agriculture. But this area has suitable conditions for cattle breeding and winemaking. Proximity to the sea made it possible to contact with a large number of other peoples, and therefore fortified city walls appeared to protect against enemy attacks, and for trade it contributed to the development of crafts. Thus, the community among the Greeks developed not as an agricultural one, but as an urban one. However, the cities did not unite into a single state, but existed independently, only occasionally creating temporary unions. This type of independent city state is called a polis. The population of the policy was about 10 thousand people, including slaves, but there were also large policies in which up to 300 thousand inhabitants lived. Examples of such large policies include Athens and Sparta.

Only indigenous men were full residents of the polis. They had the right to property and participation in political life. The People's Assembly of Citizens of the Policy adopted laws and elected senior officials from among its members. If a person seized power in the state illegally, for example, by military means, bypassing the decision of the demos (the population of the polis), then such a person was called a tyrant. However, each city-state had its own nuances of political life. Let us take a closer look at the government structure of Athens and Sparta.

Athenian democracy.

Demos is the people, therefore democrania is the power of the people.

The inhabitants of Athens were divided into 4 unequal categories: Athenians - had all the rights; Metics - Greeks from other policies - did not have only political rights; foreigners could only trade, had no political rights and could not acquire property; slaves are completely powerless.

Power in Athens belonged to the people's assembly, which elected the council of elders, as well as 9 archons - the highest officials.

However, over time, many impoverished citizens of the polis lost their political rights, falling into long-term slavery. This caused popular discontent. It was up to Archon Solon to carry out reforms to overcome it, who abolished debt slavery by redeeming the Athenian slaves at the expense of the state. Under him, the population of the policy was divided into 4 categories according to property qualifications. The political rights of a person and his place in the army depended on the rank.

Cleisthenes' reforms are also interesting. Under him, the law on ostracism came into force - a special type of court when a person could be expelled from the city if 10,000 citizens voted for it. The names of unwanted fellow citizens had to be written on clay tablets (ostraca) - hence the name of the court.

Oligarchy in Sparta.

When it comes to Sparta, we remember the 300 Spatrans heroes. Indeed, Sparta is a state of warriors. It was considered shameful for the citizens of the city to engage in anything other than war or preparation for war. Therefore, in its entire history, Sparta has not produced a single scientist, philosopher or thinker. Therefore, while the rest of Greece was at a rather primitive level of development, Sparta flourished due to successful military campaigns.

Oligarchy is the power of a limited group of persons (this can be noble, rich people or military). The population of Sparta was divided into the indigenous Spartiates; periekov (literally “living around”) - the population of the surrounding lands who paid tribute to Sparta for protection; and helots - slaves. According to the laws of Lycurgus, all residents of Sparta lived equally modestly; gold and silver coins were abolished.

Sparta was ruled by 2 kings, whose power was inherited. The main role in management was played by the council of elders, to which 28 geronts were elected (chosen from those who had reached 60 years of age). The People's Assembly (over 30 years old) - accepted or rejected the decisions made.

The Peloponnesian military alliance was formed around Sparta.

Greco-Persian Wars

The Greco-Persian Wars were a turning point in Greek history. Many small Greek cities, often at odds with each other, were able to unite in the face of danger and not only withstood the onslaught of the most powerful Persian power, but managed, having defended their independence, to go on a counter-offensive and put a limit to Persian aggression to the west.

In the VI century. BC. the Persians conquered many Greek cities. The reason for the war was the assistance with warships provided by Athens and Eretria (on the island of Euboea) in 500 to the Greek city-states in Asia Minor who rebelled against Persian rule. Perhaps the most famous battles of these wars are the Battle of Marathon and the Battle of Thermopylae.

Marathon, an ancient Greek settlement on the plain of the same name in Attica (40 km northeast of Athens), in the area of ​​which September 13, 490 BC. e. happened. The Greek army (11 thousand people) was formed by the commander Miltiades at the entrance to the valley into a phalanx, the reinforced flanks of which were covered by wooded spurs of the mountains and abatis placed forward, which protected them from being outflanked by the Persian cavalry. There were about 20,000 Persians.

The Battle of Marathon took place in 490 BC. e. and culminated in the complete victory of the Athenians and their Plataean allies. The Persians could not withstand the attack of the closed formation of heavily armed Greek soldiers, were overthrown and put to flight. Herodotus says that they left up to 6,400 corpses on the battlefield, while the Greeks lost only 192 people killed.

Immediately after the battle, a speedboat was sent to the city of Athens with the joyful news of the long-awaited victory. He ran to the agora and shouted “Victory!” fell to the ground dead. In memory of this episode, a marathon distance of 42 km 192 m was established at the Olympic Games - the distance from the battle site to the Athenian agora. However, the rest of the soldiers fled to Athens to defend the city in case of a possible attack.

Soon the Persian king Darius I dies and the attacks on Greece temporarily end.

Military operations resumed in the spring of 480. A huge fleet and land army, consisting of both the Persians themselves and detachments fielded by the conquered peoples who were part of the Achaemenid power, moved led by Xerxes himself. One cannot help but recall the heroic feat of King Leonidas and the 300 Spartans who held back the troops of Xerxes. Xerxes' troops attacked the defenders of Thermopylae many times, trying in vain to break through the defenses. But among the Greeks, there was a traitor who showed the enemies a bypass mountain path. Along this path, a detachment of Persians went to the rear of the defenders of Thermopylae. When the Spartan king Leonidas, who commanded the allied forces, became aware of this, he ordered his troops to retreat, but he himself remained in Thermopylae with a detachment of Spartan warriors of 300 people. Surrounded on all sides by enemies, the Spartans fought to the last man. Subsequently, a monument was erected at the grave of Leonid and his soldiers with the inscription:

“Traveler, go and tell our citizens in Lacedaemon that, keeping their covenants, here we died in bones.”

Having broken through Thermopylae, the Persians poured into Central Greece. Almost all the Boeotian cities, in which the Persophile-minded aristocracy was strong, hastened to submit to Xerxes. Attica was devastated, Athens was plundered.

09/28/480 BC A naval battle took place off the island of Salamis, as a result of which the Persian fleet was badly damaged and was forced to retreat.

After Salamis and Plataea, the war was not over yet, but its nature had changed radically. The threat of enemy invasion ceased to weigh heavily on Balkan Greece, and the initiative passed to the Greeks. In the cities of the western coast of Asia Minor, uprisings against the Persians began; the population overthrew the rulers installed by the Persians, and soon all of Ionia regained its independence.

The Greco-Persian wars continued until 449 BC, when the Persians recognized the independence of the Greek city-states in Asia Minor.

Alexander the Great

Greek unity was short-lived. With the outbreak of wars between the Peloponnesian and Athenian alliances, Hellas weakened. Thus, the prerequisites are formed for its conquest by a stronger state, which became Macedonia.

When Philip II became the ruler of Macedonia, where people related to the Greeks lived, Hellas fell under his rule.

After Philip's death, his 20-year-old son Alexander becomes king.

Alexander the Great

Born in 356 BC. His teacher was the Greek sage Aristotle. In the spring of 334 BC. e. Alexander led the army on a campaign against the Persian kingdom. Alexander easily captured Syria and Phenicia. In Egypt, the priests hailed Alexander as a liberator from the Persian yoke. The largest battle of antiquity took place in 331 BC. near the village of Gaugamela in Mesopotamia. Despite the 20-fold superiority of forces, the Persians were defeated.

Alexander liked many of the orders that he saw at the Persian court, and he began to demand from the freedom-loving Greeks the same obedience that the Persians showed to their king, for example, that they should be like him on their knees. This caused dissatisfaction. Conspiracies are repeatedly organized against Alexander, and attempts are made on the young king’s life.

Alexander planned new campaigns of conquest, but did not have time to carry them out. In June 323 BC. The commander dies. There are several versions of the causes of death: from sudden fever to poisoning.

After Alexander's death, his power disintegrates.

Ancient Rome

There is a legend about the founding of Rome associated with the name of the twins Romulus and Remus. When ancient Troy perished, some of the city’s defenders managed to escape. At their head was Aeneas. The exhausted fugitives landed on the shore and decided to settle here. This was the coast of Italy, and the region was called Latium. The son of the Trojan Aeneas founded a city in Latium and named it Alba Longa.

Many decades have passed. In the city of Alba Longa, Amulius seized power, overthrowing his brother Numitor. He was afraid of the revenge of his descendants - the children and grandchildren of his overthrown brother. To protect himself from this danger, the cruel Amulius ordered the death of Numitor’s son, and forced his daughter Rhea Silvia to become a priestess of the goddess Vesta - a vestal virgin, who had no right to marry. Soon Rhea Silvia gave birth to two twin boys. Their father, as legend tells, was the god of war, Mars.

When Amulius found out about this, he became angry and frightened and ordered Rhea Silvia to be executed and her children to be thrown into the Tiber. The slave put the children in a basket and carried them to the river. At this time, the Tiber overflowed and the water continued to rise. The slave was afraid to enter the water. He put the basket on the shore, near the water, and left.

Soon the flood ended. The water subsided, and the twins fell out of the basket onto the ground and began to scream. This cry was heard by a she-wolf who came to the river to drink.

She fed the children with her milk. Then the royal shepherd saw the twins, picked them up and raised them. He named one of the twins Romulus and the other Remus.

Each of the brothers formed a small detachment for themselves. In one of the skirmishes with the shepherds of Numitor, Remus was captured. He was brought to Numitor. He was struck by the young man’s courageous appearance and became interested in his origins. To Numitor’s questions, Remus answered: “Previously, we twins considered ourselves the sons of the royal shepherd, but now, when the question of our life and death is being decided, I can tell you something very important. Our birth is shrouded in mystery. I heard incredible things about our upbringing and early childhood: we were fed by animals and birds, to which we were thrown to be devoured - a she-wolf gave us her milk, woodpeckers brought us food when we were lying on the bank of a big river.”

Numitor began to guess that this was his grandson, one of the children of Rhea Silvia. Soon his guess turned into certainty. The shepherd who raised the twins, having learned that Remus was captured by Numitor, revealed to Romulus the secret of their birth. Romulus hastened to help his brother. He moved with his detachment to Alba Longa. Along the way, many residents of the city began to come running to him, hating the cruel, treacherous Amulius. An uprising broke out in Alba Longa, led by Romulus and Remus. The rebels killed Amulius. The brothers returned power to their grandfather Numitor. They themselves did not want to stay in Alba Longa. Together with many people gathered around them, the brothers decided to found a new city.

However, soon a quarrel arose between the brothers. The dispute arose over whose name the new city should be named, where to start building it and which of them would rule in it. Romulus killed his brother. The city was named after its founder, and Romulus became its first ruler - Rex...

This is the ancient legend telling about the founding of the city of Rome.
Later, Roman scientists claimed that they were able to accurately calculate and determine the date of the founding of the city of Rome. This event, according to them, took place on April 21, 753 BC. e. The ancient Romans celebrated this day every year.

The history of ancient Rome is divided into three periods: royal, republican and imperial.

Tsarist period

Romulus became the first king of Rome. The population of Rome consisted of 300 of his companions and their wives. That is why the Romans consider family to be of particular value. The woman mother enjoyed great respect and rights.

The descendants of Rome's first 300 families were called patricians (from the Latin for "father"). This was the Roman nobility. The people who later moved to Rome were called plebeians. Since Rome was built according to the laws of the Greek polis, only patricians were considered full residents; plebeians had no right to political life or property. The royal period ends in 510 BC, when the seventh Roman king, Tarquin the Proud, was overthrown.

Republican period

After the overthrow of the royal government, democracy was established in Rome following the example of the Greek one. The people's assembly was considered the highest governing body, but all decisions were finally made by the Senate. The Senate included one representative from each patrician family. The People's Assembly elected 2 senior officials - consuls - for a period of 2 years. In case of emergency, it was possible to appoint a dictator for six months who had emergency powers.

Over time, patrician clans became fewer, and the number of plebeians in Rome increased. Therefore, a new position appeared in the Senate - the tribune of the plebeians - the defender of the rights of the plebeians. The tribune had the right to veto - to suspend or prohibit the decision of the people's assembly or the Senate. Gradually, the number of plebeians in the Senate begins to grow, they become full citizens. The power of origin is replaced by the power of money.

The centuriate reform contributed a lot to this. According to this reform, the entire population of Rome (both patricians and plebeians) was divided into 5 classes, or categories, according to property qualifications, each class fielded a certain number of military units - centuries (hundreds) and received the same number of votes in the centuriate comitia. There were 193 centuries in total, of which the 1st class (property qualification of at least 100 thousand asses) exhibited 98 centuries, the 2nd class (qualification of 75 thousand asses) - 22 centuries, the 3rd (qualification of 50 thousand asses) - 20 centuries, 4th (qualification 25 thousand asses) - 22 centuries, 5th class (qualification 11 thousand asses) - 30 centuries, Proletarians (landless population) nominated 1 century and, accordingly, had 1 vote in the national assembly. The reform was carried out on the initiative of Servius Tulius.

In the 6th – 5th centuries BC. Rome begins its conquest. The Romans turned the conquered lands into provinces - dependent lands of the Roman people. The provinces were headed by governors - officials of Rome. Conquests expanded the territory of Rome, but at the same time, ties within the republic were weakened. Rome, organized on the principle of a Greek polis, is experiencing numerous civil wars and slave uprisings.

An important event was the uprising led by Spatrak.

In 74-73 BC. e. Spartacus and about 70 of his followers rebelled. Seizing knives from the kitchen of the gladiator school and weapons from its arsenals, the rebels fled to the Vesuvius caldera near Naples. There they were joined by slaves from the plantations. Over time, the number of rebels was replenished with new fugitive slaves, until, according to some statements, the size of the army reached 90,000 (according to other estimates, only 10,000). Spartacus defeated several Roman legions and almost crossed the Alps, but then changed the direction of his movement. According to one of the literary sources, Spartacus was killed by a soldier from Pompeii named Felix, who, after the war, put a mosaic image of his battle with Spartacus on the wall of his house in Pompeii.

After the battle, the Romans found 3,000 unharmed captured legionnaires in the vanquished camp. Spartak's body, however, was never found.

Approximately 6,000 captured slaves were crucified along the Appian Way from Capua to Rome.

In the Second Civil War, three prominent Romans clashed in the struggle for power: Gnaeus Pompey, Marcus Crassus and Julius Caesar. In 60 BC. e. they managed to conclude an alliance with each other - a triumvirate (union of three husbands). The Senate was pushed out of power by the triumviate. In 53 BC Crassus died. Pompey entered into an agreement with the Senate and opposed Caesar. A new civil war begins, in which Caesar defeats Pompey and becomes the sole ruler.

Julius Caesar

The Roman Empire

Caesar did not become the first emperor, because... in 44 BC was killed on the way to a Senate meeting. After his death, a struggle for power begins, in which Caesar's distant relative Gaius Octavian wins. In 29 BC. he receives from the Senate and the People's Assembly the title of emperor and the title "Augustus" - exalted.

Octavian Augustus

Although officially all the rulers of this time were titled emperors (imperatores), in history it is customary to divide the imperial period into and, when a number of emperors also demanded the title dominus - “lord”.

The period of the Principate lasted until 193. Actual power belonged to the emperor, although formally there was both a Senate and a People's Assembly. Many emperors (Nero, Caligula) became famous for their cruelty and abuse of power. As a result, Rome increasingly began to suffer defeats in wars, and the internal political situation in the country worsened. Periods of crisis alternate with periods of relative stability.

In the 3rd century, Rome begins to fall apart. The last stage of Rome begins in 284 and is called the Dominata. When the republican bodies turned into bureaucratic authorities, completely subordinate to the emperor. During this same period, relations close to feudal ones began to emerge. The lands are concentrated in the hands of the richest people - tycoons. Dependent peasants and slaves worked on these lands and became colons - tenants of a plot of land who gave part of the harvest to the magnates for the opportunity to work on their land. Colon is much more interested in the results of his labor than a slave.

In 330, the Roman Emperor Constantine moved the capital to the ancient city of Byzantium, renaming it Constantinople. Konstantin converts to Christianity. It was during his reign that persecution of Christians ceased in Rome. In 395, the Roman Empire splits into the Western Empire, with its capital in Rome, and the Eastern Empire (Byzantium), with its capital in Constantinople. The Western Roman Empire ceased to exist in 476, the year the German ruler Odoacer overthrew the last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus, and sent the imperial regalia to Constantinople. This date is considered the end of Antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages. The Eastern Roman Empire would last for almost another thousand years and would be destroyed in 1453.

- Ancient Greece

- Ancient Rome

- Ancient Rome

- Ancient Rome

1. Approachesto the periodization of the prehistoric period.

2.

3. Neolithic revolution.

4. Formation of nations.

Approaches to the periodization of the prehistoric period.

The entire period of the past of humanity is usually divided into two uneven periods. The first - the largest - is called prehistoric(or prehistory), the second is historical (civilization).

The oldest form of organization of human life was the primitive communal system (ca. 2.5 million - 6 thousand years BC). It was the longest era in the history of mankind, the reason for which was the slow pace of development of society in its first stages. All stages of the primitive communal system are united by the collective nature of people’s lives, which is apparently due to great difficulties of survival.

It is generally accepted to divide primitive society into periods according to the main materials that were used to make tools (Fig. 1):

This periodization, naturally, does not mean that tools were not made from wood and bone in the Stone Age, and from stone in the Bronze Age. We are talking about the predominance of one material or another. In the Stone Age, which is usually identified with the primitive communal system, three eras are distinguished:

- paleolithic(Greek – paleolit ​​- ancient stone) – up to 12 thousand years ago;

- Mesolithic(Greek – mesolit middle stone) – up to 9 thousand years ago;

- Neolithic(Greek – neolit ​​new stone) – up to 6 thousand years ago.

Epochs are divided into periods - early (lower), middle and late (upper), as well as into cultures characterized by a uniform set of objects of life.

The creator of the Lower Paleolithic cultures was a man of the type Pithecanthropa Middle Paleolithic – Neanderthal, Upper Paleolithic – Cro-Magnon. This definition is based on archaeological research in Western Europe and cannot be fully extended to other regions. About 70 sites of the Lower and Middle Paleolithic and about 300 sites of the Upper Paleolithic have been studied on the territory of Russia.

During the Paleolithic period, people initially made rough hand axes from flint, which were standardized tools. Then the production of specialized tools begins - these are knives, piercings, scrapers, composite tools, for example a stone ax

The Mesolithic is dominated by microliths - tools made of thin stone plates, which were inserted into a bone or wooden frame. It was then that the bow and arrows were invented.

The Neolithic is characterized by the manufacture of tools from soft stones - jade, slate, slate. Learn more advanced and complex techniques for sawing and drilling holes in stone, and grinding stone.

The Stone Age is replaced by a short period Chalcolithic, i.e., the existence of cultures with copper-stone implements. Respectively. First, the technology for manufacturing copper tools is based on a processing method such as cold forging, and then casting.

The Bronze Age began in Europe in the 20th century. BC e. At this time, the first states emerged in many regions of the planet, civilizations developed - Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Mediterranean, Mexican in America. The first iron products appeared in Russia around the 7th century. BC e.

Another periodization system based on comprehensive characteristics of material and spiritual cultures, suggested by an American scientist Lewis Morgan. In accordance with this system, primitive society is divided into three periods:

Civilization.

Period savagery- This is the time of the early tribal system (Paleolithic and Mesolithic), it ends with the invention of the bow and arrow. During barbarism ceramic products appeared, agriculture and livestock husbandry appeared. For civilization Characterized by the emergence of bronze metallurgy, writing and states.

Finally in the 20th century. scientists proposed systems of periodization of primitive society, the criteria of which were evolution of ownership forms. In general terms, such periodization can be represented as follows:

The era of the primitive herd;

The era of the tribal system;

The era of the decomposition of the communal-tribal system (the emergence of cattle breeding, plow farming and metal processing, the emergence of elements of exploitation and private property).

Anthropogenesis and features of the transition to the clan system.

The Early Paleolithic is the time of human formation (anthropogenesis). This process is extremely lengthy and complex. It is still far from being fully studied; science has accumulated more questions on this problem than answers. The first human ancestors to embark on the path of anthropogenesis were Australopithecus(about 2.5 million years ago), already walking on their hind limbs, which freed up their front limbs and thereby created the prerequisites for labor activity.

The most ancient people(archanthropes) were traditionally considered Pithecanthropa(ape-man) and Sinanthropa(a species of Pithecanthropus discovered in China), which appeared about 1 year ago. In science, this human ancestor is called homo habilis - a skillful person.

Early Paleolithic- the time of the primitive human herd. During the Early Paleolithic, there were several major glacier advances - glaciations, accompanied by a sharp cooling. For archanthropes, it was possible to exist only in a warm climate, which did not require either clothing or shelter. Neanderthals spread much more widely. At the end of the Early Paleolithic, primitive dwellings and clothing made from skins appeared. The Paleolithic economy was consuming (appropriating). It was based on hunting large animals. Plant food was obtained by collecting edible plants and digging roots from the ground. The archanthropes already used ready-made fire and kept fires going. Fire gave people protection from the cold and from wild animals, and reduced their dependence on the climate. A hearth appeared - a symbol of human habitation. People have the opportunity to use fried foods, which are better absorbed by the body. Even greater were the long-term consequences of mastering fire: without it, neither ceramics nor metallurgy would be possible.

At the end of the Early Paleolithic, about 100 thousand years ago, Neanderthal man, or Neanderthal . Neanderthals are already considered to be the next stage of human development - to ancient people(to paleoanthropists). They stand much closer to modern people than archanthropes. Neanderthals probably already learned how to make fire. The Neanderthals apparently already had the first rudiments of religion.

The transition from the Early Paleolithic to the Late Paleolithic (40-35 thousand years ago) was marked by the appearance of modern humans - homo sapiens - a reasonable person. With its emergence, the biological evolution of man ended; this was the second major leap in anthropogenesis: from “prehumans,” archanthropes and paleoanthropes to humans.

In the Late Paleolithic there appears tribal system. The main unit of human society became the clan community with common ownership of the main means of production. The products of hunting, fishing and gathering were distributed equally among all members of the clan. The authority of the clan elders was based not on coercion, but on tradition, respect for experience and skills.

Late Paleolithic people significantly improved the technique of making stone tools: they became more diverse, sometimes miniature. A throwing spear and a predecessor of the bow, the spear thrower, appeared, which greatly increased the efficiency of hunting. Fishing arose: harpoons and remains of fish were repeatedly found at sites of this era. Bone items, including needles, are widespread, indicating the appearance of embroidered clothing. If at the end of the Early Paleolithic the first primitive dwellings appeared, now people were already building dugouts, and sometimes entire villages consisting of several dwellings. Man has learned to adapt to nature not biologically, but socially, to protect himself from the cold with the help of housing and clothing. These achievements allowed people to significantly expand the limits of the habitable part of the globe. This was also facilitated by warming caused by the retreat of the glacier.

Late Paleolithic- time of occurrence art. At many sites, female figurines are found. They testify to the cult of the woman-mother, the progenitor of the clan. In the Late Paleolithic there undoubtedly already existed religion, a clear funeral rite can be traced. Sometimes some things that the deceased used during his lifetime were placed in the grave. This is evidence of the emergence of the idea of ​​an afterlife.

Thus, by the end of the Paleolithic, man learned not only to make fire and eat thermally processed food, to make complex stone and bone tools, to sew clothes, to build dwellings, to hunt and fish, but also to live in a social system with social consciousness and its important forms - art and religion. However, man did not yet know either ceramics, or metal, or the wheel, or agriculture, or cattle breeding.

The most important achievement of the next stage of the Stone Age - the Mesolithic - was the invention of the bow and arrow, which dramatically increased hunting productivity. Now, along with round-up hunting, individual hunting has also emerged, not only for large herd animals, but also for small ones. It became possible to create food reserves.

During the Mesolithic era, man took the first steps in the direction of cattle breeding. The domestication, and possibly the domestication, of animals began. So, in the Mesolithic, dogs, the first domestic animals, already appeared. It is possible that at the end of the Mesolithic in some areas pigs, goats, and sheep were domesticated.

The transition to the Neolithic and its duration in different regions of Eurasia differed significantly from each other. It began first in Central Asia (about 6 - 4 thousand years BC). In the forest zone of Russia, the Neolithic lasted about two thousand more years, until 2 thousand years BC. e. This was reflected in the uneven development of different regions, associated primarily with natural conditions: a warm climate and fertile soil created favorable conditions for economic development.

During the Neolithic era the transition to producing economy. It was then that pastoralism and agriculture began, although hunting and gathering were still the main sources of subsistence in most Neolithic communities.

Neolithic revolution.

The changes that occurred at the end of the Stone Age (Neolithic) (about 8-6 thousand) are usually called Neolithic revolution. Its main content is a radical transition from the primitive economy of hunters and gatherers to productive agriculture based on farming and animal husbandry.

Major changes are taking place in the area technologies production of tools and studying the properties of materials. Man has achieved virtuoso art in the processing of stone and bone. The following processing operations were opened: grinding And drilling. The tools acquired new properties, became complex, composite, and miniature.

4. the emergence of the first social restrictions and laws;

5. the emergence of new knowledge systems transmitted from generation to generation (through writing).

With the progress of changes associated with the Neolithic revolution, agricultural communities began to fill the Earth, as hunters had previously filled it. The importance of male labor has increased markedly - clearing land, cultivating the soil, etc. - all this required physical strength. Men's unions became an important element of social organization. The male part of the community chose leader. At first, such people were influential due to their personal qualities, and then the power of the leaders began to be transferred by inheritance. The result of these processes was the emergence privileged sections of society- leaders, priests.

People lived at this timetribal system.Tribal communities were united and united. All people worked together. Property was also shared. The tools of labor, the large hut of the clan, all the land, and livestock were communal property. No one could arbitrarily dispose of the community's property alone. But soon the so-called first division of labor occurred (farming was separated from cattle breeding). A tangible surplus product began to appear, and tribal communities began to be divided into families.

Each family could work independently and feed itself. Families demanded that everything be divided communal ownership of parts, between families ( private property- from the word “part”). At first, tools, livestock, and household items became private property. Instead of one large hut for a whole clan, each family began to build a separate home for itself. Housing also became the private property of the family. Later, the land also became private property.

Private property does not belong to the entire group, but only to one owner. Usually such a master was the head of a large family. After the death of the head of the family, his eldest son became the owner. Private property awakens people's interest in work. Each family understood that a good and well-fed life depended only on the hard work of family members. If the family worked hard, the entire harvest was theirs. Therefore, people sought to better cultivate arable land and care for livestock more carefully. Sometimes you can hear the statement that private property arises due to human greed. However, in fact, private property arose only when the economy began to develop and when reserves of surplus product appeared. Clan communities gradually died out. Instead they appeared neighboring communities.

Rice. Diagram of the organization of labor activity in the tribal (left) and neighboring (right) communities (try to formulate the difference).

In the neighboring community, people gradually forgot about their once common kinship. This was not considered important. Now, as a rule, they did not work as a single team, although they still worked voluntarily and without coercion. Each family privately owned a hut with a vegetable garden, a plot of arable land, livestock, and tools. But communal property remained. For example, rivers and lakes. Everyone could fish. Any community member did this on his own. The boat and net were his private property, so the catch also became private property. The forest was communal property, but animals killed during the hunt, mushrooms, berries and brushwood collected became private property. They used the pasture together, driving cattle out to it every morning. But in the evening, each family drove their cows and sheep into the barn. But the neighboring community still continued to unite people.

Gradually, from the complex of such relations regarding the production and ownership of surplus product, property rights arose inequality. Leaders and other categories of influential members of the community began to demand offerings from ordinary members. Captives captured in wars between tribes became slaves.

Some researchers believe that tribes of hunters who did not adopt an agrarian way of life began to “hunt” rural communities, taking away food and property. This is how a system of producing rural communities and squads of hunters robbing them developed. The hunter leaders gradually moved from robbery to regular exactions (tribute). For self-defense and to protect subjects from attacks by competitors, fortified cities were built. The last stage of pre-state development of society was the so-called military democracy.

began to arise chiefdoms- political entities (prototypes of states), including several villages or communities united under the permanent authority of the supreme leader. Tribes began to unite into tribal unions, which gradually began to transform into nationalities. Most likely, this is how the first states arose in Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt and Ancient India at the end of the 4th - beginning of the 3rd millennium BC.

The real revolution in the history of mankind was the development metal. The transition to it was long, difficult and not simultaneous. The development of metal became possible only on the basis of an already established production economy, in the presence of some, at least minimal, surpluses of food, so that part of the time could be devoted to the manufacture of metal products. That is why ancient blacksmithing and metallurgy originated primarily in the southern regions, where, thanks to good natural conditions, agriculture had previously developed.

The first metal used by man was copper. At first, tools and jewelry were made from it using cold forging, which this relatively soft metal easily lends itself to. Of course, this copper was not chemically pure: in natural deposits, copper, as a rule, contains certain impurities - arsenic, antimony, etc. But these are not yet artificial alloys, the development of which was a matter of the future.

The appearance of copper tools intensified the exchange between tribes, since copper deposits are very unevenly distributed around the globe. Many tribes that used metal lived far from its sources. Constant exchange led to significant shifts in relationships.

Formation of nations

Linguistic classification formed the basis of the ethnic picture of the world. All languages ​​are divided into large families, related by a common origin and subdivided into groups of related languages. Branches are sometimes distinguished within groups, but some languages ​​are not included in groups. For example, the Indo-European language family.

Indo-European language family

Slavic group:

Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian.

Baltic group:

Latvian, Lithuanian.

German group:

German, English, Flemish, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish.

Roman group:

Italian, Spanish, Moldovan, Portuguese, Romanian, French.

Iranian group:

Afghan, Iranian, Ossetian, Tajik.

Although we do not have reliable data to determine the ethnic groups of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods, we were able to obtain some information through the analysis of geographical names. On the territory of the Volga-Oka interfluve they settled Finno-Ugric and Samoyed peoples. Apparently, in the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age they colonized Eastern Siberia. Already in the Neolithic, Finno-Ugric tribes occupied the Eastern Baltic, and in the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. e. spread throughout the entire forest belt of the Volga region and the Volga-Oka interfluve.

Most of Eastern Europe has long been inhabited Indo-Europeans. In the Baltics, along with the Finno-Ugric tribes, tribes have long appeared Balts

Iranian-speaking tribes lived in Southern Siberia until the beginning of our era. The heirs of the tribes of this culture were Cimmerians, Scythians, Sarmatians.

ancestral home Turkic peoples are the steppes of Central Asia. At the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age, they begin to penetrate north, into Siberia and west, to the Urals, Central Asia and the Caucasus.

Questions for self-control:

1. List the main approaches to periodization of the prehistoric period.

2. List the main stages of anthropogenesis with the chronology of their occurrence.

3. Describethe concept of “tribal system” and the dynamics of its development.

4. In whatIs the essence of the Neolithic revolution revealed?

5. What important consequences of the Neolithic Revolution can you name?

6. Tell us about the process of formation of peoples in the European-Asian region.

Questions for discussion (discussion on the forum):

1. What influence did the period of prehistory have on the development process??

2. Is the process of anthropogenesis complete?

Complete the answers to the assignments in a MS Office Word document, save them under the name “Name_History as a Science” and send by email: ae. *****@***ru

Glossary:

He presented strong arguments against a theory that had been generally accepted for the last 20 years. New genetic data show that ancient Eurasian humanity was not displaced by sapiens who emerged from Africa 80-100 thousand years ago, but mixed with them. The blood of Eurasian archanthropes, and possibly Neanderthals, flows in our veins.

Facts that everyone agrees on

Africa was the ancestral home of humanity, no one doubts this now. Approximately 1.9 million years ago, our distant ancestors - the early Archanthropes, carriers of the Pebble (Oldovai) culture, first went beyond the borders of their native continent, as evidenced, in particular, by recent finds in Georgia. Archanthropes spread widely throughout South Asia. 800-600 thousand years ago the second Eurasian expansion of people from Africa took place, this time carried out by more advanced representatives of the human race ( Homo antecessor and others like him, carriers of the Acheulean culture that had previously developed in Africa).

The European and West Asian populations of these people, after several hundred thousand years, became Neanderthals, and in Africa, meanwhile, their distant relatives evolved into “anatomically modern humans” - Homo sapiens. About 100 thousand years ago, a small group of sapiens left Africa and gradually settled in Asia, Australia and Europe. All these are completely reliable facts. Experts argue about something else: did the representatives of the “last wave” mix with ancient Eurasian humanity or completely supplant it?

Mitochondrial Eve and Y-Chromosomal Adam in African Eden

Over the past twenty years, the decisive advantage has been on the side of the second point of view. The main argument was the results of the analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of modern people, and to a lesser extent the Y chromosome. Based on the polymorphism of mtDNA nucleotide sequences, the evolutionary tree of this part of the human genome was reconstructed, the branches of which, if moving along them from top to bottom (backward in time), converged at one point in time and space: Africa, about 150 thousand years ago. This is how “mitochondrial Eve” appeared in the scientific press and in the media (mitochondria are transmitted through the maternal line), and after her, “Y-chromosomal Adam” arose in a similar way (the Y chromosome is found only in men and is passed on from father to son), who lived at about the same time and in the same place.

These results were received very strongly by the public, and, as usual, few people understood their true meaning. In fact, as Alan Templeton rightly points out, there is nothing surprising about either Adam or Eve. Any homologous sections of DNA somewhere in the past inevitably converge into one point, that is, into one ancestral DNA molecule. And this point does not necessarily coincide with the moment of the appearance of the species. Moreover, if you take different homologous sections of DNA, each of them will give its own “point of convergence”, different from the others. The approximate coincidence of the results for mtDNA and the Y chromosome is nothing more than an accident, partly explained by the fact that both of these regions of the genome have a common property: they are present in each cell in only one copy (unlike most other regions of the genome, which are present in two copies). There is also an X chromosome, which occupies an intermediate position: in women it is present in two copies, in men in one.

Templeton showed that the expected time of convergence of an evolutionary tree constructed for a separate DNA section to one point depends on how many copies of this section are present in cells. It is mtDNA and the Y chromosome that should converge the fastest (as is observed, they converge approximately 150 thousand years ago). This does not mean that it was then that he appeared H. sapiens, this only means that these regions of the genome are not suitable for reconstructing more ancient events. Regions localized on the X chromosome converge in the more distant past (up to 2 million years); all other sites are of even greater antiquity, some even before the evolutionary lines of humans and chimpanzees separated.

The history of mtDNA is not yet the history of humanity

How can we conclude from mtDNA or another part of the genome that our ancestors left Africa at some specific time? This is possible if, soon after this event, one of the settlers developed a mutation in the DNA region under study, which then multiplied during expansion. And then a modern geneticist will see that the frequency of occurrence of this mutation in non-African populations is, for example, 10%, but it is not found in Africa. The time of occurrence of a mutation is determined on the basis of other, later mutations, using the “molecular clock” method. Well, what if, shortly after leaving Africa, no mutation arose in this part of the genome? Then, of course, nothing will come of it: this section of the genome simply will not retain traces of the expansion that interests us.

In a word, Templeton convincingly showed (and most biologists agree with this, by the way) that one cannot draw definitive conclusions about the evolution and history of human settlement from one single section of the genome (for example, mtDNA). Such conclusions require comprehensive analysis of many different regions of the genome.

Humanity has always been one

That's exactly what Templeton does. In 2002, he already published his results based on the study of 12 DNA sections (in addition to mtDNA and the Y chromosome, 10 more sections were included in the analysis). Critics then pointed to insufficient sample sizes, low accuracy and other possible methodological flaws. This time Templeton increased the number of analyzed sections of the human genome to 25. The results did not change; on the contrary, they became much clearer and more convincing.

They consist of the following. Different sections of DNA retain traces different events in human history. The overall picture coincides surprisingly accurately with the one reconstructed from archaeological data. Three sections of DNA preserve traces of the oldest wave out of Africa about 1.9 million years ago. This means that the blood of ancient Asian archanthropes flows in our veins! Seven sections of DNA indicate a second exodus from Africa about 0.65 million years ago (Acheulean expansion). Representatives of this wave are also our direct ancestors. Finally, five more DNA sections (including mtDNA and the Y chromosome) support a third exodus from Africa about 100 thousand years ago.

Moreover, Templeton's data shows that the exchange of genes between the Eurasian and African populations of our ancestors almost never stopped, although it was greatly hindered by long distances. It turns out that ancient humanity was not at all a collection of isolated populations (races, subspecies, species...) - it was relatively unified over the past two million years!

Neanderthal question

The mtDNA of Neanderthals is very different from ours, and other parts of the genome have not yet been isolated from fossil bones. However, according to Templeton, this does not at all prove that our ancestors did not interbreed with Neanderthals and that modern people do not have even a shred of Neanderthal blood. For example, unidirectional hybridization could occur (sapien women could give birth to children from Neanderthal men) - in this case, mtDNA cannot tell us anything. Similar examples, when the genes of one people were transmitted to another only through men, are known from the later history of mankind.

Based on his data, Templeton calculated the probability that the theory of the complete displacement of all ancient inhabitants of Eurasia by sapiens was still correct. The probability turned out to be 10 -17. There is no less. The researcher believes that he has not only refuted this theory - it has been destroyed.

All that remains is to wait for counterarguments from the opposing side.

© Yuri Vladimirovich Maksimenko, 2017

ISBN 978-5-4485-8467-1

Created in the intellectual publishing system Ridero

INTRODUCTION

This publication offers the most direct way to comprehend the truth, namely, clarifying the location of Atlantis and clarifying the real history of the legendary civilization. Moreover, for this we will use the known information of Eastern esoteric teaching, which, however, was not given due attention, or was simply ignored. It is intended to show the significance of these data and justify their logic and plausibility to confirm the existence of not a legendary, but a real antediluvian human civilization, which was Atlantis, information about which Plato conveyed to us.

Why is this important to us!? Without this, it is simply impossible to understand how our civilization appeared, what was the root cause of the emergence of present-day humanity. It turns out that all life in the Universe, including on the small planet Earth, obeys the laws of cyclicity. This means that the period of existence is followed by a phase of death. According to Esoteric teaching, modern humanity is in the Fourth Circle of the planet’s evolution, in the second half of the Fifth Root cycle 1
Root race is a theosophical term used to designate each of the seven stages of human evolution on any planet in esoteric anthropogenesis, set out in Helena Petrovna Blavatsky’s book “The Secret Doctrine” (1888).

Races, namely, in the fifth subrace of the Fifth Root Race. The teaching contains the concept of not only the Root Race, but also the Root Continent - a huge piece of land, which is a kind of testing ground for the evolution of the corresponding Root Race. At the end of the evolutionary cycle, when the time comes for the departure of the Root Race, the Root Continent is destroyed, as was the case, for example, with the continent of the Atlanteans - the legendary Atlantis. At the same time, the formation of a new Continent for a new Root Race is taking place. All changes in the Root Races and Root Continents occur in accordance with the cycles of the Universe, and, moreover, in accordance with changes in the structure of matter itself, an increase in vibrations of all components of the Earth. The lost civilization of Atlantis, almost all of whose inhabitants perished, was replaced, according to Eastern teachings, by a new civilization on Earth - the Aryan - the one that now exists on the planet.

The teaching set forth by E. Blavatsky in the “Secret Doctrine” says that long before the death of Atlantis, on the shores of the Central Asian Sea, in those places where mysterious deserts now lie, those who became the founder and full representative of the then nascent Fifth Root Aryan Race.

This sea is visible on the maps (Fig. 1) that were presented in Scott-Elliot's book The History of Atlantis. The tribes that Manu separated to create a new Root Race made their way to the Central Asian Sea, which happened approximately 80 thousand years ago (BP). It was there that the first Aryan Empire was founded, from where the Race spread to different parts of the globe. It is from this settlement that the real history of our civilization, which now exists on planet Earth, begins. From Central Asia, as a result of a centrifugal impulse, the peoples of the Aryan race began to settle, bringing a new consciousness and culture to new lands. The origins of the greatest cultures of antiquity, such as the cultures of India, partly Egypt and others, were developed thanks to the spiritual principles emanating from Central Asia.

Rice. 1a. Central Asian (Gobi) Sea before the disaster that occurred approximately 80,000 years ago. n.

Rice. 1b. The Central Asian (Gobi) Sea before the sinking of Poseidonis, the last island of Atlantis in 9564 BC. e.

The Aryan race was divided into sub-races, and those, in turn, into sub-sub-races, etc., creating a complex picture of both human types and social formations, states, and cultures. But, having been divided into a huge number of links, nevertheless, in each of these links, despite their perhaps colossal external differences from each other, there was something common, bringing them together and indicating that all these branches originated from one trunk This commonality can be traced both in the sphere of language and culture.

Let us note just one point. In 1882, the famous theosophist A.P. Sinnett stated that he received an answer to his questions about Atlantis from the Tibetan Mahatma K.H. This refers to the famous correspondence of Sinnett with the Mahatmas, in which one of them, K.H., wrote: “The sinking of Atlantis (a group of continents and islands) began during the Miocene period - as now, there is a gradual sinking of some of your continents - and it culminating first in the final disappearance of the largest continent, an event coinciding with the rise of the Alps, then came the turn of the last of the islands mentioned by Plato. The Egyptian priests of Sais told Solon that Atlantis (the only large island remaining at that time) perished 9,000 years before their time. This was not an imaginary number, for they had carefully guarded their achievements for thousands of years. But then, I say, they only mentioned Poseidonis 2
This word, ????????????, Poseidonis, is feminine in ancient Greek, like ????????, Atlantis; the latter in Russian is traditionally rendered as “Atlantis”; in the same way, the former should be rendered as “Poseidonida” (as N.F. Zhirov does), and this means “Poseidonova”.

And they would never have revealed their secret chronology even to the great Greek legislator... The great event - the triumph of our “Sons of Light”, the inhabitants of Shambhala (then an island in the Central Asian Sea) over the selfish, if not completely vicious, magicians of Poseidonis happened exactly 11,446 years ago "(We emphasize that this was written in 1882).

It would seem that everything is clear and understandable. Of course, those who are especially distrustful could start checking all this indicated information, and this would be correct. But no, no one really understood this, and the production of all kinds of hypotheses began, each more beautiful than the other. And not so much effort was needed to understand who the Mahatmas were (read the correspondence of the Mahatmas), what the figure of Sinnett is (read his book “Buddhist Esotericism”), what Shambhala is and why magicians lived on Poseidonis. In this publication we will try to show the reality and historicity of the existence of the Atlantean civilization, that it was it that gave impetus to the emergence of our society. Moreover, we will not prove someone is right - we believe that there is not even a subject for dispute here, but we will show that we have, first of all, the key to understanding the role and place of Atlantis in the development of humanity on planet Earth, and there is a causal the consequential connection of the lost civilization with the emergence of our current civilization, and through this we can actually understand what kind of world we now live in and what we need to do in order not only to achieve prosperity, but also to extend the life of humanity on the planet.

We intend to dwell in detail in the study on the initial moments of the Aryan civilization, in particular, at the place of its birth, in order to show the reality of this information, starting from which, we will further unravel the tangle of historical events little known to us all and will ultimately reach an understanding of the foundations of modern civilization through historically tangible, understandable and already known to us moments of the recent past. Thus, we will show and trace the evolution of our civilization from ancient times and thus reveal the secret of the foundations of modern society. And this, however, is not an end in itself. Studying the foundations of our civilization will give us the key to the question of the roots of the Russian people and will allow us to understand who we really are.

PART 1. Atlantis

CHAPTER I. ABOUT PLATO'S ATLANTIS

Atlantis is a legendary archipelago located in the modern Atlantic Ocean and sank to the bottom of the ocean as a result of an earthquake and flood along with its inhabitants - the Atlanteans. This legend is first described by Plato in the dialogues “Timaeus” and “Critias” with reference to certain legends. Plato indicates the time of the catastrophe as “9000 years ago,” that is, the middle of the 10th millennium BC. e. At the moment, the story of Atlantis is considered by most scientists to be either a philosophical myth invented by Plato, or a myth formed on the basis of memories of some real ancient catastrophe (for example, the death of the Minoan civilization as a result of a powerful eruption of the Santorini volcano). We consider the existence of Atlantis to be a reality and will try to dispel the existing myths about Atlantis, the basis of which is not a single worthwhile argument, but only conjectures and inventions that do not go beyond the ideas and dogmas of modern science.

All primary information about Atlantis is contained in Plato in two dialogues: Timaeus and Critias. The most common opinion among historians and especially philologists is that the story of Atlantis is a typical philosophical myth, examples of which are replete with Plato’s dialogues. Indeed, Plato, unlike Aristotle and especially historians, never set out to communicate to the reader any real facts, but only ideas illustrated by philosophical myths (and later we will understand why). To the extent that we check the story, it is refuted by all available archaeological material (for some reason modern scientists are so confident that they are right; later we will give one quote on this matter). Indeed, there are no traces that would be considered by professional science to be traces of the Atlantean civilization, either at the end of the Ice Age and the Post-Glacial Period, or in subsequent millennia. They say that supporters of the historicity of Atlantis often ignore the verifiable part of the dialogues (I wonder which one!?), including the very important topic of the Athenian civilization (and what does science really know about this civilization) and focus their research exclusively on the unverifiable Atlantis 3
In the book by V.F. Zhirov - Atlantis. The main problems of Atlantology (M., Mysl, 1964) - scientific evidence of the existence of Atlantis is provided.

(probably in accordance with the fact that science still does not know where man came from...). Plato's main source of information is the Egyptian priests, who were reputed to be the guardians of mysterious ancient wisdom. However, we are assured that among the many ancient Egyptian texts, nothing even remotely resembling Plato's story has been discovered (of course, there is nothing, since everything, or almost everything, was deliberately destroyed). All the names and titles in Plato’s text are Greek, which also, according to some, indicates that Plato composed them rather than reproducing any ancient traditions. True, Plato explains this by the fact that Solon de translated “barbaric” names into Greek (as was generally characteristic of the ancient Greeks), but such treatment of names was allegedly never practiced in Greece 4
How they treated foreign names and toponyms has long been known to everyone who was interested in this.

In the course of the brief analysis demonstrated, it is clear and absolutely obvious that all the arguments of opponents of the existence of Atlantis (it is not clear, however, where these come from and what they actually oppose, and most importantly, why!?), as they say, “are written with pitchforks on water.”

Plato places Atlantis directly beyond the Strait of Gibraltar, near the coast of Spain and what is now Morocco. Morocco among the Greeks, as a country in the far West, is the seat of the titan Atlas (Atlas), to whose name the name of the ocean and the Atlas ridge supposedly go back. We are assured that the name of Atlantis – “the country of Atlas” – also goes back to it. In the dialogue “Critius,” Plato calls the first king of the country Atlas and derives the name of the country from him. Based on this, supporters of the real existence of Atlantis point out, according to Plato, that it could only be in the Atlantic Ocean and nowhere else. However, there are a large number of other hypotheses for the location of Atlantis. Among them are Atlantis in the Mediterranean Sea, in the Circumpontic region, the Antarctic hypothesis, Atlantis in the Andes, Atlantis in Brazil, etc. This is all strange to hear, to be honest. Moreover, a huge number of books have been written about these hypotheses, which never revealed any truth to us, but only confused the already contradictory trail in the search for the legendary Atlantis.

So, Plato (427-347 BC) is one of the greatest ancient Greek philosophers, the founder of objective idealism. Student of Socrates. For several decades he was engaged in teaching activities in Athens, where at the Academy he founded a kind of school for those wishing to study philosophy. It was from Plato that the world learned about the legendary Atlantis. In this regard, when starting a study about this country, it is advisable to first get acquainted with what Plato actually told the world. We offer excerpts from their two dialogues “Timaeus” and Critias.”

From the dialogue "Timaeus"

Critias. Listen, Socrates, the legend, although very strange, is certainly true, as Solon, the wisest of the seven sages, once testified. He was a relative and great friend of our great-grandfather Dropidas, which he himself repeatedly mentions in his poems, and he told our grandfather Critias - and the old man, in turn, repeated this to us - that in ancient times our city accomplished great and amazing deeds that were then forgotten due to the passage of time and the death of people, the greatest of them is the one that now we need to remember by the way, in order to immediately give you a gift and honor the goddess on her holiday with a worthy and truthful hymn of praise.

Socrates. Wonderful. However, what is this feat that Critias, according to Solon, spoke about as being hushed up, but actually accomplished by our city?

Critias. I will tell you what I heard as an ancient legend from the lips of a man who himself was far from young. Yes, in those days our grandfather was, in his own words, about ninety years old, and I was at most ten. We were then celebrating the festival of Kureotis on Apaturia, and according to the established ritual for us boys, our fathers offered rewards for reading poetry. Various works of different poets were read, including many boys performing poems by Solon, which were still new at that time.

And so one of the members of the phratry, either truly out of conviction, or thinking to please Critias, declared that he considered Solon not only the wisest in all other respects, but also in his poetic work the noblest of poets. And the old man - I remember it as now - was very happy and said, smiling: “If, Aminander, he studied poetry not in fits and starts, but seriously, like others, and if he brought to the end the legend he brought here from Egypt, and was not forced to abandon it because of the unrest and other troubles that met him upon his return to his homeland, I believe that then neither Hesiod, nor Homer, nor any other poet could surpass him in glory.” “What was that story, Critias?” - he asked. “It concerned,” answered our grandfather, “the greatest deed ever committed by our city, which would have deserved to become the most famous of all, but due to time and death that committed this deed, the story of it has not reached us.” . “Tell me from the very beginning,” Aminander asked, “what was the matter, under what circumstances and from whom did Solon hear what he told as the true truth?”

“There is in Egypt,” our grandfather began, “at the top of the Delta, where the Nile diverges into separate streams, a nome called Saissky; The main city of this nome is Sais, where, by the way, King Amasis was from. The patroness of the city is a certain goddess, who in Egyptian is called Neith, and in Hellenic, according to local residents, is Athena: they are very friendly towards the Athenians and claim some kind of kinship with the latter. Solon said that when he arrived there on his travels, he was received with great honor; when he began to ask the most knowledgeable among the priests about ancient times, he had to make sure that neither he himself, nor any of the Hellenes in general, one might say, knew almost nothing about these subjects. One day, intending to turn the conversation to old legends, he tried to tell them our myths about ancient events - about Phorons, revered as the first man, about Niobo and how Deucalion and Pyrrha survived the flood, while he tried to deduce the genealogy of their descendants, and also calculate by the number of generations the periods that have elapsed since those times. And then one of the priests, a man of very advanced years, exclaimed: “Ah, Solon, Solon! You Hellenes always remain children, and there is no elder among the Hellenes!” "Why do you say that?" – Solon asked. “You are all young in mind,” he answered, “for your minds do not retain in themselves any tradition that has passed from generation to generation from time immemorial, and no teaching that has grown gray with time.”. The reason for this is this. There have already been and will continue to be numerous and various cases of loss of life, and the most terrible ones are due to fire and water, and others, less significant, are due to thousands of other disasters. Hence the widespread legend among you about Phaethon, the son of Helios, who supposedly once harnessed his father’s chariot, but could not direct it along his father’s path, and therefore burned everything on Earth and himself died, incinerated by lightning. Suppose this legend has the appearance of a myth, but it also contains the truth, in fact, bodies rotating in the sky around the Earth deviate from their paths, and therefore, at certain intervals, everything on Earth dies from a great fire. At such times, the inhabitants of mountains and high or dry places are subject to more complete destruction than those who live near rivers or the sea; and therefore our constant benefactor, the Nile, saves us from this misfortune by overflowing. When the gods, working to cleanse the Earth, flood it with waters, boot-herders and cattle-breeders in the mountains can survive, while the inhabitants of your cities are carried away by streams into the sea, but in our country, water neither at such times nor at any other time falls onto the fields from above, but, on the contrary, by its nature rises from below. For this reason, the traditions that we have preserved are the most ancient of all, although it is true that in all lands where it is not prevented by excessive cold or heat, the human race invariably exists in greater or lesser numbers. Whatever glorious or great deed or generally remarkable event may happen, whether in our region or in any country about which we receive news, all this from ancient times is recorded in the records that we keep in our temples; Meanwhile, among you and other peoples, whenever writing and everything else that is necessary for city life have been developed, again and again at the appointed time, streams fall from the heavens, like a pestilence, leaving all of you only illiterate and unlearned. And you start all over again, as if you were just born, knowing nothing about what happened in ancient times in our country or in your own country. Take, for example, your pedigrees. The solons that you just outlined, because they are almost no different from children's fairy tales. So, you keep the memory of only one flood, but there were many before that; Moreover, you don’t even know that the most beautiful and noble race of people once lived in your country. You yourself and your entire city descend from those few who remained from this family, but you know nothing about it, for their descendants died over many generations, leaving no records and therefore, as if silent. Meanwhile, Solon, before the greatest and most destructive flood, the state now known by the name of Athens was both first in matters of military valor, and in the perfection of its laws stood above comparison; Tradition ascribes to him such deeds and institutions that are more beautiful than anything that we know under heaven.”

Hearing this, Solon, by his own admission, was amazed and fervently begged the priests to tell in detail and in order about these ancient Athenian citizens.

The priest answered him: “I am not sorry, Solon; I will tell you everything for the sake of you and your state, but first of all for the sake of that goddess who received as an inheritance, raised and educated both your and our city. However, she founded Athens a whole millennium earlier, having received your seed from Gaia and Hephaestus, and this city of ours later. Meanwhile the antiquity of our city institutions is determined by sacred records of eight thousand years. So, nine thousand years ago these fellow citizens of yours lived, and about whose laws and whose greatest feat I have to briefly tell you; Later, at our leisure, with the letters in our hands, we will find out everything in more detail and in order.

You can imagine the laws of your ancestors from those here: you will now find in Egypt many institutions adopted in those days among you, and first of all the class of priests, isolated from all others, then the class of artisans, in which everyone is engaged in his own craft, in nothing no longer interfering, and, finally, the classes of shepherds, hunters and farmers, and the military class, as you must have noticed yourself, are separated from the others, and the law orders its members not to care about anything other than war. Add to this that our warriors are equipped with shields and spears; this type of weapon was revealed by the goddess, and we were the first to introduce it in Asia, just as you were the first in your lands. As for mental pursuits, you yourself see what concern our law has shown for them from the very beginning, exploring the cosmos and from the divine sciences, deducing human sciences, right up to the art of fortune telling and the art of healing that cares about health, as well as all other types of knowledge , which stand in connection with those mentioned. But the goddess introduced all this order and structure to you even earlier, establishing your state, and she began by finding a place for your birth where, under the influence of a mild climate, you would be born the most intelligent people on Earth. Loving battles and loving wisdom, the goddess chose and was the first to populate a region that promised to give birth to men more like herself than anyone else. And so you began to dwell there, possessing excellent laws, which were then even more perfect, and surpassing all people in all types of virtue, as is natural for the offspring and pets of the gods. Of the great deeds of your state, there are many that are known from our records and are the subject of admiration; however, among them there is one that exceeds all the others in greatness and valor. After all, according to our records, your state put a limit on the audacity of countless military forces that set off to conquer all of Europe and Asia, and kept their path from the Atlantic Sea. In those days it was possible to cross the sea, for there was still an island that lay in front of that strait, which is called in your language the Pillars of Hercules (Gibraltar - author's note). This island was larger in size than Libya (as the ancients called northern Africa) and Asia combined, and from it it was easy for travelers of that time to move to other islands, and from the islands to the entire opposite continent, which covered the sea that truly deserves such name (after all, the sea on this side of the mentioned strait is just a bay with a narrow passage into it, while the sea on the other side of the strait is a sea in the proper sense of the word, just as the land surrounding it can truly and quite rightly be called a continent). On this island, called Atlantis, arose a kingdom of amazing size and power, whose power extended over the entire island, many other islands and part of the mainland, and moreover, on this side of the strait they took possession of Libya right up to Egypt and Europe right up to to Tirrenia(Tirrenia, or Etruria, is a region in Central Italy, off the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea). And so all this united power was thrown at one blow to plunge both your and our lands and all the countries on this side of the strait into slavery. It was then, Solon, that your state showed the whole world a brilliant proof of its valor and strength: surpassing everyone in its fortitude and experience in military affairs, it first stood at the head of the Hellenes, but due to the betrayal of its allies it found itself left to its own devices, and in loneliness it faced the extreme dangers and yet defeated the conquerors and erected the trophies of victory. It saved those who were not yet enslaved from the threat of slavery; but all the rest, no matter how many of us lived on this side of the Pillars of Hercules, it generously made free. But later, when the time came for an unprecedented earthquake and flood, in one terrible day all your military strength was swallowed up by the opening of the earth; likewise, Atlantis disappeared, plunging into the abyss. After this, the sea in those places became, to this day, unnavigable and inaccessible due to shallowing caused by the huge amount of silt that the settled island left behind.”