What features of the Hellenistic culture were of Greek origin. Development of material culture

Introduction

1. The culture of Greece at the end of the 4th – 1st centuries. BC.

2. Culture of Asia Minor and Central Asia during the Hellenistic period

3. Culture of Hellenistic Egypt

Conclusion

Literature

Introduction

A stage in the history of the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean from the time of the campaigns of Alexander the Great (334-323 BC) until the conquest of these countries by Rome, which ended in 30. BC e. subjugation of Egypt is called Hellenism. The term "Hellenism" was introduced into historiography in the 30s. 19th century by the German historian I.G. Drazen and is interpreted as a specific historical stage, characterized by the interaction of Greek and local elements in socio-economic relations, political organization and cultural development at the end of the 4th-1st centuries. BC e.

The history of Hellenism attracted little attention from historians, and until the middle of the 19th century. it was not developed at all. After the great cultural achievements of the Athenian slave-owning democracy of the 5th century, the entire subsequent history of Greece seemed pale, insignificant, and not worth attention. Historians preferred to move from charming classical Greece to republican Rome. Only Alexander the Great, the great conqueror who captured the imagination of not only his contemporaries, but also subsequent generations, occupied his rightful place in the history of antiquity. In addition, the insufficiency of sources and the difficulty of their interpretation and coordination, the extreme complexity of the political history of Hellenism frightened off researchers.

Meanwhile, Hellenism - an entire era in ancient history. We can say that the history of Hellenism is the world history of that time. It gave rise to new scientific, philosophical, ethical, and religious trends that have dominated the world for centuries. There have been significant changes in the economy, political forms, and public consciousness. The culture of this period was a synthesis of elements of ancient Greek and ancient Eastern civilizations, which gave a qualitatively new socio-economic structure, political superstructure and culture.

Hellenistic culture outlived the Hellenistic states for a long time and gave historians the illusion that its true essence lies in the cultural values ​​​​created by Hellenism. Hellenism meant major changes in various spheres of society. The changes served as the basis for the creation and spread of the culture of this era.

It's hard to overestimate the importance Hellenistic culture for the entire world civilization. The Hellenistic era made a huge contribution to the development of world culture. Therefore, the relevance of the topic of this work is beyond doubt.

1. The culture of Greece at the end of the 4th -1st centuries. BC e.

As a result of the campaigns of Alexander the Great, a power arose that covered the Balkan Peninsula, the islands of the Aegean Sea, Asia Minor, Egypt, the entire Anterior, the southern regions of Central and part of Central Asia to the lower reaches of the Indus. For the first time in history, such a vast territory found itself within the framework of one political system. In the process of conquest, new cities were founded, new routes of communication and trade were laid between distant regions. However, the transition to peaceful land development did not occur immediately; For half a century after the death of Alexander the Great, there was a fierce struggle between his generals - the diadochi (successors), as they are usually called - over the division of his inheritance.

In the first decade and a half, the fiction of the unity of the power was maintained under the nominal authority of Philip Arrhidaeus (323-316 BC) and the young Alexander IV (323-310? BC), but in reality already under the agreement of 323 BC e. power in its most important regions ended up in the hands of the most influential and talented commanders: Antipater in Macedonia and Greece, Lysimachus in Thrace, Ptolemy in Egypt, Antigone in the southwest of Asia Minor. Perdiccas, who commanded the main military forces and was the de facto regent, was subordinate to the rulers of the eastern satrapies. But an attempt to strengthen his autocracy and extend it to the Western satrapies ended with the death of Perdiccas and marked the beginning of the wars of the Diadochi. In 321 BC. e. in Triparadis, a redistribution of satrapies and positions took place: Antipater became regent, and the royal family was transported to him from Babylon to Macedonia; Antigonus was appointed strategist-autocrat of Asia, commander of all the troops stationed there, and authorized to continue the war with Eumenes, a supporter of Perdiccas. In Babylonia, which had lost its significance as a royal residence, the commander of the hetairs, Seleucus, was appointed satrap.

Death in 319 BC e. Antipater, who transferred the regency to Polyperchon, an old commander devoted to the royal dynasty, against whom Antipater's son Cassander, supported by Antigonus, opposed, led to a new intensification of the wars of the Diadochi. Greece and Macedonia became an important springboard, where the royal house, the Macedonian nobility, and the Greek city-states (cities) were drawn into the struggle; during it, Philip Arriday and other members were killed royal family, and Cassander managed to strengthen his position in Macedonia. In Asia, Antigonus, having defeated Eumenes and his allies, became the most powerful of the diadochi, and a coalition of Seleucus, Ptolemy, Cassander and Lysimachus immediately formed against him. A new series of battles at sea and on land began in Syria, Babylonia, Asia Minor, and Greece. Imprisoned in 311 BC. e. In the world, although the name of the king appeared, in fact there was no longer any talk about the unity of the power; the diadochi acted as independent rulers of the lands belonging to them. A new phase of the war of the Diadochi began after the killing of young Alexander IV by order of Cassander. In 306 BC. e. Antigonus and his son Demetrius Poliorcetes, and then other diadochi, appropriated royal titles to themselves, thereby recognizing the collapse of Alexander's power and declaring a claim to the Macedonian throne. Antigonus strove most actively for him. Military operations are taking place in Greece, Asia Minor and the Aegean. In the battle with the combined forces of Seleucus, Lysimachus and Cassander in 301 BC. e. At Ipsus, Antigonus was defeated and died. A new distribution of powers took place: along with the kingdom of Ptolemy I (305-282 BC), which included Egypt, Cyrenaica and Kelesyria, a large kingdom of Seleucus I (311-281 BC) appeared, uniting Babylonia , eastern satrapies and Western Asian possessions of Antigonus. Lysimachus expanded the borders of his kingdom in Asia Minor, Cassander received recognition of his rights to the Macedonian throne. However, after the death of Cassander in 298 BC. e. The struggle for Macedonia, which lasted more than 20 years, flared up again. Her throne was occupied in turn by her sons Cassandra, Demetrius Poliorcetes, Lysimachus, Ptolemy Keraunus, and Pyrrhus of Epirus. In addition to the dynastic wars in the early 270s. BC e. Macedonia and Greece were invaded by the Galatian Celts. Only in 276 did Antigonus Gonatas (276-239 BC), the son of Demetrius Poliorketes, who won a victory over the Galatians in 277, establish himself on the Macedonian throne, and under him the Macedonian kingdom gained political stability. The half-century period of struggle of the Diadochi was the time of the formation of a new, Hellenistic society with a complex social structure and a new type of state.

The activities of the diadochi, guided by subjective interests, ultimately revealed objective trends in the historical development of the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Asia - the need to establish close economic ties between the hinterland and the sea coast and connections between individual regions of the Mediterranean, and at the same time the tendency to preserve ethnic community and traditional political and cultural unity of individual regions, the need for the development of cities as centers of trade and craft, for the development of new lands to feed the increased population, and, finally, for cultural interaction. There is no doubt that the individual characteristics of the statesmen who competed in the struggle for power, their military and organizational talents or their mediocrity, political myopia, indomitable energy and indiscriminateness in the means to achieve goals, cruelty and greed - all this complicated the course of events and gave it acute drama. , often the imprint of chance. However, it is possible to trace common features politics of the Diadochi. Each of them sought to unite the inland and coastal regions under their rule, to ensure dominance over important routes, trading centers and ports. Everyone faced the problem of maintaining a strong army as a real support of power. In all regions except Macedonia, there was a problem of relations with the local population. In solving it, two trends are noticeable: the rapprochement of the Greek-Macedonian and local nobility, the use of traditional forms of social and political organization and a tougher policy towards the indigenous population as conquered and completely disenfranchised, as well as the introduction of a polis system. In relations with the far eastern satrapies, the diadochi adhered to the practice established under Alexander (possibly dating back to Persian times): power was granted to the local nobility on the terms of recognition of dependence and payment of cash and in-kind supplies.

The most important heritage of the Hellenistic world was a culture that became widespread in a number of areas of Asia and Africa and had a huge influence on the development of Roman culture (especially the eastern Roman provinces), as well as on the culture of other peoples of antiquity and the Middle Ages.

As a result of the unification of the ancient Greek and ancient eastern worlds within the framework of one system, a unique society and culture was created, which differed both from the Greek proper (based on the characteristics of Greece in the 5th-4th centuries BC) and the ancient eastern one. social order and culture, and represented a fusion, synthesis of elements of ancient Greek and ancient Eastern civilization, which gave a qualitatively new socio-economic structure, political superstructure and culture.

However, Hellenistic culture can be considered as an integral phenomenon: all its local variants are characterized by some common features, due, on the one hand, to the obligatory participation in the synthesis of elements of Greek culture, and on the other, to similar trends in the socio-economic and political development of society throughout the Hellenistic world. The development of cities, commodity-money relations, trade relations in the Mediterranean and Western Asia largely determined the formation of material and spiritual culture during the Hellenistic period. The formation of Hellenistic monarchies in combination with the polis structure contributed to the emergence of new legal relations, a new socio-psychological appearance of man, and a new content of his ideology. In Hellenistic culture, differences in the content and nature of the culture of the Hellenized upper strata of society and the urban and rural poor, among whom local cultural traditions were more firmly preserved, appear more prominently than in classical Greek culture.

By the time of the formation of ancient (Hellenic) artistic activity The main types of fine art known in our time managed to emerge and take shape: architecture, sculpture, painting, relief, vase painting, etc. In Ancient Hellas they received further development, which determined the originality and dissimilarity of ancient Greek and ancient Egyptian monuments. At the same time, one cannot help but notice a lot of new things in the art of the Greeks, in particular in relation to materials. One of the main innovations was the widespread use of marble instead of strong rocks (granite, basalt, diorite), which were consonant with the sense of eternity, and also colored ones, which thereby reinforced the abstraction of Egyptian images from reality. New, in addition to intaglio, types of glyptics, such, in particular, as cameo, also became widespread among the Hellenes; Glass vessels also appeared in large numbers, and the art of terracotta became very popular.

The tools used by Hellenic sculptors were tongue-and-groove, scarpel, trajanka, rasp, and drill. The initial processing was carried out with a tongue and groove, the impacts of the sharp end of which left rough marks on the surface. Then the stone block was processed more carefully with a scarpel, which, like a tongue and groove, was hit with a hammer, so that a trace resembling a path was left from the sharp and flat working end of the scarpel. Subsequent finishing was carried out with a trajanka, which left small parallel notches. Then the stone was polished with a rasp or sand. To make recesses - ears, nostrils, folds of clothing, etc. - Hellenic craftsmen used a drill.

In the art of the Hellenes, sculpture always occupied the first place in its importance. Even the forms of architecture (for example, the Parthenon) were plastic. Very poorly developed fresco painting on a plane was of little interest to the Greeks; it was pushed aside in its heyday (5th century BC) by drawings on the spherical surfaces of vessels.

At the end of the 7th - beginning of the 6th century. BC e. a shift is taking place in Greek art. The person begins to receive the main attention, and his image takes on more and more real features. A monumental sculpture appears, main topic which is a person. It was he who became the basis of perception in Hellenic art. The creation of a generalized human appearance, raised to a beautiful norm—the unity of his bodily and spiritual beauty—is almost the only theme of art and the main quality of Greek culture as a whole. This provided her with rare artistic power and key importance for world culture in the future.

If in the art of the East speculativeness, and sometimes not quite clear abstraction, mystery prevailed (by the way, they were discovered later in the art of the Middle Ages), then the image created by the Hellenes (architectural, sculptural, philosophical, poetic, mythological, pictorial) is always extremely specific, it is so clear that it seems you can touch it with your hand.

The plasticity of perception of the world is the core, the essence of ancient, mainly Hellenic art. In the Roman, the prerequisites for the transition to a new - medieval, as before antiquity, will already be noticeable, a more speculative, abstract understanding of being and man.

Completeness and integrity, completeness of the artistic image was characteristic of the art of the ancient Hellenes. The feeling of duality and uncertainty was excluded. The sense of joy of suffering, which strongly developed in the Middle Ages, was alien to Greek art; it did not encourage the embodiment of mutually exclusive but intertwined emotions. Beauty in Hellenic art always had to be logically expressed by the artist and also clearly, without omissions, perceived by the viewer. For the ancient Greeks, art was not just decoration; it contained some more serious, morally deep meaning, necessary for a person in his real life. The Greeks always wanted to see ethical and moral elements in the aesthetics of the images they created. The logical clarity of artistic images, the definiteness and completeness of their forms, as well as plasticity, constitute one of the most important qualities Hellenic art.

Another very important, perhaps even the main feature of Hellenic art is the exceptionally strong metaphorical nature of images. In Hellas, a new principle of artistic reflection of the world, coexisting with the cult, arises and develops. Naturally, its manifestations evolve over time; many early Hellenic works still retain extensive dedications carved into marble surfaces to the deities depicted on them. Later in the classics, this tendency disappears, and it is no longer possible to imagine multi-line appeals to the deity embossed on the leg of Apollo Belvedere or Aphrodite of Melos. The statue begins to be perceived not only as a gift from a pilgrim to the all-powerful Olympian, but primarily as a work of art. This process, which actively developed throughout Hellenic history, led, in fact, to the birth of art.

Also, important discoveries were made in branches of science, where the mutual influence of previously accumulated knowledge in ancient Eastern and Greek science (astronomy, mathematics, medicine) can be traced. The most striking joint creativity of Afro-Asian and European peoples manifested itself in the field of religious ideology of Hellenism.

An analysis of the media and reader preferences shows that at the turn of the 20th-21st centuries, society is on the rise in interest in the ancient heritage. Intense archaeological searches are being conducted around the world, and their results immediately become the subject of public discussion. In our time, the ancient world has retained its importance in various spheres of spiritual and mental activity. Modern historians, sociologists, and cultural scientists turn to him. Despite the millennia that separate us from the ancient Hellenes, we largely live and breathe their consciousness of the world, their attitude to existence, colored and enriched, moreover, by the great ideas of Christianity that developed within the framework of late ancient culture.

2. Culture of Asia Minor and Central Asia during the Hellenistic period

Hellenistic cities are scattered throughout the Mediterranean, but most of them were and were preserved in Asia Minor or, otherwise, in Anatolia, in the territory of modern Turkey. Cities, known for their large-scale architectural ensembles, lay in valleys and on mountain slopes. When topography allowed, a rectangular layout of agoras and neighborhoods was made. It was combined with the lines of other elements of the plan freely lying on the relief. Many, many cities, absorbed by new reconstructions, were lost forever. But some have survived. In some places, neighborhoods sank into the sea, in other cases the sea retreated. And it is these cities, long abandoned by their inhabitants, that now turn out to be especially interesting. These are Priene and Miletus, which once stood on the opposite shores of a large bay, these are Ephesus, Halicarnassus, Pergamum, Aphrodisia, Xanthos, you can list the names of the ancient cities of Anatolia for a long time. Let's consider some of them, although the Greeks traditionally (and unfairly) consider the ancient cities of Asia Minor as something secondary in relation to the monuments of Athens, Olympia, Epidaurus.

The diversity and uniqueness of compositions within the city correspond to the endless variation of spatial compositions of cities. One of the best is the composition of Ephesus. It is based on a complex spatial axis leading from one architectural node to another. It began with a paved street with colonnades on both sides. Its perspective was closed by the open bowl of a huge theater lying on the hillside. The street was a shopping street, lined with shops, and it led to the agora, which lay at the foot of the theater. At right angles to Torgovaya Street, from the theater there was a second, Marble Street, which continued the spatial axis. The corner between Torgovaya and Mramornaya streets was occupied by agoras. The second axis fracture is marked by the library building. Now its façade has been restored from ruins.

The last segment of the compositional axis lies freely in the hollow between two hills, bending slightly, goes up from the library and after half a kilometer leads to the second public and administrative center, where the gymnasium, odeon (it has not yet been established whether it was a theater or a meeting hall), stadium, temples. The street called Kuretes is especially interesting. On both sides, alleys lined with residential buildings ran down from the hills. Along the street itself there were rich houses, interspersed with small sanctuaries, fountains, and baths. Along part of the street near the second center there is a blank wall. It served as a backdrop for the installation of statues of prominent people of Ephesus. The custom of erecting such statues sometimes existed in other Greek city-states.

As a major trade, craft and administrative center, Ephesus existed for a long time, from the 2nd millennium BC. e. and until the Middle Ages. However, its compositional formation occurred during the classical and Hellenistic periods of the development of Greek architecture. Roman times added only representative buildings, a stadium, gymnasiums, baths, erected around a public center. It is not yet clear what the population of Ephesus was. They give figures from 30 to 300 thousand. What is more correct can only be said after large-scale excavations.

The still unsolved phenomenon of Ephesus is that some of its key points are located at a distance of 2-3 kilometers from each other. It is this distance that separates the public center with a harbor, theater and agora from the famous temple of Artemis of Ephesus, standing at the foot of a steep hill, seemingly destined by nature itself to be an acropolis. At the beginning of our era, Ephesus was recognized as one of the most beautiful and largest cities of the Roman Empire, along with Alexandria and Pergamum.

The difference between Pergamum and Miletus, Priema, and Ephesus was that it was not a democratic polis, but the capital of tyranny. This difference significantly affected the composition of the city. If in the cities of ancient democracies the center of composition was groups of public buildings and structures, freely and comfortably grown into the natural environment, then in Pergamum the compositional center was the tyrant’s palace, elevated to the top of a steep mountain.

Pergamon was a unique example of Hellenistic town planning art. Unlike most cities of this period, Pergamum did not have a regular street layout, but developed freely at the foot of the acropolis. Pergamum was a well-maintained city. The streets, 10 meters wide, were paved with stone and equipped with drains. The city was surrounded by walls with several gates, the main one being the southern gate. The city had two squares - the Upper and Lower Markets, as well as three gymnasiums and an excellent library, second after Alexandria in the number of books. The main street-road, starting at the southern gate, following the folds of the relief, led to the acropolis. Having passed the market of the lower city and the gymnasium, located on three terraces, she climbed to the upper agora, located at an altitude of 250 meters above sea level. After overcoming a rise of another 40 meters, the road approached the entrance to the acropolis, beyond which it continued and ended at the royal gardens, later occupied by the arsenal. On the right side of the road were the royal palaces, famous for their interior decoration and magnificent mosaic floors. On the left side of the road was the sanctuary of Athena with a monumental entrance in the form of propylae. Adjoining the sanctuary of Athena from the north was the Pergamon Library, the floor level of which was at the level of the second floor of the gallery surrounding the sanctuary. Having descended from the sanctuary 25 meters below, one could get to the terrace on which the Great Altar of Zeus was located, erected by the Pergamon king Attalus I in the first half of the 2nd century. BC e. The altar was built to commemorate the victory of the Pergamon troops over the Galatian tribes. It was decorated with a beautiful sculptural frieze 120 meters long and 2.5 meters high depicting the battle of gods with giants.

Thus, the Pergamon Acropolis consisted of several ensembles completely isolated from each other, but due to the excess of one over the other and the possibility of observation, the illusion of spatial integrity of these ensembles was created. The Pergamon Acropolis was the final link in the development of Greek acropolises, the pinnacle of monumental urban planning art.

No less famous than Pergamum and Ephesus antique city Halicarnassus. This Greek city on the coast of Asia Minor, the birthplace of the “father of history” Herodotus, was the capital of the Carian kingdom. The city was famous for the huge temple of Ares, decorated with a statue by Leochard, and the temple of Aphrodite with a sacred spring, which was attributed magical properties.

In this city in the first half of the 4th century BC. Construction began on a structure that became one of the wonders of the world - the tomb of King Mausolus and Queen Artemisia. The tomb was created by the best architects - Pytheas and Satyr, and the best sculptors - Skopas, Leochard, Briaxides, Timothy. This structure, like most wonders of the world, has not reached our time and is known only from ancient descriptions and the results of archaeological excavations. It was a grandiose structure - 46 meters high with a rectangular base, combining Greek and Oriental, more precisely Egyptian, styles in architecture (step pyramids at the base and in the upper part and order style in the middle.) The mausoleum was richly decorated with sculptures and friezes. Inside the tomb were statues of Mausolus and Artemisia.

The tomb was built over several decades - it was completed by the grandson of Mavsol.

The beauty, proportionality, majesty of this structure, as well as its special, spiritual purpose made the tomb one of the wonders of the world. Moreover, since then all structures of this kind began to be called mausoleums.

The tomb stood until the 15th century, surviving almost all other miracles except the pyramids. Rulers, religions, states changed, but the Mausoleum, although damaged by earthquakes, was surrounded by superstitious veneration. And only in the 15th century, 1800 years later, ignorant crusaders destroyed the Mausoleum, building a fortress from its rubble.

The synthesis of eastern and Greek elements covered all spheres of life of ancient Greek and ancient eastern society and spread all the way to Northern India. In the Near and Middle East, many striking examples of this fusion of cultures can be cited.

Sogdiana (modern Samarkand) occupied the territory of modern Tajikistan, southern Uzbekistan and northern Afghanistan. Sogdian art personified the interconnection and mutual influence of the cultures of the countries of Central Asia, India, Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. Sogdian masterpieces of ancient and medieval art are a synthesis of the creative genius of Uzbeks, Tajiks, Iranians, Hindus, Azerbaijanis, Uighurs, Afghans, Turkmen and other peoples, who together made a significant contribution to the development of world culture.

Architectural monuments of Sogdiana, squares, streets are stone pages of history, turning through which we have the opportunity to delve into the glorious past of the city. And although the merciless hand of time has touched most of the magnificent buildings, even today these creations evoke fair admiration.

We cannot help but admire the ruins of the once majestic Bibi Khanum mosque and the turquoise dome of the Guri-Emir mausoleum. These and many other masterpieces occupy an outstanding place in the history of world architecture and in their artistic merit stand on a par with the famous architectural monuments of Egypt, India, Iran, ancient Greece and ancient Rome.

Historians and geographers of the past report that the streets and squares of modern Samarkand were paved with stone many centuries before pavements even appeared in Paris and London. And this evidence is confirmed by the latest archaeological research at the site of Afrosiab.

The finest, original wall genre paintings discovered during the latest excavations in Samarkand, as well as ceramic products and clay sculpture indicate that already in ancient times the city was rich in extraordinary and even outstanding talents. In their creations, artists achieved amazing perfection of design, lightness and liveliness of colors, grace and thoughtfulness of ornamental patterns.

They painted their ceramic products, the walls of houses, the panels of the palaces of rulers, the ceilings of temples with amazingly fine flowers, shoots, leaves, and often stylized images of wild animals, birds, fish, often fantastic.

Until the time when Islam, which categorically prohibited the depiction of living beings, established itself in Samarkand together with the Arab conquerors, Samarkand sculptors created amazing sculptures of people and animals.

Already in the oldest historical documents and chronicles, Samarkand is glorified as the center of scientific thought and culture. The history of the city is associated with the names of outstanding scientists and poets of the East - Rudaki, Alisher Navoi, Jami,Omar Khayama, and, especially, the martyr of science, the outstanding scientist Ulugbek, who entered the history of astronomy on a par with Ptolemy, Galileo, Giordano Bruno, Copernicus.

Over the centuries, the ancient city was constantly involved in a whirlpool of turbulent events. Periods of brilliant flourishing of science and culture, art and crafts were replaced by complete decline under the blows of half-wild, greedy conquerors. There were decades when Samarkand was deprived of almost its entire population, but powerful vital forces again made their way to the surface, and the city rose like a phoenix from the ashes and ruins.

Based on the synthesis of local and borrowed elements in the 4th-3rd centuries. BC e. a unique artistic culture of Khorezm was formed. In the fine arts of the first centuries. n. e. Hellenistic influences appeared through the Parthians and Kushans. The distinctive features of the architecture of ancient Khorezm - massiveness and laconic volumes, sparse exterior decor - are due to the predominance of building materials made of loess clay (pakhsa, mud brick). Along with the vaults, beam ceilings on columns were used. Traditional stone bases are in the shape of a pot on a 3-step square base. Cities, usually rectangular in plan, with regular quarterly buildings on the sides of the axial street, are fortified by walls with rifle galleries and towers (Kuzeli-Gyr). In separate quarters or palace complexes, temples and sanctuaries were erected with a paved area for the sacred fire. The palaces included state courtyards, halls and numerous rooms connected by corridors. The Toprak-Kala Palace was raised on high plinths (about 15 and 25 meters). Funeral structures are represented by tower-shaped buildings with a cruciform layout at the site of Kuzeli-Gyr (5th century BC) and the cylindrical temple-mausoleum Koi-Krylgan-Kala (4th-3rd centuries BC). Rural houses, usually pakhsa houses, had living and utility rooms located along the sides of the corridor or courtyard.

Painting and sculpture of Khorezm developed in synthesis with architecture, were imbued with the ideas of glorifying the fruitful forces of nature and the deification of royal power (Toprak-Kala, painted clay statues and bas-reliefs, multi-color paintings with mineral paints). Terracotta figurines are widespread: the goddess of fertility, depicted in the tradition of Western Asian coroplasticity, figurines of horses; male characters in “Scythian” clothes are less common. In the 4th-3rd centuries. BC e. ceramic flasks with bas-reliefs were made mythological content.

The Kushan kingdom, despite its major role in the history of the ancient world, has been poorly studied. General outlines The political history of the Kushan kingdom emerges from the reports of Chinese and Roman authors and from the analysis of Kushan coins and a few inscriptions. The exact chronology of the history of the Kushan kingdom has not yet been established.

The Kushan kingdom arose around the turn of the century. e., more than a hundred years after the defeat of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom by nomads who formed a number of separate principalities. One of these principalities in Bactria, headed by a tribe or clan of the Kushans, became the core of the Kushan kingdom.

A characteristic feature of Kushan culture is its close connection with cities and the spread of urbanized culture in rural areas.

Three artistic traditions found a certain reflection and refraction in Kushan architecture, sculpture and painting. First of all, these are the very ancient traditions of Bactrian culture with its great achievements in the field of monumental architecture. The second most important component was Greek art, the deep roots of which in Bactria were determined both by the significant number of Greco-Macedonian colonists and by the penetration of Hellenistic traditions into the local environment. Finally, the third component was the art of India.

In Kushan architecture, as evidenced by excavations, the external monumental splendor of palace and temple complexes was combined with the splendor of the interior decoration. Scenic and sculptural compositions Consistently and with great detail, religious scenes and group portraits of members of the royal family surrounded by warriors and servants were displayed on the walls of temples and palaces.

Considering Parthian culture as an example of the synthesis of Eastern and Greek cultures, we can say that Parthian architecture has reached a very high development: despite the obvious predominance of Hellenistic techniques and traditions in it, the “face” of Parthian architecture is determined by their combination with the ancient Eastern architectural heritage (domed vaults of a special structures, large development of rooms open to the courtyard under a vault or on pillars).

In the fine arts of different regions of Parthia, local features often seem to be smoothed out - primarily because artists in distant regions of the Parthian state often followed the same Hellenistic models, filling them, however, with their own content (as was the case, for example, with images deities in Hatra). The wide dissemination of a certain set of Hellenistic subjects and images (the figure of Hercules, for example, was especially popular), purely external attributes of often reinterpreted images was typical at this time for a vast territory - from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean. Some areas, such as Pars, were less affected by these trends of the era, others - more.

Hellenistic cities are one of the most vivid impressions remaining from that period; their intensive construction is an indicator of the development of the Hellenistic economy.

3. Culture of Hellenistic Egypt

The framework of the Hellenistic world includes small and large state formations from Sicily and Southern Italy in the west to North-West India in the east, from the southern shores of the Aral Sea to the first rapids of the Nile in the south. In other words, the Hellenistic world included the territory of classical Greece (including Magna Graecia and the Black Sea region) and the so-called classical East, i.e. Egypt, Western and Central Asia (without India and China). The most characteristic features of Hellenism as a synthesis of Greek and Eastern principles in all areas of life, production and culture appeared in the Middle East and Egypt.

Despite the introduction of Hellenism into various regions, they still retained the originality of the local culture. This was the case in Egypt. Moreover, of particular importance in Egyptian culture acquired the cult of Isis. At the beginning of the 2nd century. BC. Ptolemy Soter decided to strengthen his royal power by introducing the cult of a deity that would be recognized as supreme by both the Greeks and the Romans. The success of the new cult was ensured thanks to the significant authority of Isis and Osiris (the ancient Egyptian god of the dead). Isis, ancient Egyptian goddess. According to ancient myth, she is the daughter of the earth god Geb and the sky goddess Nut, as well as the sister and at the same time the wife of Osiris, the mother of his son Horus. The Egyptians identified all their pharaohs with Horus; therefore, each pharaoh was considered the son of Isis and the legal heir of Osiris. Over time, the image of Isis absorbed the images of many other goddesses, and, most importantly, the image of the harvest goddess Renenut (Thermutis). Isis was often identified with Hathor, the goddess of the planet Venus. Due to the fact that in the myth Isis appears as the faithful wife of Osiris, who managed to protect the baby Horus from all misfortunes, people considered her a source of magical power, and most often they turned to her for help in case of illness or other trouble. Isis was especially popular in Nubia, an area south of Egypt. Its main temple on the picturesque island of Philae was flooded by the Aswan Reservoir. During the Hellenistic period (4th century BC - 1st century BC), the cult of Isis spread throughout the Mediterranean, and four centuries later - despite the opposition of the Roman authorities - throughout all corners of the Roman Empire.

At the same time, the Ptolemaic dynasty, formed after a fierce struggle for power by the successors of Alexander the Great, was a constant conductor of Greek culture. The art of the North African Ptolemaic monarchy is called Alexandrian. Its main center was located in the city of Alexandria, built at the mouth of the Nile. The specificity of Alexandrian art, which developed within the III-I centuries. BC e., consists in a close fusion of Greek forms with local, Egyptian ones.

During the years of early Hellenism (late IV - mid-III century BC), the art of Alexandria was dominated by features inherent in Greek art. However, during the period of high Hellenism (mid-III - mid-II centuries BC), local elements of artistic creativity relegated Hellenic elements to the background. Flowing from the middle of the 2nd century. BC e. before 30 BC e. The dynastic struggle led to the impoverishment of the country and to a gradual stagnation in the artistic life of Ptolemaic Egypt.

Alexandria was the largest Hellenistic cultural center. Scientists, architects, sculptors, and artists from all over the ancient world came here.

One of the main attractions of Alexandria is the Library of Alexandria. The idea of ​​founding a library was suggested to the ruler of Egypt by the Greek philosopher Demetrius of Phalerus, who was well acquainted with the structure of the library in Athens. Construction was completed at the beginning of the third century BC.

The publishing program of the Library of Alexandria included rewriting, detailed philological commentary on the works of Greek authors, division of works into sections and the consistent introduction of punctuation and accentuation systems. Under the leadership of Callimachus, a catalog was compiled, which was later regularly updated.

Almost everything related to the emergence and death of the library is shrouded in mystery. According to some historians, after its founding, the Library of Alexandria almost immediately began to compete with another outstanding cultural center of that time - the library in Pergamon. It is estimated that there were more than 700,000 papyrus scrolls in the Library of Alexandria. (For comparison, in the 14th century the Sorbonne library had the largest collection of books - 1,700 copies). There is a legend about the rulers of Egypt who sought to replenish their collection in any way: they even ordered their soldiers to search every ship that came into the port in order to find any manuscripts. If they were found, they kept them, and copies were returned to the owners.

According to another legend, when priceless originals of classical Greek dramas were temporarily brought from Athens to Ptolemy III in order to rewrite them, he even promised to pay a deposit and return these valuable manuscripts after completion of the work. However, having received them, the king refused to give a deposit and, keeping the originals, sent back copies.

Great thinkers worked in the library and Museion of Alexandria at that time: Eratosthenes, Zenodotus, Aristarchus of Samos, Callimachus and others. Scientists in Alexandria were famous for their works on geometry, trigonometry and astronomy, as well as linguistics, literature and medicine. Tradition says that here 72 scholars from the Jewish people translated the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek.

The library contained works from the most different languages. It was even believed that there was not a single valuable work in the world, a copy of which would not be in the Alexandria Library. The vault contained not only scrolls, but also stone and wax tablets with cuneiform and hieroglyphs. The Library of Alexandria was open to everyone and was considered a holy place, not inferior in importance to many religious temples. Before entering its vault, a purification ritual was performed.

However, what brought fame to the Library of Alexandria was not so much the number of scrolls it collected, or even the fact that soon after its creation it became a collection of works by philosophers and scientists from around the world, including Archimedes, Heron, Euclid and Hippocrates. The most legendary page in the history of the library was its death.

There are many legends about the destruction of the Library of Alexandria. Some researchers believe that many of its treasures were lost in a fire set by the soldiers of Julius Caesar in 47 BC. during the Alexandrian War.

The death of the Library of Alexandria was also attributed to Caesar’s successor, Emperor Augustus. There is also a version that during times of religious strife, in the period from the 3rd to the 6th centuries AD. e. in Alexandria there were often clashes on religious grounds: pagans, Jews and Christians often conflicted with each other over religious doctrines. In 391 AD Some of the ancient manuscripts, along with the pagan temple of the Serapeum, attached to the book depository, were allegedly destroyed by religious fanatics.

The most popular version of the death of the famous library dates back to the time of the Arab conquest. Sources indicate that she died in a huge fire during the capture of the city of Alexandria by the Ottoman Turks. According to legend, after conquering Egypt, the commander Amr Ibn Al-As asked Caliph Omar what to do with the library. He replied that even if the books stored in the library are consistent with the Koran, they are not needed. If they contradict it, they are undesirable, which means they should be destroyed in any case.

There is no consensus among experts about the library's demise, and scholars are still debating how and when it disappeared.

Whatever the reason for the disappearance of the library, its death, first of all, meant the loss of a huge treasury of knowledge. Hundreds of thousands of works by Greek playwrights, as well as works on Greek historiography for 500 years, except for some works of Herodotus, Thucydides and Xenophon, disappeared forever.

In 2002, the unique book depository, which was lost 1600 years ago, was restored. The Library of Alexandria today is a structure made of granite, glass and aluminum. There is nothing antique about its futuristic appearance. Collected collection The modern Library of Alexandria so far consists of half a million volumes, among which there are unique examples - the most valuable Arabic manuscripts of the 7th-8th centuries and a facsimile copy of the world atlas of Claudius Ptolemy.

Alexandria was the richest city of its time, so many remarkable structures were erected in it, including the Alexandria Lighthouse on the rocky island of Foros near the Nile Delta.

The main building materials for the lighthouse were limestone, marble and granite. The lighthouse consisted of three towers, placed one on top of the other. The height of the lighthouse, according to some sources, was 120 meters, according to others - 130 - 140 meters

The base of the lower tower was square, with a side length of 30.5 meters. The lower tower, 60 meters high, was made of stone slabs decorated with exquisite sculptural work. The middle, octagonal, tower is 40 meters high, lined with white marble slabs. The upper tower - a round lantern, with a dome mounted on granite columns, was crowned with a huge bronze statue of the patron of the seas, Poseidon. At the top of the tower, in a voluminous bronze bowl, charcoal was constantly smoldering; with the help of a complex system of mirrors, the reflection of the coals was reflected 100 miles away, indicating the location of the harbor.

In addition to its main function, the lighthouse served as an excellent observation post. There was also a weather vane, a clock and astronomical instruments.

The lighthouse, erected on the island of Foros, stood for about 1,500 years. The lighthouse suffered from earthquakes twice and was restored, but still strong sea winds finally destroyed the old walls. Later, a medieval fortress was erected on the ruins of the lighthouse. The name of the island became a symbol; the word “Foros” came to mean “lighthouse”, from which the modern word “headlight” was formed.

During the Hellenistic era, a colossal statue of the Sun god Helios (Colossus of Rhodes) was created on the island of Rhodes. This monument testifies to the force with which the hypertrophy of plastic forms was growing at that time. Even the tyranny of archaic Greece did not know such a passion for large sculptures in the past; it will not be surpassed by the gigantomania of such Roman emperors as Nero.

In the Hellenistic states, the ties between man and the state weakened; instead of the Greek concept of “citizen,” the concept of “subject” appeared. Philosophy began to claim the role of a consoler and guide in life, dealing primarily with ethical problems, looking for a path to a person’s peace of mind and happiness.

Athens continued to be the center of philosophical schools and movements. There was Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Peripatetic school. But their influence faded into the background before new teachings - Stoicism, Epicureanism and Cynicism.

Adherents of the Stoic school put forward their ideal of a sage who is guided only by the arguments of reason, which controls all his feelings and desires. “Only a wise man is rich and free,” the Stoics taught, meaning spiritual wealth and freedom and calling for “living according to nature.” They promoted the idea of ​​a “world state” uniting all of humanity, but at the same time they spoke of the “reasonableness of everything that exists.” Stoic philosophy, with its confusing and contradictory ethics, and its political, social and religious tolerance, was popular in various circles of society.

Cynic philosophy was founded by Diogenes of Sinope. Diogenes and his followers, wandering teachers of truth, preached simplification, contentment with little, the need to throw off the shackles of a civilization that was disfiguring people. These sermons, usually in the form of a casual conversation with listeners, were most popular among the lower classes. The apt sayings of the Cynics, their witty jokes; accusatory satirical speeches, in which poetry and prose alternated (Menippian satire), met with a lively response among the people.

Of the numerous philosophical trends of the Hellenistic period, only Epicureanism was materialistic, which received its name after the founder of the school, the Athenian philosopher Epicurus (341-271 BC). Epicurus continued and developed the atomic theory of Democritus. His doctrine of nature was based on it.

Of great interest in the culture of Hellenistic Egypt is such a phenomenon as the Fayum portrait, which received its name from the place where its first copies were discovered in a village near Fayum (Middle Egypt). It combined Egyptian and European traditions.

The Egyptians practiced embalming bodies. In accordance with Egyptian funerary rituals, the face or head of a shrouded mummy was covered with a mask representing the idealized facial features of the deceased. However, new elements were introduced into the received Egyptian funerary traditions. The Romans' rethinking of the meaning of the Egyptian funeral mask led to its replacement with portraits painted on tablets. The portraits were kept in frames in the customer's home, but after the death of the person depicted in them, the portrait (or a copy of it) was placed on the mummy's face, figuratively securing it with layers of funeral bandages (this was a change from the ancient Egyptian tradition of placing a sculptural mask on the mummy's face); at the same time, portraits “adjusted” to the required size were often roughly cropped. The women and men depicted in the portraits are depicted in clothes according to Roman fashion of the time. Regular color men's clothing - white; for women - white and red, but also green and blue. Hairstyles, both women's and men's, follow (though belatedly) the metropolitan fashion set by the imperial family.

Portraits were mainly made on planks of cedar or cypress wood measuring 43 by 23 cm with a thickness of about 1.6 mm. Many examples of the 1st-2nd centuries are made in the realistic traditions of Roman portrait art. In addition, the portraits themselves give a certain idea of ​​the level of ancient painting, which has practically been lost to us.

In the 4th century. with the establishment of Christianity in Egypt and the cessation of the practice of embalming the bodies of the dead, Fayum portraits, which were in the last stage of their development, gradually disappear.

In Egypt, after the campaigns of Antiochus IV, popular movements and at the same time an acute dynastic struggle, which turned into a real internal war that devastated the country. Meanwhile, the Romans contributed in every possible way to the foreign policy weakening of Egypt. In 96, Cyrenaica was annexed to Rome, and in 58, Cyprus. The Romans came close to the borders of Egypt, only a civil war in Rome itself delayed its subjugation. In 30 BC. e. This last Hellenistic state was conquered. The Hellenistic world as a political system was absorbed by the Roman Empire, but the elements of the socio-economic structure and cultural traditions that developed during the Hellenistic era had a huge impact on the further development of the Eastern Mediterranean and largely determined its specificity.

Conclusion

Hellenism as a historical phenomenon is a combination of Greek and Eastern elements in the economy, social relations, statehood and culture. In different parts of the Hellenistic world, this combination was expressed in different forms: the founding of new polis-type cities, the granting of polis privileges to cities oriental type, the introduction of Greek methods of economic life into the traditional economy, rational methods of control and management while maintaining the old structure, as in Egypt. The extent of Eastern and Greek elements also varied in different countries, from the predominance of Eastern traditions in the Ptolemaic state to the dominance of Hellenic forms in Balkan Greece, Macedonia or Magna Graecia.

The synthesis of heterogeneous principles in each Hellenistic state gave rise to additional impulses for economic growth and the creation of a more complex social structure, statehood and culture. A new development factor was the emergence of a system of Hellenistic states, which included vast territories from Sicily in the west to India in the East, from Central Asia in the north to the first cataracts of the Nile in the south. Numerous wars of different Hellenistic states, a complex diplomatic game, increased international trade and a wide exchange of cultural achievements within this vast system of states created additional opportunities for the development of Hellenistic societies.

New cities are being built, previously empty territories are being developed, new craft workshops are appearing, new trade routes are being laid, both by land and by sea. In general, it can be said that the introduction of Greek forms of economy and social structure strengthened the slave-owning foundations of the Middle Eastern economy in the 3rd-1st centuries. BC e.

However, the dual nature of Hellenistic societies, fertilizing and stimulating the process of historical existence in the 3rd century. BC e., in the 2nd century. BC e. began to show its fragility. The fusion of Greek and Eastern principles turned out to be incomplete; their coexistence began to give rise to tension, which resulted in various forms of ethnic and social clashes, disobedience to the central authority. Hellenistic statehood fails to cope with common tasks maintaining order and stability within the country and protecting its external security. Dynastic strife in the ruling royal houses, numerous external wars deplete the strength and resources of the Hellenistic states, suck the juices out of their subjects, and further intensify internal tensions. By the middle of the 2nd century. BC e. Hellenistic states become internally decrepit and begin to disintegrate into their component parts (the Seleucid state, the Greco-Bactrian kingdom). This process of internal weakening and political disorder was skillfully exploited by the two great powers of that time - Rome in the west and Parthia in the east. In the II - first half of the I century. BC e. One after another, the Hellenistic states of the Mediterranean up to the Euphrates are captured by Rome. Parthia takes control of the Eastern Hellenistic states of Central Asia, Iran, Mesopotamia, and its western border goes to the Euphrates. Rome's occupation of Egypt in 30 BC. e. meant the end of the Hellenistic world, the Hellenistic stage of the historical development of Ancient Greece.

If the inclusion of the Hellenistic countries of the Mediterranean up to the Euphrates into the Roman state strengthened the slave-owning nature of production and society in these parts, then in the countries Eastern Hellenism, conquered by Parthia, elements of new social relations, relations of the eastern version of the feudal system, are emerging.

Many achievements of Hellenistic science and culture were inherited by the Byzantine Empire and the Arabs and entered the golden fund of universal human culture.

Literature

1. Vipper V.R. The art of ancient Greece. – M., 1972.

2. Ionina N.A. One Hundred Wonders of the World. – M., 1999.

3. Losev A.F. History of ancient aesthetics: Late Hellenism. – M., 1980.

4. Losev A.F. History of ancient aesthetics: Early Hellenism. – M., 1979.

To prepare this work, materials were used from the sites:

Satrapy - region, province in ancient Persia and a number of other ancient eastern states.

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The most important heritage of the Hellenistic world was a culture that became widespread on the periphery of the Hellenistic world and had a huge influence on the development of Roman culture (especially the eastern Roman provinces), as well as on the culture of other peoples of antiquity and the Middle Ages.

Hellenistic culture was not uniform; in each region it was formed as a result of the interaction of local stable traditional elements of culture with the culture brought by conquerors and settlers, Greeks and non-Greeks. The combination of these elements, the forms of synthesis, were determined by the influence of many circumstances: the numerical ratio of various ethnic groups(local and newcomers), the level of their culture, social organization, economic conditions, political situation, and so on - specific to a given area. Even when comparing large Hellenistic cities - Alexandria, Antioch on the Orontes, Pergamum, Pella, etc., where the Greek-Macedonian population played a leading role, features of cultural life specific to each city are clearly visible; the more clearly they appear in the internal regions of the Hellenistic states.

However, Hellenistic culture can be considered as an integral phenomenon: all its local variants are characterized by some common features, due, on the one hand, to the obligatory participation in the synthesis of elements of Greek culture, on the other hand, similar trends in the socio-economic and political development of society throughout the Hellenistic world . The development of cities, commodity-money relations, trade relations in the Mediterranean and Western Asia largely determined the formation of material and spiritual culture during the Hellenistic period. The formation of Hellenistic monarchies in combination with the polis structure contributed to the emergence of new legal relations, a new socio-psychological appearance of man, and a new content of his ideology. In Hellenistic culture, differences in the content and nature of the culture of the Hellenized upper strata of society and the urban and rural poor, among whom local cultural traditions were more firmly preserved, appear more prominently than in classical Greek culture.

One of the incentives for the formation of Hellenistic culture was the spread of the Hellenic way of life and the Hellenic education system. In the policies and in the eastern cities that received the status of a policy, gymnasiums with palestras, theaters, stadiums and hippodromes arose; Even in small settlements that did not have polis status, but were inhabited by clerics, artisans and other immigrants from the Balkan Peninsula and the coast of Asia Minor, Greek teachers and gymnasiums appeared.

Much attention is paid to training young people, and, consequently, preserving the basics Hellenic culture was given in the original Greek cities. The education system, as it is characterized by the authors of Hellenistic times, consisted of two or three levels, depending on the economic and cultural potential of the polis. Boys, starting from the age of 7, were taught by private teachers or in public schools in reading, writing, counting, drawing, gymnastics, and were introduced to myths and the poems of Homer and Hesiod: by listening and memorizing these works, children learned the basics of the polis ethical and religious worldview. Further education youth took place in gymnasiums. From the age of 12, teenagers were required to attend a palaestra (physical training school) to master the art of pentathlon (pentathlon, which included running, jumping, wrestling, discus and javelin throwing), and at the same time a grammar school, where they studied the works of poets, historians and logographers, geometry , began astronomy, learned to play musical instruments; 15-17 year old boys listened to lectures on rhetoric, ethics, logic, philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, geography, and learned horse riding, fist fighting, and the beginnings of military affairs. In the gymnasium, young ephebes who had reached adulthood and were subject to conscription for military service continued their education and physical training.

Probably, the same amount of knowledge, with certain local variations, was received by boys and young men in the policies of the Eastern Hellenistic powers. The work of schools, the selection of teachers, the behavior and success of students were strictly monitored by the gymnasiarch and elected officials from the citizens of the policy; expenses for the maintenance of the gymnasium and teachers were made from the policy treasury, sometimes donations from “Evergets” (benefactors) - citizens and kings - were received for these purposes.

Gymnasiums were not only institutions for training young people, but also a place for pentathlon competitions and the center of everyday cultural life. Each gymnasium was a complex of premises that included a palaestra, i.e. an open area for training and competitions with adjacent rooms for rubbing with oil and washing after exercises (warm and cold baths), porticoes and exedra for classes, conversations, lectures, where local and visiting philosophers, scientists and poets spoke.

An important factor in the spread of Hellenistic culture were numerous festivals - traditional and newly emerging - in the old religious centers of Greece and in the new cities and capitals of the Hellenistic kingdoms. Thus, on Delos, in addition to the traditional Apollonios and Dionysios, special ones were held in honor of the “benefactors” - the Antigonids, Ptolemies, and Aetolians. Celebrations became famous in Thespiae (Boeotia) and Delphi, on the island of Kos, in Miletus and Magnesia (Asia Minor). Those celebrated in Alexandria by Ptolemy were equal in scale to the Olympic ones. In addition to religious rites and sacrifices, indispensable elements of these celebrations were solemn processions, games and competitions, theatrical performances and refreshments. Sources have preserved a description of a grandiose festival held in 165 BC. e. Antiochus IV in Daphne (near Antioch), where the sacred grove of Apollo and Artemis was located: the solemn procession that opened the holiday included foot and horse soldiers (about 50 thousand), chariots and elephants, 800 young men in golden wreaths and 580 women sitting in a stretcher trimmed with gold and silver; they carried countless richly decorated statues of gods and heroes; many hundreds of slaves carried gold and silver objects and ivory. The description mentions 300 sacrificial tables and a thousand fattened bulls. The celebrations lasted 30 days, during which there were gymnastic games, martial arts, theatrical performances, hunts and feasts for a thousand and fifteen hundred people. Participants from all over the Hellenistic world flocked to such celebrations.

Not only the way of life, but also the entire appearance of Hellenistic cities contributed to the spread and further development of a new type of culture, enriched by local elements and reflecting the development trends of contemporary society. The architecture of Hellenistic city-states continued Greek traditions, but along with the construction of temples, much attention was paid to the civil construction of theaters, gymnasiums, boulevards, and palaces. The interior and exterior design of buildings became richer and more varied, porticos and columns were widely used, colonnades framed individual buildings, the agora, and sometimes the main streets (porticos of Antigonus Gonatas, Attalus on Delos, on the main streets of Alexandria). The kings built and restored many temples to Greek and local deities. Due to the large volume of work and lack of funds, construction dragged on for tens and hundreds of years.

The Sarapeum in Alexandria, built by Parmeniscus in the 3rd century, was considered the most grandiose and beautiful. BC e., the temple of Apollo at Didyma, near Miletus, the construction of which began in 300 BC. BC, lasted about 200 years and was not completed, the temple of Zeus in Athens (started in 170 BC, completed at the beginning of the 2nd century AD) and the temple of Artemis in Magnesia on the Meander by the architect Hermogenes (started at the turn of the 3rd and 2nd centuries, completed in 129 BC). At the same time, temples of local deities were also slowly built and restored - the temple of Horus in Edfu, the goddess Hathor in Dendera, Khnum in Esna, Isis on the island of Philae, Esagil in Babylon, the temples of the god Nabu, son of Marduk, in Borsippa and Uruk. Temples of the Greek gods were built according to classical canons, with minor deviations. In the architecture of the temples of the eastern gods, the traditions of ancient Egyptian and Babylonian architects are observed; Hellenistic influences can be traced in individual details and in the inscriptions on the walls of the temples.

The specificity of the Hellenistic period can be considered the emergence of a new type of public buildings - libraries (in Alexandria, Pergamon, Antioch, etc.), Museyon (in Alexandria, Antioch) and specific structures - the Pharos lighthouse and the Tower of the Winds in Athens with a weather vane on the roof, solar clocks on the walls and water clocks inside it. Excavations in Pergamon made it possible to reproduce the structure of the library building. It was located in the center of the Acropolis, in the square near the Temple of Athena. The facade of the building was a two-story portico with a double row of columns, the lower portico rested on a supporting wall adjacent to the steep slope of the hill, and on the second floor behind the portico, which was used as a kind of reading room, there were four closed rooms that served as storage for books, i.e. e. papyrus and parchment scrolls, on which artistic and scientific works were written in ancient times.

The largest library in antiquity was considered the Alexandria library, outstanding scientists and poets - Euclid, Eratosthenes, Theocritus and others - worked here, books were brought here from all countries of the ancient world, and in the 1st century. BC e. According to legend, it consisted of about 700 thousand scrolls. No descriptions of the building of the Library of Alexandria have been preserved; apparently, it was part of the Museion complex. The Museion was part of the palace buildings; in addition to the temple itself, it owned a large house, where there was a dining room for scientists who were members of the Museion, an exedra - a covered gallery with seats for classes - and a place for walking. The construction of public buildings that served as centers for scientific work or the application of scientific knowledge can be seen as recognition of the increased role of science in the practical and spiritual life of Hellenistic society.

A comparison of the scientific knowledge accumulated in the Greek and Eastern worlds gave rise to the need for their classification and gave impetus to the further progress of science. Mathematics, astronomy, botany, geography, and medicine receive special development. The synthesis of mathematical knowledge of the ancient world can be considered the work of Euclid “Elements” (or “Principles”). Euclid's postulates and axioms and the deductive method of proof served as the basis for geometry textbooks for centuries. The work of Apollonius of Perga on conic sections laid the foundation for trigonometry. The name of Archimedes of Syracuse is associated with the discovery of one of the basic laws of hydrostatics, important principles of mechanics and many technical inventions.

The observations of astronomical phenomena that existed before the Greeks in Babylonia at the temples and the works of Babylonian scientists of the V-IV centuries. BC e. Kidena (Kidinnu), Naburiana (Naburimannu), Sudina influenced the development of astronomy in the Hellenistic period. Aristarchus of Samos (310-230 BC) hypothesized that the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun in circular orbits. Seleucus of Chaldea tried to substantiate this position. Hipparchus from Nicaea (146-126 BC) discovered (or repeated after Kidinna?) the phenomenon of the precession of the equinoxes, established the duration of the lunar month, compiled a catalog of 805 fixed stars with the determination of their coordinates and divided them into three classes according to brightness . But he rejected Aristarchus' hypothesis, citing the fact that circular orbits did not correspond to the observed motion of the planets, and his authority contributed to the establishment of the geocentric system in ancient science.

The campaigns of Alexander the Great significantly expanded the geographical understanding of the Greeks. Using the accumulated information, Dicaearchus (about 300 BC) compiled a map of the world and calculated the height of many mountains in Greece. Erastophenes of Cyrene (275-200 BC), based on the idea of ​​the spherical shape of the Earth, calculated its circumference at 252 thousand stadia (approx. 39,700 km), which is very close to the actual one (40,075.7 km). He also argued that all seas constitute one ocean and that one can get to India by sailing around Africa or west from Spain. His hypothesis was supported by Posidonius of Apamea (136-51 BC), who studied the tides of the Atlantic Ocean, volcanic and meteorological phenomena and put forward the concept of five climate zones of the Earth. In the II century. BC e. Hippalus discovered the monsoons, the practical significance of which was demonstrated by Eudoxus of Cyzicus, sailing to India across the open sea. Numerous works by geographers that have not reached us served as a source for Strabo’s consolidated work “Geography in 17 Books,” which he completed around 7 AD. e. and containing a description of the entire world known at that time - from Britain to India.

Theophrastus, a student and successor of Aristotle in the Peripatetic school, based on Aristotle’s “History of Animals”, created the “History of Plants”, in which he systematized the knowledge accumulated by the beginning of the 3rd century. BC e. knowledge in the field of botany. Subsequent works of ancient botanists made significant additions only to the study of medicinal plants, which was associated with the development of medicine. In the field of medical knowledge in the Hellenistic era, there were two directions: “dogmatic” (or “bookish”), which put forward the task of speculative knowledge of human nature and the ailments hidden in it, and empirical, which set the goal of studying and treating a specific disease. Herophilus of Chalcedon, who worked in Alexandria (3rd century BC), made a great contribution to the study of human anatomy. He wrote about the presence of nerves and established their connection with the brain, hypothesized that human thinking abilities are also connected with the brain; he also believed that blood, not air, circulates through the vessels, i.e., he actually came to the idea of ​​​​blood circulation. Obviously, his conclusions were based on the practice of anatomizing corpses and the experience of Egyptian doctors and mummifiers. Erasistratus from the island of Keos (3rd century BC) was no less famous. He distinguished between motor and sensory nerves and studied the anatomy of the heart. Both of them knew how to perform complex operations and had their own schools of students. Heraclides of Tarentum and other empiricist doctors paid great attention to the study of drugs.

Even a short list of scientific achievements suggests that science is gaining great importance in Hellenistic society. This is also manifested in the fact that at the courts of the Hellenistic kings (to increase their prestige) museums and libraries were created, scientists, writers and poets were provided with conditions for creative work. But material and moral dependence on the royal court left its mark on the form and content of their works. And it is no coincidence that the skeptic Timon called the scientists and poets of the Alexandrian Museion “fattened chickens in a hen house.”

The scientific and artistic literature of the Hellenistic era was extensive (but relatively few works survive). Traditional genres continued to be developed - epic, tragedy, comedy, lyric, rhetorical and historical prose, but new ones also appeared - philological studies (for example, Zenodotus of Ephesus on the original text of Homer's poems, etc.), dictionaries (the first Greek lexicon was compiled by Philetus Kossky around 300 BC), biographies, verse adaptations of scientific treatises, epistolography, etc. At the courts of the Hellenistic kings, refined poetry, but devoid of connection with everyday life, flourished, examples of which were the idylls and hymns of Callimachus from Cyrene (310 -- 245 BC), Arata from Sol (Ill century BC), epic poem“Argonautica” by Apollonius of Rhodes (III century BC), etc.

Epigrams had a more vital character; they assessed the works of poets, artists, architects, characterized individuals, and described everyday and erotic scenes. The epigram reflected the feelings, moods and thoughts of the poet; only in the Roman era did it become predominantly satirical. Best known at the end of the 4th - beginning of the 3rd century. BC e. epigrams of Asklepiad, Posidippus, Leonidas of Tarentum were used, and in the 2nd-1st centuries. BC e.-epigrams of Antipater of Sidon, Meleager and Philodemus from Gadara.

The largest lyric poet was Theocritus of Syracuse (born 300 BC), the author of bucolic (shepherd) idylls. This genre arose in Sicily from a competition between shepherds (bucols) in the performance of songs or quatrains. In his bucolics, Theocritus created realistic descriptions of nature, living images of shepherds; in his other idylls, sketches of scenes of city life are given, close to mimes, but with a lyrical coloring.

If epics, hymns, idylls and even epigrams satisfied the tastes of the privileged strata of Hellenistic society, then the interests and tastes of the general population were reflected in such genres as comedy and mime. Of the authors that arose at the end of the 4th century. BC e. in Greece, the “new comedy”, or “comedy of manners”, the plot of which was private life citizens, the most popular was Menander (342-291 BC). His work falls on the period of the struggle of the Diadochi. Political instability, frequent changes of oligarchic and democratic regimes, disasters caused by military operations on the territory of Hellas, the ruin of some and the enrichment of others - all this brought confusion to the moral and ethical ideas of citizens and undermined the foundations of the polis ideology. Uncertainty about the future and faith in fate are growing. These sentiments are reflected in the “new comedy”. The popularity of Menander in the Hellenistic and later Roman era is evidenced by the fact that many of his works - “The Court of Arbitration”, “The Samian Woman”, “The Shorn One”, “The Hateful One”, etc. - were preserved in papyri of the 2nd-4th centuries. n. e., found in peripheral cities and comas of Egypt. The “survivability” of Menander’s works is due to the fact that he not only depicted characters typical of his time in his comedies, but also emphasized their best features, affirmed a humanistic attitude towards every person, regardless of his position in society, towards women, foreigners, slaves.

Mime has long existed in Greece along with comedy. Often this was an improvisation performed in a square or in a private house during a feast by an actor (or actress) without a mask, depicting various characters with facial expressions, gestures and voice. During the Hellenistic era, this genre became especially popular. However, the texts, except those belonging to Herod, have not reached us, and the mimes of Herod (III century BC), preserved in papyri, written in the Aeolian dialect, which was outdated by that time, were not intended for the general public. Nevertheless, they give an idea of ​​the style and content of this type of work. The scenes written by Herodes depict a procuress, a brothel keeper, a shoemaker, a jealous mistress who tortured her slave-lover, and other characters.

A colorful scene at school: a poor woman, complaining about how difficult it is for her to pay for her son’s education, asks the teacher to whip her slacker son, who plays dice instead of studying, which the teacher does very willingly with the help of his students.

Unlike Greek literature V-IV centuries. BC e. The fiction of the Hellenistic period does not deal with the broad socio-political problems of its time; its plots are limited to the interests, morality and life of a narrow social group. Therefore, many works quickly lost their social and artistic significance and were forgotten, only a few of them left a mark in the history of culture.

Images, themes and moods fiction find parallels in the visual arts. Monumental sculpture intended for squares, temples, and public buildings continues to develop. It is characterized by mythological subjects, grandeur, and complexity of composition. So, the Colossus of Rhodes - bronze statue Helios, created by Jerez from Lind (III century BC), reached a height of 35 m and was considered a miracle of art and technology. The image of the battle of gods and giants on the famous (more than 120 m long) frieze of the altar of Zeus in Pergamon (2nd century BC), consisting of many figures, is distinguished by its dynamism, expressiveness and drama. In early Christian literature, the Pergamon Altar was called the “temple of Satan.” The Rhodian, Pergamon and Alexandrian schools of sculptors took shape, continuing the traditions of Lysippos, Scopas and Praxiteles. The masterpieces of Hellenistic monumental sculpture are considered to be the statue of the goddess Tyche (Fate), the patroness of the city of Antioch, sculpted by the Rhodian Eutychides, the “Aphrodite from the island of Melos” (“Venus de Milo”), sculpted by Alexander, “Nike from the island of Samothrace” and “Aphrodite Anadyomene” from Cyrene by unknown authors. The emphasized drama of sculptural images, characteristic of the Pergamon school, is inherent in such sculptural groups as “Laocoon”, “Farnese Bull” (or “Dirka”), “The Dying Gaul”, “Gaul Killing His Wife”. High skill was achieved in portrait sculpture (an example of which is “Demosthenes” by Polyeuctus, around 280 BC) and portrait painting, which can be judged by the portraits from the Fayum. Although the Fayum portraits that have come down to us date back to Roman times, they undoubtedly go back to Hellenistic artistic traditions and give an idea of ​​the skill of the artists and the real appearance of the Egyptian inhabitants depicted in them. Obviously, the same moods and tastes that gave rise to the bucolic idyll of Theocritus, epigrams, “new comedy” and mimes were reflected in the creation of realistic sculptural images of old fishermen, shepherds, terracotta figurines of women, peasants, slaves, in the depiction of comedic characters, everyday scenes , rural landscape, in mosaics and wall paintings. The influence of Hellenistic fine art can be traced in traditional Egyptian sculpture (in tomb reliefs, Ptolemaic statues), and later in Parthian and Kushan art.

In historical and philosophical works the Hellenistic era reveals a person’s attitude to society, political and social problems of his time. The subjects of historical works were often events of the recent past; in their form, the works of many historians stood on the verge of fiction: the presentation was skillfully dramatized, rhetorical techniques were used, designed to have an emotional impact in a certain way. In this style, they wrote the history of Alexander the Great by Callisthenes (late 4th century BC) and Clitarchus of Alexandria (mid-3rd century BC), the history of the Greeks of the Western Mediterranean - Timaeus from Tauromenium (mid-3rd century BC) . BC), history of Greece from 280 to 219 BC. e. -- Philarchus, supporter of Cleomenes' reforms (late 3rd century BC). Other historians adhered to a more strict and dry presentation of the facts - in this style, the history of Alexander’s campaigns, written in fragments, written by Ptolemy I (after 301 BC), the history of the period of the struggle of the diadochi of Hieronymus of Cardia (mid-3rd century BC), is kept in this style AD) etc. For historiography of the 2nd-1st centuries. BC e. characterized by an interest in general history; the works of Polybius, Posidonius of Apamea, Nicholas of Damascus, and Agatharchides of Cnidus belonged to this genre. But the history of individual states continued to be developed, the chronicles and decrees of Greek city-states were studied, and interest in the history of eastern countries increased. Already at the beginning of the 3rd century. BC e. appeared written in Greek local priest-scientists wrote the history of Pharaonic Egypt by Mane-fon and the history of Babylonia by Berossus; later Apollodorus of Artemita wrote the history of the Parthians. Historical works also appeared in local languages, for example, the Book of the Maccabees about the uprising of Judea against the Seleucids.

The choice of topic and the coverage of events by the authors was undoubtedly influenced by the political and philosophical theories of their contemporary era, but this is difficult to identify: most historical works came down to posterity in fragments or retellings by later authors. Only the surviving books from Polybius’s “General History in 40 Books” give an idea of ​​the methods of historical research and the historical and philosophical concepts characteristic of that time. Polybius sets himself the goal of explaining why and how the entire known world came to be under the rule of the Romans. According to Polybius, fate plays a decisive role in history: it was she - Tyche - who forcibly merged the history of individual countries into world history and gave the Romans world dominion. Its power is manifested in the causal connection of all events. At the same time, Polybius assigns a large role to people and outstanding personalities. He seeks to prove that the Romans created a powerful power thanks to the perfection of their state, which combined elements of monarchy, aristocracy and democracy, and thanks to the wisdom and moral superiority of their politicians. By idealizing the Roman political system, Polybius seeks to reconcile his fellow citizens with the inevitability of subordination to Rome and the loss of political independence of the Greek city-states. The emergence of such concepts suggests that the political views of Hellenistic society moved far away from polis ideology.

This is even more clearly evident in philosophical teachings. The schools of Plato and Aristotle, which reflected the worldview of the civil collective of the classical city-state, are losing their former role. At the same time, the influence of those already existing in the 4th century increases. BC e. currents of cynics and skeptics generated by the crisis of polis ideology. However, those that arose at the turn of the 4th and 3rd centuries enjoyed predominant success in the Hellenistic world. BC e. the teachings of the Stoics and Epicurus, which absorbed the main features of the worldview of the new era. To the Stoic school, founded in 302 BC. e. in Athens, Zeno from the island of Cyprus (about 336-- 264 BC), belonged to many major philosophers and scientists of the Hellenistic time, for example Chrysippus of Sol (III century BC), Panetius of Rhodes ( 2nd century BC), Posidonius of Apamea (1st century BC), etc. Among them were people of different political orientations - from advisers to kings (Zeno) to inspirers of social transformations (Spherus was Cleomenes’ mentor in Sparta, Blossius-Aristonica in Pergamon). The Stoics focus their main attention on man as an individual and ethical problems; questions about the essence of being are in second place for them.

The Stoics contrasted the feeling of instability of a person’s status in conditions of continuous military and social conflicts and weakening ties with the collective of citizens of the polis with the idea of ​​​​a person’s dependence on a higher good force (logos, nature, God) that controls everything that exists. In their view, a person is no longer a citizen of the polis, but a citizen of space; to achieve happiness, he must recognize the pattern of phenomena predetermined by a higher power (fate) and live in harmony with nature. Eclecticism and the ambiguity of the basic tenets of the Stoics ensured their popularity in different strata of Hellenistic society and allowed the doctrines of Stoicism to converge with mystical beliefs and astrology.

The philosophy of Epicurus in its interpretation of the problems of existence continued the development of the materialism of Democritus, but man also occupied a central place in it. Epicurus saw his task in freeing people from the fear of death and fate: he argued that the gods do not influence the life of nature and man, and proved the materiality of the soul. He saw a person’s happiness in finding peace and equanimity (ataraxia), which can only be achieved through knowledge and self-improvement, avoiding passions and suffering and abstaining from active activity.

Skeptics, who became close to the followers of Plato's Academy, directed their criticism mainly against the epistemology of Epicurus and the Stoics. They also identified happiness with the concept of “ataraxia,” but interpreted it as an awareness of the impossibility of knowing the world (Timon the Skeptic, 3rd century BC), which meant a refusal to recognize reality and social activity.

The teachings of the Stoics, Epicurus, and skeptics, although they reflected some general features of the worldview of their era, were intended for the most cultured and privileged circles. In contrast, the Cynics spoke to the crowd in the streets, squares, and ports, proving the unreasonableness of the existing order and preaching poverty not only in words, but also in their way of life. The most famous of the Cynics of Hellenistic times were Crates of Thebes (about 365-285 BC) and Bion Borysthenes (III century BC). Crates, who came from a wealthy family, became interested in cynicism, freed his slaves, distributed property and, like Diogenes, began to lead the life of a philosopher-beggar. Sharply opposing his philosophical opponents, Crates preached moderate cynicism and was known for his philanthropy. He had a large number of students and followers, among them for some time was Zeno, the founder of the Stoic school. Bion was born in the Northern Black Sea region into the family of a freedman and a hetaera; in his youth he was sold into slavery; Having received freedom and inheritance after the death of his master, he came to Athens and joined the Cynic school. The name of Bion is associated with the appearance of diatribes - speeches-conversations filled with the preaching of Cynic philosophy, polemics with opponents and criticism of generally accepted views. However, the Cynics did not go further than criticizing the rich and rulers; they saw the achievement of happiness in the renunciation of needs and desires, in the “beggar’s bag” and contrasted the philosopher-beggar not only with the kings, but also with the “unreasonable crowd.”

The element of social protest that sounded in the philosophy of the Cynics found its expression in social utopia: Euhemerus (end of the 4th - beginning of the 3rd century BC) in fantasy story about the islands of Panchaea and Yambul (III century BC) in the description of the journey to the Islands of the Sun created the ideal of a society free from slavery, social vices and conflicts. Unfortunately, their works survived only in the retelling of the historian Diodorus Siculus. According to Yambul, on the islands of the Sun, among exotic nature, people of high spiritual culture live; they have no kings, no priests, no family, no property, no division into professions. Happy, they all work together, taking turns doing community service. Euhemerus in the “Sacred Record” also describes a happy life on an island lost in the Indian Ocean, where there is no private land ownership, but people by occupation are divided into priests and people of mental labor, farmers, shepherds and warriors. On the island there is a “Sacred Record” on a golden column about the deeds of Uranus, Kronos and Zeus, the organizers of the life of the islanders. Outlining its contents, Euhemerus gives his explanation of the origin of religion: the gods are outstanding people who once existed, organizers of public life, who declared themselves gods and established their own cult.

If Hellenistic philosophy was the result of the creativity of privileged Hellenized sections of society and it is difficult to trace Eastern influences, then Hellenistic religion was created by broad sections of the population, and its most characteristic feature is syncretism, in which the Eastern heritage plays a huge role.

The gods of the Greek pantheon were identified with ancient eastern deities, acquired new features, and the forms of their veneration changed. Some eastern cults (Isis, Cybele, etc.) were perceived by the Greeks almost unchanged. The importance of the goddess of fate Tyche grew to the level of the main deities. A specific product of the Hellenistic era was the cult of Sarapis, a deity who owed its appearance to the religious policy of the Ptolemies. Apparently, the very life of Alexandria, with its multilingualism, with different customs, beliefs and traditions of the population, suggested the idea of ​​​​creating a new religious cult that could unite this motley foreign society with the indigenous Egyptian one. The atmosphere of the spiritual life of that time required the mystical design of such act. Sources report the appearance of an unknown deity to Ptolemy in a dream, the interpretation of this dream by the priests, the transfer from Sinope to Alexandria of a statue of the deity in the form of a bearded youth and his proclamation as Sarapis - a god who combined the features of the Memphis Osiris-Apis and the Greek gods Zeus, Hades and Asclepius. The main assistants of Ptolemy I in the formation of the cult of Sarapis were the Athenian Timothy, a priest from Eleusis, and the Egyptian Manetho, a priest from Heliopolis. Obviously, they were able to give the new cult a form and content that met the needs of their time, since the veneration of Sarapis quickly spread in Egypt, and then Sarapis, together with Isis, became the most popular Hellenistic deities, whose cult lasted until the victory of Christianity.

While local differences in the pantheon and forms of cult remain in different regions, some universal deities are becoming widespread, combining the functions of the most revered deities different nations. One of the main cults was the cult of Zeus Hypsistos (the Highest), identified with the Phoenician Baal, Egyptian Amun, Babylonian Bel, Jewish Yahweh and other main deities of a particular region. His epithets - Pantocrator (Almighty), Soter (Savior), Helios (Sun), etc. - indicate the expansion of his functions. Another rival in popularity with Zeus was the cult of Dionysus with its mysteries, which brought it closer to the cult of the Egyptian Osiris, Sabazius and Adonis of Asia Minor. Of the female deities, the Egyptian Isis, who embodied many Greek and Asian goddesses, and the Asia Minor Mother of the Gods became especially revered. The syncretic cults that developed in the East penetrated the policies of Asia Minor, Greece and Macedonia, and then into the Western Mediterranean.

Hellenistic kings, using ancient Eastern traditions, propagated the royal cult. This phenomenon was caused by the political needs of the emerging states. The royal cult was one of the forms of Hellenistic ideology, which merged ancient Eastern ideas about the divinity of royal power, the Greek cult of heroes and oikists (city founders) and the philosophical theories of the 4th-3rd centuries. BC e. about the essence of state power; he embodied the idea of ​​the unity of the new, Hellenistic state, and raised the authority of the king’s power with religious rituals. The royal cult, like many other political institutions of the Hellenistic world, was further developed in the Roman Empire.

With the decline of the Hellenistic states, noticeable changes occurred in Hellenistic culture. The rationalistic features of the worldview are increasingly retreating before religion and mysticism, mysteries, magic, and astrology are widespread, and at the same time, elements of social protest are growing - social utopias and prophecies are gaining new popularity.

During the Hellenistic era, works continued to be created in local languages, preserving traditional forms (religious hymns, funeral and magical texts, teachings, prophecies, chronicles, fairy tales), but reflecting to one degree or another the features of the Hellenistic worldview. From the end of the 3rd century. BC e. their importance in Hellenistic culture increases.

The papyri preserved magical formulas, with the help of which people hoped to force gods or demons to change their fate, cure diseases, destroy an enemy, etc. Initiation into the mysteries was seen as direct communication with God and liberation from the power of fate. Egyptian tales about the sage Khaemuset talk about his search for the magic book of the god Thoth, which makes its owner not subject to the gods, about the incarnation of the set of an ancient powerful magician in his son Khaemu, and about the miraculous deeds of a boy magician. Khaemuset travels to the afterlife, where a boy magician shows him the ordeals of a rich man and the blissful life of the righteous poor next to the gods.

One of the biblical books, Ecclesiastes, written at the end of the 3rd century, is permeated with deep pessimism. BC e.: wealth, wisdom, labor - all “vanity of vanities,” the author claims. Social utopia is embodied in the activities that emerged in the 2nd-1st centuries. BC e. sects of the Essenes in Palestine and the Therapeuta in Egypt, in which religious opposition to the Jewish priesthood was combined with the establishment of other forms of socio-economic existence. According to the descriptions of ancient authors - Pliny the Elder, Philo of Alexandria, Josephus, the Essenes lived in communities, collectively owned property and worked together, producing only what was necessary for their consumption. Entry into the community was voluntary, internal life, community management and religious rites were strictly regulated, the subordination of juniors in relation to elders in terms of age and time of entry into the community, non-ownership of property, denial of wealth and slavery, limitation of vital needs, and asceticism were observed. There were many similarities in the rituals and organization of the community.

The discovery of the Qumran texts and archaeological research have provided indisputable evidence of the existence in the Judean Desert of religious communities close to the Essenes in their religious, moral, ethical and social principles of organization. The Qumran community existed from the middle of the 2nd century. BC e. before 65 AD e. In its “library”, along with biblical texts, a number of apocryphal works were discovered and, most importantly, texts created within the community - charters, hymns, commentaries on biblical texts, texts of apocalyptic and messianic content, giving ideas about the ideology of the Qumran community and its internal organization. Having much in common with the Essenes, Qumran community contrasted itself more sharply with the surrounding world, which was reflected in the teaching about the opposition of the “kingdom of light” and the “kingdom of darkness”, about the struggle of the “sons of light” with the “sons of darkness”, in the preaching of the “New Union” or “New Testament” and in the great the role of “Teacher of Righteousness”, founder and mentor of the community. However, the significance of the Qumran manuscripts is not limited to evidence of Esseneism as a socio-religious movement in Palestine in the 2nd century. BC e. Comparing them with early Christian and apocryphal writings allows us to trace the similarities in the ideological ideas and principles of organization of the Qumran and early Christian communities. But at the same time, there was a significant difference between them: the first was a closed organization that kept its teachings secret in anticipation of the coming of the Messiah, whose Christian communities prescribed abstinence from marriage. The Essenes rejected slavery; their moral, ethical and religious views were characterized by messianic-eschatological ideas and the opposition of community members to the surrounding “world of evil.” Therapists can be seen as an Egyptian form of Essayism. They were also characterized by common communities that considered themselves followers of the Messiah, Christ, were open to everyone and widely preached their teachings. The Qumranite Essenes were only the forerunners of a new ideological movement - Christianity, which arose within the framework of the Roman Empire.

The process of Rome's subjugation of the Hellenistic states, accompanied by the spread of Roman forms of political and socio-economic relations to the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean, also had a reverse side - the penetration of Hellenistic culture, ideology and elements of the socio-political structure into Rome. The export of art objects, libraries (for example, the library of King Perseus, exported by Aemilius Paulus), educated slaves and hostages as military booty had a huge impact on the development of Roman literature, art, and philosophy. The reworking of the plots of Menander and other authors of the “new comedy” by Plautus and Terence, the flourishing of the teachings of the Stoics, Epicureans and other philosophical schools on Roman soil, the penetration of Eastern cults into Rome are only individual, the most obvious traces of the influence of Hellenistic culture. Many other features of the Hellenistic world and its culture were also inherited by the Roman Empire.

Hellenistic civilization culture state

A new period in Greek history was the campaign to the East of the famous ruler Alexander the Great. As a result of numerous wars, a huge power emerged, the borders of which extended from Egypt to modern Central Asia. It was at this time that the Hellenistic era began. By it we should mean the spread of Greek culture throughout all the territories conquered

What can be said about Hellenism?

Due to the fact that there was a fusion of Greek and local cultures, Hellenism appeared. This mutual enrichment influenced the preservation of a single culture in several states even after the collapse of the empire.

What does Hellenism mean? It is worth immediately noting that it is violent, since the formation of this culture occurred as a result of numerous wars. Hellenism contributed to the unification of the ancient Greek world with the ancient Eastern one; previously they had developed in different directions. As a result, a powerful state emerged with a unified socio-economic structure, political structure and culture.

As already mentioned, Hellenism is a kind of synthesis of different elements of culture. It can be viewed from several perspectives. On the one hand, the emergence of Hellenism was influenced by the development of ancient Greek society, as well as the crisis of the Greek polis. On the other hand, ancient Eastern societies played a role in its formation, namely their conservative and sedentary social structure.

Reasons that influenced the emergence of Hellenism

The need for the fusion of several cultures arose due to the fact that the Greek polis began to gradually slow down historical progress, having exhausted all its possibilities. That is why discord began to arise between different classes, a social struggle between oligarchy and democracy. Fragmentation caused wars between individual cities. And in order for the history of the state not to end, it was necessary to unite the warring parties.

However, this is not the only reason for the emergence of a new culture. The Hellenistic era arose in connection with the crisis of ancient Eastern socio-political systems. In the 4th century BC. The ancient eastern world, which had already become part of the Persian Empire, was not going through the best period. Due to the stagnant economy, it was impossible to develop the vast empty lands. In addition, the kings of Persia did not give permission for the construction of new cities, did not support trade, and did not put into circulation the large reserves of currency metal lying in their basements. And if Greece in the 4th century BC. suffered due to the excessive activity of the political system, overpopulation and limited resources, the opposite situation was observed in the Persian monarchy.

In this regard, the task arose of a kind of unification, synthesis of different systems that can complement each other. In other words, there was a need for a culture such as Hellenism. This happened after the collapse of the power built by Alexander the Great.

Merging different elements

What areas of life were covered by the synthesis of components inherent in the Greek and Eastern states? There are several different points of view. Some scientists understood Hellenism as the unification of several elements characteristic of culture and religion. Domestic historians this merger was described from the perspective of the combination and interaction of the economic, class-social, political, and cultural spheres. In their opinion, Hellenism is a progressive step that greatly influenced the fate of ancient Greek and ancient Eastern societies.

The synthesis of elements progressed differently in different regions. In some states it was more intense, in others less. In some cities, an important role was assigned to elements inherent in Greek culture, while in others, ancient Eastern principles dominated. Such differences arose in connection with the specific historical characteristics of societies and cities.

Development of Hellenistic society

The Hellenistic period affected state formations of different sizes, from Sicily and southern Italy to northwestern India (from the southern borders to the first rapids of the Nile River). In other words, classical Greece and the East were part of Hellenistic society. Only India and China were not included in this territory.

Several regions can be distinguished that were characterized by common features:

1. Egypt and the Middle East.
2. Balkan Greece, western territory of Asia Minor, Macedonia.
3. Magna Graecia with the Black Sea region.

Most characteristic elements, inherent in Hellenism, manifested themselves in full in Egypt and the Middle East. In this regard, these regions can be considered an area in which classical Hellenism dominated.

Greece, like other regions, had differences mainly in the socio-economic, political and cultural spheres. We can say that in Ancient Greece there was no synthesis as such at all. However, for some reasons it is argued that these territories also became part of the system of Hellenistic countries.

Development of culture and science

The culture of Hellenism influenced the disappearance of the gap between technology and science, practice and theory, characteristic of the classical period. This can be seen in the work of Archimedes, who discovered the hydraulic law. It was he who made a huge contribution to the development of technology, designing combat throwing machines along with defensive weapons.

The creation of new cities and advances in areas such as navigation and military technology contributed to the rise of certain sciences. Among them we can highlight mathematics, mechanics, astronomy, and geography. Euclid also played a significant role in this. He became the founder of elementary geometry. Eratosthenes determined the true dimensions globe, proved that our planet rotates on its axis and moves around the sun. Successful development occurred in both natural science and medicine.

The rapid development of science and culture has entailed the need to store information. In this regard, libraries were built in some cities.

Speaking about what features of Hellenism can be identified, it should be said about the development of a new branch - philology. Much attention began to be paid to grammar, criticism, and so on. Schools played a huge role. Literature became more diverse, but it still continued to succumb to classical elements. Epic and tragedy became more judicious, as erudition and virtuosity of style, as well as sophistication, came to the fore.

What happened in philosophy?

The philosophy of Hellenism also acquired some differences. Faith in gods decreased. New cults began to appear. Civic ideals gradually faded into the background, giving way to individualism. Instead of community, indifference arose, indifference to those issues that were related to a person’s nationality. It was social status that became the determining factor in people's lives. The philosophy of the Hellenistic era was developed through the formation of several schools: Cynics, Skeptics, Stoics, Epicureans and Peripatetics.

Philosophers began to gradually abandon the idea of ​​space. More attention was paid to the person from the position of a certain self-sufficient unit. Social and civic ideals have faded into the background.

It is necessary to abandon all the benefits of civilization

The Cynic school played a huge role in the development of Hellenism. He did not write books, but simply lived. The philosopher tried to show by his example how important it is to follow what he believed were true ideals. He argued that civilizations and all human inventions do not contribute to happiness, they are harmful. Wealth, power, fame - all these are just empty words. He lived in a barrel and wore rags.

Happiness must exist without vanity

The philosophy of Hellenism gained a lot thanks to Epicurus, who was the founder of the Garden school. To study, he chose the problem of human happiness. Epicurus believed that the highest pleasure can be obtained only by renouncing the aspirations of vanity. According to him, it is necessary to live unnoticed, as far as possible from passions, in serene detachment.

Sayings of the Stoics

The philosophy of the Hellenistic era reached its peak. The school of Stoicism played a huge role in the formation of the social worldview. She also dealt with the problem of human happiness. The following was stated: due to the fact that various troubles cannot be avoided anyway, one must get used to them. This is what salvation was, according to the Stoics. You need to properly organize your inner world. Only in this case will no external problems be able to throw you out of balance. It is necessary to be above external stimuli.

Conclusion

Hellenism played a very important role in the development. All the achievements of this period became the basis of aesthetic ideas that appeared along with other eras. Greek philosophy became fundamental in the development of medieval theology. Mythology and literature continue to be popular today.

1. Features of Hellenistic culture. The process of cultural development during the Hellenistic period took place under new conditions and had significant features compared to the previous time. These new conditions were created in the expanded ecumene, that circle of lands in which man of the Hellenistic era lived. If in previous times a person felt primarily like a resident of a small polis in Greece or a village community in the Near East, then in the Hellenistic era the movement and mixing of the population intensified, the narrow boundaries expanded and a resident not only of the large powers of the Seleucids, Ptolemies, Macedonia or Pergamon, but even small Greek city-states felt that he was not only a member of his city or community where he was born, but also of a larger territorial entity and, to a certain extent, of the entire Hellenistic world. This especially applied to the Greeks and Macedonians. Born in the wilderness

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An Arcadia Greek could find himself serving in Egypt, distant Bactria or the Black Sea region and perceive this not as an extraordinary turn of fate, but as the normal course of his life.

Expanding the world around a person, becoming familiar with new living conditions and local, often very ancient traditions, enriched the mental horizons, strengthened the creativity of each person, and created favorable conditions for the development of culture.

As is already known, during the Hellenistic period there was an intensification of the economy, an increase in the social and personal wealth of social strata and individuals. Hellenistic societies had great material resources, and part of the funds could be spent on financing culture.

The social structure of Hellenistic society, which involved a combination of polis-type slaveholding and ancient Eastern social relations, the diversity of social and class contradictions, the instability of the social system of Hellenism as a whole created a special social atmosphere, a complex of different relationships between social groups and layers, which were embodied in different ideological systems in different ways manifested themselves in philosophy and science, architecture and sculpture, small plastic arts or literature.

The role of the state in the cultural sphere has also changed compared to classical times. The Hellenistic monarchies, which had enormous material resources and an extensive central and local apparatus, developed a certain policy in the field of culture and made an attempt to direct the process of cultural creativity in the direction they needed, allocating significant funds to finance certain branches of culture. Particular attention was paid to transforming the capitals, residences of Hellenistic rulers and their central apparatus into powerful cultural centers not only of their own state, but of the entire Hellenistic world. Major scientists from different parts of the Hellenistic world were invited to the royal courts, receiving support from state funds and conducting scientific work. Such teams of scientists formed in Antioch, Orontes, Pergamon, Syracuse, Athens, Rhodes and other cities, but the largest was in Alexandria at the royal court of the Ptolemies. The founder of the dynasty, Ptolemy Soter, on the advice of one of Aristotle's students, Demetrius of Phalerum, founded a special institution dedicated to the nine muses and called it a museum. The museum included a number of rooms intended for lectures and scientific studies, and a library. By the end of the 3rd century. BC e. Most of the book wealth of antiquity was concentrated in the Alexandria Library of the Museum. It consisted of over half a million papyrus scrolls. In addition to the library, bedrooms and a common dining room were built for the scientists living here, as well as special rooms for walking. Special funds were allocated from the royal treasury for the maintenance of the museum. Ptolemy willingly invited the most prominent scientists from all over the Hellenistic world to work in the museum. In the 3rd century. BC e. Apollonius of Rhodes, Eratosthenes, Aristarchus, Archimedes, Euclid, Callimachus and many other famous scientists worked in the Alexandria Museum. The head of the museum was the keeper of the library, who at the same time was the educator of the heir to the Egyptian throne. Ptolemy patronized the activities of the Alexandria Museum in every possible way, generously subsidizing it, and themselves took part in the work of scientists. The Alexandria Museum has turned into a well-organized, kind of international academy, a powerful scientific and cultural center, whose influence on the fate of Hellenistic science and culture

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was huge. A significant part of the outstanding scientific discoveries of this era was made by Alexandrian scientists. An important factor in the active development of Hellenistic culture was the interaction of the traditions of the Hellenic and ancient Eastern cultures. The synthesis of Greek and ancient Eastern principles gave particularly rich results in the field of worldview and philosophy, science and religion. Hellenistic culture became a synthesis of Greek polis and ancient Eastern culture, but in this synthesis Greek culture played a structure-forming role; it was it that determined the appearance of Hellenistic culture. The recognized language was Greek in the form of the common Greek language Koine, in which all educated layers of Hellenistic society communicated, and Hellenistic literature was created. Greek was spoken and written not only by Greeks, but also by educated people from local nations who adopted Greek culture. The Greek appearance of Hellenistic culture was also determined by the fact that the decisive contribution to the creation of the majority cultural values It was the Greeks who contributed (we know few representatives of local peoples), and the development of most branches of culture (except, perhaps, religion) was determined by what the Greeks created in the classical period of the 5th-4th centuries. BC e. (urban planning, architecture, sculpture, philosophy, theater, etc.). Hellenistic culture is a natural continuation of those trends, genres, range of ideas and ideas that developed in Greece in the 5th-4th centuries. BC e. The influence of ancient Eastern culture on the development of Hellenistic culture was manifested not so much in the general character of certain areas of culture, but in the fertilization of it with a number of new ideas, for example, the ideas of mysticism and deep individualism in philosophy, the introduction of a number of achievements of ancient Eastern science, in particular in medicine, astronomy and many others.

2. Hellenistic religion. The Hellenistic era is characterized by an increased role of religion in the entire structure of social and cultural life compared to the V-TV centuries. BC e. The Greeks and Macedonians who settled throughout the Middle East brought their original cults of the Olympian deities, whom they worshiped, to their new homeland. However, in new places, the traditional Greek gods underwent a serious transformation, both under the influence of new living conditions among the indigenous eastern population, and under the influence of more developed and ancient eastern religious systems. The cults of the Greek gods Zeus, Apollo, Hermes, Aphrodite, Artemis and others acquire new features, borrowed from the original ancient Eastern deities Ormuzd, Mithras, Attis, Cybele, Isis, etc. Among the Greek population, the Eastern cults of the Great Mother of the Gods are recognized and worshiped, but The Egyptian goddess Isis gained particular popularity. She has many features greek goddesses- Hera, Aphrodite, Demeter, Selene, it becomes a kind of universal cult of a single female deity. Characteristic of religious syncretism is not only the combination of the functions of Greek and Eastern features in the system of traditional Greek or ancient Eastern gods, but also the emergence of syncretic new deities. The most striking example is the cult of Sarapis in Egypt, developed by both Greek and Egyptian priests at the direction of the reigning ruler. Ptolemy Lagus, wanting to create a new cult that would satisfy the religious needs of both the Hellenes and the local population, entrusted its development to the Heliopolitan priest Manetho and the Eleusinian priest Timothy. A new cult of the Greco-Egyptian deity was created on the basis of the cult of Osiris-Apis,

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revered at the Memphis temple, with elements of the Olympian gods Pluto, Zeus and Dionysus. Under the name Osorapis, transformed into Sarapis, the new deity was declared the supreme god of the Hellenes and Egyptians, spread widely throughout all the extra-Egyptian possessions of the Ptolemies, and then penetrated into the territory of Asia Minor and Balkan Greece. In the image of Sarapis, a single supreme deity began to be revered, thereby satisfying the need for faith in a single god, the craving for monotheism, which was especially great in a number of eastern countries, for example in Judea.

In the turbulent social and political situation of the Hellenistic world, in which kingdoms collapsed and were erected, vast masses of the population were destroyed and displaced, profound changes in life and political upheavals occurred, people begin to deify Fate - Luck as the goddess Fortune, bringing happiness, fame and wealth. Concepts such as Virtue, Health, Happiness, and Pride were deified. One of the features of the religious quest of Hellenism is the deification of the reigning monarch. A small subject often viewed the powerful ruler of a huge power as a superman, close to the gods, as part of the divine world. The Hellenistic rulers themselves, trying to ideologically substantiate and strengthen their Dominion and unite their multinational states, actively introduced their cult among the population under their control. The rulers of Egypt, the Seleucids and a number of other Hellenistic monarchs adopted the divine epithets Soter (savior), Epiphanes (revealed), Everget (benefactor), etc. Special priests in special temples perform religious ceremonies in their honor. During the Hellenistic period, the ideas of messianism, the belief in the coming of a divine savior - the Messiah, who should liberate the oppressed people from the yoke of the conquerors, became widespread in religious and political life. As a rule, the ideas of messianism spread among small nations forcibly included in the large Hellenistic powers, subjected to cruel oppression by the central and local apparatus of the Hellenistic monarchies. The ideas of messianism spread especially widely among the population of Ancient Judea, which was forcibly included in the Seleucid power, but they were also in circulation in a number of Asia Minor regions. In Pergamon, the broad masses of the oppressed (132-129 BC), including slaves, who rebelled against the Roman conquest, deified the Sun, dreamed of a just state of the Sun, in which all citizens (heliopolitans) would live happily.

In general, the Hellenistic period is characterized by an active search for new religious forms and ideas, a craving for monotheism and the ethical aspects of religious teachings. In religious searches, ideas were born that would later become part of Christianity.

3. Philosophy. All these searches reflected the complication of social and political life, the instability of the situation in the Hellenistic countries and the changes caused by these processes in the general worldview of people. If in the V-IV centuries. BC e. The basis of the worldview of wide sections of the civilian population of small Greek city-states was a strong sense of patriotism, the deep connection of each citizen with his hometown, recognition of the civil collective as a whole as the highest value and the subordination of private interests to it, then during the Hellenistic period the situation changed. In the conditions of constant movements of large masses of people across the vast territories of the Hellenistic powers, long journeys, and military campaigns, the connection of an individual with his hometown was severed, and he felt

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He considered himself not so much a citizen (polites) as a resident of a great power (citizen of the world - cosmopolites). As a consequence of this process, the concept of the highest value of the civil collective as such receded into the background. It was not so much belonging to the civil collective that now constituted the basis of human well-being, but rather the mercy of the gods, the beneficence of the monarch, personal initiative and happiness. All this undermined the foundations of collectivism and gave rise to a sense of individualism, faith, first of all, in own strength. On the other hand, it nourished faith in blind luck, strengthened religious consciousness, and created favorable conditions for the spread of mystical ideas.

Profound changes in the worldview of Hellenistic people had a significant impact on the state of philosophy as a worldview science about the general laws of the world, man and his thinking. Athens became the main center of Hellenistic philosophy, where several influential philosophical schools competed. First of all, the philosophical schools of students of the great philosophers of the 4th century continued to exist. BC e. Plato and Aristotle. The school of Plato's students was called the Academy. His closest students Xenocrates, Polemon, Crates (40-30s of the 4th century - 70s of the 3rd century BC) formed the so-called Ancient Academy, followers of Plato of the 3rd-2nd centuries. BC e. (the largest of them are Arcesilaus and Carneades) formed the Middle, or New, Academy. Both the Ancient and New Academy developed only individual provisions of Plato's philosophical theory, paying special attention to the mystical aspects of his teaching, while eclectically combining Plato's idealism with elements of other philosophical systems.

Aristotle's followers (the so-called Peripatetics) paid more attention to the development of scientific questions, and some of them became outstanding naturalists of their time. Thus, Theophrastus became the founder of scientific botany, Strato became famous for his outstanding discoveries in the field of physics.

Over time, these schools begin to lose their popularity and turn into closed elitist groups that have almost no influence on the development of philosophical thought.

New philosophical systems (Stoics, Epicureans and Cynics) became more consistent with the general level of the social and cultural atmosphere of their era, within the framework of which theoretical thought took a step forward in its development. The most popular philosophical system of Hellenism was Stoic philosophy. Its founder was Zeno from the city of China in Cyprus (336-264 BC), who moved to Athens and here began the development of his system, preaching it in the so-called colored portico (standing poikile - hence the name Stoics) on the central Athens square - agora. The followers of Zeno were Cleanthes from Assos and Chrysippus from Sol in Cilicia, who developed the ideas of their teacher, brought them into a system and developed a complete philosophical direction. The philosophical system of the Stoics included physics, or the doctrine of the structure of the world; logic, or the teaching of correct thinking and expressing oneself clearly; ethics, or the doctrine of man, his behavior, place in the world, the purpose of his existence, etc. The physics of the Stoics had a materialistic basis. In their opinion, the entire surrounding world is a bodily substance, but this substance is passive, inert, qualityless matter, which acquires certain forms, quality, movement and active being thanks to the creative force that permeates it (it is called differently: reason, logos, god, fate, Zeus). The Stoics considered creativity to be a great fire, penetrating into all pores of the world and

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matter. Creative fire, penetrating low-quality matter, forms for a certain period of time all the visible diversity of the world around us. After a certain cycle, a world fire will occur and destroy the world. Then his revival will begin by the power of the divine mind. The reborn world will be a complete repetition of the previous one: again Socrates will teach on the streets of Athens, again he will be scolded by the grumpy Xanthippe, again he will be accused and executed.

However, the main role in the philosophical system of the Stoics was played by ethics - the doctrine of man, his position and role in the world around him, and the determination of the purpose of human existence. Man is considered by the Stoics as an active principle in the world. He is an inextricable part of the cosmos. The goal and happiness of a person is conscious and active activity, proceeding according to the laws of reason and aimed at maintaining the balance that has been laid since the appearance of this world. As an organic part of the cosmos, a person must care about the whole world, about the beautiful cosmos, about humanity as a whole, and not just about one city or a separate group. The Stoics broke the narrow horizon of polis thinking and were supporters of universal, cosmopolitan ideas. They paid much attention to developing the question of what virtue is - one of the goals human life. From a Stoic perspective, virtue involves four basic qualities: justice, discernment, courage and prudence. Only the combination of these qualities can make human activity consistent with the laws of reason, beneficial for humanity and ensure personal happiness. The appeal of the Stoics to the cosmic whole, to all of humanity, and ignoring the special interests of individual segments of the population led to the doctrine of universal equality and the denial of slavery as a natural phenomenon. Slavery is a phenomenon of human, social coexistence, it contradicts nature - this thought of the Stoics refuted the teaching of Aristotle about the natural origin of slavery, and became a great achievement of Hellenistic social thought. The philosophical system of the Stoics, which absorbed elements of many teachings of both Greece and the East, directed the energy of the individual to the public good, and their position about man as an organic part of the cosmos tried to support the well-known connection between growing individualism in society and not yet overcome collectivism.

At the same time, the philosophy of the Stoics is permeated with religious elements, since in their ideas the distinction between the creative mind, which permeates and spiritualizes dead matter, and the deity as the traditional creator of the world is essentially erased.

Another popular philosophical system of Hellenistic times was the philosophy of Epicurus (341-270 BC) and his followers, the Epicureans. The teachings of Epicurus are also divided into three parts: physics, logic and ethics, but unlike the Stoics, the most developed and structure-forming part of his system was the doctrine of the structure and movement of the world (physics). Epicurus was a materialist and in his teaching about the world he developed and generalized the thoughts of Leucippus - Democritus about the atomic structure of the world. In his opinion, the world is a self-propelled matter consisting of indivisible particles - atoms. Not only material things, but even the soul are made of atoms. Atoms move in emptiness due to their inherent gravity; in the process of movement they collide with each other, forming through appropriate combinations different bodies with different qualities. Matter is eternal, it is uncreated and indestructible, it is spontaneous and not

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needs some creative force or divine impulse. Epicurus recognized the existence of gods, but considered them one of the manifestations of infinite nature; they live in the pores of the universe and do not take any part in the life of nature and people.

Man, according to the teachings of Epicurus, is one of the products of moving matter and therefore he himself is the creator of his life, his own happiness. According to Epicurus, human happiness lies in eliminating unpleasant sensations, leading a modest, abstinent lifestyle, and seclusion from the worries of the outside world. “Live unnoticed,” far from the bustle of life, in the circle of your close friends - this was the most important ethical commandment of Epicurus. Only a solitary life can create complete peace of mind, the so-called ataraxia - the highest happiness of a person. If the ethics of the Stoics, calling for active social activity for the benefit of humanity, reflected the interests of the dynamic social forces of Hellenistic society, then the ethical teaching of Epicurus expressed the sentiments of those social strata that were pushed back from active participation in social and political life, were disappointed in resolving acute social contradictions and sought salvation in individualism. The merit of Epicurus and his school is the development of a materialist understanding of the structure of the world, the substantiation of materialist philosophy, which became a major contribution to the development of world philosophical thought.

Stoicism and Epicureanism were complex philosophical systems that had their followers among the educated public, a rather narrow circle of representatives of the ruling class, the cultural elite of Hellenism. The philosophy of the Cynics became truly popular, widespread among the broad masses of Hellenistic society. The founder of Cynic philosophy was Antisthenes (440-366 BC), who lived in the classical era, but it was during the Hellenistic era that his philosophy became popular among the urban population. One of the most famous Cynics was Diogenes of Sinope (404-323 BC). The Cynics were indifferent to analyzing the structure of the world and studying the laws of thinking. They concentrated their efforts on developing ethical issues and attempted to enforce the rules of conduct they had developed. The Cynics, as well as the Stoics and Epicureans, developed the concept of human happiness and his optimal behavior in society. According to cynics, wealth, position in society, family relationships are the shackles of a person and make him deeply unhappy. It is necessary to abandon all this, live in accordance with nature, eating what is at hand. Hungry, overgrown, tattered Cynics lived in abandoned houses, empty pithos, moved with a bag on their shoulders from city to city, preaching their teachings to random listeners or fellow travelers. In essence, the main provisions of the ethical concept of the Cynics were an expression of protest against the unfair distribution of wealth, property and social differentiation, so characteristic of the socio-economic system of Hellenism. If for the authorities the Cynics were a dangerous and suspicious element, then, on the contrary, for the poor people of the Hellenistic cities the Cynics were welcome guests, whose sermons were listened to attentively.

In general, Hellenistic philosophy was new step forward in the development of philosophical thought, it enriched world philosophy with deep and original ideas and took an honorable place in the treasury of human civilization.

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4. Literature. The literary process of the Hellenistic era, on the one hand, reflected significant changes in the general social and spiritual atmosphere of the Hellenistic era, on the other hand, it continued the traditions that had already taken shape in the literature of classical times. One can note a number of new points in the development of fiction of the Hellenistic era, primarily the increase in the number of authors who wrote. The names of over 1,100 writers of various genres have been preserved from Hellenistic times, which is much more than in the previous era. Increase total number authors is evidence of the increased importance of literature among a wide mass of readers and the growing reader’s needs for literary works. Hellenistic literature, reflecting changing conditions and satisfying the new needs of readers, developed on the basis of classical literature. As in the classical era, theater and theatrical performances had a huge influence on the state of literature. It is impossible to imagine a Hellenistic city without a theater, which usually accommodated up to half of the entire city population. The theater became a special, richly decorated complex of various rooms and acquired a well-known architectural unity. Significant changes are taking place in the theatrical action itself: the choir is practically excluded from it and it is led directly by actors, the number of which is increasing. The exclusion of the choir led to a transfer of action from the orchestra to the proskenium, an elevation in front of the stage. The actors' props also changed: instead of an ugly mask that covered the entire head and a short comic tunic, they used masks that denote real human features, and costumes similar to everyday clothing. Thus, the action acquired a more realistic character, closer to life.

Changes in theatrical action were caused by the new tastes of Hellenistic spectators and new dramatic genres. In Hellenistic

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tragedies continued to be staged over time, since they were an indispensable part of public and religious celebrations in many cities. Tragedies were written based on mythological and modern subjects. One of the famous tragedians, Lycophron, became famous for the tragedy about the suffering of the city of Cassandria during the siege, as well as for the satyr drama Menedemos, in which he showed the contradiction between noble aspirations and the low way of life of people. However, the most popular dramatic genre during the Hellenistic period was the new comedy, or comedy of manners, which depicted the clash of various characters, for example, a wise old man, a boastful warrior, a noble girl, an insidious pimp, a clever seducer, etc. One of the best representatives of this everyday drama was the Athenian poet Menander (342-292 BC). His comedies showed increased skill in depicting characters, well-known psychologism, the ability to notice everyday details, elegant and witty language, and mastery of intrigue. Menander's comedies reflected the life of Athens with its everyday worries and petty interests, so far from the political passions of classical comedy. Depicting life realistically, Menander did it so artistically and deeply that in his heroes the inhabitants of many Hellenistic cities, and then Rome, recognized their contemporaries, which ensured Menander's comedies enormous popularity and the widest distribution throughout the Hellenistic world.

If Athens was the center of new comedy and everyday drama, then Alexandria became the center of Hellenistic poetry. The scientists of the Alexandria Museum paid as much attention to poetic creativity as to philosophical and scientific pursuits. A special poetic style was created in Alexandria, which was called Alexandrism: it assumed extensive erudition of the authors, especially when describing mythological subjects, development of the external form of the work, careful finishing of each line, rejection of common words, etc. This poetry, devoid of exciting social problems, was intended for a narrow circle of the court and intellectual elite, testified to the decline of genuine poetic feeling, to the replacement of real poetry by scientific research in poetic form. The founder of the Alexandrian style was the head of the museum and educator of the heir to the throne, Callimachus (310-240 BC). A brilliantly trained philologist, Callimachus was a prolific poet. He owns a wide variety of works on mythological, literary and historical topics. His most famous poems are “Hekala” and “Reasons”, in which mythological tales are poetically processed, revealing the origin of a particular religious rite, public festival or mysterious custom. Thus, the poem “Hekala” explains the little understood in the 3rd century. BC e. myth about the celebration of Hekaliy and the associated slaughter of a bull. Callimachus admitted

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There are also small epigrams, works written in a rather rare poetic meter - iambic, in which some motifs of folk legends are developed, in particular the story of the Milesian sage Thales, the fable of the dispute between the laurel and the olive tree. In the surviving hymns in honor of the most famous Greek gods, Callimachus does not so much glorify the divine nature as solve the artistic problems of conveying human relationships, describing nature, or explaining a ritual. One of the stories of Callimachus is about Queen Berenice dedicating a lock of her hair to the temple of Athena as a vow in honor of the happy return of her husband Ptolemy II from the Syrian campaign in the 1st century. BC e. was processed by the Roman poet Catullus (“The Lock of Berenice”) and entered world poetry.

In the work of Callimachus, the main genres of Alexandrian poetry were outlined, which other poets began to develop after him. Thus, Aratus from Sol, in imitation of the “Causes,” wrote a large poem “Appearances,” in which he gave a poetic description of the stars and the legends associated with them. Nikander of Colophon composed a poem about poisons and antidotes, poetic treatises on agriculture and beekeeping.

The genre of epigram, begun by Callimachus, was continued in the works of Asklepiades, Posidippus and Leonidas, who lived in the 3rd century. BC e. Their short epigrams gave small but very subtle sketches of various phenomena of everyday life, relationships, and different characters, which overall created a fairly complete picture of Hellenistic society. The epigrams of Leonid of Tarentum depict the life, thoughts and feelings of the common people: shepherds, fishermen, artisans.

In Hellenistic times, the genre of artificial epic gained a certain popularity, the most prominent representative of which was Apollonius of Rhodes, the author of the extensive poem “Argonautica” (3rd century BC). In this poem, Apollonius, comparing numerous mythological versions, describes in detail the voyage of the Argonauts to the shores of distant Colchis. In general, Apollonius’s poem is a work that testifies more to the hard work of the author than to the poetic talent of the author, but the description of the love of Medea and Jason was written with great inspiration and is considered one of the poetic masterpieces of Hellenism.

A typically Hellenistic literary genre, reflecting the social sentiments of its time, became the genre of bucolic poetry, or idyll, and social utopian novels. Living in a complex, unbalanced world, under the yoke of the tsarist administration, social tension and political instability, the subjects of the Hellenistic monarchs dreamed of a happy and serene life, devoid of worries. One of the founders of the idyll genre was Theocritus of Syracuse, who settled in Alexandria (315-260 BC). The Idylls of Theocritus describe shepherd scenes depicting meetings, conversations and relationships between shepherds and their lovers. As a rule, these scenes are played out against the backdrop of a conventionally beautiful landscape. The shepherds conduct abstract conversations about the shepherd's love for a beautiful girl, about local events, about herds, about quarrels. Abstract action against the backdrop of an abstract landscape creates an artificial world of serenely living people, which contrasted so much with the real world of Hellenism.

The same sentiments of escape into the ghostly world are conveyed in utopian novels of the 3rd-2nd centuries. BC e. The novels of Euhemerus and Yambulus described fantastic countries, islands of the blessed somewhere on the edge of the ecumene, in distant Arabia or India, where people enjoy a happy life in the bosom of

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luxurious nature. These people have complete prosperity, harmonious relationships, and excellent health. The life of such people resembles the life of the gods themselves. The novel of Euhemera develops an interesting concept of the origin of the gods. Gods are people deified for their merits, who wisely arranged the life of their fellow citizens. The great popularity of these genres showed that their authors accurately guessed the social mood of the broad masses of the population.

Among the prose genres, historical works occupied the leading place. During the Hellenistic period, a rich historiography was created (the history of Timaeus, Duris, Aratus, Philarchus, etc.). However, the most significant historical work was the "History" of Jerome of Cardia, containing a valuable description of Hellenistic history from the death of Alexander, in whose campaign Jerome took part, until the death of Pyrrhus in 272 BC. e. Jerome's information was subsequently used by Diodorus Siculus, Pompey Trogus, Plutarch and Arrian. The pinnacle of Hellenistic historiography was Polybius's General History, which compiled an extensive work in 40 books about the history of the entire Mediterranean from 220 to 146 BC. e. Polybius's work was continued by the Stoic Posidonius, who gave a description of historical events from 146 to 86 BC. e. in 52 books.

At the beginning of the 3rd century. BC e. The Egyptian priest Manetho and the Babylonian priest Berossus compiled the history of their countries in Greek, but on the basis of local archives and rich tradition, which provided a synthesis of the principles of the Greek proper and local schools of historiography.

In general, Hellenistic literature differed from classical literature both in artistic and ideological orientation and in genre diversity. Interest in form and shallow ideological content, the study of the inner world of an individual and ignoring social needs, the replacement of deep philosophical thoughts with petty everyday concerns and at the same time the development of realistic plots, interest in the psychology of an individual and his inner world characterize the contradictory movement literary process Hellenistic era.

5. Urban planning and architecture. Sculpture. The Hellenistic period was the time of the founding of many new and improvement of ancient cities. Naturally, this process served as a powerful stimulus for urban planning art and architecture. Elements of a properly planned and well-organized city appeared in classical times, but the full use of the urban planning principles of the regular city and their widest distribution in the founding of numerous new cities occurred only in the Hellenistic period. The basic principles of a regular city were as follows: 1) choosing for the city (if it is founded anew) a climate that is favorable, supplied with drinking water, at the intersection of trade routes, and convenient for defense, 2) drawing up a general development plan designed for many years, 3) the use of planning axes that intersect at right angles, suggesting a grid of parallel-perpendicular streets, 4) dividing the city into equal blocks, intra-block planning and block development of blocks. The general plan of the city provided for the allocation of special areas for the central square - the agora - and other squares, for theater buildings, public buildings and temples, stadiums and gymnasiums. The master plan included garden and park complexes, usually located on the outskirts of cities, which served as recreational and recreational areas. Harmful craft production, in particular ceramic and leather workshops, was taken to the city.

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family outskirts or outside the city. The regular city had a well-established water supply (water was supplied through a pipeline, sometimes many kilometers away) and a sewerage system that discharged sewage outside the city. City authorities carefully monitored the sanitary condition of the city. The decree of the Pergamon kings, dating back to the 3rd century, has reached our time. BC e., which provided for measures to maintain the cleanliness of streets and squares, repair of all city buildings, installation of wells and latrines, and introduced penalties for its violation.

The subject of special attention of the Hellenistic monarchs was the improvement of their capitals. Alexandria of Egypt, Antioch on the Orontes, Seleucia on the Tigris, Pergamum, Rhodes,

Miletus and many others turn into beautiful cities with wide streets, luxurious royal palaces, shady parks, grandiose temples, theaters, public buildings, shopping arcades, columns, porticoes for walks.

The founding of numerous new cities, extensive improvement work on old ones, and the availability of large material and human resources contributed to the rise of Hellenistic architecture, the development of new types of buildings, and the construction of such grandiose structures that were impossible in previous times. The temple was no longer the main type of building of Hellenistic architecture, although in all cities a large number of temples in honor of various gods were still built, and the type of temple building itself changed (it became larger in size, had luxurious decoration, a double row of columns surrounding the walls of the temple, - the so-called dipter). The main architectural structures were public buildings: buildings of the prytaneum, bouleuterium, eclessiasterium, for meetings of the prytanes, members of the Bule, the People's Assembly, libraries, arsenals and docks, theaters and stadiums, gymnasiums and palaestra. If in classic time While the type of private dwelling was practically not developed, during the Hellenistic period architects paid close attention to this. Two types of residential buildings were developed: either there were several apartment houses forming a city block, or a separate house - a city villa, with many rooms, with a courtyard surrounded by columns (the so-called peristyle house).

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Inside, the walls of the house are painted with frescoes, and mosaics are laid on the floors. A special type of building, carefully developed by Hellenistic architects, was the complex of royal palaces, occupying up to a quarter of the entire city territory, including not only royal apartments, premises for staff, but also extensive outbuildings, craft workshops, shady parks, libraries, arsenals for storing weapons . The complex of royal palaces either occupied the acropolis, as in Pergamon, or was fenced off from the city territory by a fortress wall, as in Alexandria.

One of the most grandiose structures not only of the Hellenistic era, but of all antiquity is the Lighthouse of Alexandria, built on the island of Pharos by the architect Sostratus of Cnidus in 280 BC. e. It rose 120 m and consisted of three tiers. The first tier is a building with a square plan, the walls of which were oriented to the cardinal points. The second tier is made in the form of an octagonal tower - in the direction of the 8 main winds. The third tier was crowned by a dome on which stood a 7-meter statue of the god of the seas, Poseidon. The lighthouse fire (specially tarred logs burned) was visible with the help of mirrors at a distance of up to 60 km. During the daytime, when the fire was invisible, a smoke screen was used. The fuel was supplied to the pack animals, which climbed to the very top along a spiral path inside the building.

Hellenistic architecture is characterized by a desire for the grandeur of buildings, luxury of interior and exterior decoration, deliberate pomp and scale, which suppressed the little man, emphasizing his weakness and insignificance in the face of a powerful monarch or divine forces. At the same time, the predominance of utilitarian types of structures, the desire for practicality and naked rationalism led to the loss of the sense of beauty, that charming aestheticism that is so characteristic of classical architecture.

Similar directions of artistic search can be traced in the development of one of the most developed genres in Greek art - sculpture. Interest in sculptural works in

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Hellenistic times were perhaps more significant than in the classical period. Sculptures decorated private houses, public buildings, squares, acropolises, intersections, and park areas. The abundance of statues is typical even for small towns. For example, in such a poor city as Terme, its conqueror Philip V at the end of the 3rd century. BC e. captured 2 thousand statues. However, the abundance of sculpture and the great demand for it gave rise to mass production, which inevitably led to the extinction of creativity and the growth of purely craft technology. The original principles and artistic images developed by the masters have changed. As a rule, Hellenistic masters refused to develop the image of a beautiful and valiant, somewhat idealized citizen, a member of the polis community and a brave warrior. The attitude towards the gods also became different. For the Hellenistic master, a deity is not a calm, beautiful, powerful and kind creature, but a capricious and formidable force, or one of the variants of the ordinary human image. Hellenistic sculpture is characterized by the reflection and revelation of new trends of the era: the spirit of restlessness and internal tension, the desire for pomp and theatricality, realism, often leading to rough naturalism. Individualism as one of the features of the worldview manifested itself in the field of sculpture in the increased interest in the portrait of individuals.

At the same time, Hellenistic sculpture continued to preserve the traditions of the remarkable masters of the V-IV centuries. BC e., and within the framework of these traditions the most famous masterpieces were created: Nike of Samothrace (early 3rd century BC), depicting the goddess of victory descending onto the bow of a ship; Tyukhe (happiness) of the city of Antioch (III century BC), depicted as a beautiful, kind woman with a turret on her head; world-famous statues of Aphrodite of Milo and Aphrodite of Cyrene (II-I centuries BC) are charming goddesses of love and beauty.

The most famous sculptural schools of the Hellenistic era were Pergamon and Rhodian. In Alexandria, the center of Hellenistic science and literature, its own school of sculptors practically did not develop; in any case, its influence was very insignificant, although the city itself was filled with a variety of sculpture, mostly imported or imitative.

The Pergamum school developed artistic principles Skopas with his interest in violent manifestations of feeling, rapid movements, internal tension and the play of conflicting passions. But the Pergamum school processed these traditions in line with the artistic trends of its time, fertilizing them with the development of a realistic portrait and the psychology of character. Examples of the creativity of the Pergamon school are sculptural groups of Gauls (a dying Gaul; a Gaul killing himself and his family), in which the appearance of the Gauls is realistically conveyed and a deep psychological development of the character of these warlike and fearless barbarians is given. A famous example of Hellenistic architecture and sculpture is the Pergamon Altar, a memorial complex built by Eumenes II in honor of the victories over the Galatians in 180 BC. e. Its base was covered with a 120 m long frieze of high relief figures. It depicts the last minutes of the grandiose struggle between gods and giants for power over the world and people. The fate of the titans is decided, the gods celebrate victory. Giants with snakes instead of legs are depicted as half-humans, as inferior creatures, they must die. Power over the world should rightfully belong to the beautiful and strong humanoid gods of Olympus. The idea of ​​the frieze was that the Greek gods - the personification of the civilized Greek principle - should

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defeat inferior monsters who personify barbarism. The horror of death, the pain from the wound received, the powerless rage, the triumph of victory are conveyed in the rapid movements of a huge number of figures. The author, in essence, reproduces a large mythological layer in sculpture, showing knowledge of the ancient tradition.

The Rhodes school developed the traditions of the famous Lysippos. Here the image of strong, athletic naked men was developed. But this is not a calm and valiant athlete - a citizen of classical times, but, as a rule, a ruler or his satrap with an imperious, arrogant look that betrays enormous willpower (the “Hellenistic Ruler” statue). Other masterpieces of the Rhodian school were the famous sculptural groups “Laocoon and his sons” (1st century BC), depicting the painful death of a Trojan priest and his sons from snakes (an episode from the Trojan War), and a multi-figure group depicting the execution of an evil queen Dirk by the sons of Antiope - the so-called “Farnese bull” (II century BC).

One of the most grandiose sculptures of this school was the Colossus of Rhodes - a 30-meter bronze statue of the god Helios, made by Lysippos' student, master Chares from Lindus in 276 BC. e., which decorated the port and at the same time served as a lighthouse. In 220 BC. e. During a strong earthquake, the Colossus of Rhodes was destroyed and was never restored.

A kind of small sculpture that became widespread among the widest sections of the population were small figures made of baked clay (terracotta). Terracottas depicted ordinary citizens, everyday scenes, and they were very much loved by ordinary residents of Hellenistic cities; moreover, they were produced in mass quantities, were cheap and accessible to wide sections of the population. One of the places where they were mass produced was the Boeotian city of Tanagra, which is why these elegant statues

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Etki are often called Tanagra terracottas by the name of this city.

6. Hellenistic science. The rapid development of both the humanities and natural sciences is a characteristic feature of the Hellenistic era. The ruling monarchs, in order to manage their powers and to wage long and numerous wars, needed the use of new effective methods and means and could only obtain them using the results of scientific knowledge. At the courts of Hellenistic rulers, teams of scientists were created, generously subsidized by the government, engaged in solving scientific problems. Naturally, the rulers were interested not so much in science as such, but in the possibility of its practical application in military affairs, construction, production, navigation, etc. Therefore, one of the features of the scientific thought of the Hellenistic era was to increase the practical application of the results of scientific research in various areas of government and life . The rapid development of science and the practical application of its results contributed to the separation of science from philosophy and its separation into an independent sphere of human activity. If in classical times every major thinker (Pythagoras, Anaxagoras, Democritus, Plato, Aristotle, etc.) was engaged in philosophy itself and many specific sciences, then in Hellenistic times there was differentiation and specialization of scientific disciplines. Mathematics and mechanics, astronomy and geography, medicine and botany, philology and history began to be considered as special scientific specialties, having their own specific problems, their own research methods, and their own development prospects.

Mathematics and astronomy have achieved great success. These sciences developed on the basis laid in the classical period by Pythagoras and his school, Anaxagoras and Eudoxus. At the same time, the rich experience of mathematical research and astronomical observations carried out by representatives of ancient Eastern science, in particular Babylonian and Egyptian scientists, contributed to the development of Hellenistic mathematics, astronomy and other scientific disciplines.

Outstanding mathematicians (and at the same time representatives of a number of branches of physics) were three giants of Hellenistic science: Euclid from Alexandria (late 4th - early 3rd centuries BC), Archimedes from Syracuse (287-212 BC). ) and Apollonius from Perga in Pamphylia (second half of the 3rd century BC). Euclid's most famous work was his famous "Elements", a genuine mathematical encyclopedia of his time, in which the author systematized and gave formal completeness to many of the ideas of his predecessors. The mathematical knowledge expounded by Euclid formed the basis of elementary mathematics of the New Age and, as such, is still used in secondary schools.

Archimedes was a versatile scientist and made a huge contribution to the development of ancient mathematics and physics: he calculated the value of the number p (pi) (the ratio of the circumference to the diameter), laid the foundations for the calculation of infinitesimal and large quantities, solved the ratio of the volume of a sphere to the volume of the cylinder describing it, became the founder of hydrostatics. Archimedes, perhaps more than any other Hellenistic scientist, did more to put scientific findings into practice. He became the inventor of a planetarium driven by water and depicting the movement of celestial bodies, a complex block (the so-called “barulka”) for moving weights, an endless (the so-called Archimedean) screw for pumping water from mines, and the holds of ships. A number of his conclusions were used to improve the design of siege devices and throwing machines.

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The largest contribution of Apollonius of Perga was the theory he developed of conic sections, the foundations of geometric algebra and the classification of irrational quantities, which anticipated the discoveries of European mathematicians of the New Age.

The achievements of Hellenistic scientists in the field of astronomy are remarkable. The largest of them were Aristarchus of Samos (310-230 BC), Eratosthenes of Cyrene (275-200 BC) and Hipparchus of Nicaea (c. 190-c. 126 BC). e.). The greatest achievement of Hellenistic astronomy was the development by Aristarchus of the heliocentric system of the world, the search for scientific evidence of such a structure of the Universe, which assumed the enormous size of the Sun. All the planets, including the Earth, revolve around it, and the stars are bodies similar to the Sun, located at enormous distances from the Earth and therefore seem motionless. An encyclopedic educated scientist was Eratosthenes, who in terms of versatility and depth of knowledge can be compared with the great Aristotle. His works on historical criticism and chronology, mathematics and philology are known, but Eratosthenes made the greatest contribution to astronomy and theoretical geography, closely related to the study of celestial bodies. Using a mathematical apparatus, including elements of trigonometric calculations and observations of celestial bodies, Eratosthenes measured the circumference of the earth's equator, determining it at 39,700 thousand km, which is very close to the actual size (about 40 thousand km), determined the length and width of the inhabited part of the Earth - the then ecumene, the inclination of the ecliptic plane. The study of the surface of the globe led Eratosthenes to the conclusion that India could be reached by sailing west from Spain. This observation was subsequently repeated by a number of other scientists, and the famous Christopher Columbus was guided by it when he set off on his famous voyage to India at the end of the 15th century.

One of the most famous scholars of Hellenism was Hipparchus. He did not accept the heliocentric system of Aristarchus of Samos and, using the ideas of his predecessors, gave the most thorough development of the so-called geocentric system of the structure of the Universe, which was borrowed by Claudius Ptolemy and, consecrated by the authority of the latter, became the dominant system in the Middle Ages, right up to Copernicus. Hipparchus made a number of important discoveries: he discovered the phenomenon of precession of the equinoxes, more accurately established the duration of the solar year and lunar month, and thereby introduced clarifications into the current calendar, and more accurately determined the distance from the Earth to the Moon. He compiled the best catalog for antiquity - it includes more than 800 stars, determining their longitude and latitude and dividing them by brightness into three classes. The high accuracy of Hipparchus's conclusions was based on a wider use of trigonometric relations and calculations than other scientists.

The founder of plant science is considered to be Aristotle's closest student, Theophrastus of Lesbos (372-287 BC), a versatile scientist, author of numerous works on a variety of specialties. However, his works on botany, in particular “Study of Plants” and “The Origin of Plants,” were of greatest importance for the further development of science. Based on careful research by Theophrastus in the III-I centuries. BC e. Several special treatises on agriculture and agronomy appeared.

Great strides have been made in medicine. Here are the achievements of Greek scientists of the V-IV centuries. BC e., in particular the famous Hippocrates, and the rich traditions of ancient Eastern medicine gave fruitful results. Large

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The luminaries of Hellenistic medicine were Herophilus of Chalcedon and Erasistratus of Keosak, the founders of two influential medical schools of the 3rd century. BC e. They made such major discoveries as the phenomenon of blood circulation, the presence of a nervous system, the establishment of the distinction between motor and sensory centers and a number of other important observations in the field of human physiology and anatomy that were forgotten and rediscovered only in modern times. Asclepiades from Prusa in the 1st century. BC e. became famous effective treatment patients with the help of diet, walks, massage and cold baths and achieved such great success that even a legend arose that he resurrected a dead person.

From humanities Philology, historical criticism and textual criticism successfully developed in the Alexandria Museum. It was in Hellenistic times that the texts were verified and the classification of many classical works of ancient authors was carried out, which later became canonical and in this form have reached our time. Callimachus owned an interesting bibliographic manual of enormous value, a real historical and literary encyclopedia (the so-called “Tables”) in 120 books. They collected information about the most famous writers starting with Homer, with brief annotations about the content of their works. Callimachus' "tables" became the basis for subsequent philological and historical-literary studies by scholars of Hellenistic times.

Conclusion to the section

Hellenism as a historical phenomenon is a combination of Greek and Eastern elements in economics, social relations, statehood and culture. In different parts of the Hellenistic world, this combination was expressed in different forms: the founding of new cities of the polis type, delimited territorially and legally, preserving traditional relationships, as in the Seleucid state; granting polis privileges to cities of the eastern type, as in Syria and Phenicia; the introduction of Greek methods of economic life into the traditional economy, rational methods of control and management while maintaining the old structure, as in Egypt. The extent of Eastern and Greek elements also varied in different countries, from the predominance of Eastern traditions in the Ptolemaic state to the dominance of Hellenic forms in Balkan Greece, Macedonia or Magna Graecia.

The synthesis of heterogeneous principles in each Hellenistic state gave rise to additional impulses for economic growth and the creation of a more complex social structure, statehood and culture. A new development factor was the emergence of a system of Hellenistic states, which included vast territories from Sicily in the west to India in the East, from Central Asia in the north to the first cataracts of the Nile in the south. Numerous wars of different Hellenistic states, a complex diplomatic game, increased international trade and a wide exchange of cultural achievements within this vast system of states created additional opportunities for the development of Hellenistic societies.

New cities are being built, previously empty territories are being developed, new craft workshops are appearing, new trade routes are being laid both by land and by sea. In general, it can be said that the introduction of Greek forms of economy and social structure strengthened the slave-owning foundations of the Middle Eastern economy in the 3rd-1st centuries. BC e.

However, the dual nature of Hellenistic societies, fertilizing and

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stimulating the process of historical existence in the 3rd century. BC e., in the 2nd century. BC e. began to show its fragility. The fusion of Greek and Eastern principles turned out to be incomplete; their coexistence began to give rise to tension, which resulted in various forms of ethnic and social clashes, disobedience to the central authority. In Hellenistic societies in the middle of the 2nd century. BC e., as once in the Greek world of the 4th century. BC e., social and political instability and confusion begin to grow. Hellenistic statehood does not cope with the general tasks of maintaining order and stability within the country and protecting its external security. Dynastic feuds in the ruling royal houses, numerous external wars, which are often waged not so much for the protection of state interests, but for reasons of the prestige of individual palace groups, deplete the strength and resources of the Hellenistic states, suck the juices out of their subjects, and further intensify internal tensions . By the middle of the 2nd century. BC e. Hellenistic states become internally decrepit and begin to disintegrate into their component parts (the Seleucid state, the Greco-Bactrian kingdom). This process of internal weakening and political disorder was skillfully exploited by the two great powers of that time - Rome in the west and Parthia in the east. In a series of military clashes, Rome crushes Macedonia and the Greek states of the Balkan Peninsula. The king of Pergamon, seeing no way out of the impasse, voluntarily transfers his kingdom to Rome in his will. In the II - first half of the I century. BC e. One after another, the Hellenistic states of the Mediterranean up to the Euphrates are captured by Rome. Parthia takes control of the Eastern Hellenistic states of Central Asia, Iran, Mesopotamia, and its western border goes to the Euphrates. Rome's occupation of Egypt in 30 BC. e. meant the end of the Hellenistic world, the Hellenistic stage of the historical development of Ancient Greece.

If the inclusion of the Hellenistic countries of the Mediterranean up to the Euphrates into the Roman state strengthened the slaveholding nature of production and society in these parts, then in the countries of Eastern Hellenism conquered by Parthia, elements of new social relations, relations of the eastern version of the feudal system, were emerging.

The Hellenistic era was characterized by a number of completely new features. There was a sharp expansion of the area of ​​ancient civilization, when the interaction of Greek and Eastern elements was noted over vast territories in almost all spheres of life. One of the fundamental cultural phenomena of the III-I centuries. BC e., without a doubt, should be considered Hellenization of the local population in the eastern territories, associated with the flow of Greek settlers who poured into the conquered lands. The Greeks and the Macedonians, who were practically indistinguishable from them, naturally occupied the highest social position in the Hellenistic states. The prestige of this privileged stratum of the population encouraged a significant part of the Egyptian, Syrian, and Asia Minor nobility to imitate their way of life and perceive the ancient system of values. In the Middle East, in wealthy families, the rule of good form was to raise children in the Hellenic spirit. The results were not long in coming: among Hellenistic thinkers, writers, and scientists we meet many people from Eastern countries.

Perhaps the only area that stubbornly resisted the processes of Hellenization was Judea. The specific features of the culture and worldview of the Jewish people determined their desire to preserve their ethnic, everyday and especially religious identity. In particular, Jewish monotheism, which represented a higher level of religious development compared to the polytheistic beliefs of the Greeks, decisively prevented the borrowing of any cults and theological ideas from outside. True, some Jewish kings of the 2nd-1st centuries. BC e. (Alexander Yashgai, Herod the Great) were admirers of Hellenic cultural values. They erected monumental buildings in the Greek style in the capital of the country, Jerusalem, and even tried to organize sports Games. But such initiatives never met with support from the population, and often the implementation of pro-Greek policies encountered stubborn resistance.

At the same time, the local culture of the Middle East had its own traditions, and in a number of countries (Egypt, Babylonia) they were much more ancient than the Greek ones. A synthesis of Greek and Eastern cultural principles was inevitable. In this process, the Greeks were an active party, which was facilitated by the higher social status of the Greco-Macedonian conquerors compared to the position of the local population, which found itself in the role of a receptive, passive party. The way of life, methods of urban planning, “standards” of literature and art - all this on the lands of the former Persian power was now built according to Greek models. The reverse influence - of Eastern culture on Greek - was less noticeable in the Hellenistic era, although it was also considerable. But it manifested itself at the level of public consciousness and even the subconscious, mainly in the sphere of religion .

An important factor in the development of Hellenistic culture was the change political situation. The life of the new era was determined not by many warring policies, but by several major powers. These states differed, in essence, only in their ruling dynasties, but in civilizational, cultural, and linguistic terms they represented unity. Such conditions contributed to the spread of cultural elements throughout the Hellenistic world. The Hellenistic era was distinguished by great mobility of the population, but this was especially characteristic of the “intelligentsia.”

If the Greek culture of previous eras was polis, and the eastern states were largely local due to weak contacts, then in the Hellenistic era for the first time we can talk about the formation of a single world culture.

Another very significant factor in the cultural life of the Hellenistic era was the active state support of culture. Rich monarchs spared no expense on cultural purposes. In an effort to be known as enlightened people and to gain fame in the Greek world, they invited famous scientists, thinkers, poets, artists, and orators to their courts and generously financed their activities. Of course, this could not but give Hellenistic culture a “courtly” character to a certain extent. The intellectual elite now focused on their “benefactors” - the kings and their entourage. The culture of the Hellenistic era is characterized by a number of features that would seem unacceptable to a free and politically conscious Greek from the polis of the classical era: a sharp decrease in attention to socio-political issues in literature, art and philosophy, sometimes undisguised servility towards those in power, “courtiness”, often becoming an end in itself.

Ptolemy I discovered at the beginning of the 3rd century. BC e. in its capital Alexandria, a center of all types of cultural activity, especially literary and scientific, - Musey(or Museum). The immediate initiator of the creation of the Musaeus was the philosopher Demetrius of Faler. The Musaeum was a complex of premises for the life and work of scientists and writers who were invited to Alexandria from all over the Greek world. In addition to bedrooms, a dining room, gardens and galleries for relaxation and walks, it also included “auditoriums” for lecturing, “laboratories” for scientific studies, a zoo, a botanical garden, an observatory and, of course, a library. Pride of the Ptolemies, Library of Alexandria was the largest book depository of the ancient world. By the end of the Hellenistic era, there were about 700 thousand papyrus scrolls. The head of the library was usually appointed by a famous scientist or writer (at different times this position was occupied by the poet Callimachus, the geographer Eratosthenes, etc.). The kings of Egypt zealously ensured that, whenever possible, all book “new items” fell into their hands. A decree was issued according to which all the books there were confiscated from ships arriving in the Alexandrian harbor. Copies were made from them, which were given to the owners, and the originals were left in the Library of Alexandria.

When the kings of Pergamum also actively began compiling the library, the Ptolemies, fearing competition, banned the export of papyrus outside Egypt. To overcome the crisis with writing material, it was invented in Pergamon parchment– specially treated calfskin. Books made of parchment had the form of a codex that was already familiar to us. However, despite all the efforts of the kings of Pergamum, their library was inferior to that of Alexandria (it had about 200 thousand books).

The creation of large libraries marked another new reality of Hellenistic culture. If the cultural life of the polis era was largely determined by the oral perception of information, which contributed to the development of oratory in classical Greece, now a lot of information is disseminated in writing. Literary works are no longer created for recitation in a public place, not for reading aloud, but for reading in a narrow circle or simply alone (most likely, it was in the Hellenistic era that the practice of reading “to oneself” arose for the first time in history). Orators shone with eloquence mainly at the courts of powerful rulers. Their speeches were now characterized not by civic pathos and the power of persuasion, but by pretentiousness and coldness of style, technical perfection, when form prevails over content.