The most important difference between Hellas. Hellas is Ancient Greece

PREFACE

I. CULTURE OF HELLAS IN THE XXX-XII CENTURIES. BC.

1) . Architecture.

2) . The art of vase painting.

3) . Literature.

4) . Writing.

5) . Religion.

II. CULTURE OF THE "DARK AGES" (XI-IX CENTURIES B.C.)

III. CULTURE OF THE ARCHAIC PERIOD (VIII-VI CENTURIES BC)

1) . Writing.

2) . Poetry.

3) . Religion and philosophy.

4) . Architecture and sculpture.

5) . Vase painting.

IV. GREEK CLASSICS

A) . GREEK CULTURE IN THE V CENTURY B.C.

1) . Introduction.

2) . Religion.

3) . Philosophy.

4) . Separation of sciences.

A) . Medicine

b) . Mathematics.

V) . Historiography.

5) . Greek literature of the 5th century.

6) . Theater of ancient Greece.

7). Fine arts and architecture.

A) . Art of the Early Classics.

b) . The Art of High Classics.

B) . GREECE IN THE IV CENTURY B.C.

1) . Philosophy.

A) . Plato, Aristotle.

b) . The teaching of the Cynics.

2) . Historians of Greece of the 4th century.

3) . Rhetoric.

4) . Oratory of Greece in the 4th century.

5) . Literature.

6) . Art.

A) . Architecture.

b) . Sculpture.

V) . Painting.

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

CULTURE OF ANCIENT GREECE

INTRODUCTION

It can be considered indisputably proven that class society and the state, and with it civilization, arose on Greek soil twice with a large gap in time: first in the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. and again in the first half of the 1st millennium BC. Therefore, the entire history of ancient Greece is now usually divided into two large eras: 1) the era of the Mycenaean, or Cretan-Mycenaean, palace civilization and 2) the era of the ancient polis civilization.

First, we will talk about the culture of the first era.

I. CULTURE OF HELLAS IN THE XXX-XII CENTURIES.

The original and multifaceted early Greek culture was formed in 3000-1200. Various factors accelerated its movement. For example, completed ethnogenesis Greek people strengthened internal ties throughout the Greek-speaking world, despite frequent local clashes.

The creative activity of the Greeks of the Bronze Age was based on their development of a large stock of experimental knowledge. It is necessary, first of all, to note the level and volume of technological knowledge that allowed the population of Hellas to widely develop specialized craft production. Metallurgy included not only high-temperature (up to 1083°C) copper smelting. Foundry workers also worked with tin, lead, silver and gold; rare native iron was used for jewelry. The creation of alloys was not limited to bronze; already in the 17th-16th centuries. The Greeks made electrectrum and were well aware of the technique of gilding bronze items. Tools, weapons and household items were cast from bronze. All these products were distinguished by rationality of form and quality of execution.

Pottery also indicates fluency in complex thermal processes carried out in kilns of various designs. The use of the potter's wheel, known since the 23rd century, contributed to the creation of other mechanisms driven by human power or draft animals. Thus, wheeled transport already at the beginning of the 2nd millennium consisted of war chariots and ordinary carts. The principle of rotation, long used in spinning, was used in machines for making ropes. When processing wood, turning and drilling devices were used. The engineering achievements of the Achaeans are clearly illustrated by those created in the 16th-12th centuries. water pipelines and closed catch basins. Particularly indicative is the knowledge of hydraulics and the accuracy of calculations made during the construction of secret water supply systems in the fortresses of Mycenae, Tiryns and Athens around the 1250s.

The accumulation of technological knowledge and the progress of skill of a wide range of ordinary workers, both in agriculture and in specialized and domestic crafts, were the basis of the intensive economic development of the country.

ARCHITECTURE Architecture was distinguished by its high achievements. Architectural monuments clearly reflect the presence of property inequality and indicate the emergence of early class monarchies. Already the monumental Cretan palaces of the 19th-16th centuries. are amazing in scale. However, it is characteristic that the general plan of the Cretan palaces was just a monumental repetition of the plan of the estate of a wealthy farmer.

A different level of architectural thought is demonstrated by the later palaces of the mainland kings. They are based on a central core - a megaron, which also repeats the traditional plan of an ordinary dwelling. It consisted of an antechamber (prodomos), a main hall (domos) with a front fireplace and a back room. Many acropolises were protected by powerful stone walls of Cyclopean masonry with an average thickness of 5-8 m. No less impressive is the skill of the architects who created the monumental beehive-shaped royal tombs and pholos.

The skill of the Achaean architects was complemented by the achievements of other forms of art. Let's name the highly artistic polychrome and relief decoration of the external and internal walls of large buildings. Columns and half-columns, stone and marble carvings, and wall paintings with complex compositions were widely used.

THE ART OF VASE PAINTING

During the XX-XII centuries. The art of vase painting developed rapidly. Already at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. The traditional geometric design of the Cretans was complemented by a spiral motif, brilliantly developed by Cycladic craftsmen in the previous century. Later, in the 19th-15th centuries, in all regions of the country, vase painters turned to naturalistic motifs, reproducing plants, animals and marine fauna. It should be noted that in some areas, vibrant local artistic traditions have developed that clearly characterize the vase painting of each center.

The breadth of society's artistic demands was manifested in art's close attention to man and his activities. A brilliant example is the multicolor paintings in the houses of Mount Jean Akrotia, performed by several masters. Particularly important is the transmission of the idea of ​​movement, which fundamentally distinguishes the culture of Hellas in the 30th-12th centuries. from the traditions of other ancient cultures contemporaneous with it. High professional skill allowed artists, in conditions of disruption of the social worldview, to quickly move away from the ancient canons of convention and ornamentation. And if in the art of the 3rd millennium only a few monuments are known that speak of artists’ craving for naturalness, then in the 20th-12th centuries. The creations of many artists are distinguished by their ability to harmoniously combine a sense of living nature with the requirements of a decorative style. Particularly noteworthy is the attention of art to the inner world of a person and the desire to depict the individual traits of the characters depicted. At the same time, artists did not forget about conveying the physical appearance of a person, reproducing nude figures in painting, sculpture, toreutics and glyptics. It is noteworthy that even in ordinary monuments of art one can notice respect for people.

LITERATURE

The literature of the early Greeks, like other peoples, went back to the traditions of ancient folklore, which included fairy tales, fables, myths and songs. With the change in social conditions, the rapid development of folk epic poetry began, glorifying the deeds of the ancestors and heroes of each tribe. By the middle of the 2nd millennium, the epic tradition of the Greeks became more complex, and professional poet-storytellers, aeds, appeared in society. In their work already in the 17th-12th centuries. tales about the most important historical events contemporary to them occupied a prominent place. This direction testified to the interest of the Hellenes in their history, who later managed to preserve their rich legendary tradition in oral form for almost a thousand years before it was written down in the 9th-8th centuries.

In the XIV-XIII centuries. epic literature has developed into a special type of art with its own special rules of speech and musical performance, poetic hexameter meter, and an extensive supply of constant characteristic epithets, comparisons and descriptive formulas. Oral transmission greatly contributed to the strictly objective selection of works that the people retained in their memory.

The level of poetic creativity of the early Greeks is evidenced by the epic poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey" - outstanding monuments of world literature. Both poems belong to the circle of historical narratives about the campaign of the Achaean troops after 1240. BC. to the Trojan kingdom.

It should be noted that both poems show the amazing consonance of the epic with the plastic creativity of Greece in the 18th-12th centuries. They are united by the strength and vitality of images, richness of imagination and love of freedom. The high literary art of the Achaeans, highlighting man and his role in his destiny, despite the predestination of the gods, is a precious contribution of early Greece to world culture.

In addition to fiction, the oral tradition of the Greeks of the time under study also contained a huge number of historical, genealogical and mythological legends. They were widely known in oral transmission until the 7th-6th centuries, when they were included in the then widespread written literature.

WRITING

Writing in Greek culture of the XXII-XII centuries. played a limited role. Like many peoples of the world, the inhabitants of Hellas first of all began to make pictorial notes, known already in the second half of the 3rd millennium. Each sign of this pictographic writing denoted an entire concept. The Cretans created some signs, albeit a few, under the influence of Egyptian hierographic writing, which arose back in the 4th millennium. Gradually, the forms of the signs were simplified, and some began to denote only syllables.

Such a syllabic (linear) letter, which had already been formed by 1700, is called letter A, which still remains unsolved.

After 1500, a more convenient form of writing was developed in Hellas - syllabary B. It included about half the characters of syllabic A, several dozen new characters, as well as some characters of the oldest picture writing. The counting system, as before, was based on decimal notation. Records in syllabary were still made from left to right, but the rules of writing became more strict: words separated by a special sign or space were written according to horizontal lines, individual texts were provided with headings and subheadings. Texts were drawn on clay tablets, scratched on stone, written with a brush or paint, or ink on vessels.

Achaean writing was accessible only to educated specialists. The ministers knew him royal palaces and some layer of propertied citizens.

RELIGION

The religion of early Greece played a large role in the dynamics social thought Hellenes.

Initially, the Greek religion, like any other primitive religion, reflects only the weakness of man in the face of those “forces” that in nature, later in society and in his own consciousness, seem to interfere with his actions and pose a threat to his existence, thus more terrible that he poorly understands where it comes from. Primitive man is not interested in nature to the extent that it invades his life and determines its conditions.

The diverse forces of nature were personified in the form of special deities, with whom many sacred legends and myths were associated. Hellenic mythology is distinguished by its richness, and in later eras it preserved many legends from the times of the tribal system. During the XXX-XII centuries. The religious beliefs of the Greek population underwent many changes. Initially, deities who personified the forces of nature enjoyed exceptional veneration. The Great Goddess (later Demeter, which means “Mother of Loaves”), who was in charge of the fertility of the plant and animal world, was especially revered. She was accompanied by a male deity, followed by minor gods. Cult rituals included the offering of sacrifices and gifts, solemn processions and ritual dances. The deities had certain attributes, the images of which were very common, and they served as symbols of these heavenly powers.

The formation of early class states introduced new features into spiritual life, including sacred ideas. The community of Hellenic gods (pantheon) received a more defined organizational structure. The worldview of the people now depicted relationships between the gods that were very similar to those that the Achaeans saw in the royal capitals. Therefore, on Olympus, where the main deities lived, Zeus, the father of gods and people, who ruled over the whole world, was supreme. Subordinate to him, other members of the early Hellenic pantheon had special social functions. The Achaean epic, which preserved information about the veneration of many early Hellenic deities, also conveys a somewhat critical view of the celestial beings, inherent only in Greek thinking: the gods are in many ways similar to people, they have not only good qualities, but also shortcomings and weaknesses.

Works of art and data from the Achaean epic about the Olympians’ hostility to individuals or tribes, apparently reflected the opinions of the Achaeans about the existence of good and hostile forces of nature. The last thing they say is amazing evil faces terracotta goddesses from a sanctuary on the Mycenaean acropolis. It is characteristic that the art of the Achaeans extremely expressively reproduced the life-affirming symbols of religion and benevolent images of patron gods.

II. CULTURE OF THE "DARK AGES" (XI-IX centuries) The palace civilization of the Cretan-Mycenaean era disappeared from the historical scene under mysterious, still unclear circumstances around the end of the 12th century. The era of ancient civilization begins only after three and a half or even four centuries.

Thus, there is a rather significant time “gap”, and the question inevitably arises: what place does this chronological period (in the literature it is sometimes referred to as the “dark ages”) occupy in the general process of historical development of Greek society? Was it a kind of bridge that connected two very dissimilar historical eras and civilizations, or, on the contrary, did it divide them by a deep chasm?

Archaeological research in recent years has made it possible to find out the true scale terrible disaster, experienced by the Mycenaean civilization at the turn of the XIII-XII centuries, and also trace the main stages of its decline in the subsequent period. The logical conclusion of this process was a deep depression that engulfed the main areas of mainland and island Greece during the so-called Submycenaean period (1125-1025). Its main distinguishing feature is the depressing poverty of material culture, which concealed a sharp decline in the standard of living of the bulk of the population of Greece and an equally sharp decline in the country's productive forces. The products of Submycenaean potters that have reached us make the most bleak impression. They are very rough in shape, carelessly molded, and lack even elementary grace. Their paintings are extremely primitive and inexpressive. As a rule, they repeat the spiral motif - one of the few elements of decorative decoration inherited from Mycenaean art.

The total number of metal products surviving from this period is extremely small. Large items, such as weapons, are extremely rare. Small crafts like brooches or rings predominate. Apparently, the population of Greece suffered from a chronic lack of metal, primarily bronze, which in the 12th - first half of the 11th centuries. still remained the basis of the entire Greek industry. The explanation for this deficit should apparently be sought in the state of isolation from the outside world in which Balkan Greece found itself even before the beginning of the Sub-Mycenaean period. Cut off from external sources of raw materials and not having sufficient internal metal resources, Greek communities were forced to introduce a regime of strict economy.

True, almost at the same time the first iron products appeared in Greece. Scattered finds of bronze knives with iron inserts date back to the very beginning of the period. It can be assumed that by the second half of the 11th century. The technique of iron processing had already been mastered to some extent by the Greeks themselves. However, the centers of the iron industry were still extremely few in number and could hardly provide a sufficient amount of metal for the entire population of the country. A decisive step in this direction was taken only in the 10th century.

Another distinctive feature of the Submycenaean period was the decisive break with the traditions of the Mycenaean era. The most common method of burial in Mycenaean times in chamber tombs was replaced by individual burials in box graves (cysts) or in simple pits.

Towards the end of the period, in many places, for example in Attica, Boeotia, and Crete, another new custom appeared - cremation and usually accompanying burial in urns. This, again, should be seen as a departure from traditional Mycenaean customs (the dominant method of burial in the Mycenaean era was the deposition of a corpse; the deposition of a corpse occurs only occasionally).

A similar break with Mycenaean traditions is observed in the sphere of cult. Even in the largest Greek sanctuaries (which existed both in the Mycenaean era and in later times (starting from about the 9th-8th centuries)), there are no traces of cult activity: the remains of buildings, votive figurines, even ceramics . Archaeologists find such a situation, indicating the fading of religious life, in particular, in Delphi, Delos, in the sanctuary of Hera on Samos and in some other places. The only exception to the general rule is Crete, where the veneration of the gods in traditional forms of Minoan ritual appears to have continued uninterrupted throughout the period.

The most important factor contributing to the eradication of Mycenaean cultural traditions, of course, should be considered the sharply increased mobility of the bulk of the population of Greece. Began in the first half of the 12th century. The outflow of population from the areas of the country most affected by the barbarian invasion also continued in the Submycenaean period.

In Greece, the vast majority of Mycenaean settlements, both large and small, were abandoned by their inhabitants. Traces of secondary settlement of Mycenaean citadels and towns are found only sporadically and, as a rule, after a long break. Almost all the newly founded settlements of the Sub-Mycenaean period, and their number is very small, are located at some distance from the Mycenaean ruins, which the people of that time apparently superstitiously avoided.

Perhaps no other period in the history of Greece resembles so closely the famous Thucydian description of the primitive life of the Hellenic tribes with their continuous movements from place to place, chronological poverty and uncertainty about the future.

If we try to extrapolate all these symptoms of cultural decline and regression into the sphere of socio-economic relations inaccessible to our direct observation, we will almost inevitably have to admit that in the XII-XI centuries. Greek society was thrown far back, to the stage of the primitive communal system and, in essence, returned again to the starting line from which the formation of the Mycenaean civilization once began (in the 17th century).

III. CULTURE OF THE ARCHAIC PERIOD (VIII-VI centuries)

WRITING

One of the most important factors of Greek culture of the 8th-6th centuries. rightfully considered new system writing. The alphabetic script, partly borrowed from the Phoenicians, was more convenient than the ancient syllabic script of the Mycenaean era: it consisted of only 24 characters, each of which had a firmly established phonetic meaning. If in Mycenaean society, as in other similar societies of the Bronze Age, the art of writing was accessible only to a few initiates who were part of a closed caste of professional scribes, now it becomes common property all citizens of the policy, since each of them could master the skills of writing and reading. Unlike syllabary, which was used primarily for counting and perhaps to some extent for composing religious texts, the new writing system was truly universal remedy transmission of information, which could be used with equal success in business correspondence and for recording lyric poetry or philosophical aphorisms. All this led to a rapid increase in literacy among the population of Greek city-states, as evidenced by numerous inscriptions on stone, metal, and ceramics, the number of which is increasingly increasing as we approach the end of the archaic period. The oldest of them, for example, the now widely known epigram on the so-called Nestor Cup with Fr. Pithecussa, dates back to the third quarter of the 8th century, which allows us to attribute the borrowing of the signs of the Phoenician alphabet by the Greeks either to the first half of the same 8th century, or even to the end of the previous 9th century.

Almost at the same time (second half of the 8th century), such outstanding examples of monumental heroic epic as the Iliad and the Odyssey, with which the history of Greek literature begins, were created and, most likely, recorded at the same time.

POETRY Greek poetry of the post-Homeric period (VII-VI centuries) is distinguished by its extreme thematic richness and diversity of forms and genres. Of the later forms of the epic, two main variants are known: the heroic epic, represented by the so-called poems of the “Cycle”, and the didactic epic, represented by two poems by Hesiod: “Works and Days” and “Theogony”.

Lyric poetry is becoming widespread and soon becomes the leading literary movement of the era, which in turn is divided into several main genres: elegy, iambic, monodic, i.e. intended for solo performance, and choral lyrics, or melika.

The most important distinctive feature of Greek poetry of the archaic period in all its main types and genres should be recognized as its pronounced humanistic overtones. The poet's close attention to a specific human personality, to its inner world, individual mental characteristics is quite clearly felt already in Homer's poems. "Homer discovered a new world - Man himself. This is what makes his Iliad and Odyssey ktema eis aei, a work forever, eternal value."

The grandiose concentration of heroic tales in the Iliad and Odyssey became the basis for further epic creativity. During the 7th and first half of the 6th centuries. a series of poems arose, composed in the style of the Homeric epic and designed to join with the “Illiad” and “Odyssey” and, together, form a single coherent chronicle of mythological legend, the so-called epic “cycle” (cycle, circle). Antique tradition attributed many of these poems to “Homer” and thereby emphasized their plot and stylistic connection with the Homeric epic. Greek poetry of the post-Homeric period is characterized by a sharp shift in the center of gravity of the poetic narrative to the personality of the poet himself. This tendency is clearly felt already in the works of Hesiod, especially in his poem “Works and Days.”

An unusually complex, rich and colorful world of human feelings, thoughts and experiences is revealed to us in the works of the generation of Greek poets following Hesiod, who worked in various genres of lyric poetry. Feelings of love and hatred, sadness and joy, deep despair and cheerful confidence in the future, expressed with extreme, hitherto unheard of frankness and directness, constitute the main content of the poetic fragments that have come down to us from these poets, unfortunately not so numerous and in most cases very brief (often just two or three lines).

In the most frank, one might say, deliberately emphasized form, the individualistic trends of the era were embodied in the work of such a wonderful lyric poet as Archilochus. No matter how you understand his poems, one thing is clear: the individual, who has thrown off the tight bonds of ancient tribal morality, here clearly opposes himself to the collective as a self-sufficient free person, not subject to anyone’s opinions and any laws.

Sentiments of this kind should have been perceived as socially dangerous and caused protest, both among the adherents of the old aristocratic order, and among the champions of the new polis ideology, who called on fellow citizens to moderation, prudence, effective love for the fatherland and obedience to the laws. A direct response to the verses of Archilochus are the lines filled with stern determination from the “warlike elegies” of the Spartan poet Tyrtaeus: It is a glorious thing to fight in the front ranks with enemies, For a brave man in battle to accept death for his fatherland.

He will serve as pride both for the city and for the people, who, having stepped broadly, advances into the first row, and filled with perseverance, forgets about the shameful flight, not sparing his life and powerful soul.

(fr. 9. Translated by V.V. Latyshev).

If Tyrtaeus puts the main emphasis in his poems on the feeling of self-sacrifice, the willingness of a warrior and citizen to die for the fatherland (a call that sounds very relevant in a state like Sparta, which in the 7th-6th centuries waged almost continuous wars with its neighbors), then another An outstanding master of the elegiac genre and at the same time a renowned statesman, Solon puts in first place among all civil virtues a sense of proportion, or the ability to observe the “golden mean” in everything. In his understanding, only moderation and prudence are able to keep citizens from greed and satiety with wealth, prevent the internecine strife they generate, and establish “good law” (eunomia) in the state.

While some Greek poets sought to comprehend in their poems the complex inner world of man and to find the optimal version of his relationship with the civil collective of the polis, others no less persistently tried to penetrate into the structure of the universe surrounding man and solve the riddle of its origin. One of these poet-thinkers was Hesiod, known to us, who in his poem “Theogony”, or “The Origin of the Gods”, tried to imagine the existing world order in its, so to speak, historical development from the gloomy and faceless primordial Chaos to the bright and harmonious world headed by Zeus Olympian gods.

RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY

During the era of the Great Colonization, traditional Greek religion did not meet the spiritual needs of its contemporaries also because it was difficult to find in it the answer to the question of what awaits a person in his future life and whether it exists at all. In their own way, representatives of two closely related religious and philosophical teachings, the Orphics and Pythagoreans, tried to solve this painful question. Both those and others assessed human earthly life as a continuous chain of suffering sent down to people by the gods for their sins. At the same time, both the Orphics and the Pythagoreans believed in the immortality of the soul, which, after going through a long series of reincarnations, inhabiting the bodies of other people and even animals, is able to cleanse itself of all earthly filth and achieve eternal bliss. The idea that the body is just a temporary “dungeon” or even a “grave” of the immortal soul, which had a huge influence on many later adherents of philosophical idealism and mysticism, starting from Plato and ending with the founders of the Christian faith, first arose precisely in the bosom of the Orphic. Pythagorean doctrine. Unlike the Orphics, who were closer to the broad masses of the people and based their teaching on only a slightly rethought and updated myth about the dying and resurrecting deity of living nature Dionysus-Zagreus, the Pythagoreans were a closed aristocratic sect, hostile to democracy. Their mystical teaching was of a much more refined nature, claiming to be sublimely intellectual. It is no coincidence that Pythagoras himself (the author of the famous theorem, which still bears his name), and his closest students and followers were passionate about mathematical calculations, while paying generous tribute to the mystical interpretation of numbers and their combinations.

Both the Orphics and the Pythagoreans attempted to correct and purify the traditional beliefs of the Greeks, replacing them with a more refined, spiritually charged form of religion. A completely different view of the world, in many ways already approaching spontaneous materialism, was developed and defended at the same time (6th century BC) by representatives of the so-called Ionian natural philosophy: Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes. All three were natives of Miletus, the largest and most economically developed of the Greek city-states of Asia Minor.

What happened in Ionia in the 7th and 6th centuries BC that contributed to the emergence of such outstanding personalities? The population of mixed blood (Carian, Greek and Phoenician branches) was drawn into a long and difficult class struggle. Which blood from these three branches flows in their veins? To what extent? We don't know. But this blood is extremely active. This blood is highly political. This is the blood of inventors. (Public blood: Thales is said to have proposed to this restless and disunited population of Ionia to form a new type of state, a federal state governed by a federal council. The proposal was very reasonable and at the same time very new in the Greek world. They did not listen to him.) This class struggle, which drenched the Ionian states in blood the city, the same as that which took place in Attica in the time of Solon, is, and for a long time, the driving force of all inventions in this land of creation. For the first time in the history of mankind, Milesian thinkers tried to imagine the entire universe around them in the form of a harmoniously arranged, self-developing and self-regulating system. This cosmos, as the Ionian philosophers were inclined to believe, was not created by any of the gods or by any of the people and, in principle, should exist forever. The laws governing it are quite accessible to human understanding. There is nothing mystical or incomprehensible about them. Thus, a big step was taken on the path from the religious and mythological perception of the existing world order to its comprehension by means human mind. The first philosophers inevitably had to face the question of what should be considered the first principle, the first cause of all existing things. Thales (the oldest of the Milesian natural philosophers) and Anaximenes believed that the primary substance from which everything arises and into which everything ultimately turns should be one of the four basic elements. Thales preferred water, while Anaximenes preferred air. However, Anaximander, undoubtedly the most profound of the most ancient Greek philosophers, advanced further than anyone else along the path of abstract theoretical understanding of natural phenomena. He declared the so-called “apeiron” to be the root cause and basis of all things - an eternal and infinite substance, qualitatively not reducible to any of the four elements and at the same time being in continuous movement, during which opposite principles are released from the apeiron: warm and cold, dry and wet, etc. Entering into interaction, these pairs of opposites give rise to all observable phenomena of nature, both living and dead. The picture of the world drawn by Anaximander was completely new and unusual for the era in which it arose. It contained a number of pronounced elements of a materialistic and dialectical nature, including the idea of ​​a comprehensive, constantly changing its form of primary substance, quite close to modern ideas about matter, the idea of ​​the struggle of opposites and their transition into each other as the main source of the entire diversity of world processes.

Greek natural philosophers understood well that the most reliable basis of all knowledge is experience, empirical research and observation. Essentially, they were not only the first philosophers, but also the first scientists, the founders of Greek and all European science. The eldest of them, Thales, was already called by the ancients “the first mathematician”, “the first astronomer”, “the first physicist”.

ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE

In the VII-VI centuries. Greek architects for the first time after a long break began to erect monumental temple buildings from stone, limestone or marble. In the VI century. A single pan-Greek type of temple was developed in the form of a rectangular, elongated building, surrounded on all sides by a colonnade, sometimes single (peripterus), sometimes double (dipterus). At the same time, the main structural and artistic features of the two main architectural orders were determined: the Doric, which was especially widespread in the Peloponnese and in the cities of Magna Graecia (Southern Italy and Sicily), and the Ionic, which was especially popular in the Greek part of Asia Minor and in some areas of European Greece. Typical samples Doric order the temple of Apollo in Corinth, the temples of Poseidonia (Paestum) in southern Italy and the temples of Selinut in Sicily can be considered with such characteristic features as severe power and ponderous massiveness. More elegant, slender and at the same time distinguished by some pretentious decorative decoration, buildings of the Ionic order were represented in the same period by the temples of Hera on the island. Samos, Artemis in Ephesus (a famous architectural monument considered one of the “seven wonders of the world”), Apollo in Didyma near Miletus.

The principle of harmonious balance of the whole and its parts, clearly expressed in the very design of the Greek temple, found wide application in another leading branch of Greek art - monumental sculpture, and in both cases we can confidently speak about the social conditioning of this important aesthetic idea. If a temple with a colonnade resembling rows of hoplites in a phalanx was perceived as a model and at the same time a symbol of a closely knit civil collective, then the image of a free individual, who is an integral part of this collective, was embodied in stone sculptures, both single and united in plastic groups. Their first, still extremely artistically imperfect, examples appear around the middle of the 7th century. BC. A single sculpture from the end of the Archaic period is represented by two main types: the image of a naked youth - kouros and the figure of a girl dressed in a long, tightly fitting chiton - kora.

Gradually improving in conveying the proportions of the human body, achieving greater and greater similarities in life, Greek sculptors of the 6th century. learned to overcome the static nature initially characteristic of their statues.

For all the life-like appearance of the best examples of Greek archaic sculpture, almost all of them are subject to a certain aesthetic standard, depicting a beautiful, ideally built youth or adult man, completely devoid of any individual physical or mental characteristics.

VASE PAINTING The most popular and accessible view Archaic Greek art was, of course, vase painting. In their work, aimed at the widest consumer, vase painters depended much less on the canons sanctified by religion or the state than sculptors or architects. Therefore, their art was much more dynamic, diverse and responded more quickly to all kinds of artistic discoveries and experiments. This probably explains the extraordinary thematic diversity characteristic of Greek vase painting of the 7th-6th centuries. It was in vase painting, earlier than in any other branch of Greek art, with the possible exception of coroplasty and bone carving, that mythological scenes began to alternate with episodes of a genre nature. At the same time, not limiting themselves to subjects borrowed from the life of the aristocratic elite (scenes of feasts, chariot races, athletic exercises and competitions, etc.), Greek vase painters (especially during the heyday of the so-called black-figure style in Corinth, Attica and some other areas) They do not neglect the life of the lower social classes, depicting scenes of field work, craft workshops, folk festivals in honor of Dionysus, and even the hard work of slaves in the mines. In scenes of this kind, the humanistic and democratic features of Greek art, which were instilled in it by the surrounding social environment since the archaic era, were especially clearly manifested.

IV. GREEK CLASSICS IV. A) GREEK CULTURE IN THE 5TH CENTURY INTRODUCTION

As in other areas of life, in the culture of the 5th century. BC. there is a combination of traditional features dating back to archaic and even earlier eras, and completely different ones generated by new phenomena in the socio-economic and political spheres. The birth of the new did not mean the death of the old. Just as in cities the construction of new temples was very rarely accompanied by the destruction of old ones, so in other spheres of culture the old receded, but usually did not disappear completely. The most important new factor that had the most significant impact on the course of cultural evolution in this century was the consolidation and development of the polis, especially the democratic one. It is no coincidence that the most striking works of material and spiritual culture were born in Athens. But there were also the Greco-Persian wars, which caused a rise in general Greek patriotism, awareness of the value of the Hellenic way of life and its advantages; growth of the Athenian Maritime League, leading to a concentration in Athens prominent figures Greek culture. A huge role was also played by the conscious policy of the leaders of Athens, who strove to make their home city the largest popular center of Hellas, the focus of everything valuable and beautiful that was then in the Greek world. Finally, the Peloponnesian War had a certain impact on the development of culture, which gave rise to a feeling of hopelessness and despair among a number of representatives of the intellectual elite.

RELIGION

In the first half of the 5th century. Important changes took place in the religious ideology of the Greeks. Unfortunately, they are little known to us and are most often reflected in literary works, which makes it difficult to understand whether a given phenomenon arose as a result of individual or group creativity or reflects a widely held idea. The rise of the classical polis and the victory over the Persians had important consequences for the people's worldview. Modern researchers have noted an increase in religiosity among the Greeks.

Development at the end of the Archaic period on the basis of the ancient peasant cult of hope for immortality, which was previously considered to belong not to an individual, but to a series of successive generations, in Athens in the 5th century BC, when man felt free from the ties of family and traditions, reaches the cult of personal immortality. From the point of view of traditional ideas, in the war with the Persians, their deities also fought on the side of the Greeks, which, in particular, is mentioned by Herodotus. The victory of the Greeks over the Persians was accordingly perceived as evidence of the power of the Greek gods. The second important circumstance associated with the rise of the classical polis is the feeling of historical optimism, which was also reflected in religious consciousness. Zeus, who increasingly occupied a dominant place in the pantheon, acquired the features of a guarantor of justice in the thoughts and feelings of the Greeks. These ideas are very clearly expressed in Pindar and Aeschylus. In the Prometheus trilogy, Zeus initially appears as a tyrant, but in the final tragedy he reconciles with Prometheus, who is ready to die for people. In Aeschylus's Oresteia, the idea of ​​the possibility of solving everything, even the most complex and painful problems, through reconciliation triumphs: the terrible goddesses Erinyes turn into the beneficent Eumenides. The conviction that the gods will help a person if he is devoid of pride and accepts his fate was inherent in the Greeks of that time.

The most important feature of the next, “Pericles” period was the strengthening, at least in Athens, of the tendency towards complete fusion within a single pantheon of polis and folk deities. The most ancient deities of Attica, Athena and Poseidon, are now worshiped together both on the Athenian Acropolis and on Cape Sunium. The cult of Athena is strengthened. The influence of the cult of Dionysus is growing, in which democratic tendencies are clearly visible. The prestige of the pan-Hellenic sanctuaries in Olympia and Delphi is still great, but the importance of Delos decreases somewhat after it came completely under the rule of Athens.

There is a humanization of religion, it becomes worldly. From that time on, the state and the gods formed an inextricable whole. Religious feeling gives way to the patriotism and pride of citizens who are able to erect such magnificent monuments to their gods, which are the occasion for magnificent celebrations and become the subject of admiration throughout the world. But merging with civic pride, the religion of humanized gods leaves the heart of man and exalts him much less than he imagines. Last third of the 5th century. allows us to talk about a certain crisis in the religious consciousness of the Greeks, for which there were several reasons. The severe disasters that befell the Hellenic world during the Peloponnesian War broke the spirit of optimism that prevailed in previous years, and at the same time undermined faith in the goodness of the gods - the guarantors of the existing order. The second important reason for the crisis is the complication of the nature of society, its social structure, to which traditional religious ideas dating back to ancient times no longer correspond. Previously, this discrepancy remained outside the attention of contemporaries, but now in a new, extremely complex situation, the discrepancy was literally striking. The literature of these years is full of ridicule of the gods, traditional beliefs and rituals. However, the paradox of the situation was that the same citizens who yesterday laughed at the gods while watching a comedy, tomorrow participated in solemn religious ceremonies in honor of the same deities. All this is evidence of an emerging gap between the religious feelings of the citizen and the religious policy of the state, which was previously impossible in the Greek world. Finally, among the reasons - and at the same time the results - of the spiritual crisis, one should name the criticism of traditional ideas and institutions of society, including religion, by the sophists. Sophistic ideas spread most among the top of society. It was not for nothing that the popular opinion of Athens in the “case of the Hermocopidae” considered Alcibiades and his friends, people of the same circle, to be the perpetrators of sacrilege. At the same time, the scale and depth of this crisis cannot be exaggerated. It was in the context of the decline of old ideas that new religious ideas were born. In particular, at this time the idea of ​​a personal connection between a person and a deity became popular. We find it, for example, in Euripides, who, in general, had a very negative attitude towards traditional views. The importance of new cults, for example the god of healing Asclepius, is increasing. Some old cults are being revived due to changes in their functions. The decline of traditional beliefs leads to the widespread penetration of foreign cults, Thracian and Asian, into Hellas. The religious consciousness of the era was also characterized by the spread of mysticism.

PHILOSOPHY

In philosophy of the 5th century. The leading direction remained natural philosophy, which had developed in Ionia in the previous century. The most prominent representatives of the spontaneous-materialistic natural philosophy of this time were Heraclitus of Ephesus, Anaxagoras and Empedocles. Like the natural philosophers of the past, the philosophers of the 5th century. The main attention was paid to the search for the primary element. Heraclitus, for example, saw him on fire. According to Anaxagoras, the world was originally a motionless mixture consisting of tiny particles (“seeds”), which were given movement by the mind (nus). Anaxagoras's concept of mind meant a radical opposition between the source of motion and inert matter; it had a significant impact on further development philosophical thought (ideas of the “primary impulse” in the philosophy of modern times). Empedocles saw four primary elements (he called them “the roots of all things”): fire, air, earth and water. All material things, according to Empedocles, consist of these four elements, quantitatively and qualitatively unchangeable, combined in various proportions. The movement of matter (as in Anaxagoras) is determined by the mind located outside it - the organizing principle of the cosmos, which has overcome the initial chaos. The theory of the four elements, thanks to its perception by Aristotle, remained the foundation of European physics until the 17th century.

Ancient Greek materialism reached its highest flowering in the teachings of Leucippus of Miletus and Democritus of Abdera. Leucippus laid the foundations of atomistic philosophy. His student Democritus not only accepted the cosmological theory of his teacher, but expanded and refined it, creating a universal philosophical system.

Democritus gave the world a great word - the atom. He threw it out as a hypothesis. But since this hypothesis answered better than any other the questions posed by his predecessors and his time, this word uttered by him was destined to pass down the centuries. For the first time in the history of philosophy, Democritus created a detailed theory of knowledge, the starting point of which is sensory experience. But the true “nature” of things (atoms), according to Democritus, is inaccessible to the senses and is comprehended only with the help of thinking. Like Empedocles, Democritus explained sensory perception by outflows (streams of atoms separating from the perceived body). Social and ethical problems occupied a large place in the teachings of Democritus. He considered democracy to be the best form of government, and serene wisdom to be the highest virtue. The materialistic philosophy of Democritus had a huge influence on the development of European philosophy and natural sciences.

In the 5th century The traditional confrontation between natural philosophy, materialistic at its core, and Pythagoreanism continued. Pythagorean teaching continued to be more popular in Magna Graecia than in Hellas proper.

All philosophical schools of the early 5th century. united by the desire to create a single universal cosmological and ontological concept, to explain the unity and diversity of the world. And in this they were the undisputed successors of the work of the philosophers of the archaic era. However, from about the middle of the 5th century. A decisive turn is taking place in the spiritual life of Greece: from now on, the center of philosophy is not the world, but man. The sophists played a significant role in this spiritual revolution (from the Greek word "sophos" - "wise"). The emergence of the sophistic movement, as already noted, is associated with a general complication of the structure of society, which was expressed both in the increase in the number of socio-professional groups, the emergence of a layer of professional political figures, and in the increase in the volume of specific knowledge necessary for successful political activity. A sophist, a traveling and paid teacher of wisdom and eloquence, a natural result of the process of professionalization of knowledge. Another reason for the birth of the sophistic movement is the logic of the internal development of knowledge itself. The comprehensive cosmological teachings of natural philosophers rested, in essence, on very shaky foundations, being basically speculative. The further, the more difficult it became to reconcile, within the framework of unified concepts, many individual empirical observations and conclusions of special sciences with such general schemes of the cosmos. The stronger the gap between natural philosophy and real knowledge became, the greater public skepticism towards natural philosophy became. The sophists became the exponents of this skepticism.

Socrates was the irreconcilable enemy of the sophists in Athens, although from the point of view of ordinary consciousness (as, for example, it is reflected in Aristophanes), Socrates himself is not only a sophist, but even their head.

Socrates was and still remains a mystery to us to his contemporaries, the key to which will probably never be found. Socrates was, most likely, not a philosopher, but a folk sage who opposed the sophists, but accepted everything positive that their teaching contained. Socrates did not create his own school, although he was constantly surrounded by students. The views of Socrates reflected some new phenomena in the life of Greek society, primarily in Athens. He emphasized the need for professional knowledge for successful activities in any area of ​​life, “Every person, gifted or untalented, must, according to Socrates, study and practice in what he wants to achieve success in. Education and training in political art is especially important for gifted people,” from which political conclusions were drawn: governing the state is also a profession, and it is necessary that professionals also do it. This concept was completely opposed to the fundamental principles of Athenian democracy, according to which the administration of the polis was the business of every citizen. Thus, the teaching of Socrates created a theoretical basis for the oligarchs, which ultimately led him to an irreconcilable conflict with the demos, which ended in the condemnation and death of Socrates.

SEPARATION OF SCIENCES

The 5th century can be considered the time of the birth of science as a special field of activity. Natural philosophy of the archaic era and the first half of the 5th century. in essence, it represented a kind of synthetic science, in which both general cosmogonic constructions and observations and conclusions of a more specific nature, belonging to individual scientific disciplines, merged. However, ancient Greek science could preserve this character only to a certain level. The expansion of the sphere of knowledge, the increase in its amount led not only to the spin-off of individual sciences from natural philosophy, but also (sometimes) to a conflict between them.

A) Medicine.

Particularly indicative is the progress in medicine, associated primarily with the activities of Hippocrates.

It would be a great mistake to assume, as is sometimes done today, that Greek medicine originated in sanctuaries. In Greece, in the era of rationalism, there were two medical traditions: the medicine of spells, dreams, signs and wonders in the orbit of sanctuaries, and the independent and entirely secular medical art, to which Hippocrates belonged. They were parallel, but completely different from each other.

In the "Hippocratic Collection" one can distinguish the treatises of three large groups of doctors. There are medical theorists and philosophers who enjoy speculative speculation. They are opposed by the doctors of the Knidos school, whose respect for facts is so great that they are unable to step beyond them. Finally, in the third group - and Hippocrates and his students belong to it, that is, the Kosska school - there are doctors who, based on observation, proceeding from it and only from it, persistently strive to interpret and understand it. These doctors have a positive mindset: they refuse arbitrary suggestions and consider reason as the constant.

These three schools are equally opposed to sanctuary medicine. But only the Kos school founded medicine as a science. B) Mathematics.

During the 5th century. Mathematics turns into an independent scientific discipline, freeing itself from the influence of the Pythagoreans and becoming the subject of professional activity of scientists who did not adhere to any philosophical direction. Important for the development of mathematics was the creation of the deductive method (logical derivation of consequences from a small number of initial premises). The progress of mathematical knowledge is especially noticeable in arithmetic, geometry, and stereometry. Significant advances in astronomy also date back to this time. Anaxagoras was the first scientist to give a correct explanation of solar and lunar eclipses.

C) Historiography.

Only in relation to the 5th century. we can also talk about the birth of historiography: historians are replacing the Ionian logographers. Modern researchers place the birth of history as a science in connection with the formation of democracy and, accordingly, the deepening of the political consciousness of citizenship. A citizen who creates through his political activity modern history, wanted to know the history that his ancestors created. That is why the strictly rational work of Thucydides became the pinnacle of Greek historiography. Herodotus, whom Cicero called “the father of history,” can be considered a transitional link from logographers to Thucydides. The main theme of Herodotus' "History" is the Greco-Persian wars.

The theme of Thucydides' work was the history of the Peloponnesian War. A native Athenian, related to the Cimon family, a brilliant student of the sophists, Thucydides was a prominent representative of the elite of the Athenian polis. However, his career came to an abrupt end in 424 when, as a general, he was defeated at Amphipolis and was expelled from Athens. The work of Thucydides is contemporary history. Only at the very beginning does he give in a very brief form a general outline of the history of Hellas since ancient times; all other content is strictly limited to the task at hand. Thucydides deliberately contrasted his method with the method of his predecessors - the logographers and Herodotus. He can be considered the founder of historical criticism. Thucydides sees his task as creating a true history of the Peloponnesian War. Discarding everything miraculous (which occupied such a significant place in the work of Herodotus), Thucydides tries to explain what happened only by “human nature.” Thus, the natural scientific method is transferred to the sphere political history. History, from the point of view of Thucydides, is not a mechanistic process, cognizable on the basis of logical analysis, for blind forces also operate (natural events, an unforeseen combination of circumstances - in a word, everything that is embraced by the concept of “blind chance”). The interaction of the rational and the irrational forms the real historical process. Thucydides also assigns a significant role to outstanding political figures, especially emphasizing their ability to understand the direction of the historical process and act in accordance with it.

GREEK LITERATURE OF THE 5TH CENTURY

The significant changes that took place in Greek culture during the 5th century are clearly reflected in literature. The beginning of the century sees the decline of choral lyrics - that genre of literature that dominated the archaic era; At the same time, Greek tragedy was born - the genre of literature that most fully corresponds to the spirit of the classical polis.

This early Attic tragedy of the late 6th - early 5th centuries. was not yet a drama in the full sense of the word. It was one of the branches of choral lyricism, but was distinguished by two significant features: 1) in addition to the choir, an actor performed who made a message to the choir, exchanged remarks with the choir or with its leader (luminary); while the choir did not leave the scene of action, the actor left, returned, made new messages to the choir about what was happening behind the stage and, if necessary, could change his appearance, playing the roles of different persons in his various parishes; 2) the choir took part in the game, portraying a group of people placed in a plot connection with those whom the actor represented. The actor's quantitative parts were still very small, and he, nevertheless, was the bearer of the dynamics of the game, since the lyrical moods of the choir changed depending on his messages. Aristocratic in origin, ideas, and method of expression, choral lyrics moved into the 5th century. from the previous one in the person of such recognized masters as Simonides of Keos and Pindar of Thebes - the last and most brilliant singer of the Greek aristocracy (he himself came from a Theban aristocratic family). Pindar's style is distinguished by solemnity, pomp, and a wealth of exquisite images and epithets, which often still retain a connection with the figurative system of folklore.

Most of the poems that have come down to us from Pindar's rival Bacchylides also belong to the epinikian genre. In the work of Bacchylides, the desire to adapt the traditional genre to new tasks and new living conditions is clearly noticeable. The strict aristocracy of Pindar is alien to him. Although Bacchylides main topic- valor, but it is understood differently, not as a set of traditional qualities of an aristocrat, but as the ability to always be on top, to meet any task. More interesting are his dithyrambs, in which individual episodes of myths are lyrically developed. It is characteristic that among the dithyrambs of Bacchylides, a prominent place is occupied by those in which Athenian legends are presented, especially about Theseus.

THEATER OF ANCIENT GREECE

However, new social conditions made lyric poetry an unmodern genre; it left the stage along with the aristocracy that gave birth to it. It is being replaced by theater - tragedy and comedy. The theater occupied a special place in the life of the Greeks and in many ways was not similar to the modern one. In Athens, theatrical performances took place initially once a year (then twice), during the festival of the god Dionysus (Great Dionysia - a holiday of the beginning of spring, which at the same time marked the opening of navigation after the winter winds), when performances were held for three days from morning to evening , which were then talked about throughout the year. Theater, unlike choral lyrics, is addressed to the entire demos; it is more democratic; it serves as a platform from which those who seek to convince it of the correctness of their own ideas and thoughts address the demos. It is no coincidence that the theater reached its peak in the 5th century. reached in Athens, the most democratic of the policies of Hellas. The theater became a true educator of the people; it shaped the views and beliefs of the free citizens of Hellas. The theater was a public institution included in the system of polis holidays. The theatrical spectacle was massive, the majority of citizens were spectators, the organization of performances is one of the most important and honorable liturgies; Since the time of Pericles, the state has given the poorest citizens money to pay for tickets. Theatrical performances were competitive in nature, plays by several authors were staged, and a jury elected from citizens determined the winner.

TRAGEDY

The ancient tradition calls Thespis the first tragic poet and points to 534. as on the date of the first production of the tragedy. These early tragedies represented more of a branch of choral lyricism than actual dramatic works. Only at the turn of the 6th and 5th centuries. the tragedy takes on its classic appearance.

In the images of myths, Greek tragedy reflected the heroic struggle of the people against external enemies, the struggle for political equality and social justice. The tragedy found its brightest embodiment in the works of three major Athenian playwrights - Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides.

The heyday of Greek tragedy was brilliant, but short. Literally over the course of one century, tragedy arose, reached its peak and declined. And although the tragedy continued to exist in subsequent centuries, it never happened.

COMEDY The birth of comedy as a special genre is apparently connected with Sicily, where the activities of Epicharmus took place, who was the first to actively develop parody-mythological and everyday themes in the form of integral plays. Ancient authors, however, preferred to call these plays dramas, because the choir played almost no role in them. Somewhat later, comedies appeared in Athens, where they received official recognition later than tragedies: comedies began to be staged at the Great Dionysia in 488-486, and at Lenaea - around 448.

"The ancient Attic comedy is something extremely unique. Archaic and crude games of fertility festivals are intricately intertwined in it with the staging of the most complex social and cultural problems, facing Greek society. Athenian democracy raised carnivalesque license to the level of serious social criticism, while maintaining the external forms of ritual play intact. Despite the recognized influence of Epicharmus, Attic comedy differed from Sicilian comedy: its object is not the mythological past, but living modernity, topical issues of the political and cultural life of the polis, and its accusatory pathos is extremely strong. In Attic comedy, this accusatory tendency usually finds expression in mockery of specific individuals, often in a very rude form. As a rule, a caricature is used as a way to ridicule social phenomena and citizens. The ridiculed faces are almost always presented in a crudely caricatured form; the author of the comedy cares little about the true appearance of the hero. Finally, the plot of a comedy is often fantastic in nature. The turbulent political life of Athens provided abundant material for the development of comedy. Its most outstanding representatives are Cratinus, Eupolis and Aristophanes, but, unfortunately, only fragments have survived from the works of the first two, and of the 44 comedies of Aristophanes, only 11 have survived in their entirety.

FINE ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE

According to the most common periodization, the history of Greek fine art and architecture of the 5th century. It is customary to divide it into two large periods: the art of the early classics, or strict style, and the art of the high, or developed, classics. The border between them passes approximately in the middle of the century, however, the borders in art are generally quite arbitrary, and the transition from one quality to another occurs gradually and in different spheres of art at different speeds. This observation is true not only for the boundary between early and high classics, but also between archaic and early classical art.

A) Art of the Early Classics.

In the era of the early classics, the poleis of Asia Minor lost the leading place in the development of art that they had previously occupied. The Northern Peloponnese, Athens and the Greek West became the most important centers of activity for artists, sculptors, and architects. The art of this time was illuminated by the ideas of the liberation struggle against the Persians and the triumph of the polis. Heroic character and increased attention to the human citizen who created a world where he is free and where his dignity is respected distinguishes the art of the early classics. Art is liberated from those rigid frameworks that shackled it in the archaic era; this is a time of searching for something new and, therefore, a time of intensive development of various schools and directions, the creation of diverse works. The previously dominant two types of figures in sculpture - kurosu and kore - are being replaced by a much greater variety of types; the sculptures strive to convey the complex movement of the human body. The architecture takes into account the classical type of peripteral temple and its sculptural decoration.

Milestones in the development of early classical architecture and sculpture were such buildings as the treasury of the Athenians in Delphi, the temple of Athena Aphaia on the island. Aegina, the so-called Temple of E at Selinunte and the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. From the sculptures and reliefs that decorated these buildings, one can clearly see how their composition and style changed in different periods - during the transition from archaic to strict style and then to high classicism, which is typical for each period. Archaic art created works of art that were perfect in their completeness, but conditional. The task of the classics was to depict a person in motion. The master of the early classics took the first step towards great realism, towards the depiction of personality, and naturally, this process began with solving an easier task - conveying the movement of the human body. The share of high classics fell to the next, more difficult task - to convey the movements of the soul.

The affirmation of the dignity and greatness of the human citizen becomes the main task of Greek sculpture of the classical era. In statues cast from bronze or carved from marble, masters strive to convey a generalized image of a human hero in all the perfection of his physical and moral beauty. This ideal had great ethical and social educational significance. Art had a direct impact on the feelings and minds of his contemporaries, cultivating in them an idea of ​​what a person should be.

Second quarter of the 5th century. - years of activity of the most outstanding of the artists of the early classics - Polygnotus. Judging by the evidence of ancient authors, Polygnotus, trying to show people in space, placed background figures above the foreground ones, partially hiding them on uneven ground. This technique is also attested in vase painting. However, what is most characteristic of vase painting of this time is not following painting in the field of stylistics, but independent development. In the search for visual means, vase painters not only followed monumental art, but, as representatives of the most democratic form of art, they overtook it in some ways, depicting scenes from real life. These same decades saw the decline of the black-figure style and the rise of the red-figure style, when the natural color of the clay was preserved for the figures, and the space between them was filled with black varnish.

The art of high classics, prepared by the creative quests of artists of the previous generation, has one important feature - Athens becomes the most significant center of its development, and the influence of Athenian ideology increasingly determines the development of art throughout Hellas.

B) The Art of High Classics.

The art of high classics is a clear continuation of what arose earlier, but there is one area where something fundamentally new is being born at this time - urbanism. Although the accumulation of experience and some empirically found principles of urban planning was the result of the creation of new cities during the period of the Great Colonization, it was during the period of high classicism that the theoretical generalization of this experience, the creation of an integral concept and its implementation in practice occurred. The birth of urban planning as a theoretical and practical discipline that combined artistic and utilitarian goals is associated with the name of Hippodamus of Miletus. Two main features characterize its design: the regularity of the city plan, in which the streets intersect at right angles, creating a system of rectangular blocks, and zoning, i.e. clear identification of different functional areas of the city.

The leading type of building was still the temple. Temples of the Doric order are actively being built in the Greek West: several temples in Agrigentum, among which stands out the so-called Temple of Concordia (in reality - Hera Argeia), considered the best of the Dorian temples in Italy. However, the scale of construction of public buildings in Athens far exceeds what we see in other parts of Greece. The conscious and purposeful policy of the Athenian democracy, headed by Pericles, - to transform Athens not only into the most powerful, but also the most cultural and beautiful city of Hellas, to make its home city the focus of all the best that is in the world - found practical implementation in a broad construction program.

High classic architecture is characterized by striking proportionality, combined with festive monumentality. Continuing the traditions of the previous time, architects at the same time did not slavishly follow the canons; they boldly sought new means that would enhance the expressiveness of the structures they created, most fully reflecting the ideas embedded in them. During the construction of the Parthenon, in particular, Ictinus and Callicrates boldly combined the features of the Doric and Ionic orders in one building: on the outside the Parthenon presents a typical Doric peripterus, but it is decorated with a continuous sculptural frieze characteristic of the Ionian order. The combination of Doric and Ionic is also used in the Propylaea. The Erechtheion is extremely unique; it is the only temple in Greek architecture with a completely asymmetrical plan. The design of one of its porticos, where the columns are replaced by six figures of caryatid girls, is also original.

In sculpture, the art of high classics is associated primarily with the work of Myron, Phidias and Polycletus. Myron completed the quest of the masters of previous times, who sought to convey human movement in sculpture. In the most famous of his creations, the Discobolus, for the first time in Greek art, the problem of conveying an instant transition from one movement to another was solved, and the static character coming from the archaic was finally overcome. Having completely solved the problem of conveying movement, Myron, however, was unable to master the art of expressing sublime feelings. This task fell to Phidias, the greatest of the Greek sculptors. Phidias became famous for his sculptures of deities, especially Zeus and Athena. His early works are still little known. In the 60s, Phidias created a colossal statue of Athena Promachos, which towered in the center of the Acropolis.

The most important place in the work of Phidias was occupied by the creation of sculptures and reliefs for the Parthenon. The synthesis of architecture and sculpture, so characteristic of Greek art, finds its ideal embodiment here. Phidias had the general idea of ​​the sculptural design of the Parthenon and the direction of its implementation; he also made some of the sculptures and reliefs. Artistic ideal triumphant democracy finds its complete embodiment in the majestic works of Phidias - the indisputable pinnacle of the art of high classics.

But, according to the Greeks themselves, Phidias’s greatest creation was the statue of Olympian Zeus. Zeus is represented sitting on a throne, in his right hand he held the figure of the goddess of victory Nike, in his left - a symbol of power, a scepter. In this statue, also for the first time in Greek art, Phidias created the image of a merciful god. The ancients considered the statue of Zeus one of the wonders of the world.

The ideal citizen of the polis is the main theme of the work of another sculptor of this time - Polycletus of Argos. He created mainly statues of winning athletes in sports competitions. The most famous is his statue of Doryphoros (a young man with a spear), which the Greeks considered an exemplary work. Doryphorus Polykleitos is the embodiment of a physically and spiritually perfect person.

At the end of the 5th century. New features begin to appear in sculpture, which were developed in the next century. In the reliefs of the balustrade of the temple of Nike Apteros (Wingless) on the Acropolis of Athens, dynamism is especially striking. We see the same features in the sculptural image of Nike, made by Paeonius. The desire to transfer dynamic compositions The searches of the sculptors of the end of the century were not exhausted. In the art of these decades, reliefs on tombstones occupy a large place. Usually they were created according to a single type: the deceased surrounded by loved ones. The main feature of this circle of reliefs (the most famous is the tombstone of Hegeso, daughter of Proxenus) is the depiction of the natural feelings of ordinary people. Thus, the same problems are solved in sculpture as in literature (the tragedy of Euripides).

Unfortunately, we know almost nothing about the great Greek artists (Apollodorus, Zeuxis, Parrhasius), except for descriptions of some of their paintings and information about their skill. It can be assumed that the evolution of painting basically went in the same direction as sculpture. According to reports of ancient authors, Apollodorus of Athens discovered at the end of the 5th century. chiaroscuro effect, i.e. laid the foundation for painting in the modern sense of the word. Parrhasius strove to convey emotional movements through painting. In the vase painting of the second half of the 5th century. Everyday scenes occupy an increasing place.

In the minds of subsequent generations, the 5th century BC. associated with the greatest victories won by the Greeks at Marathon and Salamis, it was perceived as the time of the heroic deeds of the ancestors who defended the independence of Hellas and saved its freedom. It was a time when the common goal of serving the homeland inspired fighters, when the highest valor was to die for the fatherland, and the good of the native city was considered the highest good.

IV. B) GREECE IN THE IV CENTURY B.C.

PHILOSOPHY

A) Plato, Aristotle.

The 4th century turned out to be a very fruitful period for the development of culture, especially philosophy and oratory. At this time, the two most famous philosophical systems were created - Plato and Aristotle. Plato (426-347) belonged to a famous aristocratic family in Athens. His philosophical concept turned out to be closely intertwined with socio-political views. In the treatises "State" and "Laws" Plato created a model of an ideal polis with a carefully developed class system, strict control of the top of society over the activities of the lower classes. He considered the basis for the correct construction of the state to be the correct interpretation of the concept of virtue and justice, therefore, at the head of the policy there should have been philosophers, people with knowledge.

“Until in the cities... either philosophers reign, or the current kings and rulers philosophize sincerely and satisfactorily, until state power and philosophy coincide into one... until then neither the cities, nor even, I think, the human race, expect the end of evil ... "No less popular was the teaching of Aristotle (384-322), a philosopher who had long-standing and strong ties with the Macedonian court. His father was a court physician there, and Aristotle himself spent eight years at the court of Philip II as the tutor of Alexander the Great. A student of Plato, Aristotle was engaged in scientific research and teaching at the Lyceum gymnasium in Athens.

Aristotle went down in history primarily as an encyclopedist. His legacy is a real body of knowledge accumulated by Greek science by the 4th century: according to some information, the number of works he wrote was close to a thousand.

Aristotle, unlike his teacher, believed that the material world is primary, and the world of ideas is secondary, that form and content are inseparable from each other as two sides of one phenomenon. The doctrine of nature appears in his treatises primarily as a doctrine of motion, and this is one of the most interesting and strong aspects of Aristotle’s system. He is considered an outstanding representative of dialectics, which was for him a method of obtaining true and reliable knowledge from probable and plausible knowledge.

The scientist also acted as a historian, teacher, eloquence theorist, and creator of ethical and political teachings. He authored ethical treatises in which virtue is understood as the reasonable regulation of activity, the middle between extremes: courage, for example, was located between fear and despair. He also paid a lot of attention to poetry, believing that it had a beneficial effect on the psyche and was important for social life.

Aristotle's teachings were widely used in European philosophy by representatives of various directions. In the middle of the century, some of his provisions formed the basis of theological theories. The philosophy of the Renaissance was influenced by completely different aspects of Aristotle's theory than the medieval scholastics; they did a lot to publish the philosopher's texts and restore his teaching in full. At the same time, attention was drawn to the opposition Plato - Aristotle, which is allegorically represented by Raphael in the painting “The School of Athens”. Aristotle's teaching was highly appreciated by K. Marx and F. Engels. B) The teaching of the Cynics.

During the same period, Antisthenes (450-360) and Diogenes of Sinope (died c. 330-320) laid the foundations of the philosophical teaching of the Cynics, which flourished more late time. Cynics of the 4th century opposed themselves traditional forms life and the establishment of the policy, taught to limit needs. The foundations of correct behavior, in their opinion, should be sought in the lives of animals and on early stages human society.

HISTORIANS OF GREECE OF THE 4TH CENTURY

The historical genre was represented primarily by the famous historian Xenophon, a native of Athens (428-354). He came from a wealthy family, received an excellent education, and studied with Socrates. Xenophon's main historical work, " Greek history", chronologically continues the work of Thucys, covering the period from the end of the Peloponnesian War to the Battle of Mantinea, and serves as one of the main sources on the history of the 4th century. The history of Xenophon is written in a completely different vein than the work of his predecessor. It is drier, it does not have that thoughtful concept, breadth of views on the historical process, a thorough analysis of the causes of events that are so attractive in Thucydides. The main drawback of Xenophon’s work is deliberate bias: he reshapes history to his liking, creating a generally distorted picture, because some events are simply hushed up, while others are sufficiently important ones, he says in passing; still others he exaggerates in every possible way.

In addition to the work of Xenophon, from historical works of the 4th century. excerpts from the “Oxyrhynchus History” by an unknown author have reached us, describing the events of the 90s. The manuscript received its name from the place of discovery, the city of Oxyrhynchus in Egypt. The few surviving fragments do not make it possible to get an idea of ​​the composition of the work and the principles of its construction. We can definitely only talk about a very detailed account of events and discrepancies in the description of facts with Xenophon. Excerpts from the "Oxyrhynchus History" have great importance to highlight some moments in the history of Hellas, information about the rise of Boeotia and the struggle of political groups in the city policies is especially interesting.

The works of other historians from this period have not survived, with only a few scattered fragments surviving; The names of the authors and the titles of the works have been transmitted by other writers.

RHETORIC

Representatives of the rhetorical movement in history were Ephorus and Theopompus. Their writings are characterized by a pronounced bias and moralizing tone. Ephorus (405-330) is known as the creator of the General History, of which only fragments have survived. The work is based on the history of Hellas, but much attention is paid to descriptions of other peoples.

Ephor's contemporary Theopompus (born in 378) was the author of the History of Greece and the History of Philip of Macedon, which also have not come down to us. Objectivity, obviously, was not one of his virtues, since contemporaries unanimously noted the author’s penchant for slander.

Oratory of Greece of the 4th century.

Greece IV century gave a galaxy of brilliant speakers. The cultivation of the spoken word began with the sophists, who, being themselves outstanding masters of eloquence, taught others this art. They founded schools where, for a fee, anyone could learn the rules of constructing a speech, the proper manner of pronouncing it, and the effective presentation of material. In Athens, the center of cultural life in Hellas, all prominent political figures were excellent orators. Pericles was fluent in speech; his speeches, focused and convincing, with precise and figurative comparisons made a huge impression on the audience.

There are two main types of speeches - political and judicial. Political speeches were recognized as the highest achievement of oratory, and among them deliberative speeches were considered the most important, i.e. dedicated to the discussion of specific issues that required the adoption of specific measures. Sources show that the Attic orators raised and discussed the question of the place they occupied in the state and the purpose of their speeches. Most of them believed that the purpose of political speeches was to bring good, and the duty of the speaker as a citizen was to use the gift of speech to benefit his hometown. The topic of discussion was the topical issues of our time and more general problems: the foundations of domestic and foreign policy, the principles of intercity relations, the attitude of the Hellenes towards non-Greeks.

Of the representatives of the older generation of orators, the most famous were Antiphon, Andocides and Gorgias. Isocrates (436-338) was an outstanding orator; his ancient biographers counted up to 60 of his speeches; only a third have survived to this day. Demosthenes (384-322) also left a memory of himself as an outstanding orator.

According to his political views, the speaker is a supporter of democracy, which he associates with independence. His speeches allowed researchers to recreate many of the provisions of democratic theory: its understanding of the state, laws, social relations, wars. Demosthenes' devotion to the democratic system did not exclude a critical attitude towards its shortcomings. Demosthenes rather sharply points out the passivity of citizens who do not want to fight for their rights, the growth of apoliticality, the inability and unwillingness to act quickly and decisively, the tendency to endless word debates, i.e. for everything that weakened the position of Athens and was in the hands of Macedonia.

Demosthenes' political comrades were Hyperides and Lycurgus. Hyperides (389-322), one of the best Attic orators, took an active part in the anti-Macedonian war. Lycurgus (390-325) was interested not so much in foreign as in domestic politics, and managed Athenian finances. Only one of his speeches has survived to this day. As a speaker, he apparently possessed great strength, logic, and the ability to persuade.

Among Demosthenes' opponents were supporters of the pro-Macedonian group Aeschines and Dinarchus. Aeschines (397-322), a versatile educated man who was not only a talented speaker, but also an actor, is known for his discussions with Demosthenes. There is less biographical information about Dinarchus (born in 396), who was ranked among the ten most famous Attic orators, than about others. A supporter of Macedonia, he became notorious for his libels against Demosthenes.

The two speakers made their name not in politics, but in the judicial field. Lysias (459-380) was a methecus who rendered many services to the Athenian democracy. The liveliness of the image, good knowledge of the laws, amazing, according to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, elegance of speech ensured his constant victories in legal proceedings.

Long and frequent practice of speaking, the appearance of brilliant and famous speakers could not pass without leaving a mark on theoretical thought. In the 4th century. appeared basic research dedicated to eloquence - Aristotle's Rhetoric. It provides such an interesting and deep analysis of the art of persuasion that many centuries later, in our days, propaganda specialists find there ideas that were considered an achievement only of modern times.

IDEOLOGIES OF GREECE IN THE 4TH CENTURY

Works of various genres reflected problems that, apparently, should be considered decisive for the ideology of the 4th century. In the spotlight political thought Hellas was primarily the polis itself. On the one hand, by this period many observations had already been accumulated on different forms of government, on the distinctive features of Greek states in comparison with others. On the other hand, the unstable situation in the policies prompted a thorough analysis of their structure, to look for the reason for the current situation in deviations from the correct way of life.

A) The “correct policy” project.

The same circumstances contributed to the appeal of ideologists to the study of the organization of the polis, but they followed different paths and came to different conclusions. Plato in the Republic believed that the polis was on the verge of disaster due to the licentiousness of democracy, which violates the established order by allowing people to govern the city who are by nature incapable of governing. He saw a way out in recreating the foundations originally inherent in the polis as a type of state. They form a hierarchical system in which the spheres of activity of the three state classes are clearly delineated: rulers-philosophers, warriors and farmers. Everyone minds their own business, and the state regulates everything and controls everything.

In his later work "Laws", Plato tries to present not the ideal society that was reflected in his work "The State", but a state structure that he thinks is accessible to real human understanding and real human powers. If Plato followed the path of creating a conditionally model polis, which in many ways opposed the real polis, then Aristotle in “Politics” advocated preserving the foundations of the existing order. He also had a project for an ideal state structure, but less abstract and closer to life. He came to the conclusion that the polis is the highest form of human association, and the goal of the people living in it is to achieve good. The family was recognized as the main unit of society, while Plato believed that it should be abolished and children should be made common.

In his reasoning, Aristotle started from nature: just as the family is natural, so is slavery natural, for nature itself destined for some to command and others to obey. Having carefully examined the existing options for the polis, the philosopher finds three correct forms of government (monarchy, aristocracy and polity) and three incorrect ones (despotism, or tyranny, oligarchy and democracy), gives a detailed description of each, and selects their proximity to the good as the evaluation criterion.

In all projects of the “right policy”, special attention was paid to social and economic factors. It is not for nothing that Plato and Aristotle dwell in such detail on the problem of private property, and Socrates is concerned about protecting the property and lives of wealthy people. And the autocratic form of government, which found so many supporters in theory, attracted mainly the opportunity to establish social balance in the polis with a firm hand.

The creation of an ideal polis was closely related to the problem of education, since it was assumed that the well-being of the state depended on how its citizens were raised.

During this period, utopia apparently enjoyed great popularity. All projects of the “correct policy” were clearly utopian in nature. There were widespread ideas about societies built on the principle of egalitarianism, about a golden age, about amazing countries where people had everything in abundance. In the 4th century, despite the sharply negative attitude towards barbarians, the idea arose of the existence of certain primitive tribes with dominant patriarchal foundations, living in serene harmony. These ideas were especially popular in subsequent times, during the Hellenistic era.

B) A look into the past. Historiography of the 14th century.

Acute dissatisfaction with their time and a departure from traditional polis ideals prompted the ideologists of the 4th century. often refer to history. It was at this time that interest in the past of individual policies and Hellas as a whole increased significantly. With an unstable present, the past began to be perceived as a standard of stability. An appeal to historical facts could also serve as a justification for certain political actions. The history of policies was studied from the point of view of evolution in them political system, the time when its “damage” was determined and the reasons that contributed to it. This is how Aristotle approaches the history of Athens in The Athenian Polity. Socrates sees a deviation from the constitution of his ancestors in contemporary Athens and believes that the duty of his fellow citizens is to restore the previous order under which the city flourished and prospered.

An idealized idea of ​​the past was used as a weapon in the political struggle: the oligarchs accused the democrats of distorting the paternal system and fought against them under the slogan of its reconstruction. The founders of the Athenian state, Solon and Cleisthenes, became the object of fierce controversy. Each of the warring factions sought to prove that they followed their precepts, as a result, both of them acquired the features of legendary heroes and turned from real historical figures into ideal statesmen.

For Greek historiography of the 4th century. two main features are characteristic: the first is the interpretation of history as a political subject, its use to interpret the present; the second is the conviction that a historian is not just a chronicler describing events, but a political mentor who can and should influence public life.

All political speakers subordinated their historical excursions to certain trends. For example, they used facts from the early history of Athens, often turning to the Greco-Persian wars in order to justify Athens' right to hegemony in the Greek world. Mythology and history provided rich material at their disposal. This practice apparently gave rise to the statement of one of them that history should be considered as a common heritage that can be used in the right situation.

Political theorists were also interested in the principles of intercity relations in Hellas. The formation of coalitions, clashes between them, the collapse of previous alliances and the organization of new ones led to the analysis of the reasons for the instability of alliances and the optimal conditions for their construction. Two main options for the dominance of policies in Greece were identified - domination and hegemony. Domination, which was condemned in every possible way, most often meant the suppression of the weaker by a strong polis. Hegemony, primacy based on respect for the autonomy of the poleis, was recognized as fair and worthy of imitation. As already mentioned, internecine wars were severely condemned.

The heyday of the idea of ​​panhellenism in the 4th century. usually associated with Socrates. But if we understand the term “panhellenism” more broadly, not as the unity of the Greeks in the face of Persia, but unity in general, then it is necessary to mention Demosthenes. The speaker constantly pointed out the disunity of the policies in front of Macedonia, their common enemy, and the irreversible consequences to which it could lead. Referring to the historical and cultural community of the Greeks, he called for unification and oblivion of discord.

LITERATURE

The changes that occurred in the society of the 4th century were reflected in its culture. During this period, oratory, philosophy, and historical writings took a leading place in literature, clearly displacing other genres - drama and lyrics. Although theaters continued to flourish, new ones were even built, and audiences eagerly attended them, tastes had changed significantly. Moral Foundations existence, acute political and social conflicts, problems of good and evil in the private and public spheres attracted less and less attention. People's interests have narrowed significantly and focused on private life.

Tragedy lost its popularity, but comedy flourished. Two of Aristophanes' plays date back to this time - "Women in the National Assembly" and "Plutos", but the zenith of the playwright's work dates back to the previous period. After Aristophanes, laughter ceased to be accusatory and lost its political relevance. The place of “ancient” comedy was taken by “average” comedy, entertaining the audience by playing out minor events of everyday life. Works of this kind have not reached our time; only the names of their authors (Alexides, Anaxandides, Antiphanes, Eubulus) and the titles of the plays are known.

A clear decline is also observed in the lyrics. If the 6th and 5th centuries amaze with the amazing variety of talented poets and poetic schools, then the 4th century produced only one famous lyricist - Timothy of Miletus, of whose poetic heritage only fragments have survived. He enjoyed great popularity in Hellas and is mentioned with praise by Plato and Aristotle.

ART

Similar processes took place in art. The 4th century is usually seen as the time of the late classics, the period of transition to Hellenistic art.

A) Architecture.

It is significant that after the Peloponnesian War not only did monumental construction decrease, but its centers also moved: instead of Attica, they became the Peloponnese and Asia Minor. Pausanias, who left a description of the most famous monuments of Greece, is the most beautiful building The Peloponnese was considered the temple of Athena Alea in Tegea, which replaced the old one that burned down in 394. It was built and decorated by the famous master Skopas. The interest of contemporaries was aroused by the layout of Megalopolis, a city built by the Arcadians as the center of the Arcadian Union.

Architecture began to take on a slightly different character: if earlier temple buildings played a leading role in it, now more attention began to be paid to civil architecture - theaters, meeting rooms, palaestrums, and gymnasiums. New trends in architecture were also expressed in the desire to create a pan-Hellenic style - Koine; The same unification took place here as in language. Outstanding architects of this time included Philo, Scopas, Polykleitos the Younger, and Pytheas.

Architecture of small forms, which has much in common with sculpture, experienced a rise. Its typical example is the monument to the choir leader Lysicrates, built by him in Athens after winning the competition in 335. Such structures were usually erected with private funds.

Popularity in the 4th century. The cult of Asclepius, the god of healing, led to the construction in Epidaurus (60-30s) of a remarkable architectural ensemble, including a temple, a stadium, a gymnasium, a house for visitors, a theater and a tholos, or fimela (concert hall).

B) Sculpture.

New demands began to be placed on sculpture. If in the previous period it was considered necessary to create an abstract embodiment of certain physical and mental qualities, an average image, now sculptors paid attention to a specific person, his individuality. The greatest successes in this were achieved by Scopas, Praxiteles, Lysippos, Timothy, Briaxides.

There was a search for means to convey shades of the movement of the soul and mood. One of them is represented by Skopas, a native of Fr. Paros, whose works amazed his contemporaries with their drama and embodiment of the most complex range of human feelings. Destroying the previous ideal, the harmony of the whole, Skopas preferred to depict people and gods in moments of passion.

Another, lyrical direction was reflected in his art by Praxiteles, a younger contemporary of Skopas. The statues of his work were distinguished by harmony and poetry, and a refined mood. According to the expert and connoisseur of the beautiful, Pliny the Elder, “Aphrodite of Cnidus” was especially popular. To admire this statue, many took a trip to Knidos. The Cnidians rejected all offers to buy it, even at the cost of cassation of their huge debts.

The beauty and spirituality of man are also embodied by Praxiteles in the figures of Artemis and Hermes with Dionysus.

The desire to show the diversity of characters was characteristic of Lysippos. Pliny the Elder believed that the main, most successful work of the master was the statue of Apoxyomenes, an athlete with a strigil (scraper). The chisel of Lysippos also belonged to “Eros with a bow” and “Hercules fighting a lion”. Subsequently, the sculptor became the court artist of Alexander the Great and sculpted several of his portraits.

The name of the Athenian Leochares is associated with two textbook works: “Apollo Belvedere” and “Ganymede Abducted by an Eagle.” The sophistication and showiness of Apollo delighted Renaissance artists, who considered him the standard of classical style. Their opinion was later supported by the authority of the neoclassical theorist J. Winckelmann. However, in the 20th century. art critics no longer shared the enthusiasm of their predecessors, finding in Leochard such shortcomings as theatricality and polish.

B) Painting.

About painting of the 4th century. can be judged mainly from information preserved by ancient authors. Judging by them, she has reached a high level not only in practice, but also in theory. Such paintings by the founder of the Sicyon school, Eumolpus, were widely known, whose student, Pamphilus, created a treatise on artistic skill.

Skopas' tendencies were close to the artist Aristide the Elder, one of whose paintings depicted a mother dying on the battlefield, with a child reaching for her chest. Nicias's work "Perseus and Andromeda" was copied on one of the frescoes in Pompeii. Praxiteles highly valued this artist, entrusting him with the tinting of his marble statues.

In the 4th century. The art of small forms, marked by grace and elegance, flourished. It is famous for the terracottas of the Tanagra masters. Vase painting, on the contrary, entered a period of decline: the compositions became too complicated, the splendor of the decor increased, and negligence in the drawing appeared.

In general, the art of this period is regarded by researchers as a time of fundamental shifts, intensive searches, and the emergence of trends that culminated in the Hellenistic era.

CONCLUSION

As mentioned above, the entire history of ancient Greece is usually divided into two large eras: 1) Mycenaean civilization and 2) ancient civilization.

A characteristic feature of early Greek culture was the amazing unity of its style, clearly marked by originality, vitality and humanity. Man occupied a significant place in the worldview of this society; Moreover, the artists paid attention to representatives of the most diverse professions and social strata, and to the inner world of each character. The peculiarity of the culture of early Hellas is reflected in the amazingly harmonious combination of motives of nature and the requirements of style, which reveal the works of its the best masters art. And if initially artists, especially Cretan ones, strived more for decoration, then already from the 17th-16th centuries. Hellas' creativity is full of vitality. It should be noted that the culture under study is characterized by a certain traditionality, the preservation of a number of concepts, for example, the running spiral motif, preserved from the culture of the North Balkan tribes of the Neolithic era, which received excellent development in the Cycladic art of the 3rd millennium and was reproduced many times in the 2nd millennium in the ornament of not only monumental royal frescoes , but also in the decoration of household items, especially dishes. Along with the spiral, the people also preserved other traditional geometric motifs. Therefore, in the era after the Dorian migration, when with the destruction of the palaces the need for luxury goods sharply decreased, the geometric style again took a leading place in art.

In the XXX-XII centuries. the population of Greece went through a difficult path of economic, political and spiritual development. This period of history is characterized by intensive growth of production, which created in a number of regions of the country the conditions for the transition from the primitive communal to the early class system. The parallel existence of these two social systems determined the uniqueness of the history of Greece in the Bronze Age. It should be noted that many of the achievements of the Hellenes of that time formed the basis of the brilliant culture of the Greeks of the classical era and, together with it, entered the treasury of European culture.

Then, over the course of several centuries, called the “Dark Ages” (XI-IX centuries), in their development the peoples of Hellas, due to still unknown circumstances, can be said to be thrown back to the primitive communal system.

The “Dark Ages” are followed by the Archaic period - this is the time of the emergence, first of all, of writing (based on the Phoenician), then philosophy: mathematics, natural philosophy, then the extraordinary wealth of lyric poetry, etc. The Greeks, skillfully using the achievements of the previous cultures of Babylon, Egypt, create their own art, which had a huge influence on all subsequent stages of European culture.

During the archaic period, a thoughtful and clear system of architectural forms was gradually created, which became the basis for all further development of Greek architecture.

Nothing is known about monumental painting of the Archaic period. Obviously, it existed, but for some reason it was not preserved. But we can judge vase painting, which, unlike many other arts, is much more dynamic, diverse and quickly responds to all kinds of artistic discoveries and experiments.

Thus, the archaic period can be called a period of a sharp leap in the cultural development of Greece.

The archaic period is followed by the classical period (V-IV centuries BC).

In philosophy of the 5th century. the main direction will be natural philosophy, materialistic at its core, and Pythagoreanism, opposed to it. But the more it detaches itself from real knowledge, the greater the public skepticism towards natural philosophy, the spokesmen of which were the sophists.

The emergence of the sophistic movement is associated with the general complication of the structure of society. They played a major role in the spiritual revolution in Greek society in the middle of the 5th century, as a result of which the center of philosophy was not the world, but man.

End of V-IV centuries. - a period of turbulent spiritual life in Greece, the formation of the idealistic ideas of Socrates and Plato, which developed in the struggle against the materialistic philosophy of Democritus, and the emergence of the teachings of the Cynics.

Bibliography.

1. "History of Europe", ed. "Science", 1988, vol. 1 "Ancient Europe";

2: André Bonnard, Greek Civilization, ed. "Art" 1992, books I-III;

3: V. S. Nersyants, “Socrates”, ed. "Science", 1984;

4: A.F. Losev, A.A. Taho-Godi, from the series “The Life of Remarkable People” - “Plato, Aristotle”, ed. "Young Guard" 1993;

5: Prof. I. M. Tronsky, "History of Ancient Literature", ed. UCHPEDGIZ, 1947;

6: Cassidy F.H., “From myth to logos”, M., 1972, p. 68;

7: M. Louis Burgeya, “Observation and experience among doctors of the Hippocratic Compendium,” 1953.

8: Plato, “Politics or the State,” translation from Greek by Karpov, part III, St. Petersburg, 1863, p. 284;

9: Marx K., Engels F. op. 2nd ed., T. 20, p. 193.555.643; T. 23 p. 92.643.

Hellas is the ancient name of Greece. This state had a significant influence on the further development of Europe. It was here that such a concept as “democracy” first appeared, here the foundation was laid, the main features of theoretical philosophy were formed, and the most beautiful monuments of art were created. Hellas is an amazing country, and its history is full of secrets and mysteries. In this publication you will find the most interesting facts from the past of Greece.

From the history of Hellas

In the history of Ancient Greece, it is customary to distinguish 5 periods: Crete-Mycenaean, Dark Ages, Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic. Let's look at each of them in more detail.

The Creto-Mycenaean period is associated with the emergence of the first state formations on the islands of the Aegean Sea. Chronologically it covers 3000-1000 years. BC e. At this stage, the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations appeared.

The Dark Ages period is called the “Homeric” period. This stage is characterized by the final decline of the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations, as well as the formation of the first pre-polis structures. Sources practically do not mention this period. In addition, the Dark Ages are characterized by the decline of culture, economy and the loss of writing.

The Archaic period is the time of the formation of the main cities and the expansion of the Hellenic world. In the 8th century BC e. The Great Greek Colonization begins. During this period, the Greeks settled along the shores of the Mediterranean and Black Seas. During the Archaic period, the early forms of Hellenic art took shape.

The classical period is the heyday of the Greek city-states, their economy and culture. In the V-IV centuries. BC e. the concept of “democracy” appears. During the classical period, the most significant military events in the history of Hellas took place - the Greco-Persian and Peloponnesian wars.

The Hellenistic period is characterized by close interaction between Greek and Eastern cultures. At this time, there was a flourishing of art in the state. The Hellenistic period in the history of Greece lasted until the establishment of Roman rule in the Mediterranean.

The most famous cities of Hellas

It is worth noting that in Greece during the period of antiquity there was no single state. Hellas is a country that consisted of many policies. In antiquity, a city-state was called a polis. Its territory included an urban center and a chora (agricultural settlement). The political administration of the polis was in the hands of the People's Assembly and the Council. All city-states were different in both population and territory size.

The most famous policies of ancient Greece are Athens and Sparta (Lacedaemon).

• Athens is the cradle of Greek democracy. Famous philosophers and orators, heroes of Hellas, as well as famous cultural figures lived in this polis.
• Sparta is a shining example of an aristocratic state. The main occupation of the population of the polis was war. It was here that the foundations of discipline and military tactics were laid, which were later used by Alexander the Great.

Culture of Ancient Greece

The myths and legends of Ancient Greece played a unifying role for the culture of the state. Every sphere of Hellenic life was subordinated to general ideas about deities. It is worth noting that the foundations of the ancient Greek religion were formed back in the Cretan-Mycenaean period. In parallel with mythology, cult practice arose - sacrifices and religious festivals, accompanied by agons.

The ancient Greek literary tradition, theatrical art and music are also closely connected with mythology.

In Hellas, urban planning actively developed and beautiful architectural ensembles were created.

The most famous figures and heroes of Hellas

• Hippocrates is the father of Western medicine. He is the creator of a medical school that had a huge influence on all ancient medicine.
• Phidias is one of the most famous sculptors of the classical era. He is the author of one of the seven wonders of the world - the statue of Olympian Zeus.
• Democritus is the father of modern science, the famous ancient Greek philosopher. He is considered the founder of atomism, the theory that material things are made of atoms.
• Herodotus is the father of history. He studied the origins and events of the Greco-Persian wars. The result of this research was the famous work “History”.
• Archimedes - Greek mathematician, physicist and astronomer.
• Pericles is an outstanding statesman. He made a significant contribution to the development of the Athenian polis.
• Plato is a famous philosopher and orator. He is the founder of the first educational institution in Western Europe - Plato's Academy in Athens.
• Aristotle is one of the fathers of Western philosophy. His works covered almost all spheres of social life.

The importance of ancient Greek civilization for the development of world culture

Hellas is a country that has had a huge influence on the development of world culture. Here such concepts as “philosophy” and “democracy” were born, and the foundations of world science were laid. Greek ideas about the world, medicine, civil society and man also influenced the destinies of many Western European states. Any field of art is connected with this great state, be it theater, sculpture or literature.

The modern world owes a lot ancient Greece. This relatively small state had a huge influence on the development of all areas of human life. Take, for example, myths, which are a reflection of human life, both in those times and today. Ideas about the world - about man, medicine, politics, art, literature - on a global scale originated in Greece. This state was located in the south of the Balkan Peninsula and on the islands of the Aegean Sea. Accordingly, such a relatively small territory accommodated a small number of population, but, as Alexander the Great said, “One Greek is worth a thousand barbarians.” Greece stood out among other states - Babylonia, Egypt and Persia - and not without reason.

Map of ancient Greece

Ancient times of Ancient Greece

Territory of Ancient Greece It is customary to roughly divide it into three parts: Southern, Middle and Northern. In the southern part was Laconia, better known as Sparta. Athens, the main city of Greece, was located in the middle part of the state, along with such areas as Attica, Aetolia and Phocis. This part was separated from the North by almost impassable mountains and separated Athens and Thessaly, which today is itself a major historical center.

About the population of Ancient Greece can be judged by numerous examples of art that have been preserved almost in their original form - these are sculptures, frescoes and elements of painting. In any museum in the world you will find a hall of ancient Greek art, where you will see many images of tall, slender people with an ideal physique, with fair skin and dark curly hair. Ancient historians call them Pelasgians - the people who inhabited the islands of the Aegean Sea in the 3rd millennium BC. Despite the fact that their occupations were no different from those of other ancient peoples and included cattle breeding and agriculture, it should be noted that their land was difficult to cultivate and required the use of special skills.

The peoples of Greece and their development

Those who inhabited Greece almost five thousand years ago were expelled from their lands exactly in the same millennium in which they appeared. The reason for this was the Achaeans who invaded from the north, whose state was also located on the island of the Peloponnese with its capital in Mycenae. This conquest was epochal in nature, as it marked the beginning of the Achaean civilization, which suffered the same sad fate - at the end of the 13th century BC, just as the Achaeans invaded the Greek lands, the Dorians came to this territory. Unfortunately, the conquerors destroyed almost all the cities and the entire Akhian population, although they themselves, at the same time, were at a lower stage of development of civilization. This fact could not but affect the culture of Ancient Greece. The ancient writing created by the Pelasgians was forgotten, not to mention the fact that the construction and development of tools stopped. This period, which is deservedly called “dark,” lasted neither more nor less from the 12th to the 9th centuries AD. Among the cities, Athens and Sparta still stood out, where two antagonistic societies were located.

So, in Lakonica (Sparta) the governors were two kings who ruled, passing on their power by inheritance. However, despite this, real power was in the hands of the elders, who made laws and were involved in judging. The love of luxury in Sparta was severely persecuted, and the main task of the elders was to prevent class stratification of society, for which each Greek family received from the state an allotment of land, which it had to cultivate without the right to receive additional territories. Soon the Spartans were forbidden to engage in trade, agriculture and crafts; the slogan was proclaimed that “the occupation of every Spartan is war,” which was supposed to fully provide the population of Laconia with everything necessary for life. The morals of the Spartans are eloquently evidenced by the fact that warriors could be expelled from their troops only because he did not fully eat his portion of food at a common meal, which indicated that he dined on the side. Moreover, a wounded Spartan had to die silently on the battlefield, without showing unbearable pain.

The main rival of Sparta was the current capital of Greece - Athens. This city was a center of the arts, and the people who inhabited it were the complete opposite of the rude and tough Spartans. Nevertheless, despite the ease and carefreeness of life, it was here that the word “tyrant” appeared. Initially it meant “ruler,” but when the authorities of Athens began to engage in outright robbery of the population, this word acquired the connotation that it has to this day. Peace was brought to the devastated city by King Solon, a wise and kind ruler who did a lot to improve the lives of the townspeople.

The 6th century brought new trials to the inhabitants of Greece - the danger came from the Persians, who quickly conquered Egypt, Media and Babylonia. In the face of the Persian power, the peoples of Greece united, forgetting about centuries-old strife. Of course, the center of the army was the Spartans, who devoted their lives to military affairs. The Athenians, in turn, began building a flotilla. Darius underestimated the power of the Greeks and lost the very first battle, which is immortalized in history by the fact that a joyful messenger ran from Marathon to Athens to convey the good news of victory, and, having covered 40 km, fell dead. It is with that event in mind that athletes run the “marathon distance.” Xerxes, the son of Darius, having enlisted the support and help of the conquered states, nevertheless lost a number of important battles and abandoned any attempts to conquer Greece. Thus, Greece became the most influential state, which gave it a number of privileges, especially to Athens, which became the capital of trade in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Sparta united with Athens the next time in the face of the Macedonian conqueror Philip II, who, unlike Darius, quickly broke the resistance of the Greeks, establishing power over all areas of the state except Sparta, which refused to submit. Thus, the Classical period of development of the Hellenic states ended and the rise of Greece as part of Macedonia began. Thanks to Alexander the Great, Greeks and Macedonians by 400 BC became the sovereign masters of all of Western Asia. The Hellenistic era ended in 168 BC, when large-scale conquests of the Roman Empire began.

The role of Greek civilization in the history of the development of the world

Historians agree that cultural world development would have been impossible without the heritage that Ancient Greece left us. It was here that the fundamental knowledge about the universe that modern science uses was laid. The first philosophical concepts were formulated here, defining the basis for the development of spiritual values ​​of all humanity. The Greek philosopher Aristotle laid the foundations for ideas about the material and immaterial world, Greek athletes became the first champions of the first Olympic Games. Any science or field of art is somehow connected with this great Ancient state - be it theater, literature, painting or sculpture. “The Iliad” is the main work that has survived to this day; it very vividly and colorfully tells about the historical events of those times, about the way of life of the ancient Eleans, and, more importantly, is dedicated to real events. The famous Greek thinker Herodotus contributed to the development of history, whose works were devoted to the Greco-Persian wars. The contribution of Pythagoras and Archimedes to the development of mathematics cannot be overestimated. Moreover, the ancient Greeks were the authors of numerous inventions, which were used primarily during military operations.

The Greek theater deserves special attention, which was an open area with a round structure for the choir and a stage for artists. This architecture meant the creation of excellent acoustics, and spectators sitting even in the far rows could hear all the cues. It is noteworthy that the actors hid their faces under masks, which were divided into comic and tragic. Reverently revering their gods, the Greeks created their statues and sculptures, which still amaze with their beauty and perfection.

Special place Ancient Greece in world ancient history makes it one of the most mysterious and amazing states in the ancient world. The progenitor of science and art, Greece to this day attracts the attention of everyone who is interested in world history.

Periods of ancient Greece. History of development

Early period (1050-750 BC)

Following the final literate civilization, the last of the glorious civilizations of the Aegean Bronze Age, mainland Greece and the islands off its coast entered an era called by some historians "Dark Age". However, strictly speaking, this term rather characterizes a break in historical information that relates to the time interval that began around 1050 BC. e., rather than the lack of knowledge or historical experience among the then population of Hellas, although writing was lost. In fact, it was precisely at this time, the time of transition into the Iron Age, that the political, aesthetic and literary features that were then characteristic of classical Hellas began to appear. Local leaders, who called themselves pari, ruled small, closely connected communities - the forerunners of the ancient Greek city-states. The next stage in the development of painted ceramics is obvious, which has become simpler in shape, but at the same time stronger; her appearance, as evidenced by vessel shown on the right, acquired new grace, harmony and proportionality, which became the hallmarks of later Greek art.

Taking advantage vague memories, Trojans and others, wandering singers composed stories about gods and mere mortals, giving poetic imagery to Greek mythology. By the end of this period, Greek-speaking tribes borrowed the alphabet and adapted it to their language, which made it possible to record many tales that had long been preserved in oral tradition: the best among them that have come down to us are the Homeric epics " 776 BC e., is considered to be the beginning of the subsequent continuous rise of Greek culture.

Archaic (Archaic) period (750-500 BC)

In the 8th century, prompted population and wealth growth Emigrants from ancient Greece spread throughout the Mediterranean in search of new agricultural land and trade opportunities. Greek settlers in foreign countries, however, became more than just subjects cities that founded colonies, but separate, autonomous political entities. The spirit of independence that possessed the settlers, as well as the need for joint action to maintain each community, gave rise to such a political unit as the polis. Throughout the Greek world there were supposedly up to 700 similar city-states. The foreign cultures with which Hellas came into contact during this period of expansion affected the Greeks in a variety of ways.

Geometric pottery painting gave way to oriental-style animal and plant designs, as well as detailed mythological scenes of the new black-figure style of vase painting (see photo gallery below). Artists working with stone, clay, wood and bronze began to create monumental human sculptures. Typical of archaic statue of Kouros(photo left) bears clear traces of Egyptian influence, but at the same time demonstrates an emerging desire for symmetry, lightness and realism. In the seventh century The first truly Greek temples appear, decorated with extended friezes and columns of the Doric order (see photo gallery below). Lyrical and elegiac poetry, deeply personal and emotionally rich, is replacing the stilted verses of the past. The development of trade contributed to the widespread spread of coinage invented by the Lydians. On the mainland at the same time Sparta introduces a political system that emphasizes strict government and discipline, and as a result becomes the largest and most powerful city-state of the period. Athens On the contrary, they change and codify laws, caring for justice and equality, open access to governing bodies to an increasing number of citizens and lay the foundations of democracy.

Classical period (500-323 BC)

The classical period in ancient Greece, when it was incredibly fast blossomed arts, literature, philosophy and politics, limited by the time of wars with two foreign powers - Persia and Macedonia. Hellenic victory over the Persians gave rise to a new spirit of cooperation between the various city-states and Athens, whose fleet played a decisive role in ensuring a favorable turnaround in the fight against the so-called barbarians. The tribute from the allies to the Athenian treasury in exchange for military protection provided the Athenians with the opportunity to increase their already significant wealth and guaranteed the city political, cultural and economic supremacy throughout the Mediterranean. Almost all citizens of Athens, regardless of financial status, were provided with access to elected positions, and they received remuneration for the performance of relevant duties. At public expense, sculptors, architects and playwrights worked on works that still remain the highest creative achievement of mankind. Shown, for example, on the right is bronze Zeus statue 213 centimeters high gives a concentrated idea of ​​the skill of the artists of classical Hellas (ancient Greece), who reproduced the human body in their works with extraordinary dynamism. Greek philosophers, historians, and natural scientists left examples of rational theoretical analysis.

In 431, the long-standing enmity between Athens and Sparta resulted in a war that lasted almost 30 years and ended in the defeat of the Athenians. Decades of continuous fighting led to a weakening of political influence in many city-states, where brutal infighting continued. Calculating and ambitious Macedonian king Philip II managed to benefit from such chaos and soon became the master of the entire territory of ancient Greece. Philip failed to complete the construction of the empire, he was killed, and his son ascended the throne Alexander. Just 12 years later, Alexander the Great (Macedonian) died, but left behind a power stretching from the Adriatic to Media (see photo gallery below).

Hellenistic period (323-31 BC)

From the ruins of Alexander's empire, after almost 50 years of fierce struggle for his inheritance, three major powers emerged: Macedonia, Ptolemaic Egypt and the Seleucid state, stretching from modern Turkey to Afghanistan. It's amazing, that from the Macedonian capital of Pella in the west to Ai-Khanum in the east, the language, literature, political institutions, fine arts, architecture and philosophy in the cities and settlements that arose as a result of Alexander's campaigns remained unambiguously Greek after his death. Subsequent kings emphasized their kinship with Hellas, especially with Alexander: the picture on the left shows Thracian silver coin, in which he is depicted with the ram horns of Zeus-Amun - a god with roots in both the East and the West. Possessing a common language, influenced by constant trade contacts, preserving written texts and attracting numerous travelers, the Hellenistic world became more and more cosmopolitan.

Education and enlightenment flourished, libraries were created - among them was Great Library of Alexandria, which contained about half a million volumes. But the Greek ruling classes refused to allow ordinary subjects into their ranks, and the vast new kingdoms were everywhere shaken by internal turmoil. Steadily weakening and impoverished Macedonia in 168 BC. e. came under domination. One after another, the provincial governors of the Seleucid Empire declared themselves independent, forming many small states with a dynastic form of government. Of the kingdoms into which Alexander's empire broke up, Ptolemaic Egypt still stood as a bastion. Cleopatra VII, the last of this line (and the only one who learned the language of the subject population), committed suicide when the Romans were victorious at Actium. However, although they managed to subjugate the entire Mediterranean, the dominance of the Latins did not yet mean the end of Greek influence: the Romans absorbed the culture of ancient Greece and perpetuated the Hellenic heritage in a way that the Greeks themselves could not.

Experts divide ancient Greek history into several conventional periods:
• Creto-Mycenaean period (3000 -1100 BC)
• Dark Ages (1100 - 800 BC)
• Archaic period (800 - 500 BC)
• Classical period (500 - 336 BC)
• Hellenistic era (336 - 30 BC)

The beautiful nature of Hellas, which poets sang many times, was not too generous, especially for farmers. There is little fertile land in Greece. The climate here is arid, there are no large rivers, and it was impossible to create an irrigation system, as in the river civilizations of the East. Therefore, agriculture became the main branch of the economy only in some regions of the country. Moreover, as arable farming developed, the soil began to quickly deplete. As a rule, there was not enough bread for the entire population, whose numbers increased over time. More favorable conditions were for gardening and cattle breeding: the Greeks have long raised goats and sheep, planted grapes and olives. The country was rich in minerals: silver, copper, lead, marble and gold. But, naturally, this was not enough to ensure a livelihood.

Another “wealth” of Greece was the sea. Convenient bays and numerous islands located close to each other created excellent conditions for navigation and trade. But for this it was necessary to master the elements of the sea.

Civilization has managed to give a worthy “answer” to the “challenge” of the environment. Having become skilled navigators, the Greeks gradually turned their country into a strong maritime power.

The Greeks themselves well understood the advantages of the sea power they created, its independence from the changing nature: “Bad harvests are the scourge of the most powerful powers, while sea powers easily overcome them.” The struggle for existence took place primarily through the development of new spaces, colonization and trade. Greek civilization constantly expanded its borders.

The first center of civilization arose on the island of Crete at the turn of the 3rd-2nd millennium BC. e. Around the 15th century BC e. Cretan culture, bright and original, tragically quickly dies (apparently after a volcanic eruption).

It was replaced by a new culture - the Achaean. The Achaean tribes spread to most of Greece and the islands of the Aegean Sea. Having survived in the XV-XIII centuries. BC e. flourished already in the XIII-XII centuries. BC e. she dies as unexpectedly and tragically as her predecessor. Perhaps the Achaean culture was destroyed during the invasion of the northern peoples, among whom, obviously, were the Dorian Greeks.

The eras of the Cretan and Achaean cultures can be considered a kind of preliminary stage, after which the history of Greek civilization itself begins.

Creto-Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations.

Greece, on the one hand, consisted of many completely independent, isolated states, often at war with each other, on the other hand, there was a certain early realized community, manifested in a single, despite dialectical differences, language, a single religion, pan-Greek sanctuaries and festivals. Geographically, Ancient Greece includes, along with mainland Greece, the islands of the Aegean Sea, Crete, Cyprus and the western coast of Asia Minor.

The creator of the most ancient civilization in the Aegean region was the pre-Greek population. The Greeks penetrated to Crete, where civilization already existed in the 3rd millennium BC. e. reached high development only in the 2nd millennium BC. e.

By the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. e. the population of the Balkan Peninsula began to use metals - bronze, lead and silver for the manufacture of weapons, jewelry, and religious objects. If metal tools were used, they were used in crafts, but not in agriculture: metals were expensive and inaccessible. Only in the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. e. metals are widespread in the Aegean Sea basin. The area's own metal reserves were insufficient: copper and then iron had to be imported. There is an assumption that the famous Troy owed its heyday to the role of intermediary that it played in the delivery of metals through Asia Minor to the Aegean world.

The flourishing of culture in Crete dates back to the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. e. This is the period of construction of palace complexes with amazing fresco paintings, creation of the best examples of artistic ceramics, jewelry, and carved seals. The basis of the economy is a new multicultural type of agriculture, focused on the cultivation of three main crops - cereals (mainly barley), grapes and olives (the so-called Mediterranean triad). On this basis, reserve funds of agricultural products began to be created in individual communities, which not only covered food shortages in lean years, but also provided food for people not directly involved in agricultural production, for example, specialist craftsmen. Part of the community reserve funds could be used for intercommunity and intertribal exchange. The development of trade in Crete, as well as in the Aegean basin in general, was closely connected with the development of navigation. It is no coincidence that almost all the Cretan settlements known to us now were located either directly on the sea coast or not far from it.

Highest flourishing Minoan civilization falls on the XVI - first half of the XV centuries. All of Crete was united under the rule of the kings of Knossos. Stone roads were actively built, which were laid throughout the island and connected Knossos with its most remote corners. During this period, a unified system of measures existed in Crete, apparently forcibly introduced by the rulers of the island. It is very possible that the unification of Crete around the Palace of Knossos was carried out by the famous Minos, about whom later Greek myths tell so much. Greek historians considered Minos the first Thalas-Socrates - the ruler of the sea. They said about him that he created a large navy, eradicated piracy and established his dominance over the entire Aegean Sea.

At this time, the Cretans established lively trade and diplomatic relations with Egypt and the states of the Syro-Phoenician coast. Traces of their settlements, or perhaps just ship moorings, were also found on the shores of Sicily, in southern Italy and even on the Iberian Peninsula.

In the middle of the 15th century. BC e. the situation changed dramatically. A catastrophe hit Crete, the like of which the island has never experienced in its entire centuries-old history. Almost all palaces and settlements, with the exception of Knossos, were destroyed. The Minoan culture never recovered from this blow. Crete is losing its position as the leading cultural center of the Aegean.

The causes of the disaster, which played such a fatal role in the fate of the Minoan civilization, have not yet been established. According to the most plausible guess put forward by the Greek archaeologist S. Marinatos, the destruction of palaces and other Cretan settlements was a consequence of a grandiose volcanic eruption on the island of Thera (modern Santorini) in the southern Aegean Sea. Other scientists believe that the culprits of the disaster were the Achaean Greeks, who invaded Crete from mainland Greece (most likely from the Peloponnese). They plundered and devastated the island and subjugated its population to their power.

In parallel with the Cretan-Minoan culture, Mycenaean culture developed. It originated on the mainland Peloponnese peninsula and surrounding areas. The founders of this culture were the Achaean Greeks, who invaded the Balkan Peninsula at the turn of the 3rd - 2nd millennium BC. e. from the north, their region of the Danube lowland or from the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region.

Border III - II millennium BC e. can be considered the beginning of a new stage in the history of Ancient Greece - the stage of formation of the Greek people. The basis of this process was the interaction and gradual merging of two cultures: the culture of the alien Achaean tribes and the culture of the local pre-Greek population.

In the first centuries of the formation of a new culture, regression is observed. Monumental architectural structures are disappearing. Instead, nondescript adobe houses appear, sometimes rectangular, sometimes oval, or rounded on one side.

Gradually, powerful aristocratic families emerged within the Achaean communities, settling in impregnable citadels and thereby sharply separating themselves from the mass of ordinary tribesmen. Great wealth is concentrated, partly from local peasants and artisans, partly captured during military raids on the lands of neighbors. In various regions of the Peloponnese, Central and Northern Greece, the first and still rather primitive state formations appeared. Thus, starting from the 15th century. BC. Greece entered a new, or, as it is usually called, Mycenaean, period of its history.

During the Mycenaean era, there was no political unity on the Greek mainland, much less an official empire. The earth was fragmented into dozens of kingdoms competing with each other. The main centers of Mycenaean culture were, like in Crete, palaces. The architecture of Mycenaean palaces has a number of features that distinguish them from the palaces of Minoan Crete. The most important of these differences is that almost all Mycenaean palaces were fortified and were real citadels, reminiscent in appearance of the castles of medieval feudal lords.

The palace center controlled the local bureaucracy. The fortress strictly monitored the surrounding cities, the number of which could be more than 20. At the same time, the palace was also an industrial and commercial center with many divisions. Architects, masons, carpenters, mechanics, gunsmiths, shipwrights, furniture makers, bronze makers, jewelers and many others worked here. Slaves (prisoners) stood below everyone else. There was no money or market trade. Everyone received in kind for their work.

The bulk of the communal land was obviously divided into plots with approximately equal returns. These plots were distributed within the community itself among its constituent families. The land remaining after the division was rented out. Communal lands, as well as lands that belonged directly to the palace, were under the control of the palace administration and were exploited by it in the interests of the centralized state economy.

The state monopolized the most important branches of handicraft production, imposed restrictions on blacksmithing and established control over the distribution of scarce raw materials, all metal.

The main type of taxes collected from the districts was metal - gold, bronze, and agricultural products. Unlike the river civilizations of Egypt. In Mesopotamia and India, the agricultural resources of the Greek states were more scarce. Rocky soils and the absence of overflowing rivers oriented the economy of the Greek states towards fishing and the development of exchange crafts and trade. The dominant role was played by mining.

The growth of the power of individual cities led to inevitable clashes for the seizure of territories and wealth. XVI - XIII centuries BC e. - a period of active redistribution of internal borders. Around I235 BC. e. The ten-year period of the Trojan War begins. From the end of the 16th century. BC e. The Mycenaean civilization begins military expansion of the surrounding territories. In the 15th century BC. e. The Achaeans colonize Crete, turning it into a stronghold for advancing east and south.

During the XIV - XIII centuries. BC e. The Mycenaean palace kingdoms experienced their highest rise. Successfully combining trade with piracy, the Achaeans soon became one of the most prominent political forces in the Eastern Mediterranean. However, over Achaean Greece The clouds were already gathering. Last decades of the 13th century. BC e. were anxious and restless. In many places, old fortifications are being hastily restored and new ones are being built. Historians attribute the events of this period to the movement of Dorian tribes from the territory of Macedonia and Epirus and Phrygian-Thracian tribes to the territory of Greece. The Mycenaean civilization could not withstand the onslaught of barbarians and disappeared forever. Archaeologists call other possible reasons for the death of the Mycenaean civilization a civil war, a social revolution, a powerful slave uprising, a foreign invasion from land or sea, a severance of trade ties with the East, which resulted in famine, devastating epidemics...

By 1100 BC. e. The Cretan-Mycenaean civilization disappeared. With its disappearance, the art of writing was forgotten, and historians do not have written sources from the period 1100 - 800. BC e., that's why it's called Dark Ages. During this period, the Greeks had little contact with other peoples, so there are few references to them in foreign sources. In Greece, the population decreased sharply, agriculture and crafts decreased in volume and deteriorated the quality of products.

In the VIII - VI centuries. (archaic period) there was an intensive development of ancient society. The population grew and its standard of living increased. Private ownership of movable and immovable property appears.

A characteristic feature of the economy of this period in the history of Hellas is the presence of a fairly developed exchange, which is associated with the process of colonization and the departure of the mass of the population to the colonies, with the import of products from the colonies to the metropolis, as well as with the development of crafts in the metropolis and the export of handicrafts to the colonies. The most important indicator of the development of exchange during the era of the colonial expansion of Hellas can be the emergence and development of coins in the Greek world.

As productive forces and exchange develop, new workers appear - imported slaves. Slave labor is used in mines, in crafts, in port and ship work.

New population groups are appearing - shipowners, owners of craft workshops, which over time increasingly determine not only the economic, but also the political character of city-states - policies that arose in the 8th - 6th centuries. BC e. in Greece as a result of the struggle of new social groups and forces with the aristocracy.

The polis included the city and the surrounding rural area and was considered an independent state. The largest polis was Athens, which occupied an area of ​​2500 km 2. Other policies were much smaller, their territory did not exceed 350 km 2. By the beginning of the Archaic period, most policies were ruled by aristocrats, and the system of government was oligarchy (the power of the few), but as trade expanded, the middle class of merchants, artisans and bankers began to strengthen and prosper. Deprived of political rights, it begins to seek the opportunity to participate in decision-making.

One could become a member of the community under two conditions: if the person was Greek by nationality, if he was free and owned private property. All members of the community - free owners - had political rights (although not always equal), which allowed them to take part in government activities. Therefore, the Greek polis is called a civil community.

The state in Greece did not exist above the community (as it was in the East), it grew out of the community; more precisely, the community itself turned into a small state, with its own laws, authorities and management system. Members of the community, townspeople and farmers, who did not know the problem of alienation from the state, rallied into a single, rather closed collective that made up an economic, political and ideological whole.

Belonging to the civil collective of the polis determined the right of ownership of land, but within this collective land property was freely circulated at least from the end of the 5th century. BC e. Fast development commodity-money relations led to the economic prosperity of the Greek city-states, in which various layers of the free population were interested to one degree or another.

Greece of the archaic and classical periods

Among the population of policies, its citizens occupied a privileged position. Other free people who were not citizens of the polis were considered not to have full rights. These included primarily dependent peasants who had lost ownership of their plots of land, and foreigners (meteks). The number of foreigners grew as Greece conquered more and more colonies. Many metics were rich, but nevertheless, as a rule, they were forbidden to buy land, and this, naturally, denied access to the management of the policy.

Slaves were at the lowest rung of the social ladder. In Greece, as in Rome, slavery differed from domestic slavery in the East in its particular rigidity and certainty. (The exception was Sparta, where helot slaves retained some independence.) Debt slavery of fellow tribesmen was eliminated quite quickly; Only prisoners of war became slaves, and perhaps that is why, as historians suggest, the border separating slave from free was so clear.

Slaves in Greece did not have any rights and were truly equated to “talking instruments”: they were deprived of all property, were the subject of purchase and sale, could not marry, the children of slaves were called offspring and were also considered slaves. Even in those cases when slaves were set free, they remained without full rights and still depended on the former owner, who became their patron.

Slavery in Ancient Greece was taken for granted; freedom was considered a gift that was not available to all people. So, great philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC) believed that “some are naturally free, and others are naturally slaves, and ... in relation to these latter, the slave position is as useful as it is fair.”

With the transition to arable farming from common ownership, individual farms began to be allocated special plots (klers), which turned into the private property of their owners. While some became richer, concentrating more and more land in their hands, others, on the contrary, became poorer and lost land. This is how the community split into large landowners and landless people (feta). The first formed the noble class, which Homer already calls the best people. Nobility consisted precisely in coming from a good family, the ancestor of which was considered to be a god or a hero.

The abolition of royal power, which took place in the 8th and 7th centuries. in most of the Greek cities, was by no means the result of any sudden upheavals. The royal power was more and more limited, from lifelong it was made urgent, and from hereditary in a certain family, it was generally accessible to all noble families. Even the hereditary king-priest - where he was preserved - turned into an elected dignitary. Thus, the landowning nobility, divided into separate clans, became the ruling class of the state. The former royal council became the main body of aristocratic rule. He decided his sentences on the basis of old customs, and since the latter were not written down, the decisions of the judges were very often arbitrary and unfair. That is why one of the first demands of the lower stratum of free citizens was written laws.

The most important states in Greece were Laconia (Sparta) and Attica (Athens).

The state system of Sparta also corresponded to the goals of the militarized state. At its head were two kings, who performed the duties of military leaders, judges and priests, as well as a council of elders (gerusia), consisting of representatives of noble families at least 60 years old, and ephors, a kind of controlling body. Unlike elders, kings were not elected - it was a hereditary title. The kings had great privileges, but could not make decisions without the approval of the council of elders, which, in turn, had to rely on the opinion of the people's assembly. But the elements of democracy did not develop in Sparta: the people's assembly, although formally considered the highest body, did not have much influence on political life. Unlike Athens, at meetings, ordinary Spartiates did not make speeches, did not prove their point of view, but shouted their approval or disapproval of the proposed decisions. The structure of Sparta can be called oligarchic.

The immutability of the system and the archaic nature of customs were also maintained through strict isolation from other states. The historian Xenophon wrote that the Spartans “could not travel abroad so that citizens would not become infected with frivolity from foreigners.”

Laconia to its population. Laconia occupied the southeastern part of the Peloponnese and consisted of the valley of the Eurotas River and the mountain ranges that bordered it. In this country there were arable lands, pastures, and forests, in which there was a lot of game, and in the mountains there was a lot of iron: the local residents made weapons from it. The population of the country consisted of the descendants of the Dorian conquerors and the Achaeans they conquered. The first, the Spartiates, were some full-fledged citizens of the state, the second were divided into two classes: some were called helots and were serfs, subordinate, however, not to individual citizens, but to the whole state, while others were called perieki and were personally free people, but stood to Sparta in relation to subjects without any political rights. Most of the land was considered the common property of the state, from which the latter gave the Spartiates separate plots for food, which were initially approximately the same size. These areas were cultivated by helots. The Periecians were left with part of their land, they lived in cities, engaged in crafts and trade, but in general these occupations were little developed in Laconia; already at a time when other Greeks had coins, in this country iron rods were used as an instrument of exchange. Perieks were required to pay taxes to the state treasury. The Spartiates had no right to leave their country, and foreigners were forbidden to live in Laconia.

In Sparta, the old royal power was preserved, but there were two kings at the same time. Most likely, either these were descendants of the royal families of two communities that merged together, or the position of the second king was established to limit royal power in an era when a similar phenomenon occurred in other parts of Greece. The elders, or geronts, were chosen for the rest of their lives from men at least 60 years old, but there were only twenty-eight of them. Together with both kings, they formed a government council called the gerusia (council of elders). Another important institution was the college of five ephors, elected by the people only for a year. Ephors were investigators in criminal cases, judges in civil cases, overseers of the behavior of citizens and officials themselves. This political system remained unchanged for a very long time. The Spartan Republic was a stronghold of antiquity and oligarchic rule.

In addition, the principle of egalitarianism prevailed in the polis, which was a source of pride for the Spartans, who called themselves a “community of equals.”

The Spartans lived in the same modest dwellings, wore the same simple clothes, devoid of decoration, gold and silver coins were removed from circulation - instead of them, iron bars were in circulation. The legendary king Lycurgus introduced joint meals, for the organization of which everyone had to contribute their share (in food and money). Infants with physical disabilities were destroyed. Boys from 7 to 20 years old received a rather cruel public education. Having reached adulthood, they enlisted in the army and served until old age. The harsh, strictly regulated life of Sparta resembled a barracks. And this is natural: everything pursued one goal - to make courageous, hardy warriors out of the Spartans.

Athens was the main city of Attica, a region located in the south of the Balkan Peninsula. The population of Attica gradually united around Athens. This area was rich in minerals (clay, marble, silver), but agriculture could only be practiced in small and few valleys.

The main sources of strength and wealth of this policy were trade and shipbuilding. A large port city with a convenient harbor (it was called Piraeus) quickly turned into an economic, commercial and cultural center. The Athenians, having created the most powerful fleet in Hellas, actively traded with the colonies and resold the goods they received to other policies. Sciences and arts flourished in Athens, and huge amounts of money were spent on urban planning. In the 5th century The Acropolis began to rise - the peak ancient greek architecture, the center of which was the famous Parthenon temple, dedicated to Athena, the patroness of the city. The flourishing of Greek theater is also associated with Athens. Famous sculptors and writers flocked to Athens. The philosophers Plato and Aristotle created their schools there.

Athenian state. The population of Attica was classified as the Ionian tribe. Initially there were several states here, but they merged into one state, making it the center of Athena. In addition to the citizens of the state, people lived in Attica tags- newcomers from other places who were engaged in fishing and trade, paid taxes and were even obliged to participate in the army, but were not considered citizens. The citizens themselves were divided into three classes: landowning nobility, small landowners and artisans. The Athenian nobility constituted the noble class, or eupatrids(i.e. having good fathers). Free peasants who lived on their small plots were called geomors, artisans were called demiurges: geomors and demiurges, taken together, constituted the demos.

Athens was initially headed by a king who ruled with a council consisting of the elders of the most important families and called Areopagus. Tsarist power, however, gradually passed to elected dignitaries. First of all, they began to elect a special commander to help the king in the war, polemarch, then they began to entrust some government and judicial affairs to a special dignitary archon(ruler), who was appointed by the Areopagus, and even later created the position of six judges, fesmothets. Thus, royal power was divided among nine dignitaries, who all began to be called archons. In the middle of the 8th century BC. e., they began to be elected for ten years, and not for life, as before, at the beginning of the 7th century. - only for one year. As the royal power was fragmented among individual dignitaries, the former royal council, the Areopagus, on the contrary, gained more and more importance. It began to be replenished with archons who performed their duties well and became lifelong members of this institution. Athens became a real oligarchy, in which the Areopagus was the focus of the interests, aspirations and traditions of the Eupatride class.

The forces of Athens and Sparta especially strengthened during the era of wars with Persia. While many city-states of Greece submitted to the conquerors, these two policies led the fight against the seemingly invincible army of King Xerxes and defended the country's independence.

In 478 BC. e. Athens formed the Delian Maritime League (its center was on the island of Delos) of equal states, which soon turned into the Athenian maritime power. Athens, violating the principles of autarky, began to interfere in the internal affairs of its allies, managed their finances, tried to establish its own laws on the territory of other policies, i.e., pursued a real great-power policy. The Athenian power at the time of its heyday was a very significant force: it included about 250 poleis.

The Attic nobility not only dominated the people politically, but also enslaved them economically. In Attica there were a lot of geomors, sitting on small plots and running their own farms on them. With the growth of the population, these areas became more and more fragmented, and soon it became very difficult for the geomors to live, especially since, thanks to the import of grain from abroad, farming in the infertile Attica could not be a very profitable activity. In the event of a bad harvest, for example, it was necessary to resort to loans from the eupatrids, but high interest had to be paid for the loans issued. The debtor's plot served as security for the debt, and the lender placed a stone on it with a mortgage deed carved on it, and if the price of the plot was lower than the amount of the debt, then the debtor himself and his family were responsible and had to work off the missing amount of the debt, i.e. fell into slavery. As a result, part of the rural population of Attica not only went bankrupt, but also lost their freedom.

The ruling class yielded to the wishes of the people and in 621 commissioned one of the Thesmothetes to draw up written laws that would guide the archons, instead of old customs and their own discretion. Subsequently, when morals softened, these laws (the laws of Dracon) were considered as an example of cruelty, but, in essence, the Athenian legislator of the 7th century. BC e. only reproduced in his decisions the views of that time on crimes and punishments. Their correspondence with the general consciousness of the people can be concluded from the fact that these criminal laws remained in force, apparently, until the 4th century. BC e. This legislation left the previous debt law intact. The irritation of the people became such that the nobility was forced to make concessions in order to prevent an uprising, and the result of this was the famous legislation of Solon.

Solon himself belonged to the Eupatride class, but his main occupation was trade, which forced him to visit many foreign countries, which enriched him with knowledge and life experience. Solon had already managed to provide important services to his native state when, in 594 BC. e. was elected first archon with the authority to issue the necessary laws. His task was to “remove the burden” (sisakhfiyya) from the people and the land, as he called it the destruction of all debt obligations with their consequences. All debts were canceled, collateral stones encumbered land geomors were removed, everyone who was only enslaved because of a debt incurred was freed, and henceforth it was forbidden for creditors to enslave their debtors. Solon took up reforms in civil law, allowing citizens, among other things, to make spiritual wills - an indication that at this time the principle of ancestral or family property was in decline in Attica, since the right to bequeath one's property at one's discretion presupposes the existence of purely personal property. In litigation over property, it was possible to complain (appeal) against the verdicts of officials to the so-called heliye, a jury that was chosen by lot from all citizens over 30 years of age.

Solon introduced a new division of citizens into classes in Athens, basing it on a property qualification, i.e. the amount of income received from property (but only from real estate). There were four of these classes: pentacosiomedimne, the richest citizens who had at least five hundred medimni of barley (or wine and olive oil) annual income; hippeas, i.e. horsemen, whose income was equal to three hundred medimni; zeugites, i.e. teamsters who received at least two hundred medimni, and feta, whose income was less than this figure. (Horsemen are called that because they could come to war with a horse, but harnessers got their name because they had a pair of mules for plowing the field). Rights and responsibilities were distributed between these classes, namely, the richer had greater rights, but also bore heavier duties. The main positions in the state were available only to the pentacosiomedimnas, while the fetas could only take part in the national assembly. But the first class was entrusted with such duties as the construction of ships, the organization of public festivities, etc., in addition to personal service in the army in good armor and on horses, while people fourth grade they went to war lightly armed (with a shield, bow and arrows) or became rowers on military ships. (Persons of the second class appeared in the army on their horses and “fully armed” - in a helmet, armor, greaves, with a shield and a spear; persons of the third participated in the heavily armed infantry, i.e. they served as hoplites and were also fully armed.) Such a distribution There were no rights between citizens either aristocracy or democracy and therefore received the special name timocracy (from the Greek timnia - qualification).

Solon also transformed the government of Athens. Nine archons were left at the head of the board, but they were no longer elected from the eupatrides alone and not from the eupatrides alone, but from all citizens of the first class and by the entire people, to whom they reported in their rule. Next to the Areopagus, which retained supreme supervision over the observance of religious precepts and laws and the behavior of citizens, as well as a trial for murder, Solon established a new council of four hundred. The council became the main government institution, since it was in charge of state revenues and expenses, communicated with foreign governments, preliminarily considered government measures, etc. All citizens, not excluding the fetes, had the right to participate in the national assembly, which elected all officials, decided all the most important matters and adopted legislative decisions, but only under the supreme supervision of the Areopagus, who could repeal everything that, in his opinion, was contrary to the laws and it was dangerous for the state.

Solon's reform irritated the Eupatrides, but did not completely satisfy the people. In essence, she still reserved great importance for the old nobility. On the other hand, there were many people dissatisfied with the fact that Solon did not equalize land ownership, as many had hoped. Finally, the sysachphia eliminated the old debt obligations, but the previous economic conditions, which created the need to enter into debt and pay high interest, remained in force. That is why popular unrest continued even after the reform carried out by Solon. The outcome of this state was the establishment of tyranny in Athens, as was done at the same time in other cities of Greece. Tyranny dominated Athens for half a century (560-510). First, Pisistratus ruled the city (until 527), then his two sons, Hippias and Hipparchus.

Subsequently, after the expulsion of the tyrant from Athens, the struggle of parties began again in Attica. In 508-506. BC e. Cleisthenes' reform was carried out, marking the beginning of Athenian democracy. Representatives of the demos received the right to hold elected positions. True, the title of archon remained available only to the first two classes, but the archonty itself lost its former meaning, and even the poorest citizen could get into the Council, since election to this institution was made by lot from all citizens seeking this position. The archonty suffered greatly in its significance even under tyranny, but now special colleges were established, to which the responsibilities of the archons were transferred. To ensure a transformed political system against tyranny, Cleisthenes introduced the so-called ostracism. Every spring, the people had to vote on the question of whether any of the citizens posed a danger to freedom, and if an affirmative answer was received, then a new meeting of citizens was convened, at which everyone present wrote on a shell or shard (ostracism). Whoever had the majority of votes against him was expelled from Attica for ten years, but did not lose his property and upon his return again enjoyed all his rights.

Thanks to the reform of Cleisthenes, the people gradually gained a decisive voice in all the most important affairs of the state, and the people's council (ekklesia) began to acquire major importance in inner life Athens.

The transformation of Athens into a maritime and trading state should have entailed changes in its internal structure simply because the timocracy introduced by Solon and maintained by Cleisthenes was based on land ownership, which now, as the basis of influence in society, gave way to industry and trade. Whole line changes that took place in Athenian state life in the first half of the 5th century. BC e., led to the triumph of democracy. First of all, at this time, government positions, which were the property of only the rich, became equally available to all citizens without distinction of class. But there still remained in Athens an institution that was contrary to the very spirit of democracy. It was an Areopagus, consisting of life members and enjoying the right of supreme supervision over the people's council itself. The Areopagus was dominated by old religious traditions that were not very conducive to the desire for change, and its composition consisted of former archons who fell into this position by lot, i.e. by chance, did not at all contain a guarantee that the Areopagus would use his rights particularly wisely.

Ephialtes decided to strike the Areopagus. He put forward a proposal according to which only cases of murder were left to the named institution (due to their connection with religious ideas about the propitiation of the gods). All other rights of the Areopagus were divided between the people's assembly, the Council of Five Hundred and the Heliia, i.e. by a jury chosen by lot from all citizens at least 30 years of age. officials Now they had to submit their annual reports directly to the people, and the people could even remove them before the deadline in the event of any misconduct on their part. The people were allowed to propose new laws only by proving the worthlessness of the old ones in front of helium.

Death prevented Ephialtes himself from completing this reform, but he found a successor to his work in the person of Pericles. During the reign of Pericles, Athenian democracy reached its greatest development. Four times a month, a public assembly was held in the city, in which all citizens were supposed to participate and everyone could express their opinion, and matters were decided by a majority vote. The Council of Five Hundred prepared proposals that were to be made to the people and was in charge of current affairs. All legal cases were tried by a jury consisting of six thousand citizens, chosen by lot and divided into ten sections. Almost all government positions were mixed by lot, but each one elected before taking office had to prove that he would be able to fulfill the duties associated with it. The strategoi alone continued to be elected by direct vote and to be re-elected again after a one-year term. Thus, the supreme power in Athens was directly in the hands of the people. In order for the people to have the opportunity to actually perform, for example, the duties of judges, who had a lot to do with litigation that arose in other cities, but were considered in Athens, Pericles introduced a small remuneration for the exercise of judicial office, in the amount of two or three obols per day - the amount , for which one could have daily food.

Greek democracy reached its peak. However, the endless conflicts between the Greek city-states brought a new force into the arena - Macedonia. Alexander the Great became the “gravedigger” of Greek democracy, which disappeared in the cauldron of the first redistribution of the world.

Alexander the Great, who ascended the throne of Macedonia in 336 BC. e., realized the plans that his father had in mind: he launched a campaign against the Persians, the longtime enemies of the Greeks. The Persian power, at that time already quite weak, covered a vast territory: the Iranian highlands, most of Central Asia, all of Western and Minor Asia, part of India and Egypt. After the first victories, Alexander the Great had the idea of ​​conquering the entire Persian state, and then world domination. Only in 324 BC. e., having brought his exhausted army to the Indus River, Alexander was forced to end a long military campaign and died a year later at the age of 33.

Thanks to the conquests of Alexander the Great, a gigantic empire was created, which included, in addition to the Balkan Peninsula and the islands of the Aegean Sea, Egypt, Asia Minor, the south of Central Asia and part of Central Asia. The campaigns of the great commander brought both destruction and creation. Streams of Greek and Macedonian settlers poured into the East, who everywhere established new social relations, founded city-states, laid out communication routes and spread the culture of the Greek world, in turn absorbing the achievements of ancient civilizations.

In many conquered cities, public schools were established, where boys were taught in the Greek way, and theaters, stadiums, and hippodromes were built. Greek culture and way of life penetrated the East, absorbing the traditions of eastern cultures. Along with the Greek gods, Isis and Osiris and other eastern deities were revered, in whose honor temples were erected. Hellenistic kings propagated, according to Eastern custom, the royal cult. Some cities turned into major cultural centers that rivaled the Greek ones. Thus, a huge library was created in Alexandria, which contained about 700 thousand scrolls. There were large libraries in Pergamon and Antioch.

Political life and value system

The Empire was an extremely fragile entity. It included areas that were very different from each other both economically and culturally. Their population professed different religions. Alexander the Great, capturing primarily large cities, was content with collecting taxes from the conquered regions, changing little in their lives. After his death, the power was divided between Alexander's successors - commanders who fought with each other for power. Military alliances arose and fell apart again, governors rose and suffered defeat. Hellenistic Greece was a series of separate states in which local traditions were intertwined with Greek and Macedonian ones.

These states represented a peculiar combination of eastern despotism and the polis system. At its head was a monarch who had his own lands, a standing army and a centralized administration. But cities with rural areas assigned to them retained self-government. True, the size of the city lands depended on the tsar, the polis lost the right to conduct an independent foreign policy, and the tsar’s official monitored its internal affairs.

There was no real stability within the Hellenistic states: from time to time they were shaken by dynastic wars, conflicts between the city nobility and the royal administration, the struggle of cities for complete autonomy and the protests of the lower classes against the tax system. The situation was aggravated by the fact that already in the 3rd century. BC e. The young warlike Roman civilization began an attack on the Hellenic world, conquering one state after another.

The Hellenistic world was gradually absorbed by the Roman Empire. In 196 BC. e. Rome proclaimed the “freedom” of the Greek city-states, that is, the elimination of the monarchical system - a slogan that had some popularity among the Greeks. Roman garrisons were now stationed in the major cities of Hellas, Rome determined the boundaries of states, and intervened in the internal affairs of policies. Unions of policies were dissolved, instead of democracy, an oligarchy was established, a huge number of people were sold into slavery and taken out of the country. In 30 BC. e. Roman troops conquered Egypt - the last of the Hellenistic states that retained their independence.

During the Hellenistic era, for the first time in human history, contacts between East and West became constant and sustainable. These contacts manifested themselves in many areas: trade ties strengthened, new forms of statehood were created, and cultural interaction grew. But ultimately, Greece's emergence as a world power did not reinvigorate the ancient civilization. The foundations of Greek civilization (democracy, isolation of city states - autarky) were eroded, and new civilizational foundations were never created.

Not only professional historians and students of history faculties are fascinated by ancient Greece. This is a subject of admiration and interest for researchers from related fields of science, tourists and travelers who want to know everything about Ancient Greece. This applies to both historical events and everyday life, culture, philosophy, scientific knowledge, philosophy, mythology.

Ancient Greece is usually understood as a period in world history that began in 3 thousand BC and lasted until the middle of the 1st century AD.

Periodization

Depending on what criteria scientists put into the division of ancient Greek history, this may be the periodization. There are two most common and accepted classifications in science. The first of them involves division into three large periods:

• Preclassical, which began in the 3rd century. BC. and lasted until the 4th century. BC.;
• Classical, covering the 5th-4th centuries. BC.;
• Hellenistic, dating from the second half of the 4th century. – mid 1st century. AD

Archaeologists insist that the pre-classical period should be further divided into three stages - Crete-Mycenaean, Homeric and Archaic. At the Frontier 3-2 thousand BC. The first civilization arose on the island of Crete, which was separated from other periods thanks to various artifacts. The culture of the Cretan-Mycenaean period is not as rich as other eras of Ancient Greece, but it suggests that this civilization requires special attention from researchers.

The Homeric period has been little studied by historians; basic information about it has been preserved in the works of Homer. Chronologically covered the period from the 11th to the 9th centuries. BC.

After it came the archaic stage, in which the foundations of the Greek statehood, mentality, culture, and mythology began to take shape. The period began in the 8th century. BC. and ended at the border of the 5th-4th centuries. BC.

Settlement of Hellas

People began to appear on the southern outskirts of the Balkan Peninsula during the Middle Paleolithic period. Traces of primitive man have been discovered from Macedonia to Elis. In the Neolithic, people were already engaged in agriculture, raised livestock, began to build houses, and a clan system took shape, which in 3-2 thousand BC. developed into an early class society.

During the Aegean period, the settlement of mainland and island Greece took place. In particular, Minoan culture developed on Crete, Helladic culture on the mainland, and Cycladic culture on the islands.

In the Bronze Age, civilization actively developed on the Greek islands. This period was characterized by the following features and achievements:

• Mining of ores, including copper, began;
• People began to actively use silver and lead;
• Weapons, decorations, tools, and religious things were made of metal;
• Ceramic and pottery products were created;
• Construction and crafts associated with it developed. This allowed the development of shipping. The construction of ships contributed to the gradual development of the islands neighboring Greece. As a result, the ancient Greeks established dominance over the coast of the entire Aegean Sea;
• Large cities arose that were the centers of certain tribes. The settlements were located at higher elevations, which indicates the beginning of differentiation of society. Rulers appeared who sought to rise above other people. This sparked the first tribal wars in Ancient Greece.

In the Bronze Age, the center of social and economic development was Crete, where several states emerged. These include Festus, Mallia, Knossos. By their nature, these were early slaveholding states that had their own written language (hieroglyphic). At the very end of the Bronze Age in Crete, the new palace period began, during which the creation of new palaces and the renovation of old ones took place. The Cretan-Mycenaean civilization was one of the most developed in Ancient Greece, during which communications with the outside world, maritime dominance significantly expanded, and cities strengthened. In 1470 BC. An earthquake occurred on the island of Thera, which reached Crete. Cities, palaces, and fleets were instantly destroyed. The entire population of the island also died, after which its territory began to fall into desolation. A hundred years later, the Knossos Palace was restored, but this state no longer achieved its former power.

Other slave-owning centers arose on the mainland, becoming separate city-states. It was Pylos, Tiryns and Mycenae that created the Achaean tribes. They built not only warships, but also large merchant ships, which allowed them to establish dominance over the existing trade routes of the time. Achaean products were sold to such Eastern countries as Phenicia, Syria, and Egypt. Products of the ancient Greeks are found both in Asia Minor and Italy. The Achaeans came up with their own writing, which, unlike the Cretan one, was not hieroglyphic, but syllabic.

Features of the Homeric period

The Achaean civilization fell under the onslaught of new tribes - the Dorians, who captured states in the middle and southern regions. Athens survived, where the Achaeans from the Peloponnese moved. Here it was possible to preserve a high culture and develop further, but the rest of Greece was thrown back in development.

This is due to the fact that the Dorian tribes were in the conditions of the formation of a tribal system. Therefore, production, cities and political systems began to change rapidly. Tribal relations again came to the fore, which is why tools and weapons made of iron began to spread in ancient Greek society. Products made of metal and iron caused the formation of a special class of society - artisans, thanks to which at the end of the 9th century. BC. crafts were finally separated from agriculture and cattle breeding. This is how a market began to form; individual cities began to specialize in the production of only one type of iron products.

Independent communities led by basilei began to emerge. Their power was supported by the clan nobility, which strengthened its influence through land holdings. The population living in such territories fell into slavery. People became dependent on the rich in different ways:

• In Sparta, the dependent categories of the population included the perieci, who formed the basis of the indigenous population of the state; as well as helots - farmers from Messenia. The Perieks had little self-government, continuing to engage in trade and various crafts. The helots were state property, they were attached to plots of land of the Spartiates - representatives of the local nobility;
• In Thessaly, the conquered population was called penesti;
• In Crete these were the Clarotes.

Slavery also existed in Athens during the Homeric period, but people who did not pay their debts became slaves.

Greece in the Archaic Period

The increase in the number of cities and the complication of the social system caused the active development of trade. Residents of populated areas required constant raw materials for work and food. The situation was worsened by the fact that the cities became refuges for peasants whose land had been taken away. The number of representatives of the nobility, who were constantly in need of slaves, also increased. They were used to build palaces, cultivate fields, and do household work.

All this created the preconditions for the beginning of a new stage in the history of Ancient Greece - the colonial one. The impetus for the creation of colonial cities was the aggravation of social struggle within Greek society. During the 8th-6th centuries. BC, colonies were established on the islands of Sicily and Euboea, the coast of the Gulf of Tarentum, the Black Sea, and along the Aegean coast.

The presence of a large number of colonies brought Greek trade to a new level of development - international. The consequences of creating colonies include:

• Growing demand for Greek goods;
• Slaves were constantly arriving in the metropolis;
• The nobility received wealth and luxury goods;
• Coins borrowed from other peoples began to be used in trade;
• The position of many landowners and family nobility strengthened;
• Individual cities in Greece became common religious centers.

The archaic period was characterized by a constant struggle between the demos and the aristocracy. The population of the cities sought to get rid of slavery, and this was done in a number of cities of Hellas.

Resistance was provided by the tribal nobility, which was pacified through the establishment of a regime of tyranny.

During the 8th-6th centuries. BC. A special form of political, social and economic structure of the Greek city also emerged. It was a polis - a free settlement in which only free citizens lived. If people belonged to the polis, then this provided them with rights, including to slaves and land.

The policies were divided into two groups:

• Oligarchic (Sparta and Crete);
• Democratic (Athens).

In the city-states, slavery and elements of the tribal system existed simultaneously. In the south of mainland Greece, agricultural communities that belonged to individual tribes continued to develop.

Hellas in the classical period of development

Greece reached the peak of its development in the 5th-4th centuries. BC. Historians believe that this was a time of flourishing economics, culture, politics, trade, sciences and arts. Trade and craft policies continued to use slaves - in craft workshops, in mines, in the fields, and on the farm.

Small peasant farms and crafts became widespread.

During the classical period the center political life There was Athens, which was famous for its democratic traditions. This allowed them to win a series of Greco-Persian wars and create the Delian League to fight against the Persians.

In Greece, there was never unity between the policies, and the struggle for dominance intensified during the classical period. The peak of the confrontation was the Peloponnesian War between Sparta and Athens, which ended in the loss of the latter polis. The Greek cities that supported Athens suffered defeat and losses. But the war caused the rise of Sparta and its supporters.

But this was not the last war in Hellas of that period. Another one flared up in 395-387. BC, and received the name Corinthian. It ended with the defeat of Sparta, and the fall of part of the Greek city-states under the rule of Persia.

In the middle of the 4th century. BC. In the northern Greek regions, a new political force was formed, led by the city-police of Macedonia. Its king, Philip II, gradually captured the coast of Thrace, Thessaly, Hacidica and Phocis. The influence of Macedonia was so strong that pro-Macedonian parties appeared in other states.

In 338-337. BC, Philip II convened the Corinthian Congress, at which Macedonian dominance over island and mainland Greece was formalized. He also created a union of poleis, in which the regime of government was proclaimed oligarchic. Order among the population and among the authorities was maintained by the efforts of the Macedonian army.

Decline of Ancient Greece

At the end of the 4th century. BC Hellas entered a new period of development, which in historiography is called Hellenistic. It was associated with the name of Alexander the Great, son of Philip II. His conquests qualitatively changed all spheres of life in Greece, formed many other states, and enriched Greek culture. Alexander the Great managed to create a huge empire, which ceased to exist immediately after his death in 323 BC.

The Hellenistic period in Greece was characterized by the following events:

• Creation of permanent unions of cities and policies. Such formations were military in nature, and were aimed at challenging the dominance of Macedonia, Sparta or Athens in Greece;
• The policies were headed by oligarchs or kings, who constantly fought among themselves;
• Macedonia won the fight against Athens, ending the famous Athenian democracy;
• Macedonia lost power over the Balkans, since the Achaean and Aetolian military alliances constantly fought against it;
• The death of Alexander the Great unleashed a struggle between his successors, as a result of which cities were destroyed, people died, the sale of people into slavery intensified, and new colonies were created. Pirates also began to attack Greece, the island and coastal cities suffered especially from this;
• The social struggle intensified in the policies, which depended on which political force interfered in the internal affairs of Greece. These were both Romans and Persians.

In 196 BC. The Isthmian Games took place, at which the commander Flaminin announced that the Greeks had freedom. This increased the popularity of Rome in Greece, which effectively became the property of the republic. In 27 BC. Hellas became one of the Roman provinces called Achaea. And this continued for several centuries, until in the 4th century. AD the raids of the barbarians did not destroy the Roman Empire, dividing it into Western and Eastern. On the basis of the latter, a new political force began to form on the Balkan Peninsula - the Byzantine Empire.

Religion and mythology of Ancient Greece

The inhabitants of Hellas had their own unique religion, which linked culture, mythology and art into a single whole. The Greeks believed that the main god was Zeus, sitting on Mount Olympus. Eleven other gods and goddesses lived there with him. Greek religion, like mythology, is interesting because the Greeks represented their gods as people, endowing them with human traits of character and behavior. The gods had the same feelings as people, the vices and desires that were present in the ancient world.

Mythology was formed over several centuries, and reflected all the problems that the Greeks faced in Everyday life. In addition to the gods, Greek mythology is rich in such characters as mortal heroes, for example, Achilles and Hercules, mythical creatures. These were satyrs, oras, nymphs, forest and river monsters, dragons, muses, dragons and vipers.

Art and Science

Huge contribution from residents Ancient Hellas contributed to the development of theater, painting, and sculpture. Greek art is present in almost every corner of the globe. First of all, these are temples and architectural styles. The Greeks built temples in honor of the gods so that Zeus and his supporters would have a place to live. But, unlike the Romans, or the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Babylonia, the Greeks built temples that were not large (relatively speaking, judging by their size), placing them in the acropolis of the city. This was the most protected part of the settlement. To make the temple visible from afar, it was built on a mountain or hill. For construction, they tried to use two main materials - limestone and white marble. Each temple, like any Greek building, necessarily had columns located in one or two rows. During the classical period, the art of building temples reached its peak. IN next era– Hellenistic – stadiums, sports grounds, walking spaces, and amphitheaters began to appear.

Simultaneously with sculpture, sculpture developed, which changed throughout the entire period of the existence of Ancient Greece. If in the archaic period the sculptures of people necessarily had robes, then in the classical era the masters concentrated their main attention on human body. It was customary to depict physically developed, strong, athletic people, which emphasized internal and external beauty. In Hellenism, sculptures began to have a metaphorical character, exaggerations and pomp appeared in works of art, which did not exist before.

The Greeks were also distinguished by their special painting technique, examples of which have practically not survived to this day. But the drawings can be seen on the vases. The Greeks used two methods of painting such items as black-figure and red-figure. The first was characterized by the use of black varnish to depict people and animals. And red-figure meant completely painting over the black background, the figures were made red, and the black varnish also helped to clearly draw the details.

During the celebration of the wine festival, which was dedicated to the god Dionysus, the Greek theater began to take shape. With its emergence, music and literature began to actively develop. Often these directions were not separated from each other, which made both literature and theater an organic whole. In productions, it was customary to use special masks that were worn only by male actors. Women did not take part in the performances.

The special role of theater in the everyday and social life of Greece is evidenced by the large number of theaters and amphitheaters. Neither festivals nor public celebrations were complete without performances. The theater was distinguished by a wide variety of plots, themes, and genres. These were comedies, tragedies, satires, and ironic performances on the topic of the day.

The scientific knowledge of the Greeks developed in different areas– philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, geometry, biology, physics, chemistry, history. A special place among knowledge was occupied by philosophy, which studied the problems of the origin of space, planets, man, and the search for answers to questions related to immortality. Several philosophical schools were formed in Hellas, prominent representatives which were Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Thales, Herodotus, etc.

Literature, grammar, mathematics, history, astronomy, and philosophy were taught in the schools of Ancient Greece. Physical education was mandatory so that a person’s personality would develop harmoniously.

The most famous legacy of the Greeks is the Olympic Games, which were created to praise the gods and bring them various honors. At first these were local competitions, which over time developed into pan-Greek ones. Athletes from different cities of Greece competed, trying to gain the status of the best athlete. The main competitions took place in the discipline of pentathlon, which is now also present at the Olympic Games.