Briefly about ancient Greece. Sights of Ancient Greece. History of Ancient Greece General information about ancient Greece

One Greek is worth a thousand barbarians. (Alexander the Great).

Modern European (and not only European) civilization owes much of its development to ancient Greece. This relatively small state has made a huge contribution to global culture: medicine, politics, art, literature, theater. To this day, ancient Greek myths serve as a source of inspiration for many people, being studied and retold. And the famous ancient Greek theater, which became the prototype of modern theater, is now being reconstructed again, modern people are trying to revive a piece of ancient Greece through theatrical art. And all this is just a small part of the great Greek heritage.

History of Ancient Greece

Many people associate the phrase “ancient Greece” with high ancient culture, wise Athenian philosophers, brave Spartan warriors and majestic temples. In fact, ancient Greece is not one, but several civilizations that developed and transformed over the centuries. Among them are:

• The Minoan civilization, which existed in the early period of the development of ancient Greece, is associated with it, for example, the famous legend of Theseus and the Minotaur, which probably has some real historical basis.
• The Achaean civilization, it is about this period that Homer writes in his epic poems “Iliad” and “Odyssey”.
• Hellenic civilization, actually the period of the highest flowering of ancient Greek civilization.

Also, the territory of ancient Greece itself is conventionally divided into three parts: Northern, Middle and Southern. In Southern Greece there was the warlike and harsh Sparta, the heart of ancient Greece - Athens, located in Central Greece, and in the North were Thessaly and Macedonia. (The latter, however, was not considered “true Greek”; the Macedonians were rather half-Greeks, half-barbarians, but it’s true that in the history of ancient Greece they had a significant role to play, but look further on this).

As for the history of ancient Greece, historians conditionally divide it into several periods, and then we will consider in detail the main periods of ancient Greece.

Early period

The emergence of ancient Greece dates back to ancient times, at a time when the ancient Greeks themselves were just as barbaric. Pelasgian tribes inhabiting Greek territory in the 3rd millennium BC. That is, they were expelled from there by Achaean tribes who came from the north. The Achaeans, who created the Achaean civilization, in turn, were destroyed by the Dorian tribes, who were at a culturally lower level of development. After the death of the Achaean civilization, the so-called “dark age” of the ancient world begins. Like the other “dark age” that came after the crash, it is characterized by the decline of culture, the lack of written sources that can tell us about this historical period.

Only Homer shed some light on it; however, for a long time, serious historians considered the events described in the Iliad about the Trojan War to be only the poet’s invention, until someone, the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, unearthed the real Troy. True, debates about the reliability of the Troy he excavated are still ongoing, we have a separate interesting one on this topic on our website, but for now we are returning to the history of Greece.

Archaic period

It is also the Archaic period of ancient Greece, characterized by a new flourishing of Greek civilization. It was during this period that Greek city-states began to appear - independent city-states, among which Athens, Thebes and Sparta gradually rose. Athens became the greatest cultural center of ancient Greece; it was here that many outstanding philosophers, scientists, and poets subsequently lived. Athens was also the stronghold of ancient Greek democracy, the power of the people (“demos” means “people” in Greek, “kratos” means power) and the birthplace of this form of government.

Of course, ancient Greek democracy differed from modern democracy, for example, slaves and women could not take part in voting and public meetings (it was not long before the advent of feminism). Otherwise, Athenian democracy was exactly what real democracy is in its traditional understanding; any free citizen had not only the right, but also the obligation to participate in public assemblies, the so-called ecclesias, at which all important political and economic decisions were made.

People's Assemblies in Athens.

Sparta was the complete opposite of Athens, a military state where, of course, there could be no talk of any democracy. Sparta was ruled by two kings at once, one of whom commanded the army and went on military campaigns at the head of the army, the second was in charge of the economy in his absence . Every Spartan man was a professional warrior who spent all his time improving his military skills; as a result, the Spartan army was the strongest in Greece at that time. And the feat of the 300 Spartans, who held back the advance of a large army, has been glorified more than once both in art and in cinema. The economy of Sparta rested entirely on slaves - helots, who often rebelled against their masters.

Thebes, another great city of ancient Greece, was also a significant cultural and economic center, and also had great political influence. Power in Thebes belonged to a group of wealthy citizens, the so-called oligarchs (yes, this is a familiar word of Greek origin in our everyday life), who, on the one hand, were afraid of the spread of Athenian democracy, but on the other hand, the severity of the Spartan way of life was also not acceptable to them. As a result, in the constant conflicts between Athens and Sparta, Thebes supported one side or the other.

Classical period

The classical period of ancient Greece is characterized by the highest flowering of its culture, philosophy, art, it was during this period that such outstanding personalities as Solon and Pericles (outstanding political figures who strengthened democracy in Athens), Phidias (creator of the Parthenon in Athens and many other great buildings), appeared. Aeschylus (a talented playwright, “the father of drama”), Socrates and Plato (we think these philosophers need no introduction).

However, with the highest development of culture during this period, ancient Greece also faced great trials, namely the invasion of the Persians, seeking to enslave the freedom-loving Greeks. In the face of a formidable enemy, even such previously irreconcilable rivals as Athens and Sparta united and presented a united front, pan-Greek patriotism prevailed over local squabbles. As a result, after a series of outstanding victories (the Battle of Marathon, the Battle of Thermopylae) over the superior forces of the Persians, the Greeks managed to defend their independence.

True, after the victory over the Persians during the Greco-Persian wars, the Greeks again returned to their old quarrels, which soon escalated so much that they resulted in the Great Peleponian War, between Athens and Sparta. On both sides, the two policies were supported by their allies, lasting 30 years, the war ended with the victory of Sparta. True, the victory did not bring much joy to anyone, the brilliant Greek civilization again fell into decay and desolation during the years of the war, and the Greek city-states themselves weakened so much during the war that soon the energetic Macedonian king Philip, the father of the great conqueror Alexander the Great, conquered all of Greece without much difficulty .

Well, his son, as we know, having rallied all the Greeks, himself attacked Persia, and so successfully that he reached with his invincible at that time Greek phalanxes right up to . From this moment the Hellenistic period of the history of ancient Greece begins.

Hellenistic period

It is also the final period of the heyday of Greek civilization, the moment of its greatest zenith, when the power (and at the same time culture) of the Greeks, thanks to the energy of one Macedonian, stretched from Greece proper to distant India, where a unique Greek-Indian culture was even created, manifested, for example, in statues Buddha, made in Greek style, antique sculpture. (such amazing cultural syncretism).

The Bamiyan Buddha statue, made in the ancient style, unfortunately, has not survived to this day.

After the death of Alexander the Great, his vast empire collapsed as quickly as it was conquered, Greek influence nevertheless continued to persist for some time, but over time gradually began to decline. The situation was complicated by the invasion of Greece itself by warlike Galatian tribes.

And finally, with the rise of Rome and the appearance of Roman legionaries on Greek soil, came the final end of Greek civilization, which was completely absorbed by the Roman Empire. The Romans, as we know, largely adopted Greek culture and became its worthy successors.

Culture of Ancient Greece

It was in ancient Greece that the first philosophical concepts were formulated, which laid down the fundamental knowledge about the universe that modern science uses.

The Greek historian Herodotus literally became the “father of history”; it was his historical works that serve as models for the works of subsequent generations of historians. The Greek physician Hippocrates became the “father of medicine”; his famous “Hippocratic Oath” to this day expresses the moral and ethical principles of a doctor’s behavior. The playwright Aeschylus, already mentioned by us, became the creator of theatrical drama; his contribution to theatrical art and the development of theater is simply enormous. Just like the enormous contributions of the Greeks Pythagoras and Archimedes to the development of mathematics. And the philosopher Aristotle can generally be called the “father of science” in the broad sense of the word, since it was Aristotle who formulated the fundamental principles of scientific knowledge of the world.

This is what the ancient Greek theater looks like, which emerged from religious mysteries; it soon became one of the favorite places of entertainment for the ancient Greeks. The theater buildings themselves in ancient Greece were an open area with a round structure for the choir and a stage for the actors. All ancient Greek theaters had excellent acoustics, so even spectators sitting in the back rows could hear all the lines (there were no microphones yet).

The Ancient Greek Olympic Games, during which all wars were even interrupted, became, in fact, the foundation for the development of modern sports and the modern Olympic Games, which represent precisely the revival of the ancient Greek sports tradition.

The Greeks also had many interesting inventions in military affairs, for example their famous phalanx, which represented a close-knit combat formation of infantry. The Greek phalanx could easily win (and did win) victories over the numerically superior but unorganized Persians, Celts and other barbarians.

Art of Ancient Greece

Ancient Greek art is represented, first of all, by beautiful sculpture and architecture, painting. Harmony, balance, orderliness and beauty of forms, clarity and proportionality, these are the basic principles of Greek art, which considers man as the measure of all things, representing him in physical and moral perfection.

The famous Venus de Milo, the creation of an unknown Greek sculptor. Depicting the goddess of love and beauty Venus, she first of all conveys the pristine beauty of the female body, this is the whole sculpture of ancient Greece and all its art.

The architecture of ancient Greece became especially famous thanks to Phidias, a sculptor and architect, the Parthenon, a temple dedicated to the patroness of Athens, the goddess of war and wisdom, Athena, his greatest creation.

But besides the Parthenon, the Greeks built many other equally beautiful temples, many of which, unfortunately, have not survived to this day or have been preserved in the form of ruins.

As for painting, in ancient Greece it was represented in skillful drawings on Greek vases, in the form of vase painting. The ancient Greeks achieved great skill in decorating and painting vases and amphorae.

Painted Greek amphora. It is worth noting that the ancient Greeks painted a variety of types of pottery. And the inscriptions on vases left by some vase painters became an additional source of historical information.

Religion in Ancient Greece

The religion of ancient Greece and its mythology are perhaps the best studied, and the names of many Greek gods and goddesses, led by the supreme god Zeus, are well known to many. Interestingly, the Greeks endowed their gods with completely human qualities and even vices characteristic of people, such as anger, envy, vindictiveness, adultery, and so on.

Also, in addition to the gods, there was a cult of demigod heroes, such as, for example, Hercules, the son of the supreme god Zeus and an ordinary mortal woman. Often, many Greek rulers declared that they traced their ancestry to one or another semi-divine hero.

What’s interesting is that, unlike many other religions, the ancient Greeks were not at all characterized by religious fanaticism (“If Alexander so wants to be a god, then let him be,” the Spartans once calmly remarked in response to Alexander the Great’s claim to be divine origin), nor special reverence for the gods. When communicating with their gods, the Greeks never knelt, but talked with them as if with equal people.

And Greek temples dedicated to this or that god, in addition to their ritual functions, had another very important purpose: they were the real banks of antiquity, that is, places where various Greek oligarchs and nobles kept their values ​​acquired by hook or by crook.

• The familiar word “idiot” is of ancient Greek origin. The ancient Greeks called an idiot a citizen of the polis who did not take part in public meetings and voting, that is, a person who is not interested in politics in our modern understanding, who removed himself from political vicissitudes.
• In ancient Greece, there was a special institution of hetaeras, which should in no case be confused with prostitutes. Hetaeras, like Japanese geishas, ​​were beautiful and at the same time educated women, capable of maintaining an intellectual conversation, and versed in poetry, music, art, with a broad outlook, serving for the pleasure of men not only in the physical sense, but also in all other conceivable ways meanings. Many Greek hetaeras gathered around them philosophers, poets, scientists, a striking example of this is the hetaera Aspasia, who was the mistress of Pericles; at one time, even young Socrates was in love with Aspasia.
• The ancient Greeks called all other representatives of, so to speak, less cultured peoples “barbarians” and it was they who introduced this term into use (“barbarian” is translated from ancient Greek as “foreigner, foreigner”). Later, the Romans also became infected with this Greek xenophobia.
• Although the Greeks treated all Scythians and Germans with disdain, calling them “barbarians,” in turn, they themselves learned a lot from the more developed ancient Egyptian civilization and culture. For example, Pythagoras in his youth studied with Egyptian priests. The historian Herodotus also visited Egypt and talked a lot with Egyptian priests. “You Greeks are like little children,” the local priests told him.

Ancient Greece, video

And in conclusion, an interesting documentary about ancient Greece.

The term “Greece”, “Greeks” is of non-Greek (possibly Illyrian) origin; it came into use thanks to the Romans, who originally used it to designate Greek colonists in southern Italy. The Greeks themselves called themselves Hellenes, and their country Hellas (from the name of a small city and region in southern Thessaly).

Geography.

Balkan Greece in ancient times occupied an area of ​​approx. 88 thousand sq. km. In the northwest it bordered with Illyria, in the northeast with Macedonia, in the west it was washed by the Ionian (Sicilian), in the southeast by the Myrtoian sea, in the east by the Aegean and Thracian seas. It included three regions - Northern Greece, Central Greece and Peloponnese. Northern Greece was divided into western (Epirus) and eastern (Thessaly) parts by the Pindus mountain range. Central Greece was delimited from Northern Greece by the Timfrest and Eta mountains and consisted of ten regions (from west to east): Acarnania, Aetolia, Locris Ozole, Doris, Phocis, Locris Epiknemidskaya, Locris Opunta, Boeotia, Megaris and Attica. The Peloponnese was connected to the rest of Greece by the narrow (up to 6 km) Isthmus of Corinth.

The central region of the Peloponnese was Arcadia, which was bordered on the west by Elis, on the south by Messenia and Laconia, on the north by Achaea, on the east by Argolis, Phliuntia and Sicyonia; Corinthia was located in the extreme northeastern corner of the peninsula. Insular Greece consisted of several hundred islands (the largest are Crete and Euboea), forming three large archipelagos - the Cyclades in the southwest of the Aegean Sea, the Sporades in the eastern and northern parts and the Ionian Islands in the western Balkan Greece is mainly a mountainous country ( it is pierced from north to south by two branches of the Dinaric Alps) with an extremely rugged coastline and numerous bays (the largest are Ambracian, Corinthian, Messenian, Laconian, Argolid, Saronic, Malian and Pagasian).

The largest of the Greek islands are Crete, southeast of the Peloponnese and Euboea, separated from Central Greece by a narrow strait. The numerous islands of the Aegean Sea form two large archipelagos - the Cyclades in the southwest and the Sporades in the eastern and northern parts. The most significant of the islands off the western coast of Greece are Kerkyra, Lefkada, Kefallenia and Zakynthos.

Natural conditions.

Mountain ranges divide Greece into many narrow and isolated valleys with access to the sea. There are few vast fertile plains here, except in Laconia, Boeotia, Thessaly and Euboea. In the ancient Greek period, three-quarters of the territory was pasture and only one-eighth was arable land. Both the plant (oak, wild walnut, cypress, chestnut, fir, spruce, myrtle, laurel, oleander, etc.) and animal world (bears, wolves, foxes, boars, wild boars, fallow deer, deer, roe deer) were rich and diverse , hares; in ancient times, lions), but the sea gave especially much. The subsoil concealed significant deposits of minerals, primarily iron (Laconia, many islands), as well as silver (Attica, Thasos, Sifnos), copper (Eubea), gold (Thessaly, Thasos, Sifnas), lead (Keos), white marble ( Attica, Paros), dark blue clay (Attica).

Ethnic composition and language.

The Greek people included four ethnic groups - the Achaeans, Ionians, Aeolians and Dorians, who spoke their own special but close dialects (Attic-Ionian, Aeolian, Dorian, Arcadian) and differed in their customs.

Story

Ancient Greece is divided into five periods: Achaean (XX–XII centuries BC), Homeric, or “Dark Ages” (XI–IX centuries BC), Archaic (VIII–VI centuries BC .BC), classical (V–IV centuries BC) and Hellenistic (III–II centuries BC).

The early history of the Greek people is little known. Scientists argue when and where the Greeks came to the south of the Balkan Peninsula. Most consider the northern part of the Balkans or the territory of modern times to be the ancestral home of the Greeks. Romania; others place it in the Northern Black Sea region; still others are looking for it in Asia Minor. Their invasion is dated either to the first half of the 3rd millennium BC, or to the 17th–16th centuries. BC.; The majority of researchers, based on archaeological data, date it to the end of the 3rd millennium BC.

Achaean Greece.

The first Greek tribe to come to the south of the Balkans were the Ionians, who settled mainly in Attica and on the mountainous coast of the Peloponnese; then they were followed by the Aeolians, who occupied Thessaly and Boeotia, and (from the 20th century BC) by the Achaeans, who ousted the Ionians and Aeolians from part of the territories they had developed (northeastern Thessaly, Peloponnese) and captured the main part of Balkan Greece. By the time of the Greek invasion, this region was inhabited by Pelasgians, Leleges and Carians, who were at a higher level of development than the conquerors: they had already entered the Bronze Age, social stratification and state formation had begun, and proto-cities arose (Early Helladic period of the 26th–21st centuries). The Greek conquest took place gradually and lasted for several centuries (XXIII–XVII centuries BC). As a rule, the aliens seized new territories by force, destroying local residents and their settlements; at the same time, assimilation also took place.

Although the Achaeans somewhat enriched the technological (pottery wheel, cart, war chariot) and animal (horses) world of the conquered areas, their invasion led to a certain economic and cultural regression - a sharp reduction in the production of metal tools (stone and bone predominate) and the disappearance of the urban type of settlement ( dominated by small villages with small adobe houses). Apparently, in the Middle Helladic period (XX-XVII centuries BC) the standard of living of the Achaeans was very low, which ensured the long-term preservation of property and social equality; The constant need to fight for a livelihood with neighboring Achaean tribes and the remnants of the local population determined the military-communal nature of their way of life.

In the 17th century BC. this military-democratic system is being replaced by a military-aristocratic one; The Late Helladic, or Mycenaean, period in the history of Achaean Greece begins (XVI-XII centuries). Obviously, as a result of constant wars, the rise of individual Achaean communities takes place, subjugating neighboring settlements, and within them there is a concentration of political power and material resources in the hands of the leader and his clan. From a country of fortified villages, Greece is turning into a country of powerful fortresses dominating the countryside. Proto-states, the Achaean kingdoms, emerge, among which Mycenae, Tiryns, Pylos, Athens, Thebes and Iolcus stand out. The raison d'être of their existence was the struggle for control over resources (fertile lands, livestock, minerals, primarily metals). The conservation of resources was ensured both by a system of scrupulous accounting and by mobilizing efforts to protect them (construction of fortifications, production of weapons). The acquisition of resources was carried out through wars, predatory raids, piracy and, much less frequently, foreign trade.

Each Achaean kingdom was a union of individual rural communities (damos) into one macro-community-state. A person could realize himself only within the framework of these two types of communities, which monopolized all resources, primarily the land, which was divided into the land of the palace and the land of damos. Like the peasant from his community, the palace servant received from the state in conditional holding a plot of land corresponding to his status; Probably, the tsar was no exception to this system. In the Mycenaean era (at least in its first period) there were no forms of private ownership of land; it was provided exclusively for temporary use, which, however, was actually of a hereditary nature, due to the traditional continuity of occupations both in the families of peasants and artisans, and in the families of palace employees.

The state viewed the rural community only as an object of exploitation and limited its relations with it to the withdrawal of part of the resources (labor, raw materials) and produced products (food, handicrafts); it was not involved, unlike the Ancient East, in organizing production (agriculture, irrigation system). The subject territory was divided into districts governed by governors, who were responsible for the regular receipt of taxes into the treasury; They were subordinated to lower officials who controlled the performance of certain duties by residents of individual settlements.

The social structure was based on the existence of two main groups - managers headed by the king and performers of certain economic functions (farming, cattle breeding, crafts); performers were divided into two categories - state performers (artisans who worked on orders (thalassia) of the palace and received payment in kind from it), and the tax-paying population (peasants), obliged to supply the state with raw materials (mainly metal), food and perform labor duties. Outside the community there were slaves and “God’s servants.” Slaves (mostly women and children) were in most cases apparently people captured in war; they could be either collective (state) or individual property and were, as a rule, servants; their role in the economy was purely auxiliary. “God's servants,” whose origin is not entirely clear, were tenants of land either from the community or from its member-users.

Agriculture and cattle breeding were of leading importance in the economy. Wheat, barley, peas, beans, lentils, olives were cultivated; Perhaps some of the olive oil was exported. Bulls, sheep, pigs, horses, donkeys and mules were bred. Among the crafts, blacksmithing (weapons and armor, tools, jewelry) and pottery, weaving and monumental construction stood out.

Achaean Greece was strongly influenced by the neighboring Cretan (Minoan) civilization, from which it borrowed a number of technical and cultural achievements (plumbing, sewerage, some types of weapons and clothing, linear syllabary, etc.). ( Cm. MINOAN CIVILIZATION). However, the Mycenaean civilization cannot be considered a derivative of the Minoan. Unlike Crete, Greece II millennium BC. was the world of an aggressive military aristocracy, the political and economic system was a mechanism for realizing its dominance over the world of rural workers, art was a form of affirmation of its values ​​(war and hunting as its leading themes, monumental fortress architecture, high quality finishing of weapons).

The entire history of the Achaean world is a history of bloody wars. Sometimes several kingdoms united in the fight against a richer and more powerful one (the campaign of the seven Argive kings against Thebes) or for an overseas predatory expedition (the Trojan War). By the 14th century BC. Mycenae is strengthening and beginning to claim the role of hegemon of Achaean Greece. In the 13th century BC. The Mycenaean kings manage to subjugate Sparta through a dynastic marriage and achieve the subordination (at least formally) of a number of other Achaean states (Tirynths, Pylos). Mythological evidence shows that in the Trojan War, the Mycenaean king Agamemnon was perceived by other Greek kings as the supreme ruler. In the XV–XIII centuries. BC. The Achaeans begin military and trade expansion in the Mediterranean. At the end of the 15th century. BC. they probably establish control over Crete in the 14th–13th centuries. BC. founded colonies on the western and southern coasts of Asia Minor, Rhodes and Cyprus, and southern Italy. Achaean troops take part in the invasion of the “Sea Peoples” on Egypt.

Continuous wars led, on the one hand, to the depletion and destruction of the human and material resources of Achaean Greece, and on the other, to the enrichment of its ruling elite. The alienation of rural Damos from the state, which is increasingly becoming an instrument of the king’s personal power, is deepening. Ultimately, the mighty citadels find themselves surrounded by a hostile rural world, economically backward and socially undifferentiated.

The internal weakening of the Achaean kingdoms made them vulnerable to external danger. At the end of the 13th century. BC. Northern Balkan tribes (both Greek and Thracian-Illyrian origin) invaded Greece. Although some of the citadels survived (Mycenae, Tiryns, Athens), some states were destroyed (Pylos) and, most importantly, a crushing blow was dealt to the Achaean economy and the system of exploitation of the rural area. In the 12th century. BC. crafts and trade are rapidly deteriorating and the population is sharply declining; the newcomers establish a number of settlements, which coexist for some time with the surviving Achaeans; the integrity of the area is being torn apart and its relations with the citadel are weakening. Having lost their economic basis, the surviving strongholds in the 12th century. BC. are falling into complete decline.

Homeric period, or "Dark Ages".

Period XI–IX centuries. called “Homeric”, since the main source of information about him is the poems of Homer Iliad And Odyssey.

At the end of the 12th century. BC. Tribes of the Greek Dorians invaded Greece. Having passed through Central Greece, they settled in Megarid and in the southeastern part of the Peloponnese - in Corinthia, Argolis, Laconia and Messenia. The Dorians also captured a number of islands in the southern part of the Cyclades and Sporades archipelagos (Melos, Thera, Kos, Rhodes), the flat part of Crete, displacing the remnants of the Minoan-Achaean population into the mountainous regions, and the southwestern coast of Asia Minor (Dorida Asia Minor). Northwestern Greek tribes related to the Dorians settled in Epirus, Acarnania, Aetolia, Locris, Elis and Achaia. The Ionians, Aeolians and Achaeans held out in Thessaly, Boeotia, Attica and Arcadia; some of them emigrated to the islands of the Aegean Sea and to Asia Minor, the western coast of which was colonized by the Ionians, and the northwestern coast by the Aeolians.

The Dorian conquest, like the Achaean conquest at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, led Greece to a new regression - a sharp decline in population, a drop in living standards, a cessation of monumental and stone construction in general, a decline in crafts (deterioration in the technical and artistic quality of products, reduction their range and quantity), the weakening of trade contacts, the loss of writing. With the fall of the Achaean citadels throughout Greece (including those not occupied by the Dorians), the former state formations disappeared and the primitive communal system was established; Once again, small poor tribal villages became the main form of settlement. From the achievements of the Mycenaean civilization, the Dorians borrowed only the potter's wheel, metal processing and shipbuilding techniques, and the culture of growing grapes and olive trees. At the same time, the Dorians brought with them the art of smelting and processing iron, the practice of using it not only as jewelry (as in the Mycenaean era), but in production and in warfare. The advent of the Iron Age was of great importance - metal became cheap and widely available, which contributed to the growth of economic independence of the individual family and the weakening of its economic dependence on the clan organization.

XI–IX centuries BC. - the era of dominance of natural economy. Cattle breeding acquired a special role: livestock was both a criterion of wealth and a measure of value. The main type of social organization was the rural community (demos), which lived in a small area and sought complete isolation; often several villages (usually for defense purposes) united around the most fortified village, which became the center of the community thus expanded (protopolis). As a result, Greece turned into a country of small self-governing districts. The community and its clans and families produced everything they needed for themselves - they cultivated the land, grazed livestock, created simple products (clothing, dishes, tools); The professionalization of occupations disappeared with the Mycenaean era. The demand for complex handicrafts was weak; Therefore, specialist craftsmen (demiurges) found themselves on the margins of the economy: most often they led a wandering life, receiving their livelihood through individual and random orders for weapons, armor or jewelry. The community had virtually no contact with the outside world; relations with neighbors were usually hostile; border conflicts and predatory raids were common practice. Piracy became widespread, almost completely replacing trade: with scarce resources, the Greeks of that time had little to offer for exchange.

The social and political structure was based on the principle of consanguinity. The community consisted of clans and their associations (phyla and phratries), which during war acted as military units, and in peacetime formed a national assembly. Relations within the community (between phyla and phratries) were often very tense; conflicts often led to civil strife and blood feuds. Belonging to a clan was the only guarantee of the rights, life and property of a person in the Homeric era; outside the clan organization he was practically defenseless - there were no laws or authoritative institutions of power. At the same time, land was considered the property not of the clan, but of the entire community, and it was distributed (and periodically redistributed among its members); gradually the allotment was assigned to an individual family.

Slavery did not play a major economic role. The main part of the slaves, as in the Mycenaean era, were women and children, who were used in auxiliary work in the household. Male slaves usually performed the duties of shepherds. The slaves were mostly prisoners of war. Slavery was patriarchal in nature, and the standard of living of slaves differed little from the standard of living of their masters. There was no institution of state slavery; slaves were owned by individual families and clans.

Gradually, in the community where “equality in poverty” initially reigned, the process of social differentiation intensified, facilitated by constant internal and external military conflicts. Victory over a neighboring demos or over a rival clan led to the enrichment and growth of influence of individual clans, one or another of their members or the military leader. Military spoils provided funds for farming on several plots, for acquiring better weapons (a heavily armed warrior or even a horseman), for systematic military training, and for creating food reserves in case of crop shortages or natural disasters. The rest of the community did not have the capabilities to ensure the normal functioning of their farms, protect themselves from oppression, or lay claim to a significant share of the spoils, especially in conditions of fragmentation of plots caused by demographic growth. As a result, a group of people (feta) was formed who were forced to give up their plots and give them up to wealthier neighbors; they became homeless tenants; on the other hand, the category of “multi-allotment community members” arose, constituting the social elite.

The traditional political structure of the community included a popular assembly (all free male warriors), a council of elders (gerusia, areopagus) and an elected military leader (basileia). The emergence of the elite, however, led to its transformation, which occurred in different ways. In communities dominated by only one clan, he gradually usurped military, religious and judicial functions; the elected military leader turned into a hereditary patriarchal monarch. However, more often the leading positions in the community were occupied by several noble families. Aristocrats played a leading role in battles, which were usually a series of duels between horsemen or heavily armed warriors. Their authority as defenders of the demos gave them the right to a decisive vote in the popular assembly; from among them the leader of the community militia was elected, and they were contacted to resolve litigation. In their phyla and phratries they were priests of clan cults. The remaining community members (people) are pushed to the periphery of social and political life. At the same time, constant rivalry within the aristocracy prevented the excessive rise of its individual representatives. The growth of the power of the aristocracy as such in the 9th century. BC. also manifested itself in the weakening of the patriarchal monarchy in those protopolises where it had previously been established: the royal family gradually lost its privileges, and the positions (functions) monopolized by it became elective, turning into the property of the entire elite.

Archaic Greece.

Socio-economic problems and ways to solve them.

Period VIII–VI centuries. BC. - a time of tremendous change in the ancient Greek world. They were caused by a crisis that affected many regions inhabited by Greeks, which was caused by a conflict between an ever-growing population and a decrease in food resources as a result of the gradual depletion of soils. The situation was aggravated by the existing system of socio-economic relations: the custom of equal division of inherited land between sons under the dominance of private aristocratic land ownership contributed to the expansion of the land market. The demographic explosion led to the fragmentation of plots into small plots that could no longer feed their owners, and they were forced to mortgage or sell them to their rich relatives or neighbors.

Greek society tried to find an adequate response to the challenge thrown at it. There were two ways to solve the problem - internal and external. The first was to more efficiently use existing arable land and increase it by clearing forested areas, which required new, more advanced tools. In the VIII–VI centuries. BC. The number of iron tools increased significantly, their range expanded and their quality improved. An iron ax made it easier to fight trees and bushes, and an iron ploughshare, pickaxe, hoe and sickle made it possible to increase productivity.

The second way to solve the problem is external expansion, which could be violent or peaceful. Violent expansion - the seizure of new lands outside the state (internal Greek wars, removal of colonies) - was by its nature a rather conservative phenomenon: in the occupied territories the Greeks sought to revive the ancient communal way of life.

In the VIII–VI centuries. BC. a number of states (Sparta, Argos) tried to take away lands from their neighbors by force (Messenian Wars, etc.). However, the relative equality of the military and human potential of many protopolises often turned such aggression into an endless series of wars, maximally depleting the forces of the parties and not bringing victory to any of them.

The founding of colonies in distant overseas lands (Great Greek Colonization) turned out to be more promising. The removal of the colony began with the registration of everyone and the appointment of a leader (oikist). The colonists could include not only residents of the city (metropolis) organizing the expedition, but also inhabitants of neighboring regions. In the 8th century BC. As a rule, no more than several hundred people took part in the colonization expedition. Upon arrival, the oikist chose the exact location of the future settlement, outlined its plan (location of the temple, main square (agora), harbor, residential areas, walls), performed the necessary rituals before starting construction, divided the land between the colonists and organized a management system. The founded colony (apoikia) was considered an independent polis, maintaining, however, close ties with the metropolis (common cults, trade relations, military support). The most active colonization activities were carried out by Euboean Chalcis, Megara, Corinth, Phocaea and, especially, Miletus, which founded about ninety settlements.

Successful colonization activities were facilitated by progress in shipbuilding. Based on the achievements of Phoenician shipbuilders, two new types of ships were created - the penteconter and the trireme. The military pentekontera was a vessel with fifty oarsmen, with a deck and quarters for soldiers and with a copper ram in front; The commercial pentecontera was distinguished by its high and rounded bow and stern, as well as its spacious hold. The later trireme was a fast warship with a crew of two hundred oarsmen; the first triremes were built in Corinth at the turn of the 8th–7th centuries. BC.

Greek colonization proceeded in three directions: western, northeastern and southeastern. The most popular was the western direction (Sicily, Southern Italy, the Illyrian coast, Southern Gaul, Iberia); The leading role here was played by the Ionians and Dorians. The first western colony was the city of Cumae, founded by the Chalcidians in the mid-8th century. BC. in Campania (Southern Italy). The most intensively developed were Sicily (Syracuse, Gela, Akragant, Zancla) and Southern Italy, which received the name “Greater Greece” (Regium, Tarentum, Sybaris, Croton, Posidonia, Naples) due to the large number of Greek settlements. The largest western colony outside of Magna Graecia was Massalia (modern Marseille), established ca. 600 BC Phocians near the mouth of the Rodan (modern Rhone), which soon became the center of Greek trade in the Western Mediterranean.

In the northeastern direction (Thrace, the Sea of ​​Marmara, the Black Sea), the unconditional leadership belonged to the Ionians. The first colonies in the area were founded in 756 BC. by the Milesians Cyzicus on the southern coast of the Sea of ​​Marmara and Sinop in the Southern Black Sea region. In addition to them, the largest Greek settlements were Potidaea and Olynthos on the Chalkidiki Peninsula, Abdera in Thrace, Sestus and Abydos on the Hellespont, Byzantium and Chalcedon on the Bosphorus, Heraclea, Trebizond, Istria, Odessa, Olbia, Chersonesos (modern Sevastopol), Panticapaeum ( modern Kerch) and Feodosia in the Black Sea region.

The southeastern wave of the colonization movement developed the southern coast of Asia Minor, Cyprus, Egypt and Libya. It was led by the Dorians and Ionians. The difficulty of penetrating these areas was that they were, as a rule, under the control of powerful eastern monarchies (Assyria, Egypt, Babylonia, Lydia); In addition, the Greeks faced strong competition from the Phoenicians (especially in Cyprus), who also carried out extensive colonization expansion. Therefore, apoikias did not always manage to become independent centers, and their total number was relatively small. Relatively favorable conditions existed only on the Libyan coast, where the Dorians established a group of prosperous settlements (Pentapolis, or Pentacles) led by Cyrene. Among the other Greek colonies of the southeast, Naucratis, founded by the Milesians in the middle of the 7th century, stood out. BC. in the Nile Delta.

Despite the initially agricultural orientation of the Great Colonization, many settlements gradually turned into large craft centers, conducting intensive exchanges with the local population, as well as centers of intermediary trade. Thus, they influenced the economy of Greece itself, stimulating the development of commodity production in it.

Until this time, Greek civilization was a closed, self-perpetuating system that functioned on an ethnically limited territory with limited resources. However, the colonies, created with the aim of maintaining her isolation, on the contrary, gave her the opportunity to open up to the rest of the world. It went beyond the territories inhabited by the Greeks and drew many foreign countries and tribes into its orbit, gaining access to their material and cultural wealth. The Greek metropolitan-colonial system became, following the Phoenician, a structure that united the diverse Mediterranean area.

As a result, the second type of external expansion triumphed in Greece - peaceful (trade). The new situation allowed a number of policies (Athens, Aegina) to abandon their primary focus on growing grain in favor of export crops (grapes, olives), the cultivation of which is especially favorable in the soil and climate of most of Greece, and handicrafts (primarily pottery and blacksmithing), whose competitiveness was ensured by a long tradition of craftsmanship and the availability of high-quality raw materials. Crafts are separated from agriculture; craft labor is specialized. The center of economic life is moving from the village to the city, whose interests are directed not inland, but to the sea; new cities are now based on the coast near convenient bays, and old ones (Athens, Corinth) establish close connections with nearby ports.

Socio-political structure.

The archaic era was marked by two leading trends - the desire for unification and, on the other hand, the transformation of the aristocratic system. The first tendency was most fully expressed in synoicism (“joint settlement”), the unification of several previously independent communities by relocating their inhabitants to an existing or newly founded fortified center (Thebes, Athens, Syracuse). In addition, religious (around sanctuaries; for example, the temple of Apollo at Delphi and the temple of Demeter at Atele) and political alliances arise, uniting groups of states of a certain area (Boeotian and Thessalian Leagues), an entire region (Peloponnesian League, Panionian League) or even different regions Greek world (sacred Delphic amphictyony).

The evolution of the aristocratic system went through two stages. In the first (VIII - first half of the 7th century BC) the economic and political power of the aristocracy as a whole increased. In the socio-economic sphere, it successfully destroys community traditions, primarily in the field of land use. This allows it, in conditions of impoverishment of the bulk of ordinary community members, to concentrate significant land wealth in its hands; many peasants fall into debt bondage. In the political sphere, on the contrary, the aristocracy seeks to use the former communal institutions of collective power, primarily the council of elders, in order to reduce the importance of the institutions of individual power (primarily royal). By the beginning of the 7th century. BC. the monarchical system actually ceases to exist in Attica, Boeotia, the states of the northeastern Peloponnese, and many cities of Asia Minor. In most cases, this change is accomplished without violence: under the king, a collective body is created (ephorate, college of ephetes), to which its main functions are transferred, with the exception, as a rule, of priestly ones; his position turns into an elective one, i.e. turns out to be the property of the entire aristocratic elite. Often, the highest body of executive power becomes a college of magistrates, elected for a certain term (usually a year) and obliged to report to the aristocratic council upon the expiration of their term of office. In this system, the national assembly, while remaining as an institution, plays an extremely small role.

However, the excessive rise of the aristocracy concealed its inevitable weakening. By destroying or emasculating community traditions, it thereby undermined the basis of its power: the preservation of the community guaranteed the traditional status of its members, including the authority of the aristocracy and those political institutions in which it played a leading role. By pushing the impoverished peasants outside the community and taking away their land - the basis of their traditional status, the nobility could no longer count on their loyalty to the existing order. On the other hand, by the middle of the 7th century. BC. the aristocracy lost its leading position in the military sphere - what previously determined its social significance. The wide distribution of iron weapons and armor and their relative cheapness compared to bronze ones changes the social composition of heavily armed infantry (hoplites), now recruited from the middle strata of the city and countryside. The role of hoplites in battle increases sharply due to the spread of a new type of combat formation - the phalanx: heavily armed warriors lined up in several rows in an elongated rectangle and moved towards the enemy with spears pointed forward. The importance of aristocratic cavalry and chariots in battle declines; The battle turns from a series of duels into a clash of two hoplite armies. The main defender of the state is not the nobility, but the middle strata.

The collapse of traditional structures deprives the aristocracy itself of unity. If previously the rivalry of its members was smoothed out by clan and tribal solidarity, now the individualistic principle triumphs. They no longer strive so much for recognition in their class and for fame among their fellow citizens, but rather for personal power and wealth. Representatives of noble families often break with their surroundings, either by leaving their native polis (as oikists or leaders of mercenary units) or coming into conflict with their class (as participants in anti-government protests or even as tyrants).

The crisis of the aristocratic system became obvious in the second half of the 7th century. BC. At the same time, the role of the urban demos (urban landowners, traders, artisans, construction workers, sailors, loaders) is increasing, first in economic and then in socio-political life. Together with the rural demos, which is losing land and livelihoods, the urban demos, which does not have access to government, forms a majority hostile to the existing order. The loss of broad social support leads to the fall of aristocratic regimes in many Greek states. The removal of the former elite from power is carried out both peacefully (recording laws, esymnetia) and by force (tyranny).

The first step towards limiting the omnipotence of the elite and transforming a chaotic aristocratic society into an orderly civil society was the recording of laws. The nobility had long monopolized the privilege of interpreting common law; the absence of fixed legislation ensured its dominance and facilitated arbitrariness against the unprivileged. In the first half of the 7th century. BC. such a recording was made in Corinth and Thebes by the nomothetes (“legislators”) Pheidon and Philolaus, and in 621 BC. in Athens by Archon Draco. The codification of laws in a number of Greek states was carried out by aesimneti (“organizers”) - intermediaries elected by the community to force the ordering of civil affairs (Pittacus in Mytilene on Lesbos, Solon in Athens, Charond in Catana, Zaleukos in Locri Episethian), who not only wrote down the existing legal norms, but also “improved” (reformed) them. Particular attention was paid to the regulation of legal proceedings, the protection of property and concern for morality. Since the privileges of the tribal aristocracy were not fixed by law, they thereby found themselves outside the legal field (including the custom of blood feud, the most important element of the lifestyle of a noble person); this opened the way to a change in the sign of belonging to the social elite - the principle of birth is gradually replaced by the property principle (timocracy): an aristocrat who lost his fortune also lost his privileges. Some “organizers” even divided all citizens according to property qualifications, making it a criterion of their political legal capacity.

In a number of cases, the esimnets tried to legislatively restore the previous “fair” socio-economic order, when the land was owned by the community and was equally divided among its members. To this end, Solon in 594 BC. in Athens he carried out sysachthia (“shaking off the burden”), abolishing debts and debt slavery and returning the mortgaged lands to the previous owners. This set a limit to the growth of large estates, the economic foundation of the rule of the aristocracy. Cm. ATHENS.

In the 7th–6th centuries. BC. the main form of violent destruction of the aristocratic regime was tyranny, which, unlike the tyranny of the 4th century. BC, is called the oldest. Tyranny is the rule of a person who seized power by force and exercised it outside of legitimate political institutions. Senior tyrants usually did not hold any positions; they retained the traditional organs of government, but deprived them of any political significance. Tyranny was a fairly common phenomenon in the archaic Greek world, but it affected its main regions to varying degrees. Most tyrannical regimes arose in the most economically developed states, where the influence of the urban demos grew, primarily in the Isthmus region, in Ionia and on the islands: the tyranny of the Cypselids in Corinth (657–584), the Orphagorids in Sikyon (655–555), the Pisistratids in Athens (560–510 with interruptions), Theagena in Megara (second half of the 7th century BC), Perilla in Argos (VI century BC), Proclus in Epidaurus (second half of the 7th century BC). BC), Thrasybulus in Miletus (late 7th century BC), Myrsila in Mytilene (turn of the 7th–6th centuries BC) and Polycrates on Samos (538–522). Of the peripheral Greek regions, tyranny spread most of all in Sicily; the most famous reign of Phalaris in Akragant ((570–554) and the Panthareids in Gela (505–491). At the same time, the backward regions of Balkan Greece (Arcadia, Elis, Achaia, Phocis, Locris, Aetolia, Acarnania, Thessaly) practically did not know such a political form.

Typically, people from the aristocratic stratum became tyrants (Cypselus, Pisistratus, Thrasybulus). Often before the coup, they occupied high civil and especially military positions (polemarch, strategist), which allowed them to gain authority among the hoplites, the main military force in the state. When seizing power, the tyrants relied on non-aristocratic strata, especially medium and small farmers; in some cases - on disadvantaged and poor groups of the population (Pisistratus, Perillus). A successful coup was accompanied by the extermination or expulsion of the ruling aristocracy (sometimes the king), and the confiscation of its property, which was distributed to supporters of the tyrants.

Tyrants often surrounded themselves with bodyguards and relied on mercenaries. The most important positions were occupied by their relatives and followers. The internal policy of the senior tyrants was clearly anti-aristocratic in nature: they often terrorized and destroyed the family nobility, imposed high taxes on large landowners, and introduced a ban on excessive luxury. The tyrants tried to impose forced political equality on society, suppressing its most active part - the nobility. On the other hand, they provided support to the rest of the population: they expanded the composition of the civil corps, provided grain loans to peasants, and patronized merchants and artisans. In an effort to get rid of undesirable elements and solve the land question, tyrants sometimes encouraged colonization. However, while creating favorable conditions for the economic activity of the urban and rural demos, they tried to remove it from political life and deprive it of any military significance (disarmament of hoplites, prohibition of gathering in market squares, restriction of visits by peasants to the city). Increasing fiscal oppression and the absence of any guarantees of citizens' rights ultimately alienated large groups of the population, primarily the urban middle class, from the tyrants. The narrowing of the social base of tyrannical regimes became the reason for their widespread disappearance by the end of the 6th century. BC, primarily in Balkan Greece; they survived only in Asia Minor (with the support of the Persians) and Sicily. Tyranny played an important historical role because it contributed to the collapse of the aristocracy and prepared the establishment of the civil community: it contributed to the political leveling of society and at the same time made it possible for it to realize the danger of extreme individualism personified by tyrants.

By the end of the 6th century. BC. in the overwhelming majority of Greek states, a republican system was established, in which political sovereignty belonged to the “people” - a set of full-fledged citizens: men, indigenous residents of a given area, who owned hereditary plots of land (with supreme ownership of the land of the entire community). A citizen had the right to participate in the national assembly (ecclesia), serve in the army, and elect and be elected to public office. The People's Assembly formed the Council (bule) - the highest governing body and elected magistrates for a certain term, who, upon expiration of their powers, reported to it; There was practically no permanent bureaucracy. Depending on the composition of the civil corps, there were two forms of republican system - oligarchy and democracy. If in a democracy all members of the community enjoyed equal political rights, then in an oligarchy the degree of their possession was determined by property qualifications: persons with a small income were either removed from the civilian community and were not allowed to military service, or were transferred to the category of “passive” citizens, deprived of access to public administration. The largest democracy in Greece by the beginning of the 5th century. BC. there was Athens; oligarchies - Corinth and Thebes. A special semi-oligarchic-semi-democratic version of the republican structure was represented by Sparta, where citizenship was determined not by the principle of settlement, but by the historical conditions of the Dorian conquest: only part of the local population (descendants of one of the Dorian tribes) was part of the civil community (community of “equals”) with a democratic type of government , which, however, in relation to other groups of the local population - the perieci (descendants of other Dorian tribes) and the helots (subjugated Achaeans) - acted as an oligarchy. Cm. SPARTA.

The result of the socio-political development of the archaic period was the birth of the classical polis - a small city-state: several villages around one urban center with a total area of ​​100-200 square meters on average and with a population of 5-10 thousand people. (of which 1–2 thousand are citizens). The city was a place of socially significant events - religious rites and festivals, public meetings, theatrical performances, and sports competitions. The center of city life was the central city square (agora) and temples. The spiritual basis of the polis was a special polis worldview (the ideal of a socially active free citizen, patriot and defender of the fatherland; subordination of personal interests to public ones). The small framework of the city-state allowed the Greek to feel his close connection with it and his responsibility for it (direct democracy).

Culture.

The Archaic era was an important milestone in the development of ancient Greek culture. At the turn of the 9th–8th centuries. BC. writing (forgotten during the Homeric period) was revived. According to legend, Cadmus, the son of the Phoenician king Agenor, sailed to the island. Fer and taught the local Greeks the Phoenician way of writing; on its basis, they created their own alphabet (Achaean), later including in it symbols to denote vowel sounds. From the islands of the Aegean Sea it penetrates into Attica, then spreads to the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Boeotia and Phocis; different variants of it arise, which constitute two main groups - Western Greek (Boeotian, Laconian, Arcadian) and Eastern Greek (Old Attic, Milesian, Corinthian). The most perfect was the Milesian alphabet, which gradually became common Greek. In the 8th century BC. the Greeks wrote, like the Phoenicians, from right to left; in the 7th century BC. they switched to boustrophedon (like plowing a field on oxen - alternating lines from right to left and left to right); in the 6th century BC. The Greeks begin to write letters from left to right. Laws and memorial inscriptions were carved on wooden boards, stone, marble and bronze slabs; all other texts were written on leather, bast wood, canvas, clay shards and waxed wooden tablets, and later on papyrus (from the fibrous core of reeds) brought from Egypt. Signs were drawn with a stylus or painted with reed brushes dipped in ink made from soot with the addition of glue or from a decoction of madder roots.

The spread of writing gave impetus to the development of ancient Greek literature. In the 8th century BC. Homeric poems, previously sung by the Aeds, were recorded. At the end of the 8th century. BC. Hesiod created two new types of epic poetry - didactic ( Works and days) and genealogical ( Theogony). From the middle of the 7th century. BC. the leading genre became lyric poetry, the founder of which was Archilochus of Paria; its heyday is associated with the names of Alcaeus, Sappho, Tyrtaeus, Stesichorus, Anacreon, Simonides of Keos and others. The birth of drama also dates back to the archaic period; Originating in the Peloponnese, it flourished in the second half of the 6th century. BC. in Athens (the tragedies of Thespis and Phrynichus); An ancient Greek theater is being designed. Prose genres appear: historical writing (logographers Hecataeus of Miletus and others), philosophical prose (Thales, Anaximander, Heraclitus), fable (Aesop).

Urban development is rapidly developing (stone buildings, urban planning, water supply). Monumental architecture is being revived (primarily the construction of temples); A new method of construction is being introduced using huge stone blocks, the spaces between which are filled with small stones and rubble. An order system is invented for combining load-bearing (column with base and capital) and non-supporting (architrave, frieze and cornice) parts of buildings and their artistic design (sculpture, painting). The first order was Dorian (early 7th century BC), the second was Aeolian (mid 7th century BC), and the third was Ionian (mid 6th century BC). In the second half of the 7th century. BC. a type of order temple developed - peripterus: a rectangular building, surrounded on all sides by one row of columns, inside of which there was a sanctuary behind the walls (the temple of Apollo Thermios in Thermon, the temple of Hera in Olympia, etc.). The Dorian periptera were characterized by simplicity and strict proportionality; powerful and squat columns rested directly on the stereobat, the stone foundation of the temple (temple of Apollo in Corinth, temple of Demeter in Poseidonia). The Ionian style was characterized by a peripterus with a double external colonnade (dipterus), distinguished by its size and splendor (temple of Hera at Samos, temple of Artemis at Ephesus).

The archaic era is marked by the emergence of plastic art. The sculpture is oriented towards the ideal of a young, beautiful and courageous hero, personifying the virtues of a citizen of the polis - a warrior and an athlete; a generalized (without taking into account individual traits) image of a deified person (or a humanized god) dominates. The art of depicting the naked male body (Dorian tradition) and conveying its proportions is being improved (from the “kouros” (young men) of Palomedes at the end of the 7th century BC to Piraeus kouros 520s BC). The female figure is usually draped in richly decorated clothing (Ionian tradition). Temple sculpture and relief developed intensively (especially in the 6th century BC), becoming mandatory elements of external and internal decor; reliefs, as a rule, reproduce group scenes based on mythological subjects. By the end of the 6th century. BC. the ability to convey relationships between characters and freely place figures in space increases.

In painting (vase painting) at the turn of the 9th–8th centuries. BC. the art of the sign, the geometric symbol, is dying out; it is replaced by clear and visual humanized mythological images. The geometric style of painting, which dominated in the Homeric era, in the 7th century. BC. gives way to an orientalizing style, in which, with an abundance of fantastic animals and plant patterns, images of living beings, primarily the gods of Greek mythology, dominate. By the middle of the 6th century. BC. Vase paintings of the “black-figure style” (black varnish on reddish clay) are spreading, where the carpet ornament is completely replaced by a living image and where movement is skillfully conveyed (master Exekius). The attitude towards painting as a magical means of animating a vessel is becoming a thing of the past; the image, unlike the ornament, takes on its own meaning, not related to the function of the vase. Around 530 BC the “red-figure style” is being established (figures preserving the original reddish color of the clay on a black-glazed background), which made it possible to more skillfully convey the volume and mobility of the human body and the depth of space.

An important indicator of the progress of Greek culture was the birth of philosophy as a science. At the end of the 7th century. BC. in Ionia (Miletus) a natural philosophical school arose; its representatives considered the whole world to be a single material whole, and its unchanging fundamental principle was animate material substance: Thales - water, Anaximander - apeiron ("limitless"), Anaximenes - air. Unlike natural philosophers, Heraclitus of Ephesus at the end of the 6th century. BC. put forward the idea of ​​the changeable essence of being (the eternal cycle of elements in nature): he declared the cause of the movement of all things to be the unity and struggle of opposites, thereby laying the foundation for dialectical philosophy. In southern Italy, Pythagoras of Samos (c. 540–500 BC) created the Pythagorean school, which saw numbers and numerical relations as the basis of all things; he is credited with the idea of ​​the immortality of the soul and its posthumous migrations. Xenophanes of Colophon (c. 565 - after 480 BC), a critic of traditional religion, developed a pantheistic doctrine of the identity of God and the universe; God is an eternal spirit that permeates the world and controls it with the power of his mind. His ideas influenced the emergence of the Eleatic school, who considered existence to be one and unchanging, and the multiplicity and mobility of things to be an illusion; founder - Parmenides of Elea (c. 540 - after 480 BC).

Classical Greece.

Greece in the 5th century BC Greco-Persian wars.

In the 5th century BC. For the first time since the Dorian migration, the ancient Greek world became the object of large-scale external aggression, this time from the East.

In the middle of the 6th century. BC. Asia Minor Greece (Aeolis, Ionia, Doris) was forced to submit to the Lydian king Croesus (560–546 BC). After the defeat in 546 BC. The Lydian power of the Persian king Cyrus II (550–529 BC) conquered the Greek cities of the western coast of Asia Minor; part of the Greeks submitted to the Persians, part (Phoceans and Theosians) fled to Thrace and Greater Greece. However, without a fleet, Cyrus II was not able to establish power over island Greece. Only in 522–521 BC. The Persians managed to deal with the tyrant of Samos, Polycrates, who controlled the eastern part of the Aegean Sea, and subjugate the island. Darius I (522–486 BC) conquered the Greek colonies in Cyrenaica early in his reign. As a result of his Scythian campaign in 514 BC. The power of the Persians was recognized by the Greek cities in the Bosporus, Hellespont and Thrace, as well as Macedonia. Persian expansion led to a long military conflict between the Greeks and the Achaemenid power.

Open military confrontation between the Greeks and Persians lasted more than half a century (500–449 BC) and went through several stages: the Ionian revolt (500–494 BC), the first Persian campaigns in Greece (492 and 490 BC), the campaign of Xerxes (481–479 BC) and the Eastern Mediterranean campaign (469–449 BC). Cm. GREECO-PERSIAN WARS.

In 500 BC the Greek cities of Asia Minor, led by Miletus and supported by Athens and Eretria, rebelled against Persian rule (Ionian Revolt); they were joined by Crete, Caria and the Greek colonies on the shores of the Propontis. Only in 494 BC. after a long struggle, the Persians managed to return Ionia and Aeolis under their rule. In 493 BC they established control over the islands of the eastern Aegean Sea (Samos, Chios, Lesbos) and over the Bosporus and Hellespont.

In 492 BC The Persians made their first trip to Balkan Greece, but their fleet was wrecked at Cape Athos. In 490 BC The Persians undertook a new military expedition: they conquered the Cyclades and defeated Eretria on Euboea, but were defeated by the Athenians on the Field of Marathon.

Reflection of Carthaginian aggression.

In the first half of the 5th century. BC. the Greeks managed to eliminate the threat not only from the east, but also from the west. In 480 BC The tyrant of Syracuse, Gelon, together with the tyrant of Acraganthus, Feron, defeated the huge army of Carthage and its allies at the Battle of Himera, stopping the Carthaginian expansion in Sicily.

The struggle of the Athenian Arche and the Peloponnesian League in 479–431 BC.

After the expulsion of the Persians from Greece, disagreements intensified both between individual Greek policies and between unions of states. The importance of Athens' military contribution to the fight against the Persians at the final stage of the Greco-Persian Wars led to an increase in their military-political role in the Greek world. The Athenians built a new defensive system around their city, connecting it to the port of Piraeus with five kilometers of Long Walls. They captured a number of islands of the Aegean Sea (Skyros and others), established themselves at the mouth of the Strymon, building the city of Amphipolis there, on the Bosporus and Hellespont. Athens became the hegemon of the Delian symmachy, which gradually turned into the Athenian power (arche); its composition was constantly expanding (208 policies in the middle of the 5th century BC). In 454 BC The allied treasury was moved to Athens and came under the control of the highest Athenian judicial body - the Heliia, whose competence also included the resolution of disputes between the allies. Athens, being a democracy, pursued a policy of supporting democratic regimes within the union, often forcibly eliminating oligarchic rule (for example, in Samos in 440 BC). To ensure the loyalty of the allied policies, Athens practiced establishing colonies of Athenian citizens (cleruchia) on their lands. Infringement of the rights of the allies led to uprisings in a number of cities and attempts to withdraw from the symmachy (Naxos in 469, Thasos in 465, Chalkis in 446, Samos in 440, Potidea in 432 BC), which were severely suppressed: the walls of the cities were torn down , the instigators were executed, an indemnity was imposed on the residents.

The main opponent of the Athenian arche was the Peloponnesian Union, led by Sparta, which united all the states of the peninsula, except Argos and Achaia, as well as part of the policies of Central Greece (Boeotia, Phocis, etc.); it included the main trading competitors of Athens - Megara and Corinth. Unlike the Athenian League, the Peloponnesian League did not turn into a supranational organization, into the authority of Sparta over its members, who enjoyed complete political and financial independence and could freely leave it.

Relations between Athens and Sparta became particularly strained after 464 BC, when the Spartans, during the uprising of the Messenian helots, refused the military assistance of the Athenians, which they themselves had asked for. In response, Athens entered into an alliance with Sparta’s original enemy, Argos, and in 460 BC. helped him defeat Mycenae, allies of the Spartans. Then they supported Megara in the war with Corinth, achieved its withdrawal from the Peloponnesian League and stationed their garrisons in Megaris. In 457 BC came to an open conflict (Lesser Peloponnesian War 457–446 BC): the Spartan-Boeotian army defeated the Athenian militia at Tanagra, but the Boeotians were soon defeated by the Athenians at Oenophyta. Having established control over Central Greece, the Athenians in 456 BC. captured o. Aegina, expelling its inhabitants, his longtime trading competitors, as well as the large Peloponnesian city of Trezena. In 451 BC Sparta and Athens concluded a five-year truce.

Hostilities resumed in 447 BC, when an oligarchic party seized power in Boeotia with the support of the Spartans. The Athenians sent a large detachment to help the local democrats, which, however, was defeated at Chaeronea. As a result, a number of cities in Boeotia, Phocis, Locris and Euboea, as well as Megara, fell away from the Athenian arche. In 446 BC the Spartans invaded Attica and besieged Eleusis, but soon retreated; The Athenians suppressed the uprising in Euboea. In 445 BC exhausted by the war, the parties concluded a thirty-year peace, according to which both unions pledged not to interfere in each other’s affairs; The Athenians liberated the Peloponnesian cities they had captured.

After the war, Athens' position in Central Greece weakened - only Plataea remained its ally. To compensate for their failures, they launched a wide expansion in the Northern Black Sea region and in the west. In 443 BC they founded the pan-Greek colony of Thurii in Bruttia, which became the stronghold of their influence in Magna Graecia; soon the Athenian arche included the cities of Rhegium on the shores of the Strait of Messina and Leontina in Sicily, which complicated relations with the powerful Syracuse. In 437–435 BC The Athenians, having made a successful expedition to the Pontus Euxine (Black Sea), included Sinope, Amis, Apollonia, Nymphaeum and, possibly, Istria and Olbia in their alliance. In 435–433 BC they won over Kerkyra, supporting it in the conflict with Epidamnus and his ally Corinth; this allowed them to gain control of the main sea route from Greece to Sicily; as a result, Corinth's foreign policy situation worsened.

In response, the Corinthians provoked in 432 BC. withdrawal from the Athenian Maritime Union of its colony of Potidaea (on the Chalkidiki Peninsula); fearing the fall of other policies in the north of the Aegean, the Athenians sent a punitive expedition against her. In the same year, they imposed a ban on the import of goods into Attica from Megara, which had recently joined the Peloponnesian League. Under pressure from Corinth and Megara, Sparta declared war on Athens.

Peloponnesian War.

The Athenian-Spartan armed conflict lasted from 431 to 404 BC. with a break in 421–415 BC. Its first stage was the Archidamic War (431–421 BC), which began with an unsuccessful attack by the Thebans, allies of Sparta, on Plataea, and proceeded with varying success. The Spartans invaded and devastated Attica for several years, hoping to lure the Athenian army onto the plain to destroy it in open battle. The Athenians sat behind the powerful walls of their city, relying on naval and landing operations against the Peloponnese. Despite the plague epidemic of 429 BC. and an uprising on allied Lesbos in 427 BC, the Athenians succeeded by 428 BC. establish control over the western coast of Greece; in 425–424 BC they struck at Sparta itself, capturing the Messenian port of Pylos and Fr. Kiefer. In 427–424 BC The Athenian expeditionary force successfully operated in Sicily against Syracuse. However, in 424 BC. the Athenians were defeated by the Boeotians at Delium, and in 422 BC. - from the Spartans at Amphipolis in Thrace. In 421 BC the Treaty of Nicias was concluded, restoring the pre-war situation; however, the Spartans did not return Amphipolis, and the Athenians retained Pylos and Kythera.

In 415 BC The Athenians organized a naval expedition to Sicily and besieged Syracuse, but in 413 BC. their fleet was defeated by the Syracusans, and their land army capitulated. Taking advantage of the failure of Athens, Sparta resumed hostilities, capturing the town of Decelea in Attica - the second stage of the war began (Deceleia War 413-404 BC). Thanks to financial assistance from Persia, with which the Spartans entered into an alliance in 412 BC, they built their own fleet, which undermined Athenian dominance at sea and contributed to the collapse of the Athenian arche: in 412–411 BC. all of Ionia and the cities of the Propontis were deposited from it. Oligarchic coup 411 BC further worsened the foreign policy situation of Athens. However, the Athenian fleet supported democracy and overthrew the power of the oligarchs; he also managed to restore it in 411–410 BC. control of the Bosporus and the Hellespont. Athens' resources, however, were running low. Although in 406 BC. The Athenians defeated the Spartans in a naval battle near the Arginus Islands; they were unable to benefit from their victory. Summer 405 BC their fleet was completely destroyed in the Battle of Aegospotami (off the coast of Thracian Chersonesos). In the autumn of 405 BC Athens was besieged by sea and land and capitulated a few months later. According to the peace treaty of 404 BC. the Athenians lost the right to have a fleet and pledged to join the Peloponnesian League and destroy the Long Walls; The Athenian Maritime League was dissolved. The oligarchic regime of the Thirty Tyrants established itself in Athens. The hegemony of Sparta was established in Balkan Greece, and the Asia Minor city-states actually found themselves under the rule of Persia. Cm. PELOPONNESIAN WAR.

Economy of Greece.

The Greco-Persian wars caused the movement of economic centers from Aeolia and Ionia to the west - to Balkan Greece, Southern Italy and Sicily: many Asia Minor cities were destroyed or fell into decay; The confrontation with Persia led to the closure of Middle Eastern markets to the Greeks. The war stimulated the development of shipbuilding, monumental construction (fortresses, walls), weapons making and related metallurgy, metalworking and leather crafts. Thanks to military victories in 479–449 BC. Greece received a large number of prisoners, as well as material assets, which contributed to the growth of commodity production and the use of slaves in it. The main trade and craft center by the middle of the 5th century. BC. became Athens. Agriculture has finally acquired a diversified character with a predominance of labor-intensive intensive crops (vine growing, olive growing); the leading role in it belonged to the small producer; there were few large estates associated with the market.

Culture of the 5th century BC.

V century BC. - the golden age of Greek culture. Athens and Syracuse took leading positions in cultural life. A turning point occurred in urban planning - the principle of regular city planning with identical streets intersecting at right angles and identical rectangular blocks (the Hippodamian system) was established, embodying the polis ideal of a democratic community of equal citizens. According to this model, in the second half of the 5th century. BC. Piraeus, Thurii, Rhodes were built or rebuilt. The order system has reached the peak of its development. The Dorian peripterus developed into the main building type; the grandiose and magnificent Ionian dipteras disappeared. The disproportion and heaviness of archaic architectural proportions are a thing of the past: churches have become less elongated and more harmonious. Sometimes the Dorian and Ionian orders were combined in one building. Around 430 BC a new, Corinthian, order arose with an elegant capital (the upper part of the column) from plant patterns (the temple of Apollo in Bassae). For temples of the 5th century. BC. The individuality of architectural solutions was characteristic, manifested in sizes, proportions, and particular details. The highest achievements of classical architecture are the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, the Temple of Apollo at Delphi and the new ensemble of the Athenian Acropolis (second half of the 5th century BC), which included the Parthenon (Temple of Athena), the Propylaea (the main entrance to the Acropolis), the Temple of Nike Apteros (Wingless) and Erechtheion (temple of Athena and Poseidon).

Sculpture of the 5th century BC. continues to focus on the image of an ideal person - a hero, a warrior-athlete, but acquires greater plastic content: the figure is filled with special inner strength, personifying confidence, dignity and valor. Based on the geometric study of the human body, the proportional relationship of its parts is established and universal rules for constructing an ideal figure are developed. The schematism and static nature of archaic sculpture is being overcome, the skill of conveying movement is being improved ( Discus thrower And Athena and Marsyas Mirona, Doryphoros And Diadumen Polykleitos, Parthenon reliefs, Zeus And Athena-Virgo Fidia).

Serious changes also occurred in the art of vase painting. The pictorial image is no longer a flat contour silhouette spreading across the surface. In the second quarter of the 5th century. BC. Polygnotus discovered a new way to convey the depth of space by placing figures at different levels. In the middle of the 5th century. BC. the Athenian Apollodorus invented the technique of chiaroscuro; he is credited with creating the first works of easel painting (on boards). In the second half of the 5th century. BC. a “free” style of vase painting was established (figures in front, in profile, in three-quarter rotation, combined into complex scenes); however, the method of perspective reduction of figures was still unknown to Greek artists. The highest achievement of classical painting was the painting of Attic white lekythos (small vessels with a subtle pattern on a white background), which extraordinarily skillfully conveyed the emotional state of the characters.

V century BC. was marked by the flowering of Greek literature, primarily drama. The works of Aeschylus (525–c. 456 BC), Sophocles (c. 496–406 BC) and Euripides (c. 480–406 BC) give shape to classical tragedy. Its constituent elements are the prologue (the beginning of the tragedy before the first performance of the choir), the parod (the first performance of the choir), the alternation of episodies (dialogues between actors and choir) and stasim (songs of the choir), exodus (the final song of the choir). The number of actors gradually increases (two for Aeschylus, three for Sophocles) and the importance of the chorus decreases: it loses contact with the action and turns from the main character into a simple commentator of events. Mythological stories are becoming more and more modern. The principle of strict unity of action is affirmed: tragedy ceases to be a series of loosely connected scenes (Aeschylus); now they are linked by a leading theme (Sophocles and Euripides). There is a change in the interpretation of images: if Aeschylus’s characters are monolithic, free from internal contradictions, extremely generalized and heroic, and their actions are determined by external events, then Sophocles, with all the idealization of the characters, already emphasizes their individuality and makes their characters the main engine of the plot; Euripides puts the focus of the tragedy on the clash of contradictory human passions, the internal psychological conflict of deidealized heroes. Classical comedy takes its form in the work of Cratinus (d. after 423 BC) and especially Aristophanes (c. 445 – c. 385 BC). It complements the structure borrowed from the tragedy with an agon (competition of characters) and parabasa (the chorus’s address to the public); the number of actors in it is at least three, and the composition of the choir has been expanded (compared to the tragedy). Comedy of the 5th century BC. is focused exclusively on a satirical and parodic interpretation of modernity (especially political life), but it is occupied not by human actions, but by abstract ideas: this is not yet a comedy of intrigue, but a comedy of masks (generalized types).

In the field of lyric poetry, choral lyrics acquired a special role. Simonides of Ceos (557/566–468 BC), Pindar (c. 520 – after 447 BC) and Bacchylides (516–450 or 505–430) worked primarily in the genre of epinikia (song in honor of winner of the competition). Their poetry, full of high nobility and solemn majesty, served to glorify religion, polis order and polis morality.

In the 5th century BC. Greek philosophy developed intensively. The traditions of the Eleatic school were continued by Zeno (c. 490 - c. 430) and Melissus (second half of the 5th century BC); Zeno, with his aporia (unsolvable logical difficulties), demonstrated the inconsistency and limitations of the existing concepts of time, movement and space, becoming the founder of subjective and conceptual dialectics. Materialists Empedocles (c. 490–430 BC), Anaxagoras (c. 500–428 BC), Leucippus (c. 500–c. 440 BC) and Democritus (c. 460 –370 BC), following the Eleatics, they proved the material nature of the universe, however, unlike them, they considered it to be eternally mobile and changeable; in their opinion, all phenomena are the result of the combination or separation of elements (Empedocles), “seeds”-homeomeries (Anaxagoras), atoms (Leucippus and Democritus). The “senior” sophists – Protagoras (c. 481–411 BC), Gorgias (c. 483–375 BC) – denied the objective reality of the world and the possibility of knowing it, insisted on the relativity of all things; they made significant contributions to the development of logic and rhetoric. The ethical teaching of Socrates (469–399 BC) was based on a rationalistic understanding of morality: the path to virtue is the acquisition of true knowledge, a prerequisite for which is self-knowledge; the Socratic method of searching for truth - “dialectics” - consisted in form of irony (discovering internal contradictions in an asserted judgment) and maieutics (posing leading questions), and in content was divided into induction (studying opinions and choosing preferred ones) and determination (formulating the truth).

In the 5th century BC. a decisive turning point occurred in the development of historiography. Herodotus (c. 484–425 BC), with his “Muses,” laid the foundation for the Greek tradition of historical writing, turning to the central event of his era - the Greco-Persian wars. Despite all his dependence on mythological methods of mastering the past, he tried to rationalize the narrative and even introduce elements of historical criticism into it; unlike logographers, he managed to create not a local historical, but a universal ethno-historical work, illuminating the history, life and customs of not only the Greeks, but also neighboring peoples. Greek historiography reached its highest point in the work of Thucydides (460–396 BC), who wrote the history of the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides became the first historian to break with the historical-mythological tradition and the founder of pragmatic history: critically assessing the evidence, he rationalistically interpreted the past, relying on an anthropological and psychological approach (events are determined by the characters of their main participants), and tried to discover the general patterns of historical movement.

By the second half of the 5th century. BC. refers to the birth of scientific medicine. Hippocrates (c. 460 - c. 370 BC) rejected religious and mystical ideas about the physical state of man and proposed a rationalistic explanation of it. He believed that health depends on the correct combination of four fluids in the human body - blood, sputum, yellow and black bile; Disturbance of their balance leads to diseases. The best treatment method is natural (mobilizing the body’s forces for recovery), so the doctor must know and take into account the individual characteristics of each patient.

Greece in the 4th century BC.

The struggle for hegemony in Greece in 404–335 BC.

In an effort to establish hegemony in Greece, Sparta left its garrisons in the cities of the former Athenian Maritime League and began to impose oligarchic regimes (decarchy) in them with emergency powers; Anti-Spartan sentiments increased everywhere. In 403 BC In Athens, the tyranny of the Thirty was overthrown and democracy was restored. Sparta's attempt to take away control over the Greek city-states in Asia Minor from the Achaemenid power, supporting in 401 BC. The rebellion of Cyrus the Younger, after his death, led to a sharp deterioration in relations with the new Persian king Artaxerxes II (404–358 BC). The Spartans' defeat of democratic Elis (401–400 BC) and rebellious Heraclea Trachinskaya (399 BC) caused discontent even among Sparta's allies: Corinth and Thebes refused to participate in its punitive expeditions.

In 399 BC. Sparta went to war with Persia. In 395 BC Spartan king Agesilaus II defeated the Persians at Sardis, but Persian diplomacy managed to create a strong anti-Spartan coalition in Greece (Thebes, Athens, Corinth, Megara, Argos, Thessaly, etc.). That same year, in an effort to warn their opponents, the Spartans made a surprise invasion of Boeotia, triggering the Corinthian War (395–387 BC). After the Boeotian victory at Galeartas (395 BC), Agesilaus II had to evacuate his troops from Asia Minor. In 394 BC The Spartans, having won the battles of Nemea and Coronea, thwarted the Allied invasion of the Peloponnese, but the Athenian strategist Conon destroyed their fleet at Knidus. In 393 BC The Athenians restored the fortification system of their city, built a new fleet and took control of the Bosporus and Hellespont. In 390 BC Athenian strategist Iphicrates defeated the Spartans near Corinth. Fearing a coalition victory, Artaxerxes II in 387 BC. forced the warring parties to sign the Antalcid (Royal) Peace, according to which the Asia Minor policies came under the rule of Persia, and all alliances, except the Peloponnesian, were dissolved; Athens received the right to have city fortifications and a navy, Byzantium and the North Aegean islands of Lemnos, Imbros and Skyros were returned to them.

After the Corinthian War, Sparta resumed its previous policy of forcibly expanding its influence and destroying democratic regimes (attacks on Mantinea and Phliunt). In 382 BC the Spartans captured Thebes by surprise and established oligarchic rule there; they also attacked Piraeus. This provoked a widespread anti-Spartan reaction. In 379 BC. The Theban democrats overthrew the oligarchy, restored and reorganized the Boeotian League, and created a strong army. In 378–377 BC. The Spartans twice tried to defeat the Boeotians and prevent the strengthening of Thebes, but failed. In 378 BC the Second Athens Maritime Union was created, this time on the principles of voluntariness, equality and autonomy of its members; within a few years, about seventy policies joined it. In 376 BC the Athenian navarch Chabrius defeated the Spartan fleet at Naxos, ensuring the dominance of the allies in the Aegean basin; many policies of Western Greece went over to their side (Kefallenia, Kerkyra, Acarnania). Lacking the strength to fight on two fronts, Sparta in 371 BC. recognized the Second Athens Maritime League and intensified military operations against Boeotia. However, in the summer of 371 BC. The Theban commander Epaminondas, using the innovative tactics of the “oblique wedge” (creating a shock column), defeated the selected Spartan army at Leuctra. A number of Phocidian, Euboean and Aetolian cities joined the Boeotian League. Repeated campaigns of Epaminondas in the Peloponnese led to the widespread fall of oligarchic regimes and the collapse of the Peloponnesian League; Messenia broke away from Sparta, the Arcadian city-states united into the anti-Spartan Arcadian League with its center in Megalopolis, founded by Epominondas. However, soon Athens, Thessaly, Achaia and Elis, fearing the strengthening of Thebes, became closer to Sparta, which managed to provoke a split in the Arcadian League. In 362 BC Epaminondas again invaded the Peloponnese and won a victory at Mantinea. However, huge losses (Epaminondas himself fell) forced the Boeotians to return to their homeland and abandon active military operations in the future; part of the policies of Central Greece fell away from the Boeotian Union. Exhausted by mutual struggle, Thebes and Sparta lost the opportunity to claim the role of pan-Greek hegemon; Sparta turned into an ordinary state of the Peloponnese.

Taking advantage of the weakening of its main opponents, Athens tried to revive the great power policy of the Athenian arche. Having captured Sest, Samos and Potidaea, the Athenians brought the cleruchies there, demanded regular monetary contributions from members of the union to its treasury, and again began to transfer claims concerning the allies to helium. Athenian strategists committed numerous abuses. This led to the collapse of the union. First, Kerkyra and Byzantium abandoned it; in response to Athenian threats to the fallen city-states in 357 BC. Chios, Rhodes, Kos, Chalcedon joined; they were supported by Persia. The Allied War began (357–355 BC); Athens was defeated and was forced to recognize the autonomy of the members of the Second Athenian Maritime League, which effectively ceased to exist (officially dissolved in 338 BC). In the Greek world the centrifugal tendency triumphed; he no longer had the power to unite the cities of Hellas.

This opened the way for Macedonian expansion in Greece. Under Philip II (359–336 BC), who carried out monetary (minting gold coins) and military (introducing a heavily armed phalanx, increasing the role of cavalry, creating a fleet) reforms, Macedonia became the most powerful state on the Balkan Peninsula. Having strengthened his northern borders, Philip II began active penetration into Halkidiki and the coastal regions of Thrace. He managed to defeat the coalition of the Chalkidian League, Athens and the Thracian tribes united against him, and by the end of the 350s BC. bring under control most of the Greek city-states on the northern coast of the Aegean. At the same time, he intervened in the Holy War (355–346 BC) on the side of the Thebans, Thessalians and Locrians against Phocis and its allies - Athens and Sparta. In 352 BC the Macedonian army expelled the Phocians who invaded there from Thessaly; Thessaly recognized the supreme power of Philip II, and Macedonian garrisons were stationed in its main fortresses. However, the Athenians, having occupied the Thermopylae Pass, prevented the Macedonians from penetrating Central Greece. In 348 BC Philip II defeated Olynthos, the main city of the Chalcidian League, finally subjugating the peninsula. In 346 BC Athens concluded the Philocratic Peace with him, recognizing the Macedonian conquests in Chalkidiki and southern Thrace, but retaining control over the Bosporus and the Hellespont. Athens' withdrawal from the war allowed Philip II to invade Central Greece and force Phocis to surrender; as a result, Macedonia became a full member of the Delphic Amphictyony.

The growth of Macedonian influence in Greece led to a split in the Greek world: pro-Macedonian and anti-Macedonian groups emerged in many cities. The former called for the unification of the Greeks around Philip II for a large-scale war against Persia, the latter - for a joint struggle for the freedom of Greece from Macedonian rule. In the late 340s BC. In Athens, the patriotic party (Demosthenes, Hyperides) triumphed, which initiated the creation of a broad anti-Macedonian coalition, which included the Boeotian League, Corinth, Argos, Rhodes, Byzantium, Chios, Achaia, Megara and Euboea. In 340 BC Philip II, trying to take possession of the Bosporus, besieged Perinth and Byzantium, but the Athenian squadron forced him to retreat. In 338 BC The Macedonian army entered Central Greece and at the end of August defeated the combined forces of the allies at Chaeronea (Boeotia). The Boeotian League was dissolved, and a Macedonian garrison was installed in Thebes; Athens lost control of the straits, but retained independence and a number of island possessions; The territory of Sparta was limited to the Laconian Valley. In many Greek cities, pro-Macedonian groups came to power, including in Athens. In 337 BC Philip II convened the Corinthian Congress of all Greek states (only Sparta refused to participate), at which the pan-Greek League of Corinth led by Macedonia was established; its participants were prohibited from waging internecine wars, interfering in each other’s affairs, changing the currently existing political system, canceling debts and redistributing land; it was decided to start a war against the Achaemenid power. After the Persians refused to comply with Philip II's demand for the return of independence to the Ionian and Aeolian poleis, the Macedonian army in 336 BC. began military operations in Asia Minor. Soon, however, Philip II died as a result of an assassination attempt, and the army was recalled to its homeland. An anti-Macedonian revolt led by the Thebans broke out in Greece, but the new Macedonian king Alexander III (336–323 BC) invaded Central Greece, took and destroyed Thebes, selling the inhabitants into slavery (335 BC); the rest of the policies submitted to him without resistance. In the spring of 334 BC Alexander began his ten-year Persian campaign (334–324 BC), which ended with the death of the Achaemenid Empire and the formation of a world Hellenistic power.

Economy in the 4th century BC.

Wars of the end of the 5th - second third of the 4th century. BC. caused great demographic and material damage to Greece. They were accompanied by periodic economic crises and an increase in the tax burden. At the same time, wars and periods of post-war reconstruction stimulated the development of several sectors of the Greek economy. The number of slaves and the share of their use in production increases, which contributes to its consolidation; property is being redistributed and property differentiation is intensifying. The scale of the monetary economy is expanding: the supply of coins is increasing, the dependence of economic life on market conditions is increasing (cereal crops continue to decline in favor of vineyards and olive orchards, funds flow from villages to cities), usury and speculative transactions are spreading (especially with bread), and are constantly changing. prices; money, along with land, becomes a prestigious form of wealth; the land, in turn, is included in trade turnover. The economic importance of a number of peripheral regions of Greece is increasing (or being restored) - Macedonia, Chalkidiki, Ionia, Doris of Asia Minor. Athens and Syracuse remain the leading economic centers.

Policy crisis.

New economic realities undermined the policy system. The connection between citizenship and land ownership weakened. The erosion of the layer of middle owners led to a decline in the military role of the hoplite militia and the spread of mercenaries. The displacement of some citizens from the production sphere and their transformation into lumpen (parasites) supported by the state or political groups led to the degeneration of democracy into ochlocracy (mob rule). Social tensions were aggravated: the history of Greek city-states of the 4th century. BC. filled with rebellions, conspiracies, coups d'etat, civil wars, secret agreements with an external enemy. Often social conflicts served as the basis for the establishment of tyrannical regimes (younger tyranny): Dionysius I in Syracuse (405–367 BC), Jason in Thera and Thessaly (380–370 BC), Euphron in Sikyon (c. . 368–365/364 BC), Clearchus in Heraclea Pontica (364/363–352/351 BC), Philomela in Phocis (356–354 BC) and many others. Tyrants usually became popular military leaders or commanders of mercenary units. As a rule, they violated polis traditions, carried out confiscations and redistribution of land, generously distributed civil rights to outsiders (especially mercenaries), imposed heavy taxes and duties on the population, and brutally dealt with obvious and perceived political opponents. Their social base was different: they could rely on the monetary aristocracy, the middle democratic strata, and the lumpen. Most tyrannical regimes of the 4th century. BC. did not differ in duration, which is explained both by internal political instability in the Greek states and by the frequent interference in their affairs by neighboring policies.

Culture of the 4th century BC.

In the field of urban planning in the first third of the 4th century. BC. there was a certain decline (to a greater extent in Attica, to a lesser extent in the Peloponnese). In the second third it gave way to a rise, especially in the cities of Ionia and Aeolia. Compared to the 5th century. BC. The share of public construction (theatres, palaestras, gymnasiums, bouleuteriums) is increasing, although temple buildings continue to be built. For the first time, buildings embodying the idea of ​​personal power appear: the Mausoleum in Halicarnassus (the tomb of the ruler of Caria Mausolus), the Philippeion in Olympia in honor of the Macedonian king Philip II. In buildings of the 4th century. BC. a mixture of all three orders is often observed (temple of Athena in Tegea). The departure from classical simplicity is obvious: the impressive size of the buildings, the wealth of sculptural decorations, the pomp and variety of architectural decor. This trend was most clearly manifested in the cities of Asia Minor, where the construction of grandiose Ionian dipterae (the second temple of Artemis in Ephesus, the temple of Artemis in Sardis) began again. Monumental construction gradually takes on a new meaning: the building no longer personifies the order of the world (polis cosmos) understandable to man, is no longer in harmony with it, but suppresses it, embodying a superhuman principle alien to it.

Plastic art is characterized by a transition from the generally ideal to the individual. Sculptors are increasingly striving to express the inner state of a person through the plasticity of the body - either serene and bright daydreaming (Praxiteles), then drama and passionate impulse (Scopas), or changing shades of mood (Lysippos). The plastic image is gradually deheroized (especially in Lysippos). The art of individual sculptural portrait is emerging, which evolves from physiognomic to psychological. The classical norms of depicting a perfect human face and an ideally proportional figure cease to be mandatory. The isolation of the sculptural image on itself is overcome thanks to the introduction of additional elements that expand the plastic space (Praxiteles' Apollo leans on a tree trunk, Lysippos' Hermes rests on a rock).

In the 4th century. BC. Easel (on boards) and monumental (frescoes) painting is further developed, in which the desire to reveal a person’s mental state also intensifies (Nikias, Apelles). She is characterized by subtle modeling of the human body, skill in conveying gestures and facial expressions; Chiaroscuro and color juxtapositions are used. At the same time, there is no detailed image of the environment; the landscape is given in the most general terms. A characteristic feature of vase painting is its closeness to sculpture: the surface of the vessel is often covered with convex reliefs onto which paints are applied.

Major changes have taken place in the literature. The role of poetry is decreasing. The tragedy genre is in decline. Comedy genre in the 4th century. BC. represented by Middle Attic comedy (Antifan, Alexid), in which political themes are gradually replaced by everyday ones: along with parody-mythological plots, plots from the life of hetaeras and parasites become common; The parabass, which was a means of social and political criticism, disappears. The importance of intrigue increases, characters are individualized. In lyric poetry, the leading position is occupied by the erotic direction (Antimachus of Colophon), interest in civil themes is decreasing, and attention to form is increasing.

Prose genres come to the fore. The best examples of historical prose of the 4th century. BC. – Anabasis And Greek history Xenophon (c. 440 – c. 350 BC), The World History Ephora (mid-IV century BC), Greek history And Philip's story Theopompa (377 – after 320 BC); they continue the Thucydides tradition in historiography. Political prose is represented primarily by the works of Xenophon Agesilaus, Lacedaemonian polity, Hieron And Cyropedia (Raising Cyrus), in which a model of an ideal ruler and methods of his education are developed, and Plato’s dialogues (c. 427–347 BC) Politics, State and Laws, which propose a model of an ideal society consisting of three functional classes (philosopher-rulers, guardians and producers); it abolishes family and private property. Particular flourishing in the 4th century. BC. experiences oratorical prose; Three types of it are formalized: political, judicial and epidectic (solemn). It reaches its peak in the speeches of the Athenian orators Lysias (c. 450 - c. 380 BC), Isocrates (436-338 BC), Demosthenes (384-322 BC) and Aeschines ( 390–314 BC).

V. BC. is the golden age of Greek philosophy. Various Socratic schools are spreading (Cynics, Cyrenaics, Megarics), which try to synthesize the teachings of Socrates and sophistry. Plato, refuting Democritus, creates a theory about two worlds (dualism) - the changeable and transitory world of phenomena, comprehended by our senses, and the intelligible world of true existence, consisting of ideas (fixed, unchanging and eternal essences), without the knowledge of which it is impossible to achieve virtue. In an effort to overcome Platonic dualism, Aristotle (384–322 BC) puts forward the idea of ​​the unity of forms (principles of things) and passive matter, to which they give definition. Considering their study to be the main task of science, he develops methodological tools, becoming the founder of formal logic and syllogistics; Of particular importance are his doctrine of true and false judgments and the principle of combining induction and deduction. For the first time in history, he explores all existing types of deductive conclusions and formulates the logical laws of identity, contradiction and excluded middle.

Hellenistic Greece

Balkan Greece at the end of the 4th–3rd centuries. BC.

After Alexander's campaigns, Greece became a secondary region of the Mediterranean world, an object of rivalry between the powerful Hellenistic states that arose from the ruins of his empire.

Upon news of the death of Alexander in 323 BC. almost all Greek cities, led by Athens, rebelled and began the Lamian War with Macedonia (323–322 BC). The Greeks defeated the strategist of Europe (governor of Macedonia and Greece) Antipater at Heraclea Thessaly and blocked him in Lamia. The strategist Leonnatus, sent to help him from Asia, was also defeated and killed. However, in June 322 BC. Macedonian naval commander Cleitus defeated the Athenians at Amorgos (Kos) and established control over the Aegean Sea. In September 322 BC. Antipater won a decisive victory over the Greeks at Crannon in Thessaly. The Athenians capitulated: an oligarchic regime was established in Athens, a Macedonian garrison was stationed in Piraeus, and the leaders of the patriotic party were executed or expelled. Most Greek city-states suffered the same fate. The united anti-Macedonian movement was over.

After the death of Antipater in 319 BC. Greece became the arena of struggle for the Diadochi (Alexander's successors). In 319–309 BC power over it was disputed by the son of Antipater Cassander, who relied on the oligarchs, and the former commander of Alexander Polysperchon, who supported the democrats. In 319/318 BC Polyperchon issued an edict for the “restoration of freedom” of the Greeks, ordering them to expel the rulers appointed by Antipater; in many poleis (including Athens), oligarchic regimes fell. But the attempt of Polysperchon in 318 BC. to subjugate Sparta ended in failure. The advantage gradually shifts to Cassander's side. In 317 BC he restored the oligarchy in Athens, headed by the philosopher Demetrius of Phalerum, and left his garrison there, in 316 BC. inflicted a decisive defeat on Polyperchon and established control over most of Greece. In 311 BC the rest of the diadochi recognized him as the strategist of Europe, i.e. governor of Macedonia and Greece.

In 307 BC. Demetrius Poliorcetes, son of the ruler of Asia Antigonus One-Eyed, trying to weaken the position of Cassander, who became in 306 BC. king of Macedonia, landed in Greece, expelled its garrisons from Megara and Athens and restored the democratic system in Athens. In 304–303 BC he cleared most of the Peloponnese from the troops of Cassander, and in 302 BC. revived the League of Corinth and concluded a military alliance with it. Cassander retreated to Macedonia and organized a coalition of diadochi (Lysimachus of Thracia, Ptolemy of Egypt and Seleucus of Babylon), which began a large-scale war against Antigonus and Demetrius. In the summer of 301 Antigonus was defeated and died at the Battle of Ipsus (in Phrygia); Greek city-states submitted to Cassander.

After the death of Cassander in 297 BC. Demetrius resumed active military operations in Greece. In 295 BC he forced the capitulation of Athens, overthrew the regime of the "democratic" tyrant Lacharus (300–295 BC) and established an oligarchy. In 294 BC He won two victories over the Spartans, but then withdrew from the Peloponnese, captured Thessaly and most of Macedonia, and proclaimed himself king of Macedon. In 293 BC was subordinated to Boeotius. In 292 BC The Boeotians rebelled, but Demetrius' son Antigonus Gonatas suppressed it and in 291 BC. took possession of Thebes.

Victory of the Thracian king Lysimachus and the Epirus king Pyrrhus over Demetrius in 288 BC. led to the fall of his power in Macedonia. In 287 BC Athens rebelled against Demetrius. Demetrius besieged the city, but the approach of the Epirus army forced him to retreat and enter into an agreement with Pyrrhus: he recognized him as king of Macedonia, but retained Thessaly. Taking advantage of Demetrius' departure to Asia Minor, Pyrrhus violated the treaty and captured Thessaly; Antigonus Gonatus managed to hold only Demetrias (on the shores of the Pagasean Gulf). In 285 BC Macedonia and Thessaly passed to Lysimachus in 281 BC. - to Seleucus I, and in 280 BC. - to Ptolemy Keraunus.

In 279 BC The Celtic Galatian tribe descended on the Balkan Peninsula. After defeating the Macedonians and the death of Ptolemy Keraunus, they invaded Greece, but were defeated at Delphi by a coalition of the Boeotians, Phocians and the Aetolian League (a league of cities of Aetolia formed back in 367 BC) and retreated to Thessaly. At the same time, the ancient league of poleis of Achaia in the north of the Peloponnese (Achaean League) was revived.

In 277 BC Antigonus Gonatas expelled the Galatians from Northern Greece and Macedonia and declared himself king of Macedon (276–239 BC). He kept Thessaly under his rule; its garrisons remained in Corinth, Demetrias, Chalcis and Piraeus; pro-Macedonian tyrannies were established in Elis, Megalopolis and Argos. In 267 BC. Sparta, Athens and the Achaean League, with the support of the Egyptian king Prolemaeus II, launched the Chremonid War against Macedonian hegemony; The Athenians liberated Piraeus, but the Macedonians defeated the Egyptian fleet at the island of Kos, defeated the Spartan army near Corinth and, besieging Athens, forced them to surrender (263 BC). As a result of the war, Athens and part of the Peloponnese states became dependent on Macedonia.

At the same time, the influence of the Aetolian League increased in Central Greece, and in the Peloponnese - the Achaean League. In 251 BC The Achaeans captured Sikyon. In 245 BC The energetic commander Aratus of Sicyon was elected strategist of the Achaean League, who in 243 BC. cleared Megara and Corinth of Macedonian garrisons; together with these policies, Trezena and Epidaurus joined the alliance. However, Antigonus Gonatus managed to provoke a conflict between the Achaeans and Aetolians, which prevented the final expulsion of the Macedonians from Greece. In 241 BC The Aetolians invaded the Peloponnese, but in 240 BC. Arat pushed them into Central Greece.

An attempt by Demetrius II (239–229 BC), son and successor of Antigonus Gonatas, to expand Macedonian possessions in Greece prompted both alliances to unite. In the outbreak of the war, Macedonia suffers failure after failure; its situation worsened due to the invasion of the Northern Balkan tribe of the Dardans, in a battle with which in 299 BC. Demetrius II died. In the same year, Thessaly fell away from Macedonia, and the Achaeans captured Argos.

The new Macedonian king Antigonus III (229–221 BC) managed to capture part of Thessaly and penetrate Phocis. At the same time, Aratus knocked out the Macedonian garrisons from Athens, the Attic ports of Piraeus, Munichium and Sounion and returned the island of Salamis to the Athenians. Argos, Fliunt and Hermione joined the Achaean League, which controlled the entire Peloponnese, with the exception of Sparta. Further successes of the Achaean League were prevented by its war with the Spartan king Cleomenes III (235–221 BC). In 228–224 BC The Spartans won a series of victories over the Achaeans, which prompted Aratus to enter into an agreement with Antigonus III, transferring Corinth and Argos to him. The Macedonian army invaded the Peloponnese and in 221 BC. defeated the Spartans at Selassia. Sparta capitulated and joined the Achaean League; an oligarchic regime was established in it. A significant part of Greek territory was again under Macedonian control. On the basis of the Achaean League, the Corinthian League led by Antigonus III was reanimated.

The revival of Macedonian hegemony sparked the War of the Allies (220–217 BC) of the Aetolian League against the new king of Macedon, Philip V (221–179 BC) and the Achaean League. In 219 BC Sparta went over to the side of the Aetolians, where the oligarchy was overthrown. The advantage in the war was on the side of the Macedonian-Achaean coalition. In 217 BC peace was concluded, confirming the pre-war status quo.

The Fall of the Western Greek World.

In 305 BC the Greek city-states of Sicily were united by the Syracusan tyrant Agathocles (315–287 BC) into a single state. At the beginning of the 3rd century. BC. Magna Graecia also submitted to him. Death of Agathocles in 287 BC led to the collapse of his empire. Having won the war with Tarentum and his ally Pyrrhus of Epirus, the Romans by 272 BC. captured all of Magna Graecia. At the same time, most of the Greek cities of Sicily in the first half of the 270s BC. recognized the power of the new Syracusan tyrant Hiero II (275–215 BC). In 211 BC, during the Second Punic War, the Romans defeated the Syracuse state and included the Sicilian city-states in the structure formed in 227 BC. Roman province of Sicily.

Roman conquest of Balkan Greece.

Rome's first encounter with the Balkan Greeks dates back to the First Macedonian War (215–205 BC), when the Achaean League and Acarnania supported Philip V in his armed conflict with the Romans. However, Rome, which declared itself the defender of the freedom of Hellas, succeeded in 210 BC. win over the Aetolian Union, and later Rhodes, Sparta and a number of other Greek city states. After a series of lengthy and grueling military actions, opponents in 205 BC. peace was concluded, which generally preserved the previous situation.

Rome's victory over Carthage in the Second Punic War (218–201 BC) allowed it to begin widespread expansion in the Eastern Mediterranean. In 200 BC the Romans intervened in Philip V's conflict with Athens, Pergamon and Rhodes and opposed Macedonia (Second Macedonian War 200–197 BC). On their side in 199 BC. passed the Aetolian, and in 198 - the Achaean League along with Sparta and Boeotia. In 197 BC Consul Titus Quinctius Flamininus inflicted a crushing defeat on Philip V at Cynoscephalae (Central Thessaly) and defeated his Acarnanian allies. Under the terms of the peace treaty of 197 BC. Macedonia lost all its Greek possessions. In 196 BC At the Isthmian Games, Flamininus proclaimed the “freedom” of Hellas. In 195 BC At the call of the Achaeans, Flamininus invaded the Peloponnese and defeated the Spartan tyrant Nabis (206–192 BC), forcing him to release Argos, which he had captured. In 194 BC The Roman army left the territory of Greece, but Roman garrisons remained in Corinth, Chalkis and Demetrias. In 192 BC Nabis tried to restore his position in the Peloponnese, but failed in the war with the Achaeans and was treacherously killed; Sparta was forced to join the Achaean League.

In the same year, Greece became the scene of Rome's struggle with the Seleucid power. In 197 BC Antiochus III Seleucid (223–187 BC) captured the Greek colonies in the Propontis basin and went to war with Pergamum and Rhodes. Realizing the inevitability of a clash with their ally Rome, he in 192 BC. landed in Greece. The Aetolian Union took his side; The Achaean League remained loyal to the Romans. In 191 BC At the Battle of Thermopylae, Antiochus III was defeated by the consul Marcus Acilius Glabrion and retreated to Asia. The Aetolian League was defeated by the combined forces of the Romans, Philip V, the Epiruses and the Achaeans and lost its political significance. The decisive victory over Antiochus III in Asia Minor (Battle of Magnesia in 189 BC) significantly strengthened Roman influence in Greece.

In 171 BC The Romans launched a new (Third Macedonian) war against the Macedonian king Perseus (179–168 BC), who was secretly or openly supported by many Greek states dissatisfied with the great power policies of Rome, primarily Epirus and Aetolia. In 168 BC Consul Lucius Aemilius Paulus defeated Perseus's troops at Pydna (South Macedonia) and took him prisoner. The Macedonian kingdom was liquidated; the policies allied with Perseus were subjected to brutal repression; The Aetolian League ceased to exist; Rhodes, which tried to act as a mediator during the war, lost all its possessions in Asia Minor. The only real political force in Balkan Greece remained the Achaean League, loyal to Rome.

In 148 BC, having suppressed the Andriscus rebellion in Macedonia (149–148 BC), the Romans turned it into a Roman province, which also included a number of Greek territories: Epirus, the cities of Apollonia and Dyrrachium and some islands of the Ionian Sea . As a result, Rome no longer needed the support of the Achaean League. When in 148 BC. The Achaeans began a war with Sparta, which had fallen away from the union; the Romans demanded that they recognize the independence of all those they forcibly captured in the first half of the 2nd century. BC. policies (Argos, Orchomen, Heraclea Trakhinskaya). In response, the Achaean League declared war on Rome, finding widespread support among democratically minded sections; The leaders of the union mobilized the entire combat-ready population, freed and included about twelve thousand slaves in the army, and introduced an emergency tax on the rich. Despite this, the Achaeans in 146 BC. were defeated by the consul Quintus Caecilius Metellus at Thermopylae, and the consul Lucius Mummius defeated them on the Isthmus and took the main center of the Achaean League - Corinth. By decision of the Roman Senate, Corinth, Thebes and Chalcis were destroyed; their inhabitants were sold into slavery. The Romans dissolved the Achaean League, established oligarchic rule in the Greek city-states and placed them under the control of the Roman governor of Macedonia. Only Athens and Sparta retained independence. From this moment on, the era of Roman rule in Greece began.

Socio-economic development.

The massive migration of Greeks to the east after Alexander’s campaigns, the movement of the main trade routes there, the emergence of new economic centers there, and the depletion of their own natural resources led to the 3rd–2nd centuries. BC. to the loss of Balkan Greece's leading position in the economy of the Eastern Mediterranean. In the Aegean basin, the role of Rhodes and Pergamon (later Delos) increased to the detriment of mainland policies (including Athens), which found themselves on the periphery of international trade.

Due to the competition of Asia Minor, Syrian and Egyptian Hellenistic centers, the volume of trade exchange with the main grain-producing regions decreased and grain imports decreased; hunger became common. The negative balance of foreign trade led to the leakage of funds and their chronic shortage. In cities, a general decline in the standard of living of the population occurred against the backdrop of the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few. In the agricultural sector, the mobilization of land ownership has intensified; The practice of acquiring land in neighboring policies spread. Property stratification has extremely aggravated social confrontation. There were constantly demands for the cancellation of debts and the redistribution of land; in a number of policies the authorities made attempts to implement land and debt reforms (Sparta, Elis, Boeotia, Cassandria).

Culture.

Greek culture of the late IV - mid-II century. BC. was a type of Hellenistic culture that arose as a result of the synthesis of Greek and Eastern cultural traditions. Its peculiarity was a closer connection than in other regions of the Hellenistic world with classical examples of literature and art.

In terms of the size of urban development activities, the impoverished Balkan city-states could not compete with the major Hellenistic powers. Many buildings (especially in Athens) were erected at the expense of foreign monarchs and patrons of the arts, primarily the kings of Pergamum and Syria. The main attention is paid to the construction of temples (Athens, Olympia), defensive fortifications (Corinth, Argos), theaters (Argos, Piraeus, Delphi). Nostalgia for the heroic past leads to the revival of archaic architectural forms - Ionian dipteras (Temple of Zeus in Athens), ancient types of Dorian religious buildings (Temple of Artemis in Eleusis). At the same time, there is a gradual departure from strict classical norms: there is an increasing desire for pomp and complexity of buildings - the widespread use of the Corinthian order, including in the external colonnade (Temple of Zeus in Athens), the principle of floor division inside and outside the building is being introduced (Arsinoion on Samothrace Island); the tectonic logic of the architectural ensemble and its elements is lost (Tower of the Winds in Athens). The loss of internal symmetry is also typical for residential buildings; The dominant type is becoming peristyle structures, in which rooms are freely located around an open courtyard (peristyle) surrounded by a colonnade. Parks are becoming an integral part of the city landscape, reflecting the craving of Hellenistic man for nature.

Sculptors of the 3rd century BC. are guided by classical plastic principles ( Jumping boy from the island of Euboea, Aphrodite de Milo), developing both the heroic-dramatic direction of Scopas and Lysippos, and the contemplative direction of Praxiteles. There is a tendency towards a more in-depth understanding of movement and a more differentiated interpretation of plastic forms ( Nike of Samothrace). The desire to use chiaroscuro leads to an increase in the picturesqueness and psychological expressiveness of sculptural images. In the plastic image, the role of clothing increases ( Nike of Samothrace, The Girl from Anzio); the sculpture becomes part of the surrounding landscape. The sculptural portrait is characterized by an ever-increasing weakening of idealization and a growing interest in the inner world of man and in the truthful rendering of nature (from Aristotle And Menander unknown authors to Demosthenes Polyeucta); sculptors are increasingly striving to depict not a general spiritual state, but a specific experience ( Demosthenes, Seneca, Old teacher).

Mastery in conveying a specific psychological state is also characteristic of painting of the 3rd century. BC. There is a growing desire to pathetize images and dramatize the plot, primarily through the contrasting opposition of the main characters ( Battle of Alexander and Darius Philoxenus of Erythraea). Artists skillfully place figures in space, use angles, experiment with color and color shades ( Achilles among the daughters of Lycomedes Atenian of Thracia and Medea Timomachos of Byzantium).

In the late Hellenic period (2nd–1st centuries BC), there was a certain decline in Greek art, primarily plastic art: great technical sophistication was combined with an ideological impoverishment of images. Sculptors focus on conveying purely external features of nature ( Belvedere Torso And Fist fighter Apollonia). Conventionally stylized copying of classical statues (Neo-Attic school) became popular.

In the literary and intellectual spheres, Greece at the end of the 4th - mid-2nd centuries. BC. stands out among other states of the Hellenistic world for two major achievements closely associated with Athens. At the end of the 4th century. BC. there the neo-Attic comedy is born; Philemon (c. 361–263 BC) is considered its ancestor. His successor Menander (c. 342 - c. 292 BC) is credited with creating a comedy of characters, the main thing in which is not the external entertainment of the plot, not individual stage effects and buffoonery, but the revelation of the characters’ personalities that determine the entire development of the action. These are no longer conventional characters, not abstract ideas (like Aristophanes), but certain psychological types conveyed in their dynamics.

Athens also remained a leading philosophical center. There operated the Peripatetic school, which developed the teachings of Aristotle (Theophrastus), and the Platonic Academy with two directions: mystical-Pythagorean (Speusippus, Xenocrates) and skeptical (Arkesilaus, Carneades); skepticism (founded by Pyrrho of Elis), which turned into one of the most influential movements of Hellenistic philosophy, preached the desire for apathy and ataraxia (serenity), justifying it with the thesis about the impossibility of true knowledge and the need to refrain from any judgment. In Athens at the end of the 4th century. BC. Epicureanism and Stoicism emerged. The creator of the Epicurean school, Epicurus of Samos (342/341–271/270 BC), developed the atomistic teaching of Democritus, supplementing it with the thesis about the causeless deviation of atoms when they move in empty space; with this deviation he substantiated the free will of man; happiness, in his opinion, lies in pleasure, primarily spiritual, which is born from virtue. Subsequently, a perverted interpretation of Epicureanism as preaching sensual pleasures spread. Stoicism, whose founder was Zeno of Cyprus (c. 335–262 BC), in contrast to the materialism of the Epicureans, preached the doctrine of God as creative fire and world reason (logos); the basis of happiness is virtue, understood as a life free from passions in accordance with logos and nature; Moral freedom is achieved by the ability to calmly endure both joy and suffering. Unlike classical philosophy, all of these schools highlighted issues of ethics.

Religion.

The objects of religious cult in Ancient Greece were the Olympian gods, non-Olympic deities and heroes. According to the Greeks, their gods were anthropomorphic (that is, they had a human appearance). The group of the most powerful gods, who were not tied to a specific territory, was represented by the Olympian gods (Olympus is their main residence); they were revered throughout Greece. They were considered personifications and lords of the main parts of the universe, natural and social phenomena: the sea (Poseidon), the underworld (Hades), organized war (Athena), unorganized war (Ares), love (Aphrodite), hearth (Hestia), hunting ( Artemis), winemaking (Dionysus), trade (Hermes), agriculture (Demeter), marriage (Hera), crafts (Hephaestus), polis order and art (Apollo). A relationship of kinship was established between them. At the head of the pantheon was Zeus, the lord of the sky, thunder and lightning. The power of the gods was not unlimited: they were subject to fate - the inevitable and inexplicable universal order of events.

Minor deities were represented by local deities of mountains, rivers, forests, streams, lakes, seas, individual trees, springs - primarily nymphs, oceanids, nereids. Unlike the Olympian gods, they did not have absolute immortality; their existence was tied to a specific habitat: if it disappeared, then the deity living in it also died. The other group consisted of creatures whose existence did not depend on any place or object - sirens (half-women, half-birds), Erinyes (old women with dog heads and snakes in their flowing hair), centaurs (half-horse-half-human), etc. They were superior to people size and strength, differed from them in their fully or partially zoomorphic (animal-like) appearance and could die at their hands.

According to the Greeks, people were protected not only by gods, but also by heroes - men born from the marriages of gods with mortal women (Hercules, Perseus, Dioscuri, Bellerophon, Achilles), endowed with exorbitant strength and superhuman capabilities. They were mortal by nature (with the exception of Dionysus), but some of them were awarded eternal life either on Olympus or in the blessed lands for their exploits.

One of the main features of the Greek religion was its fragmentation and dominance of local cults with specific rituals and beliefs. Only the cult of Apollo at Delphi and Zeus at Olympia had pan-Greek significance.

The Greek religion by its type was a religion of sacrifices, which were an integral part of the cult, along with prayers, vows and purifications (of the body, clothing, sacred utensils). Places of veneration were, as a rule, mountains, groves, streams and rivers; In special sacred areas (temples), temples were erected - the dwellings of the gods, the main cult elements of which were images (statues) of celestial beings and altars for sacrifices.

Religious cult was both public and private in nature. Within the framework of the polis, rituals in a temple or on a sacred site were initially performed by the king, and later by a specially elected magistrate. Inside the house, at the hearth, which served as an altar, they were performed by the head of the family; An important role in the family cult was played by the veneration of ancestors, as well as ceremonies associated with the birth of a child, marriage, and funerals. In Greece there was a layer of priests; priestly positions were often assigned to individual clans. However, in Greece the priests never had such influence as in the Ancient East; their function was limited to the performance of rituals, advice in religious matters and determination of the will of the gods, which was recognized by heavenly signs, the flight of birds, the characteristics of sacrificial animals, and the direction of the smoke from the burnt victim.

A special place in the Greek religion was occupied by mysteries - rituals of esoteric (secret) religious societies, which were closed: only initiates (mystics) could participate in them. There were both local Greek mystery cults (Demeter, Dionysus, Orphic) and those brought from the East (Attis, Cybele, Mithra, Isis). Many of them went back to ancient fertility festivals and were orgiastic in nature (the cults of Demeter and Dionysus): in the process of sacred rites, the initiates brought themselves to an ecstatic state, in this way bringing themselves closer to God.

Elements of religious rites in Greece included solemn processions, dances, dramatic performances (depicting the mythical history of a revered deity), and competitions between athletes and musicians. In a number of religious centers, a tradition has been established of regularly (with an interval of one year or several years) holding special sports and music games in honor of a specific god: Pythian Games (from 582 BC) near Delphi, dedicated to Apollo (every four years) , Isthmian Games (from 582 BC) near Corinth, dedicated to Poseidon (every two years), Nemean Games (from 573 BC) in the Nemean Valley, dedicated to Zeus (every two years). The most famous were the Olympic Games (from 776 BC) in Olympia in honor of Zeus (every four years), during which a sacred world was established. Such games contributed to the Greeks' awareness of their ethno-cultural and religious community.

Private life.

The Greek family was monogamous. The father played the leading role in it. The importance of women remained purely secondary; a disdainful attitude towards them dominated. Girls and married women led an almost exclusively reclusive life, doing housework (spinning, weaving, sewing, washing). They rarely received an education, were practically excluded from public life (except for hetaeras) and were disadvantaged legally (they could not dispose of their property); Only in religion did they enjoy relative equality (they could be priestesses). In Sparta, women had a greater degree of freedom - their upbringing differed little from the upbringing of boys, the wife was considered the mistress of the house and had property rights. During the Hellenistic period, the position of women changed everywhere - the idea of ​​their equality with men (Stoics) spread, they gained access to education and to many areas of activity (craft, medicine, literature, theater, sports). Children in Greece received special care. In most policies they legally belonged to the parents, in Sparta - to the state. Until the age of six or seven, the child remained with the mother under the supervision of a nurse or educators. Then the boys entered school, and the lives of girls (except for Spartans) were confined to the female half of the house.

Rituals associated with birth, coming of age, marriage and death played an important role in the life of the Greeks. In Sparta, the newborn was left naked, and in Athens they were wrapped in warm clothes. On the seventh (tenth) day after birth, the child underwent a naming ceremony. In Athens, girls at the age of five were dedicated to Artemis; from that point on, they wore a saffron (orange-yellow) color dress. Young men who reached the age of eighteen became ephebes: their hair was cut off and they were dressed in a short cloak (chlamys). The marriage took place with the consent of the bride's parents. In Sparta, marriage included a ritual of abduction: the groom kidnapped the bride and hid her in a friend’s house, where her hair was cut off and she was put on a man’s dress and shoes; the groom secretly came to her in the evening and took off her virginity belt. In Athens, betrothal was accompanied by a sacrifice to Zeus and Hera, the patrons of marriage; on the wedding day, the newlyweds performed ablution; in the evening, a feast was held in the bride's house, in which women participated separately from men; the bride wore a long veil; the guests were in white; after the feast, the bride's mother lit a torch and the wedding procession went to the groom's house; torchbearers walked in front, followed by a carriage with the newlyweds, followed by guests singing hymns; at the groom's house the bride burned the pole of the wedding cart; the next day friends and relatives returned to the house; A boy with a torch walked ahead of the procession, followed by a girl carrying a basket of gifts on her head. The funeral rite began with the deceased's eyes and mouth being closed, a veil thrown over his face, the body washed, anointed, dressed in clean clothes and laid on a bed, and a wreath was placed on his head. In Sparta, the deceased was wrapped in purple cloth and, sprinkled with olive and laurel leaves, was buried; The funeral was modest, attended only by relatives and closest friends. In other policies, mourners were hired and a solemn funeral procession was organized with torchbearers, singers and flute players. The Greeks decorated the grave with branches and made sacrifices in honor of the deceased. Funeral participants wore mourning clothes (usually gray or black) and cut their hair as a sign of sadness. In the early period (especially in the 11th–8th centuries BC), the custom of cremating the deceased and placing his ashes in an urn was widespread.

The clothing of men and women consisted of lower and upper. The underwear was a chiton - a short dress like a shirt, fastened on one or both shoulders with a buckle and picked up with a belt; the women's tunic was longer than the men's; in the early period they wore a tunic without sleeves, later with sleeves. The outerwear was a himation (cloak-like cape); for men it was secured with a buckle under the right arm. Men also wore a chlamys (a short cloak fastened with a buckle on the chest or on the right shoulder), and women wore a peplos (a woolen cloak pinned at the shoulders and open on the right side, with or without a belt). The Ionians and Athenians preferred linen clothing, which they often embroidered or painted with patterns. The Dorians generally wore a natural-colored woolen dress, which was characterized by simplicity; they believed that the body was beautiful in itself and did not need to be artificially decorated. Greek clothing was not cut and sewn; it was a solid oblong quadrangular piece of material. Men covered their heads only when it was necessary to protect themselves from rain or sun - for this they used felt hats with a round and low crown and with wide brims curved up or down (causia, petas), as well as egg-shaped hats made of straw and leather or felt. Women wore nets made of laces (sometimes gold), scarves with which they tied the entire head or just the braid, and caps with tassels; to decorate their heads they used colored ribbons and hoops made of metal or leather; married women attached a transparent veil to their braid.

Men's concern for their appearance was limited to daily bathing with cold or warm water and hair care. Before the Hellenistic era, it was customary to have a thick beard and long hair (in Athens it was braided and tied in a bun). From the second half of the 4th century. BC. The custom of shaving the beard, cutting the hair short and curling it into small curls spread. In the early period, men considered it inappropriate to adorn themselves; they carried only canes and signet rings. Later, canes fell out of use, and rings became a luxury item. Women, on the contrary, widely used jewelry (bracelets on arms and legs, hair pins, chains, necklaces, earrings, sometimes with pendants, and later rings) and cosmetics (fragrant oils, essences, whitewash, rouge, antimony). There were different types of women's hairstyles: the hair was combed back, tied at the back of the head in a bun, curled into curls or braided into a braid, wrapping it around the head; the forehead was always closed low. To hide figure defects, Greek women wore artificial hips and breasts and pulled a wide belt tightly around the waist. Among the Greeks, clothing could serve as a form of punishment. Citizens who did not attend the public assembly were forced to wear a cord smeared with red lead (Athens); panties - women's dress; informers and deceivers - a wreath of myriki; adulterers - a woolen wreath (Crete); adulterers - transparent clothes in which they were exhibited on the trading floor.

The basis of the diet was bread (first barley, later wheat) and porridge (barley or millet); it also included vegetables (garlic, onions, legumes), fruits (olives, grapes, apples, pears, figs, and from the end of the 4th century BC - peaches and oranges), cheese and fish. Unlike the Romans, meat was rarely eaten, usually fried beef, lamb and game. They drank water, milk and diluted wine (the most famous was Chios). Feasts occupied an important place in the life of wealthy Greeks. Before the meal, it was customary to visit the bathhouse and anoint yourself with incense. When they arrived at the feast, they took off their sandals and washed their hands. The ancient Greeks did not know tablecloths, napkins, table knives and forks; food was taken with hands, often wearing special gloves. After the meal, they washed their hands, put on wreaths and began the libation (symposium); in the classical era, hetaeras, dancers and flutists were invited to the symposium. Feasts that began in the afternoon often lasted until the morning.

Education system.

The Greek education system began to take shape in the 6th century. BC. in Athens, from where it spread to many other Greek states. Its main goal was the formation of a worthy member of the polis - a citizen and a warrior - through his harmonious spiritual, moral, physical and aesthetic development; She focused primarily on raising boys. In the VI–V centuries. BC. education was carried out in a primary (elementary) school, which the children of all free citizens could attend. There they, usually from the age of seven, acquired the skills of writing, reading, and counting; they were also taught music, dancing and gymnastics (the role of these disciplines gradually declined). Such schools were almost always private. In addition, in Athens there was an institution of ephebia: upon reaching the age of eighteen, all young men (ephebes) gathered from all over Attica near Piraeus, where for a year, under the guidance of special teachers (sophronists) who received salaries from the state, they studied fencing, archery, throwing spears, handling siege weapons and underwent intense physical training; over the next year they performed military service on the border, after which they became full citizens.

In the 4th century. BC. Society's need for in-depth intellectual training is increasing. In Ionia, Attica and some other areas, secondary educational institutions (gymnasiums) appeared, the purpose of which was to develop thinking and reasoning abilities. They existed, as a rule, with public funds and private donations. They taught a cycle of sciences - grammar, rhetoric, arithmetic and music theory, to which in some cases dialectics, geometry and astronomy (astrology) were added; Gymnastics classes were conducted at a higher level than in elementary schools. The main disciplines were grammar and rhetoric; grammar included literature lessons, where they studied the texts of major authors (Homer, Euripides, later Demosthenes and Menander); The rhetoric course included the theory of eloquence, memorization of rhetorical examples and recitation (practical exercises). Education in secondary schools was conducted according to a strictly established program. The ages of the students ranged from thirteen to eighteen years.

In the 4th century. BC In Athens, higher education also emerged, which did not involve special professional training, but the acquisition of more fundamental humanitarian knowledge. Famous rhetoricians (first Isocrates) and philosophers (first Plato) taught those who wished (in the form of lectures or conversations) the art of eloquence, logic and the history of philosophy for a fee. The order and content of the course were not strictly regulated and depended on the personality of the teacher; its duration ranged from one year to ten years.

A special version of the educational system existed in Sparta: due to the militarized nature of the social structure, the task of educating a strong and disciplined warrior required one-sided military education; With the exception of basic knowledge of writing, counting, singing and playing musical instruments, the Spartans received exclusively military and physical training under the control of the state. Unlike other Greek cities, in Sparta significant attention was paid to women's education, primarily physical, which was similar to the education of boys.

Foreign historiography.

The scientific study of ancient Greek history dates back to the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries, when R. Bentley, F. Wolf and B. G. Niebuhr created the historical-critical method, laying the foundations of scientific source study. Since the 1830s, archaeological research began in Greece (Troy, Mycenae, Tiryns, Crete). In the 19th century the main attention was paid to political history and political institutions (D. Grot, E. Freeman), polis structures (F. de Coulanges), slavery (A. Vallon), culture and religion (J. Burckhardt), Hellenism (B. Niese, Yu .Kerst, D.McGuffie). The leading school in classical studies was the German one (A. Beck, K. Müller, I. Droysen, E. Curtius). At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. two methodological trends were established - modernization (E. Meyer, J. Beloch, R. Pelman) and archaization (K. Bücher).

In the 20th century The problems and methodological base (primarily due to the use of methods of natural and exact sciences) of Western classical studies have expanded significantly. Comprehensive works on the history of Ancient Greece appeared ( Cambridge Ancient History; General history edited by G. Glotz and others). The economic direction acquired an important role: it dominated in the first half of the 20th century. The modernization concept (M.I. Rostovtsev, J. Tutin, G. Glotz) was rejected in the second half of the century by the majority of scientists (E. Will, M. Finley, C. Starr) in favor of the thesis about the uniqueness of the ancient Greek economy. Issues of the social structure of ancient Greek society, the status of various social groups, primarily dependent ones, were intensively studied (D. Thompson, P. Levesque). Special discussions took place around the Marxist theory about the slaveholding nature of ancient civilization; some scientists (W. Westerman, A. Jones, C. Starr) questioned it, others (J. Vogt) recognized the importance of slavery in Ancient Greece, others (M. Finley) proposed rethinking the role of slaves in the context of extreme socio-legal diversity Greek society. However, the leading direction in Western antiquity remains the study of political history and political structures (D. Larsen, W. Ehrenberg), primarily Athens (C. Mosse, R. Meigs) and Sparta (D. Huxley, W. Forrest), and an important importance began to be attached to the study of social conflicts (E. Ruschenbush, D. Saint-Croix, E. Lintot).

At the end of the 20th - beginning of the 21st century. Problems of historical ecology, geography and demography came to the fore. The study of the process of human development of the environment, its role in the life of individual policies, social and biological quality of life, public health and their impact on culture and society began (O. Rackham, R. Osborne, O. Murray, R. Salares). Research into the early stages of Greek history, especially the Mycenaean era and the “Dark Ages,” has also intensified significantly.

Domestic historiography.

In Russia, scientific antiquity was born in the second quarter of the 19th century; its founder was M.S. Kutorga, who studied the history of Athens. In the 1860s, his student F.F. Sokolov created an epigraphic school that attached particular importance to the study of inscriptions, primarily from the Northern Black Sea region, for the reconstruction of ancient Greek history (V.V. Latyshev, S.A. Zhebelev). By the end of the 19th century. Three leading scientific directions have emerged - socio-economic (M.I. Rostovtsev, R.Yu. Vipper, M.M. Khvostov), ​​political (V.P. Buzeskul, N.I. Karelin) and cultural (F.F. Zelinsky). Intensive archaeological excavations began in Olbia (B.V. Farmakovsky), Chersonesus (K.K. Kostsyushko-Valyuzhinich) and in Kerch (V.V. Shkorpil); translations into Russian of the most important ancient Greek authors were carried out (F.G. Mishchenko).

The development of domestic historiography after 1917 was determined by the influence of the Marxist theory of class struggle and socio-economic formations. In the 1920–1930s, the concept of the ancient slave-owning method of production was developed (A.I. Tyumenev, V.S. Sergeev, S.I. Kovalev). Intense discussions unfolded around questions about the class character of the Cretan-Mycenaean society (B.L. Bogaevsky, V.S. Sergeev) and about the essence of Hellenism (S.I. Kovalev, A.B. Ranovich, K.K. Zelin). The role of slavery in different periods of Greek history was actively studied (Ya.A. Lenzman, A.I. Dovatur), the nature of the polis organization and its historical development were analyzed (Yu.V. Andreev, L.M. Gluskina, G.A. Koshelenko, L.P. Marinovich). Traditional interest in the history of the Greek colonies of the Northern Black Sea region and their contacts with the surrounding nomadic world remained; Excavations continued in Olbia, Panticapaeum, Chersonesos, Phanagoria, and Gorgippia. The fall of the communist regime allowed domestic scholars of antiquity to significantly expand their theoretical and methodological tools (discussion about the possibility of combining formational and civilizational approaches) and turn to the study of topics that were previously on the sidelines of Soviet historiography, primarily historical-cultural and historical-ecological. Currently, intensive research is also continuing on the problems of the genesis of the polis (T.V. Blavatsky), the Great Colonization (V.P. Yaylenko), and the crisis of the polis in the 4th century. BC. (L.P. Marinovich), pan-Greek festivals (V.I. Kuzishchin), socio-economic and political institutions of Hellenism (G.A. Koshelenko) and the history of the Northern Black Sea region (S.Yu. Saprykin, E.A. Molev, Yu. G. Vinogradov).

Ivan Krivushin

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The modern world owes a lot ancient Greece. This relatively small state had a huge impact 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.

The history of Ancient Greece is one of the most exciting, majestic and interesting. The entire history of Ancient Greece is usually divided into five main periods: Aegean or Crete-Mycenaean (3-2 thousand BC), Homeric (11-9 centuries BC), Archaic (8-4 centuries BC). BC), classical (5th-4th centuries BC) and Hellenistic (second half of the 4th - mid-1st century BC). In addition, the first three eras are often combined under the general name of the Preclassic period. In this case, the entire history of Ancient Greece is divided into three large main periods: pre-classical, classical and Hellenistic.

The settlement of the territory of Greece by humans is evidenced by archaeological excavations that discovered Paleolithic sites in the territory from Macedonia to Elis, dating back to the Middle Paleolithic period (about 100 - 40 thousand BC). The skull of a Neanderthal man found on the Chalkidiki peninsula dates back to this time. During the Neolithic period (around the middle of the 7th millennium BC), the population of Greece mastered agriculture, engaged in cattle breeding, leading a sedentary lifestyle. During this period, the clan system, which had developed back in the Middle Paleolithic era, reached full development.

Aegean period (3-2 thousand BC)

The emergence of the first early class societies dates back to this time. The history of Greece of this era is usually divided chronologically into early, middle and late periods. Differences in the cultural traditions of individual parts of Greece made it possible to distinguish geographical variants: the culture of Crete was called the Minoan culture, mainland Greece - the Helladic culture, the islands of the Aegean Sea - the Cycladic culture.

Early Bronze Age (about 28 - about 21 centuries BC). This period was marked by a special rise in island Greece. By the middle of the 3rd millennium, on many islands (Syros, Paros, Melos, Kythnos, Amorgos, etc.), widespread mining of silver, lead and copper and the production of metal utensils, weapons, tools, jewelry and ritual objects were developed. At the same time, significant progress was observed in pottery and construction crafts. Navigation in the 2nd half of the 3rd millennium connected the entire coast of the Aegean Sea. The first cities appeared: Poliochni on the island. Lemnos, Agios Kosmas in Attica.

A fortified settlement with a palace (the so-called “House of Tiles”) on a hilltop in Lerna (Argolis) reflects the growing power of tribal kings on the coast of southern Greece. In the rest of mainland Greece, the tribal system remained in full force. Between 2200 and 2000, tribal wars and movements destroyed a number of thriving centers on the islands and mainland. The ethnic composition of the population in the 3rd millennium was complex: at first the Pelasgians predominated among the tribes, later they were pushed aside and partly assimilated by the proto-Greek tribes. Among the proto-Greek tribes, the Achaeans and Ionians grew stronger.

Middle Bronze period (about 20-17 centuries BC). This period was marked by significant progress of Crete in economic and social life. Small early slave states arose here (Knossos, Festus, Agia Triada, Mallia). Cretan writing quickly evolved: from pictographic to hieroglyphic (in the 23rd-17th centuries). Around 18th century a new system was developed - the so-called. syllabary A. Having created a large fleet, the Cretans subjugated a number of islands in the Aegean Sea. Wide trade and diplomatic ties with Egypt and the states of Western Asia ensured Crete's primacy in the Aegean basin.

The internal history of mainland Greece in the 20th–17th centuries. characterizes relatively slow development, which contributed to the stability of community relations. Only from the 17th century. the formation of the early slaveholding states of Mycenae, Tiryns, Pylos, etc. began. The burials of the royal families discovered in Mycenae in large well-shaped (so-called shaft) graves contained a huge amount of precious things (weapons, jewelry, gold masks, etc.), indicating the strengthening of the power of the Achaean dynasts already in the mid-17th - late 16th centuries.

Late Bronze Age (around 16th - around 12th centuries BC). The rise of the Cretan states continued. During the so-called New Palace period (around 1700-1450), the palaces of Knossos and Festos were rebuilt and expanded, and the palace in Kato Zakro was rebuilt. Cities grew, foreign relations expanded. The maritime dominion (thalassocracy) of the Cretans of this time was preserved in the memory of the Greeks many centuries later. Around 1470, a tectonic disaster on the island. Thera caused a disastrous earthquake in Crete. The destruction of cities and villages, the death of the population and fleet - all these circumstances determined the desolation of the island. At Knossos the palace was restored; Until approximately 1380, a small state remained here.

Mainland Greece reached its greatest growth in the 16th–13th centuries. Progress in agriculture and crafts led to population growth. Civil strife between neighbors, defensive and military alliances of dynasts are characteristic of the history of that time. This is reflected in the rich legendary tradition and epic heritage of the Achaeans. The Mycenaean culture of the Achaeans influenced neighboring countries, including Egypt. The fleets of the kings of Iolkos, Mycenae, Pylos, Thebes and other states allowed the Achaeans to conduct extensive overseas trade in handicrafts, which were sometimes produced specifically for export. For the 15th–14th centuries. Characterized by the widespread distribution of Achaean products to the East (to Troad and other regions of Asia Minor, Cyprus, Phoenicia, Syria, Egypt) and to the West (to Sicily and Southern Italy). The complication of the state life of the Achaeans led to the development of writing: having adapted the Cretan letter to their dialect, the Achaeans created a more advanced one, the so-called. syllabic writing.

Homeric period (XI-IX centuries BC)

During the Homeric period, further formation of class societies took place. New Greek tribes of the Dorians invaded from the northern regions and occupied part of the lands in Central and Southern Greece. Only Athens was able to maintain its independence, and part of the population fled there from the defeated Achaean states of the Peloponnese. The invasion of the Dorian tribes, who still lived under the clan system, led to the rapid collapse of the Achaean states and the revival of clan relations in Greek society. The basis for the further development of productive forces was the gradual spread of iron tools and weapons. The Dorians inherited from the Achaeans and Cretans the plow, wheeled carts, sailing ships, presses, the potter's wheel, other tools, and the rudiments of architecture (especially temple and fortress architecture).

After the Dorian conquest, small independent communities formed in Greece; Basilei were in power, and the clan nobility strengthened everywhere. In many areas, clan ownership of land became the basis of land ownership. The conquered local population became the property of the conquering clans, which split into large family communities. The process of enslaving the local population did not proceed in the same way. In Sparta, members of the conquering community - the Spartiates - were opposed by the Perieki - the former indigenous population of the territory of Sparta, conquered and pushed back to the borders of Laconia; the perieki retained limited self-government and were engaged in crafts and trade. Dr. the category of dependent population in Sparta were the helots - the agricultural population of Messenia and other regions conquered by the Spartiates; they were considered the property of the state and were attached to the land plots of the Spartiates. Categories of dependent populations similar to helots existed in Thessaly (penestes), on Crete (clarotes), and in other regions of Greece. In Athens, the enslavement of farmers occurred through debt dependence and the concentration of land in the hands of the tribal nobility - the Eupatrides.

By the 9th century Greek tribes inhabited: the Aeolians - Northern Greece, the Dorians - Middle Greece and the eastern part of the Peloponnese, the Ionians - Attica, and the Achaean tribes, which retained their independence, were pushed back to Arcadia and Achaia. The most important event of this period was the beginning of the Greek colonization of the islands and coast of Asia Minor: the northern regions were inhabited by the Aeolians, the central regions (Ionia) by the Ionians, and the southern regions by the Dorians.

The emergence and development of the polis system (8th-6th centuries BC). The further spread of iron tools led to the emergence of artisans. The separation of crafts from agriculture meant a transition to wider exchange, production for the market, and the development of cities.

Archaic period (VIII-VI centuries BC)

For the cities of Greece, it became vitally important to establish regular trade relations and supply the city population with raw materials and missing food products. Landless peasants accumulated in the cities. At the same time, the need for slaves increased. The withdrawal of colonies became an economic necessity. It was caused primarily by the class struggle within the Greek city-states and was carried out with the aim of softening sharp social contradictions. In the middle of the 8th century. the first colony of cities was founded. Euboea - Cumae (in Italy). The heyday of colonization falls in the 7th–6th centuries. Greek colonies spread along the northern coast of the Aegean Sea, the eastern coast of Sicily, the coast of the Gulf of Tarentum in Italy and advanced to the Black Sea coast. Miletus alone founded 75 colonies on the Black Sea.

As a result, Greek trade already in the 6th century. has acquired an international character; Greek handicrafts found wide sales in both Western and Eastern markets. Slaves arrived in Greece; it imported bread and other food products, raw materials, and luxury goods. Coins borrowed by the Greeks from the Lydians in the 7th century became widespread. Some cities turned into pan-Greek religious centers (Delphi, Olympia). The increase in the number of slaves in cities strengthened the position of slave owners associated with trade, craft and money farming. However, the main means of production - land and political power - still remained in the hands of the tribal nobility, whose economic power was based on family-tribal ownership of land and the enslavement and enslavement of small farmers.

The struggle of the demos against the tribal aristocracy and debt slavery constitutes the main feature of the period of the 8th-6th centuries. As a result of persistent struggle, the demos achieved the abolition of debt bondage in some cities of Greece (for example, in Athens as a result of the reforms of Solon 594/593 BC). However, it was possible to suppress the resistance of the clan nobility to reforms only through violence. Tyranny became such a force - individual power established through armed struggle and based on the movement of the peasant poor and the support of traders and artisans.

As a result of the reforms of the tyrants, the economic and political privileges of the tribal aristocracy were eliminated. During the period 8-6 centuries. BC e. A special form of socio-economic and political organization of ancient Greek society was formed - the polis (city-state) as a collective of free citizens who opposed slaves and other categories of dependent population (clarotes, penests, helots, etc.), as well as foreigners - metics. Belonging to a polis provided a collective of full-fledged citizens with ownership of land and slaves.

Depending on the degree of victory of farmers and artisans over the clan nobility, the constitution of the polis was either oligarchic (for example, in Sparta, Crete) or democratic (for example, in Athens). By the end of the 6th century. BC e. slavery became widespread in some highly economically developed cities (Corinth, Athens), where slaves and slave owners became antagonistic classes. At the same time, in a number of other cities (Sparta, Crete, Argos, etc.), along with slavery, remnants of the tribal system were preserved for a long time. In Central and Southern Greece there were also tribal agricultural communities in which subsistence agriculture and the tribal system were preserved (Phocis, Aetolia, Acarnania, and others).

A struggle developed between the policies, caused by various economic and political reasons. At the end of the 6th century. The first major unification of cities arose - the Peloponnesian League under the leadership of Sparta, created to unite the military forces of the Peloponnese (except Argos) and to organize assistance to Sparta during the helot uprisings.

Classical period (5th - 4th centuries BC)

5th-4th centuries BC e. in the history of Greece - the period of the highest economic, political and cultural prosperity of the polis system. The economic system of economically advanced trade and craft policies was mainly determined by the labor of slaves, used in crafts (slave workshops), in mines, and also sporadically in agriculture. Small peasant farming and small free trade played a significant role. The heyday of Greece is associated with the rise of Athens as a result of the victory of Athenian democracy in the Greco-Persian wars (500-449) and the creation of the Delian League led by Athens (or the First Athenian Maritime League) from states located on the islands of the Aegean Sea and its northern, eastern and western coasts.

The time of the greatest power of Athens, the greatest democratization of the political system and the flourishing of culture falls during the reign of Pericles (443-429). However, this period was relatively short-lived. The transformation of allies into subjects, the transfer of all the most important cases to the Athenian court, the restriction of freedom of trade, the collection of taxes - foros, punitive expeditions, the removal of cleruchies on the territory of the allies caused the desire of the latter for liberation, especially from oligarchic circles. At the same time, a conflict of a foreign policy nature was also brewing: the struggle of Athens and Corinth for trade routes in the west, the struggle of Athens and Sparta for hegemony in Greece. All these contradictions led to the Peloponnesian War (431-404), which covered most of the Greek city-states.

The war revealed the entire fragility of the Athenian Union and ended in the complete defeat of Athens. They lost almost all external possessions, the fleet was transferred to Sparta. The period of Spartan hegemony in Greece began.

Not only Athens, but also many Greek cities emerged from the war weakened. Increasing property contrasts caused sharp clashes and armed struggle within the policies. In each city two camps were formed: the poor and the rich. The further development of slavery, exchange, crafts, and money farming began to undermine the foundations of the state community (polis), the economic basis of which was small and medium-sized landownership.

The accumulation of money in the hands of rich metics destroyed the closed framework of the polis economy. The ruin of peasants and artisans created poor people in the policies that did not find employment in the economic sphere. The military power of the policy was also undermined: the people's militia in a number of policies were replaced by detachments of mercenaries, since war became the only possible profession for the poor. The constant internecine wars of the policies further strengthened their difficult situation.

In 395, the Corinthian War started by Sparta (395-387); in the war, Sparta was opposed by a coalition of states (Athens, Corinth, Thebes, etc.). The weakening of the policies and the decline of the financial economy made all policies at that time dependent on rich Persia, which actually dictated the terms of peace to the warring parties (the royal or Antalcian peace): Persia restored its power over the cities of Asia Minor, in Greece unions of cities, surveillance and control were prohibited for the Greek cities were transferred to Sparta, whose policy was expressed in violations of the autonomy of states, in reprisals against democrats, and in the establishment of oligarchic orders.

Sparta became the main enemy of Greek freedom and independence. A Spartan garrison was introduced into Thebes, but the Theban democrats in 379, under the leadership of Pelopidas and Epaminondas, expelled the Spartans and restored the garrison that had existed in the 6th century. Boeotian League. In 378/377, the Second Athenian Naval League arose to fight Sparta, which also included Thebes. In 371, at the Battle of Leuctra, the Thebans inflicted a defeat on the Spartan troops, which dispelled the myth of the invincibility of Sparta. After the death of the Theban commander Epaminondas in the Battle of Mantinea (362), the short period of the rise of Thebes ended, which was also facilitated by the hostile attitude towards Thebes of Athens, frightened by their strengthening. However, Athens' attempt to establish the order that existed in the First Alliance in the Second Athenian Naval League met with resistance from the allies and led to the Allied War of 357-355 BC. e., which ended with the collapse of the union.

During this period, a new power arose in northern Greece - Macedonia. By 346, the Macedonian king Philip II had conquered first Thessaly, then Phocis, Chalkidiki and the Thracian coast. In Athens and other policies of Greece, there was a struggle between the pro-Macedonian (Isocrates, Aeschines, Philocrates, etc.) and anti-Macedonian (Demosthenes, Hyperides, etc.) parties. Through the efforts of Demosthenes against Macedonia, a coalition of Greek cities was created, which, however, suffered a complete defeat in the Battle of Chaeronea (338), where, according to Lycurgus, one of the leaders of the anti-Macedonian party, “along with the bodies of the fallen, the freedom of the Greeks was buried.” The Congress in Corinth in 338-337, convened by Philip II, finally formalized the subordination of Greece to Macedonia, and it announced the creation of a union of Greek states led by Macedonia. An oligarchic regime was established in all policies, supported by Macedonian garrisons.

Hellenistic period (late 4th BC - mid 1st century AD)

The Battle of Chaeronea and the conquests of the Greco-Macedonian army in the east under the command of Alexander the Great ushered in the Hellenistic period. The monarchy of Alexander the Great fell apart immediately after his death (323). The long struggle of the Diadochi and their successors, the Epigones, led to the creation of a number of independent Hellenistic states (the largest of them were the monarchies of the Seleucids, Ptolemies and Macedonia itself).

Greece of the Hellenistic period is characterized by the predominance of states and unions of a militarized type (Macedonia, the Achaean League, the Aetolian League, Sparta), which continued to challenge dominance in Greece. In most states, oligarchy or kings were in power. The struggle of states led by Athens against Macedonia after the death of Alexander (Lamian War 323/322) ended with the victory of Macedonia and reprisals against the Greek democrats. After the second defeat in the Chremonides War (267-261; named after the Athenian commander Chremonides), Athens was defeated, becoming completely dependent on the Macedonian monarchy.

However, Macedonia was unable to restore its power over the entire Balkan Peninsula. Two new powerful unions fought against it, sometimes uniting with each other, sometimes separately - the Achaean (reborn around 280) and the Aetolian (created around 320). The Achaean League covered most of the Peloponnese (except for Sparta, which joined the union after 192) and the largest cities (Sikyon, Corinth, Megara). In addition to Aetolia, the Aetolian Union included regions of Central Greece (except Athens), southern Thessaly, and some other cities. The struggle of Alexander's successors, and later Macedonia and two alliances for power in Greece, led to the massive destruction of cities, the sale of residents into slavery, and the settlement of centers with new colonists. The Greek cities were also devastated by pirates, who were used by the Aetolians, selling them into slavery the inhabitants of the captured cities (up to 50 thousand people were sold from Laconia alone). The result of the struggle was the slow agony of the cities, the ruin of the middle strata of the Greek population, the growth of the poor, whose unrest became commonplace (in Corinth, Argos, Miletus).

After the Roman defeat of Macedonia at the Battle of Cynoscephalae in 197, the Romans constantly interfered in the internal affairs of the Greeks, supporting the oligarchic strata against democracy. In the summer of 196, the Roman commander Flamininus proclaimed the “freedom” of the Greeks at the Isthmian Games, a belief in which for a short time made Rome popular in Greece. From that time on, Greece was constantly under Roman influence. In fact, Greece found itself under the rule of Rome. With the establishment of the Roman Empire (27 BC), Greece was turned into the Roman province of Achaia (except for Athens, which was nominally considered a free city) and did not differ much from the other eastern provinces of the Roman Empire. From the 4th century AD Greece formed the core of the Eastern Roman Empire - Byzantium.

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 of political life 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 poleis, 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 in 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 distinctive 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 gods, Greek mythology is rich in characters such as mortal heroes, such as Achilles and Hercules, mythical creatures. These were satyrs, oras, nymphs, forest and river monsters, dragons, muses, dragons and vipers.

Art and Science

The inhabitants of Ancient Hellas made a huge contribution 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 the next era – the Hellenistic era – 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 the 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 various fields - 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, the prominent representatives of 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.

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