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When did the concept of the ancient world appear. The most important achievements of antiquity


When it comes to Ancient Greece, most people immediately think of the Olympic Games, Sparta and ancient Greek mythology. But in fact, the ancient Greeks modern man owes much more. Classic literature, coins, anchors, vending machines - all this and much more comes from ancient Greece.

1. Urban planning


Although most people consider city planning a relatively modern invention, according to most historians, the "father of city planning" is the ancient Greek architect and city planner Hippodames of Miletus. His plans for Greek cities were remarkably ordered, in contrast to the chaotically intertwined streets of the cities of that era.

2. Water mill


The earliest evidence of a water mill in historical documents is the mention of the Perachora wheel, which was created in the third century BC in Greece. Historians believe that it was created by the Greek engineer Philo of Byzantium, who first mentioned the water wheel in one of his works.

3. Plumbing


As you know, the ancient Greeks highly valued the physical development of man. This concept was reflected in their approach to exercise and body cleanliness. For example, in Athens there were many aqueducts through which water flowed from the mountains. Also in the city there was a very extensive plumbing system, through which water from the tanks was distributed to the baths, fountains, as well as the homes of wealthy people.

4. Odometer


This ubiquitous tool today, which measures the distance traveled by a car, was invented in ancient Greece. It was originally used to measure the distance between cities.

5. Cards


Cartography has played a large role in travel and navigation since ancient times. The invention of maps and cartography is attributed to Anaximander of Miletus, one of the most important pre-Socratic philosophers. Although the maps were used in Egypt, Lydia, the Middle East, and Babylon, they depicted only local roads and cities. Anaximander depicted all the inhabited earth known to the ancient Greeks.

6. Lighthouses


Before the advent of special ports in ancient Greece, fires were lit at night on the tops of the coastal hills near the cities where merchant ships went. Subsequently, the fire began to be made on special platforms - the higher the flame burned, the farther it was visible. This practice led to the development of lighthouses. The most famous lighthouse in ancient history is one of the wonders of the world - the Lighthouse of Alexandria, built in 280-247 BC.

7. Coins


The first coins appeared during the Iron Age in Anatolia and Ancient Greece around 600-700 BC. Subsequently, coins designed by the Greeks were used to buy or trade in goods and other peoples.

8. Central heating

Before the Romans had a home heating system, it existed among the Greeks, in particular the Minoans. The Greeks laid pipes under the floors of their houses through which water flowed. warm water, heated by diluted foci.

9. Anchors


The ancient Greeks were the first to use baskets filled with stones, large sandbags, and hollowed-out wooden logs filled with lead as anchors.

10. Shower

In Hellas, for the first time in the world, a shower appeared. Water in public showers, which could be used by both nobles and ordinary citizens, came from lead pipes existing in Greek cities.

11. Automatic doors


Surely, many people think that automatic sliding doors have appeared quite recently, this is not so. The Greeks invented automatic sliding doors that worked with compressed air or water. Such doors were used in temples.

12. Alarm clock


One of the most used in modern world Gadgets were first invented by the famous Greek philosopher Plato. In order not to oversleep his lectures, he altered the water clock.

13. Vending machine


Vending machines also seem like a modern invention, but they are actually over 2,000 years old. The Greek inventor Heron of Alexandria made a prototype of a vending machine in 215 BC. water. The increased weight of the container tilted the vessel, from which a portion of water poured out. Then the coin slipped out of the container, and the vessel again returned to a vertical position.

14. Thermometer


The thermometer was first invented by Heron of Alexandria, who was the first to understand how air expands when heated to high temperatures. Subsequently, Philo of Byzantium was the first to use this technique to determine the temperature of the air, and Galileo in 1597 only improved ancient invention, introducing the concept of "scale" to quantify the temperature measurement process.

15. Theater


The theater was born in the city-state of Athens. Even the word "theater" itself comes from the Greek word Theatron, which means "a place to watch."

In continuation of the topic. Amazing little things.

It is hard to imagine what modern Western civilization would have been like if it had not originated in the majestic world of antiquity. The word "antique" in Latin means "ancient", but it refers only to two cultures of the distant past - ancient Greek and ancient Roman. In their unity and interaction, these cultures largely determined the spirit and face of Europe.

The history of the ancient world covers thirteen centuries - from the VIII century. BC e. according to the 5th century n. e. During this time, one of the most highly developed civilizations of antiquity was created on its territory, glorifying itself with many great discoveries in the field of state building, jurisprudence, military affairs, science, art, and literature. The names of the great creators of ancient culture - philosophers, mathematicians, historians, artists, poets - are imprinted in golden letters in the memory of mankind. For many centuries, the works of ancient scientists were revered as the most authoritative sources of knowledge, and the monuments of ancient architecture, sculpture and literature served as the highest role models.

Unsurpassed masterpieces of world plastic art are considered, in particular, the ancient sculptural works "Nike of Samothrace", with amazing expression conveying the swift flight of the goddess of victory, "Venus de Milo", personifying the perfect harmony of physical and spiritual female beauty, as well as the Pergamon altar of Zeus, which is a grandiose monumental structure depicting the fierce struggle of the Olympian gods and the titans. The best works ancient literature- "Iliad" and "Odyssey" by Homer, "Aeneid" by Virgil, "Metamorphoses" by Ovid, tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, love lyrics Sappho and Anacreon - entered the golden fund of world literary classics, and the heroes of the great ancient Greek tragedies gained immortality on the world stage.

Among the remarkable achievements of Hellas is the Museyon, the largest scientific and cultural center in the ancient world, created in Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy. Its name that gave life modern word"museum", in translation means "temple of the muses" (the muses in ancient Greece were considered the patroness of sciences and arts). Indeed, the Alexandrian Museion was built as a "temple" for intellectuals - with spacious lecture halls, a refectory, courtyards for walking and a luxurious library that contained a vast collection of ancient, often rare or even unique manuscripts. Ptolemy invited the best scholars to work in the Mouseion, among whom were specialists who selected, processed, commented on and interpreted texts. They became the forerunners of modern philologists.

It is noteworthy that it was the ancient Greeks who invented the word "philology" (from the Greek phileo - I love and logos - thought, word), which eventually became the general name of the "sciences of the word" - literary criticism and linguistics. True, the Greeks themselves, by philology, meant love for all kinds of scientific pursuits, including those that had nothing to do with literature. But there were actually philological (corresponding to modern understanding) studies in ancient Greece. The author of one of the literary treatises, called "Poetics", was the outstanding scientist of antiquity Aristotle. In this work, which, unfortunately, has been preserved only partially, an attempt was made for the first time to comprehend the laws literary creativity and development of literary terminology. An important discovery of "Poetics" was the doctrine of the division of literary genres and genres, on which modern science relies to a large extent.

Europeans inherited from the ancient Greeks and Romans scientific and art terminology, the main types and genres of literature, architectural styles, the basics of theatrical art, the principles of depicting a person in painting and sculpture. But the main thing is that the European tradition has absorbed the ideal of man developed by antiquity, based on a harmonious combination of the development of his physical and spiritual forces, the balance between his inner freedom and laws. surrounding life between his individual will and public duty. On the basis of ancient ideas that "man is the measure of all things", humanism was formed, which became the key concept of European culture.

The first oral speech with semantic and phonetic structures appeared about ten thousand years ago.

Legislation

In the XVIII century BC. e. Hammurabi, the sixth Babylonian king, wrote his famous code, or collection of laws, according to which it was necessary to live in society. Other examples of ancient legislative texts are the Book of the Dead, the Ten Commandments, and the Book of Leviticus.

Steel alloys are rightfully considered the strongest. Steel was first used in Asia about four thousand years ago. The Greeks began to use these alloys in the 7th century BC. e., 250 years before China and Rome.

The first alphabet containing both vowels and consonants appeared among the Phoenicians in 1050 BC. e.

hydropower

The energy of flowing or falling water began to be used in the Mesopotamia region in the 2nd century BC. e.

Manual dialing with movable type

Although the invention of the printing press is due to Gutenberg (1436), the technology on which it is based comes from China. Movable type was invented by Bi Shen in 1040.

Pinhole camera

The forerunner of modern cameras and video cameras was the camera obscura (translated as dark room), which was an optical device used by artists to create quick sketches while traveling outside their studios. A hole in one of the walls of the device served to create an inverted image of what was happening outside the chamber. The picture was displayed on the screen (on the opposite wall of the dark box from the hole). These principles have been known for centuries, but in 1568 the Venetian Daniel Barbaro modified the camera obscura with converging lenses.

Electricity

In 1600, the Englishman William Gilbert first used the term "electricity". In 1752, Benjamin Franklin proved that lightning is electricity. The fateful discovery of electricity is credited to the English scientist Michael Faraday. Among his key discoveries, it is worth noting the principles of action electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism and electrolysis. Faraday's experiments also led to the creation of the first generator, which became the forerunner of the huge generators that today produce the familiar to us in Everyday life electricity.

Electromagnet

William Sturgeon invented the first electromagnet in 1825. His invention consisted of an ordinary iron horseshoe around which a copper wire was wound.

Telegraph

Since 1753, many researchers have been conducting their experiments to establish communication at a distance using electricity, but a significant breakthrough did not come until a few decades later, when in 1835 Joseph Henry and Edward Davy (Joseph Henry, Edward Davy) invented the electrical relay. With this device, they created the first telegraph 2 years later.

Theory of evolution and natural selection

Inspired by his observations during his second exploratory journey in 1831-1836, Charles Darwin began to write his famous theory of evolution and natural selection, which, according to scientists from all over the world, has become a key description of the mechanism of development of all life on Earth.

Semiconductors

The first semiconductors were discovered in 1896. Silicon is the main semiconductor today. It was first used commercially by Jagadish Chandra Bose.

The quantum physics

The real beginning of quantum physics is considered to be 1900 and Planck's hypothesis. On its basis, Einstein built his theory about the particles of light, which were later dubbed photons.

steam engine

Everyone knows that modern civilization was forged in factories built during the Industrial Revolution, and that it was all done using steam engines. The steam-powered engine was invented a long time ago, but over the past century it has been significantly improved by three British inventors: Thomas Savery, Thomas Newcomen, and the most famous of them, James Watt (Thomas Savery, Thomas Newcomen, James Watt).

Nuclear magnetic resonance

Today, nuclear magnetic resonance is constantly used as an extremely accurate and efficient diagnostic tool in the field of medicine. This phenomenon was first described and calculated American physicist Isidor Rabi in 1938 while observing molecular beams. In 1944, for this discovery, an American scientist was awarded Nobel Prize in physics.


Transistor

Switching and amplification of the electronic signal is carried out using a transistor - an invention that was created by Bill Shankly in 1947, and which first thought about the possibility of creating a global telecommunications network.

Polio vaccine

On March 26, 1953, American medical researcher Jonas Salk announced that he had successfully tested a vaccine against polio, a virus that causes severe chronic illness. In 1952, an epidemic of this disease diagnosed 58,000 people in the United States, and the disease claimed 3,000 innocent lives. This spurred Salk to seek salvation, and now the civilized world is safe at least from this disaster.

Integrated circuit

In 1959, through the efforts of several developers, inventors and corporations, the first integrated circuit was created - an arbitrary set of electronic components combined into one crystal or on one circuit. It was this invention that made it possible to create microchips and microprocessors.

Microprocessor

In 1971, the developer of the Intel company created an innovative integrated circuit, the size of which was ten times smaller. It was she who became the first microprocessor.


The material that keeps your frying pan from burning was actually invented completely by accident by American chemist Roy Plunkett when he was looking for a replacement for refrigerants to make your home safer. During one of his experiments, the scientist discovered a strange slippery resin, which later became better known as Teflon.


Stem cell reprogramming

Stem cells are amazing. They do the same cellular functions, like the rest of the cells of our body, but, unlike the latter, they have one amazing property - if necessary, they are able to change and acquire the function of absolutely any cells. This means that stem cells can be converted, for example, into erythrocytes (red blood cells) if your body lacks the latter. Or in white blood cells (leukocytes). Or muscle cells. Or neurons. Or ... in general, in almost all types of cells. Despite the fact that stem cells have been known to the general public since 1981 (although they were discovered much earlier, at the beginning of the 20th century), until 2006, science had no idea that any cells of a living organism can be reprogrammed and transformed into stem cells. Moreover, the method of such transformation turned out to be relatively simple. The first person to explore this possibility was Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka, who turned skin cells into stem cells by adding four specific genes to them. Within two to three weeks, from the moment the skin cells turned into stem cells, they could be further transformed into any other type of cell in our body. For regenerative medicine, this discovery is one of the most important in recent history, because this sphere now has a virtually limitless source of cells needed to heal the damage our body has received.

Black hole in space

In 2009, a group of astronomers decided to find out the mass of the black hole S5 0014+81, which had just been discovered at that time. Imagine their surprise when scientists learned that its mass is 10,000 times greater than the mass of the supermassive black hole located at the center of our planet. Milky Way, which actually made it the largest known on this moment black hole in the known universe. This ultra-massive black hole has the mass of 40 billion suns (meaning if you take the mass of the Sun and multiply it by 40 billion, you get the mass of a black hole). No less interesting is the fact that this black hole, according to scientists, formed during the earliest period of the history of the universe - only 1.6 billion years after big bang. The discovery of this black hole contributed to the understanding that holes of this size and mass can increase these figures incredibly quickly.

Dark matter confirmation

According to scientists, this mysterious matter may contain answers to many as yet unexplained astronomical phenomena. For example, in front of us is a galaxy with a mass of thousands of planets. If we compare the actual mass of these planets and the mass of the entire galaxy, the numbers don't add up. Why? Because the answer goes much deeper than simply calculating the mass of matter that we can see. There is also matter that we cannot see. It is just what is called "dark matter". In 2009, several American laboratories announced the discovery of dark matter using sensors submerged in an iron mine to a depth of about 1 kilometer. Scientists were able to determine the presence of two particles whose characteristics match the previously proposed description of dark matter. There are many rechecks to be done, but everything points to the fact that these particles are actually particles of dark matter. This may be one of the most amazing and significant discoveries in physics in the last century.

Memory manipulation

It already sounds like a seed for some Nolan's Inception, but in 2014, scientists Steve Ramirez and Xu Liu manipulated the memory of a laboratory mouse, replacing negative memories with positive ones and vice versa. The researchers implanted special light-sensitive proteins into the mouse's brain and, as you might have guessed, simply shined a light into its eyes. As a result of the experiment, positive memories were completely replaced by negative ones, which were firmly entrenched in her brain. This opens the door to new types of treatment for those who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or who cannot cope with the emotions of losing loved ones. In the near future, this discovery promises to lead to even more surprising results.

Computer chip that mimics how the human brain works

This was seen as something fantastic a few years ago, but in 2014, IBM introduced the world to a computer chip that works on the principle of the human brain. With 5.4 billion transistors and 10,000 times less power to operate than conventional computer chips, the SyNAPSE chip is able to simulate your brain's synapse. 256 synapses, to be exact. They can be programmed to perform any computational task, which can make them extremely useful when used in supercomputers and various types distributed sensors. Thanks to its unique architecture, the performance of the SyNAPSE chip is not limited to the performance that we are accustomed to assessing in conventional computers. It turns on only when it is needed, which allows you to significantly save on energy and maintain operating temperatures. This revolutionary technology could truly change the entire computer industry over time.

One step closer to robot domination

Also in 2014, 1,024 tiny "kilobot" robots were given the task of coalescing into a star shape. Without any further instructions, the robots independently and collectively set about the task.

Slowly, uncertainly, colliding with each other several times, but they nevertheless completed the task assigned to them. If one of the robots got stuck or “lost”, not knowing how to become, the neighboring robots came to the rescue, which helped the “losers” to orient themselves.

What is the achievement? Everything is very simple. Now imagine that the same robots, only thousands of times smaller, are introduced into your circulatory system and, united, are sent to fight some serious disease that has settled in your body. Larger robots, also united, are sent to some kind of search and rescue operation, and even larger ones are used to build fantastically fast new buildings.

Is there life on Mars?

Perhaps there is. In 2015, the NASA aerospace agency published photos of the Martian mountains with dark stripes at their base. They come and go depending on the season. The fact is that these bands are irrefutable proof of the presence of liquid water on Mars. Scientists cannot say with absolute certainty whether the planet had such features in the past, but the presence of water on the planet now opens up many prospects. For example, the presence of water on the planet can be of great help when humanity finally puts together a manned mission to Mars (sometime after 2024, according to the most optimistic forecasts). Astronauts in this case will have to carry with them much less resources, since everything you need is already on the Martian surface.

reusable rockets

The private aerospace company SpaceX, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, was able, after several attempts, to soft-land a spent rocket on a remotely controlled floating barge in the ocean. Everything went so smoothly that now landing spent rockets for SpaceX is considered a routine task. In addition, this allows the company to save billions of dollars in the production of rockets, since now they can be simply sorted out, refilled and reused (and more than once, in theory), instead of just sinking somewhere in pacific ocean. Thanks to these rockets, humanity has become several steps closer to manned flights to Mars.

Gravitational waves

Gravitational waves are ripples of space and time moving at the speed of light. They were predicted by Albert Einstein in his general theory relativity, according to which mass is capable of bending space and time. Gravitational waves can be created by black holes, and they were detected in 2016 using the high-tech equipment of the Laser Interferometric Gravitational Wave Observatory, or simply LIGO, thus confirming Einstein's century-old theory. This is indeed a very important discovery for astronomy, as it proves much of Einstein's general theory of relativity and allows instruments such as LIGO to detect and monitor events of vast cosmic scales in the future.

TRAPPIST system

TRAPPIST-1 is star system, located approximately 39 light years from our solar system. What makes her special? Not much, except for its star, which has 12 times less mass than our Sun, as well as at least 7 planets wrapping around it and located in the so-called Goldilocks zone, where life could potentially exist. Around this discovery, as expected, there are now heated debates. It even goes so far as to say that the system may not be habitable at all and that its planets look more like unsightly vacant space rocks than our future interplanetary resorts. Nevertheless, the system deserves absolutely all the attention that is now riveted to it. Firstly, it is not so far from us - only some 39 light years from the solar system. On the scale of space - around the corner. Secondly, it has three Earth-like planets that are in the habitable zone and are perhaps the best targets for the search for extraterrestrial life today. Thirdly, on all seven planets there can be liquid water is the key to life. But the probability of its presence is highest precisely on the three planets that are closer to the star. Fourth, if there really is life there, then we can confirm this without even sending a space expedition there. Telescopes like JWST, which is set to launch next year, will help solve this problem.

photo from internet

Back in the 1450s, Marsilio Ficino wrote that Florence, the birthplace of humanism, was a city where the Golden Age appeared in all its diversity. It brought to life the forgotten “free arts”: correct speech, eloquence, painting, sculpture, music ... the revival of the ancient golden age, which, as they saw it, determined the entire development of ancient culture. One of the lines of the revival was the idealization of the Florentine Constitution by the Quattrocento humanists. Leonardo Bruni wrote in 1413 that the true freedom of citizens is rooted in vortexity. that is why the Polansian fair administration is so important(meant equality before the law, not equalization). Both Bruni and Palmieri (already in the days of the Medici oligarchy) continued to idealize the republican foundations of the Constitution. Florence, in the eyes of the humanists, almost always looked like a stronghold of freedom and a model of the republican system (only Allamanno Rinuccini« Liberty Dialogue” stated the loss of freedom after the Pazzi conspiracy at the end of the 1470s). Matteo Palmieri’s work “On Civil Life” contains a very important indication that not only people should be in power, but people who are very knowledgeable in government: “It is unreasonable if the shoemaker began to give advice on how to draw up laws, how to lead the state, or how to wage war, ”he wrote (3, 21).

So, for more than half a century, Florence was presented to humanists as the embodiment of a certain ideal of freedom and perfect government.

What are the reasons for this political line? It seems that the time of the humanist chancellors was passing, and the assertion of philosophers that reasoning should be done away from public life, from politics, came into play. This could be the reason for idealism. But not all. The Florentines, exhausted by the wars of different sides, tried to keep at least one hope in life, linking it to the rule of the Medici, which replaced a number of mediocre rulers. In addition, the republic still turned from a proto-Renaissance commune into a sufficiently strong state, so that part of the abstractions was translated into a practical plane. For Florentine citizens, certain ethical norms were determined, observing which they created the glory of their Fatherland - observance of laws, selflessness of public service, honest business activities and the payment of taxes without concealing them, valor in the performance of military duty, work and creativity, professionalism - all this was elevated to the rank of public virtue, good. It is no coincidence that even before the death of Cosimo de Medici, the society read Aristotle's "Politics", and then the "State" of Plato and Cicero, thanks to the translations made by Bruni and lectures given at the University of Giovanni Argiropulo. The civil policy, about whose life Aristotle wrote, was perceived as direct analogue of the city-commune, preserved in the period of the republic. Hence the dream of a golden age once experienced by the Greeks. Florence had every right to the historical reconstruction of ancient traditions, and it was sanctified by the presence of the great people of antiquity, in particular Julius Caesar. In 59 BC, he presented the Florentine lands to his legionnaires. According to the scheme of a military camp, they built a city on the right bank of the Arno, calling it Castra Florentia (" A prosperous military camp”). It was then that the former warriors had a dream of a happy and peaceful life in these blessed places.

And during the Roman Empire, Florence developed quite successfully, erecting temples and baths, as well as a forum (today it is Republic Square - piazza Reppublica), an amphitheater (on which the house of the Peruzzi family was built over time - palazzo Peruzzi).

The city was famous for its independence and self-government. Therefore, the eastern gaming merchants made it prosperous in the 3rd century. Emperor Charlemagne considered it an honor to be invited by the Florentines to celebrate Christmas with them in 786, in connection with which he founded the Santi Apostoli church in the Romanesque style (it was this building that reflected the first glimpses of a new worldview, its proportions and forms formed the basis of many churches in Florence in subsequent eras).

How was antiquity revived? Original galleries of glory were created. First of all, this concerned the posthumous perpetuation of the name, deeds and appearance of a person who served for the glory of the Fatherland. If Padua was proud of the graves of Petrarch, Antenor of Troy (the founder of the city, brother of Priam), Titus Livius, the Augustinian Albert the Great and the condottiere Gattamelata, if Ravenna protected the ashes of the great Dante from the claims of the Florentines, and Spoletto Fra Filippo Lippi the Elder - the famous Florentine Quattrocento artist, then Florence could be proud of a much smaller number of shrines of this kind (the most remarkable were the relics of the Armenian prince, St. Minato, a Christian martyr), and therefore the ambition of the Florentines pushed them to glorious deeds in modern times (as L. B. Alberti wrote, this was done as a sign of gratitude and for the sake of excitation of valor in the living, - 6, vol. 1, p. 266). At the same time, it was well known how the Florentines sought to surprise visitors with something unique - L. Bruni wrote in a panegyric to the city that new people are already amazed by the sight of the very bulk of the city, its splendor and vastness, visible from the mountain (69, 2).

The most famous citizens of the republic were honored to be buried not in Badia or in the squares of the city (there was no tradition of family tombs at city churches in the past), but inside the cathedral of the city - Santa Mariadel fiore, as well as in the best of the temples of the city, where the pantheon was created- in Santa Croce.

Palmieri in his treatise "On Civil Life" paid special attention to the importance of a citizen's personal merits to society - a measure of dignity and the distribution of honors. An important emphasis was placed on ethics - the "science of life". But Palmieri relied not only on the ideas of Aristotle - an important source for him were Cicero's treatises on the duties of rulers and on the state, in which the principles of justice, an impartial attitude to the interests of different parties must be respected. This was said by the Roman philosopher as if for the Florentines of the XIII-XV centuries But the fact is that the humanists most of all valued not quotations, but primary sources, and Cicero in this case relies on Plato's teaching of the ideal state. He needed it to create the concept of a kind of "golden age" in the conditions ancient rome.

Honored citizens were buried in the Cathedral, decorating their tombs with thanksgiving epitaphs and portrait frescoes, which were commissioned by the best artists of the city. Sculptural monuments were also erected there in honor of military leaders, scientists, poets, politicians and musicians - all those who glorified their native Florence or gave their lives for it.

In 1436, the picturesque tombstones of Giovanni d "Acuto appeared(Ghibelline condottiere John Hawkwood) the work of the famous artist

Three years later, monuments appeared in honor of Luigi Marsilia Bicci di Lorenzo - university teachers, and in 1455- condottiere Niccolo da Tolentino. In the 1490s, without waiting for the release of Dante's body, a tombstone was created. At the same time, the architect Filippo Brunelleschi was buried in the right aisle, and Squarcalupi, the organist of the Cathedral, was buried in the left.

The problem of the glory of the Florentines was posed by Dante. Florentines have always been distinguished by ambition, even the author of The Divine Comedy himself. But in a vision to him (before creating the poem), he realized that glory is a multi-level phenomenon, although in general it is insignificant: the sinners are asked to maintain their glory and memory of them on earth, resurrecting their names from non-existence, in Purgatory they are already praying for intercession, for they comprehend non-absoluteness and the transient property of glory, and in Paradise there are those who dreamed during their lifetime not of glory, but of true love. The ambition of contemporaries was wittily ridiculed in the short stories of Dante, Petrarch, Sacchetti. The individualism of the Florentines was supported precisely by ambition. Modesty was not already a virtue in the trecento era, and in the next century it became a relic, though respected (in other people, but not in oneself). In difficult political situation private spiritual life was more intensely experienced and manifested itself. At the same time, the incessant party struggle deprived people of the leisure that they could devote to self-education and spiritual elevation. And only a person indifferent to politics could gain fame in the field of cultural education.

The traditions of earthly existence demanded more, and in Florence, in the era of especially the late Quattrocento, jostra tournaments, anniversaries and the coronation of heroes were held. Over time, philologists realized that the glorification of the individual is in their hands, which they openly declared (judging by Boccaccio's Pallido-13-musonet and A. Poliziano's stanzas). But the Florentine humanists were not limited to the glorification of sovereigns and beauties, but also of their contemporaries.- scientists (thus stimulating the desire to get an education).

Another way of reviving Antiquity in Florence is the compilation by philologists of the most detailed compendiums in the ancient spirit, most of which were biographies.

What did the world of deep antiquity with its monuments and documents mean for a Renaissance man, especially for a foreigner? Suffice it to cite the Neapolitan king Alfonso the Great of Aragon as an example. Ancient Italy made such an indelible impression on him that he gave his brother his lands in Aragon and left for his Neapolitan fiefdom, inviting Chrysolor the Younger, Lorenzo Valla and other scientists, especially from among historiographers. He paid his "academicians" 20,000 gold florins a year, endowing the authors of philosophical works with thousands of ducats. Even during military campaigns, he demanded the reading and commentary of Titus Livius. His secretary in the middle of the quattrocento was Gianozzo Manetti, the future envoy of Florence, an excellent orator. In full measure, Alfonso allowed himself to repeat the actions of the ancient military leaders-triumphants (he entered the defeated city on a chariot through a gap punched in the fortress wall).

Antiquity gained such incredible popularity also because it met with simultaneous support "from above" and extraordinary interest "from below". But first there was a struggle for the right to engage in it. Suffice it to recall Petrarch's treatise "On one's own and others' ignorance"(where the problem of the correlation of ancient and Christian ideals was raised), then Boccaccio, whom Petrarch supported in moments of repentant doubts (“The Genealogy of Pagan Gods” raises the question of the admissibility of studying monuments of pagan antiquity with all the piety of a Christian and the ethics of the content of ancient poetry).

The main controversy flared up in the era of the Quattrocento, when the Florentines got acquainted with the treatise of the Dominican Giovanni Dominici« Firefly in the night "and response messages of Coluccio Salutati. Dominici was a fierce opponent of humanism, seeking to revive the ancient spiritual heritage. He held an antithesis between the darkness of paganism and the light of true faith. Moreover, the monk spoke not against Latin grammar and all of Petrarch or Boccaccio, but against the temptations of ancient Greek philosophy. The Dominican had long decided for himself the question of antiquity, as well as secular knowledge. The successor of his polemical statements was Dominici's disciple, Archbishop Antonin of Florence (Antonio Pierozzi). It was he who advised Ficino to read the "Code of the Anti-Gentiles" in order to philosophically fall into the heresy of Platonism. Contrary to the hostile churchmen, who approached the question of humanism subjectively, but did not read even a small fraction of the works against which they opposed, the Catholic historian Floro di Zenzo introduced a certain amount of objectivity into the controversy, noting that the dispute over the ancient heritage becomes something more as soon as the true goals of the humanistic movement, it is no longer just a conversation about learning grammar and formal imitation of the classics (3, 12).

The head of the Florentine humanists of the early period, Chancellor Coluccio Salutative, in response to messages, denounced the clergy as ignorant, who, turning away from Latin letters, are unable to correctly understand the text of Holy Scripture, especially since it is a monument of high ancient poetry. He acts as an apologist for the general cultural education of the humanists, and in addition, the culture of classical antiquity is virtue, the glorification of valor and other truths that have already become the national idea of ​​the Florentines at that time. The humanist proclaims the unity of virtuous paganism and Christianity, for one is truth, and the other is faith, and there are no and cannot be contradictions between them, but only interaction.

Proclamation of the spiritual unity of pagan and Christian cultures later led, as is well known, to the idea of ​​\u200b\u200ba universal religion and the philosophy of the Platonic Academy. Even before the appearance of the first message of the chancellor, Leonardo Bruni spoke in defense of humanism, translating the treatise “On how young people can benefit from pagan books” by Basil the Great. Poggio Bracciolini also supported Salutati in the dialogue “Against Hypocrisy.” They also remembered Dante, who delivered virtuous pagans like Homer, Plato, Averroes and others from the torment of Hell and placed them in Limbo. Marsilio Ficino, with his "Salvation of the Philosophers before the Coming of Christ," continues this theme, emphasizing the morality of the life of the ancient sages, who, according to Dante's will, were waiting for salvation by the Messiah, like the biblical prophets brought from Hell by them. Hence, from the controversy about the ancient heritage, the doctrine of virtue and universal salvation was born, the harmony of universal consent, manifested in Parnassus and the School of Athens by Raphael a century after the Firefly in the Stanzas of the Vatican!

It was at that time, at the dawn of the Cinquicento, that Cardinal Adriano Corneto summed up the results of humanism and the struggle for the ancient heritage in the treatise “Ob True Philosophy.” Ancient education did its job - a convinced persecutor of philosophers and antiquity had an excellent education, a rare essay on the elegance of Latin speech and entered into history of art as the author of the "School of Athens" proposed by him to Raphael!

But Corneto turned out to be one of the last idealists of the Curia - the Tridentine spirit prevailed at the end of the High Renaissance, putting an end to both humanism and its ideology (although ancient works were allowed as a guide for studying Latin speech in the Jesuit College). These are the paradoxes of time. But before that there was still a century of ardent admiration for the ancient spirit in Florence. Imaginary letters were written to ancient heroes (only appeals to Petrarch, Titus Livius have come down to us). So Antiquity will be glorified - this became the unshakable conviction of the Florentines in the Renaissance. Gradually, admiring admiration for Antiquity was replaced by imitation. But the way out of this impasse was found not by speakers, but by poets, who began “composing” and continuing the plots and motifs of ancient mythology. Boccaccio's Tezeida was the first on this path. In Ameto and the Fiesolan Nymphs, he placed the world of gods and shepherds in the vicinity of Florence, bringing them down from Olympus to earth, and tying them to a specific place. Many biblical scenes were set on similar ancient cothurnas (this was done by Batista Mantuano, general of the Carmelite lord, poet and humanist of the late Quattrocento). Pride in the beauty of their city, created by the hands of fellow citizens, was embodied in frescoes, reliefs and paintings by Florentine artists.

Antiquity

Antiquity [ (goes back to lat. antiquitas- antiquity) - in general sense this word means " Greco-Roman antiquity”, in other words, the civilization of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome in all its diversity of historical forms.

Also, sometimes Antiquity is called any very ancient times, using the concept synonymously with the word " antiquity».

In Antiquity, one should look for the origins of many values ​​that later formed European culture.

Since Antiquity accounts for several centuries of human history, it is customary to subdivide it into epochs and periods.

1 General periodization of Antiquity

2 Periodization of Antiquity and Protoantiquity

2.1 Crete-Mycenaean period - prehistory of Antiquity

2.1.1 Minoan civilization (Crete)

2.1.2 Mycenaean civilization (Balkan Greece)

2.2 Polis period

2.2.1 Homeric (prepolis) period, "dark ages" (XI-IX centuries BC)

2.2.2 Archaic Greece (VIII-VI centuries BC)

2.2.3 Classical Greece (V-IV centuries BC)

2.3 Hellenistic period

2.3.1 First Hellenistic period (334-281 BC)

2.3.2 Second Hellenistic period (281-150 BC)

2.3.3 Third Hellenistic period (150-27 BC)

2.4 Roman Empire

2.4.1 Principate (27 BC-284 AD)

2.4.2 Tetrarchy and Dominate (285-324 AD)

2.4.3 Decline of the Roman Empire (AD 395-476)

3 Geography of Antiquity

4 Legacy of Antiquity

4.1 Antiquity and modern society

General periodization of Antiquity

Generally, general periodization Antiquity looks like this.

    Early Antiquity(VIII century BC - II century BC) The birth of the Roman Empire.

    classical antiquity(I century BC - I century AD), golden age ancient world, the time of the unity of the Greco-Roman civilization.

    Late Antiquity(II-V AD). The collapse of the Roman Empire.

Time periods may vary somewhat in the geopolitical context. So the golden age of Antiquity in Ancient Greece was marked earlier than in the Roman Empire. Besides, ancient civilization in Eastern Roman Empire originated earlier and died out later than in the Western part, where its way of life was destroyed by the invading Germans. Nevertheless, the ancient cultural heritage (mainly in the Late Antique form) is quite well preserved in the way of life, culture, language and traditions of most modern Romance peoples, and from them it was transmitted to others peoples mediterranean (south slavs, Arabs, Turks, Berbers, Jews).

It should also be noted that many elements of classical Antiquity (traditions, laws, customs, etc.) were well preserved in the Asia Minor core of Eastern Roman ( Byzantine) empires until the 11th century, before the advent of Seljuk Turks.

Periodization of Antiquity and Protoantiquity

Crete-Mycenaean period - prehistory of Antiquity

Cretan-Mycenaean (late III-II millennium BC). Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations. The emergence of the first state formations. The development of navigation. Establishment of trade and diplomatic contacts with the civilizations of the Ancient East. The emergence of original writing. For Crete and mainland Greece, various periods of development are distinguished at this stage, since on the island of Crete, where a non-Greek population lived at that time, statehood developed earlier than in Balkan Greece, which underwent BC at the end of the 3rd century. BC e. the conquest of the Achaean Greeks. In fact, the Crete-Mycenaean period is the prehistory of Antiquity.

Minoan civilization (Crete)

Priest King, fresco in the palace of Knossos

    Early Minoan period (XXX-XXIII centuries BC). The dominance of tribal relations, the beginning of the development of metals, the beginnings of crafts, the development of navigation, relatively high level agricultural relations.

    Middle Minoan period (XXII-XVIII centuries BC). Also known as the period of "old" or "early" palaces. Early appearance state formations in different corners islands. Construction of monumental palace complexes in a number of regions of Crete. early forms of writing.

    Late Minoan period (XVII-XII centuries BC). The heyday of the Minoan civilization, the unification of Crete, the creation of the sea power of the king Minos, the wide scope of commercial activity of Crete in the Aegean Sea basin, the flourishing of monumental construction ("new" palaces in Knossos, Mallia, Phaistos). Active contacts with ancient Eastern states. Natural disaster of the middle of the XV century. BC e. causes decline Minoan civilization, which created the prerequisites for the conquest of Crete by the Achaeans.

History of discovery and name open March 16 1900 English archaeologist Arthur Evans and named after the mythical king of Crete Minos- owner labyrinth built, according to legend, Daedalus. According to the same legend, the ancient Greeks paid tribute to Minos with people whom he fed to the monster. minotaur- offspring of his wife Pasiphae.

Characteristics

    The Minoan civilization was a state ruled by a king.

    The Minoans traded with Ancient Egypt, exported copper from Cyprus. Architecture is characterized by rethought Egyptian borrowings (for example, the use columns).

    The Minoan army was armed with slings and bows. The typical weapon of the Minoans was also a double-sided ax labrys.

    Like other nations old europe, was common among the Minoans bull cult(cm. taurocatapsia).

    The Minoans melted bronze, produced ceramics and built palace complexes from the middle of the 20th century BC. e. ( Knossos, Fest, Mallia).

    Like others pre-Indo-European religions Europe, the Minos religion is no stranger to remnants matriarchy. In particular, respect goddess with snakes(possibly similar Astartes).

Cultural connections According to the testimony Homer, in addition to the Minoans proper (autochthonous Cretans, Eteocretans), Crete also lived Pelasgians(according to Herodotus etc., who arrived from Asia Minor or Greece), as well as the Kidons (a small people, possibly related to the Minoans - the name of the city comes from them Kydonia). Later, the island was infiltrated Achaeans(Greeks).

Genetic affiliation Minoan (Eteocretan) language not installed. Partial decryption Cretan script allowed to reveal some morphological indicators. Undecipherable Phaistos disc.

Sunset The Minoan civilization suffered greatly as a result of a natural disaster in the 15th century. BC e. - volcanic explosion on the island of Thira ( Santorini), which gave rise to a catastrophic tsunami. This volcanic eruption may have been the basis of the myth of Atlantis.

Previously, it was assumed that the volcanic eruption destroyed the Minoan civilization, however, archaeological excavations in Crete have shown that the Minoan civilization existed for at least about 100 years after the eruption (a layer of volcanic ash was found under the buildings of the Minoan culture).

After the eruption, the Achaeans seize power on the island. Arises Mycenaean culture(Crete and mainland Greece), combining Minoan and Greek elements. In the XII century. Mycenaean culture destroyed Dorians, which eventually inhabit Crete. The Dorians' invasion leads to a sharp cultural decline, falling into disuse Cretan script.

Nevertheless, Eteocretan(the language of the autochthonous Cretans), apparently, still continued to exist - its last monuments, written in the Greek alphabet, date back to the 3rd century BC. BC e. (a millennium after the disappearance of the Minoan civilization!)

Mycenaean civilization (Balkan Greece)

    Early Helladic period (XXX-XXI centuries BC). Dominance in Balkan Greece of tribal relations among the pre-Greek population. The appearance of the first large settlements and proto-palace complexes.

    Middle Helladic period (XX-XVII centuries BC). Settlement in the south of the Balkan Peninsula of the first waves of carriers Greek- Achaeans, accompanied by some decrease general level socio-economic development of Greece. The beginning of the decomposition of tribal relations among the Achaeans.

    Late Helladic period (XVI-XII centuries BC). The emergence of an early class society among the Achaeans, the formation of a producing economy in agriculture a number of state formations with centers in Mycenae, Tiryns, Pylos, Thebes, etc., the formation of original writing, the flourishing of Mycenaean culture. The Achaeans conquer Crete and destroy the Minoan civilization. In the XII century. BC e. Greece is invaded by a new tribal group - the Dorians, the death of the Mycenaean statehood.

Early Helladic Greece Is a part Cretan-Mycenaean period Greek history.

AT III-II thousand BC e. in the Balkan Greece lived Pelasgians, Leleges and Carians, the whole country according to Herodotus called Pelasgia. Later Greek historians considered these peoples barbarians, although in reality their culture was at a higher level of development (archaeological data testify to this) than the culture Achaean Greeks who invaded Greek territory at the turn III-II thousand BC e.

All settlements of the early Helladic era can be divided into two types - these are strongholds(for example, in Lerne), in which representatives of the tribal nobility lived, and densely built-up villages (for example, Rafina and Zigouries), inhabited mainly by peasant farmers. All citadels were surrounded by fortifications, which were also present in some settlements.

In addition to farming, in the early Helladic period, craft(pottery, blacksmith), but the number of artisans was small and the products provided local demand, but it is possible that it also went beyond the boundaries of a separate community.

The division of settlements into citadels and settlements may indicate the beginning of class formation in the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. e. The civilization of this period was already ahead of other European cultures in its development, but movement prevented further progressive growth. tribes throughout Balkan Greece.

The emergence of the first Achaean states With the advent of the first wave of Achaean tribes, we can talk about the formation of the Greek people at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. Archaeological data of finds from the Middle Helladic period (XX-XVII) indicate a certain decline in the culture of this period compared to the culture of the Early Helladic period. AT burials this time there were no metal products, instead of them reappear stone tools, the inventory of such burials is very scarce and monotonous, most likely, this can be explained by the lack of class stratification of society. Monumental structures are also disappearing, although it is impossible not to note the appearance of some innovations, such as Potter's wheel and war chariot.

All settlements of the Middle Helladic period were located, as a rule, on elevated areas and were fortified, an example of such a settlement is settlement Malti Dorion in messenia. In the center of this settlement there was a palace, workshops of artisans adjoined it, the rest was made up of houses ordinary people and storage facilities.

By the end of the Middle Helladic period, a cultural upsurge in the development of the civilization of mainland Greece began to be felt, the first state formations arose, a process of class formation took place, manifested in the allocation of a stratum of the nobility, there was a significant increase in the population associated with the success of agriculture. The number of small settlements as well as large cities. Period in Greek history between XVI and XI centuries BC e. It is customary to call the Mycenaean era, after the name of the largest political and economic center of continental Greece - Mycenae located in Argolis.

Questions about the ethnic origin of the carriers of the Mycenaean civilization for a long time remained one of the most difficult, only after deciphering the linear script by scientists, the opinion was established that they were Achaeans. Achaeans who migrated to Crete and islands Asia Minor around the 16th century BC e., apparently descended from the northern, Thessalian Achaeans.

The first city-states formed in the XVII-XVI centuries. BC e. - Mycenae, Tiryns, Pylos- had close cultural and trade ties with Crete, Mycenaean culture borrowed a lot from Minoan civilization, whose influence is felt in cult rituals, secular life, artistic monuments; undoubtedly, the art of building ships was perceived from the Cretans. But the Mycenaean culture was characterized only by its inherent traditions, rooted in antiquity (according to A. Evans, the Mycenaean culture is only an offshoot of the Cretan and is devoid of any individuality), its own path of development. A few words can be said about the development of Mycenaean trade and foreign relations with other states. Thus, a number of items found in Egypt and previously considered to have been brought from Crete, are now identified as products of Mycenaean artisans. There is a hypothesis according to which the Mycenaeans helped pharaoh Ahmose(XVI century BC) in his struggle with Hyksos, and at the time Akhenaten (XV in. BC BC) in his new capital Akhetatone Mycenaean pottery was widespread.

In the XV-XIII centuries. BC e. Achaeans conquered Crete and Cyclades, colonized many islands in Aegean Sea, founded a number of settlements in the depths of the territory of Greece, on the site of which the famous ancient city-states later grew up - Corinth, Athens, Delphi, Thebes. This period is considered the heyday of the Mycenaean civilization.

The Achaeans maintain not only the old Cretan trade relations, but also lay new sea routes on Caucasus, Sicily, in North Africa.

The main centers, as in Crete, were palaces, but their important difference from the Cretan ones is that they were fortified and were citadels. The monumental dimensions of the citadels are striking, the walls of which are built from untreated blocks, reaching in some cases a weight of up to 12 tons. The most outstanding, perhaps, the citadel is Tiryns, the entire defensive system of which was thought out with great care to prevent all unexpected disastrous situations.

Return of the Heraclides The formation of an urban community in the form in which it is depicted in the Iliad and the Odyssey, with a heterogeneous population in a certain territory, with all the features of the state system, was greatly facilitated by the movement of the Hellenic tribes, known as the return of the Heraclids or resettlement Dorians in Peloponnese. The mixture of tribes that took place at the same time and the unification of the conquerors and the conquered in a common political organization, the thirst for success and improvement in new places should have accelerated the transition from the tribal system to the territorial, state. The founding of colonies in Asia Minor and on the islands, which followed the movement of the Dorians, acted even more strongly in the same direction: new interests and new relations gave rise to new forms of society. The movement of the Hellenes, in which the main role belonged to the Dorians, is timed to XII century(since 1104); it started with an invasion epirus people Thessalians through pind to that country, which in historical time was called Thessaly. The Aeolian natives were partly conquered, partly fled south and gave their place a name Boeotia. Living at the foot Olympus the Dorians moved first into that region, which was later called Dorida, and from there a part of them, together with Aetolians, through Gulf of Corinth crossed to the Peloponnese, until that time occupied by the Achaeans and in the northern part Ionians. Only after a long struggle with the natives did the Dorians gradually establish themselves in messenia, laconica, Argolis, where they penetrated from the side Gulf of Argos, and in Corinth. The Achaeans were forced either to submit to the newcomers in the position of incomplete inhabitants, or, having lost their tribal characteristics, to merge with the winners together, or, finally, to withdraw from their homes. Since that time, the northern strip of the peninsula received the name Achaia, from where the Ionians ran to their fellow tribesmen in Attica: Achaeans escaping from the Dorians occupied the coastal region. Another part of the Achaeans left Peloponnese and settled on the island Lesvos. From the Isthmus of Corinth, the Dorians penetrated into central Greece and took possession of Megaris. In the Peloponnese, the inhabitants of the Peloponnese held onto their lands, in political independence from the Dorians. Arcadia, a Elida went to the allies of the Dorians, the Aetolians. The immediate consequences of the same conquest of the Peloponnese was the eviction of the Ionians from Attica and other regions to the islands and the Asia Minor coast, where the Ionian 12-gradia arose ( Miletus, Ephesus, Phocaea, Colophon etc.), and the foundation by the Dorians, who came out mainly from Argolis, of six cities ( Hexapolis) on the Carian coast and on the adjacent islands. With the return of the Heraclids and the foundation of the most ancient colonies, which, in turn, served mother countries new settlements, the Hellenic people settled permanently in Greece. This event constitutes the boundary beyond which lies the kingdom of legend and myth, and on this side begins the historical existence of Greece, with the common name of the Hellenes.

Poetic sources

The state of Hellenic societies closest to historical time is depicted with remarkable clarity and completeness in the so-called Homeric poems, Iliad and Odyssey, back to top 8th century BC existed in its current form. The state of society depicted in them contains all the elements of the further development of Greece and constitutes, as it were, the starting point in the formation of various forms of government. The creation of the Iliad and the Odyssey dates back to the 10th-9th centuries. The events sung in the poems are separated from the time of the composition of the poems by the movement of tribes and peoples in mainland Greece, which resulted in the foundation of Asia Minor and island colonies. It is not possible to distribute the historical material contained in the poems by epochs and periods; the main part of it belongs to the times of the author himself. The individual type of the Hellenic, with its most permanent virtues and weaknesses, with its beliefs and inclinations, was already established in the society of the time of Homer. There are no positive laws in this society yet; therefore deviations from the norm of relations in one direction or another are here more often and less sensitive; however, they have great power ancestral customs and attitudes protected by the gods as well as public opinion. Fragments of the tribal system still live in society, especially in family and private law relations; but the city community has already taken shape, its management is distributed among the individual leader, the council of elders and the people. Economic dependence of other leaders on the people, the power of a public word, cash speakers, examples of criticism directed against leaders, etc., testify that already at that time the people in urban communities were not a powerless mass or an unrequited instrument of other authorities. If obedience to the leader is required of the people, then care for the people, justice in solving cases, courage in war, wisdom of advice and eloquence in peacetime are obligatory for the leader. The personal dignity of the leader is one of the necessary conditions for honor on the part of the people and the very obedience to its requirements. The further success of the public was that mutual relations authorities have acquired greater certainty; the notion of the common good in the state took precedence over all other interests; personal dignity and service to society were the main right to influence and importance in the state.

Homeric society is far from homogeneous in its composition: it distinguishes between simple and noble people, in addition to the free there are slaves; among the free, there are differences in status and occupation; mutual relations between masters and slaves bear the stamp of patriarchal simplicity and intimacy; in relations between men and women, more equality is seen than it was in later, historical times. poems Hesiod fill in the testimony of Homer's songs about the Hellenic society in that distant time.

Polis period

(XI-IV centuries BC) Ethnic consolidation of the Greek world. Formation, flourishing and crisis of polis structures with democratic and oligarchic forms of statehood. Highest cultural and scientific achievements of ancient Greek civilization.

Homeric (prepolis) period , "dark ages" (XI-IX centuries BC)

The final destruction of the remains of the Mycenaean (Achaean) civilization, the revival and dominance of tribal relations, their transformation into early class relations, the formation of unique prepolis social structures.

Archaic Greece (VIII-VI centuries BC)

First period of antiquity. It begins in parallel with the sunset of the Bronze Age. The beginning of the period of Antiquity is considered to be the date of the establishment of the Ancient Olympic Games in 776 BC e.

Formation of polis structures. Great Greek colonization. Early Greek tyrannies. Ethnic consolidation of the Hellenic society. The introduction of iron in all spheres of production, economic recovery. Creation of the foundations of commodity production, distribution of elements of private property.

classical greece (V-IV centuries BC)

5th-4th centuries BC e. - the period of the highest heyday of the polis device. As a result of the victory of the Greeks in Greco-Persian Wars(500-449 BC) Athens rises, creates Delian League(led by Athens). The time of the highest power of Athens, the greatest democratization of political life and the flowering of culture falls on the reign of Pericles(443-429 BC). Fight between Athens and Sparta hegemony in Greece and the contradictions between Athens and Corinth, associated with the struggle for trade routes, led to Peloponnesian War(431-404 BC), which ended with the defeat of Athens.

Characterized. The flourishing of the economy and culture of the Greek city-states. Reflection of the aggression of the Persian world power, the rise of national consciousness. The growing conflict between trade and craft types of policies with democratic forms of government and backward agrarian policies with an aristocratic system, the Peloponnesian War, which undermined the economic and political potential of Hellas. The beginning of the crisis of the polis system and the loss of independence as a result of the Macedonian aggression.

Hellenistic period

Hellenistic (IV-I centuries BC). Short-term assertion of the world power of Alexander the Great. The origin, flourishing and collapse of the Hellenistic Greek-Eastern statehood.

First Hellenistic period (334-281 BC)

Campaigns of the Greek-Macedonian army of Alexander the Great, short period the existence of his world power and its disintegration into a number of Hellenistic states. High Hellenism coincided in time with the fierce Punic wars, diverting the attention of Rome from the eastern regions of the Mediterranean, and lasted until the Romans conquered Macedonia in 168 and destroyed Corinth. During these years, Rhodes flourished, the rich Kingdom of Pergamon played a huge role under Attalus I (241-197) and Eumenes II (197-152), majestic monuments of Ptolemaic Egypt were created.

Second Hellenistic Period (281-150 BC)

The heyday of Greek-Eastern statehood, economy and culture.

Third Hellenistic Period (150-27 BC)

Crisis and collapse of the Hellenistic statehood.

The Roman Empire

The Roman Empire (27 BC-476 AD)

Principate (27 BC-284 AD)

Tetrarchy and Dominate (285-324 AD)

Decline of the Roman Empire (AD 395-476)

Geography of Antiquity

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

The central region of the Peloponnese was Arcadia, which bordered on the west with Elis, on the south with Messenia and Laconia, on the north with Achaia, on the east with Argolis, Phliuntia and Sicyonia; Corinthia was located in the extreme northeast corner of the peninsula. Insular Greece consisted of several hundred islands (the largest being Crete and Euboea), which formed three large archipelagos - the Cyclades in the southwest of the Aegean Sea, the Sporades in its eastern and northern parts, and the Ionian Islands off the western coast of Asia Minor. Balkan Greece is basically 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 Ambraki, Corinth, Messenian, Laconian, Argolid, Saronic, Malian and Pagasean).

The largest of the Greek islands is 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 its eastern and northern parts. The most significant of the islands off the western coast of Greece are Kerkyra, Lefkada, Kefallenia and Zakynthos.

Legacy of Antiquity

Antiquity and modern society

Antiquity has left a huge mark on modernity.

Funds Analysis mass media and reader preferences shows that at the turn XX-XXI centuries society is on the rise of interest in the ancient heritage [ source unspecified 138 days ] . There are intensive archaeological search, and their results immediately become the subject of media attention and public discussion. For example, Turkish archaeologists have been researching for seven years ancient city Antadros in the northwest of modern Turkey - they are trying to find evidence of the settlements of the legendary Cimmerians. As historian Gürcan Polat of Turkey's Aegean University said, "the time for real discovery is yet to come." Archaeologists from the Roman French School and University of Bordeaux in the summer of 2006, excavations began on a large necropolis in Roman catacombs Saints Peter and Marcellin relating to the beginning of Christianity in ancient Rome. Serious discussions are ongoing in connection with the start of excavations of the so-called " Bosnian pyramids» on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.