Natural conditions and population of Ancient Greece. Sources on the history of Ancient Greece. Periodization of Greek history. Sources on the history of ancient Greece Historical sources on the history of antiquity

Geographical framework of the Greek world. Periodization and chronology of the history of Ancient Greece

Geogr. Framework: Geographically, Ancient Greece is a combination of its three constituent parts: the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula (from Mount Olympus in the north to Cape Tenar in the south), numerous islands of the Aegean Sea, which are “closed” in the southern part by the island of Crete, and a narrow coastal strip in the western part of Malaya Asia. During the era of the Great Greek Colonization (VIII – VI centuries BC), the Greeks settled on vast areas of the coast of the Mediterranean and Black Seas. In the west, numerous Greek colonies appeared in southern Italy, on the island of Sicily, on the western coast of the Adriatic, in southern Gaul (modern France) and in northeastern Iberia (modern Spain). In the northeast direction, Greek colonization was first aimed at developing the Thracian coast and the shores of the Hellespont Strait, connecting the Black and Mediterranean seas. The most famous colony in the area was Byzantium, which became Constantinople in the 4th century AD, and Istanbul in the 15th century. Through the straits, the Greeks entered the Black Sea and founded dozens of new cities on its coast, most of which still exist. To the south, the Greeks managed to gain a foothold in the Cyrenaica region, on the Libyan coast west of Egypt. As a result of the campaigns of Alexander the Great, the Greeks penetrated far to the East, right up to the western territories Ancient India. All these territories became the site of the development of Greek civilization and are the object of study within the framework of the history of Ancient Greece.

Periodization: 3 stages

1) early class (Crito - Mycenaean) - 2 thousand BC.

A) chronology of the Minoan period

1. Early Minoan period = 30-23 BC (tribal relations)

2. Middle Minoan 22-18 centuries (period of old palaces)

3) Late Minoan 17 -12 (period of new palaces)

B) chronology of mainland Greece

1) Early Ladic 30-21st centuries

2) Middle Helladic 20-17th centuries (collapse of tribal relations)

3) Late Helladic 16-12

2) Polisny (formation and flourishing of policies) 11-4 centuries BC.

A) Homeric 11-9 (tribal relations in Greece)

B) Archaic 8-6 (forms of the policy)

B) Classic 15-4 (the heyday of ancient Greek civilization and the crisis in the development of the Greek polis)

3) Hellenistic end 4 - early 1st century BC (conquest of the Greeks by the Greeks of the Hellenistic states)

A) Eastern campaigns of A. Macedonian and the image of the Hellenistic state system (30th 4th century – 80th 3rd century)

B) further development of policies (80 e 3 – ser 2c)

B) crisis of the Hellenistic system and conquest by Rome (mid 2nd century – 1st century BC)

Sources and historiography on the history of Ancient Greece

Sources: Modern researchers have at their disposal numerous sources of various categories. These are primarily written materials (historical works, works of fiction and scientific literature, journalism, speeches of speakers, legal documents, letters, business documents, etc.), monuments of material culture, mainly obtained during archaeological excavations (ruins of cities, remains of serfs structures, public buildings, residential buildings, tombs, temples, tools, weapons, everyday items, etc.), material from ethnographic observations (the study of ancient customs, institutions, rituals), a large number of various inscriptions, coins. Information about the distant past can be gleaned by analyzing the structure of vocabulary ancient Greek language and oral folk traditions (recorded folklore materials).

Sources on the history of Crete and Achaean Greece of the 2nd millennium BC. e. The few sources of this time are divided into three main categories: written monuments written in syllabary B, data from archaeological excavations of cities and settlements, and information on the history of the 2nd millennium BC. e., preserved in the works of Greek authors of later times.

Tablets written in letter B were found during excavations in Crete by A. Evans in 1901, but only in 1953 did the English scientist M. Ventris decipher the incomprehensible language of the inscriptions. Currently, several thousand tablets written in letter B are known. The vast majority of tablets date back to the 14th-12th centuries. BC e. The inscriptions are very brief and represent mainly business reporting documents. In addition to the tablets found in the palace archives, inscriptions consisting of abbreviations of individual words, painted or scratched on the walls of clay vessels, and individual letters on seals placed on clay stoppers and tags have been preserved. Archaeological excavations provide a wide variety of information about material culture. The most important finds were discovered during excavations of extensive palace complexes: in Knossos and Phaistos on the island. Crete, Mycenae and Pylos in the Peloponnese. Some information about the history of the Achaean and Cretan kingdoms is contained in the late Greek tradition. In Homer's poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey", compiled in the 9th-8th centuries. BC e., not only living memories of the recent past, in particular about the events of the Trojan War, have been preserved, but also entire songs and tales composed in the Achaean era. In the works of Greek authors of the V - IV centuries. BC e. (Herodotus, Thucydides, Aristotle) ​​and subsequent centuries (Strabo, Plutarch, Pausanias), some vague memories of the glorious past of the Greeks, the power of the Cretan king Minos, the creation of a vast power, and the high culture of that time were preserved. Quite diverse, although very difficult to study, material about the history and culture, customs and religion of the Greeks of the 2nd millennium BC. contained in numerous legends and myths of the Greeks about gods and heroes.

Sources on the history of archaic and classical Greece. The total number and variety of sources for studying the history of Greece VIII--TV centuries. BC e. increases sharply. Written sources of various genres are presented with particular completeness.

The earliest written sources were Homer's epic poems - the Iliad and the Odyssey. Valuable information about agriculture, hard peasant labor and rural life can be obtained from the poem “Works and Days” by the Boeotian poet Hesiod (the turn of the 8th-7th centuries BC). He also owns another poem - “Theogony”, which describes in detail the religious views of the Greeks, the origin of the gods, their genealogy and relationships.

To study the socio-political struggle that unfolded in Greek society in the 7th-6th centuries. BC e., important data are given in the political elegies of Greek poets - Archilochus from Paros, Solon from Athens, Theognis from Megara.

One of the most important sources is the writings of ancient Greek historians. The first Greek historians were the so-called logographers, of whom the most famous are Hecataeus from Miletus (540-478 BC) and Hellanicus from Mytilene (480-400 BC). Logographers described the ancient history of their native cities. The writings of the logographers survive only in small fragments.

The first actual historical research was the work of Herodotus from Halicarnassus (485-425 BC). Herodotus’ work is dedicated to the history of the Greco-Persian wars and consists of 9 books, which in the 3rd century. BC e. were named after 9 muses. Actually, the last five books are devoted to the history of the wars themselves (the presentation is brought up to 479 BC), and the first four books describe the history of individual countries, peoples, cities of Asia Minor, Babylonia, Media, Egypt, Scythian tribes, Greek cities of the Balkan Greece, called in ancient times the “father of history.”

Another outstanding work of Greek historical thought was the work of the Athenian historian Thucydides (about 460-396 BC), dedicated to the events of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC). Thucydides' work consists of 8 books, they set out the events of the Peloponnesian War from 431 to 411 BC. e.

A diverse literary legacy was left behind by Thucydides' younger contemporary, the historian and publicist Xenophon from Athens (430-355 BC). In his “Greek History” he continued the work of Thucydides from the events of 411. BC e. and brought him to the Battle of Mantinea in 362 BC. e. Xenophon also wrote other works: several essays on economic topics (treatises “Economics”, “On Income”), a journalistic treatise “On the State System of the Lacedaemonians”, “Cyropedia” (“Education of Cyrus”).

A lot of information of a diverse nature is contained in the numerous speeches of Athenian orators of the 4th century that have survived to this day. BC e. - Lysias, Isocrates, Demosthenes, Aeschines, Hyperides, etc. The earliest of these speeches by Lysias date back to the end of the 5th - beginning of the 4th century. BC e., the latest belong to Hyperides and Dinarchus (20s of the 4th century BC).

The famous Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle wrote works of the most varied content. Among the works of Plato (427-347 BC), the most important are his extensive treatises “The State” and “Laws”, written in the last period of his life. The creativity of the greatest Greek thinker Aristotle is striking in its diversity. He owns treatises on logic and ethics, rhetoric and poetics, meteorology and astronomy, zoology and physics, which are substantive sources. However, the most valuable works on the history of Greek society in the 4th century. BC e. are his writings on the essence and forms of the state - “Politics”, in which he summarized the gigantic material of the political history of 158 different Greek city policies, and a special treatise on the state structure of Athens, one of the largest Greek cities with developed forms of government, “The Athenian Politaia” .

Rich information about the internal and external situation of Athens during the Peloponnesian War and at the beginning of the 4th century. BC e. give numerous comedies (11 comedies have survived) of Aristophanes (450-388 BC).

In the complex of historical sources on the history of Ancient Greece, epigraphic sources occupy an equally important place. These are inscriptions on stone (stone slabs, walls of buildings, steles, statues, etc.), ceramics, and metal plates. The inscriptions were different - from several letters to hundreds of lines. However, there are few large inscriptions (several dozen lines); the bulk of the epigraphic material contains text of several lines.

The enormous material from archaeological excavations, which is growing year by year, is the most important source of knowledge about the most diverse aspects of the life of Greek society.

Sources on the history of Greece of the Hellenistic period. The number of sources dating to this time increases compared to the previous period, and new categories of sources appear, for example, documents written on papyri that were discovered during excavations in Egypt.

From historical works The works of Polybius and Diodorus are of greatest importance. Polybius's work details the history of the Greek and Roman world from 280 to 146 BC. e. In the “Historical Library” of Diodorus Siculus (1st century BC), consisting of 40 books, books from the 18th-20th centuries have been completely preserved, in which, in addition to the history of classical Greece (5th-4th centuries BC), they describe in detail the struggle of the Diadochi, the history of the reign of the tyrant Agathocles in Sicily and other events of early Hellenistic history (before 30 BC).

The richest information of the most varied content is given in Strabo’s “Geography” (64 BC - c. 23/24 AD).

The works of Plutarch, especially his biographies of the largest Greek and Roman political figures of the 3rd-1st centuries, are of great value for early Hellenistic history. BC e.

Unique in its wealth of material for reconstructing the cultural history of Greece of all eras, including archaic, classical and Hellenistic, is the work of Pausanias (2nd century AD) “Description of Hellas.”

Hellenistic history was the object of constant attention of historians of the Roman period, with particular interest being aroused by the history of the reign of Philip II and his illustrious son Alexander the Great. The most famous are “The History of Philip” by Pompey Trogus (late 1st century BC) in 44 books (the work was preserved in an abbreviation by Justin, author of the 2nd-3rd centuries AD), “The History of Alexander the Great” by Curtius Rufus (1st century BC). century AD), “Anabasis of Alexander” by Flavius ​​Arrian (II century AD).

Appian, Roman historian of the 2nd century. n. e., wrote the history of the Seleucid state, Macedonia of the Pontic kingdom.

Valuable sources on various aspects of the life of Hellenistic societies are works of scientific and fiction literature. These are primarily treatises on economics, in particular the treatise attributed to Aristotle (it is called the pseudo-Aristotelian “Economics”, end of the 4th century BC), and the treatise “Economics” belonging to Philodemus (1st century BC. ). Of great interest are the works of Aristotle’s student Theophrastus (370-288 BC), his treatise “On Plants” and his treatise “Characters”. Among the works of fiction, the most important are the everyday comedies of the Athenian playwright Menander (342-292 BC), a collection of short poems by Theocritus (III century BC), dedicated to the glorification of a simple quiet life, far from the worries of the world, which received title "Idylls".

There are numerous epigraphic, numismatic, and archaeological sources on the history of Hellenism. Tens of thousands of very different inscriptions have been found from almost all areas of the Greek world with the most varied content - from legislative acts to student exercises.

A new category of sources for the study of Hellenistic history, especially the Egyptian Ptolemaic kingdom, are numerous texts on papyri. To date, over 250 thousand different papyrus finds are known

Historiography: Russian historiography. The study of the history of Ancient Greece in Russia began in the 18th century. Experts Greek history were M.V. Lomonosov, A.N. Radishchev, who often used much information from ancient Greek authors in their works. Radishchev translated into Russian the work of one of the prominent French educators, G. Mably, “Reflections on Ancient Greek History” (1773). In his work “Historical Song” he gave a sketch of the main events of Greek history. A major specialist on a European scale was the German scientist G. Bayer, who was invited to work in Russia. He published a number of works on the history of the Achaean Union, the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, the relationship between the Greek colonies of the Northern Black Sea region and the Scythian tribes.

I. Martynov in the 20s of the XIX century. published in 26 volumes translated into Russian many ancient Greek authors. N. Gnedich and V. Zhukovsky presented the Russian public with magnificent translations of Homer’s wonderful poems “Iliad” and “Odyssey”.

Vasilievsky’s work “Political reform and social movement in Ancient Greece during the period of its decline” (1869) was innovative. F.F. Sokolov, in short articles, clarified many different dates and events of Greek history in the 5th-3rd centuries. BC e. and firmly entered into scientific use.

V.V. Latyshev undertook a major publication in 3 volumes of all Greek and Latin inscriptions found in the Northern Black Sea region (1885-1916). A versatile researcher was S.A. Zhebelev. His main works are devoted to the study of those periods of Greek history. He recreated the history of Hellenistic Athens (1898) and the history of Balkan Greece in Roman times in the 1st-3rd centuries. n. e. (1903).The object of scientific interests of one of the largest Russian scientists V.P. Buzeskul was the history of Athenian democracy. In the monograph “Pericles” (1889), Buzeskul gave the most thorough analysis in Russian science of the political activities of the leader of the Athenian democracy. In “The History of Athenian Democracy” (1909) V.P. Buzeskul explored the genesis of Athenian democracy, its structure, functioning and showed its great impact on the Greek world.

F.F. Zelinsky was actively involved in studying various aspects of Greek religion and culture. The result of these studies was the publication of a four-volume work “From the Life of Ideas” (1905-1907, 1922).

An important place in the development of a new concept of ancient Greek history in the 1920s was occupied by the research of A.I. Tyumenev. In several monographs (“Essays on the economic and social history of Ancient Greece,” 1920-1922, vol. I-HI; “Did capitalism exist in Ancient Greece?”, 1923; “Introduction to the economic history of Ancient Greece,” 1923) he proposed a new understanding of socio-economic relations in Ancient Greece, determined the specifics of the ancient Greek economy, class and social structure. The general development of the history of ancient Greece as a slave society was undertaken by B.C. Sergeev and S.I. Kovalev in textbooks for history departments state universities. Valuable works on socio-economic issues were published by O.O. Kruger (“General outline of the socio-economic history of Hellenism”, 1934; “Agricultural production in Hellenistic Egypt”, 1935), R.V. Schmidt (about mining and metalworking, 1935; about the situation of penests in Thessaly). In numerous works by S.Ya. Lurie posed various problems of the political history of Attica and Greek science (series of monographs “Democritus”, “Archimedes”, “Herodotus”, “Essays on the history of ancient science”).

Special attention of specialists in the 60-70s was attracted by two cardinal problems of pan-Greek history - slavery and the polis. On the first problem, a series of monographs “Studies on the History of Slavery in the Ancient World” was published. As part of this series, a monograph by Ya.A. Lenzman “Slavery in Mycenaean and Homeric Greece” (1963), collections “Slavery on the periphery ancient world"(1968), "Slavery in Hellenistic states ah III-I centuries. BC e." (1969), monograph by K.K. Zelina and M.K. Trofimova “Forms of dependence in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Hellenistic period” (1969), work by A.I. Dovatura “Slavery in Attica in the VI-V centuries. BC e." (1980). In the 60-70s, much attention was paid to various aspects of the polis organization, the ancient Greek polis. Famous completion research work on the study of the ancient Greek polis, by the mid-80s the consolidated work “Ancient Greece” (1983, vols. I-II) was published.

According to the history of Achaean Greece, the study of which acquired a special scope after the decipherment of Linear B writing and the reading of written documents of the 2nd millennium BC. e., several serious works were published: S.Ya. Lurie “Language and Culture of Mycenaean Greece”, 1957; Y.A. Lenzman, Slavery in Mycenaean and Homeric Greece, 1963; T.V. Blavatsky “Achaean Greece”, 1966; “Greek society of the 2nd millennium BC. e.”, 1976, etc., in which the most important aspects of ancient Greek history were examined and different points of view were expressed on a number of specific issues.

Valuable works on the history of Greece of the classical period were published by K.K. Zelin (“The Struggle of Political Groups in Attica in the 6th Century BC,” 1964), L.N. Kazamanova (“Essays on the socio-economic history of Crete V-IV centuries BC”, 1964). A.K. studied the political history and political thought of the ancient Greeks. Berger (“Political Thought of Ancient Greek Democracy”, 1966) and A.I. Dovatur (“Politics and Polities of Aristotle”, 1965).

A special direction in research was the development of various problems in the development of social thought of the ancient Greeks of archaic and classical times. Here it is worth noting the work of E.D. Frolov "Torch of Prometheus. Essays on ancient social thought" (1991).

The culture and society of the countries of Eastern Hellenism became the subject of a study by S.V. Novikov, “Southwestern Iran in ancient times. From Alexander the Great to Ardashir" (1989) and I. R. Pichikyan "Culture of Bactria. Achaemenid and Hellenistic periods" (1991). A well-known generalization of regional studies about the Hellenistic time was the collective monograph “Hellenism. Economics, politics, culture" (1991).

The foundations of Russian Scythology were laid by M.I. Rostovtsev (“Hellenism and Iran in the south of Russia”, 1918, and “Scythia and Bosporus”, 1925). Then the study of the history and culture of the Scythians was continued by such venerable scientists as B.N. Grakov (“Kamenskoe settlement on the Dnieper”, “Scythians”, 1971), A.I. Terenozhkin (“Cimmerians”, 1976, and “Scythia VII-IV centuries BC in collaboration with V.A. Ilyinskaya, 1983), M.I. Artamonov (“Treasures of the Scythian burial mounds”, 1966; “Cimmerians and Scythians”, 1974), A.P. Smirnov (“Scythians”, 1966), D.S. Raevsky (“Model of the world of Scythian culture”, 1985).

Foreign historiography of Ancient Greece of the 20th century.

The most famous publications were the 12-volume Cambridge ancient history"(1928-1938), " General history"in 13 books edited by G. Glotz (1923-1939) and the 5-volume work "Peoples and Civilizations. General History”, edited by A. Alphan and F. Sagnac (1930-1937). After the end of the Second World War in the 50-60s, several similar publications were published in different European countries: “General History of Civilization” edited by Krause in France, “History of the World” in 10 volumes in Switzerland, “Fischer’s World History” in 37 volumes in Germany, “History of Humanity. Cultural and scientific development", published under the auspices of UNESCO. An in-depth analysis of the ancient Greek economy was also given by prominent French historians J. Toutin (“Ancient Economics,” 1927) and G. Glotz (“Labor in Ancient Greece. History of the Greek Economy,” 1920), and the German scientist F. Heichelheim (“Economic History ancient world", 1938). In the works of the Dutchman H. Bolkenstein “The Greek Economy of the Golden Age” (1923; 1958), the English scientist H. Mitchell “The Economy of Greece” (1940) speaks very moderately about the modernization of economic relations, emphasizing the certain primitiveness of the economy.

The political history of Greece is studied in several directions. First of all, this is the study of various aspects of Athenian democracy (P. Clochet, C. Mosse, A. Jones, R. Meigs, etc. The number of works on the history of Sparta has increased (H. Mitchell, J. Huxley, W. Forrest).

A generalization of many specific studies of Greek statehood are the works of J. Larsen “Representative Government among the Greeks and Romans” (1953) and V. Ehrenberg “The Greek State” (I960, 1969, vol. 1-11). English and American historians J. Saint Croix (works on the history of the Peloponnesian War, “Karl Marx and the History of Classical Antiquity”), P. Cartledge (works on early Sparta), R. Pedgag (“Classes and Society of Classical Greece”), M. Wasen (“Class Struggle in Ancient Greece”) explore the cardinal problems of ancient Greek history, recognizing the important role of the mode of production in the development of socio-political structures and social contradictions in ancient Greek society.

In the 80-90s, research was carried out on various periods, on many aspects and on almost all regions of the Greek world. Based on these materials, the 4-volume publication “Greater Greece” was published under the editorship of P. Caratelli (1985-1990). Based on the results of international congresses dedicated to the study of the history of the Peloponnese, held in the 80s in the city of Kalamita, 3 volumes of modern research were published (1987-1988).

Appeared basic research: works by O. Rackham on the historical ecology of Boeotia (1983), work by M. Hansen “Demography and Democracy” (1986), generalizing work by R. Sallares “Ecology in the Ancient Greek World” (1991), J. Thurgood “Man and the Mediterranean Forest” (1981), R. Osborne “Classical Landscape” (1987). Besides ecological problems occupy an increasing place in general works, covering different periods of ancient Greek history, such as, for example, Snodgrass’s book “The Archeology of Greece” (1987), the collection “Greek City”, published under the editorship of O. Murray, the work of M. Jameson on agriculture in Ancient Greece (1988,1991 ), the work of P. Garney “Famine and food production in the Greco-Roman world” (1988) and a number of other studies. Apparently, this direction in the historiography of Ancient Greece will prevail in the coming years.

Among the general works published in recent years, one can note a series of monographs by leading experts on different time periods, which together give a modern idea of ​​the history of Greece from the end of the Mycenaean civilization to the end of the Hellenistic era (O. Murray. Early Greece, 1993; J. Davis, Democracy and Classical Greece, 1993; F. Walbank, The Hellenistic World, 1992), published as part of a single series under the general editorship of Oswin Murray.

The history of Ancient Greece has an extensive source base. These are, first of all, written sources. From the Crete-Mycenaean era, tablets written in syllabaries A (in Crete) and B (in Balkan Greece) have been preserved. Syllabary A has not yet been deciphered, but syllabic B was deciphered in 1953 by the English scientist M. Ventris. These plates are business reporting documents. An important source is Homer's poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey". Each poem consists of 24 books. In the Iliad, Homer gives a detailed description of the military actions of the Greeks and Trojans during the Trojan War, the structure of the military camp and weapons, the control system, the appearance of cities, the religious views of the Greeks and Trojans, and everyday life. In the poem "Odyssey" Homer characterizes economic activities, the life of the royal palace and estate, the relationship between the powerful and the poor, customs, and particulars of everyday life. For the archaic era, important sources are the poems of Hesiod and the Greek lyricists (Archilochus, Theognis, Solon, Alcaeus, Sappho and others). Modern scientists, with the help of their works, try to solve issues of the specifics of social psychology of the archaic period. History emerges as a science in Greece. Historical works Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, fragments of the works of other historians that have come down to us in full, provide a holistic, although sometimes subjective, picture of the events that took place in the archaic and, mainly, classical periods. The works of late writers of Hellenistic and Roman times are of great importance: Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, Plutarch, Pausanias, Athenaeus, Aulus Helius and many others. They brought to us the ancient tradition, most of which was lost. Written sources also include the speeches of Greek orators, scientific and philosophical works, and the works of tragedians and comedians. As a result of excavations, inscriptions on hard materials (stone, metal, ceramics) were found. These inscriptions are dedicated to various aspects of the social, religious and private life of the Greeks. Working with this category of sources requires special professional training. Of great importance for the study of the history of Ancient Greece are the physical monuments that are discovered as a result of archaeological excavations. Since the 30s of the 19th century, archaeological excavations have been carried out in Greece. From the very beginning, scientists from different countries (France, England, Germany, USA and others) took part in them. The largest archaeological excavations were carried out in Athens, Olympia, Delphi, Delos, and on the western coast of Asia Minor (Turkey). The remains of remarkable architectural monuments were uncovered, numerous household items and monuments of art were found, the finds of Greek ceramics were especially significant in quantitative terms. Excavations were carried out in almost all places where the Greeks lived: in Southern Italy and Sicily, Southern France, and the Black Sea region. In the Northern Black Sea region, which was part of the Russian state, domestic archaeologists conducted excavations. As a result of G. Schliemann's excavations in Mycenae in the 70s of the 19th century, Mycenaean Greece was discovered. A. Evans' excavations at Knossos on Crete in 1900 led to the discovery of the Minoan civilization. Excavations actively continued throughout the 20th century. Particularly significant were the excavations of the Greek scientist S. Marinatos on the island of Thera, which discovered the remains of the oldest city in Europe, which died as a result of a volcanic eruption 3.5 thousand years ago.

1. The history of ancient Greece as part of ancient history.

2. Sources on the history of ancient Greece.

3. Historiography of ancient Greece.

Geographical boundaries. When talking about the geographical boundaries of Ancient Greece, they are often compared with the boundaries modern state Greece . However, the geographical boundaries of Ancient Greece differ significantly from the boundaries of the modern Greek Republic. In ancient times there was no single state called Ancient Greece, and the territory of Greece included the areas that were inhabited by the Greeks, where their cities, colonies or state entities. Ancient Greece did not have a strictly fixed territory, and at different historical times the boundaries of its possessions changed. In the 2nd millennium BC. Ancient Greece meant the territory of the island of Crete, the Cyclades archipelago and the Peloponnese. After the great Greek colonization in the VIII-VI centuries. BC. the territory inhabited by the Greeks expanded to include numerous colonies in Sicily, southern Italy (these areas were called “Magna Graecia”), as well as colonies along the shores of the Black Sea.

After Alexander the Great’s campaigns to the East and his conquest of vast lands of the powerful Achaemenid Empire, the Hellenistic states of Alexander the Great’s successors arose, which are also considered as new territories of the ancient Greek world. Thus, at the end of the IV-II centuries. BC. Ancient Greece began to be understood as a vast geographical area, stretching from Sicily in the west to India in the east, from the shores of the Aral Sea in the north to Hellenistic Egypt in the south. With the fall of the Hellenistic states, their conquest by the Parthian state in the east and the Roman Republic in the west, the territory of Ancient Greece began to shrink, and in the 1st century. BC. it was included in the Roman Empire in the west and partly the Parthian Empire in the east.

The rugged coastline combined with the mountainous terrain (80% are mountains) explain the impossibility of forming a centralized state in the Balkans: in each small valley there is a separate state, which, at the same time, has a connection with the entire ecumene through the sea.

Inland “harmless” sea, coastal navigation (in summer), maritime civilization in general. Fish is the basis of a healthy diet.

Convenient harbors in Attica and their absence in the Peloponnese, as well as the abundance of fertile land in the Peloponnese and its shortage in Attica explain the different vectors of development of Athens and Sparta. Messenia is especially isolated: on three sides there are mountains Parnon and Taygetos, on the fourth - the Isthmus Isthmus. There are, of course, fertile regions - Thessaly, Arcadia, Boeotia; there is a smaller role of trade, slower social development, therefore the society is more traditional.

The soil is rocky, wheat does not grow, but grapes and olives bear fruit well. It is cheaper to buy bread than to grow it locally, and there is also a product for exchange. Hence the prerequisites for maritime trade (Egypt, Italy, after Colonization - Pontus and more distant areas). The struggle for trade routes is a frequent cause of wars.

There are minerals (clay, marble, iron, copper, silver, wood), which contributed to the development of crafts.

Chronological framework. Greece has been inhabited by people since ancient times (VII millennium BC). The history of Ancient Greece studies the foundations and genesis of primary statehood, the formation and development of an effective economy, social groups and classes that emerged from a single generic mass. These signs of civilization first appeared in the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. on the island of Crete and certain territories of the Peloponnese. This date is associated with the beginning of the actual history of civilization in Greece, and not only in Greece, but in all of Europe. Having spread over vast territories, Greek civilization went through a long path of development. The end of the independent history of ancient Greek statehood is considered to be the fall of the last Hellenistic kingdoms and their conquest in the east by Parthia and in the west by Rome. Rome's conquest of the last Hellenistic state - Ptolemaic Egypt (during the reign of Cleopatra VII) - in the 30s BC. marked the end of the independent ancient Greek civilization. It is with these events that the course “History of Ancient Greece” ends. Since that time, the history of ancient Greek cities and state entities has been studied as an integral part of the course “History of Ancient Rome.”

Periodization of ancient Greek history. In general, the history of Ancient Greece is divided into three large stages:

Stage I: early class societies and the first state formations of the 2nd millennium BC.

Stage 2: the formation and flourishing of policies, slave relations of the classical type, the creation of a high culture. The chronological framework of this stage corresponds to the XI-IV centuries. BC.

Stage 3: the conquest of the Persian Empire by the Greeks, the formation of Hellenistic societies and states. The time period that this stage occupies corresponds to 338 BC. - 30 BC

In general, the formation of ancient Greek society began with the decomposition of the tribal institutions of primitive society. Old norms of behavior and thinking are being replaced by new forms of interaction between people as free citizens. The clan group is divided into various social groups; a rational and cost-effective economy is developing, which provides a fairly constant surplus product; the institution of statehood is emerging, regulating social relations and conditions for transforming mentality primitive people towards rational thinking; new moral and moral principles of human behavior are being formed.

The process of formation of the first civilizations took place in parallel in Crete and Balkan Greece. In the scientific literature, one path of development is called Cretan, and the other - Achaean.

Each of the above stages, in turn, is divided into periods. For the history of Crete, and accordingly the Cretan path of development, three Minoan periods are distinguished: Early Minoan (XXX-XXIII centuries BC), Middle Minoan or the period of “old palaces” (XXII-XVIII centuries BC), Late Minoan or period “new courtyards” (XVII-XII centuries BC).

The history of mainland, or Achaean, Greece is also divided into three periods, which are called Helladic: Early Helladic (XX-XXI centuries BC), Middle Helladic (XX-XVII centuries BC), Late Helladic, or Mycenaean ( XVI-XII centuries BC).

The 12th century in the history of Achaean Greece was marked by the Dorian invasion, which led to the death of the class society of the Achaean states. On the territory of Greece, including Crete, again by the 11th century. BC. Primitive communal relations are established, and Greek society is again at the stage of decomposition of tribal relations.

Second phase V The history of Ancient Greece is called the polis stage. It is also divided into three periods: pre-polis, or Homeric (XI-IX centuries BC), archaic (VIII-VI centuries BC) and the polis proper (V-IV centuries BC). ).

The third, Hellenistic, stage in the history of Ancient Greece includes three periods: the eastern campaigns of A. Macedonian and the formation of the system of Hellenistic states (30s of the 4th century BC - 80s of the 3rd century BC .e.); the heyday of Hellenistic (Greek-Eastern) societies and states (80s of the 3rd century BC - mid-2nd century BC); crisis of the Hellenistic system of statehood (mid-2nd century BC - 30s of the 1st century BC).

History Sources Dr. Greece.

Herodotus and his History. The purpose of Herodotus’s work is stated in the first book: “... so that past events do not fall into oblivion over time and the great and amazing deeds of both Hellenes and barbarians do not remain in obscurity"(I, 1). And he succeeded - on the history of the Scythians, for example, “History” is the main source. Herodotus sets himself the task of establishing the truth (VI, 82). Herodotus reports everything that is said. From several points of view, he chooses the most plausible one in his opinion. VII 152 says that " I am obliged to convey everything that they tell me, but I am not obliged to believe everything».

Cicero called Herodotus the father of history in his essay On the Laws. Herodotus is the first in the triad Herodotus-Thucydides-Xenophon. History itself (Greek: “research”) arose even before Herodotus, in the 6th century. in Miletus (Helanik and others), where there was the greatest need for it (the class struggle is strong here). Strabo: history originated as a genre of fiction. Logos is opposed to epic. Aristotle (Poetics, IX) cites Herodotus as an example of a historian.

Vocabulary, syntax and style of Herodotus. It is customary to call it novelistic, but this is not a sign of its ahistoricity: the logographer Hellanicus has a much more “scientific” style, but his work is simply a dry transcription of mythical stories. Influence of folklore (the tale of Candaules and Gyges) and the Ionian tradition (the Milesian tale). There are “typical heroes in typical circumstances.” Herodotus is aphoristic and loves to joke. “History” is intended for oral reading (there are corresponding phrases, see Lurie). Although he is a Dorian, he writes his work in the Ionian dialect so as not to fall out of tradition.

Composition. The division of the “History” into 9 books according to the names of the muses belongs to the Alexandrian grammarians. Labor consists of “logoi”, which are then combined into a single whole. But each logos is a complete work. Herodotus consistently describes the countries conquered by the Achaemenids (from Cyrus to Xerxes) - therefore, for example, the Assyrian logos was excluded from the final edition. Jacobi and Lurie believe that the plan for the History was not initially thought out, but developed as material accumulated. Lots of digressions, but story line There is. The entire work is divided into 2 parts: up to V 27 - a detailed ethno-geographical introduction, then - the main part (1. Ionian uprising 2. Campaign of Darius 3. Campaign of Xerxes).

Argumentation. Herodotus uses rationalistic arguments on an equal basis with mythological ones, being critical of both.

Herodotus' bias. Pro-Athenian orientation, because a) Athens is Greece’s second homeland and b) Halicarnassus, like Athens, is a trading city.

Herodotus' sources: personal observations, Hecataeus of Miletus (quotes him without citing him) and other logographers, translators' stories, legends and other motley material. All the heterogeneous material of the “History” is united by the theme of the Greco-Persian Wars, or (more broadly) by the theme of the struggle between the West and the East, freedom and slavery.

"History" of Thucydides as a historical source.

The life time of Thucydides himself is not known exactly (456-396). Strives to move away from everything subjective and give an objective picture of events (Stratanovsky). Refers to logographers (Hellanicus – I 97, 2), but at the same time opposes himself to them (... not as pleasing to the ear, but closer to the truth– I, 21).. Written from approximately 420 until death (400/396). He began writing in Thrace, being expelled from Athens (because he allowed the Spartans to capture Amphipolis), after the war he was rehabilitated and returned to his homeland. The work is not finished (Xenophon later continued with his “Greek History”, but it turned out worse). Source primarily for the period 431-411. (Peloponnesian War), indirectly - the history of Greece from the beginning.

Structure. 8 books. Each book is divided into chapters. They contain sub-chapters. The first book is the history of Greece from the beginning and before the war, the other 7 are about the war.

Method. What is new in relation to Herodotus is a very careful collection and analysis of data. No mythologies (which is natural, since it can be considered a contemporary). Anything that is in doubt is discarded. Considers not only military actions, but also the internal situation in cities. For the first time - attention to social contradictions, etc.

Extremely objective. Depth of thought and excellent awareness (I took part myself). Shows the horrors of war. In general, the work of Thucydides is a heap of thoroughly verified factual information, no mythology or anything like that. That is why it is of great value as a source.

Thucydides sees the cause of the war in the excessive strengthening of Athens, which does not satisfy Sparta. He considers the Greek chronology (based on the Olympiads from the first in 757) to be incorrect, since there is no reason to consider the date of the first game correct. Time is counted by solar years (winter and summer; so-called “logical chronology”), but is not entirely consistent. Uses references to archonships and other events to establish an exact date.

Creto-Mycenaean period. linear letter “B”, found in 1953 by Evans, it contains lists of slaves and households. Lists. In addition to the tablets found in the palace archives, inscriptions consisting of abbreviations of individual words, painted or scratched on the walls of clay vessels, and individual letters on seals placed on clay stoppers and tags have been preserved.

Written sources are all kinds of works, including literary works of the era under study, inscriptions of various contents that have reached us; One of the most important sources is the writings of ancient Greek historians. Historians strive to give a true story, to select actual facts. The first Greek historians were the so-called logographers, of whom the most famous are Hecataeus (540-478 BC) and Hellanicus (480-400 BC).

The first actual historical research was the work of Herodotus (485-425 BC), called in ancient times the “father of history.” Dark vaka The first Greek literary monuments - Homer's epic poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey" - are practically the only sources of information about the dark ages of the 12th - 6th centuries. BC e., i.e.

In his work, which is commonly called “History,” Herodotus described the course of the war between the Greeks and Persians. This is a genuine scientific work, since already in the first lines the author formulates scientific problem which he is trying to explore and justify. But the main merit of Herodotus is that through his works a source appeared in the hands of scientists, where the core of the events described is historical time and consciously introduced historicism.

Thucydides (c. 460-396 BC). He was born into a noble family, took part in the Peloponnesian War, but due to the fact that he could not protect the city of Amphipolis from the Spartans, he was expelled from Athens. In exile, where he spent almost two decades, Thucydides decided to describe the history of the Peloponnesian War. The historian is interested in all the events of which he was a contemporary. But to find historical truth, Thucydides conducts a strict critical selection of historical sources, using only those that contain reliable information. For all subsequent generations of researchers, Thucydides laid the foundation for the knowledge of meaning historical development and people's actions. His work is a most valuable historical source, which covers the events described as objectively as possible.

Genre historical research received further development in the 4th century. Thucydides’ unfinished “History”, which ended with a description of the events of 411 BC. e., continued literally from the last phrase in his “Greek History” by Xenophon (c. 445-355). But in his presentation of the material, more clearly than in Thucydides, the personal position of the author, who came from a wealthy family, received an aristocratic upbringing and was a student of Socrates, is manifested. A supporter of the Spartan government, Xenophon was critical of Athenian democracy. However, his “Greek History,” which describes events from 411 to 362 BC. e., remains the most important source for the study of the complex era of intense struggle between the policies and the crisis of the classical Greek polis.

An outstanding philosopher was Plato (427-347 BC). For historians big interest are represented by his treatises “State” and “Laws”, where the author, in accordance with his socio-political views, proposes ways for a fair reorganization of society and gives a “recipe” for an ideal state structure.

Plato's student Aristotle (384-322 BC) tried to explore the history and political structure of over 150 states. Of his works, only “The Athenian Polity” has survived, where the history and government structure of the Athenian polis is systematically described. Based on the study of the life of Greek city-states, Aristotle created a general theoretical work “Politics” - on the essence of the state. His provisions, based on Aristotle's analysis of the real processes of the historical development of Hellas, predetermined the further development of political thought in ancient Greece.

Lecture 1. Introduction to the history of Ancient Greece.

Lecture questions:

1. Periodization and sources of the history of Ancient Greece.

2. Historiography of the history of Ancient Greece

3. Geographical conditions of Balkan Greece and Crete.

Introduction: Antiquity.

Russian word " antiquity" comes from the Latin "antiquus" - "ancient". During the Renaissance, antiquity in Europe meant all antiquity then known - “Greco-Roman”. Later, other “antiquities” began to be discovered by European scientists: Egyptian, Babylonian, Sumerian and others. Since then, the concepts of “antiquity” and “ancient world” have been used in a narrower sense to refer to the history and culture of Ancient Greece and Rome.

Ancient civilization was born in the Mediterranean basin. The natural and climatic conditions of the region left an indelible mark on it. The economy was largely determined by the cultivation of the “Mediterranean triad” - grains, olives and grapes. Moreover, unlike the East, agriculture developed here without the use of artificial irrigation.

Recently, scientists have established a very interesting coincidence - the borders of the ancient world, even during the period of maximum expansion of the Roman Empire, almost nowhere extended far beyond the growing area of ​​​​the grapevine - a culture without which the Greeks and Romans could not imagine civilized life.

The sea and islands, mountains and valleys largely determined not only lifestyle the Greeks, and later the Romans, but influenced the external appearance and internal appearance of these peoples. Throughout ancient history, the Romans and Greeks remained largely different ethnic groups. But over time, they formed a historical and cultural community, whose representatives were aware of their difference from other peoples.

In the last centuries of the 1st millennium BC. e. two initially different paths of development of ancient society, Greek and Roman, merged into a single Greco-Roman civilization. Its final political form was the Roman Empire, which lasted until the end of the 5th century. n. e.

There are two major stages in the history of antiquity: Greek and Roman. Greeks or Hellenes, as they called themselves, were the first to create a civilization that spread throughout the Mediterranean. Somewhat later, the Romans entered the historical arena of the Mediterranean. They managed to create a great state that united the entire ancient Mediterranean world for a long time.

Within its borders arose the Pax Romana - the “Roman world”, which included the entire late ancient civilization. In 476 AD e., when the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire was deposed, it ceased to exist. This event is usually accepted by historians as the finale of ancient history.

I. Periodization and sources of the history of Ancient Greece.

Periodization of ancient Greek history.

The history of Ancient Greece is usually divided into five periods, which are also cultural eras:

Aegean or Cretan-Mycenaean (III-II millennium BC);

Homeric, also known as the “dark ages” and “prepolis” (XI-IX centuries BC);

Archaic (VIII-VI centuries BC);

Classical (V-IV centuries BC);

Hellenistic (second half of the 4th - mid-1st century BC).

The first three eras are often combined under the common name preclassical period.

Sources on the history of Ancient Greece

Sources on the history of Crete and mainland (“Achaean”) Greece of the 3rd-2nd millennium BC. e.

The few sources of this time are divided into three main categories: - written monuments written by the so-called. "linear writing";

Data from archaeological excavations of cities and settlements;

Written sources. On the island of Crete, the most ancient so-called " Linear A"(English: Linear script A). The vast majority of inscriptions using it were applied to clay tablets. Some of them survived because they were burned during the fire. Some inscriptions are written in ink on vessels and other objects. The shape of the marks suggests that the main material for writing was not clay, but parchment or a similar short-lived material.

After the conquest of Crete by the Achaean Greeks, “Linear A” disappeared, replaced by “ Linear B"(English: Linear script B). The first tablets containing signs of this letter were found Arthur Evans in 1901 during excavations in Crete. But only in 1950-1953 they were deciphered by the British Michael Ventris(1922 – 1956) and John Chadwick (1920-1998).

Currently, several thousand tablets written in the B letter are known. They were found in Crete, during excavations in the cities of Pylos, Mycenae, Thebes, and Tiryns in mainland Greece. The vast majority of tablets date from the 14th-12th centuries. BC e. The inscriptions are very brief and represent mainly business reporting documents.

In addition to the tablets found in the palace archives, inscriptions consisting of abbreviations of individual words, painted or scratched on the walls of clay vessels, and individual letters on seals placed on clay stoppers and tags have been preserved.

Archaeological excavations. The most important results were obtained from studies of extensive palace complexes: in Knossos and Phaistos on the island of Crete, in Mycenae and Pylos on the Peloponnese peninsula.

Works of ancient authors. The earliest written sources are the poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey", the author of which is traditionally attributed to Homer. It is generally accepted that they were created in the 9th-8th centuries. BC e., but contain many realities of the previous time. Quite a variety of data is also contained in the legends and myths of the Greeks - about the Athenian hero Theseus, about Hercules, about the voyage of the Argonauts and many others.

In the works of ancient authors of the 5th century BC. e. and subsequent centuries, separate memories have been preserved about the past of the Hellenes, about the power of the Cretan king Minos, the creation of a vast power by him, and about the high culture of that time. A small amount of data, mainly about the foreign policy situation of the Cretan and mainland Greek states, is contained in ancient Eastern monuments, primarily Hittite and Egyptian.