Ancient civilization: general characteristics. Features of ancient civilization General features of ancient civilizations in the political sphere

As a result of studying this chapter, the student should: know

modern concepts development of Antiquity;
typological features of polis culture;
stages and logic of development of ancient civilization;
stylistic features of ancient art; their significance in the history of art;
the specifics of ancient forms and methods of understanding reality; be able to
summarize and classify the achievements of ancient civilization;
determine the contribution of ancient civilization to the development of modern civilizational forms;
identify the specifics of intercivilizational interaction between peoples at different stages of development;

own

skills of using the cultural baggage of Antiquity in communication;
skills of working with texts of ancient authors who formed the context for the perception of the meanings of Western civilization.

Introduction

The term “antiquity” comes from the Latin antiquitas - “ancient”, “ancient”. It exists in European social thought from the 15th century, but in modern meaning expresses the Eurocentric ideas of scientists of the 17th-18th centuries. about the history of mankind, when history different nations was divided into “ancient” (ancient European) and history “ Ancient East"(mainly - river civilizations discussed in the previous chapter). Thus, the concept of “Antiquity” was assigned to those communities that Europeans considered their (cultural) ancestors: Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, including peoples who gradually entered the orbit of influence of the Hellenistic (Greek) or Latin (Roman) world.

At the same time, the concept of “ancient civilization” is used in scientific literature as often as the “civilizations of Antiquity”. Usage singular is due to the fact that, unlike river civilizations, which were formed independently of each other as local forms of development of riverine spaces, the civilization that is called “ancient” arose only in one region of the earth - the Mediterranean. Moreover, in the history of Antiquity one can find a certain

continuity in civilizational development from the most ancient era (“Crito-Mycenaean”), through the “classical” period in the development of the Greek polis - to the wide Hellenistic world, covering the territory of residence of many peoples of the traditionally understood East and the Greco-Latin West.

At the same time, with all the similarity of the civilizational forms of Antiquity, there are clearly two independent centers of formation of these cultures: the Eastern Mediterranean (the Peloponnese peninsula and the islands of the Aegean Sea) and the Apennine Peninsula.

Let us outline here those features that make it possible to unite various communities of peoples into one concept - “Antiquity”. First of all, these are similar conditions for the emergence of such communities and their existence. Natural conditions (they were described in detail by A. Bonnard) differed sharply from those in which river civilizations arose. The combination of mountains and small valleys with shallow rivers and rocky soil did not make it possible to provide food only by growing cereals, even in a favorable subtropical climate. Cattle breeding was to become a mandatory addition to agriculture. In similar natural conditions in other regions of Europe (the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, the Iberian Peninsula), as well as in Asia Minor, civilizational forms of a similar type arose: “terrace” agriculture in combination with mountain cattle breeding in very small (in terms of territory and population) communities, oriented towards subsistence farming and almost complete self-sufficiency. Cereals in these regions were not the mainstay of the diet. A significant place in agricultural turnover was occupied by the cultivation of olive trees and grapes, well adapted to soil and climate conditions, and sheep products (meat and cheese), fish and seafood were added to them in the “Mediterranean diet”.

Initially, in Europe, in the conditions of the foothills (Pyrenees, Alps, Balkans, Caucasus), several civilizational forms similar in type of development were formed. And all of them were preserved for centuries and millennia without much change. And only the peoples who settled the Balkan and Apennine Peninsula, were able to reach a new level of development and develop civilizational forms that influenced the entire history of mankind. This was facilitated by a combination of several factors, both natural and historical.

First of all, Antiquity as a set of civilizational forms arose on the basis of the use copper(and bronze - an alloy of copper and tin) as a material for tools. And its development continued with the use gland, which sharply increased the effectiveness of two forms of receiving benefits: cultivation and military violence. In both cases, the formation of the ancient ethnos involved Indo-Europeans- peoples who have done big way from their primary habitats (Transcaucasia) to Europe and enriched by the experience of living in different natural conditions and interacting with peoples who lived in the territory from the Caspian Sea to Southern Europe.

The sea, used as a preferred mode of transportation. The experience of the Phoenicians and the “people of the sea” - the ancient inhabitants of Crete - was used first in Greece and then in Rome in order to overcome imperfection natural factors and become a civilization based not only and not so much on agriculture, but on the opportunities that provide international trade and development of new territories. The Greeks settled new territories, bringing part of the population to areas favorable for agriculture and trade, and thereby forming colonies- remote settlements, initially part of the “mother” community, but subsequently becoming independent. The Romans took a different path - the armed seizure of neighboring territories and the “restructuring” of the annexed “provinces” according to the Roman model.

The civilizations of Antiquity are communities of military-agrarian-trade expansion, overcoming and destroying the boundaries of local, closed worlds.

develop such forms of art, entertainment and collective pastime in which predominated individual beginning.

Ancient civilizations were dominant for the development of Eurasia in the 1st millennium BC. and in the first half of the 1st millennium AD. They opened up new development opportunities for humanity and influenced the peoples living in Eurasia, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indus and Central Asia. Their influence became especially powerful in the 3rd century. BC, with the beginning of the military campaigns of Alexander the Great. After these campaigns, mutual confrontation changed integration of civilizational forms of Antiquity and river civilizations(Hellenistic period). From the 1st century BC, in the process of transforming Rome from a republic into an empire, the Mediterranean world became more and more “Latin” and acquired “Roman” features.

But this does not mean that the civilizational development of mankind had no alternatives. The life of the peoples of India was only slightly affected by Hellenization in the very western part. The formation of Chinese and its dependent civilizations continued Far East. In Mesoamerica, the dominant civilization of this period was the Mayan civilization. But the Mediterranean world also had its own “great” civilizations that competed with the ancient ones. For Ancient Greece, the Persian power became such a competitor. It arose in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. in Eastern Mesopotamia after the resettlement there of several peoples of the Indo-European group of languages (Aryans, Medes, Parsis, etc.). Its rulers subjugated all of Mesopotamia, Transcaucasia, part of Central Asia and western India. The Persian state was the last (in terms of the time of its emergence) large formation that retained all the features of an irrigation civilization. The desire of the rulers of Persia to seize the Balkans and the islands of the Eastern Mediterranean led to the first known in history civilizational conflict, dubbed " Greco-Persian Wars." And the defeat of Persia by the troops of Alexander the Great in the 4th century. BC. allowed us to move from conflict to integration, which was mentioned above.

In the west of the Mediterranean, an alternative to Roman antiquity became trade and agriculture (and close in social structure to the polis) civilization of the Phoenicians and their neighboring peoples. Its center was the city of Carthage, located on the African coast of the Mediterranean Sea. In the middle of the 1st millennium BC. Carthage controlled the entire coastal territory North Africa, from Egypt to the Atlantic Ocean, as well as the coastal areas of the Iberian Peninsula. At the same time, while remaining part of the Phoenician civilizational community, Carthage did not create its own civilizational and cultural forms peculiar only to it. Thus, in the religious sphere, he preserved the traditions of the Semitic peoples of the Eastern Mediterranean, and in art, the Carthaginians reproduced models created both in Egypt and in Greece. Between the two largest civilizations of the Western Mediterranean - Rome and Carthage - there were Punic Wars, ending with the victory of Rome and the destruction, and then the transformation of the newly rebuilt Carthage into one of the Roman provinces. Rome's destruction of a competitor led to the death of the life forms developed by this civilization. About the life, habits, traits of consciousness of the Carthaginians, i.e. very little is known about everything that is preserved through writing. Perhaps this is why it is widely believed that the civilization of Carthage was more “technological” than spiritually orientated artistic culture.

See: Bonnard L. Greek civilization: in 3 volumes. T. 1. M.: Art, 1995.
See: Tsirkip Yu. B. Carthage and its culture. M.: Nauka, 1986.

The next global type of civilization that emerged in ancient times was Western type of civilization. It began to appear on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and highest development reached in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, societies that are commonly called the ancient world in the period from the IX-VIII centuries. BC e. until IV-V centuries. n. e. Therefore, the Western type of civilization can rightfully be called the Mediterranean or ancient type of civilization.

Ancient civilization went through a long path of development. In the south of the Balkan Peninsula, for various reasons, early class societies and states arose at least three times: in the 2nd half of the 3rd millennium BC. e. (destroyed by the Achaeans); in the XVII-XIII centuries. BC e. (destroyed by the Dorians); in the IX-VI centuries. BC e. the last attempt was a success - an ancient society arose.

Ancient civilization, as well as eastern civilization is the primary civilization. It grew directly from primitiveness and could not benefit from the fruits of the previous civilization. Therefore, in ancient civilization, by analogy with Eastern civilization, the influence of primitiveness is significant in the minds of people and in the life of society. The dominant position is occupied religious and mythological worldview. However, this worldview has significant features. Ancient worldview cosmological. In Greek, space is not only the world. The Universe, but also order, the world whole, opposing Chaos with its proportionality and beauty. This ordering is based on measure and harmony. Thus, in ancient culture, on the basis of ideological models, one of the important elements is formed Western culture - rationality.

The focus on harmony throughout the cosmos was also associated with the culture-creating activity of “ancient man.” Harmony manifests itself in the proportion and connection of things, and these connection proportions can be calculated and reproduced. Hence the formulation canon- a set of rules defining harmony, mathematical calculations canon, based on observations of the real human body. The body is a prototype of the world. Cosmologism (ideas about the universe) of ancient culture was anthropocentric character, that is, man was considered as the center of the Universe and the ultimate goal of the entire universe. Space was constantly correlated with man, natural objects with human ones. This approach determined people’s attitude towards their earthly life. The desire for earthly joys, an active position in relation to this world are the characteristic values of ancient civilization.

The civilizations of the East grew up on irrigated agriculture. Ancient society had a different agricultural basis. This is the so-called Mediterranean triad - growing grains, grapes and olives without artificial irrigation.

Unlike eastern societies, ancient societies developed very dynamically, since from the very beginning a struggle flared up in it between the peasantry enslaved into shared slavery and the aristocracy. For other peoples, it ended with the victory of the nobility, but among the ancient Greeks, the demos (people) not only defended freedom, but also achieved political equality. The reasons for this lie in the rapid development of crafts and trade. The trade and craft elite of the demos quickly grew rich and economically became stronger than the landowning nobility. The contradictions between the power of the trade and craft part of the demos and the receding power of the landowning nobility formed the driving force behind the development of Greek society, which by the end of the 6th century. BC e. resolved in favor of the demos.

In ancient civilization, private property relations came to the fore, and the dominance of private commodity production, oriented primarily at the market, became evident.

The first example of democracy in history appeared - democracy as the personification of freedom. Democracy in the Greco-Latin world was still direct. The equality of all citizens was provided for as a principle of equal opportunity. There was freedom of speech and election of government bodies.

In the ancient world, the foundations of civil society were laid, providing for the right of every citizen to participate in government, recognition of his personal dignity, rights and freedoms. The state did not interfere with privacy citizens or this interference was insignificant. Trade, crafts, agriculture, family functioned independently of the authorities, but within the framework of the law. Roman law contained a system of norms regulating private property relations. Citizens were law-abiding.

In antiquity, the issue of interaction between the individual and society was resolved in favor of the former. The individual and his rights were recognized as primary, and the collective and society as secondary.

However, democracy in the ancient world was limited in nature: the mandatory presence of a privileged layer, the exclusion of women, free foreigners, and slaves from its action.

Slavery also existed in the Greco-Latin civilization. Assessing its role in antiquity, it seems that the position of those researchers who see the secret of the unique achievements of antiquity not in slavery (the work of slaves is ineffective), but in freedom, is closer to the truth. The displacement of free labor by slave labor during the Roman Empire was one of the reasons for the decline of this civilization (see: Semennikova L.I. Russia in the world community of civilizations. - M., 1994. - P. 60).

Civilization of Ancient Greece. The uniqueness of Greek civilization lies in the emergence of such a political structure as "polis" - "city-state", covering the city itself and the surrounding area. Polis were the first republics in the history of all mankind.

Numerous Greek cities were founded along the shores of the Mediterranean and Black Seas, as well as on the islands of Cyprus and Sicily. In the VIII-VII centuries. BC e. A large stream of Greek settlers rushed to the coast of southern Italy; the formation of large policies in this territory was so significant that it was called “Great Greece.”

Citizens of the policies had the right to own land, were obliged to take part in state affairs in one form or another, and in case of war, a civil militia was formed from them. In Hellenic policies, in addition to the citizens of the city, a free population usually lived personally, but was deprived of civil rights; Often these were immigrants from other Greek cities. At the bottom rung of the social ladder of the ancient world there were completely powerless slaves.

In the polis community, the ancient form of land ownership dominated; it was used by those who were members of the civil community. Under the policy system, hoarding was condemned. IN In most policies, the supreme body of power was the people's assembly. He had the right to make final decisions on the most important policy issues. The cumbersome bureaucratic apparatus, characteristic of eastern and all totalitarian societies, was absent in the policy. The polis represented an almost complete coincidence of political structure, military organization and civil society.

Greek world has never been a single political entity. It consisted of several completely independent states that could enter into alliances, usually voluntarily, sometimes under duress, wage wars among themselves or make peace. The size of most policies was small: usually they had only one city, where several hundred citizens lived. Each such town was the administrative, economic and cultural center of a small state, and its population was engaged not only in crafts, but also in agriculture.

In the VI-V centuries. BC e. the polis developed into a special form slave state, more progressive than eastern despotism. Citizens of a classical polis are equal in their political and legal rights. No one stood higher than the citizen in the polis, except the polis collective (the idea of the sovereignty of the people). Every citizen had the right to publicly express his opinion on any issue. It became a rule for the Greeks to make any political decisions openly, jointly, after full public discussion. In the policy there is a division of the highest legislative power (the people's assembly) and the executive power (elected fixed-term magistrates). Thus, in Greece the system known to us as ancient democracy was established.

Ancient Greek civilization is characterized by the fact that it most clearly expresses the idea of the sovereignty of the people and a democratic form of government. Greece of the archaic period had a certain specificity of civilization in comparison with other ancient countries: classical slavery, a polis system of management, a developed market with a monetary form of circulation. Although Greece at that time did not represent a single state, constant trade between individual policies, economic and family ties between neighboring cities led the Greeks to self-awareness - to be in a single state.

The heyday of ancient Greek civilization was achieved during the period of classical Greece (VI century - 338 BC). The polis organization of society effectively carried out economic, military and political functions and became a unique phenomenon, unknown in the world of ancient civilization.

One of the features of the civilization of classical Greece was the rapid rise of material and spiritual culture. In the field of development of material culture, the emergence of new technology and material values was noted, crafts developed, sea harbors were built and new cities emerged, maritime transport and all kinds of cultural monuments were built, etc.

The product of the highest culture of antiquity is the Hellenistic civilization, which began with the conquest of Alexander the Great in 334-328. BC e. The Persian power, which covered Egypt and a large part of the Middle East to the Indus and Central Asia. The Hellenistic period lasted three centuries. In this wide space, new forms of political organization and social relations peoples and their cultures - the Hellenistic civilization.

What are the features of Hellenistic civilization? The characteristic features of the Hellenistic civilization include: a specific form of socio-political organization - the Hellenistic monarchy with elements of eastern despotism and polis structure; growth in the production of products and trade in them, development of trade routes, expansion of money circulation, including the appearance of gold coins; a stable combination of local traditions with the culture brought by the conquerors and settlers of the Greeks and other peoples.

Hellenism enriched the history of mankind and world civilization as a whole with new scientific discoveries. The greatest contributions to the development of mathematics and mechanics were made by Euclid (3rd century BC) and Archimedes (287-312). A versatile scientist, mechanic and military engineer, Archimedes from Syracuse laid the foundations of trigonometry; they discovered the principles of analysis of infinitesimal quantities, as well as the basic laws of hydrostatics and mechanics, which were widely used for practical purposes. For the irrigation system in Egypt, an “Archimedes screw” was used - a device for pumping water. It was an inclined hollow pipe, inside of which there was a screw tightly fitting to it. A screw rotated with the help of people scooped up water and lifted it up.

Traveling overland necessitated the need to accurately measure the length of the path traveled. This problem was solved in the 1st century. BC e. Alexandrian mechanic Heron. He invented a device he called a hodometer (path meter). Nowadays, such devices are called taximeters.

World art has been enriched with such masterpieces as the Altar of Zeus in Pergamon, the statues of Venus de Milo and the Nike of Samothrace, and the Laocoon sculptural group. The achievements of ancient Greek, Mediterranean, Black Sea, Byzantine and other cultures were included in the golden fund of Hellenistic civilization.

Civilization of Ancient Rome compared to Greece was a more complex phenomenon. According to ancient legend, the city of Rome was founded in 753 BC. e. on the left bank of the Tiber, the validity of which was confirmed by archaeological excavations of the present century. Initially, the population of Rome consisted of three hundred clans, the elders of which formed the Senate; At the head of the community was a king (in Latin - reve). The king was the supreme military leader and priest. Later, the Latin communities living in Latium, annexed to Rome, received the name plebeians (plebs-people), and the descendants of the old Roman families, who then made up the aristocratic layer of the population, received the name patricians.

In the VI century. BC e. Rome became a fairly significant city and was dependent on the Etruscans, who lived northwest of Rome.

At the end of the 6th century. BC e. With the liberation from the Etruscans, the Roman Republic was formed, which lasted for about five centuries. The Roman Republic was initially a small state in area, less than 1000 square meters. km. The first centuries of the republic were a time of persistent struggle of the plebeians for their equal political rights with the patricians, for equal rights to public land. As a result, the territory of the Roman state gradually expanded. At the beginning of the 4th century. BC e. it has already more than doubled the original size of the republic. At this time, Rome was captured by the Gauls, who had previously settled in the Po Valley. However, the Gallic invasion did not play a significant role in the further development of the Roman state. II and I centuries. BC e. were times of great conquests, which gave Rome all the countries adjacent to the Mediterranean Sea, Europe to the Rhine and Danube, as well as Britain, Asia Minor, Syria and almost the entire coast of North Africa. Countries conquered by the Romans outside Italy were called provinces.

In the first centuries of Roman civilization, slavery in Rome was poorly developed. From the 2nd century. BC e. the number of slaves increased due to successful wars. The situation in the republic gradually worsened. In the 1st century BC e. the war of the disenfranchised Italians against Rome and the slave uprising led by Spartacus shocked all of Italy. It all ended with the establishment in Rome in 30 BC. e. the sole power of the emperor, who relied on armed force.

The first centuries of the Roman Empire were a time of severe property inequality and the spread of large-scale slavery. From the 1st century BC e. The opposite process is also observed - the release of slaves. Subsequently, slave labor in agriculture is gradually replaced by the labor of colons, personally free, but attached to the land cultivators. Previously prosperous Italy began to weaken, and the importance of the provinces began to increase. The collapse of the slave system began.

At the end of the 4th century. n. e. The Roman Empire is divided roughly in half - into eastern and western parts. The Eastern (Byzantine) Empire lasted until the 15th century, when it was conquered by the Turks. Western Empire during the 5th century BC e. was attacked by the Huns and Germans. In 410 AD e. Rome was taken by one of the Germanic tribes - the Ostrogoths. After this, the Western Empire eked out a miserable existence, and in 476 it the last Emperor was dethroned.

What are the reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire? They were associated with the crisis of Roman society, caused by the difficulties of reproducing slaves, the problems of maintaining controllability of a huge empire, the increasing role of the army, the militarization of political life, and the reduction of the urban population and the number of cities. The Senate and city government bodies turned into fiction. Under these conditions, the imperial power was forced to recognize the division of the empire in 395 into Western and Eastern (the center of the latter was Constantinople) and abandon military campaigns in order to expand the territory of the state. Therefore, the military weakening of Rome was one of the reasons for its fall.

The rapid fall of the Western Roman Empire was facilitated by the invasion of barbarians, a powerful movement of Germanic tribes on its territory in the 4th-7th centuries, which culminated in the creation of “barbarian kingdoms”.

A brilliant expert on the history of Rome, the Englishman Edward Gibbon (18th century), names among the reasons for the fall of Rome the negative consequences of the adoption of Christianity (officially adopted in the 4th century). It instilled in the masses a spirit of passivity, non-resistance and humility, forcing them to meekly bow under the yoke of power or even oppression. As a result, the proud warrior spirit of the Roman is replaced by a spirit of piety. Christianity taught only “to suffer and submit.”

With the fall of the Roman Empire begins new era in the history of civilization - the Middle Ages.

Thus, in the conditions of antiquity, two main (global) types of civilization were determined: Western, including European and North American, and Eastern, absorbing the civilization of Asian and African countries, including Arab, Turkic and Asia Minor. The ancient states of the West and East remained the most powerful active historical associations in international affairs: foreign economic and political relations, war and peace, establishment of interstate borders, resettlement of people on a particularly large scale, maritime navigation, compliance with environmental problems, etc.

Civilization is a social culture that has reached its peak of economic stability, political stability, and social order.

Ancient civilization is a Greco-Roman society with many stages of formation, development and decline of all spheres of life.

Civilized society is contrasted with a barbaric way of life. The ancient Romans were civilized, the Celts were not. The peak of development, a complex structure with a hierarchy, money, laws - signs of a developed society.

We, the modern public, determine the level of civilization and judge from our bell tower whether a historical society has achieved civilization. Ancient Greece was already a civilization; primitive society was still a barbarian tribe.

Signs of civilization:

division of physical and mental labor;
writing;
the emergence of cities as centers of cultural and economic life.

Types of civilizations. There are many of them, some:

antique;
ancient Egyptian;
Chinese;
Islamic.

Features of civilization:

the presence of a center with the concentration of all spheres of life and their weakening on the periphery (when residents of small towns are called “villages” by the city);
ethnic core (people) - in Ancient Rome - the Romans, in Ancient Greece - the Hellenes (Greeks);
formed ideological system (religion);
tendency to expand (geographically, culturally);
cities;
a single information field with language and writing;
formation of external trade relations and zones of influence;
stages of development (growth – peak of prosperity – decline, death or transformation).

The emergence of ancient civilizations

What were the reasons for the emergence of ancient civilization?

She didn't appear out of nowhere. It is considered a daughter civilization from the Western Asian civilization and secondary to the Mycenaean civilization.

It all started with the transformation of civil communities into Hellenic city-states. First, rural and clan communities, then civil collectives following a single model - the merit of the clan aristocracy. The process lasted long and carefully - from the 8th to the 6th centuries. BC. The aristocracy dealt with the commoners by maintaining traditions and order. Its lever of control remained power, thanks to the ancestral property passed from father to son. Using the labor of commoners and freed from hard physical work, the aristocracy had the luxury of engaging in education and military affairs. Civilization was built on city policies.

When the Greek city-states were formed, and the primitive society turned into a class one, the civilizations of the ancient world established their own special social system.

Ancient civilization briefly

VI century BC. - the time when clan associations finally turned into autonomous states. Awareness of their uniqueness allowed the Greeks to take a different look at the Persians - the Middle Eastern civilization. Considering the Persians to be barbarians and not wanting to put up with their dominance, the Greeks decided to go to war, defending the right to wealth and preservation of uniqueness.

The confrontation between the Greeks and Persians resulted in the Greco-Persian Wars between Europe and Asia. Here history marks the campaign. To stop the Persian expansion, the Greek city-states united, forming the famous ancient civilization.

In traditional civilizations, the center was a concentrated circle of all spheres and relationships. Ancient Greece was an exception - here all spheres developed evenly. This is the peculiarity of ancient civilization.

The polis system was similar to a honeycomb, but in each honeycomb the connections were clogged and developed separately. This can explain Sparta and Athens - so different, but so similar. The more active the polis was in pan-Greek life, the faster it transformed. The backward regions maintained an archaic structure.

The fact that the policies were autonomous prevented the formation of a political instrument. There were wars between the policies, but external threats did not go away. Increasingly turning to barbaric Italy for help, Rome was tamed slowly and gradually. At first, Rome did not develop according to the polis scenario, but Greek influence imposed a civil community. And it stuck. Ancient civilization swallowed up Rome.

The ancient civilizations of the ancient world are Greece and Ancient Rome.

It (Rome) did not yet have commercial and cultural influence, but it did have military influence. Political leadership was defended with blood in military action. The Hannibal War was decisive. Now Ancient Rome could dictate terms to the entire Mediterranean.

Citizenship (civilis - civil) with the light hand of the ancient Romans gave us an understanding of civilization, which we now contrast with barbarism. Distributing citizenship rights more and more widely over time, Rome was no longer only a military-political center, it took away sociocultural leadership from Greece.

The end of ancient civilization is assessed in different ways:

decline of the Roman spirit;
crisis of ancient culture;
military weakening;
economic decline;
crisis of the slave system, etc.

The decline manifested itself in the 4th – 5th centuries. Neither emperors nor the efforts of the state could prevent the decline, but it appeared on all fronts - in the economic, social, cultural and political spheres. The chain reaction, once triggered, knocked down all the dominoes.

The outer limits easily broke under the weight of the barbarian tribes. Wanting to be conquered, the barbarians assimilated into the culture of the ancient Romans over a couple of centuries, leading civilization to the development of a feudal system.

The culture of ancient civilizations continues to affect us, 20 centuries later. This is the strength of any civilization - to spread its power even after extinction.

Character traits culture of ancient civilization of Greece

In Greece, religious innovations did not play a significant role - the mythological consciousness was decomposing, faith in the Olympian gods was weakening, eastern cults were being borrowed - Astarte, Cybele, but the ancient Greeks did not bother to create their own original religion. This does not mean that they were not religious. Irreligion, asebeia, in the minds of the Greeks was a crime. In 432 BC. e. The priest Dionif presented a draft of a new law, according to which anyone who does not believe in the existence of immortal gods and boldly talks about what is happening in heaven will be brought to justice. Which means they were. Homer no longer feels much respect for the Olympian gods, who in his poems do not appear in the best way, reminiscent of mortal people with their treachery, greed, and malice. His gods are by no means the height of perfection. The law proposed by Dionymphos was directed directly against the “philosophers”, in particular against Anaxagoras, who was forced to flee from Athens. Later, Socrates will be accused of atheism and executed. And yet, the very adoption of such laws is evidence of the underdevelopment of religious culture and its formal nature.

Thus, at this point, the development of ancient Greek culture took a different path than in the more ancient civilizations of the “first wave”. There, all the energy of the nation was absorbed by religious ideology. In Greece, myth, decaying, feeds the secular Logos, the word. The world religion, Christianity, comes late, when the culture of antiquity experiences its last days. Moreover, Christianity is not actually a Greek discovery. It is borrowed by antiquity from the East.

Another, no less important, feature of the culture of antiquity, which is demonstrated by Ancient Greece, was the more radical nature of the cultural shift. Philosophy, literature, theater, lyric poetry, the Olympic Games appear for the first time, they have no predecessors in previous forms of spirituality. In the culture of the ancient civilizations of the East we will find mysteries - the predecessors of the theater, sports fights, poetry, prose, philosophy. But they do not acquire such a developed institutional character there as in Greece; they still feed new religious and philosophical systems, sometimes without occupying an independent position. In Ancient Greece, philosophy, literature, and theater very quickly became independent types of culture, became isolated, and turned into a specialized, professional type of activity.

Another, no less significant, feature of the culture of ancient Greece was the unusually high rate of cultural change: they spanned approximately 300 years, from the 6th century. BC e. up to the 3rd century. BC e., when stagnation and subsequent decline are detected.

The culture of ancient Greece is similar to a mayfly butterfly. It arises quickly, but disappears just as quickly. But subsequently the neighboring culture of Ancient Rome, the civilizations of the East and Africa will feed on its fruits, and through them the cultural influence of Antiquity will nourish the culture of Europe.

Unlike the cultures of the civilizations of the Ancient East, which were characterized by the “Asian mode of production” with centralized state, performing productive functions, the polis (city-state) played a huge role in ancient Greece. On the eve of the 8th century. BC e. clan society is disintegrating. The latter was characterized by settlements as forms of joint residence of relatives or members of the tribe. The class stratification inherent in civilization leads to the emergence of neighborly connections and a different type of residence - the city. The formation of cities occurs in the form of synoicism - a connection, merging of several settlements into one, for example, Athens arises from the union of 12 villages, Sparta unites 5, Tegea and Mantinea 9 settlements each. Thus, the formation of a policy system is a dynamic process spanning several decades. In such a short period of time, old, ancestral ties could not completely disappear; they persisted for a long time, forming the spirit of the arche - the faceless origin that underlies urban collectivism, the polis community. Arche conservation underlies many forms of urban life. Its center was the agora - a square where political meetings were held and court hearings were held. Later, the central square will turn into a shopping area, where financial and commercial transactions will take place. Public spectacles - tragedies - will be staged in the agora, questions about the most outstanding works of art will be decided, etc. Publicity, openness, openness of politics, art, city government are evidence that in this initial period After the formation of civilization, alienation has not yet gripped the free population of the city; it retains within itself the consciousness of a community of interests, affairs, and destiny.

Ancient Greece was never a single centralized state with a single politics, religion, and normative art. It consisted of many city-states, completely independent, often at war with each other, and sometimes entering into political alliances with each other. It was not typical for it to have one, capital city - the center of administrative, political life, the legislator in the field of culture. Each city independently resolved issues of what was proper and necessary, what was beautiful and perfect, what corresponded to its ideas about the culture of man and society.

Therefore, the ancient culture of Greece was characterized by a desire for diversity rather than unity. Unity arose as a result, a product of the collision, competition, competition of diverse cultural products. Therefore, the culture was characterized by agon - the spirit of competition, rivalry, permeating all aspects of life.

Cities competed, compiling lists of “7 wise men”, including a representative of their city. The dispute was about the "7 Wonders of the World", covering all Greek settlements and beyond. Every year the magistrate decided which tragedies, which playwright, would be played in the city square. Last year's winner could be this year's loser. No civilization discovered the Olympic Games - only the ancient Greeks did. Once every four years, wars, disputes, hostility ceased, and all cities sent their strongest, fastest, most agile, hardy athletes to the foot of Mount Olympus, closer to the Olympian gods. The winner was awaited by panhellenic lifelong glory, a ceremonial meeting in his hometown, entry not through the usual gates, but through a hole in the wall, specially arranged for him by enthusiastic fans. And the city-polis received universal fame for being able to raise an Olympic winner. Disputes sometimes took on a strange character: seven cities argued among themselves for a long time about where Homer’s grave was located. But this dispute is evidence of changed values; it could arise when the epic poetry of Homer became a pan-Greek value, a single epic basis that united all Greek city-states, creating the spiritual unity of civilization, the unity of its culture.

The diversity of the culture of ancient Greece led to the strengthening of its unity, community, and similarity, which allows us to speak of cultural integrity, despite the political and economic contradictions that tore the country apart. Ancient civilization, having split society into opposing classes, political interests, and rival policies, was unable to create a sufficiently strong unity through the means of spiritual culture.

Let's look at the list of "seven wise men". Usually they were called: Thales from Miletus, Solon from Athens, Bias from Priene, Pittacus from Mytilene, Cleobulus from Lindus, Periander from Corinth, Chilon from Sparta. As you can see, the list includes representatives of the cities of Ancient Greece from the Peloponnese Peninsula to the Asia Minor coast. At the time the list was compiled, it reflected only the general past and the desired future, but not the present. This list is a cultural construction program, but not a harsh reality. But reality demonstrated intense rivalry and hostility between cities, which ultimately broke cultural unity.

The development of the culture of Ancient Greece was greatly influenced by natural conditions, in which the proto-Greek tribes who captured this territory found themselves. Here, on the Peloponnese and the Asia Minor coast, there are no large areas suitable for cultivating grain and producing bread - the main food product. Therefore, the Greeks had to create colonies outside of Hellas: in the Apennines, in Sicily, in the Northern Black Sea region. When receiving bread and grain from the colonies, it was necessary to offer them something in exchange. What could Greece, poor in natural resources, offer? Its lands were suitable for cultivating olives, raw materials for the production of olive oil. Thus, Greece has occupied an important place in world trade, supplying olive oil to international markets. Another product that ensured the prosperity of the culture was grape wine. It is not for nothing that Homer’s Odysseus “teaches” the Cyclops Polyphemus how to prepare wine. Olive oil and wine required the development of ceramic production, the production of amphorae, which contained liquids and bulk products (grain, flour, salt). The production of ceramics gave impetus to the development of handicraft production, intermediary world trade, early development merchants, financial capital. All this was connected to the sea - the main transport route ancient world. No people of that period created poems in which the sea was mentioned so often. The Greeks were a sea people: the Argonauts make a campaign to Colchis, on the eastern coast of the Black Sea; for ten years the sea-ocean carries Odysseus on itself, not allowing him to reach home, and even later he will have to wander until he meets a man who does not distinguish between an oar and a shovel. The entire Trojan cycle is also associated with sea expeditions. Fast development handicraft production, which means the development of cities, shipping, intermediary trade - this is the source of the development of Greek culture. Friedrich Goebbel in the tragedy “Gyges and His Ring” correctly noted a special feature of ancient Greek culture:

"You, Greeks, are a smart tribe: for you

Others spin, but you yourself weave,

A network emerges, there is not a single thread in it,

The one you have tied up is still your network."

The ancient Greeks realized very early on that when trading it is not profitable to trade in raw materials, that the greater profit is made by those who sell finished products, the final product, and not the intermediate product. It is in the final product, ready for immediate consumption, that the culture is concentrated. Culture is the result, the product of the concentrated efforts of society, the integrated labor of people. Sand prepared for construction, marble blocks, slaked lime - all these are products of intermediate efforts, partial labor, which do not constitute integrity in their fragmentation. And only a temple (or palace, or house) created from these materials represents the culture of society in a concentrated form.

Culture ancient Greece- this is the culture of civilization, that is, a society with a class composition of the population. Bronze civilizations, as a rule, create a special class of workers - “slaves”. "Iron" civilizations lead to the emergence of a feudal-dependent population. In ancient Greece - a civilization of the "second" wave, that is, iron - slave labor persisted for a long time throughout its existence and only during the Hellenistic period did it lose its productive significance. In this regard, the question arose about the existence of a “culture of slaves and slave owners.” In particular, some researchers highlight the “slave culture”, but note that there is little information about it. Others believe that since ancient Eastern sources are silent about the “culture of slaves,” it means that it did not exist, since “the attitude of an individual does not have universal significance,” especially since the slaves belonged to different ethnic communities, to different local cultures. In addition, culture is an attitude objectified in words, objects, etc. However, the slave was deprived of the opportunity to objectify his attitude, but was forced to objectify “the attitude of his master.” Slaves, mastering the language and customs of their masters, did not become the creators of some special slave culture. This statement is not entirely correct from a historical point of view. We can remember such a slave as Aesop with his cultural achievement - the “Aesopian language”, which was preserved for centuries, nourishing the artistic culture of peoples. Considering the culture of Ancient Rome, we note the contribution of Greek teachers, slaves by social status. And subsequently, studying world culture, we note that many cultural values were created by slaves - from jazz melodies to dances, from songs to proverbs, sayings, etc. Another thing is that this “slave culture” was suppressed by the dominant culture of slave owners, hushed up, only isolated traces and mentions of it have reached us. Moreover, the culture of the ruling class was forced to take into account the existence of other “opinions,” refute them and develop its own argumentation. Thus, the dominant culture was forced to reckon with the existence of a slave culture opposing it and acquire appropriate forms. This is most clearly revealed in religion, political culture, and philosophy. Thus, the famous ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle writes: “Nature is designed in such a way that the physical organization of free people is different from the physical organization of slaves, the latter have a powerful body, suitable for performing the necessary physical work, while free people have a free posture and are not capable of performing this kind of work , but they are capable of political life... After all, a slave by nature is one who can belong to another, and who is involved in reason to the extent that he is able to understand its orders, but does not possess reason himself. differs from the benefits delivered by slaves: both of them, with their physical strength, help in satisfying our urgent needs... It is obvious, in any case, that some people are free by nature, others are slaves, and it is both useful and fair for the latter to be slaves ". Until slavery became widespread, this kind of reasoning reflected the widespread prejudice that a slave became a slave “by nature.” But how to explain the fact that subsequently all residents of the conquered cities became slaves? Why were the children of slaves slaves? Why do slaves rebel from time to time? Particularly fierce debates arose among thinkers when cases of free Athenian citizens turning into slaves became more frequent - has their nature changed? No, they've changed social status, position in society. Slave is social characteristic of a person, and any social phenomenon can appear in its cultural and non-cultural form.

An important role in characterizing the culture of ancient Greece is played by the dialectics of its development. We have identified three periods in her existence, reflecting her three different states. The third period began with the stage of archaic culture, archaism. Let's look at the features of this stage using sculpture as an example. Typical sculptural forms of this period are images called “archaic Apollos and Aphrodites”; they are also called “archaic kouros” (boys) and “koras” (girls). In fact, we do not know who these statues depict, what gods, therefore the names “Apollo” and “Aphrodite” are given conditionally, conventionally. The statues depict young people, a boy or a girl, personifying the gods. In essence, this is a religious sculpture, that is, it performs ideological functions, expressing social interests, and not ideas about beauty in general. Sculptures from this period are characterized by a faint half-smile. It must express and convey the joy and contentment experienced by the deity, the patron of this community and his admirers. God is pleased - people are happy. But there is also a feedback: the community is happy - and the sculptor depicts contentment, joy on the face of God. The sculptures are created to represent the full height of a person. The weight is distributed evenly on both legs. One of them is slightly pushed forward - the deity rushes forward, goes to meet his admirers. It's calm. All parts of the body are depicted symmetrically about the axis. The chest line is carefully processed, the back is finished carelessly. The sculpture was not intended for visitors to walk around it and look at it from all sides. No, only face-to-face communication was envisioned by the sculptor. Thus, we can highlight a number of features of this stage of culture, which reflects the process of its formation: this is a harmoniously developing society, with rationally organized institutions, an atmosphere of contentment and well-being in relationships, a leisurely life, supported by faith in the inviolability of established orders, authorities, and the continued unity of the civil society. and political, ideological principles of culture. This is the stage of formation of the culture of civilization, where social stratification does not lead to political, ideological, or religious conflicts. And the sculptor, using the means available to him, tries to express what the majority of this society experiences. The next stage was called "classic". The very word “classic”, “classical” was introduced in the 2nd century. BC e. Greek critic Aristarchus, who identified a group of the most famous ancient Greek poets according to the degree of artistic merit of their works. Since then, it has become common to call the works classified by Aristarchus in this group “classical”, capable of serving as a model for other poets and writers. Later, the best works of art of all times and peoples began to be called classical. The classical stage in the development of the culture of ancient Greece reflects the peak of its development, its most developed forms, a period of perfection, in which the social content of culture in the most complete form corresponds to its forms of expression and representation.

The reason for the emergence of this stage in the development of culture, which lies most deeply in the basis of society, is hidden in the correspondence of the productive forces and production relations of a given society. This correspondence provides optimal conditions for the development of culture, contributes to its flourishing, harmony, and perfection. The classical period gives us the appearance of a new “severe” style in sculpture. This style is most clearly manifested in the statues of Harmodius and Aristogheton, the works of Critias and Nesiotom, 476 BC. e. Classical sculpture reaches its fullness in the friezes of the Parthenon, in the works of the sculptor Phidias, who created the statue of Athena Parthenos and Olympian Zeus. The work of Myron of Eleuthera dates back to the same period. "Discoball" brought him worldwide fame. No less famous was Polykleitos from Argos.

In the classical period, as a rule, the concept of norm (measure) arises. Thus, Polykleitos established a canon (a set of rules) that dominated sculpture for more than 100 years: the length of the foot should be 1/6 of the length of the body, the height of the head should be 1/8. It is these proportions that are observed in Doryphora. Classics are characterized by the desire to depict not parts, as in the archaic period, but the whole. But at the same time, people are depicted not as concrete, as they are by nature, but as they should be. Thus, classics are oriented toward an ideal that is formed on the basis of philosophical, aesthetic, and moral norms. Thus, the unity of the rational and sensual (irrational) in perception and culture is achieved. Rational, reasonable feelings are formed. There is also a unification of the aesthetic ideal with the political. From here the sculpture acquires civic, political, ideological significance. The unity of political, philosophical, ideological content and artistic form is affirmed.

During the period of decline, which is called Hellenism, the center of cultural innovations moved from Attica to Asia Minor, Egypt, and the islands. During the Hellenistic period, the following were created: the Colossus of Rhodes (sculptor Charet from Mind). Tohe (goddess of happiness) in Antioch, sculptor Eutychides. Nike of Samothrace (sculptor Pythocrates of Rhodes), Venus de Milo (sculptor unknown). Sculptural group "Laocoon" by Athenodorus, Polydorus, Agesander. This creation dates back to the end of the Hellenistic period. A copy has reached us, discovered in Rome in 1506.

What changed in human perception during the Hellenistic period, with what techniques did the sculptor attract attention - we will answer these questions by examining the sculpture "Laocoon". It depicts a priest from the city of Troy (Fig. 7.5) along with his two sons. In Homer's Iliad, Laocoon is the man who unraveled the Greeks' trick and prevented the giant wooden horse from moving into the fortress walls. For this, the gods punished him by sending a sea monster. The group depicts three male figures entwined with the coils of a serpent. Sculpture is characterized by drawing not only parts, but also the whole - the composition. But the composition itself is asymmetrical. In this way, the perception of “asymmetrical” time of the decay period is achieved. All the figures in the sculpture are in motion, their bodies bent in deadly embraces convey horror, despair, the inevitable feeling of death, and suffering. This impression is not conveyed rationally, it is perceived at the level of feelings, irrationally. Thus, the culture, which initially affirmed a rational, harmonious, calm perception of society, and therefore human behavior, at the end of its existence began to affirm other qualities: irrationality, sensuality, disorder, pessimism, despair. And the point here is not that the sculptors did not see anything good in the future. Life itself testified to the collapse of culture, its passing, and society no longer had enough strength to stop this collapse. Greek antiquity could not find its correct answer to the Challenge of time.

CULTURE OF ANCIENT GREECE

General and special in the development of ancient Greek culture (in comparison with the culture of the peoples of the Ancient East). The significance of the heritage of the Cretan-Mycenaean era. Features of ancient Greek mythology and religion. Chthonic and heroic periods of the development of mythology. Traces of fetishism and animism. Myths about the emergence of the world and the change of generations of gods, about the origin of humanity, about the deeds of heroes. The main deities of the Olympic pantheon. Temples, oracles, major religious festivals. Greek theater and its role in the social life of the polis. Greek tragedians and comedians: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes. Epic, didactic and lyric poetry. The birth of a love affair. Development of philosophical schools: Ionian natural philosophy, Orthic-Pythagorean doctrine, Democritus, Plato, Aristotle, Stoicism and Cynicism. Social utopias. Oratory. Development scientific knowledge. Major Greek historians: Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon. Greek architecture, sculpture and painting: changes in styles in different eras.

Antiquity has a special place in world history, since it was the starting point, the first experience, the foundation and spiritual support of European culture. The term “antiquity” (from the Latin antiquus - ancient) denotes Greco-Roman antiquity. Ancient culture is the largest civilization of the ancient world, occupying a geographical location close to each other. Common to ancient states were the paths of social development and a special form of property - ancient slavery, as well as the form of production based on it. What they had in common was a civilization with a single historical and cultural complex. This does not deny, of course, the presence of features and differences in the life of ancient societies. Ancient Greek civilization is usually divided into 5 periods, which are also cultural eras: Crete-Mycenaean or Aegean (III - II millennium BC); Homeric or “Dark Ages” (XI - IX centuries BC); archaic (VIII - VI centuries BC); classical (V - IV centuries BC); Hellenistic (second half of the 4th - mid-1st centuries BC)

The civilization that arose on the islands of the Aegean Sea, on Crete, as well as on the territory of mainland Greece and Anatolia received the general name of the Aegean civilization, which, in turn, is divided into the Crete-Mycenaean period (late III-II millennium BC) , which includes the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations. In the III-II millennia BC. e. the first states emerge. These were states of a monarchical type, similar to ancient Eastern despotisms, with an extensive bureaucratic apparatus and strong communities. The disappearance of Mycenaean culture in the 12th century. BC e. associated with the invasion from the north of the Balkan Peninsula of Dorian tribes, among whom the tribal system still dominated. The history of Greece after the Dorian invasion begins almost anew. The decomposition of primitive communal relations, the formation of statehood, and the revival of material culture take place again. This period lasted approximately from the 11th to the 9th centuries. and is called the “dark ages”, as well as the Homeric period, since it is known primarily from Homer’s poems “Iliad” and “Odyssey”.

"Dark Ages" - the era of subsistence farming. During the archaic period, crafts were separated from agriculture, which marked the transition to exchange and production not only for one’s own needs, but also for the market, as a result of which cities actively developed. During the period VIII-VI centuries. BC e. The formation of poleis takes place - scattered small sovereign city-states, united only by a common language, religion, cultural traditions, political and trade ties. It becomes economically necessary to create new colonies and increase the number of slaves as the main labor force. At the end of the archaic period, slavery spread in many cities, regardless of the form of organization of the city, including democratic Athens.

The classical period is the time of the highest flowering of ancient Greek society and culture, which occurred in the V-IV centuries BC. e. Ancient Athens became the most influential political and cultural center after the victory in the Greco-Persian wars. Athens reached its maximum power and cultural flourishing when an outstanding political figure Pericles, who was elected general 15 times. This period is known in historiography as the "Golden Age of Pericles", although it was relatively short-lived. During the period of weakness of the Greek city-states, Macedonia began its rise.

New stage in the history of the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean - Hellenism - begins with the campaigns of Alexander the Great (IV century BC) and ends with the conquest of the Hellenistic states by Ancient Rome in the 1st century. BC e. Macedonia, having conquered Greece, fully adopted its culture, therefore, after the victorious campaigns of Alexander the Great, ancient Greek culture spread in the conquered eastern countries.

The formation of city-states in Greece - polis, as a special type of community, gave rise to a new, polis morality - collectivist at its core, since the existence of an individual outside the framework of the polis was impossible. The Greek world has always consisted of many independent policies, sometimes entering into military, religious or some other alliances, but usually independent and self-sufficient in administrative, economic and cultural terms. The process of gradual development of the polis, the early separation of crafts from agriculture and trade, and the rapid growth of commodity-money relations contributed to the transformation of the central settlement of a Greek tribe into a city. Citizens of the polis had the right to own land; were obliged to take part in state affairs, and in case of war - to participate in the civil militia; had the right to publicly express their opinion on any issue and file complaints about illegal actions. The supreme legislative body in the polis was the people's assembly; the executive power was represented by elected (for a certain period of time) bodies and positions: the “council of five hundred”, the jury, etc. Above the citizen in the polis was the collective of the polis (the idea of the sovereignty of the people). Ancient democracy was limited: women, personally free foreigners living on the territory of the polis, and slaves did not have civil rights. There were, in addition to democratic ones (Athens), also oligarchic city states (Sparta), where the vestiges of the tribal system were strong, and power belonged to the hereditary aristocracy. However, ancient Greek civilization as a whole most fully expressed the idea of the sovereignty of the people and the ideal of a democratic form of government; and the polis organization of society became a unique phenomenon, previously unknown in the world of ancient civilizations, which made it possible to effectively solve economic, military and political problems, to achieve high level cultural development.

Ancient Roman civilization is interesting for its own system of spiritual values. The main spiritual guidelines of Roman society were: 1) patriotism; 2) “special chosenness of God” of the Roman people; 3) the idea of Rome as the highest value. Not only crafts, but also occupations were considered unworthy of a Roman citizen. artistic creativity(sculpture, painting, acting on stage, drama), pedagogy. The uniqueness of Roman civilization lay in the fact that it was represented by a variety of forms of socio-political structure known in antiquity. From an early class society led by a "king" (the seven legendary Roman kings were most likely the supreme leaders of tribal alliances), to the early republic, then the developed republic, and finally to the emergence of a huge and stable state - the Roman Empire ( new type monarchy, different from eastern despotism), which absorbed almost all other civilizations of antiquity. Roman civilization lasted 12 centuries, which are divided into three periods: royal VIII-VI centuries. BC.; period of the Roman Republic VI-I centuries. BC.; period of the Roman Empire, 1st century. BC - V century n. e.

During the royal period, the primary social organization in Ancient Rome took shape. The population lived in clans, which were ruled by elders. In 509 BC. e. The Romans expelled the last king, Tarvinius the Proud, and proclaimed a republic. The period of the Roman Republic is characterized by the beginning of Rome's territorial expansion and the struggle with Carthage for dominance in the Mediterranean. As a result of wars and the growth of slavery, Republican Rome is experiencing an internal crisis: slave uprisings occur, civil wars. As a result, in 82 BC. commander Sulla establishes sole power, which meant the beginning of the decline of the republican system in Rome. The foundations of the empire that replaced the republic were laid by Gaius Julius Caesar, elected in 59 BC. consul, who became dictator for life and received the title of emperor. After the assassination of Caesar, his great-nephew Octavian Augustus, who became emperor, left behind a huge Roman Empire.

Only those who belonged to ancient families were considered full members of the Roman community. From them a privileged part of Roman society was formed - the patricians, initially only they were considered the Roman people. Another large stratum of society - the plebeians - was in a different position. The plebeians were personally free, but were not included in the clans, and therefore were not members of the community. Plebeians are settlers and inhabitants of conquered areas. Initially, the plebeians had no rights: they were not allowed into public assemblies, did not participate in religious ceremonies, and could not marry patricians. Their struggle for citizenship rights began. In the VI century. BC. plebeians were allowed to military service and to public assemblies. Nevertheless, the plebeians remained without full rights, and in the future this would become the source of long-term social battles in Rome.

Public assemblies played a large role in the public life of Rome. Resolutions of people's assemblies had the force of law. In addition, the tribunes had high powers: they had the right to impose a ban on decisions of the court, the Senate and senior officials if these decisions infringed on the interests of the plebeians. The most important governing body was the Senate, consisting of patricians and the top plebs. He was in charge of questions domestic policy and determined foreign policy. The Senate controlled finances and religion. The Senate was an aristocratic body. In fact, he led the state. In this respect, Roman democracy differed from Athenian democracy. Having turned into a huge power, Rome could no longer remain a community. The first signs of the destruction of its traditional structure and norms of community life appeared in the 2nd century. BC e.

In general, in the ancient world the foundations of civil society were laid, providing for the right of every citizen to participate in government, recognition of his personal dignity, rights and freedoms. Roman law contained a system of norms regulating private property relations. However, democracy in the ancient world was limited.

Literature

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2. Samygin, P.S., Samygin, S.I., Shevelev, V.N., Sheveleva E.V. History for bachelors / P.S. Samygin, S.I. Samygin, V.N. Shevelev, E.V. Sheveleva. - Rostov-n/D.: Phoenix, 2012. - P. 56-66.

3. Chubaryan, A.O. The World History. In 6 volumes / A.O. Chubaryan. - M: Nauka, 2011.- T.1. - P. 439-479, 575-602.