The meaning of the word Hellenes. The origin of the Hellenes Famous monuments of Hellenistic culture

But in this regard, the East is just a different model, a different model of life, a different model of behavior, and it is not known which is better. After all, even modern European civilization is not so old, it is not so ancient. But, for example, Chinese civilization has four thousand years of continuous development - continuous, without upheavals, without changes in the ethnic composition. And here Europe, which in fact will begin its history, ethnic history, from the era of the migration of peoples, does not look so ancient. Not to mention the Americans, who have this whole history for 200 years, because they did not consider the history of the people that they exterminated - the history of the Indians - as part of their history.

Do not forget that in addition to Europe there is a huge world around, which is just as interesting and original. And if he is incomprehensible, this does not mean that he is worse. In this regard, again, you need to imagine what the attitude of the Greeks was (the first lectures will be on Greece, so we will talk about the Greeks) to the outside world. I wonder if they considered themselves Europeans and did they think that they would be considered the basis on which European civilization would arise? So, for the Greeks, and later for the Romans (well, with a certain modification), there will be a very clear idea of ​​the division into “us” and “them”: Hellenes and barbarians.

Who are the Hellenes?

Hellenes- those that belong to the circle of Greek culture. They are not of Greek origin. It doesn't matter who you are from. Hellene is a person who speaks the Greek language, who worships the Greek gods, who leads the Greek way of life. And in this regard, again, it was significant that the Greeks had no concept of nationality. Then we will say that for the first time they develop the concept of a citizen, the concept of civil status, but again, not the concept of nationality.

In this respect the Greeks were a very receptive people. That is why such a rapid and dynamic development of their culture can be explained. Many of the so-called Greeks are ethnically non-Greek. Thales is traditionally a Phoenician, that is, a quarter, at least, a representative of the Asia Minor Carian people, Thucydides is a Thracian by mother. And many other remarkable representatives of Greek culture were not Greek by origin. Or here is one of the seven wise men (seven wise men, the selection was tough), a purely Scythian, Anacharsis, and it is believed that he belongs to the circle of Greek culture. And, by the way, it is he who owns one saying that is so relevant, say, in our country, in our world. It was he who said that the law is like a web: the weak and poor will get stuck, while the strong and rich will break through. Well, why is this not Hellenic wisdom, Hellenic, but he is a Scythian.

So for the Greeks (and they will then settle throughout the Mediterranean and the Black Sea), a Greek Hellenic was considered a person of their culture and that's it, regardless of nationality. And all those who are not related to culture do not speak Greek, they are all barbarians. Moreover, at that moment the word “barbarus” (this is a purely Greek word) did not have a negative character, it was just a person of a different culture. And that's it. And again, any barbarian can become a representative of the Hellenic culture, can become a Hellene. There is nothing permanent in this.

That is why they did not have such problems in the world as, for example, religious strife or strife on a national character, although the Greeks fought all the time, they were a very restless people. They fought for completely different reasons.

Herodotus, Thucydides, Parian Marble, Apollodorus also placed them there. However, Aristotle transfers ancient Hellas to Epirus. According to Ed. Meyer, expressed in the work "Geschichte des Altertums" (II vol., Stuttgart, 1893), in the prehistoric period, the Greeks who occupied Epirus were ousted from there to Thessaly and transferred with them to new lands and former tribal and regional names.

Later genealogical poetry (beginning with Hesiod) created the eponym of the Hellenic tribe of Hellenes, making him the son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, who survived the great local flood and were considered the ancestors of the Greek people. The same genealogical poetry created, in the person of Hellenus' brother, Amphictyon, the eponym of the Thermopylae-Delphic Amphictyony. Members of the Amphictyony, linking themselves by origin with the Phthiotians, got used to calling themselves Hellenes and spread this name throughout Northern and Central Greece, and the Dorians transferred it to the Peloponnese.

In the 7th century BC, the correlative concepts of barbarians and panhellenes arose mainly in the east, but this last name was supplanted by the name of the Hellenes, which had already come into use, which united all the tribes who spoke the Greek language, with the exception of the Macedonians, who lived an isolated life.

As a nationwide name name Hellenes is found for the first time in the 8th century BC at Archilochus and in the Hesiodian Catalogue.

Links

• // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.

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See what "Hellenes" is in other dictionaries:

Greeks. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov AN, 1910. ELLINS Ancient Greeks, as they called themselves. A complete dictionary of foreign words that have come into use in the Russian language. Popov M., 1907 ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

- (Greek Hellenes), the self-name of the Greeks ... Modern Encyclopedia

- (Greek Hellenes) the self-name of the Greeks ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

ELLINS, ov, unit in, a, m. The self-name of the Greeks (often the classical era). Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 ... Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov

- (in EllenV). For the first time with the name of the Hellenes of a small tribe that lived in southern Thessaly in the valley of the Enipeus, Apidan and other tributaries of the Peneus, we meet in Homer: E., together with the Achaeans and Myrmidons, are mentioned here as subjects of Achilles, inhabiting ... ... Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron

Hellenes- Hellenes, ov, unit. h. Hellenes, and ... Russian spelling dictionary

Hellenes- (Greek Hellenes), the self-name of the Greeks. … Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

Ov; pl. [Greek Hellenes] 1. Self-designation of the Greeks. ● For the first time, the term Hellenes for the Greeks is found in the poet Archilochus (7th century BC). 2. Ancient Greeks. ◁ Ellin, a; m. Ellinka, and; pl. genus. nok, date nkam; and. Hellenic, oh, oh. Oh speech. E... encyclopedic Dictionary

Hellenes- (Greek Hellenes) the self-name of the Greeks, which spread in antiquity. For the first time this word is found in Homer, however, in relation to only one tribe that inhabited a small area in southern Thessaly Hellas; Aristotle locates it in ... ... Antique world. Dictionary reference.

Hellenes- ov; pl. (Greek Héllēnes) see also. Hellene, Hellenic, Hellenic 1) The self-name of the Greeks. For the first time, the term Hellenes for the Greeks is found in the poet Archilochus (7th century BC). 2) Ancient Greeks... Dictionary of many expressions

Books

• Hellenes and Jews, Yuri Gert. For Yuri Gert, the most important topics have always been anti-Semitism, overcoming assimilation facelessness, understanding one’s own destiny as part of one’s destiny…
• King Herod the Great. The Embodiment of the Impossible (Rome, Judea, Hellenes), V.L. Vikhnovich The book of the famous St. Petersburg scientist V. L. Vikhnovich is dedicated to the life and work of the last Jewish king Herod the Great (73–4 BC), whose name in connection with the mention in ...

At the heart of worldview ancient greeks lay beauty. They considered themselves a beautiful people and did not hesitate to prove it to their neighbors, who most often believed the Hellenes and over time, sometimes not without a struggle, adopted their ideas of beauty. The poets of the classical period, beginning with Homer and Euripides, depict heroes as tall and fair-haired. But that was the ideal. In addition, what is high growth in the understanding of a person of that time? What curls were considered golden? Red, chestnut, blonde? All these questions are not easy to answer.

When the geographer Dikearchus from Messene in the GU c. BC e. admired the fair-haired Thebans and praised the courage of the blond Spartans, he only emphasized the rarity of fair-haired and fair-skinned people. From numerous images of warriors on ceramics or wall paintings from Pylos and Mycenae, bearded men with black curly hair look at the viewer. Also, the dark hair of the priestesses and court ladies on the palace frescoes of Tiryns. On the Egyptian paintings, where the peoples living "on the islands of the Great Green" are depicted, people appear small in stature, slender, with skin lighter than that of the Egyptians, with large, wide-open dark eyes, with thin noses, thin lips and black curly hair.

This is an ancient Mediterranean type, which is still found in this region. The golden masks from Mycenae show some faces of the Asia Minor type - wide, with close-set eyes, fleshy noses and eyebrows converging at the bridge of the nose. During excavations, the bones of warriors of the Balkan type are also found - with an elongated torso, round head and large eyes. All these types moved across the territory of Hellas and mixed with each other, until, finally, the image of the Hellene was formed, which was recorded by the Roman writer Polemon in the 2nd century. n. e: “Those who managed to preserve the Ionian race in all its purity are men rather tall and broad-shouldered, stately and rather light-skinned. Their hair is not quite light, relatively soft and slightly wavy. The faces are broad, high cheekbones, the lips are thin, the nose is straight and the eyes are shining, full of fire.

The study of the skeletons allows us to say that average height of Hellenic men was 1.67-1.82 m, and women 1.50-1.57 m. The teeth of almost all the buried were perfectly preserved, which should not be surprising, since in those times people ate "environmentally friendly" food and died relatively young, rarely stepping over the 40th anniversary.

Psychologically, the Hellenes were quite an interesting guy. In addition to the traits inherent in all Mediterranean peoples: individualism, irascibility, love of disputes, competitions and circuses, the Greeks were endowed with curiosity, a flexible mind, a passion for adventure. They were distinguished by a taste for risk and a craving for travel. They set out on the road for her own sake. Hospitality, sociability and pugnacity were also their properties. However, this is only a bright emotional cover that hides the deep inner dissatisfaction and pessimism inherent in the Hellenes.

Split of the Greek soul has long been noted by historians of art and religion. The craving for fun, the desire to taste life in all its fullness and transience were intended only to drown out the melancholy and emptiness that opened up in the chest of the Greeks at the thought of the non-material world. The horror of understanding that earthly life is the best that awaits a person was unconsciously great. Further, the path of a person lay in Tartarus, where shadows dried up by thirst roam the fields and only for a moment acquire a semblance of speech and reason, when relatives bring funeral hecatombs, pouring out sacrificial blood. But even in the sunny world, where a person could still enjoy while walking the earth, hard work, epidemics, wars, wanderings, homesickness and loss of loved ones awaited him. The wisdom gained over the years of struggles told the Hellene that only the gods taste eternal bliss, they also decide in advance the fate of mortals, their sentence cannot be changed, no matter how hard you try. This is the conclusion of the most popular myth of Oedipus endowed with philosophical significance.

Oedipus was predicted that he would kill his own father and marry his mother. Separated from his family, the young man returned to his homeland after many years and unknowingly committed both crimes. Neither his piety before the gods nor his just reign as king of Thebes abolished predestination. The fateful hour has come, and everything destined by fate has come true. Oedipus gouged out his eyes as a sign of blindness, to which man is doomed by the immortal gods, and went to wander.

Nothing can be done, and therefore rejoice while you can, and taste the fullness of life that flows between your fingers - such is the inner pathos of the Greek worldview. The Hellenes were fully aware of themselves as participants in a huge tragedy unfolding on the stage of the world. The civil liberties of the city-states did not compensate the soul for the lack of freedom from predestination.

So, Hellene- laughing pessimist. He becomes sad at a merry feast, in a fit of momentary gloom he can kill a friend or relative, or, by the will of the immortals, go on a journey, not expecting anything other than the tricks of the celestials for the accomplished feats. If a person is lucky to live near his native hearth with a nice family, he will hide happiness without showing it off, for the gods are envious.

The World History. Volume 1. Ancient World Yeager Oscar

Origin of the Hellenes

Origin of the Hellenes

Migration from Asia.

The main and initial event in the history of that part of the world, which is called by the ancient Semitic name Europe(midnight country), there was an endlessly long migration of peoples from Asia to it. The previous migration is covered with complete darkness: if there was a native population anywhere before this migration, it was very rare, stood at the lowest stage of development, and therefore was driven out by the migrants, enslaved, exterminated. This process of resettlement and stable settlement in new settlements began to take the form of a historical and rational manifestation of people's life, first of all on the Balkan Peninsula, and moreover, in its southern part, to which a bridge, as it were, was drawn from the Asian coast, in the form of an almost continuous series of islands. . Really. Sporadic And Cycladic the islands lie so close to each other that they seem to lure the migrant, attract, hold, show him the way forward. The Romans named the inhabitants of the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula and the islands belonging to it Greeks(graeci); they themselves called themselves subsequently by one common name - Hellenes. But they adopted this common name already at a rather late period of their historical life, when they formed a whole people in their new homeland.

Drawing on an archaic Greek black-figure vessel from the 8th century. BC e. Oriental features are felt in the style of painting.

These inhabitants, who moved to the Balkan Peninsula, belonged to Aryan tribe, as is positively proved by comparative linguistics. The same science explains in general terms the volume of culture they brought from their eastern ancestral home. The circle of their beliefs included the god of light - Zeus, or Diy, the god of the all-embracing vault of heaven - Uranus, the goddess of the earth Gaia, the ambassador of the gods - Hermes and several more naive religious personifications who embodied the forces of nature. In the field of everyday life, they knew the most necessary household utensils and agricultural tools, the most common domestic animals of the temperate zone - a bull, a horse, a sheep, a dog, a goose; they were characterized by the concept of settled life, a solid dwelling, a house, in contrast to the portable tent of a nomad; finally, they already possessed a highly developed language, indicating a fairly high degree of development. This is what these settlers came out with from the old places of settlement and what they brought with them to Europe.

Their resettlement was completely arbitrary, led by no one, having no definite purpose and plan. It was carried out, no doubt, like the European evictions to America that are taking place at the present time, that is, they were resettled by families, crowds, of which for the most part, after a long time, separate clans and tribes formed in the new fatherland. In this migration, as in the modern migration to America, it was not the rich and noble who took part, and not the lowest stratum of the population, the least mobile; the most energetic part of the poor was resettled, which, when evicted, is counting on an improvement in their lot.

country nature

The territory chosen for the settlement, they found not completely empty and deserted; they met there the primitive population, which they later called Pelasgians. Among the ancient names of various tracts of this territory, there are many bearing the imprint of Semitic origin, and it can be assumed that some parts of the territory were inhabited by Semitic tribes. Those settlers who had to enter the Balkan Peninsula from the north stumbled upon a different kind of population there, and things did not go off without a fight everywhere. But nothing is known about this, and one can only assume that the original Pelasgian population of the territory was not numerous. The new settlers, apparently, were looking not for pastures and not for markets, but for places where they could firmly settle down, and the area south of Olympus, although not particularly rich in large and fruitful plains, seemed to them especially attractive. From the northwest to the southeast, the Pindus mountain range stretches along the entire peninsula with peaks up to 2.5 thousand meters, with passages of 1600–1800 meters; he makes up the watershed between the Aegean and Adriatic seas. From its heights, facing south, on the left side to the east, a fruitful plain with a beautiful river is visible - a country that later received the name Thessaly; to the west - a country cut by mountain ranges parallel to Pindu - this Epirus with its wooded heights. Further, at 49 ° N. sh. extends the country, later called Hellas - Central Greece proper. This country, although it has mountainous and rather wild areas in it, and in the middle of it rises the two-peak Parnassus, towering 2460 meters, was nevertheless very attractive in appearance; clear sky, rarely raining, much variety in the general appearance of the area, a little further away - a vast plain with a lake in the middle, abounding in fish - this is the later Boeotia; the mountains were everywhere more abundantly covered with forest at that time than later; rivers are few and shallow; to the west everywhere to the sea - at hand; the southern part is a mountainous peninsula, almost completely separated by water from the rest of Greece - this Peloponnese. This whole country, mountainous, with sharp changes in climate, has something in itself that awakens energy and tempers strength, and most importantly, by the very structure of its surface, it favors the formation of separate small communities, completely closed, and thereby contributes to the development in them of an ardent love for native corner. In one respect, the country has really incomparable advantages: the entire eastern coast of the peninsula is extremely winding, it has at least five large bays and, moreover, with many branches - therefore, it is available everywhere, and the abundance of the purple mollusk, which was highly valued at that time, in some bays and straits ( for example, Euboean and Saronic), and in other areas, the abundance of ship timber and mineral wealth already very early began to attract foreigners here. But foreigners could never penetrate far into the interior of the country, because, by the very nature of the terrain, it was easy to defend everywhere from external invasion.

The image of the navy on the blade of a bronze sword.

The first Greek civilizations were famous for their militancy and knowledge of maritime affairs, for which in Egypt these tribes received the common name "peoples of the sea." 3rd century BC e.

Phoenician influence

However, at that distant time, the first settlements of the Aryan tribe on the Balkan Peninsula were only one the people could interfere with the natural growth and development of the Aryans, namely - Phoenicians; but they did not even think of colonization on a large scale. Their influence, however, was very significant and, generally speaking, even beneficent; according to legend, the founder of one of the Greek cities, the city of Thebes, was the Phoenician Cadmus, and this name really bears a Semitic imprint and means "man from the East." Therefore, it can be assumed that there was a time when the Phoenician element was predominant among the population. He delivered to the Aryan population a precious gift - the letters that this mobile and resourceful people, gradually developing from the Egyptian basis, turned into the present. sound letter with a separate sign for each individual sound - in alphabet. Of course, in this form, writing served as a powerful tool for the further success of the development of the Aryan tribe. Both the religious ideas and the rites of the Phoenicians also had some influence, which is not difficult to recognize in individual deities of later times, for example, in Aphrodite, in Hercules; in them it is impossible not to see Astarte and Baal-Melkart of the Phoenician beliefs. But even in this area, the Phoenician influence did not penetrate deeply. It only excited, but did not completely master, and this was most clearly manifested in the language, which subsequently retained and adopted only a very small number of words of a Semitic nature, and then mainly in the form of trade terms. The Egyptian influence, about which legends have also been preserved, was, of course, even weaker than the Phoenician.

The formation of the Hellenic nation

These contacts with an alien element were important precisely because they revealed to the newcomer Aryan population its peculiar character, the features of its way of life, brought them to the awareness of these features and thereby contributed to their further independent development. The active spiritual life of the Aryan people, on the soil of their new homeland, is already evidenced by the endless multitude of myths about gods and heroes, in which creative fantasy is shown, restrained by reason, and not vague and unbridled according to the Eastern model. These myths are a distant echo of those great upheavals that gave the country its final form and are known as " wanderings of the Dorians.

Dorian wandering and its influence

This era of migrations is usually dated to 1104 BC. e., of course, completely arbitrary, because events of this kind can never be definitely indicated neither their beginning nor their end. The external course of these migrations of peoples in a small space is presented as follows: the Thessalian tribe, settled in Epirus between the Adriatic Sea and the ancient sanctuary of the Dodonic oracle, crossed the Pindus and took possession of a fertile country extending to the sea in the east of this ridge; this country the tribe gave its name. One of the tribes pressed by these Thessalians reached south and defeated the Minians at Orchomenus and the Cadmeans at Thebes. In connection with these movements, or even earlier, their third people, the Dorians, who had settled on the southern slope of Olympus, also moved south, conquered a small mountainous region between Pindus and Eta - Doridu, but he was not satisfied with it, because it seemed cramped to this numerous and warlike people, and therefore he settled the mountainous peninsula even further south Peloponnese(i.e. the island of Pelops). According to legend, this capture was justified by some rights of the Dorian princes to Argolis, a region in the Peloponnese, rights that had passed to them from their ancestor, Hercules. Under the command of three leaders, reinforced along the way by Aetolian crowds, they invaded the Peloponnese. The Aetolians settled in the northeast of the peninsula on the plains and hills of Elis; three separate crowds of Dorians, during a certain period of time, take possession of the rest of the peninsula, except for the mountainous country of Arcadia lying in the center of its mountainous country, and thus found three Dorian communities - Argolis, Laconia, Messinia, with some admixture of the Achaean tribe conquered by the Dorians, who originally lived here. Both the winners and the vanquished - two different tribes, not two different peoples - formed here some semblance of a small state. Part of the Achaeans in Laconia, who did not like their enslavement, rushed to the Ionian settlements on the northeastern coast of the Peloponnese near the Gulf of Corinth. The Ionians ousted from here settled on the eastern outskirts of Central Greece, in Attica. Shortly thereafter, the Dorians tried to move north and penetrate Attica, but this attempt failed, and they had to be content with the Peloponnese. But Attica, not particularly fertile, could not bear too much overcrowding. This led to new evictions across the Aegean Sea, into Asia Minor. The settlers occupied the middle strip of the coast there and founded a certain number of cities - Miletus, Miunt, Priene, Ephesus, Colophon, Lebedos, Erythra, Theos, Klazomena, and fellow tribesmen began to gather for annual festivities on one of the Cyclades islands, Delos, which the legends of the Hellenes indicate as the birthplace of the solar god Apollo. The shores to the south of those occupied by the Ionians, as well as the southern islands of Rhodes and Crete, were settled by settlers of the Dorian tribe; areas to the north - Achaeans and others. The name itself aeolis this area received precisely from the diversity and diversity of its population, for which the island of Lesbos was also a well-known collection point.

During this period of stubborn tribal struggle, which laid the foundation for the subsequent structure of individual states of Greece, the spirit of the Hellenes found expression in heroic songs - this is the first flower of Greek poetry, and this poetry is already very early, in the X-IX centuries. BC e., reached its highest degree of development in Homer, who managed to create two great epic works from separate songs. In one of them he sang the wrath of Achilles and its consequences, in the other - the return of Odysseus home from distant wanderings, and in both of these works he brilliantly embodied and expressed all the youthful freshness of the distant heroic period of Greek life.

Homer. Late antique bust.

The original is in the Capitoline Museum.

Nothing is known about his personal life; only his name is preserved reliably. Several significant cities of the Greek world disputed with each other the honor of being called the birthplace of Homer. Many can be confused by the often used expression “people's poet” in relation to Homer, and yet his poetic works were already created, apparently, for a select, noble public, for gentlemen, so to speak. He is perfectly familiar with all aspects of the life of this upper class, whether he describes hunting or martial arts, a helmet or any other part of the weapon, a subtle connoisseur of business is visible in everything. With amazing skill and knowledge, based on keen observation, he draws individual characters from this higher circle.

The throne room of the palace in Pylos, the capital of the legendary Homeric king Nestor.

Modern reconstruction

But this upper class, described by Homer, was not at all a closed caste; at the head of this estate was the king, who ruled a small area in which he was the main landowner. Below this class was a layer of free farmers or artisans, who for a time turned into warriors, and they all had their own common cause, common interests.

Mycenae, the legendary capital of King Agamemnon, reconstruction of the original view and plan of the fortress:

A. Lion Gate; V. barn; C. wall supporting the terrace; D. platform leading to the palace; E. circle of graves found by Schliemann; F. palace: 1 - entrance; 2 - room for guards; 3 - entrance to the propylaea; 4 - western portal; 5 - northern corridor: 6 - southern corridor; 7 - western passage; 8 - large yard; 9 - staircase; 10 - throne room; 11 - reception hall: 12–14 - portico, large reception hall, megaron: G. foundation of the Greek sanctuary; N. back entrance.

Lion Gate at Mycenae.

The courtyard of the palace at Mycenae. Modern reconstruction.

An important feature of life during this time is the absence of a closely knit class, there is no separate class of priests; different strata of the people were still in close contact with each other and understood each other, which is why these poetic works, even if they were originally intended for the upper class, soon became the property of the whole people as the true fruit of their self-consciousness. Homer learned from his people the ability to curb and artistically moderate his imagination, just as he inherited from him the tales of his gods and heroes; but, on the other hand, he managed to clothe these legends in such a vivid artistic form that he forever left the stamp of his personal genius on them.

It can be said that since the time of Homer, the Greek people began to more clearly and distinctly imagine their gods in the form of separate, isolated personalities, in the form of certain beings. The chambers of the gods on the impregnable peak of Olympus, the highest of the gods Zeus, the great deities closest to him - his wife Hera, proud, passionate, quarrelsome; the dark-haired god of the seas Poseidon, who wears the earth and shakes it; god of the underworld Hades; Hermes is the ambassador of the gods; Ares; Aphrodite; Demeter; Apollo; Artemis; Athena; god of fire Hephaestus; a motley crowd of gods and spirits of the sea depths and mountains, springs, rivers and trees - thanks to Homer, this whole world was embodied in living, individual forms that were easily assimilated by the popular imagination and easily clothed by poets and artists coming out of the people in tactile forms. And everything that has been said applies not only to religious ideas, to views on the world of the gods ... And Homer's poetry definitely characterizes people in the same way, and, opposing characters, draws poetic images - a noble youth, a royal husband, an experienced old man - moreover, in such a way that these human images: Achilles, Agamemnon, Nestor, Diomedes, Odysseus forever remained the property of the Hellenes, as well as their deities.

Warriors of the Mycenaean time. Reconstruction by M. V. Gorelik.

Something like this should have looked like the heroes of the Homeric epic. From left to right: a warrior in the armor of a charioteer (according to a find from Mycenae); infantryman (according to the drawing on the vase); cavalryman (according to the mural from the Pylos Palace)

The domed tomb in Mycenae, excavated by Schliemann and called by him "the tomb of the Atrids"

Such a literary heritage of the whole people, which the Iliad and the Odyssey became in a short time for the Greeks, before Homer, as far as we know, has never happened anywhere else. It should not be forgotten that these works, predominantly transmitted orally, were spoken and not read, which is why it seems that the freshness of living speech is still heard and felt in them.

position of the lower classes of society. Hesiod

It should not be forgotten that poetry is not reality, and that the reality of that distant era was very harsh for most of those who were neither kings nor nobles. Force then replaced law: little people lived poorly even where the kings treated their subjects with paternal gentleness, and the nobles stood up for their people. The common man endangered his life in a war that was fought because of a matter that did not directly and personally concern him. If he was kidnapped everywhere by a sea robber who lay in wait, he died a slave in a foreign land and he could not return to his homeland. This reality, in relation to the life of ordinary people, was described by another poet, Hesiod - the exact opposite of Homer. This poet lived in a Boeotian village at the foot of Helikon, and his Works and Days taught the farmer how he should act when sowing and reaping, how he should have covered his ears from the cold wind and harmful morning fogs.

Vase with warriors. Mycenae XIV-XVI1I centuries. BC e.

Harvest Festival. Image from a black-figure vessel of the 7th century. BC e.

He passionately rebels against all noble people, complains about them, arguing that in that Iron Age no justice could be found against them, and very aptly compares them, in relation to the lower stratum of the population, with a kite that carries off a nightingale in its claws.

But no matter how well-grounded these complaints were, nevertheless, a great step forward was already made in the fact that as a result of all these movements and wars, certain states were formed everywhere with a small territory, urban centers, states with certain, albeit severe for the lower stratum, legal orders.

Greece in the 7th–6th centuries BC e.

Of these, in the European part of the Hellenic world, which was given the opportunity for quite a long time to develop freely, without any external, foreign influence, two states rose to the greatest importance: Sparta in the Peloponnese and Athens in Central Greece.

Depiction of plowing and sowing on a black-figure vase from Vulci. 7th century BC e.

The general picture of the life of the Hellenes around 500 BC. e Hellenic colonization Thus a new state was formed in central Greece, in a lively and convenient place for relations with neighboring countries, which grew out of a completely different foundation than Sparta, and quickly moved along the path

Book III HISTORY OF THE HELLENES AFTER THE VICTORY AT THE PLATES Zeus Otricolius. antique marble