Story. Culture of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome: similarities and differences

The culture of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome is usually called "ancient" which means "ancient" in Russian. In the 9th-8th centuries BC, the process of disintegration of the tribal system of the Greek tribes and the transition to a class society began, as a result of which the importance of city-states (policies) grew, which gradually became independent political centers. Athens, and also the Ionian cities of Asia Minor.

Both in the literature and in the art of Ancient Greece, the central place belonged to the image of man, so we are talking about the culture of Ancient Greece, as the first humanistic culture. The victory won by the Greeks over the mighty Persian state led to even greater strengthening of the policies, especially in Attica (Athens), where at the end of the 6th - beginning of the 5th century BC. e. a slave-owning democracy is formed, which in the ancient slave-owning world was the highest form of state power.

In ancient Greece, we observe an extraordinary flowering of philosophy, literature and art. The Greeks created highly artistic monuments of art and literature, unsurpassed in craftsmanship. Karl Marx wrote about ancient Greek monuments: "they continue to give us artistic pleasure and in a certain sense retain the significance of the norm and the unattainable model."

Ancient Greek art was imbued with the ideals of citizenship.

Serving his people, glorifying the nobility, courage and beauty of man was his main idea. “There are many marvelous forces in nature, but there is no stronger man,” said the great Greek poet Sophocles in his tragedy Antigone. In different parts of Greece, artists approached the solution of the main tasks of art in different ways, hence the different directions or schools in ancient Greek fine art: Doric, Ionic and Attic.

The art of ancient Greece is divided into several periods:

• the most ancient period (X-VI centuries BC) is called archaic.
• Starting from the 7th century, marble statues depicting gods or athletes first appear. They are distinguished by solemn immobility (for example, the figure of Apollo of Tenea).
• From the VI century BC. e. large-scale construction of temples begins, Greek architectural orders are developed.

From the first half of the 5th century BC. e. there comes a period called the classical, which is characterized by the flourishing of the culture and art of Ancient Greece. Artists to a certain extent overcome the conventions of archaic art. Along with the statues of gods and mythological characters, the statues of athletes, winners in sports competitions, are of particular importance. In these statues, the sculptors embody the ideal of a free citizen, “beautiful and valiant”, capable of defending his homeland and serving its prosperity. Statues adorned city squares and gymnastic schools-palestras, where competitions took place. These statues were an example for others, showed what a free citizen of the Greek policy should be like. The greatest masters of Ancient Greece - Myron, Polikleitos and others - worked on the image of the victorious hero.

Second half of the 5th century BC e. is the period of the highest flowering of ancient Greek art and is usually called the art of high classics. The construction of the temple of the goddess Athena Parthenos-Parthenon dates back to this time, the sculptures of which, imbued with deep humanity, were made by the greatest master of Greece Phidias and his students.

But already at the end of the 5th century BC. e. a crisis of the polis system is outlined, especially deepened as a result of the Peloponnesian wars. This caused a number of changes in the worldview of the Greeks. In the history of ancient Greek art, the period of the late classics begins (the end of the 5th-4th centuries BC), which is characterized by the emergence of various artistic movements. In the art of this time, there is an interest in the transfer of personal experiences of a person. The greatest masters of this time were the sculptors Skopas, Praxiteles, Lysippus.

Third and first centuries BC. e. called the Hellenistic era. This was the period of penetration of Hellenic, i.e. Greek culture to the East as a result of the conquest of these regions by the troops of Alexander the Great and the emergence of new state formations such as the Seleucid kingdom. Macedonian kingdom, Pergamon, Rhodes, etc. As a result of the interaction of Greek art with the art of the countries of the East, monuments are created that differ from the classical ones. In architecture and sculpture, there is a desire for the grandiose (Pergamon altar).

The art of ancient Rome began to take shape at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e.

The history of its development took place in close connection with the art of the tribes that inhabited ancient Italy. By the III century BC. e. Rome subjugated all of Italy, including Etruria, to its power, borrowing the culture of the latter. In the 1st century BC e. Rome has become a world power. The influence of Greek culture on Roman culture was especially fruitful. It was from this time that Roman culture became the leading one in the ancient world.

However, borrowing and processing the culture of other peoples, the Romans created original highly artistic monuments of fine art, distinguished by realism and strict clarity of artistic forms.

The desire for an accurate transfer of the surrounding life was reflected, first of all, in the art of sculptural portraiture.

Roman portrait art went through a difficult path of development from early republican portraits, conveying the image with extraordinary thoroughness, with all the small features of the face and figure without trying to achieve plastic generalization (the statue of AvlaMetellus) to portraits that reveal the inner world and mood of a person, portraits of the psychological era of imperial Rome. The earliest example of works of this kind is the portrait of Julius Caesar.

The Romans also created wonderful architectural monuments, many of which are still unsurpassed in their monumentality, beauty and architectural and technical performance. The Greek architectural order was perceived by the Romans not only as the basis of the design, but sometimes purely decorative (for example, the semi-columns decorating the Arch of Titus). Roman architecture reflected the ability of the Romans to rationally use the interior space of the room, which was perfectly embodied in the Colosseum.

Watch the video Culture of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome

At the turn of IV-III millennia BC. e. in the Nile River Valley, in the northeastern part of Africa, a slave-owning state arose with very strong remnants of the primitive communal system. The gradual development of the productive forces turned Egypt into a strong military-slave-owning power, which occupied a leading position among the countries of the Ancient East.

The fine arts of ancient Egypt are characterized by two main features: the extraordinary stability of image techniques and the creation of strict majestic monumental images. Monuments of Egyptian fine arts are distinguished by their extraordinary originality, perfection of execution and high artistic taste. Until now, they have retained great interest and high aesthetic value for us.

The history of Ancient Egypt is conditionally divided into several periods:

• Ancient kingdom.
• Middle Kingdom.
• New Kingdom and Late Period,

In the era of the Old Kingdom, Egypt was still a primitive slave-owning society, along with slaves, free community members were also exploited. However, it was at this time that the formation of state power ended, relations between the slave-owning nobility and community members developed, and the main forms of Egyptian culture and art were determined. This was the period of the birth and development of all types of fine arts: architecture, sculpture, painting (painting and painted relief) and artistic crafts. The leading role belonged to architecture: the Egyptians created majestic and monumental structures - pyramids and scales, which served as tombs for the king and the nobility. But the most significant phenomenon in the art of Ancient Egypt was the emergence of a sculptural portrait, due to the presence of the cult of the dead among the Egyptians. The life force, in Egyptian “ka”, which leaves a person after his death, according to the ideas of the ancient Egyptians, could exist only if the body was preserved (hence the custom of embalming the corpse of the deceased arose).

The statues placed in the tombs served as a substitute for the mummy, so they tried to give the faces of the statues a resemblance to the dead. The means of depicting the pharaoh and the nobility were strictly subject to certain rules - the canons. The deceased was depicted standing or sitting in a calm majestic pose, his hands lay on his knees or were stretched out along the body, his eyes were fixed on the distance (statue of Pharaoh Khafre). The images on the reliefs covering the tombs were also subject to the canons. The king and nobles occupy a central place: they are depicted much higher than the servants around them. At the same time, the artist strives to show the figure of the deceased in such a way that all parts of it are visible simultaneously from different points of view. Therefore, in reliefs, a person is always represented in such a way that his face and legs are turned in profile, his shoulders and eyes are in front, his chest and stomach are three-quarters (Isi's relief).

When depicting servants, the artist often deviates from the canon, creating artistic images full of life and expressiveness (a statuette of a maid preparing beer).

At the end of the Old Kingdom, as a result of cruel exploitation, internal contradictions aggravated, weakening the royal power. Egypt broke up into a number of independent, fighting with each other, nomes.

Time from 2000 to 1750 BC, e. commonly referred to as the Middle Kingdom. After the end of the struggle between the nomes, a rapid rise in productive forces begins, agriculture strengthens, crafts flourish, cities grow, trade develops, scientific discoveries in the field of mathematics and medicine deepen, written literature (fairy tales and stories) appears. Significant changes are also taking place in the visual arts: pyramids and mastabas are disappearing, tombs are now carved into the rocks, their walls are covered with colored paintings, which are characterized by a realistic perception of the surrounding world. The artist Irtisen, who lived during the period of the Middle Kingdom, says this about his skill: “I was an artist experienced in my art.

I was able to convey the movement of the one who brandishes the sword, the position of the hand of the one who throws the spear, and the bent gait of the runner.

The art of sculptural portraiture flourished, the characteristic features of which, in contrast to the portrait of the Old Kingdom, is the creation of a psychological image filled with great inner content. Portraits are now less generalized, they clearly tend to individualize the facial features of the person being portrayed (Amenemhat III).

The fall of the Middle Kingdom was caused by the growth of internal contradictions, a fierce class struggle, an uprising of slaves and peasants. At the end of the XVIII century BC. e. Egypt was conquered by foreigners, the Hyksos.

After the expulsion of the Hyksos, the period of the New Kingdom begins, during the reign of the pharaohs of the 18th dynasty, who pursued a broad policy of conquest. Egypt is turning into a powerful military-slave-owning power. The visual arts of this era, while maintaining monumentality, are characterized by an increase in realism, on the one hand, and the search for a refined art form, on the other.

Along with the construction of majestic temples and the creation of monumental statues, complex multi-figured compositions, multi-faceted reliefs, and exquisite figurines appear. A completely exceptional place in the art of the New Kingdom, and in general in ancient Egyptian art, is occupied by the so-called period of "El Amarna" - the reign of King Akhenaten, who introduced the cult of the single god Aton, depicted in the form of a solar disk, and abolished the worship of all other gods. The ancient Egyptian artists who worked at that time almost did not idealize the images of the king and his relatives. Sculptural portraits from the workshop of the sculptor Tutmes are distinguished by high quality of workmanship. In the portraits of Akhenaten, his wife Queen Nefertiti and daughters that have come down to us, we see a true transfer of a living face and figure. The murals of this period are magnificent, a characteristic feature of which is a vivid and emotional perception of the surrounding world.

The art of El Amarna had a great influence on all subsequent ancient Egyptian art.

After a short flourishing of Egypt under Ramses II, who revived the power and wealth of the country, Egypt gradually declines. The reason for this was the frequent wars that depleted the country, the sharp class struggle and mainly the uprisings of the slaves. In the VIII century BC. e. Egypt was conquered by Assyria in the 6th century BC. e - Persia, in the IV century BC. e. -Alexander the Great in the 2nd century A.D. e. Egypt becomes a province of the Roman Empire.

In the era of Greco-Roman domination in Egypt, a peculiar style developed, in which the features of Egyptian and ancient culture were harmoniously combined. A special place in the art of late Egypt is occupied by Fayum portraits, named after the place of their discovery. Written in wax paints, they accurately reproduce the face of the deceased, replacing the masks of ancient Egyptian sarcophagi.

The monuments of Ancient Egypt still amaze us with their high artistic qualities and are a clear evidence of the great creative talent of the people who inhabited Egypt in ancient times.

Abstract by discipline:

"World Art"

on the topic "Culture of Ancient Greece and Rome"

Introduction

The term "antiquity" (from Latin Antiques - ancient) began to be used in the Renaissance, when the unique greatness of the culture of Ancient Greece, its fundamental importance in the development of mankind, and especially European culture, became obvious.

It was antiquity that created that special way of man's relationship to the cosmos, society and himself, which predetermined the fate of the Western world. It is thanks to this way of relating to the world that antiquity is understood as a synonym for a classical, unsurpassed example in sculpture, architecture, literature, oratory, philosophy and other areas of creative activity. The same way of man's attitude to the world determined the highest humanistic orientation of the entire system of values ​​of the ancient world, to which all the great thinkers, poets, writers, artists and musicians turned. Greek and Latin throughout European history have remained and remain the language of scientists, lawyers, physicians, precisely because ancient thinkers fixed the fundamental foundations of logic, morphology and basic sciences in these languages.

The central event of the ancient Greek model of the world was the cosmos, ruled by the Olympian gods. The events of the great and eternal, God-chosen and God-protected ancient society and the events of the ancient man, who was entrusted with a divine mission, fit into this event, respectively.

ancient greek mythology

The world was the cornerstone of Greek civilization, defining applied art, literature, philosophy, etc. Myths connected the Greeks with the culture of their ancestors. The attitude to the myth was imbued with a special faith. The Greeks kept objects, monuments, historical sites associated with myths and proving their authenticity. Myths combined the products of folk art and fantasy, animating natural forces. The whole world in myths is inhabited by magical creatures. There are heroic myths that tell about exploits and etiological myths that explain the causes of events, customs, names. Communal and tribal ties are transferred to nature and the whole world, understood as a huge tribal community.

The monsters depicted in myths, their struggle with heroes and the victory of heroes helped people comprehend and partially reflect on hostile natural forces and existential problems of being. A person living in the world of myths did not feel alienated from nature. Myths created a holistic image of the world in which everything had its meaning, place and explanation. Past, present and future were inextricably linked with each other. Myths determined the way of life and human behavior.

Mythological thinking does not separate subject and object, object and sign, thing and word. Ancient Greek philosophers - sophists, stoics, Pythagoreans - rationally reinterpreted myths in their philosophical systems, allegorically interpreting their content. They laid the foundation for the symbolic interpretation of myths.

Ancient Greek mythology has become one of the factors determining the direction and development of the entire Western culture. There is not a single historical era, not a single direction of art, one way or another not connected with Greek myths.

ancient greek theater

A special place in the design of the ancient model of the world belongs to the Greek theater, the process of formation of which shows how the natural harmony of Dionysian and Apollonian principles contained in pagan rites was included in ancient culture, providing its vitality and grandeur.

The forerunner of the theater was a spring celebration in honor of the god Dionysus. The celebration was accompanied by dancing, singing, drinking new wine. The people singing songs of praise in honor of Dionysus were dressed in goatskins. The word "tragedy" comes from the Greek "tragos" and is translated as "the song of the goats." Comedies originated from merry songs in honor of the god Dionysus.

The theaters were huge and could hold more than twenty thousand spectators. Women did not perform in the theater, their roles were performed by men. Performances set themselves not only entertaining, spectacular goals, but also educational, civic, political. Famous authors of theatrical performances were Aristophanes, Euripides, Sophocles, Aeschylus.

ancient greek policy

Many researchers attribute a central place in the formation of the ancient way of relating to the world to the Greek policy. Polis can indeed be regarded as the embodiment of the ancient model of the world in the social sphere.

The policy included land belonging to the city. They protected their citizens from military incursions. In economic terms, the polis system had many advantages. The economic and political priorities of the policy were dictated by its citizens. At the same time, life in the polis educated a person in a certain way, accustomed him to responsibility, to readiness to make a new decision, free from mechanical adherence to dogmatic patterns.

Antiquity is characterized by democracy, under which full-fledged citizens took part in political life and government. It was in the policy that the archetypal set of symbols of social integrity was realized as a central harmonizing event, located between the event of the individual and the event of the Cosmos.

An obligatory component of the polis structure was the people's assembly. Unlike ancient Eastern societies, where slave ownership developed extremely slowly and in most of them did not go beyond the patriarchal structure, ancient society was characterized by the use of slave labor.

As a result of colonization, new ancient city-colonies arose, including Tanais, which arose much later than other colonies (in the 3rd century BC). Tanais is the most northeastern Black Sea colony of the ancient world. The special position of Tanais was in its great remoteness from the ancient center and close proximity to the Scythian, Meotian and Sarmatian tribes of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov and the Don. The ancient Greek culture in Tanais was strongly mixed with the barbarian.

One of the most important achievements of ancient Greek culture is the recognition of the dignity, rights, civil status of a person. In the further history of culture, in the Middle Ages, this greatness of the individual will be lost, but it will be reborn in the humanism of the Renaissance.

Roman culture and antiquity

The culture of Rome is connected with the completion of the history of ancient society. She continued the Hellenistic tradition and at the same time acted as an independent phenomenon, determined by the course of historical events, the originality of living conditions, religion, the character traits of the Romans and other factors.

The three-dimensionality, plasticity, sculptural nature of Greek art was a reflection of a holistic and harmonious model of the world and the holistic life of the Greeks corresponding to it.

Instead of ancient Greek living plasticity, symbolism and allegory dominate in the works of the ancient Romans.

The Romans were acutely aware of the loss of a holistic and artistic perception of the world, trying by any means to prove their kinship with the Greek world. This often forced them to create grandiose structures in order to make up for the limitations of their capabilities in the field of plasticity of a three-dimensional image.

Roman temples, forums, frescoes, mosaics, reliefs, sculptures (even copies from Greek masterpieces) were much larger than ancient Greek ones. However, this has led to the fact that Roman monuments can sometimes evoke a feeling of unnaturalness and duality.

The Romans could no longer approach the Greek ideal, since the natural model of the world was lost - the basis and secret of ancient Greek greatness.

But Rome adequately fulfilled its historical mission: it preserved Greek antiquity for Europe, broadcasting and replicating the values ​​of the greatest culture.

The ancient Roman model of the world was fundamentally different from the Greek one. It did not have an event of personality, organically inscribed in the events of the polis and the cosmos, as in the case of the Greeks. The event model of the Roman was simplified to two events: the event of the individual fit into the event of the state, or the Roman Empire.

That is why the Romans turned their attention to the individual. They own unsurpassed sculptural portraits with a phenomenally accurate transmission of the unique features of the face, character, habits, as well as reliefs that reliably recorded the historical events of the life of the empire - the so-called "historical" reliefs and portraits.

The Roman artist, unlike the Greek one, who saw reality through a harmonious three-event model of the world in its plastic unity, strove for analysis, dismemberment of the whole into parts, a detailed and reliable depiction of the phenomenon in full accordance with his own two-event model of the world. In his description, there are always, as it were, two views on the phenomenon. The first is from the standpoint of the individual. The second - from the position of the empire.

The architecture of Rome has reached a high development, both in terms of engineering, and in artistic and social functions. The Romans understood the idea of ​​the unity of the artistic form and social space in a fundamentally new way.

It is quite obvious that the attitude of the Romans to form, volume, space, to man and the cosmos is fundamentally different than that of the Greeks. And an important point explaining this difference is the orientation towards the second event of the two-event Roman model of the world - the event of the empire.

This event replaces for the Roman the event of the cosmos, which seems colossal in accordance with the vast expanse of the empire.

Even such monumental bronze masterpieces as the “Capitoline Wolf” are recorded in their connection with the legend of the origin of the empire.

In the light of the foregoing, it becomes clear why antiquity should be understood primarily as ancient Greek culture.

Conclusion

The main features of the ancient model of the world, the nature of their formation and development can only be studied in parallel with the study of the phenomena of antiquity. So, first of all, the concept of antiquity implies a special type of personality, a system of spiritual values, mythology, art, a mode of production, a macrosocial and state structure. All these components of the ancient way of life are closely related to the complex processes of formation, maintenance and translation of the ancient model of the world, however, some of them are directly related to the processes of its formation.

The concept of antiquity is also applied to culture. This term was adopted at the beginning of the 18th century in French and was originally understood as a special kind of art relating to early historical periods. But over time, its content was reduced only to Greco-Roman culture as a cumulative manifestation of antiquity, especially in the field of art. Such an assessment of Greco-Roman culture is not accidental. Ancient Greece, and then Rome in the second half of the 1st millennium BC. e. were centers of culture. Culture acted as a system that included the achievements of scientific thought, philosophy, various forms of art, religion, education, and upbringing. It had a significant impact on the further development of human culture.

In historical terms, antiquity refers to the period of ancient history (I millennium BC - V century AD), covering the Greco-Roman slave society. Its history ended with the crisis and then the collapse of the Roman Empire. It should be borne in mind that by the VIII century. BC e. Ancient Greece is formed as an empire that seeks to acquire colonies. The ancient Greeks settled on the coast of the Aegean, Marmara and Black Seas, inhabited the northern coast of Africa, southern Italy, the islands of Sicily and Cyprus.

Bibliography

1. Chernokozov A.I. World Art. Series "Secondary vocational education". Rostov-on-Don.: Phoenix, 2004.
2. www.wikipedia.ru

South Ural State University

Department of MTOMD

"Culture of Ancient Greece and Rome"

Completed by: student of the MT-128 group

Polozova Julia

Checked by: Nagornaya V.A.

Chelyabinsk 2009

1.1 Conditions for the formation of ancient culture.

The term "antiquity" (from the Latin "anticus" - ancient) was introduced by the Italian Renaissance humanists to define the Greco-Roman culture, the oldest known in their time. Later it became clear that the East was ancient, that Ancient Egypt (quite significantly), and Mesopotamia (weakly), and perhaps Ancient India (which is problematic) had an influence on antiquity. However, ancient civilization was not a continuation of the development of these eras, and similar cultures. She developed independently, and in a very peculiar way.

Its formation (as with prehistory) is associated with the so-called Aegean culture that existed in the Mediterranean region already in the 2nd millennium BC. In the history of the culture of ancient Greece, an archaic period is distinguished, up to about 500 BC. e. and classical: from 500 to 338 BC. e., until the time when Greece falls under the rule of Macedonia. But the ancient Greek culture did not disappear, it was continued. On the one hand, in the phenomenon of “Hellenism” (in the East), and on the other hand, in the development of Roman civilization, on which it had a strong influence, being similar to it in a number of respects. The Roman state arose in the 8th century. d.c.e. and lasted until the 5th century AD. But its history was further continued by Byzantium, which inherited something from both Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece. Thus, ancient civilization and culture developed for about 3 millennia.

The ancient Greek civilization developed as an agricultural one, and this made it related to the river agricultural civilizations. The ancient Greeks grew cereals, planted olives, cultivated vineyards. But they cultivated unyielding soil for this. In ancient Greece, there was neither such a scale of agriculture, nor such crops as, say, in Egypt. And in Ancient Egypt (and in ancient India and China), civilizations of the “vertical” type developed, which was associated with the irrigational nature of agriculture and the relative isolation of cultures. A despotic type of government dominated there, a clear class hierarchy, a worldview directed more up and down than far away (because it was unproductive to move too much), in-depth self-reflection (deepening more into oneself, into one’s inner, and not into the outside world). In Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, something else became inevitable: the widespread development of navigation, movement away with the development of trade, and somewhere robbery. In ancient Greece, a large state was not formed. A number of commercial and military centers appeared there. The civilization of the ancient Greeks (and for all their originality, the ancient Romans) developed as a maritime and trading, dynamic, open to influences (and influencing!), absorbing a lot, aimed at discovery and assimilation. This civilization was initially characterized by a horizontal rather than a vertical, and a focus not on self-reflection (although it was), but on practical action in dynamics. their world.

Trade, the dynamics of the economy did not produce despotism, and the Greeks gravitated towards the creation of states of a different type. In the most developed centers of Ancient Greece, peculiar forms of democratic governance appeared.

In general, this type of civilization and culture, born in the Mediterranean region, was aimed at increasing the power of man over nature. People here obviously sought to assert their human essence, to improve the very nature of man, to improve his life. Therefore, the Greek civilization is not without reason called humanistic. And the ancient Romans, with all the peculiarities of their culture, were largely striving for the same.

But the ancient civilization also grew out of the same primitive relations, like all others. She retained the features of primitiveness, and at her decline (this is especially obvious for Ancient Rome), she acquired some moments of civilization, disastrous for her. One should not underestimate the achievements and richness of ancient culture, but one should not exaggerate, forgetting about its imperfection.

One of the conditions for the brilliant development of ancient civilization was slavery. In general, civilization blossomed here and grew up on the same "black soil of superstitions and abominations, on which all the peoples of the world grew up."

But some favorable circumstances in the development of this civilization allowed it to progress unusually for the time being, to be mobile and not stagnant, and to become in many respects a culture in the highest sense of the word.

Mainland Greece was a mountainous country. The mountains divided the country into many small territories, later designated as “policies” (cities, fortifications, states). Gradually, dozens of policies were formed, which fought with each other, united in alliances, and again separated. But the policies competed only militarily, they also competed in a different way. Thus, the polis disunity created an environment of competition: military, trade, handicraft, sports, art. As a result, high achievements were ensured in various spheres of civilization and culture.

The stratification of the population in ancient Greece was one of the most important conditions for the development of civilization and culture. And this stratification in some respects differed from the seemingly similar stratification that took place in other ancient civilizations. Although the initial moment was the same here and there: along with communal ownership of land, private ownership of land appears. And along with the communal peasants, strata of medium and large landowners appear (the latter of which represent the aristocratic elite of societies, the former tribal “nobility”). Along with this, and as a result of external clashes, dependent impoverished workers (turned into slavery) and barbarian slaves appear. In connection with the peculiarities of ancient Greek religious beliefs, the priesthood does not form into a significant social stratum. But on the other hand, the strata of merchants and artisans were relatively large and significant.

Characteristics of the main achievements of the culture of Ancient Greece.

Ancient Greece discovered man as a beautiful and perfect creation of nature, as the measure of all things. The Greeks created a science that some researchers call "thinking in the way of the Greeks." A whole galaxy of brilliant names opens the pages of ancient culture: playwrights Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, historians Herodotus, Thucydides, philosophers Democritus, Plato, Aristotle.

The ancient Greeks had the priority of creating philosophy as a science about the universal laws of the development of nature, society and thinking, a system of ideas, views on the world and a person’s place in it; exploring the cognitive, value, ethical and aesthetic attitude of man to the world. Philosophy - the love of Wisdom - formed a method that could be used in various areas of life.
Knowledge had a practical meaning, it created the ground for art-mastery - "techne", but it also acquired the significance of theory, knowledge for the sake of knowledge, knowledge for the sake of truth.
Greek philosophy cannot be understood without aesthetics - the theory of beauty and harmony.
Ancient Greek aesthetics was part of undifferentiated knowledge. The beginnings of many sciences have not yet budded into independent branches from a single tree of human knowledge.
Unlike the ancient Egyptians, who developed science in a practical aspect, the ancient Greeks preferred theory.
Philosophy and philosophical approaches to solving any scientific problem underlie ancient Greek science. Therefore, it is impossible to single out scientists who dealt with "pure" scientific problems. In ancient Greece, all scientists were philosophers, thinkers and possessed knowledge of the main philosophical categories.
The greatest philosophers of Ancient Greece are: Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Socrates is one of the founders of dialectics as a method of searching and knowing the truth. The main principle is “Know yourself and you will know the whole world”, that is, the conviction that self-knowledge is the way to comprehend the true good. In ethics, virtue is equal to knowledge, therefore, reason pushes a person to good deeds. A man who knows will not do wrong. Socrates expounded his teaching orally, passing on knowledge in the form of dialogues to his students, from whose writings we learned about Socrates. So, from the works of Plato "Dialogues with Socrates" the world learned about the existence of the legendary Atlantis.
Plato's doctrine is the first classical form of objective idealism. Ideas (among them the highest - the idea of ​​good) - the eternal and unchanging prototypes of things, all transient and changeable being. Things are likeness and reflection of ideas. These provisions are set forth in Plato's writings "Feast", "Phaedrus", "State", etc. In Plato's dialogues we find a multifaceted description of beauty. When answering the question: “What is beautiful?” he tried to characterize the very essence of beauty. Ultimately, beauty for Plato is an aesthetically unique idea. A person can know it only when he is in a state of special inspiration. Plato's concept of beauty is idealistic. Rational in his teaching is the idea of ​​the specificity of aesthetic experience.
A student of Plato - Aristotle, was the tutor of Alexander the Great. He is the founder of scientific philosophy, trays, the doctrine of the basic principles of being (possibility and implementation, form and matter, reason and purpose). His main areas of interest are man, ethics, politics, and art. Aristotle is the author of the books "Metaphysics", "Physics", "On the Soul", "Poetics". Unlike Plato, for Aristotle, the beautiful is not an objective idea, but the objective quality of things. Size, proportions, order, symmetry are the properties of beauty. Beauty, according to Aristotle, lies in the mathematical proportions of things, “therefore, to comprehend it, one should study mathematics. Aristotle put forward the principle of proportionality between a person and a beautiful object. Beauty in Aristotle acts as a measure, and the measure of everything is the person himself. In comparison with it, a beautiful object should not be "excessive". In these arguments of Aristotle about the truly beautiful, there is the same humanistic principle that is expressed in ancient art itself.
Philosophy responded to the needs of the human orientation of a person who broke with traditional values ​​and turned to reason as a way of clarifying problems, finding a new, unexpected solution.
In mathematics, the figure of Pythagoras stands out, who created the multiplication table and the theorem that bears his name, who studied the properties of integers and proportions. The Pythagoreans developed the doctrine of the "harmony of the spheres". For them, the world is a slender cosmos. They connect the concept of beauty not only with the general picture of the world, but also, in accordance with the moral and religious orientation of their philosophy, with the concept of good. Developing the issues of musical acoustics, the Pythagoreans posed the problem of the ratio of tones and tried to give its mathematical expression: the ratio of the octave to the fundamental tone is 1:2, fifths - 2:3, fourths - 3:4, etc. From this follows the conclusion that beauty is harmonious.
In the field of physics, one can name the works of Archimedes, who was not only the author of the world-famous law, but "the author of numerous inventions.
Democritus, who discovered the existence of atoms, also paid attention to the search for an answer to the question: “What is beauty?” He combined the aesthetics of beauty with his ethical views and with the principle of utilitarianism. He believed that a person should strive for bliss and complacency. In his opinion, "one should not strive for any pleasure, but only for that which is associated with the beautiful." In the definition of beauty, Democritus emphasizes such a property as measure, proportionality. To the one who transgresses them, "the most pleasant can become unpleasant."
In Heraclitus, the understanding of beauty is permeated with dialectics. For him, harmony is not a static balance, as for the Pythagoreans, but a moving, dynamic state. Contradiction is the creator of harmony and the condition for the existence of beauty: what is divergent converges, and the most beautiful harmony comes from opposition, and everything happens due to discord. In this unity of struggling opposites, Heraclitus sees an example of harmony and the essence of beauty. For the first time, Heraclitus raised the question of the nature of the perception of beauty: it is incomprehensible with the help of calculation or abstract thinking, it is known intuitively, through contemplation.
Known works of Hippocrates in the field of medicine and ethics. He is the founder of scientific medicine, the author of the doctrine of the integrity of the human body, the theory of an individual approach to the patient, the tradition of keeping a medical history, works on medical ethics, in which he paid special attention to the high moral character of the doctor, the author of the famous professional oath that everyone who receives medical diploma. His immortal rule for doctors has survived to this day: do no harm to the patient. With the medicine of Hippocrates, the transition from religious and mystical ideas about all the processes associated with human health and disease to the rational explanation begun by the Ionian natural philosophers was completed. The medicine of the priests was replaced by the medicine of doctors, based on accurate observations. The doctors of the Hippocratic school were also philosophers.
Herodotus and Xenophon are the authors of works on history. Herodotus laid the foundation for Greek historiography proper, as he turned to the central, politically significant events of his contemporary history, experienced by himself. The "Father of History" strove for a reliable presentation of historical events, studied them as a whole, but his works characterize the belief in the action of religious and ethical forces in history.
Herodotus is a great traveler. Thanks to him, we have numerous information about the peoples - contemporaries of Herodotus, their customs, way of life and the countries in which they lived. Describing the geographical position of a particular country, Herodotus carried out the narrative as a real geographer.
But more in the field of geography, Ptolemy is still known - the author of the famous "Geography", which became a code of ancient knowledge about the world, and for a long time (until the Middle Ages) was very popular.

Features of the formation of the culture of ancient Rome.

Roman culture was formed under the influence of the cultures of many peoples, primarily the Etruscans and Greeks. Using foreign achievements, the Romans surpassed their teachers in many areas, raising the general level of their own development to unprecedented heights. In turn, Roman culture at the time of its heyday had a huge impact on neighboring peoples and on the subsequent development of Europe.
The Romans, having adopted their agricultural tools from the Greeks, significantly improved them. They added wheels, a cutter and a mouldboard to the plow, invented the harvester, began to use threshing chains and sickles of a modern form. Rome is the birthplace of window glass. In Pompeii, bronze frames with remnants of glass were found measuring 100 x 70 cm.
Roman craftsmen improved wheeled transport: the wagon was supplemented with a swivel limber and shafts.
Architecture played a leading role in art. The dominant principle of expediency, the clarity and courage of engineering thinking made it possible to satisfy both the everyday needs of a large population and the sophisticated aesthetic taste of aristocrats (their villas with parks and palaces were fabulously expensive). The Etruscan traditions in architecture and the invention of concrete allowed the Romans to move from simple beam ceilings to arches, vaults and domes.
The Romans went down in history as outstanding builders. They erected monumental structures, even the ruins of which are still amazing. These include amphitheatres, circuses, stadiums, baths (public baths), palaces of emperors and nobility. In Rome, they built apartment buildings - insulas - 3-6, and sometimes 8 floors.
Roman builders made extensive use of concrete. Almost entirely of concrete, the Pantheon temple (II century) was built, the dome of which, 43 m in diameter, remained intact until the middle of the 19th century. Concrete was used to build the foundation of the Colosseum (1st century) with a depth of 5 m. Forts, bridges, aqueducts, port piers, roads, etc. were built from concrete.
At the beginning of our era, the Romans invented water mills with a wheel, which for many centuries, until modern times, remained the basis of energy.
Household utensils were more varied than in Greece. In addition to earthenware, bronze and glassware were widely used. There were special devices for heating water and heating rooms, the principle of operation resembling a samovar. Clothing, as in Greece, was unsewn (for men - a tunic and a toga, for women - a tunic and a table); various raincoats were widely used.
The achievements of Roman material culture became the basis for the technical development of Western Europe in the Middle Ages.
The intersection of the vaults gave rise to the famous cross-domed system with four pillars in the center; a semi-dome arises, resting on a semi-cylindrical protrusion of the wall - the apse: this is how the main elements of future Christian churches were born.
Since in Roman buildings the supporting element is the wall, the columns and their decorations perform only a decorative function. The Corinthian order was most often used, as well as the Tuscan order - smooth columns on the base. In the imperial period, combinations of various capitals appear. The oldest type of Roman temple is round.
During the reign of Augustus (27 BC - 14 AD), Rome became the capital of the world. An unprecedented flourishing of art and construction began. The buildings were decorated with porticos and reliefs. The partially preserved palaces of the Julii, Flavius, and Severs amaze with their size. Columns and triumphal arches were erected even in the provinces.
On the basis of the Greek tradition, wall paintings of various styles were created, which were discovered by the excavations of Pompeii.
The achievement of Roman sculpture is the portrait. The beginning of this genre in Europe was laid by the Etruscans, in whom the image of the head of the deceased covered the urn with ashes; in this tradition - not only the desire to preserve the memory of the appearance of a person, but also the attitude towards a great personality as a socially significant ideal.
The beginning of Roman literature was laid by the Greeks with their translations into Latin of the Odyssey and other works of the classics (Livia Andronicus, Lucilius). The first truly outstanding writer (comedian) was Titus Maccius Plautus. He infected the audience with exuberant gaiety, using the technique of simplifying characters to the point of grotesque, creating classic sitcom plots. The characters and plots in the comedies of Publius Terence Afra are more psychological. His "serious" comedy is a reworking of the Greek (for example, Menander).
The full-fledged formation of personal consciousness on Roman soil began only during the period of the expansion of the republic. As we have seen in the example of Greek culture, a sign of this process is the emergence of lyrics, which indicates that society has awakened interest in the inner world of man. (In Rome, the appearance of a portrait also became such a sign.) The authors of Roman lyrics were already far from the folk song tradition, and they clothed their spiritual experiences in ready-made Hellenistic forms.
During the following years, the flourishing of literature was associated with the names of Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Seneca, Petronius. The inclination towards formalism and lightness are replaced by a deepening of content and an appeal to classical harmony. Interest in literature has increased, because the political struggle, which previously absorbed all the spiritual interests of society, has lost all meaning. Augustus sought to control the literary process, to force literature to perform social functions according to its own order.
The educator of Emperor Nero, the famous philosopher Seneca, made a significant contribution to the development of the tragic genre. It was this ancient tragedy that the playwrights of the New Age chose as a role model. The tragedies of Seneca are written in the spirit of the "new style": drawn out pathetic monologues, cumbersome metaphors and comparisons are intended more for the reader than for the viewer.
The development of the art of eloquence, the desire to preserve it, contributed to the development of prose. A fruitful result of sophistical practice was the emergence of small prose forms - letters (artistic and pseudo-historical), descriptions. Romance appeared in both Greece and Rome. Historical narratives, which became very common in Rome, were intended to compensate for the lack of their own mythology. The pinnacle of ancient prose can be called a satirical novel, a parody novel (Lucian, Apuleius, Petronius).
The consciousness of the politically active strata of society, especially in the era of the republic, directly involved in the struggle for power, was not only eclectic in itself, but adhered to eclecticism as a doctrine. In fact, politicians were ready to use any theoretical setting in the process of oratory practice. Such a position can also be assessed as extremely subjectivist. Quite naturally, eclecticism joined with skepticism, especially in the era of the empire, when the political struggle lost its former sharpness. Simplified materialism also merged with subjectivism, justifying the pursuit of pleasures in personal life and passivity, resignation to fate in public life (Epicureanism). However, just as militant morality could be found among the patricians (Cicero), so among the pseudo-Epicureans, genuine materialism was hidden (Lucretius). The existence of a strictly materialistic worldview was necessary to maintain law and legality, the cult of which did not fade away, or rather, the desire to maintain its appearance did not fade away.
In the era of the empire, various teachings of a mystical nature were spreading more and more - neo-Pythagoreanism, neo-Platonism, which gradually brought rational philosophy closer to religion. Religions of the East, Egyptian cults were very popular. The search for the only necessary religion was occupied by most of the population of the vast empire.

The civilizations of Ancient Greece and Rome became the basis for the emergence of European civilization and had a huge impact on the development of the medieval, and, consequently, the modern world. The study of the culture and life of these civilizations helps to trace the trends in the development of modern culture and predict its future.

Greek and Roman cultures are very similar. But at the same time, there were a lot of significant differences between these two civilizations. This was primarily due to the complexity of communication over long distances, which severely limited the interaction of the two cultures.

Greece is clearly divided into three parts: northern, covering Thessaly and Cyprus; central, bounded from the north by the Mallian and Pagasean gulfs; and from the south, Corinthian and Saronic; finally, the southern one, i.e. Peloponnese. The climate of ancient Greece differed little from the modern one. The average temperature has not changed since ancient times from 16 to 19 degrees.

The entire history of ancient Greece is conditionally divided into five periods:

1. Cretan-Mycenaean (XXX-12 century BC)

2. Homeric (11-9 century BC).

3. archaic (8th-6th century BC)

4. classical (5th - 4th century BC)

5. Hellenistic (4th-1st century BC).

In Greece, there is no gold at all, it was mined outside of Greece - on the island of Thassos, Macedonia and Thrace. But there was a lot of copper, a number of other ferrous and non-ferrous metals were also mined. Clay was important for Greek art, from which bricks were made, but, above all, ceramics - in this, the Greeks achieved, as you know, the highest artistic achievements. Stone was also highly valued: thanks to which Greek temples and other architectural monuments arose. The stone was always in place, it did not have to be carried anywhere. Houses in Athens were built of hard limestone mined in nearby quarries, houses on Delon - of stone. Carved straight out of the island's granite base. Even for the construction of temples, materials were not transported. In Olympia, the sanctuary of Zeus was built from local limestone.

The area adjacent to the Mediterranean Sea was inhabited by people who spoke a language that was neither Indo-European nor Semitic.

The later Greeks, with the exception of the nobility, considered themselves the autochthonous population of Greece, but they still had an idea of ​​the existence of some ancient, pre-Greek people, the Karaites, Lelegs, or Pelasgians, who originally inhabited Hellas and the adjacent islands.

In the area of ​​the Aegean Sea, three cultural communities existed and influenced: the most ancient of them is Cretan, or Minoan, with its center on the island of Crete (3000 - 1200 BC); Cycladic, which flourished on the islands; and Helladic, in Greece proper. The reflection of the Cretan culture in Greece was the Mycenaean culture: obviously, artists and artisans from Crete, brought as slaves by the victorious Achaeans, played a significant role in its formation.

In the era of the archaic, the main features of the ethics of ancient Greek society take shape. Its significant feature was the combination of the generating feeling of collectivism and the agnostic (competitive) principle. The formation of the polis as a special type of community, which replaced the loose associations of the "heroic" era, brought to life a new polis morality - the existence of an individual outside the polis is impossible. The military organization of the policy contributed to the development of morality. The highest virtue of a citizen was to protect his policy. The nature of the political reforms in the policies determined the preservation of this morality, since it was not the aristocracy who was deprived of their rights, but ordinary citizenship was raised in terms of the scope of political rights to the level of the aristocracy. The most important principle is who will serve the policy better. The father of Greek democracy was Solon (6th century BC). He introduced the democratic principle into the state structure, called on the people to participate in popular meetings, at which laws were approved, judges were elected, and political affairs were discussed. Every citizen from 20-50 years old had the right to vote. Being himself an aristocratic family (a descendant of King Kodra), refusing the role of a tyrant, he became the most progressive legislator of the Athenian state. Solon began by abolishing the laws by which free citizens were doomed to slavery for debts, repealed the laws of Draco, with the exception of those relating to murderers, created a new constitution, according to which four political institutions led the government of the country: the archons, the Council of Four Hundred, the People's Assembly and the Areopagus. At the time of Pericles, the democratic development of Athens was completed. He repealed the law, according to which the holding of public office required a property qualification. Athens owes Pericles the organization of paid jury trials.

The social structure of Greece is a slave-owning democracy, and it is characterized by such a phenomenon as popular sovereignty - the recognition of the people as the only source of power. There was also a system of elected posts. Democracy put laws above power, and the laws themselves were not considered something given from above, they were created by people.

The most important center of the Mediterranean Empire was the city of Rome, whose population grew to 1-1.5 million inhabitants. The founding date of Rome is traditionally considered April 21, 753 BC. legend says. That the city was founded by the brothers Romulus and Remus, and the place of the city, Palatine Hill, was indicated to them by the gods. The capital of the empire and other large cities were decorated with magnificent large buildings. - Temples of local deities and general imperial ones, palaces, porticos for walks, as well as various types of buildings for public entertainment - theaters, amphitheatres, circuses. Performances were held in the amphitheaters - animal tavli, gladiator fights, public executions. A distinctive feature of cities 1-3 centuries. AD there were stone pavements, water pipes, sewerage. In Rome itself, eleven aqueducts worked, giving 950,000 liters of water daily.

The central squares of the cities - forums - were decorated with porticos, temples, basilicas, triumphal arches, equestrian statues. The forums of Rome were very luxurious.

In Rome, as well as in many large cities of the provinces, luxurious buildings of thermae (public baths) were built, in which there were pools with warm and cold water, gymnasiums, and lounges. The baths built by Caracalla are especially luxurious.

In port cities, stone piers, barns for storing goods, protective stone walls from the surf of sea waves were built.

An ideology gradually took shape; value system of Roman citizens. It was determined primarily by patriotism - the idea of ​​​​the special God's chosen people of the Roman people and the very fate of the victories destined for him, of Rome as the highest value; about the duty of a citizen to serve him with all his might, not sparing his strength and life. I make worthy of the nobility, the Roman was recognized by politics. War, agriculture, development of law. On this basis, the culture of Rome was formed. Foreign influences, primarily Greek, were perceived only insofar as they did not contradict the Roman system of values ​​and were processed in a system with it.

Book: Culturology, lecture notes

III. CULTURE OF THE ANCIENT WORLD

1. The value of ancient culture for world civilization.

2. Culture of Ancient Greece.

3. Culture of Ancient Rome.

1. The value of ancient culture for world civilization

In the understanding of modern science antiquity- this is the history and culture of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome - from the emergence of the first ancient Greek states (end of III-II millennium BC) and to the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the conquest of Rome by barbarian tribes (V century AD). Accordingly, there are concepts of ancient philosophy, ancient art, ancient literature, etc. The literal translation of the word “antique” from Latin is “ancient”. In Europe, during the Renaissance, collecting antiques came into fashion, they were called “antiques”. Later, in France, the concept of "antiquity" itself arose - to refer to all early forms of art. As research deepened, the content of the term narrowed.

The level of development and the degree of influence on further history give the culture of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome an exceptional character. In the ancient world, all spheres of culture, without exception, flourished - education, science, literature, art. The creativity of ancient authors both in science and in art had humanistic character, in its center was a man, his physical and spiritual life. Masterpieces created by ancient writers, sculptors and playwrights were later perceived as classics, as unsurpassed and worthy of imitation examples. Ancient Greek and Latin are the basis of modern scientific terminology.

The position of free people in ancient states was fundamentally different from other ancient societies. There is a democracy, citizens enjoy political rights, participate in government. Although we must not forget that the ancient society was a slave. Slaves played a significant role in the economy of the ancient Greek states, contributed to their prosperity, at a certain stage of Roman history even became the main productive force.

2. Culture of Ancient Greece

Crete-Mycenaean (Aegean) culture. The early stage of the history of Ancient Greece is called Crete-Mycenaean or Aegean. At the end of the III-II millennium BC. the first states arise in the Aegean Sea basin - on the island of Crete and the Peloponnese peninsula (the city of Mycenae). These were states of the early monarchical type with a developed bureaucracy and strong communities. They look like ancient Eastern despotism.

Mycenae was discovered by G. Schliemann after his sensational excavations in Asia Minor, where he found the legendary Troy. The impetus for the beginning of the research of the English archaeologist A. Evans in Crete was the plots of many Greek myths: about the great master Daedalus, who built a labyrinth palace for the Cretan king, about the hero Theseus, who defeated the inhabitant of the labyrinth of the Minotaur and found the way with the help of the “thread of Ariadne”.

At the end of III - beginning of II millennium BC. the most powerful was the kingdom of Crete, which occupied an exceptional geographical position and had a strong fleet. Cretan craftsmen processed bronze, but did not know iron, made beautiful ceramic dishes, decorating it with color images of plants, animals, and people. Particularly famous is the ceremonial dishes with “marine” scenes.

Strikes the royal palace at Knossos. The plan of this multi-storey building really resembles a labyrinth. Many rooms, connected by a complex system of passages, corridors, stairs, did not have external windows and were illuminated through special light shafts. The palace had a ventilation and water supply system. The walls were decorated with magnificent frescoes, the most famous of which is “Parisian”. So A. Evans called the image of a young well-dressed woman with dark hair. The palace was the center of not only political but also religious life. There is a hypothesis that the structure of the palace is somehow connected with ideas about the other world. Many finds indicate that in religious ideas, the central bull cult . The roof of the palace was decorated with monumental stylized images of horns, ritual utensils were made in the form of a bull's head, one of the frescoes depicts acrobats playing with a bull. Knossos was destroyed, and Crete lost its dominant position in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. as a result of an unspecified catastrophe - whether it was an earthquake (which was accompanied by volcanic eruptions), then an external attack, or internal strife.

After that, the city of Mycenae, where the Achaean Greeks lived, became the center of early Greek civilization. It was surrounded by powerful defensive walls of huge, rough stone blocks. The main gate - the Lions - was decorated with a triangular stele with a relief image of two lionesses. G. Schliemann also found the “golden tomb” of the Mycenaean kings - underground structures with domed ceilings are located in a circle. At the end of the II millennium BC. Mycenae led the war of the Greeks against the city of Troy in Asia Minor. Approximately in the XII century. BC. the Achaean Greeks were driven out by the tribes of the Dorian Greeks, who moved from the north of the Balkan Peninsula. The latter were at a lower level of development. The invasion of the primitive tribes of the Dorians led to the decline of cities and political life, the loss of early Greek writing.

The main periods of the history of ancient Greece. The history of Ancient Greece after the Dorian invasion, figuratively speaking, begins anew. Again there is a decomposition of primitive relations and the formation of statehood. This period is a kind of "deaf times", which lasted from about the 11th to the 9th century. BC, called Homeric for it is best known from Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.

The next big period polis(VIII - IV centuries BC): statehood was formed in the form of policies - city-states, mainly with a republican system. In addition, Greek colonization unfolded in the Mediterranean and the Northern Black Sea region, where the Greeks founded numerous colonial cities (on the territory of modern Ukraine - Olbia, Chersonesos, Panticapaeum, Feodosia, etc.). It should be borne in mind that the name “Ancient Greece” (among the Greeks - Hellas) does not mean a single state, but independent policies that had a common language, religion, cultural traditions, political and trade relations. A manifestation of this community were, for example, the Olympic Games.

Within the framework of the policy period, allocate archaic stage when there is a gradual compilation of the main forms of ancient Greek culture, and classic stage- the time of the highest rise - V-IV centuries. BC. The most influential political and cultural center after the victory in the Greco-Persian wars was Athens. They reached their maximum power and cultural flourishing when an outstanding political figure, the democrat Pericles, was at the head of the state.

A new stage in the history of the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean - Hellenistic stage- begins with the campaigns of Alexander the Great (IV century BC) and ends with the conquest of the Hellenistic states by Rome (I century BC was the last to capture Egypt). Macedonia conquered Greece, fully adopted its culture, and after the campaigns of Alexander the Great, ancient Greek culture spread to the conquered eastern countries. In turn, these peoples were the bearers of their own rich tradition and themselves influenced ancient culture.

During all periods of ancient Greek history, common features and continuity in the development of culture were preserved. Therefore, it is possible to give a general description of the main areas of ancient Greek culture.

Mythology. Mythology played a binding, formative role for the development of culture. It began to take shape in the Crete-Mycenaean period. The ancients were deities who personified the forces of nature. From the union of Gaia - the earth and Uranus - the sky, the titans appeared, the eldest was the Ocean, the youngest was Kron. The children of Kron - the gods led by Zeus - won the victory in the fight against the titans and distributed power over the world. The Thunderer Zeus became the king of the gods and people, Poseidon - the seas, springs and waters, Hades - the gloomy underworld.

Mount Olympus was considered the home of the twelve supreme gods, led by Zeus. Hera - the wife of Zeus - was the patroness of marriage and family, one sister of Zeus Demeter was the goddess of fertility, the other - Hestia - the patroness of the hearth. The beloved daughter of Zeus, Athena, was revered as the goddess of military wisdom and wisdom in general, she patronized knowledge and crafts. According to the myth, Athena appeared from the head of Zeus in full combat attire - in a helmet and armor. The god of war was the son of Zeus and Hera Ares. Hermes - originally the god of cattle breeding and shepherds, later revered as the messenger of the Olympic gods, the patron of travelers, merchants, the god of trade, the inventor of the measure and the shepherd's flute. Artemis was originally the goddess of fertility and the patroness of animals and hunting, the goddess of the moon, later she became the patroness of female chastity and the protector of women in childbirth. Apollo is the brother of Artemis, the deity of sunlight, education, medicine, art, which is embodied by his companions - the nine muses. Another daughter of Zeus is Aphrodite, born from the foam of the sea near the island of Cyprus, the goddess of love and beauty. Aphrodite's husband was the blacksmith god Hephaestus. Dionysus is the most cheerful of the gods, the patron of vine-growers and winemakers, noisy holidays were dedicated to him at the end of the agricultural year. In addition to the Olympic, there were many other, mostly local, local) gods who had their own functions.

The gods in the representation of the Greeks looked like people, had human desires, thoughts, feelings, even human vices and shortcomings. They severely punished those who tried to approach them for beauty, intelligence and power. A special place is occupied by the myth of the titan Prometheus - the protector of people from the arbitrariness of the gods. Prometheus stole fire from Olympus and gave it to people, for which Zeus chained him to a rock and doomed him to eternal torment.

In addition to the myths about the gods, there were legends about heroes, the most beloved of which was Hercules, who performed twelve great feats. Myths and legends about gods and heroes formed in cycles.

In parallel with mythology, cult practice developed - sacrifices and prayers that took place in temples. Each city had a patron god. Athena was considered the patroness of Athens. Olympia was the center of worship for Zeus, to whom sports competitions were dedicated here. The place of the main sanctuary of Apollo - Delphi, where the center (“navel”) of the Earth was marked with a special stone. And the famous oracle(an oracle is a place in a sanctuary where a deity's answer to a question was received, or is it a prophecy of a deity).

Human, harmonious images of Greek mythology became the basis for the development of art. The mythology of the ancient Greeks had a decisive influence on the formation of ancient Roman mythology and religion; in the Renaissance, it was actively included in the European cultural process. Until now, scientific, cognitive and aesthetic interest has not weakened.

The science. In ancient Greek mythology, one feels the desire to give a comprehensive picture of the world, to find an explanation for everything that exists. At a different worldview level, these searches were continued by the scientists of Ancient Hellas. It is in ancient culture that science for the first time in human history stands out as an independent sphere, and we can talk not just about the accumulation of scientific knowledge (which was in the hands of the priests), but about the development of professional science.

Of particular importance is the ancient philosophy. In ancient Greece, philosophy was born as a scientific theory, a system of concepts developed, the main philosophical problems were related and received their original solution. One of the most important features of ancient Greek philosophy is cosmology- development of questions about the origin of the universe, about human nature.

Tradition considers Thales of Miletus to be the first Greek philosopher, astronomer and mathematician. His name begins the list of “seven wise men”, many well-known sayings are attributed to him: “Know thyself”, “The largest of all space, because it contains everything in itself”, “Necessity is strongest of all, for it has power over everything”, “ Time is the wisest, because it reveals everything.” Thales considered water to be the fundamental principle of all things - “reasonable and divine”. Thales stands at the origins of the demythologization of the world: he considered Zeus the world mind, the gods - the forces acting in the world. Thales became the founder spontaneous materialistic school philosophy.

In the materialist tradition atomistic concept the structure of the world of Democritus (“atomos” - indivisible). in the making dialectics Heraclitus played an important role, in the formulation and deep development of social and ethical problems - Socrates. His student Plato became the founder of the philosophical school objective idealism, one of the most influential philosophers of all time. Aristotle - the most famous of the encyclopedic minds in the history of mankind, in his teaching tried to combine the strengths of the views of Democritus and Plato. His teaching significantly influenced the philosophical trends of the Middle Ages and modern times.

A distinctive feature of the philosophical works of the Hellenistic time is the increased attention to the individual and his problems. The philosophy of Epicurus saw its task in liberating man from fear of death and fate, he denied the intervention of the gods in the life of nature and man, and proved the materiality of the soul. The life ideal of the philosophical school stoicism there was an equanimity and calmness that a person must keep in contrast to the changing world. The main virtues of the Stoics were understanding (that is, the knowledge of what is good and evil), courage and justice. Stoicism became especially popular in ancient Rome.

The historical science of ancient Greece is primarily associated with the name of Herodotus. He traveled a lot: he visited Asia Minor, Egypt, Phoenicia, various cities of Balkan Greece, the Black Sea coast. The main work of Herodotus - "History", is dedicated to the most important political event in Greek history - the Greco-Persian wars. Despite the fact that the "History" is not always distinguished by its integrity and scientific character, the facts that are given in it are mostly reliable. The work of Herodotus is of great importance for the study of the past of the peoples who lived on the territory of modern Ukraine. It is Herodotus who owns the first systematic description of the life and way of life of the Scythians in ancient literature.

Medical knowledge began to generalize quite early. One of the Olympic gods, Apollo, was considered the supreme patron of medicine, the healer god. Asclepius became the god of medicine proper, and many scientists now believe that this mythological character had a historical prototype, a real skillful doctor. Several scientific medical schools have developed in Greece, the most famous being Knidos (Knid city) and Koska (Kos island). The representative of the latter was Hippocrates, who lived in the classical era. His ideas about the causes of diseases, about the four temperaments, about the role of prognosis in treatment, about the moral and ethical requirements for a doctor, had an exceptional impact on the further development of medicine. The Hippocratic Oath is still the moral code of doctors all over the world today.

The era of the successful development of science was Hellenism . This stage is characterized by the emergence of new scientific centers, especially in the Elinist states in the East. The largest scientific center of the Hellenistic world was Alexandria of Egypt with its Museion (“House of the Muses”) and a library of more than half a million books. Outstanding scientists, poets, artists from all over the Mediterranean came to work here.

The synthesis of the mathematical knowledge accumulated at that time can be considered the work “Elements” (or “Beginnings”) by Euclid, who lived in Alexandria. The postulates and axioms stated here, the deductive method of proofs served for centuries as the basis of geometry. The name of Archimedes from the city of Syracuse is associated with the discovery of one of the basic laws of hydrostatics, the beginning of counting infinitely large and small quantities, and a number of important technical inventions. Significant progress has been made in the study of man. Herophilus of Chalcedon discovered the nerves and established their connection with the brain, he also suggested that the mental abilities of a person are connected with the brain. Erasistrat studied the anatomy of the heart. This is a very incomplete list of the successes of ancient Greek science.

Education. With the development of ancient spiritual culture, the ideal of a person is gradually being developed, which involves harmony, combination of physical and spiritual beauty. The entire system of upbringing and education, unique for its time, correlated with this ideal. It was the policies of Hellas for the first time in history that set the task of educating the children of the entire free population (it was primarily about boys). Moreover, attention was paid both to the acquisition of scientific knowledge, and to physical development, to the assimilation of the moral code of a free citizen. There were private and public educational institutions. The structure of education was affected by political differences between policies. In Athens, a city with a democratic republican system, such a system of education was formed. After being raised at home, the boys studied at an elementary school from the age of seven, which was called didaxaleion(from the Greek - "didacticos" - instructive). Here they studied literacy, literature, starting with Homer, music, arithmetic, drawing. A more in-depth study of these subjects, with the addition of the basics of astronomy and philosophy, continued in grammar schools(aged 12 to 15 years). Physical education was taught simultaneously in a special complex - palestri. All these types of educational institutions in Athens were owned by private individuals. Boys aged 16-18 completed their general education in gymnasiums. There were such subjects: rhetoric, ethics, logic, geography, and also gymnastics. The state took care of the gymnasium, monumental buildings were erected for them. Rich people considered it an honor to take the elective position of head of the gymnasium, despite the fact that it required large personal expenses. Gymnasiums were the centers of the scientific life of the policy. In Athens, the Academy became famous, where Plato conducted conversations with his students, and the Lyceum, founded by Aristotle. After the gymnasium, one could become ephebom- a student of a higher educational institution, who in the Polish era was a military man, but in the Hellenistic era he changed radically and became a civilian. Circles, which were created around prominent scientists, can be considered a peculiar form of higher education.

In Sparta, the control of the state over the development of the individual was quite rigid. According to legend, newborns were examined by members gerusia(city council of elders) and selected only healthy children. The frail and sickly were thrown into the abyss of the Tayget spine. There was a system of public schooling, mandatory for every Spartiat from 8 to 20 years old. Studied in schools, unlike Athens, both boys and girls.

Literature. A very early beginning of the ancient Greek literary tradition is associated with mythology, its plots and images. The development of individual spheres of culture is not always uniform. So, in ancient Greece, the peaks of poetic creativity were reached much earlier than classical science, education and art were formed.

Around the 8th century BC. Homer composed his great epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Most scholars believe that Homer lived in Asia Minor and was rhapsodome- the so-called poets who performed with the recitation of their poems. It is difficult to say when these poems were written down. There is a point of view that the first records appeared during the life of Homer. According to others, this happened later - in the VI century. BC. Both versions correlate with the history of Greek writing. Alphabet(phonetic letter) was borrowed by the Greeks from the Phoenicians precisely in the 8th century. BC. The Greeks then even wrote like the Phoenicians: from right to left and without vowels. In the VI century. BC. Greek writing has already acquired the form familiar to us.

The poems are connected with the folk heroic epic dedicated to the Trojan War, in which real historical events intertwined (the military campaign of the Achaean Greeks against Troy, which they called Ilion), and fantastic plots (“the apple of discord” as the cause of the war, the participation of the gods in the conflict, "Trojan horse"). However, Homer does not retell myths, but creates artistic images, draws the inner world of heroes, a clash of characters. The Iliad is dedicated to one episode of the last, tenth, year of the war of wrath of the most powerful and bravest of the Greek warriors, Achilles, who took offense at the leader of the Greeks, the Mycenaean king Agamemnon. Achilles refuses to participate in the battle, the Trojans break through to the ships, Achilles' best friend, Patroclus, dies. Achilles changes his mind, enters into a duel with the main defender of Troy - the son of King Priam Hector - and kills him. The scene of the meeting of Achilles with Priam is shocking, when the king, kissing the hands of the winner, asks to give him the body of his son for burial with all honors.

"Odyssey" - the second in composition and plot. It tells about the long journey home of one of the main participants in the war, the king of the island of Ithaca, the cunning Odysseus, full of incredible fairy-tale adventures.

An accurate and figurative assessment of the meaning of the Iliad and the Odyssey was given by a medieval Byzantine writer: “Just as, according to Homer, all rivers and streams originate from the Ocean, so the source of any art of the word is Homer.” The Greeks not only loved the Homeric poems, but bowed before them. They were known by heart, rewritten many times. They became the basis of upbringing and education.

Hesiod continued the epic tradition of Homer. In the poem "Theogony" he outlined the mythological ideas about the origin of the gods and the structure of the world. In "Works and Days" for the first time he introduced into the epic poem personal assessments, a description of the circumstances of his own life. In the future, lyric poetry gained development in Greece. We know the names of the poetess Sappho (a sapphic stanza is a special poetic meter), Anacreon (anacreontics is a lyric that glorifies the joy of life and worldly pleasures), but the poems of these and other ancient Greek authors have survived only in fragments. Dramaturgy has developed as an independent genre of literary creativity.

Theater. The origin of the theater is associated with holidays in honor of Dionysus, the god of viticulture. The participants in the ritual processions portrayed the retinue of Dionysus, put on goat skins, sang and danced (the word “tragedy” in Greek means “song of the goats”). The historical roots of the theater are evidenced by the obligatory participation in the ancient Greek tragedies of the choir, with which at first one actor conducted dialogues, later the number of actors increased to three. The combination with the literary tradition in the classical era turned the theater from religious, folk performances into an independent art form.

Theatrical performances have become an integral part of public holidays - Dionysius and Liney. For them, grandiose stone theaters were built, designed for thousands of spectators (the theater of Dionysus in Athens, the amphitheater in Epidaurus have survived). City leaders found chorega(the person who provided funding), the order of showing comedies and tragedies was determined by lot. Poor people received money for an entrance ticket. The actors were only men, they played in special masks. The director was the poet himself. After the end of the performances, which lasted for several days from morning to evening, special judges determined the best and awarded prizes.

The most famous playwrights are the tragedians Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. Unfortunately, most of the dramatic works have been lost. Only seven plays by Aeschylus have been fully preserved (he wrote 90 plays, won drama competitions 13 times), seven by Sophocles (123 tragedies were written, 24 of them were won), a little more - 17 by Euripides (108 plays, 4 victories)

Aeschylus in the historical play "Persians" glorifies the victory of the Greeks in the war against the invaders, in which, by the way, he himself took part. Other plays are written with mythological plots. The authors quite freely interpreted them, expressed their own views. Aeschylus in the tragedy "Prometheus Chained" admires the courage and love of freedom of the titan.

Sophocles introduced psychological motivations for the actions of the heroes. For example, in "Antigone" the main character sacrifices herself, but fulfills a moral duty: contrary to the tsar's ban, she buries her dead brother. It is in this tragedy that the choir sounds with the famous refrain: “There are many great forces in the world, but there is nothing stronger than man in nature.”

Euripides, the youngest of the three great playwrights, already lived in an era of crisis, civil wars, and external danger that was growing from Macedonia. All this was reflected in his work (“Medea”, “Hippolite”). Aristotle called Euripides "the most tragic of poets."

Aristophanes ("Clouds", "Wasps", "Frogs") is deservedly considered a master of comedy. The dramatic works of the ancient Greeks still remain in the repertoire of many theaters, they have been repeatedly filmed.

Music occupied an important place in the life of the Hellenes. There were special boards (associations) of singers, musicians, and dancers. The music was unanimous, the choir sang in unison. Lyre and flute were common musical instruments.

Architecture. In the ancient Greek city-states, a system of regular city planning developed, with a rectangular network of streets, the square being the center of commercial and social life. The cult and architectural and compositional core of the city was the temple, which was built on top acropolis- the high and fortified part of the city.

The Hellenes developed a completely different type of temple than the ancient Eastern civilizations - open, bright. He glorified man, and did not cause fear. It is characteristic that in architecture there is a human metric beginning. Mathematical analysis of the proportions of the temples proved that they correspond to the proportions of the human figure. The classical Greek temple was rectangular in plan, surrounded on all sides by a colonnade. The roof was built with a gable. Triangular planes that formed from the facade - pediments, usually decorated with sculptures.

A characteristic feature of Greek architecture is the purity and unity of style. Three main architectural orders("order" - translated from Greek “order”) - they differ in the types of columns and ceilings, proportions, decorative decoration. Dorian and Ionic styles arose during the polis period. The most elegant - the Corinthian order - appeared during Hellenism.

The most perfect architectural ensemble of classical Greece is the Athenian Acropolis. It was built in the second half of the 5th century. BC, during the period of the greatest power of Athens. The rock of the Acropolis, which rises 150 meters above sea level, has long been a fortress, and then the location of the main places of worship. However, during the Persian attack, the ancient temples were destroyed. After the victory, Pericles initiated a grandiose reconstruction of the Acropolis. The work was supervised by a personal friend of Pericles, the outstanding sculptor Phidias.

A characteristic feature of this complex is its extraordinary harmony, which is explained by the unity of design and the speed of construction (about 40 years). The main entrance to the Acropolis - the Propylaea - was built by the architect Mnesikl. Later, in front of them, on an artificially enlarged rock ledge, a small temple of Nike Apteros (Wingless Nike) was built - a symbol that the goddess of victory will never leave the city.

The main temple of the Acropolis is the white marble Parthenon - the temple of Athena Parthenos (Athena the Virgin). Its architects Iktin and Kallikrat conceived and designed the building in such proportion that it certainly stands out as the most majestic building of the complex, but its size does not “press” on others. In the old days, in the center of the Acropolis, on a pedestal in golden vestments, stood the grandiose figure of Pallas Athena (Athena the Warrior) by Phidias.

The Erechtheion is a temple dedicated to Poseidon, who, according to myth, argued with Athena for the right to patronize the city. The most famous in this temple is the portico of caryatids. Portico they call a gallery open on one side, based on columns, and in the Erechtheion, the columns are replaced by six marble figures of caryatid girls. We can now repeat after the Roman historian Plutarch, who wrote about the construction of the Acropolis: "... their eternal newness saved them from the touch of time."

The architecture of the Hellenistic policies continued the Greek traditions, but more attention was paid to public construction - the architecture of theaters, gymnasiums, palaces of the Hellenic rulers. By this time, the construction of such famous "wonders of the world" as the tomb of King Mausolus in Halicarnassus and the Pharos lighthouse at the entrance to the harbor of Alexandria dates back.

art. The favorite form of art of the Hellenes was sculpture. Statues of the gods were placed in temples and city squares, built for the winners of the Olympic Games and great playwrights.

The mastery, very gradual, of perfection in this form of art dates back to archaic times. Archaeologists have found dozens of very similar archaic statues of two types: the so-called Kuroshi- statues of naked youths and bark- female statues. These figures still look very constrained, so far only attempts to convey live movement can be seen.

Masterpieces of sculpture, which mankind never ceases to admire, were given to the world by the era of ancient Greek classics. Contemporaries were the great masters Phidias, Miron, Poliklet. Phidias was called the "creator of the gods". His main works have not come down to us; we can judge them only from enthusiastic descriptions and mediocre copies. The statue of Zeus, lined with gold and ivory, in the main temple of Zeus at Olympia was classified by contemporaries as one of the seven wonders of the world. He also created outstanding bas-reliefs and sculptures of the Parthenon, including the main statue - Athena Parthenos (Athena-Virgo).

Miron reached heights in an effort to convey the movement of a person in a sculptural image. In his famous "Discoball", for the first time in art, the problem of transferring the moment of transition from one movement to another is solved, static is overcome. At the same time, according to the general aesthetic ideal, the sculptor portrays the athlete's face as absolutely calm.

Poliklet owns a cycle of statues of athletes - winners of the Olympic Games. The most famous figure is “Dorifor” (a young man with a spear). Polykleitos theoretically generalized the experience of his mastery in the treatise "Canon".

The greatest creator of female sculptural images was Praxiteles. His "Aphrodite of Cnidus" has many imitations. The famous “Aphrodite of Milos” by an unknown master also belongs to this tradition. The proportionality of classical sculptures has become a model for masters of many eras.

The era of the conquests of Alexander the Great, the subsequent collapse of his empire, is full of passions, ups and downs of the human destinies of entire states, brought a new atmosphere to art. If we compare the sculptures of the Hellenistic era with the previous, classical period, then their appearance has lost its equanimity, calmness. Artists became interested in the spiritual impulses of people, their state in tragic moments (for example, the sculptural group “Laocoon”). There are sculptural portraits that convey individual features. The work of Lysippa was bright (a sculptural portrait of Alexander the Great has come down to us). Advances in science have expanded the technical possibilities of art. One of the “seven wonders” of the world is the ear of Rhodes, which was a bronze statue of the sun god Helios (the height of the colossus was about 35 m).

Picturesque works (frescoes, paintings) have not been preserved, but their level is judged by a magnificent vase painting. With the improvement of ceramic technology, the artistic level also grew: the archaic is characterized by the so-called black figure style images (dark figures were drawn on a light background), in the classical era appeared red figure style, which made the image more realistic.

With the political and military defeat of Greece and the Hellenistic states from the Roman state, the ancient cultural tradition was not interrupted, its new stage began.

3. Culture of Ancient Rome

The culture of Ancient Rome is the second stage of ancient culture. The influence of the culture of ancient Greece on Rome is undeniable. The ancient Greek historian, the author of the fundamental 40-volume "General History" Polybius, who lived in Rome for 16 years, emphasized one of the features of ancient Roman culture: "The Romans, it turns out, are better than any other people to change their habits and borrow something useful." But at the same time, Roman culture did not copy the Greek, it developed, deepened what was achieved, and also introduced its own national features - practicality, discipline, adherence to a strict system. The greatest conquerors of antiquity - the Romans, conquering various peoples, absorbed their cultural achievements, but at the same time retained their "home" customs. The dynamism of Roman culture is as essential a feature as traditionalism. The interaction of these two principles determined both its viability and a huge role for the subsequent cultural history of Europe, especially Western.

Periodization. The periods in the development of ancient Roman culture very clearly correspond to the three main stages of political history: royal, period of the republic And empire period.

Traditionally, the history of Ancient Rome begins in the 8th century. BC, from the legendary date of the founding of Rome by Romulus and Remus in 753 BC. By the VI century. BC. Rome was a polis headed by kings. The neighboring peoples, especially the mysterious Etruscans, made a great cultural influence on the Romans (the origin of this people is unclear, because its writing remains unclear). From them, the Romans borrowed most of the letters of their alphabet, construction techniques, some rituals (for example, gladiator fights). The symbol of Rome - a bronze statue of a she-wolf - executed by an Etruscan master. Etruska was the last of the royal dynasties.

After the expulsion of the king, power passes to the people's assemblies, the senate, and two consuls were elected. IN republican period(VI-I centuries BC) Rome conquered all of Italy, defeated Carthage and conquered Greece. The Greeks become teachers of their conquerors, the Greek influence on Roman culture dominates: Greek philosophy and literature are studied, knowledge of the Greek language becomes mandatory for an educated person, Greek sculptures are copied.

The internal crisis of the republican system, the transformation of the army into a professional one, the change in the role of military leaders entail civil wars. Gaius Julius Caesar proclaimed himself emperor. After the assassination of Caesar and a fierce struggle, his nephew Octavian Augustus came to power. His reign begins empire period(I century BC - V century AD). The accumulated cultural potential, political stability, huge material wealth determine the rise of Roman culture. The conquered eastern peoples also contribute to the culture of Rome, especially their influence is felt in the religious sphere. Rome does not know military failures for a long time, but internal contradictions weaken it, at the end of the 4th century. AD The division of the Roman Empire into Western and Eastern. In 476, Rome was destroyed by the barbarians, and this event is considered the end of the history of ancient Rome and ancient history in general.

Religion. The religion of the Romans of ancient times was based mainly on the idea of ​​the internal forces inherent in individual objects and people, on the belief in spirits - guardians and patrons of places, actions, states. They were treated geniuses(good spirits that guarded a person during his life), Penates(the guards and deputies of the native home, and then of the entire Roman people, hence the well-known expression originates - “to return to the native penates”, that is, to return to their homeland, home). They also believed in the deities of mountains, springs, forests. These spirits and deities were originally impersonal and asexual, often referred to both in male and female form (Janus and Yana, Faun and Faun). Sacrifices were made to these deities and religious ceremonies were dedicated to them. Great importance was given to various kinds of divination (behind the flight of birds, through the entrails of animals, etc.).

Under the influence of the Italian tribes, the god Saturn, the supreme god Jupiter, Juno and Minerva appeared. At plebeians(the lower stratum of citizens) had its own trinity of deities: Ceres (goddess of cereals), Liber (god of winegrowers) and Liber. Mars (god of war), Diana (goddess of the moon), Fortuna (goddess of happiness, success), Venus (goddess of spring and gardens, then - love and beauty) became the Zagalno-Talysky gods. Some gods were revered mainly by people of the same class or profession (merchants revered Mercury, artisans revered Minerva). The Romans did not develop their own developed mythology. With the strengthening of Greek influence, there was a certain convergence of the Roman gods with the Greek ones and the borrowing of Greek mythology (Zeus - Jupiter, Hera - Juno, Athena - Minerva, Asclepius - Aesculapius, etc.). Eastern cults also penetrated into Rome - Isis, Osiris, Cybele, the dying and resurrecting god Mithras.

A characteristic feature of the worldview of the ancient Romans was the mythologization of their history. If there were practically no plot stories about the gods, then the myth of the brothers Romulus and Remus told about the foundation of Rome, who at first miraculously remained alive after a conspiracy against their father and then were fed by a she-wolf. Since ancient times, stories about the military prowess and patriotism of the Romans have been transmitted. One of them is about Gaia Mucius, nicknamed Scaevola (Left-handed). During the siege of Rome by the Etruscans, he made his way into the enemy camp and tried to kill the king, but was captured. To show the enemy the fortitude of the Roman spirit, Gaius Mucius himself put his right hand on the fire of the lamp and burned it without uttering a sound. The stunned Etruscans released Mucius and lifted the siege. Later, in honor of the military victories of Rome, grandiose triumphs were held, and the generals became the object of a cult. The Roman people considered themselves elected, and their state - one of the highest values. At the stage of the empire, the cult of the emperor as a living god was formed.

The emergence of Christianity. As the general crisis of the Roman Empire grows, the crisis of traditional religion comes. As a result of a complex synthesis of Eastern religions and cults, primarily Judaism, Platonic and Hellenistic philosophy (in particular Stoicism) and social utopias, a new religion arises - Christianity. From Judaism- the national monotheistic religion of the Jewish people - that part of the Bible called the Old Testament - a collection of ancient sacred texts - came to Christianity. It took shape during the 1st millennium BC. and contains a presentation of mythological systems and plots, historical legends, religious journalism and parables, philosophical and moral works and love lyrics, examples of religious mysticism.

What is the content of the new religion - Christianity? If you try to say briefly, then this is the belief that two thousand years ago God came into our world - he was born, took the name Jesus, preached, suffered and died on the cross, like a man. The holy book of Christians was the Bible, which included the Old Testament and the New Testament. New Testament contains: 4 gospel(translated from Greek “gospel” - good, good news) - from Matthew, from Mark, from Luke and from John, which describe the earthly life of Jesus Christ; Acts of the Holy Apostles (disciples of Christ); Catholic Epistles of the Holy Apostles; The Epistles of the Apostle Paul and the Revelation of John the Theologian, or the Apocalypse. The experience, embodied and recorded in the Bible, enriched folk wisdom, influenced the development of literature, fine arts, and philosophical thought.

Modern historical science proceeds from the fact that the gospel stories about Jesus have an undoubted historical basis. Most historians agree that Jesus (who was born in 4 BC) was a real ascetic and preacher who lived in Judea and was heroically martyred for faith and truth. Most of the apostles - the closest disciples of Christ (Peter, Andrew, John, Paul, etc.) are also considered historical (ie, those who really existed) personalities. Following the example of their Teacher, the apostles were not supposed to own property, they could not stay in one place for more than one or two days and take anything with them on the road except bread.

Christ preached the two greatest commandments in the law”, in which the whole spirit and meaning of true faith is concentrated. The first of them: “... love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind ...”, the second: “love your neighbor as yourself; on these two commandments the whole law is established...” (Gospel of Matthew 22.37; 39-40).

The leading idea in early Christianity of the equality of people before God was a kind of protest of the conquered and oppressed. The new religion, which first spread among the lower strata of society in the eastern provinces, experienced severe persecution. The first mention of Christians in Roman sources dates back to the reign of Emperor Nero (I century AD), when they were accused of setting fire to Rome and staged a mass execution. Gradually, Christianity wins more and more supporters, and the top of the clergy enters into an alliance with the authorities. Emperor Constantine I at the beginning of the 4th century. AD recognized Christianity as an equal religion, and at the end of the 4th century. Emperor Theodosius I banned all pagan rites, that is, Christianity became the state religion.

The system of upbringing and education. Family education played a special role in the Romans. Children were brought up in the spirit of respect for the beliefs and customs of their ancestors, unquestioning obedience to paternal authority. A real citizen among the Romans is an obedient son and a disciplined warrior. Ancient legislation provided for severe punishment for violation of parental will, and the state religion acted in the same direction with its adoration of civil and military virtue. In the 5th century BC. appeared elementary(translated from Latin - basic) schools, where children of free citizens studied mainly. Subjects - Latin and Greek, writing, reading and counting. Later, among noble and wealthy families, home education became widespread. In the II century. BC. arose grammatical And rhetorical schools, which were also only available to the children of wealthy Romans. Rhetorical schools were original higher educational institutions (oratory, law, philosophy, poetry). Gradually, lawyers-teachers formed fairly stable groups, which were called "departments". The departments of rhetoric and philosophy, medicine and architecture are formed according to the same principle. Several higher schools appeared in the II century. AD (Rome, Athens). Students who came to receive education from different parts of the Roman state united in fraternities - “choirs”.

During the period of the republic, education was private, and the state did not interfere in it. However, during the empire, the state began to control the education system. Teachers have become paid civil servants. In accordance with the size of each city, the number of rhetors and grammarians was established. Teachers enjoyed a number of privileges, and in the IV century. AD all candidates for teachers were subject to approval by the emperor. This system had both positive and negative consequences.

The science. The Romans were able to master and process the potential accumulated by science in different countries and, developing it, achieve significant results, especially in those branches of knowledge where practical application of scientific achievements is possible.

Greek influence had the strongest effect on Roman philosophy; not a single original direction developed here. First of all, moral and ethical teachings gained popularity. Almost the official doctrine of the Roman state became stoicism who saw the purpose of philosophy as showing the way to happiness. An outstanding representative of this trend was Seneca. He played a prominent political role under Emperor Nero, but his career ended tragically. Suspecting the participation of Seneca in the conspiracy, Nero forced the philosopher to commit suicide. Seneca primarily developed the problems of practical morality: overcoming the fear of death, the importance of restraint, the ethical equality of people, the existence of fate. The philosophical development of such a range of ideas allows us to consider the teachings of Seneca as one of the sources of Christian ethics.

A notable contribution of Roman science was the creation of a number of encyclopedic works that systematized the knowledge accumulated in various fields. Thus, the main ideas of ancient materialistic thought about atoms, about the mortality of the soul, the independence of nature from the will of the gods are taught by Titus Lucretius Carus in the scientific and educational poem “On the Nature of Things”. In particular, he formulates the fundamental ideas of the connection between motion and time, the conservation of matter (“nothing can arise from nothing and return to utter nothing”), the infinity of the world (“No border closes the Universe in one direction ... I must admit that which has no end, in which direction it would not spread, the universe”).

The classic work on geography belongs to Strabo, who collected in his "Geography" all the existing information about countries and peoples - from Britain to India. Ptolemy, summarizing astronomical observations, developed a geocentric model of the world, according to which the Sun and other planets revolve around the Earth, which has the shape of a ball. This model remained dominant until modern times. Galen, who studied the nervous system and the spinal cord, was the main figure of ancient medicine and an unquestioned authority over the next millennium. Galen owns the first concept of blood circulation in the history of science.

Considering the special attitude of the Romans towards their state, the exceptional role of historical science in ancient Rome is clear. Historians often became people who occupied a high social position and took an active part in political life. Historical works belong to Julius Caesar ("Notes on the Gallic War"). Close to Octavian Augustus was Titus Livius, whose works are almost the only source for studying the early periods in the history of Rome. Tacitus painted a picture of Roman history during the empire, giving a significant place to the barbarian tribes that attacked Rome, mentioning among others and Wends(one of the names of the Slavic tribes in the old days). One of the most popular historians of the world is Plutarch, who chose the genre of historical portraiture. His works are still published in large editions, read. In Comparative Lives, he looks for parallels in Greek and Roman history by examining the biographies of famous people.

An exceptionally significant and original contribution of Ancient Rome to the world scientific tradition is the creation jurisprudence. Roman law is necessarily included in the curriculum of all modern higher educational institutions that train lawyers. The first laws were written during the struggle of the plebeians with the patricians in the early republic and embodied the victory of equality of political rights for all citizens of Rome. As a result, the so-called "Laws of 12 tables" appeared, which laid the foundations of Roman law. An important contribution to the development of jurisprudence was made by Mark Tullius Cicero, an outstanding orator, author of works on the philosophy of the state, and a consistent supporter of democratic government. After the assassination of Caesar, he tried to recreate the republic, but in vain.

Rome had a well-defined judicial system. . During the late republic and empire, when laws were often changed, it became necessary to inform citizens about the laws that were being passed. For Julius Caesar, a gypsum board with messages about military victories and government acts and decisions - “The Daily Gazette of the Roman People” (a kind of prototype of newspapers) was put up in the central square. Copies were sent throughout the state to all provinces.

literary tradition. A very special role belongs to the world cultural tradition of the Latin language. The scale of the Roman conquests turned it into a language of interethnic communication for all conquered peoples from Spain to Mesopotamia. On the basis of the so-called “folk Latin”, many modern European languages ​​arose: Italian, Spanish, French, English. In the future, Latin remained the language of literature and science in Europe for a long time, and in medicine it has not lost this role today. Catholic worship is conducted in Latin.

The peculiarity of the development of Latin lies in the fact that for a long time this speech was improved not in artistic creativity, but primarily in the political sphere: in the speeches of orators in the Senate and at trials, in lawmaking, in political journalism. The imagery of the language is evidenced by many aphorisms that are still alive today: “Carthage must be destroyed” (Caton), “I came, I saw, I conquered” (Julius Caesar), “Bye, Catiline, will you test our patience?” (Cicero) and many others. Cicero, who considered himself primarily a politician, was essentially the creator of Latin fiction. The style of his speeches, letters, philosophical works became exemplary. We see a peculiar continuation of this tradition in fiction: it is in ancient Rome that the prose novel first appears. The most popular was the satirical novel "Metamorphoses, or the Golden Ass" by Apuleius.

The poetry of Ancient Rome did not have its own national tradition. It begins to develop actively only under the influence of Greek literature, at the end of the republican period. A turning point was played by the work of Catullus. Its main theme is not the Roman state, not the Roman people, but personal experiences, feelings and thoughts. He creates a cycle of lyrical poems, most of which convey dramatic breaks in relations with a woman, bred under the poetic pseudonym Lesbia. Unlike epic poems, when reading his poems, you practically do not feel the temporal distance.

The reign of Octavian Augustus is often referred to as the "golden age" of Roman literature. Contemporaries were three major Roman poets - Virgil, Horace and Ovid. The most famous work of Roman literature was Virgil's Aeneid. Virgil brilliantly solved a very difficult creative task. The fact is that the Aeneid is a literary epic, that is, it does not have a folk oral basis, it was completely created by the poet. In addition, the poem immediately became an integral part of the Roman state ideology - the poet wrote on the political order of the emperor. Briefly the content of the poem is as follows. Aeneas - the son of King Anchises and the goddess Venus, one of the defenders of Troy, after its fall, sets sail on a ship, wanders for a long time and finally, fulfilling the will of the gods, arrives in Italy and becomes the ancestor of the Roman people. The Julius family, to which Octavian Augustus belonged, is also descended from him. Virgil's command of the expressive means of language is considered unsurpassed. V. Bryusov wrote that “for the poet, reading the Aeneid in the original is a continuous series of perplexities ... before the power of man over the elements of words.” There are many translations of the poem into modern languages. It can be recalled that the beginning of the formation of the modern Ukrainian literary language was laid by the authorized "Aeneid" by Ivan Kotlyarevsky.

The lyric poets were Horace and Ovid. The work of Horace is imbued with an understanding of the role of the poet in society. These thoughts were especially clearly expressed in the ode “monument”. Prior to this story, Horace was addressed by A.S. Pushkin (“I erected a monument to myself not made by hands ...”), others.

The fate of Ovid was difficult. His collection The Art of Love brought him immense popularity and accusations of immorality. Then he turned to the classic plots - "Metamorphoses" ("Transformations") - a poetic reworking of myths, in the plot of which there are miraculous transformations. For not entirely clear, probably political reasons, Ovid was exiled to the Black Sea region, from where he wrote “Letters from Pontus” (the Greek name for the Black Sea is Pontus Euxinus), filled with melancholy.

In Roman times, there were many novelties in the book business. In addition to papyrus, the material for writing, invented in the Asia Minor city of Pergamum, spread - specially processed leather - parchment. In addition to books-scrolls, books-codes appeared, which differed from modern books only in the way the sheets were fastened together. Libraries as repositories of documents and books have existed for a long time, but libraries for public use originated in Rome. It is interesting that these libraries provided fairly isolated places to work, since in those days people read only aloud.

Art. For practical Romans, art was one of the means of rational organization of life, hence the leading place of architecture. In architecture, the Romans combined the Etruscan and Greek traditions, oriental elements. The Romans diversified building materials: they used a very strong connecting limestone mortar, they invented concrete. Roman architects and builders perfectly mastered and very widely used the arched structure, vaults and domes became its development.

The centers of political and cultural life in cities were forums(literal meaning - market place). Here, in the early stages, people's meetings were held, the main temples and other public buildings were erected (most of them were basilicas- rectangular in plan, divided by transverse walls into several halls, in translation - “royal house”). In the republican era, of course, the Roman forum excelled everyone. Julius Caesar initiated the tradition of building forums by each new emperor (forum of Augustus, forum of Trajan). Part of the forums were memorial structures that glorified the victories of Roman weapons, outstanding generals, and then emperors: triumphal arches And columns(the most famous is Trajan's column).

As before, religious construction was important. Unlike the Greeks, the Romans placed the colonnade most often just in front of the front side of the temple. Temples were often built round in plan - rotundas(from Latin - round). They developed their own versions of the Dorian, Ionian and Corinthian orders, and their use was not as strict as that of the Greeks. As the power of Rome grew, the temples, at first rather modest, became richer and more beautiful.

The architectural and engineering thought of Ancient Rome received its highest embodiment in the Pantheon - the temple of all the gods, built in the II century. AD, probably by Apollodorus of Damascus. The temple is a rotunda, the entrance to which is decorated with a portico. The dome of this temple, cast from concrete, exceeds 40 m in diameter (it remained unsurpassed in Europe in size until the 19th century). Ancient people perceived the dome as a symbol of the sky - the incarnation of the supreme god Jupiter. In this regard, a single hole located at the highest point of the dome played a special role. The column of light that penetrated through it became the center of the composition. The perimeter of the temple and its height are almost the same, such proportions “enlarge” the room. In the niches around the hall in ancient times there were statues of the gods. Very rich is the interior decoration with various varieties of marble, which has been fully preserved to this day. For the first time in world architecture in this temple, the main role is assigned not to the appearance, but to the creation of a special internal atmosphere.

In ancient Rome, a number of completely new types of structures were created. This is first of all amphitheatres. The largest is the Flavian Amphitheater or the Colosseum (1st century AD). Seats for 50,000 spectators were based on a structure whose facade looks like a three-tiered arcade. The elliptical arena was equipped with a complex system of underground technical rooms. An important part of the Roman way of life were terms, which served not only as baths, but also as cultural centers, meeting places, and recreation. In the era of the empire, the baths became huge structures with interior decoration that were not inferior to palaces. In addition to rooms with cold and hot pools, they included lounges for exercise, and sometimes libraries. High-rise residential buildings appear for the first time in poor urban areas - insulae.

They glorified the Romans and their technical facilities. A network of magnificent stone-paved roads connected all parts of the vast state. The ancient Appian Way, which led to Rome, is still in use today. The Romans borrowed from the East and perfected the arched construction of bridges. Cities were necessarily equipped with a complex water supply system. The symbol of the power and wealth of Rome was the flowing water that flowed in the Roman street fountains. Water pipelines were both underground and above ground. In ground water pipelines - aqueducts- ceramic pipes were laid on a high arcade. Underground channels were built for dirty water.

The fine arts had their own characteristics. If Greek sculpture became famous primarily for generalized images that personified human beauty, then in Rome the genre of psychological sculptural portrait gained significant development. Its sources were: a special cult of the family (in Latin - “surnames”), the ancestors of the Romans, on the one hand, and on the other, a new perception of the individual, his role in history. Art "revives" history, leaving a portrait gallery of its main characters: Pompey the Great, Julius Caesar, Cicero, Octavian and others.

Frescoes and mosaics - realistic, with rich colors, with the transfer of volume and depth of space - became known after the excavations of the cities of Pompeii and Herakulanum, destroyed during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. This tragedy, which brought death to people, saved the life of works of art. Excavations here began in the 18th century, and they continue to this day. People learned about picturesque portraits after archaeological finds in the Fayum oasis in Egypt, where a funeral rite was formed that united Eastern and Western traditions. On boards (sometimes - fabrics) on a wax basis, portraits of the dead were painted, which amaze with grace, as well as the accuracy of conveying not only the appearance, but also the inner world of a person.

The emergence of theatrical art in Rome is associated with harvest festivals. The original Roman theatrical genre was memes- household comic scenes, which included dialogues, singing, music and dances (a kind of prototype of modern operetta). Later, comedies and tragedies began to be treated according to the Greek model. Roman actors came from freedmen or slaves. They occupied, as a rule, a low social position. In Rome, for the first time, professional acting troupes and chamber (for a small number of spectators) theatrical performances appeared.

Circus performances and gladiator fights were very popular in Rome, especially during the period of decline, which testified to the degradation of theatrical culture.

In antiquity, in comparison with ancient civilizations, a fundamental step forward was made regarding the position of man in society, the comprehension of artistic creativity consists humanistic tradition. The difference lies in the degree of influence on other peoples of antiquity, and in the fact that the culture of Greece and Rome was never forgotten and directly influenced the further development of culture.

With all the unity of ancient culture, its Greek and Roman stages have their own characteristics. Rome influenced the political and religious thinking, philosophical and legal views, literature and art of Western Europe. In the cultural tradition of Eastern Europe, including Ukraine, leading through the mediation of Byzantium was the Greek influence. According to antiquity, phenomena are born that at later stages will become decisive in culture, especially the Christian religion.

1.	Culturology, lecture notes
9.	X. CULTURE OF HUMANITY IN THE 20TH CENTURY
10.	I. HISTORICAL WAYS OF FORMATION OF UKRAINIAN CULTURE
11.	III. UKRAINIAN CULTURE AFTER THE TATAR-MONGOLIAN INVASION (SECOND HALF XIII - XV centuries)