HEALING IN ANCIENT INDIA (3rd millennium BC - 4th century AD)

Story

The ancient and original civilization of India developed in the 3rd millennium BC. e. within the Hindustan subcontinent (Fig. 28) long before the appearance of Indo-Iranian (Aryan) tribes in the country. Currently, modern states are located on its territory: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal. Periodization of the history of healing In the history of healing in ancient India, three stages are clearly visible, separated both in time and space:

1) the period of the Harappan civilization (III - beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, Indus River Valley), when the first slave-holding city-states in the history of ancient India were formed on the territory of modern Pakistan;

2) the Vedic period (late 2nd - mid-1st millennium BC, Ganges River valley), when, with the arrival of the Aryans, the center of civilization moved to the eastern part of the subcontinent and the compilation of “sacred texts” (Sanskrit - Veda) began, transmitted during , a long period in oral tradition;

3) the classical period (second half of the 1st millennium BC - the beginning of the 1st millennium AD, Hindustan subcontinent) - the time of the highest flowering of the traditional culture of ancient INDIA. It is characterized by the high development of agriculture, crafts and trade, the rise of a distinctive culture, the establishment and spread of Buddhism, the first of the three world religions, successes in various fields of knowledge, literature and art, the widespread development of trade and cultural relations between India and the countries of the ancient world, which brought it the glory of the “Land of the Wise”.

Sources on the history and healing of ancient India

The main sources are: ancient literary monuments (religious and philosophical works - the Vedas, 1st millennium BC; “Injunctions of Manu”, 2nd century BC; samhi-tas of the Charakas. (“Caraka-samhita”) and Sushruta-samhita, first centuries AD), archaeological and ethnographic data, material monuments, folk epic (Table 7). Famous historians, philosophers and travelers of antiquity wrote about ancient India: the Greek historians Herodotus, Strabo and Diodorus, participants in the campaigns of Alexander the Great, the Seleucid ambassador at the court of King Chandragupta - Megasthenes, the Chinese historian Sima Qian, the pilgrim Fa Xian and others.

SANITATION OF THE HARAPPAN CIVILIZATION PERIOD

In the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. e. in the river basin The Indus formed a highly developed urban culture, which later received the name “Harappan” (from the city of Harappa on the territory of modern Pakistan). The heyday of the Harappan culture occurred at the end of the 3rd - beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. Its characteristic features are monumental architecture, planned development of cities, a high level of sanitary improvement, the development of artificial irrigation, crafts (ceramics, terracotta, metal and stone products) and foreign trade, the creation of proto-Indian writing, which, unfortunately, has not yet been completely deciphered .

In many respects (in terms of the size of the territory, the level of urban construction, sanitary improvement, etc.) the Harappan culture significantly surpassed the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia of the corresponding period.

The construction of Harappan cities (more than 800 settlements were discovered in the Indus Valley) was carried out according to a pre-developed plan. The straight streets, oriented from west to east and from south to north, indicate strict control of construction over the centuries and represent the oldest example of urban planning known in human history.

One of them, Mohenjo-Daro (translated from Sindhi as “Hill of the Dead”), was discovered at a depth of 12 m and dates back to at least the 25th century. BC e. - the time when civilizations were formed on the island. Crete (see p. 89). Mohenjo-Daro covered an area of ​​about 2.5 square kilometers; According to scientists, 35-100 people lived in it. thousand people.

The city had workshops, a granary (size 61X46 m), a platform for grinding grain, sanitary facilities: wells, baths, a swimming pool, a sewage system - the oldest known at present.

The most remarkable of them is the bathhouse. In its center there was a unique pool (possibly for religious purposes) 12 m long, 7 m wide and about 3 m deep (Fig. 29). The bottom of the pool was covered with bitumen; its water resistance has been maintained for more than four thousand years. On both sides there are two staircases with swimming platforms leading to the pool. The water in it was running: flowing through some pipes, it constantly flowed out through others. The entire perimeter of the pool was surrounded by an arcade of small ablution rooms. There were also two baths here, which, according to researchers, were heated with hot air and used for religious rituals.

In various areas of the city there were wells lined with baked bricks (Fig. 30). Their diameter reached 1 m. Large houses built their own wells. The premises where they were located were carefully paved.

Residential buildings in Mohenjo-Daro were built of baked bricks, were two or three stories high, reached 7.5 m in height and had up to 30 rooms. There were no windows to the street. The hearth was located in the middle of the courtyard.

Each brick house had a room for ablutions, which was usually a small square or rectangular room with a carefully laid brick floor that sloped towards one of the corners. A drain was placed in this corner. The close laying of bricks with which the floor was paved prevented water from seeping through. Drainpipes through the thickness of the wall led into the city’s sewer system, which, according to the famous English Indologist A. Baschem, represents “one of the most impressive achievements of the Indus civilization... No other pre-century civilization, not even the Roman one, had such perfect water supply systems."

Each street and each alley had its own brick-lined channel for sewage drainage with a depth of 30 to 60 cm and a width of 20 to 50 cm. On top of all the channels were covered with well-fitted bricks, which could easily be removed when inspecting and cleaning the system, which was given particular importance meaning. This is also evidenced by the size of the main pipes, the diameter of which reached 2 m. Before entering the canals, wastewater and sewage passed through settling tanks and cesspools covered with tightly ground lids. Much more attention was paid to the construction of the sewage system in Mohenjo-Daro than to the construction of residential buildings This speaks of the high culture of the ancient civilization of the Indus Valley, which managed to create the most perfect example of sanitary construction of antiquity two thousand years before the Roman water supply system.

The high sanitary condition of the ancient cities of the Harappan civilization allows us, even in the absence or insufficiency of deciphered texts of medical content, to conclude about a relatively high level of empirical healing. In the Indus Valley in the middle of the 3rd - early 2nd millennium BC. e.

At the same time, the high level of sanitary and technical structures of the Harappan civilization is not typical of the general level of sanitary construction in ancient India as a whole - in subsequent periods of the history of ancient India it decreased significantly and no longer reached the level of the Harappan culture.

In the XIX-XVIII centuries. BC e. in the Indus Valley (as well as in Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia) there is a decline in cultural centers. Its causes, according to researchers, were mainly of an internal nature (floods, droughts, depletion of internal resources).

HEALING IN THE VEDIC PERIOD

The center of civilization at this stage in the history of ancient India was the river. Ganges in the northeast of the country, where several states were formed after the arrival of the Indo-Iranian Aryan tribes.

Information about healing during the Vedic period is very limited. Indications of medical knowledge are preserved in the "Rigveda" ("Rigveda" - the Veda of hymns and mythological stories, the oral tradition of which dates back to the 12th-10th centuries BC) and the "Atharva-veda" ("Atharva-veda" - the Veda of spells and conspiracies, VIII-VI centuries BC). The recording of sacred texts began in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. (c. 500 BC, see diagram 4). "

The Rig Veda mentions three ailments: leprosy, consumption, bleeding, and once speaks of a healer in the following words: “Our desires are different, the driver thirsts for firewood, the healer for diseases, and the priest for sacrificial libations.” Some sections of the Rig Veda contain texts about magical healing rituals - in the Vedic period, medical knowledge was closely intertwined with religious beliefs and magical ideas.

The main medical deities of the Vedic period were: the Ashwin twins - healer and guardian gods, Rudra - the lord of medicinal herbs and the patron of hunters, as well as the highest deities: Agni - the god of fire and regenerating life, Indra - the symbol of heavenly thunder and the giver of rain and Surya - god of the sun.

There were also evil demons in the vast ancient Indian mythology. (asuras and rakshasas), who (it was believed) brought misfortune, illness, ruin to people, and deprived them of offspring. Thus, in the Atharva Veda, illnesses are either associated with evil spirits, or are regarded as punishment from the gods; the cure of illnesses was explained by the effect of sacrifices, prayers and spells. At the same time, the Atharva Veda also reflects the practical experience of the people in the use of medicinal plants, the action of which at that time was understood as a healing force that counteracts evil spirits. Ancient healers were called that way - bhishadj (“exorcist of demons”). This name was retained by them in later periods of Indian history, when the healer-exorcist turned into a healer-healer. Over time, ideas about the causes of diseases also changed. Thus, in the “Yajurveda” (“Yajurveda” - the Veda of sacrificial spells, VIII-VII centuries BC) the four juices of the body are already mentioned.

At the end of the Vedic period, ancient Indian society was finally divided into four main classes (varnas): brahmans (brahma-pa - knowledgeable of sacred teachings, i.e. priest), kshatriyas (ksatriya - endowed with power, i.e. military nobility and members of royal families ), Vaishyas (vaisya - free community member, i.e. mainly farmers and cattle breeders) and Shudras (sud-ga - powerless poor). Each of the varnas consisted of many castes and subcastes (Portuguese casto - pure; in Sanskrit jati - a group of people of the same origin). In addition, outside the varnas and, as it were, outside the law, there existed a fifth, lowest class - pariahs (untouchables), used in the most unpleasant and humiliating jobs.

This social structure of ancient India, based mainly on the division of functions, was considered primordial, unshakable, established by the divine will of Brahma, the greatest of the ancient gods. Shudras and pariahs had practically no rights. They were not allowed to listen to or repeat the Vedas. Only representatives of the three highest varnas had the right to practice healing and study the Vedas.

HEALING OF THE CLASSICAL PERIOD (Magadha-Mauri and Kushana-Gupta eras)

In the VI century. BC e. ancient India entered a period of intense spiritual and intellectual development. It is characterized by major achievements in various fields of knowledge and the creation of outstanding monuments of ancient Indian writing: “Prescriptions of Maku” (II century BC - II century AD), mathematical, astronomical and medical treatises (first centuries AD) , as well as the emergence and spread of religious and philosophical teaching - Buddhism (from the 6th century BC) - the first world religion.

By the beginning of our era, a highly developed system of medical knowledge had developed in ancient India, “in some respects: similar to the system of Hippocrates and Galen, and in some going even further forward,” as A. Basham wrote about it.

The art of healing (Sanskrit Ayurveda - the doctrine of long life) was highly valued in ancient India. Buddhist traditions and texts have preserved the glory of the miraculous healers D-zhivaka (VI-V centuries BC), Charaka and Sushruta (first centuries AD).

The main directions of traditional ancient Indian medicine of the classical period are reflected in two outstanding monuments of ancient Ayur-Vedic writing: “Charaka-Samhita” (dated to the 1st-2nd centuries AD) and “Sushruta-Samkhnta” (dated to the 4th century AD). ).

The earlier Charaka Samhita is devoted to the treatment of internal diseases and contains information on more than 600 medicines of plant, animal and mineral origin. Their use is reported in eight sections: wound care; treatment of diseases of the head area; treatment of diseases of the whole body; treatment of mental illness; treatment of childhood diseases; antidotes; elixirs against senile decrepitude; means that increase sexual activity.

The Sushruta Samhita is mainly devoted to surgical treatment; it describes more than 300 operations, over 120 surgical instruments and at least 650 medicines.

The knowledge of Indian healers about the structure of the human body was the most complete in the ancient world. Despite the imperfection of the research method, which was based on maceration of the body of the deceased in running water, the ancient Indians distinguished: 7 membranes, 500 muscles,

900 ligaments, 90 tendons, 300 bones

(this includes teeth and cartilage), which

divided into flat, round

and long, 107 joints, 40 main

vessels and 700 of their branches (for

blood, mucus and air), 24 nerves,

9 sense organs and 3 substances (pra-

na, mucus and bile). Some zones

body (palm, soles, testicles, groin

high areas, etc.) were highlighted as

“especially important” (Sanskrit - marman).

Their damage was considered dangerous

for life. Knowledge of Indian warriors

whose in the field of human body structure

were an important milestone in the history of Ana

Tomia and played a significant role

on the formation of ancient Indian chi

It should be noted here that the comparison of the achievements of the ancient Indians with the knowledge of the ancient Egyptians and Aztecs is very conditional: Egyptian medical texts were written down in the 2nd millennium BC. e. (i.e. almost two millennia earlier), and the heyday of Aztec medicine occurred in the middle of the 2nd millennium AD. e. (i.e. more than a millennium later). In the classical period of the history of ancient India, healers moved away from the supernatural ideas about the causes of diseases that prevailed in the Vedic period. The religious and philosophical systems on which they were based in the search for the foundations of the universe also revealed elements of natural scientific knowledge. Man was considered in close connection with the surrounding world, which, according to the ancient Indians, consisted of five elements: earth, air, fire, water and ether. The different quality of objects was explained by different combinations of tiny particles of anu (“atoms”). The vital activity of organicism was considered through the interaction of three substances: air, fire and water (the carriers of which in the body were considered to be prana, bile and mucus). Health was understood as the result of a balanced ratio of three substances, the correct performance of vital functions of the body, the normal state of the senses and clarity of mind, and illness was understood as a violation of these correct ratios and a negative impact on a person of the five elements (the influence of seasons, climate, indigestible food, unhealthy water etc.). Sushruta divided all diseases into natural, associated with nature, and supernatural, sent by the gods (for example, leprosy, venereal and other infectious diseases, the causes of which were still impossible to understand at that time).

Diagnosis of diseases was based on a detailed interview of the patient and examination of body warmth, skin and tongue color, discharge, noise in the lungs, voice, etc. It is interesting that neither Sushruta nor Charaka report anything about examining the pulse. At the same time, Sushruta describes sugar diabetes, unknown even to the ancient Greeks, which he determined by the taste of urine.

Sushruta's treatise describes three stages of inflammation, the signs of which he considered: in the first period - minor pain; in the second - shooting pain, swelling, a feeling of pressure, local heat, redness and dysfunction; in the third - reduction of swelling and formation of pus. To treat inflammation, Sushruta suggested local medicines and surgical methods.

Treatment tactics in ancient India, as well as in other countries of the ancient world, were determined primarily by the curability or incurability of the disease. With a favorable prognosis, the healer took into account the characteristics of the disease, time of year, age, temperament, strength and intelligence of the patient. Treatment was aimed at balancing the disturbed ratio of fluids (substances), which was achieved, firstly, by diet, secondly by drug therapy (emetics, laxatives, diaphoretics, etc.), and thirdly by surgical methods of treatment, in which the ancient Indians achieved great perfection.

About the versatility of skills and. knowledge of an ancient Indian healer" is evidenced by the famous words of Sushruta: "A healer who is familiar with the healing properties of roots and herbs is a man; one who is familiar with the properties of a knife and fire is a demon; one who knows the power of prayers is a prophet; and one who is familiar with the properties of mercury is a god!" The best medicinal plants were brought from the Himalayas. Only healers were involved in the preparation of medicines, poisons and antidotes (for snake bites): “for those bitten by an Indian snake there was no healing if he did not turn to Indian healers; the Indians themselves cured those who were bitten.” ["Kndika". XV.

The fame of the healing properties of Indian plants spread widely beyond the borders of ancient India; They were transported via sea and land trade routes to Parthia, the countries of the Mediterranean and Central Asia, the Caspian and Black Sea basins, Southern Siberia, and China. The main export items were spikenard, musk, sandalwood, quinnamon, aloe and other plants and incense. In the Middle Ages, the experience of Indian medicine was borrowed by Tibetan doctors, as evidenced by the famous treatise of Indo-Tibetan medicine “Zhud-shi” (VIII-IX centuries AD, see p. 169).

Obstetrics in ancient India (Fig. 31) was considered an independent area of ​​healing. Sushruta's treatise describes in detail advice to pregnant women on maintaining cleanliness and a correct lifestyle, describes deviations from the normal course of childbirth, fetal deformities, embryotomy (which was recommended in cases where it was impossible for the fetus to turn onto a leg or head), cesarean section (used after the death of the mother in labor to save the baby ) and turning the fetus onto its stem, also described by the Roman physician Soranus in the 2nd century, i.e. two centuries before Sushruta (in the Indian port of Arikalidu in the 1st-2nd centuries there was a Roman trading post; therefore, it is possible that Soranus could have borrowed this method from earlier Buddhist writings, which often mention successful cures through surgical healing).

The art of surgical treatment (surgery) in ancient India was the highest in the ancient world. Sushruta considered surgery “the first and best of all medical sciences, the precious work of heaven (according to legend, the first surgeons were the healers of the sky - the Ashvin twins) a sure source of glory.” Still having no idea about antiseptics and asepsis, Indian healers, following the customs of their country, achieved careful adherence to chis-gota during operations. They are distinguished by their courage, dexterity and excellent use of tools.

Surgical instruments were made by experienced blacksmiths from steel, which in India learned to produce in ancient times, sharpened so that they could easily cut hair, they were stored in. special wooden boxes.

The healers of ancient India performed amputations of limbs: arotomy, stone cutting, hernia repair, and plastic surgery. They “knew how to restore noses, ears and lips lost or mutilated in battle or by court verdict. In this area, Indian surgery was ahead of European surgery until the 18th century, when the surgeons of the East India Company did not consider it humiliating for Indians to learn the art of rhinoplasty,” wrote A. Bzshem.

The method of rhinoplasty, described in detail in Sushruta’s treatise, went down in history under the name “Indian method”. A skin flap to form the future nose was cut out on a vascular pedicle from the skin of the forehead or cheek. Other reconstructive operations on the face were performed in a similar way.

In India, hygienic traditions have long been developed. Great importance was attached to personal hygiene, beauty and neatness of the body, cleanliness of the home, and the influence of climate and seasons on people's health. Hygiene-4 skills, developed empirically, are enshrined in the “Prescriptions of the Million”:

You should never eat food... that is sick, or that has hair or insects on it, or that has been deliberately touched with your foot... or that has been pecked by a bird, or that has been touched by a dog.

It is necessary to remove urine, water used for washing feet, food debris and water used in cleansing rituals far from the home.

In the morning you need to get dressed, bathe, brush your teeth, rub your eyes with collyrium; and honor the gods.

Disease prevention was one of the most important areas of Indian healing. Already in ancient times, attempts were made to prevent smallpox, which was widespread in India.

Thus, the text, which is attributed to the legendary healer of antiquity Dhanvantari (dating back to the 5th century AD), says: “with the help of a surgical knife, take smallpox matter either from the udder of a cow or from the hand of an already infected person, make a puncture between the elbow and shoulder on another person’s hand until it bleeds, and when the pus enters with the blood into the body, a fever is detected.” (In Europe, vaccination against smallpox was discovered by the English doctor E. Jenner in 1796).

Hygienic traditions contributed to the development of medicine. In the Mauryan Empire (IV-II centuries BC), strict rules were in force that prohibited the discharge of sewage onto the city streets and regulated the place and methods of burning the corpses of the dead; in doubtful cases of human death, an autopsy was ordered; the body of the deceased was examined and covered with special oil to protect it from decomposition. Strict penalties were also established for mixing poisons in food, medicine and incense.

During the time of Ashoka (268-231 BC), the most outstanding ruler of ancient India (see Fig. 28), almshouses and rooms for the sick were built at Buddhist temples - dharma shala (hospitals), which appeared in India several centuries earlier than in Europe. Ashoka also encouraged the cultivation of medicinal plants, the construction of wells, and the landscaping of roads.

Somewhat later, during the period of the Gupta Empire (IV-VI centuries AD) - the golden age of Indian history - special houses began to be built in the country for the crippled, disabled, widows, orphans and the sick. The activities of Sushruta and his followers belong to this era.

The medicine of ancient India was closely connected with religious and philosophical teachings, among which yoga occupies a special place. It combined religious philosophy, moral and ethical teaching and a system of exercises and postures (asanas). Much attention in yoga is paid to cleanliness of the body and a unique lifestyle. The teaching of yoga consists of two levels: hatha yoga (physical yoga) and raja yoga (mastery of the spirit). In modern India, healthy and sick people practice yoga (in yoga therapy clinics); Research institutes continue to study this ancient empirical system.

The position of the doctor in ancient India varied throughout history. In the Vedic period, the practice of healing was not reprehensible: even Agny and the Ashvin twins were respectfully called miraculous healers. Towards the end of antiquity, with the development of the caste system and social inequality, some activities (for example, surgery) began to be considered ritually “unclean”. However, in general, the profession of healing aroused great respect.

Monasteries and monks, among whom there were many knowledgeable doctors, played an important role in the development of healing in ancient India. All monks had some knowledge in the field of medicine, since providing medical assistance to the laity was considered a high virtue.

Among the centers of medical education, the city of Taxila (ind. Takshashila) occupies a special place. According to the Buddhist tradition, Jivaka (VI-V centuries BC), a famous healer at the court of the Magadha king Bimbisara, studied medicine there for seven years (according to legend, Jivaka also treated Buddha). After the Indian campaign of Alexander the Great, Taxila became a place of settlement for the Greeks, who eventually became Indianized and influenced the development of local culture.

A student of medicine had to master all facets of the medical art: “A doctor, unskilled in operations, becomes confused at the patient’s bed, like a cowardly soldier who finds himself in battle for the first time; a doctor who only knows how to operate and neglects theoretical information does not deserve respect and can even endanger the lives of kings. Each of them masters only half of his art and looks like a bird with only one wing,” as recorded in the Sushru-ta-samhita.

At the end of his training, the future Healer delivered a sermon, which... given in the Charaka Samhita:

If you want to achieve success in your activities, wealth and fame and heaven after death... You must strive with all your soul to heal the sick. You shouldn't even betray your patients. at the cost of your own life... You should not get drunk, you should not do evil or have evil comrades... Your speech should be pleasant... You should be reasonable and always strive to improve your knowledge... About none of the things that happens in the house of a sick person, one should not tell... anyone who, using the knowledge gained, could harm the patient or another.

Recorded in the 1st-2nd centuries. n. e., this sermon bears the characteristic features of its time, but in its main provisions it is very similar to the Oath of the ancient Greek healers (recorded in the 3rd century BC). This indicates uniform principles of medical ethics in the countries of the ancient world.

The medical ethics of ancient India strictly demanded that a healer, “who wishes to be successful in practice, should be healthy, neat, modest, patient, wear a short-cropped beard, carefully cleaned, trimmed nails, white clothes scented with incense, and leave the house no other way than with a stick and an umbrella, and in particular avoided chatter...” Remuneration for treatment was forbidden to be demanded from the disadvantaged, the doctor's friends and Brahmins; and vice versa, if wealthy people refused to pay for treatment, the healer was awarded all their property. For improper treatment, the doctor paid a fine depending on the social status of the patient.

During the classical period, traditional Indian medicine reached the apogee of its development. In time, this coincides with the Hellenistic era and the rise of the Roman Empire in the West, with the states of which ancient India had trade and cultural ties by land (from the 1st millennium BC) and sea (from the 2nd century BC) ways. Throughout history, Indian medicine has had and continues to have a great influence on the development of medicine in various regions of the globe.

The creators of the Mycenaean culture were the Greeks - the Achaeans, who invaded the Balkan Peninsula at the turn of the 3rd–2nd millennium BC. e. from the north, from the region of the Danube lowland or from the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region, where they originally lived. Moving further and further south through the territory of the country, which later began to be called by their name, the Achaeans partly destroyed and partly assimilated the indigenous pre-Greek population of these areas, which later Greek historians called the Pelasgians (the Pelasgians were, apparently, a people related to the Minoans, and just like them, they were part of the Aegean language family). Next to the Pelasgians, partly on the mainland and partly on the islands of the Aegean Sea, lived two more peoples: the Leleges and the Carians. According to Herodotus, all of Greece was once called Pelasgia (the Greeks called themselves Hellenes and their country Hellas. However, both of these names in this meaning appear in written sources only at a relatively later time - no earlier than the 7th century BC). Later Greek historians considered the Pelasgians and other ancient inhabitants of the country to be barbarians, although in reality their culture was not only not inferior to the culture of the Greeks themselves, but initially, apparently, was in many ways superior to it. This is evidenced by archaeological monuments of the so-called Early Helladic era (second half of the 3rd millennium BC), discovered in different places in the Peloponnese, Central and Northern Greece. Modern scholars usually associate them with the pre-Greek population of these areas.

At the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. e. (the period of the Chalcolithic, or the transition from stone to metal - copper and bronze), the culture of mainland Greece was still closely connected with the early agricultural cultures that existed on the territory of modern Bulgaria and Romania, as well as in the southern Dnieper region (the zone of the “Trypillian culture”). Common to this vast region were certain motifs used in pottery painting, such as the spiral and the so-called meander motifs. From the coastal regions of Balkan Greece, these types of ornaments also spread to the islands of the Aegean Sea and were adopted by Cycladic and Cretan art. With the advent of the Early Bronze Age (mid-3rd millennium BC), the culture of Greece began to noticeably outstrip other cultures of southeastern Europe in its development. She acquires new characteristic features that were not previously characteristic of her.

Among the settlements of the Early Helladic era, the citadel in Lerna (on the southern coast of Argolid) especially stands out. Situated on a low hill near the sea, the citadel was surrounded by a massive defensive wall with semicircular towers. In its central part, a large (25x12 m) rectangular building was discovered - the so-called house of tiles (fragments of tiles that once covered the roof of the building were found in large quantities during excavations). In one of its premises, archaeologists collected a whole collection (more than 150) of seal impressions pressed on clay. Once upon a time, these clay “labels” apparently sealed vessels with wine, oil and other supplies. This interesting find suggests that there was a large administrative and economic center in Lerna, which in part already anticipated in its character and purpose the later palaces of Mycenaean times. Similar centers existed in some other places. Their traces have been found, for example, in Tiryns (also southern Argolis, near Lerna) and in Akovitika (Messenia in the southwestern Peloponnese).

Along with the citadels, in which, apparently, representatives of the tribal nobility lived, in Greece of the early Helladic era there were also settlements of another type - small, most often very densely built-up villages with narrow passages - streets between rows of houses. Some of these villages, especially those located near the sea, were fortified, while others lacked any defensive structures. Examples of such settlements are Rafina (eastern coast of Attica) and Zigouries (northeastern Peloponnese, near Corinth). Judging by the nature of archaeological finds, the bulk of the population in settlements of this type were peasant farmers. In many houses there were special pits for pouring grain, coated with clay on the inside, as well as large clay vessels for storing various supplies. At this time, a specialized craft was already emerging in Greece, represented mainly by such branches as pottery production and metalworking. The number of professional artisans was still very small, and their products provided mainly local demand, only a small part of it was sold outside the given community. Thus, during the excavations of Rafina, a blacksmith’s workshop was discovered, the owner of which, apparently, supplied local farmers with bronze tools.

Available archaeological data suggest that in early Helladic times, at least from the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. e., in Greece the process of forming classes and the state had already begun. In this regard, the already noted fact of the coexistence of two different types of settlements is especially important: a citadel like Lerna and a communal settlement (village) like Rafina or Ziguries. However, the early Helladic culture never managed to become a real civilization. Its development was forcibly interrupted as a result of the next movement of tribes across the territory of Balkan Greece.

This movement dates back to the last centuries of the 3rd millennium BC. e., or the end of the Early Bronze Age. Around 2300 BC e. The citadel of Lerna and some other settlements of early Helladic times were destroyed in a fire. After some time, a number of new settlements appear in places where there were none before. During the same period, certain changes were observed in the material culture of Central Greece and the Peloponnese. For the first time, ceramics made using a potter's wheel appeared. Its examples can be “Minian vases” - monochrome (usually gray or black) carefully polished vessels, reminiscent of metal products with their shiny matte surface. In some places, during excavations, bones of a horse were found, previously apparently unknown within the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula. Many historians and archaeologists associate all these changes in the life of mainland Greece with the arrival of the first wave of Greek-speaking tribes, or Achaeans (this name is largely arbitrary. It first appears only in the Homeric epic, that is, almost a thousand years after the alleged invasion of the Greeks to the southern regions of the Balkan Peninsula). If this assumption is to some extent justified, then the turn of the 3rd–2nd millennia BC. e. (however, some researchers attribute the first appearance of Greek-speaking tribes in the Peloponnese and Central Greece to an earlier period (mid or even early 3rd millennium BC) or, conversely, to a later date (XVII–XVI centuries BC) .) time There is also no complete unity of opinion on the question of the ancestral home of the Greeks. Most scientists place it in the northern part of the Balkan Peninsula or even further to the north - on the Danube Plain, however, there is another opinion, according to which the Greeks came to the Balkans from Asia Minor. The final answer to this question depends on the solution to the broader and complex problem of the settlement of Indo-Europeans across the territory of Eurasia) can be considered the beginning of a new stage in the history of Ancient Greece - the stage of the formation of the Greek people. The basis of this long and very complex process was the interaction and gradual merging of two cultures: the culture of the alien Achaean tribes, who spoke various dialects of Greek or, rather, proto-Greek, and the culture of the local pre-Greek population. A significant part of it was apparently assimilated by the newcomers, as evidenced by the numerous words borrowed by the Greeks from their predecessors - the Pelasgians or Leleges, for example, the names of a number of plants: “cypress”, “hyacinth”, “narcissus”, etc.

Settlement of Dimini in Thessaly. OK. 3000 BC e.

The formation of civilization in mainland Greece was a complex and contradictory process. In the first centuries of the 2nd millennium BC. e. there is a clear slowdown in the pace of socio-economic and cultural development. Despite the appearance of such important technical and economic innovations as the potter's wheel and the cart or war chariot with horses drawn to it, the culture of the so-called Middle Helladic period (XX-XVII centuries BC) is generally noticeably inferior to the culture of the Early Helladic era that preceded it . Metal products are relatively rare in settlements and burials of this time. But tools made of stone and bone appear again, which indicates a certain decline in the productive forces of Greek society. Monumental architectural structures like the already mentioned “house of tiles” in Lerna are disappearing. Instead, nondescript adobe houses are built, sometimes rectangular, sometimes oval, or rounded on one side. Settlements of the Middle Helladic period, as a rule, were fortified and located on hills with steep steep slopes. Apparently, this was an extremely turbulent and alarming time, which forced individual communities to take measures to ensure their safety.

A typical example of a Middle Helladic settlement can be considered the site of Malti-Dorion in Messenia. The entire settlement was located on top of a high hill, surrounded by a ring defensive wall with five passages. In the center of the settlement, on a low terrace, stood the so-called palace (probably the house of the tribal leader) - a complex of five rooms with a total area of ​​130 square meters. m with a stone hearth - an altar in the largest of the rooms. The premises of several craft workshops were adjacent to the “palace”. The rest of the settlement consisted of houses of ordinary community members, usually very small, and warehouses built in one or two rows along the defensive wall. A fairly large free space was left between the wall and the central terrace, most likely used as a cattle pen. The very layout of Malti, the monotony of its residential development, testify to the still intact internal unity of the tribal community that lived here. The absence of clearly defined social and property differences in the Achaean society of Middle Helladic times is also evidenced by the burials of this period, which are overwhelmingly standard, with very modest accompanying grave goods.

Only at the end of the Middle Helladic period the situation in Balkan Greece began to gradually change. The period of prolonged stagnation and decline gave way to a period of new economic and cultural upsurge. The process of class formation, interrupted at the very beginning, was resumed. Within the Achaean tribal communities, powerful aristocratic families stand out, settling in impregnable citadels and thereby sharply separating themselves from the mass of ordinary tribesmen. Great wealth was concentrated in the hands of the tribal nobility, partly created by the labor of local peasants and artisans, partly captured during military raids on the lands of neighbors. In various regions of the Peloponnese, Central and Northern Greece, the first and still rather primitive state formations appeared. Thus, the prerequisites were formed for the formation of another civilization of the Bronze Age, and starting from the 16th century. BC e. Greece entered a new, or, as it is usually called, Mycenaean, period of its history.

In the first stages of its development, the Mycenaean culture experienced a very strong influence from the more advanced Minoan civilization. The Achaeans borrowed many important elements of their culture from Crete, for example, some cults and religious rituals, fresco painting, plumbing and sewerage, styles of men's and women's clothing, some types of weapons, and finally, linear syllabary. All this does not mean, however, that the Mycenaean culture was just a minor peripheral variant of the culture of Minoan Crete, and the Mycenaean settlements in the Peloponnese and elsewhere were simply Minoan colonies in a foreign “barbarian” country (this opinion was shared by A. Evans). Many characteristic features of the Mycenaean culture suggest that it arose on local Greek, and partly also pre-Greek, soil and was successively associated with the ancient cultures of this region dating back to the Early and Middle Bronze Age.

The earliest monument of Mycenaean culture is considered to be the so-called shaft graves. The first six graves of this type were discovered in 1876 by G. Schliemann within the walls of the Mycenaean citadel. For over three millennia, the shaft graves concealed truly fabulous riches. Archaeologists have recovered from them many precious objects made of gold, silver, ivory and other materials. Here were found massive gold rings, carved tiaras, earrings, bracelets, gold and silver dishes, magnificently decorated weapons, including swords, daggers, armor made of sheet gold, and finally, completely unique gold masks that hid the faces of the buried (not so rich burials of another Mycenaean necropolis, discovered by Greek archaeologists at the foot of the citadel near the so-called “voice of Clytemnestra”, although many valuable and rare things were found in them, including vessels made of gold, silver and rock crystal, bronze swords and daggers, golden tiaras , beads made of amber and semi-precious stones and even one funeral mask made of electron (an alloy of gold and silver) The presence of two royal necropolises in such close proximity to each other can be explained as follows: in one of them, the lower one, or, as it is called. Conventionally, in circle B, kings from a more ancient dynasty that ruled in Mycenae since the end of the 17th century BC were buried, while in the upper necropolis, or circle A, kings of another, later dynasty were buried, which pushed the first one out of power. . Many centuries later, Homer in the Iliad would call Mycenae “abundant with gold,” and recognize the Mycenaean king Agamemnon as the most powerful of all the Achaean leaders who took part in the famous Trojan War. Schliemann's findings provided visible evidence of the truth of the great poet's words, which many had previously treated with distrust. True, Schliemann was mistaken in believing that he managed to find the grave of Agamemnon, who was villainously killed by his wife Clytemnestra after returning from the campaign against Troy: the shaft graves he discovered date back to the 16th century. BC e., while the Trojan War apparently took place already in the 13th–12th centuries. Nevertheless, the enormous wealth discovered in the graves of this necropolis shows that even at that distant time Mycenae was the center of a large state. The Mycenaean kings buried in these magnificent tombs were warlike and ferocious people, greedy for other people's wealth. For the sake of robbery, they undertook long trips by land and sea and returned to their homeland, burdened with booty. It is unlikely that the gold and silver that accompanied the royal dead to the afterlife fell into their hands through a peaceful exchange. It is much more likely that it was captured in war. The warlike inclinations of the rulers of Mycenae are evidenced, firstly, by the abundance of weapons in their tombs and, secondly, by images of bloody scenes of war and hunting, which decorated some of the things found in the graves, as well as stone steles that stood on the graves themselves. Particularly interesting is the scene of a lion hunt depicted on one of the bronze inlaid daggers. All the signs: exceptional dynamism, expression, precision of design and extraordinary care in execution indicate that this is the work of the best Minoan jewelry craftsmen. This remarkable work of art could have come to Mycenae along with military booty captured by the Achaeans during the next pirate raid to the shores of Crete, or, according to another assumption, it was made in Mycenae itself by a Cretan jeweler, who clearly tried to adapt to the tastes of his new owners (in Minoan In the art of Crete, subjects of this kind are almost never found).

The 15th–13th centuries can be considered the heyday of the Mycenaean civilization. BC e. At this time, its distribution zone extends far beyond the borders of Argolis, where, apparently, it originally arose and developed, covering the entire Peloponnese, Central Greece (Attica, Boeotia, Phocis), a significant part of Northern (Thessaly), as well as many of the islands Aegean Sea. Throughout this large area there was a uniform culture, represented by standard types of dwellings and burials. Common to this entire zone were also some types of ceramics, clay cult figurines, ivory items, etc. Judging by the excavation materials, Mycenaean Greece was a rich and prosperous country with a large population scattered across many small towns and villages.

Acropolis in Mycenae. XIV century BC e.

1. Palace, 2. Building foundation, 3. House with columns, 4. Lion's Gate, 5. Barns, 6. Entrance, 7. Mine tombs, 8. Houses

The main centers of Mycenaean culture were, as in Crete, palaces. The most significant of them were discovered in Mycenae and Tiryns (Argolis), in Pylos (Messenia, southwestern Peloponnese), in Athens (Attica), Thebes and Orkhomenes (Boeotia), and finally, in the north of Greece in Iolka (Thessaly). The architecture of Mycenaean palaces has a number of features that distinguish them from the palaces of Minoan Crete. The most important of these differences is that almost all Mycenaean palaces were fortified and were real citadels, reminiscent in appearance of the castles of medieval feudal lords. The powerful walls of Mycenaean citadels, built from huge, almost unprocessed stone blocks, still make a huge impression on those who saw them, testifying to the high engineering skill of the Achaean architects. An excellent example of Mycenaean fortifications is the famous Tiryns citadel. First of all, the monumental dimensions of this structure are striking. Unprocessed blocks of limestone, reaching a weight of 12 tons in some cases, form the outer walls of the fortress, the thickness of which exceeded 4.5 m, while the height in the preserved part alone reached 7.5 m. In some places, vaulted galleries with casemates were built inside the walls , in which weapons and food supplies were stored (the thickness of the walls here reaches 17 m). The entire system of defensive structures of the Tiryns citadel was carefully thought out to protect the defenders of the fortress from any unforeseen accidents. The approach to the main gate of the citadel was arranged in such a way that the enemy approaching it was forced to turn to the wall on which the defenders of the fortress were located, with his right side, not covered by a shield. But even once inside the citadel, the enemy came across an internal defensive wall that protected its main part - the acropolis with the royal palace. In order to get to the palace, he had to overcome a narrow passage running between the outer and inner walls and divided into two compartments by two wooden gates. Here he inevitably fell under the destructive crossfire of throwing weapons, which the defenders of the citadel brought down on him from all sides. To ensure that the besieged inhabitants of the citadel did not suffer from a lack of water, an underground passage was built in its northern part (the so-called lower city), ending approximately 20 m from the walls of the fortress at a source carefully hidden from the eyes of the enemy.

Plan of Tiryns:

1. Gate, 2. Casemates, 3. Large Propylaea, 4. Large Courtyard, 5. Small Propylaea, 6. Main Courtyard, 7. Large Megaron, 8. Staircase of the secret entrance

Among the actual palace buildings of the Mycenaean period, the well-preserved palace of Nestor is of greatest interest (the name “Palace of Nestor” is as arbitrary as the “Palace of Minos” in Knossos. Nestor, according to Homer, is the old and wise king of Pylos, one of the main participants in the campaign against Troy) in Pylos (Western Messinia, near Navarino Bay), discovered in 1939 by the American archaeologist K. Bledzhen. Despite a certain similarity with the palaces of Minoan Crete (it manifests itself mainly in the elements of the interior decoration - columns of the Cretan type thickening upward, in the painting of walls, etc.), the Pylos palace differs sharply from them in its clear symmetrical layout, which is completely uncharacteristic of Minoan architecture. The main premises of the palace are located on one axis and form a closed rectangular complex. In order to get inside this complex, it was necessary to successively pass the entrance portico (propylaea), a small courtyard, another portico, a vestibule (prodomos), from which the visitor found himself in a vast rectangular hall - the megaron, which forms an integral and most important part of any Mycenaean palace In the center of the megaron there was a large round hearth, the smoke from which came out through a hole in the ceiling. Around the hearth there were four wooden columns that supported the ceiling of the hall. The walls of the megaron were painted with frescoes. In one of the corners of the hall there is a large fragment of a painting depicting a man playing the lyre. The floor of the megaron was decorated with multi-colored geometric patterns, and in one place, approximately where the royal throne would have been, a large octopus was depicted. Megaron is the heart of the palace. Here the king of Pylos feasted with his nobles and guests. Official receptions were held here. Outside, two long corridors adjoined the megaron. They opened into the doors of numerous storerooms, in which several thousand vessels for storing and transporting oil and other products were found. Judging by these finds, the Pylos Palace was a major exporter of olive oil, which was already very highly valued in the countries neighboring Greece at that time. Like Cretan palaces, Nestor's palace was built with the basic requirements of comfort and hygiene in mind. The building had specially equipped bathrooms, running water and sewerage. But the most interesting discovery was made in a small room near the main entrance. The palace archive was kept here, numbering about a thousand clay tablets, inscribed with characters of a linear syllabary script, very similar to that used in the already mentioned documents from the Knossos palace (the so-called letter B), although the texts from Pylos written in this script belong to more late time (end of the 13th century) BC e.). The tablets were well preserved due to the fact that they were caught in the fire that destroyed the palace. This was the first archive found on mainland Greece.

Among the most interesting architectural monuments of the Mycenaean era are the majestic royal tombs, called “tholos”, or “dome tombs”. Tholosas are usually located close to palaces and citadels, being, apparently, the final resting place of members of the reigning dynasty, like shaft graves in earlier times. The largest of the Mycenaean tholos - the so-called tomb of Atreus - is located in Mycenae on the southern slope of the hill on which the citadel stood. The tomb itself is hidden inside an artificial mound. In order to get into it, you need to go through a long stone-lined corridor - dromos, leading into the depths of the mound. The entrance to the tomb is blocked by two huge stone blocks (one of them, the inner one, weighs 120 tons). The inner chamber of the tomb of Atreus is a monumental, round room with a high (about 13.5 m) domed vault. The walls and vault of the tomb are made of superbly hewn stone slabs and were originally decorated with gilded bronze rosettes. Connected to the main chamber is another side chamber, somewhat smaller in size, rectangular in plan and not so well finished. In all likelihood, it was here that the royal burial was located, plundered in ancient times.

The construction of such grandiose buildings as the tomb of Atreus or the Tiryns citadel was impossible without the widespread and systematic use of forced labor. In order to cope with such a task, it was necessary, firstly, the presence of a large mass of cheap labor, and secondly, a sufficiently developed state apparatus capable of organizing and directing this force to achieve the goal. Obviously, the rulers of Mycenae and Tiryns had both. Until recently, the internal structure of the Achaean states of the Peloponnese remained a mystery to scientists, since in resolving this issue they could only rely on archaeological material obtained through excavations. After two English linguists M. Ventris and J. Chadwick managed in the 50s to find the key to understanding the linear syllabary signs on tablets from Knossos and Pylos, historians now have another important source of information at their disposal.

As it turned out, almost all of these tablets represent “accounting” records that were kept from year to year in the household of the Pylos and Knossos palaces. These laconic records contain the most valuable historical information, allowing one to judge the economy of the palace states of the Mycenaean era, their social and political structure. From the tablets we learn, for example, that at that time slavery already existed in Greece and slave labor was widely used in various sectors of the economy. Among the documents of the Pylos archive, a lot of space is occupied by information about slaves employed in the palace household. Each such list indicated how many women slaves there were, what they did (grain threshers, spinners, seamstresses and even bath attendants are mentioned), how many children they had with them: boys and girls (obviously, these were children of slaves born in captivity), what they received rations, the place where they worked (it could be Pylos itself or one of the towns in the territory under its control). The number of individual groups could be significant - up to more than a hundred people. The total number of women slaves and children, known from the inscriptions of the Pylos archive, should have been about 1,500 people. Along with working detachments, which included only women and children, the inscriptions also include detachments consisting only of male slaves, although they are relatively rare and, as a rule, are small in number - no more than ten people each. Obviously, there were more female slaves in general, which means that slavery at that time was still at a low stage of development.

Along with ordinary slaves, the Pylos inscriptions also mention the so-called “God’s male and female slaves.” They usually rent land in small plots from the community (damos) or from private individuals, from which we can conclude that they did not have their own land and, therefore, they were not considered full members of the community, although, apparently, they were not slaves in proper meaning of this word. The very term “God’s servant” probably means that representatives of this social stratum served in the temples of the main gods of the Pylos kingdom and therefore enjoyed the patronage of the temple administration.

The bulk of the working population in the Mycenaean states, as in Crete, were free or, rather, semi-free peasants and artisans. Formally, they were not considered slaves, but their freedom was very relative, since they were all economically dependent on the palace and were subject to various duties in its favor, both labor and in kind. Individual districts and towns of the Pylos kingdom were obliged to provide the palace with a certain number of artisans and workers of various professions. The inscriptions mention masons, tailors, potters, gunsmiths, goldsmiths, even perfumers and doctors. For their work, artisans received payment in kind from the palace treasury, like officials in the public service. Absence from work was recorded in special documents. Among the artisans who worked for the palace, blacksmiths occupied a special position. Usually they received from the palace the so-called talasia, that is, a task or lesson (the inscriptions specifically note how many blacksmiths in each individual locality had already received talasia, and how many were left without it). A special official, obliged to supervise the work of the blacksmith, handed him an already weighed piece of bronze, and upon completion of the work, he accepted the products made from this bronze. Only very little is known about the social status of blacksmiths and artisans of other specialties appearing on the tablets. Probably some of them were considered "people of the palace" and were in permanent service either in the palace itself or in one of the sanctuaries associated with it. Thus, some of the Pylos tablets mention “the smiths of the mistress” (“the mistress” is a common epithet for the supreme goddess of the Pylos pantheon). Another category of artisans, apparently, were free community members, for whom working for the palace was only a temporary duty. Craftsmen recruited for public service were not deprived of personal freedom. They could own land and even slaves, like all other members of the community.

Mycenaean gold cup

Documents from the archives of the Pylos Palace also contain important information about the land tenure system. Analysis of the texts of the tablets allows us to conclude that all the land in the kingdom of Pylos was divided into two main categories: 1) land of the palace, or state land, and 2) land that belonged to individual territorial communities. State land, with the exception of that part of it that was under the direct control of the palace administration, was distributed on the basis of conditional holding rights, that is, subject to the performance of one or another service in favor of the palace, between dignitaries from among the military and priestly nobility. In turn, these holders could lease the received land in small plots to some other persons, for example, the already mentioned “God’s servants.” The territorial (rural) community, or damos, as it is usually called in tablets, used the land it owned in approximately the same way. The bulk of the communal land was obviously divided into plots with approximately equal returns. These plots were distributed within the community itself among its constituent families. The land remaining after the division was again leased. Palace scribes recorded plots of both categories in their tablets with equal diligence. It follows that communal lands, as well as lands that belonged directly to the palace, were under the control of the palace administration and were exploited by it in the interests of the centralized state economy.

In the documents of the Knossos and Pylos archives, the palace economy of the Mycenaean era appears to us as a widely ramified economic system, covering almost all the main branches of production. The private economy, although, apparently, it already existed in the Mycenaean states, was in fiscal (tax) dependence on the “public sector” and played only a subordinate, secondary role in it. The state monopolized the most important branches of handicraft production, such as blacksmithing, and established strict control over the distribution and consumption of scarce raw materials, primarily metal. Not a single kilogram of bronze, not a single tip of a spear or arrow could escape the watchful gaze of the palace bureaucracy. All metal at the disposal of both the state and private individuals was carefully weighed, accounted for and recorded by scribes of the palace archive on clay tablets. A centralized palace or temple economy is typical of the earliest class societies that existed in the Mediterranean and Middle East during the Bronze Age. We encounter diverse variants of this economic system in the 3rd–2nd millennia BC. e. in the temple cities of Sumer and Syria, in dynastic Egypt, in the Hittite kingdom and the palaces of Minoan Crete.

Based on the principles of strict accounting and control, the palace economy needed a developed bureaucratic apparatus for its normal functioning. Documents from the Pylos and Knossos archives show this apparatus in action, although many details of its organization remain unclear due to the extreme laconicism of the texts of the tablets. In addition to the staff of scribes who served directly in the palace office and archive, the tablets mention numerous officials of the fiscal department who were in charge of collecting taxes and overseeing the fulfillment of various types of duties. Thus, from the documents of the Pylos archive we learn that the entire territory of the kingdom was divided into 16 tax districts, headed by governors - koreters. Each of them was responsible for the regular receipt of taxes from the district entrusted to him into the palace treasury (the taxes included primarily metal: gold and bronze, as well as various types of agricultural products). Subordinate to the koretera were lower-ranking officials who governed individual settlements that were part of the district. In the tablets they are called "basilei". Basilei supervised production, for example, the work of blacksmiths who were in the public service. The coreters and basilei themselves were under the constant control of the central government.

The palace constantly reminded the local administration of itself, sending messengers and couriers, inspectors and auditors in all directions.

Who set this whole complex mechanism in motion and directed its work? The tablets from the Mycenaean archives provide an answer to this question. At the head of the palace state was a person called “vanaka”, which corresponds to the Greek “(v)anakt”, i.e. “lord”, “master”, “king”. Unfortunately, the inscriptions say nothing about the political functions and rights of the vanakta. Therefore, we cannot judge with certainty the nature of his power. It is clear, however, that the vanakt occupied a special privileged position among the ruling nobility. The land allotment belonging to the king - temen (one of the documents of the Pylos archive mentions it) - was three times larger than the land allotments of other senior officials: its profitability is determined by the figure of 1800 measures. The king had numerous servants at his disposal. The tablets mention the “royal potter”, “royal fuller”, “royal gunsmith”. Among the highest-ranking officials subordinate to the king of Pylos, one of the most prominent places was occupied by the lavaget, that is, the governor or military leader. As the title itself shows, his duties included command of the armed forces of the kingdom of Pylos. In addition to vanakt and lavaget, the inscriptions also mention other officials, designated by the terms “telest”, “eket”, “damat”, etc. The exact meaning of these terms remains unknown. However, it seems quite likely that this circle of the highest nobility, closely associated with the palace and constituting the inner circle of the Pylos vanakta, included, firstly, the priests of the main temples of the state (the priesthood in general enjoyed very great influence in Pylos, as in Crete), secondly, the highest military ranks, primarily the leaders of the detachments of war chariots, which in those days were the main striking force on the battlefields. Thus, Pylos society was something like a pyramid, built on a strictly hierarchical principle. The top level in this hierarchy of classes was occupied by the military-priestly nobility, headed by the king and military leader, who concentrated in their hands the most important functions of both an economic and political nature. Directly subordinate to the ruling elite of society were numerous officials who acted locally and in the center and together constituted a powerful apparatus for the oppression and exploitation of the working population of the Pylos kingdom. The peasants and artisans who formed the basis of this entire pyramid did not take any part in governing the state (there is an opinion according to which the term “damos” (people) found in the tablets of the Pylos archive means a popular assembly representing the entire free population of the Pylos kingdom. However, another interpretation of this term seems more likely: damos is one of the territorial communities (districts) that are part of the state (cf. the later Athenian demes). Below them stood slaves employed in various jobs in the palace household.

Mycenaean warriors

The decipherment of Linear B could not solve all the problems of the socio-economic and political history of the Mycenaean era. Many important questions still remain unanswered. We do not know, for example, what kind of relations existed between the individual palace states: did they, as some scientists think, constitute a single Achaean power under the auspices of the king of Mycenae - the most powerful of all the rulers of then Greece - or did they lead a completely separate and independent existence? The latter seems more likely. It is hardly a coincidence that almost each of the Mycenaean palaces was surrounded by powerful defensive walls, which were supposed to reliably protect its inhabitants from the hostile outside world and, above all, from their immediate neighbors. The Cyclopean walls of Mycenae and Tiryns testify to the almost continuous enmity of these two states, which divided the fertile Argive plain between themselves. Greek myths tell about the bloody strife of the Achaean rulers, about the stubborn struggle for primacy waged among the rival dynasties of Central Greece and the Peloponnese. One of them tells, for example, that seven kings of Argos went on a campaign against Thebes - the richest of the cities of Boeotia - and after a number of unsuccessful attempts and the death of some of them, they took and destroyed the city. Excavations have shown that the Mycenaean palace at Thebes was indeed burned and destroyed in the 14th century. BC e. long before other palaces and citadels perished.

The tense relations that existed between the Achaean states throughout almost their entire history do not exclude, however, the fact that at certain moments they could unite for some kind of joint military enterprises. An example of such an enterprise is the famous Trojan War, which Homer tells about. According to the Iliad, almost all the main regions of Achaean Greece took part in the campaign against Troy, from Thessaly in the north to Crete and Rhodes in the south. The Mycenaean king Agamemnon was elected leader of the entire army with the general consent of the participants in the campaign. It is possible that Homer exaggerated the true scale of the Achaean coalition and embellished the campaign itself. Nevertheless, the historical reality of this event is now almost beyond anyone’s doubt (however, it should be borne in mind that none of the archaeologists, including Schliemann and Bledjen, have yet been able to prove that the culprits of the Achaean Greeks were indeed Achaean Greeks. The Mycenaean ceramics found during the excavations of the Trojan settlement could have gotten there through ordinary trade contacts. Troy Vila itself, which Bledzhen and many other historians and archaeologists identify with Homer’s Troy, bears little resemblance to the city of King Priam described in the Iliad. that the huge army of Agamemnon, gathered from all over Greece, spent so much time and effort on the siege of this small village, which consisted of several dozen nondescript adobe houses, as the ancient poets tell about it). The Trojan War was only one, although, apparently, the most significant of the manifestations of the military and colonization expansion of the Achaeans in Asia Minor and the Eastern Mediterranean. During the XIV–XIII centuries. BC e. Numerous Achaean settlements (indicated by large accumulations of typically Mycenaean pottery) appeared on the western and southern coasts of Asia Minor, the adjacent islands of Rhodes and Cyprus, and even on the Syro-Phoenician coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Everywhere in these places, the Mycenaean Greeks seized the trade initiative from the hands of their predecessors, the Minoans (the reasons for the special interest of the Mycenaean states in trade with the population of Cyprus, Syria and Asia Minor can be understood by an interesting discovery made under water at Cape Gelidonium (the southern coast of Turkey). They were discovered here the remains of an ancient ship with a large cargo of bronze ingots, apparently destined for one of the Achaean palaces of the Peloponnese or Central Greece. An equally sensational discovery was made in 1964. in Greece itself during excavations at the site of the ancient Theban citadel of Kadmea. In one of the rooms of the palace that once stood here, archaeologists found 36 stone cylinders of Babylonian origin. On 14 of them, cuneiform seals were discovered with the name of one of the kings of the so-called Kassite dynasty, which ruled in Babylon in the 14th century. BC e. This find clearly shows that during this period the rulers of Thebes - the largest Mycenaean center on the territory of Boeotia - maintained close relations, not only trade, but, apparently, also diplomatic, with the kings of the distant Mesopotamian state). Crete itself, as we have already said, was colonized by the Achaeans even earlier (in the 15th century) and became the main springboard in their advance to the East and South. Successfully combining trade with piracy, the Achaeans soon became one of the most prominent political forces in the Eastern Mediterranean. In documents from the capital of the Hittite kingdom of Boghazkey, the state of Ahhiyawa (probably one of the Achaean states in the western part of Asia Minor and on the adjacent islands) is placed on a par with the strongest powers of that era: Egypt, Babylon, Assyria. From these documents it is clear that the rulers of Ahhiyawa maintained close diplomatic contacts with the Hittite kings. Even at the turn of the XIII-XII centuries. detachments of Achaean miners who came from Crete or the Peloponnese took part in the raids of the “Sea Peoples” coalition on Egypt. In the Egyptian inscriptions telling about these events, the peoples of Ekevesh and Denen are mentioned along with other tribes, which may correspond to the Greek Ahaivoy and Danaoi - the usual names of the Achaeans in Homer. The colonial expansion of the Achaean states also covered part of the Western Mediterranean, mainly the same areas that would be developed by the Greeks much later, during the era of the Great Colonization. Excavations have shown that a Mycenaean settlement existed on the site of the later Greek city of Tarentum on the southern coast of Italy. Significant finds of Mycenaean pottery have been made on the island of Ischia in the Gulf of Naples, on the east coast of Sicily, on the Aeolian Islands and even in Malta.

At the time when Egypt was repelling the onslaught of the “peoples of the sea,” clouds were already gathering over Achaean Greece itself. Last decades of the 13th century. BC e. were an extremely anxious and turbulent time. In Mycenae, Tiryns, Athens and other places, old fortifications are being hastily restored and new ones are being built. A massive wall is erected on the Isthmus (a narrow isthmus connecting Central Greece with the Peloponnese), clearly designed to protect the Mycenaean states in the south of the Balkan Peninsula from some danger approaching from the north. Among the frescoes of the Pylos Palace, one attracts attention, created shortly before its death. The artist depicted a bloody battle in which, on the one hand, Achaean warriors in armor and characteristic horned helmets are participating, on the other, some barbarians dressed in animal skins with long flowing hair. Apparently, these savages were the people who were so feared and hated by the inhabitants of the Mycenaean strongholds, against whom they erected more and more fortifications. Archaeological research shows that in the immediate vicinity of the main centers of the Mycenaean civilization in the north and north-west of the Balkan Peninsula (areas called in ancient times Macedonia and Epirus) a completely different life lived, very far from the luxury and splendor of the Achaean palaces. Tribes lived here who were at an extremely low level of development and, obviously, had not yet emerged from the stage of the tribal system. We can judge their culture from the crude molded pottery and primitive clay idols that accompany the vast majority of burials in these areas. It should, however, be noted that, despite their backwardness, the tribes of Macedonia and Epirus were already familiar with the use of metal and their weapons, in a purely technical sense, were apparently not inferior to the Mycenaean ones.

Plan of Troy

Stratigraphic section of Troy

At the end of the 13th century. The tribal world of the entire Northern Balkan region, due to some reasons unknown to us, began to move (one of the results of this movement was the resettlement to Asia Minor of a large group of Phrygian-Thracian tribes that had previously lived in the northern part of the Balkan Peninsula. With the same events in the Balkans, perhaps , is also connected with the formation of the already mentioned union of the “peoples of the sea”, under the blows of which the great Hittite kingdom fell at the beginning of the 12th century). A huge mass of barbarian tribes, which included both peoples who spoke various dialects of the Greek language (this includes Dorian and the closely related Western Greek dialects), and, apparently, peoples of non-Greek, Thracian-Illyrian origin, left their homes and rushed south, to the rich and prosperous regions of Central Greece and the Peloponnese. The route along which the invasion took place is marked by traces of ruins and fires. On their way, the aliens captured and destroyed many Mycenaean settlements. The Pylos Palace was destroyed in a fire (some modern scientists believe that the Dorians did not participate at all in the first invasion that ended with the fall of Pylos. They came later (already in the 12th or even 11th century), when the resistance of the Mycenaean Greeks was finally broken). The very place where he stood was forgotten. The citadels of Mycenae and Tiryns were seriously damaged, although apparently not captured. The economy of the Mycenaean states suffered irreparable damage. This is evidenced by the rapid decline of crafts and trade in the areas most affected by the invasion, as well as a sharp decline in population. Thus, at the turn of the XIII-XII centuries. Mycenaean civilization suffered a terrible blow, from which it could no longer recover.

Lion Gate in Mycenae

The question naturally arises: why did it fall, having existed within the framework of early class society for several centuries? Why did the Achaean states, which had a well-organized military machine, significant economic resources, high culture and trained administrative personnel, fail to resist the scattered hordes of conquerors who did not leave the framework of the primitive tribal system? Several reasons can be pointed out for the decline of the Mycenaean civilization.

First of all, it should be noted the internal weakness of early class relations in Greece of the 2nd millennium BC. e. generally. Early class relations, which presupposed the functioning of more complex than primitive relations of domination and subordination, social differentiation and the identification of various social strata, did not penetrate deeply into the thickness of people's life, did not permeate the entire social structure from top to bottom. If the inhabitants of the Mycenaean “palace centers” were divided into several social strata and class groups, ranging from disenfranchised slaves to the court nobility living in conditions of palace luxury, then the bulk of the population constituted clan communities and were engaged in primitive agriculture. These tribal communities retained their collectivist structure and were little affected by social and property differentiation, although they were brutally exploited by the inhabitants of the Mycenaean palaces.

Such deep dualism of Mycenaean societies is evidence of the fragility of class relations in general, which could be relatively easily destroyed by external conquest. Moreover, residents of ancestral villages sought to destroy Mycenaean palaces - isolated centers of high culture, which acted mainly as centers of consumption and took little part in the organization of social production.

One of the important reasons for the fall of the Achaean states was the depletion of internal resources, the waste of huge material and human reserves as a result of the many years of the Trojan War and bloody civil strife between individual Achaean kingdoms and within the ruling dynasties. Given the low level of production and the small amount of surplus product extorted from clan communities, all funds were spent on maintaining the gluttonous court aristocracy, a solid bureaucratic apparatus, and the military organization. Under these conditions, additional spending on ruinous wars (including the Trojan War) could not but lead to an overstrain of internal potential and its depletion.

The refined Achaean civilization with its brilliant façade was an internally fragile society. It did not so much increase social production as it squandered existing resources and undermined the foundations of its power and well-being. During the period that began at the turn of the XIII-XII centuries. BC e. large tribal movements in the Balkans and Asia Minor (among them were Dorian tribes), the Mycenaean states, internally weakened by a complex of deep contradictions, could not withstand the onslaught of warlike tribes.

The rapid collapse of the largest Mycenaean states that followed the tribal movements is explained not so much by the strength of the northern barbarians as by the fragility of their internal structure, the basis of which was, as we have seen, the systematic exploitation and oppression of the rural population by a small, introverted palace elite and its bureaucratic apparatus. It was enough to destroy the ruling elite of the palace states for this entire complex structure to collapse like a house of cards.

The further course of events is largely unclear: the archaeological material at our disposal is too scarce. The main part of the barbarian tribes that took part in the invasion, apparently, could not hold on to the territory they captured (the devastated country could not feed such a mass of people) and fled to the north - to their original positions. Only small tribal groups of Dorians and related Western Greek peoples settled in the coastal regions of the Peloponnese (Argolis, areas near Isthmus, Achaea, Elis, Laconia and Messenia). Individual islands of Mycenaean culture continued to exist mixed with newly founded settlements of aliens until the end of the 12th century. At this time, the last of those who survived the catastrophe of the late 13th century. the Achaean citadels fell into final decline and were forever abandoned by their inhabitants. At the same time, there was mass emigration from the territory of Balkan Greece to the East - to Asia Minor and to the nearby islands. On the one hand, the surviving remnants of the Achaean population of the Peloponnese, Central and Northern Greece, who are now called Ionians and Aeolians, took part in the colonization movement, and on the other, Dorian new settlers. The result of this movement was the formation on the western coast of Asia Minor and on the islands of Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Rhodes and other many new settlements, among which the largest were the Ionian cities of Miletus, Ephesus, Colophon, Aeolian Smyrna, and Dorian Halicarnassus. Here, in the Ionian and Aeolian colonies, several centuries later, a new version of Greek culture arose, sharply different from the Mycenaean civilization that preceded it, although it absorbed some of its basic elements.

As in the countries of the Ancient East, in particular in Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Eastern Mediterranean, the process of historical development in the Aegean basin in the 3rd–2nd millennia BC. e. proceeded within the framework of the general patterns of decomposition of the clan organization through its social differentiation caused by the improvement of productive forces, and social tension, which, in turn, determined the emergence of a state apparatus designed to ensure a certain order in society and create conditions for its further development. As in the countries of the Ancient East, the first class societies in the Aegean basin arose within the framework of small state formations, uniting several communities with one administrative center, which at the same time was the focus of the cult. Such states first arose on the island. Crete at the end of the 3rd millennium BC. e. The further development of these small entities led to the creation of a large territorial state that united not only all of Crete, but also a number of islands in the southern Aegean Sea and the eastern coastal regions of the Balkan Peninsula (the maritime power of Minos).

The emergence of the first shoots of civilization in the Aegean dates back to a later time than in the Nile Valley or Mesopotamia, where society reached a certain maturity and by the end of the 3rd millennium BC. e. dated back a thousand years. As the study of specific material shows, the more ancient civilizations of the Middle East had a stimulating influence on the process of internal development of Cretan society. At the same time, the degree of this influence cannot be exaggerated. In particular, it, quite strong for Crete, was much weaker for the states of mainland Greece. As evidenced by numerous archaeological data, developed Neolithic cultures in Balkan Greece of the 6th–4th millennia BC. e. became a rich basis for the emergence of Bronze Age cultures, and then the ancient Greek civilization.

For the historical destinies of the ancient population of Balkan Greece, as well as other peoples of antiquity, the natural habitat was of great importance. As is known, the early birth of civilization in the Ancient East was facilitated by the creation of irrigated agriculture in river valleys with fertile soil. In the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula, natural conditions were different. The rocky soil, difficult to cultivate, and the dissection of the territory by numerous mountain ranges into small isolated valleys created conditions for social and economic development that were different from those of ancient Eastern societies. A huge role in the development of individual centers of Greece in the 2nd millennium BC. e. the development of the sea played a role, i.e., obtaining marine food products and the possibility of connections with other peoples along sea routes. As the inhabitants of Balkan Greece managed to conquer the sea, the formation of Hellenic civilization began. The creation of a Cretan maritime power, constant maritime contacts of the Mycenaean Greeks with the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Italy in the West are an indicator of mastery of the sea back in the 2nd millennium BC. e.

The sea played a special role in the lives of the inhabitants of numerous islands of the Aegean Sea: Lemnos and Lesvos, the Cyclades and Rhodes. The limitation of the island territory did not allow focusing on the primary occupation of agriculture, on the one hand, on the other hand, the wealth of the subsoil with minerals - ores, stone, good clay - contributed to the development of handicraft production, forced residents to look for a means of livelihood through the organization of crafts, the development of fishing, active marine trade, shipbuilding and bold piracy, which could not but stimulate private enterprise and mobility of the population.

Internal development of early class society in the Aegean of the 2nd millennium BC. e. took place within the framework of small state entities. In the island zone of the Aegean, these small states, in all likelihood, were aristocratic structures, the decisive role in them was played by an enterprising oligarchy associated with maritime trade and piracy, living in fairly comfortable and well-appointed houses, the so-called patrician mansions, discovered by archaeologists. The ruling elite apparently represented and led the communal organization of the island population, dating back to the tribal structure. The absence of palace-temple complexes and impregnable citadels minimized the role of the court and military elements, the hierarchy of classes associated with the royal palace and ensured, so to speak, a republican (or rather, future polis) version of social development. However, this path of development, forming in the island zone of the Aegean Sea, did not receive its natural continuation, was slowed down, and then interrupted, since small island states were captured at different periods of the 2nd millennium by the leading monarchical powers of Crete or Achaean Greece.

Story

The most ancient center of Egyptian civilization was the valley of the lower reaches of the river. Nile, whose fertile lands stretched for 5-10 km on both sides of the river. According to archaeological data, in the VI millennium BC. e. The first settlements appeared there, which later turned into city-states. The real border of the country was where the fertile black land ended and the red began. This is where the country’s self-name came from - “Kemet”, which means “Black (land)”.

For a long period, two countries existed in the Nile Valley: Southern (Upper) Egypt (from the last fifth cataract to the first branch of the Nile delta) and Northern (Lower) Egypt (the Nile delta itself). At the end of the 4th millennium they were united into a dual kingdom

The modern name of the country Kemet - “Egypt” - appeared after the arrival of the Greeks and comes from the word “Aigyptos”. This is how the ancient Greeks pronounced one of the names of its ancient capital Het-ka-Ptah (i.e., “Estate of the twin” nickname of Ptah,” the first Egyptian god). Another name for this city is Men-nefer Pepi (i.e., “Everlasting beauty Pepi" - king of the VI dynasty), abbreviated as Men-nefer, over time was transformed by the Greeks into Memphis.

Periodization of history and healing

The history of ancient Egypt goes back more than three thousand years: from the end of the 4th millennium BC. e. until 395 AD, when, after the collapse of the Great Roman Empire, ancient Egypt became part of Byzantium.

According to the established tradition, which began with the Egyptian priest Mane-fon (IV-III centuries BC), who compiled the first historical description of ancient Egypt for the Ptolemies, its history is divided into four eras and several periods: the era of the Early Kingdom (c. 3000 - c. 2800 BC), era of the Old Kingdom (c. 2800 - c. 2250 BC), period of the First Collapse of Egypt (c. 2250 - c. 2050 BC) . BC), the era of the Middle Kingdom (c. 2050 - c. 1750 BC), the period of the Second Collapse of Egypt (c. 1750 - c. 1580 BC), the era of the New Kingdom ( c. 1580 - c. 1085 BC), late (Libyan-Saitic and Persian) period (c. 1085 - 332 BC), Greco-Roman period (332 BC) . - 395 AD), Byzantine period (395-638 AD), from 639 - Arab invasion of Egypt.

In the history of healing in ancient Egypt, three major periods are distinguished: royal (XXX-IV centuries BC), Greco-Roman (332 BC - 395 AD) and Byzantine (395- 638), which goes into the Middle Ages.

All ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic medical texts from the royal period that have come down to us were written in the 2nd millennium BC. e. (i.e., they relate to the history of the Middle and mainly New Kingdoms).

This chapter covers the healing of the royal period; The medicine of subsequent periods of the history of ancient Egypt is described in the corresponding chapters on the medicine of ancient Greece, ancient Rome and the Byzantine Empire.

Development of empirical knowledge

The natural scientific knowledge of the ancient Egyptians grew primarily from their practical experience - from the material, world-transforming human activity.

During the Early Kingdom, the Egyptians learned to use the natural floods of the Nile for seasonal agricultural work, developed a system of hieroglyphic (from the Greek hе-ros - sacred and glyphe - that which is carved) writing and mastered the preparation of material for writing papyrus (Greek papyros), which was used by humanity for four thousand years (almost until the 10th century AD). During this period, the characteristic features of ancient Egyptian culture were formed (religious ideas, the cult of the dead, a characteristic artistic style), which were basically preserved throughout the history of ancient Egypt, including the Greco-Roman period.

During the era of the Old Kingdom, the construction of pyramids began. The first of them - the step pyramid of Pharaoh Djoser - was erected in Saqqara according to the design of the dignitary Favaon - architect, healer and sage Imhotep (Imhotep, 28th century BC) (Fig. 17), later deified. His fame and memory survived until the invasion of the Persians and Greeks, who identified him with the god of healing Asclepius.

The largest Egyptian pyramids were erected during the IV dynasty (XXVIII-XXVI centuries BC) by the pharaohs Khufu (Greek Cheops), Khaf-Ra (Greek Khafre) and Menkau-Ra (Greek Mikerin) near the modern village Giza near Cairo.

During the 3rd era of the Middle Kingdom, the oldest surviving Egyptian works of natural science were written down - mathematical and medical papyri.

During the era of the New Kingdom, the period of the brightest flowering of ancient Egyptian civilization began. Ancient Egypt reached its highest economic and political power during the reign of the pharaohs of the XVIII-XX dynasties, among them Men-kheper-Ra (Greek Thutmose III) and User-maat-Ra-sotep-en-Ra (Greek Ramses II) .

The need to calculate the periods of rise and fall of water in the Nile led to the development of Egyptian astronomy. This is evidenced by star charts preserved on the ceilings of the tombs of the pharaohs of the 19th-20th dynasties (XIV-XII centuries BC). Based on the practical needs of agriculture, it was the Egyptians who first divided the day into 24 hours (12 hours of the day and 12 hours of the night) and created the most perfect calendar of their time. According to the Egyptian calendar, the year consisted of 365 days (12 months of 30 days and 5 additional days at the end of the year). The Egyptian calendar was adopted in the Roman Empire (from 45 AD), retained its significance in medieval Europe and was used by N. Copernicus in his lunar and planetary tables.

Most of the medical papyri that have reached us date back to the era of the New Kingdom.

Sources on history and healing

The main sources on the history and healing of ancient Egypt are: descriptions of historians (Manephon, Herodotus) and ancient writers (Diodorus, Polybius, Strabo, Plutarch, etc.); archaeological research (including the study of Egyptian mummies); records and images (Fig. 18 and 19) on the walls of pyramids, tombs, sarcophagi and funerary steles, texts of papyrus scrolls (Table 6).

The study of ancient Egyptian texts began relatively late - after 1822, when the French scientist Jean Francois Champollion (Champol-lion J. F., 1790-1832) unraveled the secret of Egyptian hieroglyphic writing.

Currently, more than ten papyrus scrolls are known, which are partially (which does not allow calling them “medical”) or completely dedicated to healing. All of them, as already noted, were recorded during the periods of the Middle and New Kingdoms (II millennium BC) - However, this does not exclude the possibility of the existence already in the era of the Old Kingdom of earlier lists (i.e. copies) of these papyri, which before have not survived to our days. Thus, Georg Ebers (Ebers, Georg, 1837-1898) believes that the papyrus named after him was originally compiled between 3730 and 3710. BC e., and Egyptologists admit that the papyrus of Edwin Smith (Smith, Edwin, 1822-1906) could be a copy of an earlier text compiled at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. e. (possibly Imhotep - healer and architect of Pharaoh Joser, who ruled c. 2780 - c. 2760 BC). Imhotep was not the only famous healer of the Old Kingdom. Thus, the inscription in the tomb of Nomarch Mechen, a dignitary of the pharaoh of the IV dynasty Sneferu (XXVIII century BC), indicates that he was a famous “doctor-um (swnw) of the Nome people.” In this

In the 19th century, the dental healer Heraktatov lived on papyrus scrolls during the period of the Old Kingdom and also reports an inscription on the wall of the tomb of Uash-Pta..a - the chief architect of the king of the V dynasty - Neferirka-Ra (XXV "century BC). In this The same record says that Uash-Ptah died suddenly in the presence of the pharaoh - this is the most ancient mention of a disease that resembles a stroke or myocardial infarction. Ancient historians also testify to the ancient treatises that have reached us with medical content. Thus, Manetho reports. that the second king of the 1st dynasty, Athotis (XXVIII century BC), was a skilled healer and compiled a text on a papyrus scroll about the structure of the human body.

Mythology and healing

The ancient Egyptian religion existed for almost three and a half millennia.

The cult of animals occupied a significant place in the beliefs of the ancient Egyptians. Each nome (city-state) had its own sacred animal or bird: bull, cat, crocodile, ram, lion, falcon, ibis, kite, etc. The deceased cult animal was embalmed and buried in sacred tombs. Killing a sacred animal was punishable by death.

Snakes were the subject of a special cult. The snake goddess - cobra Wadjit (Egyptian Green), the patroness of Lower Egypt - was revered as a protector from all enemies. She “was part of the royal emblem (uraeus) and was depicted on the headdress of the pharaoh (Fig. 20) as the patroness of royal power along with a falcon, a bee and a kite. On amulets (Fig. 21) Isis) and the god Usnri (Greek Osiris) - was revered as the ruler of the sky and air and was depicted in the form of a falcon or a man with the head of a falcon. He adopted the art of healing from his mother, the goddess Isis, who was considered the inventor of magical healing and the patroness of children. She personified motherhood and fertilized nature. Medicines bore the name of Isis. "were known" even in ancient Rome and are mentioned in the books of Galen (2nd century).

The husband (and brother) of Isis, a descendant of the sun god Ra-Osiris, was revered as the god of the underworld and was depicted as a living mummy. Before him, the god of embalming In-pu (Greek Anubis) was considered the ruler of the ancient Egyptian necropolis - the inventor and first master of mummification, who prepared (according to legend) the first Egyptian mummy - the mummy of Osiris. Anubis was depicted as a black dog or jackal, and also as a man with the head of a jackal.

Among the main deities of ancient Egypt related to healing was the god of writing and knowledge Djehuti (Greek Thoth). He was depicted as a man with the head of an ibis bird or as a baboon (both symbols of wisdom in ancient Egypt). According to legend, Thoth divided humanity into languages ​​and invented writing, invented mathematics and astronomy, religious rituals, music and natural healing; he was credited with composing the most ancient Egyptian medical texts.

In addition to the main deities in ancient Egyptian mythology, there were also gods of healing. This is the patroness of healers, the mighty Sokhmet, or Sakh-met (Egypt. Mighty) - the goddess of war, the wife of the supreme god Memphis Ptah (she was revered in the form of a lioness or lion-headed woman; Fig. 22) and the patroness of women and women in labor, the goddess Tauert (she was depicted in the form of a female hippopotamus; Fig. 23). Small figurines of the goddess Towert are always. were placed next to the newborn, be it the heir of the great pharaoh or a simple Egyptian.

A striking feature of the Egyptian religion was the funeral cult, which arose in the pre-dynastic period and is the key to understanding the entire Egyptian culture.

The ancient Egyptians believed in the afterlife and considered it a continuation of the earthly one. They believed that the afterlife substance of a person manifests itself in several forms: one of them - the soul (Egyptian Ba, depicted in the form of a bird with the head of a person) - exists with the body of the deceased, but can temporarily leave the tomb and ascend to heaven to the gods; the other - the “double”, or the life force of a person (Egyptian Ka) - lives in the tomb, the other world and even settles in the statues of the deceased. The idea that after the death of a person, his afterlife substances are connected with the burial place, gave rise to the desire to preserve the body from destruction, that is, to embalm it (from the Greek balsamon - balm).

Mummification in ancient Egypt was carried out by special people whom the Greeks called Tarikhevts. Their embalming secret has been lost forever, but the corpses of the dead, processed thousands of years ago, have survived to this day. The embalming procedure, which took 70 days, was described in sufficient detail by Herodotus in the mid-5th century. BC e. However, research conducted in the 20th century made some adjustments and additions to this now classic description.

It is clear that not many people had the opportunity to embalm the corpse of a deceased relative. The people of Egypt, starting from the predynastic period, buried their dead in the sand of the deserts adjacent to the Nile Valley. “Wrapped in mats (without a coffin or mummification), the bodies of the dead remained almost unchanged for a long time: the sand dried them, protecting them from further destruction.

According to the religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians, every deceased person appeared before the afterlife court (the idea of ​​court took shape in the era of the New Kingdom). The afterlife court (Fig. 24) was headed by the god Osiris. The god of knowledge, Thoth, acted as the prosecutor. God Anubis weighed the heart of the deceased. If it was lighter than an ostrich feather (a symbol of law and justice), the deceased had access to the world of the gods.

The funeral cult of ancient Egypt has no equal in any of the religions of the peoples of antiquity. Nevertheless, the Egyptian people always remained cheerful and strong. According to the Russian Egyptologist B. A. Turaev, every Egyptian thought about death throughout his entire life and, collecting everything necessary for the afterlife, “mainly prepared to not die, despite death.”

Development of medical knowledge

An integral part of the vibrant and unique culture of ancient Egypt was healing. It arose from the practical experience of the people. The medical papyri that have reached us are laconic practical guides for healers.

The Egyptians received their first ideas about the structure of the human body (anatomy) from the practice of embalming, which also testified to achievements in the field of chemistry (scientists believe that the modern word “chemistry” comes from the ancient name of Egypt - “Ke-met”, or “Khemet” ).

The knowledge of the ancient Egyptians in the field of body structure was quite high for their time and is comparable only with the achievements of the ancient Indians, with the caveat that the Egyptian texts date back to the 2nd millennium BC. e., and Indian medical treatises - the first centuries of our era.

Already in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. The ancient Egyptians described large organs: the brain, heart, blood vessels, kidneys, intestines, muscles, etc. However, they did not subject them to special study, which is most likely due to the influence of religious tenets.

The first description of the brain that has come down to us belongs to the Egyptians. It is given in the papyrus of E. Smith, in which the movement of the brain in an open wound is compared to “boiling copper.” The ancient Egyptians noticed that damage to the brain caused illness in other parts of the body (such as paralysis of the limbs), and thus laid the foundation for the natural scientific understanding of the brain.

They assigned a special role in human life to the heart and blood vessels: “The beginning of the secrets of a doctor is knowledge of the course of the heart, from which vessels go to all members, for every healer, every priest of the goddess Sokhmet, every spellcaster, touching the head, back of the head, arms, palms, legs “, - touches the heart everywhere: from it the vessels are directed to each member...” - says the papyrus of G. Ebers. Thus, the ancient Egyptians in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. mastered the art of identifying diseases by the pulsation of blood vessels, that is, the pulse that they observed at various points of the body. It is known that pulse diagnostics reached its highest peak in the ancient world in ancient China (texts of the 3rd century BC and later).

The most extensive information about internal diseases and medicinal healing in ancient Egypt is contained in the large medical papyrus of G. Ebers (16th century BC), discovered in 1872 in Thebes and named after the scientist who studied it. Glued together from 108 sheets, it reaches a length of 20.5 m and fully justifies its purpose.

Most of the recipes in the Ebers Papyrus are accompanied by references to magical spells and incantations, which the Egyptians believed would ward off evil spirits. For the same purpose, medicines often included unpleasant-tasting substances: parts of a mouse’s tail, discharge from a pig’s ears, animal excrement and urine, etc. Taking such medicines was accompanied by frightening incantations and spells.

A separate section of the Ebers papyrus is devoted to cosmetics. It contains prescriptions for medications to smooth out wrinkles, remove moles, change skin color, color hair and eyebrows, enhance hair growth, and even correct strabismus. To protect their eyes from the scorching sun and some infectious diseases, the Egyptians (both women and men) covered their eyelids with a green paste containing antimony salts and malachite powder, while giving their eyes an almond shape. The Egyptians wore wigs, which were worn over short-cropped hair (which helped prevent lice). The wig consisted of many tightly intertwined braids and, protecting from the scorching sun, replaced a headdress. The longevity of these traditions gives reason to consider ancient Egypt the birthplace of cosmetics.

The Nile Valley was a large focus of severe helminthic diseases - genitourinary and intestinal schistosombiases. These diseases are described under the name Sta in the papyri of Ebers, Hirst,. Berlin and London. Ancient texts report that the characteristic signs of AAA disease were the presence of worms in the body, the appearance of blood in the urine (“Egyptian hematuria”), damage to the rectum and diarrhea. The existence of schistosomiasis in ancient Egypt is confirmed by a study of Egyptian mummies (XX Dynasty, XII century BC), in the kidneys of which a large number of calcified eggs of its pathogen, Schistosoma haematobium, were found.

Today it is known that the causative agent of schistosomiasis is spread by water through an intermediate host - a mollusk. This makes it clear why the construction of irrigation systems in ancient Egypt contributed to the widespread spread of this disease throughout the country. From its original range in Egypt, schistosomiasis spread to other areas of Africa and Asia. An extensive focus of genitourinary schistosomiasis also arose in ancient Mesopotamia, where irrigation systems were also built. In the XVI-XVIII centuries. it was brought to America. Historians of the medieval Arabic-speaking East and French doctors who accompanied Napoleon on his campaign in Egypt wrote about this disease. Currently, about 200 million people on our planet are affected by schistosomiasis; over 500 million are at risk of infection. A targeted program to combat this disease has been carried out under the leadership of the World Health Organization since 1958 at the proposal of Egypt, the country whose population is still most affected by schistosomiasis.

In ancient Egypt, the oldest surviving text on the structure of the human body and surgical treatment (surgery) was compiled - the surgical papyrus of Edwin Smith, dating from the 16th century. BC

In 1930, the American Egyptologist J. G. Breasted (Breasted J. N.) first published its hieratic (semi-cursive) text, transliterated in hieroglyphs and translated into English with extensive commentary in the form of a separate volume (Fig. 25).

The text of the treatise is located on a papyrus tape 4.68 m long and about 33 cm wide. It consists of 17 columns, which describe 48 cases of traumatic injuries to the bones of the skull, brain, cervical vertebrae, collarbones, forearm, chest and spinal column, as well as methods of treating them in the complete absence of elements of magic and mysticism.

The medical ethics of Egypt at that time required that the healer, after examining the patient, openly inform him about the intended outcome of treatment in one of three phrases: 1) “this is a disease that I can cure”; 2) “this is a disease that I may be able to cure”; 3) “this is a disease that I cannot cure.”

In cases where a cure seemed possible, the author of the papyrus gives clear recommendations to the healer on how he should act.

At the same time, the Smith papyrus describes clearly hopeless cases of traumatic injuries, which have only theoretical significance for the doctor. Among them is the oldest description of paralysis of the upper and lower limbs with loss of speech and hearing, which the author of the papyrus explains by brain damage: as a result of a tragic fall of a person from a great height, the head entered the shoulders, the spine was broken in three places, the vertebrae were pressed into one another.

When treating fractures, the ancient Egyptians used wooden splints (“splints”) and tightly bandaging the damaged limb with linen cloth impregnated with resin.

However, in general, the sources that have reached us give a very limited idea of ​​surgical interventions in ancient Egypt: we know about the treatment of wounds (E. Smith papyrus), ritual circumcision (reliefs on the walls of tombs and temples) and the castration of eunuchs for the harems of the pharaohs.

To designate patients in the ancient Egyptian language there was a special word herides. Literally it meant “one who is under the knife,” but was used in a broader sense. This was also the name given to those bitten by a snake and other patients who needed medical help “without a knife.”

In ancient Egypt, the profession of a dentist has long existed - “he who takes care of teeth” (Fig. 26). Diseases of teeth and gums are described in papyri of the Middle and New Kingdoms. The Egyptians (as already noted) explained toothache and tooth decay by the presence of “a worm that grows in the tooth.” Dental treatment was conservative. It consisted of applying medicinal pastes and solutions to the diseased tooth or gums. The Ebers papyrus contains 11 prescriptions for medications that helped improve the health of the oral cavity and strengthen teeth, treated inflammation of the gums and relieved toothache, i.e., had a local healing effect, but this did not stop the further development of the disease.

The ancient Egyptians didn't. treated carious teeth and did not know surgical dentistry, as a result of which severe inflammatory diseases of the periosteum were widespread, leading to changes in the jaw (Fig. 27) and intravital tooth loss. Even among the pharaohs, under whom the “chief dentists of the Great House” served (Greek per ao - big house; hence the word pharaoh), no traces of filling carious cavities or filling teeth with gold or other metals were found. The only evidence of the use of gold in dentistry in ancient Egypt is the discovery of two lower molars connected to each other by a thin gold wire along the neck line of both teeth.

In ancient Egypt, great importance was attached to compliance with traditionally established hygienic requirements and the prevention of diseases closely related to them. Traditions and customs prescribed neatness in everyday life and moderation in food: “The Egyptians... drink only from copper vessels, which they clean daily... They wear linen clothes, always freshly washed, and this is a matter of great concern for them. They circumcise themselves for the sake of cleanliness, preferring to be neat rather than beautiful. The priests cut their hair all over their bodies every other day so that they do not have lice or any other filth on themselves while serving the gods. The priests’ clothes are only linen, and their shoes are made of papyrus... They wash themselves twice a day and twice a night” (Herodotus).

It is no coincidence that the Hellenes (Greeks) considered the Egyptians the “inventors” of medicine, and especially preventative medicine.

The transfer of medical knowledge in ancient Egypt was closely connected with the teaching of complex hieroglyphic writing, which was carried out in special schools of scribes at temples and higher schools of scribes - “houses of life” (Egyptian pen ankh) in large cities: Heliopolis, Sais, etc. Because knowledge were mainly of an applied nature; schools taught mathematics, architecture, sculpture, healing, astronomy, as well as the secrets of cults and rituals. Students studied and copied ancient papyri, mastered the art of calligraphy and stylistics, and learned the “rules of beautiful speech” (oratory). At the same time, medical knowledge continued to be passed on by inheritance - from father to son.

The houses of life were also the storage place for ancient papyri, many of which were considered sacred. Only the third or fourth copies of these ancient scrolls have reached us.

During the time of Herodotus, well-trained wealthy foreigners were accepted into Egyptian schools, which contributed to the widespread dissemination of the medical knowledge of the ancient Egyptians in other countries of the ancient world. Subsequently, outstanding philosophers and writers of the ancient world noted the historical significance of the culture of ancient Egypt for the formation of ancient Greek culture.

Egyptian healers enjoyed universal recognition in the ancient world. The rulers of many countries invited them to serve at court. According to Herodotus, the Persian king Cyrus II the Great (558-529 BC) asked Pharaoh Amasis (570-526 BC) to send him “the best eye healer in all of Egypt.” “The art of medicine,” wrote Herodotus, “is divided among them in such a way that each healer cures only one disease. Therefore, everywhere they have a lot of healers; Some treat the eyes, others the head, others the teeth, others the stomach, others the internal diseases.”

Herodotus visited the Nile Valley in the 5th century. BC e., when the ancient culture of Egypt spanned at least three millennia and was approaching the end of its glorious history (while Hellas was just entering its heyday - the classical period). By that time, Egypt had already had (and throughout its history continued to have) a huge influence on the development of culture and medicine of the peoples of Asia, Africa and Europe.

Managing the vast temple grounds and the presence of numerous employees and workers required strict accounting and detailed written reporting. Thus, writing on clay tablets was born and extensive temple archives arose. Teaching a complex writing system required skilled scribes and the organization of a school (the famous Sumerian school of e-dub - lit. "house of tablets"). The vast majority of surviving sources are found in Sumerian archives and are associated with the activities of scribes who underwent training in the “house of tablets.”

There is every reason to believe that the temple economy was not the only form of economic life in ancient Sumer. Along with the temple farmers, free citizens of the city also had to work somewhere (otherwise, who would the people’s assembly consist of and who would lease plots of temple land?). However, written sources remain silent about these people and sectors of the economy or mention them very mutely, because, unlike the temple, in an ordinary family there was no administration and no written reports were required. The features of the surviving sources make our ideas about the economy of ancient Sumer extremely one-sided. Any reconstruction of the socio-economic history of the country that existed more than 4 thousand years ago is hypothetical.

It is quite natural that Sumerian gods are often mentioned in ancient documents. Three of them had general Sumerian significance - they were associated with different parts of the Universe. The god An personified the firmament, the god Enki represented the water element. God Enlil, who was in charge of the airspace, was sometimes called the ruler of all deities, and his temple in the city of Nippur was considered as the main cult shrine, the embodiment of the unity of the Sumerians, divided into many communities, cities, and states. Ordinary Sumerians, not at all doubting the greatness of Enlil and his entourage, tried mainly to enlist the support of local patron gods, on whom their daily life and family well-being could depend.

The religious ideas of the Sumerians reflected features of social reality or traces of a recently passed era. Female deities, whose Sumerian names included the word “nin” (“mistress”), played a huge role in everyday rituals. The goddess Inanna occupied one of the most prominent places in the pantheon: the fertility of the earth and the fertility of women depended on her. The female mother was highly respected in Sumerian society.

Sumerian figurines of adorants [First half of the 3rd millennium BC. e. ]

God Enlil was not a sovereign ruler - a despot. The council of the gods met on important issues, and sometimes Enlil had to listen to bitter reproaches for his words and actions. The order in the world of the gods resembles “military democracy”, characteristic of a barbarian society on the verge of forming a state.

Some Sumerian myths very curiously interpret the reasons for the appearance of people on Earth. The gods did not want to engage in hard physical labor - building and digging canals, carrying clay in heavy baskets. And then they molded clay people onto whom they assigned these responsibilities. Here the parallelism between the gods and the nobility, freed from labor duties that were imposed on the bulk of the population, is obvious.

Numerous monuments of Sumerian art have been preserved - mainly figurines sculpted from clay: figurines of gods and their admirers (adorants). The gods are endowed with various attributes that testify to their greatness (special headdresses, astral signs surrounding them: stars, crescent moon, etc.). Their earthly admirers are completely impersonal and devoid of any individuality. The only thing that their folded hands at their chests express is God-fearing devotion. Relationships with God do not have the character of a personal connection: a person is just a participant in a communal cult.

The most striking monuments of Sumerian art were discovered by archaeologists during excavations in the ancient city of Ur (the same Ur of the Chaldees, which is mentioned in the Bible). Many items made of precious metals were found in the famous tombs of Ur. Especially famous is the already mentioned harp, topped with a golden bull’s head with a beard made of lapis lazuli (by the way, lapis lazuli could have been delivered to Lower Mesopotamia only from the most remote areas - from the territories of modern Afghanistan and Gorno-Badakhshan). It is extremely interesting that in the burial chamber next to the body of the late priestess-ruler lay the bodies of her servants, whom she, along with her treasures, took with her to the other world.

The Sumerian tablets contain a wide variety of narratives. For example, the myth about the descent of the goddess Inanna into the underworld, after which the greenery on Earth withers and love and life stop. The hero of another myth (preserved in Akkadian translation), Adapa, broke off the wings of the South Wind because it capsized his fishing boat. Adapa was summoned to the court of the gods. In the end, the god An (Anu) had mercy on him and even offered him the bread and water of eternal life. However, Adapa, expecting punishment for his act, categorically refused to take a sip of the potion and remained mortal.

The theme of eternal life also appears in another famous Sumerian myth - the Flood. According to its plot, the gods repented of having created people and decided to destroy them with the help of a flood (a motive very natural for the Lower Mesopotamia, where the violent floods of the Tigris from time to time swept away all traces of human activity from the face of the earth). But the god Enki, who embodied not only the water element, but also wisdom, decided to save one of the people, revealing to him the intention of the gods. Having built an ark and loaded everything he could into it, a resident of Sumer named Ziusudra, warned of the terrible danger, waited out the bad weather, and then made thanksgiving sacrifices on the top of a high mountain. Having had mercy on him, the gods granted him immortality, however, settling him far, far away, beyond the boundaries reserved for mortals. The Sumerian myth, written down more than 4 thousand years ago, served as the source of the famous story of the righteous Noah.

Bull's head (harp head from Ur) [Mid-3rd millennium BC. e. ]

The guardians of the literary tradition of Sumer (as well as in Egypt) were scribes, and the center of its formation was the school. Therefore, numerous school copies of myths and spells, edifying sayings and teachings to careless students have been preserved. Some features of the form of Sumerian writings (for example, rhythmic repetitions of the same phrases) indicate their oral existence, and sometimes, probably, oral origin. Ritual-mythological texts were performed in front of huge crowds of people during community-temple holidays and, obviously, with musical accompaniment.

Among the Sumerian narratives there are those that can be classified as historical songs. The hero of one of these songs is the legendary ruler of the city of Uruk (biblical Erech) Gilgamesh. In the story, Gilgamesh refuses to submit to the powerful ruler of the city of Kish, despite the persuasion of the elders of his own city. He convenes his brave squad and successfully repels the enemy’s attack. The historical prototype of Gilgamesh, according to the Sumerian “King List,” ruled in Uruk shortly before the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. e.

At this time, in the political life of Sumerian cities, persons bearing the title lugal (literally - “big man”) played an important role. Lugal usually leads the army, his support is the squad. Sometimes the priest-ruler acts as a lugal, but often the functions of the ensi are limited to construction and worship, and military-political activities are carried out by another person, who bears the title of lugal. The Lugali are pushing back the Ensi, but at the same time make extensive use of the economic and human resources of the temples. By limiting the rights of city councils of elders and striving for hegemony over their neighbors, they resemble local kings.

Throughout the 3rd millennium BC. e. first one, then another Sumerian city declared its claims to supremacy. The resulting unequal alliances of city-states were extremely fragile. However, in the 24th century. BC e. things moved towards unification. One of the rulers of the city of Umma, through force and diplomacy, managed to create an association of Sumerian cities. In each of the major temples he was proclaimed a priest of the local god and thus gained power over all of Sumer. And soon an even more extensive state arose, uniting Sumer and Akkad.

Akkad. Sumerian-Akkadian kingdom

The creator of the Akkadian kingdom was a man who went down in history under the name of Sargon. He ruled the Semitic-speaking tribes who lived in Mesopotamia north of Sumer (we call them Akkadians after the city of Akkad, chosen by Sargon as his residence). Strictly speaking, we do not even know the true name of this ruler, for he apparently took the name Sargon (Akkadian “sharru-ken” - “true king”) only after ascending the throne. According to legend, unfortunately preserved only in fragments, Sargon in infancy was thrown into the river and found in the reeds - exactly like the biblical Moses.

Legends were often formed about the childhood years of the founders of large states or great cities. Some of them were suckled by a she-wolf (like Romulus), another was thrown into the family of a simple shepherd and given a dog’s milk to drink (Cyrus the Great), at the birth of the third, it turns out, it was not without the intervention of God, and his real father is not such (Alexander the Great) . The fact is that the founder of the kingdom cannot be equal in birth to those noble people from among whom he must stand out and become the sole ruler - the monarch.

The reports from cuneiform texts about Sargon’s conflicts with the elders of the ancient cities of Mesopotamia seem quite plausible: he was an outsider who broke traditions. Sargon's state was not a temporary association of territories united only by the recognition of a given person as a common military leader - hegemon. Sargon created a state in which power belonged undividedly to him and was to be inherited by his sons and grandsons. The territories of the Sumerian cities became just regions of this state, and the ensi or lugali who stood at their head were considered as royal governors. Temple farms were like branches of a huge state economy, which was controlled by the ruler. Thus, enormous economic power was concentrated in the hands of Sargon. The king could maintain a significant army to suppress internal revolts and to pursue an aggressive foreign policy.

Under Sargon and his successors, the Sargonids, the title “king of the four countries of the world” came into use, i.e., universal ruler: the ruler of Akkad played a crucial role in the very structure of the Universe. In cuneiform texts, the names of the Sargonids were preceded by a determinative (determinative sign) of God, indicating that the king did not belong to the category of people, but to the immortal celestials. At the same time, his power acquired a despotic character.

The Sargonids annually undertook campaigns: to the north - to the upper reaches of the Euphrates and the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, to the south - to Elam and to the shores of the Persian Gulf, to the east - against the barbarian tribes of the Iranian Highlands. The goals of these campaigns, as a rule, were not to conquer territory and expand the borders of the state, but to capture booty. The troops constantly needed booty. Only in this case did they remain a reliable support for the royal power. In addition, the ruler required significant material resources for holidays and distributions, which would prove that he was a “true king.”

During the Akkadian era (XXIV–XXIII centuries BC), significant changes occurred in the consciousness of people. Impersonality and lack of individuality in culture are becoming a thing of the past. It is enough to compare the famous stele of Naramsin, one of Sargon’s successors, with ancient Sumerian reliefs. It depicts the king's victory over the eastern Lullubey tribe. The winner - he is much taller than the others - stands in a heroic pose, trampling the enemy on the top of the mountain. Above his head are astral symbols, and the head itself is crowned with a tiara with bull horns, indicating the divine power of the king. The art of the era of the Akkadian kingdom reflects not the worshipers of God with their hands folded in prayer on their chests, not the rows of warriors difficult to distinguish from each other and from their leader, but a deified heroic personality.

Cultural contacts were maintained between the Sumerians and the Semitic-speaking Akkadians, who lived in the neighborhood for many centuries, if not millennia. Naturally, they acquired a new character after both parts of Mesopotamia - Sumer and Akkad - merged into a single whole. Cultural syncretism was expressed, in particular, in the fact that the Sumerian gods were identified with the Akkadian ones or received Akkadian (Semitic) names: Enki became Ea, Utu (the Sumerian sun god) became Shamash, and Nannar (the moon god) became Sin.

Unlike the Sumerians, the Akkadians attached little importance to the cults of female deities, but Inanna, under the name Ishtar, occupied an important place in their pantheon. The Akkadians adopted the Sumerian cuneiform script, adapting it to their language. Gradually, Akkadian became the spoken language everywhere (including in the Sumerian south), and as a result Mesopotamia became completely Semitized. But Sumerian continued to maintain an important status as a language of education and worship. Schoolchildren were forced to translate from Sumerian into Akkadian and memorize Sumerian-Akkadian dictionaries. The anthropological type of the population remained close to the ancient Sumerian for a long time, they used the Akkadian language, and the culture of the country can be considered common - Sumerian-Akkadian.

Residents of Mesopotamia reaped abundant harvests thanks to numerous canals that cut across the entire country. The surrounding territories were inhabited partly by related (Semitic-speaking) and partly by unrelated tribes that had a different type of economy, customs, morals and social structure. In the steppes and semi-desert regions adjacent to Mesopotamia from the west, livestock-raising semi-nomadic tribes, mainly of Semitic origin, lived. Most of them were the so-called Amorites. Relations with the Amorites were sometimes peaceful: with them (or through them) there was trade in those goods that were lacking in Mesopotamia (and quite a lot were missing, starting with metals, wood and stone). To protect the city from neighbors, Amorite leaders with their tribal army were recruited. But the same Amorites could raid a well-appointed but poorly defended city and destroy it, or establish their own dynasty in it.

Stele of Naramsin

The Iranian Plateau extended to the east of Mesopotamia. The ethnic composition of its inhabitants in ancient times is practically unknown, since we are talking about tribes that did not know writing. “Mountaineers” appear in the cuneiform documents of Mesopotamia, either as captive slaves brought after the next campaign, or as robbers, robbing cities or collecting ruinous tribute from them. This is how, for example, the same Lullubeys are depicted who are depicted on the Naramsin stele.

One of the attacks of warlike neighbors - the Gutian tribes - ended with the collapse of the Akkadian kingdom. Those regions that were part of it gained independence, but were obliged to pay tribute to the Kutian leaders. Modern historians are best known to the ruler of Lagash, Gudea, on whose orders countless portraits of him were made from black stone. The prayerfully folded hands of this Lagashi ensi indicate his fear of God. It is likely that it was he who was entrusted with collecting tribute from the cities of Mesopotamia in order to transfer it to the Kutians.

At the turn of the XXII–XXI centuries. BC e. Mesopotamia is again united into a powerful state. It is headed by the rulers of the city of Ur. In Ur itself, this dynasty was the third in a row, and therefore historians talk about the state of the Third Dynasty of Ur. The history of the state that united Sumer and Akkad, as if interrupted by the invasion of the Gutians, continues during the III dynasty of Ur. At the head of this kingdom is a deified despot ruler, and the cities are ruled by his servants. All subjects are considered slaves of the king.

The huge state economy, which united temple lands throughout Mesopotamia, was controlled from the center through written orders. The gigantic archive of Ur contained detailed inventories of all temple grounds. Brigades were formed from temple workers who received natural rations and were assigned fixed production standards. Thousands of cuneiform documents from Ur demonstrate the existence of tight controls over even the smallest economic transactions. For example, a cuneiform document of that time is known about the decommissioning of two pigeons for the royal kitchen, equipped with the seals of responsible persons and controllers. In the royal office, the concept of a man-day was developed, which was used when making calculations by the economic authorities of Ur in the 21st century - not ours, but BC!

Ziggurat in Ur [Reconstruction]

The population was involved in labor duties. Despotic power required cyclopean structures. A colossal stepped temple tower - a ziggurat - was built at Ur. Only its first floor, measuring 65 x 43 m and 10 m high, has survived. The walls of Ur, 8 m high and 24 m thick, resembled ramparts. The construction of defensive walls around the capital city indicates that the deified rulers did not at all feel safe. And indeed, after just a little over a hundred years of prosperity, the state of the Third Dynasty of Ur broke up into independent regions and separate cities. And many of them were ruled not by locals, but by foreign – Amorite – dynasties.

Historians have mainly documents from the state economy, so the nature of social relations outside this economy is not easy to imagine. It should, however, be noted that already in the era of the Third Dynasty of Ur a collection of written laws appeared (preserved only in small fragments) - undoubted evidence of far-reaching property stratification. Gigantic economic archives dating back to the time after the collapse of the state of the III dynasty of Ur have not been found. It is likely that the share of the state economy in the country's economy has greatly decreased. Its organization itself changed in such a way that it did not require the previous - unimaginable in volume - bureaucratic reporting.

Old Babylonian period

Historians have at their disposal significant documentation of the first centuries of the 2nd millennium BC. e., which belonged not to temples or the state, but to private individuals. These are tablets recording property transactions, containing agreements on marriage, adoption or division of inheritance, as well as family correspondence. All these sources provide rich material for the study of private law relations in the so-called Old Babylonian period, covering almost the entire first half of the 2nd millennium BC. e.

Almost simultaneously, in different cities of Mesopotamia, collections of laws were compiled, fixing city law. The known similarity between these collections in terms of terminology, wording, composition and general principles allows us to speak of an already established tradition of “cuneiform law.” All the most important areas of private law are subject to codification, obviously with the aim of preventing the arbitrariness of the “strong” (using the term of the laws themselves) in court.

A characteristic feature of ancient written laws is the desire to punish the criminal in court, thereby eliminating blood feud. The laws consistently implemented the principle of talion (Latin talio - retribution equal in force to the crime; the famous “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”). This principle was also applied in cases where the damage was caused unintentionally. For example, a doctor risked his own eye if the patient became crooked due to his fault. If a newly built wall collapsed and someone from the family of the owner of the house died under its ruins, then the son of the one who built the wall so poorly was killed. The principle “don’t do to others what you don’t want for yourself” in ancient times was not just an appeal to conscience - it had the most practical consequences: what you caused to another, experience it yourself!

At the same time, there is a tendency in the laws to replace corporal punishment with a monetary fine, giving wealthy people the opportunity to buy their way out of crippling or dishonoring punishments.

The best preserved collection of laws is Hammurabi, who belonged to the First Babylonian Dynasty (of Amorite origin) and ruled from approximately 1792 to 1750 BC. e. This king is also known for his diplomatic correspondence and economic orders. It is possible to trace his policy of gradual expansion of territory, as a result of which all of Mesopotamia came under the rule of Babylon - from the Persian Gulf to the cities of Mari on the Euphrates and Nineveh on the Tigris. But the king's main achievement was the creation of the Laws of Hammurabi - the largest example of cuneiform law, a collection that was copied and studied in Mesopotamia for more than 1000 years.

The laws of Hammurabi are carved on a stone pillar, at the top of which the king himself is depicted, standing before the god of the sun and justice, Shamash. As was customary in other collections of Mesopotamian laws, the text, written in the Old Babylonian dialect of Akkadian, opened with a prologue. At first there followed the worship of the great gods Anu, Enlil and Ea, as well as the solar Shamash, which gave religious sanction to both royal power and royal laws. A special role was assigned to the god Marduk: he was considered the patron saint of the very city of Babylon, which was the residence of Hammurabi. The further text of the prologue is a stereotypical list of the benefits that Hammurabi provided to the temple of one or another god in each of the cities of Mesopotamia. The meaning of these lists of royal blessings, gods, temples and cities is completely obvious: Hammurabi did not just declare his godly deeds, he indicated the support of local temples, and therefore declared his power over the cities of Babylonia themselves (this is how all of Mesopotamia can be called from this time on) ).

This monotonous catalog of place names allows us to present a political map of Babylonia in the time of Hammurabi. The Old Babylonian kingdom, judging by the prologue to the laws, seems to be some kind of association of cities led by Babylon (Babil, i.e. “gate of god”), guarded by the god Marduk, who lives in the temple of Esagila.

Laws do not always provide for investigation and trial. For example, an arsonist caught in the act of a crime is not brought before a judge, but is simply thrown into the flames of the fire he started. In the same way, lynching is legalized if a person is caught at the scene of a crime, having made a hole in the clay wall of a house for the purpose of theft. The law in this case says: “Kill on sight and bury.”

The royal court does not replace the bodies of community self-government. If a person, through negligence, did not strengthen the dam of an irrigation structure and thus destroyed the crops in the fields of his neighbors, the latter themselves recover losses from him. If the culprit does not have the means for this, he is sold as a slave and the silver received for him is divided among themselves. But if a person is captured and there is no money in his house for ransom, then the funds are taken from the treasury of the temple of the given settlement, i.e. from the general money. The community acts as an arbitrator, administrator, and treasurer. It is the most important form of social organization in ancient Mesopotamia.

Full members of the community were the heads of families who owned plots of land on the territory of this settlement. Those who did not have their own land were forced to rent it for a certain amount or for a share of the harvest (sharecropping). He also had a chance to receive a plot from the state land fund, but in this case he was considered a royal servant and bore certain duties (military, priestly, trade, etc.). Anyone who did not have his own allotment on the communal territory could not take part in the activities of territorial self-government bodies. A royal servant, even one who rose highly through the ranks, was considered a less respected person than the free citizens of the city. In relation to the latter, the principle of “an eye for an eye” was strictly observed, and by inflicting offense on a royal servant or employee, it was possible to buy off punishment (though this was very expensive).

Judging by Babylonian laws, families rarely divided property between the father and adult sons; even after his death, they most often continued to live under the same roof. So large families prevailed, in which patriarchal orders were maintained. The head of the family was the only person responsible for the family property. Any transactions with family property made by younger family members without the approval of the head of the family were considered invalid. In the interests of the family, the father could give his own wife or son into bondage (or go into bondage himself). The creditor, however, did not have the right to treat freeborn people as purchased slaves - to torture or sell them, since they did not become his property. In the case of a criminal offense against a bonded debtor, the law punished the offender in the same way as for a crime against a free person. The custom, enshrined in the laws, required that after three years the enslaved debtor (whether the head of the family or one of his relatives) be released.

The large patriarchal family included the master's wives and concubines along with their children. In Babylonia, the institution of adoption was very widespread, through which relationships of various kinds were formalized. A child could be adopted by a man who was himself infertile (if his wife was infertile, it was easy to find another - either a concubine or a slave). Given the high mortality rate that existed in ancient times, as well as the strength of family ties, the institution of adoption was a means of social protection for orphans. But quite often, completely different motives were hidden under the legal veil - adults, but impoverished people were also adopted, who, in essence, became farm laborers in the house of their “parents”.

Dozens of articles in the Laws of Hammurabi mention slaves—bought, taken captive from a foreign country, or born from a male and female slave. As a rule, slaves were used in the household. Their living situation differed little from that of other younger family members, but there was one – and very significant – difference between them. An inferior family member could be kept in a black body, but he was considered a person, while a slave, even if for some reason he was treated humanely, was considered property, and, moreover, almost the same as cattle or a thing. Therefore, for example, if for the murder of a free person the perpetrator was threatened with the death penalty, then for the murder of someone else’s slave he only paid his price, that is, he compensated for the property damage suffered by the family that lost the slave.

The female honor of a free Babylonian (especially a married one) was strictly protected by law and custom, but a slave could not have any honor: the owner could always make her his concubine. If a child was born to them, the owner had to give freedom to both him and his mother: it was inappropriate for the son of a free citizen (even from a slave) to be in a slave status, and the mother of a son who had received freedom could not remain a slave. However, while the head of the family was alive, the position of the slave-concubine changed little even after the birth of her son. Her legal wife could humiliate her in every possible way; the only thing she was forbidden to do was sell the woman who bore her husband a son to another family.

In some aspects, the Babylonians could put the son and the master’s slave on the same level: both largely depended on the arbitrariness of the slave-owner father. However, without compelling reasons, the head of the family did not have the right to disinherit his son, since the property was not his individual property, but the community property. After the death of his father, his son became the eldest in the house. The number of legal heirs could also include a son from a slave-concubine, if this was the will of the father. But he could not have the preferential rights associated with seniority-primogeniture.

Northern Mesopotamia and Kassite Babylonia

The northern regions of Mesopotamia developed somewhat differently than the southern ones. Here there were more limited opportunities for organizing irrigation systems, and large temple and state farms apparently did not develop. The population of mountainous areas was engaged in cattle breeding. Taking advantage of the favorable position of the region (in the very center of Western Asia), city residents took an active part in international intermediary trade.

In terms of socio-political development, the northern regions of Mesopotamia lagged significantly behind the southern ones. When large despotisms were already taking shape there, the northern Mesopotamian cities were independent small states that did not even have real royal power. For example, in the largest of these cities, Ashur, chronology was carried out not according to the years of the reign of the king, but according to an annually elected official-magistrate.

Ashur and other cities of Northern Mesopotamia and Northern Syria created trading settlements - trading posts - in the eastern regions of Asia Minor, and at the turn of the 3rd-2nd millennium BC. e. a whole network of Semitic colonies covered the entire region.

In addition to the Semites, Northern Mesopotamia has long been inhabited by a Hurrian-speaking population, about which we are less aware due to the insignificant volume of cuneiform sources and difficulties in interpreting the language itself. In the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. Hurrian regions and cities united into the powerful state of Mitanni, which pursued an expansionist policy in Asia Minor and the upper reaches of the Tigris. However, the international situation was not favorable to the Mitannian conquests. And the internal structure of this state, apparently, was fragile due to dynastic strife and separatist aspirations of the local nobility.

The state of Mitanni, unable to provide decisive resistance to the conquering pharaohs of the 18th dynasty, ceded Northern Syria to the latter. Following this, the consolidation of the cities of Northern Mesopotamia around the city of Ashur took place. Based on the name of this city, the whole country began to be called Assyria. By the last third of the 2nd millennium BC. e. Assyria began to play an important role in international politics.

To study Assyrian society of the mid-2nd millennium BC. e. The so-called Middle Assyrian laws are of great importance - one of the important monuments of cuneiform law. Undoubtedly, these laws were drawn up under the significant influence of the legal monuments of Lower Mesopotamia, but in terms of the quality of the legal code they are significantly inferior to the more ancient laws of the Babylonian king Hammurabi. The drafters of Middle Assyrian laws tried to codify the customary law of the urban community of Ashur. Both legal norms and the society reflected in them are less developed than in the cities of Babylonia.

The main part of these laws is devoted to the family, the order in which was distinguished by patriarchy - the harsh power of the male householder and the degraded position of women. In this respect, the Semitic-speaking pastoralists of Assyria were not like the inhabitants of the southern regions of Mesopotamia, among whom the customs of the Sumerians with their veneration of the woman-mother still persisted. Another feature that strikes the eye when reading Assyrian laws is the extreme cruelty of criminal law, which is inherent in the early legislation of many peoples of the world. Even relatively minor offenses were punishable by death. Obviously, the authorities had to punish the criminal so strictly so that the relatives of the victim would not feel offended and would not resort to lynching and blood feud.

At the very beginning of the 16th century. BC e. The Old Babylonian period in the history of Lower Mesopotamia ends with the raid of warlike Hittite tribes who came from Asia Minor. The Hittites were not interested in annexing new territories, and they would not have been able to hold them. However, they destroyed Babylonia so thoroughly that for several centuries it ceased to be a truly great power. Immediately after the departure of the Hittites, a new dynasty was established on the Babylonian throne - from the Kassite tribe, which ruled almost until the very end of the 2nd millennium BC. e. Period of the 16th–12th centuries. BC e. called Kassitsky.

The history of Kassite Babylonia is known much less well than the history of the Old Babylonian kingdom that preceded it or the New Babylonian power that replaced it in the 1st millennium BC. e. Sources for this period - both written and archaeological - are relatively few in number. In the documents of the already mentioned Amarna archive there are letters from the Kassite kings of Babylon. The Kassites try in vain to defend their great-power status, but, despite their protests, Egypt maintains direct correspondence with Assyria, which Babylon considers a principality dependent on itself, and not an independent state. Within the country, the position of the central government was also not strong. The endless concessions of land holdings for eternal use to dignitaries with the transfer of all tax revenues to them obviously contributed to the impoverishment of the treasury and hardly added prestige to the king of Babylonia.

Culture of the end of the 2nd millennium BC. e. very peculiar. E-Duba, a cuneiform school associated with the traditions of the temple and palace, is gradually becoming a thing of the past. Scribes are primarily taught at home, passing on knowledge, skills, and the profession itself from father to son. The texts studied in the ancient school were fundamentally impersonal and if they were attributed to certain authors, then gods or sages of hoary antiquity (and sometimes animals - mythical characters) appeared as such. But in the monuments of the late II - early I millennium BC. e. The individual beginning is already clearly felt.

Individualization is also felt in the religious ideas of the era. The main form of cult used to be community worship, and no one was interested in the faith of this or that person. As a member of the team, he was obliged to strictly observe all the required rituals, so as not to provoke the wrath of the gods and not bring trouble to all his loved ones (family, clan, city). In the Kassite era, the belief in personal gods and the special connection that arises between a person and his supernatural patron became widespread. A personal deity, a kind of guardian angel who accompanies a person everywhere, knows everything about him, like his conscience. To get rid of torment after any sin, a person turned to the deity with prayer and repentance. Penitential texts are becoming one of the most popular genres of cuneiform literature.

Sharp questions arise about inexorable fate, about providence, which is not given to man, about the lack of visible correspondence between sin and punishment, piety and retribution. Everything is relative in this world, and you can’t say about anything: this is the truth!

The most interesting monument of the era is a cuneiform text, which researchers called “Conversation between a master and a slave about the meaning of life.” It is structured as an exchange of remarks between two characters, with the slave each time giving eloquent arguments in favor of the opinion expressed by the master. In response to the words: “I want to love a woman,” the slave says: “Yes, my lord, yes. He who loves a woman forgets sorrows and sorrows.” After a remark with the opposite content: “I don’t want to love a woman,” the slave just as convincingly depicts all the dangers and torments that love brings: “Don’t love, my lord, don’t love. A woman is a pit, a snare, a trap, a woman is a sharp knife piercing a man’s throat.” The master declares his desire to honor the gods and perform all the established rituals for them. And the slave nods in agreement: “Honoring the gods is good.” But the master claims the opposite: “I don’t want to make sacrifices to the gods,” and the slave sarcastically confirms: “Don’t bring, my lord, don’t bring. After all, by performing sacrifices you will not train the gods, like dogs, to follow your desires.” The ending of this work is unexpected and strong. Convinced that everything in the world is relative and that one can say “yes” and “no” with equal right about everything, the master exclaims: “I want to kill you, my slave,” waiting to see if the slave will justify this desire. But the slave answers briefly: “Truly, will my master live three days after me?” Modern historians, prone to vulgarization, believed that we were talking about the threat of a slave uprising, or that the slave was warning that without him there would be no one to feed the owner. But the meaning of this ending, of course, is different. It is much deeper: man is mortal, and the master is not much different from the slave. The slave can, of course, be killed, but the owner cannot avoid the inevitable.

It was at this time that in Western Asia (as in the entire Middle East), if not philosophy, then philosophizing took shape. The literature of ancient Eastern wisdom appears - collections of parables, aphorisms, edifying stories, at the center of which are problems of personal morality, justice, life and death, human passions and fears. “Books of Wisdom” are created in various languages ​​and easily pass from one culture to another. Aramaic and Syriac texts of this kind would later have a significant impact on Greek (Hellenistic) and then on Arabic literature. The origins of the Aramaic (as well as the Hebrew) tradition itself can be found in those lines that 3 thousand years ago a Babylonian scribe extruded with the end of a reed stick on a soft clay tablet.

Thus, in the cuneiform essay “On the Innocent Sufferer,” the idea is conveyed that the will of the gods is incomprehensible. The righteous man says: “But I constantly offered up prayers, prayer is my law, sacrifice is a habit, holy chants are my pleasure!” He complains about fate: “A storm has come upon me, a poor man, an evil illness has hung over me... Adversity is growing, but there is no truth! I just started living - how my time has passed! The general idea of ​​the work is “Who will comprehend the will of the gods in heaven? Can a mortal know the God of the Way?” – reminiscent of the famous biblical “Book of Job”.

"Iron Age"

I millennium BC e. went down in history as the era of the “Iron Age”. As a matter of fact, judging by archaeological data and mentions in written sources, iron was known much earlier. But only at the turn of the 2nd and 1st millennia BC. e., and in some areas several centuries later, qualitative changes occurred in the economy and social relations, which allow us to talk about the beginning of a new era. Initially, iron was used much less frequently than copper, since the extraction of iron ore, smelting and processing of iron required more complex technology. In addition, ordinary iron, which is highly susceptible to corrosion, does not have significant advantages over such soft metals as copper and bronze (an alloy of copper and tin). Only an invention in the 9th–8th centuries. BC e. hardening the metal (obtaining “steel”) showed its real advantages.

Perhaps the main advantage of iron was that its ore is found in nature much more often than copper and tin, and therefore this metal could find wide application. Bronze, used in the 2nd millennium BC. e., remained an expensive, “aristocratic” metal, iron was much more “democratic”. And therefore, only with the mass production of iron objects - military weapons, tools - does the real age of metals begin, and stone knives, scrapers, bone awls, etc. practically go out of use.

The use of metal products - iron tools - in everyday life contributed to the individualization of the economy. We can say the other way around: the desire for individualization of the economy stimulated the need for tools made of iron. The consequence of this was the rapid development of private property - primarily in land, the division of large patriarchal families, and the weakening of community and family ties. Property stratification deepened, debt bondage grew into real slavery. The traditional way of life was breaking down, the population became more mobile, including socially. We are talking, on the one hand, about a change in occupation and social status, and on the other, about the development and colonization of new territories, the creation of new social institutions.

It should be especially noted that during the Iron Age, cities grew rapidly, and urban residents in their everyday life, occupations, and economic structure were increasingly different from the rural population. Often the social status of a city dweller provides certain privileges. Village communities are sometimes presented as territorial entities whose main functions are organizing the collection of taxes and monitoring the fulfillment of duties.

The iron axe, pickaxe and shovel provided completely new opportunities for farmers. Therefore, in the 1st millennium BC. e. economic development of virgin lands, widespread deforestation, and construction of canals in mountainous areas are observed. The population of individual countries of the Ancient East is growing rapidly and, thus, the balance of power between regions is changing. To use Iron Age technologies, proximity to sources of raw materials - ore deposits - as well as the availability of wood for smelting metal became vital. All this changes the political map of the Ancient World. States located outside the soft, alluvial valleys of the great rivers begin to play a major role. Now there is a fierce struggle for areas rich in iron ore and for control of trade routes (in Syria, eastern Asia Minor, Transcaucasia).

Using the technological advantages of iron, new inventions arise, for example, a water-lifting wheel on a steel axle. But first of all, as always and everywhere, new materials and technologies are beginning to be used in military affairs. Instead of small massive bronze daggers, long and sharp steel swords appear. To protect the warrior’s body from a new type of slashing weapon, more advanced armor was needed: leather armor with sewn copper plaques, helmets, shields. The use of iron caused a real revolution in military affairs.

The rowing fleet is becoming one of the main branches of the army for states located near the sea coast. The conquerors of new territories borrowed military tactics and equipment from subject peoples who had previously stood aloof from world politics. So, along with infantry and chariots, cavalry appeared in the armies of the Middle East - first of all, these were detachments of horsemen from nomadic tribes. The army became the most important instrument of imperial policy.

During the Iron Age, the so-called world powers replaced each other in the Near and Middle East: Assyria, the Neo-Babylonian kingdom, and Persia. Then comes the power of Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic states of his successors. World powers cover vast territories, uniting areas with different natural conditions and types of economy. They include peoples at different levels of social development and speaking different languages. The economic resources of the conquered countries are actively used to satisfy the ever-increasing needs of the ruling political elite. The dominant people of a world power seek to establish their power over a conquered population forever through military force and tight administrative control.

Neo-Assyrian kingdom

The earliest of the world powers of the 1st millennium BC. e. was the New Assyrian kingdom. Assyria has changed greatly compared to the era of the archaic Middle Assyrian laws of the 15th century. BC e. Long gone are the systems in which officials elected by the city community played an important, if not decisive, role in Ashur. At the head of the Assyrian kingdom was a sovereign monarch. Ethnically, the kings belonged to one of the groups of Western Semites - the Arameans, and this became one of the reasons for the wide spread of the Aramaic language at court, and then its transformation into the language of the office throughout Western Asia. For the historian, this has one unpleasant consequence: Aramaic was written not on clay, but most often on leather, and the wider this language spread, the fewer surviving documents there were.

The rulers of Assyria, striving for territorial conquests, waged endless wars with their neighbors. For border territories and for the “iron route” that passed in Northern Syria, Assyria long competed with the mountain kingdom of Urartu, which was formed at the turn of the 2nd–1st millennia BC. e. from a union of tribes that inhabited the lake area. Van in Armenia. The fight went on with varying success, and only in 714 BC. e. The Assyrian king Sargon II defeated the Urartian troops and plundered the sacred Urartian center Mutsatsir. According to the Assyrian chronicler, the Urartian king Rusa I, unable to bear the shame of defeat, threw himself into the fire that was destroying his city.

Another direction of the Assyrians’ aggressive policy was the western direction - the kingdom of Damascus and rich Phoenician cities on the Mediterranean coast were located there. At the beginning of the 7th century. BC e., under King Esarhaddon, these areas finally became part of the Assyrian state. Esarhaddon left a solemn victorious inscription about these events. Its translation once inspired V. Ya. Bryusov to make a poetic arrangement:

I am the leader of the kings of the earth and the king, Assargadon.

Lords and leaders, I say to you: woe!

As soon as I took power, Sidon rebelled against us.

I overthrew Sidon and threw stones into the sea.<…>

I have exhausted you to the bottom, earthly glory!

And here I stand alone, intoxicated with greatness,

I, the leader of the kings of the earth and the king - Assargadon.

The majestic image of the mighty lord Esarhaddon, depicted in his victory inscriptions on statues and stone steles, contrasts sharply with that which appears when reading the clay tablets compiled by his order. The king was distinguished by his extraordinary superstition and, fearing unfavorable omens and signs, constantly convened fortune-tellers, trying to guess what his inexorable fate would threaten him with.

The battles in the northern and central parts of the Eastern Mediterranean naturally led the Assyrians to the region of Palestine, where at that time there were two Jewish states: the northern Kingdom of Israel with its capital in Samaria and the southern Kingdom of Judah with its capital in Jerusalem. Sargon II in 722 BC e. captured Samaria and destroyed the kingdom of Israel. Its defeat was accompanied, as was customary among the Assyrians, by the deportation of a significant mass of Israelis and the settlement of representatives of other nationalities in this territory. Jerusalem was more fortunate: it withstood the siege, but was forced to pay a huge ransom to the Assyrians. The Jewish state continued to exist for more than a century after the fall of Israel.

Meanwhile, the expansion of the Assyrians was not limited to Asia: their troops penetrated into North Africa. Egypt, tormented by internal strife and robberies of the “Ethiopians” (the dark-skinned rulers of the Nubian kingdom of Napata), did not offer worthy resistance to the conquerors. In 671 BC. e. The Assyrian king Asarhaddon, having defeated the troops of Napata, cleared Egypt of the “Ethiopians” and included it in his own state.

The relations between Assyria and the southern part of Mesopotamia - Babylonia - were complex and contradictory. Babylon was the largest and richest city in all of Western Asia, and for most of the existence of the Neo-Assyrian power, its rulers sought to maintain relations with Babylonia as a junior partner. Beginning with the great reformer king Tiglath-pileser III (745–727 BC), to whom Assyria owes much of its final prosperity, the coronation of Assyrian rulers took place in the Temple of Marduk in Babylon. This created the appearance of a personal union between Assyria and Babylonia: both countries were united by the power of one monarch, since the Assyrian king was simultaneously “by the choice of Marduk” on the Babylonian throne.

However, the Babylonians were burdened by Assyrian power and raised uprisings, which twice ended in the terrible defeat of the city (at the end of the 8th century BC and in the middle of the 7th century BC). The Babylonians were constantly incited to rebel against Assyrian rule by the king of Elam, a neighboring state located east of the mouth of the Tigris. Only in the middle of the 7th century. BC e. Ashurbanipal, having suppressed the uprising raised by his younger brother, the governor of Babylon, dealt a crushing blow to Elam, incorporating a significant part of it into his power.

The first class societies arose as small islands in the sea of ​​primitive society. This happened at the turn of the 4th-3rd millennium BC, apparently almost simultaneously in two places on the globe: in the northern part of the Nile Valley and in the south between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. These societies belonged to the same type - an ancient political socio-economic formation. Class society appeared as an ancient political society. It arose from the protopolitan society that preceded it - one of the six proformations that existed at the pre-class stage of historical development.

Class societies differed so sharply from primitive ones that in relation to them, all the latter, taken together, now appeared as one historical world, divided into three subworlds: primitive communist, primitive prestige and pre-class. Of all these subworlds, only one played a noticeable role in the subsequent history of mankind - the pre-class (barbarian). Thus, the main division of humanity into two historical worlds became: the primitive, primarily barbarian, which all became inferior, and the class, namely the ancient political, which was superior.

2.2. Socio-economic structure of ancient political societies

In political societies, not only in those that existed in the era of the Ancient East, but also in many later ones (until the 20th century), the ancient political mode of production was dominant. This method existed in three versions. One of them was the main one, the most widespread, and when they talk about the Asian method of production, this is the only one they mean.

In this version of the ancient political mode of production, the exploited class is peasants living in communities. Peasants either pay taxes, which at the same time represent land rent, or, less often, along with running their own farms, they cultivate the land, the harvest from which goes to the state. These peasants are often used as labor service for various types of work (construction and repair of canals, temples, palaces, etc.).

Peasant households are thus simultaneously part of two different economic organisms: the peasant community and the polytarchy. As components of the peasant community, they represent cells for the production of the necessary product; They, as part of the polytarchy, and the polytarchy itself as a whole, are cells for the production of surplus product that goes to the political class. As is clear from the above, ancient politicalism in this version is a two-story method of production. The political socio-economic structure includes as its basis the peasant-communal structure.

Thus, with this version of politarism, which can be called political-communal or political-communal, private ownership of the means of production in general, of land, is primarily bifurcated. General-class political private property is not complete, but supreme, and, of course, like any supreme private property, it represents ownership not only of the land, but also of the personalities of the direct producers. Peasant communities or individual peasant households are the subordinate owners of the land, and the peasants included in them are the subordinate owners of their personality, and thereby their labor power.

The peasant communities that existed in the depths of large political sociohistorical organisms were not simple divisions of them. These communities were based on different socio-economic relations than those that formed the basis of the class sociohistorical organism into which they were part. Therefore, peasant communities possessed some of the characteristics of sociohistorical organisms and acted in a number of respects as genuine sociors. In particular, they had their own special culture, different from the culture of the class sociohistorical organism of which they were a part. They were subsocials.

Peasant communities were the deep basis of political communal societies. Ancient political sociohistorical organisms arose, disappeared, merged and split. But the communities remained.

Even the smallest proto-politarchies included several proto-peasant communities. In this case, the headmen of the communities were directly subordinate to the supreme ruler - the protopolitarch. As for the polyarchies of class society, they usually had at least three levels of government. The rulers of the divisions of the politarchy (districts, okrugs) - subpolitarchs, who in turn were subordinate to the elders of the communities - were subordinate to the politarch. In very large polyarchies there could be a four-tier management system: polytarch - subpolitarch of the first category - subpolitarch of the second category (sub-subpolitarch) - head of the peasant community.

Ideally, the entire surplus product should have been at the disposal of the politarch, who, having retained a certain part of it for himself, should have distributed the rest among the members of the political system. In some polyarchies, attempts were actually made to concentrate all this product in one place and then distribute it to members of the ruling class.

But most often, the rulers of the territorial divisions of the polyarchy - subpolitarchs, having collected taxes, kept a certain share of them for themselves, and transferred the rest to a higher ruler. If this ruler was also a subpolitarch, then, having received taxes from all lower subpolitarchs, he again kept a part for himself, and transferred the rest higher. In the end, part of the product, usually a significant one, ended up in the hands of the politarch.

Rulers of all ranks used the product they received at their disposal not only and not so much for their own needs, but for the maintenance of the administrative apparatus subordinate to them, which consisted of various kinds of officials. The protopolitarch, using the product he received, maintained the central administrative apparatus. Most often, officials who were not subpolitarchs received their due share of the product in the form of a kind of salary in kind. People serving the politarch and his family also received salaries.

However, in some polyarchies, a number of officials received from the politicalarch not a salary in kind, but the right to collect part or even the entire tax from a certain number of peasants, sometimes even from an entire peasant community. This kind of option could be called alimentary (from the Latin alimentum - content). The alimentarian did not acquire any special rights either to the land of the alimentarium or to the persons of the alimentarian peasants, other than those that he had as a member of the ruling class. He received only a special right to a part of the product created in the alimentarium as long as he held his position. With the deprivation of office, this right was lost.

To understand the nature of the second and third variants of the ancient political mode of production, it is necessary to take into account that although this method was dominant in political societies, it most often was not the only one existing. Along with political relations, dominomagnetic relations usually existed in them. The latter could represent an appendage to the dominant political structure, or they could form a special socio-economic structure, subordinate, of course. Thus, in ancient political societies, along with political private property and the separate property of peasants or peasant communities, personal full private property also existed to one degree or another. This personal private property, as well as the separate property of the peasants, was of a subordinate nature.

The emergence of ancient political society meant the end of political class formation, but not class formation in general. In almost all political societies, at certain stages of their development, the process of plutar stratification, the emergence of personal full private property, the formation of dominant, magnar and dominomagnar relations, and the process of secondary class formation began. This process was expressed in the dispossession of peasants and in depriving them of the opportunity to independently manage their farms. Accordingly, dominomagnar economic cells (dominomagnariums) arose, in which people who had lost their means of production worked.

Dominomagnarists could be not only people who were not part of the political system, but also its members. At the same time, politarists often sought to transform part of corporate private property into corporate-personalized, and then into personal private property.

Along with the development of a more or less independent dominomagnary structure in ancient Eastern societies, a peculiar synthesis of political and dominomagnary relations was observed. Its result was the emergence of two more, in addition to the political-communal, variants of the ancient political mode of production. Both of them did not require the mandatory existence of a peasant community. Political private property here was not supreme, but complete.

One of them assumed that the state itself directly managed the economy with the hands of people who were completely deprived of the main means of production. These producers worked in the fields in teams led by overseers. The entire harvest from these fields went to state granaries. Workers and their families received allowances in kind from government warehouses. Some of these workers may have been slaves. But the bulk were local residents who were not slaves. They enjoyed certain rights, had, as a rule, families, and often, if not always, owned some property. Here we have a peculiar fusion of politicalism with the dominant mode of production. Therefore, this version of the politarian mode of production can be called politarinodominary, or, in short, politodominary. He didn't meet very often.

Political-dominant relations deprived the worker of any incentive to work and presupposed the creation of a huge bureaucratic administrative apparatus, for the maintenance of which most of the surplus product was spent. Therefore, where they were established, sooner or later economic degradation occurred. An example is the history of the economy of the kingdom of Sumer and Akkad during the III dynasty of Ur.

The third option is to a certain extent intermediate between the first and second. Under it, workers are allocated plots of land, which they cultivate to a certain extent independently, and the degree of this independence varied. Part of the crop grown on the plot went to the state, the other remained to the producer. In addition to land, the worker often received seed grain, draft animals, and equipment for use. Here there is a peculiar fusion of politary and magnar modes of production. Therefore, this version of the polytarny production method can be called polytarnomagnar, or polytomagnar. It was less common than the political communal type, but more often than the political dominant type.

Sometimes a worker received at his disposal the entire crop grown on the plot allocated to him, but in this case, part of his time he worked, often as part of a party led by an overseer, on a state field, the entire harvest from which went to state storage facilities. Some workers of this kind had their own farms that were clearly subsidiary and could not provide for the existence of either themselves or their families. Therefore, they received regular distributions from state granaries. It is often difficult to say about such workers whether they were politically dependent or politically dominant. Political-dominant workers could and did turn into political-dominant workers. There was also a transformation of the latter into the latter.

The peasants, being ruined and deprived of their land, became politomagnarii, and politodominarii, and simply dominarii and magnarii. If such a process was widespread, then peasant communities disappeared. On the other hand, political magnarians and simply magnarians could and did become peasants. As a result, peasant communities arose again. In political societies, a process of both disappearance and revival of peasant communities was observed.

Another source of political magnetism is war. Captured people were often planted on the ground, supplied with implements, and they managed the farm, giving part of the harvest to the state. The population of conquered countries could be deliberately forcibly resettled to other areas of the state. Over time, these types of dependent workers most often turned into peasants. Accordingly, they formed communities.

2.3. Orbopolitarism and urbanpolitarism

There are two main subtypes of ancient political society. The first is a society in which the ancient political mode of production initially reigned supreme—the ancient political society itself. The second subtype is a society in which, from the very beginning, along with the dominant ancient political socio-economic structure, the dominomagnary structure not only existed, but played a significant role - an ancient political magnetic society.

In the literature, political societies themselves are sometimes called “village”, while political societies are called “urban”. And there are reasons for this. And in a political society there were cities, but they were administrative and managerial centers - the capitals of polyarchies and their divisions - subpolitarchies. In a political society, the city was not the capital of the polyarchy, but coincided with the polyarchy itself, was the polyarchy itself. Such social formations are often called city-states in the literature. They could be called urban polytarchies (from the Latin urb - city).

Behind this difference lies another, more serious one. The protopolitarchy of the “village” subtype, which I will call orbopolitarchy (from the Latin orbo - world, country, region), consisted of communities, but was not itself a community. All the people who were part of it were united by only one thing: they were all subjects of one politarch. All communities of the polytarchy were united together by a political system headed by a polytarch. The basis of the protopolitarchy were, so to speak, upper-level economic ties, ties between members of the ruling class.

In the “urban” polyarchy there was both a political system and a polytarch. But the people who were part of it were united not only by these connections on horseback. The “urban” protopolitarchy, in contrast to the “rural” one, was at the same time, at the same time, a kind of great community. Therefore, it was based not only on top-level, but also grass-roots economic ties. The majority of the inhabitants of the “urban” polyarchy were not only subjects of the politarch, but also members of this great community, i.e. albeit peculiar, but nevertheless community members. In addition to full-fledged members of the great community - “great community members”, or “citizens”, the urban politarchy could and usually included people who were not members of the great community and thereby “citizens”. But although the coincidence of the great community and urban politarchy was not absolute, this did not change the essence of the matter.

Along with simple urban polyarchies, there were also complex ones. The sociohistorical organism, in addition to the urban politarchy itself, could include several peasant communities subordinate to it. Such a socior combined the features of urban-politarchy and orbo-politarchy. Finally, the more powerful urban politarchy could subjugate several weaker ones. In the latter case, we have before us a small, but nonetheless ultra-socio.

Both named subtypes of the ancient political formation existed at the very dawn of class society.

Egyptian society was “village”, ancient political. This country, as you know, is quite clearly divided into two parts: Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. Each of them consisted of regions that were called nomes. During the New Kingdom, there were 22 nomes in Upper Egypt, and 20 nomes in Lower Egypt.

Nomes probably arose very early and were originally proto-politarchies (chiefdoms). Subsequently, larger proto-politarchies began to emerge, including several nomes. This did not happen peacefully. There are various types of data indicating wars between individual nomes and their associations.

In the end, one of the proto-politarchies absorbed all the others. The unification of Egypt is usually associated with the name of Pharaoh Mina (Menes), or Horus the Fighter, who founded Memphis and became the founder of the first pan-Egyptian dynasty. But, as evidence shows, the unification took place under his predecessors. Already the kings of the zero dynasty Khor Scorpio, Khor Double and Khor Som (Narmer) were the rulers of all of Egypt. It is difficult to say exactly when exactly in Egypt pre-class society gave way to class society, but there is no doubt that under the pharaohs of the zero dynasty, Egyptian society was already civilized. At this time, a fairly developed hieroglyphic writing already existed.

If Egypt was characterized by a “village” version of development, then another early civilization - Sumerian - was characterized by an “urban” one. Egypt most likely moved to the stage of a class society when political unification arose throughout a large part of the Nile Valley. A united Egypt was no longer a proto-politarchy, but a polyarchy.

Things were different in Mesopotamia. By the time of the transition to the stage of class society, many small protopolitarian sociohistorical organisms existed in this territory. It was they who turned into equally small polyarchies. Some of them were simple urban-politarchies, others - ultrasociors.

2.4. Historical nests

Thus, in the Nile Valley, class society arose in the form of a large sociohistorical organism, the population of which spoke the same language and had a common culture, in the interfluve of the Tigris and Euphrates - in the form of a regional system consisting of several dozen small sociohistorical organisms (city-states), whose inhabitants were united by language and culture. A common term to designate these two types of existence of class society could be the phrase “historical nest.” Thus, we can talk about the Egyptian sociohistorical nest and the Sumerian nested sociological system. Both the Egyptian and Sumerian class nests were primary class societies.

2.5. Further development of ancient political society. The Emergence of the Middle Eastern World System

The process of further transition of mankind from a primitive society to a class society proceeded differently in different regions. Two main development paths can be distinguished.

The first way is the emergence of new single historical nests, new islands in the sea of ​​primitive society. In the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. a new historical nest arose in the Indus Valley - the Harappan, or Indus, civilization. According to ancient Chinese historical legends, the first Xia civilization arose on the territory of this country in 2205 BC. and existed until 1766 BC. However, its existence remains in question for now. The first, undoubtedly, existing class society in China - the Yin, or Shan, civilization - appeared in the Yellow River Valley, according to historical legends, in the 18th century. BC But the oldest monuments of ancient Chinese writing known to science date back only to the 13th-12th centuries. BC And although both the Indus and Yin class societies appeared when other civilizations had already existed on earth for several centuries, they did not arise under the influence or without the influence of the latter. And in this sense, these civilizations, no less than Sumer and Egypt, can be called primary.

There were some connections between Sumer and Egypt from the very beginning. Undoubtedly, there are certain relations between the Lower Mesopotamia and the Indus civilization. China, throughout the entire era of the Ancient East, was isolated from other class societies.

The second path of development is the emergence of new historical nests in the vicinity of old historical nests and to a large extent under the influence of the latter. These class societies were already secondary. This process initially took place only in the Middle East. The consequence was the emergence of a huge system of historical nests covering the entire region.

The process was gradual. First of all, in the first half of the 3rd millennium, the civilization of Elam arose east of Mesopotamia. In the second half of the same millennium, the Dilmun civilization appeared on the island of Bahrain and the adjacent part of the Arabian Peninsula, through which connections were made between Lower Mesopotamia and the Harappan civilization. At the same, and perhaps earlier, time, class society appeared in the north of Lower Mesopotamia. An example is the urban politarchy of Akkad, after which the whole region began to be called. It was inhabited not by Sumerians, but by Semites.

And then the filling of the vast territory, which is usually called the Fertile, or Fertile Crescent, began with class sociohistorical organisms. This strip of fertile land stretches from Lower Mesopotamia to the north, then to the west, including Upper Mesopotamia, part of Anatolia, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine, all the way to the Sinai Desert. To the west of Lower Mesopotamia and to the west and south of the concave part of the Fertile Crescent stretched a strip of dry steppes, semi-deserts and deserts, the largest of which was Arabian. Here lived pastoral peoples who, while continuing to remain at the pre-class stage of development, constantly invaded the boundaries of political societies. The herders who lived east of Mesopotamia also behaved in the same way.

In the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. class societies already existed in the east of Upper Mesopotamia, where the city-states of Ashur and Nineveh stand out, and in its western part, where the kingdom of Mari is best known. Class societies were emerging by this time in Northern Syria. Of these, the most famous is the recently discovered civilization of Ebla, which, unlike other early civilizations, was not riverine.

At the end of the 3rd and beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. class societies already exist throughout the Eastern Mediterranean. In the north of Syria, the kingdom of Yamhad arose with its capital in Aleppo. Further along the coast of Syria and Lebanon stretches a chain of Phoenician city-states (Ugarit, Byblos, Sidon, Tyre, etc.). There is reason to believe that in Byblos, which was closely connected with Egypt, class society arose much earlier, perhaps even in the first half of the 3rd millennium BC. Among the urban polyarchies that arose in Palestine in the 2nd millennium BC, the city-state of Hazor stands out.

At the end of the 3rd millennium BC. class society emerges in Asia Minor (Anatolia). The Hutts were the first to take this step, then in the 2nd millennium they were replaced by the Hittites. A powerful Hittite kingdom arose, whose power at its height extended over almost all of Anatolia. In Upper Mesopotamia, after the short-lived power of Shamshi-Adad I, the Hurrian state of Mitanni rose, extending its power to Northern Syria. It entered into a struggle first with Egypt, and then with the Hittite power and, in the end, fell under the blows of the latter. At the turn of the 3rd-2nd millennia, class society arose on the island. Crete, which is usually classified as Europe. Following the Minoan civilization in the 17th-16th centuries. BC in the south of the Balkan Peninsula, i.e. in mainland Europe, the Mycenaean (Achaean) civilization appeared. In the 15th century BC The Mycenaean Greeks invaded Crete and subjugated it. This gave grounds to talk about the Creto-Mycenaean civilization. At the turn of the 2nd-1st millennia BC. class societies began to emerge in the area of ​​the Armenian Highlands. In the 9th century. BC there arose the large state of Urartu.

Such a space, which included many closely connected historical nests, will be called a historical arena in the following discussion. The Middle Eastern historical arena can no longer be called an island in the sea of ​​primitive society. It was an entire continent, and the first continent of its kind.

Occupying only a limited part of the globe, the Middle Eastern system of sociohistorical organisms was nevertheless a world system. The global significance of this system was manifested in the fact that its existence and evolution prepared and made possible in the future the rise of humanity to the next stage of historical development. The same cannot be said about India and China. They may or may not have existed, but until modern times this could not have had any significant impact on world history. During the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC. The Middle Eastern arena, which was not only the first, but the only historical arena existing at that time, was the center of world historical development.

From now on, we can talk about dividing the world into a historical center (core), or simply a center, and a historical periphery, or simply a periphery. The center was class-based, ancient political, the periphery was divided into primitive, primarily barbarian, and class. Neither the primitive nor the class periphery constituted a single whole. The class periphery consisted of several, initially largely isolated historical nests.

2.6. The cyclical nature of the development of ancient political societies

Characteristic of ancient Eastern societies was the cyclical nature of their development. They arose, flourished, and then fell into decline. In most cases, the latter manifested itself in the disintegration of a large sociohistorical organism into several smaller ones, each of which continued to remain a class society, in its transformation into a nested system of sociors. At the same time, large sociohistorical organisms disappeared, but civilization was preserved. Subsequently, the nesting system of sociors could again turn into one sociohistorical organism, and society entered a new period of prosperity, which ended with another decline.

The cyclical nature of the development of ancient Eastern societies is especially clearly visible in the example of Ancient Egypt.

The period of the reign of the pharaohs of the zero, first and second dynasties is usually combined under the name of the Early Kingdom (XXXI-XXIX centuries BC). It was replaced by the period of the Ancient, or Old, Kingdom (XXVIII-XXIII centuries BC).

The Old Kingdom reached its greatest prosperity during the reign of the IV dynasty. During the reign of the pharaohs of the 5th and 6th dynasties, the decline began. The country fell apart into nomes or small associations of nomes, which were in hostile relations. The First Transition Period began, which lasted from the middle of the 23rd century. until the middle of the 21st century. BC The internal decline of the country was taken advantage of by neighboring peoples (Libyans in the west, pastoral peoples in the east), who began to devastate Lower Egypt.

After some time, a movement for the unification of Egypt began. In the north it was led by the rulers of Heracleopolis, in the south by the rulers of Thebes. The northern rulers even declared themselves kings of Upper and Lower Egypt (IX-X dynasties). However, their power never extended to the entire country. The southern nomes, rallied around Thebes, did not recognize their hegemony. The result of the fierce struggle between Heracleopolis and Thebes was the victory of the ruler of the latter, Mentuhetep, who united the scattered nomes into a single centralized state. The period of the Middle Kingdom began (2050-1750 BC, XI-XIII dynasties).

Conquests against neighbors resumed again. Nubia was conquered. The country's borders moved away from Aswan to the second threshold. The power of the Egyptian pharaohs extended not only to the Sinai Peninsula, but also to part of Palestine and some cities of Phenicia.

In the 18th century BC Social contradictions in Egypt have intensified. The country began to decline again. A popular uprising broke out against the existing system. External enemies took advantage of the difficult situation that arose. At the end of the 18th century. The Hyksos pastoralists who invaded from the Sinai occupied the entire Delta, and then subjugated Upper Egypt. The Second Transition Period began (second half of the 18th-17th centuries BC).

Real power at this time was in the hands of local rulers - nomarchs. Upper Egypt was a collection of practically independent nomes, whose dependence on the conquerors was largely formal and was reduced to the payment of a certain tribute. And in the south of Egypt, the power of the Hyksos was generally insignificant.

After the death of the Hyksos king Khian (XVII century BC), who for a short time managed to subjugate all of Egypt, the Hyksos state began to weaken, and the independence of the nomes, especially the Thebans, increased. It was Thebes that became the center of the movement for the liberation of Egypt from the Hyksos and at the same time the unification of the country. Their rulers proclaimed themselves pharaohs and founded the XVII dynasty, which ruled simultaneously with the Hyksos kings.

One of the pharaohs of this dynasty - Kames - became the head of the struggle to expel the Hyksos. His brother, Yahmes, completed it by destroying the Hyksos power. The Egyptian centralized state was restored, and a new period began in the history of this country - the era of the New Kingdom (1580-1085, XVIII-XX dynasties).

The campaigns of conquest began again. The army was reorganized. Using its power, the pharaohs of the 18th dynasty pursued an active foreign policy. In just 22 years of his sole rule, Thutmose III made 15 victorious campaigns. Palestine, Syria, and Phenicia were conquered by his predecessors and by him. In the south, the border moved back to the fourth cataract of the Nile. The great Egyptian power was formed. The Egyptians were no longer limited to simply collecting tribute from local rulers. A permanent Egyptian administration was created to administer the occupied territories.

Under the last pharaohs of the 17th dynasty, the situation began to deteriorate. The great military power began to fall apart. Its revival occurred under the 19th dynasty pharaoh Ramesses II (1301-1235 BC). Egypt's most serious rival was the powerful Hittite state. The long confrontation between the two great powers of the Middle East eventually ended in a conclusion in 1280 BC. peace treaty between Ramesses II and the Hittite king Hattusili III. The two states agreed to renounce the use of force against each other, to establish lasting peace, resolve controversial issues by peaceful means, and divide spheres of influence in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Under Ramses II, to strengthen dominance in the occupied territories, fortresses were built with permanent garrisons, and indigenous Egyptians settled in local cities. But the successes were short-lived. Signs of decline appeared again. Unrest and unrest began within the country. A significant part of the previous possessions was lost. The Delta became the scene of constant Libyan raids. After a temporary improvement in the situation under Setnekht - the founder of the 20th dynasty - and his son Ramesses III, the state collapsed again. The Third Transitional Period began (1085 - mid-10th century BC). Under the XXI (Libyan) dynasty, the country was united, but not for long. The collapse was followed by the Assyrian conquest (674-665 BC). At the end of the 7th century. BC Egypt was freed from foreign oppression and united under the rule of the pharaohs of the XXVI dynasty. But in 525 BC. it was conquered by the Persians and became part of the Achaemenid Empire.

As already noted, in contrast to Egypt, class society in Mesopotamia arose as a system of small sociohistorical organisms. The ruler of Akkad, Sargon (2316-2261 BC), united them under his rule and created a powerful state stretching from the Persian Gulf to Syria. But at the beginning of the XXII century. BC The Akkadian kingdom entered an era of decline and collapsed under the blows of the Gutians. The entire subsequent history of Mesopotamia, like the history of Egypt, is a continuous alternation of periods of rise and decline: the Kingdom of Sumer and Akkad during the III dynasty of Ur (late XXII - late XXI centuries BC) - the invasion of Amorite shepherds and the collapse of Mesopotamia into several small kingdoms - Old Babylonian kingdom (late 19th - early 16th centuries BC) - invasion of Kassite shepherds - rise of Assyria (beginning of the 14th - late 13th centuries BC) - temporary flourishing under Nebuchadnezzar I (1126- 1105 BC) - invasion of Aramean herders (Chaldeans) - new rise of Assyria (beginning of the 9th century - 7th century BC) and its death (612-605 BC) ..) - Neo-Babylonian kingdom (626-538 BC) - Persian conquest (539 BC).

In China, which arose around the middle of the 1st millennium BC. Yin society fell into decline and at the end of the 11th century. BC collapsed under the blows of the Zhou people. A new power emerged - Western Zhou.

As can be seen from the above, a class society that had fallen into decay often either fell under the rule of prosperous neighboring civilized societies, or became the prey of barbarian neighbors. In the event of an invasion by the latter, they often talk about the death of this society and see its causes in the barbarian conquest. In reality, it was not the actions of the barbarians, taken in themselves, that led to the degradation of class society, but, on the contrary, its decline created the conditions for the barbarian invasion.

A barbaric conquest can lead to the fact that class society will perish, and not in the sense of the disappearance of certain specific sociologists, but in the fact that it will cease to be a class society and will crumble into a mass of pre-class sociohistorical organisms. In this case, we can talk about the death of civilization in the strict sense of the word. Along with the superiorization of sociohistorical organisms, their inferiorization could and did take place.

The Harappan civilization arose around the 23rd century. BC, disappeared in the 18th century. BC With her death, there was a return to the stage of pre-class society. Cities and writing disappeared. Class society was revived again in India only at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. In the 12th century. BC The Creto-Mycenaean civilization died. Monumental construction stopped and writing disappeared. A pre-class society once again reigned throughout this entire territory. The “Dark Ages” have arrived.

The largest barbarian invasion in the history of the Ancient East began in the 13th century. BC the invasion of the "Sea Peoples", which affected the lives of a significant number of class societies. As a result, at the beginning of the 12th century. BC not only did the Hittite Empire collapse, but in large parts of Anatolia there was a return to pre-class society. Urban centers disappeared and the tradition of writing was interrupted. Class societies began to emerge again in this territory only from the end of the 10th - beginning of the 9th centuries. BC

The Middle Eastern world system consisted of many historical nests subject to cyclical changes. It is quite clear that these changes did not occur synchronously. While some societies flourished, others declined. Societies that were at the zenith of development, as a result of aggressive policies, subjugated many others that were weakened or generally less powerful. Large military powers emerged, which included a large number of historical nests.

When the historical nest, which became the center of such a vast formation, fell into decay, the empire disintegrated, disappeared, giving way to new powers that suffered the same fate. Characteristic of the Middle Eastern world arena was the constant transition of hegemony from one historical nest to another and, accordingly, a constant change in the political map.

In the last centuries of the era of the Ancient East, the Neo-Assyrian power arose, which already in the next historical period included almost the entire Middle Eastern world system, and then collapsed. It is often called the first world power in the history of mankind.

The picture of the spread of class societies that emerged by the end of the era of the Ancient East will be incomplete without taking into account the results of Phoenician colonization. The Phoenicians were the first great navigators in human history. Their ships not only plied the Mediterranean and Black Seas, but also entered the Atlantic. Phoenician colonies arose in North Africa (Utica, Hippo, Carthage, etc.), in Sicily (Motnya, Panormus, etc.), Sardinia (Nora, Taros, etc.), on the islands of Melita (Malta) and Gavlos (Gozo), on the African coast west of Gibraltar (Lix), the Mediterranean (Malaca, Sexy, etc.) and Atlantic (Gadir) coasts of Spain.

2.7. Patterns of development of ancient political societies

When a society declines, and especially when a civilization dies, they often look for reasons in anything but its social order: in the invasion of barbarians, in the depletion of the soil, in natural disasters, etc. But if the development of all ancient Eastern societies without exception was cyclical, then the reasons must be sought in their socio-economic system.

The transition from a proto-political society to an ancient political, class society that took place for the first time in the Ancient East was a gigantic step forward in the history of mankind. But the technology used by communal peasants and, in general, all politically dependent workers was not much different from that which existed at the previous stage of development - in pre-class society. Both copper metallurgy and bronze metallurgy arose before the emergence of the first ancient political societies and were inherited by them. Bronze was used in Sumer from the very beginning. Egypt was lagging behind. His Early and Old Kingdoms knew only copper. The transition to the Bronze Age occurred only with the beginning of the Middle Kingdom, which did not bring it to a fundamentally new technical level compared to pre-class societies, in which bronze had become quite widespread by that time.

On this basis, it is often concluded that with the transition to a class-based ancient political society, no significant shifts in the development of productive forces occurred. This conclusion is based on the reduction of productive forces to technology and, accordingly, the progress of productive forces to the growth of labor productivity. Both the basis on which this conclusion was based and the conclusion itself are erroneous.

An increase in the productivity of social production can be achieved not only through the progress of technology and the growth of labor productivity. In addition to the technical method of increasing the productivity of social production, and thereby the level of development of the productive forces, there are others.

A detailed study of late primitive and pre-class agricultural societies that have survived to this day, living in natural conditions similar to those that were characteristic of ancient Eastern sociologists, showed that, contrary to conventional ideas, the time that members of these societies devoted to agricultural labor was relatively small : 100-150 days a year. In the class-based, political societies of Asia, farmers worked in the fields for at least 250 days.

The development of productive forces in late primitive society made possible the emergence of proto-political relations. The desire of protopolitarists to obtain more surplus product led to the emergence of a powerful state apparatus and the transformation of protopolitarism into real politicalism.

The establishment of political relations and the associated increase in the tax burden led, firstly, to an increase in the length of the working day, and secondly, to an increase in the number of working days per year. As a result, with the same labor productivity, the productivity of social production increased sharply. The relations of exploitation, having become established, made the creators of material wealth a completely different productive force than what they had been before. The latter now turned out to be able to work not only for many hours a day without long breaks, but also to work systematically, constantly, day after day for many days in a row, to work not only to the best of their ability, but also through force.

This method of increasing the productivity of social production, and thereby the level of development of productive forces, can be called temporal (from the Latin tempus - time). In the above example, one can clearly see that new production relations do not simply influence the productive forces, do not simply contribute to their development, but create and bring to life new productive forces.

This kind of development of the productive forces of society was possible only to a more or less certain level. This level depended, in particular, on natural conditions. In countries where, due to climatic conditions, agricultural work during a certain season, for example, in winter, is impossible, it was impossible to increase the number of working days of the farmer due to this period of time. For countries where agricultural work is possible throughout the year, and such were the eastern countries, such a restriction disappears. The limiting point there is, first of all, the peculiarities of the nature of man himself.

Producers of material goods were physically unable to work beyond a more or less certain number of hours per day and beyond a more or less certain number of days per year. Starting from a certain limit, an increase in the surplus product could only occur due to the withdrawal of part of the life-sustaining product, i.e. one that is absolutely necessary for the physical survival of workers and their families. The movement of the exploitation press had to stop at some level. This did not happen automatically, of course. It was often stopped by the resistance of the producers themselves, which was expressed in the form of riots and peasant wars. Where resistance was too weak, workers became physically worn out from overwork and exhausted from constant malnutrition, and the productive forces were thereby degraded and destroyed. As a result, class society could not only decline, but also perish. But more often than not, a large sociohistorical organism disintegrated into smaller ones, which led to a weakening of the power of the state apparatus and, accordingly, its ability to suck out surplus product. All this gave the direct producers the opportunity to recover, and then everything started all over again.

But this is not the only mechanism underlying cyclical changes. As already indicated, in almost all political societies there was a process of plutar stratification, the emergence of personal full private property, the formation of dominant, magnar and dominomagnar relations, and the process of secondary class formation. Emerging and developing, the magnar, or dominomagnary, way of life corroded the politaristic sociohistorical organism. When the peasants lost their land and became magnarii and dominarii, they stopped paying taxes. All this led to increased exploitation of the dwindling number of communal peasants and accelerated the approach of their physical degradation.

Each polyarchy consisted of several areas - subpolitarchy. Their rulers were interested in getting at their disposal the largest possible share of income from the population under their control, or even all of the income. But the latter could only happen if the subpolitarchy turned into a polytarchy. The development of magnar relations contributed to the growth of independence of subpolitarchs. When magnar relations developed within any large political sociohistorical organism, it was doomed to collapse.

And, finally, in cases where the productivity of social production depended to a large extent on natural conditions, a sharp change in the latter could lead to a sharp drop in the level of development of the productive forces, and thereby to the degradation of the sociohistorical organism.

The processes of destruction of human productive forces, the maturation of magnar relations and the growth of independence of subpolitarchs, the expansion of barbarians, changes in natural conditions were combined and intertwined in different ways, which determined the characteristics of the decline or even death of certain ancient political societies.

2.8. Spiritual culture of the Ancient East

The emergence of a political society was a huge progress in the development of mankind. Significant changes have occurred in culture.

Throughout almost the entire history of primitiveness, there was one single culture of society as a whole. At the last stage of its existence, when class relations began to emerge, the previously unified culture began to split into two: the culture of the upper classes of society and the culture of its lower classes. This bifurcation finally ended with the emergence of class, or civilized, society.

The culture of the lower classes, or common people, is a direct continuation of the single culture of primitiveness. It arose as a result of the transformation of this culture and has many features that make it similar to the latter. In particular, common culture, like primitive culture, is unwritten and anonymous. Its creators and bearers were peasant communities. It was primarily a peasant culture.

As you know, signs of the transition to civilization are considered: in the field of material culture - the appearance of monumental stone or brick buildings (palaces, temples, tombs, etc.), in the field of spiritual culture - the emergence of writing. Both monumental architecture and writing represent a vivid manifestation of the culture of the upper classes, or elite culture. Elite culture is a new formation, although it arose on the basis of the achievements of a previously unified culture of primitiveness, but is qualitatively different from it.

Elite culture was the product of relatively large class sociohistorical organisms that emerged with the transition to civilization. These sociohistorical organisms were its creators and bearers. In this sense, elite culture was the culture of society as a whole, despite the fact that for a long time it was the property of only its upper strata.

Of particular importance for the progress of mankind was the emergence of writing, which arose in the form of ideographic writing. Having initially arisen from the needs of the management apparatus, it later began to be used for other purposes, in particular, for recording human knowledge. When this happened, the possibility of conscious systematization of knowledge arose and pre-science was born: mathematics, astronomy. Schools appeared in which they taught writing and arithmetic, introduced them to a certain amount of knowledge, and trained professional scribes. Writing began to be used to record works of literature, in particular epic ones (“The Epic of Gilgamesh”, etc.). Legal norms began to be fixed (“Code of King Hammurabi”, etc.).

With the transition to a class society, religion underwent changes. If earlier its main root was the powerlessness of people before the blind necessity of nature, now the helplessness of people before the blind forces of social development has arisen and began to come to the fore. As a result, to the practical beliefs inextricably linked with cult actions, religious ideology was added, which at this stage was manifested not in teachings, but in a set of individual ideas. The main idea was humility and obedience to authorities. Therefore, these early religions of class society can be called serviological (from the Latin servio - to obey). Along with these ideas, ideas of supernatural salvation from earthly evil and supernatural restoration of justice trampled on earth began to appear, which are usually called soteric, or soteriological (from the Greek soteria - salvation). But no genuine soteriological religions arose in this era.