Historical sources on the history of antiquity. Chapter I

Modern researchers have at their disposal numerous sources of various categories. These are primarily written materials (historical works, works of fiction and scientific literature, journalism, speeches of speakers, legal documents, letters, business documents and many others.

etc.), monuments of material culture, mainly obtained during archaeological excavations (city ruins, remains of fortifications, public buildings, residential buildings, tombs, temples, tools, weapons, everyday items, etc.), material from ethnographic observations (study of ancient customs, institutions, rituals), a large number of different inscriptions, coins. Information about the distant past can be gleaned by analyzing the structure of the vocabulary of the ancient Greek language and oral traditions (recorded folklore materials).

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

Tablets written in script B were found during excavations in CreteA. Evans in 1901, but only in 1953 did the English scientist M. Ventris decipher the incomprehensible language of the inscriptions. Currently, several thousand tablets written in letter B are known. They were found in the ruins of Knossos on Crete, during excavations in the cities of Pylos, Mycenae, Thebes, Tiryns, but most of all (over 90% of all texts) were discovered in the archives of Knossos and Pylos. The vast majority of tablets date from the 14th-12th centuries. BC e. The inscriptions are very brief and represent mainly business reporting documents. They contain information about the leasing of land, the number of heads of livestock, the distribution of food to workers and service personnel; often these are lists of slaves and slaves employed in certain services of the palace, lists of artisans and a list of raw materials with them; lists of soldiers and sailors subject to mobilization, as well as an inventory of confiscated property. The tablets provide information about the functioning of the palace economy, about the relationship between the palace and lower administrative units, about the management of the state as a whole, which makes it possible to present the main features of the management and economy of the Achaean kingdoms of the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. e.

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

Archaeological excavations provide a wide variety of information about material culture. The most important finds were discovered during excavations of extensive palace complexes: in Knossos and Phaistos on the island. Crete, Mycenae and Pylos in the Peloponnese. Numerous rooms, a complex layout of the palaces, including luxurious apartments, reception halls, temple rooms, craft workshops, storerooms, a huge number of different everyday items and a variety of weapons give an idea of ​​the rich and intense life of these centers of the largest monarchies of the 2nd millennium BC.

Of great interest is the discovery of enlarged settlements at the end of the 3rd millennium BC. e. in Lerna (in the northern Peloponnese) and in Rafina (in Attica), where a bronze foundry was discovered. Bo second half of the 2nd millennium BC. e. Around the palaces in Mycenae, Pylos, Athens, Thebes, settlements appeared in which artisans and merchants lived.

Examples rural settlements, where the bulk of the Achaean population lived, are the settlements excavated at Koraku (near Corinth), at Zigouries (near Mycenae), and the necropolis of one of the rural settlements in Attica in Sparta. The remains of modest dwellings, complex public buildings, and megaron-type premises were found here. The impressive size of individual buildings, the finds of a large amount of ceramics, including painted ones, as well as bronze and gold items, speak of the process of property stratification among the rural population of the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. e.

Some information about the history of the Achaean and Cretan kingdoms is contained in the late Greek tradition. In Homer's poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey", compiled in the 9th-8th centuries. BC e., not only living memories of the recent past, in particular about the events of the Trojan War, have been preserved, but also entire songs and tales composed in the Achaean era. The poems correctly reflect the political situation in Greece on the eve of the Trojan War, in particular the predominance of Mycenae, the main allies and opponents of the Greeks, the very course of the Trojan War and its results. Homer’s poems convey many realities of the Achaean time: descriptions of a number of household items (for example, the Cup of Nestor), types of weapons, the design of war chariots, fighting techniques, etc.

In the works of Greek authors of the V-IV centuries. BC e. (Herodotus, Thucydides, Aristotle) ​​and subsequent centuries (Strabo, Plutarch, Pausanias), some vague memories of the glorious past of the Greeks, the power of the Cretan king Minos, the creation of a vast power, and the high culture of that time were preserved. Quite diverse, although very difficult to study, material about the history and culture, customs and religion of the Greeks of the 2nd millennium BC. e. contained in numerous legends and myths of the Greeks about gods and heroes: about the glorious Athenian hero Theseus, who liberated Athens from the cruel power of the Cretan king Minos, about the great Herayut, who served the cowardly king of Tiryns Eurystheus, about the voyage of the Greek heroes led by Jason on the ship " Argo" to the distant shores of Colchis, etc. A thorough critical study of the content of these legends and myths allows us to separate real facts from fiction and expand our knowledge of the history of Greece in the 2nd millennium BC. e.

A small amount of data, mainly about the foreign policy situation of the Cretan and Achaean kingdoms, is contained in ancient Eastern monuments. In particular, some Hittite inscriptions of the XIV-XIII centuries. BC e. mention the alliance of the Hittites with the state of Ahhiyawa, located in the western part of Asia Minor. Some Egyptian things from the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. (scarabs, amulets, beads, even a diorite figurine of an Egyptian with the inscription of his name User) was found in Crete. Crete (Keftiu) is mentioned in some inscriptions of Pharaoh Thutmose III as an equal ally of the powerful Egyptian kingdom.

2. Sources on the history of archaic and classical Greece. The total number and variety of sources for studying the history of Greece in the 8th-4th centuries. BC e. increases sharply. Written sources of various genres are presented with particular completeness.

The earliest written sources were the epic poems attributed to the blind storyteller Homer - the Iliad and the Odyssey. These works, considered the best examples of the epic genre of world literature, were compiled on the basis of numerous tales, legends, songs, and oral folk traditions dating back to Achaean times. However, the processing and combination of these disparate parts into a single work of art occurred in the 9th-8th centuries. BC e. It is possible that this work could have belonged to some brilliant storyteller, known to us under the name of Homer. Poems for a long time were transmitted orally, but in the 7th-5th centuries. BC e. were written down, and the final editing and recording of the poems was carried out in Athens under the tyrant Pisistratus in the middle of the 6th century. BC e.

Each poem consists of 24 books. The plot of the Iliad is one of the episodes of the tenth year of the Trojan War, namely a quarrel in the Greek camp between the commander of the Greek army, King Agamemnon of Mycenae, and Achilles, the leader of one of the Thessalian tribes. Against this background, Homer gives a detailed description of the military actions of the Greeks and Trojans, the structure of the military camp and weapons, the control system, appearance cities, religious views of the Greeks and Trojans, everyday life.

The poem "Odyssey" tells about the adventures of the king of Ithaca, Odysseus, who was returning to his native Ithaca after the destruction of Troy. The gods subject Odysseus to numerous trials: he falls to the ferocious Cyclops, guides the ship past the monsters Scylla and Charybdis, escapes from the cannibals of the Laestrygonians, rejects the spell of the sorceress Kirka, who turns people into pigs, etc. Homer shows his hero in different situations of peaceful life, which allows him to characterize its most diverse aspects: economic activities, the life of the royal palace and estate, the relationship between those in power and the poor, customs, particulars of everyday life. However, in order to use the data from Homer’s poems to reconstruct the historical reality reflected in them, the most careful and painstaking analysis is required. After all, each of the poems is, first of all, a work of art in which poetic fiction and historical truth are mixed in the most bizarre way. Whose poems were created and edited over several centuries, and therefore they reflected different chronological layers: the life and customs of the Achaean kingdoms, social relations of the so-called Homeric time (XI-IX centuries BC) and, finally, the time of compilation of the poems (IX-VIII centuries BC).

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

To study the socio-political struggle that unfolded in Greek society in the 7th-6th centuries. BC e., important data are given in the political elegies of Greek poets - Archilochus from Paros, Solon from Athens, Theognis from Megara. They realistically describe the plight of the poor, the acute hatred of the demos for the aristocracy, talk about expulsions and confiscations, and the miserable life of wanderers far from their hometown.

One of the most important sources is the writings of ancient Greek historians. Unlike poets, in whose works it is difficult to separate artistic fiction from reality, historians strive to give true story, pick up the actual facts. The first Greek historians were the so-called logographers, of whom the most famous are Hecataeus from Miletus (540-478 BC) and Hellanicus from Mytilene (480-400 BC). Logographers described the ancient history of their native cities. Due to the lack of data, they turned to myths, trying to rationalistically interpret the information contained there. The critical analysis of the mythological tradition carried out by logographers was rather superficial, and therefore many of the facts they cited should not be trusted.

Logographers were not limited to just interpreting mythological tradition. In their works they included completely reliable information of a geographical and ethnographic nature, obtained by them during their travels to various Greek cities and countries of the Eastern Mediterranean. In the works of logographers, myth and reality differed little and this determined the limited significance of their works. The writings of the logographers survive only in small fragments.

The first actual historical research was the work of Herodotus of Halicarnassus (485-425 BC), who was called in ancient times “the father of history.” Herodotus was born into a wealthy family, received a good education, took part in the political struggle in his city, and was expelled by his victorious opponents. While in exile, Herodotus traveled a lot, visited almost all countries

The Eastern Mediterranean, including Babylonia and Egypt, he was also in Magna Graecia and the Black Sea region, for example, he visited Olbia, where he studied the history and life of the Scythian tribes surrounding it. During his mature years, Herodotus lived in Athens, was a supporter of Athenian democracy, and was friends with its leader Pericles. Herodotus witnessed a brilliant era of Greek history, an era of rapid economic development and cultural flourishing that came after the victory over the huge Persian power. Herodotus sought to understand, using concrete material, why small and weak Greece was able to defeat the huge and powerful Persian power and why Athens acquired paramount importance in Greece itself. According to Herodotus, this was not an accident. Herodotus's work is dedicated to the history of the Greco-Persian wars and consists of 9 books, which in the 3rd century. BC e. were named after 9 muses. Actually, five stories are dedicated to the history of the wars themselves. latest books(the presentation was brought up to 479 BC), and the first four books describe the history of individual countries, peoples, cities of Asia Minor, Babylonia, Media, Egypt, Scythian tribes, Greek cities Balkan Greece.

Herodotus pays attention to the selection and critical analysis of the collected information: he travels around the places and cities about which he writes, asks knowledgeable people, uses existing records and archives, he knows well the authors who preceded him, in particular logographers. Herodotus's presentation of events is strictly factual, although he sometimes resorts to mythological and dubious information, trying to explain them rationally. Modern archaeological data confirm the vast majority of Herodotus' information. Huge factual material on the history of the entire Eastern Mediterranean, an attempt at its critical analysis, a thoughtful author's concept, respect for the cultural achievements of all peoples (and not just the Greeks), high literary merits made the work of Herodotus an outstanding work in Greek and world historiography, a source of valuable information on history Middle East and Greece VII - early V centuries. BC e.

Another outstanding work of Greek historical thought was the work of the Athenian historian Thucydides, son of Olor (about 460-400 BC), dedicated to the events of the Peloponnesian War (431 - 404 BC).

Thucydides received an excellent education, held responsible positions in Athens, including the highest military position of strategist, i.e. knew well the mechanism of political events of his time. Expelled from Athens for unsuccessful conduct of the war in 424 BC. e., Thucydides settled in Thrace and dedicated last years his life working on “History”. He had enough funds and free time to collect and critically process enormous factual material on the history of the Peloponnesian War. If Herodotus sometimes still used some legendary information in his history, then Thucydides strictly selects and carefully checks the facts, discarding all doubtful information. The critical method of working with sources became an outstanding achievement of ancient historiography.

Thucydides' work consists of 8 books, they set out the events of the Peloponnesian War from 431 to 411 BC. e. (the essay remained unfinished). However, Thucydides does not limit himself to a careful and detailed description of military actions. He also gives a description of the internal life of the warring parties, including the relationships between different groups of the population and their clashes, and changes in the political system.

Thucydides became one of the first Greek historians who saw in social struggle an important factor in the development of Greek city-states. Thucydides also showed with extraordinary force what innumerable disasters war brings with it. With his “History,” he seemed to call on the Greeks to peaceful unification, to abandon such a destructive weapon as wars like the Peloponnesian.

A diverse literary legacy was left behind by Thucydides' younger contemporary, historian and publicist Xenophon from Athens (430-355 BC). Xenophon served as a mercenary for the Persian prince Cyrus, fought in the army of the Spartans, including against his own city, was expelled from Athens and even sentenced to death, and lived for a long time in the Peloponnese. At the end of his life, he received an amnesty and was invited to Athens, but did not take advantage of this invitation.

An experienced politician and military man who has seen a lot in his lifetime, Xenophon left behind many different works. In his “Greek History” he continued the work of Thucydides from the events of 411 BC. e. and brought him to the Battle of Mantinea in 362 BC. e. However, unlike Thucydides, Xenophon did not conduct such a thorough analysis of his material; there are many omissions, omissions, and inaccuracies in his work. The value of Xenophon's historical work is that he wrote about his time, he himself was a participant in many events and knew the facts first hand, although Xenophon lacks the critical sense of Thucydides, and in his work he tries in every possible way to praise Sparta and its policies.

Xenophon also wrote other works: several compositions on economic topics(treatises “Economics”, “On Income”), a journalistic treatise “On the State System of the Lacedaemonians”, “Cyropedia” (“Education of Cyrus”), Xenophon develops conservative views, idealizes the Spartan oligarchy, and in “Education of Cyrus” even tries to justify fruitfulness monarchical ideas through the image of an ideal ruler, as shown by the founder of the Persian state, Cyrus. Very valuable information about the life and everyday life of the eastern regions of Asia Minor, about the organization of the mercenary army, is contained in Xenophon’s work “Anabasis” (literally “Ascent”), which tells about the retreat of the Greek mercenary contingent, in which Xenophon himself was, from Northern Babylonia to the southern coast Black Sea. The treatise “Memoirs” has also been preserved, in which Xenophon sets out the content of the conversations of the philosopher Socrates with his students.

Xenophon's works, written on various topics, contain the most varied and valuable information about many aspects of the life of Greek society at the end of the 5th - first half of the 4th century. BC e. From other Greek historians of the 4th century. BC e. Ephora and Theopompus should be named, but their works have survived only in small fragments.

One of the earliest examples of political journalism with a fierce denunciation of their political opponents - the Athenian democrats and the entire state system of Athenian democracy - is a treatise by an unknown Athenian oligarch from the mid-20s of the 4th century. BC e., which is conventionally called the pseudo-Xenophonian Athenian polity (the treatise was found among the works of Xenophon, but does not belong to him).

A lot of information of a diverse nature is contained in the numerous speeches of Athenian orators of the 4th century that have survived to our time. BC e. -Lysias, Isocrates, Demosthenes, Aeschines, Hyperides, etc. The earliest of these speeches by Lysias date back to the end of the 5th - beginning of the 4th century. BC e., the latest belong to Hyperides and Dinarchus (20s of the 4th century BC). Speakers made speeches on various topics: political accusations or defense, analysis of civil lawsuits, cases of bribery and embezzlement, and bribery. The speaker in his speeches accused someone or led a defense and, depending on this task, selected some materials and omitted others. Speeches are very biased sources in which the true state of affairs is subjected to deliberate distortion, but the speeches also contain a lot of material of a very different nature: speakers often refer to articles of laws, legal decisions, quote articles of international treaties, mention inheritances and property, the situation in society of their clients and a lot of other information. The value of speeches lies in the fact that they convey the true atmosphere of immediate historical reality and are a living document of the era.

B V-IV centuries BC e. In Greece, various works of a scientific and philosophical nature were published, which reflected the multifaceted life of Greek city-states. The famous Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle wrote works of the most diverse content, which reflected both the dominant political ideas, worldview concepts, scientific ideas, and many other information about their time.

Among the works of Plato (427-348 BC) highest value have his extensive treatises “State” and “Laws”, written in the last period of his life. In them, Plato, starting from the analysis of socio-political relations of the mid-4th century. BC e., offers his own version of the reconstruction of Greek society on new, fair, in his opinion, principles.

The creativity of the greatest Greek thinker Aristotle (384 -322) is striking in its diversity. He owns treatises on logic and ethics, rhetoric and poetics, meteorology and astronomy, zoology and physics, which are substantive sources. However, the most valuable works on the history of Greek society in the 6th century. BC e. are his works on the essence and forms of the state - “Politics”, in which he summarized a huge amount of material political history 158 different Greek city policies, and a special treatise on the state structure of Athens, one of the largest Greek cities with developed forms government controlled, "The Athenian Polity". A thorough critical analysis of the vast amount of factual material makes the works of Aristotle a most valuable historical source.

Historical reality V-IV centuries. BC e. received a peculiar reflection in the works fiction, in tragedies and comedies that are staged in theaters. The great Greek tragedians Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides (5th century BC) took plots for their tragedies from mythological tales, but put into them the ideas and ideas of their time, which makes them interesting sources. Rich information about the internal and external situation of Athens during the Peloponnesian War and at the beginning of the 6th century. BC e. give numerous comedies (11 comedies have survived) of Aristophanes (445-c. 385 BC). Depicting Athenian life in a comic sense, Aristophanes touches on issues of war and peace, the well-being of the rich and the poverty of the poor, embezzlement of officials, incompetent commanders, and the plight of the allies. Aristophanes' data shows Athenian life as if from the other side and serves as a good addition to Thucydides' information about Greek society during the Peloponnesian War.

Greek history of archaic and classical times became the object of study by a number of historians and writers of Hellenistic and Roman times. Of course, when studying events of the distant past, historians depended on the sources at their disposal, on the political trends of their time, and therefore the reliability of the information they provided varied greatly. The most valuable are the works of Diodorus Siculus (1st century BC) “Historical Library”, the surviving parts of which set out Greek history from 481 (preparation of Xerxes’ campaign against Greece) to 302 BC. e. (preparation for the Battle of Ipsus), numerous works by Plutarch (1st century AD), a native of the Boeotian city of Xeponea, especially biographies of famous political figures of Greece (Theseus, Lycurgus, Solon, Themistocles, Pericles, Alcibiades, Cimon, Nikias and etc.), the work of Pausanias (2nd century AD) “Description of Hellas”.

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

The Greeks made inscriptions quite often and for various reasons: treaties with other states, articles of laws, financial and other reports, records of expenses, sales of property, mortgages, lease agreements, dedications to the gods, construction inscriptions, listing the merits of the deceased and much more. The very nature of the Greek inscriptions, therefore, suggests an unusually wide range of information, knowledge of which allows us to learn about aspects of life about which all other sources are silent. The inscriptions, as a rule, are contemporary with the events mentioned in them and state reliable facts, since they were exhibited for public viewing.

The information contained in the inscriptions, in addition, makes it possible to verify the data contained in the works of ancient Greek historians. For example, the lists of phoros received from the Athenian allies that have reached us confirm the well-known position of Thucydides and other Greek authors about the brutal exploitation of the allies by Athens. Large inscription about the conclusion of the Second Athenian Maritime League in 378 BC. e. confirms a profound change in the nature of relations between Athens and its allies in the 4th century. BC e.

The significance of the inscriptions as a historical source also lies in the fact that they were found not only in Athens, but also in many other cities of Greece, about which the authors do not provide any information. Currently, over 200 thousand inscriptions from all corners of the Greek world have been discovered. They are collected, processed and published in the form of multi-volume collections. The most complete collections of Greek inscriptions are as follows: “Corpus of Greek Inscriptions”, published by A. Böck and his students in 1825-1877. (vol. I-IV); “Inscriptions of Greece”, 15 volumes have been published since 1878. Inscriptions historical content collected by the English epigraphist M. Todd (“Collection of Greek Historical Inscriptions,” 1946-1948. T. I-II).

Some of the oldest Greek inscriptions are friendly treaties between the Peloponnesian cities of Elis and Heraea and between the inhabitants of two small cities in Elis, the Anetians and the Metapians (6th century BC).

Inscriptions of a legislative nature are of great interest to the historian. So, the inscription 409-408. BC e. from Athens contained the text of the ancient Athenian legislation of Draco, dating back to the end of the 7th century. BC e. On the walls of one of the public buildings in the Cretan city of Gortyn, a text of laws was discovered, which has been preserved almost entirely and is one of the longest Greek inscriptions (the so-called “Gortyn Truth”). An example of lengthy inscriptions regulating the relations of the colonists again

withdrawn colonies, can serve as the so-called stele of the founders of the Greek colony of Cyrene about their relationship with the metropolis of Thera, inscriptions about the division of lands and the allocation of them to colonists in two Locridian policies (late 6th - early 5th century BC).

There are many lengthy inscriptions regulating relations between Athens and its allies, for example, the resolution of the Athenian National Assembly on the status of the city of Erythra in the union (60s of the 5th century BC) and the city of Chalkis (445 BC) . The inscriptions about the legally established contributions of various cities of the 1st Athenian Maritime League from 454 to 425 BC are very informative. e. By the end of the 4th century. BC e. refers to a very important inscription from Chersonese (modern Sevastopol), the so-called Chersonese oath about the state structure of Chersonese.

Thanks to the successes of numismatics, the importance of coins as a historical source is currently increasing. Found in very large quantities (several thousand coins are found every year), they represent mass material that can be subjected to statistical processing. Studying the weight of coins, the symbols and signs on them, inscriptions, the composition of coin hoards, the distribution of coins allows us to obtain information of a very diverse nature (about monetary circulation, commodity production, trade and political relations of cities, religious views, cultural events, etc. ). The most complete publications of available coin collections are the catalogs of the British Museum, as well as a summary of all Greek coin hoards, which was undertaken by the American Numismatic Society in 1973.

The enormous material from archaeological excavations, which is growing year by year, is the most important source of knowledge about the most diverse aspects of the life of Greek society. Hundreds of archaeological expeditions work annually on the territory of Greece, other countries of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea region, carrying out large-scale work. The archaeological material is very diverse: entire cities have been discovered (excavations of Olynthos, Chersonese Tauride, Corinth), pan-Greek sanctuaries (temple complexes in honor of Apollo in Delphi and Delos), the famous religious and sports complex in Olympia (during excavations in 1876-1881, 130 sculptures, 1000 inscriptions, 6000 coins, several thousand bronze objects, not counting the foundations of many buildings).

Interesting data were obtained from the study of individual complexes, for example, during excavations of the potters' quarter in Athens and the Athenian central square - the agora, the study of the Athenian Acropolis, the theater in Epidaurus, the necropolis in Tanagra and other similar complexes. Hundreds of thousands of things for various purposes were discovered here - tools, weapons, everyday items.

Constant archaeological research is carried out in the Greek cities of the Northern Black Sea region, in the cities of Olbia (including Berezan), Chersonese Tauride, Panticapaeum, Phanagoria and many others.

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

Of the historical works that provide a coherent account of the events of Hellenistic history with a specific author's concept, with verification of facts, as far as it was possible at that time, the works of Polybius and Diodorus are of greatest importance. Polybius (200-118 BC) is one of the outstanding Greek historians. In his youth he was active

political activities in the Achaean League, after the defeat of Macedonia at Pydna in 168 BC. e. he was transferred to Rome as a hostage and lived there until his death. In Rome, Polybius became close to a number of major political figures, in particular with Scipio Aemilianus, and was aware of all state affairs of the Roman Republic, i.e. the entire Mediterranean. Polybius traveled a lot. He was in Egypt, Asia Minor, Roman Africa, Spain, and traveled around the entire Atlantic coast of Africa and Spain. Polybius was a well-informed historian, had access to state archives, met with many eyewitnesses of historical events. His work details the history of the Greek and Roman world from 220 to 146 BC. e., contains valuable information about state finance, military affairs, socio-political clashes, and the structure of many states. The author developed in his work a well-thought-out theory of historical development in the form of repeating cycles in which there is a natural and logical degeneration of the main state forms (monarchy into aristocracy, aristocracy into democracy).

In the “Historical Library” of Diodorus Siculus (1st century BC), consisting of 40 books, books I - V, XVIII-XX are fully preserved, in which, in addition to the history of classical Greece (V-IV centuries BC .) the struggle of the Diadochi, the history of the reign of the tyrant Agathocles in Sicily and other events of early Hellenistic history (before 30 BC) are described in detail. Diodorus used reliable sources, and his factual material is of great value. Along with military-political events, Diodorus also covers the economic situation of the warring parties, for example Egypt and Rhodes, and briefly reports on social clashes.

The richest information of the most varied content is given in Strabo’s “Geography” (64/63 BC - 23/24).

n. e.). Strabo's work is not so much geography in the generally accepted sense as an encyclopedic guide to the practical needs of public administration. Therefore, Strabo most carefully describes not only the geographical location, climate, natural resources, but also the features of the economic life of each region, government structure, the most significant political events, cultural attractions. Most of Strabo's voluminous work (12 books out of 17) is devoted to a description of the Greek world. In Strabo's books there is quite a lot of information relating to archaic and classical times, but the most information is given precisely on the Hellenistic period of Greek history.

The works of Plutarch, especially his biographies of the largest Greek and Roman political figures of the 3rd-1st centuries, are of great value for early Hellenistic history. BC e. In total, Plutarch describes the biographies of 9 prominent Greeks, including Alexander and Pyrrhus. Plutarch gives a biography as Hellenistic kings, and political figures of various Greek city-states. Biographies of Plutarch are compiled on the basis of numerous, carefully selected sources, many of which have not reached our time, and contain a wealth of material on the political history, religion and culture of the early Hellenistic era. In general, the biographies of Hellenistic figures were written by Plutarch with greater care and accuracy than the biographies of the Greeks of the archaic and classical periods.

Unique in its wealth of material for reconstructing the cultural history of Greece of all eras, including archaic, classical and Hellenistic, is the work of Pausanias (2nd century AD) “Description of Hellas.” Pausanias's work consists of 10 books, each of which is dedicated to the culture of the most historically rich regions of Balkan Greece. Pausanias describes in detail temples, sanctuaries, architectural complexes, remains of buildings, statues, paintings, and includes in these descriptions legends and myths associated with certain monuments. The accuracy of his data is confirmed by archaeological excavations. The historical information he provides about the monuments he describes is also important (biographies of the people to whom the statues were erected, the historical circumstances of their installation).

Hellenistic history was the object of constant attention of historians of the Roman period, with particular interest being aroused by the history of the reign of Philip II and his illustrious son Alexander the Great. The most famous are “The History of Philip” by Pompey Trogus (end of the 1st century BC) in 44 books (the work was preserved in an abbreviation by Justin, author of the 2nd-3rd centuries AD), “The History of Alexander the Great” by Curtius Rufus (1st century . AD), “Anabasis of Alexander” by Flavius ​​Arrian (2nd century AD). These works describe in detail the preparation, course and results of the campaigns of Alexander the Great, the countries and regions through which he passed, and his policy towards the conquered peoples. In the work of Pompey Trogus, in addition to the characteristics of the reigns of Philip and Alexander, a coherent history of most of the Hellenistic kingdoms of the 3rd-1st centuries is given. BC e., and the latest source research confirms the accuracy of the facts he cites.

Appian, Roman historian of the 1st century. n. e., wrote the history of the Seleucid state, Macedonia of the Pontic kingdom. The story focuses mainly on the events of late Hellenistic history of the 2nd-1st centuries. BC e., the conquest of the Hellenistic states by Rome, with primary attention paid to the description of military-political history.

Valuable sources on various aspects of the life of Hellenistic societies are works of scientific and fiction literature. These are, first of all, treatises on economics, in particular the treatise attributed to Aristotle (it is called the pseudo-Aristotelian “Economics”, end of the 6th century BC), and the treatise “Economics” belonging to Philodemus (1st century BC) . The works of Aristotle's student Theophrastus (370-288 BC) are of great interest. The treatise “On Plants” provides a detailed description of various plants, including cultivated ones: grains, grapevines, oilseeds and fruit trees. The treatise “Characters” is an interesting study of socio-psychological types of people and their behavior depending on their lifestyle, social status and degree of prosperity (distrustful, talkative, arrogant, arrogant person, etc.).

From works of fiction as a meaningful source of everyday life and everyday life of the late IV-III centuries. BC e. important are the everyday comedies of the Athenian playwright Menander (342-292 BC), a collection of short poems by Theocritus (3rd century BC), dedicated to the glorification of a simple, quiet life, far from the worries of the world, called “Idylls” .

There are numerous epigraphic, numismatic, and archaeological sources on the history of Hellenism. Tens of thousands of various inscriptions have been found from almost all areas of the Greek world with the most varied content - from legislative documents to student exercises. In addition to general collections of inscriptions arranged by region, such as “Inscriptions of Greece,” individual categories of inscriptions are published in the form of separate volumes. Thus, collections of legal inscriptions were published under the editorship of Darest, Osullier and Reynak (in 1891-1904), texts of treaties of various states edited by G. Schmitt (in 1969), in addition to the already mentioned collection of inscriptions of historical content edited by Tod , also a collection of historical inscriptions edited by Moretti (1967-1975) and a number of other publications. Collections of inscriptions from some regions have been published, for example, a collection of Greek and Latin inscriptions from the Northern Black Sea region, prepared by B.B. Latyshev in 1885-1916 rr., vol. I, 11, IV. Numismatic material is constantly being replenished, numbering up to several hundred thousand different coins. Hundreds of archaeological expeditions from many countries around the world are conducting intensive and fruitful excavations of various centers of Hellenistic societies.

Different categories of sources complement each other. For example, the history of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom is largely known on the basis of numismatic materials and data from archaeological excavations. The discovery of such interesting and rich cities as Dura-Europos on the Euphrates and Ai-Khanum in Northern Afghanistan (the ancient name of this city is unknown) expanded our information on the history of urban planning, military fortification, urban life and economics, social and political relations, the culture of the Seleucid state, although there is practically no evidence about these cities in literary sources.

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

Egypt, and their processing is carried out by a special scientific discipline - papyrology. Among the papyrological documents, entire historical and artistic works were discovered, for example, Aristotle’s treatise “The Athenian Polity”; a historical work describing Greek history of the first half of the 4th century. BC e. (the so-called Oxyrhynchian historian), many comedies of Menander, texts of Homer, etc. The contents of this huge collection of papyri are extremely diverse: royal orders, laws, literary works, accounts, economic contracts, marriage contracts, correspondence, student exercises, petitions, religious texts, resolutions of various assemblies, etc. The papyri characterize the internal life of Ptolemaic Egypt with such completeness that we do not have for any Hellenistic society. Currently, Egyptian papyri have been collected and published in multi-volume series. The largest are multi-volume collections of papyri from Tebtyunis, Oxyrhynchus, Ghibelen, the publication of Zeno’s archive and many others.

In general, numerous and varied sources on the history of various periods of Greek history make it possible to show the main directions of development of ancient Greek society - from the initial stages of the formation of a class slave society and state to the conquest of Greek city-states and Hellenistic states by Rome.

WRITTEN SOURCES

All written monuments are the most important historical sources that allow us to reconstruct the course of specific events, find out what worried people, what they strived for, how relations were built in the state at the public and personal levels. Written sources are divided into literary, or narrative, and documentary.

The earliest that have come down to us literary sources are epic poems Homer"Iliad" and "Odyssey", created at the beginning of the 8th century. BC e. The Homeric epic differs significantly from the mythological-epic works of the peoples of the Ancient East, since, thanks to the presence of secular, rational aspects, it contains very valuable information. Homer's works lay the foundations of historical tradition and historical worldview. The memory of the thousand-year era of the Cretan-Mycenaean civilization with its events, and above all with the hostilities of the Trojan War, outgrew the framework of myth and became a historical landmark that defined in the collective memory of the Hellenes not only mythological, like most peoples, but also historical time. That is why the social system, morals, customs, etc. are reflected in artistic images vividly and reliably. At the same time, Homer has a widely represented mythological picture of the world. The world of the gods depicted by the poet (their images, functions) became the basis for the Greek Olympian religion.

An important epic source is the didactic poem of the Boeotian poet Hesiod(turn of the 8th-7th centuries BC) “Theogony”. In the story of the origin of the gods, the poet paints a picture of the development of the world, reflecting the religious and mythological ideas of Greek society of the archaic era. In this epic, mythological tales about the ancient past already merge with the description of real history contemporary to the author. In the poem “Works and Days,” the poet gives realistic pictures of the life of peasants of his time. Hesiod's didactic epic asserts that a just order is necessary not only for the world of gods, but also for the world of people.

By the 7th century BC e. the intensive development of the Greek world left no room for the heroic epic. The most complete reflection of the era of the formation of a new, urban society and the emergence of an active personality are various genres of lyrics. In elegies and iambic Tyrtea from Lacedaemon, Solona from Athens, Theognis from Megara reflected the complex life of society, permeated with acute political conflicts, in which it is difficult for a person to find peace and happiness. The new self-awareness of the individual was reflected in poetry Archilochus and especially in the works of the Aeolian poets Alcaea And Sappho.

Besides works of art, you can learn about the life of Ancient Greece from historical works, official certificates of various types. The first documentary records were made back in the 2nd millennium BC. e. in Achaean society. With the advent of the alphabet and the approval of policies, documentary evidence becomes much more numerous. Thus, from the fusion of the historical perception of the world in poetic creativity with official documentary records in ancient Greece, a historical tradition arose. It was reflected in a special prose genre, the development of which ultimately led to the formation history as a science.

The emergence of Greek historical prose dates back to the 6th century. BC e. and is associated with the activities of the so-called logographers. Describing stories from distant mythological antiquity, tracing the genealogy of ancient heroes and the history of the cities they founded, they were close to the epic poets. But these were already historical works. Describing the legendary past, logographers introduced documentary materials, geographical and ethnographic information into the text. And although in their works myth and reality are intricately intertwined, an attempt at a rationalistic rethinking of the legend is already clearly visible. In general, the works of logographers mark a transitional stage from myth with its sacred history to logos with its scientific research of the past.

The first historical work was created Herodotus from Halicartas (c. 485-425 BC), who was called the “father of history” in antiquity. During the political struggle, he was expelled from his hometown. After that, he traveled a lot, visited Greek policies on the Mediterranean and Black Seas, as well as a number of countries of the Ancient East. This allowed Herodotus to collect extensive material about the life of his contemporary world.

Herodotus’ stay in Athens, where he became close to the leader of the Athenian democracy Pericles, had a great influence on the formation of his own historical concept. In his work, which is commonly called “History,” Herodotus described the course of the war between the Greeks and Persians. This is genuine treatise, since already in the first lines the author formulates scientific problem, which he is trying to explore and justify: “Herodotus the Halicarnassian presents the following research in order ... so that the reason why the war arose between them is not forgotten.” To reveal this reason, Herodotus turns to the prehistory of events. He talks about the history of the ancient eastern countries and peoples that became part of the Persian state (Egypt, Babylonia, Media, Scythians), and then about the history of the Greek city-states, and only after that begins to describe military operations. To find the truth, Herodotus critically approaches the selection and analysis of the sources involved. And although the degree of reliability of the information collected by the historian varies and some episodes in the treatise are in the nature of fiction, most of the information from the “History” is confirmed by other sources, and primarily by archaeological discoveries. However, Herodotus’s thinking is still traditional: the pattern in history for him is the divine power that rewards good and punishes evil. But the main merit of Herodotus is that through his works a source appeared in the hands of scientists, where the core of the events described is historical time and consciously introduced historicism.

The principle of historicism, first used by Herodotus, was developed and made dominant in the scientific treatise by his younger contemporary, the Athenian. Thucydides(c. 460-396 BC). He was born into a noble family, took part in the Peloponnesian War, but due to the fact that he could not protect the city of Amphipolis from the Spartans, he was expelled from Athens. In exile, where he spent almost two decades, Thucydides decided to describe the history of the Peloponnesian War.

The historian is interested in all the events of which he was a contemporary. But in order to find historical truth, Thucydides conducts a strict critical selection of historical sources, using only those that contain reliable information: “I do not consider it my duty to write down what I learned from the first person I met, or what I could have assumed, but recorded events , which he himself witnessed, and what he heard from others, after as accurate as possible research into each fact taken separately.” To do this, he visited the scenes of events, talked with eyewitnesses, and got acquainted with documents. This approach to the facts allows him, when presenting the course of history, to no longer explain current events by the intervention of the gods, but to find the objective causes of events and the reasons that caused them, which helps to identify the patterns of historical events. For him, the direct connection between successes in military operations and the stability of the internal political situation in the state is clear. History, according to Thucydides, is made People, acting in accordance with their “nature”. Their interests, aspirations and passions are stronger than laws and treaties.

Thucydides played a decisive role in establishing scientific knowledge of the past. He developed a critical method for analyzing historical sources and was the first to identify patterns of historical development. For all subsequent generations of researchers, Thucydides laid the foundation for understanding the meaning of historical development and human actions. His work is a most valuable historical source, which covers the events described as objectively as possible.

Genre historical research received further development in the 4th century. Thucydides’ unfinished “History”, which ended with a description of the events of 411 BC. e., continued literally from the last phrase in his “Greek History” Xenophon from Athens (c. 445-355). But in his presentation of the material, more clearly than in Thucydides, the personal position of the author, who came from a wealthy family, received an aristocratic upbringing and was a student of Socrates, is manifested. A supporter of the Spartan government, Xenophon was critical of Athenian democracy. This explains a certain bias in the presentation of the material. In addition, Xenophon does not use the sources he uses critically enough, sometimes interpreting events to suit his own predilections, and also paying great attention to individuals, without trying to reveal the objective causes of historical events. However, his "Greek History", describing events from 411 to 362 BC. e., remains the most important source for the study of the complex era of intense struggle between the policies and the crisis of the classical Greek polis.

Xenophon was not only a historian. A number of his treatises reflected his political preferences. In the essay “On the State System of the Lacedaemonians,” he idealizes the Spartan order, and in the “Cyropedia,” dedicated to the education of the founder of the Persian state, Cyrus the Elder, he is sympathetic to the idea of ​​​​a monarchical structure of the state. Interesting information about the Persian state, its mercenary army and the life of peoples in the territory of Asia Minor are contained in the treatise “Anabasis” (“Ascent”). It tells about the participation of Greek mercenaries, including Xenophon, in the internecine struggle for the Persian throne on the side of Cyrus the Younger.

Of great interest from the point of view of the development of philosophical thought and characteristics of Athenian life is the treatise “Memories of Socrates,” which records the conversations of the famous philosopher with his students. Xenophon’s views on the most appropriate methods of farming are reflected in the work “Economy” (or “Domostroy”), and proposals on how to improve the financial situation of the Athenian state are reflected in the work “On Income”. In general, Xenophon’s numerous treatises contain diverse and valuable, but not always objective information about the most diverse aspects of the life of Greek society of his time.

The main merit of Herodotus, Thucydides and Xenophon was the spread of interest in history in Greek society and the establishment historical approach to events of the past. Some, like Xenophon and also Cratappus, or the "Oxirhenian historian", directly continued the studies of Thucydides, imitating the great historian with varying degrees of success. Others, like Ephorus, Theopompus and Timaeus, came “to history” from oratorical schools. But the result was the appearance of a large number of treatises on the history of Athens, Sicily and Italy, Persia, the reign of King Philip II, etc. They had a huge influence not only on the formation of historical consciousness in Greek society (these works were widely used by scientists of subsequent eras), but and on the establishment of historical traditions in neighboring societies.

An important source for the classical era is the ancient Greek dramaturgy - works by the tragedians Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides and the comedian Aristophanes. As citizens of the Athenian polis, they took an active part in the political events of their time, which was directly reflected in their poetic works. The uniqueness of this type of literary source lies in the fact that here reality is presented through artistic images. But since during this period the Greek theater actively participated in the formation of the polis system of values ​​and democratic morality, the literary images were not the fruit of idle fiction or the interpretation of legendary and mythological plots, but were an expression of the dominant civil worldview, objective assessments and judgments of Athenian society.

Playwright Aeschylus(525-456 BC) was a contemporary of acute internal political clashes during the formation of Athenian democracy and the Greek struggle for freedom during the era of the Greco-Persian Wars. A participant in the main battles of the Greeks with the conquerors, he expressed the patriotic sentiments of the Hellenes in the tragedy “The Persians,” written about real historical events. Even in the works of Aeschylus on mythological subjects (the trilogy “Oresteia”, “Chained Prometheus”, “Seven against Thebes”, etc.) there are constantly allusions to modern events and all the actions of the characters are assessed from the position of a civic ideal.

A poet and playwright serves as an example of an honest citizen Sophocles(496-406 BC). In his tragedies “Oedipus the King”, “Antigone”, “Ajax” and others, he raises such important issues as the morality of power, the place of wealth in life, and attitudes towards war. But, despite the objective expression of public sentiment, Sophocles’ views are largely traditional, which brings him closer to Herodotus. He sees in events a manifestation of the divine will, before which a person must humble himself. People will suffer inevitable punishment if they dare to violate the world order established by the gods.

Tragedies Euripides(480-406 BC) “Medea”, “Petitioners”, “Electra”, “Iphigenia in Tauris” and others introduce the social sentiments of that era, and not only the democratic ideals of the Athenians, their exaltation of friendship and nobility , but also with a negative attitude towards the Spartans, wealth, etc. An important place in the tragedies of Euripides is occupied by showing the everyday life of ancient Athens, including family relationships, in particular between husband and wife.

An interesting source on the political history of Athens are comedies Aristophanes(c. 445 – c. 385 BC). His work falls on the difficult period of the Peloponnesian War for Athens, and in his plays “Acharnians”, “Horsemen” and “Peace” he affirms the idea of ​​peace, expressing the anti-war sentiments of the Athenian peasants, who bear the greatest burdens of the war. Both shortcomings in the life of the Athenian state (“Wasps,” “Women in the National Assembly”) and newfangled scientific and philosophical theories (“Clouds”) were subjected to caustic satire. The works of Aristophanes are a response to all important events in the life of the Athenian polis. They reflect very accurately real life and the mood of Greek society, which is poorly traced from other sources.

An indispensable historical source is philosophical and rhetorical works. At the end of the 5th - first half of the 4th century. BC. tense political life and the creative spiritual atmosphere in the cities contributed to the development of science and the desire to comprehend the diversity of social life. An outstanding philosopher was Plato(427-347 BC). His treatises “State” and “Laws” are of great interest to historians, where the author, in accordance with his socio-political views, proposes ways for a fair reorganization of society and gives a “recipe” for an ideal state structure.

Disciple of Plato Aristotle(384-322 BC) tried to explore history and political structure over 150 states. Of his works, only “The Athenian Polity” has survived, where the history and government structure of the Athenian polis is systematically described. Extensive and varied information was gleaned from numerous sources, both those that have come down to us (the works of Herodotus, Thucydides) and those that have been almost completely lost (like the Attida - Athenian chronicles).

Aristotle

Based on the study of the life of Greek city-states, Aristotle created a general theoretical work “Politics” - on the essence of the state. His provisions, based on Aristotle's analysis of the real processes of the historical development of Hellas, predetermined the further development of political thought in ancient Greece.

Texts are a kind of historical source speeches by speakers. Written for delivery in a national assembly or in court, they are, of course, polemically sharpened. Political speeches Demosthenes, judicial speeches Lisia, solemn eloquence Isocrates and others contain important information about various aspects of the life of Greek society.

Oratory had a huge influence both on the development of social thought in Greece and on the stylistic features of written texts. For the sake of the laws of rhetoric, the main thing in speech gradually becomes not the accuracy and truthfulness of the presentation, but the external attractiveness and polemical tendentiousness of the speech, in which historical objectivity is sacrificed to the beauty of form.

Indispensable historical evidence is epigraphic sources, i.e. inscriptions made on a hard surface: stone, ceramics, metal. Greek society was educated, and therefore quite a variety of inscriptions have reached us. These are state decrees, articles of agreements, construction inscriptions, inscriptions on the pedestals of statues, dedicatory inscriptions to the gods, gravestone inscriptions, lists of officials, various business documents (invoices, lease and mortgage agreements, acts of purchase and sale, etc.) , inscriptions during voting in the national assembly, etc. (over 200 thousand inscriptions have already been found). Multi-line inscriptions and inscriptions of several words are of great value, since they relate to all aspects of the life of the ancient Greeks, including everyday life, which was practically not reflected in literary sources. But the main thing is that the inscriptions were made in most cases by ordinary citizens and express their worldview. The first to publish Greek inscriptions in 1886 was the German scientist A. Bockh. The latest collection of Greek historical inscriptions to date was published in 1989 by R. Meiggs and D. Lewis.