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Brief history of Greece

• At the first Crete-Mycenaean or Helladic stage, the speakers of the Greek language - the Achaeans are just beginning to settle in the Balkans
• They are dominated by tribal relations, their main occupation is the introduction of agriculture. At the end of this stage, they begin to develop writing.
• The policy stage is divided into 3 stages:
• Homeric (prepolis) period, "dark ages" (XI-IX centuries BC)
• Archaic Greece (VIII-VI centuries BC).
• Classical Greece (V-IV centuries BC).

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Homeric period

• The Homeric period is characterized by the transition of tribal relations into early class relations. But even more this period is characterized by uncertainty, because. almost the only source of information about him are the poems of Homer, which for a long time were considered a literary myth.
• Based on the poems, during this period there was a war between the Achaeans (Greeks) and the Trojans. The people of that time were famous for their military exploits and sacredly believed in their gods.

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archaic period

Archaic period (VIII-VI centuries BC) The beginning of the period is considered to be the date of the establishment of the Ancient Olympic Games in 776 BC. e. It is characterized by three main processes that had a decisive influence on the development of Greek civilization:

1. Great colonization - the development by the Greeks of the coasts of the Mediterranean, Black, Azov Sea. Development of commodity production and a significant increase in the number of foreign slaves, overpopulation of policies.
2. Registration of the policy as a special type of community. The craft separated from agriculture, the Greek city-states became large craft centers. 2 types of policies are being formed: trade and craft (Athens) and agricultural (Sparta). The transition from bronze to iron. The introduction of iron in all spheres of production, economic recovery.

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Development of production as a prerequisite for the crisis

Contradictions begin to emerge in the minds of the people:

• free - slave
• rich - poor
• community - personality

1. The development of commodity production and economic recovery were directly related to the development of slavery
2. Cheap slave labor made it possible to obtain a higher income and was more actively used in the main branches of production.
3. The polis (or ancient) becomes the leading form of land ownership - only citizens had the right to own land on the territory of the policy; free people who were not citizens (meteks) did not have this right. There is a socio-economic stratification
4. In this regard, there is an intensification of the political struggle between the tribal nobility and free citizens.
5. The isolation of the individual from the community is manifested in the peculiarities of the literature of that time.

Slide 7

Archaic Literature

“I myself escaped death.
And let my Shield disappear.
No worse than a new one I can get"
Archilochus 6th century BC

• The heroic time of the dark ages, described in the Iliad and Odyssey by Homer, is being replaced by a lyrical time filled with intimate feelings and meditation.
• Representatives of the lyrical genre were Archilochus, Sappho, Alkey, Alkman, and others.
• It is noteworthy that in the Hellenistic time, the time when the crisis actually occurred, it was the canon of lyric poets (VI-IV centuries BC) that was assessed as worthy of study.

Slide 8

Greek science

• The motto is "Knowledge for the sake of knowledge!"
• Great aptitude for theory. Greek thinkers neglected practical application, considering it the lot of the not free.
• Discoveries in mathematics, physics, mechanics - served either the cause of destruction: military vehicles and weapons, or a means of entertainment: mechanical products on the stages of theaters. And only in the last turn to facilitate labor productivity. As a result, the gap between spiritual and material culture

Slide 9

Science vs religion

• Science, with its laws, laws and inventions, strongly influenced people's ideas about the essence of the world and its processes. Moreover, both positively, inspiring and facilitating life, and negatively undermining former values, customs and beliefs.
• Therefore, in 433-432. BC e the Athenian soothsayer Diopif, an adherent of antiquity and an enemy of "sophistical" innovations, proposed a law on judicial responsibility for "non-recognition of recognized gods and the introduction of new deities." It was under this article that Socrates was convicted in 399 BC.

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Classical Greece (V-IV centuries BC)

• The growing conflict between trade and craft types of policies with democratic forms of government and backward agrarian policies with an aristocratic system - the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC) - the defeat of Athens
• The overall result is the weakening of all Greek policies.
• The war undermined the economic and political potential of Hellas
• The flourishing of the economy and culture of the Greek city-states in the 5th century. BC.
• The victory of the Greeks in the Greco-Persian wars (500-449 BC) is the rise of Athens, the Delian League is created (led by Athens).

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Crisis of the policy - IV century BC. e.

• A feature of the crisis was that it took place in conditions of economic recovery.
• Wealth accumulated mainly in the hands of non-citizens - meteks and freedmen who performed the functions of "organizers" of handicraft production, financiers, moneylenders, creditors, merchants who profited from domestic and international trade. Citizens were forbidden to engage in all these activities, as well as the exploitation of the silver mines in Lavrion, as this was considered unworthy of their occupations.
• Large land holdings were formed, in which land ownership was no longer associated with polis citizenship.
• Tyranny was established in a number of policies. Tyranny limited the rights and freedoms of the citizens of the policy, controlled even their private lives. The policies could no longer defend themselves with the help of a citizen's militia. A clear sign of the crisis is mercenarism. Policies hire an army, which becomes paid.
• The main measure of value is money, it is they who determine the position of a person in society.

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Hellenism

• Weakened policies by war among themselves, the loss of national unity - the disunity of society became easy prey for the Macedonian kingdom of Philip II in 338 BC. e.
• Then, under the leadership of the son of Philip Alexander of Macedon (336-323 BC), the Greek-Macedonian state will expand its borders and establish itself as a world power
• Due to even greater expansion of borders, even greater stratification of society, the mood of the inhabitants will be characterized by individualism and cosmopolitanism.
• The urban economy gradually begins to decline even under Alexander, while the norms and ideals of ancient Greece spread throughout the world, but not in Greece. After the death of Alexander, intrigues and wars for the throne and division of the empire will begin.
• In 146 BC. The Roman Empire will inflict another defeat on the Achaean League and subdue Greece

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Roman Empire on its way to dominance

• The early history of Rome is marked by the dominance of the tribal aristocracy, the patricians, except for whom no one could sit in the Senate.
• And the Roman aristocratic education was reminiscent of the Spartan one with a special attention to patriotism, discipline, courage and military skill.
• But already in 287 BC. e. the struggle of the plebeians with the patricians will end in favor of the former. This will lead to
• to a change in the social structure of Roman society: having achieved political equality, the plebeian estate ceased to differ from the patrician estate; noble plebeian families, together with the old patrician families, constituted a new elite - the nobility. This contributed to the weakening of the internal political struggle in Rome and the consolidation of Roman society, which allowed him to mobilize all his forces for active foreign policy expansion.

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Rome is a world power, Rome is a decaying Republic

• After the conquests of the III-I centuries. BC e. Rome became a world power, and the Mediterranean became an inland Roman lake.
• But the expansion of borders, the increase in power, wealth, the penetration of other cultures (Hellenistic), the increase in population, mainly due to slaves and foreigners, inevitably undermines the old values ​​and standards. So it was with Greece, so it was with Rome
• The Romans themselves of that time, feeling the changes in society not for the better, "sounded the alarm" developing - the theory of "decline in morals":
• “Valery Maxim said that a tendency to a less strict lifestyle began to appear after the second Punic War (201). Livy believed that the occupying army returning from Asia (187) brought with them to Rome the habit of extravagance. Polybius, considered the disappearance of ancient modesty and frugality as a consequence of the war with Perseus (168). Posidonius began his period of decline with the destruction of Carthage (146), and in this he was followed by Sallust. Thus, the dating of the beginning of the decline of morals, given by the Roman authors themselves, fluctuates between 290 and 146.

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Decline theory

The activities of the "Censor" from 182 BC Cato the Elder:

• The political program was based on the struggle against the "new abominations" (novaflagitia) and on the restoration of ancient customs;
• In the first place were, undoubtedly, such vices, allegedly brought from a foreign land to Rome, as self-interest and greed (avaritia), the desire for luxury (luxuria), vanity (ambitus). The penetration of even these vices into Roman society was, according to Cato, the main cause of the decline of morals. Interests that take precedence over civil, public interests.

Letters of Sallust to Caesar (approx. historically controversial moment)

• The theme of the decline of morals is developed in the most detailed way by Sallust. He states first of all the depravity of the people, and then the weakness, impotence of the senate. The loss of land was the first impetus that caused the further decomposition of the people.
• He identifies 2 main vices that develop in Roman society: the lust for power - ambitio and the passion for money - avaritia
• Only wealth is respected, virtue is trampled on, poverty is considered a disgrace, honesty - as if ill-intention.

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Policy Crisis

• The cause of the crisis of ancient Roman morality was the crisis of the policy, and the "decline in morals", the breaking of traditions, the departure from ancient norms and foundations - only an inevitable consequence.
• It is unthinkable to manage a huge state and exercise in it not only one's material but also spiritual superiority, based on moral criteria and norms that have developed in a small urban community and are designed specifically for members of this closed community.

The crisis of the policy and morals - the fall of the Republic:

• “the contradiction between the political form of the republic in the 1st century. BC e. and its social class content. The wide Mediterranean market, the new groups of provincial slave owners, the complex relationship between Italy and the provinces, between citizens and "non-citizens" urgently demanded a new system of government. It was impossible to manage a world power with methods and apparatus suitable for a small community on the Tiber. The old classes, whose interests were reflected by the Roman Republic, by the end of the 1st century. BC e. disappeared or degraded. The Italian peasantry has almost completely disappeared; nobility and equestrianism as a result of civil wars, in a significant part, died physically or went bankrupt.

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Fall of the Republic, 1st century BC e.

• Seizure of power by the dictator and tyrant Sulla 82-79 BC
  The introduction of proscription - the hunt for "enemies of the people" and rewards for their heads - denunciations, murders, gaining some at the expense of the death of others
• Rise of Spartacus 75-71 years. BC.
  Rebellion of slave gladiators thirsting for freedom and justice
• Julius Caesar from 46 to 44 BC e. laid the principles of dictatorship in the Roman Republic, which became the basis for the emergence of the Roman Empire, which actually took shape under the rule of Caesar's heir, Octavian Augustus.

Slide 18

Empire of intrigue

• After the conspiracy and assassination of Caesar, an eternal struggle ensued for the throne.
• For the title of the first emperor, troops were gathered, Caesar's adopted son, Augustus Octavius ​​(left) and Caesar's former ally Mark Antony (right) wove intrigues.
• According to a similar scenario, the history of the empire developed until its collapse into Eastern and Western parts.

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Crisis of the 3rd century AD

The crisis is preceded by constant successive emperors, barbarian raids, a civil war of 193-197. and corruption

Military bloc:

• demographic crisis. Unwillingness to serve in the army - young people chopped off the thumb of their right hand. Empire and ancestral conquest no longer inspired
• Large landowners also did not want to give their labor to the public service.

Economic block:

• The decline of middle landownership. Crushing large holdings and renting them out. The high cost of taxes on the transportation of products leads to a rupture of ties between individual provinces
• The destruction of the monetary system. So in Roman Britain it comes to the point that money completely loses its significance and trade relations begin to be introduced through barter.

Slide 20

In the crisis of the Roman Empire, its further collapse, the English historian of the 18th century E. Gibbon names 5 reasons

1. The destruction of the institution of the family
2. Decreased sense of personal responsibility
3. exorbitant taxes
4. Striving for hedonism
5. The Decline of Religion

In 410, Rome was taken by the Visigoths, and on September 4, 476, the leader of the Germans, Odoacer, forced the last Western Roman emperor, Romulus Augustus, to abdicate. Thus ended the 12-century dominion of Rome.

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General history. Ancient world history. Grade 5 Selunskaya Nadezhda Andreevna

§ 45. Rome and the Hellenistic world

Rome and the Hellenistic World

The whole of Roman history appears to us sometimes as an uninterrupted series of wars. The causes of each subsequent war were, as it were, enclosed in the results of the previous one. The steady expansion of Roman boundaries inevitably led to a clash between Rome and the states, to the borders of which its possessions approached.

Remember which states are called Hellenistic.

By defeating Carthage, Rome became the master of the western Mediterranean. Now the eyes of the Romans turned to the east. There were rich lands. The most important of these were Egypt, Syria and Macedonia. The balance of power between these states for a long time decided everything in the Hellenistic world. There was a period when there was a balance recognized by all: alone, not one of the countries dared to oppose Egypt, but Egypt would not have been able to defeat the other two strongest states at the same time. Then the power-hungry rulers of Syria and Macedonia began to fight against the influence of Egypt in neighboring lands. Egypt could not stop them and began to surrender its positions. On the other hand, small states were indignant, whose freedoms were trampled under the onslaught of warlike neighbors. Thus, the inhabitants of the Greek cities began to look first at Carthage, and then at the victorious Rome in search of a counterweight to the influence of Macedonia. Rome took advantage of this, intervening in the struggle under the pretext of protecting the weak from enslavement.

Notable Syrians. ancient mosaic

Rome's wars with Macedonia and Syria

The state of the Hellenistic world closest to Rome was the Macedonian kingdom, which at the end of the 3rd - beginning of the 2nd century BC. e. King Philip V ruled. He was a talented commander and an active ruler who tried to expand the boundaries of his kingdom to the entire Balkan Peninsula. Rome fell upon the Macedonian kingdom with all its might. During the two Macedonian wars, the Romans managed to drive Philip out of Greece. In order to firmly gain a foothold in the Balkan Peninsula, they entered into an alliance with the Greeks, who were at enmity with the Macedonian king.

Coin of the Kingdom of Syria

The Syrian king Antiochus III also sought an alliance with the Greeks, counting on their help in the fight against Rome. He crossed with the army to the Balkans, but the Greeks did not support him, and in the battle with the Romans the Syrian army was defeated. After that, the Romans moved the war to Asia Minor. Their legions were led by the brother of the famous Scipio, who was chosen consul that year. The winner of Hannibal himself, who was his adviser, actually led the troops. In 190 BC. e. Antiochus was defeated and, according to the concluded peace, lost all his possessions in Asia Minor.

The forces of the once great states - the Macedonian and Syrian kingdoms - were exhausted. After the Battle of Pydna in 168 B.C. e. The Romans completely subjugated Macedonia. Twenty years later, the uprising of the Greeks, dissatisfied with the interference of Rome in their affairs, was suppressed. As a warning to the vanquished, the Romans completely destroyed Corinth, one of the ancient cities of Greece.

Remember at what time the period of the highest power of the Macedonian state fell.

"Carthage must be destroyed!"

While the Romans did not remember Carthage, busy with affairs in the East, he gradually recovered from defeat, growing rich in maritime trade. However, Rome could not reconcile itself to the revival of its ancient enemy. Each speech of one of the most authoritative Roman senators, Mark Porcius Cato, ended with the words: “And yet, I believe that Carthage must be destroyed!” Finally, the Senate passed a verdict: Carthage was to be destroyed, and its inhabitants to be resettled away from the sea, which for centuries fed them and ensured the prosperity of the city.

Senate meeting in Rome. Modern drawing

In 149 BC. e. The Romans laid siege to Carthage and the Third Punic War began. At first it seemed that this war would be easy. But in the face of inevitable death, the inhabitants of Carthage showed amazing courage and resilience, defending themselves from their old enemy. Men and women, old and young, strengthened the walls and gates, forged weapons day and night without rest. The siege lasted for about three years. The assault on the city was led by Publius Scipio Emilianus, the grandson of the brave consul who died at Cannae, adopted by the family of Scipio, the winner of Hannibal. When Carthage was taken and plundered, a furrow was drawn through the whole city with a plow as a sign that it was forbidden to settle in this place forever and ever.

Ruins of Carthage

Mithridatic Wars

The last powerful opponent of Rome in the Hellenistic East was the Pontic king Mithridates VI Eupator (120-63 BC). His kingdom was located on the northern coast of the Black Sea. Mithridates VI was a remarkable personality, he achieved power and glory in spite of many adversities. He was distinguished by his enormous growth, he knew no equal in the art of riding and archery. But Mithridates was tempted not only in military affairs, but also in the art of the ruler. Possessing the ability to enter into profitable alliances, he was able to unite around him all the opponents of Rome. The Armenian king, sea pirates of the Mediterranean, and Greek cities became his allies.

In 88 BC. e. a huge army of the Pontic king attacked the Roman possessions in Asia Minor. Mithridates managed to win the sympathy of local residents who were dissatisfied with the Romans. The invasion of the Pontics at first seemed to them a deliverance from oppression. The Romans were expelled from many cities in Asia Minor. Then the army of the Pontic king landed in Macedonia, and soon the entire Balkan Peninsula rose up against the power of the Romans.

Mithridates VI. Image on the coin

The wars with Mithridates dragged on for a long twenty years. The first of them ended with the expulsion of the Pontics from Greece, the second led to the final collapse of the rule of Mithridates in Asia. The content of a large army forced the king to demand money from the Greek cities, to which he himself promised freedom from taxes. The Greeks stopped supporting Mithridates. In the end, the Pontic king lost all his allies and committed suicide. In Rome, the death of a formidable enemy was celebrated as the greatest victory. The wars with Mithridates effectively ended Rome's struggle for dominance over the Hellenistic world. Egypt was the last of the great Hellenistic states to recognize Roman power over itself in 30 BC. e.

Using the map and text, tell about the wars of Rome with the Pontic kingdom.

Summing up

During the long wars, Rome subjugated the largest Hellenistic states - Macedonia, Syria, the Bosporan kingdom, Egypt.

2nd-1st century BC e. Roman victories over the Hellenistic states.

Questions and tasks

1. What Hellenistic rulers and states did the Romans have to fight?

2. Who in the Hellenistic world was the last dangerous enemy for Rome?

3. Try to explain why the Romans chose to destroy the rich trading cities of Corinth and Carthage to the ground.