Ministry of Education and Science Russian Federation
South Ural State University
Department of Political Science
On the topic "Reflection of the principles of the social life of the ancient Greeks in the works of Homer and Hesiod"
Completed:
Student of group I-112 Khusnullin A.V.
Chelyabinsk 2010
Introduction
The world of ancient Greek mythological and philosophical literature is extremely diverse and interesting. It is enough just to look at the immortal works of Homer "Iliad" and "Odyssey", which have passed through the centuries and still retain their relevance. After all, whatever the time in which we live, people still remain the same as they were in antiquity. All the same as before, they strive for fame, wealth and power. The merit of Homer is that even then he was able to show everyone what a person really is. But not only from the moral side, one can characterize his works, but also as a visual aid on how the ancient Greeks still lived, what customs and rules of etiquette they had, how their laws and social management were built. Thus, we can say that Homer prescribed the entire social life of society Ancient Greece.
The political and economic thoughts of the ancient Greeks were described by another no less famous sage, Hesiod. He is the first historically reliable poet not only of Ancient Greece, but of all of Europe. He became the founder of the genre of edifying poems, which served as a model for subsequent didactic poetry. In the poem "Theogony" (that is, "Genealogy of the Gods"), Hesiod collected and systematized ancient Greek myths, tried to present the genealogy of the Olympian gods as a whole. The poem "Works and Days" is dedicated to the lawsuit between Hesiod and his brother Persian. Hesiod develops a picture of his contemporary society, where violence and injustice reign. The poem reflects the views of rural workers on the structure of society, in which only hard, everyday work should bring prosperity to life. The wise ruler, who in Hesiod appears in the form of Zeus, must act as a guarantor and guardian of a reasonable social order.
HOMER (Latin Homer, Greek Omiros), ancient Greek poet. Until now, there is no convincing evidence of the reality of the historical figure of Homer. According to ancient tradition, it was customary to represent Homer as a blind wandering singer-aed; seven cities argued for the honor of being called his homeland. He probably came from Smyrna (Asia Minor), or from the island of Chios. It can be assumed that Homer lived around the 8th century BC.
Homer is credited with the authorship of two of the greatest works of ancient Greek literature - the poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey". In ancient times, Homer was recognized as the author of other works: the poem "Batrachomachia" and a collection of "Homeric hymns." modern science assigns to Homer only the Iliad and the Odyssey, and there is an opinion that these poems were created by different poets and in different historical time. Back in ancient times, the “Homeric question” arose, which is now understood as a set of problems related to the origin and development of the ancient Greek epic, including the relationship between folklore and literary creativity.
The Iliad (a poem about Ilion, that is, Three), an ancient Greek epic poem attributed to Homer, a monument of world significance. Apparently, it originated in the 9th-8th centuries. BC e. in Ionia on the basis of legends about the Trojan War (13th century). Written in hexameter (ca. 15,700 verses). Main character The Iliad - Achilles. "The wrath of Achilles", offended by the supreme leader Agamemnon, is the main motive that organizes the plot unity of the poem. Pictures of heroic fights alternate with pictures of peaceful life in the besieged Troy and with scenes of the dispute of the gods on Olympus, not devoid of "reducing" humor. The continuation can be considered "Odyssey", a poem about the wanderings of Odysseus. Created a little later than The Iliad, approximately dating from the 8th-7th centuries. BC e.; written in the same way as the Iliad in hexameter (c. 12,100 verses). The Odyssey is based on a world-famous folklore story: a husband, after long wanderings, returns unrecognizable to his faithful wife Penelope. In the image of Odysseus, heroic traits recede into the background before the qualities of the mind, cunning ingenuity and prudence. The Odyssey contains more everyday paintings and fairy-tale material than the Iliad. In these works of Homer, you can see how the ancient Greeks lived, study their way of life, their worries, the moral side of society, and much more. In this chapter, I will outline the basic principles of the social life of the society of that time and give as clear examples as possible.
The ancient Greeks are hospitable people and they do not care what status and nationality their guest is, with the possible exception of slaves. The customs of welcoming guests were very interesting, as some special rules of hospitality and communication with the guest were always observed. The guest was always met by the owner of the house himself or one of his eldest sons and taking him by the right hand led him into the house. It is also worth noting that if the guest was armed, then he had to hand over his weapon (sword, spear or bow) to the owner of the house, and he, in turn, put it in a safe place. Thus, the guest, as it were, completely trusted himself at the disposal of the owner of the house, and the owner could be sure that the guest had no evil intentions towards him. Again, any free person, whether rich or poor, could be a guest, and he was always seated at the table with the owner, laid out on chairs with a special footstool and allowed to taste food from the same dish and drink wine from the same jug with the owner . Travelers tired from the road were always offered to spend the night in the house. The hosts of that time were very cordial and hospitable and could invite a complete stranger to their place.
Meeting of the wanderer by Telemachus, the son of Odysseus, in his house:
“... he saw Athena;
Immediately he got up and hurried to the entrance indignantly.
In the heart that the wanderer was forced to wait outside the threshold;
approaching,
He took the stranger's right hand, took his spear,
“Rejoice stranger; come to us; we will gladly treat you;
You will declare your need to us, being satisfied with our food,
Having finished, he went ahead, followed by Pallas Athena
With her, entering the banquet chamber, to the high column
Right with a spear he came up and hid it there in a setting
Smooth-hewn…
... To rich armchairs, skillful work, having brought Athena,
He invited her to sit in them, covering them in advance with a patterned
Cloth; there was a bench for the legs ... "
Not a small role is played by such a ceremony as washing the feet of a guest. The owners thus offer the traveler to rest from the road and regain strength. But not only feet can be washed - noble guests go to the baths, where their tired bodies were rubbed by slaves with fragrant oil, after which they were dressed in spacious clothes.
“After their eyes [Telemachus and Peisistratus] had seen enough,
Both went and bathed in beautifully hewn baths.
Having washed, the slaves rubbed their body with oil shining with it,
Then they put on woolen cloaks and chitons.
Going out, they sat down next to Menelaus Atrids.
Immediately a beautiful golden jug with washing water
In a silver basin was placed before them by a maid
For washing. After she set up the table, she is smooth.
But hospitality does not end there, because there is also the ethics of travelers and hunters who also invite random travelers to their hearth. In this case, special rules apply, such as meeting and shaking hands with travelers. The role of soft chairs in this case is played by soft skins and animal skins. They seat guests among their own, perhaps this is also some kind of protection against sudden aggression and pour them wine and give them meat and bread to taste, as a gesture of friendliness.
Meeting of Nestor and his team of Telemachus and Polikast:
“Everyone, seeing foreigners, went to meet them and, hands
When serving them, they asked them to sit down in a friendly manner with the people.
The first to meet them, Nestor's son, Pisistratus
noble,
Gently taking both by the hand, on the sandy shore
Place on soft spread skins invited them to take
Between an elderly father and brother Frosimedes.
Give them a sweet taste of the womb, he is fragrant wine
He filled the cup, took a sip of wine ... "
The ancient Greeks, like any people, had their own gods, and not one of the festivities or very important negotiations took place without the rite of sacrifice. Bulls grazing in abundant meadows were usually sacrificed, but sometimes rams and goats were also used. The process of sacrifice is described by Homer quite clearly:
“Having washed his hands, he showered the whole heifer with barley and, cutting off
Wool from her head, threw into the fire and prayed to Athena.
Everyone then prayed and showered grains on the victim.
Nestor's son, Thrasymedes the proud, instantly approaching
To the victim, stabbed her, cutting the tendons with an ax
Neck, and the strength of the heifer relaxed. And the click was emitted
All daughters and daughters-in-law with the venerable Eurydice herself,
Nestor the elder's wife, Klimen's eldest daughter.
The same, having lifted up from the wide-road land, held
Heifer. Frasimede stabbed her in the neck with a knife. When
Black blood flowed out and the spirit of her bones left,
They immediately divided her into parts and, cutting out her hips
So, as custom dictates, trimmed fat in two layers
They were wrapped and the rest of the meat was piled on them.
Nestor burned them on fire, sprinkling them with crimson wine.
The young men, about standing, held five-prongs in their hands.
After they burned the thighs and tasted the giblets of the victim,
Everything else, dividing into pieces and bumping into rods,
They began to fry, holding pointed rods with their hands.
Washed the guest meanwhile Polycasta, a beautiful maiden,
Nestor's youngest daughter, the glorious son of Neleus,
Having washed, she rubbed his body with shining oil,
She dressed the guest's shoulders with a beautiful cloak and tunic.
Looking like immortal gods, he came out of the bath
And, approaching, near Nestor sat down, the lords of the peoples.
In the meantime, the meat was fried, removed from the skewers.
They sat down for lunch. Carefully the men walked
Around those who were feasting, wine in golden cups was served to them.
After drinking and eating quenched desire ... "
A form of socio-economic and political organization societies and states in Ancient Greece were policies. They were full-fledged citizens (members of the community), each of whom had the right to land ownership and political rights. The form of power in the policy was different (oligarchy, democracy, etc.). In the policies, where there was a democratic way of life, all sorts of important decisions were made at a general meeting, at a meeting of all free male citizens of the city. To invite to this meeting, the initiator sent heralds to the policy to attract the people. Homer in the Odyssey tells that the meeting organized by Telemachus took place in the main city square and with a full gathering of all the inhabitants of the policy.
National Assembly called by Telemachus:
Call them a call to gather thick-haired Achaeans on the square;
They clicked; others gathered in the square; when
They all gathered and the assembly became complete,
With a copper spear in his hand, he appeared before the host of the people -
There was not one, two dashing dogs ran after him ... "
The social life of the Ancient Greeks is also described by Hesiod in the poem Works and Days. Hesiod (lat. Hesiod, Greek. Isiodos) (late 8th - 1st half of the 7th century BC), the first ancient Greek poet known by name. In the didactic epic poem Works and Days, Hesiod glorifies peasant labor, threatens the oppressors of the peasants with the wrath of the gods; the poem "Theogony" rationalistically systematizes Greek myths. Hesiod contrasts his poetry with the heroic epic as a sober "truth" of a beautiful "lie".
A native of the city of Kima (Asia Minor), Hesiod and his family moved to Boeotia (Central Greece). Having inherited a small plot of land, he remained a small landowner all his life. At the same time, he acted as a rhapsodist (narrator), won a rhapsod competition on the island of Euboea. Hesiod is the first historically reliable poet not only of Ancient Greece, but of all of Europe. He became the founder of the genre of edifying poems, which served as a model for subsequent didactic poetry.
The poem "Works and Days" arose in line with "teachings", also known in the Middle Eastern literature of the 2nd - 1st millennia. Its fundamental novelty, however, was that the Homeric hexameter, intended for singing heroic deeds epic heroes, here, with appropriate modifications, it was adapted for a completely different theme - the chanting of honest labor and instructions on agriculture.
The social situation in Boeotia was gloomy at this time. The “best”, “leaders”, that is, the former tribal leaders, who, in the era of intertribal and all sorts of other wars, really had to show their compatriots examples of valor in battle, now constituted a privileged stratum of society and, not having the strength to raid foreign lands, they seized the property of their fellow citizens - from some for debts, from some in court, from others by force. In such conditions, to defend their independence was another task of Hesiod.
Works and Days is a didactic epic addressed to the Persians. His free chain composition is completely different from the harmonious composition of the Homeric poems. The position of the author-narrator is also changing: the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey is completely hidden behind the events he sings and remains forever elusive for us, while Hesiod acts in his poem as a narrator who tells about himself and seeks to convey to other people and above all to his brother, his own views. The work of Hesiod was supposed to convince the Persian that in order to improve his financial situation, he needed to embark on the path of honest labor on native land, and not to conduct a process and give bribes to judges. This goal is served by the picture of the world, ruled by Zeus, a just and wise ruler. From this point of view, Hesiod defines the place of a person whose duty is conscientious work.
All episodes of the seemingly chaotic poem of Hesiod are subordinate to its main didactic function: the proemium (introduction), addressed to Zeus, the guardian of justice, the story of two goddesses Eris (dispute, struggle), one supportive, calling people to the competition, and the other evil, inclining to strife; further - the myth of Prometheus and Pandora's box, explaining the reasons for the current state of things, and finally, the story of 5 epochs of mankind, full of deep pessimism.
Throughout the last century, the compositional unity of "Works and Days" was not highly valued. In recent decades, the efforts of a number of researchers have shown that "Works and Days" is quite convincingly divided into parts, each of which contributes to the whole. The original orientation of the poem also plays a certain role, causing digressions in the form of appeals to the Persian, also full of edification. One should not underestimate the associativity of thinking and the use of so-called leitmotifs, when the author, having named one concept, develops it in adjacent verses.
Guidance on choosing a wife:
“Introduce your spouse into the house, as you come to the right age.
Don’t rush until thirty, but don’t delay for thirty too long:
Thirty years to get married - that's the most best time.
Let the bride ripen for four years, marry the fifth.
Take a girl as a wife - it is easier to inspire her with good manners.
Try to take from those who live next door to you.
Look at everything well, so as not to laugh at your neighbors to marry.
There is nothing better than a good wife,
But nothing is worse than a bad wife,
Greedy sweet. Such and the strongest husband
It will dry up more than fire and will drive you into old age until the time. ”
In general, Hesiod describes many different rules of conduct and household advice for all walks of life in ancient Greece. It is worth noting his instruction on relationships with other people:
“Also, never put a comrade on an equal footing with a brother.
Once, however, you set it, then do no harm to him first
And don't lie to get your tongue out. If he himself
The first one to offend you will either start with a word, or with a deed,
Remembering this, repay him doubly. If again
He will want to enter into friendship with you and make amends,
Do not shy away: it is not good to change friends every now and then.
Only so that he does not mislead you with his outward appearance!
It is not necessary to be known as unsociable, and it is not necessary to be known as a hospitable;
Also, do not dare to reproach people who destroy the soul,
Disastrous poverty: blessed gods send it to people.
The best treasure people consider the language is not talkative.
You will observe the measure in words - and you will be pleasant to everyone;
If you begin to slander others, you will hear even worse about yourself.
Hesiod also developed a calendar according to which various ceremonies, agricultural work should be performed, regulated the days favorable for some, and harmful for other actions. But the description of these days is not in order, (i.e. not 1,2,3 ...) but randomly:
“... Thoroughly Zeus’s days in meaning and you yourself distinguish
And educate the household. Thirtieth is the best day
To review the work done, to share supplies.
This is what the various days of Kronid the All-Wise mean,
If there is truth in the judgments of the nations about this.
Sacred days: the day before the first number and the fourth.
The seventh day - on this day Apollo the golden one was born,
Also eighth and ninth. Especially in the month there are two
Days with the growing moon, excellent for mortal deeds,
Day eleven and twelfth; both are happy
For gathering fruits and for shearing thick-fleeced sheep ...
... The day is not bad male-born - the tenth; and the day of the woman-bearing -
Average top ten fourth; sheep and sharp-toothed dogs,
Heavy-footed, horned bulls and hardy mules
On the same day it is good to tame. look out for the fourth
The day after a new il wave of the moon to allow yourself in the heart
Sorrows gnawing at the spirit: for this day is very sacred.
Also on the fourth day, bring your young wife into your house,
Birds before asking, the best for this case.
Avoid the fifth days: these days are hard and terrible;
On the fifth day, they say, the Erinnies nurture an Orc,
Oath-criminal to the death of the one born into the world of Eris ... "
Not of little importance are the so-called. "Instructions for Daily Life", or if translated into modern language « Helpful Hints on every day". Here you can see how you need to look in public, and how you should treat the gods, and many other small, but very important rules in ancient Greece. In general, he described many myths that explained the then state of affairs as the consequences of the actions of gods and people, such as the myth of Pandora, which explains the difficulties of life and the myth of the change of centuries, which explains the deterioration of the human race. Also in this poem there is the idea of a righteous judgment, that the punishment will surely overtake the guilty, that it is necessary to follow righteous path and life will pass in joys and there will be no sorrows:
The story of the perpetrators of the unjust judgment "kings-givers" and a fable for their edification.
Appeal to the Persian: the need to follow the Truth.
A parable about two cities: the righteous and the unrighteous, addressed to the kings.
It should be remembered that Justice (Dika) monitors the behavior of people and reports the violation of its commandments to Zeus.
A new appeal to the Persians: a call to choose the right path.
Well, since Hesiod was also a farmer, he could not ignore the advice for rural workers and other small tips:
The necessary conditions for smart business.
Preparation for plowing and winter sowing.
Plowing the land.
Winter. Precautions against cold and disease.
The coming of spring.
Summer rest.
Grape harvest and final verse.
Sailing: instructions and warnings.
This part of the poem, depicting to us the image of a caring farmer in the bosom of nature, has high poetic merit. Here you can feel a powerful connection with the earth, nature and the rhythms of its life. The descriptions of primitive agricultural implements and the ways in which they were used are interesting. The picture of village life seems true and plastic, but the remarks about navigation that follow the calendar are more schematic and breathe a peasant dislike for the sea. At the end of the poem is a list of happy and unlucky days, recognized in antiquity as a later insert. Hesiod's instructions are typical of a peasant from Boeotia, which at that time was one of the most backward regions of Greece. Power belonged to the tribal aristocracy. The village was overpopulated, the land was increasingly fragmented, because Boeotia did not participate in the colonization, which for some time solved this problem.
Labor instructions:
“Only in the east will the Atlantis-Pleiades begin to rise,
Reap quickly; and they start to come in - take up the sowing.
For forty days and nights completely hidden from the sky
Pleiades stars, then become visible to the eye
Again, while people begin to sharpen iron,
Everywhere such is the law on the plains - and for those who are by the sea
Lives close, and for those who are in the gorges of the mountain valleys,
From the noisy gray sea far away, inhabits
Fat lands. But do you sow, or reap, or plow -
Always work naked! That's the only way to end
Every business of Demeter is in time. And it will be on time
Everything you have to grow"
Political and economic spheres of life in the works of Hesiod "Theogony" and "Works and Days". Political Scenes in the Works of Homer.
From the 8th to the 6th century BC, the ancient Greek cities experienced a period of active trade and economic activity, the welfare of the townspeople grew, the social atmosphere of society, its organization and culture improved. Homer created the famous poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey", which became a kind of Old Testament for the ancient Greeks. The poet Archilochus laid the foundation for lyric poetry, which quickly became popular among the people.
For the 8th century BC the time of the first Olympiad /776/, the foundation of Rome /753/. At the same time, monumental architectural monuments and various temples were being built in the cities. Each city that makes up an independent state has its own architectural "face", its favorite poets.
In the 7th century BC, there are three main areas of stone buildings, including temple, cult and social types:
1. the Doric style was distinguished by simplicity, monumentality and strength;
2. Ionic, on the contrary, was decorative and graceful;
3. The Corinthian style was distinguished from all others by refinement, refinement of forms, harmony of magnificent buildings.
The same diversity was noted in the myths and legends of the inhabitants of Ancient Achaia in the period later called archaic. Gods, mythical creatures from numerous legends are firmly entering the life of the townspeople, becoming accomplices in the processes of being. Everything incomprehensible to the mind is attributed to the other world, to the activity of the spirits and inhabitants of the divine Olympus.
This manifests the fantasy of the inhabitants of the policies, each in its own way has its own host of deities, the creative research of poets more and more diversifies the colorful descriptions of the adventures of mythological characters, reducing their life to the likeness of the earth, but full of miracles and transformations. According to traditions and legends, the gods spend their lives in joys, disputes and competitions, constantly intriguing and cheating on each other, from time to time overthrowing the unworthy or weakest celestials from Olympus.
With such a variety of deities, no one is forbidden to serve one of them, but the priesthood does not attract the townspeople, who are quite independent and do not want to listen to the moralizing of the priests. There was no special caste of priests, as, for example, in Ancient Egypt or Judea. The Greeks believed that the gods themselves should choose the people they liked. Therefore, people were chosen for the positions of priests by lot. In the outcome of the draw, the will of the gods was manifested.
The rulers also did not need the patronage of the clergy, people did not seek protection from them, relying on their own strength and state power. The power of the rulers was based on the respect of the inhabitants of the policies, who elected kings and made decisions on re-election, based on the results of the practical activities of the archon (the king, who was also called a tyrant).
With such free-thinking and richness of forms of expression, fine arts, rhetoric (the art of argument and persuasion), sports competitions flourish, the beauty of the human body is extolled, its harmonious development, combined with an enlightened mind.
The works of Homer enjoyed extraordinary respect. Homer expressed the tragic and fascinating events of ancient times in the form of epic poetry, which included a variety of legendary heroes, mythical creatures from many scattered legends of the ancient Achaean period. Homer himself appeared to the ancient Greeks as a blind old man, apparently proceeding from the opinion that a person who does not have physical vision has an inner spiritual “vision”, and it is precisely this that sees the secrets of the heroic past of the Greeks in the light of an outstanding poetic talent.
The lifetime of the greatest poet of antiquity is indicated by the 8th century BC, but even this extensive date is rather arbitrary, even for the ancient Greeks Homer was a person hidden in time, without a biography and without a place of birth. Many cities subsequently competed for the honor of being called Homer's birthplace and each interpreted Homeric texts in their own vision. But one thing remained unchanged in these texts - the cruelty, masculinity of the heroes was combined with a developed intellect and wit, which attracted gods and goddesses to their side, made it possible to overcome all the fabulous difficulties of terrible worlds inhabited by magicians, cannibals, werewolves, cyclops and other evil, cunning creatures . The narrations themselves are excitingly interesting and they show many ethical attitudes that influenced the formation of moral / ethical / philosophy in Ancient Greece.
Many rulers of the city-states drew from the Homeric poems the necessary institutions, tried to combine severity with a sharp mind, justice with deceit, which was characteristic of Odysseus, the legendary ruler of Ithaca and the heroic character of Homer's main poem. Like Odysseus, they went against fate and were not afraid of the wrath of the gods, embarking on adventurous campaigns, showing cruelty and cunning, extolling the main thing - selfless service to the Motherland, the city and citizens that chose them to protect their interests.
The name Odysseus in translation means "I feel angry" and symbolizes the hero, on whom the wrath of the gods is directed. If in other religious systems they tried to perceive the gods as omnipotent and omnipotent, arguing and fighting with which it was useless and extremely dangerous, then it was in Ancient Greece, on the contrary, that the raising of the human spirit to such a height was encouraged, where its triumph even frightens the gods and forces them to recognize a person equal to himself. It is from here that the desire for freethinking of ancient Greek philosophy, the democratic political structure of city-states and the glorification of the human in people, as opposed to the priestly love of God, come from.
Homer's sayings:
"God finds the culprit."
"There is a time for everything: its hour for conversation, its hour for peace."
“The language of man is flexible; there is no end to speeches in it.
"A fool knows only what has happened."
"A woman is adorned with silence."
"Do not impose services against your will."
"There is nothing worse than wandering in foreign lands."
"Beautiful is short-lived."
"Pleasant is the finished work."
"I am for you, you are for me."
According to Proclus, "gomeros" means "blind". Singing was a common activity for the blind, as blindness and spirituality often coincided. Disputes around the identity of Homer have been going on for almost three thousand years. In antiquity, he was quite convincingly considered an Ionian from the island of Chios.
Separate parts of the Iliad can be dated to the 10th century BC. The epic tells about the events of the 12th century BC.
The beginning of the cultural revolution in Europe is marked by the writing of epic poems by Homer.
Around the same time, another famous poet, Hesiod, created the poems "Theogony" and "Creations and Days" - mystical and philosophical works that had a significant impact on the formation of ancient Greek ethics and philosophical thought.
The origin of Hesiod is historically proven. It is known that he performed with his works in competitions in rhetoric and the beauty of the style, received a prize in Chalkis, which was recorded by ancient chroniclers. He used the form of the epic hexameter to compose poetry, as well as the Homeric syllable in his works, including Theogony (The Origin of the Gods), the first philosophical study of the creation of the world and the origin of the gods.
Hesiod from Theogony.
“First of all, Chaos was born in the universe, and then
Broad-breasted Gaia, safe shelter for all,
Gloomy Tartarus in the deep earthly depths,
And, among all the eternal gods, the most beautiful is Eros.
Sweet-smelling - all gods and earthly people have it
It conquers the soul in the chest and deprives all reasoning.
Black Night and stubborn Erebus was born from Chaos.
Night also gave birth to Ether and the shining Day or Hemera:
She conceived them in the womb, united with Erebus in love.
Gaia, first of all, gave birth to an equal breadth
Starry Sky, Uranus, so that it exactly covers it everywhere
And to serve as a strong dwelling for the blessed gods;
Nymphs living in the thickets of upland multi-shade forests;
She also gave birth, not entering anyone on the bed,
Noisy barren sea Pontus. And then, dividing
A bed with Uranus, the Ocean gave birth to a deep…”
If “Theogony” is a mythological complex with a retelling of the genealogical origin of the gods, then “Works and Days” (“Creations and Days”) are closer to real life, history, and the psychology of the Mediterranean peoples. Here is an excerpt from the writings of Hesiod with a commentary by the famous historian R. Graves.
“The first people were called the Golden Generation and worshiped Kron. They lived without worries and labors, eating acorns, wild fruits and honey ... They drank sheep and goat milk, never grew old, danced and laughed a lot. Death for them was no more terrible than sleep. None of them are left, but their spirits still exist: they have become blissful demons, givers of good luck and defenders of justice.
Then there were people Silver Age who ate bread, also of divine origin. These people obeyed their mothers in everything and did not dare to disobey them, although they lived up to a hundred years. They were quarrelsome and ignorant and never made sacrifices to the gods, but they were good because they did not fight with each other. Zeus destroyed them all.
Then came the people of the Copper Age, in no way similar to the former; they were all armed with copper weapons. They ate meat and bread, loved to fight, were rude and cruel. The Black Death took them all.
The fourth people were also people of copper, but they differed from their predecessors in nobility and kindness, since they were the children of gods and mortal mothers. They covered themselves with glory at the siege of Thebes, during the journey of the Argonauts and during the Trojan War. They became heroes, and "the islands inhabit the Blessed."
The fifth were the current iron people, the unworthy descendants of the fourth generation. They became hardened, became unjust, vicious, impious to their parents and deceitful ... "
“Greek philosophers distinguished man, created by Prometheus, from imperfect earthly creatures, partially destroyed by Zeus, and partially crushed by the Deucalion flood. The same distinction can be found in the Bible (Gen. 6:2-4), where "sons of God" are contrasted with "daughters of men", whom they marry...
The fourth people were the warrior kings of the Mycenae era. The Dorians of the 12th century were the fifth people. BC, who used iron tools and destroyed the Mycenaean civilization.”
(R. Graves)
Hesiod was the first in the Mediterranean to develop the poetry of prescriptions and moralizing. “Look with your ear to justice and you will completely forget about abuses,” Hesiod instructed the rulers.
Conclusion
Already in the epics of Homer and Hesiod, although on a mythological basis, certain legal and political ideas begin to develop. So, in Homer's poems, Zeus in the moral and legal plane acts as the supreme deputy of general justice, who severely punishes those who create violence and wrong judgment. Violation of justice is not just an anti-social, but, above all, an anti-divine act, which inevitably brings God's punishment. Actually, the consolidation in these poems of the socio-political situation and ideology of that time gives an idea of the legal understanding of that period. This period, which is called "Homeric Greece", is characterized by the absence of the state and, accordingly, of law in the sense of state legislation, but it knows law in the form of custom and justice, knows the principle of political and legal justice. Already in this period, law and justice in the view of the Greeks, although closely interconnected, differ even in terminology. Justice is the unconditional basis and principle of law, as an established custom, customary law; customary law is a certain concretization of eternal justice, its presence, manifestation and observance between people. Although the rules of customary law were not written down, however, the observance of these rules was strict. The ancient Greeks already in this period, judging by the Homeric poems, had a highly developed understanding of the law, associated with the concept of just and unjust deeds.
The idea of law and a just socio-political structure becomes even more important in the poems of Hesiod, Theogony and Works and Days. In Hesiod's interpretation, the gods act as carriers of moral and legal principles and forces. According to Hesiod, the reign of Zeus is marked by the establishment of the foundations of justice, law and public welfare. Justice in Hesiod, like Homer, is opposed to force and violence. Hesiod first encountered the emergence of two concepts that run through the entire ancient Greek political and legal thought: the concept of law by nature, or natural law and the concept of law established by people.
Bibliography
1) Homer. Iliad (translated by N. Gnedich)
2) Homer. Odyssey (translated by V. Zhukovsky)
3) Hellenic poets of the 7th-8th centuries. BC. Research Center "Ladomir", 1999
4) Hesiod. Works and days. Theogony (translated by V.Veresaev)
5) Nersesyants V.S. Political Doctrines of Ancient Greece. Moscow: Nauka, 1979
We imagined the Earth, there are many answers, since the views of our distant ancestors were radically different depending on which region of the planet they lived in. For example, according to one of the first cosmological models, it rests on three whales swimming in the boundless Ocean. Obviously, such ideas about the world could not have arisen among the inhabitants of the desert, who had never seen the sea. Territorial binding can also be seen in the views of the ancient Indians. They believed that the Earth stands on elephants and is a hemisphere. They, in turn, are located on a giant tortoise, and that one is on a snake, curled up in a ring and closing the near-Earth space.
Egyptian representations
The life and well-being of the representatives of this ancient and one of the most interesting and original civilizations completely depended on the Nile. Therefore, it is not surprising that it was he who was at the center of their cosmology.
The real river Nile flowed on the earth, underground - underground, which belonged to the kingdom of the dead, and in the sky - representing the firmament. The sun god Ra spent all his time traveling by boat. During the day, he sailed along the heavenly Nile, and at night, along its underground continuation, flowing through the kingdom of the dead.
How the ancient Greeks imagined the Earth
Representatives of the Hellenic civilization left the greatest cultural heritage. Its part is ancient Greek cosmology. She found her reflection in Homer's poems - "Odyssey" and "Iliad". In them, the Earth is described as a convex disk, resembling a warrior's shield. In its center is land, washed on all sides by the Ocean. A copper firmament spread over the Earth. The Sun moves along it, which rises daily from the depths of the Ocean in the east and, making its way along a huge arcuate trajectory, plunges into the abyss of water in the west.
Later (in the 6th century BC), the ancient Greek philosopher Thales described the Universe as an infinite liquid mass. Inside it is a large bubble in the shape of a hemisphere. Its upper surface is concave and represents the vault of heaven, and on the lower, flat, like a cork, the Earth floats.
In ancient Babylon
The ancient inhabitants of Mesopotamia also had their own, original ideas about the world. In particular, cuneiform evidence from ancient Babylonia, which is about 6 thousand years old, has been preserved. According to these "documents", they represented the Earth in the form of a huge World Mountain. On its western slope was Babylonia itself, and on the eastern slope were all the countries unknown to them. The World Mountain was surrounded by the sea, above which, in the form of an overturned bowl, there was a firm heavenly vault. It also consisted of water, air and land. The latter was a belt of the constellations of the Zodiac. In each of them, the Sun was annually about 1 month. It moved along this belt along with the Moon and 5 planets.
There was an abyss under the Earth, where the souls of the dead found shelter. At night, the Sun passed through the underground.
The ancient Jews
According to the ideas of the Jews, the Earth was a plain, on different parts of which mountains rose. As farmers, they assigned a special place to the winds, bringing with them either drought or rain. Their storage was located in the lower tier of the sky and was a barrier between the Earth and heavenly waters: rain, snow and hail. Under the Earth were waters, from which channels went up, which fed the seas and rivers.
These ideas have been constantly evolving, and the Talmud already states that the Earth is round. At the same time, its lower part is immersed in the sea. At the same time, some sages believed that the Earth is flat, and the firmament is a hard, opaque cap covering it. During the day, the Sun passes under it, which moves above the sky at night and is therefore hidden from human eyes.
The ideas of the ancient Chinese about the Earth
Judging by archaeological finds, representatives of this civilization considered the tortoise shell to be the prototype of the cosmos. His shields divided the plane of the Earth into squares - countries.
Later, the ideas of the Chinese sages changed. In one of the oldest text documents, it is believed that the Earth is covered by the sky, which is an umbrella rotating in a horizontal direction. Over time, astronomical observations have made adjustments to this model. In particular, they began to believe that the space surrounding the Earth is spherical.
How the ancient Indians imagined the Earth
Basically, information has come down to us about the cosmological ideas of the ancient inhabitants Central America because they had their own script. In particular, the Maya Indians, like their closest neighbors, thought that the universe consists of three levels - the sky, underworld and earth. The latter seemed to them a plane floating on the surface of the water. In some older sources, the Earth was a giant crocodile, on the back of which mountains, plains, forests, etc. were located.
As for the sky, it consisted of 13 levels, on which the star-gods were located, and the most important of them was Itzamna, who gave life to all things.
The lower world also consisted of levels. At the lowest (9th) were the possessions of the deity of Death Ah Pucha, who was depicted as a human skeleton. Heaven, Earth (flat) and the Lower World were divided into 4 sectors, coinciding with parts of the world. In addition, the Maya believed that before them the gods destroyed and created the Universe more than once.
Formation of the first scientific views
The way ancient people imagined the Earth changed over time, primarily due to travel. In particular, the ancient Greeks, who had achieved great success in navigation, soon began to try to create a system of cosmology based on observations.
For example, the hypothesis of Pythagoras of Samos, who already in the 6th century BC, radically differed from how ancient people imagined the Earth. e. assumed that it was spherical.
However, his hypothesis was proved only much later. At the same time, there is reason to believe that this idea was borrowed by Pythagoras from the Egyptian priests, who used it to explain natural phenomena many centuries before classical philosophy began to form among the Greeks.
After 200 years, Aristotle used observations of lunar eclipses to prove the sphericity of our planet. His work was continued by Claudius Ptolemy, who lived in the second century AD, who created the geocentric system of the universe.
Now you know how ancient people imagined the Earth. Over the past millennia, mankind's knowledge of our planet and space has changed significantly. However, it is always interesting to learn about the views of our distant ancestors.
The oldest initial period in the development of Greek art is called Homeric (12th - 8th centuries BC). This time was reflected in the epic poems - the Iliad and the Odyssey, the author of which the ancient Greeks considered the legendary poet Homer. Although Homer's poems took shape in their final form later (in the 8th - 7th centuries BC), they tell about more ancient social relations characteristic of the time of the decomposition of the primitive communal system and the emergence of a slave-owning society.
In the Homeric period, Greek society as a whole still retained the tribal system. Ordinary members of the tribe and clan were free farmers, partly shepherds. Crafts, which were predominantly rural in nature, received some development.
But the gradual transition to iron tools, the improvement of methods of conducting Agriculture increased labor productivity and created conditions for the accumulation of wealth, the development of property inequality and slavery. However, slavery in this era was still episodic and patriarchal in nature, slave labor was used (especially at the beginning) mainly in the household of the tribal leader and military leader - the basileus.
Basileus was the head of the tribe; he united in his person judicial, military and priestly power. Basileus ruled the community together with the council of tribal elders, called bule. In the most important cases, a popular assembly was convened - the agora, which consisted of all free members of the community.
The tribes that settled at the end of the 2nd millennium BC on the territory of modern Greece, were then still at a late stage in the development of pre-class society. Therefore, the art and culture of the Homeric period took shape in the process of processing and development of those essentially still primitive skills and ideas that the Greek tribes brought with them, who only to a small extent assimilated the traditions of the higher and more mature artistic culture of the Aegean world.
However, some legends and mythological images that developed in the culture of the Aegean world entered the circle of mythological and poetic ideas of the ancient Greeks, just as various events in the history of the Aegean world received figurative and mythological implementation in the legends and in the epic of the ancient Greeks (the myth of the Minotaur, the Trojan epic cycle, etc.). The monumental architecture of ancient Greek temples, which originated in the Homeric period, used and in its own way reworked the type of megaron that had developed in Mycenae and Tiryns - a hall with a vestibule and a portico. Some of the technical skills and experience of the Mycenaean architects were also used by the Greek craftsmen. But in general, the whole aesthetic and figurative structure of the art of the Aegean world, its picturesque, subtly expressive character and ornamental, patterned forms were alien to the artistic consciousness of the ancient Greeks, who originally stood at an earlier stage. community development than the states of the Aegean world that switched to slavery.
12th - 8th centuries BC. were the era of the formation of Greek mythology. The mythological character of the consciousness of the ancient Greeks received during this period its most complete and consistent expression in epic poetry. Large cycles of epic songs reflect the ideas of the people about their life in the past and present, about gods and heroes, about the origin of the earth and sky, as well as the people's ideals of valor and nobility. Later, already in the archaic period, these oral songs were combined into large artistically complete poems.
The ancient epic, along with the mythology inextricably linked with it, expressed in its images the life of the people and their spiritual aspirations, having a huge impact on the entire subsequent development of Greek culture. His themes and plots, rethought in accordance with the spirit of the times, were developed in drama and lyrics, reflected in sculpture, painting, drawings on vases.
The visual arts and architecture of Homeric Greece, for all their directly folk origin, did not reach either the breadth of coverage of social life or the artistic perfection of epic poetry.
The earliest (of those that have come down to us) works of art are vases of the "geometric style", decorated with geometric ornaments applied with brown paint on a pale yellowish background of an earthen vessel. The ornament covered the vase, usually in its upper part, with a series of ring belts, sometimes filling its entire surface. The most complete idea of the "geometric style" is given by the so-called dipylon vases dating back to the 9th - 8th centuries. BC. and found by archaeologists in an ancient cemetery near the Dipylon Gate in Athens. These very large vessels, sometimes almost the height of a person, had a funerary and cult purpose, repeating the shape of clay vessels that served to store large quantities of grain or vegetable oil. On dipylon amphoras, the ornamentation is especially abundant: the pattern most often consists of purely geometric motifs, in particular the meander braid (the meander ornament was preserved as an ornamental motif throughout the development of Greek art). In addition to the geometric ornament, schematized plant and animal ornament was widely used. The figures of animals (birds, beasts, such as fallow deer, etc.) are repeated many times throughout the individual strips of the ornament, giving the image a clear, albeit monotonous, rhythmic structure.
An important feature of the later Dipylon vases (8th century BC) is the introduction of primitive plot images into the pattern with schematized figures of people reduced almost to a geometric sign. These plot motifs are very diverse (the ceremony of mourning the deceased, the chariot race, sailing ships, etc.). For all their sketchiness and primitiveness, the figures of people and especially animals have a certain expressiveness in conveying the general nature of the movement and the clarity of the story. If, compared with the paintings of the Crete-Mycenaean vases, the images on the Dipylon vases are more crude and primitive, then in relation to the art of pre-class society, they certainly mark a step forward.
The sculpture of Homer's time has come down to us only in the form of small plastics, for the most part clearly cult. These small figurines depicting gods or heroes were made of terracotta, ivory or bronze. The terracotta figurines found in Boeotia, completely covered with ornaments, are distinguished by their primitiveness and undivided forms; individual parts of the body are barely outlined, others are exorbitantly highlighted. Such, for example, is the figure of a seated goddess with a child: her legs are merged with the seat (throne or bench), her nose is huge and like a beak, the transfer of the anatomical structure of the body does not interest the master at all.
Along with terracotta figurines, there were also bronze ones. "Hercules and the Centaur" and "Horse", found in Olympia and belonging to the end of the Homeric period, give a very clear idea of the naive primitiveness and schematism of this small bronze sculpture, intended for dedications to the gods. The statuette of the so-called "Apollo" from Boeotia (8th century BC) with its elongated proportions and general construction of the figure resembles the images of a person in Crete-Mycenaean art, but differs sharply from them in frontal stiffness and schematic conventionality of the transfer of the face and body.
The monumental sculpture of Homeric Greece has not reached our time. Its character can be judged from the descriptions of ancient authors. The main type of this sculpture was the so-called xoans - idols made of wood or stone and representing, apparently, a roughly processed tree trunk or block of stone, completed with a barely outlined image of the head and facial features. Some idea about this sculpture can be given by geometrically simplified bronze images of gods found during excavations of a temple in Dreros on Crete, built in the 8th century. BC. Dorians, who had settled on this island long before.
Features of a more lively attitude towards real world Only a few terracotta statuettes from Boeotia, dating back to the 8th century, are possessed, such as, for example, a statuette depicting a peasant with a rogue; despite the naivety of the solution, this group is comparatively more truthful in terms of movement and less bound by the immobility and conventionality of the art of the Homeric period. In such images, one can see some parallel to the epic of Hesiod created at the same time, which glorifies peasant labor, although here the fine arts look very far behind literature.
By the 8th century, and possibly also by the 9th century. BC, the oldest remains of monuments of early Greek architecture (the temple of Artemis Orthia in Sparta, the temple in Thermos in Aetolia, the mentioned temple in Dreros in Crete) also belong. They used some of the traditions of Mycenaean architecture, mainly a general plan like a megaron; hearth-altar was placed inside the temple; on the facade, as in the megaron, two columns were placed. The most ancient of these structures had walls made of mud brick and a wooden frame, placed on a stone plinth. Remains of ceramic cladding upper parts temple. In general, the architecture of Greece in the Homeric period was at the initial stage of its development.
Songs had a strong influence on the development of the religious concepts of the ancient Greeks. The most ancient gods of ancient Greece were, as we have already seen, the personifications of the forces of nature and gradually acquired a moral significance. Among epic poets and singers, the moral element in the conceptions of deities is already so prevalent that the original symbolic personifications of nature are little and weakly visible. The deities of the ancient Greek religion are both in their character and in appearance perfectly human-like, idealized human beings; they differ from people in that in intelligence, knowledge, strength they are infinitely superior to them, and, moreover, they are immortal; in addition, they can be instantly transferred from place to place; but the qualities of their mind and heart are the same as those of people, the motives for action are the same. The same feelings and passions rule over them: hatred and love; they have the same joys and sorrows. In this sense, one must understand the words of Herodotus, that Homer and Hesiod created their gods for the Greeks; he talks about this anthropomorphism, about the transformation of the ancient gods, who were the personifications of the forces of nature, into ideal human-like creatures, having all human virtues and vices.
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The Greeks belong to the great Indo-European family peoples. This means that their ideas about the world, gods and people have a common origin with the same ideas in Slavic, Scandinavian, Indian, Celtic and many other cultures. Greek gods can be compared with the gods of the Slavs and Scandinavians in terms of their attributes and the role they played in myths. This is reflected even in the names of the days of the week. For example, Thursday among all these peoples was dedicated to the god of thunder. But Greek mythology also possessed a striking originality.
Above all else, there was infinite Chaos in the world. It was not a void - it contained the origins of all things, gods and people. In the beginning, from Chaos arose the mother earth - the goddess Gaia and the sky - Uranus. From their union came the Cyclopes - Bront, Sterop, Arg ("thunder", "shine", "lightning"). Their only eye shone high in the middle of their foreheads, turning the underground fire into heavenly fire. The second, Uranus and Gaia, gave birth to the hundred-armed and fifty-headed hecatoncheir giants - Kotta, Briareus and Giesa (“anger”, “strength”, “arable land”). And finally, a great tribe of titans was born.
There were 12 of them - six sons and daughters of Uranus and Gaia. The ocean and Tethys gave birth to all rivers. Gipperion and Theia became the ancestors of the Sun (Helios), the Moon (Selene) and the pink-fingered dawn (Eos). From Iapetus and Asia came the mighty Atlas, who now holds the firmament on his shoulders, as well as the cunning Prometheus, the narrow-minded Epimetheus and the daring Menetius. Two more pairs of titans and a titanide gave birth to gorgons and other amazing creatures. But the future belonged to the children of the sixth couple - Krona and Rhea.
Uranus did not like his offspring and he threw the Cyclopes and the hundred-armed giants into Tartarus, a terrible abyss (which was both a living being and had a neck). Then Gaia, indignant at her husband, persuaded the titans to rebel against Heaven. All of them attacked Uranus and deprived him of power. From now on, Kron, the most cunning of the titans, has become the ruler of the world. But he did not release the former captives from Tartarus, fearing their strength.
The Greeks called the reign of Cronus the Golden Age. However, it was foretold to this new ruler of the world that he would in turn be overthrown by his son. Therefore, Kron decided on a terrible measure - he began to swallow his sons and daughters. He swallowed Hestia first, then Demeter and Hera, then Hades and Poseidon. The very name Cron means “time” and it is not for nothing that people say that time swallows up its sons. The last child - Zeus, was replaced by his unfortunate mother Rhea with a stone wrapped in a diaper. Kronos swallowed the stone, and the young Zeus was hidden on the island of Crete, where he was fed with her milk by the magical goat Amalthea.
When Zeus became an adult, he managed to free his brothers and sisters by cunning, and they began to fight against Kron and the titans. For ten years they fought, but victory was not given to either side. Then Zeus, on the advice of Gaia, freed the hundred-handed and cyclops languishing in Tartarus. From now on, the Cyclopes began to forge his famous lightning bolts to Zeus. The Hundred-Hands rained down on the titans a hail of stones and rocks. Zeus and his brothers and sisters, who became known as gods, were victorious. They, in turn, threw the titans into Tartarus (“where the roots of the sea and the earth are hidden”) and assigned hundred-armed giants to guard them. The gods themselves began to rule the world.
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