The culture of ancient Greece and its achievements. Scientific achievements of the Greeks Greece achievements
Periodization of history Ancient Greece, a brief x-rist of each period.
The history of ancient Greece is divided into three stages.
First (Crete-Mycenaean civilization)- this is the emergence, rise and fall of early class societies and the first state formations of Greece II millennium BC uh. (History of Crete and Achaean Greece). In their structure, they resembled ancient Eastern ones. This process for the local autochthonous population (Pelasgians) was accelerated by the movement of the Achaean Greeks from the north, from the Danubian territories, to the territory of the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula at the end of the 3rd millennium BC. They managed to create their own statehood and original culture.
At the end of II thousand doi. e. radical socio-economic, political, cultural and ethnic changes are taking place. Starting from the XII century. BC e. a new tribal group moves to the territory of Balkan Greece - the Dorian Greeks, who destroyed the Mycenaean civilization.
Second phase, the actual polis stage of development of already ancient Greece, includes the time that came after the death of the Mycenaean statehood in XII-XI centuries. BC e. until the last third of the 4th c. BC uh. opening the already polis stage of the development of ancient Greece. It includes three periods:
1. Homeric, or pre-policy (dark ages), XI-IX centuries. BC e. It is characterized by the dominance of tribal relations in the territory of Balkan Greece.
2. Archaic Greece (VIII-VI centuries BC) - the formation of polis structures, the period of the Great Greek colonization and early Greek tyrannies.
3. Classical Greece (V-IV centuries BC) - the heyday of the ancient Greek policies, their economy, the period of the highest cultural achievements of the ancient Greeks.
After the eastern campaign of Alexander the Great and the creation of a system of Hellenistic states, third stage ancient Greek history the era of Hellenism (the last third of the 4th century BC - 30 r. BC). The last date marks the formal end of the history of Ancient Greece. This is almost three centuries, during which huge Hellenistic states were created with an extensive economy and a syncretic culture that included both Western and Eastern elements. This stage ends at the end of the 1st century. BC e., when the Hellenistic states, which experienced the aggressive side of Rome and the Parthian state, were conquered by them.
In 30 BC. e. the last of the Hellenistic states, Ptolemaic Egypt, loses its independence and becomes the prey of Rome. Since then, the history of the regions of Ancient Greece and the former Hellenistic states has been radiating already within the framework of the history of Ancient Rome.
The main achievements of the culture of the ancient Greeks
Policy was an independent political, economic and cultural unit, an association of free citizens. From the 6th century BC, a democratic form of government was established in most cities, which protected the rights of all citizens, made them conscious and active participants in political life.
Almost all citizens of the policies were literate. The city-states were ruled collectively by their free citizens. It was a kind of slave-owning democracy, it brought up a special worldview among the Greeks, because the free and politically active person became the social ideal.
Such a person was the main object and meaning of culture.
the hero of the culture of ancient Greece is a real person. Even the Greek gods have a human likeness, possess human virtues and abilities: they make mistakes, quarrel, get jealous, slander, etc.
The Greeks highly valued the poise, calmness, the measure of the actions of a person who was a free citizen and took part in the leadership of the state. Hence the absence of gigantomania in Greek art, hence the desire to fit structures and sculptures into the natural environment. An example of that successful incorporation into the landscape is the Acropolis complex in Athens. Or a sculpture of Aphrodite de Milo. The height of the figure corresponds to the height of an average Greek girl, there is no pomposity and ostentatious grandeur in her, but so much calmness, the beauty of the female body, is expressed in marble.
Following Heraclitus, in Greek culture, man is seen as a mortal GOD, and GOD is seen as an immortal man (anthropomorphism).
Such a feature permeates not only art, but also philosophy, science, mythology, the whole worldview. Already the early philosophical systems of Anaxileander, Parmenides, Pythagoras, Democrats, Heraclitus, "logos", dialectics in the structure of the world. The famous expression of Heraclitus that it is impossible to enter the same river twice became, over time, the starting point for the development of dialectics as a principle of philosophical thinking. In ancient Greek philosophy, the materialistic atomistic doctrine (Democrat) and idealism (Socrates and Plato) originate. In ancient Greece, a new branch of knowledge arose - history. "Father of history" Herodotus conceived a chronicle-opisal form of studying society. Aristotle in scientific work"Politics" formed the first theory of the state. The Greek scientist Euclid laid the foundations of geometry, Archimedes - mechanics.
Ancient Greece is the birthplace European theater. At the end of the 5th and beginning of the 4th century BC, theaters were already in all the big Greek cities. "Theater" - Gr word, translated means "Place for spectacles."
In Athens, the theater was arranged on the slopes of the Acropolis. It was one of the largest theaters in Hellas - for 17 thousand spectators. Everything that was said on the stage was clearly audible even in the last rows. They staged performances 2-3 times a year. Performances began in the morning and lasted until the evening for several days in a row. Several plays were shown every day. The plays were funny or sad (tragedy or comedy). The tragedies of Aeschylus ("Persians") were very popular. The tragedy of Sophocles "Antigone" was very popular. And the famous author of comedies in the middle of the 5th century BC was the Athenian Aristophanes (the play "Birds").
In Greece, 1 time in 4 years, national sports competitions were held - games (in Olympia). Behind the legend Olympic Games founded by the famous hero Hercules. The first games - 776 BC. They have been held since 1000 years, by the time they were banned at the request of the Christians (4th century AD). They were restored in 1896. Since then, they have become worldwide and are held in different countries in turn.
Homer "Iliad" and "Odyssey" XIII century BC.
The statue of Athena Palaada In the Parthenon ("Temple of the Virgin") was made by Physia (11 m high) - from ivory and gold.
In architecture, the Greeks were famous for their columns. They used columns of three types: Dorian, Ionian, Corinthian. Often, instead of columns, the Greeks used stone statues that supported the roof or cornice with their bodies. Such statues-columns in the form of men are called Atlantes, and in the form of women they are called caryatids. These types of columns have been used by architects all over the world.
Sculpture: Famous Greek sculptors - Physios, Miron, Polikleitos and others.
Statues were cast from bronze or carved from white marble, which were painted. The Greeks never portrayed ugly people, they considered it necessary to portray only beauty. The most famous statues are "Discoboy" Myron, "Aphrodite of Milos" by an unknown sculptor, a statue of Apollo Belvedere and "Hercules with a Lion" by Lissippus.
Buildings and sculptures, poems and thoughts of great philosophers - all these are the components of the "Greek miracle", as scientists call it today.
If you are interested in culture, you can briefly familiarize yourself with it in this article. So, what has fascinated even the most inexperienced person in art for four thousand years now? Let's take a closer look.
General information
The ancient period, which is characterized by the rise and flourishing of Hellas (as the ancient Greeks called their country), is the most interesting for most art historians. And not in vain! Indeed, at this time, the origin and formation of the principles and forms of almost all genres of contemporary art took place.
In total, scientists divide the history of the development of this country into five periods. Let's look at the typology and talk about the formation of some types of art.
Aegean era
This period is most clearly represented by two monuments - the Mycenaean and Knossos palaces. The latter is better known today as the Labyrinth from the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. After archaeological excavations, scientists have confirmed the veracity of this legend. Only the first floor has been preserved, but it has more than three hundred rooms!
In addition to the palaces, the Cretan-Mycenaean period is known for the masks of the Achaean leaders and small Cretan sculptures. The figurines found in the secrets of the palace amaze with their filigree. Women with snakes look very realistic and graceful.
Thus, the culture of Ancient Greece, a summary of which is presented in the article, originated from the symbiosis of the ancient island civilization of Crete and the arrived Achaean and Dorian tribes who settled on the Balkan Peninsula.
Homeric period
This era is significantly different in material terms from the previous one. Many important events took place between the 11th and 9th centuries BC.
First of all, the previous civilization perished. Scientists suggest that due to a volcanic eruption. Further from the statehood there was a return to the communal structure. In fact, society was being re-formed.
An important point is that against the background of material decline, spiritual culture was fully preserved and continued to develop. We can see this in the works of Homer, which reflect precisely this critical era.
It belongs to the end of the Minoan period, and the writer himself lived at the beginning of the archaic era. That is, the Iliad and the Odyssey are the only evidence of this period, because apart from them and archaeological finds, nothing is known about it today.
archaic culture
In it time runs rapid growth and formation of state-policies. The coin begins to be minted, the formation of the alphabet and the formation of writing takes place.
In an archaic era, the Olympic Games appear, a cult of a healthy and athletic body is formed.
classical period
Everything that captivates us today with the culture of Ancient Greece (a brief summary is in the article) was created precisely in this era.
Philosophy and science, painting and sculpture, and poetry - all these genres are experiencing a rise and unique development. The apogee of creative self-expression was the Athens architectural ensemble, which still amazes the audience with its harmony and elegance of forms.
Hellenism
The last period of the development of Greek culture is interesting precisely because of its ambiguity.
On the one hand, there is a unification of Greek and Eastern traditions as a result of the conquests of Alexander the Great. On the other hand, Rome captures Greece, but the latter conquers it with its culture.
Architecture
The Parthenon is probably one of the most famous monuments of the ancient world. And Doric or Ionic elements, such as columns, are inherent in some later architectural styles.
Basically, the development of this type of art, we can trace the temples. After all, it was in this type of buildings that the most efforts, means and skills were invested. Even palaces were valued less than places for sacrifices to the gods.
The beauty of ancient Greek temples lies in the fact that they were not formidable temples of mysterious and cruel celestials. By internal device they reminded ordinary houses, only equipped more elegantly and furnished richer. How could it be otherwise if the gods themselves were depicted as human-like, with the same problems, quarrels and joys?
In the future, three orders of columns formed the basis of most styles of European architecture. It was with their help that the culture of Ancient Greece briefly, but very capaciously and durably entered the life of modern man.
vase painting
The works of this type of art are the most numerous and studied to date. At school, children learn information about what the culture of Ancient Greece was (briefly). Grade 5, for example, is a period of acquaintance only with myths and legends.
And the first monuments of this civilization that students see are black-glazed ceramics - very beautiful and copies of which served as souvenirs, decorations and collectibles in all subsequent eras.
Vessel painting went through several stages of development. At first, these were simple geometric ornaments, known since the time of the Minoan culture. Next, spirals, meanders and other details are added to them.
In the process of formation, vase painting acquires the features of painting. Scenes from mythology and mythology appear on the vessels. Everyday life ancient Greeks, human figures, images of animals and everyday scenes.
It is noteworthy that the artists managed not only to convey movement in their paintings, but also to give personal features to the characters. Thanks to their attributes, individual gods and heroes are easily recognized.
Mythology
The peoples of the ancient world perceived the surrounding reality a little differently than we are used to understanding it. The deities were the main force that was responsible for what is happening in a person's life.
The school is often asked to do on the topic "Culture of Ancient Greece" short message, briefly, interestingly and in detail to describe the legacy of this amazing civilization. In this case, it is better to start the story with mythology.
The ancient Greek pantheon included a lot of gods, demigods and heroes, but the main ones were twelve Olympians. The names of some of them were already known during the Cretan-Mycenaean civilization. They are mentioned on clay tablets in linear writing. It is noteworthy that at this stage they had female and male counterparts of the same character. For example, there was Zeus-he and Zeus-she.
Today we know about the gods of ancient Greece thanks to the monuments of fine art and literature that have remained for centuries. Sculptures, frescoes, figurines, plays and stories - in all this, the worldview of the Hellenes was reflected.
Such views have outlived their time. The artistic culture of Ancient Greece, in short, had a primary influence on the formation of many European schools. various kinds arts. The Renaissance artists resurrected and developed the ideas of style, harmony and form already known in classical Greece.
Literature
Many centuries separate our society from the society of ancient Hellas, besides, in fact, only crumbs of what was written have come down to us. The Iliad and the Odyssey are probably the most popular works for which the culture of Ancient Greece is known. Summary(about Odysseus and his adventures) can be read in any anthology, and the exploits of this wise man still impress society.
Without his advice, there would have been no victory for the Achaeans in the Trojan War. In principle, both poems form the image of the ruler in an ideal light. Critics perceive him as a collective character, containing many positive features.
Homer's work dates back to the eighth century BC. Later authors, such as Euripides, brought a completely new stream to their works. If before them the main thing was the relationship of heroes and gods, as well as the tricks of the celestials and their interference in life ordinary people, but now everything is changing. The tragedies of the new generation reflect the inner world of man.
In short, culture in the classical period tries to penetrate deeper and answer most of the eternal questions. This "research" involved such areas as literature, philosophy, art. Speakers and poets, thinkers and artists - all tried to realize the versatility of the world and pass on the received wisdom to posterity.
Art
The classification of art is based on the elements of vase painting. The Greek (Achaean-Minoan) period is preceded by the Cretan-Mycenaean, when a developed civilization existed on the islands, and not on the Balkan Peninsula.
Actually the culture of Ancient Greece, a brief description of which we give in the article, is formed at the end of the second millennium BC. The most ancient monuments were temples (for example, the temple of Apollo on the island of Thera) and vessel paintings. The latter are characterized by an ornament in the form of simple geometric shapes. The main ones of this era were the ruler and the compass.
During the archaic period, which began around the seventh century BC, art becomes more advanced and bold. Corinthian black-lacquer ceramics appeared, and the poses of people depicted on vessels and bas-reliefs were borrowed from Egypt. The so-called archaic smile appears at the sculptures, which are becoming more and more natural.
In the classical era, there is a "facilitation" of architecture. Doric style is replaced by Ionic and Corinthian. Instead of limestone, marble is being used, and buildings and sculptures are becoming more airy. This civilizational phenomenon ends with Hellenism, the heyday of the empire of Alexander the Great.
Today, in many institutions, the culture of Ancient Greece is studied - briefly for children, more fully for teenagers and in depth for researchers. But even with all the desire, we do not fully cover the material left to us by the representatives of this solar people.
Philosophy
Even the origin of this term is Greek. The Hellenes were distinguished by a strong love of wisdom. Not in vain in everything ancient world they were considered the most highly educated people.
Today we do not remember any of the scientists of Mesopotamia or Egypt, we know a few Roman researchers, but the names of Greek thinkers are on everyone's lips. Democritus and Protagoras, and Pythagoras, Socrates and Plato, Epicurus and Heraclitus - they all made a huge contribution to world culture, enriched civilization with the results of their experiments so much that we still use their achievements.
The Pythagoreans, for example, absolutized the role of numbers in our world. They believed that with their help it was possible not only to describe everything, but even to predict the future. Sophists mainly paid attention to the inner world of man. Good was defined by them as something that is pleasant, and evil - as a thing or event that causes suffering.
Democritus and Epicurus developed the doctrine of atomism, that is, that the world consists of tiny elementary particles, the existence of which was proved only after the invention of the microscope.
Socrates turned the attention of thinkers from cosmology to the study of man, and Plato idealized the world of ideas, considering it the only real one.
Thus, we see that the features of the culture of Ancient Greece, in short, were reflected through the prism of the philosophical worldview on modern life person.
Theatre
Those who have visited Greece for a long time remember the amazing feeling that a person experiences while in the amphitheater. Its magical acoustics, which even today seems like a miracle, has won hearts for thousands of years. This is a building in which there are more than a dozen rows, the stage is located in the open air, and the viewer, sitting in the farthest place, is able to hear how a coin falls on the stage. Isn't it a marvel of engineering?
Thus, we see that the culture of Ancient Greece, briefly described above, formed the basis contemporary art, philosophy, science and social institutions. If not for the ancient Hellenes, it is not known what the modern way of life would be like.
It was the Greeks who first presented to people and began to develop philosophy as a separate science that studies the universal laws of the movement of nature, the thinking of society, the system of a set of views on the world and the place occupied by man in it. For the first time, ancient Greek philosophers (Plato, Socrates, Aristotle) began to study the aesthetic and ethical relationship of man to the world. Exclusively philosophical approaches to the performance of any scientific task underlie ancient Greek science. For this reason, it is impossible to single out specific scientists who dealt only with scientific problems. Absolutely all scientists of ancient Greece were thinkers and philosophers and had a solid knowledge of philosophical categories.
Mathematical research
On the top rung of the mathematical Olympus stands the proud figure of Pythagoras. This ancient Greek mathematician created the multiplication table used by today's schoolchildren, revealed the secret of a right triangle and embodied it in the theorem that bears his name, studied the proportions and properties of integers. It was Pythagoras who claimed that beauty is harmonious, i.e. it can be put into a mathematical formula. And the proof of this is the discovery of the ratio of the musical to the fundamental tone as 1 to 2, fifths 2 to 3, etc. “The whole sky is also a number” - such is the whole life of the great.
The medicine
founder modern medicine is Hippocrates, a famous ancient Greek physician, author of a treatise on the integrity of the human body. He developed the theory of an individual approach to each patient, introduced an indispensable case history, and instilled the foundations of medical ethics. Hippocrates paid special attention to the moral character of doctors and came up with the famous oath, which is dedicated to the profession of all those who receive a medical diploma. His immortal rule "Do no harm to the sick" is relevant today.
Story
The author of monumental works on history is Herodotus, who laid the foundation for Greek historiography, and a little later Xenophon continued his work. The very first historical works of Herodotus were devoted to significant political events experienced by the author himself. He tried in his writings to reliably illuminate the life of society in conjunction with the political and economic situations.
The sages and inventors of ancient Greece were ahead of their time in many ways, reaching unprecedented heights in a number of areas of life from astronomy to medicine and from mathematics to geography. The authors of scientific discoveries and inventions were often deified, since there were no analogues of the projects they implemented in the entire known world, and ordinary people refused to believe that such a thing could be created by the hand of a mere mortal.
Despite the fact that dozens of centuries have passed since then, and humanity itself is just a step away from space expansion to Mars, many of the achievements of the ancient Greeks still find their application in our daily lives.
water mills
Photo from the site - www.kalavrytanews.com
Not so long ago, water mills were widely used for blacksmithing, various needs. Agriculture and, of course, grinding grain crops. To date, this building has undergone many changes, becoming in a sense high-tech. However, even with this, the classic water mill still serves faithfully in many less developed corners of our planet.
If you believe the work of Philo of Byzantium under the title "PNEUMATICA", then the creator of the very first sample of the mill, using the energy of water, is considered Greek scientist of the 3rd millennium BC Perachor. He, in particular, guessed how to direct the energy of water into the channel required by a person by inventing a wheel with a gear transmission. This theory was subsequently confirmed by the study of the British historian Michael Lewis, who proved that Greece was the birthplace of the water mill.
Odometer
Odometer. Photos from the site -www.archaiologia.gr
The name of this device is familiar to every car owner, since the odometer fixing the mileage is installed today in all cars without exception. In our age of advanced technology, odometers are digital, but just a couple of decades ago, mankind used traditional mechanical variations of this device, and they only slightly differed in principle from those used by the ancient Greeks millennia ago.
The fact that the odometer was invented by the Greeks is indicated primarily by its name, which consists of two Greek words: odos = road and metron = measure. The creation of the device is attributed to various inventors of ancient Greece, including Archimedes. Despite disagreements in the scientific community, the majority tends to believe that the author of the first odometer is mathematician and mechanic of the 1st century AD Hero of Alexandria.
Alarm
Which of us is not familiar with this malicious opponent of sweet morning sleep and at the same time indispensable assistant in everyday life? Have any of you ever thought to whom we owe this invention? Since we have raised this question in this article, the answer is obvious - ancient Greeks. Although, to be more precise, only the idea of an alarm clock belongs to the inhabitants of antiquity, since outwardly the device that we use today and its ancient counterpart are completely different from each other.
In ancient times, the Greeks used two types of such a mechanism. One of them was a water clock, from which, at a given moment in time, water began to flow drop by drop. The drops fell into a container of a special shape that amplifies the sound.
Another device, working on a similar principle, was attached to a drum, on which, at a certain moment, pebbles began to fall. The noise from falling pebbles was still the same! Both types of alarm clock were very popular in ancient Greece around the 5th-4th centuries BC. They say that even the famous philosopher Plato resorted to the help of his water variety, who, however, used the mechanism as a bell, notifying students about the start of lectures. By the way, by the 3rd century BC. the Greeks came up with a more advanced and complex type of alarm clock with a dial and hands for measuring time, as well as gongs and pipes for signaling.
Cartography
Map of Ptolemy. Photos from the site -history-of-macedonia.com
The science of map-making was born not in Greece, but in Babylon, but it was the Greeks who improved it so much that it made it possible to travel great distances. But the first map of the world was created in Greece, its author was the philosopher Anaximander (he lived in 610-546 BC). Of course, only those corners of our planet that were known to the ancient Greeks were indicated on it, but even so, the Anaximander map is considered one of the greatest achievements of its time, and the scientist himself is called a pioneer in the field of cartography.
Olympic Games
Born over 2,700 years ago in Ancient Greece, the Olympic Games are now considered one of the most exciting sporting events on the planet. They played an even more significant role in antiquity, when, due to the lack of radio and television, it was possible to see the competition of the most powerful, courageous and dexterous men, if not from all over the world, but from all over Greece, only once every 4 years.
At the same time, Greece gave us not just a sports and entertainment event, but the idea of cultural exchange and, as a result, a means to achieve harmony and understanding between peoples. Do not forget that in ancient times, Hellas was not a single country, and its policies, independent from each other, were actually a miniature model of today's world with its many states.
The role of the Ancient Greek civilization in the history of mankind is great, complex and multifaceted. It was not only a powerful civilizational breakthrough. Ancient Greece acted as a kind of historical workshop, where many blanks were created, which received their further processing and improvement within subsequent civilizations. Democracy and private property, human freedom and civic duty, materialism and idealism, all these most important components of modern civilizational development were born in Ancient Greece. It is no coincidence that in the history of Europe the concept of rebirth is associated with Antiquity, with the Ancient Greek civilization. People of subsequent centuries sought in it a fulcrum for the further development of the spiritual world of man, science and culture, for the most important achievement of the Ancient Greek civilization was the flourishing of the human personality.
It is to the first free community of Greeks in history that we owe the emergence of scientific thinking as a type of worldview. The Greeks created the foundations of philosophical science in its dialectical unity of the idealistic and materialistic view of the world. It was they who, realizing the significance of the past for the present and future, created the science of history. Ethics and geography, psychology and trigonometry, physics and anatomy, these and many other sciences owe the ancient Greeks not only their birth, but also their names. Ancient Greece was the birthplace of many conceptual ideas that have become scientific truth today: the atomic structure of matter, the rotation of the Earth around its axis, the planets around the Sun, etc. But many of their specific inventions have also entered our today's world. It's hard to believe, but the first alarm clock was invented by Plato, and the modern taxi meter has its prototype mechanism created by the Alexandrian mechanic Godon.
The unique contribution of ancient Greece to world culture and art. Today, in our stores, next to the books of Tolstoy, Nabokov, Hemingway, you can see Homer's Iliad and Sappho's poems. And we perceive them as a natural part of our modern culture. Ancient Greece gave the world theater, the genres of tragedy and comedy. Their best examples still do not leave the stage, and many generations discover their innermost and purely contemporary meaning in the tragedies of Aeschylus and Sophocles, the comedies of Aristophanes. The architecture, sculpture and painting of Ancient Greece have long been included in the treasury of world culture, in a number of its highest examples, which equally include the temple of Athena the Virgin Parthenon, and the discus thrower of Myron, and Aphrodite of Kindus Praxiteles, and Nike of Samothrace - a symbol of triumphant victory. Speaking of ancient Greek art, we often use the word for the first time. In the first half of the 5th BC. the painter Polygont was the first to overcome the archaic flatness and stiffness of images. His multi-figured compositions created the illusion of depth in space. Miron was the first in sculpture who managed to convey the moment of transition of the body from one movement to another. The first painter in the modern sense of the word, who applied chiaroscuro (the basis on which the painting of modern times developed), was Apollodorus of Athens. But, probably, the most important thing that the Ancient Greek civilization gave us is that ideal of the harmonious beauty of a person, which, with all the diversity of culture of subsequent millennia, has remained unsurpassed. Not hiding from themselves the tragic underside of being, the Greeks had an amazing ability to enjoy life, to see and sing of its beauty.