Ancient Civilisations of East and West (Grigory Bongard-Levin, Boris Piotrovsky)

Ancient Civilisations of East and West
Author	Grigory Bongard-Levin, Boris Piotrovsky
Translated by	Sergei Syrovatkin from Russian
Publisher	Progress Publishers
First published	1988 Moscow
Type	Book
Source	https://archive.org/details/ancientciveastwest/mode/1up

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Advanced Search ABOUT BLOG PROJECTS HELP DONATE CONTACT JOBS VOLUNTEER PEOPLE Full text of "Ancient Civilisations of East and West" See other formats

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CONTRIBUTORS:

Boris Piotrovsky Grigory Bongard-Levin Mohammed Dandamayev Gennady Koshelenko Ludmila Marinovich Vadim Masson Alexandra Pavlovskaya Dmitry Rayevsky Tatiana Stepugina Yelena Shtaerman

Contributors

G. Bongard-Levin M. Dandamayev G. Koshelenko L. Marinovich V. Masson A. Pavlovskaya B. Piotrovsky D. Rayevsky Ye. Shtaerman T. Stepugina

Ancient Civilisations of East and West

Edited by Academician Boris Piotrovsky and Grigory Bongard-Levin, Corresponding Member,

USSR Academy of Sciences

Progress Publishers Moscow

Translated from the Russian by Sergei Syrovatkin Designed by Alexander Smirnov

4PEBHJ1E UHBHAH3AUMH BOCTOKA II 3AIIA4A Ha awnuiicKOM HP.me

© Progress Publishers 1988

Printed in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

A 050301 0000 522 22 014(01)—88

ISBN 5-01-001823-3

Contents

Preface

~ 1 ~

Introduction

~9

_ Part I _

The Primitive Epoch

19

Part II

Ancient Civilisations of the East

Chapter 1. Ancient Egypt: History and Culture Chapter 2. The Ancient States of Mesopotamia Chapter 3. Asia Minor in Ancient Times Chapter 4. The Ancient States of Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine, and the Arabian Peninsula

40

Chapter 5. Transcaucasia in Antiquity Chapter 6. Scythians and Their Culture Chapter 7. The Civilisation of Ancient Iran Chapter 8. Western Central Asia in Antiquity Chapter 9. The Old Indian Civilisation Chapter 10. Ancient China: History and Culture

40

52

79

89

102

113

137

147

172

Part III

The Graeco-Roman World

196

Chapter 11. Early Greece 196

Chapter 12. Archaic Greece 203

Chapter 13. Classical Greece 213

Chapter 14. The Epoch of Hellenism 236

Chapter 15. From the Origin of Rome to the Unification

of Italy 267

Chapter 16. The Rise of the Roman Empire. The Crisis

of the Republic 281

Chapter 17. The Roman Empire 307

Afterword

332

Name Index

337

Preface

In these days, when the problem of maintaining peace and preserving the cultural values accumu¬ lated by humankind is particularly acute, and a frank and fruitful dialogue between East and West is particularly necessary, the question of the people’s cultural heritage and the assessment of the contribu¬ tion of the ancient civilisations of East and West to world culture assume a great scientific and socio¬ political significance.

The present work, written by leading Soviet spe¬ cialists in Occidental and Oriental antiquity, is in¬ tended to outline the principal stages in the histori- co-cultural development of the ancient societies of East and West.

Consideration of the ancient cultures of East and West, within a single framework reflects the objective unity of the historical process, revealing a lack of true historicity in theories with a European or Oriental bias.

In recent years, fresh and extremely valuable materials have become available which enable us to read those chapters of mankind’s historical chronicle which have so far appeared mysterious. Old con¬ cepts and well-established views are revised, new methods of historical analysis are worked out, and J studies of interdisciplinary nature gain ground. 1

7

Soviet scholars have achieved, especially in the last two decades, considerable successes in the study of ancient civilisations.

One should first of all mention the discovery of previously unknown, strikingly original cultures in Central Asia and the Caucasus. Important scientific results have also been obtained by joint expeditions of Soviet archaeologists and those of Mongolia, Afg¬ hanistan, Iraq, and Yemen. Joint research projects of Soviet and Indian scholars have also been ex¬ tremely fruitful.

The foundations of many achievements in mater¬ ial and nonmaterial culture, which made an impact on the subsequent development of world civilisation, were laid in antiquity. Cereals were cultivated, ani¬ mals domesticated, and metals smelted; writing, and verbal and other arts emerged; cities were built; and classes and the state came into being. The achieve¬ ments of Graeco-Roman and Oriental culture became part of the treasure-house of human civilisation.

In recent years, the great role of the ancient cul¬ tures of Africa and South America in the overall development of human civilisation has become in¬ creasingly apparent. Unfortunately, there are very few monuments, especially written monuments, of

these remote epochs, which explains the absence of special chapters on the cultures of these regions in the present work.

It is to be hoped that the publication of this book in English, with its sumptuous illustrations (mostly of monuments from the museums of the USSR), will be of interest to readers of many countries of the world and will help Soviet historians to consolidate

their international links. Imbued with the ideas of humanism and the spirit of profound respect for all the peoples of the world, presenting the development of world history in an objective manner and reject¬ ing unscientific, biased and chauvinistic tendencies, it will undoubtedly serve the noble goals of streng¬ thening peace and social progress and bringing the peoples of the world closer together.

Academician Sergei Tikhvinsky, Chairman of the USSR National Committee of Historians

Introduction

Modern historical science, just as many other areas of knowledge, is developing at a very fast rate. Cer¬ tain problems have to be reinterpreted in a new light, and numerous facts which have seemed to be firmly established now need to be verified. The his¬ tory of antiquity is a case in point. New archaeologi¬ cal discoveries and the finding of hitherto unknown written monuments are changing existing notions of the history of ancient societies of East and West, pro¬ moting a better understanding of the political, social and cultural development of these ancient fountain¬ heads of human civilisation.

Premises have thus emerged for alternative approaches to the history of ancient civilisations of East and West. The present book, written by leading Soviet specialists in history, archaeology and cultur¬ ology working at the USSR Academy of Sciences, takes precisely such an approach.

In doing so, the authors endeavoured to cover an immense historical period from the origin of man¬ kind to the epoch of feudalism.

The first part of the book deals with the history of primitive society. That is the longest of all historical periods, stretching from the origin of man to the dec¬ line of primitive communal relations and the emer¬ gence of class society and the state. The discoveries of the last few decades in East Africa have pushed the sources of human civilisation far into antiqui¬ ty^ by several millions of years, according to the modern view. The rise of man from the animal world and the emergence of human society is a most complex process, in which labour played the decisive J role. Engels’s remarkable proposition, “Labour f- made man”, is much better substantiated now, after 1

many decades of studies by scholars in the most diverse fields, than it was at the time of its formulation.

In the early stages of the development of the pri¬ mitive communal system, defined as the Old Stone Age, or the Palaeolithic, man used the most primi¬ tive tools, which were gradually improved in the struggle against the harsh environment. The New Stone Age, referred to as the Neolithic Revolution by some researchers, was a most significant stage in the evolution of primitive society. It involved the transition from the foraging, hunung and fishing economies, to the productive economy, marked by land cultivation, stock-breeding, and the crafts. For the first time in history, human communities were able to produce and store foodstuffs necessary for subsistence over long periods and could thus settle down for long stretches of time in one place, ultima¬ tely building permanent settlements. Considerable surplus product enabled some individuals in a group to concentrate on activities other than food produc¬ tion. As production developed, the social structure and the system of society control grew in complexity. These processes led to a most important landmark in the history of mankind, the emergence of private property and the state.

The first antagonistic social formation and the state were brought about, above all, by socioeco¬ nomic factors, namely, a regularly obtained surplus product and the possibility of its redistribution. The former was ensured by the mode of econo¬ mic activity existing at the time, with irrigation in arid areas proving particularly effective.

Simultaneously, society evolved a complex of

remarkable cultural phenomena known in their totality as civilisation. Intrinsically, the first civilisa¬ tions were marked by the emergence of early class society and the state, while their most striking exter¬ nal features were writing, city centres and monu¬ mental architecture.

The process of class formation was deeply rooted in the primitive communal structure; in its earliest stages, that process assumed a latent form, as it were. In the context of changing social relations, aliena¬ tion of the surplus product often retained the tradi¬ tional external forms of the primitive communal mode of life. Thus, relying on ancient custom, chiefs made the brothers of their numerous wives give up part of their crops and till their land. This rule was gradually extended to all the the tribesmen of the chiefs wives. Later, communal lands were seized directly. The social structure of primitive communal society in the latter stages of its development already presented a rather complex picture. There was a whole series of social groups here essentially differing in their economic and social status. The supreme chiefs clan (the “royal clan”) formed the apex of the social pyramid, with the next rung of the ladder occupied by a number of “noble clans”.

This was, in fact, a forerunner of the class struc¬ ture of society, new in content though traditional in form. Gradual adaptation of traditional customs to the new situation developed into direct exploitation, of which the initial forms were the exploitation of tri¬ butaries and slaves. The paying of tribute, which was a form of subordination of one ethnic group to another, developed with the growth of inter-tribal conflicts. The archaic legal forms within which ini¬ tial exploitation took place underwent a gradual transformation as a result of which the slave became the main object of exploitation.

The starting point of slave-owning proper was the exploitation of prisoners of war treated as junior household members. As production and socioecono¬ mic relations grew in complexity, enslavement of in¬ solvent debtors gradually became normal. A charac¬ teristic feature of early historical development leading to the formation of civilisation, mankind’s outstanding achievement, was the rise of class anta¬ gonisms and concentration of enormous wealth in the hands of certain social strata and even indivi¬ duals.

As classes evolved, power was increasingly institu¬

tionalised and segregated. Gradually, the chief monopolised the right of product distribution, his power thus being extended to cover economic func¬ tions. The segregation of power was accompanied by and culminated in the formation of the state.

Traditional ideological forms were also adapted to the new social structure. Of the greatest significance was the assertion of the cult of chieftain or king, which was made the basis of the new power that had established itself in society the state. This process began at the later stages of primitive society; the position and functions of the chieftain became sacred, specific attributes of his power appeared, and his cult in this and the afterlife developed.

At the same time, these processes (and this should be constantly borne in mind) were merely a general tendency, the main line in the development of ancient societies. The evolution of each individual society could be complicated and contradictory, since uneven development is a most characteristic feature of the historical process, marked by interrup¬ tions and even regressions in the overall progressive movement. The present volume mainly deals with the history of the ancient civilisations of the Old World from the emergence of the first states to the downfall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century A.D., generally recognised as the boundary between antiquity and the Middle Ages. This period, the longest in mankind’s history, is traditionally divided into the history of the ancient East, and the history of ancient Greece and Rome.

The history of ancient civilisations is one of com¬ plex interaction between the first state structures. Emerging through spontaneous internal develop¬ ment, the first states later made an increasing impact on the surrounding peoples living under the primi¬ tive communal structure. The combined effect of the two factors-of inner development and the influence of the more developed societies-accelerated the transition of many peoples to class society. The ancient civilisations traversed the path from the first fountainheads in the valleys of the Nile, the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Hindus, and the Hwang Ho to an enormous belt stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

In the early stages, the East outstripped the West | in its economic and cultural development. It was §• precisely in the East that the earliest civilisations and 1 the first states known to history emerged some five

10

thousand years ago. Between the 6th and 3rd millen¬ nia B.C., the incessant toil of many generations of the fruitful valleys of the Nile, the Tigris, and the Euphrates brought into being the irrigation systems of Egypt and southern Mesopotamia. Somewhat later, such systems were built in India and China. This great victory of man over the forces of nature permitted rapid development of the economy. Man proceeded from food-gathering and hunting to in¬ tensive land cultivation, achieving more or less stable crops of cereals. Stone tools were replaced by the more effective labour implements made of cop¬ per and later of bronze and iron. As a result, large- scale land cultivation and forest clearing became possible. Simultaneously, stock-breeding on the basis of a settled way of life developed. A surplus of agri¬ cultural products enabled a certain portion of the population to engage in the crafts. Another great division of labour thus took place, namely, the sepa¬ ration of the crafts from agriculture.

As a result of intense development of productive forces, labour began to yield a surplus product in excess of what was necessary for the producers’ sub¬ sistence. Instead of physical labour, some individuals could now concentrate on organising production and on managerial functions in large-scale economic units then arising. For the first time in the long his¬ tory of human society, the employment of other peo¬ ple’s labour in production became possible and pro¬ fitable, which led to the emergence of slave-owning. Originally, slaves were former prisoners of war, but as relations within the clan decayed, the degradation of formerly full-fledged members of society, impov¬ erished due to crop failure, natural disaster or other causes, ended in their enslavement for their debts. Thus, side by side with slaves, still more numerous groups of formally free individuals appeared who, having lost their land, had to work for the king or the temple in return for subsistence rations.

Slaves and similar socioeconomic groups were confronted by the ruling class which consisted of the king’s retinue, the higher military ranks, the higher priests, and the elders of agricultural communes. To keep slaves and other exploited groups of the popu¬ lation in subordination, the state apparatus of coer¬ cion was created.

As Frederick Engels wrote, a situation arose when S' “only one thing was missing: ... an institution that I- would perpetuate, not only the newly-rising class |

division of society, but also the right of the possessing class to exploit the non-possessing classes and the rule of the former over the latter. And this institution arrived. The state was invented.” 1

A characteristic feature of the ancient East was the great diversity of socioeconomic structures. Still, certain regular features can be discerned in this diversity. Thus in the 3rd and early 2nd millennia B. C. the king’s domain, or the state economy, figured prominently in the overall economic struc¬ ture in the Middle East. The state, personified by the king, was the owner of immense land property and artisans’ workshops. The labour force on royal estates primarily consisted of persons dependent on the state, whose status was intermediate between that of freemen and slaves. Unlike private estates, the royal domain almost never used slave labour in those times. In the 2nd and 1st millennia B. C., the leading role in the economy was played by private and temple estates, employing slave labour on a fairly wide scale. However, a most significant feature of the East was the important role played by the labour of free commoners and tenants throughout the ancient period.

The numerous class of freemen which existed in the Orient endeavoured to defend its rights and pri¬ vileges in an organised way. Throughout the ancient history of Mesopotamia, the popular assembly of free citizens functioned as an organ of local self-gov¬ ernment, often competing with the king’s authority and attempting to restrict it.

The situation was different in Egypt, where the state sector retained its positions for nearly two thou¬ sand years, the popular assembly was as good as nonexistent, and most of the population had no civil rights. Thus different types of social structure existed in different countries, ranging from democratic insti¬ tutions to despotic royal power. In one and the same country, too, the character of power and of the social structure often changed with time.

Despite this diversity of types of state power and of socioeconomic order, certain unifying features are apparent in the historical development of ancient societies. The main such feature was the existence of the class of slave-owners in each ancient society vis-

1 Frederick Engels, “The Origin of the Family, Private Pro¬ perty and the State’,’ in Selected Works in three volumes, Vol. 3, Progress Publishers, Moscow 1970, p. 275.

a-vis the class of slaves possessing no means or imple¬ ments of production and owned by members of the former class, as well as of various semi-dependent strata whose socioeconomic position was not unlike that of slaves.

Ancient societies also had broadly similar ideolo¬ gies, with certain prominent common traits.

Religion dominated ancient ideology, inculcating in the minds of the people the need for worshipping the gods, observing certain moral norms and per¬ forming certain duties associated with the social status of the individuals. An important feature of ancient cults (before the emergence of the world reli¬ gions) was their tolerance towards the beliefs of other peoples.

The development of socioeconomic relations in the ancient East was naturally accompanied by pro¬ gress in material and nonmaterial cultures. The principal cereals were cultivated for the first time in the ancient Orient; animals were also domesticated and metals brought into use here. All of this created a basis for further advances of human civilisation. Many achievements of the ancient Oriental peoples are still alive; numerous traditions of culture (litera¬ ture, the theatre, art, etc.) have survived from the epoch of antiquity to the present times, forming part of the world culture. Ancient systems of writing emerged in Egypt and Mesopotamia independently of each other as early as the 3rd millennium B. C. Owing to the continuity of the historical tradition, the great achievements of Babylonian mathematical astronomy, Egyptian medicine, and many other out¬ standing results of ancient Oriental science and art have been preserved. The study of the languages, writing systems, material culture, science, literature and art of the ancient Oriental peoples has consider¬ ably extended the cultural horizons of modern man.

It should be noted that studies of the ancient Orient date from comparatively recent times, when Egyp¬ tian hieroglyphics and Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform writing were deciphered in the 19th century. This branch of science has been rapidly developing ever since. At present, it is firmly founded on an enor¬ mous number of written and material monuments. However, in these days, too, archaeological excava¬ tions yield thousands of new texts literally every year, extending our knowledge of ancient Oriental § civilisations. I

There is a long solid tradition of the study of the I

ancient East, its history and culture in the USSR. Investigation of the socioeconomic relations in the overall process of historical development has figured especially prominently in this tradition, but the cul¬ ture, literature, religion and art of the ancient Oriental peoples have also been studied quite thor¬ oughly. Such outstanding Russian and Soviet scholars as B. A. Turayev, V. S. Golenishchev, V. V. Struve, M. A. Korostovtsev, T. V. Gamkre- lidze and I. M. Dyakonov have made a great contribution to the study of the ancient Orient. The discoveries of Soviet archaeologists in the recent decades have inspired new interpretations for many aspects of the history of the ancient civilisations of Transcaucasia and Transcaspian Central Asia; the great role of the peoples of these regions in antiquity and the extent of their contribution to mankind’s total culture have been firmly established.

Relying on Marxist-Leninist methodology, Soviet specialists in the ancient Orient inquire into the basic problems of the historical-cultural develop¬ ment of the Oriental peoples, analysing the forma¬ tion of the state, social structure, economic relations, ideology and culture.

In our view, the study of the ancient East is not only of great scholarly significance: knowledge of the ancient Oriental culture is part and parcel of modern man’s general treasury of knowledge.

Objective investigation of the ancient Oriental civilisations shows the unity of the world historical process, revealing the fallacy of the views, disse¬ minated by conservative and nationalistic scholars, concerning the absolute opposition of East and West, the specifically spiritual character of the ancient Oriental culture, the division of peoples into civilised and backward ones, etc. Attempts to modernise the ancient history of the East and the cultural heritage of its peoples appear just as un¬ scientific in the light of such objective inquiry.

The countries of the Western ancient world emerged and developed under conditions somewhat different from those of the ancient Oriental states.

First, unlike the early Oriental countries, they were not islands in the midst of an immense mass of primitive peoples. The world of antiquity emerged on the historical scene at a time when a massive enclave of highly civilised societies, capable of effec¬ tively opposing the primitive neighbours, had become consolidated.

Second, while the first Oriental civilisations evolved almost independently, without any external influences, the peoples of the Western world, as latest research shows more and more clearly, were greatly indebted to the more ancient civilisations. The first class societies on the territory of Greece appeared at the end of the 3rd millennium B. C. In the 2nd millennium B. C., states emerged on Crete and in continental Greece which kept up close con¬ tacts with the more ancient civilisations of the East; the social structure of these societies was similar to that of the Near Eastern states. Owing to their extensive links with the entire Mediterranean area, the states of Crete and Mycenae made a great con¬ tribution to the development not only of Greece but also of Italy. Phoenicians, and after their decline, their successors, the Carthaginians, played an enor¬ mous role in those times.

Third, the peoples of the Graeco-Roman world were already familiar with the production of iron, which they used to manufacture both weapons and labour tools. This facilitated a rapid development of productive forces and permitted the combination of surviving consanguineal and rural communities with the private economy of extended and, later, basic families. No strong centralised authority or ramified bureaucratic network, which in the East coor¬ dinated the joint efforts of rural communities in car¬ rying out labour-consuming projects in the absence of well-developed productive forces, were needed in the West. Here, royal power was replaced by aristoc¬ ratic republics at the very dawn of the Graeco-Ro¬ man world.

Improvements in the implements of production and the development of navigation boosted the handicrafts, increasing the importance of internal and external exchange and finally resulting in the appearance of money as a universal equivalent. A considerable portion of the population was now engaged not only in agriculture and the crafts but also in commerce and later in financial operations. Rural settlements were united in cities, which became unifying centres for the neighbourhood landowners as well as for the crafts, commerce, and cults. During wars, they served as a refuge for the population of the environs. The emergence of such urban communities was one of the mainsprings for the further development of the antique world.

As preclass society decayed, that development ini¬

tially went on along approximately the same lines as in the neighbouring tribes and peoples. Clan and tri¬ bal nobility evolved as a group producing most of the military leaders, priests, elders in the councils, and judges. This group possessed considerable mov¬ able properties and the common lands which its members had seized. On the other hand, an increas¬ ing number of rank-and-file tribesmen became im¬ poverished and dependent on the nobility, enslaved for their debts or obliged to give up most of their crops to the landowners from whom they leased their plots. On this basis, states of the ancient Oriental type might have later arisen, but that line of devel¬ opment was cut short by the struggle and victory of the people-the Greek demos and Roman plebs- over the tribal nobility. The fight was long and hard but it ended in the establishment, for the first time in the history of mankind, of democracy, which found its most consummate expression in Athens and, to a lesser extent, in Rome. This development is a most striking and graphic illustration of the role of the people’s masses in the historical process which in this case was directed along a path that was unique in the ancient world.

Despite the class limitations of this type of democ¬ racy, it conditioned the formation of the civic com¬ munity which determined the antique world’s his¬ tory and culture. It was, first and foremost, a community of landowners whose land allotments might be large or small but whose rights to these allotments were equal. Apart from the private hold¬ ings, there were public lands belonging to the entire city community to be used at the latter’s discretion- cultivated on behalf of the whole community, set aside for raising public buildings on, leased, or divided into lots handed over to individual citizens. The community as a whole exercised supreme con¬ trol over its entire territory.

The civic community provided the means of sub¬ sistence, at least in principle, to all its members in the first place by giving them land allotments, by setting the upper limit on holdings and distributing the excess among the have-nots or by conquering new lands and establishing colonies. Other, methods were also employed. The enslavement of a free citizen was forbidden and limitations were intro¬ duced on enslavement for debts, supported by legis¬ lative restrictions on usurious interest rates. Cor¬ poral punishment could not be inflicted on a citizen,

and he could not be executed without the popular assembly’s sanction. His links with the civic com¬ munity and its organs of authority were direct and not mediated, as in other societies, by his member¬ ship in a rural community or personal links with an individual of a superior status in the social hier¬ archy. The popular assembly was the supreme organ. It approved laws, it was the highest court of appeal, and it decided the issues of war and peace. The need to provide the means of subsistence for each citizen (the propertied citizens in the first place) determined Greece’s colonial expansion and the exploitation of the less significant allies by the stronger polises, and in Rome, the endless wars for booty and lands on which colonies were also set up. Colonisation, both Greek and Roman, brought about the proliferation of civic communities which were, to some extent, replicas of the home cities; conditions were thus created for the spreading of the antique slave-owning mode of production and Grae¬ co-Roman culture over considerable territories adjoining the Black and the Mediterranean seas.

The specific features of the social organisation mentioned above restricted the possibilities for exploiting fellow-citizens. The only practical source of labour for the gradually multiplying large estates and artisans’ workshops was exploitation of slaves who were completely and absolutely owned by their masters and had no legal rights at all, being outside all institutions of civic society. Greece, Rome, and other antique civic communides created after their model, were slave-owning communities par excellence'. although there were slaves in other societies of the ancient world as well, production in these societies could also proceed through exploitation of other categories of the population at various stages of de¬ pendence. As for the antique world in its classical period, no large estate or workshop could do without slave labour.

The political and legal equality of citizens and complete lack of rights for the slaves determined a sharp differentiation and crystallisation of the con¬ cepts of slavery and freedom in the social ethics, un¬ known in other ancient societies with their extensive spectrum of states intermediate between slaves and freemen. Freedom became one of the fundamental concepts in the system of values of the antique civic community be it the freedom of the native city or of I an individual citizen. Freedom was perceived as the

highest value. For the free man of the antique world, enslavement was a misfortune more terrible than death itself. The idea of freedom was closely linked with that of economic independence. A city was free when it paid no taxes to anyone and had no obliga¬ tions before anyone. A man was completely free when he worked on his own holding. A free citizen possessed a number of obligatory virtues which dis¬ tinguished him, in his view, from the slave. A citizen had to express his opinions freely, he had to be cour¬ ageous, hardy, reserved, true to his word, and con¬ scious of his duties to the gods, the ancestors, the family, and the native land. This opposition between “civic virtues” and “slavish vices” determined the ethics of the antique world, reflecting the profound class contradictions between slaves and their owners.

Another important foundation of antique ethics was the concept of “the common good” inseparable from the good for each member of the civic collec¬ tive. A citizen of a free, strong and rich city was him¬ self free, rich, and respected everywhere. Con¬ versely, the richer and more dutiful the citizens, the more powerful and glorious their city. The ideology and culture of the antique world largely grew on this ethics.

Although religion, observance of established rites, and various methods for divining the gods’ will and bringing one’s actions in accord with them played an immense role in the life of the civic community as a whole and that of the individual entities, clans, families, and persons, they were a binding principle rather than the source of morality.

Before the crisis of all the institutions of antiquity set in, men did not expect either reward or punish¬ ment for their good or bad deeds either in this world or the next. The source of reward and punishment, respect and disgrace, was the judgement of fellow- citizens. Slavery and subjugation of other peoples were justified by religion on the grounds that men incapable of governing themselves and of making use of their freedom must obey others.

Society was perceived as created by the people led by wise and farsighted leaders, not by gods; and as an organism where each free member was believed to perform his intended function for the good of the whole. That whole, in its turn, was part of a still greater unity, the cosmos, where gods, men, beasts, plants, lands, heavenly bodies, in short, everything that is, were interconnected and governed by a sin-

gle law established by the gods for nature, and by men for the human communities.

The desire to cognise the laws of both cosmos and society in order to teach men to obey them and to find unity and happiness in this obedience stimu¬ lated the development of the sciences of the natural world and of the social order. The sciences were in¬ terwoven with philosophy, the various philosophical schools assimilating the experiences accumulated by mathematics, astronomy, natural science, history, and ethnography.

Non-religious ethics accorded with the absence of an obligatory religious dogma, which was in part explained by the secular nature of the state power represented by elected councillors and not by a king, and in part by the general incompatibility of an obli¬ gatory dogma with the right to free thought, which distinguished the citizen from the slave. Freedom from obligatory dogmas combined with lively politi¬ cal struggles between different political groupings whose representatives had to be skilful enough to persuade and win over the popular assembly, the council, the judges, developed the ability for logi¬ cally proving one’s views. Logic became the princi¬ pal method not only in rhetoric but also in philoso¬ phy and the sciences, to the detriment of the methods of observations and experiment.

Apart from logic, the orator, the philosopher, and the politician had to master a certain amount of knowledge in various fields which guided him in his actions and speeches, providing convincing exam¬ ples for the latter. This was one of the factors in the general rise of education. Since, in antiquity, each citizen was at the same time a warrior, he built up his body from adolescence, practising various physi¬ cal exercises. To be able to participate in mass reli¬ gious rites, he had to study the art of music and sing¬ ing. All this shaped the famous ideal of a har¬ moniously developed individual who had equal mastery over his body and mind. The belief that it was men and not gods who created the society they lived in engendered a special interest in the human personality and human psychology.

The antique world went through nearly fifteen hundred years of historical development in which many features of the classical period of efflorescence of the antique civic community were modified, grad¬ ually turning into their own opposites. Little by lit¬ tle, the Hellenistic kingdoms and the Roman

Empire changed the psychology of the citizen to that of a subject. The more theocratic the power of Hel¬ lenistic kings, and later of Roman emperors, became, the greater was the role of religion, which rose in the hierarchy of values as a source of moral¬ ity, and the greater was the ideological pressure from above.

Despite the class limitations of antique democ¬ racy, despite slavery and predatory wars, the an¬ tique civilisation bequeathed to the later gene¬ rations, along with other historical experiences, the ideas of the people’s sovereignty, of citizens’ freedom and equality, of each citizen’s right to guaranteed existence and his duty to serve the country, respect for justice, desire for free cognition of nature and society, and respect for the human individual and for art presenting man as he is, and as he can and must be.

Hence the intransient interest for the antique world and its heritage.

The antique civilisation developed in close con¬ tact with the surrounding world. In the 1st millen¬ nium B. C., after the gap of the so-called Dark Ages, links were resumed with the Orient, and antique col¬ onisation greatly increased the area of contacts with a great number of peoples inhabiting the Mediter¬ ranean and Black Sea coast. The originality of the antique civilisation is beyond doubt, but the in¬ fluences of the Oriental peoples on the formation of Western culture must not be underestimated. Thus, throughout the 1st millennium B. C., a remarkable situation prevailed on the Italian peninsula where intense interaction between the cultures of Latins, Etruscans and Greeks moulded the Roman civilisa¬ tion.

Of fundamental significance was the Hellenistic epoch which brought into being extensive areas of interaction between the ancient local cultures and the culture of the invading Hellenes. The interaction and mutual influence of these civilisations were extremely fruitful, enriching the cultures of all the peoples of the Hellenistic world.

Under the Roman Empire, the Mediterranean area went through a process of cultural unification combined with increasing Oriental influences, parti¬ cularly in ideology. In that period, cultural links ^ with India and China were established.

The downfall of the Graeco-Roman world led to a | considerable weakening of cultural links between

15

the peoples of different regions.

The decline of antique society was predetermined by class contradictions. The Roman Empire grew out of a system of civic communities united under Rome’s aegis. Gradually, the empire created its own ruling elite, its own system of coercive state control existing at the expense of the civic communities, and this sharply increased the rate of exploitation, first of slave labour and later of the labour of free citizens. The working people had to support the privileged strata and the entire enormous superstructure of the imperial state machine. As a result, free producers were reduced to a state of near slavery, while the position of slaves deteriorated in the extreme. This increased the resistance of the oppressed classes; to suppress it, the coercive apparatus had to be built up, and this in its turn demanded harsher exploi¬ tation to obtain the wherewithall. This vicious circle could not be broken under the existing social relations.

This situation naturally led to a decrease in the share of surplus product and a regress in economic development. Attempts to overcome the crisis resulted in the emergence of feudal-type relations in the framework of the Roman empire, which further aggravated the economic and political decline of this last of the ancient civilisations, which finally col¬ lapsed, overrun by the “barbarians”.

The Middle Ages rejected the cultural heritage of antiquity, and only in the epoch of the Renaissance did the interest for the history and culture of Greece and Rome emerge. Believing themselves to be the spiritual heirs of the antique world, the humanists of the Renaissance spent a great deal of time and effort collecting, studying and publishing the works of antique authors. The next stage in the study of the history of antiquity was linked with the work of the scholars of the Enlightenment, who characteristi¬ cally endeavoured to interpret antiquity as an ele¬ ment in the overall picture of the history of mankind rather than an accidental phenomenon of history. That line was continued by the progressive scholars of the first half of the 19th century. The greatest im¬ pact on the historical thinking of those times was made by the ideas of Hegel who saw history as a law- governed process going through a series of stages. In Hegel’s view, antiquity was the period of mankind’s beautiful youth (ancient Greece) and maturity | (Rome).

The end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th were marked by a sharp increase in the in¬ terest for the economic and social history of anti¬ quity. It was at that time that two trends in the in¬ terpretation of antique society, the “primitivists” and the “modernists”, engaged in their largely fruit¬ ful controversy.

Modern historiography of antiquity is character¬ ised, above all, by a profound interest for source studies. Sophisticated methods of source analysis, extensive use of the data of epigraphies and papy- rology, complementing available sources with numismatic and archaeological materials, with due consideration for their specificity, are the most char¬ acteristic features of the modern approach to the study of antiquity. Most modern researchers reject a priori schemes, subscribing to the theory of specifi¬ city of antique society interpreted as a unique and original phenomenon.

Agrarian relations in Greece and Rome, critical periods and revolutionary movements in their his¬ tory, were subjects of the greatest interest to Russian scholars of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The in¬ terest for these themes was motivated by problems that were of the greatest concern for the public at the time. They were dealt with in the works of T. N. Granovsky, S. V. Yeshevsky, I. V. Netushil,

R. Yu. Vipper, M. I. Rostovtzeff. The epigraphists F. F. Sokolov and V. V. Latyshev and the archaeologist B. V. Farmakovsky also made out¬ standing contributions to historical science.

After the 1917 October Revolution, Soviet histori¬ ans continued the progressive traditions of Russian historiography. They also tackled new problems, un¬ dertaking in-depth studies of socioeconomic rela¬ tions, forms of exploitation, class struggle, the crisis of the polis, the nature of the transition from the republic to the empire in Rome, from the principate to the dominate, and from antique to feudal society, as well as the ideology, literature, art and material culture of various epochs, classes and social strata. A great contribution to the study of these problems was made by such Soviet scholars as S. A. Zhebelev, V. S. Sergeyev, A. V. Mishulin, N. A. Mashkin,

S. L. Utchenko, A. I. Tyumenev, K. M. Kolo¬ bova, V. D. Blavatsky. Similar problems, with a special stress on the Roman provinces, are studied by specialists in antiquity from the other socialist countries.

16

The works of Marx, Engels and Lenin provide the guidelines for the development of Soviet historiogra¬ phy. Marx and Engels were outstanding researchers and experts in antique, and in particular, Roman, history. In his Economic Manuscripts, and especially in the chapter on “The Forms Preceding Capitalist Production”, Marx described the nature of the an¬ tique urban community as a special type of com¬ munity that determined the main characteristic fea¬ tures of the antique world and its later evolution. In his other works Marx often turned to the economy of antique societies, showing their differences from the capitalist economy. Engels wrote such fundamental works, directly bearing on ancient history, as The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, Bruno Bauer und das Urchristentum, and fur Geschichte des Urchristentums. Marx and Engels’s general theoretical views concerning the unity of the historical process and the succession of socioeconomic formations, and their approach developed by Lenin, to the correla¬ tion and mutual influence of the socioeconomic basis and the political and ideological superstructure, pro¬ vide a basis for the research by scholars of the USSR and other socialist countries in the history of the ancient Orient and of Graeco-Roman antiquity.

• * *

The history of the ancient civilisations of East and West is part and parcel of world history, it is an im¬ portant and extremely interesting chapter in the chronicle of human civilisation. The study of this epoch is of great scientific value, as it helps to under¬ stand the basic laws of the historical process and to evaluate the contribution of the Oriental and Occi¬ dental peoples to world civilisation.

But the study of the history of the ancient Orient and of antiquity is not of academic interest only. The knowledge of the cultural heritage of the peoples of that epoch is of intransient cognitive significance; their highest achievements in literature, art and phi¬ losophy are still part of the humanist moral and esthetic education and of the spiritual values of the present epoch. They serve as a source of inspiration for contemporary artists, who study their craftsman¬ ship and delight in the true masterpieces of the human genius.

The present cannot be understood without a deep | knowledge of the past, and that is especially true of

those aspects of human civilisation where ancient traditions, modified and modernised, become organic elements of modern life. For example, we find a direct continuity of cultural development in certain Oriental countries; here, a world outlook that goes back to ancient civilisations still retains im¬ mense influence. Many monuments of literature, of epic and other types of folklore created hundreds and even thousands of years ago are not only part of the cultural heritage but also a living reality, per¬ ceived as inalienably connected with the develop¬ ment of modern culture. Ancient civilisations were also the source of many social institutions which still function in our times, though in a thoroughly modi¬ fied form.

The historical and cultural experiences of the past still retain their significance, although each epoch and even each scientific trend evaluates and inter¬ prets past events in its own way.

The study of ancient civilisations of East and West is distinctly topical, as problems of cultural heritage are now the theme of lively public debate.

Taking this into account, the authors of the pre¬ sent work historians and archaeologists specialising in various regions of the ancient Orient and of classi¬ cal antiquity-endeavoured to use the latest scientif¬ ic findings in introducing the broad readership to the cultural attainments of the ancient peoples of the East and of Greece and Italy, and to the most impor¬ tant facts of their political and cultural history in the context of the general historical process of mankind’s progressive development.

The authors: Acad. B. Piotrovsky, Director of the Leningrad Hermitage, and G. Bongard-Levin, Corr. Mem., USSR Academy of Sciences, (Intro¬ duction and Afterword); Prof. M. Dandamayev of the Institute of Oriental Studies, USSR Academy of Sciences, Leningrad (Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7); Corresponding Member of the Turkmenian Acade¬ my of Sciences V. Masson, Institute of Archaeology, USSR Academy of Sciences, Leningrad (Part I and Chapters.5 and 8); Dr. D. Rayevsky of the Institute of Oriental Studies, USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow (Chapter 6); G. Bongard-Levin, (Chapter 9); Dr. T. Stepugina of the Institute of Oriental Studies, USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow

2—344

(Chapter 10); Prof. G. Koshelenko of the Institute of Archaeology, USSR Academy of Sciences, Mos¬ cow, and Prof. L. Marinovich of the Institute of General History, USSR Academy of Sciences, Mos¬ cow (Chapters 11, 12, and 13); Prof. A. Pavlovskaya of the Institute of General History, USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow (Chapter 14); and Prof.

Ye. Shtaerman of the Institute of General History, USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow (Chapters 15, 16 and 17).

The authors express their gratitude to Prof. O. Lordkipanidze, Prof. V. Sarianidi, Dr. S. Khod- zhash, Dr. V. Fedotov, and D. Molok for their help in preparing this book.

_ Part I _

The Primitive Epoch

The earliest epoch in the history of man produced very elementary forms of culture and social organi¬ sation, which were gradually improved in the course of history. The primitive community, the principal cell of human society, was a comparatively small but well-knit organism. The types of links between indi¬ viduals within that organism changed, and the society formed by these basic “molecules” grew, but the significance of the community remained im¬ mense. For this reason, this epoch is called the primi¬ tive communal socioeconomic formation.

The beginning of the primitive epoch marked the dawn of mankind’s history. At that time, two inter¬ connected and mutually conditioned processes took place: man evolved from the animal world, and human society emerged as a qualitatively new form of the existence of matter with its specific laws. These processes were long and complicated, and each new discovery kindles anew the controversy connected with them.

Recent studies point to Africa, and specifically East Africa, as the locus where man first evolved. Some five or three million years ago, the australo- pithecines became numerous here; certain of their morphological features anticipated human morphol¬ ogy. They weighed relatively little (36 to 55 kilo¬ grams) and moved on two feet, which left their j upper extremities free from the function of support- ~ ing the body. Their brain capacity varied from 435 s to 600 cubic centimetres-a fairly large brain, parti- ? cularly in relation to the total body mass. Split bones | of large animals are found next to the remains of the | australopithecines, which indicates a meat diet, while crudely fashioned stones seem to point to the 5 -

beginnings of “instrumental activity”. It is difficult to say, however, to what extent production of tools was goal-directed and regular.

Interpretation of these materials has a direct bear¬ ing on the long debated problem of the boundary line between man and ape and the criteria for such a delimitation. For a long time, the view was popular that 700 to 800 cubic centimetres was the “brain Rubicon” separating man as such from anthropoid apes. More reliable is the triple feature of large size of the brain, erect posture and the development of the hand adapted for specific operations, including fine manipulation in which the thumb is opposed to the rest of the hand. There are indications, however, that erect hominids of the Australopithecus type were going through an intense and variable evolu¬ tion producing a number of morphologically differ¬ ent populations. Moreover, the specific features of the purely human activity and behaviour brought about morphological changes only after a long pe¬ riod of development. In recent years, most researchers have therefore paid increasing attention to traces of specifically human activity, thus recog¬ nising, in fact, the enormous cognitive significance of the labour theory of anthropogenesis.

Indeed, on such East African sites as Olduvai and Koobi Fora, 2.6 to 1.9 million years old, we find a set of primitive but sufficiently varied stone tools, a per¬ manent settlement with oval dwellings, and evi¬ dence of regular slaughter of large animals. These are undoubtedly features of the qualitatively novel phenomenon-of human culture. Here, too, were found the remains of the subject himself of these first human achievements; he was named Homo habilis,

19

2 *

“able man”. He was relatively short in stature, 122 to 140 centimetres high, and the bone structure of his feet fell within the limits of variations occurring in modern man, which points to a morphology cor¬ responding to a permanently erect posture. His brain capacity was 675 to 680 cubic centimetres. The Olduvai culture was, in fact, the first chapter in the history of mankind and of human society.

The motive forces of the humanisation of apes were varied. First, the structure and behaviour of anthropoid apes held the premises of many later qualitative changes. These premises included an excess of energy expended in investigation and manipulation, irregular hunting, which implanted the habit of eating meat, and irregular use of stones and sticks in certain operations. Regular instrumen¬ tal and labour activity triggered off a number of in¬ terdependent factors. Regular employment of tools significantly expanded the food resources and the possibilities of defence against predators. Meat-eat¬ ing produced certain changes in the digestive canal and a redistribution of the body mass, which in its turn reinforced the upright posture.

Gradually, animal egoism gave way to primitive collectivism. Particularly important, however, was the production of tools for use in subsequent oper¬ ations. This activity assumes goal-directed con¬ sciousness and an ability to foresee the results of a series of future actions. Whole sets of tools, including highly advanced ones, rather than isolated items are found in ancient settlements of the Olduvai type. The conscious fabrication of elementary tools was connected with the formation of elementary con¬ cepts, i. e., with the development of thinking. This had an undoubted impact on the inner structure of the brain, although at present we can only assess its progress by the external criterion of overall size. These developments ultimately took man to a stage qualitatively different from the rest of living matter.

Numerous sites where australopithecines were found as well as remains of primitive men and their settlements, compel scholars to accept the view, pro¬ pounded already by Charles Darwin, that Africa was the birthplace of man. Morphologically, Javan Pithecanthropi show signs of higher development and are included in the group of Archanthropus; the links between most of the Javan finds with the so- called Trinil fauna also point to a date later than the African finds-between 500,000 and 1 million years.

True, the oldest Pithecanthropus, referred to as the primitive Pithecanthropus, lived between 1.5 and 1.9 million years ago. So far, however, no ancient tools have been found on the sites where remains of Homo pithecanthropus were discovered.

The African finds give a vivid picture of the life and activity of primitive man. In the first place, excavations at Olduvai, where the remnants of a number of camp sites dating from different periods have been studied, have yielded an extensive collec¬ tion of stone tools. In some cases the raw materials for the tools were brought from a distance of several dozen kilometres. Pebble tools, with the working edge shaped by chipping off pieces on one or both sides, predominate here. These implements are called choppers and chopping tools; they were used without a handle and were gripped directly by the hand. These simple artifacts were universal chop¬ ping and cutting tools and, as special experiments have shown, could be used to cut down a tree out of which a club or a primitive spear might be made. Tools were also fabricated through more complex operations, a raw stone was first hewn in such a way as to produce what is known as the nucleus, which was later split and the resultant flakes were used as tools. Scrapers, points and drills resembling stone tools of much later periods are also found at Oldu¬ vai. Apparently extremely varied tools were pro¬ duced by trial and error in the spontaneously devel¬ oping stone tool industry, but these, with the possible exception of choppers and chopping tools, do not yet occur in stable series. Bone was also some¬ times broken off and sharpened, and the tools thus produced were used in various labour operations.

Numerous remnants of bone show clearly that hunting was the main source of food. Many thou¬ sands of bones of various animals (mostly of bulls, but also of antelopes and hippopotami) were discov¬ ered at Oldowan camp sites. Turtles and possibly fish were also used for food. The natural environ¬ ment in which Homo habilis lived was open savan- nas - large steppe plateaus with clumps of trees. This ~ type of landscape produces the highest amount of biomass between four and five tons per square kilo-

• metre. The exceptional profusion of animals was

? naturally a great help to the hunters armed with | throwing stones, that most ancient of missiles, and rr also, apparently, with prototypes of later clubs and s- spears.

The results of studying the camp sites themselves also point to considerable successes in labour and organisation. Thus a ring-shaped paved structure, 4 by 4.6 metres large, made of bits of lava, was discov¬ ered at one of the Oldowan camp sites. These were, apparently, supports for poles or branches on which animal skins were stretched to form an enclosure against the wind. At another camp site a concen¬ tration of finds was discovered in an area seven by five metres large, which broke off so abruptly that there is every reason to assume the existence of a fence at this point which was made of organic mater¬ ials that have since rotted away. At Melka Kon- toure, another camp site of that period, lying within 50 kilometres from Addis Ababa, stone rings have been unearthed apparently intended to fix the poles of a shelter. Thus we have here camp sites with a definite internal spatial organisation where man set¬ tled for fairly long periods of time.

In view of all this it may be assumed that such monuments were left behind by prototypes of later human communities for which some researchers sug¬ gest the term “the primitive horde”. Judging from the areas of maximal concentration of products of life activity, ten to twelve people lived at a single Oldowan camp site. Ethnographic evidence shows that primitive wandering hunters form groups of ten to twenty people which can join in larger groups of 40 to 70 individuals during the dry season, when the so-called battue hunting is practised. These groups of wandering hunters are unstable structures, now falling apart, now united again. Monuments like the Oldowan camp sites were apparently the base camps of such groups, to which they regularly returned. Social links undoubtedly emerged within such groups; regular big game hunting and protection of the young were only made possible by primitive col¬ lectivism. Hunting and meat-eating made it neces¬ sary to regulate the distribution of products amongst group members.

The development rate of these earliest human communities was, we must say, extremely slow. Dur- ^ ing two million years, both the range of tools used or ~ the technique of their production remained virtually s unchanged. This was the extensive period of devel- ^ opment, so to speak: groups of humans were kept on - the move by their prime occupation of hunting, | spreading far to the north and continually opening up new territories. Tools of the Oldowan type were 3-

discovered at several sites in the south of Europe, At A1 ’Ubaid, a site south of Lake Tiberias in Palestine, similar tools have been found that are deemed to be 900,000 to 800,000 years old. Such tools also occur in some places in Syria. Along with the expansion to new territories, a certain technical progress, re¬ flected in the changing forms of stone tools and methods of their production, was gradually achieved. These innovations marked a new period in the history of human society, one that is called the old Acheulian (700,000 to 300,000 years ago).

Moving north, primitive man encountered a harsher natural environment than the one that pro¬ duced the Oldowan culture. The period in which man first evolved, called the Quaternary geological period, was marked by regular onsets of glacia¬ tion - a series of Ice Ages. The centres of glaciers lay in the mountainous regions of northern America and Europe, but they spread far to the south, covering nearly a third of all dry land. On the edge of the gla¬ ciers a tundra landscape developed, which farther to the south was replaced by cold steppe and forest- steppe. Mammoth, wooly rhinoceros, cave lion and reindeer supplanted at such periods the warm-loving fauna. Africa, South Asia, Australia, and South America were not covered by continental glaciers, but there were great changes there as w'ell as pe¬ riods of abundant precipitation, high humidity, and decline in temperature set in. Four major gla¬ ciations are distinguished in the scheme established for the Alps: Gunz (1,000,000 700,000), Mindel (500,000-350,000), Riss (200,000-4 20,000) and Wurm (80,000-10,000 years ago). Within these major periods there were several stages of temporary rises and falls in temperature.

These harsh conditions were a kind of test of the strength of the new biological species that had come into being on the Earth. During glaciation, all types of warm-loving fauna, from elephants to ostriches, either died out or moved south, while the scattered and badly armed human communities showed an immense ability for adaptation and survival under extreme conditions. This was due to greater flexi¬ bility of behaviour regulated by highly developed mental activity and to the reliability of the new links between individuals in human society. The tech¬ niques of stone tool production gradually advanced. Already at the concluding stages of Olduvai, pear- shaped bifacially worked tools with a butt for con-

venience of holding appeared. These tools came to be known as handaxes in archaeology.

During the Middle and Late Acheulian (300,000 to 100,000 years ago), several types of carefully worked handaxes existed. Some of them may have been used as spearheads. A new method of preparing the nucleus for making tools, which was called the Levallois technique, developed. A stone intended as a nucleus was carefully trimmed to shape on all sides. Flakes and blades could be chipped off such a nucleus that were both thinner and of a more regu¬ lar form than before. Thanks to the Levallois techni¬ que, a kind of mass production of stereotype blanks for tool-making became possible. The range of ancient implements of labour became more varied, and the tools themselves were of better quality.

Man himself also developed. Homo habilis was re¬ placed by Homo archanthropus , which included Javan Pithecanthropus and Chinese or Pekin Pithecan¬ thropus usually called Sinanthropus in the litera¬ ture. Man became 30 cm taller, his skull grew in size, but the prominent eyebrow ridges and absence of the chin markedly distinguished Homo archanth¬ ropus from modern man. The cortex also underwent certain qualitative changes. Areas of the cortex asso¬ ciated with the specific functions of labour and speech communication became especially well deve¬ loped. The character of the frontal convolutions in the right and the left hemispheres confirms that man became right-handed, that is to say, he mostly used the right hand in working. The gap between man and his apelike ancestors grew.

The centre of technical development was now clearly shifted from tropical Africa, where man opposed himself to the animal world for the first time, to the zone between latitudes 30° and 50° North. The Middle East, North Africa and Southern Europe became the foci of man’s pulselike develop¬ ment; here the progress of human culture was im¬ peded and at the same time stimulated by the icy breath of regular onsets of glaciation. Uneven devel¬ opment, a characteristic feature of the historical pro¬ cess, came into play. Certain groups worked out and maintained better techniques of making stone tools becoming the carriers of technical progress in their migrations.

Clear evidence for this is found in the Near East, where dozens of Palaeolithic sites have been discov¬ ered and carefully studied on the territory of Syria

__-_-

and Palestine. It appears that two groups of the population existed here in the Early Acheulian; one of them was local, Late Oldowan in culture, and the other was close in origin to the Oldowans but devel¬ oped faster, mastering the production of bifacially worked tools earlier than the former. In the Eastern Mediterranean area, at least six versions of Palaeo¬ lithic culture are identified in the Late Acheulian period. Often groups of humans that used different techniques of stone working visited the same caves, so that levels with artifacts of different technical tra¬ ditions could overlap, as happened, for instance, in the Jabrud rockshelters in Syria.

A whole series of remnants of ancient camp sites and of accidental finds indicates a broad expansion of Homo archanthropus throughout Southern Europe. An Early Acheulian camp site was excavated at Ver- tesszollos, 50 kilometres north-west of Budapest. Here, man hunted the bear, the horse, the deer and the aurochs. Oldowan traditions were still strong in their technique of making stone tools, many of which were crude pebble implements. Of exceptional im¬ portance was the use of fire, evidence of which is pro¬ vided by numerous traces of camp-fires in which ani¬ mal bones as well as other material were burned. The use of fire enabled man to survive the fluctua¬ tions of temperature on the fringes of glacier zones. Terra Amata and Grotte du Lazaret at Nice, care¬ fully studied by French archaeologists, are seasonal camp sites of ancient hunters. Apart from hunting various animals and birds, Homo archanthropus inhab¬ iting this area also caught fish and shellfish for food. No remains of ancient man have been discovered, but a clear imprint of the right foot was found from which the height of the man that once walked here was worked out (1.56 m). Temporary oval shelters, 8 to 15 m by 4 to 6 m in size, were built at the camp site. Stones were set along the walls; in the floor, holes left by the support posts were found. In the centre of the dwelling, a hearth was built on a plat¬ form paved with pebbles; a stone wall was erected to ^ protect the fire from the wind. The frame dwelling i at Grotte du Lazaret also points to primitive man’s attention to the comforts of home. Only non- « resinous species of trees were used for fires, built for 3* warmth, and primitive beds were made of seaweeds | covered with pelts close to the hearth.

^ During the Acheulian, hunting developed and im- X proved. Groups of hunters appeared that specialised

22

___

.

• v._A**,

in killing mostly one species of animal. Thus, many of the human communities inhabiting them. Judg- Acheulian hunters of Europe went after the forest ing by the size of Terra Amata dwellings, a local elephant, as the killing of one fully grown animal group of vagrant hunters and gatherers of 10 to 15

provided them with about a ton of meat. At Lehr- individuals, now swelling, now shrinking, was, as

ingen in Germany a temporary hunting camp site before, the principal cell of human society in the

has been discovered where hunters cut up the car- Acheulian epoch. The number of individuals dwell-

cass of a slain elephant and moved on, apparently ing in the frame shelter of 55 square metres at Grotte

loaded with meat. A wooden spear, stuck between du Lazaret is set at nine to twelve by the researchers, the ribs, was found among the remaining bones of The area of the dwelling complex at the temporary the skeleton. The 215-centimetre-long spear was hunting camp site in Syrian Latamne is estimated to

made of yew, and its point was hardened by fire. have covered 200 square metres; it may have been a

The hunting camp sites of Torralba and Ambrona simple enclosure without a roof, reinforced by stones

in Spain provide excellent material for reconstruct- along its base. Sites that were most convenient for

ing the hunting activities of that period. The princi- settlement became permanent base camps which

pal animal hunted was the forest elephant, which could be used during seasons linked with a definite

accounted for four-fifths of all the animals killed. type of activity. Thus men returned eleven times to

The type of bone find shows clearly that the car- Terra Amata, and each time it was during the same

casses were mostly cut up where the animals were season. Differences in the techniques of making stone

hunted down: there were relatively few skulls of ele- tools in different groups inhabiting a certain area in-

phants and leg bones at camp sites. The materials of dicate certain links between several local groups of

Torralba and Ambrona show that the cultural- hunters and gatherers of this region. This is hardly

economic type of vagrant hunters and gatherers of evidence of a formal grouping based on some social

the woods and savannas was then evolving. At the or organisational criterion but rather of the existence

same time Homo archanthropus continued his expan- ofhuman communities bound by stable cultural tra-

sion throughout the Old World. In the Acheulian, ditions, with genetic kinship as the more remote

man appears in western Central Asia and the Cau- basis. At the same time it was a kind of prototype of

casus. In the latter area, camps were sited in the the larger social organisms characteristic of the

caves of the higher mountain ridges which offered epoch of efflorescence of the primitive communal

shelter for the hunters pursuing the cave bear and system.

large herbivorous animals-the deer and the mouf- Clear evidence for the steady development and

flon. growing complexity of all types of human activity

The stone tools of Sinanthropus known from the and forms of organisation ofhuman society is found

excavations of the immense open cave of Choukou- in the materials of the Mousterian epoch

tien, 50 kilometres south-west of Pekin, show consid- (100,000-35,000 years ago). Its beginning coincided

erable originality. The ashes of fires show that the with the Riss-Wiirm interglacial period, when Eu-

Pekin man knew the use of fire. At one spot, the rope still enjoyed a dry warm climate and its fauna

accumulation of ashes is six metres thick, which indi- wa s still subtropical-forest elephant, hippopo-

cates the existence of a kind of eternal flame there. tarn us, and rhinoceros. But later the Wurm glacia-

Sinanthropus used wild berries and fruit for food, in- tion set in, when the climate in Europe was at its

eluding the wild cherry, but hunting the deer pro- coldest. The tundra and the cold steppe with islands

vided the bulk of his nourishment. Bones of antelope, of forest thickets were filled with the mammoth

horse, boar, bizon, buffalo and even rhinoceros and ^ fauna-reindeer, wild horse, bizon, and mammoth

elephant also occur. Judging by split human bones, ~ itself, which reached the territory of central Italy in

ancient hunters were not averse to cannibalism. ' the south.

-s

Sinanthropus made crude choppers of the pebble During the Mousterian epoch, man went through

type out of quartz, and also utilised the flakes formed J a further development - Homo archanthropus was in the process. Most tools are extremely primitive, | transformed into Homo palaeoanthropus, better known while handaxes are not found at all. ^ as Neanderthal man. Neanderthal man’s brain var-

Excavations of Acheulian camp sites give an idea E. ied in capacity between 900 and 1,800 cubic centi-

23

metres, with an average of 1,350 cubic centimetres. Compared to Homo archanthropus , Neanderthal man had much better developed areas of the brain re¬ sponsible for the complex forms of spatial coordina- tive functions, labour acts, speech, and control of these processes. Accordingly, the dome of the cranium became higher and more rounded. Despite the somewhat archaic appearance, Neanderthal man was on the whole a fairly highly developed creature, as confirmed by the latest archaeological discoveries shedding light on various aspects of his instrumental activity.

The technique of tool making by flaking and sub¬ sequent working of the face of the stone rose to a new level in the Mousterian epoch. Mousterian disc¬ shaped nuclei yielded triangular and oval flakes that were used to produce extremely varied tools. There are some 60 varieties of these, including the typically Mousterian points which were in some cases appar¬ ently used as spearheads and dart tips. Wood was employed rather extensively; we know from the sur¬ viving prints that in building his dwellings Nean¬ derthal man used 20- to 30-centimetre-thick posts made of trees he had cut down.

Uneven development became increasingly appar¬ ent in the Mousterian epoch. East and South Africa lagged more and more behind. Sites of the Acheu- lian types found here date from the times when man in Europe and the Near East entered the Moustier epoch. Europe, North Africa and the Near East formed an area of intense development in which modern man of the Homo sapiens type evolved among various populations of Neanderthal man.

A characteristic feature of the development of the Near East in the Mousterian epoch was the accen¬ tuation of local differences, which became more dis¬ tinct and stable. Thus, researchers have identified nine local variants of the Levallois-Mousterian cul¬ ture in Syria and Palestine. Not all of them were contemporaneous, but cultural diversity was on the whole indubitable: groups of humans invariably using identical traditional techniques of working j stone and habitual, stable assemblages of tools ~ existed here side by side. A cemetery for the burial of ^ clansmen was situated next to the camp site. Ten S' Neanderthal burial places were discovered in the es- J Skhiil cave situated on Mount Carmel. A real necro- f: polis was found at Cafzeh, where the dead were laid m in one and the same posture -on the right side, knees i

bent, facing the cave entrance. Double burials occur at Cafzeh and es-Skhiil; here, a woman and a child were buried together. In one grave at Cafzeh con¬ taining the skeleton of a tall man of massive build, two flint tools, pieces of ochre and a limestone block bearing traces of handling were found. Another skel¬ eton, that of a ten-year-old boy, was found in a pit of which the walls were reinforced by upended slabs of limestone. The skull of a large gazelle and an ostrich egg were placed over the crossed arms, the charred egg possibly baked. Here we undoubtedly observe a whole burial ritual.

Mousterian sites of the Near Eastern hinterland are not so well studied, but, judging from the mater¬ ials available, similar developments took place there as well.

Thus Neanderthal burials were found in the Shanidar cave in one of which the burial pit was framed with a stone ring and armfuls of flowers were laid on the bottom, as pollen analysis shows.

On the European continent, a stable development of local variants of the Mousterian culture, identified by detailed analysis of stone tool sets and the tech¬ niques of their production, is also observed. On the territory of France alone, four varieties of the local Mousterian are distinguished by specialists. Here, too, camp sites situated both in open spaces and caves and shelters are found. At Peyrards, a dwelling was built before an overhanging cliff the foundation for which consisted of a fence of stone blocks enclos¬ ing an area 11.5 by 7 metres large. Interestingly, the pollen of water plants was found in a cave lying 200 metres above a water course, the pollen most likely brought to the cave with water. It appears that Neanderthal man brought water to the cave in some sort of vessels, possibly crudely made of skins, fami¬ liar from ethnographic materials among many tribes of hunters and gatherers. Specialised types of hunt¬ ing played the principal role in the hunting activities of West European Neanderthal man; the specialisa¬ tion was apparently seasonal in character. Mam¬ moth, reindeer and bison were hunted in the open spaces. Bisons, which weighed up to a ton, were a tempting game though difficult to get; they were most likely driven into pits or bog and then killed. As in the Middle East, a fairly large number of Nean¬ derthal burials, usually situated near the cave dwell¬ ings, were found in Western Europe.

The tendency towards isolation of local variants of

the Mousterian culture is also observed in Eastern Thus at Drachenloch bear skulls and bones were

Europe. A whole series of such variants have been found in boxes of limestone slabs, in the Peterschele

identified by Soviet archaeologists on the Dniester cave they lie in special niches, while next to a Nean-

and in the adjoining areas. Some data on the con- derthal man’s burial at Regurdu the head and

struction of dwellings in open spaces have also been broken bones of a bear are buried in a pit closed by a

obtained here. Thus remnants of a dwelling measur- stone slab measuring two by two metres and weigh¬ ing eight by five metres have been excavated at the ing nearly 400 kilograms. Certain intellectual devel-

Molodova I camp site in the upper reaches of the opments are also indicated by finds of separate

Dniester. The foundation of the dwelling was formed objects with various signs painted or incised on

by bones of large animals, including twelve mam- them, as well as of stone and clay balls arranged in a

moth skulls, which apparently held firm the posts of definite order. The significance of these isolated facts

the shelterlike structure. Inside the dwelling there must not, of course, be exaggerated: we have here,

was an additional partition of large bones, a hearth, in fact, only rudiments of ideological concepts which

and a row of mammoth’s massive teeth along the later grew in complexity constituting systems which

walls, weighing up to eight kilograms each and pos- determined the social consciousness of the primitive

sibly used as stools. A technique of housing construe- epoch.

tion thus evolved which later became very popular The improvement and specialisation of tools, a

among the hunters in subglacial areas. In the Cri- complex cycle of economic activity, and the rudi-

mea, burials before cave entrances followed the same ments of ideological concepts were paralleled by an

pattern as in the Near East: the body was laid in a increasingly complex social relations. Indicative in

burial pit in the embryonic posture on the right side. this respect is the very structure of places of habi-

Of particular interest is the burial, discovered by the tation, which included both the dwellings of the liv-

Soviet archaeologist A. P. Okladnikov, of a Nean- ing members of the community and their last refuge,

derthal boy in the Teshik-Tash cave in the south of The cohesion of the hunting groups, which appar-

Uzbekistan, with horns of a mountain goat sur- ently warrant the name of communities, was very

rounding the body. great. Thus, one of the Shanidar Neanderthal men

Neanderthal burials indicate the existence of was 50 years old, and he lost his right hand in his

fairly well-developed ideological notions. Undoubt- youth an indication of the high efficiency of the

edly various factors played a role in the appearance hunting economy, which enabled the group to feed

of burials, including the insdnetive drive, known in an incapacitated member, and also of the sense of

various animals, to get rid of the dead body, as well comradeship and cohesion within this group. The

as an attachment to members of a given group. The system of social links within such a community is

latter factor is attested by the placement of burials hard to ascertain. Repeated finds of double burials

and whole cemeteries in close proximity to the of women and children invite the conclusion that

dwellings. The emergence of a definite ritual obli- certain rules arising from the relatively long and

gatory burial of the body in a pit on the right side stable ties between the mother and her offspring

and with bent knees-is also noteworthy. The plac- were coming into effect. Historical interpretation of

ing of tools in the grave may be seen as evidence for local variants ol the Mousterian culture occupying

the burgeoning ideas about some sort of activities stretches of land of 50 to 200 kilometres is an ex-

continuing after death, while stone fences round the tremely difficult task. A stable cultural tradition

burial pits might be imitations of the stone plinth of could be reinforced here by certain social and

Neanderthal man’s real dwellings. The growing organisational links between several hunting corn-

complexity of ideological concepts is also indicated ~ munities. The term “prototribes” has been sug- by the nascent animal cult which, judging by its con- gested for such unions; their hun ting grounds would

nection with the principal type of hunted animal, ? thus be the domain of such a local culture variant, may be the prototype of totemism. In Western Eu- ? Conflicts could apparently occur between groups rope archaeologists have long established Nean- | belonging to different cultures. Thus, the thigh bone derthal man’s special attitude to the cave bear, the ^ of a skeleton found in the es-Skhul cave burial main object of hunting for many hunting groups. 1 ground has traces of a wound inflicted by a wooden

25

spear. Neanderthal men from Java and from a monument on the territory of the German Democratic Republic have skull wounds inflicted by stones and clubs. The short life span of Neanderthal man is also suggestive: a generation lasted only slightly more than twenty years, on average. In fact, Neanderthal man died so early that he was barely able to produce offspring. The development of human society followed an arduous path. Only in comparing the initial and final links of the chain do we observe the working of the law of progress.

The next stage in the history of human society is the Upper or Late Palaeolithic (35,000-10,000 years ago). During this period, the principal forms of cul¬ ture and social organisation achieved high develop¬ ment and complexity, and man of the modern type finally took shape. The Upper Palaeolithic largely fell within the last glaciation, called the Wurm (in Europe) or Wisconsin (in North America) glaciation when temperature dropped especially low. At the same time preriglacial Europe, owing to its southern location, had more daylight and sun radiation than the modern tundra. This made the Upper Pleisto¬ cene tundra rich in forage, in fact, an optimal source of food for mammals. The rich hunting grounds and high yield of the biomass apparently explain, to a large extent, the cultural rise in the Upper Palaeo¬ lithic society on the European continent.

As far as one can see, man of the new type, Neoanthropus or Homo sapiens , emerged on the terri¬ tory of Europe, the Near East and North Africa. This type of man is often called Cro-Magnon man, from the name of the site in France where the first remains were found. Compared to Neanderthal man, the greatest changes in Homo sapiens occur in the facial skeleton - the massive eyebrow ridge disap¬ pears, the chin develops, and the brain further grows in height, the frontal lobes developing especially noticeably. Fairly rapidly the new anthropological type everywhere replaces Neanderthal man. The development of Homo sapiens’s brain permits the assumption that the new type of man was highly social. Soviet anthropologists believe that this fea- ~ ture facilitated his rapid expansion, as selection eli- minated individuals and especially populations with ? aggressive behaviour and antisocial instincts des- ^ tructive to the early human communities. This con- | elusion appears particularly convincing since all r*, available data on the production and culture of 3 .

Upper Palaeolithic Neoanthropus point to a qualita¬ tively new level of social relations.

Considerable progress is achieved in tool fabrica¬ tion due to three most important innovations. First, the prismatic nucleus became the source material for blanks of flint tools; narrow plates with sharp straight edges could be flaked off such cores. These flakes could be used as tools even without any addi¬ tional working. Second, pressure flaking was used for shaping stone tools-a technique in which thin flakes were removed by pressure applied by means of some implement of wood or bone. Finally, mounted tools became widespread, in which whole sets of flint flakes forming the working edge were set in a wooden or bone base. These innovations served as the technical basis for the development of tool pro¬ duction during the many millennia leading up to the New Stone Age. Various tools were also regularly made of bone and horn. Of special significance for hunting were bone harpoons and the so-called spear- thrower a stick with a rest that sent the javelin almost twice as far as the bare hand.

Intense development of the Upper Palaeolithic culture was especially marked in Europe, which had long been opened up and relatively densely popu¬ lated by Palaeolithic hunters. Mass battue hunts were the basis of the economy. Thus a thick layer of bones of at least 10,000 wild horses was found near the Solutre camp site in France under a steep cliff off which whole herds must have been driven. The organisation of such hunts steadily improved; dur¬ ing excavations in the La Vache grotto in the south of France a hunting horn was found that could be used to transmit signals over long distances. The hunters’ base camp sites consisted of permanent dwellings with hearths. There were 13 such dwell¬ ings partly sunk in the ground at the Pavlov camp site excavated in Czechoslovakia. The growing well¬ being was reflected in the spreading of ornaments. In the Upper Palaeolithic burials in the vicinity of Mentonne in Italy, necklaces and bracelets made of shells, teeth of animals and fish vertebrae were found next to the skeletons. Seashells were apparently sewn on clothes, too. Particularly impressive, however, are the numerous monuments of primitive art created by the Upper Palaeolithic hunters of Eu¬ rope. More than 100 caves and grottoes with Upper Palaeolithic paintings, some of them real primitive shrines, have been discovered. A kind of primitive

applied art also developed: many bone artifacts were embellished by artistically painted or incised scenes or by simpler ornamentation. Art monuments are found in particular profusion in the south of France and in northern Spain; researchers therefore regard these areas as a special province of primitive art called Franco-Cantabrian.

Monuments studied by Soviet archaeologists on the territory of the USSR offer a striking picture of the development of the Upper Palaeolithic culture. Here, just as in Western Europe, battue hunting flourished in which masses of large animals were slaughtered and much of the meat was wasted. The traces of an immense battue have been found near Amvrosievka, where nearly a thousand aurochs were killed. Almost a fourth of the skeletons are lying in the proper anatomical order, the hunters obviously having slaughtered more animals than they could consume. Mammoth hunters were also guilty of numerous ravages: the remains of 70 to 110 mam¬ moths have been found near some camp sites in the Ukraine. Domesticated wolves already accompanied the hunters of Eastern Europe and subglacial Asia.

The dog was especially valuable to the taiga hunters.

It is no accident that cult burials of dogs have been found in Siberia; a burial ground of this kind, with an abundance of raddle, has been discovered in a Palaeolithic dwelling in Kamchatka.

Upper Palaeolithic hunters’ base camps were real settlements consisting of several dwellings whose lower parts were excavated into the ground (pit dwellings), measuring 20 to 25 square metres; for warmth, fires were built in the hearths. The settle¬ ment at Mezin had five such dwellings, and the one at Dobranichevka four. The camp site at Buret in Siberia also consisted of four dwellings. The over¬ head cover was stretched on a frame of mammoth bone. The bones of that wooly elephant were also widely used for fuel.

Art monuments-figurines of women and various animals made of bone and stone - are also fairly numerous at Kostenki. There are also fine engrav- -~ ings of articles, particularly of mammoth, made on ~ stone. East European monuments of the Upper Palaeolithic are in general marked by a wealth and «  diversity of mobiliary art objects. The growing well- g. being of man is reflected in the two burial grounds | found in the neighbourhood of the Sungir site, where dozens of bone beads were apparently originally &.

sewn on clothes and headgear. It has been estimated that more than two and a half thousand hours were spent on manufacturing, with the aid of stone tools, the beads found here. A kind of tomtoms have also been found at the Mezin camp site - the huge shoul- derblades and other bones of mammoth with intri¬ cate ornamentation in ochre, used as percussion musical instruments. Paintings of animals in a cave in the Southern Urals, closely resemble similar monuments in Spain and France.

During the Upper Palaeolithic, man expanded to new territories, especially in the short periods of warmer climate. Separate groups of hunters pene¬ trated to Yakutia and Kamchatka, and in the south man moved to Australia and later Tasmania. Primi¬ tive rafts and boats must have been used to cross the open seas and oceans. Finally, man first discovered the New World. Nine species of animals, including reindeer, musk-ox, elk, bison and saiga moved across the Bering Strait to North America by a bridge formed during the Wisconsin glaciation. Man may have first moved in here in pursuit of herds of wild animals. Groups of hunters rapidly penetrated into the south and south-west of what is now the USA. Here in the belt of rich prairies and meadows, local Upper Palaeolithic cultures were formed which steadily improved their missiles equipped with flint heads. Just as periglacial Europe, this was a zone of abundant biomass, with numerous herds of large herbivorous animals. The prime targets for hunting were at first mammoth and later bison; here, just as in the Old World, mass drives were practised, in which more animals were killed than could be used. Gradually groups of hunters spread far to the south, reaching Terra del Fuego, and by the end of the Upper Palaeolithic Homo sapiens had spread through all the continents of the globe.

All these successes of human society were directly linked with improvements in its inner structure and consolidation of the social links in human communi¬ ties. This is one of the most difficult areas of study in remote epochs for modern scholars, as only dumb monuments of material culture of that epoch have survived, but these can also be valuable sources if properly approached. Judging by their size, the small pit dwellings equipped with hearths of which Upper Palaeolithic camp sites consisted were homes of small families which now formed the basic “mole¬ cules” of early society. This microcollective, how-

27

ever, never functioned independently, being part of larger groups marked by great economic and social cohesion. It is these groups that inhabited the camp sites, organised drives, and conducted ceremonies in the cave cult centres. The spontaneous ties of natural blood relationship were the actual basis for the con¬ solidation of the social links.

The woman, who kept the home fire burning, kept house and brought up the children, was the most stable element of the primitive collective. Most Soviet researchers therefore believe that Upper Palaeolithic communities were groups linked by common descent on the maternal side. Such com¬ munities were, most likely, primitive clans of the early type. They were already an ordered form of societal organisation, a form that facilitated the development of primitive collectivism, cooperation and firm ties between kinsmen. As ethnographic materials show, the clan organisation is closely asso¬ ciated with exogamy - a rigorously observed custom of taking wives from neighbouring communities, mostly strictly limited ones. This custom apparently gave rise to the dual organisation of society a sys¬ tem of two neighbouring communities linked by mutual marriages, survivals of which can be traced in many peoples.

The fairly complex economic, social and spiritual activity undoubtedly demanded an institution for its regulation-the institution of elders or chiefs, custo¬ dians of the accumulated information necessary for the group’s reproduction. At this stage, the archaic or formative period of the primitive communal sys¬ tem came to an end and its efflorescence began. An indication of this may be found in art monuments that were no longer separate objects but whole com¬ plexes. The discovery of cave paintings is one of the most romantic episodes in archaeological science, full of turbulent controversy, excessive raptures and just as excessive scepticism. It is no longer doubted now that these monuments are of great antiquity, and that they performed complex functions pointing to well-developed ideological concepts of Upper Palaeolithic society. The subjects of paintings and engravings were taken from real life, mostly from the animal world. The drawings often overlapped. Most of the paintings and engravings are found in nearly inaccessible parts deep in the caves. Even sculptures of bison and bear were sometimes modelled in these remote corners. In one such secluded spot, human

footprints were found on the cave floor under a lime deposit, showing that some men moved on their toes while others, on their heels obviously a sign of cultic ceremonies.

The purpose of such ceremonies can also be surmised. Here in the dark corners of cave shrines magic rituals were performed, the pictures on the walls presenting scenes mostly connected with hunt¬ ing, that prime source of Upper Palaeolithic man’s subsistence. We find here wounded animals, dying animals with blood flowing in streams from their wounds, and man’s weapons. These are obviously scenes of hunting magic, part of the rites intended to ensure the success of hunting expeditions. Some scenes are clearly associated with fertility cults and the female principle symbolising it. Apparently magicians already existed who were the custodians of the legends and traditions that became the proto¬ types of mythologies; they also officiated at the rites.

Human representations are relatively rare, and these are almost exclusively of women. Particularly expressive are figurines of women, mostly cut out of bone, which portray a strong and fertile mother-an object of special respect among all primitive peoples. On the one hand, this is yet another indication of the development of the fertility cult, and on the other, evidence of the woman’s special role. We seem to be faced here with the initial stages of the maternal con¬ sanguine cult. Human burials of that time are as a rule abundantly sprinkled with raddle, which also reflects rather complex ideas and symbolism: the red colour of raddle must have been associated with the colour of blood and fire -sources of life and warmth.

Simultaneously, positive knowledge of the sur¬ rounding world was accumulated. For example, cave paintings and engravings reflect fine differences within one species of animals, say, between the Alpine and the Pyrenean goat. Careful analysis of numerous incisions and markings on bone found in the USSR has shown the existence of the most popu¬ lar groupings quintuples and septuples, and double j multiplications of these. The quintuples must be linked with the development of counting on the ^ fingers, a proof of which is found in outlines of the

• hand with the fingers crooked in some caves. The

frequency of septuples is most likely connected with

| : the phases of the moon. Some researchers believe g, that a calendar system based on the phases of the moon already existed in those times.

28

As the picture of concrete historical development Crude sculptures were made of stone. Although pot-

grows in complexity and uneven development tery was unknown, the settlement, which has several

becomes more pronounced, the specific features of levels, is of a rather recent date-5500 to 4600 B. C.

the cultures of separate regions and large areas stand This is an indication of the slower development of

out more clearly. This is especially manifest in the the greater part of Europe during the Mesolithic. At

Mesolithic epoch or the Middle Stone Age. This pe- that time, cultures with fundamentally different

riod, first identified from European materials, is modes of obtaining food-agriculture and livestock-

characterised by the wide use of thin flakes for tool breeding-already flourished in the Near East and in

making, including flakes of geometric forms-trape- the south of the European continent,

ziums, segments and triangles, and by the appear- The Near East was the principal area where these

ance of the bow and arrows. The end of the Meso- kinds of economic activity, which played a cardinal

lithic is marked by the appearance of clay pottery. role in the history of mankind, first emerged. There

Basically the same features are inherent in the Meso- were signs of changes to come already in the Meso¬ lithic of the Near East, but the direction and rate of lithic cultures of that region. Thus, in Syria and

development of the economic activites of the tribes of Palestine, the same caves and grottoes which had

these two areas in the Mesolithic differed. given refuge to Mousterian hunters, became the

Cardinal climatic and landscape changes were camp sites of the Natufian culture in the 10th and

taking place in Mesolithic Europe (10th to 6th mil- 9th millennia B. C. These tribes were gazelle hunters

lennia B. C.). The climate became warmer, the gla- and fishermen. Here, there are many fish bones and

cier moved back to the north, and the Baltic Sea in bone hooks and harpoons in the cultural levels, but a

its modern boundaries became free of ice. Simul- new tool, a sickle for cutting down overgrowths of

taneously the mammoth fauna disappeared entirely, plants, also appears in the Natufian assemblage of

and the animals that now grazed in oak forests and instruments. Finds of these tools are very numerous,

forest-steppe - various kinds of deer, elk, aurochs, Seasonal gathering of wild cereals was obviously

and boar-were quite different from the Upper practised here, and first steps may have been made

Palaeolithic. A kind of “resource crisis” set in; the towards their cultivation. Man became more firmly

time of mass drives that yielded many tons of meat at tied to growths of edible plants and to fishing

a stroke was past, and man was turning more and grounds, and the settled mode of life took root. Of

more to the food resources of rivers and seas. A com- special interest in this respect are the excavations of

plex fishing-and-hunting economy evolved in many the Mureybit site on the banks of Euphrates, 80 kilo-

areas. Striking monuments of this economy are huge metres from Aleppo. Here, oval houses were disco-

mounds of refuse, the so-called shell middens, in vered in levels belonging to the late 9th and early

which the shells of sea and river molluscs used for 8th millennia B. C.; the floor and walls of these

food were especially numerous. The means of cross- dwellings were faced with stone and coated with

ing water barriers were improved: at one Mesolithic clay. The inhabitants of these dwellings hunted

site a boat was discovered burnt out of a fir trunk; gazelle, aurochs, and wild horse, but they also regu-

ftnds of wooden paddles are also known. Europe’s iarly ate fish, waterfowl and shellfish. At the same

population became sparser, apparently because of time grains of wild wheat and barley were found in

migration to the northern territories earlier covered abundance, and these could only grow at the foot of

by the glacier. mountains, that is, not less than 100 to 150 kilo-

In some cases, the fishing-and-hunting economy metres from Mureybit. There are two explanations

led to. a settled mode of life. Evidence for this is for this remarkable find. What we have here may

found in the excavadon of the Lepenski Vig settle- - well be the first case of growing cereals outside their

ment on the Danube above the Iron Gates. Here, 12 __ natural habitat, which did not yet produce any mor-

dwellings were situated along the river terrace, of ? phological changes in the plants themselves. Alter- which the floors were crudely plastered in lime J natively, Mureybit may have been a permanent sett- painted red or white. In some houses, graves were t lement of hunters and fishermen who, at the time of also dug near the hearths. Fishing for large carp the ripening of crops, went to areas dozens of kilo-

flourished, and was combined with deer hunting, a. metres from their dwellings and brought thrashed

grain home. In both cases we have a very important stage of “pre-agricultural” activity.

Similar signs of the coming economic and cultural changes occur in the mountainous regions of Iraqi Kurdistan. Here, Mesolithic levels belonging to the 10th and 9th millennia B.C. were found at the Shanidar cave which was, just as in the Palaeolithic, a winter camp site. In summer the community moved a short way down into the valley, where a settlement lay whose remnants are now called Zawi Chemi Shanidar. This community continued to hunt the large hoofed animals goat, deer, and moufflon, but zoologists believe that it also began to domesticate sheep. Analysis of the pollen of cereals shows that they were already cultivated.

The transition to agriculture and stock-breeding, as indicated by the materials of Mesolithic monu¬ ments of the Near East, signified a radical upheaval in primitive economy. Its consequences were so great that we have every reason to speak of a revolu¬ tion in the production of food, the Neolithic revolu¬ tion, to use the name of the epoch that followed the Mesolithic. Considering that for two million years mankind had been content with collecting food as it was found in nature, that was indeed a gigantic leap forward. Agriculture and livestock-breeding as the principal sources of food made man relatively well- to-do and resulted in a rapid growth of the population.

With the spreading of the settled mode of life mudbrick architecture developed; stable well-being stimulated various industries aimed at providing the home comforts and ornaments. Cooking vegetable food required plenty of cooking utensils, especially heat-resistant ones, and such cooking utensils did appear, at first made of stone and later of clay, with painted ornaments. Agriculture also necessitated the development of positive knowledge, greater preci¬ sion of astronomical observation to provide a work¬ able calendar, and the working out of agrarian cycles.

These cardinal economic changes become tan¬ gible from the very first stages of the early agrarian cultures. A typical early agricultural settlement is Jarmo in northern Iraq (7th millennium B.C.), which occupied an area of about a hectare and a half. Its eight-metre-thick cultural levels are formed by remnants of mudbrick houses that had large hearths. Here, grains of cultivated wheat and barley

were found as well as bones of domesticated goats and pigs. Vessels made of stone are predominant in the lower levels, while painted pottery is found in the upper strata.

The settled character of life at Jericho (8th millen¬ nium B.C.) is emphasised by an encircling stone wall one and a half metre thick. Mudbricks were already used here to build oval dwellings. In the 7th millennium B. C. solid mudbrick houses were erected, with limestone floors painted black and red. The inhabitants of the early agricultural Jericho grew wheat and barley, domesticated the goat; later yet another domestic animal, the cat, appeared to protect the granaries from rodents. Of considerable interest are the burial rites: skulls plastered with clay that seemed to reconstruct the facial features were buried under the floors of houses. This custom is a further development of the ancestor cult which seems to have arisen already in the Palaeo¬ lithic.

A remarkable example of the efflorescence of cul¬ tures that made the step to agriculture and livestock¬ breeding is found at Qatal Hiiyuk, which stands on the edge of the fruitful Konya plateau in south cen¬ tral Turkey and dates from the end of the 7 th millen¬ nium B. C. or the beginning of the 6th. That was already a rather large village occupying an area of about 12 hectares. Apart from sheep and goats, there were herds of cows already, and 12 kinds of plants were grown in the fields, including wheat, barley and peas. The mudbrick houses were completely juxtaposed, but shrines marked by a rich interior stood out among the ordinary dwellings. Wall fres¬ coes representing picturesque hunting scenes, geo¬ metric ornaments and cult scenes alternated with painted clay sculpture and reliefs. The cult of the aurochs, most frequently recurring in the paintings, played a special role. Clay figurines of strong-bodied women, protectresses of fertility, were very skilfully wrought. The overall cultural level was also rather high. Pottery was at its inception, but various vessels ^ cut out of wood were excellent substitutes for it. - Beads and cosmetics regularly recur in excavations ' of ancient burials. An oval obsidian mirror, the J oldest ever, was found here.

The transition to new economic forms was also £ beginning in other regions. Remnants of cultivated t*i plants (though there were no cereals among them), 3 - were found in Thailand during excavations of a cave

30

in levels dating from the 9th through 7th millennia B. C. The transition to agriculture and domestica¬ tion of cattle in north-western Hindustan (Mehr- garh on the river Bolan in modern Pakistan) is now believed to have occurred in the 7th millennium B. C. In the Ganges valley, local communities of hunters and gatherers began artificial cultivation of rice in the 6th and 5th millennia B. C. Mexican monuments point to the emergence of maize-based agriculture in the 7th to 4th millennia B. C. A very early fountainhead of agriculture also existed in Peru. But Near Eastern materials provide the ear¬ liest and most striking evidence of agricultural and livestock-breeding communities, whose efflorescence was the best proof of the fundamental significance of the revolution in food production.

These economic changes were closely linked with consolidation of social des. Early agricultural com¬ munities were larger than Palaeolithic ones. Com¬ plex forms of economic activity increased the impor¬ tance of the elders and chiefs who directed these undertakings. It appears that consanguine com¬ munities also formed larger unions-tribes consisting of several clans and characterised by a definite cul¬ tural and territorial unity. Undertakings involving the whole tribe were directed by a tribal council consisting of the chiefs and elders of all the clans. It is not ruled out that larger structures - tribal confeder¬ ations-also developed during the early agricultural period. The population of the Konya valley, where some 30 small villages and a kind of capital, Qatal Hiiyiik, were situated, may have formed such a con¬ federation. Democratic self-government of clans and tribes was the political form which ensured allround development of the economy and culture of the primitive communal formation.

The moulding of agricultural and mixed agricul¬ tural and livestock-breeding cultures also signified a further intensification of uneven development. The contemporaries and neighbours of the highly devel¬ oped communities of the south were still engaged in various forms of non-producing economy-hunting, ^ fishing, and gathering, with concomitant archaic - features in culture.

The consequences of the transition to new ^ economic forms soon became apparent. The area ^ occupied by agricultural and livestock-breeding 7 communities was sharply expanded both through ^ direct migration of ancient tribes and through tran- |.

sition to new forms of economic activity by numerous population groups under the influence of neighbours that had already accomplished that transition. A general rise in culture was also observed everywhere; its more noticeable indica¬ tions were the flourishing of mobiliary art forms and home comforts industries. The latter implies an extensive development of housing constmiction. Man no longer found refuge in shelters or pit dwellings, which were replaced by well-built houses adapted to a variety of climatic zones. Figurines of humans and animals were made in every village out of extremely diverse materials, including bone, clay and stone. In their everyday life, ancient farmers used fine clay pottery with painted or incised ornaments.

These general features are characteristic of the entire extensive area of agricultural and stock-breed¬ ing cultures embracing a whole series of different tri¬ bal groups marked by unique cultural traits. A cer¬ tain unevenness of development is observed here, some groups now outstripping others, now stagnat¬ ing. A stable rise is observed, above all, in ancient Mesopotamia, along the middle Tigris and Euph¬ rates. It was settled by agricultural tribes that had come down from the Zagros ridge in the east and by communities that migrated from the western cul¬ tural areal. As a result, a settled culture of farmers and livestock-breeders evolved here that underlay, in fact, all the subsequent achievements of Mesopo¬ tamian civilisation.

This culture, called Hassuna after the first site that was discovered, belongs to the 6th millennium B. C. Hassunaculture settlements are spread through¬ out northern Mesopotamia, their southern bound¬ ary lying near Bagdad. Wooden hoes equipped with massive stone points were used to till the fields. Cop¬ per ware appeared, but it was not widespread and in any case did little to change the assemblage of tools in common use. Figurines of women with tall head- gear were made of clay, and pottery of various types was covered with painted or incised orna¬ ments.

A distinct variety of the Hassuna culture emerged along the middle Euphrates, where farmers entered a zone with precipitation insufficient for growing cereals. As a result, early forms of irrigation were used here, probably for the first time in history. Excavations at the Tell as Sawwan settlement near Bagdad revealed considerable amounts of grain, in-

eluding four varieties of barley, four of wheat, and one of flax. The presence of six-row barley, charac¬ teristic of irrigated areas, is quite significant. The settlement of as Sawwan itself was built on a regular square ground plan and was surrounded by a mud- brick wall. Numerous objects-ground stone vessels, stone figurines of women, and beads of semi-precious stones - were placed in nearly all the graves. Painted pottery was a remarkable monument of this culture’s applied art. Goats at a spring, birds pecking at fishes, women with falling hair, were painted on flat dishes with a border of scorpions. These were obviously representations of scenes connected with complex mythological concepts. It was these tribes that concluded the setdement of Mesopotamia and moved along the Tigris and Euphrates south into the marshy areas of southern Mesopotamia. In the low¬ est levels of the town of Eridu situated in ancient times on the shore of the Persian Gulf, painted pot¬ tery was found in the first houses ever built here.

Simultaneously, similar economic and cultural developments took place in Huzistan, an area east of southern Mesopotamia. That plain, irrigated by the rivers Karun and Karkheh, is geographically an extension of the Mesopotamian Lowlands; Elam, situated on this plain, was closely connected with the history of Mesopotamia. Communities of shepherds and farmers that descended from the mountains began to appear here at least as early as the 7th mil¬ lennium B. C. The Ali Kosh settlement presents a picture of gradual evolution of their culture. Here, the transition from freshet irrigation of fields to the first canals was gradually achieved. In the second half of the 7th millennium B. C. beads of forged cop¬ per appeared here, and in the first half of the 6th millennium, clay pottery covered with ornamental designs. A number of sites with painted pottery are known to exist on the territory of Elam, but there has so far been no large-scale excavation of these.

The distribution of settlements shows that a very extensive territory was cultivated, which would have been impossible without some form of artificial irri- ^ gation. Thus a basic shift is beginning here, just as in ~ neighbouring southern Mesopotamia, in the very foundation of the economy- in agriculture. ?

Agricultural tribes which built solid mudbrick S’ houses and made fine pottery and mobiliary sculp- ture gradually settled the whole of the territory of m Iran, where, next to Elam, several archaeological §.

cultures took shape, apparently corresponding to the territories occupied by the various tribal groups. There is a monument in the Kashan area of central Iran, called Tepe Sialk, which characterises another group of early agricultural tribes. In its lower levels, objects of forged copper are found side by side with straight sickles. The pottery of the Sialk I level was covered with geometrical ornament, to which paint¬ ings of goats were added in Sialk II.

Soviet archaeologists have reconstructed a picture of the development of early farming cultures in Soviet Central Asia, where the Jeitun culture took shape in the 6th millennium B. G. in the south-west¬ ern part of the area, with its assemblage of charac¬ teristic cultural traits of the early agricultural epoch-solid mudbrick houses with painted floors, painted pottery and clay figurines of human beings and animals.

In areas east of Mesopotamia, the beginning of agriculture involved expansion to new territories, while in the western regions of the Middle East the culture of the tribes which were probably the first to begin food production continued to develop and im¬ prove. In the 6th and 5th millennia B. C., early agri¬ cultural settlements were known almost throughout the whole of Asia Minor. Hacilar in south-western Anatolia and Mersin in Konya have been studied better than other settlements in this region. These were relatively small villages, about half a hectare in size, inhabited by farmers and livestock-breeders. Metal objects occur in the excavations more and more often, with parallel decline and degradation of flint tools. Pottery is richly ornamented, and an excellent collection of terracotta figurines of women, sculpted with great realism and expression, was found at Hacilar.

In the 5th and 4th millennia B. C., Egypt is in¬ cluded in the zone of early farming cultures. The Fayum settlements in the Nile Delta are the typical early agricultural monuments here. In the 5th mil¬ lennium B. C., the inhabitants of these villages culti¬ vated wheat and barley and bred the principal spe¬ cies of domestic animals. However, clay pottery was rather crude and primitive, and there were no traces of copper being used. In Upper Egypt, an early farming and livestock-breeding culture is repre¬ sented by the Tasian monuments. Tasian culture pottery was often ornamented with incised designs. The question of the origin of the first farmers in

32

Egypt is not quite clear, but local genesis is quite possible, if one considers recent evidence of ex¬ tremely early beginnings of agriculture in the Nile valley. As distinct from Asia Minor and the adjacent areas, it is difficult to trace a continuous chain of early farming cultures here. But their intense devel¬ opment in the 5th and 4th millennia B.C. is beyond doubt. In the Badarian culture, which evolved from the Tasian culture, the production of pottery is greatly improved, and manufacture of various ivory objects develops. Figurines of women cut out of bone or moulded out of clay, a typical attribute of early farming cultures, occur here. By the 4th millennium B. C., all of the Nile valley must have been settled and the local communities must have begun to im¬ prove various industries at a rapid rate.

As regards the level of development of early farm¬ ing cultures, the southern areas of the Balkan penin¬ sula formed one zone with the Near East in the 6th and 5th millennia B.C. Already in the late 7th mil¬ lennium B. C., cereals were cultivated here and cat¬ tle bred. The levels of the Frantchi cave in the Pelo- ponnese in which bones of domesticated goats and sheep are found, are dated to the beginning of the 6th millennium B. C. The problem of the origin of European land cultivation and stock-breeding is the subject of lively debate in archaeological science. It is generally recognised that there were no prototypes in the local flora and fauna of wheat and barley or of sheep and goats, so that these were most likely intro¬ duced from the Middle East. The question remains, however, whether it was a multistage diffusion of technology or migration of groups of men. A certain similarity between the basic elements of the early farming culture of the Balkans (pottery, figurines, seals) and of the monuments of Asia Minor favour the latter assumption. At the same time it must be obvious that Anatolian models were not slavishly copied in the Balkans - we are rather dealing here with certain common elements of culture in the development of which the local tribes of Europe, the descendants of Mesolithic hunters, fishermen and j gatherers, took an active part. ~

The earliest farming and stock-breeding cultures of Europe clearly fall into two groups. One of them, S' marked by painted pottery, embraces the southern ? villages found in Greece, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and the neighbouring regions of Romania. The second, m more northern, group of cultures is associated with g.

Central Europe and with the so-called Bandkeramik, or linear pottery. In the southern group, settlements were situated on brown forest soils or fertile alluvial deposits along river beds. A typical settlement is Nea Nikomedia in Macedonia (6th millennium B.C). Here we find a type of houses characteristic of the early farmers of Europe, where wood was easily accessible and abundant precipitation necessitated the building of gable roofs. Sheep and goats were the principal domesticated animals, while cattle and pigs were not numerous. Pottery was ornamented with various inlays, including representations of human faces and figures.

Koranovo I, of which the monuments are spread throughout the Thracian plain, is a typical represen¬ tative of Europe’s early farming culture. The village of Koranovo I itself consisted of solid one-room hou¬ ses measuring between 25 and 40 square metres. Apart from painted pottery, clay was used for making figurines of women, but these were also made of stone. The Starcevo culture in Yugoslavia is close to this level of development. Just as in Nea Nikomedia, sheep and goats were the principal domesticated animals. Widespread and typical of European sites are the Spondylus seashells out of which beads, bracelets and pendants were made. Besides figurines of sitting and standing women, a large vessel repro¬ ducing the female figure was found at Anza. Monu¬ ments of the Koros and Cris type, falling into a number of groups with local culture features, are close to the Starcevo culture.

A somewhat different picture is found in linear pottery settlements of communities of land cultiva¬ tors and livestock-breeders in Central Europe. Here, breeding of cattle predominated, and there are grounds to believe that a race bred somewhere in the south was sometimes crossbred with the local au¬ rochs. Communities occupied highly fertile and easily cultivated loess areas but often moved their fields to new localities. That explains the thinness of the cultural levels on the sites of abandoned settle¬ ments. Exhausted lands were apparently continually abandoned. In the forest zone, slash-and-burn farm¬ ing was practised; this is indicated by the great var¬ iety of types of stone adzes and axes. Pottery is rather abundantly ornamented with inlays and incised designs, but there is no painting whatever. Early monuments of linear pottery are known in Czecho¬ slovakia, Hungary and northern Yugoslavia. At the

3-344

height of their development, cultures of this type economic phenomena were first revealed in the

were widespread throughout the immense belt south. The southern communities were models of the

stretching from Belgrade to Belgium and from the most rapid cultural and social development; it was

Paris area to Moldavia. We are apparently dealing here that the primitive communal system declined

here with a special type of cultural complex uniting earlier than anywhere else, and the first class socio-

a whole series of prehistoric cultures connected with economic formation took shape In the 5th and 4th

different groups of tribes interacting with one millennia B. C., the valleys of the Nile, the Tigris

another and influenced by their neighbours. How- and the Euphrates became the fountainheads of

ever that may be, already in the 5th and 4th millen- civilisations.

nia B. C. most of the European mainland was in- In Mesopotamia, the founding of the Eridu settle-

habited by communities of land cultivators and ment by the ancient farming tribes signified, in fact,

cattle-breeders. the end of the period of extensive spreading of cul-

The great fountainhead of early farming cultures ture. Particular emphasis was now laid on the inten-

in Europe and the Near East of the 7th to 4th millen- sification of economic activity. Irrigation agriculture

nia B. C. was not the only one on this planet. In the in southern Mesopotamia yielded a stable surplus

5th and 4th millennia B. C., settled farming cultures product, while the warm climate permitted the

of the Yang Shao type developed in the Hwang Ho growing of two crops annually. The constant growth

valley in China; characteristic of these was both of the size of the Eridu shrine may be taken as an in¬ frame houses and painted pottery. The problem of direct indication of the increasing production poten-

the origin of the Chinese fountainhead of agricul- tial of the ancient communities. In the late 6th and

ture, whose cultural traits so closely resemble the early 5th millennia B. C. that shrine was a simple

Near Eastern and European monuments, has been unpretentious structure with a pedestal for the altar,

repeatedly debated in scholarly literature. However, which differed but little, as did Qatal Hiiyuk shrines,

there is no question of identity here, as different from ordinary buildings. By the mid-5th mil-

plants were cultivated in the two areas, and the lennium, it had grown threefold, and 400 years

population in China belonged to the Mongoloid, not later we observe a monumental temple built on a

the Caucasoid, type. Objections against independ- high mudbrick platform. At this time, the Ubaid

ent development of early farming cultures in the culture takes shape in southern Mesopotamia. The

New World are even less convincing. The Tihuacan great number of Ubaid monuments warrants the

Valley in Mexico provided materials for a detailed conclusion that a well-developed system of canals

study of the origin and development of both maize- was already in use at that time. Terracotta models of

based agriculture and of the farming culture that shaft-hole axes and various daggers indicate that

existed between the 6th and 3rd millennia B. C. their metal prototypes were made by casting.

The spread of land cultivation and stock-breeding Further development of various industries cul-

to vast territories and introduction of new tribal minating in the separation of handicrafts from agri¬ groups to these progressive forms of economy was culture took place in the mid-4th millennium B. C.,

a most important event in world history. The new during the period of the Uruk culture. Now almost

economic forms created the conditions for the flour- all pottery was made on fast potter’s wheels, which

ishing of the primitive communal system and its ba- could only be efficiently operated by professionals,

sic structures the community and the division into Settlements had large potters’ shops where nu-

clans and tribes; on this basis, considerable cultural merous craftsmen worked. Various metal alloys

progress was made. At the same time, latent in the ^ appeared, including copper and lead fusions. Jew- new type of economy were possibilities and premises ~ ellers formed a separate group of craftsmen; their for the decay of this first socioeconomic formation. products now included gold and silver objects and

Underlying the fine houses, pottery showpieces, and ~ ornaments made of lapis lazuli, expressive sculpture were certain highly important g Separation of handicrafts from agriculture led to economic phenomena, and in the first place in- the development of external and domestic exchange

creased labour productivity which made this cul- >. and to the emergence of commodity production, tural upsurge possible. The consequences of these §. Through commerce, the inhabitants of southern

Mesopotamia obtained ores, construction stone and timber, precious metals and semi-precious stones from the neighbouring regions.

All of this radically changed the nature of the ancient settlements. They grew in size, covering up to 45 hectares. These large settlements, which were centres of agricultural neighbourhoods, of commerce and handicrafts, may be regarded as incipient towns. It was here that most of the surplus product was concentrated and monumental temples were first built. Uruk’s White Temple, for instance, rose on a platform 13 metres high and 70 by 66 metres large.

Late in the 4th millennium B. C., wriung, yet another evidence of society’s high level of develop¬ ment, appeared.

Similar processes were taking place in the Nile valley. Various industries, and in the first place metallurgy, developed here as well. Tools and weap¬ ons were made of copper and silver. In the second half of the 4th millennium B.C., during the period known as the Gerzean in archaeology, the sepa¬ ration of handicrafts from agriculture was com¬ pleted. Ancient tombs indicate the gradual segrega¬ tion of certain persons from the mass: their tombs were especially magnificent. The walls of one such tomb at Hierakonpolis are covered by painted fres¬ coes representing an armed encounter between two opposing forces. Stone maces covered with reliefs symbolising the power of military chiefs have also been found. Almost simultaneously with southern Mesopotamia, writing came into being here, and the formation of the second, Egyptian, ancient civilisa¬ tion was completed.

Other fountainheads of southern civilisations are somewhat younger, but they went through basically the same development. In the second half of the 3rd millennium B. C., an early Indian civilisation, the Harappa culture, emerged in the Indus valley. In the early 2nd millennium B. C., a civilisation in¬ cluding the Cretan (Minoan) and Mycenaean cul¬ tures evolved in the south of the Balkans. The forma- tion of yet another, early Chinese, fountainhead of ~ civilisation, is dated to the second half of the 2nd millennium B. C. Fortified urban-type settlements ^ were built along the middle reaches of the Hwang ? Ho, where the tombs of privileged persons contain | rich funerary gifts as well as evidence of mass human > sacrifices. Writing emerged here, too-in the shape §.

of inscriptions on oracle bones, usually connected with certain economic and political problems.

Basically the same external features of highly developed culture, or civilisation, i.e., writing, monumental structures, specialised handicrafts and urban-type centres, are found in Mesoamerica, though it is true that these traits date to a yet later time here the last centuries B. C. and the first cen¬ turies A. D.

As a rule, our knowledge of these ancient foun¬ tainheads of civilisation is derived from archaeologi¬ cal excavations, which mostly provide sound evi¬ dence of the material culture of ancient societies. Other types of sources and theoretical considerations show that underlying all these striking developments in culture were changes in society that were just as far-reaching: the moulding of the first civilisations was closely linked with and conditioned by the for¬ mation of class relations and of the state.

The basic premise for the formation of class society was socioeconomic - the existence of a regu¬ larly obtained surplus product and the possibility of its alienation. The growing complexity of the social structure of primitive society opened up increasing possibilities for uneven distribution of accumulated social wealth. A whole system of social ranks evolved in tribes and tribal confederations from patriarchs or elders heading extended family communities to the council of chiefs and elders of tribes and tribal confederations. Their power was based on personal authority and regulated by the norms of primitive democracy, but practically it opened up possibilities for personal enrichment. Initially, at least, aliena¬ tion of the surplus product retained external forms that were traditional for consanguine communi¬ ties.

It appears that the social structure of early agri¬ cultural societies was already fairly complex. As social wealth grew, military conflicts became more frequent, developing into a habitual mode of obtain¬ ing wealth. This increased the role and influence of successful military leaders, who attracted a core of warriors personally loyal to them. A privileged social position, along with possession of large property associated with it, gradually became hereditary. The chiefs or “royal” clan formed the apex of the social structure, but side by side with it there existed several “noble clans” with their own rights and obli¬ gations. To a large extent this was a prototype of the

35

3 *

class structure, novel in content though still tradi¬ tional in form.

Through gradual adaptation to the new situation, traditional customs developed into direct exploi¬ tation. At first, slaves from alien tribes were regarded as a kind of junior household members who had few rights and did the hardest work. It is no accident that in Proto-Sumerian writing a slave was designated as a “man from an alien country”. As the frequency of military conflicts and the productivity of individual labour increased, the position of slaves gradually changed-they were deprived of all their rights and degraded to the position of a “speaking tool”. Slaves and similar forced labourers formed a separate class, whose emergence clearly indicated the disappearance of primitive equality.

The political structure also changed, as power was concentrated in the hands of a few individuals. The fact that wars turned into a permanent occupation led to the formation of a social structure usually called military democracy, which concluded, as it were, the development of the primitive communal formation. In this society, supreme power was vested in the popular assembly, which elected the council of elders, the whole structure headed by the tribal chief. Where tribal confederations existed, there was a definite hierarchy among the chiefs themselves, who constituted a sort of tribal nobility. The trans¬ formed communal municipality fell into the hands of the upper stratum of society; membership of the council was in itself an additional factor in the segre¬ gation of the social propertied elite. Along with the division of society into classes, a special coercive apparatus, the state, evolved. Communal administ¬ ration, closely linked with the norms of primitive democracy, was above all an assembly of authorita¬ tive leaders, while state administration was from its very inception coercive power first and foremost.

The authority of the state was later asserted by the very possibility of coercion.

Significant changes took place in ideology as well.

As the chiefs role grew, his position and functions became sacralised, specific attributes of his power ~ appeared, and his cult in this and afterlife evolved. Particularly well developed was the chiefs’ cult ? genetically linked with the ancient traditional ances- ? tor cult. Monumental tombs are a striking indica- §: tion of the magnificence of such cults. r>,

With the formation of the first class societies and i

their development into new cultural systems, civili¬ sations, the unevenness of historical evolution is sharply intensified. The Old and New Worlds now fall into three immense zones. The first of these embraces the southern civilisations which were the first to cross the boundary between the primitive and class formations. They take shape among early agri¬ cultural societies, developing at a particularly rapid rate. The second zone includes farming and stock- breeding cultures in which similar processes unfold at slower rate. Finally, the enormous third zone covers various cultural-economic types of hunters, fishermen and gatherers practising various-forms of the economy of food appropriation adapted to con¬ crete ecological niches. Mutual influences and, fre¬ quently, direct migrations of tribal groups form chains linking up these three great zones, although for such a remote epoch the strength of these connec¬ tions should not be exaggerated.

The early agricultural oikoumene in the Old World covers several regions in Asia and most of the European continent. The development is most strik¬ ing in the 5th and 4th millennia in the south of the Balkan peninsula. As the Dhimini excavations have shown, settlements in Thessaly were at that time sur¬ rounded by multiple stone walls, with a large build¬ ing, almost certainly the chiefs residence, on a cen¬ tral rise. The Vinca culture, named after an ancient site 14 kilometres from Belgrade, illustrates the high level of the development of early agricultural com¬ munities on the territory of Yugoslavia. In recent times, Bulgarian archaeologists have obtained results that are particularly significant for character¬ ising the culture of settled agricultural and livestock¬ breeding communities which inhabited Bulgaria in the 5th and 4th millennia B. C. The growth in the number of ancient villages obviously points to an in¬ crease in the population. True, there are no major centres among the sites so far studied they are mostly habitations of relatively small communities. On some of the sites, shrines existed. In any case, a group of objects have been found on the Ovcharovo dig which reproduce in miniature the interior appointments of such a cult centre.

Of special importance in the economic basis of early agricultural communities in Bulgaria was the development of specialised handicrafts producing pottery baked in special kilns under high and stable temperatures, and objects of copper, for which the

ore was extracted from special mines. Such a com- (comb-and-pit). There are no signs of specialisation

plex technology required the growth within the of the industries, although some artifacts, in particu-

community of a group of professional craftsmen, lar figurines of elks, bears and other animals, were

whose products, however, were not sold but distrib- made with fine craftsmanship. The consanguine

uted among the tribesmen who, in their turn, pro- communities of hunters and fishermen were headed

vided the craftsmen with agricultural products. by chiefs, while cult rites were in the hands of sha-

Soviet researchers have called this archaic form of mans. The burials of chiefs and shamans are marked

the crafts communal handicrafts. Simultaneously, by an abundance of ornaments carved out of bone

wealth was accumulated in the hands of the few and and by staffs crowned with the figure of an elk’s

tribal nobility arose, as indicated by the finds at an head.

ancient necropolis at Varna, where copper tools and In Asia, the region of steppe and semi-desert

weapons as well as numerous gold ornaments were hunters adjoined the farming cultures. Here

found. In the 4th millennium B. C., settled com- belonged the Keltaminar tribes inhabiting, in the

munities spread throughout the territory of Molda- 5th and 4th millennia B. C., the steppe of northern

via and then farther afield, along the Southern Bug Central Asia and southern Kazakhstan. In the lower

as far as the Dnieper area. The Tripolye culture reaches of the Amu Darya, Keltaminars did some

genetically linked with the ancient agricultural com- fishing to supplement their game bag. A series of

munities of the Balkan peninsula, arose here. taiga hunters’ cultures have been studied by Soviet

In the 4th and 3rd millennia B. C., agricultural archaeologists in Siberia. Here, as in the Lake

and cattle-breeding tribes settled nearly the whole of Ladoga area, there are burials of chiefs and shamans

Europe, forming a whole system of ancient cultures marked by relatively rich funerary gifts, but on the

and their modifications, all at a more or less the whole the cultural and social development lags far

same level of development yet markedly lagging behind the farming communities of the South. Of

behind the highly developed farming communities considerable interest are the specialised cultures of

of the Balkans. Characteristic of the Subalpine fishermen and sea hunters of the Soviet Far East and

zones, for instance, were pile dwelling settlements Japan. Their occupations were conducive to a set-

situated on waterlogged meadows along lakeshores, tied mode of life and a relatively high development

with houses resting on piles driven into the mud and of culture and applied arts. A good example are

even the lake bottom. complexes of the Jomon type, which flourished in

The British Isles were also absorbed in the zone of Japan in the 4th to 2nd millennia B. C. We find here

the new economy. A type site here is Windmill Hill, richly ornamented pottery, little terracotta idols,

whose inhabitants lived in a settlement surrounded and obvious signs of the initial stages of social differ-

by a ditch and a paling. The population of Great entiation. But the decline of the primitive communal

Britain was at that time relatively small - about system and the formation of class relations were only

20,000, according to British archaeologists’ esti- completed here under the conditions of advanced

mates. Characteristic of the European agriculture of agricultural production borrowed from continental

the temperate zone was slash-and-burn farming, Asia in the 1st millennium B.C.

which resulted in wholesale destruction of forests. The typical culture of tropical hunters, fishermen

Ihe boundary separating the agricultural and and gatherers is the Hoabinh culture of south-east

cattle-breeding zone from the world of forest hunters Asia (7th through 4th millennia B. C.), character-

and fishermen lay across Europe. The numerous ised by crude stone and presumably bamboo tools,

tribes inhabiting the immense territory from North- ^ I n principle, the same three basic zones reflecting

ern Scandinavia and the Eastern Baltic area to the £ uneven historical development, intensified with the

Urals were engaged in hunting and fishing, living in ^ formation of early class society, may be observed in

pit dwellings in winter and light shelters in summer. ? the New World, too.

They made point-based and round-based poorly J The favourable conditions of the life of the early baked pottery ornamented with designs formed by agricultural communities which made up the pri-

indentations and incisions produced by drawing a ~. mordial stratum of the southern civilisations, stand toothed ornament across the surface of the soft clay ^ out especially clearly in comparison with the com-

37

plex picture presented by the development of the bulk of European continental tribes. Only in the extreme south of the continent-on Crete and in the Peloponnese —was the early transition of society to a qualitatively new stage completed. At a certain stage, the neighbouring early agricultural communi¬ ties began to stagnate and even decline. Thus in the 3rd millennium B. C. most settled villages were abandoned, applied arts degraded, and sedentary life continued only in a few areas, so that the chain of genetic links leading to earlier monuments is now traced with certain difficulty. The changes affected a large area. A number of cultures spread through the temperate zone of Europe, in which agriculture receded into the background making way for stock- breeding, including large-scale sheep-breeding. This might in part be due to climatic changes. Thus both a growth of grassland area in east Hungary and the appearance of the domesticated horse and four- wheeled vehicles here fall on the 3rd millennium B. C. In some situations, stock-breeding may have given a greater surplus product than a mixed land cultivation and stock-breeding economy, which had to be crowded into limited strips of land where soil could be tilled by means of relatively primitive stone, bone or antler tools.

In the steppe zone, cultures of livestock-breeders arose. Of this nature was, for instance, the Pit-Grave culture of the south Russian steppe (3rd millennium B. C.). Characteristic of this culture is a distinctive burial rite: kurgans or barrows visible in the steppe spaces from afar were erected over pit graves. A sig¬ nificant trait of this culture was wide use of the domesticated horse. In the steppe zone, the horse became, rather early, also a cult object, as shown by burials of horses’ heads. The human burials of the Pit-Grave culture are not rich in funerary gifts, but they include a remarkable group in which lour wooden wheels were placed at the sides of the pit grave. These burials, symbolising a cart taking the dead to the next world, point to the wide use not only of horses but also of four-wheeled vehicles. There is evidence of Pit-Grave tribes migrating west, towards Moldavia and Romania.

The herds and flocks rapidly growing under favourable conditions constituted considerable wealth, which led, at a relatively early stage, to social and economic differentiation in stock-breed¬ ing communities. Evidence for this is furnished by

monumental kurgan tombs with rich funerary gifts and complex burial chambers presumably built at the death of tribal nobles. Typical specimens of such burials are found in the culture of Transcaucasian mountain stock-breeders of the late 3rd and early 2nd millennia B. C., where some of the objects, in¬ cluding those made of precious metals, came from the ancient Oriental civilisations. The kurgan burial rite also spread to Central Europe, where it is repre¬ sented in a number of local subdivisions of a huge cultural community bearing the formidable name of the “battleaxe culture”. Indeed, one of the most common finds in these burials is shaft-hole stone axes of exquisite workmanship. These may have been both effective weapons and prestige symbols placed in the graves of prominent warriors and chiefs. Cop¬ per objects and amber ornaments also occur in these kurgans. Cultures of this type are spread over an enormous territory from the Rhine to the Volga, presumably reflecting specific traits of extremely diverse tribal groups. Migrations of tribal groups and the formation of hybrid cultures and large cul¬ tural communities cannot conceal the fact that the agricultural and stock-breeding communities of Eu¬ rope were poorer and more backward compared to the ancient Orient and the Aegean world. For a long time, the European mainland was dominated by the primitive communal system while it was going through its concluding st.ages.

The cardinal changes that led to the disinteg¬ ration of the primitive communal formation over the greater territory of Eurasia were due to a major technological innovation — bronze metallurgy. With the introduction of various alloys, the quality of metal tools rapidly improved, carpenters and farmers now had stout labour implements, and war¬ riors, excellent weapons. Specialisation of labour in¬ creased; advanced metallurgy and metal-working required regular and large-scale mining. Some Bronze Age mines in Europe go nearly a hundred metres down. Another important result of the -o spreading of bronze objects was greater regularity of exchange and trade. Numerous “merchant’s hoards” containing ingots and large quantities of

• objects of one type point to the appearance of a kind

5 of middlemen traders. During the 2nd millennium ? B. C. bronze became widespread in various cultures >, of Europe and Asia. The possibilities for accumula- 3 . tion and alienation of wealth sharply increased,

38

leading to even more frequent armed conflicts. War more and more became a permanent mode of obtaining wealth, as attested by the development of armouries and the appearance of burials of warriors and military leaders. The start of the epoch of mili¬ tary democracy signified the beginning of the end of the primitive communal formation and created the premises for the replacement of power based on moral authority, that cornerstone of primitive law and order, by power based on coercion.

These changes occurred in diverse natural zones. The great belt of Eurasian steppes and semi-deserts was occupied by nomadic stock-breeding tribes. They formed large and powerful unions, largely moulded by armed force. In the 2nd millennium B. C. such reliable weapons as spears equipped with bronze spearheads and bronze battleaxes appeared. Two vast confederations of stock-breeding tribes of the Bronze Age are known from archaeological materials as Timber-Grave and Andronovo cultures (or cultural communities). The former occupied the East European steppe, the latter, Soviet Central Asia, Kazakhstan, and Southern Siberia. It is not ruled out that this cultural unity over such a great territory points to the existence of ancient social ag¬ glomerations that may be called alliances of tribal confederations. An important innovation was the in¬ vention of the chariot, whose wheels were not solid, as in the earlier heavy carts, but spoked. These sin- gle-axletree mobile vehicles were widely used in military conflicts; their remnants occur in graves where members of tribal nobility were apparently buried - those that formed the special military and social group of charioteers. Finds of bone cheek- pieces of horse bridles point to the beginning of the practice of riding. Timber-Grave tribes, occupying the areas between the Volga and the Don but expanding as far as Moldavia to the west, were at a similar level of development. In the second half of the 2nd millennium B. C. they moved towards the Southern Urals, partly mixing with the Andronovo culture tribes there.

In some cases mere concentration of authority was enough to create outstanding works of culture through elementary cooperation, as illustrated by megalithic structures in Europe, notably by the famous Stonehenge in England-an unusual sun temple in the shape of a gigantic circle of stone steles

with altar stones in the centre. The stone temples of Malta, built on a trefoil ground plan, must have arisen under similar circumstances. In some stone tombs of the 3rd millennium B. C. the roof slabs weigh up to 40 tons, and the weight of some of the stones in these structures, generically called mega¬ lithic, is 100 and even 300 tons. It has been proved that the stones for the Stonehenge monument were brought from a distance of about 200 kilometres. Such was the potential of primitive cooperation in a situation where land cultivation and stock-breeding provided a reliable source of food for society, ena¬ bling it to free some of the manpower for prestigious construction projects.

Beginning with the second millennium B. C., the prevalent type of such projects in Western Europe were burials of noble persons often called “princely tombs” by archaeologists. Society’s efforts were now directed towards the aggrandisement of chiefs and their families-who would ultimately hold sway over this society. Such tombs now occur in nearly all cul¬ tures, as do weapons, signifying the coming of the period of military democracy. Of this nature are the Leibingen barrows in Thuringia, where embank¬ ments of stone and earth rise to a height of seven metres and more, and the barrows themselves are 30 metres in diametre. The barrows covered a wooden tomb chamber on a stone platform. Bronze weapons and gold ornaments were placed in the tombs. Sometimes additional burials, possibly of servants or slaves, are found next to the main tomb. Indications of accumulated wealth are finds of hoards of gold objects occurring, for instance, in the Lusatian cul¬ ture of the 13th and 12th centuries B.C.

Both of these processes - segregation of tribal nobi¬ lity and militarisation of society - receive a new im¬ petus with the coming of the Iron Age, characterised in Europe by the so-called Hallstatt culture (900 to 500 B. C.). Along the northern borders of the an¬ tique civilisation, an intense process of early class society formation goes on. The same process involves the early nomadic tribes known in Europe as Scyth¬ ians the direct descendants of the Bronze Age steppe cattle-breeders. Though the ways and rates of the disintegration of primitive society varied, they all had but one result the replacement of the primi¬ tive community by an antagonistic class forma¬ tion.

_ Part II _

Ancient Civilisations of the East

Chapter 1

Ancient Egypt: History and Culture

Geographical Conditions. Population. Egypt, one of the first and greatest civilisations, emerged in the Nile valley in north-eastern Africa. The name “Egypt” comes from the Old Greek word Aigyptos, most prob¬ ably derived from Hekuptah —the name of the city which the Greeks later called Memphis. Egyptians themselves called their country Kemi, or “the black land”, from the colour of its soil.

The country consisted of two parts. Upper Egypt occupied the territory of the Nile valley from the First Cataract to approximately the place where the river is divided into several branches flowing into the Mediterranean. Ancient Greeks named this area of branching the Delta, from its similarity to the Greek letter. The Delta area was referred to as Lower Egypt.

In antiquity, people spoke of Egypt as the gift of the Nile, for the Nile was the basis of agriculture and of all economic activity. Egypt’s geographical situa¬ tion was very advantageous; it enabled the Egyp¬ tians to be self-sufficient in natural resources, com¬ plemented by those of the neighbouring lands-a very important advantage indeed. The adjoining mountains were rich in various kinds of stone - granite, diorite, basalt, alabaster, and limestone. There were no metals in Egypt itself, and they were mined in the neighbouring regions: copper, in the Sinai peninsula; gold, in the desert between the Nile and the Red Sea, not far from Egypt; zinc and lead, on the Red Sea coast; while silver and iron were mostly brought from Asia Minor.

The Mediterranean connected Egypt with the eastern Mediterranean coast, Cyprus, the islands of the Aegean and Greece. The Nile was an important

waterway linking Upper and Lower Egypt and the whole country with Nubia.

Egyptians inhabited north-eastern Africa already in hoary antiquity. The Egyptian people was most probably formed as a result of mixing of several members of the Afro-Asian family of peoples which also included peoples speaking Semitic and some other languages.

South of Egypt, the Nile valley was occupied by peoples speaking the languages of the Kushite branch of the Afro-Asian family. Their country was called Cush in antiquity; Greeks and Romans used the name Ethiopia. West of the Nile lived Libyan tribes, which spoke the languages of the Libyan- Berber branch of the Afro-Asian languages. In ancient times, they were hunters, livestock-breeders and farmers.

Sources. Egyptology as a science emerged in 1822, when Jean-Fran^is Champollion, the great French scholar, decyphered Old Egyptian writing. Archaeological excavations, begun in the first half of j the 19th century, yielded domestic utensils, labour ^ implements, remarkable art objects, and highly inter-

esting written monuments.

The most ancient inscriptions, which are espe- 1 cially valuable, belong to the times of the Early a Kingdom. Of great significance for the history of the | Old Kingdom is a chronicle excerpts from which 8 have survived on fragments of a large diorite slab

• called the Palermo Stone. It records the names of the

' first pharaohs and the most important events of their | reign. Of great interest are the biographical inscrip-

40

fK - .

■ rt*aw-

tions on the walls of tombs of high officials from the times of the Fourth Dynasty, as well as inscriptions on the walls of burial chambers in the royal pyra¬ mids of the Fifth and Sixths Dynasties-the so-called “pyramid texts”. Literary monuments containing data on Egypt’s economic and cultural links with Syria and Palestine are extremely important, too, as are numerous Instructions, expounding the rules of practical wisdom, and Prophesies, whose informa¬ tion about popular uprisings is very valuable for the historian.

Numerous official documents found at Deir el- Medina near Thebes, Egypt’s ancient capital, have survived from the times of the New Kingdom. Some of the finds contain accounts of military expeditions to the Near East and Nubia. Of special value is the chronicle of pharaoh Tuthmosis Ill’s expeditions in¬ scribed on the wall of the Amon temple at Thebes, in which these expeditions are described in the order of his years of reign.

During excavations at el-Amarna, the ruins of the city of Akhetaton, pharaoh Akhenaton’s capital, were discovered, which give a graphic picture of the city-its palaces, streets, and workshops. A large archive of diplomatic documents from the 14th cen¬ tury B. C. was also found here. It contains some 400 letters in Akkadian sent to Egyptian pharaohs by Babylonian, Assyrian, Mitannian and Hittite kings, as well as by rulers of the cities of the eastern Medi¬ terranean. Of particular interest is the text of the treaty, in Egyptian and Hittite, between the Egyp¬ tian pharaoh Ramses II and the Hittite king Hat- tushili III.

Howard Carter, the well-known British archaeo¬ logist, found the furniture of the royal palace in the four rooms of Tutankhamen’s tomb, and also the famous richly embellished mummy of the pharaoh himself, along with numerous valuable art monu- ? ments whose magnificence and perfect workmanship 5 still seem staggering.

Also important are literary works of the New | Kingdom (“Tale of the Two Brothers”, etc.) and the ~ religious and mystical works known as the Book of the ^ Dead.

Numerous business and official documents have ? survived, from the Saite period (7th-6th centuries - B. C.) such as marriage contracts, lease contracts, g. deeds of the sale of houses, cattle, etc. In the late 4th g and early 3rd centuries B. C., Manetho, an Egyptian |

priest, published a history of his country in Greek drawing on local sources. Unfortunately, that valu¬ able work has only been preserved in fragments cited by other authors. Manetho’s division of the history of Egypt into 30 dynasties is still largely accepted in Egyptology.

Egypt in the Early Period. Man settled the Nile valley very early. Importantly Egypt was not isolated from the rest of the world. There is ample evidence of im¬ ports of timber, obsidian and various products, such as Palestine pottery and Mesopotamian seals from the so-called Jamdat Nasr period.

Copper tools, widespread in Egypt, were made without additions of tin. Iron was known, but for a long time it had no economic significance. Copper tools made possible the exploitation of the Nile and the distribution of water for irrigation. As the irriga¬ tion system developed, agriculture became predom¬ inant everywhere, and labour products in excess of the needs of the labourers themselves were accumu¬ lated, which led to the appropriation of other peo¬ ple’s labour by tribal chiefs and their retinue.

Egyptologists usually divide the history of ancient Egypt into periods known as Kingdoms - Early Dynastic, Old, Middle, New and Late. Before the formation of the state, Egypt was divided into dozens of separate areas designated by the Greek word “nome”. Later, two kingdoms, Upper and Lower Egypt, emerged as a result of unification of the nomes. After a long and bitter struggle, the Upper Egyptian kingdom gained the upper hand, and the two parts became a single state, but the exact date of this event is so far unknown. From the available data it may be assumed that c. 3000 B. C. a unified state already existed in the Nile valley. The chronology of Egypt’s early history is known only in general outline, and it has to be reckoned in dynas¬ ties, not the years of reign of this pharaoh or the other.

Egypt’s pharaohs wore two crowns of a distinctive type, a white one and a red one, symbolising royal authority over Upper and Lower Egypt respectively.

The ancient tradition, reflected in the so-called Turin Canon and in the Abydos list of kings, names Menes as the first king of Egypt, and it is with Menes that Manetho begins his First Dynasty. Unfortuna¬ tely, no texts have survived from those times, yet

scholars believe that it was under Menes that the country became united in a single kingdom. Only one monument from before the First Dynasty speaks of a victory over Lower Egypt won by a king named Narmer. Some Egyptologists have suggested that Narmer and Menes are one and the same person, and that Narmer was Menes’s second name (phar¬ aohs are known to have used several names). It is more correct to assume, we believe, that Egypt was united long before the First Dynasty, as two rulers had been kings of all Egypt before Narmer and had worn two crowns. According to this conjecture, Narmer’s reign preceded Menes’s enthronement.

A monument in honour of Narmer’s victory recounts his feats. On one side of the monument he is portrayed as wearing the crown of Upper Egypt. Narmer has raised one hand holding a mace to hit at an enemy already struck down, his other hand holds the foe by the hair. On the reverse side Narmer is already wearing the crown of Lower Egypt and step¬ ping towards ten beheaded men.

During Narmer’s reign, a system of writing and a strong centralised state organisation were already in existence. According to a legend recounted by Hero¬ dotus, Menes founded the capital of the united state at the juncture of the Delta and the Nile, raising a dam south of the future city’s site to protect it against floods. That city was Memphis. From here, it was convenient to rule both the South and the North of the country. Under the Second Dynasty Memphis was already the capital of all Egypt, although the name itself appears in texts only in the New Kingdom.

During two centuries, beginning approximately with 3000 B. C., Egypt was ruled by two dynasties from This, a city in Upper Egypt near Abydos.

Egyptian expansion began already under the kings of the First Dynasty -south into Ethiopia, west into Libya, and east into the Sinai peninsula. Under the pharaohs of the Second Dynasty, troubles started in Egypt itself. Pharaoh Khasekhem finally united the country in a single centralised state, severely punishing the rebels in northern Egypt. Two of his statues show Egypt symbolically struck down, while the inscriptions on these statues put the number of dead at 48,205 in one case and 47,209 in the other. (Such precise records cannot of course be fully trusted.)

Pharaohs were deified already in the early period.

They added the title of the god Horus to their name, implying that they were terrestrial incarnations of that deity.

One of the most important functions of the royal power in Egypt was the organisation and main¬ tenance of an irrigation network in the Nile valley. Already in the early period the country was covered by a system of irrigation canals and dams, and the land yielded good crops of cereals. Countless wine vessels found in Lower Egypt show that viticulture flourished. There was a great deal of livestock in the country. A large and well-organised crown estate emerged. Monuments of the early epoch bear pic¬ tures of enslaved prisoners of war, with their hands bound. The sources record that during the suppres¬ sion of troubles in Lower Egypt 120,000 prisoners were taken in the reign of a pharaoh of the First Dynasty. Ancient Egyptians used the term “the liv¬ ing killed” for enslaved prisoners. Egyptian grave goods provide evidence of far-reaching social differ¬ entiation of society. Kings and nobles were buried in baked brick tombs, while the common people had to be content with mere pits.

Weaving made considerable advances. The mak¬ ing of papyrus for writing also began. That inven¬ tion, which helped the spread of writing, was of exceptional importance; it survived the Egyptian civilisation by ages, influencing the culture of later epochs: it was known in the Graeco-Roman world and in medieval Europe.

The Old Kingdom. During the Old Kingdom, Egypt was ruled by pharaohs of the Third through Eighth Dynasties (c. 2700-c. 2300). The country was finally unified in a single political and economic whole, a large centralised state embracing the whole of Egypt and extending its influence to the Sinai j peninsula and southern Palestine in the east and to ^ northern Ethiopia in the south.

The population’s main occupation was agricul- | ture. The vegetables known at that period were ~ onions, garlic and cucumbers. Numerous gardens 5) were concentrated in Lower Egypt. Poultry farming | and fishing flourished in the marshes of the Delta. 3 Egyptians were the first to practise apiculture. Suc- 7 culent meadows and other grazing lands offered wide possibilities for stock-breeding. An interesting x feature of the latter was the keeping of livestock

together with desert animals, such as antelopes and aoh, the first person in the state machine was the

gazelles. Grain mostly barley and a primitive va- supreme potentate, who was simultaneously the

riety of wheat called “emmer”—was Upper Egypt’s supreme judge and directed the work of several

principal wealth. Part of grain yield was taken in departments.

ships to the north of the country. Thus the two parts The kings waged constant wars. It is known, for

of the country economically complemented one instance, that during an expedition to Ethiopia led

another. by Sneferu, the first pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty,

Pharaohs granted rich gifts ofland to temples and 7,000 prisoners and 200,000 head of cattle were

nobles. The estates of such nobles, who filled impor- taken as booty; 1,100 prisoners were captured dur-

tant posts at court and in the state mechanism, were ing the Libyan campaign. During the Fourth

scattered throughout Lower and Upper Egypt. Dynasty, several copper mines in the Sinai peninsula

Farmers, gardeners, shepherds, hunters, bird- were seized by Egypt. Trading expeditions were sent

catchers, fishermen, etc., are pictured on the walls of to Ethiopia in quest of perfumes, ebony, incense, etc.

the Old Kingdom tombs as working for the mag- Cedar was brought from the Phoenician city of

nates. A magnate’s estate was run by a manager, Byblos to Egypt by sea. Domestic trade also devel-

with scribes, measurers and counters of grain work- oped. Products were bartered, with prices mostly set

ing under him. The nobles also possessed workshops in grain, which was the usual measure of value. Cop-

where craftsmen worked in copper, gold, and stone; per ingots were sometimes used as a monetary unit,

carpenters, joiners, and bakers also toiled on their Characteristic of the Old Kingdom was a rapid

estates. growth of construction of stone buildings, which

Ordinary people also had land which was at their began with the erection of the stepped pyramid by

full disposal. There are records showing that as early Djoser, a king of the Third Dynasty. 1 his 60-metre-

as the Third or Fourth Dynasties they could sell or high pyramid is situated near the modern village of

give away their land or leave it to their relatives in a Sakkara in the vicinity of Cairo. An inscription

will. In some cases small landowners were compelled recorded the name of its architect, Imhotep. Pha-

to sell their land to highly placed officials. On par- raoh Sneferu built two vast pyramids, 100 and 99

ents’ death land was inherited by their children. metres high. Under Sneferu’s son Cheops the phar-

Land could also be made a gift of, to buy cult ser- aoh’s power reached a peak, unsurpassed in that

vices for the dead. period. The Cheops pyramid near the modern settle-

Handicrafts flourished. Craftsmen contracted to ment of Ciza (close to Cairo) is 146.5 metres high,

build tombs for payment in kind. The potter’s wheel each side of it is more than 230 metres long, and its

became widespread, and pottery was produced in base area equals 52,900 square metres. Some

large quantities. 2,300,000 polished blocks weighing about 2.5

Evidence of social differentiation is found, among tons each were used in its construction. The qua-

other sources, in an inscription made by a certain lity of the work was extremely high. The huge blocks

nomarch (governor) who insists that he gave his were cut, polished and joined with great precision,

barley and milk to the hungry, buried the poor, and Under Cheops’s son Chephren a pyramid was

paid the loan of an insolvent debtor. Society con- j erected that was three metres lower than the Great sisted of high officials, the middle strata of free popu- 5 Pyramid but surpassed it in the magnificence of its lation (small royal officials, lower priests, free arti- " facing. The pyramid of Mycerinus, Chephren’s suc- sans, and landowners), workers on crown estates, § cessor, was lower (66 metres) and signified a decline and slaves who were mostly war captives. Slaves of ~ in pyramid construction. Adjoining the pyramids Egyptian extraction also appeared, reduced to c was a whole “city of the dead” -a cemetery for slavery when they could not pay their debts. ~ king’s highest officials, where huge stone tombs

The pharaoh wielded immense power, of which | formed streets crossing at right angles, the material basis was large resources of land, man- 3 The construction of the immense pyramids for the power and food. Egypt developed into a centralised | pharaohs’ eternal rest strained the people’s resources despotic state relying on a bureaucratic machine g to the utmost. Economically, the country was covering the whole of the country. After the phar- | exhausted, the power of the pharaohs declined, and

43

M

social conflicts became irreconcilable. Egypt began to disintegrate into semi-independent nomes headed by local governors. By the end of the Sixth Dynasty, the Old Kingdom faced imminent downfall. The whole of the country was in the grip of unrest. The 70 pharaohs of the next, Seventh Dynasty, ruled for just 70 days.

The Middle Kingdom. The Middle Kingdom period began at the end of the 3rd millennium and ended c. 1600 B. C. In that epoch, the country was ruled by nine dynasties, from the Ninth Dynasty to the Seventeenth.

By the end of the 3rd millennium Egypt’s econom¬ ic situation made the unification of the country and establishment of administrative order absolutely necessary, since the irrigation system had fallen into disrepair during the troubled times at the end of the Old Kingdom, and famine began.

Two unifying centres, whose nomarchs claimed the Egyptian throne, became prominent at the time. One was the city of Heracleopolis situated in the north of the country, in a fertile valley not far from the Fayum oasis, on the western bank of the Nile. At about the year 2160 Achthoes, the nomarch of Her¬ acleopolis, vigorously began to extend his dominion, subordinating the semi-independent nomarchs of the nearby regions and repulsing Asiatic nomads. Gradually he succeeded in extending his rule over all Egypt.

Simultaneously with Achthoes the nomarch of Thebes also laid claims to the throne. The rulers of Heracleopolis and Thebes came into conflict, each trying to unite the country under his own power. The Theban nomarch Mentuhotpe emerged victo¬ rious, founding the Eleventh Dynasty (21st century B. C.). A relief portrays him as victor over Egyp¬ tians, Ethiopians, Asiatics, and Libyans.

The Middle Kingdom reached its efflorescence between the year 2000 and early 18th century B. C. In that period, Egyptians waged wars with neigh¬ bouring countries and finally subjugated northern Ethiopia; they also resumed an active foreign policy towards Syria and Palestine.

The king’s mainstay was the army, recruited through selective call-up of young men. The army was run by the nomarchs, whose power was seen as hereditary. Besides, the king had an army of his own.

%

From the social standpoint, pharaohs relied above all on the higher officials, some of whom were not of noble extraction at all and owed their position exclu¬ sively to the king’s power. The large estates of the Old Kingdom’s metropolitan potentates gave way to medium and small holdings. Slave-owning among private individuals, including ordinary people, became widespread. However, the main source of manpower for the estates of the king, the nobles and well-to-do private individuals was not slaves but dependent landowners who were called the “king’s men”.

During the Middle Kingdom, agriculture achieved considerable progress, largely due to the fact that a large irrigation system was constructed in the Fayum oasis. A large water reservoir was built there connected by a canal with the Nile. Large areas of the Fayum nome could now be irrigated.

Unlike the large estates of the Old Kingdom, small and medium holdings were unable to produce all the necessities, but there was a surplus of some products, which stimulated commodity-money rela¬ tions. Many foreign goods were brought into the country; incidentally, foreign trade was the king’s monopoly. Copper was the principal measure of value, although grain remained an important medium of the trading operations. At the beginning of the Middle Kingdom silver was valued more than gold, while at the end, it was twice as cheap as gold.

During the Middle Kingdom there were signs of considerable advances in the development of pro¬ ductive forces and improvement of agricultural im¬ plements. Some tools were now made of bronze, though most were still of copper. Besides, stone tools (flint axes, knives, etc.) were still in use. A new craft, glass-blowing, developed.

The copper deposits in the Sinai peninsula were worked intensely; at the beginning of the Twelfth Dynasty, the mines of northern Ethiopia began to be exploited.

During the Middle Kingdom, a major popular rebellion took place in Egypt. It was caused by acute social contradictions described in the well-known work “Instruction for King Merykare”. The popu¬ lar uprising is also recorded in “The Lamentations and Prophecies of Ipuwer” and “The Prophecy of Neferty”, presumably dating to the 18th century B. C. These sources narrate that the rebellion led to a redistribution of property; the poor man who ear-

44

mm

lier had no sandals even became the owner of trea- At about 1400 B. C. Amenhotep I\ ascended to

sures; the country turned round like a potter’s the throne. His reign was marked by important

wheel; he who had been unable to build a coffin for reforms. Relying on the higher officialdom, he

himself became the owner of a tomb; jewelry endeavoured to consolidate his power. The capital of

appeared on the necks of women slaves; laws were the state was moved from Thebes, the stronghold of

trampled, and there was no royal power in the the old aristocracy, which Amenhotep IV pushed

country. into obscurity, to a newly built city between Thebes

The trouble-stricken state could not defend itself and Memphis (now Tell el-Amarna). One state cult

against the external enemy. Egypt fell prey to the was introduced-the worship of the ancient phar-

Hyksos tribes who, late in the 18th century B. C., in- aonic deity, though not as the former god but as the

vaded Egypt from Palestine and gradually reached sun’s disc under the name of Aton. Accordingly,

Memphis. The Hyksos rule continued for about a Amenhotep called himself Akhenaton, or Ikhnaton,

hundred years, yet legends of these terrible times that is, “it pleases Aton”. Gifts of lands, cattle and

were alive throughout the ancient history of Egypt. artisans’ workshops were made to the Aton temple.

But the Hyksos were disunited and therefore unable This was a powerful blow against the priesthood,

to found a strong empire. The cults of old traditional gods became unpopular,

as formerly generous state support for them was withdrawn. Ikhnaton’s religious reform involved all Egypt during the New Kingdom. Theban rulers aspects of society’s life and culture, as old traditions

remained more or less independent of the Hyksos were forgotten and the new religion was cultivated,

and led the fight against them. One of the Theban But when the pharaoh died, a gradual departure

rulers, Amosis I, the founder of the Eighteenth from the religious reforms began under his two im-

Dynasty, captured Avaris, the Hyksos fortress in mediate successors. Smenkhkare, Ikhnaton’s heir,

north-eastern Egypt, and brought the fight against restored the cult of the old god Amon, and under the

them to a victorious conclusion. Thus began the next pharaoh, Tutankhamen, the Aton cult was

New Kingdom period of some 500 years (1580-1085 deprived of state support.

B. C.) in which Egypt was ruled by the Eighteenth The Nineteenth Dynasty, founded by Ramses 1,

through Twentieth Dynasties and gradually began a series of long wars with the Hittites over the

achieved supremacy in the Near East. dominion in Syria. In 1304, Ramses II, who had

Under pharaoh Tuthmosis I (the second half of earlier ruled jointly with his father, became king. In

the 16th century B. C.) Egypt became especially 1300, the famous battle with the Hittites near the

powerful. In the south of the country, the frontier Syrian city of Qadesh was fought, with about 20,000

was moved beyond the Nile’s Third Cataract. Tuth- men fighting on each side. This battle is known in

mosis I undertook an expedition to the Euphrates detail, as it was described in verse and pictures on

and destroyed the Mitanni state in northern the walls of a temple built by Ramses II. True, the

Mesopotamia. description reflects only the Egyptian side and

After the death of Tuthmosis I, the throne was should therefore be taken with a grain of salt. While

inherited by his son Tuthmosis II. On the latter’s Jr Ramses was discussing the tactics to be adopted in

death his widow Hatshepsut seized power, keeping a the coming battle in military council, the Hittites

at the beginning of her reign Tuthmosis III, her attacked. Before that, they had sent two scouts into young stepson and heir to the throne, as the nominal | the Egyptians’ camp, who posed as deserters and ruler (c. 1500 B. C.), and later openly declaring ~ assured Ramses that the king of the Hittites was herself a pharaoh. After her death, Tuthmosis III ^ retreating in fear. Believing that report, Ramses destroyed all her portraits to exterminate the ~ rushed forward at the head of a relatively small memory of the hated stepmother. Tuthmosis III ? force. He found himselfin a very dangerous position, went on numerous campaigns against Syria and '-3 as his party was crushed and scattered by a sudden Palestine, and his kingdom extended from the g attack of Hittite chariots. The Egyptians were not Fourth Cataract of the Nile to the northern border 9 completely routed only because the Hittites, assured of Syria. H of their victory, broke off the pursuit to plunder the

45

enemy’s abandoned camp. Meanwhile the bulk of his Syrian campaign. Considerable numbers of cap-

the Egyptian army appeared on the scene to succour tives went to the temples. For instance, during his

its pharaoh. thirty-year rule Ramses III, a pharaoh of the Twen-

In his description of the battle Ramses claims tieth Dynasty, gave more than 100,000 prisoners

victory, but that claim is hardly justified. In any case from Syria, Palestine and Ethiopia to the temples,

the Egyptians failed to take the city of Qadesh, and according to surviving records, and also about

the Hittites, led by their king Muwatallish, pursued 500,000 head of cattle and more than a million aruras

the retreating Egyptians. The war continued for a (one arura equals 0.2 hectare) of arable land. Tuth-

long time after, until Ramses II, in the 21st year of mosis III gave a present of 1,588 prisoners of war

his reign, concluded a peace treaty with the new from Syria to a temple in the capital Thebes.

Hittite king, Hattusili II. The original text of the The common people were heavily oppressed,

treaty was recorded on silver tablets, but copies of it There were repeated censuses, so that new taxes and

in Egyptian and Hittite have survived. duties could be imposed. The sources contain a

Soon the power of the pharaohs began to decline, wealth of information on the craftsmen engaged in

ultimately becoming merely nominal. The south of servicing the afterlife cult, in the building and finish-

the country fell into the hands of Theban high ing of the tombs. Masons, plasterers, painters, car-

priests. penters and joiners, copper-smiths, and potters

I’he New Kingdom was a period of Egypt’s worked here. The craftsmen were paid by the state

further economic development. It fell within the in kind in grain, fish, vegetables and other food-

Bronze Age, although stone tools continued in use stuffs. Some materials show that during the Twen-

owing to the expensiveness of copper. A number of tieth Dynasty the state often delayed these pay-

iron artifacts have been preserved since those times, ments, and the craftsmen stopped work. This seems

but as late as the beginning of the 18th century B. C. to be the earliest report of strikes so far available,

iron was seen as a precious metal, almost, and some Trading was highly developed under the New

of the iron artifacts found are mounted on gold. Kingdom. Even private individuals and temples had

Horticulture became an important branch of merchants in their service, but money circulation was

agriculture. Pomegranate, apples, myrrh were still rudimentary. The principal value standard was

grown. Agricultural tools were markedly improved. silver, although gold was also used for that purpose.

In particular, sweeps were used in horticulture for watering trees, and also for irrigating high-lying

fields not reached by the Nile’s water during natural Egypt in the llth-bth Centuries B. C. By the beginning of

floods. That enabled farmers to extend the area of the 11th century, two kingdoms arose in Egypt: the

fertile land. Lower Egyptian Kingdom with the capital Tanis in

More positive knowledge was accumulated at the north-eastern part of the Delta, and the Upper

that period. The water clock was invented, and the Egyptian Kingdom, with the capital Thebes. By

art of mummification attained a level never sur- that time, Syria, Phoenicia and Palestine had

passed. Glass was produced in great quantity, and already thrown off Egyptian rule, and Egypt’s

the craft of glass-blowing developed. northern half was swamped by Libyan military

Horses and camels came to be widely used. 2 : settlers headed by their chiefs, who formed alliances There was a marked growth in private estates. 2. with the local Egyptian nobles. Sheshonq I, one of Endeavouring to restrict the power of the nobility, ^ the Libyan military leaders, founded the Twenty- the kings sought support among broader sections of jj second Dynasty in the mid-lOth century B.C. But the free population. ~ his power, just as that of his successors, was not

Slave-owning became widespread as never be- g. strong, and under the Libyan pharaohs of the 9th fore. Artisans and other simple folk often possessed | and 8th centuries B. C. Lower Egypt disintegrated slaves. The number of slaves was naturally greatest a into a number of separate provinces, on crown and temple estates. The sources show that 2 At the end of the 8th century B.C. the Ethiopi- Amenhotep II, one of the pharaohs of the Eigh- 2 an king Piankhi seized a large part of Upper Egypt, teenth Dynasty, brought back 89,600 prisoners from I including Thebes. The influential local priests sup-

46

ported the Ethiopians, hoping to restore their own the border by the Babylonians. I nder Apries

dominant position with their help, but Tefnachte, (589-570 B. C), one of Psammetichus I’s successors,

the ruler of the city of Sais in Lower Egypt sue- Egypt supported Judah in its struggle against Baby-

ceeded in uniting the forces opposed to the invasion Ion. Apries won a naval battle against the fleet of the

with Libyans’ help. Memphis also rose against the Phoenician city of Tyre and the island of Cyprus,

Ethiopians. In three battles, however, the Ethio- and thereupon undertook a campaign against Sidon,

pians routed Tefnachte’s army and, advancing one of Phoenicia’s largest cities. In 586, an Egyptian

north, reached Memphis, which they took by storm. army appeared at the walls of Jerusalem, but was

Tefnachte had to surrender at the victors’discretion. defeated by the Babylonians.

The next Ethiopian king to rule Egypt was Sha- By that time, Hellenes had founded the state of

bako. According to a legend related by Manetho, Gyrene on the Mediterranean coast west of Egypt,

he captured Lower Egypt’s pharaoh Bocchoris and Deciding to conquer it, Apries sent a strong army burned him alive. In 671 B. C., the Assyrian king against it, which was, however, defeated by the

Esarhaddon defeated the army of the Ethiopian Greeks. The Egyptian army rebelled against Apries,

pharaoh Taharqa and seized Memphis. But Assyrian and Amasis (570-526 B.C.) was declared king,

power in Egypt was not stable, and the next Assyrian The Saite Dynasty mostly relied on foreign mer-

king, Assurbanipal, again had to fight the Ethio- cenaries (Ionian Greeks, Carians and Palestinians),

pians, finally driving them south in 667 B. C. Necho, Most of the warriors were of Libyan extraction,

the nomarch of Sais and Memphis, who had nego- Saite pharaohs were also strongly supported by

tiated with Taharqa before Assurbanipal’s move, the temples, which owned immense tracts of land,

was put in irons and sent to Assyria. But Assurbani- That land was usually leased, and the lease-holders

pal pardoned him, and even gave him fine clothes to could leave it to their heirs. Temples played a great

wear and restored him to his former office of role in the country’s economy, particularly in the

nomarch. sphere of money circulation. Silver, used as the value

In 664 B. C. Taharqa died, and his successor standard, had a guarantee of good quality when it

Tanutamon tried to seize Lower Egypt. At Thebes came from temples’ treasuries. Numerous officials of

and other cities he was received by the inhabitants the Saite times sought positions as priests as these

with delight. In Memphis, an Assyrian garrison gave them access to temple property,

locked the gates but had to surrender after an unsuc- The 7th and 6th centuries B. C. were a period

cessful sally. Soon, however, a new Assyrian army of rapid development of productive forces. Tools

arrived, and the Ethiopians withdrew to the south. were now made of iron, which greatly facilitated

Thebes, which had supported the Ethiopians, was economic progress.

sacked, and many of its citizens were driven into After Amasis’s death, Egypt was ruled by Psam-

captivity. metichus III, but his reign lasted less than a year. In

Egypt was freed and united by Psammetichus I, 525 B. C. Cambyses II, king of Persia, went to war

founder of the Twenty-sixth (Saite) Dynasty, who against Egypt. The Persian army was supported by

was probably Necho’s son. At the beginning of his the Phoenician fleet. Cyprus, a dependency of

rule (664 B. C.), Thebes was still in Ethiopian hands. Jr Egypt, took Cambyses’s side, the Cypriot fleet ren- Using Ionian and Carian mercenaries, Psammeti- 5 dering Cambyses effective assistance. Cambyses con- chus seized Thebes in 655 B. C. and united all Egypt " centrated his army in Palestine. Bedouins of the under his rule. § Sinai desert became Cambyses’s allies and helped his

The next pharaoh, Necho II, tried to assert his £ army to cross the arid territory and reach Pelusium, dominion over Syria. In 608 B. C., Josiah, king of -T an Egyptian frontier city. Phanes, commander of Judah, met the Egyptian army at Megiddo, a city in ~ Greek and Carian mercenaries in the service of the northern Palestine, but was mortally wounded. ? Egyptian pharaoh Psammetichus, betrayed the lat- After that Judah had to pay a heavy tribute in gold ; ter and fled to the Persians, bringing valuable infor- and silver to the Egyptian pharaoh. But Egyptian § mation about the enemy’s military preparations, rule over Syria and Palestine lasted only three years, p The Egyptian army awaited the Persian host at and in 605 the Egyptian army was driven back to | Pelusium. In the ensuing battle (525 B.C.) both

47

sides suffered heavy losses, but the Persians emerged victorious. The remnants of the Egyptian army and the mercenaries fled in confusion to Memphis.

Now the whole of Egypt was in the hands of the Persians. The Libyan tribes living west of Egypt, as well as the Greeks of Cyrene and the city of Barca, voluntarily submitted to Cambyses and brought him gifts.

At the end of August 525 B. C. Cambyses was offi¬ cially recognised as the king of Egypt. He founded a new dynasty of Egypt’s pharaohs-the Twenty- seventh. As official Egyptian sources show, Cam¬ byses disguised his annexation as a personal union with the Egyptians he was crowned according to the local custom and adopted the traditional titles of Egyptian kings. He participated in religious cere¬ monies at the temple of the goddess Neith in Sais, made sacrifices to Egyptian gods and rendered them other honours. Cambyses continued the policies of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty and tried to win the Egyptians over to his side. To legalise his seizure of Egypt, legends were spread about matrimonial links between Persian kings and Egyptian princesses: Cambyses was said to be born of the marriage of his father Cyrus II and the Egyptian princess Nitetis, daughter of pharaoh Apries.

Egyptian Culture. Egyptian culture traversed a long path during the several millennia of its development.

Its distinguishing features were a highly developed writing system, major achievements in mathematics, astronomy and medicine, splendid architectural monuments, and masterpieces of literature and art.

The Egyptian system of writing evolved already during the Early Kingdom period, and on the eve of the First Dynasty (c. 3000 B. C.) all the principal types of signs and methods of their combination were already in use. In scientific literature, the signs of the Egyptian script are called by the Greek term “hi¬ eroglyphics”, or “sacred writing”. They looked like ~~ drawings of living beings and various objects, and 5 each drawing denoted the word corresponding to a the given object. Sounds were conveyed by hiero- if glyphics designating like-sounding names of objects, f Only consonants were taken into account. For in- a stance, the symbol for bread (t in Egyptian ; denoted at the same time the consonant t. Since each of the 24 Early Egyptian consonants was denoted by a spe- ?

cial sign, it would have been possible to write in let¬ ters only, but the Egyptians never adopted the alphabetic system of writing. Already by the begin¬ ning of the First Dynasty a mixed script had been elaborated, with words noted down both in pictorial and phonetic signs. During the first two dynasties and later, ink and long reed brushes were used for writing. The early development of writing in Egypt was due to its use in state records and correspon¬ dence, and on large estates. Apart from the numerous scribes, high officials were also-some times skilled in writing.

At about the year 700 B. C., the so-called Demotic (literally “popular”) writing evolved in northern Egypt from l,he former business-correspondence cur¬ sive. Its emergence was necessitated by the growing need for keeping all kinds of business records in con¬ nection with the development of commodity-money relations.

Under the first dynasties, each year of the reign of a pharaoh was given a name after some remarkable event that occurred in that year. The names of the years were entered in a chronicle. A continuous chain of such records began with the First Dynasty, whereas before that the list merely gave the rulers’ names. The earliest of all known circumstantial annual records date from the times of Sneferu, the first king of the Fourth Dynasty. At the beginning of the Nineteenth Dynasty, the famous Turin Canon was compiled or copied, listing in detail the pha¬ raohs' reigns with exact chronological data.

Time was reckoned in years divided into months and days. From the First Dynasty, or probably even earlier, annual records were kept of the level of the Nile’s floods, on which the country’s economic well¬ being depended.

Arithmetic was highly developed already at the time of the Early Kingdom due to the need to keep records in the state apparatus and on noblemen’s estates. At the beginning of the First Dynasty Egyp¬ tians could handle large numbers up to a million. The scale of notation was basically decimal. Our principal sources on Old Egyptian mathematics are the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus from the British Museum and the Moscow Mathematical Papyrus which was studied by Academician V. V. Struve, the outstanding Soviet scholar. These monuments contain numerous arithmetical problems showing that during the Middle Kingdom the Egyptians

48

were conversant with the four arithmetical op¬ erations of addition, substraction, multiplication and division, with fractions and the system of deci¬ mal notation. Egyptian mathematicians were also able to find the root of a number and square a number, they knew proportions and geometrical progressions.

The tasks of practical geometry included finding the area and volume of various geometric figures- rectangles, circles, cylinders, etc. It follows that the Egyptians knew the correlation between the angles and sides of the right triangle. Among other prob¬ lems, the Moscow Mathematical Papyrus contains a very interesting calculation of the volume of a trun¬ cated pyramid.

The need to calculate the periods of the Nile’s floods stimulated the development of Egyptian astronomy. Years were counted by observing the star Sirius, whose appearance in the morning coin¬ cided with the beginning of the annual flood.

According to the Egyptians, a year consisted of three seasons, each of which included four months of 30 days each. Apart from these 360 days, five more were added to the calendar. Thus a calendar year differed but insignificantly from a natural year (con¬ sisting of 365.25 days), the margin of error being one day in four years.

The Egyptians made great advances in medicine. There were doctors specialising in the treatment of eyes, teeth, etc. Fragments from a book of medical instructions for the treatment of gynaecological dis¬ eases and another on animal diseases have survived since the Middle Kingdom. One of the medical books from the New Kingdom gives a detailed des¬ cription of blood circulation. Fragments of a MS on the treatment of wounds (e. g., skull fracture or damage to the mouth cavity) has also survived from that time. The achievements of Egyptian medicine are also attested by the fact that Egyptian mummies .if prepared several millennia ago have been well pre- 3 served to the present, and the secret of their making has not yet been fully unravelled.

The sun, symbolising life, warmth and light, was 5 regarded as the state god and the chief protector of S the pharaohs. From the Old Kingdom onwards the pharaohs erected temples in honour of the sun. ?

The city of Iunu, which the Greeks later called the - City of the Sun (Heliopolis), was the centre of sun ! worship. The cult of Ra, the sun-god, was one of the j? principal cults in Egypt. Gradually, the cult of the f

god Horus merged with the Ra cult; Horus was usually depicted in the form of a hawk, the protector of royal power, or as a sun disc with bird’s wings. Later, during the Middle Kingdom, when Thebes became the capital of Egypt, the local Theban god Amon was declared to be the supreme deity of all Egypt under the name of Amon-Ra, absorbing the Ra cult along with several local sun cults. During the New Kingdom, Amon was regarded as the pro¬ tector of the pharaohs’ power, and his cult was the principal ideological support of the king, who was seen as Amon’s son. Under pharaoh Ikhnaton, the Amon cult gave way to the cult of Aton, the life-giv¬ ing sun disc, as the state religion.

The pharaoh was regarded as the living likeness of the sun-god. The deification of royal power was an important trait of Egyptian religion throughout its existence.

Apart from the state god, each city had a tutelary god of its own, and often several gods.

The cult of the god Osiris was also connected with that of royal power. Whereas the sun was the god of the living pharaoh, Osiris was the god or the proto¬ type of the dead one. Underlying the worshipping of Osiris was the farmers’ deification of the annually dying and rising forces of nature, the personification of floods bringing fresh strength to the vegetation. Beginning with the late Old Kingdom, any dead person could be regarded as Osiris and acquire his merits through magic to continue existence in the next world. Initially, Osiris was the local god of the cities of Busiris and Abydos, but later it became a very popular deity throughout Egypt.

Characteristic of the Egyptians was a well-devel¬ oped afterlife cult. They believed that death was not the destruction of man but merely his transition to the next world. To enable man to continue existence after death, the body had to be preserved by mum¬ mification. Mummification was known already in the Old Kingdom, although at that time the art was only rudimentary. For the dead man to continue life in the next world, he was also provided with a tomb, food, drink and various utensils. Huge pyramids were built for the kings. The common people could not afford tombs. Those who had no tombs and made no provision for sacrifices after death stood in danger of suffering from hunger and thirst in the next world.

From the earliest times, animal cults were highly

49

4-344

developed in Egypt. Numerous gods were wor¬ shipped in the guise of animals believed to be incar¬ nations of these deities. Such cults were especially widespread in the late (Saite) times, from which whole cemeteries of mummified sacred animals have survived. For example, the sacred bull Apis was wor¬ shipped in Memphis, and his cult was strongly sup¬ ported by the state.

During the Saite and subsequent periods there was an emphasis on the ancient cult of Neith, the protectress of Sais and of Egyptian kings.

According to ancient Egyptian beliefs, man was endowed with several souls. One of the souls was the person’s “double”, believed to be his spiritual ele¬ ment. Signs of the faith in the existence of a person’s double seen as his soul are found already in inscrip¬ tions from the First Dynasty. A person’s name was also regarded as one of the souls. Special care was therefore taken to preserve the name, which was equated with the preservation of the person.

The funerary incantations and magic formulas in¬ scribed on the sarcophagi of the Middle Kingdom period later formed the basis of the Book of the Dead. The book is a motley collection of logically uncon¬ nected incantations, hymns, prayers, and glorifica¬ tions of the gods. Most incantations were intended to protect the dead from the horrors of the next world and to ensure their posthumous bliss. The Book of the Dead contains, in particular, a description of judge¬ ment after death, with the weighing of the dead man’s heart (the seat of reason, according to Egyp¬ tian concepts) and a list of his sins. That part of the Book of the Dead belongs to the New Kingdom period, when the view took root that only the righteous were assured posthumous bliss. During the New Kingdom this book was usually written on papyrus scrolls and placed in the dead man’s tomb, to ensure acquittal in Osiris’s court and bliss after death. The best pas¬ sages of the Book of the Dead date to the Eighteenth j Dynasty-a period of efflorescence in Egyptian ~ literature.

Old Egyptian literature is known with any degree | of certainty only from the times of the Middle King- ~ dom. Achthoes’s instructions to his son, a monument 2 of the profession of scribes, is a mockery of all the | other occupations, imbued with the complacency of 5 officialdom. Two more Instructions of the Middle '

5.

Kingdom period have been preserved, compiled by royal fathers and containing admonitions to their g

future successors on the art of running the state.

One of the best monuments of Egyptian literature is the “Tale of Sinuhe”-a work of considerable artistic merit with a lively and detailed narrative.

In brief, the story is this. A new king succeeds to the throne some time during the Middle Kingdom. Sinuhe, a courtier, who is at the time with an army camp, flees to Syria for fear of being implicated in court intrigues. After a long series of vicissitudes he reaches Syria, where he gradually attains riches and high status. In his old age, tormented by homesick¬ ness, he returns to Egypt where pharaoh Sinusert favourably receives him.

The “Story of Shipwrecked Sailor” is a narrative of voyages to remote lands. After a terrible storm destroys his ship, a certain Egyptian is stranded on a mysterious island where a huge serpent lives. That serpent generously supplies the guest with perfumes, ivory and other precious objects and sends him on his way back home. An Egyptian ship picks up the courageous sailor and brings him to the pharaoh’s court. The story eloquently describes the fairy-tale landscape of the island and its wondrous fruits.

The cycle of tales about pharaoh Cheops and the magicians also dates to the Middle Kingdom, although they may have appeared as early as the Old Kingdom. In these tales, the crown princes, one after another, describe to Cheops the magic deeds of wizards that lived in the times of his predecessors.

The “Tale of the Eloquent Peasant” reflects the social relations of the Middle Kingdom. A villager sets out for the capital but is robbed on the way there by a highly placed official’s servant. When the vic¬ tim appeals to the official, the latter is not moved by his story but notices that the peasant is eloquent and makes him say long speeches which are recorded and sent to the pharaoh, a lover of rhetoric. In the end the pharaoh punishes the robber and rewards the victim.

Beginning with the Nineteenth Dynasty, a rich artistic tradition develops in spoken New Egyptian which became the literary norm of the 15th and 14th centuries B.C. One of these works, the “Tale of Truth and Falsehood”, expresses indignation at the indifference of the powers that be towards the lot of the underprivileged. The “Life-weary Man’s Dis¬ pute with His Soul” narrates the sufferings of a man disillusioned by the evil and soulless society and seeking death. The soul tries to talk him out of sui-

50

cide, advising him to enjoy life and not to hope for a life after death.

During the New Kingdom, several myths were in¬ vented (or given literary form). Particularly popular among these was the Osiris myth, according to which Osiris was killed by his evil brother Seth. Isis, the wife of Osiris, and his sister Nephthis revived the dead god. Later Isis gave birth to Osiris’s son Horus, who vanquished Seth and took revenge upon him. Tried by the gods, Horus was acquitted and inher¬ ited his father’s royal power and heavenly throne.

Later myths of creation sing the praises of the sun- god, who fashioned heaven, earth, plants, animals, and fishes out of the original aquatic chaos.

The “Myth of the Destruction of Mankind” is the story of people ceasing to obey the gods when the supreme god Ra became old. To punish the refrac¬ tory humans Ra sent the divine Lioness Hathor- Sekhmet to the earth, who began to destroy them everywhere. Fearing a complete extermination of the human race, Ra ordered an inebriating beverage to be poured on earth. Hathor-Sekhmet took that beverage for human blood and on tasting it became drunk. Man was thus saved from complete disap¬ pearance from the face of the earth.

Narrative literature of later Egyptian epochs is known but poorly. One of the works of that time, a papyrus from the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum in Moscow, offers a detailed and lively account of the voyage of the Egyptian Wen-Amon to the Phoeni¬ cian city of By bios to get timber for a temple bark on instructions from a Theban priest. Quite possibly this narrative was founded on actual adventures. Among other interesting points it contains a pictur¬ esque description of a stormy sea.

Already in the early dynastic period, Egyptian art made a great contribution to human culture. It was at that period that the traditional pictorial forms were forged, which were later used in Egyptian art for many centuries.

In the pre-dynastic period, some artists achieved great mastery in the portrayal of men and animals. A fairly large number of round sculptures from the times of the Early Kingdom have been preserved. The sculptural monuments of the Third and Fourth Dynasties aimed at a faithful reproduction of the ori¬ ginal. The artists portrayed the faces of pharaohs and their contemporaries with striking realism.

The pyramids of the Old Kingdom are magnifi¬

Q

5

s

51

cent architectural monuments. During the Middle Kingdom construction of stone edifices flourished again. South of Memphis, at the entrance to the Fayum oasis and in the desert around it, mudbrick limestone-faced pyramids of the kings were built. Beginning with pharaoh Tuthmosis I, Egyptian kings gave up the construction of pyramids. Tuth¬ mosis ordered a tomb to be cut of rock in a gorge west of Thebes. Later, a royal cemetery was built here with cave tombs that were sometimes a hundred metres long. These tombs could not be seen from the outside, and their location was a great secret.

Art in the Middle Kingdom, and especially tomb painting, made great advances. For example, mili¬ tary exercises were skilfully and precisely painted during the Eleventh Dynasty in nomarchs’ tombs near modern Beni-Hasan.Wooden sculptures of the Middle Kingdom are quite remarkable for their rea¬ listic portrayal of craftsmen.

The art of the New Kingdom is particularly rich in architectural monuments. Construction engineer¬ ing of that time is known mostly from the ruins of Akhenaton’s capital at modern el-Amarna which was abandoned by the pharaoh’s successors and has survived to our times without much change.

The greatest monument of the New Kingdom was the Temple of Thebes, or the Karnak temple, which took centuries to build. Numerous courts and pylons adjoined the main edifice here. Before the pylons, immense royal sculptures and polished obelisks stood. A road lined with sphinxes led to the temple.

The sculptured portraits of Nefertiti, Akhenaton’s wife, are masterpieces of Egyptian art. Many sculp¬ tures of exquisite finish have also been preserved since Saite times.

Ancient Egyptian culture made a great impact on the neighbouring countries of the ancient Orient and later on antique culture, particularly of the Hel¬ lenistic and Roman periods. Greek and Roman his¬ torians, philosophers, scholars, artists, and sculptors displayed a lively interest in the history, culture, and science of Egypt. The present interest for the culture of ancient Egypt is also understandable. Archaeolo¬ gical studies now conducted in the Republic of Egypt continue to yield remarkable monuments of art, literature and architecture, enabling us to unra¬ vel the mysteries of that great civilisation of the East.

Chapter 2

The Ancient States of Mesopotamia

Geographical Conditions. Population. Mesopotamia is a flat country between the Tigris and the Euphrates in their lower and middle reaches. In the north and east Mesopotamia is bounded by the slopes of the Armenian and Iranian plateaus, in the west it adjoins the Syrian steppe and Arabian semi-desert, and in the south, the Persian Gulf. The Euphrates is 2,700 kilometres, and the Tigris, 1,900 kilometres long. Both rivers arise on the Armenian plateau, and in ancient times they emptied separately into the Persian Gulf. The Tigris is more turbulent than the Euphrates and carries twice as much water. Both these rivers have several tributaries each. The major tributaries of the Euphrates are the Balikh and the Khabur, and those of the Tigris are the Great and the Little Zab and the Diyala. In spring and sum¬ mer these rivers regularly overflowed due to the thawing of snow in the mountainous areas. They carried silt containing organic elements and solu¬ tions of inorganic compounds from rock minerals, which fertilised the fields. The soil of Mesopotamia was fertile, but irrigation, melioration and drainage were needed all the year round to raise good crops.

The earliest population inhabited both banks of the j two rivers in the lower reaches, but mostly it lived ~ along the Euphrates, whose waters were easier to use for irrigation.

In the north of Mesopotamia, the climate is ~ sharply continental, and in the south, dry and hot. There was an abundance of clay and natural asphalt | but neither building stone nor any metals in the val- 2 ley of the two rivers. Willows grew on the river banks, and there was a great deal of reed in the “ marshlands of the south, but no forest at all. The S

plants cultivated here were barley, spelt, millet, onions, garlic, cucumbers, beans, peas, and sesame. The rivers teemed with fish, which was an important element of the diet.

The centre of the development of the earliest civi¬ lisation lay in the valley of the Euphrates and Tigris, in the southern part of the country known in anti¬ quity as Babylonia. Babylonia’s northern part was called Akkad, its south, Sumer. The northern part of Mesopotamia, an undulating steppe rising towards mountainous ridges, was Assyria. It was situated in the middle reaches of the Tigris, that is, on the terri¬ tory of modern north-eastern Iraq.

The first settlements in southern Mesopotamia appeared in the 5th millennium B.C. The people who settled the lower reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates found there excellent hunting and fishing grounds. Gradually, however, the population began to cultivate land with the help of flint hoes and to breed livestock, although hunting and fishing con¬ tinued to play an important role in their lives. It is at present difficult to determine the ethnic origin of these first settlers of the lower Tigris and Euphrates.

The first Sumerian settlements emerged in the extreme south of Mesopotamia not later than the beginning of the 4th millennium B. C., although the precise date of those first settlements is difficult to ascertain. Judging by ancient pictures, the Sumer¬ ians’ characteristic traits were a round face and a large straight nose. It appears that the Sumerians were not the first inhabitants of southern Mesopota¬ mia, as many toponymic elements occurring there after the settlement of the lower Tigris and Eu¬ phrates by that people cannot be explained in terms

52

of Sumerian. The Sumerians apparently found tribes in southern Mesopotamia which spoke a lan¬ guage different from both Sumerian and Akkadian, and borrowed from them the most ancient names of the country’s various areas. Gradually the Sumer¬ ians occupied the whole of Mesopotamia, from the present-day site of Bagdad in the north down to the Persian Gulf in the south. Where the Sumerians originally came from is so far uncertain. Contradic¬ tory views have been expressed by various scholars, Iran, Asia Minor and Central Asia being named as possible homelands of the Sumerians. According to an ancient tradition of the Sumerians themselves, they arrived in Mesopotamia from the islands of the Persian Gulf.

The Sumerians spoke a language whose affinity to any of the known languages has not yet been estab¬ lished. Many scholars have endeavoured to prove kinship between Sumerian and Turkic, Caucasian, Etruscan and other languages, but so far no defini¬ tive results have been achieved.

Beginning with the first half of the 3rd millennium B. C., the northern part of Mesopotamia was inhab¬ ited by the Semites. These were the cattle-breeding tribes of the ancient Levant and of the Syrian steppe. The language of Semitic tribes which settled Meso¬ potamia was called Akkadian. In southern Mesopo¬ tamia, the Semites spoke the Babylonian, and in the north, in the middle Tigris valley, the Assyrian dia¬ lect of the Akkadian language.

For several centuries the Semites coexisted with the Sumerians, but later they began to move south and by the end of the 3rd millennium B. C. occupied the whole of southern Mesopotamia. As a result, the Akkadian language gradually ousted out Sumerian. The latter, however, remained the official state lan¬ guage as late as the 21st century B.C., although it was more and more replaced by Akkadian in every¬ day life. By the beginning of the 2nd millennium B. C. Sumerian was already a dead language. It was able to survive only in the out-of-the-way areas of the lower Tigris and Euphrates, but later it was sup¬ planted by Akkadian here as well. However, Sume¬ rian continued to exist as the language of the religious cult and, to some extent, of science, and to be studied at schools, until the 1st century A.D.

However, the disappearance of the Sumerian lan¬ guage did not at all signify a physical extermination of the people who spoke it. The Sumerians mixed

with the Semites, retaining their religion and cul¬ ture, which the Akkadians borrowed from them with some modifications.

Late in the 3rd millennium B. C., stock-breeding tribes of Semitic origin began to penetrate into Mesopotamia from the Syrian steppe. Akkadians called these West-Semitic tribes the Amorites. In Akkadian, Amurru meant “West”, chiefly with refer¬ ence to Syria; the nomads of this region included numerous tribes which spoke different though cog¬ nate dialects. Some of these tribes were called the Sutaeans.

Beginning with the 3rd millennium B. C., north¬ ern Mesopotamia, from the upper Diyala to Lake Urmia, now the territory of Iranian Azerbaijan and Kurdistan, was inhabited by the Quti or Guti tribes. Their occupations were land cultivation and semi- nomadic stock-breeding. The Gutians’ ethnic origin is still a mystery; it is certain, though, that they spoke a language quite different from the Sumerian or from any Semitic or Indo-European languages. The language of the Gutian tribes may have been cog¬ nate with Hurrian. At the end of the 23rd century the Gutians, who were then still at the primitive communal stage of development, invaded Mesopo¬ tamia. For a whole century they held sway there, imposing a heavy tribute on the population, but at the end of the 22nd century the Gutians’ power in Mesopotamia was overthrown, and they were pushed back to the upper Diyala, where they still lived as late as the 1st millennium B. C.

Since ancient times, northern Mesopotamia was inhabited by Hurrian tribes. Apparently they were the autochtonous population of northern Mesopota¬ mia, northern Syria and the Armenian plateau. In northern Mesopotamia, the Hurrians founded the Mitanni state, which was one of the major powers of g 3 the Near East in the mid-2nd millennium B. C. The ? Hurrians formed the bulk of the Mitanni popula- N tion, although there were also some Indo-European S or, to be more precise, Indo-Aryan newcomers ^ there. In Syria, the Hurrians were apparently in the | minority. In language and origin the Hurrians were closely related to Urartaean tribes inhabiting the S' Armenian plateau. In the 3rd and 2nd millennia, ^ the Hurrian-Urartaean ethnic stratum occupied the ? entire territory from the hilly plains of northern | Mesopotamia to central Transcaucasia. There is evi- | dence that in the 3rd and 2nd millennia B.C. the

53

Sumerians and the Akkadians called the Hurrian country and the Hurrian tribes Subartu (hence the modern ethnic name Subareans). The Hurrians still lived in some parts of the Armenian plateau in the 6th and 5th centuries B. C. In the 2nd millennium B. C., the Hurrians borrowed the Akkadian cunei¬ form script, in which they wrote both in Hurrian and in Akkadian.

In the second half of the 2nd millennium B. C., considerable migrations of Semitic stock-breeding tribes occurred in the Near Edst. A great wave of Aramaean tribes moved into the Syrian steppe, northern Syria and northern Mesopotamia from northern Arabia. These tribes are first mentioned in the middle of the 2nd millennium B.C. At first, the Akkadians called them Ahlamu and later Aramu. In the late 13th century B. C. the Aramaeans founded a great number of small principalities in western Syria and south-western Mesopotamia. By the beginning of the 1st millennium B.C., the Ara¬ maeans assimilated almost completely the Hurrian and Amorite population of Syria and northern Mesopotamia.

In the 8th century B. C., all Aramaean states were seized by Assyria, but the influence of the Aramaic language only increased after that. By the 7th cen¬ tury B. C. all Syria spoke Aramaic, and it began to spread through Mesopotamia as well-a process faci¬ litated by the fact that the Aramaeans were extre¬ mely numerous, and their script was convenient and easily learnt.

In the 8th and 7th centuries B. C. the Assyrian administration adopted the policy of moving about the subjugated peoples from one end of the Assyrian empire to another. The purpose of these depor¬ tations was to impede understanding between differ¬ ent peoples and thus to prevent their rebelling against the Assyrian yoke. Besides, Assyrian kings endeavoured to settle territories devastated by end¬ less wars. As a result of the mixing of peoples and languages inevitable in such cases, the Aramaic lan¬ guage everywhere emerged victorious, becoming the dominant vernacular from Syria to the western regions of Iran. Even in Assyria itself Aramaic came to be spoken in everyday intercourse. After the downfall of the Assyrian empire in the late 7th cen¬ tury B. C., the Assyrians completely gave up their own language and switched to Aramaic.

Beginning with the 9th century B. C., southern

Babylonia was invaded by the Chaldaeans related to the Aramaeans; gradually, Chaldaeans occupied the whole country.

After the conquest of Mesopotamia by the Per¬ sians in 539 B. C., Aramaic became the official lan¬ guage of state administration in that country, while Akkadian lived on only in the major cities, but even here it was gradually superseded by the Aramaic and by the late 1st century A. D. completely for¬ gotten. The Babylonians themselves ultimately merged with the Chaldaeans and Aramaeans.

Sources. Of great significance for the emergence of Assyriology - the science studying the languages, his¬ tory and culture of the ancient Near East-was the deciphering of Old Persian cuneiform writing by the German scholar Georg Grotefend in 1802. After that, the Akkadian cuneiform writing was also deci¬ phered with the aid of trilingual inscriptions from Iran. 1857 is regarded as the year when Assyriology was born.

Archaeological studies of Mesopotamia began in the first half of the 19th century. At first, however, the excavations were limited to the search for sensa¬ tional finds, such as reliefs and precious objects. In 1843, the French diplomat Paul Pmile Botta dis¬ covered the ruins of the city of Dur-Sharrukin (now the site Khorsabad), the residence of the Assyrian king Sargon II. These excavations formed the beginning of the Assyrian collection of the Louvre. In 1845-1847 the British diplomat Henry Layard excavated the Nimrud mound, under which the ruins of the Assyrian city of Kalhu were discovered. In 1853, Hormuzd Rassam, a British subject, found the ruins of Assurbanipal’s palace and library in Nineveh (modern mound Kuyunjik). These finds formed the basis of the cuneiform collections of the British Museum.

Since 1890, the expedition of the University of Pennsylvania had been digging at the site of the city of Nippur, with some interruptions. Remains of the temple of the god Enlil with a ziggurat have been discovered, as well as ruins of a ruler’s palace and many Sumerian literary texts. Between 1899 and 1917, a German expedition under Robert Koldewey dug at the site of Babylon. This was the most costly excavation in the history of archaeology. The city’s walls, Nebuchadnezzar II’s palace, city blocks and a

great many other things were found. In 1919, the British scholar Leonard Woolley began to dig at the site of the city of Ur, discovering there the remains of a ziggurat, temples, and a royal necropolis with 1,800 burials and valuable grave goods from the middle of the 3rd millennium B. C. Since 1933, French archaeologists under Andre Parrot had been digging at the Mari site (modern Tell Har¬ iri) in Syria. The magnificent palace of the king of Mari has been excavated, as well as an archive with about 20,000 cuneiform tablets - business texts and diplomatic correspondence between Mari rulers and Syrian and Mesopotamian kings.

Although archaeological excavations on Iraqi ter¬ ritory have been going on for more than a hundred years, they continue to yield fresh boons to archaeo¬ logical science - works of art, literature, and docu¬ ments from everyday life. For the early periods of the history of Mesopotamia, when writing did not yet exist (the first written texts appeared at the begin¬ ning of the 3rd millennium), of great signif icance are tools, remnants of dwellings, grave goods, and handicraft products.

As a result of many years of excavation in Iraq, in¬ teresting materials on the earliest stages of the Meso¬ potamian civilisation have been obtained by Soviet archaeologists.

Mesopotamia’s ancient history is documented in numerous written sources, including hundreds of thousands of business, administrative, and legal documents, historical chronicles, laws, literary works, grammatical, medical, astronomical, mathe¬ matical and religious texts.

The most ancient business records, about a thou¬ sand clay tablets all told, have been found at Uruk and Jemdet Nasr. These documents are inventories of foodstuffs and tools written in a very early type of script, the pictographic one. Later, beginning with r the middle of the 3rd millennium B. C., large 5 archives of diverse cuneiform texts appear. Of these, N legal monuments should especially be mentioned, as J they enable us to study ancient legal norms and pro- ? cedures. No other country of the ancient world left | such a wealth of legal codes as did Mesopotamia. £ The oldest of these are the Laws of Shulgi, dated to 5 the late 3rd millennium. Laws from Eshnunna, a ^ peripheral kingdom in the valley of the Diyala, are a dated to the 20th century. The most comprehensive | collection of laws is the Code of Hammurapi (18th |-

century B. C.). The law book from Assur, the capital of the Assyrian state, containing the text of the so- called Middle Assyrian laws, is dated to the second half of the 2nd millennium B. C.

Of great importance for the study of political and military history are inscriptions left by the rulers of Sumer, Babylonia and Assyria.

At about 290 B. C., a Babylonian named Berossos, a priest of the Esagila temple, compiled a three- volume work on the history and culture of Baby¬ lonia. His sources were astronomical tables, ancient Babylonian mythology and historical documents. Regrettably, that valuable work, written in Greek and based on reliable sources, has only been pre¬ served in extracts from the works of later antique authors.

Sumer. At the end of the 4th millennium and begin¬ ning of the 3rd, almost simultaneously with the emergence of the state in Egypt, the first states appeared in the southern part of the Tigris- Euphrates valley, one of the most important foun¬ tainheads of world civilisation.

At that time, the ancient population of southern Mesopotamia began to drain the marshlands and to use the water of the Euphrates, and later of the more turbulent Tigris, for land irrigation. The alluvial soil was soft and loose, so that canals and dams could be built with the most primitive tools. Gradually the irrigation system was extended to cover entire pro¬ vinces. The network of waterways that was the basis of irrigation later changed but little compared with the beginning of the 3rd millennium, and abundant stable harvests were gathered already in remote antiquity. Texts from the first half of the 3rd millen¬ nium point to the existence of an efficient administ¬ ration and to the functioning of a well-kept and effective system of irrigation and an extensive network of canals. Relatively high labour producti¬ vity permitted the use of slave labour as early as the beginning of the 3rd millennium. The Sumerian words for male and female slave, which literally meant “man or woman of the mountains”, show that originally slaves were foreigners, i. e., prisoners of war.

At the beginning of the 3rd millennium, the southern part of Mesopotamia was not yet united - several small city-states existed here. These cities,

1

built on natural hills, were surrounded by walls. They had a population of 40 to 50 thousand each.

Situated in the extreme south-west of Mesopota¬ mia was the city of Eridu which, according to Sumerian legend, developed a high culture. Close to Eridu lay the city of Ur, which played a great role in the history of Sumer. North of Ur, the city of Larsa stood on the bank of the Euphrates, and east of Larsa, on the bank of the Tigris, the city of Lagash was situated. Uruk, lying on the Euphrates, played a prominent role in the unification of the country. Nippur, the principal shrine of the whole Sumer, stood approximately in the centre of Mesopotamia.

The work of Berossos shows that Babylonian priests divided the history of their country into two periods, “before the flood” and “after the flood”. Berossos lists ten kings that are said to have ruled 432,000 years before the flood. Just as fantastic is the figure for the reigns before the flood contained in cuneiform lists compiled early in the 2nd millen¬ nium B. C. at Isin and Larsa. That Sumerian list of kings, covering the period from the beginning of Mesopotamian history to the end of the First Dynasty of Isin (1794 B. C.) is based on the assump¬ tion that Babylonia, the areas of Diyala and the mid¬ dle Euphrates (i. e., the Mari state) always consti¬ tuted a single state, and that the dynasties listed there ruled consecutively rather than simul¬ taneously, as was often the case in reality. Also fan¬ tastic is the number of years for the reigns after the flood indicated in the work of Berossos and the list mentioned above. Beginning with the first centuries of the 3rd millennium, however, the history of Sumer can be rather reliably reconstructed from various cuneiform sources.

In the first half of the 3rd millennium B.C., several political centres arose in Sumer, whose rulers bore the title of lugal or ensi. An ensi was an indepen¬ dent ruler of a city together with the area immedi¬ ately adjoining it. The title indicates that originally the representative of state power was also the supreme priest, as it was actually a priestly title. Lugal, which literally means “great man” commonly denoted a king.

In the middle of the 3rd millennium B. C. the city of Kish claimed a predominant position in Sumer, its rulers assuming the title of “king of the whole world”. Somewhat later, the city of Lagash pushed into the foreground. As the lands of the plains began

to be cultivated, the boundaries of the small Sumer¬ ian states came into contact, which resulted in con¬ tinual conflicts between the states in the first half of the 3rd millennium. In the middle of the 25th cen¬ tury B. C., Lagash under ensi Eannatum routed in a fierce battle its constant enemy, the city of Umma situated north of Lagash. After Eannatum’s death, however, the war with Umma flared up again. Ente- mena, ruler of Lagash (c. 2360-2340 B. G.), victo¬ riously ended that war.

But the internal situation in Lagash was not stable, as the economic and political position of the popular masses of that city deteriorated. To restore their rights, they united under Uruinimgina, an in¬ fluential citizen. The latter removed an ensi named Lugalanda, taking his place (c. 2318-2312). In the second year of his rule Uruinimgina declared himself king (lugal). During his six years in power he imple¬ mented important social reforms that were the oldest legal acts in the socioeconomic sphere known to date. He was the first to proclaim a slogan that later became popular throughout Mesopotamia, “Let not the strong offend widows and orphans!” High taxes previously imposed on high-ranking priests were abolished, and payment in kind to dependent tem¬ ple workers was increased. The independence of temple economy from the royal administration was restored. Certain concessions were also made to the rank-and-file free population: payments for the per¬ formance of religious rites were reduced, as was con¬ script labour at irrigation construction and main¬ tenance, and certain taxes required of craftsmen were cancelled. Besides, Uruinimgina restored the courts in rural communities and guaranteed the rights of Lagash citizens protecting them against their enslavement by usurers. Finally, polyandry was abolished. Uruinimgina claimed that all these reforms were a contract concluded with Ningirsu, the supreme god of Lagash, and that he was merely carrying out the god’s will.

While Uruinimgina was implementing his reforms, a new war with Umma broke out. Umma’s ruler Lugalzaggesi made a treaty with the city of Uruk, recruiting its help in the struggle against Lagash. In the seventh year of Uruinimgina’s rule the war ended in a defeat for Lagash. The city was seized by enemy troops, the temple was plundered, and the reforms abolished.

Umma under Lugalzaggesi was the last major

Hm&w.__

-,-fJMli. L» i 'WB

Sumerian city before the subjugation of the south of 3rd millennium B. C. the potter’s wheel came into

Mesopotamia by the Akkadian king Sargon. Lugal- use. The most expensive vessels were covered with

zaggesi also seized power in Uruk, adopting there- enamel and glaze.

upon the title of “king of Uruk, king of the Sumer Reed growing in profusion along the banks of

country”. He also succeeded in conquering the cities canals and rivers was a regular substitute for wood,

of Adab and Eridu and extending his rule through It was used for making mats, baskets and boxes. For

nearly all Sumer, of which Uruk became the capital. strength, these were sometimes covered with leather

Lugalzaggesi declared: “From the Fower Sea (the and tarred. The most ancient boats were also made

Persian Gulf) along the Euphrates and Tigris to the of reed. They were given a coating of asphalt, to

Upper Sea (the Mediterranean) the god Enlil make them watertight. Ships, equipped with sails or

handed over all the lands to me.” Lugalzaggesi’s oars, were also made of wood, rule did not, of course, extended to the Mediter- Bronze tools were made already in the early 3rd

ranean, but direct trading with that area apparently millennium B. C., and they remained the principal

existed in his reign. metal implements until the beginning of the Iron

Sumer’s main branch of the economy was agricul- Age in Mesopotamia in the late 2nd millennium

ture based on a well-developed irrigation system. B. C. A small quantity of tin was added to molten

There is a Sumerian literary monument called the copper to obtain bronze.

“farmers’ almanac” which dates from the 3rd mil¬ lennium B. C. In it, an experienced farmer instructs

his son on ways of maintaining soil fertility and pre- Mesopotamia under the Dominion of Akkad and Ur. The venting soil salinisation. Among other things, he in- Semitic Akkadian population gradually assumed sists that only one crop a year should be gathered in greater sway in Mesopotamia. As early as the 27th

order not to exhaust the land. The text also describes century, the northern part was inhabited by the

all the field works in their proper sequence. Stock- Akkadians, while the Sumerians remained the prin- breeding was also of great importance for the cipal population in the south. The most ancient city country’s economy. founded by the Semites in Mesopotamia was Akkad,

At that time, the crafts were already fairly well which later became the capital of a state of the same

developed. House builders were especially numerous name. That city was apparently situated on the left

among urban craftsmen. Excavations of tombs at Ur bank of the Euphrates, where it comes closest to the

belonging to the middle of the 3rd millennium indi- Tigris. Even after the Akkadian state ceased to exist,

cate a high level of Sumerian metallurgy. Helmets, its territory continued to be called Akkad, while the

axes, daggers and spears made of gold, silver and southern part of Mesopotamia retained the name of

copper were found in the tombs. The craftsmen Sumer. It should be noted that there was no racial or

knew chasing and engraving. As there were no metal linguistic enmity between Sumerians and Akka-

ores in southern Mesopotamia, the presence of metal dians-they were rather opposed to one another in

artifacts in the tombs of Ur indicates extensive inter- their mode of life, the Sumerians leading a settled

national trading. Gold was brought from the west- life and the Semites being nomads. Already in the

ern areas of India, lapis lazuli from the territory of f middle of the 3rd millennium, the Akkadians were modern Badakhshan in Afghanistan, stone for mak- 5 the inheritors of the Sumerian culture, which they ing vessels from Iran, and silver from Asia Minor. ’ continued to develop. By the mid-24th century, the The Sumerians bartered these goods for their princi- J Sumerian population which lived in the northern pal commodities-wool, grain, and dates. ? part of the country was assimilated by the Semites.

The craftsmen’s local resources were very few- | C. 2340, Sargon became king of Akkad. He was a clay, reed, wool, leather and flax. Ea, god of wis- '§ founder of a dynasty in the true sense of the word: dom, was regarded as the patron of potters, builders, 1 five kings, beginning with himsell, ruled for 150 weavers, blacksmiths, and other craftsmen. The )' years, son after father. The name of Sargon must technique of baking brick in kilns was known a have been assumed on accession to the throne, as it already at that early period. Buildings were some- | means “the king is legitimate” (Sharrumkin, in times faced with glazed brick. In the middle of the I Akkadian). The king’s personality was shrouded in

57

numerous legends even during his life-dme. He said of himself: “My mother was poor, and I did not know who my father was... My mother conceived me, and gave birth in secrecy, then put me in a reed basket and sent me floating down the river.” According to one of the legends, Sargon was a gar¬ dener and cupbearer of the king of Kish, and later founded the city of Akkad, becoming its king.

Lugalzaggesi, ruler of Umma, who had estab¬ lished his power over most of the Sumerian cities, began a long struggle against Sargon. After several failures, Sargon won a decisive victory over Lugal¬ zaggesi and fifty vassal rulers. After that Sargon fought successful campaigns in Syria and the Taurus Mountains, and defeated the king of Elam.

Sargon established the first regular army known to history, consisting of 5,400 warriors who, in his words, daily ate at his table. It was a loyal and well- trained professional army whose entire well-being depended on the king.

Under Sargon, new canals were built and irriga¬ tion was regulated throughout the country. A uni¬ fied system of weights and measures was introduced. Akkad traded with India and East Arabia by sea, importing timber, stone and metals from those lands.

At the end of Sargon’s rule, famine caused a revolt in the country, which was suppressed after his death by his younger son Rimush c. 2260. Later Rimush fell a victim of a coup, and the throne went to his brother Manishtusu. After fifteen years of reign, Manishtusu was killed during another revolt, and Naram-Sin (2236-2200), son of Manishtusu and grandson of Sargon, acceded to the throne.

During Naram-Sin’s long rule, Akkad reached the peak of its might, subjugating numerous opponents.

At the very beginning of Naram-Sin’s reign, the ancient cities of southern Mesopotamia led by Kish, resenting Akkad’s rise, revolted. That rebellion was only crushed after many years of struggle. Having consolidated his power over Mesopotamia, Naram- Sin assumed the title of “the powerful god of Akkad” and ordered reliefs to be made in which he wore horned headgear, the horns being a symbol of divinity. The population had to worship Naram-Sin as a living god, although no king before him had 2 claimed such honours, and later, too, only a few j) rulers imitated Naram-Sin in this respect.

Naram-Sin regarded himself as the ruler of the £

whole world that was then known and bore the title of “king of the four quarters of the world”. He waged many wars, seizing new lands, winning vic¬ tories over the kings of Elam and the Lullubi tribes living on the territory of modern north-western Iran, conquering the state of Mari in the middle Euphra¬ tes, and extending his sovereignty to Syria. At Susa, capital of Elam, he built edifices of brick stamped with his name, and gave war booty to the temples of that city. The Akkadian influence at Susa was so strong at that time that even legal documents, letters and literary works were written in the Akkadian and not Elamite language.

Under Naram-Sin’s successor Shar-kali-sharri (2200-2176 B. C.), whose name means “king of all kings”, the disintegration of the Akkadian empire began. The new king had to wage a long struggle against the Semitic tribes of Amorites advancing from the west, and simultaneously against the inva¬ sion of the Gutians from the north-east. At the same time there were revolts against central power in Mesopotamia itself.

The popular unrest was caused by acute social conflicts. The royal domain grew enormously; subordinating the temple estates, the king began mass exploitation of citizens with little or no land. Enslavement of free members of society unable to pay their debts significantly reduced the numbers of such free men who could be called up to the army to fight off the external enemy. C. 2170 Mesopotamia was conquered and plundered by the Gutian tribes of the Zagros Mountains. That was a bad period in the history of Mesopotamia, which lasted some 60 years and put an end to the Akkadian dynasty.

C. 2109, the armed people of Uruk under their king Utu-hegal inflicted a severe defeat on the Gutian tribes and drove them away from the land. In Utu-hegal’s words, the god Enlil chose him to j expunge the very name of “Gutium, the creeping ~ serpent of the mountains, the enemy of the gods, who stole the kingdom of Sumer and filled Sumer 2 with fear”. After his victory over the Gutian tribes, Utu-hegal claimed sovereignty over all Sumer, but the dominion over southern Mesopotamia soon passed to Ur which was ruled by the Third Dynasty of Ur (2112-2003). That dynasty was founded by Ur-Nammu, who bore the title of “King of Sumer and Akkad”, as did his successors.

Under Ur-Nammu, royal power assumed despotic

58

character. The king; was the supreme judge, the Babylonia in the 2nd Millennium B.C. The time from head of the entire administration, and he also the end of the Third Dynasty of Ur to 1595, when decided on issues of war and peace. On state and Babylonia lost its independence, is called the Old

temple estates, numerous scribes and officials Babylonian period. After the Third Dynasty of Ur,

recorded all the aspects of management even to the many local dynasties of Amorite origin arose minutest details. An organised system of transporta- throughout the country. Because of the overpopula¬ tion functioned in the country, so that documents tion of the territory west of Mesopotamia, the Amor-

could be sent by messenger to all parts of the state. ites searched for new grazing lands for their cattle

Ur-Nammu’s son Shulgi (2093-2046) established and settled in Babylonia; by the middle of the 2nd his rule over Syria and Elam. He also had himself millennium B. C. they had gradually merged with deified. His statues were set up in temples, and sacri- the local Sumerian and Akkadian population. ficeS had to be made before them. In Akkad, the Amorites formed a state with the

The text of Shulgi’s laws points to the existence of capital Isin, and in the south of the country, another a highly developed legal system. Shulgi’s laws are kingdom, whose capital was Larsa. Besides, there

the oldest known to date. They establish, in particu- was the city-state Mari in the middle Euphrates an

lar, rewards for taking a runaway slave back to his important centre of Akkadian settlement already in owner. Punishments are also envisaged for various the first half of the 3rd millennium B. C. In north- kinds of mutilation; unlike the later Hammurapi eastern Mesopotamia, in the valley of the Diyala, laws, the Shulgi laws were not guided by the “an eye there existed the state of Eshnunna, where a code of for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” principle; instead, laws was compiled in Akkadian in the early 20th rules for financial compensation were instituted. century.

Shulgi’s laws also envisaged punishments for the C. 1894 B. C., the Amorites seized the north-

wife’s infidelity, and for a woman slave’s attempts ern part of the Isin kingdom, founding an indepen- “to be on an equal footing” with the mistress of the dent state with its capital at Babylon on the Euph- house. rates, in the north of the country. Beginning with

Under Shulgi’s successors, the Amorites, who that time the role of Babylon, the youngest of the attacked Mesopotamia from Syria, became a grave cities of Mesopotamia, steadily grew from century to danger to the state. To stop their advance, the kings century.

of the Third Dynasty of Ur built a long line of fortifi- At the beginning, the Babylonian kingdom did

cations. But the internal situation was unstable, too. not play a very important role. The first king to The vast temple estates demanded great numbers of vigorously extend the borders of that state was Ham- workers, who gradually lost their rights as free murapi (1792-1750). In 1785, relying on the support members of society and could no longer be recruited of Rim-Sin, a ruler of the Elamite dynasty at Larsa,

into the army. For example, the temple of the god- Hammurapi conquered Uruk and Isin. He later

dess Baba at Lagash alone had land property of helped to drive away from Mari the Assyrian king more than 4,500 hectares. Shamshi-Adad I’s son who ruled there, and to en-

The army of Ur began to suffer defeats in the wars throne Zimri-Lim, offspring of an old local dynasty, with the Amorites and the Elamites. In 2003, the jp In 1763 Hammurapi seized Eshnunna, and in the Third Dynasty of Ur was overthrown, and the last ? following year defeated Rim-Sin, a powerful king king of that dynasty Ibbi-Sin was taken prisoner and N and his former ally, seizing his capital Larsa. There- brought to Elam. Ur’s temples were plundered, 3 upon Hammurapi decided to establish his rule over and an Elamite garrison was left there. After 1997, ^ Mari, too, which had before that been friendly to-

power at Ur was seized by Ishbi-Irra, ruler of | wards him. In 1760 he attained that goal, and two Isin, in the central part of Babylonia. Of the kings years later he destroyed the palace of Zimri-Lim who

of that dynasty, the most famous is Lipit-Ishtar I tried to restore his independence. Hammurapi then (1934-1924), who promulgated a code of laws. In ^ conquered the area along the middle Tigris, includ- the prologue to those laws he declared that he had | ing the city of Assur.

freed the people of Sumer and Akkad enslaved for g At the end of his reign Hammurapi was engaged their debts and established just order. | in building fortifications along the northern and

59

1MIUI

aUHMMHI

WM Ml m - •

north-eastern borders of Babylonia. After his death, his son Samsu-iluna (1749-1712) became king. He had to repulse the attacks of the warlike Kassite tribes inhabiting the mountainous regions north of Elam. C. 1 742, the Kassites under their king Gan- dash invaded Babylonia but only succeeded in cap¬ turing the foothills north-east of it. In the following year, however, Samsu-iluna had to fight against the coalition of Elam and the cities of Eshnunna, Isin and Uruk. At the end of his reign, Samsu-iluna encountered a new enemy, a coalition of chieftains of Babylonia’s coastal strip along the Persian Gulf, who attempted to conquer the north of the country.

Under Ammisaduqa (1646-1626), one of Samsu- iluna’s successors, an important social reform was im¬ plemented the financial debts of private individ¬ uals, debts in kind, and arrears of state taxes were cancelled, and persons enslaved for their debts were freed.

From the end of the 18th century, Babylonia was threatened by the Hurrian, Hittite and Kassite tribes. To defend the country from the Kassites advancing from the mountains east of Mesopotamia, a fortress was built in the north-east ol Babylonia. But Babylonia was plagued by an inner crisis; it no longer played an important role in the political his¬ tory of the Near East, and was unable to withstand foreign invasions for long. The year 1594 marked the end of the First Babylonian Dynasty, of which Ham- murapi was the most famous representative. Baby¬ lon was seized by the Hittite king Mursilis. When the Hitdtes went back home with a rich booty, the kings of the coastal areas captured Babylon. After that the country was conquered by the Kas¬ sites (c. 1518), whose rule lasted until 1157 B. C. The whole of that period is commonly called Kas¬ site, or Middle Babylonian. Kassite kings, however, were rather rapidly assimilated by the local popula¬ tion, and their rule was no longer seen as a foreign yoke.

Babylonian Economy and Society in the 2nd Millennium B. C. After the fall of the Third Dynasty of Ur, the gigantic system of the king’s centralised estate was destroyed, and in its place emerged small holdings of private individuals. In the beginning of the 2nd mil¬ lennium B. C., new and better bronze agricultural implements were invented. The irrigation network was expanded and improved. Further advances in

the handicrafts were observed; the texts of that per¬ iod mention builders, blacksmiths, carpenters, ship¬ builders, etc. Under the Kassite kings, horses and mules came into regular use, and a combined plough-and-sower was introduced.

The laws of the state of Eshnunna listed tariffs of prices and payments for labour, and included arti¬ cles on marriage, family, and criminal law. Capital punishment was envisaged for the wife’s infidelity, the rape of a married woman and the kidnapping of a free man’s child. It appears from these laws that slaves were branded and could not cross the city boundary without the master’s permission.

The laws of king Lipit-Ishtar date from a some¬ what later period. These regulate, among other things, the slaves’ status. Penalties were fixed for a slave’s attempted escape and for the concealment of runaway slaves. According to those laws, if a woman slave married a free man, she and her children in this marriage became free.

The most outstanding monument of ancient Oriental legal thinking are the laws of Hammurapi. They are inscribed on a large stele of basalt. Besides, many copies of parts of that code have been pre¬ served on clay tablets, as they were studied at schools until the 1st century A. D. The obverse side of the stele shows, above the articles of the laws, the king facing Shamash, the sun-god and the patron of jus¬ tice. The text of the code follows, covering both sides of the stele.

The code begins with a lengthy preamble stating that the gods handed royal power to Hammurapi for him to protect the weak, the orphans and the widows from oppression by the strong. The pream¬ ble is followed by 282 articles of the laws covering virtually all aspects of contemporary Babylonian society (civil, criminal, and administrative law, and the imposition of fines). The code ends in a compre- j hensive conclusion.

Although the code does not follow any strictly sys¬ tematic approach, and neither does it envisage all | the possible juristic situations, the laws of Hammu- ~ rapi, both in their content and the level of the devel- g. opment of legal thought, are a great step forward | compared to the Sumerian and Akkadian legal 5 monuments that preceded them. The laws of Ham-

murapi were only improved upon in the 6th century

(_ A. D., when Roman law was codified under emperor 5 Justinian. In defining penalties, the Hammurapi

60

Code adopted, though not always consistently, the unless he seduced the wife of a free man. The father

principle of guilt and evil intent. For instance, differ- could not disinherit his son if the latter committed

ent penalties were imposed for manslaughter and no crime, and he also had to teach the son his craft,

murder. But mutilations were punished on the Warriors received grants of land from the king

ancient principle of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a and had to go to war at the king’s bidding. The plots tooth”. were handed down from father to son and were in-

The penalties envisaged in some of the articles alienable. A creditor could impound only that prop- were clearly motivated by the class approach. In erty which a warrior in debt had acquired himself,

particular, severe penalties were envisaged for recal- but not the royal gift of the land,

citrant slaves who refused to obey their masters. Severe penalties were envisaged for robbers. If the

Stealing or concealing someone else’s slave was robber was not found, the whole community on

punishable by death. whose territory the crime was committed was res¬ old Babylonian society consisted of full-fledged ponsible for paying back damages to the victim,

citizens called “the husband’s sons”, mushkenums or legally free men deprived of certain rights, and

slaves. Mutilation of a “husband’s son” was Assyria in the 3rd and 2nd Millennia. The city of Assur

punished on the talion principle, while the same was founded on the right bank of the Tigris in north-

mutilation of a mushkenum entailed a fine only. A era Mesopotamia as early as the first half of the 3rd

physician guilty of faulty practice in operating on a millennium. This city gave its name to the whole of

“husband’s son” was punished by having his hand the country lying on the middle Tigris. By mid-3rd

cut off, while the same faulty operation on a slave millennium, a trading station was founded at Assur

would cost him only the price of the slave, payable to by Sumerians and Akkadians. Sumerian influence

the master. If a house collapsed through the on Assur’s culture is proved, in particular, by ship¬ builder's fault and the son of the master of that house ture, pottery, household utensils and architecture,

died under the ruins, the builder was punished by Later, in the 24th-22nd centuries, Assur became a

the death of his own son. If anyone stole the property major administrative centre of the Akkadian empire

of a mushkenum, the thief had to pay tenfold damages, founded by Sargon. During the Third Dynasty of Ur

while the stealing of the king’s or a temple’s property (22nd-21st centuries) Assur was ruled by governors

was punished by a thirtyfold fine. of Sumerian kings.

To prevent the numbers of warriors and taxpayers Unlike Babylonia, Assyria was a poor country,

decreasing, Hammurapi tried to ease the economic and the Tigris’s narrow valley could not support all

burden of the more oppressed sections of the free of its population. The rise of Assur was due to its geo¬ population. In particular, one of the articles of the graphic position. Important caravan routes passed

laws limits the enslavement of an insolvent debtor to through that city or its neighbourhood, routes along

three years of working for the creditor, whereupon which precious metals (silver, copper, lead) and

the loan, regardless of its amount, was considered to timber were brought to Babylonia from northern

be paid off. If a debtor’s crops were destroyed by a Syria, Asia Minor and Armenia, as well as gold from

natural disaster, the deadline for paying back the §) Egypt, and Babylonian agricultural and craftsmen’s

loan and the interest was automatically put off by a 5 products were carried in exchange for these goods,

year. N For this reason Assur became a major trading

Some of the code’s articles referred to lease law. ? centre. Besides, Assyrians founded many trading

The payment for leasing a field usually equalled a j»- stations outside their country.

third of the crop, and of a garden, two-thirds. 1 The most important of these trading stations or

For a marriage to be legal, a written contract had g? colonies was in the city of Kanesh in Asia Minor

to be concluded. The penalty for adultery on the 3 (modern Kultepe not far from the town of Kayseri in

wife’s part was death by drowning. If, however, the 0 Turkey). An extensive archive of this colony has

husband wanted to forgive the adulterous wife, both a been preserved, presumably dating to the 20th and

she and her seducer went unpunished. Adultery on | 19th centuries. Assyrian merchants’ donkey cara-

the part of the husband was not viewed as a crime 1 vans brought to Kanesh handicraft products, espe-

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fleet could not manoeuvre. The Greek fleet consisted of 380 ships, of which 147 belonged to the Athenians and had recently been built in accordance with the latest requirements of the military art. Themistocles, a talented and resolute general, played a great role in commanding the naval force. Xerxes hoped to destroy the enemy fleet at one stroke, but not long before the battle a storm had raged for three days, and many Persian ships had been smashed on the rocky shore. On September 28, 480, the battle of Salamis was fought, which lasted for 12 hours. The Persian fleet was cramped in the narrow channel, and its ships fell foul of one another. The Greeks won a complete victory in that battle, and the greater part of the Persian fleet was destroyed. Xerxes then decided to go back to Asia Minor, leav¬ ing his general Mardonius in Thessaly with a force of about 50,000.

Mardonius proposed to conclude peace with the Athenians, and the Spartans, fearing that the propos¬ al would be accepted, sent a strong force to Boeotia, to the city of Plataea. The forces of the other Greek cities, totalling about 50,000, also gathered there. For ten days the two sides refrained from active operations, not daring to be the first to start a deci¬ sive battle. Mardonius realised that he could only win on open ground, where he could use his cavalry. But the position of the Persian army became unten¬ able, as the Greek force was constantly being joined by fresh contingents from the nearer and more remote cities. The Persians depended for their food supplies on local resources, which began to give out. The Greek army occupied mountain slopes, where the Persians could not deploy their cavalry. Further delay was becoming dangerous to the Persians, and Mardonius decided to engage the enemy in battle.

During the night king Alexander of Macedonia, a Persian vassal, secretly came to the Greeks’ camp, desiring to win their friendship in case they should win. He informed the Greeks that the Persians would begin the battle in the morning, as they had only provisions for three days. The Hellenes thus were able to prepare to repulse the enemy.

Mardonius sent his mounted archers forward, who attacked the enemy with bows and arrows. The Persians then drove the Greeks away from the sources of water and cut off their food supply routes. When night came, the Hellenes started withdrawing towards the city of Plataea, and here the decisive

battle took place (479). Assuming that the Greeks had decided to flee, the Persians rushed after them. That was Mardonius’s great error. He moved his forces against the hills where the Greeks, fearing Per¬ sian cavalry, had taken up their positions. Soon the Persians overtook the Lacedaemonians and engaged them in hand-to-hand fighting. The other Greek units did not know that the battle had been joined, and took no part in it.

At the head of 1,000 picked warriors Mardonius began to press the Lacedaemonians and killed many of them, but soon he fell together with his body¬ guard, and the Spartans began to gain the upper hand. Although the Persians were just as courageous as their foes, rushing at the hoplites’ long spears and breaking them with bare hands, they had no heavy armour, and their military training was inferior to the Greeks’. The Persian host split into several un¬ coordinated detachments. In a fierce battle with the Lacedaemonians, who fought ferociously, taking no prisoners, the Persians were routed. The remnants of their force retreated and sailed for Asia Minor.

Late in the autumn of the same year 479, a major naval battle was fought off Cape Mycale (Samos Island) near the shores of Asia Minor. During the fighting the Ionians went over to their mainland brothers, and the Persians were utterly routed. That defeat became a signal for the revolt of all the Greek states in Asia Minor against Persian domination.

The Greek victories at Salamis, Plataea and Mycale made the Persians give up the idea of con¬ quering Greece. Sparta and Athens now moved the theatre of operations to enemy territory in Asia Minor. The war continued for a long time yet, and only in 449 was the peace treaty between Persia and the Greek states concluded.

ji The Decline of the Persian Empire. In the summer of 5 465 B. C., Artaxerxes I, son of Xerxes, became king

of Persia. In 460, the Egyptians, headed by Inaros, ? rose against the Persians and established their con- ? trol over the Delta, while Memphis, the capital of I the satrapy, and Upper Egypt remained in the

§ hands of the Persians. The Athenians sent a fleet to ^ aid the rebels. In the same year the Persians were § defeated in the battle at Papremis. The Athenian ~ fleet sailed up the Nile towards Memphis, where the | Persian forces were concentrated. Aided by Inaros’s

125

army, the Athenians captured Memphis, and the ing against the Persians was in full swing. Persian garrison took refuge in the citadel. In 401, Cyrus led his army from Sardis to Baby-

Artaxerxes then sent the satrap of Syria Mega- Ionia without meeting any opposition, and reached

byzus, with a strong land force and the Phoenician Cunaxa, 90 kilometres from Babylon. The army of

fleet, against the insurgents and their Athenian Artaxerxes II also arrived there. According to

allies. The revolt was crushed. Memphis was taken Xenophon, whose Anabasis contains a detailed de-

by the Persians. In 454, Inaros and other Egyptian scripdon of Cyrus’s campaign, Cyrus’s army con-

chiefs were taken prisoner, brought to Persia and sisted of 100,000 warriors, not counting 13,000

executed. Greek mercenaries, while the army of Artaxerxes

The unending uprisings of the conquered peoples was, “according to rumour”, 1,200,000 strong,

and military defeats made Artaxerxes and hissucces- Except for the number of Greek mercenaries, these

sors radically change their diplomacy: they began to figures must have been exaggerated out of all pro-

incite some states against others, resordng to subor- portion. Such armies could not have been deployed

nation. When the Peloponnesian War broke out on a relatively small territory or provided with the

between Sparta and Athens in 431, Persia helped necessary food supplies.

now one, now the other of these states, aiming at The decisive battle took place on September 3,

their complete exhaustion. 401. Cyrus stepped down from his chariot, put on his

In February 423 B. C., Darius II, son of Artaxer- armour, mounted a horse and bade his force to draw

xes I, became Persian king. During his reign, the up in battle order. The Greek mercenaries stood on

Persian satraps in Asia Minor-Tissaphernes, Phar- the flanks, while the rest of the army occupied the

nabazos, and Cyrus the Younger-mounted success- centre. The right flank of Artaxerxes’s army was

ful operations against Athens and brought many overrun by the Greek mercenaries. Cyrus’s friends

Greek cities under Persian control again. But on the advised him not to risk his life, but on seeing Artax-

whole Darius II’s reign was marked by the empire’s erxes, he rushed at him, leaving his warriors far

further decline, increased influence of the court aris- behind. He managed to wound Artaxerxes, but was

tocracy, court intrigues and conspiracies, in which immediately killed himself, and even his body was

queen Parysatis was very active. The Peloponnesian mutilated. Having lost its leader, the rebels’ army

War enabled the Persians to concern themselves was defeated.

with their domestic affairs, but they failed to make The Spartans, who expected the Persians to go to

full use of the respite. Between 411 and 408, there war against them because of their assistance to

were uprisings in Asia Minor, Media, and Egypt. Cyrus, decided to take the offensive and in 396 dis-

Besides, beginning with the late 5th century, the embarked an army under Agesilaos in Asia Minor,

satraps of Asia Minor, kept fighting against one While that army was fighting there, Artaxerxes’s

another, while the Persian kings usually did not in- mother Parysatis kept intriguing against the enemies

terfere in these conflicts. The satraps often rose of the dead Cyrus, who was her favourite son, and against the central power and, using Greek mer- many of them were executed under various pretexts, cenaries, fought to become independent rulers. In 395 she accused Tissaphernes, Cyrus’s worst When Darius II died in March 404, his elder son enemy and his successor in Asia Minor, of inaction Artaxerxes II became king. At that time Cyrus the j in the war against the Spartans. He was beheaded, Younger, the new king’s brother and satrap of ~ and Persia lost its most prominent diplomat and several provinces in Asia Minor, began to gather a " general.

large army intending to seize the throne. He insisted ? The hostilities in Asia Minor continued, but Per- that his military measures were in preparation for a ~ sian gold proved more powerful than Spartan war with Tissaphernes, satrap of Caria in Asia §': weapons. In August 394, a united Graeco-Persian Minor. Artaxerxes believed that, since internecine | fleet consisting of ships from Cyprus, Rhodes and conflicts between satraps had long become the order 5 Athens, inflicted a severe defeat on the Lacedae- of the day. The Spartans decided to support Cyrus A monians, which put the latter out of action for ten and helped him to hire mercenaries. Besides, Sparta ' whole years. In 386, a treaty was concluded between formed an alliance with Egypt, where a fresh upris- S the Persians and the Greek states. According to that

126

treaty, the Persians again established their rule over the eastern coast of the Aegean and restored their control over the long lost Ionian cities.

In 362, power in Egypt passed on to the energetic pharaoh Takhos, who set himself the goal of captur¬ ing the Persian provinces of Syria and Palestine. At about that time, Cyprus also broke with the Per¬ sians; then there were uprisings in Phoenician cities and later in Asia Minor.

The year 358 saw the end of the long reign of Artaxerxes II, and Artaxerxes III mounted the throne. For a start, he exterminated all his brothers, to prevent any chance of revolt.

The new king proved to be a man of iron will; he firmly held the reins of government in his hands, banishing the eunuchs who had considerable in¬ fluence at court. He vigorously tackled the task of restoring the old Persian empire. In 349, the new king led a great army against the rebellious city of Sidon, which was burned and raized to the ground; its surviving citizens were enslaved. Then came the turn of Egypt. In the winter of 343, Artaxerxes took the field against the Egyptians. The Persian com¬ mand succeeded in bringing their ships up the Nile, and the Persian fleet turned up in the rear of the Egyptian army. The Greek mercenaries in the employ of the Egyptians deserted to the enemy. The country was again brought to heel, plundered and devastated.

In 337, however, Artaxerxes Ill’s vigorous activi¬ ties came to an end, as he himself was poisoned by his physician. Arses, the king’s son, acceded to the throne, but in the following year also fell prey to a conspiracy. Codommanus, a member of a collateral line of the Achaemenid clan, was now put on the throne and began to rule under the name of Darius III.

While the ruling sections of Persian aristocracy were busy with intrigues and coups, a dangerous enemy appeared on the political horizon. In 336, King Philip of Macedonia sent 10,000 warriors to Asia Minor under the pretext of liberating the Greek cities from Persian rule, but in that same year he was assassinated by conspirators. Alexander, Philip’s son, became king at the age of 20. Realising that a war with the Persians would require long prepa¬ ration, he recalled the Macedonian force from Asia Minor.

Persia was thus given a respite of two years, but

nothing was done to repulse the imminent threat. Although the Persian command realised the advan¬ tages of Macedonian weapons, particularly of their siege equipment, it did not reorganise its army, me¬ rely increasing the contingents of Greek mercenaries.

In the spring of 334, the Macedonian army took the field. It consisted of 30,000 foot and 5,000 horse. The army was accompanied by 160 warships.

Although Darius’s army was stronger in numbers, it was greatly inferior to the Macedonian troops (particularly to their heavy infantry) in fighting abil¬ ity; the hardiest fighters in the Persian army were Greek mercenaries. But Darius was confident of an easy victory, ordering Alexander to be captured and brought to his residence at Susa. The Persian satraps assured their king that the enemy would be de¬ stroyed in the very first battle. The only person who soberly assessed the situation and had a definite plan of strategic action was Memnon, commander of the Greek mercenaries in the Persian employ. He pro¬ posed to avoid decisive battles with the enemy and retreat, leaving a scorched land behind. Memnon also advised to transfer hostilities to Greece (which was quite possible, given the superiority of the Per¬ sian fleet) and to conclude an alliance with Alex¬ ander’s enemies there. But that plan of action was rejected by the Persian satraps. Memnon’s death in 333 delivered Alexander from a dangerous enemy who was probably as great a strategist as himself.

The first encounter occurred in the summer of 334 on the Hellespont coast near the river Granicus, where Alexander emerged victorious. He then cap¬ tured the Greek cities of Asia Minor and advanced deep into the country. In the summer of 333, the Macedonians occupied Cilicia and thereupon moved into Syria, where the Persians’ main forces were concentrated. In November 333, a new battle was fought near Issus, on the border of Cilicia and Syria. The Persians’ right and the Macedonians’ left flank abutted on the sea. The nucleus of the Persian army consisted of 30,000 Greek mercenaries, but Darius staked his success on the Persian cavalry, which was intended to crush the Macedonians’ left flank. To reinforce that flank, Alexander concen¬ trated his cavalry there, while he himself led his troops against the enemy right flank and routed it. However, the Greek mercenaries broke through in the centre, and Alexander hurried there with some

127

troops from the left flank which was left badly weak- of the lands were the king’s direct property. Persian ened. The fierce fighting continued, but Darius lost kings also owned major canals in Babylonia, Egypt,

his head and fled without waiting for the outcome of and Transcaspian Asia, forests in Syria, as well as

the battle, abandoning his family which fell into mines, gardens, parks and palaces in various parts of enemy hands. The battle ended in a triumph for the state.

Alexander. The Phoenician cities Arad, Byblos and The following system of land tenure was wide-

Sidon surrendered without resistance. The Persian spread: the king assigned land to his warriors who fleet now lost its supremacy on the seas. tilled their lots collectively, in groups, and had to

Declining Darius’s plea for peace, Alexander pre- serve in the army and to pay taxes in money and in

pared to continue the war. In the autumn of 332 he kind. These allotments were called the “allotments

seized Egypt, then returned to Syria and headed for of the bow”, “of the horse”, “of the chariot”, etc.,

the locality called Gaugamela, not far from Arbela, and their owners had to serve in the army as archers,

where Darius stood with his army. The battle cavalrymen and charioteers,

occurred on October 1, 331. Greek mercenaries In some parts of the Persian empire highly devel-

formed the centre of Darius’s army, faced by Mace- oped handicraft centres existed. Pottery was pro-

donian infantry. Just as in the battle of Issus, the duced for export at Naucratis (Egypt) and Miletus

Persians outnumbered the Macedonians on the right (Asia Minor). Egyptian craftsmen wove thin linen,

flank, and succeeded in crushing their ranks there, which was in high demand in the neighbouring

but the decisive battle took place in the centre, countries. Phoenician craftsmen from Sidon, Tyre

where Alexander led his cavalry right into the midst and other cities made glass, clothes and luxury

of the Persian army. The Persians threw chariots wares, and the craftsmen of Babylonia, woollen

and elephants into action, but Darius prematurely clothes both for domestic consumption and for

assumed, as he had done at Issus, that the battle had export.

been lost, and fled. After that, only the Greek mer- There were several caravan routes in the Persian

cenaries continued to resist. Alexander won a clear empire, connecting provinces that lay at distances of

victory and occupied Babylonia, and in February hundreds of kilometres from one another. One such

330, the Macedonian army entered Susa. Later, route began in Lydia, crossed Asia Minor and went

Pasargadae and Persepolis fell into Alexander’s as far as Babylon. Another led from Babylon to Susa

hands. Alexander sacked these cities and burned and then on to Persepolis and Pasargadae. Of great

Persepolis. significance was also the caravan route connecting

Darius escaped with his retinue to eastern Iran, Babylon with Ecbatana and then running on to

where he was killed by the Bactrian satrap Bessus. Bactria and the Indian borders.

The latter declared himself king, and began to rule After 518, Darius I ordered the 84-km canal to be

Bactria under the name of Artaxerxes IV, but in restored that led from the Nile to Suez, which had

329 Bactria was captured by the Macedonian army, existed already under pharaoh Necho but later

and the Persian empire ceased to exist. became unfit for navigation. Highly important for

the development of trading links was also the expedi¬ tion of the seafarer Skylax who sailed in 518 on j Darius I’s orders down the river Indus for the Indian Economic Life and Social Relations in the Persian Empire. ~ Ocean and on to the Red Sea.

In most areas of the Persian empire the main branch Differences in terrain and climatic conditions of

of the economy was agriculture. As new countries | the various countries of the Persian empire also stim- were conquered, the Persian kings robbed the subju- ~ ulated trade. Egypt supplied Greek cities with grain gated peoples of their most fertile lands. These were s and linen, buying their wine and olive oil, and pro- handed out as large inheritable estates to members | vided many provinces with gold and ivory. Lebanon of the royal family, aristocrats, high officials, etc., 3 exported cedar. Silver was brought from Asia who owned them absolutely and tax-free. The (j Minor; copper from Cyprus; gold, ivory and incense owners of large estates had at their disposal a staff of ^ from India; lapis lazuli, cornelian and turquoise, judges, administrators, managers, scribes, etc. Part § from Transcaspian Asia. Babylonia, like Egypt, was

128

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a supplier of grain. International sea trade was large¬ ly in the hands of Phoenician merchants.

The administrauve and financial reforms of Darius I did a great deal to consolidate the Per¬ sian empire. The implementation of these reforms took a number of years. They were begun in 519 with a reorganisation and unification of the system of provincial administration, as a result of which a new administrative system was established. Darius I divided the state into administrative and taxation districts called satrapies. The satrapies were as a rule greater than the provinces of earlier empires, and in some cases the boundaries of satrapies coincided with those of the state and ethnic constituent entities of the Persian empire (e. g., Egypt).

The new administrative districts were headed by satraps or governors. Under Cyrus and Cambyses, many countries were governed by local officials, while Darius’s reforms were aimed, among other things, at concentrating the high posts in the hands of Persians, who now headed most of the satrapies. Under Cyrus and Cambyses, the satrap combined civil and military functions, while Darius restricted the power of the satrap, establishing a clear-cut divi¬ sion between the functions of the satraps and of the military authorities. The satraps became civil gover¬ nors only, directing the administrative mechanism of the satrapy, the work of its courts and tax-collectors, enforcing law and order within the boundaries of their satrapies and controlling the local officials. In times of peace, only a small personal bodyguard was allowed them. The armies were run by military commandants who were independent of satraps and responsible directly to the king. The satraps usually also controlled hereditary vice-regents or kings, and in Asia Minor also the city communities.

The reforms resulted in the setting up of a large centralised mechanism. The central government of the state had its seat at Susa, the administrative capital of the Persian empire. Satraps and military commandants were closely linked with the central government and constantly supervised by the king and his officials. Supreme control of the whole state and supervision over all the officials was in the hands of a hazarapatish (literally, “head of a thousand”), who was simultaneously commander of the king’s personal bodyguard. Everyone in the centre and in the provinces was under the surveillance of the “king’s ears and eyes”-officials who were indepen¬

dent of satraps and other local authorities, obeyed only the king and reported to him any seditious speeches or acts they might get wind of.

The official language of the offices of the Persian empire was Aramaic, but local languages were also used in the various satrapies in compiling official documents.

Persians occupied a special position in the state machinery, holding all the most important military and civil offices. However, Persian administrators also widely used the services of persons from other ethnic groups. Babylonians, Egyptians, Elamites, Greeks, etc., served as judges, city governors, managers of state arsenals, heads of royal construc¬ tion projects, and so on, in Babylonia, Egypt, Asia Minor, and other regions.

Under Cyrus and Cambyses there was no firmly regulated system of taxes founded on the economic potential of the various lands of the empire. The sub¬ jugated peoples brought gifts or paid tribute, part of it in kind.

C. 519, Darius I established a new system of state taxation. All the satrapies now had to pay taxes in money strictly determined by the area and fertility of farmed land. Persians did not pay taxes in money, but they were not exempt from payments in kind. Other peoples, including the population of autono¬ mous states (such as Phoenicians, Cilicians, etc.) paid a total of 7,740 Babylonian silver talents (232,200 kg) annually. The greater part of that sum was paid by the peoples of the economically advanced countries Asia Minor, Babylonia, Syria, Phoenicia, and Egypt. Countries which had no mines of their own had to get silver to pay taxes by selling the products of farming and handicrafts, which stimulated the development of commodity- money relations.

The system of gifts was also preserved, but the gifts were not voluntary at all. The amount of the gifts was firmly fixed, but, unlike taxes, they were paid in kind only. The majority of the subjects paid taxes, while gifts came mostly from the peoples of the out¬ lying areas (such as Colchis, Ethiopia, Arabia, etc.).

Darius I introduced a single monetary unit throughout the empire, which constituted the basis of the Persian monetary system-the gold daric weighing 8.4 grams. The minting of gold coin was the prerogative of the Persian king alone. For several centuries, the daric was the commercial world’s

129

9-344

principal gold currency. The most common instru- Darius I’s reign. The Persian kings realised the ad-

ment of exchange was the silver shekel weighing 5.6 vantages of Zoroaster’s teaching as an official religion

grams, which equalled one-twentieth of the daric’s but did not give up the cults of the ancient gods per-

value. Silver coins were minted by Persian satraps in sonifying the elements of nature. In the 6th century

their residences and at the Greek cities of Asia Minor B. C. Zoroastrianism had not yet become a dogmat-

for paying mercenaries during military campaigns, ic religion with firmly fixed norm, and various mo-

and also by autonomous cities and dependent kings. difications of the new religious doctrine arose.

The price of gold in relation to that of silver in the The Persian religion dating from Darius I’s times

Persian empire was 1 to 13.3. The precious metal in was precisely such a form of early Zoroastrianism,

the state’s possession could only be minted on orders Since its emergence, Zoroastrianism had gone

from the king, and most of it remained unminted. through a complex evolution. The teaching of Zoro-

The total amount of gold and silver in the royal trea- aster himself was reflected in the Gathas, i. e., the

suries towards the end of the existence of the Persian earlier parts of the Avesta sacred books. Many of the

empire was not less than 235,630 talents (more than Gathas are framed as answers of the god Ahura-

seven million kilograms). mazda to Zoroaster’s questions. According to the

Domestic and foreign trade, exceptionally highly Gathas, the god gave Zoroaster the mission of reno-

developed under the Achaemenids, contributed to vating the religion, and Zoroaster carried out the

the exchange of cultural values as well. The peoples reform, announcing his faith in the final victory of

of the empire absorbed the achievements of their Ahuramazda, rejecting some of the tribal deities,

neighbours and of the more remote lands, and placing others below Ahuramazda. According

geographical horizons were extended, and exper- to Zoroaster’s teaching, Ahuramazda (Greek Oro-

iences in long-distance voyaging were accumulated. masdes) was the only omnipotent and omnipresent

The East and Greece came to know each other. In god of the good personifying light, life, and the

an enormous empire comprising many countries and truth. He was the creator of the world. From the

peoples, culture advanced as the isolation of various very beginning, however, next to him stood the Evil

regions from the external world was breached. The Spirit Angra Mainyu (Ahriman) personifying dark-

old Iranian civilisation produced remarkable monu- ness and death and doing evil. Ahuramazda and

ments of literature, art, and science; original reli- Angra Mainyu were in eternal conflict, Ahuramazda

gious doctrines arose in that period which made an relying in this struggle on his assistants personifying

impact on Greek thinkers, too. “good sense”, i. e., the idea of the good, truth, and

immortality. Man was created by Ahuramazda but was free in the choice between the good and evil and The Religion and Culture of Persia. Zoroastrianism, a thus accessible to the influence of the spirits of evil,

religious doctrine which emerged in Transcaspian Man must fight against Angra Mainyu in his

Asia and was named after its founder Zoroaster, thoughts, words and deeds. According to Zoroas-

played a great role in the ideological life of ancient trianism, life after death existed. The lot of men in

Persia. the next world depended on his earthly life. If a man

Soon after its emergence in the first half of the 1st helped the good to triumph, his soul would go to

millennium B. C., Zoroastrianism began to spread j paradise and enjoy happy life and good food, other- to Media, Persia, and other Iranian countries. The ~ wise it was doomed to eternal torment in the dark- priests of the Zoroastrian religion were the ness of hell.

Magians - experts on and guardians of the cult, its | Ancient religions were tolerant towards the beliefs rituals and rites. ~ of other peoples, and Persian kings patronised the

The people’s masses in Persia worshipped the §j cults of conquered peoples. Thus in Babylonia Cyrus

ancient deities of nature-Mithra the sun-god, Ana- | extended his patronage to the local ancient cults,

hita the goddess of water and fertility, and other dei- a helping to revive them and bringing offerings to the

ties personifying light, the moon, the wind, etc. Zoro- A local gods. Persian kings made sacrifices in the tem-

astrianism found recognition in Persia late in the ' pies of many gods trying to win their favour. As the

6th and early in the 5th centuries B. C., i. e., in s documents of the Persepolis archives of the late 6th

130

and early 5th centuries show, foodstuffs from the private palaces of Darius I and Xerxes. Two stair-

royal stores (wine, sheep, grain, etc.) were provided ways led to the apadana, on which reliefs of courtiers,

at Persepolis and other Persian and Elamite cities the king’s personal bodyguard, of cavalry and char-

not only for the practice of the cult of Ahuramazda iots still survive. On one side of the stairway is a long

and other Iranian gods but also for those of the gods file of representatives of the 33 peoples of the empire

of Elam and Babylon. bearing gifts and tribute to the Persian king. It is a

The Persians and other Iranian peoples absorbed veritable “ethnological museum”, with its portrayal and developed many of the achievements of the Ela- of the characteristic features of the various tribes, mite, Babylonian, and Egyptian civilisations, thus Under Darius I, a great deal was built at Susa,

enriching the treasure-house of world culture. One too. Twelve countries, from India to Ethiopia, pro¬ of the Persians’ major achievements was the devel- vided the materials for the construction of the opment of an original cuneiform script. Unlike the palaces.

Akkadian script with its nearly 600 signs, the Persian As the architectural monuments of the Persian

system was almost alphabetic and had 40 odd signs kings were built and adorned by craftsmen from dif-

only. ferent countries, old Persian art presented an

The palatial complexes at Pasargadae, Persepolis organic synthesis of Iranian artistic traditions and and Susa were magnificent monuments of Persian technical devices and those of Elam, Assyria, Egypt, architecture. Pasargadae was situated on an exten- Greece, and other lands. Despite a certain eclecti- sive plain 1,900 metres above sea level. The city’s cism, it has an inherent unity, being a product of buildings the most ancient monuments of the Per- definite historical conditions and of an original sian material culture stood on a high terrace. They ideology which endowed the borrowed forms with a were faced with light fine-grained sandstone new meaning. Above all it was intended to symbolise resembling marble. The royal palaces stood among the grandeur of the power of the Persian kings and parks and gardens. Probably the most remarkable of their empire.

Pasargadae’s monuments, fascinating in its noble The distinguishing feature of old Persian art is a

beauty, is the tomb of Cyrus II which has sur- virtuoso treatment of an isolated object, usually a vived to this day. Seven broad steps lead to the metal cup or vase, a cup carved out of stone, a rhy-

burial chamber two metres wide and three metres ton of ivory, a piece of jewelry, etc. Of these, parti-

long. This tomb is ancestral to many other monu- cularly interesting are cylindrical seals cut out of ments of this kind, including the Halicarnassus agate, chalcedony and jasper. These are cov-

Mausoleum of Caria’s satrap Maussollus regarded ered with figures of kings and heroes fighting their

in antiquity as one of the seven wonders of the enemies and fantastic creatures. Many of these seals, world. just as other works of old Persian art, are fascinating

The construction of Persepolis was begun c. 520 in their perfection of form and originality of and continued until c. 450. The city covered an theme.

area of 135,000 square metres. An artificial platform Old Iran attracted Greek scholars and philoso-

was built at the foot of a mountain. For this, about phers. Actually, the works of antique authors are 12,000 square metres of uneven rocky surface had to _ among the principal sources of our knowledge of the be smoothed out. The city built on this platform was jr history and culture of Achaemenid Iran. The old

surrounded on three sides by a double wall of mud- 5 Iranian civilisation was inherited by the Middle

brick, and on the eastern side it abutted on an inac- Ages. The scholarly treatises of Iranian authors were cessible mountain rock. A wide stairway of 110 steps S' especially highly valued in the Arabic world. Many intended for ceremonial occasions led to the city, g 5 features of the old Iranian cultural heritage have The official palace {apadana) of Darius I consisted of | been preserved as an inseparable part of Iranian cul- a great hall of 3,600 square metres surrounded by 1 ture in later epochs. Old Iranian themes and sub¬ porticoes. The ceiling of the hall and of the porticoes 'A jects formed the basis of remarkable epics, such as was supported by 72 thin, elegant stone columns | the great Firdaousi’s Shahridma. The epic works of old more than 20 metres high. The apadana was used for ~ Iranians are now among the most treasured posses- solemn state occasions. It was connected with the | sions of world literature.

131

9 *

Parthia. C. 250 B. C., the Parni tribes which had wandered in the steppes between the Amu Darya and the Caspian, invaded the valley of the Atrek (on the territory of the modern Turkmenia in the USSR) and in 247 elected their chieftain Tiridates king. He adopted the throne name of Arshak (Arsa- ces). The later Parthian kings, who also adopted that name upon accession to the throne, took that year as the start of their chronology.

In founding their kingdom, the Parni challenged the Seleucid rulers of Mesopotamia and of many other countries, including Iran and Bactria. The Seleucids, preoccupied with the war against Rome and dynastic strife, could not attack the rebels at once. In 239 B. C., the Parni invaded the province of Parthyene ruled by Andragoras, a former governor of the Seleucid kings who had become independent of them as early as 245. Capturing that province, the Parni later merged with the related Parthian tribes inhabiting it.

In 232 and 231, the Seleucid ruler Seleucus II attempted to restore his power over the rebellious areas in the east of Iran and in Transcaspian Asia. But his campaign misfired, as he had to hurry back to the western provinces of his empire where unrest had broken out.

C. 171 B. C., Mithridates I became king of Parthia and made this formerly insignificant and remote kingdom a powerful empire. C. 155, the Parthians took possession of Media, and that opened a way to Mesopotamia, which Seleucid kings were unable to defend. In 141 Mithridates declared him¬ self king of Babylonia. The Parthian kingdom now covered almost the whole of Iran, large tracts of Transcaspian Asia and the whole of Mesopotamia, and the centre of the state shifted west.

C. 137, Mithridates died. His throne was inher¬ ited by Phraates II. During his reign, nomadic tribes began to raid the eastern borders of the empire. Taking advantage of this, the Seleucid ruler Antiochus VII went to war against the Parthians in 130 and, after several victories, occupied Mesopota¬ mia and Media. After that he stationed his army in Media, dividing it into small garrisons among var¬ ious villages. Soon the Medes rose in rebellion against Antiochus, and his scattered army was un¬ able to offer effective resistance to the rebels. Antio¬ chus went to succour one of the beleaguered garri¬ sons, but was attacked by Parthian cavalry. In the

ensuing battle Antiochus was killed, his son was taken captive, and the Seleucid army soundly routed.

In the meantime the nomad tribes in the east began to threaten the very existence of the Parthian empire, and c. 128 Phraates fell in an encounter with them.

Parthia reached a new peak of power under Mith¬ ridates II (123-87 B. C.), who consolidated his posi¬ tions in the east and then renewed the drive against the countries lying west of the Parthian empire. That created a threat of war with Rome. In 92, Sulla, representing Rome, and the Parthian ambas¬ sador Orobases met on the Euphrates. No details of their negotiations are known, but Orobases was later accused of having failed to check Sulla’s provocative escapades and executed.

In the spring of 54 B.C., the Roman general Crassus came to Syria, which had become a Roman province, and began preparations for a campaign against the Parthians. He had at his disposal 35,000 foot and 5,000 horse.

Parthia’s king at the time was Orodes II. He believed that Crassus would advance across moun¬ tainous Armenia, where it would be difficult for the Parthians to deploy their first-rate cavalry. Orodes therefore led his main force to Armenia, entrusting the defence of Mesopotamia to his general Suren.

Crassus, however, confident of an easy victory, decided to beat the Parthians in Mesopotamia, not Armenia.

Suren made careful preparations for the battle. His command consisted of 10,000 mounted archers. As the Roman army approached, the Parthian cavalry began to retreat. On May 6, 53 B. C., Crassus reached the city of Carrhae, and on learning that Suren’s force was not far, attacked him without a pause for his tired legionaries to rest. The Romans j formed a square, and were immediately surrounded ~ by the enemy. The Parthian horsemen loosed clouds of arrows. Crassus then ordered his son Publius to drive the enemy away with a force of 4,000 foot and ~ horse. The Parthians began to retreat rapidly, entic- ing the hot-blooded and inexperienced Publius deep | into the steppe, far from the main body of Roman a troops, in which they succeeded. The Parthian ^ cavalry then suddenly turned on the Roman unit ' and slaughtered it to a man. Upon learning of the s defeat and the death of his son, Crassus moved his

132

force behind the walls of the city of Carrhae, but it was soon also destroyed almost completely by the Parthian cavalry.

In the meantime Orodes II concluded an alliance with the Armenian king Arlavasdes and consoli¬ dated it through a dynastic marriage between his son Pacorus and an Armenian princess. At the height of the nuptial festivities, Suren’s messenger brought Crassus’s head and hand to the court of the Armenian king at Artaxata. At that time, Euripi¬ des’s Bacchae was being shown at Artavasdes’s court theatre, and when the head of Pentheus had to be brought on stage, the actor appeared with Crassus’s head in his hands instead of the prop, greeted by delighted shouts from the audience.

The defeat of Crassus’s army stopped the advance of the Romans into the Mesopotamian possessions of Parthia, and the Roman power in Asia Minor, Syria, and Palestine was shaken. By the 40s of the 1st century B. C., the Phoenician cities (with the excep¬ tion of Tyre), as well as Syria and Palestine, were in Parthian hands, which created a direct threat to the Roman rule over the eastern Mediterranean regions. But the Parthians failed to consolidate their suc¬ cesses, unable to build an effective administrative machine in the conquered lands. Besides, the Parthi¬ ans could not organise long campaigns or besiege fortified cities. The main thing was, however, that the economic potential of the Parthian empire was insufficient for a long confrontation with Rome. By 38 B. C., the Romans restored their control over Syria and Palestine. In that year, Mark Antony went on a campaign against the Parthians, but it ended in failure.

Soon, however, the Parthian empire went into a long decline. At the beginning of the 3rd century A. D., it was torn by internecine strife, hard pressed to contain the advance of the Romans in the west and the raids of the nomads in the east. It began to disintegrate into a number of independent states and in the 20s of the 3rd century A. D. collapsed completely.

We have so far little data on the inner structure of the Parthian empire. It comprised economically advanced countries of Mesopotamia and Syria as well as rather backward regions of eastern Iran and semidependent kingdoms. The king’s council, con¬ sisting of Parthian tribal nobility, played an import¬ ant role in ruling the state. Separate provinces were

run by satraps appointed by the king. The defence of strategically important points was in the hands of commandants bearing the title of pitiahsh.es. The core of the Parthian army was cavalry.

The capital of the state was the city of Hecatom- pylos in eastern Iran, and after the conquests in the west, Ctesiphon in Babylonia. The city of Nisa, 18 kilometres north-west of modern Ashkhabad, where Parthian kings were entombed in their tribal sepulchres until the 1st century B. C., was of great political significance. The more ancient of its three parts, covering an area of about 18 hectares and in¬ cluding the citadel, stood on a rise. All that area was surrounded by a high wall with one gate. Inside the wall were the ruler’s palace, the temple, administra¬ tive buildings, and army barracks. The houses of Parthian nobles and merchants, as well as handi¬ craftsmen’s blocks, adjoined that part of the city and were also surrounded by a thick wall. Beyond lay the rural zone of the city, surrounded by a mudbrick wall over seven kilometres in circuit.

A treasure-trove of ivory wares, including remark¬ able specimens of Parthian applied art, was found in Nisa’s royal palace, in a large hall 60 by 60 metres square, by Soviet archaeologists. The treasure-trove, dated to the 2nd century B. C., mostly consists of carved rhytons with sculptured figurines of winged gryphons, centaurs and other fantastic and real ani¬ mals. The rhytons are made of ivory inlaid with gold, silver and precious stones.

Many Parthian kings declared themselves to be Philhellenes. Tragedies by Greek authors were pro¬ duced at their courts, and Greek was widely used in the state apparatus.

Zoroastrian priests, the Magians, played an im¬ portant role in Parthia. Under king Vologeses I (c. A. D. 43-50), ancient Zoroastrian texts were collected and recorded in the Aramaic script.

By the end of the 2nd century B. C., the Great Silk Route between China and the Mediterranean became established. Parthian kings controlled a con¬ siderable part of that route, deriving large profits from the transit trade between East and West. Silk, iron, ivory, textiles, perfumes, and precious stones were carried from the East, and glass, ceramics, cloth, etc., flowed from the West.

Parthia’s cultural traditions became part of the common old Central Asian civilisation, which later made a great impact on the development of culture

133

in Transcaspian Asia during the Middle Ages. included even Egypt. But in A. D. 637 the Sassanian

Parthian history has been thoroughly studied by army was routed by the Arabs, and soon after that

Soviet archaeologists, historians and linguists. In the empire ceased to exist.

their works, Parthia emerges as a major centre of the Under the Sassanids, Iranian society was

ancient Orient (see also the chapter on Hellenism for organised on the estate principle. The free popula-

further information on Parthia and Persia). tion was divided into four estates, the first three of

them being privileged - the priests, the warriors and the officials. The fourth estate was made up of mer- Iran in the Sassanian Epoch. In the early 3rd century chants who, unlike the first three, had to pay taxes.

B. C., Persis, the southern region of Iran, was The estates were closed, and movement from one

divided into several small principalities, semi- estate to another was impossible. The priests were

dependencies of Parthia. One of the rulers there was headed by the supreme Magian of the Zoroastrian

Sassan, who gave his name to the Sassanid dynasty. religion; the warrior estate, by the army com-

A successor of Sassan, Ardashir I, began to expand mander; and the officials, by the “great scribe”. The

his possessions at the expense of the neighbouring head of the tax-payers’ estate was appointed by the

territories. Uniting all Persis under his rule, he also king precisely for the purpose of collecting taxes,

annexed the kingdoms of Kerman and Huzistan. The separate provinces making up the empire

Worried by Ardashir’s successes, the Parthian king were headed by governors from the ranks of the Per-

Artabanus V decided to stop him. A battle was sian aristocrats or by local kings who recognised the

fought in A. D. 224 in Media, in which Ardashir Sassanids’ suzerainty.

won a decisive victory, slaying Artabanus. In 226, Under the Sassanids, Zoroastrianism turned into

Ardashir seized Ctesiphon and the neighbouring a dogmatic religion with strictly regulated rites,

Parthian possessions in Mesopotamia. In that same militant and intolerant of other religions. The devel-

year he was solemnly crowned king of Iran. Thus a opmentof these features, mainly connected with the

new and powerful dynasty arose in the ancient name of Kartir, a major statesman, was gradual. He

homeland of the Achaemenids. began his career under Ardashir I, who was

After Ardashir’s death, his throne was inherited reported to have said that the throne was the sup-

by his son Shapur I, who proved himself an out- port of the altar and the altar, the support of the

standing strategist in the conflict with Rome over throne. Under Ardashir, however, Kartir occupied

possession of Mesopotamia and Armenia. In 244, the modest post of tutor of Zoroastrian priests at

Shapur defeated the Romans on the Euphrates, some temple. Later, Shapur I entrusted him with

where the Roman emperor Gordian fell in battle. In the task of reorganising Zoroastrian temples and the

260, the Romans suffered yet another defeat in the Zoroastrian community. Kartir rose to omnipotence

battle of Edessa in Mesopotamia, and their emperor under Varahran II (A. D. 276-293), when he

Valerian was taken prisoner. These victories are became head of the temple of Anahita at Istakhr, the

recorded in the rock inscriptions at Naksh-i-Rustam, shrine of the Sassanian clan, supreme priest and

not far from Persepolis. Shapur is portrayed there as supreme judge of the state. The Magians as an estate

a triumpher, and a detailed inscription relates his were reorganised throughout the country to conform

military exploits. j to the demand of a single religion for the country,

Under Shapur I, the Sassanian state became a ~ and to become the king’s support. Kartir now laid centralised empire and a dangerous enemy of Rome. ^ claims to being the only interpreter of the gods’ will, But late in the 3rd century the Romans inflicted | and Zoroastrianism became the ruling religion, the several defeats on the Sassanians. Later, during ® only “true faith”. In Iran itself and beyond its Shapur II’s long reign (A. D. 309-379), Iran lar- 5 borders, Kartir ruthlessly persecuted Christian, gely recovered from these setbacks. | Manichaean and other cults.

In the first quarter of the 7th century the Sas- a Four of Kartir’s inscriptions have survived, in sanian empire encompassed vast territories from In- ^ which he declares himself to be a prophet chosen by dia and northern Afghanistan to Northern Cau- ^ the gods. The inscriptions relate the events of his life casus, Syria and Arabia, and for a short while £ and his reform of the state religion. In one of these

134

inscriptions Kartir appealed to the gods begging was obliged to fight evil actively and to lead a them to explain to him the nature of paradise and righteous life.

hell and to endow him with the ability to explain to Christians were hostile to that religion, as is

men how to distinguish between a righteous man attested by their extensive polemic literature against

and a sinner, so that he might become even more Manichaeism. The latter presented a considerable

pious. According to the other inscriptions, the gods threat to Christianity, rapidly spreading among the

enabled Kartir to travel to the next world to the masses due to the simplicity of its precepts,

throne of the supreme ruler Ahuramazda. Accom- At first, the Sassanids did not interfere with the

panied by a maid personifying the Zoroastrian faith, spreading of Manichaeism and sometimes even sup-

Kartir’s soul reached the golden throne where the ported Mani himself. Thus in 240, on the day of his

scales for the weighing of good and evil stood. The coronation, Shapur received the young prophet,

souls of righteous men, including that of Kartir, ate who was then only 25. But when the popular masses

of the ritual feast and crossed the bridge called Chin- rose under Manichaean slogans against the founda-

vat leading to paradise. After that journey, Kartir tions of the state, they were subjected to severe

began to preach that the souls of those who chose the reprisals. Mani himself was thrown into gaol, where

righteous way would go to paradise after death, he died of terrible torture in 277.

while the souls of the godless would be plunged in In the later period of the existence of the Sas-

hell. Accordingly, righteous men would flourish dur- sanian state, popular uprisings became frequent. In

ing their life on earth, too, like Kartir himself. How- the late 5th century, there was a major revolt by

ever, Kartir was not destined to die peacefully - he broad sections of the city poor and of peasants led by

was apparently killed during a palace coup. Mazdak. If we are to accept the evidence of later

Apart from Zoroastrianism, several other religions sources, Mazdak advocated the distribution of prop- existed in Iran. One of them was Christianity. Sha- erty between men; he said that no people should go

pur II gave refuge to Christians pursued in the hungry or poor, as all men were equal. The same

Roman empire, hoping to use their support in the sources insist that during the revolt the ordinary

struggle against his main opponent. But when Chris- people “became brutalised”, and that slaves rose

tianity was recognised as an official religion in against their masters. The revolt lasted for 30 years

Rome, its adherents began to be persecuted in Iran. and was severely suppressed.

Manichaeism enjoyed considerable influence in The art of Sassanian Iran is characterised above

Iran and the neighbouring countries. This religion all by the portrayal of official personages. Some of

was founded by Mani, born in Babylonia the monuments of this genre are colossal rock reliefs

c. A. D. 215. In his youth, he travelled in the east portraying kings, their magnates and bodyguard,

for a long time, studying Buddhism, Brahmanism The art of toreutics was particularly advanced. A

and other religions. Mani began to preach already good sample of it is a silver dish with a picture of

under the founder of the Sassanian state Ardashir king Shapur II hunting lions. The king is gallop-

and continued to do so under Shapur I. He strove to ping at a lion, his bow taut, while nearby another

found a universal religion that would supplant all lion, already dead, is lying. The technique employed

the other religions. He insisted that his faith knew no in the making of these objects was as follows: an out-

frontiers and extended to the most remote countries ? line was stamped on the reverse side of a plate, and and peoples. - then the obverse side was worked on with special in-

Mani’s principal dogmas were recorded in Middle ^ struments. After that the plate was inserted in a Persian in Syrian script. Since Manichaeism rapidly S' silver dish, with the plate’s ends bent round the spread from Babylonia to Central Asia, various ? edges of the dish.

modifications of it arose. Considerable remnants of | A fairly well-developed theory of music existed in the once extensive Manichaean literature, written in § Sassanian times. Of the musical instruments particu- diflerent languages, have survived. The basis of larly popular were the flute, the chang (a kind of Manichaeism, just as of Zoroastrianism, was the | harp), the lute, etc. Noblemen’s children studied dualist doctrine of the struggle between good and ~ reading, writing, counting, riding, playing nard (a evil, between the forces of light and darkness. Man i game ancestral to chess) and the art of using arms.

135

Mathematics, astronomy and law were well advanced in Sassanian Iran. Links with the neigh¬ bouring countries were consolidated; thus, some literary works came to Iran from India and were translated into Pahlavi; later they became known in the Arabic world and in Byzantium and forming part of world literature. Manichaeism was strongly influenced by Buddhism.

Despite the continual conflict with Rome, the antique world learnt a great deal about Iranian cul¬ ture under the Sassanids, while ancient Iranians

absorbed the rich traditions of Graeco-Roman cul¬ ture. During the crisis of the Roman empire, interest for the Iranian religion grew among antique philoso¬ phers, who studied the doctrines of the Magians; the cult of the god Mithra was worshipped in various regions of the enormous Roman empire.

In Iran, just as in the other countries of the ancient world, the encounter between the Eastern and Western civilisations facilitated a cultural rap¬ prochement and the creation of common cultural values in different areas of knowledge.

Chapter 8

Western Central Asia in Antiquity

For a long time the history of Central Asia was mostly known from brief accounts in the works of historians and geographers of the Graeco-Roman world. The true discovery of the ancient civilisations of Central Asia came through the studies of Soviet archaeologists which have been conducted on a large scale in the Central Asian republics since the 1930s. These excavations have yielded monumental palaces and temples, first-class art monuments, and ancient archives-the Parthian one at Nisa near Ashkhabad and the Khorezmian at Toprak-kale on the right bank of the Amu Darya north-east of Khiva. The study of all these materials, which still continues, has shown some profound differences between the type of culture, settlements, and the esthetic canons of these ancient civilisations from those of the local medieval societies which began to develop here in the 6th and 7th centuries A. D. In the view of Soviet scholars, these differences are closely linked with the qualitatively different nature of the socioeconomic relations which existed in ancient Transcaspian Asia. Prof. S. P. Tolstov was the first to formulate this thesis, relying mostly on g the materials from ancient Khorezm. According to his hypothesis a local variety of slave-owning society of the early Oriental type existed here in ancient s times. New materials obtained in subsequent work | bear out this view, although the scarcity of local ^ data, especially of economic archives, makes it | difficult to characterise in detail the specificity of ^ the local culture. 5

Sharp contrasts are the outstanding feature of the ° natural conditions of Central Asia. Desert-and- ?. steppe landscapes, notably the Kara Kum and

Kyzyl Kum deserts, adjoin fertile oases irrigated by two major rivers, the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, and a number of their tributaries and less sig¬ nificant rivers. The high mountain-masses of Tien Shan and Pamir also form distinctive landscapes. Here, cultures differing in external traits and economic modes developed under varied ecological conditions. The interaction of diverse cultures is one of the marks of the country’s ancient history, as are the long and close links with the ancient sources of civilisation of the Orient, in the first place with the Near East.

These features were clearly manifested already at the ancient stages of the history of the tribes and peo¬ ples in this region. In the 6th millennium B. C., the Jeitun Neolithic culture evolved in the south-west of Central Asia on the narrow foothill plain between the Kopet-dag Ridge and the Kara Kum desert. Jeitun tribes led a settled life, grew wheat and bar¬ ley and raised livestock. With advances in farming and livestock-breeding, the standard of living and culture of these tribes rose. Jeitun settlements consisted of solid mudbrick houses. A large build¬ ing-the communal shrine with fresco-covered walls-was the focus of such a settlement. Some fea¬ tures of construction techniques, of pottery covered with simple designs, and some others, point to close links with the settled peasant cultures of Iran and Mesopotamia, particularly with the Jarmo culture.

In the 5th and 4th millennia B. C., these agricul¬ tural communities made further progress. They began to smelt copper and raise cattle and later camels; moving east, they settled the delta of a fairly large river, the Tedjend-Gerirud. Ditches were dug

137

to irrigate the fields, and that formed the beginning of irrigation farming yielding high and stable crops.

As a result of these economic and cultural devel¬ opments, the first cities and of an early-urban civili¬ sation arose in south-west Central Asia. Its best- known monument is Altin-depe. The Altin-depe civilisation, which dates to 2300-1900 B. C., has all the features of the highly developed cultures of the ancient Orient. Its centres were two urban settle¬ ments Altin-depe and Namazga-tepe surrounded by walls of mudbrick, the gates leading into the city framed by monumental towers or pylons following the model of similar constructions of ancient Meso¬ potamia. The focus of Altin-depe was the monumental cultic complex with a four-step tower, obviously imitating the stepped ziggurats of Sumer and Babylonia. The cultic complex included numerous storehouses, the supreme priest’s house, and the tomb of the priestly community. Among other things, a gold bull’s head was found here with a crescent-shaped insert in the forehead made of tur- qoise. The entire temple complex was dedicated to the astral moon-god who is often described in Meso¬ potamian mythology as a flame-coloured bull. Another line of cultural links leads from Transcas¬ pian Asia to the Indus valley-the seat of the Har- appa civilisation. Harappa ivory objects have been found at Altin-depe among the things placed in rich tombs and in walled-in treasure-troves. Seals of the Harappa type have also been discovered here, in¬ cluding one bearing two signs of proto-Indian writing.

The urban population of the Altin-depe civilisa¬ tion clearly falls into three groups differing in the level of well-being, the character of the houses, and even in their food. The ordinary commoners, the craftsmen and farmers, lived in houses consisting of numerous tiny rooms; only a few bits of pottery have been found in the tombs adjoining them, while half the meat they ate was that of wild animals. The houses of the nobler members of the community were more imposing, and their tombs contain neck¬ laces of semi-precious stones, silver and bronze rings and seals. The social and economic differentiation was most marked in the third group of the popula¬ tion-chieftains and priests. Their large dwellings were well laid out and occupied areas of 80 to 100 square metres. The tombs in the “aristocratic quarters” contain various ornaments, including objects of silver and gold, as well as imported ones of

ivory. The measurements of the skeletons show that members of the urban elite were even taller than ordinary citizens-another sign of a well-fed, easy life. The more prominent noblemen may have used the labour of slaves, whose burials, without any funerary objects, sometimes lie next to the rich tombs. A society of equal farmers was thus replaced by a social system based on inequality, and an early class society gradually took shape.

In the mid-2nd millennium B. C., the urban set¬ tlements of that most ancient civilisation of Trans¬ caspian Asia declined, and the principal centres of development moved east, to the delta of the Mur- gab, and the middle Amu Darya area where new farming oases sprang up. The oases in the Murgab delta centred round large urban-type fortified settle¬ ments. Several fortified settlements of ancient com¬ munities have been excavated in the middle reaches of the Amu Darya, but no major towns have been discovered. All the settlements had walls and towers, and bronze weapons became widespread. We observe all the earmarks of an epoch of wars and conflicts. Judging by their culture, the population of these oases seem to be direct descendants of the founders of the Altin-depe civilisation, although some new cultural features are also observed, includ¬ ing flat stone seals portraying, with considerable skill, dramatic scenes of fighting between bulls and dragons, serpents attacking tigers, a mythological hero conquering wild beasts. Some of these themes point to increasing links with Mesopotamia and Elam. By the 1st millennium B. C., the whole of southern Central Asia was dominated by a highly developed culture of the ancient Oriental type, and new centres arose in the areas which in the 1st mil¬ lennium B. C. were named Margiana (the Murgab basin) and Bactria (the middle course of the Amu Darya).

Simultaneously with the emergence of new oases in the south of Central Asia, the northern steppes were settled by cattle-raising tribes. Herds of cattle were their principal wealth, and horse-drawn char¬ iots were widely used for transportation. Some fea¬ tures of this culture are reminiscent of the monu¬ ments of the steppe dwellers of the modern Volga area and western Kazakhstan. Many researchers believe that the spreading in Central Asia of the peo¬ ples of the Indo-Iranian language branch, who called themselves Aryans, is linked with the pene-

138

tration of the steppe tribes. Wheels and swastikas, lower Amu Darya) and some areas on the territory

formed of stones laid end to end, which played a of modern Afghanistan. This is probably a descrip-

great role in the cultic notions of the old Indian tion of a temporary political union, a military confe-

tribes, have been found in the burials of the steppe deration of tribal unions. True, the power of the

pastoral peoples. As they settled here, Indo-Iranian petty kings heading such confederations was re¬ tribes came into contact with the local population stricted by the “council of first men”, but the ten-

and mixed with it, so that the language of some of dency towards establishing a stable state with a the population of the settled oases probably became strong authority was universal.

Iranised. This was the historical background for the activi-

These distinctive conditions of interaction ties of Zarathustra or Zoroaster, founder of the new

between northern nomads and southern sedentary religion of Zoroastrianism. The recurrent theme of

farmers formed the background for an intense pro- Zoroastrianism is the idea of an eternal struggle

cess of the development of class relations and the for- between good and evil, between truth and falsehood,

mation of the state. Technical progress was prima- The good and positive principle is personified by

rily marked by the introduction of iron. In the 10th Ahuramazda (Ormuzd), his antipode is Angro

through 7th centuries B. C., iron tools and weapons Mainyu (Ahriman or Ariman).

appeared in southern Central Asia, and beginning Zoroaster is believed to have lived and preached

with the 6th-4th centuries B. C., iron objects became in the 7th century B. C. He seems to have begun

widespread throughout this territory. Iron spades, preaching at the court of an east Iranian king, Vish-

axes and sickles largely facilitated a further rise in taspa, who ruled Drangiana, an area in the south¬ land cultivation. Complex irrigation systems were west of modern Afghanistan. The internecine strife

built in the south-eastern Caspian area and in the between the rulers of several countries seems to have

Murgab delta. Large settlements with citadels on ended in a success for Bactria, a “fine land with its

mighty mudbrick platforms formed the centres of banners raised high”, according to the Avesta. The

irrigated oases, with monumental palaces of rulers antique tradition has preserved the legend of a once

inside the citadels. A typical settlement of this type is powerful Bactrian kingdom where Zoroaster himself

Yaz-depe in the Murgab delta the Margiana of is said to have ruled.

antiquity. Soon Central Asia formed part of the Achaemenid

Related cultures existed on the territory of Bactria empire. When the Achaemenids attempted to annex and, as latest studies have shown, in the Zeravshan the new lands here, they ran into fierce opposition

and Kashkadarya valleys, i. e., on the territory from a powerful union of nomadic tribes called the

called Sogd in ancient times. Indications are that Massagetae by the antique sources. Cyrus II, the most of the population of Central Asia was by that founder of the Achaemenid empire, fell in 530 B. C.

time entirely Iranian-speaking, both the oases- in a battle with the Massagetae headed by their

dwellers and the tribes of horsemen living in the vast queen Tomyris. In the end, the areas where the

open spaces of the steppes, whose sudden raids often nomads lived remained largely independent, but

terrorised the former. Economic development, accu- most of the settled oases were included in the new

muladon of wealth, and the growing gap between 5 state’s satrapies. The Bactrian satrapy, presumably the rich and the poor stimulated the tendency to- | one of the most important, was often governed by a wards the creation of larger political units. .» member of the ruling dynasty. The satrapies paid

The epico-heroic tradition of the East Iranian J the central government taxes and sent military con- tribes, partially surviving in the Avesta, throws light | tingents to the Persian army, and the local nobility on some aspects of that process. An ancient hymn n helped to collect the taxes and levy the troops, which dedicated to the god Mithra mentions “the ruler of | accelerated the growth of social differentiation and all rulers” - apparently a chieftain who headed, for a i. class conflicts in society. When Darius acceded to the time at least, several oases. The text goes on to de- f' throne in 522 B. C., revolts and separatist move- scribe Mithra himself riding a fast steed and looking * ments enveloped almost the whole of the Achae- down from high mountains on the fertile “Aryan | menid empire, including the Transcaspian satrapies, land”-Sogd, Margiana, Khorezm (a region in the £ The fighting was particularly fierce in Margiana,

139

where the Margianans lost 55,000 dead and 6,500 prisoners in one battle. Although these figures are most likely exaggerated, there can be little doubt but that the revolt in Margiana was a mass popular movement.

After the dramatic events of the first years of membership in the Achaemenid empire, the 5th cen¬ tury saw the beginning of a period of relative calm in the eastern satrapies. Cities developed, particularly Marakanda, the capital of Sogdiana which lay in the valley of the Zeravshan on the site of modern Samar¬ kand. Various crafts flourished, and regular trade routes between different countries became estab¬ lished, for the protection of which the Achaemenid government showed special zeal. One of such routes led across Bactria to India. Bactria may have begun to mint its own coin. Local traditions, going back to the Altin-depe civilisation, remained the basis of the culture of settled oases, but they were enriched by stronger contacts with other countries. Coins from Greek cities, including Athens, reached the local markets at that time, as Greek objects of art probab¬ ly did, too. The local rulers built monumental palaces following the canons of the imperial capital Persepolis.

After a prolonged Graeco-Persian confrontation, the declining Achaemenid empire was shattered by Alexander the Great’s army. But the lucky con¬ queror had to fight hard to keep his hold over the vast territories he had seized, and his greatest diffi¬ culties were in Central Asia. Bessus, the last Achae¬ menid satrap of Bactria, hurried to declare himself “king of Asia”, and tried to organise a new state on the basis of the eastern satrapies, but things did not even come to a military encounter here. Hearing of the approach of a Graeco-Macedonian force, Bessus fled but was soon handed over to Alexander by his own confederates. However, Graeco-Macedonians ran into serious resistance at Sogd, where repeated j revolts led by Spitamenes, an energetic Sogdian ^ nobleman, shook the country for nearly three years (329-327 B.C.).

Alexander’s policy of achieving a rapprochement ~ between the Hellenic and Oriental parts of his vast s: empire was implemented in Central Asia. He began | to include Sogdian and Bactrian contingents in his 3 army, and his marriage to Roxana, daughter of the j noble Bactrian Oxiartes, was both a romantic and a s political act. Vigorous construction was begun; £

cities were founded in Bactria, Sogd and Parthia (areas of modern southern Turkmenistan and north¬ eastern Iran) which were called Alexandrias.

After the death of Alexander the Great, Central Asia became part of one of the states that arose on the ruins of the new empire which never got on its feet. That state was the new empire of the Seleucids, of which the centre was Babylon and which extended its rule to Bactria c. 305 B. C. Following in Alexander’s footsteps, the Seleucids tried to gain support among the upper strata of the population of the conquered countries, stimulating the develop¬ ment of local economy and culture.

In the Seleucids’ eastern possessions the chief pro¬ ponent of that policy was Antiochus I, the son of the empire’s founder Seleucus. In 289 B. C. he was appointed joint ruler with his father and was given the satrapies east of the Euphrates. Antiochus took vigorous measures to restore the economy. He rebuilt the capital of Margiana, which was named Antiochia of Margiana, and the entire oasis was sur¬ rounded by a wall 250 kilometres long to protect it against the nomads’ raids. Other cities and settle¬ ments were also fortified or built anew, and the in¬ flux of colonists begun under Alexander continued. Silver coins were minted in Bactria under Antiochus which followed the Greek weight standard and the local face-values. After several decades of tribula¬ tions, a period of relative stability came to Central Asia. At the same time, political authority was just as alien to the majority of the local population as un¬ der the Achaemenids and Alexander. The tendency towards political independence became stronger with the rise of the local economy. The Seleucids, too, mostly saw their eastern satrapies merely as a source of money and military contingents for their wars in the west. A combination of diverse interests and aspirations gradually led to the formation of in¬ dependent states in Central Asia.

C. 250 B. C., the Bactrian satrap Diodotus de¬ clared himself an independent ruler. Nearly simul¬ taneously, Parthia broke with the Seleucids, too. The new historical period of independent existence of Central Asian states began. There were three major states of this kind: Parthia, which arose as an independent state in the south-west of Central Asia but soon became a world empire with its principal centres far in the west, in Iran and Mesopotamia; the Graeco-Bactrian kingdom, a kind of Hellenist

outpost in the east; and the Kushan empire, pow- At the same time it was an important stage in the

erful and very little studied so far yet fascinating in development of Bactrian civilisation. Hellenic cul- its unusual richness and diversity of monuments of ture made a strong impact on the original substra- culture and art. turn of the ancient local traditions. The role of Greek

Graeco-Bactria occupied a special position among culture and language were particularly great in Bac- these states. Its policy, history and culture mani- tria. Significantly, the Indian ruler Ashoka, who fested especially clearly the fusion and creative inter- temporarily established his rule over some regions action between the Hellenic and Oriental principles south of Hindu Kush, inscribed an edict on the rocks which ultimately created the unique aura of Hel- addressed to the local population in which two kinds lenism. Graeco-Bactria’s political history abounds in of script were used Aramaic, employed in Achae- dynamic events. Its first ruler Diodotus endeavoured menid offices, and Greek, introduced by Alexander to create dynastic traditions, and called his son Dio- and the Seleucids. On the right bank of the Amu dotus as well. But c. 230 B.C., Diodotus II was Darya, at the mouth of its tributary Kunduz, exca- deposed and assassinated, along with his whole vations at the Ai Khanoum site have revealed the family, by Euthydemus. The Seleucid ruler Antio- ruins of a city founded by Greek colonists. In anti- chus III was at the time making desperate efforts to quity the city was apparently called Alexandria restore the former might of the empire. During his Oxiana, from Oxus, the ancient name of the Amu campaign in the east, he spent two years on a futile Darya. There is no doubt about the Hellenic nature siege of the city of Bactria, the capital of the Graeco- of the city. There was a gymnasium here, and in- Bactrian kingdom, and had to be satisfied with a scriptions were found in it dedicated to Hermes and treaty of cooperation. Euthydemus’s son Demetrius Heracles. A peristyle court has been excavated in the crossed the Hindu Kush and conquered some prov- administrative centre, the four porticoes of which inces of the Indian kingdom of Maurya. The lucky had 116 stone columns with capitals in a style close ruler had coins stamped with a portrait of himself to the Corinthian order. The inscriptions found by wearing a ceremonial helmet in the shape of an ele- the archaeologists include copies of Delphian aphor-

phant’s head. Sensitive to the feelings of his new sub- isms. But there is also evidence of interpenetration of jects, he put Indian inscriptions along with the the cultural traditions. Thus the mighty mudbrick

Greek ones on the coins. But the situation in Bactria walls of the fortress are obviously a development of itself was not stable, and c. 171, when Demetrius the local monumental architecture. The buildings of was still in India, power in the metropolis was seized the administrative centre include an 18-column hall

by Eucratides, presumably one of the generals. The built in the traditions of the Achaemenid palatial

latter seems to have been active on many fronts, architecture. Apart from marble sculpture, there

fighting, among other enemies, Parthia on his west- were also statues at Ai Khanoum made of gypsum

ern frontiers, which was then gathering strength, but and clay. Clay sculpture is a purely Oriental feature, in the end he was defeated. C. 155, he was killed by not a Greek one. The interaction of the two cultures his son Heliocles, as he returned from one of his cam- was a characteristic feature of Bactria in the 3rd and paigns. The new usurper was the last major ruler of 2nd centuries B. C., although the two traditions Graeco-Bactria, and his rule did not last long at g often developed along parallel lines. The coins of that. Between 140 and 130 B. C., nomadic tribes in- f Graeco-Bactrian kings were remarkable specimens vading from the north put an end to Graeco-Bactria p» of the art of medal-making.

as a major power. J Parthia existed much longer as an independent

This kaleidoscope of coups and conspiracies | state than the Graeco-Bactrian kingdom. Parthia’s should not eclipse certain more fundamental pro- o independence from the Seleucids was originally pro¬ cesses. The Graeco-Bactrian period was marked by | claimed, as in Bactria, by the local satrap, whose intense city building. Abundance of Graeco-Bac- ^ name was Andragoras. But soon the country was trian coins points to well-developed trade. It was in » overrun by the neighbouring nomadic tribes, whose the Graeco-Bactrian period that Bactria, formerly a /_ ruler Arsaces assumed the title of king in 247. The rich agricultural area with isolated urban centres, subsequent rulers of Parthia adopted Arsaces as one became a country of advanced trade and crafts. § of their throne names. Originally, the new state was

not large, including, apart from Parthia proper, the and the rise of handicrafts and money circulation. In neighbouring Hyrcania (a region adjoining the Parthyene itself, the best-known city was Nisa, south-eastern Caspian). However, under Mithrida- whose ruins lie not far from modern Ashkhabad, tes I (c. 171-138 B. C.) Parthia began vigorously The royal palace and the tombs of the elder Arsacids expanding towards the west as far as Mesopotamia, lay next to the city proper. Intense economic devel- ultimately becoming a major world power. The opment made an impact on the social relations, too. Parthian period in the history of Iran and Mesopo- Slave labour played a great role in the economy,

tamia is one of its more striking chapters. The According to law children of slaves remained slaves,

ancient homeland in the north-east of the Parthian The position of ordinary commoners, who paid high empire was now only one of its important centres. taxes to the state, was hard, too. Cultivation ofland The powerful movement of nomadic tribes which by commoners was regarded as a duty to the state had brought down Graeco-Bactria also affected and was strictly controlled. The system of govern- Parthia’s eastern regions. Two Parthian kings fell in ment required a smooth working of the administrat-

the hard struggle against the nomads; only under ive and fiscal machinery. As shown by the numerous

Mithridates II (123-87 B. C.) was that constant economic records found in the Nisa excavations, threat localised, and a special province set aside for detailed records were kept of the payments in kind the invading tribes which was called Sakastan coming from the commoners’ lands and temple and

(modern Seistan). In the long-drawn-out confron- royal estates. Each record indicated the year when tation with Rome, Parthia often suffered military the supplies came and the name of the official in and political defeats at the hands of this strong and charge.

highly experienced rival, who also claimed suprem- Cultural achievements were especially significant,

acy in the Near East. After prolonged internecine In Parthia, just as in neighbouring Bactria, the tra- strife, Artabanus III, a member of the so-called ditions of the local civilisation of the early Oriental

younger Arsacid dynasty, came to power in Parthia type blended with Hellenic cultural features. Thus

in A. D. 11, supported by the nomadic tribes of its two cultural traditions can clearly be traced in the deep-lying regions. royal residence in the area of Nisa which was called

At the end of the 1st and the beginning of the 2nd in antiquity Mithridatekert (“built by Mithri-

century A. D., Parthian empire went into a de- dates”; now the Old Nisa site). The monumental

cline-a process paralleled by the growing indepen- mudbrick architecture, the heavy ground plans of

dence of the various provinces headed by the the square ceremonial halls, the Zoroastrian names

members of the numerous Arsacid clan or other in the documents of the palace archives and the noble Parthian families. Hyrcania also showed a ten- Zoroastrian calendar point to the deep-lying local dency towards separatism, sending its ambassadors roots of this culture. The records are kept in Parth- directly to Rome. A dynasty in its own right asserted ian, in an Aramaic script, which became widespread itself in Margiana; its first king Sanabares called in the Achaemenid epoch, adapted to the Parthian himself by the same title as the ruling Arsacid, i. e., language; the records directly borrow cliches from “the king of kings”. The power of the Margianan the bureaucratese of that preceding period. At the ruler may have extended to Parthyene, or Parthia same time, the architectural decor widely uses the proper, where coins of Margianan minting are often splendid capitals of the Corinthian order decorated found. Some sources also report that in the west ~ with an acanthus leaves design, and marble statues Margiana bordered on Hyrcania, so that the lands in the best traditions of Hellenistic sculpture are car- of Parthyene must have been under the rule of the efully preserved in the royal treasure-house. Ori- Margianan “king of kings”. This semi-independence ^ ginally, the inscriptions on the coins minted in of the eastern Parthian provinces apparently con- Parthia were also in Greek only. Evidence of the syn- tinued until the fall of Arsacid Parthia in the 220s, a. thesis of these two cultural traditions is also found in when it was shattered by Ardashir, the founder of a 3 the large ivory drinking horns or rhytons discovered new and powerful Sassanid dynasty. at Mithridatekert. The form of these vessels is tradi-

The Parthian period in south-western Central ^ tionally Oriental but some motifs of ornamentation Asia was marked by the development of urban life ! are undoubtedly Greek, including those on the

142

friezes portraying twelve Olympian deities and Kanishka, but there is little agreement among

Artemis the Huntress. After the beginning of the researchers on the time of his reign. The most likely

Christian era a kind of Oriental reaction to Hel- period is the first third of the 2nd century A. D.

lenism set in, and the properly Parthian, Oriental Under Kanishka, the centre of the Kushan empire

canons asserted themselves, while Greek motifs definitely moved towards the Indian possessions,

appeared in modified form. Parthian inscriptions on and Purushapura (modern Peshawar) became its coins, gradually ousted Greek ones, the latter capital.

becoming more and more indistinct and distorted. Since Kushan possessions bordered on Parthia in

Similar changes took place at nearly the same the west and Han China in the east, military con-

time in the culture of Bactria, where the Kushan flicts with these states were not infrequent. Before

kingdom was coming into being. Originally, the core the emergence of the Kushan state, Parthian pre-

of the Kushan state was Bactria. Graeco-Bactria was sence in Bactria was considerable, as was reflected in

supplanted by small political unions, including pos- the spreading of Parthian coins and in cultural in¬ sessions of the nomadic chieftains who had brought fluences. But later the relations on the western

down the power of the Graeco-Bactrian kings. These borders of Kushana were stabilised and remained so

nomads rather rapidly assimilated the traditions of a during several centuries. Late in the 1st and early settled culture, showing themselves to be industrious 2nd century A. D., there was some hard fighting in

and intelligent workers. In the 1st century B. C., eastern Turkistan, where the Kushan army stopped

they built new canals and cities, creating whole the Han expansion.

farming oases. Soon one of their chieftains, named Later, the Kushan kingdom suffered a defeat in

Heraius, had his image as an armed horseman the conflict with the Sassanian state which replaced

stamped on the large silver coins of the realm accom- Parthia. Especially important were the events of the

panied by an inscription in Greek, the whole mid-4th century A. D., when the Sassanian troops

symbolising, as it were, the link between the noma- invaded the territory of Bactria, and Sassanian gov-

dic traditions and the Hellenistic state. Even more ernors in the east adopted the titles of “the king of interesting is the fact that he calls himself a the Kushan” and even “the great king of the

“Kushan”. Further growth of Heraius’s small pos- Kushans”. That was the end of a once great empire,

session ultimately led to the creation of the enormous Some of the Kushan possessions remained indepen- Kushan empire. dent, and at the end of the 4th and beginning of the

Its founder was Kadphizes I, who established his 5th centuries they even had a period of resurgence,

rule over four small principalities of nomadic tribes when cities were rebuilt, dilapidated fortifications

on Bactrian territory, first pushing back and then repaired, and palaces erected. But the unified

conquering the last Greek dynasts. As a result, the Kushan state, whose territory once stretched from

whole of Bactria was united under a single ruler, the Ganges to the Amu Darya, no longer existed, who adopted the magnificent title of “the king of Presently, incursions of nomadic tribes and new kings”. These events assumedly happened in the 1st pressure from the Sassanids resulted in the downfall

century A. D. The new empire expanded along the of the late Kushan rulers, too.

traditional route south beyond the Hindu Kush 5 The Kushans inherited Bactria’s well-developed passes, where Kadphizes I asserted his dominion | agriculture based on artificial irrigation, with its over several provinces. The minting of coins with In- °= attendant high population density. Intense develop- dian inscriptions shows that lands with Indian popu- J ment of trade and crafts facilitated a further rise in lation now formed part of his possessions. Under | urban life. The role of money relations in trade kept Kadphizes I, Bactria formed the core of the Kushan p growing, as shown by hundreds of Kushan small empire, of which Bactria was most likely the capital. | copper coins used in retail trading, found in abun- Kushan territory was further expanded under Kad- dance in the excavations of both major centres and phizes II, son and successor of the founder of the “ small settlements. New cities emerged and the old state, who annexed a large part of north-western * centres expanded. There are grounds to believe that India. .f a considerable proportion of Bactria’s inhabitants

The best known among Kushan rulers was § lived in urban-type settlements. Particularly inter-

esting are cities built on the rectangular plan under the world of the nomadic Asian tribes’ artistic cul-

the aegis of central authority, such as Zar-tepe and ture and is close to the works of Sarmatian art.

Dalverzin in northern Bactria and Begram and Dyl- Another group of themes represents the purely an-

berdjin in the southern part of it. They offer evi- tique line, as, for instance, the figure of a warrior in

dence of clearcut town-building and fortification ceremonial armour of the Macedonian type, a

canons. woman riding a lion, or a jolly Silenus with a rhyton

Kushan cities, both large and small, old and in his hands. Many of the complex groups and scenes

newly built, formed a whole system, being linked by have not been properly interpreted so far.. Presuma-

roads and caravan routes. Commercial links with bly they reproduce local Bactrian themes combined

the Roman empire, and in particular with its eastern with Hellenistic and Indian influences. From the

provinces, figured especially prominently in trade evidence of the coins, the burials may be dated to the

relations. The trade was conducted along land and 1st century B. C. or the first half of the 1st century

sea routes; the latter began in the western ports of A. D. We have here an early stage of cultural integ-

Hindustan. The land route led north across the Fer- ration, in which the sources of the remarkable

ghana valley to China. The commodities travelling Kushan culture lie. Kushan cities became the car-

along these trading routes were numerous and var- riers of the new cultural standards represented by

ied. Spices, perfumes, precious stones, ivory, and stable assemblages ranging from everyday utensils to

.sugar were carried to Rome. Of particular impor- cultic objects. This urbanised culture and money

tance was trade in rice and cotton wares. Silk, relations also penetrated into rural areas,

leather and other goods were in transit from China. During the Kushan period, Buddhism became

The greatest international trade artery of those times widespread, and its monuments are found in all the

was sometimes even called “the great silk route”. corners of the vast empire. As a rule, they are gener-

Textiles and clothes suited to the local tastes, glass- ously decorated with sculptures, reliefs and paint-

ware and jewelry, statues and wines were brought ings. A Buddhist cave monastery is situated at Kara-

from Rome. Gold and silver Roman coins came to tepe near Termez, which was the capital of northern

the local markets in large numbers and often occur Bactria. A number of buildings on the surface and

in the treasure-troves found on the territory of the cave cells were located here. Fajas-tepe, another

Kushan empire. monastery in the neighbourhood of Termez, is built

Probably the most significant achievement of the entirely on the ground. Its focus is a court with cells Kushan times was high level of culture. Kushan cul- and chapels at the sides and a hall for general meet-

ture, with all its variation of time and place, was a ings in the centre. Fajas-tepe is abundantly orna-

creative blend of the achievements of the local civili- mented with painted clay sculpture and pictures, in

sation of the ancient Oriental type, the life-giving which the figures of the donators show obvious in¬

principles of Hellenism, the sophistication of Indian fluences of the Hellenistic psychological portrait. A art, and the dashing style contributed by the nomad- Buddhist shrine containing gypsum sculpture has

ic tribes from the Asian steppes. The initial stage of been discovered in the suburb of Dalverzin. The

that syncretic Kushan art is well represented by the ruins of a stupa, another type of Buddhist monu-

materials from noblemen’s burials discovered by ments, have also been discovered on the territory of

Soviet archaeologists on the Tillya-tepe site in south- j Bactria. These are monumental dome-shaped build- ern Bactria. The bodies were entombed in rich ~ ings of mudbrick. Of considerable interest are in¬ clothes adorned in gold designs. Stamped and cast ^ scriptions in the Brahmi and Kharoshthi script dis- gold buckles, plates, dagger sheaths, and pendants | covered at Kara-tepe and Fajas-tepe. They are were profusely ornamented with insets of pearl, tur- ~ written in Prakrit or the Middle Indian language, qoise, and lapis lazuli. There are traces here of |_: Soviet scholars and the Hungarian scientist J. Har- several artistic traditions which affected early | maua have shown that the names of various Budd- Kushan culture. Thus the motifs and the manner of 5 hist schools occur in the inscriptions. Borrowed from execution of scenes of fighting animals rolled into a ^ India, Buddhism assumed original forms in Central single tangle, the tense and expressive figures of ani- ^ Asia, where Indian Buddhist traditions were com- mals, and the winged dragons-all this leads us into t bined with local ones, as can be seen from the sculp-

144

ture and architecture of the monasteries, and from rulers on its territory minted coins imitating those of

bilingual inscriptions in Bactrian and Indian. the Graeco-Bactrian kingdom. In the 1st century

Patronising Buddhism, Rushan rulers endeav- B. C., inscriptions on coins began to be made in Ara-

oured at the same time to assert the authority of maic script adapted to the Sogdian language. It is

secular power. The Surkh-kotal shrines in northern difficult to say just how great was the power of the

Afghanistan, south of Puli-humri, are monuments of rulers who struck these coins, but at least one of

such a dynastic cult. The main temple with its fire them proudly called himself “the king of kings”. In

altar stood on a high hill fortified by a wall, with a the first centuries A. D. the culture of Sogdiana was

long staircase leading up to them. An inscription affected by the Rushan cultural standards, and the

found here gives the name of the whole complex country was apparently politically dependent on the

the Temple of Ranishka the Victorious. The early powerful neighbour.

Rushan palace at Rhalchayan in northern Ba'ctria Rhorezm, lying on the lower Amu Darya, occu-

also represents a dynastic cult. A sculptured frieze pies a special place in the ancient history of Central

reproduces heroicised images of noble personages, Asia. The country became independent of the

apparently members of the local ruling dynasty. Achaemenid kingdom as early as the 5th century

Some of the sculptures obviously convey individu- B. C., and in 329-328 B. C. the Rhorezmian king

alised features, but not the inner world of the person Pharasmanes arrived for negotiations with Alex-

portrayed. ander the Great accompanied by a cavalry unit of

Along with official cults and religions, there were 1,500. At that time, a well-developed urban culture

mass popular beliefs in the Rushan kingdom. already existed at Rhorezm. Soon after, probably

Numerous terracotta figurines found both in the during nomadic confederations’move south towards

cities and in rural settlements are linked with these Parthia and Graeco-Bactria, a dynasty of nomadic

popular beliefs. There are not many Buddhist effi- origin became established here. In any case, when

gies among them. The most favourite subjects were the first local coins were minted in the 1st century

female deities wearing clothes falling in heavy folds A. D., the figure of the mounted ruler was stamped

and holding a cult vessel or sacred fruit. They are on the reverse. Rushan coins also occur on Rhorezm

most likely some version of the female patroness of territory, but the minting of the local coin was

fertility and of the home hearth. That must be the apparently never interrupted. The type site of a city

reason why such figurines occur in each house. in ancient Rhorezm is Toprak-kala. Its most impor-

Another type of objects of mass popular culture is tant part was a citadel on a high brick platform,

terracotta figurines of horsemen or just saddled with a palace complex of ceremonial halls and a

horses reminders of the founders of the Rushan number of auxiliary buildings. The halls were pro¬ empire and symbol of its principal armed force. fusely decorated with frescoes and clay sculpture.

Rushan cultural standards exerted a significant in- The decorations show traces of the influence of the

fluence on the neighbouring countries and peoples. Hellenistic portrait school as well as of Rushan stan-

In particular, this influence is observed in Sog- dards and even, in the reliefs of grazing deer, the im-

diana, yet another important region of ancient Cen- pact of the artistic style of the steppe nomads. The tral Asia, which included fertile oases in the valleys p city itself was built on a gridiron plan with longitu- of the Rashkadarya and Zeravshan. It appears that | dinal and transverse streets dividing the space within Sogdiana was included in the Seleucids’ empire and a. the rectangle into regular quarters consisting in their

the Graeco-Bactrian kingdom. Citadel walls and j turn of separate households. Business records were

other structures of that time have been discovered on | found in the palace complex made in Aramaic script

the site of its capital Marakanda (whose ruins, p popular in the Orient and adapted to the Rhorez-

known as Afrasiab, lie on the outskirts of modern | mian language. The records list, in particular, the

Samarkand). Its culture, pottery included, is _ members of “house families”, that is, presumably, marked by the influence of Greek models; there is a s large family communities occupying the separate Greek inscription on one of the cups found here. houses of the Toprak-kala quarters or sections.

Sogdiana seems to have fallen under the rule of | There were between 20 and 40 persons in each such nomadic tribes even earlier than Bactria. Several | household. The households had slaves, sometimes in

considerable numbers-up to 12 persons. At present, ancient civilisation and the disintegration of its Soviet scholars are preparing the publication and socioeconomic foundations.

translation of the numerous Khorezmian docu- The cultural heritage of the ancient epochs made

ments. a considerable influence on the subsequent develop-

It is thus clear that the ancient Central Asian civi- ment of the Central Asian civilisation. Many ancient

lisation can be described as the sum of the achieve- attainments in both material and nonmaterial cul-

ments of a number of local cultures Bactrian, ture were preserved and developed during centuries.

Parthian, Sogdian and Khorezmian. It was proba- The ancient civilisations of Central Asia also

bly within these countries that the ancient ethnic made a considerable impact on the other regions of groups merged to form the separate peoples-Bac- the ancient Orient (especially India, Iran, China,

trians, Parthians, Sogdians and Khorezmians. The and eastern Turkistan) and the Graeco-Roman

main cultural achievements were brought about by world. Central Asian states stubbornly resisted the the development of the cities. In the 4th and 5th cen- expansion of the Greek and Roman empires and

turies A. D., the main cities in all the provinces de- even, as in the case of Parthia, competed with them,

dined and were replaced by fordfied manors and The cultural synthesis of the local Central Asian

castles. In the view of Soviet historians, these and Graeco-Roman traditions showed great original- ■ q

changes were brought about not only by the incur- ity, producing remarkable specimens of art and

sions of the nomadic tribes of the Chionites and architecture. This civilisation is one of the most in- I

Hephtalites but also by an internal crisis within the teresting chapters in the history of the ancient Orient. ■ I

v

t

(

a

f

Chapter 9

The Old Indian Civilisation

The Indian civilisation was one of the oldest and most original in the East. Its contribution to the cul¬ ture of humankind is immense. Already in antiquity India was known as “the country of sages”. At a very early stage, ancient India maintained close cul¬ tural contacts with many countries of the ancient Orient and with the Graeco-Roman world. The achievements of the Indian civilisation made a signi¬ ficant impact on Arabic and Iranian culture. Many ancient writers and philosophers travelled to India to study Indian culture and the Indians’ original views of the universe and the place of man in it. But a scientific study of its history and culture only began in the late 18th century. William Jones, founder of the Bengal Asiatic Society (1784), is regarded as the father of modern Indology. He was the first to translate the monuments of ancient In¬ dian literature from Sanskrit into English. Grad¬ ually, several Indological schools-English, Ger¬ man, French, and Dutch-took shape in Western Europe.

Unfortunately, the scientific study of Indian cul¬ ture in the 19th and early 20th centuries had a strong European bias. Many Indian phenomena were declared to have been borrowed from the West, and the development of state and society in ancient India were assessed tendentiously, from the positions of “European education”.

Many West European scholars wrote, with co¬ lonialist prejudice, of the backwardness of Indian culture, its predominantly spiritualist character, and of the passivity of the Indians. These views were, in fact, a justification of the British rule in India.

Russian Indologists took a different approach to

the assessment of the Indian cultural heritage. Rejection of any bias and a profound respect for the people of India and its ancient culture have always been the distinguishing features of the Russian Indo¬ logical school. I. P. Minayev, S. F. Oldenburg, and F. I. Shcherbatskoy made outstanding contri¬ butions to the study of India. Their works on old In¬ dian literature and India’s philosophy and religions have not lost their significance even in these days. I. P. Minayev (1840-1890), one of the first Russian Indologists and a profound scholar of old Indian cul¬ ture, always defended the country’s independence and supported the progressive forces fighting against British colonialism.

Indian scholars, who saw the protection of their ancient culture as a form of fighting for national liberation, have made a great contribution to the study of ancient India.

A new stage in the study of the ancient Indian civilisation began after India attained national inde¬ pendence. Indian archaeologists carried out impor¬ tant excavations in various parts of the country, dis¬ covering many monuments of material culture; Indian historians published fundamental works on various aspects of the history and culture of ancient S' India. At present, the first pages of the country’s his¬ torical chronicle have been given a basically differ- ? ent interpretation, and the stages of the formation g and development of civilisation in India have been 5- defined with greater precision.

1 The results of archaeological excavations indicate P that India was settled in remote antiquity. Early g Palaeolithic cultures have been discovered in differ- ! ent regions. The development of economic and

147

10 *

social relations determined the transition from the Its discovery and study permitted a new interpre-

Palaeolithic to the Mesolithic and later the Neolithic tation of early Indian history. Some views had to be

periods, whose monuments have been found in var- modified, others rejected out of hand. It is now im-

ious parts of Hindustan. As early as the 7th and 6th possible to assert, as some authors did, before the

millennia B. C., farming cultures existed in Baluchis- study of the monuments of the Harappa culture,

tan whose founders knew many cereals, practised the that civilisation was brought to India from the out-

crafts, and made objects of art. The latest excava- side, by Indo-Aryan or Sumerian tribes. At present,

tions at Mehrgarh (in modern Pakistan, by a French the Harappa civilisation is seen as a highly devel-

expedition) have revealed a successive development oped and locally based entity in no way inferior to

of local cultures from the pre-ceramic Neolithic to the other civilisations of the ancient Orient (say,

the Chalcolithic epoch, necessitating a revision of Egyptian or Mesopotamian)-it was even in some

the traditional viewpoint concerning the relatively ways superior to them.

late (4th millennium B. C.) origin of the settled Springing from the local cultures, it gradually

farming cultures in Hindustan. It is now clear that evolved into an urban civilisation. A sudden appear-

as early as the 7th millennium B. C. the local popu- ance of a well-developed civilisation (a view preva-

lation cultivated many cereals, domesticated cattle, lent not long ago) is decidedly out of the question,

and established close contacts with the contempor- Through a long and natural process, farming cul-

aneous cultures of Iran and Central Asia. Thus In- tures of the pre-urban type developed into an urban

dia became one of the fountainheads of civilisation culture, both pre- and early-Harappan settlements

side by side with the most ancient Oriental cultures. in the Indus valley being fairly advanced. The Har-

Our knowledge of the ethnic map of early India is appa civilisation absorbed all the achievements of

still fragmentary. The country’s north-west was the previous epochs, but it was a qualitatively new

apparently settled by Dravidian-speaking tribes, stage in the historical process,

whose domain was gradually expanded as they As long as excavations were restricted to the Indus

moved to Deccan and southern India. Anthropolo- valley, archaeologists believed that the Harappa cul-

gically, that population was Caucasoid. In the ture’s areal was limited to that region, too. Now

south, Australoid tribes lived before their arrival Harappan settlements have been discovered over a

that were similar to Sri Lanka’s Veddas. Judging vast territory measuring 1,100 kilometres north to

from palaeoanthropological materials, eastern India south and more than 1,600 kilometres west to east,

was inhabited by Caucasoids, with significant Aus- After the Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro excava-

traloid admixtures. Linguistically, the ancient tribes tions, the view gained currency that these two cities of the east belonged to the Austroasiatic language were two capitals greatly surpassing all the others

family and were ancestral to the Mundas. both in size and level of development. Major Harap-

One of the most striking chapters in the history of pan cities have now been discovered in other parts of

ancient Indian culture was the Harappa civilisation. India as well. It has been reckoned that up to

100,000 lived in the largest of them. At that time, cities were centres of crafts, trade and administ- The Harappa Civilisation. When the British general ration, but the majority of the population, who were

A. Cunningham, who conducted archaeological > farmers and livestock-breeders, continued to live in excavations in India, discovered a seal with un- ^ rural communities.

known signs during an examination of a site at Har- " The chronology of the Harappa civilisation is a appa (northern Pakistan) in the 1850s, he was un- g matter of considerable controversy, but the most

doubtedly unaware of the importance of his dis- ~ widely accepted dating is 2500 (2300)-1800 (1700)

covery. Before the systematic excavations begun in |. B. C.

the 1920s by Indian and later British archaeologists | Precise planning in town-building, monumental in the Indus valley (the digs at Harappa and a architecture, the existence of writing, of a weights Mohenjo-Daro, “the city of the dead” in Sindhi), (j and measures system, and of art works are all indica-

archaeologists knew practically nothing of the * tions of a high level of the Harappa culture. Excava-

remarkable civilisation now termed Harappan. | tions at the major centres have shown that Harap-

148

pans’ cities were laid out on a grid plan, with the and painted. Their ornamental designs were varied,

main streets up to 10 metres wide. Almost all the including vegetable and animal motifs, hatching,

major cities consisted of two parts the citadel rising etc.

above the city, and the “lower town”. The dwellings But the population’s principal occupation was

of the city’s rulers were apparently in the citadel agriculture. Harappans cultivated wheat (of several

(some scholars believe that the priest’s houses were varieties), barley, peas, and grew fruit. Rice has

also there), while most of the population lived in the been found in some settlements. Irrigation was

“lower town”. The intercourse between the two widely used in river valleys. Animals were domesti-

parts was, judging from the excavations, limited : the cated, such as the dog, the cat, and the donkey; cat-

citadel gates could be closed to lock the common tie, sheep and goats were reared. Harappans gath-

people out. Well-to-do citizens lived in two- and ered in two harvests annually, and used fertiliser,

even three-storey homes. Both baked brick and Harappan cities were major centres of trade, both

mudbrick were used in house construction. Mud- domestic and external. Judging by finds of seals in

brick buildings offered protection against the tropi- Mesopotamian cities, trade with that area was par-

cal heat. Each household had auxiliary premises- ticularly lively. The trade routes apparently lay both

kitchens, closets, pantries, and special rooms for across land and sea. Excavations on Bahrain Islands

performing ablutions. The dwellings clearly show have shown that it was a kind of staging post. Here,

marks of social differentiation: the poor lived in merchants from India must have met those going

hovels. from Mesopotamia to the East. The discovery of a

The systems of water supply and drainage were port and docks at Lothal (a Harappan city not far

worked out in detail. Dirty water flowed into settling from modern Bombay) and pictures on Harappan

basins, then into canals and beyond the city limits. seals of ships with mast rigging point to the existence

The settling basins and canals were cleaned regu- of sea trading.

larly. There were wells in the streets, and rainwater Recent excavations in Soviet Central Asia and

was collected in special reservoirs. The whole system Afghanistan show that the Harappa civilisation

was more advanced than in ancient Egypt or Meso- had close links with these areas, too. Soviet archae-

potamia. The Indians were very keen on hygiene ologists working under Professor V. Masson have

already in hoary antiquity, realising the harm that found a number of typically Harappan objects from

can be done by accumulations of sewage and the the period of Harappa’s heyday in the south of

resultant epidemics. Turkmenia (the Altin-depe site, not far from the

Apart from the living quarters, archaeologists modern city of Merv). The most curious of these

have discovered public buildings in the Harappan finds was a Harappan seal with an inscription con-

cities-an enormous granary on a brick platform, sisting of two signs. A “Harappan factory” was dis-

with special platforms for thrashing, a public swim- covered by the French expedition in northern

ming pool 11.9 metres long, 7 metres wide, and 2,4 Afghanistan.

metres deep, with a bitumen-covered bottom, the The Harappan language and writing system are

city market place, and what looks like a temple. perhaps the most difficult riddles of the Harappan

Artisans specialising in the various crafts-metal civilisation. More than 1,000 seals with inscriptions

workers, jewelers, potters, engravers in ivory toiled __ have been found. Inscriptions were also made on in Harappan cities. Bronze and copper were the ^ pottery and metal wares. Scholars have identified principal metals of which weapons, agricultural ? 400 different signs, but the sources of that writing

tools, instruments, and even objects of art were system and the language spoken by the Harappans made. Stone was still an important material in tool- ? are a matter of acute debate. All kinds of hypotheses making, and iron was not yet known. g have been suggested, including conjectures about

Weaving flourished. Spindle whorls have been g- the connections between the Harappan writing sys- found in nearly every house. Archaeologists have 1 tern and that of the Easter Island, the Hittite hiero- also been lucky to have discovered small bits of cot- 0 glyphic writing, the Semitic script, etc. ton fabric. Harappan potters were expert profes- f Opinions about the Harappan language vary just sionals. Vessels were made on potter’s wheels, baked | as widely. Some Indian scholars believe that it was

149

Sanskrit, as they assume that India was the home¬ land of the Indo-Aryan peoples. In recent years, new methods have been applied to the decoding of the Harappan writing and language based on computer techniques (work was done simultaneously by Soviet scholars headed by Professor V. Knorozov, who had obtained excellent results with the Maya writing, and by Indian and Finnish researchers). It has been established that the script was of the right-to-left type, but more important was the confirmation of the previously expressed hypothesis concerning the link between the Harappan language and the proto- Dravidian ancestral to the Dravidian languages spoken in modern southern India. Proceeding from this basic assumption, specialists are now trying to read the inscriptions, although the readings sug¬ gested are so far hypothetical. Unfortunately, no bi¬ lingual inscriptions have yet been found. Such a find would enormously facilitate the solution of the problem.

The conclusion that the Harappan population spoke a language related to the proto-Dravidian raised yet another extremely important problem — that of the Dravidian homeland. The view has been expressed that it lay north of the Indus valley-in south-eastern Iran and southern Central Asia. In any case, the Dravidian-speaking Brahui tribes now inhabiting some areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan are the descendants of the proto-Dravidians who lived in these and the neighbouring districts several millennia ago (apparently in the 4th millennium B. C.)

judging from excavations, by a decline of the cul¬ ture. Its course varied in different regions, and the reasons may have varied, too (floods, climatic changes, tectonic phenomena, epidemics, etc.), but the striking feature is that all the settlements went into decline at about the same time the 18th and 17th centuries B. C. There may have been one single underlying cause stemming from the society’s inter¬ nal crisis. Significantly, similar phenomena were observed in the urban civilisations of south-eastern Iran and southern Central Asia. It is hard to say what may have been the cause or causes of this phenomenon, but they could hardly have been external.

Some West European scholars, and in particular the famous British archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler, believed the decline of the main centres on the Indus to be due to a mass invasion of Aryan tribes. He cited in particular the fact that the excavations at Mohenjo-Daro have revealed a group of unburied skeletons lying in unnatural postures right in the street. At present, Wheeler’s view finds no sup¬ porters. No traces of mass appearance of foreign tribes have been found. Where features of new cul¬ tures in the later strata of Harappan cities have been identified, they belong as a rule to different types, not to a single stream of Indo-Aryans. Besides, one of Wheeler’s chief arguments has been shattered: the American archaeologist J. Dales has shown that the unburied skeletons belong to different levels (and therefore to different periods). In recent times, anthropologists applied new methods of analysis to

Archaeological materials and impressions on seals these skeletons. In their view, malaria rather than

provide some material on Harappan religious con- violence was the cause of death. This conclusion does

cepts. The abundance of terracotta figurines points not rule out the reality of the arrival of Indo-Aryan

to the cult of the mother-goddess. Harappans also tribes in India, but the historico-linguistic indica-

deified animals and worshipped fire and water. tions are that it happened several centuries later.

Totemistic beliefs were still widespread, as eviden- Besides, the Indo-Aryans first penetrated the eastern ced by the figures of bulls, elephants, crocodiles, j Punjab, not the Indus valley, as is clear from the

rhinoceros, lions and tigers found on seals. Some ~ monuments of Vedic literature, above all from the

scholars see certain figures on the seals as the pro- " Rigveda. That penetration proceeded in waves rather

totypes of the Hinduist god Shiva; the Harappan ! than through a simultaneous mass incursion. Thus

deity is portrayed as having three faces, seated ~ the theory of the Aryan conquest of India, once fash-

in a Yogin’s posture, among animals. If we are s ionable, cannot now be accepted,

to accept this hypothesis, the effect of the Harappa |

civilisation on the subsequent development of India, 5

and above all on Hinduism, is obvious. A The Indo-Aryans and the Formation of States in the Ganges

These features are characteristic of the so-called 7 Valley. Some scholars saw the coming of Indo-Ar- highly developed Harappa which was followed, s’ yans to India as a conquest of backward aborigines

150

by the advanced Aryans, who brought civilisation to the main cause of conflicts between Vedic tribes. India and created a well-developed society. The Ox-drawn carts and horse-drawn chariots were

proponents of this theory also introduced the theme their means of transportation, of the racial difference between the strong and cap- The Vedic tribes lived in small fortified settle-

able Aryans and the peoples of India racially incap- ments which, as archaeological excavations show, in

able of independent development and progress. no way resembled the large cities of the Harappa

According to these totally unscientific theories, class civilisation. With the development of the crafts,

society and the state emerged in India only with the however, cities gradually arose in the Ganges valley,

arrival of the Aryans in India. Various craftsmen are mentioned in the texts, in-

This view has now been abandoned, but many eluding blacksmiths, weavers, carpenters, jewelers,

problems pertaining to the arrival of the Aryans in gunsmiths, etc.

India remain unsolved. According to most scholars Vedic society showed obvious signs of economic

the Indo-Aryans’ earliest written monument, the inequality. There were the rich men possessing con-

Rigveda, should be dated to the 11th or 10th century siderable quantities of cattle, and the poor men.

B. C. The data of Vedic texts are sufficient to trace. The emergence of slavery was a clear indication of

in general outline, the eastward movement of the the development of such economic and social in-

Indo-Aryan tribes and their settlement of the Ganges equality. At first, the slaves ( dasa) were war captives,

valley. It was a long process, lasting several centuries later members of the community were enslaved, and involving military conflicts with the local tribes too.

and among the Indo-Aryan tribes themselves. In that epoch, slavery was as yet undeveloped and

Advancing across wooded terrain was by no patriarchal, as Vedic society was at the stage of tri¬ means an easy undertaking. The Indo-Aryans had bal organisation.

to clear forests, often resorting to burning them-a Vedic tribes lived in communities or ganas; orig-

natural enough process in those times. The principal inally tribal in character, they developed into class

occupations of the Vedic tribes were land cultivation entities. The communities consisted of large patriar-

(very limited at first) and cattle-raising. At the time chal families, or kulas. Consanguine ties were still

they first settled in India, the Indo-Aryans made very strong, and the clan’s influence extended to all

weapons and tools of copper, but later they mastered areas of life. Gradually tribal communities became

the techniques of iron production. Iron tools made it differentiated, economic and social inequality arose,

easier to penetrate into the forest areas of the Ganges and the organs of tribal self-government became

valley, to till the soil and build artificial irrigation those of state power. Judging from the early Vedic

systems. The development of the handicrafts was texts, the ruler or raja was originally elected by the

also spurred on by the introduction of iron. The people apparently meeting in an assembly for that

wooden plough was soon replaced by one with an purpose. There are hymns devoted to the election of

iron blade, which opened up new possibilities for the a ruler. “The people elect you that you should rule,”

tilling of stony soils. says one of the hymns. As the formation of the state is

The Indians of the Vedic epoch knew many ce- a long process, survivals of the old political organisa-

reals, including barley, rice, wheat, and leguminous tion persisted for a long time. Popular assemblies

plants. Rice began to be grown during the settle- continued to play an important role. The tribal host

ment of the Ganges valley. Some scholars believe gradually became a standing army headed by its.

that the Indo-Aryans had not known rice before 3 chief. In battle, the king and the professional war- their arrival in India, and borrowed the art of its riors (Kshatriyas) fought on chariots, and ordinary cultivation from the local tribes. ? commoners on foot. Later, the practice of electing

Along with land cultivation cattle-raising con- g the ruler was replaced by the hereditary principle,

tinued to play a great role in the life of Vedic tribes. =- power being handed down to the elder son as a rule.

Vedic texts often repeat that cattle is man’s principal § The early Vedic ganas evolved into state structures,

wealth. The authors of hymns keep pleading with j? usually embracing small territories. Depending on a

the gods to give them cows. War was seen as a means g number of conditions, they assumed the forms of of getting cows. The capture of cattle was probably I monarchies or republics. However, archaic institu-

tions and features of the primitive communal system Alexander entered Indian territory after winning

survived for a long time, particularly in remote a number of great victories. His immense and well- M;

areas. equippel army was a pledge of fresh success. North- | the

Vedic hymns and epics mention a great many western India was divided into tribal confederations

early dynasties and names of the earliest states in the warring against one another, and there was no unity the

Ganges valley, but the historical reality of these data between the rulers of small states. Some local kings

is highly questionable, as in most cases they are not as, e. g., Taxila’s ruler, formed alliances with Alex-

borne out by archaeological materials. ander in return for a promise of autonomy and

Of the great number of states in the Ganges val- sovereignty over their former possessions. From the

ley, Magadha with time became the most prom- very beginning of his Indian campaign, however,

inent. The position of ancient Magadha (on the ter- Alexander encountered a stubborn resistance from

ritory of modern southern Bihar) was very advanta- the local tribes. Many Indian tribes refused to nego-

geous geographically and commercially. The sources tiate with the Graeco-Macedonians and sometimes I

speak of the fertility of the Magadha lands. The even won victories against superior force,

country conducted a lively trade with many regions The strongest of the Indian rulers of north-west- I

of India and was rich in mineral resources, especially ern India was king Porus, who decided to meet Alex- metals. Its ancient capital was Rajagriha. ander in open battle. The battle occurred on the

Little is known of the dynastic history of bank of the river. Hydaspes (modern Jhelum) and

Magadha. We have some data on king Bimbisara lasted several days. According to Arrian, 30,000

(545/544-493 B. C.), who, according to Buddhist foot, 40,000 horse, 300 chariots and 200 elephants

texts, conquered the neighbouring state of Anga. took part in the last and decisive encounter. Alex-

That consolidated Magadha’s positions and laid the ander only managed to break through the ranks of

beginning of its expansive policy. Bimbisara took Porus’s army after a cunning manoeuvre. Alexander

great pains to strengthen the inner fabric of the state, won the battle, but Porus continued to fight even

introducing strict control over state officials. Under when he was covered with wounds. The Indian

Bimbisara’s son Ajatashatru (493-461 B. C.) a fierce king’s courage won Alexander’s heart, and he spared

conflict flared up with Prasenajit, ruler of Kosala, Porus’s life and did not even take away his M

another strong state in the Ganges valley. After possessions.

a long period of rivalry Magadha emerged victo- The Graeco-Macedonian army moved farther

rious. east to Hydroates (modern Ravi). Alexander began (:|

There followed an intense struggle against the re- preparations for crossing the Hyphasis (modern

publican union of Licchavis lying north of Ma- Beasj, but at that time unrest began in his own A1

gadha. The cause of the conflict was the seizure army, many soldiers insisting on ending the exhaust-

by Licchavis of a port on the river Ganges to ing campaign. After some deliberation, Alexander

which Magadha also laid claims. gave up his dream and ordered a retreat, which was I fu

To increase Magadha’s might, Ajatashatru’s son accompanied by a new wave of anti-Macedonian I co

Udayin (461-445 B. C.) moved the capital of the revolts and disturbances.

state from Rajagriha to Pataliputra, which became Alexander’s campaign showed that lack of unity

ancient India’s premier city. After that, the Nanda j, and inner strife were the main causes of the Indians’ i'Otf

dynasty took possession of Magadha’s throne and ~ defeat. The struggle against the foreign forces com- I

made Magadha a major empire. " pelled the local rulers to unite their efforts. At the I

The situation was different in north-western In- | same time that campaign considerably extended and I

dia, where there was no large state capable of unit- ~ consolidated India’s external cultural and trading

ing tribes and peoples differing ethnically, linguisti- 2 links. India itself exerted an increasing influence on H tr

cally and culturally. Late in the 6th century B. C., s. the Hellenic world. I w

some areas of north-western India were included in a During Alexander’s campaign, Magadha was ■ til the Achaemenid empire. Later, certain provinces of ruled by the Nanda dynasty mentioned above. The il w

north-western India were conquered by Alexander * state built by the Nandas prepared the ground for I gi

the Great during his campaign in the East. § the great Maurya dynasty.

152

India in the Mauryan Epoch. The founding of the between them (in 303 or 302 B. C.). It is difficult to

Mauryan empire was a most momentous event in describe the course of that struggle with any degree

the country’s history. For the first time, a very exten- of reliability, but, judging by the conditions of the

sive territory (the whole of Hindustan, in fact, with peace treaty (Seleucus received 500 battle elephants,

the exception of the extreme south) was united and the Mauryan king, certain areas in the north-

within one state. But the significance of that epoch is west of India, previously conquered by Alexander),

even greater than that: it was the time of a rise in the Chandragupta emerged, in fact, victorious. After

economy, including trade, a time of flourishing concluding the peace treaty, Seleucus sent his

urban life and important changes in the ideological ambassador Megasthenes to the court of the Mau-

concepts. ryan king.

The study of the preceding period is founded on His memoirs, mentioned above, give a general

the materials of archaeology and of the Vedic reli- picture of the administrative system of the empire,

gious literature, while the Mauryan epoch left The army was very strong. Megasthenes quotes such

behind some precisely dated epigraphic monuments, figures as 600,000 foot, 30,000 horse, 9,000 ele-

such as king Ashoka’s edicts, and the evidence of for- phants. A special staff of 30 military officials ( astino-

eigners visiting India, especially the notes left by mes) divided into six committees was in charge of the

Megasthenes, a Seleucid ambassador at the court of different armed forces. Tax collecting was a matter

the first Mauryan ruler Chandragupta in the of prime concern. According to Megasthenes, the

empire’s capital Pataliputra. The Mauryan epoch farmers paid the king taxes amounting to a quarter

can be said to be reflected to some extent in a most of the harvest (Indian sources usually mention a dif-

interesting political treatise, Arthashastra, or The Art ferent figure-one-sixth).

of Achieving the Useful whose compilation is tradi- Megasthenes’s successor at the Mauryan court

tionally ascribed to Chandragupta’s adviser Kauti- was another Seleucid ambassador, Deimachos; in

lya but which was apparently written in the first his time, the empire was ruled already by Chandra-

centuries A. D., although it was based on earlier gupta’s son Bindusara. During that period, the

materials, including the official proceedings of the Mauryas also kept up diplomatic relations with

Mauryan period. Egypt of the Ptolemies: ambassador Dionysius was

The sources are not unanimous on the question of sent to Pataliputra. The data of the local sources on

the origin of the Mauryas. Classical authors write of Bindusara’s reign are extremely sketchy, but it is

Chandragupta’s struggle against the Graeco-Mace- known that one of his sons, Ashoka, ruled

donian garrisons and governors left in India by north-western India, and that his capital was Tax-

Alexander. Plutarch even gives a curious account of ila. After his father’s death, Ashoka acceded to the

a meeting between young Chandragupta and Alex- Mauryan throne.

ander in Punjab. Anyway, Chandragupta’s success- Ashoka’s numerous epigraphs of edicts, found in

ful struggle against the remnants of the Greek troops different parts of India, recount the most important

considerably strengthened his positions and enabled events of his reign, and provide ample materials on

him to move from his original base in north-western his policy and system of government. The inscrip-

India to Pataliputra. In a fierce battle with the last tions permit a fairly precise dating of the beginning

of the Nanda kings, he won a victory and with it, _ of his rule: he was apparently crowned in 268 or 267 possession of the Magadha throne. |( B. C. The locations of his edicts also provide a frame

C. 314 B. C. Chandragupta became a full-fledged - of reference for the boundaries of his empire : it in¬ ruler and founder of the new dynasty of the ' eluded not only western, central, eastern and south- Mauryas. But the political situation remained ex- ? ern India (with the exception of the extreme south) tremely tense. Especially difficult were the relations g but also the territories of modern Pakistan and some with the Seleucids, who had created their state on 5 - regions of Afghanistan. Comparison of the Indian the ruins of Alexander’s empire. Antique authors I and non-Indian versions of king Ashoka’s edicts write of the military conflicts between Chandra- 0 shows that the principal version was written in Pata- gupta and Seleucus Nicator, the then ruler of that g liputra, the empire’s capital, and then was sent to state, and of the conclusion of a peace treaty 1 the various provinces, where the local scribes trans-

153

lated them into the local dialects or languages, adapting the original to these languages. Most of the edicts are written in the Brahmi script, and only the north-western versions, in Kharoshthi-a script that evolved from Brahmi under the influence of Ara¬ maic. The Brahmi and Kharoshthi scripts were de¬ ciphered in 1837 by James Prinsep, a British scholar and an official of the East Indian Company.

The emperor’s inscriptions speak of his bloody war with the state of Kalinga on the east coast (modern Orissa), in which more than 100,000 men died and 150,000 were taken prisoner. The seizure of this strategically and commercially important country, which used to be the Nandas rival, did much to consolidate his positions.

After that victory, Ashoka’s main attention was directed towards the domestic situation. Relying on ethical principles that were popular throughout the country, he worked out a new concept-that of dhar- mavijaya, or “winning through dharma”. The dharrrn rules were of general ethical character and, judging from the king’s edicts, implied obedience to seniors and parents, support for the basic principles of state policy, respect for teachers, deference to Shramans and Brahmans, generosity, refusal to take a living being’s life, etc.

Special officials called dharmamahamatras were appointed to supervise the observance of these norms. They were sent to different regions of the empire, different strata of the population and members of different religious faiths. Dharma was thus placed above religious, ethnic, or social norms; it was in no way sectarian.

Judging from the edicts, Ashoka showed a special interest in Buddhism. He says himself that he visited a Buddhist community ( sangha ) and became an upa- saka, or lay follower of Buddha’s teaching; travelling through the empire, he visited Lumbini (in modern Nepal)-the place where the founder of Buddhism was born, according to the tradition. His religious policy was based on the principle of tolerance. The emperor realised the importance of supporting Buddhism for consolidating the empire, but adopt¬ ing it as a state religion would have aggravated the already tense ideological confrontation of various religions and interfered with his basic aim of creat¬ ing a solid and unified state.

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wards the end of his reign, however, Ashoka violated the principle of religious tolerance, showing special concern for the Buddhist community and interfering in its affairs. At the same time his attitude to the other religions changed for the worse. All of this resulted in acute religious conflicts and actually de¬ stroyed the principles he had declared in his edicts. In the last years of Ashoka’s reign the situation became very tense due to the opposition of Brah¬ mans, discontent at court, and revolts in the prov¬ inces, which took advantage of the emperor’s weak¬ ening power to start fighting for their independence.

Late Buddhist and Jaina sources have preserved some interesting stories concerning the last years of Ashoka’s reign. His generous gifts to the Buddhist community ruined the state treasury and his own estate. His grandson Sampadi (Samprati) achieved great eminence at court. Ashoka is reported to have uttered words full of sadness and disillusionment: “Earlier, when I gave orders, no one dared to oppose me. Now my orders are not carried out ... my edicts are dead letters.” It is hard to say whether these later sources are an accurate reflection of the actual events, but it may be assumed that they express the general mood of the times.

Soon the empire was divided (presumably after Ashoka’s death) into two parts, eastern and western. The emperor’s successors were unable to preserve the empire’s former might and unity. In 180 B. C., power at Pataliputra passed on to a member of the new Shunga dynasty. Thus one of the most famous ancient Indian dynasties disappeared from the poli¬ tical arena, and one of the most powerful empires of the ancient Orient fell.

Explanations of this event vary. Some scholars believe that Ashoka’s policy of inculcating dharma could not be an effective means of unifying the empire, and that Ashoka was a dreamer and not an astute statesman. Others stress the importance of the Brahmanic opposition which managed to seize power. These explanations, however, touch on the external circumstances rather than the basic causes.

Despite its seeming unity, the Mauryan empire was, even at its peak, a union of peoples and tribes at different stages of social, economic and cultural development. Held together by a strong army, the empire was a unified structure in form only. Actually, each of the provinces followed its old tradi¬ tions and customs, secretly aspiring for indepen-

154

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dence. A weakening of central authority inevitably the possessions of Indo-Greek and Indo-Saka rulers,

entailed a disruption of unity. External factors may Indo-Parthians became particularly strong under

also have been instrumental in this process. We king Gondophares, but soon they had to give way to

know from antique sources that in 206 B. C. the the new and more powerful Kushan dynasty. Ori-

Seleucid king Antiochus the Great crossed the ginally, the Kushans occupied the territory of Bac-

Hindu Kush and “renewed a friendly alliance with tria in Central Asia. Chinese chronicles report that

the Indian king Sophagasenus”. Modern scholars Yiieh-chi tribes invaded Bactria from the east in the

believe that the alliance with Antiochus was con- 2nd century B. C., forming five possessions there,

eluded by Somasharman, one of the last Mauryan The strongest of these gave the name to the dynasty,

rulers. Polybius reports that Antiochus travelled At the time of the Yiieh-chi invasion of Bactria, solid

across Arachosia and Drangiana. Previously, Ara- traditions of state and culture already existed there,

chosia was part of Ashoka’s empire, but now the The Bactrians spoke Bactrian, an Iranian language,

Mauryas apparently lost control over that region. and had their own writing system derived from the

Antiochus’s campaign was not the only foreign in- Greek script. The Kushan culture was based on a

vasion in India at that time, it seems. During the synthesis of Bactrian elements and the Kushan

reign of the Shungas, the country was invaded by traditions.

the Graeco-Bactrians called in the Indian texts the Kushan kings gradually extended their territory.

Yavanas (Greeks). Patanjali, the author of a well- Under Kujula Kadphises they established their

known grammatical treatise who lived in the dominion over Arachosia, part of Parthia. The cap-

Shunga epoch, pointed out that the Yavanas even ture of these areas inevitably led to a conflict with

besieged the capital, Pataliputra. Similar reports are Indo-Greek rulers. Judging from Kujula Kadphi-

preserved in one of the Puranas and even in a drama ses’s coins, he was apparently compelled to recognise

by the great Kalidasa. Some classical authors, such the Indo-Greeks’ sovereignty: the obverse side of his

as Strabo, also speak of the Graeco-Bactrians’ cam- coin is stamped with a portrait of the Indo-Greek

paign, but it is hard to say which of the Bac- king, and on the reverse side his own name is written

trian kings, Menander or Demetrius, led it. We can in Kharoshthi script. But this situation did not con- only assume that the Bactrians achieved their grea- tinue long: Kujula Kadphises’s later coins were

test successes under Menander, whose army may minted in his name only, and he himself was named

have advanced deep into India, but it cannot be “king of kings”.

stated positively whether he seized Pataliputra or Kujula’s son Vima Kadphises expanded the

not. Kushan empire to the lower Indus. His coins are also

found in the Ganges basin, which may mean that he captured those Indian regions as well. The Indiani- The Kushan Empire. After the fall of the Mauryan sation of the Kushans was reflected in Vima Kad-

empire, several small Indo-Greek states were formed phises’s coins, on which the figure of the god Shiva is

in the north-west of Hindustan; their political his- stamped. The king is sometimes called Maheshvara,

tory has so far been reconstructed in general outline which is one of Shiva’s names. Under Vima an im-

only. The best known Indo-Greek king was portant monetary reform was implemented - a new

Menander, whose kingdom, judging from the finds ^ gold coin was introduced with the face-value of one

of coins, may be assumed to have included Gand- ~ Roman aureus , and definite face-values of copper

hara, Arachosia, and some areas of the Punjab. " coins were established. This may have been necessi-

The Indo-Greek kings came into conflict with the | tated by a monetary crisis and the existence of differ-

Saka tribes, which penetrated India from Central ~ ent monetary systems in different regions of the

Asia in the 1st century B. C. At first, the Indo-Greeks | empire. The unification of coins was of great signifi-

were more successful in this struggle, but later the | cance for the centralisation of the state.

Sakas gained the upper hand, founding Indo-Saka a Unfortunately, the materials now available do not states in north-western India. Later the political ^ permit a precise dating of the reigns of Kujula and

map of the region became even more checkered, as * Vima. Opinions vary, but the most generally

Indo-Parthian dynasties rose, endeavouring to seize s accepted dates are 25 B. C.-A.D. 35 for the reign of

155

Kadphises I, and A. D. 35-62, for Kadphises II, or slightly later.

The Kushans’ best known ruler was Kanishka. In his reign, the empire flourished, the economy and culture reached a peak, and Mahay ana, or “north¬ ern Buddhism”, became widespread. Our informa¬ tion on the rule of Kanishka is based on a brief series of inscriptions in which time is reckoned in terms of the “Kanishka era”, and on numismatic data. Besides, there is a considerable body of data about him in the late Buddhist narratives, where he is por¬ trayed as a zealous Buddhist. Under Kanishka, the Kushan state expanded considerably to include the areas of Bihar and certain territories of central India as far as the river Narmada.

Chinese chronicles relate the story of the struggle between the Kushans and China over eastern Tur- kistan. The Kushan army advanced deep into these territories, but we do not know precisely how long the power of the Kushan kings lasted there. It is only clear that under Kanishka Kushana became one of the strongest empires of the ancient world, compet¬ ing with China, Rome and Parthia. The links with Rome became especially animated at this time. The report of antique authors concerning an Indian embassy in Rome during the reign of emperor Tra¬ jan (A. D. 99) refers probably to Kushans.

Kanishka’s religious policy must have been one of tolerance, as indicated by his coins bearing the im¬ ages of Indian, Hellenistic and ZorOastrian deities. Buddhism was not a state religion under Kanishka, although Buddha was several times portrayed on his numerous coins.

The problem of dating Kanishka’s reign, the “Kanishka era” mentioned in his and his successors’ inscriptions, is extremely controversial. For a long time the view was prevalent that the “Kanishka era” began in A. D. 78, but now many specialists are inclined to date the beginning of his reign to a later j time-the first quarter of the 2nd century A. D. ^

Kanishka’s better known successors were Huvishka and Vasudeva. In their reigns, the Kushans’ attention became focused on the Gangetic ~ territories. It was more and more difficult to main- ff: tain Kushan rule over the north-western provinces. | The Kushans absorbed the Indian traditions and 3 established close contacts with the local population. A

Under king Vasudeva, signs of a beginning de- ' cline of the empire became apparent. His heir fought

hard both against the strong Sassanid dvnasty in Iran and the local dynasties that became established in different regions of India. The fight against Sas- sanian Iran was most acute under Shapur I (A.D. 241-272), when the western provinces of the Kushan empire became part of the Sassanian state Towards the end of the dynasty, the Kushans ruled over the Gandhara region only, and later nearly all of the Kushans’ Indian possessions became part of the Gupta empire.

The Kushan period was an important epoch in the historical and cultural development of many regions of the ancient world. Different peoples were united within a single empire in which certain com¬ mon traditions arose; close links were established not only within the Kushan state but also with Rome, the countries of South-East Asia, and the Far East. Kushan coins are found in the most diverse regions, even as far as Africa and Northern Europe. The Kushan culture matured on the basis of different tra¬ ditions-elements of the local civilisation were com¬ bined with the achievements of the Graeco-Roman world.

Soviet scholars’ recent excavations in Central Asia have yielded important materials on the develop¬ ment of the local schools of architecture and sculp¬ ture. The Bactrian school occupied a special position in Kushan art, exerting its influence over all the | others. The Kushan epoch was one of wide spread¬ ing of Mahayana and of the moulding of various schools of that branch of Buddhism.

After the fall of the Kushan state, a long period of political fragmentation set in which continued until the beginning of the 4th century A. D., when the new and powerful Gupta empire began to take shape.

The consolidation of the Gupta state commenced during the rule of Chandragupta I, who adopted the magnificent title of Maharajadhiraja, “ruler of great kings”. The beginning of Chandragupta’s reign (the “Gupta era”) is dated to A. D. 320.

Under Samudragupta, the empire reached still greater might. The Allahabad inscription, compiled by the court poet Harishena in honour of the king’s splendid victories, mentions the names of kings and countries conquered by the Gupta ruler. Samudra¬ gupta seized many areas of the Ganges valley and even Deccan. The southern regions, which appar¬ ently formed no part of the empire, were regarded as

156

a tribute-paying vassalage. Some regions of western battle, and Mihirakula had to go back to

and north-western India were also the Guptas’ north-western India, retaining power over Gand-

dependencies. Samudragupta also kept up close hara areas and some of the provinces of Punjab only

links with Sri Lanka. (his capital was the city of Sakala, modern Sialkot).

Under Samudragupta, the empire became one of For some time the Guptas maintained their

the greatest in the ancient East. Its influence grew, dominion over Magadha and other areas, but these

and close links were established with many states. were merely weak descendants of the once powerful

According to epigraphic data, Samudragupta ruled Guptan kings. Chronologically, the post-Guptan

until A. D. 380, when his throne passed on to his son period belongs to the early medieval epoch, not the

Chandragupta II, whose reign ended in A. D. 413 or ancient history of India.

415.

Chandragupta II is one of the most popular

figures of the Indian tradition, where he is known as Southern India. It was believed for a long time that

Vikramaditya, or “The Sun of Might”. Traditions southern India lagged far behind the country’s north

link up his reign with the work of many great in antiquity, that civilisation there took shape much

writers, poets and scholars. Chandragupta II’s reign later, and only under the influence of northern cul-

is often called “the golden age of the Guptas” by tures. That mistaken view was due to the fact that no

modern Indian historians. regular archaeological work was done in southern

After Chandragupta’s death, his son Kumara- India, while the earliest written monuments in Dra-

gupta (A. D. 415-455) inherited the throne. Soon vidian languages date only from the first centuries

after his death his successor Skandagupta had to A. D. After the latest discoveries of Indian archaeo-

fight hard against the tribes of Hephthalites, or logists and historians, it has become clear that south-

White Huns, who invaded India. ern India went through the same stages of historico-

That tribal union, which had earlier inhabited cultural development as the North. Major states

Central Asia, became especially powerful in the 5th existed here already in the first millennium B. C.

century, growing into a mighty threat to Sassanian During the Maurya period, the most important of

Iran and the last rulers of the Kushan dynasty. First, these were Chola, Chera and Keralaputra. Particu-

the Hephthalites defeated the isolated kings who larly famous was the Satavahana empire founded in

ruled the western regions oi the once powerful Deccan in the 2nd and 1st centuries B. C. The Sata-

Kushan empire, and then won impressive victories vahanas also had possessions in western India and

over the rulers of Sassanian Iran. They also invaded competed with north Indian states,

north-western India and seized Gandhara. At that In that period, and especially in the first centuries

time (c. A. D. 457-460) the first encounter between A. D., southern India became a most important

the Guptas and the Hephthalites took place. The centre of Indian trade. It established extensive and

war entailed considerable financial difficulties for solid links with Rome. The Romans founded a trad-

the Guptas. ing colony in the south of India; remnants of a

Under Skandagupta’s successors, the empire was Roman factory have been excavated at Arikamedu troubled by strong separatist movements, the more (not far from modern Pottuchcheri). remote provinces fighting for independence from During that period, Sanskrit and Prakrits were

central authority. The unity of the empire was Jr highly popular in the south. Inscriptions, literary breaking down. S' and scholarly works were written in these languages.

Fresh incursions of the Hephthalites dealt a new > The South was introduced to the epics of northern blow to the Guptas. Under the Hephthalite king 3 India. But the local Dravidian substratum played a Toramana (A. D. 490-515) the White Huns g great role in the general process of cultural develop- advanced deep into India, seizing Sind and certain 5 - ment. Significantly, some coins of Satavahanan areas of Rajasthan and western India. Toramana’s | rulers are stamped with the title and name of a king heir Mihirakula at first won several victories over Q in Sanskrit on one side and in ancient Tamil on the the Guptas, but then the Guptan king Narasimha- other.

gupta, or Baladitya, routed his army in a decisive g Epigraphic materials offer a general picture of the

system of government in the states of Deccan and Although farming was the leading branch of pro¬

southern India in the first centuries A.D. The Sata- duction, cattle-breeding also played a considerable vahanas created a well-developed system of central role in the economy.

government: the empire was divided into provinces, In the second half of the 1st millennium B. C.,

and into districts, run by numerous officials, includ- urban centres of crafts and trade began to arise in

ing military governors, officials in charge of food the Ganges valley. The cities varied in size, of

supplies, chief scribes, and rural officials. course. Pataliputra, the capital of the Mauryan

Certain data are available on the religious policy empire, was the largest and most populous of these

of the southern Indian dynasties. The Satavahanas cities. According to Megasthenes, who lived in the

patronised Buddhism. The work of the well-known capital, its territory was more than 25 square kilo-

Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna may have been metres. If this evidence is to be accepted, Pataliputra

linked with the Satavahanas. Side by side with was one of the largest cities of antiquity (Alexandria

Buddhism and Jainism, Hinduism became wide- was three times smaller).

spread. Religious syncretism was one of the specific The urban handicrafts, especially weaving, metal-

features of the cultural development of Deccan and working, and jewelry-making, were highly

southern India in antiquity and the early Middle advanced. We admire, though we still cannot under-

Ages. stand the secret of it, the skill of 5th-century Indians

who made the iron column, seven metres high and weighing more than seven tons, which has not been The Economic Development. During many centuries, corroded in all the centuries gone by, despite the

agriculture played a most important role in the humid climate. Royal metalworkers and armourers

economy of ancient Indians. The introduction and made up a craftsmen’s guild especially strictly con-

wide spreading of iron facilitated the settlement and trolled by the state, as the king was regarded as the

cultivation of the Ganges valley, as iron agricultural owner of all the mineral resources, and the mining

implements (especially iron ploughshares) qualita- rights were a crown monopoly,

tively changed the nature and results of agricultural Iron wares were produced in great variety. Dur-

work. ing the Kushan and Guptan periods, armourers’ art

In some areas, two and even three annual harvests was influenced by Graeco-Roman and Central

were taken in. Ancient Indians grew rice, wheat and Asian models, but on the whole the metalworkers

barley. Rice was especially widely grown in followed local traditions. Iron and steel products

Magadha. Archaeological evidence and written were of very high quality, and widely exported. The

sources show that, apart from barley, wheat and Periplus of the Eritrean Sea mentions the export of In¬ legumes were widely cultivated. In southern areas, dian iron and steel to African ports. It also speaks of

where the climate was more arid and the soils less the export of copper. Indian jewelry was highly

fertile, millet was extensively sown. Much work on prized far beyond the country’s borders. In Taxila

the construction and maintenance of irrigation sys- (western India) foreign jewelers must have worked

terns was done by the state, as well as by the rural who were familiar with Hellenistic traditions, as

communities and individual landowners. many of the jewelry items found here are similar to

The role of agriculture sharply increased in the j objects from Egypt and Syria. In eastern India, first centuries A.D. Many cereals were already ~ external influences were less significant, exported. The Periplus of the Eritrean Sea (2nd century ~~ Weaving was highly developed, especially the A. D.) records exports of rice and wheat from India. | making of cotton fabrics which were exported along Horticulture became especially highly developed, - with silk to the West, where they were highly prized, and new varieties of fruits (e. g., peaches and pears) g Benares fabrics and thin cotton fabrics from Bengal and vegetables appeared. Ancient Indians grew s were particularly widely known. In the north-west, mangoes, oranges, grapes, and bananas. The a woollen fabrics were also woven, coconut palm became widespread, particularly in Trading along river and sea routes, as well as

coastal areas. Whole plantations of such palms were * overland, was vigorous. The sources relate stories of cultivated in that period. S' Indian merchants going on dangerous sea voyages

158

which lasted up to six months. Their ships went to definite conditions slaves, especially temporary ones,

Sri Lanka, Burma, and South Arabia. Many Indian could buy their freedom.

goods-spices, precious stones, ivory, rare types of Slaves did various types of work. The sources

wood went to Hellenistic countries. mention the use of slaves in agriculture; together

Sea trading became especially active in the with hired workers, slaves cut down trees, clearing

Kushan-Guptan period. Ancient Indians were lots for cultivation. Slave labour was also used in the

expert seafarers and could use the monsoons ap- handicrafts.

parently long before they were discovered by the Ancient Indian slavery had certain distinctive

Greek seaman Hippalos in the mid-lst century A. D. traits. Slave labour was very close to that of free

The author of the Periplus of the Eritrean Sea saw hired workers, the karmakaras. Significantly, many large Indian ships on the Malabar Coast. In the first sources mention slave labour along with that of centuries A. D., Egyptian traders voyaged to India, hired workers. Another characteristic feature of slav- while Indian merchants, according to the same ery was wide use of slave labour in the household, source, permanently lived on the island of Dioscurias which was a basic part of ancient Indians’ life. That (Sokotra). gave a certain patriarchal quality to the relations

The Chinese pilgrim Fa-hien made an interesting between master and slave, voyage from India to China, first travelling from On the whole, however, slavery played a most

Tamralipti, in the east of India, to Sri Lanka, then important role in the structure of ancient Indian across the ocean to Jawa and on to China. society, despite its patriarchal character, similarity

between slave labour and the labour of free pro¬ ducers, and the continued existence of rudimentary The Class and Social Structure. In ancient India, just as economic forms. Slavery was the prime form of in the other countries of the ancient Orient, there exploitation.

were three principal classes: the class of slaves and The principal producers in ancient India were

hired workers whose position was similar to that of the free commoners engaged in farming. The village slaves, the class of free producers, and the ruling community was the most widespread type of societal class consisting of various groups of slave-owners. group, although primitive consanguine communities Slave labour was used already in the Vedic still existed in the more backward regions. Each period, but only in the Magadha-Mauryan times community existed within certain borders; it owned and especially later in the Kushan-Guptan epoch, the villagers’ common land and the public buildings,

did it become particularly widespread. It should of The cultivated land was divided between the free course be borne in mind that different areas of the members of the community. Besides the royal taxes vast country were at various stages of social develop- paid by the owners of individual lots, the community ment. In the more advanced regions, the slave-own- also had to pay a communal land-tax. ing socioeconomic structure was the leading one. A Economic differentiation was already rather pro¬

slave in ancient India was regarded as a thing or a nounced in the community, the gap steadily growing kind of domestic animal; slaves were called two- between the commoners who tilled their plots and legged animals, as distinguished from the four- the richer men who exploited slaves and hired legged livestock. There were rules for inheriting workers. Some commoners became ruined, losing slaves, along with other property. Slaves toiled in the ^ their land and being obliged to become lease- royal palace, in the houses of well-to-do citizens, and 5f holders. The lower strata made up the exploited in rural communities. Owners of small plots of land ' group. The position of rural craftsmen was not uni- also could have slaves, although their number was S form either. Some of them worked in their own not great, of course. A slave could be given away, g workshops, while others were hired for wages, sold, pawned, or lost in a game of dice. t. The community retained some features and tra-

Slaves fell into several types, according to the |' ditions of an integral, undifferentiated entity. Free manner of their acquisition, but the main criterion p commoners organised community festivities, includ- was whether the slavery was for life or temporary, g ing religious ones. The community as a whole could Only the master could set the slave free, but under | make contacts with other communities and the king.

159

The community protected the rights of its free state. The view, expressed by some researchers, that

members and was to some extent independent in its the state had the monopoly of owning land in

internal affairs. The free commoners gathered in ancient India is untenable.

assembly to handle various matters of community One of the characteristic features of the social

management. At first, although the community’s top structure of ancient India was the existence of a sys- people carried much more weight than the rest, the tern of varnas (social groups) and castes. Four varnas head of the community was elected by commoners’ existed already in the Vedic epoch: the priests, or assembly, but later he was appointed by the state Brahmans; the top military, or Kshatriyas; the

authorities, gradually becoming their representa- traders and farmers, or Vaishyas; and the artisans

tive. Only free commoners could vote in the assem- and free but impoverished strata, or Shudras. The

bly; slaves and hired workers had no political rights division into the varnas cannot of course be equated at all. in its social content with the basic division of ancient

Besides communal lands, there were privately society into classes, existing side by side with it. The owned and crown estates in ancient India. The dif- varnas embraced only the free population, while the ferentiation among private landowners was very slaves were not included in any of the varnas and advanced: their possessions ranged from vast tracts were thus outside the system, of land to small plots. The social position of the Brahmans was espe-

The rights of property owners were protected. cially prominent. They had a great influence in Unlawful appropriation of other people’s property ideology and the cult. Brahmans occupied the posts was punished by a large fine, and the person guilty of chief advisors at royal courts and in the courts of of such an act was declared to be a thief. It was for- law. Many of them were very rich and owned large bidden to interfere in the owner’s affairs. Only the estates.

owner of land could decide what to do with it - he The political power was in the hands of the Ksha-

could sell it, give it away, pawn it, or lease it. triyas, whose influence grew at the time of the found-

The king endeavoured to restrict the rights of ing and expansion of strong empires. The kings were private owners. He received taxes from the lands of as a rule Kshatriyas and had command of the army, private owners and kept a close watch over the state Many sources tend to oppose the two higher varnas

of their affairs. If an owner abandoned his lot at the to the two lower ones and even to lump the varnas of time of sowing or harvesting, the king could impose Vaishyas and Shudras together. However, as some a fine on him. Fines could also be imposed for failure Vaishyas grew rich, their status approached that of to pay taxes, but the state could not take avyay the the higher varnas, while the impoverished ones owner’s land. The state also took measures against actually degraded to the state of Shudras. These violations of the rules regulating the sale of land. processes began with the development of trade and The community, like the state, tried to restrict the crafts, private ownership of land, imposing especially tight In the course of historical development the divi-

controls on the sale of land, in which relatives and sion into varnas began to recede into the background, neighbours had pre-emptive rights. The com- Noble origin lost its primacy, and economic position munity’s opinion was taken into account in disputes began to play an increasing role. The division into over the boundaries of settlements and land lots, j jati or castes, which were hereditary, endogamous, State lands and the king’s private domain consti- ~ and associated with certain occupations, became tuted another part of the country’s stock of land. ^ paramount.

The state land category included forests, mines, and ? The number of the jati gradually increased, uncultivated land. Royal estates were managed by a ~ Owing to the division of labour and specialisation, staff of overseers. The king could also have small lots s castes especially multiplied in the cities, among the of land in the communities, which he might dispose | various categories of artisans, but they also devel- of as his own —he could give them away, sell, or rent, i oped in the villages. The jati as an institution were Royal estates were tilled by slaves, hired workers, ^ separate from the varnas, which continued to exist as and various categories of lease-holders. But the king ’ distinct and rigid groups.

was not the owner of all the land cultivated in his s The lowest rung of the social ladder came to be

160

occupied by the “untouchables”, who stood outside the caste system. These outcasts had to do the dir¬ tiest work (as dustmen, graveyard sweepers, etc.).

The higher varnas were forbidden to come in contact with the “untouchables”.

The first centuries A. D., and particularly the late Guptan period, were marked by new features in the social relations. Private ownership of land became especially widespread. Special deeds recording the sale and buying of land appeared. The number of royal grants of land to private individuals grew, but perhaps more importantly, their character changed. Previously, a gift of land merely meant the right of using land without any rights with regard to the peasants, but later the situation changed. Earlier, many grants of land were temporary-for the term of office only, but now they became more and more often hereditary. Some types of land grants became “eternal”, the certificates specifying that the land was given for good, “as long as the sun, the moon and the stars shine”. That strengthened the rights of private owners and made them rather independent from central authority.

As the private owners assumed some of the rights of managing these lands and the farmers working on them, they began to exercise certain judicial func¬ tions. Later the kings handed over almost all of the fiscal, administrative and judicial functions to the private owners. Even the right to the exploitation of mines, which was traditionally regarded as a crown monopoly, was transferred to private individuals.

These practices increasingly changed the status of temporary landowners into that of hereditary feu- dals who gradually established their sway over the peasants. It was a slow process, of course, and for a long time the state retained many of its administra¬ tive functions.

The sources from the first centuries A. D. increas¬ ingly provide evidence of “the gifts of villages”, or the handing over of the right to collect taxes from J 3 these villages. The land was not transferred in this 5 act-it only meant a change in the person who col- 50 lected the taxes from the peasant. These “gifts” were ^ not yet feudal, but there was an undoubted drift g towards the development of feudal relations here.

Significant changes also occurred in the position § of direct producers-slaves, free commoners, and D hired workers. There was a distinct tendency to ? check the permanent enslavement of temporary |

slaves. Fines could now be imposed on slave-owners for violation of their obligations, which were set down in written form.

In the Guptan epoch, the manumission of slaves became a particularly acute issue, often mentioned in the sources of the period. The conditions of manumission, especially of temporary slaves, were eased.

The position of free farmers also changed. Not only lands but also the people who tilled them were now often given away by the king to private indi¬ viduals. This practice was gradually extended to previously free commoners, as a result of which they became dependent peasants. By the middle of the first millennium A. D., the feudal structure and feu¬ dal relations became established in India.

The Culture of Ancient India. Early Indian culture is rightly believed to be one of the most original cul¬ tures of the ancient epoch. Its achievements in the most diverse areas in literature, art, science and philosophy have formed part of the treasure-house of world civilisation and exerted a considerable in¬ fluence on the further development of India itself and of some other countries. Indian influence was especially great in South-East and Central Asia and in the Far East.

Religion was a major factor in the life of an ancient Indian, as it generally was in antiquity. It largely determined the character of contemporary nonmaterial culture. We therefore begin our con¬ sideration of ancient Indian culture with its princi¬ pal religions.

Hinduism. Hinduism was the main religion in those times (more than 80 per cent of the Indian popula¬ tion still belong to this faith). Its roots lie in remote antiquity.

The religious and mythological concepts of the tribes of the Vedic epoch are reflected in the Vedas, offering a wealth of material on mythology, religion and ritual. Vedic hymns have always been regarded as sacred texts in India. They were handed down from generation to generation by word of mouth in their original form. These hymns, pleas addressed to the gods, and charms provide a picture of the Vedic man’s world, his concepts of the universe and his

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beliefs. The totality of these bends is termed An Indian of the Vedic epoch deified the natural

Vedism. Vedism was not a common Indian religion forces, personifying plants, mountains, and rivers, but only that of a group of Indo-Aryan tribes which Later, the doctrine of metempsychosis evolved. After settled the Eastern Punjab and Uttar Pradesh and death, a righteous man went to paradise while sin- was the creator of the Rigveda and other Vedic col- ners awaited a messenger from Yama, the god of the lections or samhitas. Vedism as a religious system also underworld. To win the favour of the gods, Indians reflected the faiths of an earlier time, since the Indo- made sacrifices and prayed for assistance, offspring Aryans of the Rigveda epoch retained many of their and wealth. The offerings varied, of course. Rich concepts of the Indo-Iranian period. It is only men’s sacrifices were splendid ceremonies, while natural that considerable similarities are found in poor men were content with offerings of flowers and the beliefs of ancient Indian and Iranian tribes. “holy water”. The Vedas speak of the sacrificial fire A characteristic trait of the Vedic religion was in honour of the gods, consuming grain, Soma-“the polytheism worshipping many gods and other dei- holy intoxicating drink”, the drink of immortality, ties rather than a single one. They were usually and sacrificial animals. It was deemed especially endowed with human traits (anthropomorphism), righteous to make the sacrifice of a horse (ashvamed- but sometimes also with those of half-gods and half- ha)— a ritual that only the king could perform. The animals (theriomorphism). Indra, the god of complex rituals demanded the services of persons

thunder and a powerful warrior, was the principal initiated in the mysteries of the cult, the magic acts

god. Particularly popular were hymns recounting and songs. Originally, there were no professional Indra’s victory over the daemon Vritra. Ancient In- priests as a separate social group it only evolved

dians believed that that victory gave men access to with the increasing complexity of rituals,

water, making their fields rich in moisture and The Vedas reflect the spiritual world of the In¬ bringing rich harvests. dians of that remote epoch and their interesting cos-

Together with other gods, Indra gained victories mogonic concepts. Already at that time man began over their numerous enemies. Indians believed that, to ponder over the mysteries of the universe, the besides kind and gracious gods, there was a whole causes of the emergence of the world, and of all that

host of evil daemons bringing misfortunes to man. lives on the earth. Those were, of course, naive

The god Varuna was believed to be the guardian of attempts at a mythological explanation of the mys- world order and justice. Agni, the god offire, protec- teries of the universe. The Vedic hymns expressed tor of the hearth, “the guardian of the house and of the idea that even gods were not eternal, that the the people”, was an object of special worship. Surya world was created by a certain abstract deity, that

the sun-god was associated with the coming of the the earth, the sky, the sun, human beings and gods

day; driving his chariot in the morning, he dispelled all appeared from the giant called Purusha. One of

the darkness of night. The Indians of the Vedic the hymns, known as the Hymn of the Creation of the

epoch divided the whole universe into three World, declared a certain featureless substance to be

spheres heaven, earth, and antariksha , i.e., the the basis of being.

space between them, and certain gods were as- One might say that the Vedic conceptions of the

sociated with each of these spheres. Surya and world were extremely contradictory, but it is signifi-

Varuna were the gods of heaven, Agni and Soma, j cant that already at that remote epoch the Indians the god of the “holy intoxicating drink”, were the ~ doubted the omnipotence of the gods, despite the gods of the earth. ~~ enormous influence of religion and magic: the gods

Characteristic of Vedism was a certain syn- * could not explain the mysteries of nature, the origin

cretism of the god’s images. There was no strict hier- ~ of man and the world. Water was regarded as the

archy of the deities, no supreme god, so that in § first element giving birth to everything that lived appealing to some god, the Vedic people endowed g. and determining the cyclic transformation of mat- him with the characteristics of many deities - at each 1 ter.

concrete moment the god spoken to seemed to be the ^ Many features of the Vedic religion became part most important one, the one that brought happiness of Hinduism, although the latter was a more sophis- and warded off diseases and misfortunes. s’ ticated religion reflecting a different stage in India’s

162

spiritual life and certain qualitative changes’in the the most popular avataras, and Krishna became the

social order. theme of many myths. The Krishna cult became so

As distinct from Vedism, Hinduism emphasised popular that its followers even formed a special

the idea of god the creator and established a strict branch of Vishnuism called Krishnaism. The ninth

hierarchy in the pantheon. The cults of the gods avatara, in the image of Buddha, resulted from the

Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva began to play a special absorption of Buddhist concepts in Hinduism. The

role, these three gods forming a triad or Trimurti per- tenth avatara, as Kalki, reflects the notion that at ceived as a manifestation of a single supreme deity. the end of the Kaliyuga, the present age, Vishnu will

a rahma was regarded as the creator and ruler of the appear riding the white horse Kalki and destroy all

world, and he also established the social laws ( dhar- misfortunes, restoring order and justice on the earth.

ma) and the division into varnas\ it was he who In later Hinduism, the Krishna avatara became

punished unbelievers and sinners. Special stress on pre-eminent above the others. Some scholars believe the role of Vishnu the divine protector, or Shiva the that the name Krishna is of a local, pre-Aryan ori-

divine destroyer led to the emergence of two princi- gin, and that the introduction of that hero’s cult in

pal directions in Hinduism-Vishnuism and Shi- the Hinduist pantheon reflects the syncretic char-

vaism. That division was recorded in the texts of the acter of that religion.

puranas, the principal sources of Hinduist myth- The Vishnu avataras indicate the influence on

ology that took shape in the first centuries A. D. Hinduism of old totemistic concepts, which were

Along with the Indo-Aryan beliefs, the two direc- given doctrinal explanations in that religion,

tions of Hinduism absorbed the faiths of India’s non- The cult of Shiva, who personifies destruction in

Aryan population, Dravidian faiths above all. In the triad of the supreme gods, gained great popular-

general, Hinduism as a religious mythological sys- ity at an early stage. But Shiva is associated with dif-

tem absorbed and assimilated the faiths of different ferent qualities in the mythology, where he appears

tribal groups. as the god of fertility, an ascetic, the protector of cat-

Assimilation of various cults and their merging tie, and a shaman dancer. All this shows that the

with the Vishnu image was facilitated by the avatara Shiva cult absorbed various local beliefs. There are a

system-the doctrine that the god Vishnu could go number of proofs of Shiva’s non-Aryan genesis; his

down into the world and appear in different images cult reflects the archaic beliefs of the Dravidian

through transfiguration. The early Hinduist texts population of northern and especially southern

speak of ten avataras of Vishnu. The first is connected India.

with the story of the Flood, when Vishnu, desiring to Unlike the Vedic cult, the Hinduist rites are con-

save men, assumed the guise of a fish. The second nected with the temples and other cult structures,

avatara is the one of Vishnu assuming the image of a and with worshipping sculptured images of gods,

turtle and procuring the drink of immortality (amn- The religious concepts of Hinduism made a great

ta). In the third avatara Vishnu, in the image of a impact on various aspects of the life of old Indian

wild boar, defeated a daemon and saved the earth society, including its social sphere. The system of

from destruction. The fourth avatara is of a man-lion, varnas was believed to be sacred, and believers were

who was able to defeat the daemon through his expected to perform a rigorously defined range of

titanic might. In the fifth avatara Vishnu cunningly duties and social obligations. Hinduism also pre¬

assumed the guise of a dwarf and was thus able to J 3 scribed the everyday rites. It was believed that one fool the king of the daemons, winning back the =s could not become a Hinduist-one could only be earth. The sixth is the Parashurama or the Rama- 50 born one.

with-an-Axe avatara, in which Vishnu defeated the ? Hinduism was especially widespread in the Mid- Kshatriyas who had seized power on the earth. The g die Ages, when it became the population’s main reli- seventh avatara is the one of Rama who defeated the &■ gion-and still remains one.

evil rakshasa or daemon Ravana (the story of Rama’s 1 Among the vast number of religious and philoso- exploits forms the basis of the famous epic poem, the 0 phical Hinduist works, Bhagavadgita (The Song of Ramayana). The eighth avatara is in the image of | the God) has always enjoyed the greatest popularity. Krishna, the hero of the Yadava tribe. This is one of | Although it forms part of the Mahabharata epic

163

poem, it can also be viewed as an independent work. towards it. On that long path, they must follow the

It is in the form of a dialogue between the warrior principal commandments and above all the Four

Arjuna and Krishna, the terrestrial embodiment of Holy Truths. In these truths Buddha outlined the the supreme deity, expounding certain precepts con- causes of human suffering and “the path of release”,

cerning the destiny of man, truth, high morality, the According to the tradition, Buddha said that his reli-

sense of duty, the mundane and the divine. The core gion had the “taste of salvation” just as water in the

of the poem is the description of the paths leading ocean tasted of salt. Life was suffering arising from

the believer towards religious “release”. Love of god desire, from the wish to lead an earthly life and enjoy

(i bhakli ) is seen as the main virtue. its pleasures. It was therefore necessary to renounce

That poem became a symbol of India’s spiritual desires and to follow the Eight Paths-right view, life. It figured in the works of many statesmen, right thought, right speech, right action, right liveli-

writers, and artists, and was often cited by Mahatma hood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right

Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Rabindranath concentration.

Tagor to name but a few. The ethical aspects played a very great role in

Buddhism. The emphasis was to be on the moral side of man’s behaviour. Righteously following the right- Buddhism. Buddhism appeared in India much later eous path, man had to rely on himself, according to than Vedism, but after a few centuries that religion Buddha, and not seek protection, help and salvation crossed the borders of India and became established from the outside.

in many Asian countries. It is now one of the three Buddhism did not recognise the existence of god

world religions. the creator who, according to Hinduism, engen-

The Buddhists link the beginnings of their religion dered everything in the world, including man, of

with the name of the Buddha Shakyam uni who was god on whom man’s destiny depends, born, according to the tradition, in the 6th century Despite the idea of universal equality as men’s

B. C. No written sources of that period are available. birthright and the democratic character of the

The lives of the founder of Buddhism were written Buddhist community of monks, or sangha, Buddhism

by Buddhists several hundred years after his death. was not a radical social movement. The cause of all

These biographies are the only source of our knowl- worldly burdens, earthly misfortunes and social in¬ edge about the facts of the Buddha’s life and the reli- justice was, according to the Buddhist sermons, the

gion he preached. result of man’s personal “blindness”, his inability to

According to the Buddhist tradition, Siddhartha give up the worldly desires. It was only possible to

Shakyamuni (“the hermit of the Shakyas”) was overcome earthly sufferings by extinguishing all re¬ born in the village of Lumbini (modern Nepal) to a sponses to the world and destroying the awareness of

family of Kshatriyas. Living in Sarnath (near one’s ego, not by struggling.

modern Varanasi), he “attained enlightenment” at However, the Buddhist rejection of hard-and-fast

the age of 40, and people began calling him the caste partitions and advocacy of equality as men’s

Buddha (“the enlightened one”). No reliable histor- birthright were especially attractive to the mer-

ical data from the times of Buddha’s life have sur- chants, the Vaishyas who had grown rich but occupi-

vived, and it is thus impossible to say whether he was j ed a very modest niche in the social hierarchy in the

a historical personality or not. There can be little ~ order of things decreed by Brahmanism. Buddhism

doubt, however, about the existence of a real also found support among the Kshatriyas who at

founder of the Buddhist doctrine, though his name * that time concentrated power in their hands but felt

and the facts of life reported by the tradition cannot ~ strong ideological pressure from the Brahmans who

be verified. |) declared themselves to be the supreme and the only

As in any other religion, the starting point of | holy varna, and even earthly gods.

Buddhism was the idea of salvation. In Buddhism, S Free members of all varnas were admitted to the the attainment of that “release” is termed nirvana. A sangha, or the Buddhist order, and that significantly According to the early Buddhists, only monks could ' extended the influence of the new teaching. Buddha hope to attain nirvana, but all believers had to strive S' did not handle complicated metaphysical matters in

164

his sermons, the emphasis in early Buddhism being, cance. Figures of Buddha as the supreme being as pointed out above, on the ethical aspects. appeared in Buddhist art.

At the time of the Mauryas, two principal trends Since nirvana was achieved, according to

took shape in Buddhism-the Sthaviravadinas (the fol- Mahayana, through bodhisattvas , believers tried to

lowers of the “School of the Elders”) and Maha- win their favour by making rich gifts. In the first

sanghikas (the adherents of “the Great Assembly”). centuries A. D. Buddhist monasteries became rich

The latter trend seems to have become the basis of property owners. Kings and other rich followers of

the Mahayana doctrine (“the Great Vehicle”, “the Buddhism gave them land, great sums of money,

wide path”) opposed to Hinayana (“the Little Vehi- and various valuables,

cle”, “the narrow path”)-a term applied by the Mahayanists, in derogation, to the more restricted

and orthodox version of the Buddhist religion. In In- Philosophy was highly advanced in ancient India,

dia, the conflict between the two schools never came The principal philosophical schools took shape in

out in the open. the first centuries A. D. They had a marked influence

The earliest Mahayanist texts must have on the subsequent development of Indian culture and

appeared already in the 1st century B. C., but most on philosophical thought in other countries. Signifi-

of them date from the first centuries A. D. candy, philosophers of ancient India mostly pon-

The Mahayanists believed that the Hinayana dered on the same questions as the thinkers of the

doctrine being too individualistic was not suitable Graeco-Roman world, but the two traditions stu-

enough for the broad spreading of the Buddhist died them independently from each other. Just as

ideas. In Hinayana, everyone had to think of per- the Graeco-Roman world, India was the scene of

sonal “release”, of the attainment of individual conflict between materialism and idealism.. I he best

enlightenment and nirvana, whereas Mahayana known school of old Indian materialists was

proclaimed compassion and the need to help all liv- Lokayata.

ing beings regardless of their personal qualities. That The Lokayatikas opposed the principal proposi-

was why the Mahayanists called their doctrine “the dons of the religious philosophical schools, including

broad path”. the ideas of religious release and the omnipotence of

The concept of bodhisattva was a most important the gods. They regarded sense perceptions as the

one in Mahayana. It was also present in Hinayana, main source of knowledge. All that is in the world,

but in Mahayana the bodhisattva cult acquired spe- including consciousness, consists of elements, accord -

cial significance. It was believed that a bodhisattva mg to the Lokayatikas. The atomistic theory of the

was a being capable of becoming a Buddha, coming Y aisheshika school was a great achievement of old

close to the state of nirvana but refusing to plunge Indian philosophy, which parallels in some respect

into it out of great compassion for the other beings. the views of Democritus. Patanjali, the founder of

Hinayanists insisted that only monks who re- the Yoga school, paid special attention to problems

nounced all things mundane could reach nirvana, the human psychology. Nagarjuna, a major

whereas according to Mahayana the supreme Mahayanist philosopher, formulated the concept of

release was also accessible t6 the laity. “universal relativity” or “emptiness” (shunyavada).

The two trends differed in their view of the figure _ His i deas made a great impact on the destinies of of the founder of the religion and of the Buddha con- f Buddhist philosophy in Tibet and China, while his cept itself. In Hinayana, Buddha was regarded as an ; study of logical categories largely predetermined the actual historical person who pointed to believers the ___ development of the Indian school of logic. It is paths and modes of salvation, whereas in Mahayana ^ rightly believed that Indian philosophy was the he was regarded as a supreme absolute being. § strongest side of Indian civilisation.

Mahayanists taught that every living being is a g] potential Buddha, containing as he did a certain §

particle of the essence of Buddha. s 5 Literature and the Theatre. With its diversity of genres,

In Mahayana, Buddhas and bodhisattvas became g" linguistic and cultural traditions, depth and origi- objects of worship. Rituals assumed special signifi- = nality of content, and exceptional poetic quality,

ancient Indian literature occupies a place of honour were highly popular in Nepal, Cambodia, Indone- in the history of world literature. Ancient India gave sia, Tibet, and the Far East already in the early the world such a great writer as Kalidasa, whose Middle Ages. In their ardstic quality, sheer size and creative work was a most important stage in the impact on the cultures of other peoples, the Maha- country’s cultural development. When first transla- bharata and the Ramayana are comparable with the tions of his works appeared in the late 18th and early Iliad and the Odyssey (the Mahabharata contains 19th centuries, Kalidasa was studied by the greatest 100,000 distichs, and the Ramayana , 24,000). When writers and poets of Western Europe-Goethe, the epics were translated into the European lan- Herder, Schiller, Heine, and others. Goethe called guages, they became highly popular in Europe, too - Kalidasa’s drama Shakuntala an infinitely profound they were admired by Heine, Beethoven, Rodin, work which made an epoch in his life. Kalidasa’s and in Russia, by Belinsky, Tolstoy, Roerich, and work became known in Russia as early as 1792, others.

when a Russian translation of his dramas appeared The final versions of the Mahabharata and the

and the Russian historian and writer Nikolai Ka- Ramayana date from the first centuries A. D., but the ramzin wrote of Kalidasa’s significance for the whole heroic epics evolved over an immense period of time, mankind, comparing the ancient Indian dramatist absorbing diverse materials from the oral poetic tra- with Homer. dition, assuming an increasingly didactive char-

The history of ancient Indian literature is usually acter, being permeated by religious and philosophi- divided into several stages-Vedic, epic, and the per- cal ideas, and incorporating works of a properly iod of classical Sanskrit literature, or the Kavya religious nature, like the Bhagavadgita. literature, although side by side with works in San- The basis of the Mahabharata story is a narrative

skrit there existed a rich literary tradition in the concerning the rivalry of two royal clans-the Kaur- Prakrits (the Middle Indian languages) and in the avas and the Pandavas, and the 18-day battle on the Dravidian languages, of which Tamil is the most im- Kuru field. The tradition ascribes the authorship of portant. A characteristic feature of the first two the poem to the wise man Vyasa, but its true creator stages is the prevalence of the oral tradition in trans- was the Indian people. Vyasa may have been one of mitting the text-a feature that is also observed in the first narrators, but later, during many centuries,

the later phases of the development of ancient In- the epics were sung by numerous bards who gave dia’s literature. Vedic literature, of which the most them interpretations of their own and added new ancient monument, the Rigveda, is tentatively dated narratives and motifs to it.

to the 10th or 9th centuries B. C., comprises various The Ramayana tells the story of an expedition to

collections of texts of a religious nature. Vedic the island of Lanka by king Rama to rescue his hymns are not only cubic monuments but also beloved Sita stolen by Ravana, the king of the dae- poetry expressing man’s experience and his inner mons. Rama and Sita are favourite heroes of mil- world; the sacral character of the texts did not pre- lions of Indians. Their devotion to each other elude the emergence of rudiments of a literary tradi- became a symbol of high moral ideals, tion proper. Even the Rigveda contains hymns in dia- Many epic themes formed the basis of literary

logue form, probably reflecting embryonic elements works of the subsequent epochs, and they are still of the art of drama. Satirical motifs also occur in popular in India. The story of Shakuntala was bor- Vedic collections. The so-called wedding hymns are ~ rowed by Kalidasa for one of his dramas. Kalidasa highly poetic. was the author of numerous plays, and epic and lyri-

The Mahabharata and the Ramayana, the two great ( cal poems- Malavikagnimitra, Vikramorvashi (The epic poems of ancient India, are true encyclopedias ~ Courage of Urvashi), Meghaduta (The Messenger of ancient Indian life. They made a profound impact S Cloud), Kumarasambhava (The Birth of Kumara), on the subsequent development of Indian culture. | Raghuvamsha (The Clan of Raghu).

The images and themes of the epics became part of i The period when that great master lived has not the country’s tradition, much studied by outstand- been established precisely, but most scholars refer it ing dramatists, musicians, and artists. These epics ' to the 4th or 5th century A. D.-the Golden Age of have been translated into many Asian languages and 5 the Guptan empire. Kalidasa’s main themes are

166

man’s griefs and joys, the society of his epoch, and versification were worked out in detail, and treatises

the social relations full of contradictions and con- on metrics and poetics were compiled. One oi the

diets. Rising above the horizon of his epoch, Kali- earliest works on poetics, the Kavya-alamkara (Poetic

dasa condemned the sinful acts of kings and nobly- Adornments), was written by Bhamaha (4th-5th

born heroes, and sang the praises of the honesty and centuries A. D.). Gradually, several schools of po-

industry of the simple people. Kalidasa’s highly etics evolved holding different views on the essence

artistic works are full of humanism and faith in the of poetry, artistic devices, genres, and the language

future. As a dramatist, Kalidasa continued a more of poetry.

ancient tradition, but he was also an innovator. Of the early literary monuments in Iamil, men-

In the Guptan epoch, the Indian theatre flour- tion should be made above all of the Kurd , tradi-

ished. This was reflected in a number of special trea- tionally ascribed to Turuvalluvar. That collection of

tises on drama. One of these, entitled the Natyashas- maxims, which absorbed numerous folklore ele-

tra, sets forth in detail the tasks of the theatre, ments, reflected the long history of the independent

various types of dramatic works, the techniques of development of the literary tradition of India’s Dra-

acting, staging, etc. The level of the old Indian vidian population. The Kural is still highly popular

theatre was so high that many Indologists of the 19th in India.

and early 20th centuries believed that theatre in In- The ancient Indian literature and folklore, part

dia flourished under a direct influence of the Greek and parcel of the country’s cultural achievements,

theatre, but, although India and the Graeco-Roman laid the foundations of the development of India’s

world had close ties, theatre emerged in India quite national literature. Many major writers of Europe

independently from outside influences; more than and America-Whitman, Hesse, Zweig, Tolstoy,

that, the Indian theatre tradition is older than the Rolland, Kipling-fascinated by ancient Indian

Greek one. literature, borrowed plots and motifs from it.

Of the works in Sanskrit, highly popular was the Panchatantra- a collection of stories and parables

largely based on folklore materials. The Panchatantra Art. Chronologically, the first monuments of archi-

was translated into many languages of Asia, includ- tecture and art of ancient India belong to the epoch

ing Pahlavi, Syrian and Arabic. It was known in the of the Harappa civilisation, but its greatest master-

Middle East as Kalila and Dimna. pieces date from the Kushan-Guptan epoch, of

Side by side with Sanskrit works connected with which monuments of both religious and secular the Brahmanist Indian tradition, there also existed character had high artistic merit,

in ancient India a rich Sanskrit literature in the In earlier antiquity, most buildings were of wood,

Buddhist tradition. The most striking figure here is so that no architectural monuments have survived,

the poet and dramatist Ashvaghosha (lst-2nd cen- Judging from Megasthenes’s notes, the enormous

turies A. D.). His poem the Buddhacanta (The Life of palace of the Mauryan king Chandragupta was built

Buddha) marked the beginning of a new genre in In- of wood, and the excavations conducted in the capi-

dia-the artistic epic, with strong influences from tal of his empire Pataliputra (modern Patna) yielded

folklore poetry. Ashvaghosha is often described as only remnants of stone columns. In the first centu-

India’s first playwright. His play the Shariputrapraka- ries A. D., stone was already widely used in construc-

rana (The Prakarana of Shariputra’s Conversion) tion. The religious architecture of that time is rep-

exerted a considerable influence on the subsequent a resented by cave complexes, temples (Hinduist, development of Indian drama. 10 Buddhist, Jaina) and stupas-stone shrines in which,

Bhartrihari, who lived in the post-Guptan epoch, ? according to the tradition, Buddha’s relics were was the first truly lyrical poet of ancient India. He 2 preserved.

continued the humanist traditions of Kalidasa, de- 5 - Of the cave complexes, the most impressive are scribing the life of the ordinary people, everyday sit- | the ones at Karli (near Bombay) and Ellora (not far uations and social conflicts. O from Aurangabad). The cave temple at Karli is im-

The theory of literary creativity, including poetry, | mense-nearly 14 metres high, 14 metres wide and was highly developed in ancient India. The rules of | 38 metres long, with monolith columns in the central

167

hall, a great number of sculptures, and a stupa shrine.

During the Guptan epoch, the construction of the cave complex at Ellora was begun, and it went on for several centuries. In the 8th century, Kaila- sanatha, the largest cave temple of India, was carved in a rock.

The Hinduist temple at Sanchi, one of the best specimens of ancient India’s architecture, dates from the 5th century. The Buddhist stupa at Sanchi, sur¬ rounded by a railing and gates, is also very famous. The carved ornaments of the gates, presen ting scenes from Buddha’s life, are of fine craftsmanship.

Several schools of sculpture existed in ancient India, of which the Gandhara (north-west India), Mathura (in the Ganges valley), and the Amaravati (at Andhra) schools were the most prominent. Most of the surviving sculptures are cultic in nature, but secular tradition was also very strong. Ancient In¬ dian manuals on sculpture contained rules for mak¬ ing statues intended primarily for temples and other cultic structures. Different religious traditions- Buddhist, Jainist, and Hinduist—of icon painting worked out different sets of artistic devices.

A notable feature of the Gandhara school is amal¬ gamation of various traditions-local Buddhist, Graeco-Roman and Central Asian. Many Gand¬ hara sculptures differed so greatly from the Indian models that some scholars assumed that the school was of Roman or Hellenistic origin. Still local In¬ dian art prevailed in that school. In Gandhara, we find very early representations of Buddha. The beginning of that tradition apparently lay in the Mahayana doctrine, where the concept of Buddha as the supreme being evolved. Previously, Buddha was not portrayed in the image of god or historical person but was denoted by various symbols-the Bodhi tree (according to the tradition, Prince Sidd- hartha achieved enlightenment under that tree, that is, he became the Buddha), the wheel symbolising the Buddhist view of the ceaseless round of life, etc. The appearance of bodkisattva statues was also due to the Mahayana doctrine.

The Mathura school, whose florescence coincides with the Kushan epoch, is marked by an emphasis on secular themes, although sculptural compositions on purely religious topics were also produced. Stat¬ ues of Kushan rulers and art patrons formed a whole gallery of secular works. The Mathura school was

affected by the earlier Mauryan art, and some spe¬ cimens even indicate the influence of Harappan tra¬ ditions (terracotta figurines of the mother-goddess, local deities, etc.). Unlike Gandhara and Mathura, the Amaravati school embodies, along with the Buddhist tradition, certain elements of southern tra¬ ditions. These artistic canons lived on in later south Indian sculpture. The Amaravati school influen¬ ced the art of Sri Lanka and of South-East Asia.

In the late Guptan epoch, in which the role of Buddhism declined while Hinduism and its cultural traditions were invigorated, the character of sculp¬ tural monuments changed: the images of Buddha and of the bodhisattvas were strictly canonised, and sculptures of Hindu gods became widespread.

Few monuments of ancient Indian painting have survived, but those that have offer evidence of a high level of that art, great skill of Indian painters, and originality of their style and manner. Old Indian texts often speak of the enormous esthetic signifi¬ cance of painting, and whole treatises on the techni¬ ques of wall-painting appeared. Ancient Indians saw painting as “the best of the arts”, offering the great¬ est variety of themes and subjects. Painting was inti¬ mately connected with the traditions of the people’s life, expressing man’s inner world and the ways of nature and the universe. Paintings were made on wood, fabrics, and stone. In ancient India, painting was perceived as a magic force capable of warding off evil and bringing well-being and happiness. The art of painting was very highly prized. Painters’ can¬ vases were hung in royal palaces and private houses, and special galleries were built for displaying them.

The best-known monument of old Indian paint¬ ing js the wall paintings of the Ajanta caves, the so- called Ajanta frescoes, although they were not fres¬ coes sensu stricto, as the paintings were made on dry plaster. That Buddhist complex consists of 29 caves of which the walls and ceilings are covered with paintings. Their themes are scenes from Buddha’s life, mythological events and subjects, and those from Buddhist tales, the avadanas. We see here scenes from everyday life as well as the life of the royal court royal hunts, reception of ambassadors, etc. The paintings are amazingly well-preserved, despite their hoary age, the humid climate and their loca¬ tion in the open caves. Ancient Indians skilfully rein¬ forced their priming and knew the secrets of durable

168

paints. The priming was in two layers, with bees- tinct from Graeco-Roman science which concen-

wax, treacle and stone used to hold them together; trated on geometry. Ancient Indian algebraic trea-

after the outer priming dried, the wall was glossed tises were widely used by Arab scholars, whose works

and covered with lime milk. An outline of a picture began to be studied in Western Europe in the 11th

was first made and then painted in. Colour was and 12th centuries. Thus al-Khwarizmi’s algebraic

believed to affect the viewer more than any other treatise, largely relying on the works of Indian

element of painting and was therefore handled with mathematicians, was translated in 1145 from Arabic

the greatest care. The choice of colours strictly into Latin.

depended on the subjects: gods and kings were On the threshold of the Middle Ages, Indian

always painted in white; white could not be used for mathematicians made a number of discoveries evil characters. which were rediscovered by European scholars

The Ajanta traditions influenced painting in In- much later, already after the Renaissance. The con-

dia’s other regions and in Sri Lanka (cf. the famous cept of negative magnitude was worked out; rules

frescoes of Sigiriya). Already in antiquity, the for finding square and cubic roots established; solu-

Ajanta frescoes made a great impression on anyone tions for problems in proportional division, percen-

who saw them. tages, linear equations with one or several un¬

knowns, and in computing the ratio of the length of the circumference to the diameter were suggested. Science. Science in ancient India reached a high level Some mathematical terms still used by scholars

of development. The Indians’ achievements in are of Indian origin, as, e. g., “cipher”, “sine”,

mathematics, astronomy, medicine, and linguistics “root”.

were particularly impressive. They made a consider- The art of mathematics was highly valued in

able impact on the culture of other ancient peoples, ancient India. “Just as the sun eclipses the stars, so

especially on medieval Arabic and Iranian science. can a scholar eclipse the fame of others, by suggest-

The discoveries made by Indians in great antiquity ing mathematical problems and even more by solv-

anticipated many of the results of European science ing them,” wrote the mathematician Brahmagupta

of the modern times. (6th-early 7th centuries A. D.).

Aryabhata (5th-early 6th centuries A. D.) was one Old Indian treatises on astronomy bear evidence

of the world’s greatest mathematicians and that that science was also highly advanced- and

astronomers. He gave a very accurate value for n, kept advancing all the time. Independently of the

and he also suggested an original solution for linear science of classical antiquity, Aryabhata formulated

equations that is close to the methods of modern the brilliant hypothesis that the earth rotates round

mathematics. its axis. That truly revolutionary idea deviated so

The development of the decimal system, including sharply from the traditional views and religious con-

the use of zero, was an outstanding achievement of cepts of the structure of the universe that Aryab-

ancient Indian science. The notion of zero resulted hata’s work was strongly condemned by orthodox

not only from the evolution of the mathematical tra- priests and scholars.

dition itself but also from the philosophical concept Astronomical texts point to the Indians’ familiar-

of “emptiness” introduced as was pointed out above ity with the results achieved by Babylonian, Greek by the Buddhist thinker Nagarjuna. The decimal jt and Roman scholars. One of the astronomical trea- lystem was borrowed by Arab scholars (we still S tises ( siddhanta) was called Romaka (Roman). Greek speak of “Arabic figures”) and later learnt by all the 10 astrology was especially highly prized in India, and other civilised peoples. ? some astrological texts were translated from the

The old Indian system of denoting numbers deter- g Greek into Sanskrit, mined the modern system of numbering and under- g The introduction of the decimal notation facili- lies modern arithmetic. The theory of abstract | tated precise astronomic computations, although numbers and the cipher system formed the basis for there were no telescopes or observatories in ancient

a highly advanced algebra. It was in this area that | India. The Syrian astronomer Severus Sebokht ancient Indians achieved remarkable results, as dis- f wrote in the 7th century that the astronomical

169

discoveries of the Indians were “more ingenious” Panini’s grammar called Ashtadhyayi (literally, Eight than those of the Babylonians and Greeks, and in the Books), and his ideas were so strikingly original, that words of al Jahiz, a 9th-century Arab scholar, “the modern scholars find close parallels between them

science of astronomy comes from them [the In- and the ideas of modern linguistics. Among other

dians], and other peoples borrowed it”. things, Panini practised the structural approach in

Ayurveda, or the science of longevity, born here in describing grammatical phenomena; he was the first

great antiquity, is still widely respected in India. to introduce the zero concept in linguistics, and so

Ancient Indian physicians made profound studies on. of the properties of herbs and of the influence of the Unfortunately, only a small number of scholarly

climate on man’s health, and paid considerable treatises and works on various branches of scientific

attention to personal hygiene and diet. Considerable knowledge proper have survived from ancient times,

progress was also achieved in surgery. Ancient In- but even these texts testify to the ancient Indians’ dian medical treatises of the first centuries A. D. considerable contribution to world science, mention 300 different operations and 120 surgical instruments. Indian surgeons could perform Caesar¬ ian sections, set bones, and perform facial plastic sur- Cultural links. Already in early antiquity, India had

gery. Indian medicines were highly popular in the close ties with many countries of the Orient and the

countries of the antique world, in Central and West, exchanging cultural values with them. In the

South-East Asia, and the Far East. Tibetan medi- times of the Harappa civilisation (3rd and 2nd mil-

cine, so popular now in the West, is based on the tra- lennia B. C.), trading and cultural contacts were

ditions of ancient Indian ayurveda. established with Mesopotamia, Iran, and Central

Despite the independent origin of the two tradi- Asia. In the Mauryan epoch, the links with Greece,

tions, there is a similarity between ancient Indian Egypt, South-East Asia, and the Far East were

medicine and the physiological theories of the consolidated. The ties were especially close with

Graeco-Roman culture (Hippocrates, Galen, and neighbouring Iran. Achaemenid influence can be

others). Ancient Indian physicians believed that traced in Indian architecture and literature, while

three main “vital juices” (or prime elements)-wind, ancient Iran borrowed a great deal from Indian

gall and phlegm-formed the basis of the human science. Chess came to Iran from India and then

organism; they were identified with the principles of became popular in other Oriental and Western

motion, fire and softness (similar concepts of “vital countries.

juices” existed in Greek medicine as well). Just as Spreading from India to Central Asia, Buddhism

the science of classical antiquity, Indian medicine played a considerable role in its history, as Indian

laid particular stress on anthropogeography, or the literature and scholarly treatises came with it to

influence of the natural conditions on the human these countries. The same was true of South-East

organism. The theories of heredity and medical Asia and the Far East. Ancient Indian epics were

ethics also showed certain similarities in India and highly popular in Asia.

the countries of the Graeco-Roman world. Indian traders arrived in Egyptian ports bringing

Despite the considerable achievements of medical metal, glass and ivory wares, while Roman mer- science in ancient India and the rationalism of many j chants kept up lively trade with southern India and prescriptions and recommendations of Indian physi- ~ even founded their trading station there, cians, their treatises on medicine were largely im- ^ Antique authors report that Indian embassies bued with mythological concepts, while medical H. reached Rome under Augustus, Trajan, Hadrian, knowledge proper often blended with magic. ^ and Aurelius. In the first centuries A. D., antique

The science of language was highly developed in I and early Christian philosophers and writers were ancient India due to the great role of the oral tradi- | familiar with the teachings of Indian philosophers, tion in the Indian culture and the ancient notion of a Indians were very much interested in Graeco- the divine origin of speech. Speech was believed to : Roman astronomy and astrology, as is clear from the underlie all the arts and sciences. The analysis of translation of an astrological treatise known as

language material was so profound and detailed in “ Yavana jataka, or Greek Work, from the Greek into

170

Sanskrit. The medicines of Indian physicians were highly prized in the Graeco-Roman world.

Ancient Indian culture exerted a great influence on the culture of Sri Lanka and South-East Asia. The writing systems of these regions evolved on the basis of the Brahmi system, and a great many Indian words were borrowed into the local languages. Buddhism and Buddhist literature were highly in¬ fluential in Sri Lanka, while Hinduism and Sanskrit literature spread in South-East Asia.

Ancient Indian colonies were founded in Central and South-East Asia. In the first centuries A. D.,

Buddhist monks began to arrive in China, bringing religious and philosophical texts, medical treatises, and books on astronomy. Chinese craftsmen bor¬ rowed a great deal from Indian architects, artists and sculptors. Indian music and poetry were very popular in China.

Ancient traditions are highly viable in India, and it is therefore not surprising that many achievements of the ancient Indian civilisation long outlived the epoch of antiquity, becoming an inalienable com¬ ponent of the country’s modern culture and of world civilisation.

Chapter 10

Ancient China: History and Culture

The First States on Chinese Territory. The Shang and Chou Periods. In China, the conditions for the emergence of civilisation proved to be less favourable than in such northern subtropical countries as Sumer or Egypt. The state appeared here at a later stage in the development of productive forces, namely, dur¬ ing the advanced Bronze Age.

In the 5th-3rd millennia B. C., several Neolithic complexes appeared on the territory of China, of which the Yangshao culture in the basin of the river Wei and the middle course of the Hwang Ho is bet¬ ter studied than the others. With its handmade painted pottery, half-settled slash-and-burn agricul¬ ture without irrigation (the main plant cultivated being setoria italica maxima) and domestication of a number of animals (pigs and dogs in the first place), the Yangshao culture typologically belongs to the advanced Neolithic. This culture marked the start of the development of the ethnic ancestors of the ancient Chinese. Scholars studying that period emphasise the southern ethnoracial links of the Yangshao culture.

The Stone Age in the Hwang Ho basin ends with the Late Neolithic and Eneolithic Lungshan com¬ plex, with its grey and fine black burnished pottery, usually made on the wheel, of which the best spe¬ cimens are as thin as eggshell. The Lungshan culture differed from Yangshao in a more settled stick-and- hoe farming, the first signs of separation of the crafts from farming, and rudiments of metalworking. A typical Lungshan settlement was surrounded by rammed earth walls, sometimes 6 metres high and 14 metres thick-a definite mark of wars as a con¬ stant factor in social life. Oracle bones were used by

Lungshan men for divination purposes, which points to the existence of an organised cult.

In the 2nd millennium B. C., settlements of the early urban type, the carriers of bronze industry, arose on the banks of rivers over a vast territory- from Kansu to Shantung and from Hopei to Hunan and Jiangxi. In the late 2nd millennium B. C. the Shang city society became separated from the Yin tribal union on the middle Hwang Ho and placed itself at the head of a rather large, ethnically hetero¬ geneous and unstable union. Its chieftain, called wang, had extraordinary military powers and acted as the supreme priest. The “Great city of Shang” is known to us from the ancient proto-Chinese inscrip¬ tions discovered late in the past century near the city of Anyang in northern Honan. There was a cult centre here, where the Shang and other groups per¬ formed their divination rites and the archives of the Yin oracle were kept from which thousands of in¬ scriptions on animal bones and tortoise shells used for divination have survived. The name of the Yin oracle stems from a later historical tradition, as the Yin hieroglyph is absent in the Anyang texts them- 2 = selves. The reason for that may be that those who ~ appealed to the oracle naturally did not ask ques¬ tions about the oracle himself. The fact that the only | inscription of that epoch containing the Yin sign (in ~ the combination Yin wang) was found in the river g) Wei basin, that is outside the Anyang cult centre, | may be seen as confirmation of this hypothesis.

Shang society lived in an advanced Bronze Age ^ marked by a firmly settled mode of life, the existence of cities, and the separation of the crafts from farm- f 1 ing. Shang farmers cultivated sorghum, barley, dif-

172

ferent kinds of millet and wheat, and a variety of hemp with edible seeds. It is not clear whether they mastered the cultivation of rice, and if they did, it must have been the variety which does not demand irrigation, as no signs of artificial irrigation have been discovered. Shang farmers also practised horti¬ culture and grew vegetables, as well as mulberry trees for the silkworm. Weaving was done by women only. The division of labour between the sexes was very precise. Livestock-breeding was very impor¬ tant. Cattle, sheep and pigs were reared. Hunting figured prominently in the economy. Near Anyang, the bones of deer, tiger, bear, leopard, rhinoceros, buffalo, panther, antelope, elephant, wild boar, tapir, ape, fox, wolf, badger, and hare have been found. This list of wild animals alone shows that in those times the climate of northern China was much hotter and more humid, and both the flora and fauna were richer than today.

The technique of bronze casting was very advanced. Bronze was used to make ritual utensils (including large artifacts weighing nearly a ton;, weapons, armour, details of chariots, partly also tools, although the latter were mostly of stone. Weapons, too, were to a considerable extent Neo¬ lithic (stone axes, spearheads and spear points). Artisans’ blocks in the cities were crowded with numerous workshops of coppersmiths, stone masons, founders, potters, wood-workers, etc.

Trade was rudimentary, things were mostly bar¬ tered although there was also “money”-cowrie- shells and their bronze imitations. International exchange also existed, as testified by the use of the cowrie-shells, for one thing. They came from the sea- coast. Tin and copper came from the Yangtze basin, and jasper from Hsin-chiang. These were exchanged for the products of the Shang-Yin world, mostly of bronze, which in the north travelled along trade routes as far as Siberia.

The Shang people waged constant wars for the purpose of capturing booty-cattle, grain and espe¬ cially prisoners of war, who were usually immediate¬ ly sacrificed to the ancestors, sometimes fifteen hundred and more at a time. The Shang cults of mountains and rivers, and the holy marriage ritual, which formed part of the fertility cult, also demanded mass human sacrifices.

The Shang economic structure was based on extended-family communities united in larger

groups, usually, but not necessarily, on the clan principle-the unions might be territorial as well. The whole of the adult population took part in ritual feasts, in which as many as three or four hundred bulls might be slaughtered. The wang, as the supreme priest, was the principal giver of meat for the people. During the sacrifices, the most important items of Shang society’s wealth were squandered headlessly, including domestic animals, bronze weapons and utensils, chariots with horses, cowrie- shells, gold and nephritis, agricultural produce, game killed during hunting, and prisoners of war. Such waste was a means of checking economic differ¬ entiation and the enrichment of some clans and noble families.

The wang was in charge of the estate belonging to the temple and the ruler. Work on that estate was not regarded as a kind of labour conscription but as socially useful joint labour, a part of the ritual magic rite intended to bring fertility to the country’s fields. This work was done at the bidding of an oracle and at the time appointed by him. Enslaved captives, as well as the commoners, worked on the wang 's estate.

The wang led the commoners in war and during hunts. The Shangs were armed with bows and arrows, halberds, spears, battleaxes, and wore hel¬ mets, shields, and armour. Chariots were used dur¬ ing battles, with the driver standing in front, the archer to the left, and the spearman to the right. But the basis of the Shang army was the mass of com¬ moners. Survivals of tribal democracy must have been very strong in Shang society, as indicated by the great role of the elders’ council in the govern¬ ment, and possibly of the popular assembly in the urban community. The large public buildings discovered by archaeologists on the territory of the ^ “City Shang” may be seen as proof of that, -g Captured men were as a rule killed. Before mass 5 sacrifices, special expeditions were organised to cap¬ ture men. The Shang hieroglyph fa (the picture of a | halberd cutting off a head) signified both “military ~ expedition” and “human sacrifice”. The sacrificial f ritual prescribed the cutting off of the victim’s head, and the skulls were usually buried in a heap in sepa- ? rate pits. An inscription has been preserved on a 5 skull pierced by a spear: “To sacrifice (Ja) the chief- g. tain of the Jen tribe to the ancestor of Yi.” Captured g women were apparently enslaved and used as | workers, especially in hoe farming, pottery-making,

173

weaving, wine-making and beer-brewing (the last epoch, wars had mostly been in the nature of armed

two were important items of the sacrificial rituals;, raids, whereas the Chous’ campaigns aimed from the

where they were the principal type of labour outset at capturing territories and pumping man-

employed. But they were also widely used in battue power out of them. The first Western Chou monarch

hunts and during wars, the latter being rather simi- Wuwang (“The Warrior King”; Chou rulers bor-

lar to the former in the way they were conducted. rowed the title of wang from the Shangs) appealed to

The differences in the grave goods and types of the warriors before the battle at Mu-yeh: “Brave

burial point to social inequality in Shang society. warriors! Do not kill those that surrender, let them

Enormous subterranean mausoleums were built for work on our western fields!” ( Shucking , a collection

wangs, and thousands of human beings were sacri- of historical legends). The stanzas of an early Chou

ficed at their burials. Most graves were modest bur- ode are permeated with the empire-building spirit:

ials containing tools and, invariably, weapons. But “The Heaven stretches far // But there is not an inch

there were also burials without any grave goods of land under the Heaven that is not the king’s,

nearly at ground level. In some medium-sized //On the whole coast washed by the seas//Only the

tombs, several persons were killed and buried next to king’s servants live on this land!” ( Shihching , or a

the master-an indication of the emerging private Book of Odes- an early Chinese poetic collection),

ownership of slaves. Mass burials and sacrifices of Narrative sources recount that the Chous sent the

captives indicate, however, that slave labour did not “obstreperous Yins” to work on the construction of

play a great role in the economy. their second capital Ch’eng-chou; later they must

Different views have been expressed about the have been used as slave labourers on the crown nature of Shang-Yin society. It is variously assumed estate. Thirteen other Shang clans were enslaved and

to have been the primitive communal society at the resettled on the possessions of Wuwang’s close

stage of matriarchate; a transitional one to a class relatives.

society of the military democracy type; an advanced In its structure, the Western Chou state resembled

slave-owning society; or an early slave-owning the Hittite empire, where the princes, governors,

society. According to the latest data, isolated foun- and other royal vassals owed their supreme ruler

tainheads of early class civilisation belonging to dif- tribute and military assistance but ruled their terri-

ferent ethnoses were evolving during the Shang-Yin tories independently. The territories seized by the

epoch on Chinese territory, of which the Shang cul- Chous were either given to the Chou notables for

ture proved to be the most advanced one, becoming them to govern and possess (kuo) or else left under

the centre of gravitation of a large area inhabited by their previous rulers or chieftains supervised by the

a number of neighbouring communities. Chou wang’s “observers”. According to the tradi-

In the late 11th century B. C. (in 1122, according tion, the Western house of the Chous had many

to the tradition), the Shangs were conquered by the hundreds of such vassals (chuhou) -one version puts

apparently related Chous who lived west of them that number at 1,800, of which 71 were members of

(along the Wei river) and were at that time in the the Chou royal clan. There are grounds to believe

process of class formation. For a long time before the that these possessions were within the wang’s jurisdic-

conquest, the Chous had been in contact with the tion and that wang’s commissioners in the capital

Shangs, sometimes friendly and at other times hos- j and in the provinces saw to it that a part of the chu- tile, paying them a tribute in men. At the head of an ~ hou income (especially grain) went to the royal treas- anti-Shang alliance the Chous defeated the army of ~~ ury. The Chou wang’s gifts of land did not imply his the Yin coalition in the famous battle at Mu-yeh and | supreme ownership of it but rather stemmed from established their sway over an extensive territory ~ his state sovereignty over the country’s territory. At along the upper and middle course of the Hwang Ho |_; the same time, the wang had his own royal lands and on the Great Plain. The conquerors’ capital | which he gave out to private individuals, above all became the city of Hao on the Wei. a state officials; these lands were the appurtenances of

The period between 1122 and 771 is called the ' their offices. The lands that went with an office grad- Western Chou in the Chinese tradition, as the Chou ^ ually became hereditary, but their transmission in capital was later moved east. During the Shang-Yin £ any case demanded the wang’s formal confirmation,

174

and these acts were renewed at the accession of a new ruler to the throne. The legal instruments were in the shape of bronze vessels with texts inscribed on them; these texts did not stipulate the transmission of eternal rights to the lands but signified recognition of limited rights to the taxes collected from them.

The “king’s subordinates” were given away with or without land. Bronze inscriptions bronze pro¬ vide evidence of gifts of men made by the wang and his spouse-up to a thousand at a time, both whole families and single individuals. These serfs, given away in such numbers, were undoubtedly employed as workers. The inscriptions list various categories of the “king’s people”, some of whom could even hold high offices but were not their own masters, all equally in the wang's, power in the eyes of their contemporaries. State slaves included convicts. The deed of settlement on one of the vessels lists “two hundred barefooted families in ginger tatters” (a symbol of shameful punishment). But the main source of slaves was wars. Thousands of prisoners were taken, and were entered in records to a man. An inscription on the Yiikung vessel records 13,081 prisoners. The early Chou odes of the Shihching express terror at imminent slavery: “...pain and groans in my grieving heart: 11 Oh, our poor people! Without guilt//It will be made into slaves!” The state distributed the captives, hunted runaway slaves down and returned them to their owners. The wang had a force of his own, which was kept at the expense of the crown estate managed by “land supervisers” (Xitu) and tilled mostly by slaves, although free com¬ moners were also employed there. The public legal functions of the ruler were not delimited from his private legal functions as owner.

At that period, the climate of north China became colder. Arable land was expanded by draining marshlands and forest clearance. The role of live¬ stock-breeding fell. Urban settlements spread over a broad belt in eastern China from the northern steppes to the Yangtze. They were built along rivers and surrounded by rammed earth walls (the tradi¬ tional technique of ancient Chinese fortification con¬ struction since the times of the early Neolithic), pro¬ tecting them from the raids of the surrounding tribes and from floods. Their walls were not more than 700 to 800 metres in circuit, usually square or rectangu¬ lar, the corners aligned on the cardinal points, with gates in the middle of each of the sides.

Judging from the Book of Odes, the territorial extended-family community was intact at the time; according to later data, these communities had col¬ lective organs of self-government. Their lands were divided into those that were tilled for the state ( hung- fien) and private ones ( ssufien ), the latter apparently cultivated for the benefit of the communities themselves.

Individually owned estates, which were not part of any community, appeared. The serfs that tilled them were not always deprived of all rights, which indicates a comparatively early stage of slave-own¬ ing relations. Slaves became an important item of barter. The usual price of a slave was 20 skeins of silk. Taking into account the monthly allowances of silk (up to 30 skeins) to royal officials, it can be assumed that each of them had private slaves. The deals involving slaves, just as any other property, were recorded on bronze vessels. As the role of slave labour grew, especially in tillage, which remained a labour-consuming branch of the economy in the absence of the plough, mass sacrificial slaughter of slaves, so characteristic of the Shang epoch, ended. The struggle against human sacrifices would be a long one in China, and not always successful, but the first protest against that barbaric custom was ascribed to Chou-kung, the famous conqueror of the Shangs and founder of the Chou state administrative system, whose spirit, as the tradition records, “did not accept human sacrifices”.

From the very beginning, the Chou state had to repulse the raids of surrounding tribes, and for quite a long time it coped with that task. As the separatist tendencies among the Chuhous grew, the authority of the wang declined (his title was “The Only One”, as authentic inscriptions on bronze show). Chou rulers found it increasingly hard to beat off the onslaught ■g of the nomadic tribes, especially in the north-west ^ and south-east. In the 8th century, driven by these = endless incursions from Central Asia, the Chous | began to abandon their homeland along the Wei. In ~ 771 B. C., after the wang’s army was routed by the

S nomads and the wang himself taken prisoner, the Chous moved their capital to Loyi (near Lo-yang). ? In the ancient Chinese tradition, this event marks I the beginning of the Eastern Chou period (770-256 !. B. C.), its first half, when the country’s political frag- j? mentation was greatest, being called the Liehkuo | period-the times of Individual States, or the Mul-

175

tistate epoch. In fact, it is from this period that a reli¬ able chronology of events in China’s history begins.

At the beginning of that period, some two hundred essentially independent political entities, mostly small urban communities, were scattered across the territory of the former Western Chou. Some of them were descendants of the Chous, others of the Yins. Politically and religiously, they accepted the nominal sacral power of the Chou wang, who was believed to possess magic omnipotence and regarded as the Son of Heaven. Compared to the Shang cults of ancestors and deification of various objects and forces of nature, the Chou cult of the Heaven as the supreme deity, and the Son of Heaven as its earthly embodiment, was supratribal and interethnic; it was compatible with all the local community cults but rose above all of them as a kind of unifying principle. Together with the doctrine of the Mandate of Heaven ( t'ienming, or divine investiture), this cult sanctified the right of the Chou dynasty to rule all Under Heaven, or T’ienhsia, as the ancient Chinese called their country and the entire oikoumene.

Apart from the kingdoms of the Chou cultural world, there were other states on the territory of modern China, by no means inferior to the former either in size or the level of cultural and historical development: Ch’u along the middle course of the Yangtze, Wu in the Yangtze delta, and Yiieh south of them, inhabited by peoples related to the ances¬ tors of the Vietnamese, Chuang, Miao, Yao, Thai and other ancient peoples of South-East Asia. In the 7th century B. C., Ch’u was already one of the larg¬ est kingdoms of ancient China. Its rulers adopted the wang title and joined the fight over the hegemony in all Under Heaven at the head of a coalition of south¬ ern kingdoms.

Liehkuo was the peak of the Bronze Age. As the techniques of making bronze alloys improved, pro¬ duction of bronze tools increased. New offensive weapons appeared. The crossbow was invented in Ch’u, which had a complex trigger mechanism, whose design required the use of high quality bronze. Liehkuo was also the peak of the might of chariots as an armed force. At that time, chariot driving was one of the six highest arts of the Chou aristocracy.

Just as in the Western Chou period, Liehkuo rulers widely practised handing out lands to those who served them, ceding in fact the right to the taxes

coming from the communities. Formally, the allot¬ ments remained in the king’s possession and could be taken back, but actually their ownership was already hereditary.

As communal ownership of land ceased to exist, land re-allotment was discontinued in many king¬ doms, and land became the hereditary property of individual families. That changed the entire system of state alienation of surplus product from the main body of producers. The sources show that the system of collective cultivation of part of the community’s land for the benefit of the king was replaced by a grain tax (usually not more than one-tenth of the harvest) from each family’s field, first in the Lu king¬ dom (in 594) and later in Ch’u (in 548) and the other states. This was in fact the beginning of regular taxation of farmers, which also affected the nature of the communal organs of self-government. The mort¬ gaging and alienation of farmsteads and kitchen- gardens became fairly widespread, although on the whole operations in land were not yet extensive. The enslavement of debtors came into practice, at first in the form of “adoption” and “children pawning”. Significantly, nupei , the general term for slaves, appeared at that time and became standard in the centuries to come.

The Warring States (5th-3nd centuries B.C.). The mid-lst millennium B. C. marked the beginning of an epoch in the history of China in which significant changes took place in the basis and superstructure of ancient Chinese society. Traditionally, it is termed Chankuo, or “The Warring States”. Iron smelting brought about an upheaval in industrial production. The process is first mentioned in a chronicle record in 513 B. C. to the effect that an iron tripod with a criminal code inscribed on it was cast in the Tsin state. That monument recorded an important land¬ mark in the development of ancient China’s socio¬ political structure - the assertion of the principle of centralised power and the introduction of written state legislation instead of the oral common law.

The Chankuo period was marked by the spread¬ ing of ploughing and artificial irrigation and the growth of specialised crafts-metallurgy (especially iron casting), weaving (notably of silk fabrics), pot¬ tery-making (particularly the making of pottery for technical uses), shipbuilding, carpentry, the making

176

of lacquered objects, jewelry, etc. Rice-fields were significantly extended, and leguminous plants were cultivated. Fertilisers were introduced. Commodity- money relations developed rapidly. Metal money came into circulation. A new social stratum of traders ( shangjen ) evolved. Hereditary aristocracy, which used to dominate the government of the king¬ doms, began to give way to untitled men of proper¬ ty-“sons of rich families”, or “upstarts from the lower ranks”, as they were called in the sources. Records have preserved the names of well-to-do commoners, merchants and even slaves who became major public figures.

Despite the numerous destructive wars, the popu¬ lation grew very significantly. Especially densely populated was the ancient cultural region of the Great Plain in the north-west of Honan and the south of Hopei, as well as the basins of the rivers Fen (in Shansi), Wei (in Shensi) and Min (in Szech¬ wan). Cities with a population of half a million arose, such as Lintzu, the capital of Ch’i. The retreat of the wild fauna was an indication of a rapid growth of the population. Mass cultivation of virgin soil was made possible by iron tools and large-scale hydraulic engineering projects involving whole river valleys. The latter could not be carried out either by sepa¬ rate groups of communities or small city-states; even major kingdoms could not tackle these tasks without implementing major political and administrative reforms and centralising the state apparatus. The economic need for the creation of large states, promp¬ ted by the needs of reproduction on an enlarged scale, could not be fulfilled by peaceful means and led to increased internecine strife and fierce fighting for supremacy. By the beginning of the 4th century B. C., seven strongest kingdoms of ancient China became most prominent-Ch’u, Ch’i, Han, Wei, Chao, Yen, Ch’in. Their lands stretched along the lower and middle courses of Hwang Ho and Yangtze, while the whole of north-western, north¬ eastern, south-western and almost the entire south¬ ern China was inhabited by tribes and peoples con¬ temptuously called the “barbarians of the four quarters of the world” by the Central States, or Middle Kingdoms, as the ancient kingdoms of the Chou world belonging to the Huahsia cultural com¬ munity began to call themselves. Particularly prom¬ inent became the outlying kingdoms of the “Seven Powers”, including Ch’u of the south and Ch’in

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of the north-west, which were not included by the Chou tradition among the Huahsia “Central Sta¬ tes” claiming absolute cultural supremacy. These two states played an increasing role in the major events of the epoch, finally becoming the principal claimants to dominion over the whole of ancient China.

In the 5th-3rd centuries B. C., the military organi¬ sation of the kingdoms underwent significant changes. The ancient aristocratic armed force of charioteers was replaced (in the outlying kingdoms earlier than in the others) by infantry units armed with crossbows-powerful weapons unequalled in the whole of the ancient world. By the 3rd century B. C., infantry (crossbowmen, archers, spearmen) became the nucleus of ancient Chinese armies, while cavalry, first created in the northern kingdom of Chao after the model of the nomads’ mounted forces, now included the crack units. The character of the wars changed. Previously, the issue of a battle would be decided in two or three days, while now battles became long drawn-out. Sieges of fortresses lasted for years. Mighty walls were erected as defences against external enemies. The army pro¬ vided manpower-the prisoners of war-for the state works and the gigantic irrigation, land melioration and construction projects begun at the time.

In agriculture, the free farmer, the commoner, remained the principal figure. Each communal household regularly paid the state land-taxes. The farmers were frequently recruited for public works and military service, in which not less than one- tenth of the free male population was permanently engaged due to the endless wars. Commodity-money relations were now extended to operations in land. Gradually, the community became a self-governing group of landowners whose right to land was deter¬ mined by their membership in the community. Dif¬ ferentiation in wealth among commoners increased sharply. The class of near landless commoners appeared; as the sources aptly put it, “they had no place where they could stick an awl”.

Many private large-scale estates and craftsmen’s workshops whose products were mainly intended for the market were set up at this period. Private slave¬ owning received a powerful stimulus for develop¬ ment. We have records of rich men from different kingdoms who used many hundreds of slaves in their workshops and on their estates. The expression the

177

12-344

“pitiful toil of a slave” was now used in the sources citly obeyed the father and respected him above all

to signify an utterly hard lot. Private slaves were other men, the father obeyed his superior, and so on

acquired by purchase, brigandage, or war. Just as in even to the ruler and supreme head of state, the

Greece, foreigners were regarded as natural slaves. Chou Son of Heaven. Only the Son of Heaven had

Along with community differentiation, enslavement the prerogative of interpreting the sacred Will of

of impoverished free commoners became an increas- Heaven. Defending the patriarchal basis of early

ingly important source of privately owned slaves. class society, Confucianism condemned personal

Although the rate of the disintegration of com- enrichment undermining the hierarchical principle

munal relations and the development of private of nobility. It demanded strict observance of tradi-

ownership and slave-owning in different kingdoms tions, rites and magic rituals. Later, Confucianists

varied, it was these processes that became every- created their canonic literature, which included the

where the source of increasingly acute social contra- Spring and Autumn Annals (the chronicle of the Lu

dictions, of which the symptoms were uprisings, kingdom said to have been compiled by Confucius),

coups, and external aggression. the Book of Changes (a record of texts used in divina-

In terms of societal typology, the ancient Chinese don), the Book of Odes (a collection of ancient folk-

states of the Warring States period, just as the subse- songs), and the Book of History (a collection of histori-

quent empires Ch’in and Earlier Han, can be cal legends). The philosophical problems of Confu-

referred to the stage of advanced slave-owning cianism were worked out by Confucius’s pupil

relations. Mengtzu (372-289 B. C.), also a native of Lu. Me¬

mories of communal democracy were echoed in Mengtzu’s idealisation of the ancient system of land- The Ideology and Culture of Ancient China in the 5th-3rd tenure (chingCien) and his recognition of the people’s

Centuries B. C. The great advances in the division of right to an uprising, provided Heaven itself takes

labour, especially in the separation between mental away its mandate from the ruler. The aristocratic

and physical labour, brought about the emergence morality of Confucianism was clearly manifested in

at this period of philosophy in the proper sense of the the doctrine of ritual worked out by Hsuntzu (313-

word, and of its carriers, the intellectuals of the 238 B. C.). Unlike Confucius, Hsuntzu accepted the

times-wise men and politicians wandering from need for laws in a state, but he insisted on “law

state to state. That “spiritual elite” came from var- for the people, and ritual for the aristocracy”,

ious backgrounds, even from among slaves, and Hsuntzu argued that social and economic inequality

broke out of the confines of the interests of the separ- was rooted in man’s very nature and demanded

ate kingdoms. Its appearance was an indication of strict observance of differences between the noblemen

profound changes in the superstructure of society. and the common people in everything-from clothes

The principal ideological trends of ancient China to property qualifications. Like Plato and Xe-

Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism, and Mohism- nophon, Hsuntzu regarded hereditary division of

emerged in that period. labour as the basic principle of state structure.

Confucianism evolved in the late 6th and early 5th Unlike Confucianism, which was on the whole me-

centuries. It was founded by Kung-tzu (Confucius, taphysical in spirit, the thinking of the Taoists in that

551-479 B. C., “the teacher Kung”, later deified), a epoch was spontaneously dialectical. The basic cate-

scion of an impoverished aristocratic clan of the Lu ~ gory of that doctrine was Tao (Way). According to kingdom. He disseminated his ideas through conver- " the tradition, the founder of Taoism was Laotzu, a sations with disciples. Confucius’s maxims are said to | wise man from the Ch’u state, Confucius’s elder con- have been recorded as they were remembered by his ~ temporary, said to be the author of the philosophical pupils, and made up the book called Lunyii (The ff treatise Taoteching (presumably recorded in the 4th Analects). According to Confucius, each individual | or 3rd century B. C.). The social ideal of ancient had to occupy a strictly determined place in the 1 Taoism was a return to primitive simplicity and immutable social and world structure. Confucianism ^ equality within the community. Taoists never demanded strict discipline and subordination wit- ' defended slaves, believing slavery to be a natural hin a rigid social hierarchy: the son impli- S attribute of society, but they always sharply con-

178

demned the enslavement of compatriots. Taoists were against riches and luxury, against excessive requisitions and wars, which reduced the people to a state of abject poverty, and against rulers’ violence and noblemen’s abuses. “The Tao of the perfectly wise is action without violence,” was the recurrent theme of the Taotecking. The Taoists recognised the eternal quality of Tao interpreted as nature, the objective reality of the world, and rejected the deifi¬ cation of Heaven and of the Will of Heaven, believ¬ ing heaven to be as much part of nature as earth. In general, however, Laotzu did not negate the exis¬ tence of gods, regarding them as the issue of Tao. The Taoist thinker Liehtzu (5th-4th centuries) expounded certain views concerning the origin and development of the universe and the evolution of life on the earth from the simplest organisms to man. Liehtzu’s theory of matter was similar to the atomis¬ tic notions. Two first elements, cKi (ether) and chi (seeds), were posited as material substance. “The entire multitude of things comes out of tiny seeds and returns to them.” The same proposition was developed by the Taoist Chuangtzu (369-286), who was also greatly intrigued by the problem of life and death. Chuangtzu proposed a materialist solution of that problem: “The human soul disappears with the death of the body.” That brilliant philosopher saw the universe as “an immense crucible”, and inter¬ preted Tao as the essence of being, the substantional basis of the world, the absolute unifying principle giving birth to all things endlessly changing in the eternal cyclic movement of natural phenomena. Life itself was endless movement. The universality of change and the transition of phenomena into their opposites made all qualities relative. “The life of a thing is similar to a fast race, it changes with every moment of motion.” Chuangtzu has been compared to Heraclitus, but the great Greek’s idea about the struggle of opposites was alien to him. Chuangtzu rejected the division of men into “noble” and “insig¬ nificant”, passionately denouncing the parasite Con¬ fucius in the words of Chih the Robber, his favourite hero; “You wily liar from the kingdom of Lu, you do not plough yet you eat, neither do you weave yet you wear clothes; in your foolhardiness you have in¬ vented filial respect, soliciting rulers for riches and titles... There is no greater robber than you ! Why do they call me and not you the Robber in Under Heaven, Confucius?” Chuangtzu’s aphorism, “He

who steals a hook gets the axe, he who steals a throne gets the kingdom” became a proverb. The natural- philosophical views and the broad ethical principles of Taoism attracted the sympathies of both the com¬ mon people and members of the ruling class, who often interpreted the doctrine of “inaction” in a purely individualistic spirit.

The adherents of the philosophy of Mo Ti (Mo- tzu; 5th-4th centuries) took up positions intermediate between those of the Confucianists and the Taoists. The Mohists recognised the divine Will of Heaven interpreting it as the human carrier of the principles of their doctrine. Unlike the Confucianists, the Mohists asserted that the Will of Heaven was cognis¬ able, and that man’s fate was not predetermined but depended on him alone. Rejecting the Confucian view of innate apriori knowledge and Taoist specu¬ lative cognition, the Mohists, just as the Legalists, believed sensations to be the only source of cogni¬ tion, thus accepting the solution of this epistemologi¬ cal problem in the spirit of naive materialism. The Mohist school attached great importance to empiri¬ cal natural-scientific observation. “Knowledge that cannot be applied in practice is false,” taught the Mohists. Following that principle, they laid the foundations of physical knowledge and de¬ veloped logical, mathematical, and engineering theories.

Mo Ti himself came from a family of poor craftsmen and may even have been a slave. The lower urban elements were active members of his school. “A just man does not shun the poor and the beggars,” Mo Ti taught. His sympathies were with the common people-farmers, craftsmen, traders for whom he demanded equality with the aristoc¬ racy, equal opportunities in matters of government, and abolition of the system of inheriting offices and 4" ranks of nobility. Mo Ti stressed the importance of 3 manual labour, believing it to be obligatory for all 1=1 citizens without exception. In contradistinction to f Confucian contempt for physical labour and inven- ~ tion, and the Taoist theory of inaction, Mo Ti 2 - attached great importance to the creative principle c in man’s activity. Mo Ti extended his doctrine of 5 social justice and equality for free men to embrace ■3 the religious and ideological sphere, so important in !_ the eyes of his contemporaries. Confucianists £> defended the aristocracy’s absolute right to the | ancestor cult, refusing that right to the common peo-

pie. “They who earn their living by their toil have lations of it, saying that “there were no recalcitrant

no right to their ancestors’ temples,” declared slaves in a strict family”. The Legalists were against

Hsiintzu. Mo Ti’s assertion that both the aristocrats the privileges of the old aristocracy and demanded

and the common people were carriers of ritual chal- state centralisation and introduction of courts pre-

lenged Confucian aristocratic morality. At the same sided over by royal officials. The Legalists’ political

time Mo Ti sharply objected to the Confucian rites structure, most fully expressed by Han Feitzu, anti-

of magnificent funerals and three-year mourning. cipated the idea of the future imperial state.

With his doctrine of “universal love and mutual In principle, the Legalists were in favour of end-

benefit”, Mo Ti preached a humane attitude to peo- ing wars between the kingdoms through their unifi-

ple regardless of their social position, as opposed to cation in a powerful empire, but they believed a

the Confucian principle of jen (love of fellow men) peaceful achievement of that goal to be unreal,

which assumed a gap between the higher and the Shang Yang declared external aggression to be the

lower, the governing and the governed, the noble state’s principal objective, and established a regime

and the lowly. of military-bureaucratic despotism in the Ch’in state.

Slaves, male and female, were constantly used as The first Legalists were in favour of the develop-

examples in the Mohists’ logical teaching, yet, being ment of commodity-money relations and even

outside civic society, they were naturally not taken assigned a respectable position in society to men

into account in the Mohist projects for political engaged in trade. However, as their political plans

reforms intended only for the free. The Mohist took a more concrete shape, the Legalists began to

school was stronger than any of the others in organi- include private trade, along with the crafts, among

sation, uniformity, and numbers. Its propositions the “five worms gnawing at the foundations of the

were in some respects close to the ideas of urban self- state” (the Confucians were also one of these),

government of slave-owning democracy. Mohists opposing them to the principal occupations of the

obeyed a semblance of Rules, they dressed as the population- farming and the military profession

common people, studied the techniques of city ensuring the success of conquests. With a view to

defence and the basics of fortification, and de- these same objectives, the Legalists attached great

manded active resistance to the enemy in defend- importance to the state’s economic functions, insist¬ ing the native city. The Mohists were believed to be ing on the state authorities’ interference in the

without equal in the art of debate. economy, control over and regulation of trade,

The most important representatives of the Legalist organisation of compulsory exchange, and state

school were Shang Yang (executed in the kingdom monopoly of the exploitation of natural resources, of Ch’in in 338 B. C.) and Han Feitzu (poisoned in In that period, the Confucians on the whole re-

the Ch’in state in 233 B. C.). The Legalist trend fleeted the interests of old hereditary aristocracy,

came into existence almost simultaneously with Taoism expressed the passive protest and aspirations

Confucianism and Taoism (in the 7th and 6th cen- of the commoners’ masses, and Mohism apparently

turies). The Legalists gave a materialist interpre- embodied the ideas of municipal self-government,

tation of Tao as the natural path of the development while the Legalists were the ideologists of the rising

of the universe, leaving no place for the supernatural propertied nobility, which owed its ascendancy to

forces and fate. Han Feitzu sharply opposed the wor- j advanced forms of slave-owning, and of the new shipping of gods and spirits, and the making of sacri- ~ bureaucracy.

flees. In Legalism, world-view problems were entire- Prominent among the philosophers of the War-

ly subordinated to the concrete tasks of government, I ring States was Yang Chu (414-334 B. C.), a major forming the theoretical basis of reforms implemented ~ thinker, materialist and atheist who came from a in some kingdoms. The core of the Legalists’ socio- P family of modest commoners. His teaching was political theories were the obligatory laws (fa), the I fiercely attacked by the Confucianists, Taoists and same for all, aimed at defending private property 1 Legalists alike, but its influence was particularly and at asserting the ruler’s absolute personal power. strong. Yang Chu taught that man consisted of the Insisting that law should be open to the public, the ? same elements as nature, differing from the other liv- Legalists demanded harsh penalties for the least vio- g ing beings only in that he had intellect. Yang Chu’s

materialistic worldview rejected the fear of gods who sang the praises of love and female beauty,

and of death. There was no immortality, death was a Sung Y ii’s works laid the beginning of secular poetry

natural occurrence in the face of which all men were in China,

equal. Yang Chu rejected the supranatural essence of Heaven and divine interference in the affairs of

men, and denounced the ancestor cult. He called on The Empire of Cli in and Earlier Han (Late 3rd Century

men to enjoy this earthly life, to take care of their B. C.-Early 1st Century A. D.). At the beginning of the

well-being without relying on the gods, to satisfy rea- 4th century B. C., the outlying north-western Ch’in

sonably their needs and desires, and to be indifferent state rapidly outstripped the other Warring States,

to the inevitability of death, thus following the Major irrigation projects were carried out on the

natural law of Tao. Yang Chu’s opponents declared river Wei, which brought about a manyfold increase

his individualism to be against the state interest. in agricultural production. At the end of the 4th cen-

Yang Chu’s ideal was a carefree and tranquil life, tury, only the Ch’u state had a greater population

not one of vigorous activity. “What is the difference than Ch’in. Under king Hsiaokung (361-338), the

between a fettered captive and someone incapable of philosopher Shang Yang was made head of the civil

enjoying a carefree moment?” he exclaimed. His and military administration and carried out impor-

philosophy expressed the mood of those sections of tant reforms: he introduced a single legal code

the public which believed involvement in contem- throughout the country, legalised the mortgaging

porary political life useless and therefore avoided it. and buying of land, abolished limitations on the size

During the Warring States epoch, the first poetic of land allotments (thus facilitating the disinte-

works by individual authors appeared. The great gration of communal links), undertook a direct

Ch’u Yuan (340-278 B. C.), generally recognised as attempt to break up large families by imposing dou-

the first Chinese poet, lived and worked in the Ch’u ble, treble, and even greater taxes on estates which

state. His lyrical and tragic poems were renowned remained undivided after the patriarch’s death

for their exquisite elegance of form and content, and (according to the number of brothers living

their wealth of picturesque mythological images. together), and banned blood feuds. Shang Yang’s

Ch’u Yuan passionately appealed for the unification laws protected the interests of rich commoners who

of all the kingdoms against the Ch’in state, the broke with the community, and encroached on corn-

enemy of his native Ch’u. Because of intrigues at the munity land-tenure. In his administration, the

court of the Ch’u ruler he fell into disfavour and was might of the hereditary noble clans was undermined

banished from the capital. In exile, he created his by a uniform administrative division of the state into

famous poem on Encountering Sorrow. Wandering territorial units -from districts to groups of ten or

through the Celestial palaces in a chariot drawn by five households tied by the obligation of mutual

eight dragons, the poet bitterly complained of soli- guarantee. In cases of an offence by a single member

tude, the injustice of his disgrace, and treacherous- of a mutually responsible group of households, they

ness of his friends. “How dirty is the world ! There is all became state slaves. Shang Yang’s unification of

not a man in the whole country! All is over!” Those n weight, length and volume measures, and his mone- were the words with which the poet ended his con- j| tary reform, stimulated the development of com- fession, thinking of suicide. According to the tradi- 1 modity-money relations. Instead of a crop-tax, tion, the old poet drowned himself on learning of the _ Shang Yang introduced taxation of the area of culti- victory of the Ch’in state over Ch’u. Ch’u Yuan’s | vated land, thus shifting the burden of the treasury’s works formed the basis of the new song genre of ju - Z losses from natural disasters on to the farmer’s lyrical and lyrico-epic odes with prosaic introduc- | shoulders. Shang Yang relied on the new nobility, tions. " whose ascendancy was due to ownership of land and

Another major Ch’u poet, Sung Yu (290-223 | slaves rather than noble origin. He introduced

B. C.), also wrote in the elegiac genre and developed ' twenty ranks of nobility awarded for personal, the ode form. Unlike the mournful and pessimistic §- mostly military, deserts, which also determined the poetry of Ch’u Yuan, Sung Yu’s lyrics were full of g property qualifications-the number of fields and the joy of life. He is regarded as the first Chinese poet 3 slaves to which the rank’s owners were entitled.

181

Soon, these ranks were freely bought and sold. In the structure to be built that came to be known as the army, Shang Yang disbanded the charioteer units, Great Wall, linking up and greatly expanding the the basis of the military power of hereditary aristoc- chain of defences previously built by the separate racy, and introduced cavalry instead. Bronze wea- kingdoms along their northern borders. The walls pons were replaced by iron ones. Only the state had between the separate kingdoms within the country the right to make weapons. As a result of Shang were razed. At the same time Ch’in Shihhuangti Yang’s reforms, the Ch’in army became one of the campaigned in south China and north-western Viet- most efficient among the forces of the ancient nam, where his armies temporarily subdued the Chinese states. After Hsiaokung’s death, the old aris- ancient Vietnamese states of Namviet and Aulac at tocracy, removed from positions of authority, the cost of enormous losses, pressed Shang Yang’s execution, but his reforms Ch’in Shihhuangti extended Shang Yang’s refbrm

remained in force. throughout the country, creating a strong central-

Having built up Ch’in’s military power, Ch’in ised empire headed by a despot and a vast bureau- rulers adopted in 325 the title of wang. After the cap- cratic mechanism. The Ch’in conquerors occupied a ture of fertile Szechuan with its mineral resources, privileged position in it, filling all the highest offices the Ch’in state became the strongest in China. Skil- in the state. The laws of the Ch’in state, to which fully taking advantage of the inner conflicts of the harsh clauses on penal law were added, and a uni¬ ancient Chinese states and their constant strife, the fied legal procedure were introduced throughout the Ch’in wangs captured one territory after another country. The hieroglyphic script was unified and and, following a fierce struggle, subjugated all the simplified. The empire was divided into administra- other kingdoms of ancient China, including Chou. tive units provinces and districts —without regard

In 222, Ch’u, Ch’in’s main rival and the largest of for the former political and ethnic boundaries. Local all the kingdoms, was conquered. In 221, Ch’in cults were resolutely suppressed and state ones, the brought to heel Ch’i, the last independent state on same for all, implanted. The civic name Black Heads the Shantung peninsula. After that, the Ch’in’s king was adopted by law as obligatory for all the subjects did not only adopt the former title of the Chou of the empire. Ch’in Shihhuangti’s measures were wangs, Son of Heaven (T’ienhsia) - in violation of all implemented in a harsh, purposeful and undeviating the ancient traditions, he selected an entirely new manner. Terror reigned throughout the country; title for designating supreme power -huangti, or anyone expressing discontent was liable to be exe- emperor. The first emperor of ancient China went cuted together with their entire clan. A great many down in history as Ch’in Shihhuangti, “The First people were enslaved in accordance with the mutual Emperor of Ch’in”. The Ch’in capital Hsien-yang guarantee laws. The numbers of state slaves swelled on the river Wei (modern Hsi-an) became the capi- hugely, absorbing masses of prisoners of war and tal of the empire. Having conquered the Chinese those condemned by the courts. “Ch’in set up mar- states, Ch’in Shihhuangti continued his expansion in kets of slaves in the pens, along with the cattle; it the north and south. Conquests and colonisation ruled over its subjects, holding their lives in its were the main theme of the First Emperor’s foreign hands,” report ancient Chinese authors, seeing this policy. All private weapons in the country were con- as probably the main cause of the rapid fall of the fiscated. Ch’in Shihhuangti’s vast standing army -o Ch’in dynasty. Endless military expeditions to had iron weapons and was reinforced by cavalry. At ~ remote lands, construction of the Great Wall, of irri- that time, a powerful tribal alliance of the Hsiungnu ~~ gation systems, roads throughout the empire, cities, people was growing with amazing rapidity on * numerous palaces and temples, and finally, of a stu- the northern borders of the empire. During their in- ~ pendous tomb for Ch’in Shihhuangti, involved co- cursions into China they took thousands of prisoners s lossal expenditure of manpower and loss of life. State leaving terribly devastated country behind. A Ch’in | slaves were driven to construction sites in hundreds army of 300,000 defeated the Hsiungnu people and § of thousands, and still there was not enough of them, pushed them back beyond the bend of the Hwang A despite the constant influx. The entire working Ho. To secure the northern frontier of the empire, * population of Black Heads had to carry an enormous Ch’in Shihhuangti ordered an immense fortification 5 burden of labour conscriptions. In 216, Ch’in Shih-

182

huangti issued a decree ordering the Black Heads to report immediately on the lands they owned, and in¬ troduced an exceptionally hard land-tax sometimes amounting to two-thirds of the farmers’ income. Masses of people sometimes headed by their councils of elders ran away to escape taxes and tributes; they were hunted down and sent to the outlying prov¬ inces to colonise new lands. In 210, Ch’in Shih- huangti suddenly died at the age of 48. Thousands of slaves were killed and buried together with him in the huge burial palace. Immediately after his death, popular unrest flared up in the empire. One of the rebel leaders, a former headman of a small village,

Pang legalised the sale of free men to private indi¬ viduals as slaves, and took no measures to restrict land deals, which immediately resulted in the growth of private land- and slave-ownership. The prevailing political situation made Liu Pang violate the principle of strict centralisation by handing out gifts of land to his associates and relatives along with the title of wang, which now became the highest aristocratic title. The wangs minted their own coin, concluded external alliances, and became involved in internal rebellions. Fighting their separatism became the principal task in the domestic policy of Liu Pang’s successors. The power of the wangs was

was declared emperor and became the founder of the new Han dynasty. This dynasty is divided into two periods, the Earlier (or Former) Han (202 B.C.-A.D. 8) and Later Han (A. D. 25-220).

Beginning with the mid-1st millennium B. C., var¬ ious ethnic elements inhabiting the Hwang Ho and middle Yangtze regions interacted, the interaction resulting in the ethnogenesis of the Huahsia ethnic entity and, on the basis of the latter, in the ethno¬ cultural complex of the “central states”. But as late as the 3rd century B. C. the moulding of the ancient Chinese cultural and ethnic community had not yet been completed - neither the common ethnic self- consciousness nor a generally accepted self-appela- tion existed at that time. The political unification of ancient China within the centralised Ch’in empire was a powerful catalyst for the consolidation of the ancient Chinese ethnos. Despite the brevity of the existence of the Ch’in empire, its name became the principal ethnic self-appelation of the ancient Chinese in the next four hundred years, i. e., the Han period. As the ethnonym of the ancient Chinese, “Ch’in” was borrowed into the neighbour¬ ing languages and became the basis for most of the modern names of China: cf. German “China”, French “Chine”, and English “China”. But the self¬ appellation of the Chinese people, the one that is still in use-the “Hanjen”, comes from the name of the Han empire, although it was adopted after its fall.

Coming to power on the crest of an anti-Ch’in uprising, Liu Pang began by abolishing the harsh laws of the Ch’in empire but was compelled to leave some of the taxes in force. Certain privileges were given to the organs of communal self-government. The Ch’in administrative division and most statutes in the economic sphere remained in force, too. Liu

ultimately shattered under Emperor Wuti (140-87 B. C.).

The centralisation and consolidation of the empire in the first decades of the Earlier Han dynasty formed the basis for a further growth of the country’s well-being, facilitating the progress in farming, crafts and trade, as the sources unani¬ mously indicate.

Gradually, the country recovered from the conse¬ quences of many years of intestine strife which accompanied the fall of the Ch’in empire. Irrigation systems were repaired, and new ones built; labour productivity increased, especially in the crafts and above all in metallurgy, where slave labour was widely used. Private owners employed up to a thou¬ sand slave labourers in mines and workshops (foun¬ dries, textile factories, etc.). After Wuti introduced state monopoly of salt, iron, and wine production and the minting of coin, major state-owned indus¬ trial enterprises appeared. The number of cities with a population of more than 50 thousand, mostly traders and craftsmen, grew, and they became part of societal life. City-building was most intense in the Q central part of the Great Plain (in Honan). But most

4 towns were small settlements surrounded by

5 rammed-earth walls and fields, where several com- ' munities (It) lived. These were the typical basic | administrative units of the empire, where organs of s. communal self-government-a characteristic feature 9 of ancient Chinese urban culture-functioned.

a

In agriculture, free farmers made up the main 5 bulk of the producers. They paid land-tax (from 2 one-fifteenth to one-thirtieth of the harvest), poll- tax, and hearth-money. Men were also conscripted £> to work a month a year for three years and to serve | in the army for two years, plus three days of annual

183

garrison service. According to law, it was possible to dom, military aristocracy, and, significantly, the avoid labour and military conscription by paying off sanlao, the richer commoners-a proof of deep-going the state in money, grain or slaves. Well-to-do class differentiation in the communities, farmers could easily manage that; continual extraor- Under Wuti, the Han empire became a strong

dinary and additional taxes and requisitions, special centralised bureaucratic state, one of the most popu-1 conscriptions, etc., did not bother these farmers lous on the continent. The expansionist policy of the much but they were a serious handicap for the ancient Chinese empire at that time was aimed at rank-and-file commoners. Small-lot households capturing other countries’ territories, subjugation of especially suffered from having to pay taxes in neighbouring peoples, supremacy on the interna- money, as they could spare but little for the market. tional trading routes, and extension of external Creditors took away as much as a half of their prod- markets.

uce. “Nominally, the land-tax constitutes one-thir- The empire’s external position was for a long time

tieth of the harvest, but actually farmers are determined by a threat from the north, from the deprived of half of it,” reports The History of the powerful “nomadic empire” of the Hsiungnu. After Former Han Dynasty. Many ruined farmers lost their Liu Pang was nearly captured in 198, during a raid lands and were enslaved by creditors. The process of the Hsiungnu, the emperors of the Middle King- assumed the proportions of a social problem. “The dom (as the whole of the country was called by that treasury is getting poorer,” reported officials, “while time, while its people were called “the people of the rich men and traders enslave poor men for their Middle Kingdom”, chungkuojen, as they still are) had debts and store wealth in their barns”, “How can to pay an annual tribute in silk and agricultural the common people stand up for themselves when produce and send their chieftains, the shanyiis, Han rich men increase the number of slaves, expand their princesses for wives. But the nomads’ raids into fields, and hoard wealth?”, “Farmers work all year China did not cease. Wuti initiated a policy of active round without rest, but when the time of collecting confrontation with the Hsiungnu; with this aim in taxes comes, the well-to-do sell grain at half price view he reorganised the army, introducing heavily while the poor men borrow at a double interest armed cavalry in combination with light cavalry rate-so that many sell their fields and houses to pay and infantry armed with crossbows. In 123, after their debts, and they sell their sons and grandsons”. bloody batties, Han armies managed to repulse the Attempts to restrain usurers by pressure from above, Hsiungnu, driving them away from the empire’s and thus to stop the ruin and enslavement of farm- northern borders. Consolidating their positions ers - the bulk of the empire’s taxpayers - were unsuc- there, Wuti’s armies continued for nearly half a cen- cessful. Selling oneself, and enslavement of insolvent tury to drive the Hsiungnu tribes far into the Gobi debtors, became important sources of private slave- desert. At the same time Wuti waged endless aggres- owning, which especially flourished at that time. sive wars against Viet states in the south, finally con- Any well-to-do family could buy slaves. There was a quering them in 111. After that, the naval and permanent slave market in the country. Slaves could land Han forces attacked the ancient Korean state of be bought in nearly every city, as any commodity in Chao-Hsien and made it acknowledge the Han great demand. Just like cattle, they were counted dynasty’s supremacy.

“on the fingers of one’s hand”. Parties of fettered j Having expanded and consolidated the empire, slaves were driven by slave-traders across hundreds ~ Wuti then brought down the whole might of the of kilometres to Ch’ang-an and other major cities of ' Han state machine on the Tien Shan and Pamir the country. Slavery constituted the basis of producti- | peoples. In 138, the Warrior Emperor (as the Wuti on in industry, both private and state-owned. Tho- - temple name is translated) sent Ch’ang Ch’ien, a ugh to a lesser extent, slave labour was everywhere s diplomat and strategist, to the Kushan tribes in Cen- used in agriculture, as indicated in particular by tral Asia hostile to the Hsiungnu, guided by the mass confiscations in all parts of the empire of I tested method of ancient Chinese diplomacy of “sub¬ fields and slaves owned by persons violating the A duing barbarians with barbarian hands”. The 119 B. C. law on property taxation. That law did not * Kushans did not succumb to the intrigues of the Han apply to privileged land- and slave-owners, official- s’ ambassador, but Ch’ang Ch’ien’s reconnaissance

184

j

activities surpassed Wuti’s wildest expectations. However, the arrival of foreign ambassadors was

Ch’ang Ch’ien opened a whole new world of foreign regarded by the Son of Heaven as an expression of culture to Han China. He went to Tahsia (Bactria), submission to the empire, and the goods brought to K’angchu (Khorasmia), and Tawan (Ferghana), Ch’ang-an, as barbarians’tribute. Reformed Confu- where he saw with his own eyes the “heavenly cianism, recognised as a state religion by Wuti, pro¬ steeds”, Wuti’s most coveted prize. Ch’ang Ch’ien claimed the doctrine of absolute superiority of the made inquiries among the local traders concerning Middle Kingdom as the hub of the universe over the Anhsi (Parthia) and Shentu (India), and they in- surrounding world of “outer barbarians”, whose fai- formed him that they knew of the “Ch’in country” lure to obey the Son of Heaven was regarded as a as the land where silk came from, and that foreign crime. The campaigns of the Son of Heaven, the merchants willingly traded in silk. His reports on sacred giver of order to the universe, were regarded each of the foreign lands were specific and to the as punitive, and contacts in foreign policy referred to point: position, the size of territory, natural criminal law. The countries of the Western Regions resources, the population’s occupations, and mili- (as eastern Turkistan was called) were pressured tary strength. From that moment, Wuti set himself into “paying tribute” through gifts from the Han the strategic task of “conquering Tahsia and other court and the military force of Han garrisons sta- countries of the west as external tributaries”, and of tioned in the fortresses along the river Tarim which asserting Han hegemony on the Silk Route, which were quickly built here on Wuti’s orders after the began to function intensely at that time. For nearly a expulsion of the Hsiungnu from Kansu in 121-119 quarter of a century the ruling circles of the Han and its colonisation. The cities of the Western empire used all kinds of military and diplomatic Regions often rejected the “gifts of the Son of pressure to penetrate into western Asia and seize the Heaven”, correctly assessing them as crude attempts flourishing oases of the city-states of eastern Turki- to interfere in their affairs and deprive them of the stan along the northern and southern branches of advantages of transit trade. Han ambassadors were the Silk Route-the only transcontinental interna- particularly active in Ferghana, which held key tional route of that time, stretching across seven positions along an important part of the Silk Route

thousand kilometres from Ch’ang-an through the and bred pure-blood “heavenly steeds”, the stately

lands of the Kushans and Parthians to Roman Syria. horses of the western breed which were of the great- international trade was growing more vigorous est importance for Wuti’s heavily armed cavalry, along that route. Caravans were travelling in an The people of Tawan stubbornly resisted the solici- endless train, so that “one caravan never lost sight of tations of the Han court, “hiding the horses and the other”, as historian Ssuma Ch’ien, an eyewitness refusing to give them to the Han ambassadors” of those events, wrote. Traders were bringing from (Ssuma Ch’ien). In 104, a vast army went on a China iron, believed to be “the best in the world”, “punitive expedition” against the city of Erhshi (the nickel, precious metals, lacquered ware, bronze mir- capital of Ferghana) led by the general Li Kuangli, rors and other arts and crafts products. But ssu, or granted in advance the title of “Erhshi conqueror”, raw silk, made up the bulk of the trade; from the The campaign lasted two years and ended in utter

name of that commodity, which was in great 4 failure. In 102 Wuti undertook yet another gigantic

demand, ancient China came to be known in the * expedition to Ferghana. This time he captured some

Graeco-Roman world as the country of the Sins, “heavenly steeds”, but conquering Tawan proved to although antique geographers did not place the 5 be beyond the empire’s strength. The campaigns in “country of silk” further east than Kansu. Wild and ~ Ferghana, which strained the empire’s resources to domesticated animals and birds were brought to g) the extreme, ended, as Wuti admitted himself, in a China from foreign lands, as well as valuable varie- complete failure of Han aggression in the west. The ties of wood, rare plants, furs, perfumes, spices, jew- ' political dominion of Han China over eastern Tur- elry, glassware, tapestry and other luxury goods, ^ kistan proved to be unstable, frequently interrupted and, of course, skilful slaves from overseas. Of special I. and limited in character. The more unbiased ot the importance were plants from western Asia, includ- j? historiographers doubted the need for Han expan- ing vines, beans, and alfalfa. I sion in western Asia, pointing out its negative conse-

185

quences for these countries and especially for China. “The Han dynasty aspired to take possession of the remote Western Regions and thereby brought the empire to exhaustion,” wrote the author of an early medieval history of China.

After Wuti’s death further active foreign policy became impossible for the empire because of aggra¬ vated internal conflicts. The first popular move¬ ments in the Han empire flared up already at the end of Wuti’s reign. In the last quarter of the 1st cen¬ tury B. C., a wave of slave rebellions at state iron mines swept across the country. Soberly assessing the critical situation in the empire, many statesmen saw its cause in the growth of large-scale land- and slave- ownership. Under emperor Aid (6-1 B. C.), an attempt was made to set a limit on land estates (not more than 140 hectares) and the number of slaves that could be owned: 30 slaves for the common peo¬ ple and petty officials, and 200 for high officials and noblemen (not counting slaves older than 60 and younger than 10 ); it was suggested to set state slaves older than 50 free. That draft edict stirred up pro¬ tests among slave-owners and was never imple¬ mented, and neither was the next one of A. D. 3, although it limited only the common people’s rights to slave- and land-ownership. These edicts appar¬ ently reflected the positions of the ideologues of petty and medium owners. After the failure of the policy of reforms, uprisings broke out in the country again.

In A. D. 8 , power was seized by Wang Mang, a relation of the dynasty on the distaff side, who de¬ clared himself the founder of a dynasty of his own called Hsin (New). Wang Mang’s ideological in¬ spires were the followers of the Confucian “old texts” school, hostile to the mystic “new texts” school recognised by Wuti and his successors as an official doctrine. To enlist the support of the broad masses, Wang Mang announced the restoration of the blessed order of the olden times and of the Chou 5 system of community land-tenure (chingfien). He ^ promised to restore equal land allotments and hand over the surplus of land to commoners who had little s or no land. Naturally that promise could not be car- ~ ried out. Wang Mang banned the sale and purchas- s ing of land and slaves, declaring all privately owned | lands to be state-owned (wangt’ien), or “crown 5 lands”), and all the privately owned slaves to be “privately dependent” ( ssushu ), that is, apparently, ^ within the jurisdiction of the state but in the posses- 5

sion of their masters. State ownership of slaves was not restricted. Far from it: all those guilty of violat¬ ing Wang Mang’s laws, together with other members of the mutually responsible groups of five households, were made state slaves. Simultaneously, Wang Mang endeavoured to strengthen the state’s police functions and make all loan operations the treasury’s monopoly. Wang Mang’s reforms led to an extreme increase in the state’s despotic pressure, causing a general uprising. Wang Mang tried to save the situation by declaring the abolition of all his laws, but it was all in vain.

Groups of ruined commoners, slaves, and former farm-hands were active throughout the country, as¬ suming various names like Green Woodsmen, Cop¬ per Horses, Great Lances, Iron Shins, Black Calves, etc. Especially great in scope was the movement of Red Eyebrows in A. D. 18 in Shantung, where the populadon’s misfortunes were aggravated by a disastrous flood of the Hwang Ho, which abruptly changed its direction to the present one. The rebel armies, acting in isolation, moved on the capital from all sides. The first to take Ch’ang-an in A. D. 23 were the Green Forest men. Wang Mang was beheaded and his body torn to pieces. In A. D. 25, the capital was captured by the Red Eyebrows. Simultaneously, units of the ruling class in Loyang declared Liu Hsiu, a scion of the Han house, empe¬ ror. He became known in history as Kuang Wuti (A. D. 25-27). Kuang Wuti began his rule with a “punitive expedition” against the Red Eyebrows. In 29, he succeeded in crushing them, and later suppressed all the other people’s movements, Ku¬ ang Wuti’s reign began the period of the “restored” Han dynasty, called Later or Eastern Han Dynasty, as the capital of the empire was moved to Lo-yang.

The Fall of the Ancient Empires. The scope of the upris¬ ings of A. D. 17-25, in which slaves took an active part, showed the slave-owners the need for a greater cohesion of the ruling class. They handed over the function of suppressing the lower classes to the state and thereby sanctioned the restoration of the empire. Under Aiti and Wang Mang, any attempts by the state to restrict private ownership of slaves and interfere with the rights of land- and slave¬ owners met with desperate resistance, whereas now that the Kuang Wuti’s government severely

186

repressed the rebel movements, private owners no Vietnam, which Kuang Wuti managed to suppress

longer protested against Kuang Wuti’s laws securing only in 44, and with great difficulty. In the second

the freedom of those slaves who had actually won it half of the 1st century, taking advantage of (and

during the uprisings, and freeing those who had sold to some extent provoking) the split among the

themselves during famine or had been forcibly en- Hsiungnu into southern and northern tribes, and

slaved during that period. True, these laws were not permitting the Southern Hsiungnu, who accepted

always implemented in full, but all state slaves sen- China’s rule, to settle in the empire (on the Ordos

tenced to bondage for violation of the Wang Mang plateau), the empire took active measures to restore

laws, and some categories of privately owned slaves, the Han influence in the Western Regions. General

were actually freed. The edict of 35 banned the Pan Chao (32-102), brother of the well-known court

branding of privately owned slaves, the master’s historian Pan Ku, was appointed Governor of the

right to kill his slaves was limited, and the law on Western Regions. He succeeded in organising an

disgraceful market-place executions of slaves was alliance of the Tingling and Hsian-pi tribes against

repealed. Government measures to protect some of the Northern Hsiungnu, who laid claims to suprem-

the slaves’ elementary rights were envisaged. The acy in eastern Turkistan. The positions of the

edict even proclaimed (the first official declaration Hsiungnp were considerably weakened after Pan

of this kind) that the slave was by his nature also a Chao routed in A. D. 90, the forces of the Kushan

human being. At the same time the Law for Selling king, a covert ally of the Hsiungnu who also endeav-

People passed by the Kuang Wuti government in- ouredtoasserthisascendancyovertheSilkRoute.lt

troduced greater order into slave-trade and the is a known fact that after their defeat the Kushans

practice of selling free individuals as slaves, thereby kept sending their “gifts” for a while to the Han

consolidating slave-owning relations. It seems that court, which was an indirect form of inter-state

Kuang Wuti was mainly supported by petty and trade. For a short time, the Han empire restored its

medium slave-owning estates, while the big land- hegemony on the Great Silk Route, Pan Chao in-

and slave-owners (“the great families”), far from itiated a vigorous diplomatic activity, apparently

supporting him, were openly hostile and in 52 raised desiring to establish direct contacts with Tach’in, or

a rebellion against him, which Kuang Wuti sup- “the great Ch’in country”, as the Hans called the

pressed with characteristic ruthlessness. Roman empire. But the embassy he sent to Rome

Kuang Wuti’s government took effective measures only reached Roman Syria, being intentionally

to rebuild the dams on the Hwang Ho that had delayed en route by Parthian traders. The Chinese-

fallen into disrepair. That part of the Great Plain Roman trade through intermediaries had begun in

now directly adjoined the metropolitan region the second half of the 1st century B. G. and was fairly

(owing to the transfer of the capital of empire from regular. Roman schoolchildren learnt of “Chinese

Ch’ang-an, destroyed during the uprisings, to Lo- crossbows” from Horace and of goods from The

yang), and Kuang Wuti attached special importance Land of Silk from Virgil, Ptolemy, and Pliny the

to its economic development. Money circulation was Elder. The ancient Chinese saw the Romans for the

regulated, taxes reduced, and farming and silkworm n first time in 120, when a group of itinerant jugglers breeding encouraged. Poor people were given state -f came from Rome to Lo-yang to perform at the court fields ( kungfien ) on favourable terms, including the " of the Son of Heaven. Simultaneously the Eastern lands of the disgraced “great families”. “ Han empire established links with Hindustan

Gradually the empire restored its military might | through Upper Burma and Assam, and organised and its status of a “world power”. The border tribes, “ sea communications between the port of Pakhpo in which had joined the rebel movement of the §- northern Vietnam (which the Romans knew as Cat- empire’s lower strata, were pacified. In southern “ tigara) and the eastern coast of India, and also with China, the Han empire implemented a harsh policy j? Japan (via Korea). The first “embassy” from Rome of forcible assimilation of the local population. Im- ^ (a name assumed by a private Roman trading mis- perial officials cruelly oppressed the aborigines and i. sion) came in 166 to Lo-yang along the southern sea eradicated local cults and customs. In 42, an upris- j? route. From the second half of the 2nd century, ing against the Han authorities flared up in northern | when the Han empire lost its hegemony on the Silk

187

Route, Han adopted an expansionist foreign-trade policy gained the upper hand at court. They policy in the southern maritime countries - Sri expressed the interests of those sections of the ruling

Lanka and Hanchipura (in southern India). These class which were not interested in expanding foreign

links retained their significance in later periods as trade or in further extending commodity-money

well. Expeditions were sent to the southern seas to relations, since their immense estates with their

capture slaves. Slave-trade figured prominently in workshops and inner markets increasingly became

the foreign dealings of the Later Han empire. self-sufficient entities. “He is so rich that he can close

The empire made desperate attempts to seize for- the gates and open a market,” was the proverbial eign markets in ever new directions. Its international description of an owner of such an estate, trading links had never been as extensive as they Two trends of socioeconomic development

now were. The consolidation of Han as a world became apparent in the Later Han empire. Slave- power was accompanied by an efflorescence of owning remained the leading factor. Slave-owning

science, literature, philosophy, and art. According to estates, including large-scale ones, continued to

eyewitness accounts, the empire’s capital Lo-yang exist, but slave labour was mostly used in certain

was striking in its splendour. The stiff magnificence specific types of production (irrigation, camphor of the imperial palace and the extravagant luxury of and varnish-tree plantations, cattle-breeding, fish- the palaces of the higher aristocracy knew no ing, salt mines), not in farming. There were increas- bounds. Court poets and well-known philosophers ing complaints about the low productivity of slave sang the praises of the grandeur and stability of the labour, which were first voiced in the 1st century ruling dynasty and glorified the empire as the acme B. C. (during the 81 B.C. governmental disputes of perfection and the Golden Age come true. about salt and iron monopolies and later in the The development of commodity-money relations report of the official Rung Yu). In the 2nd century through a huge expansion of the Han empire’s for- A. D., land concentration assumed enormous, prev- eign trade led to an increasing involvement of petty iously inconceivable proportions. “The great fami- and medium slave-owning estates in production for lies”, unconnected with the higher officialdom, some- the market. times had estates stretching “from one province to

Economy and trade, crafts and farming all flour- another”. Their influence extended throughout the ished. Watermills and water lifts appeared, and bel- neighbourhood, including small towns. They had lows were improved. Cultivation in beds and the sys- thousands of slaves, herds of horses and cattle, flocks tern of crop rotation came into use, but were never of sheep and other domestic animals, and great practised on a wide scale; neither was the heavy workshops and mines where fettered slaves worked, mould-boardless plough intended to be drawn by They also grew richer through trade and usury. On two oxen widely employed. In practice, it was such enormous estates, it was difficult and sometimes drawn by slaves, and the effect was insignificant. impossible to organise the necessary supervision over Farmers refused to buy iron agricultural implements slaves, and the labour of personally dependent made by state slaves, finding them “unsuitable for workers was becoming increasingly widespread here, wor k” in such forms as puch’u (personal bodyguard given

Although the law imposed certain restrictions on allotments of land), and various types of ke or the masters’ abuses, where slaves were used in large j “guests” (“field worker guests”, “guests for food and numbers, they were kept in chains. ~ clothes”, etc.)-a kind of clients or colons

The Later Han empire’s apparent prosperity was _ descriptively called in the sources “those who have precarious and fraught with profound contradic- B. no land of their own but till the fields of rich men”, tions. The level of labour productivity did not cor- ~ Impoverished farmers had to rent land from the respond to the degree of commodity-money rela- §. “strong houses” on the metayage system-and on tions. Basically, the ancient Chinese empire’s | very hard terms. The magnates’ vast estates some- economy remained a natural one, and a drag on the 5 times had thousands of these “guest households”, production of commodities. At a time of Pan Chao’s ^ and here rudiments of a new type of exploitation of greatest military and diplomatic successes in the ^ the immediate producer, which left him a measure Western Regions, opponents of an active foreign I of economic independence, came into being.

In the state sector, “the fields of the ton (military) 2nd century, some of the major members of the

settlements” (tuntien), became rather numerous in “strong houses” patronised several thousands of such

that period; here the farming was done by the col- families each-Ac, pinko, puch’ii, and others. The

onists and their families receiving from their supe- work-force of such an estate would be extremely

riors farming implements, cattle and seeds, and de- mixed, including slaves, half-slaves, various types ol

livering the yield to the state granaries, from which dependents, lease-holders, and enslaved debtors,

they later received payment in kind. Despite the Alarmed at the falling revenue, the state was legally

hard conditions of labour, “military settlers” were powerless to do anything, since the commoners — the

not legally slaves, as cases of their later enslavement state’s principal taxpayers —had the right to do what by the authorities show. The tun tien agrarian system, they pleased with their land; they could sell it or

apparently connected with the revival of communi- hand it over on certain terms to other physical or

ties, later became the prototype of the state “allot- juridical persons, including the “strong houses”,

ment system” (tseyuntien) which was introduced in while the latter in their turn could expand their

China in the middle of the 3rd century A. D. estates to any size whatever. Not being the owner of

The conflict between the two economic tenden- all land, the state was powerless to stop its subjects

cies-further growth of slave-owning and the nascent concluding land and personal deals,

pre-feudal forms —manifested itself in the debate on Many statesmen saw the “power of money inflam-

commodity-money relations in the 2nd century ing the lust for gain” as the cause of the ruin of many

A. D. Some of the reports presented to the emperor petty landowners. In the mid-2nd century, resisting

advised prohibition of money and immobilisation of the growth of commodity relations, the government

metal coins. officially announced the policy of “respect for farm-

In the field of foreign policy, the controversy ing and suppression of trade”. I hat policy was in

centred on whether to continue military aggression keeping with the general trend of social development

and expansion of foreign trade or to curtail them. towards a natural economy.

The issue was finally settled after Pan Chao’s death, The area of arable land registered by the state

when the governorship of the Western Regions was kept falling disastrously, and so did the numbers of abolished. taxpayers (from 49.5 million in the mid-2nd century

At the beginning of the Later Han period, the to 7.5 million in the mid-3rd century). That natur-

census recorded only 21 million taxpayers in the ally led to an increase in the tax pressure on the

empire, but towards the end of the 1st century that remaining masses of the empire’s civil population;

figure rose to 53 million, which indicated the resto- according to some sources, the taxes were ten times

ration of the state mechanism and the growing as great as the “legal” norm. The people grew indi¬ number of the empire’s taxpayers. However, only fif- gent; whole villages abandoned their homelands in

teen years later the census showed a fall in the popu- an attempt to escape taxes and requisitions, becom-

lation of nearly 10 per cent, and that at a time when ing homeless vagrants. The country was devastated

there were no domestic disturbances or bloody wars. by a terrible famine and pestilence, whole districts

Apparently part of the state’s taxpayers (and only ~ depopulated by epidemics. The fields were over¬ taxpayers were recorded by the regular official cen- 4 grown with weeds. The prices of foodstuffs skyrock- suses of the Han empire beginning with the A. D. 2) ’ eted. “People became cannibals, and the bones of

had accepted the patronage of major landowners. ^ dead men were scattered throughout the land,” Their position fundamentally differed from the sit- f reports the History of the Later Han Dynasty. Commod- uation in which ruined peasants mortgaged their ~ ity-money relations rapidly declined. The estates of fields and sold members of their families as slaves but r the “strong houses” increasingly became economi- remained independent citizens themselves. Now, in ^ cally closed self-sufficient entities, while the peasants the 2nd century, poor families “voluntarily” gave up ? that still remained free had no means for participat- their land to “strong houses” on condition that they - ing in the commodity circulation. City life came to a could cultivate it as individuals personally depen- S. halt. Compared with the beginning of the 1st cen- dent on the magnates, or sometimes “voluntarily {? tury, the number of cities in the country dropped by sold themselves as guests”. Towards the end of the ! more than a half. At the beginning of the dynasty,

189

self-governing cities had been a characteristic fea- of a secret pro-Taoist sect who called himself

ture of the imperial structure, and it had been their Teacher of Highest Virtue. He prophecied that the

support that had brought Liu Pang his initial sue- existing unjust system, an embodiment of sinfulness

cesses in the struggle for power, whereas now the and evil (“The Blue Heaven”) would be replaced by

sources did not mention them at all. Officials pro- an era of righteousness and universal prosperity

posed to reckon all taxes in fabrics; finally, in 204, a (“The Yellow Heaven”). Chang Chiao’s appeals and

decree was promulgated replacing all money pay- sermons, addressed to all people regardless of sex, age,

ments by payments in kind, and in 221, an imperial title or rank who desired salvation, and promising

edict in the Wei state (which had sprung on the release from suffering and happiness on earth in the

ruins of the Han empire in the Hwang Ho region), nearest future, attracted to him multitudes of the

abolished coins and introduced silk and grain into underprivileged. Within a short period, Chang

circulation instead. Chiao raised a 300,000-strong underground army of

Beginning with the second quarter of the 2nd cen- 36 units-one for each district of the empire. That

tury, the chronicles recorded local uprisings nearly was only made possible by the utter corruption of

every year more than a hundred during half a cen- the state mechanism. The sect’s agents recruited

tury. Regular repairs and maintenance of dams and some adherents even in the highest court circles. Ru-

other irrigation structures stopped, and Hwang Ho’s mours of an imminent uprising grew. On the eve of

floods brought countless misfortunes to hundreds of the revolt, Chang Chiao’s chief agent in the capital

thousands of families. The flood in 153 was espe- was denounced, seized and executed, and immedia-

cially disastrous. Central authority became weaker tely after that his supporters in Lo-yang were delive-

with every passing year. The empire’s corrupted red up to the authorities. Chang Chiao gave a signal

bureaucratic mechanism grew to colossal propor- for an immediate uprising throughout the country,

tions and became a self-contained force eating up The insurgents besieged cities, ransacked large esta-

the surplus product generated by the working tes, flooded fields, burnt down government buildings,

masses. Child emperors were pawns in the hands of killed rich men and officials, opened prisons, and

court groupings of “eunuchs” and “scholars”. Their freed slaves. On Chang Chiao’s orders, centres of

strife, which sometimes erupted in bloody massacres free distribution of foodstuffs to the people were

in the capital, reflected the heat of the political organised everywhere. Slaves were active in the

struggle between the centrifugal and centripetal uprising, but its main force apparently was the

forces within the ruling class. The former were ruined petty owners and the serfs. The rebels in most

represented by the “strong houses”, which aspired to cases did not go beyond seizing and distributing

make their estates not only economically but also property and foodstuffs-there were no demands for

politically independent, with seigneurial rights for a redistribution of land, so characteristic of the sub-

themselves and personal dependence of the peasants sequent peasant revolts. Chang Chiao died at the

on the seigneur. Their increased influence in the very peak of the uprising, but the Yellow Headdress

country’s socio-political life in the mid-2nd century rebels continued to fight just as stubbornly and self-

signified the empire’s disintegration and a decline of lessly. The imperial authorities proved unable to

the emperor’s power. The “scholars’ ” critique of the cope with the rebel movement. The armies of the

dominance of “dirty” grabbers in the central ^ “strong houses” rose to fight the Yellow Headdresses

administration from the positions of “pure judge- ~ and defeated their main forces. A tower of hundreds

ment” and their coup attempts in 166 and 169, in- . of thousands of cut-off heads was erected at the main

tended to replace the corrupt administration with | gate of the capital to celebrate the victory. However,

fresh blood, failed. The “eunuchs’ ” reprisals were ~ the country was swept by wave after wave of fresh

ruthless. “Scholars” were executed, tortured, exiled; |) uprisings, with frontier tribes joining the rebels. The

a thousand of the “pure ones” were imprisoned. I revolts were only crushed at the beginning of the

Their books were publicly burnt. 5 third century. The warlords who had suppressed the

In 184, a revolt on a gigantic scale, called the Yel- movement divided the loot and the power among

low Headdress Uprising, broke out. It was headed themselves, forgetting all about the emperor. The

by Chang Chiao, magician, physician, and founder S Han empire was in fact nonexistent already,

190

although the last weak scion of the Liu dynasty dragged out a pitiable existence at the court of one of the conquerors of the Yellow Headdresses.

The popular uprisings, strife among the “strong houses”, and barbarian incursions brought the ancient Chinese civilisation to an agonising end. The Han empire disintegrated as a result of the crisis of the empire’s slave-owning economy and the in¬ cipient processes of feudalisation. The Hsien-pei tribes, which conquered China in the 4th century A. D., occupied in fact, an already medieval China.

China’s Culture in the Epoch of the Ancient Empire (End of the 3rd Century B. C.-Beginning of the 3rd Century A.D.). At the start of the 1st century A. D., the earth’s population amounted to 250 million, and one-fifth of that number lived in the Han empire. The Ch’in- Han empire was the largest state of the ancient world in the later antiquity. Its more than four-hun¬ dred-year existence was an important stage in the historical development of all Eastern Asia and part of the world-historical process covering the epoch of the emergence, rise and downfall of ancient world empires, and with them, of the slave-owning mode of production. For China’s national history, that was an exceptionally important stage of consolidation of the ancient Chinese people.

The Han period brought the greatest cultural achievements of ancient China in science and mate-

A Han treatise of the 2nd century postulated in poe¬ tic form (just as in Lucretius) the need to adjust scales for compression and expansion from cold and heat. Han scholars studied, with some success, resonance phenomena and the laws of harmony. Chang Heng (78-139) was the first scientist in the world to invent a prototype of the seismograph; he built a celestial globe, described 2,500 stars grouped in 320 constellations, and worked out a theory of the earth’s spheric form and of the spatio-temporal in¬ finity of the universe. Han mathematicians wrote an encyclopedia known as The Art of Counting in Nine Books', they knew decimal fractions, invented nega¬ tive numbers, did a great deal towards specifying the value of n and assimilated some methods of mathe¬ matics similar to those of the Greeks.

The end of the ancient epoch was marked by in¬ novations in the development of technical imple¬ ments in the crafts and agriculture (cf. the first mechanical engines using the force of falling water, pumping gear, improved plough, cultivation in beds, and crop rotation). Fan Shenchih summed up the achievements of agriculture in a treatise on agronomy and pedology; works on pharmacology and medicine appeared. A lst-century medical cata¬ logue lists 35 treatises on different diseases. The techniques of town-building made considerable advances. The plan of town-building worked out in the late Han epoch became a kind of standard for the architects of later times.

rial production as well as in art and society’s spiri¬ tual life. Various branches of the exact sciences (astronomy, mathematics, medicine, physics, mechanics, acoustics) developed intensely. Regular records were kept of astronomic observations, in par¬ ticular of the appearance of comets (the first such observation was recorded in 613 B. C., and since the n 3rd century B. C. they have been kept without inter- ■§ ruption); star catalogues were compiled, a lunar- ^ and-solar calendar improved, and the sundial was invented to replace the water clock. Ancient Chinese | astronomers could predict lunar eclipses and the - possibility of solar ones. In 28 B. C., Han astro- ? nomers discovered the existence of sun spots. An achievement of world significance was the inven- ? tion of a compass-a square iron plate with a mag- >3 netic spoon freely rotating on its surface, of which | the handle pointed south. The mechanical law of g action and counteraction was worked out in detail. |

High standards were achieved in the production of lacquered objects, which began in the epoch of the Warring States. The development of this industry was stimulated by advances in woodworking and mining (in particular, the mining of cinnabar and other mineral pigments which were an important item in international trade-great quantities of it were exported to India). Lacquering centres arose in many areas of the empire, but the district of Shu in Szechuan, one of the most highly developed in the empire, was especially famous for its lacquer. Lac¬ quered objects with the Shu mark were in great demand far beyond the borders of China. Excellent specimens have been found by archaeologists in Korea. Szechuan was also second only to Shantung as a major centre of the silk industry. Han silks were of very high quality. In the Han epoch, an improved loom was invented, which greatly enlarged the assortment of fabrics. Silks were the most important

191

export item in Chinese trade. They flowed in a of Western and Central Asia and the Far East. This

broad stream to all the major countries of the book is in most cases the only and therefore invalu-

ancient world, reaching Rome and Egypt overland able source on the ancient history of these peoples;

and along sea routes. India was a major intermedi- besides, Ssuma Ch’ien’s descriptions are marked by

ary in silk trade. Sericulture developed in India, too, precision of historical and geographical information

apparently under the influence of China, while Han quite unusual for those times, and are in this respect

craftsmen borrowed from India the technique of cot- on a par with Ptolemy’s writings. A great stylist,

ton fabrics production. Links between China and Ssuma Ch’ien vividly and graphically described

India were established long before the Han epoch, political and economic situations and the life of the

but at that time they were especially intense and people. He made an outstanding contribution to

fruitful for both civilisations. Chinese historiography and was the first Chinese

At the beginning of the new era, China gave the author to have created literary portraits, which

world one of mankind’s greatest inventions - paper. places him among the most distinguished Han

Indian ink was also invented at that time. The writers. The popular tradition has preserved the

change over from writing on bamboo plates to writ- story of the tragic fate of “the father of Chinese his-

ing on silk, and from stylus to scribe’s brush had tory”, who was emasculated on Wuti’s orders for

made it possible to simplify the writing system. Now criticising the emperor and defending his disgraced

further advances were made in that direction. The friend, the military leader; he did not lose heart but,

hieroglyphic script was systematised, and a new style decided to “reject the idea of suicide” and to “pay

of writing called k’aishu was invented, forming the back for the shame inflicted” on him by creating a

basis of modern Chinese writing. Han materials and truthful account of the “essence of the changes in

instruments of writing were borrowed, along with these days and in remote antiquity”. Historical

the hieroglyphics, by the ancient peoples of Viet- Memoirs became a supreme standard for the historio- ,

nam, Korea, and Japan, while these countries, in graphers of the whole Far East for ages to come. The

their turn, influenced the cultural development of traditions of ancient Chinese historiography were

ancient China (in rice-growing and other areas of continued by Pan Ku (A. D. 39-92) and his sister

agriculture, in seafaring and the artistic handi- Pan Piao, the only woman historian in the whole

crafts). ancient world. They wrote an official history of the

The imperial epoch was one of generalisation of ruling dynasty, The History of the Earlier Han Dynasty

knowledge and the summing up of the whole of (Ch’ien Han shu), describing the historical events

China’s ancient culture. The palaces of the patrons from the positions of the Confucian worldview,

of arts including emperors, became cultural centres Prominent in the brilliant constellation of the Han

with large libraries, where scientific, philosophical poets was Ssuma Hsiangju (179-118 B. C.), who

and literary topics were widely discussed and sang, in an elevated solemn style, the splendour and

ancient monuments collected, edited and com- might of the Wuti empire. He continued the Ch’u

mented on. China’s most ancient folklore collections, traditions of Ch’u Yuan’s odes, a characteristic fea-

the Book of Odes (Shihching), the Book of History ture of all Han literature which absorbed the poetic

(Shangshu ), and the Book of Changes (Iching ) were heritage of the peoples of south China. A courtier

written down at that time. In fact, the whole of the j and bon vivant, Ssuma Hsiangju became the talk of surviving ancient Chinese heritage was recorded in ~ the people with a sensational love intrigue. He the Han period. Philology and poetics were also abducted the beautiful daughter of the richest mine-

studied, and the first dictionaries compiled. Major | owner in Szechuan and kept a tavern together with works of prose, mostly historical, were written at the ~ his bride, which scandalised the father-in-law so

time. The “father of Chinese history”, the great | much that he, “ashamed to appear in the street”,

Ssuma Ch’ien (145-86 B. C.), wrote the remarkable | made them the gift of “a hundred slaves and a mil-

Historical Memoirs (Shihchi ) - 130 volumes on the his- 1 lion coins”. The poet was “lured by fresh loves” un-

tory of China from the mythical first ancestor )~ til old age. The tradition has it that his poems had

Huangti to the reign of Wuti, with detailed reviews ? the magic power to revive a love grown cold,

of data on the neighbouring tribes and the countries S For the greater glory of the dynasty, Wuti

192

founded the Music Bureau ( Ytiehfu ), where folk songs were collected and arranged and musical works were written. Some of the Yiiehfu songs were founded on melodies and themes that came from Central Asia. The works of the best poets influenced by the Music Bureau were realistic in content, re¬ flecting the mores of the epoch and the mood of the simple people. Very few folk songs from the treasury of the Music Bureau have survived; even fewer are songs expressing the rebellious spirit of the people rising against injustice. These last include “Eastern Gates”, “East of Pingling Hill”, especially remark¬ able are thejao songs, in which the social protest is strongest. They even call for the overthrow of the emperor; thus one of them ends with the words. “Death to Ch’in Shih-huang!” The leader of Yellow Headdresses is said to have written a song calling for an uprising: “An end to the Blue Heaven (i. e., the Han dynasty) has come // We shall live under a Yel¬ low Heaven.//In the year under the sign jiazi //Happiness will come to Under Heaven.”

Towards the end of the Han empire, anacreontic and fairytale themes increasingly became the main content of secular poetry; verses lost the quality of emotional spontaneity, gravitating towards elegance and grandiloquence. Books about miracles, legends, mystic and fantastic literature became popular. The authorities encouraged magnificent rites and secular spectacles; organisation of pageants was one of the state’s administrative functions. Rudiments of scenic art did not, however, develop into drama as a liter¬ ary genre in ancient China.

Ceramic models of buildings and burial reliefs show that the main features of Chinese traditional architecture evolved at that time. The recent exca¬ vations near Sian at the site of Ch’in Shih-huang’s tomb brought the sensational discovery of a “clay army” of three thousand foot soldiers and caval¬ rymen, life-size-an indication that portrait sculp¬ ture emerged in that period. The characteristic traits of Han art were high professional skill and realistic quality. These traits are found in lst-century reliefs from Szechuan, free in their composition and con¬ taining elements of perspective; their subjects are market-place scenes, hunting expeditions, scenes of harvesting and of hard labour in the salt mines. Second-century reliefs from the crypt of the Wu aris¬ tocratic family in Shantung, and frescoes of the same period in the burials in Liaotung are very clear and

precise in composition, but religious, mythological and didactic themes prevail here.

In that epoch religious and philosophical litera¬ ture evolved and became widespread, stimulated at first by the elaboration of an official state ideology and later by the growing socio-political and spiritual crisis of the Later Han empire. The ideas that Heaven consciously interfered in human lives and meted out requital for both good and bad deeds became stronger in Confucianism. Tung Chungshu, the founder of Confucian theology, developed in the 1st century B. C. the ideas of divine origin of imper¬ ial power, declaring Heaven to be a supreme and nearly anthropomorphic deity. He was the first theo¬ logian to deify Confucius. The Confucius cult merged with the ancestor cult, which figured very prominently in Confucian theology. Tung Chungshu insisted on the banning of all schools but the Con¬ fucian. Under Wuti, Confucianism reformed by Tung Chungshu was declared the official doctrine of the empire. However, in the sphere of practical management preference was given to the adherents of the Legalist school, who were the inspirers of Wu- ti’s financial, economic and foreign policy. The social processes in the system of the empire worked further changes in Confucianism, which, early in the new era. split into two principal hostile trends - the mystic school continuing the Tung Chungshu line (the New Texts school), and the Old Texts school, led by Wang Mang, more rationalist in character and more flex¬ ible in its reactions to the problems of the modern times. The state actively used Confucianism in its in¬ terests, interfering in the struggle between the doc¬ trines which became increasingly fierce. The emperor initiated Confucian disputes, endeavouring to stop the schism for purely political reasons and ^ acting in fact as head of church. At the end of the 1 st •C century A. D., a council formally put an end to dis-

• sent in Confucianism, declaring all apocryphal liter-

' ature to be false and accepting the doctrine of the | New Texts school as official religious orthodoxy. ~ Henceforth, executions of dissidents became a |- dogma sanctified by Confucius’s authority. The triumph of the New Texts school signified theocratic ? sanctioning of imperial authority. In that school, the c idea of heavenly Providence was used to substantiate | the predestination of the second devolution of the {? Heavenly Mandate on the Later Han dynasty (reso- | lutely rejected by all the other schools). That ini-

193

13-344

dated the “dynastic idea” - a new principle of re- tality attracted to him multitudes of the underprivi- ligious-political ideology. leged who lived under his rule in a closed colony-

Late Han Confucianism gave the doctrine of the the basis of secret Taoist organisations. According to

goal-directed Will of Heaven a specific ethical inter- the legend, Chang Taoling ascended to Heaven dur-

pretation, treating it as an eternal principle of the ing his lifetime, leaving no body on the earth that

immutability of social relations between ruler and could be buried. That legend, characteristic of the

subject, father and son, husband and wife, master Taoist religion, signified a rejection of the Confucian

and servant, on the observance of which the har- ancestor cult. As any dogmatic religion, Taoism split

mony of the cosmic elements yin and yang entirely into sects immediately on its emergence. The Taoist

depended. That religious-ethical system had a pro- heresy’s assertion of the equality of men before gods

nounced class bias, declaring the vulgar mob and and its condemnation of riches attracted the masses,

barbarians to be essentially amoral, asserting that The teaching of the secret T’aip’ingtao (The Doctri-

the powers that be were above law, promising them ne of Justice) sect, close to the Taoist heresy,

life after death and posthumous glory in accordance with its elements of eschatological and Messianic

with their titles and ranks during their lifetime, and aspirations, democratic rules and militant mood,

proclaiming the killing of any “bandits” “daring to became the banner of the movement of the Yellow

lift a hand against the king” to be every subject’s Headdresses, which dealt a mortal blow to the Han

sacred duty. In the late 2nd century A. D. the “state empire.

copy” of the Confucian holy writ, the Five Books, was The tendency towards the transformation of the

carved in stone, in the New Texts version. From that ancient socio-philosophical teachings into religious

time, violation of the Confucian commandments in- doctrines, which manifested itself in the transfigu-

corporated in the penal code was punished by death rations of Confucianism and Taoism, was a sign of

as “the gravest crime”. The dogmatism and intole- profound socio-psychological changes maturing in

ranee of Late Han Confucianism were linked with the Later Han empire. However, it was not the ethi-

the growing role of religion as an instrument of ideo- cal religions arising on Chinese soil but foreign

logical influence on the masses; these were traits Buddhism transplanted to the agonising Later Han

characteristic of medieval rather than ancient reli- world that became a world religion and acted as the i

gions. In Late Han society, torn by acute internal main ideological factor in the feudalisation of China

contradictions, Confucian orthodoxy was intended and the whole of East Asia. Buddhism came to

to consolidate the ruling circles of the dominant class China at the beginning of the new era, finding

and to separate that elite from the bulk of producers almost immediately a response among the working

by a rigid framework of social partitions, demanding masses and certain sections of the ruling class. At the

implicit obedience from the common people on pain end of the 2nd century, the Mahayana Buddhist

of Heavenly retribution and promising them teaching already enjoyed fairly wide recognition,

nothing in return. The spreading of Buddhism facilitated the intensifi-

When persecutions of “false” doctrines began, se- cation of the international cultural links between

cret religious-mystical sects spread throughout the China, India and Central Asia, which developed

country. The opponents of the ruling regime were both along the caravan route in the north and the

united on the platform of religious Taoism, which j sea routes in the south (via Burma and Yunnan), was in opposition to Confucianism and at the same The impetus of the development of the scientific

time dissociated itself from philosophical Taoism " and philosophical worldview had not yet exhausted that continued to develop the ancient materialist | itself, either. The work of the most outstanding Han concepts. The Taoist religion finally took shape by ~ thinker Wang Ch’ung (A. D. 27-97) falls within the the early 2nd century. Patriarch Chang Taoling of a short period of the Later Han empire upsurge. Szechuan, called “The Teacher”, is believed to have | Wang Ch’ung was a major materialist of antiquity, been the founder of that religion. The rumour £ His polemic treatise Critical Essays or Discourse spread that through the mediation of the spirits, ^ Weighed in the Balance (Lunhen) was an expression of Laotzu set him the task of making men happy. His ' his profound civic courage. During his lifetime, Con- prophecies and the doctrine of achieving immor- s' fucian orthodoxy was canonised at the Discussion in

194

the White Tiger Hall, and an end was thus put to free thought. In an atmosphere of intense ideological pressure, Wang Ch’ung had the courage to chal¬ lenge Confucian dogmas and religious mysticism. Rejecting the deification of Heaven, Wang Ch’ung held the materialist and atheist view that “heaven is a body similar to the earth”. Wang Ch’ung asserted the unity, eternity and corporeality of the world. His proposition that the source of being was the fine material substance ch’i continued the traditions of ancient Chinese natural philosophy with its atomis¬ tic theory of the structure of matter. All things in nature emerged naturally, as a result of condensa¬ tion of that substance, independently of any supranatural force. Wang Ch’ung rejected innate knowledge and mystic intuition with which Confu- cianists endowed ancient wise men, and regarded sensuous perception of the real world as the only path of cognition. “If a person does not see or hear the surrounding world, he can have no conception of it.” Believing that there was no fundamental differ¬ ence between man and animal, the philosopher asserted at the same time: “Of the creatures born by heaven and earth, man is the most valuable, and that value is determined by his ability for knowl¬ edge.” In the chapter called “Discourse on Death” Wang Ch’ung severely criticised the Confucian ancestor cult and religious Taoism’s ideas of physical immortality. Wang Ch’ung implicitly rejected the idea of the immortality of the soul, insisting that, like all living beings, man was completely destroyed after death. “The dead are not transformed into spirits, they have no ability for knowledge, and neither can

they do harm to men,” he affirmed. Wang Ch’ung was one of the most erudite men of antiquity, a man of encyclopaedic knowledge. Although his polemics was mainly levelled against Confucian theology, he also pursued the goals of enlightenment, passionate¬ ly denouncing the prejudices and superstitions of the common people. Coming from a family that was neither rich nor aristocratic, Wang Ch’ung knew well the thoughts and feelings of the simple people. He wrote his works with an eye to this kind of audience as well, and he therefore attached special importance to simplicity and clarity of exposition. “I want to be understood by the simple people,” de¬ clared Wang Ch’ung.

Wang Ch’ung’s materialist worldview, particu¬ larly his doctrine of naturalness (tzujan), that is, the naturally necessary process of the development of the objective world, played an outstanding role in the history of Chinese philosophy. During his life¬ time, however, Wang Ch’ung’s work was not recog¬ nised and was even persecuted for his critique of Confucius. A thousand years after Wang Ch’ung’s death his manuscript was accidentally discovered, and the world learnt of one of the most outstanding atheists, materialists and enlighteners of antiquity.

The Ch’in-Han epoch had the same basic signifi¬ cance for the further historico-cultural development of China and, more generally, of all eastern Asia, as the Graeco-Roman world for European history. The Han empire can in this sense be referred to as Chinese antiquity, which laid the foundations of a cultural tradition that can be traced throughout the long history of China.

_ Part III _

The Graeco-Roman World

Chapter 11 Early Greece

The achievements of the ancient Greek civilisation are very well known: they formed the basis of Euro¬ pean culture. Elements of ancient Greek architec¬ ture are still used in construction. A considerable proportion of modern scientific terminology, names of sciences, including the term “history”, most per¬ sonal names, and many words and expressions cur¬ rent in modern European languages come from Old Greek. The works of Greek tragedians, poets, sculp¬ tors, and architects, the ancient Greek epics and the writings of thinkers embodying the ideals and aspi¬ rations of that epoch still give esthetic pleasure and serve as models for modern creative workers. In phi¬ losophy, just as in many other areas of culture and science, we continually turn to “the achievements of that small people whose universal talents and ac¬ tivity assured it a place in the history of human de¬ velopment that no other people can ever claim ”. 1

• * *

The late 3rd and early 2nd millennia B. C. was a most important stage in Europe’s history. It was at that time that a society divided into the classes of oppressors and the oppressed first emerged on Euro¬ pean territory, in the southern part of the Balkan peninsula and the outlying islands. The formation of class society resulted from a spontaneous process of previous development of the local peoples, above all from the development of their productive forces. C. 2500 B. C., major centres of metallurgy arose on

1 Frederick Engels, Dialectics of Nature, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1972, p. 46.

many of the islands of the Aegean and on the main¬ land. Considerable advances were achieved in pot¬ tery-making with the introduction of the potter’s wheel. Progress in navigation also played a major role. Greek islanders could already build large and fast vessels (with 10 to 12 pairs of oars). Advances in seafaring facilitated contacts between various regions and a rapid spreading of technical and cul¬ tural innovations. Just as important was progress in agriculture, where a new polycultural type of farm¬ ing arose, based on simultaneous growing of cereals (barley above all), grapes and olives (the so-called Mediterranean triad).

As labour productivity grew, exploitation of man¬ power became economically justified. On the other hand, an increase in the mass of surplus product ena¬ bled society to maintain a certain number of people not directly engaged in productive labour. That created the economic basis for the existence of the exploiting stratum of society. The closeness to the ancient civilisations of the Near East also had a con¬ siderable effect on the development of society in that region.

The initial stages in the formation of a class society __ and the state have not been sufficiently studied, the I main reason being a relative scarcity of sources. 5 Archaeological materials cannot throw light on the -i peripeteias of political history and the character of n social relations, while the earliest system of syllabic i writing which emerged on Crete (the so-called is Linear Script A) has not yet been deciphered as we | still do not know what language the creators of that 5 : system of writing spoke. Later, the Greeks which in- | habited the Balkan peninsula adapted that script to

196

their language (the so-called Linear Script B); it was all sides by tribes living in primitive communities,

only deciphered in 1953 by the British scholars The Achaean conquest levelled the differences in the

M. Ventris and J. Chadwick. But all the texts are development of various regions, so that when in the

business records, and the information they provide is 2nd millennium B. C. the formation of class society

therefore fairly limited. Finally, a picture of the and the state began again, the process involved prac-

society of the 2nd millennium B. C. can also be tically the whole of Greek territory,

gleaned from the Iliad and the Odyssey, and certain myths. But it is very difficult to give a historical in¬ terpretation of this type of sources artistically trans- Crete. The civilisation of the Bronze Age which

forming historical reality, with ideas and realities of emerged and flourished on Crete is usually called

different periods merged into single entities, making Minoan. That name was given it by the British

it very hard to identify elements that can be reliably archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans, the first to discover

referred to the 2nd millennium. For these reasons, monuments of that civilisation during excavations

the history of the societies of the southern part of the at Knossos. The Greek mythological tradition re-

Balkan peninsula and Crete in the Bronze Age (2nd garded Knossos as the residence of King Minos,

millennium B. C.) has not yet been sufficiently stud- the powerful ruler of Crete and many other Aegean

ied, and much remains in the sphere of scientific islands. It was here that Queen Pasiphae gave birth

hypothesis. to Minotaur (half-man, half-bull), Daedalus built

Some scholars believe that the first states emerged the labyrinth for Minotaur, etc. on the Balkan peninsula as early as the mid-3rd mil- The economic progress of Cretan society, quite

lennium B. C. In any case, the nature of a number of pronounced in the second half of the 3rd and early

sites studied by archaeologists in this region (Lerna 2nd millennia B. C., was expressed in particular in

in Argos, Rafina in Attica, a number of sites on the the growing number of new settlements. All the

islands of Lemnos and Syros, and in Crete) permits lands suitable for farming, which was the leading

the assumption that these societies were probably on branch in Cretan economy, must have been culti-

the threshold of the transition from the pre-class to vated by that time. Livestock-breeding also appar-

class structure or may have even undergone that ently played an important role in the economy,

transition. There was a considerable progress in the handi-

But the moulding of class society and the state in crafts, too. Accelerated social development and in-

the south of the Balkans was interrupted by an inva- creased labour productivity generated a mass ofsur-

sion of tribes from the north. Greek tribes in the true plus product part of which could be used for

sense of the term (they called themselves Achaeans exchange between communities. That was of special

orDanaoi) appeared here c. 22nd century B. C. The significance for Crete, which lay on the intersection

pre-Greek population, whose ethnic relationships of ancient sea routes connecting the Balkan penin-

have not yet been established, was partly ousted by sula and the islands of the Aegean with Asia Minor,

the newcomers and partly assimilated. That tribal Syria and North Africa. Like all the other seafaring

migration interrupted for a while social progress in peoples of the antiquity, Cretans combined sea trade

the south of the Balkan peninsula, since the conquer- with fishing and piracy.

ing tribes were at a lower stage of development. This At the turn of the 2nd millennium B. C., Cretan

resulted in a certain difference in the destinies of the society made a qualitative leap in its development,

two parts of the region, the continental part and as the first states emerged practically simultaneously

Crete. Crete was not affected by the tribal migration throughout the territory of Crete. Originally, there

and, accordingly, continued to develop unimpeded. - were four independent states, each of them includ-

More than that, for several centuries it was a zone of 0 ing several dozen small community settlements;

very fast socioeconomic, political and cultural ^ their centres were palaces - at Knossos, Phaistos,

advance. On the other hand, temporary regress of ^ Mallia, and Kato Zakro. It is precisely the emer-

mainland society had another important conse- §] gence of palaces that was the most striking indi-

quence. In the 3rd millennium B. C., states had $ cation of the class and state nature of society,

developed in very restricted enclaves surrounded on 3 The immense gap between a vast splendid palace

and a wretched hovel is a striking indication of ments intended for use by the community during social inequality. natural disasters, enemy invasions and other critical

The epoch of “palace civilisation” on Crete situations. The communities voluntarily handed covered about 600 years, from 2000 to 1400 B. C. over part of their surplus product to the palace C. 1700 B. C. all the palaces were destroyed. The stores. Later, craftsmen’s workshops serving the causes of that destruction are variously explained in whole of the community were apparently set up modern science. Some scholars believe that the de- here. But just as in many other early societies, the struction was caused by natural disasters (a great community administration became separated from earthquake, most likely), others see here the result of the main body of the commoners, as class structure asocial conflict, of the struggle of the popular masses developed. Previously a servant of the community, enslaved by the upper stratum of society. Whatever this administration, relying on the great material the cause of that disaster, it delayed the development wealth at its disposal, now set itself up above society, of Cretan society for a short while only. Soon new The communities’ voluntary contributions became palaces were built on the sites of the old ones, sur- compulsory requisitions, and relations of domination passing them in splendour and monumentality. and subordination evolved. The community reserve The “new palace” epoch is much better known to fund grew into a palace estate economically domi- the scholars. The four palaces mendoned above, plus nating society. One of the factors in this process was a number of settlements and necropolises, have been concentration of a great share of handicraft produc- fairly well studied. The Knossos palace, a stupen- tion here. External economic links were also control- dous structure covering an area of nearly a hectare, led by the palace. Its power was also increased by its excavated by A. Evans, has been studied better than function of the community’s religious centre. A single any other. Although only one storey has survived, individual thus combined the roles of king and supre- the building apparently had two and probably three me priest. At the time of its efflorescence, Cretan so- storeys. The people living at the palace enjoyed all ciety may be assumed to have been a theocracy, the comforts and conveniences possible at that The 2nd millennium B. C. saw the beginning of slav- time-an excellent system of water supply and ery in Crete, but the number of slaves was not great, drainage, terracotta baths in special bathrooms, and Minoan civilisation reached its peak in the 16th

excellent ventilation and lighting. Everyday utensils and first half of the 15th centuries B. C. At the begin- were as a rule highly artistic and often made of pre- ning of that period, all Crete was united under the cious metals. Fine murals were discovered in many sway of the Knossos palace’s rulers, as indicated by a rooms of the palace, reproducing Cretan landscapes network of convenient roads connecting Knossos or scenes from the lives of the palace inhabitants, so with the most remote corners of the island and corn- far incomprehensible. plete absence of fortifications. Greek legends des-

Most of the ground floor was taken up by enorm- cribe King Minos as the first “ruler of the seas”, who ous storage facilities where wine, olive oil, grain, built a large fleet, did away with piracy and estab- local craftsmen’s products and wares from remote lished dominion over the Aegean. Naval expansion lands were kept. Finally, the palace also had work- went hand in hand with the development of trade, shops where jewelers, potters, and decorators of An indication of the scope of trade are finds of Cre- vases toiled for the palace inhabitants. tan craftsmen’s artifacts over a vast area-from

Scholars hold different opinions of the social and ^ Spain to Mesopotamia and from the north of the political organisation of Cretan society. On the basis - Balkan peninsula to the Nile valley. Cretan colonies of available data it may be assumed, though, that 5 and trade stations appeared on the Cyclades, palace economy was the nucleus of the state’s eco- ^ Rhodes, and the coast of Asia Minor. Cretans also nomic life. This economy developed already in a ^ established active trading and diplomatic links with class society as a result of the evolution of the com- | Egypt and the states of the Syro-Phoenician coast, munal structure. Originally, the palace was the sac- * In the mid-15th century B. C., Crete was devas- ral and economic centre of the community (or more 1 tated by a natural disaster which wiped out the probably of a number of communities). It was astor- ? Minoan civilisation. The disaster was most likely a ehouse for reserves of foodstuffs, tools and imple- I great eruption of the volcano on the island of Thera.

Most settlements and palaces were destroyed. Tak- system of water supply and drainage in the palace, ing advantage of this opportunity, the Achaeans The walls of many rooms were ornamented with from the Balkan peninsula invaded the island, and murals, of which battle scenes were the most freq- the former advanced centre of the Mediterranean uent theme.

became a god-forsaken province of Achaean Greece. At the peak of the Achaean civilisation, shaft

graves were replaced by royal tombs of a new type- tholoi or corbelled (bee-hive) chambers. The largest Achaean Greece. At the turn of the 2nd millennium of these is the so-called “Treasury of Atreus”. It was

B. C., the southern part of the Balkan peninsula was covered by an earth barrow, with a passage or

occupied by Greek, or Achaean, tribes. The power dromos leading to the chamber of which the

of tribal chieftains must have been replaced by royal entrance was protected by two stone blocks, one of

authority already in the 18th and 17th centuries. them weighing about 120 tons. The walls and cor-

The heyday of the Achaean civilisation came in the belling of the chamber were formed by fine-dressed

15th-13th centuries B. C. Originally, it was centred stone.

round Argolis, later expanding to the whole ofPelo- Palace estates formed the basis of the economic

ponnese, central Greece (Attica, Boeotia, Phocis), a structure of Achaean society, their influence affect-

considerable part of northern Greece (Thessaly) and ing all the aspects of the economy. Palaces had

many islands of the Aegean. numerous workshops for processing agricultural

The earliest monuments of this civilisation were products, spinning, sewing, and also foundries and

the so-called shaft graves discovered in the 19th cen- smithies producing tools and weapons. Besides,

tury by Heinrich Schliemann during excavations at palaces controlled the crafts throughout the terri- Mycenae. Here the first kings of the city and their tories under their rule. Metalworking was particu- relatives were buried. The tombs contained great larly strictly controlled. Blacksmiths who lived out- riches and numerous weapons. side the palace (apparently personally free members

Just as on Crete, palaces played a great role in the of the local communities) received precisely weighed life of Achaean society. The most significant of these bronze from the palace and handed over their prod- have been discovered at Mycenae, Tiryns, Pylos, ucts back to the palace. Exact accounts were kept of Athens, Thebes, Orchomenus, and Iolcos. The most all metal-both in the possession of the palace and of important trait that distinguished them from Cretan separate individuals. Local communities were also palaces was the existence of fortifications - they were obliged to place a definite number of craftsmen at all mighty citadels. The Tiryns citadel offers probab- the palace’s disposal.

ly the most striking illustration, with its walls built of As the Pylos archives show, the palace was the

huge limestone blocks weighing up to 12 tons. The principal owner of land. All lands were divided into

walls were more than 4.5 metres thick and 7.5 two categories-privately owned and communal

metres high in the surviving part. ones. The communal lands were not, however, culti-

Like Cretan palaces, Achaean ones were built on vated collectively but usually leased in small lots, an identical ground plan. The distinctive feature of Both members of the local community and indi- Achaean palaces-was their symmetric design. The viduals unconnected with it (e. g., members of the central part of the palace was a rectangular state apparatus) could be lease-holders. The state megaron, with a hearth in the middle and four col- (the palace) imposed taxes both on private and com- umns round it. Archaeologists have studied the Pylos munal lands. Achaean society had a well-developed palace more thoroughly than the others. It had two bureaucratic machine. Sources speak of a fiscal storeys and consisted of several dozen rooms-cere- n apparatus consisting of central government and monial and sacral ones, the private chambers of the -| local officials responsible for collecting taxes (mostly king, the queen and members of their household; _ in the form of metal-gold and bronze, but also in vast storerooms for keeping grain, wine, olive oil, ^ the form of various agricultural products). They also and various utensils; and numerous closets. An im- §. controlled metalworking in the districts under their portant part of the palace was an arsenal with great $ supervision.

stores of weapons. There was a smoothly functioning 5 Slaves formed the lowest stratum of Achaean

199

society. They were relatively few and mostly Achaean states began to tear the coming of some

belonged to the palace. Pylos documents show that terrible events. In many places, new defences were

most of the palace slaves were women. As a rule, built and old ones repaired, large-scale efforts were

they came from outside the Pylos kingdom. A char- made to build on the Isthmus (the bottleneck pas-

acteristic trait of society was the existence of several sage connecting the Peloponnese with central

categories of slaves differing in their position, as well Greece) a mighty wall intended to protect the whole

as the absence of a clearcut boundary between slaves of the peninsula. The Pylos palace archives also

and free men. An important social group consisted of point to some kind of military preparations,

formally free commoners who owned land and The presentiment of catastrophe was fully borne

houses but depended on the palace economically out. As shown by archaeological excavation, the di- and politically. There was no economic equality saster came at the very end of the 13th century B. C. among commoners either. The ruling stratum in- Nearly all the palaces and most settlements were eluded, first and foremost, members of the state’s destroyed. The agony of the Achaean civilisation bureaucratic mechanism, both local and central. continued for nearly a century. Late in the 12th cen- The state was headed by a wanax (king), whose func- tury the last of the Achaean palaces at Iolcos was tions were both political and sacral. The lawagetas or destroyed, and the palaces at Mycenae, Tiryns, and warlord played an important role. The higher no- Athens, where there had still been signs of life, were bility included priests of the principal temples and finally abandoned. The total number of settlements military leaders, above all commanders of charioteer in Greece also sharply fell at that time. For example, units which were the basis of the armed forces. 44 settlements were recorded at Argolis by archae- Little is so far known of the political history of ologists before the disaster, but only seven remained Achaean Greece. Some scholars believe that a uni- in the 11th century; the corresponding figures for fied Achaean empire under Mycenaean hegemony Messenia are 41 and 6; for Boeotia, 28 and 2; for existed, but it is more correct to assume that each Laconica, 30 and 1. No more monumental buildings palace was the centre of an independent state, which were erected, and the art of fresco painting therefore was often in military conflict with others. That did completely disappeared. A number of artistic crafts not, however, exclude the possibility of alliances of were lost, first of all those which satisfied the several Achaean states for joint enterprises. The Tro- demands of the higher strata of society-jewelry-mak- jan War described in the Iliad and the Odyssey was ing, ivory carving, glyptic. Links with the outer presumably one such campaign. It is not impossible world were almost completely severed, and ties that the war was only an episode in a powerful co- between the various parts of Greece waned. Writing Ionisation movement which began in the second half fell into disuse.

of the 2nd millennium B. C. Achaean settlements Thus perished the Achaean states in Greece. The

appeared on the western and southern coasts of Asia nuclei of these states, the palaces, were the first to be Minor; Rhodes and Cyprus were also actively col- destroyed. The population was also partly annihi- onised. The colonisation movement must also have lated, partly settled in areas least suitable for habi- been connected with the development of navigation tation, and partly emigrated. But society’s regress and sea trade. Achaean trading stations have been was not so much quantitative as qualitative: discovered in Sicily and southern Italy; an Achaean Greece’s population reverted to the primitive corn- settlement has been excavated at Ugarit. The ^ munal structure.

Achaeans’ naval activities were just as vigorous, a That fatal hundred years in the history of Greece They were involved in the powerful onslaught on the S has long attracted the attention of scholars, who Near Eastern countries that is usually termed the g keep looking for the causes of these events. Accord- movement of the Peoples of the Sea. Z ing to the traditional explanation, the Achaean civi-

i lisation was destroyed by the invasion of the Dor¬ as ians - related primitive Greek tribes that had lived in The Dorian Conquest and Its Consequences. “The Dark f the north of the Balkan peninsula. That theory has Age”. There are numerous indications that in the s recently been the subject of criticism. New solutions 13th century B.C., the powerful and flourishing I and modified variants of the traditional explanation

200

of the problem have been suggested. These can be reduced to two principal explanations: an internal social conflict in Achaean society and natural disas¬ ters. The former explanation is most popular, but it does not take into account the appearance of Dor¬ ians previously unknown in Greece. To circumvent that difficulty, it is suggested to view Dorians as the indigenous population of Greece constituting the bulk of the exploited masses, while the Achaeans are regarded as the rulers. This is believed to be the rea¬ son why the Doric dialect was not recorded in the written sources of the 2nd millennium B. C. The Dorians are then said to have overthrown the Achaeans and appeared in the foreground of history. These explanations, however, are obviously artificial and unsupported by the facts. At the present le¬ vel of historical knowledge, a modified traditional explanation seems to be the most acceptable one. It may be assumed that late in the 13th century Greece was invaded by northern tribes not only the Dor¬ ians but also tribes of a different ethnic nature. That incursion ended in the destruction of the principal centres of the Achaean civilisation. There was no mass migration, however, and only later did the Dorians come in relatively small groups to the devas¬ tated and depopulated land and settled most of it. The old Achaean population survived in some regions only, of which Attica was the most important one. The Achaean population ousted from Greece spread eastwards, occupying some of the Aegean islands, the western coast of Asia Minor and even Cyprus.

The period between the 11th and 9th centuries B. C. is the least studied in the history of Greece. It is often referred to as “The Dark Age”. The prin¬ cipal sources of its study are archaeological materials and the epic poems Iliad and Odyssey. As we have pointed out above, the use of the poems as a histori¬ cal source involves considerable difficulties. As any epics, they comprise different strata traceable to dif¬ ferent historical periods. The poems describe the Achaeans’ Trojan campaign, the siege and taking of the city, and the vicissitudes of Odysseus, one of the heroes of the Trojan War, on his way back home. In their content, the poems should reflect the life of Achaean society at the very end of its efflorescence. But Homer himself apparently lived in the 8th cen¬ tury B. C., and must have had only a vague idea of many objects, and of the everyday life and relations

of the past times. On the other hand, he often per¬ ceived the events of the past in the light of the rela¬ tions of his own time. Finally, some general features of epics must also be taken into account, such as the use of hyperbole, of stereotype epithets and other cliches in the description of characters and their eve¬ ryday life, as well as the intentionally archaic style.

In the period described here, farming remained the principal occupation of the population of Greece. Most of the cultivated land was apparently taken up by cereals. Horticulture, and wine-making continued to play a great role, and olives were grown on a large scale. Breeding of livestock (cattle, goats, sheep, pigs) also developed. Judging from Homer’s poems, cattle were used as a “universal equivalent”. Thus, according to the Iliad , a large tri¬ pod was valued at 12 oxen, and a skilful slave woman, at four.

Important changes took place at that time in the handicrafts, particularly in metallurgy and metal¬ working. The changes involved both techniques and organisation of production. It was in that period that iron began to be widely used. This fact had far- reaching consequences, revolutionising all spheres of life. The use of iron in the production of tools sharply increased labour productivity. As a result, it became possible for a single patriarchal family to cultivate an allotment of land without resorting to coop¬ eration with other families. The premises thus arose for the economic independence of the family as the basic production unit. Besides, the mining and cast¬ ing of iron were simpler than those of bronze. With the appearance of iron, there was no more need for expensive expeditions to far-off lands in search of metal; its centralised production, storage and distri¬ bution were no longer justified. The need for a cen¬ tralised bureaucratic mechanism characteristic of Achaean states also disappeared.

Compared to the Achaean epoch, the external links of the Greek world noticeably declined, and only towards the end of the period considered here were they somewhat extended. The sea seemed to the Greeks of those times to be a dangerous and alien force. The poets recounted the adventures of the half-pirates and half-traders that sailed the Mediter¬ ranean. Trading mostly took the form of barter.

The principal producers in ancient Greece were free farmers. The situation was somewhat different in the regions (typically illustrated by Sparta) where

the Dorian conquerors subjugated the local Achaean population. Thus the Dorians occupied the fertile valley of the Eurotas, subjugating the local popula¬ tion, but the degree of its exploitation was not great.

Polis as a special type of community was the basic form of societal organisation in Greece. Heads of patriarchal families constituting the polis were its citizens. Each family was an economically indepen¬ dent unit, which determined their political equality. Although the nascent aristocracy endeavoured to gain control of the community, the attainment of that goal was rather remote at the time. The polis community performed two most important func¬ tions-the defence of the land and of the population from the neighbours and regulation of the relations within the community. Only such poleis as Sparta, where there was subjugated population, developed some features of a primitive state structure then.

Towards the end of “the Dark Age” Greece was thus a world of hundreds of small and even tiny polis

communities uniting peasants cultivating their lands. It was a primitive world, of which the basic economic unit was a patriarchal family, economi¬ cally self-contained and practically independent of the social environment, a world marked by a simple mode of life and absence of external links, a world where the upper section of society had not yet sepa¬ rated from the bulk of the population, and exploi¬ tation of man by man was only beginning. But the Greeks had already mastered the technique of iron production, which sharply increased labour produc¬ tivity. Given the primitive forms of social organisa¬ tion, there were no forces yet which could compel the masses of producers to part with their surplus product-it remained within the basic economic unit and could be used for further expansion. But it was here that the enormous economic potential of the Greek world lay. It manifested itself in the next his¬ torical epoch, resulting in a rapid flourishing of Greek society.

Chapter 12 Archaic Greece

8th to 6th centuries B. C. are usually referred to as the archaic period in the history of Greece. Accord¬ ing to some researchers, it was at that period that classical society developed most intensely. Indeed, during these three centuries many important dis¬ coveries were made which determined the technical basis of classical society. The socioeconomic and political phenomena developed at that time which determined the specificity of classical society in rela¬ tion to other slave-owning societies: classical slave¬ owning; a system of money circulation and markets; civil community (polis) as the basic form of political organisation; the concept of the sovereignty of the people; and a democratic system of government. In that period, the principal ethical norms, moral prin¬ ciples and esthetic ideals were worked out which in¬ fluenced the Graeco-Roman world throughout its history - until the victory of Christianity. Finally, the basic phenomena of classical culture-philoso¬ phy, science, the principal genres of literature, theatre, architectural orders, and sport-all arose at that time.

The dynamic character of society in the archaic period is clear from the following facts. C. 800 B. C., the Greeks lived on a very limited territory of the southern Balkan peninsula, Aegean islands and the western coast of Asia Minor, while c. 500 B. C. their settlements spread along all the coasts of the Medi¬ terranean, from Spain to the Levant and from Africa to the Crimea. C. 800 B. C., Greece was in fact a rural world, a world of self-contained small com¬ munities, whereas in 500 B. C. Greece was already a mass of small towns with local markets; coins were already powerfully affecting the economy, trading

links embraced the whole of the Mediterranean, and not only luxury goods but also commodities of every¬ day consumption became objects of exchange. C. 800, Greece had a primitive social structure absolutely dominated by peasants, while the aristo¬ cracy differed but little from the peasants, and the numbers of slaves were insignificant, whereas by 500 B. C. the Greek world had already lived through an epoch of great social cataclysms, the slave of the clas¬ sical type had become one of the principal elements of the social structure, different social and profes¬ sional groups existed side by side with peasantry, and various forms of political organisation- monarchy, tyranny, oligarchy, and aristocratic and democratic republics-existed. In 800 B. C., Greece had practically no temples, theatres or stadiums, while Greece of the year 500 B. C. was a country of countless beautiful public buildings of which the ruins still delight us; lyrical poetry, tragedy, come¬ dy, and natural philosophy all developed in that period.

These comparisons could be extended, but it should be clear already that the period of three hundred years indeed witnessed an extraordinary historical leap. This rapid advance had of course been prepared by the previous development. An exceptional role was played by the spreading of iron tools. Iron axes made forest clearance a much easier task; farmers now used iron ploughshares, picks, hoes, shovels, sickles, and spades, which improved the quality of land cultivation and increased the yields; iron garden shears were also used in olive¬ growing and viticulture. Iron tools now made it pos¬ sible to cultivate stiff soils and dig canals for draining

| u.

a* a 8 -

C5 8 5

203

marshlands. Iron tools were also widely used in the include birth in an aristocratic family, possession of

handicrafts, increasing labour productivity. Im- land property (several times greater than the land

provement of melting furnaces brought about the in- allotment of an ordinary commoner), and finally a

vention of soldering and cored casting. Iron tools mode of life conforming to the norms of aristocratic

also made it possible to build roads in the moun- behaviour. The aristocrats’ domination of the sphere

tains, bridges, aqueducts, and large ships. The deve- of public life, especially of the administration of jus-

lopment of iron implements facilitated the dressing tice, was the bridgehead from which they began

of hard stone, which was now used in the construe- their offensive against peasants. This point is strik-

tion of city defences and temples. ingly illustrated in Hesiod’s remarkable epic poem

Progress in production had numerous conse- Works and Days written late in the 8th and early in

quences for the development of society. The growth the 7th century B. C. The aristocracy used its posi-

of labour productivity in agriculture and the crafts tion of the carrier and guardian of common law in its

resulted in increased surplus product. Increasing selfish interests rather than for the benefit of society

numbers of people could now be spared from farm- as a whole. The aristocracy’s privileged position was

ing, which led to a rapid growth of the crafts. Sepa- also determined by its military role. At the begin-

ration of farming from the handicrafts necessitated a ning of the archaic epoch the aristocracy constituted

regular exchange between them. The emergence of society’s main armed force. Only nobly born war-

markets entailed the appearance of a universal riors had heavy armour and fine weapons, so that

equivalent-minted coin, which rapidly spread battles were in effect a series of single combats

throughout Greece. Money, the new type of wealth, between aristocratic warriors. Ordinary citizens

became a rival of the old one-land property, under- made up a mass of soldiers armed with light weap-

mining the traditional relations. ons, who played only an insignificant role in the

That was the principal trend in the development hostilities,

of ancient Greek society. It led to a rapid disinte- Relying on their land property, dominance in the

gration of primitive communal relations and the social and ideological life and in military affairs, the development of new forms of socioeconomic and nobles endeavoured to establish control over the political organisation of society. That process rank-and-file members of society and turn them into

assumed various forms in different parts of Hellas, an exploited mass. Beginning with the 9th century

but there was also one common feature in them all- B. C., the links between Greece and the surrounding

the development of social conflicts. A more or less world were gradually restored. Of special signifi-

homogeneous society in which tribal aristocracy dif- cance were its ties with the East. Fine specimens of

fered but little from the peasant commoners evolved Oriental craftsmanship came to Greece as luxury

into a heterogeneous society consisting of different goods. Possession of them was regarded as pres-

social strata with conflicting interests. tigious and soon became a symbol of the aris-

The principal conflict of the epoch was between tocratic mode of life. The changing style of living the evolving aristocracy and the main bulk of the naturally demanded greater means. In its search for

rank-and-file population, in the first place the peas- these means the aristocracy turned to international

ant commoners. The conflict was complicated by the trade which was at that time combined with piracy,

involvement in it of other strata brought into being But the main source of income, as the nobles saw it,

by society’s economic progress, i. e., the de- ^ were the peasants, who had to be coerced into giving velopment of crafts and trade. ^ up part of their surplus product.

Greek aristocracy is usually believed to have 5 Modern researchers believe that the aristocratic emerged in the 8th century B. C. The aristocracy of ^ offensive against the rank-and-file citizens began in that time comprised a limited group of persons with n the 8th century B. C., reaching its peak in the 7th a specific mode of life and system of values obliga- | century. Although we know little of the details of tory for its members. Importantly, not only the aris- * that process, its main results can be seen from the tocrats themselves but other sections of society 1 example of Athens. The increased influence of the regarded them as the best part of it. The conditions = aristocracy was expressed here in the establishment of membership in the aristocracy were believed to | of a clear-cut estate structure. Athenian society was

204

divided into three strata: the eupatridai, or highly born aristocrats, the zeugitai , or the mass of common citizens, and finally peasants dependent on aristo¬ crats, whose position was sometimes compared with that of slaves. The dominant position of the aristoc¬ racy relied in particular on its monopoly of public magistracies; aristocrats were in fact the only mem¬ bers of the community permitted to manage their affairs. Further development of that process resulted in a gradual reduction of the stratum offree peasants and an increase in the numbers of dependent ones. In describing the state of Athenian society on the eve of the reforms, i. e., at the time when the aristocracy achieved its greatest successes, Aristotle wrote that the people were in the position of slaves, and the children and wives of the poor men were also en¬ slaved, not only the men themselves. They were called pelates or “sixth-sharers”, for it was on these terms that they tilled the lands of the rich. All land was in the hands of the few. If the poor could not pay the rental, they and their children could be en¬ slaved. A similar situation existed in many Greek poleis. This naturally created a great inner tension and gave rise to constant social conflicts.

The “Great Greek Colonisation”, a highly im¬ portant historical event, was also closely con¬ nected with this situation. Beginning with the mid-8th century B. C., the Greeks were compelled to leave their native land and migrate to other coun¬ tries. During three centuries, they founded a great number of colonies on the coasts of the Mediter¬ ranean. Colonisation proceeded in three principal directions-western (Sicily, southern Italy, southern France and even the eastern coast of Spain), north¬ ern (the Thracian coast of the Aegean, the region of the* straits connecting the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, and the Black Sea coast), and south-eas¬ tern (the north African coast and the Levant).

The causes and nature of colonisation have been a subject of controversy for decades. Modern re¬ searchers believe that the main cause of the coloni¬ sation was lack of land. Greece suffered both from absolute agrarian overpopulation (population growth due to a general economic rise) and from relative one (insufficiency of land in the hands of the poorest peasants due to concentration of land prop¬ erty in the nobles’ hands). Political struggle was also one of the causes of colonisation (those defeated in a civil war were often compelled to leave their native

land and migrate overseas). But political struggle was mostly an expression of the principal social con¬ flict of the epoch, i. e., the fight over land. Trading is also mentioned as a possible cause: it was important to establish control over the trading routes leading to the sources of raw materials, of metal in the first place.

The cities of Chalcis and Eretria on the island of Euboea were among the pioneers of Greek colonisa¬ tion. In the 8th century B. C. these important centres of metallurgy were apparently Greece’s most advanced cities. Later Corinth, Megara, and the cities of Asia Minor, especially Miletus, actively joined in the colonisation.

The economic basis of the new cities was deter¬ mined by a number of factors-the natural condi¬ tions on the site of the colony, the nature of the neighbouring local communities, the nature of the economy of the parent city, etc. Some of them became major agricultural centres; in a number of cases they subjugated the local population and exploited it much like the helots of Sparta. That was the situation, e. g., in Syracuse, the major Greek city in Sicily, and some cities in southern Italy. The col¬ onies of Phocis, including the largest of them, Massa- lia (modern Marseilles), were mostly trading and handicraft centres. Most Greek colonies were inde¬ pendent of their homelands, although they kept up close contacts with them. In less frequent cases the parent state was able to exercise control over its col¬ onies. Such was the policy of Corinth, for instance. Finally, in very rare cases a colony would be founded as a typical trading station on the territory of a foreign state; a typical example was Naucra- tis-a Greek city planted in Egypt with the phar¬ aoh’s permission. The Greek trading station at A1 Mina in northern Syria was merely a separate block in that city.

Colonisation made a great impact on the develop¬ ment of ancient Greek society, particularly of its economy. Although most colonies endeavoured to build self-sufficient economies, the establishment of P contacts with the local population and the impossi- ? bility of organising all the handicrafts in the colonies ►S resulted in the establishment of very close economic ties with the old centres of the Balkan peninsula and |) Asia Minor. These exported on a large scale the products of Greek handicrafts, especially artistic s ones, and some types of agricultural produce (the

205

best wines, olive oil, etc.) to the colonies and the local peoples, receiving in return grain and other foodstuffs, as well as raw materials (timber, metals, etc.). This stimulated the development of Greek handicrafts, and Greek agriculture began to work mostly for the market. Thus colonisation on the one hand dampened the social conflicts in Greece, taking masses of landless peasants out of the country, and on the other hand facilitated a profound restructur¬ ing of the economic and social system of Greek society.

As has already been pointed out, the pressure of the aristocracy reached its peak in the 7th century B. C., but it was also a time of increased resistance to that pressure. The acute social struggle of that pe¬ riod is vividly reflected in the verses of Theognis, an aristocratic poet banished from his native city, full of hatred for his people:

He who has never yet known either justice or law, Never worn aught but a shabby goatskin on his back Grazing outside city walls in the woods like wild deer Has been ennobled, and men who were nobly born Have become lowly.

The peasants, who were the main object of aris¬ tocratic exploitation, now had strong allies. The literary monuments of the 7th and 6th centuries B. C. touch on a very curious phenomenon in their descriptions of severe social conflicts: the aristocrats’ greatest hatred was not for the peasants but for the people they called kakoi (“the bad ones”). An anal¬ ysis of the sources shows that a very specific social stratum evolved at that time-men who attained considerable wealth (mosdy through the crafts or trade) enabling them to live like aristocrats without the latter’s hereditary privileges.

Money enjoys universal respect. All the orders Have been confused by wealth,

bitterly wrote Theognis. The kakoi aspired to partici- pation in the management of society’s affairs, but I under the existing social structure all power 5; belonged to the nobles. The kakoi were therefore the ^ peasants’ ready allies in the struggle against the aristocracy. s

The first successes in this struggle were mostly g, achieved with the establishment of written laws, 1 which limited the abuses of the aristocracy. In the ? mid-7th century B. C., the laws of Zaleukos from |

Locron (south Italy; were adopted; in 624 the laws of Drako of Athens; also in 624, the laws of Charondas in Katane (Sicily), etc.

Several circumstances aided the fighters against aristocratic domination. C. 675-650 technical advances brought about a revolution in military affairs. Heavy armour became accessible to the com¬ mon citizens, and the aristocracy lost its superiority in the military sphere. Moreover, the type of battle order that best accorded with this type of weapons- the phalanx or compact formation of several ranks of heavily armed hoplites- demanded the greatest pos¬ sible number of warriors. The phalanx’s chances of success increased with its depth and length of line. War became a mass affair, the battle order making the nobleman and the peasant equals. The signifi¬ cance of this development was so great that some researchers even speak of the “hoplites’ revolution”.

Because of the scarcity of the country’s natural resources, the Greek aristocracy could never equal the aristocracy of the East in material wealth. Owing to the specific features of historical develop¬ ment, Iron Age Greece had no economic institutions (like the temple estates of the East) on which the aristocrats might rely in their exploitation of peas¬ ants. Basically, i. e., in the mode of their economic activities, aristocratic estates did not differ from those of the peasants. Even peasant households dependent on the nobles were economically self-suf¬ ficient. All of this largely predetermined the instabil¬ ity of aristocratic domination of society. Finally, the nobles’ ethics was also a force which undermined their positions. That ethics was essentially “agonis¬ tic” (competitive): in accordance with the ethical norms of that social stratum, each nobleman endeavoured to be first in everything-on the battle¬ field, in sports, and in politics. These ethical princi¬ ples had evolved in the previous period, when the forms of societal organisation had been rather loose and the noble’s whole life had focused on his estate (oikos ), which had to be constantly defended by force of arms. These were the formative factors in the evo¬ lution of the aristocrats’ ethics with its primary con¬ cern with their own interests, complete neglect for the interests of the society of which they were members, and constant readiness for rivalry and open struggle. The Greek aristocracy brought that system of values to the new historical period when a cohesion of all its forces was necessary to ensure its

206

dominant position, but that was not a goal it was Tyranny was not of course a necessary stage in the

capable of attaining. evolution of all the polises. It was most typical of

In most Greek cities, the growing acuteness of the those cities which became major handicrafts and

social conflicts in the 7th and 6th centuries B. C. trade centres already in the archaic epoch. - The for-

resulted in the establishment of tyrannies, i. e., sys- mation of this type of classical polis in Athens has

terns in which power was vested in a single ruler. been studied better (owing to the fairly abundant

The concept of tyranny did not at that time have the sources) than in other cities. As has been mentioned

negative colouring it has in modern society. Tyran- above, at the beginning of the archaic epoch politi-

nic regimes existed in Miletus, Ephesus, on Samos, cal power in Athens belonged entirely to the eupatri-

in Sicyon, Corinth, Megara, later in Athens and dai, the nobles who gradually reduced the ordinary

some other cities. Tyrants were as a rule active in citizens to serfdom. As early as the 7th century B. C.,

foreign policy, they built powerful armed forces, and social conflicts flared up here. In the 630s, Cylon, a

took great pains to improve and embellish their member of a family of the eupatridai, made an

cities. Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, united the whole attempt to establish a tyranny that ended in his

of the island in one state, built a powerful navy, death. Soon after, the laws were recorded. Decisive

erected city walls, and built a fine harbour and a changes, linked with the name of Solon, occurred

water-line into the city. He was active on the early in the 6th century B. C. After winning popular-

Aegean, endeavouring to establish his control over ity as the leader of a campaign against the island of

the major sea routes. The tyrannical dynasty of the Salamis, Solon was able to carry out a series of

Cypselidai which ruled Corinth for seventy years reforms. The most important of these was the so-

(7th and 6th centuries B. C.) implemented an active called seisachtheia, or the “shaking off of burdens”,

colonisation policy to ensure control over the trading The stones that marked the plots of indebted peas-

routes leading west. Handicrafts flourished at that ants were pulled down, and the land reverted to

time in Corinth, and Corinthian products spread their original owners. That was a powerful blow

throughout the western Mediterranean. It was here against the aristocrats, who were the principal credi-

that the trireme was invented at that time a fast tors. The peasants, who had been reduced to the

warship with three rows of oars, which for several position of tenants on their own land because of their

centuries became the principal type of warship in debts, were restored to their status of owners by that

the ancient Mediterranean. reform. Simultaneously it was absolutely forbidden

Similar processes were observed in many other to enslave Athenians for their debts. Moreover, mea-

Greek cities in which tyrants ruled. But early tyran- sures were taken to bring the Athenians sold for their

nies were not regimes that could exist for long - they debts abroad back to their homeland. Through

were doomed because of internal contradictions. legislative measures, Solon also endeavoured to stim-

The overthrow of aristocratic domination and the ulate agricultural and industrial production for the

struggle against the aristocracy were impossible market. Political reforms, which ultimately under-

without support from the popular masses and with- mined the political dominion of the nobles, were also

out economic revival of peasant economy. The peas- of great significance. According to the new laws, the

ants, who profited by that policy, supported the ty- extent of political rights was determined by the size

rants. But when the nobles became less of a threat, of property rather than by noble birth. All citizenry

the peasants gradually came to realise that tyranni- was divided into four property classes, and the Ath-

cal regimes were no longer necessary. The rise of the enian military organisation was restructured in

peasant economy entailed certain political conse- accordance with this division. The citizens of the two

quences: in the course of time, tyranny lost the sup- S upper classes served in the cavalry; the third class port of the masses and was thus doomed. The crisis ^ (the most numerous one, consisting mostly of peas- in the relations between the tyrant and the bulk of ^ ants) formed units of heavily armed hoplites, and the the citizenry ended as a rule in the downfall of the _ fourth and lowest category, of lightly armed war- tyranny, the establishment of a republican form of f riors. A new organ of government was set up-the government (oligarchic or democratic) and the for- - Council or Boule, and the role of the popular assem- mation of the classical Greek polis. 3 bly grew.

207

Despite the radical character of Solon’s reforms, of the traditions of collective ownership of land. By

they did not solve all the problems. Both the nobles, and by the Spartans expanded their military activity

who were deprived of most of their privileges, and and attempted to conquer Messenia (the western

the broad sections of the demos were disaffected by part of Peloponnese). The First Messenian War

the reforms. The demos was discontented because ended in the capture of part of the country; in the

the democratisation of the system was not radical 7th century, they started the Second Messenian War

enough; in particular, only the citizens of the two in order to conquer the whole of that land. It was at

highest property classes had effective political rights, that time, as recent research has shown, that the

that is, the right to fill magisterial posts of any degree latent internal social conflict erupted in Sparta. The

of significance. Spartan crisis resembled in its principal aspects simi-

After Solon’s reforms, acute social struggle in lar conflicts that were occurring at that time in the

Athens resulted in the establishment in 560 B. C. of other parts of Greece; essentially, it was a conflict

Peisistratus’s tyrannical regime. With interruptions, between the aristocracy and the rank-and-file citi-

the tyranny persisted here until 510 B. C. Peisistratus, zenry. During the war, the commoners rose against

who was a eupatrid himself, confiscated the lands of the nobles, and a long struggle between them

his eupatrid political opponents. These lands were resulted in a complete transformation of Spartan

distributed among the peasants. He also introduced society. A system was built in Sparta that was later

state credits for the peasants and simplified legal called Lycurgan, after the law-maker who estab-

procedures. Peisistratus conducted an active foreign lished it. The tradition simplifies the actual picture,

policy, consolidating the positions of Athens on the of course: the system was not created at a stroke, tak-

sea routes. Trade and the handicrafts flourished in ing considerable time to evolve, but its formation

the city, and many construction projects were was undoubtedly begun during the Second Mes-

started. Athens gradually became one of the major senian War. Having overcome its internal crisis,

economic centres of Hellas. In objective terms, how- Sparta was able to conquer Messenia, emerging as

ever, Peisistratus’s policy led to the undermining of the most powerful state of Peloponnese and probably

the tyrannical regime’s stability, as it increased the of all Greece.

importance of the democratic elements which in- The purpose of the new system was to attain abso-

creasingly resented the tyranny. Under Peisistratus’s lute equality among Spartan citizens. All land in

successors that regime fell, and this again increased Laconica and Messenia was divided into equal lots,

the social tensions. Soon after 509 B. C., a series of or kleroi. Each Spartan was given such a kleros, but it

reforms were implemented under Cleisthenes’s lea- did not become his property, and after his death the

dership which finally asserted the democratic sys- land reverted to the state. Other measures were also

tern. The most important of these reforms concerned taken to achieve complete equality among the Spar-

franchise. All citizens regardless of their property tans; these included a rigorous system of education

status were given equal political rights. The system intended to mould the ideal warrior; a strict regula-

of territorial division was changed so that the nobles’ tion of all the aspects of the citizens’ life, which was

influence in the rural areas was destroyed. The his- at all times very much the life of a military camp; a

tory of Athens in the archaic epoch was the history of strict ban on farming, crafts or trade as possible

the evolution of the democratic polis. occupations for Spartans, and on the use of gold and

The development of Sparta went along a different ^ silver (iron bars were used for coin in Sparta); and path. As has been mentioned, the Dorians captured ~ severe limitations on contacts with the external Laconica and, subjugating the local population, 5 world. The political system was also reformed, founded a state at Sparta as early as the 9th century ^ Besides the kings (who performed the functions of B. C. The state did not evolve here through the military leaders, judges and priests), the council of society’s internal conflicts but as a result of conquest; | elders or Gerousia, and the popular assembly, a new

having emerged at a very early stage, it retained a= organ was set up-a college of five ephors or “over-

many primitive structural features. One of these was | seers”, the most democratic institution in Sparta at

a dyarchy: there were two royal houses possessing ?; that time. The ephors were elected by the whole equal rights. Another such feature was the strength £ body of adult citizens; this college was the highest

208

control organ which saw to it that no one (not even the kings or the elders) deviated from the principles of the Spartan system, which was the object of pride for the Spartans who believed that they achieved ideal equality.

Historians traditionally view Sparta as a militarist state (these days, some specialists prefer the term “police state”), and there is a great deal to recom¬ mend that view. The basis of the “community of homoioi" or equals, that is, of the full-fledged Spartan citizens all having equal rights and doing no produc¬ tive work at all, were the helots or the masses of the subjugated population of Laconica and Messenia. Scholars have argued for years about the best way to define the position of that stratum of the population. According to the most widely accepted definition, the helots were state slaves. They had plots of land, labour implements, and a measure of economic in¬ dependence. But they had to hand over a certain share of their crops to the masters, the Spartans, thus providing their means of subsistence. According to modern calculations, that share equalled one-sixth or one-seventh of the harvest. The helots had no political rights at all. They belonged to the Spartan state (though not to any individual Spartan), which had absolute power over their life and limb, not only their property. Any sign of protest on the helots’ part was ruthlessly suppressed.

There was yet another social group in Sparta called perioikoior “dwellers around”. They were the descendants of the Dorians and formed no part of the Spartan citizenry. They lived in communities of their own, and had their own internal self-govern¬ ment (under the supervision of Spartan officials); their occupations were farming, the crafts and trade. They were obliged to contribute military con¬ tingents to the Spartan army. Sparta was represen¬ tative of one of the modes of the development of ancient Greek society; similar social conditions and political structure are found in a number of other Greek societies-in Crete, Argos, Thessaly, etc.

The Greek Culture of the Archaic Epoch. Greek culture, like all the other aspects of life in Greece, went through a series of turbulent changes in the archaic 5 epoch. First of all, the ethnic self-consciousness r- evolved in that period, the Greeks coming to realise §

themselves as a single people different from the others whom they began to call “barbarians”. There was no sign yet of a superior attitude in this opposi¬ tion of the Hellenes to the barbarians, but a basis for such an attitude already existed. The ethnic self- consciousness manifested itself in certain social insti¬ tutions. According to the Greek tradition, the first Olympic games, open only to the Greeks, were held in 776 B' C.

During the archaic period, the principal features of ancient Greek society’s ethics took shape, includ¬ ing the combination of the nascent collectivist atti¬ tude and the agonistic (competitive) principle. The gradual moulding of the polis as a special type of community destined to replace the loose unions of the “heroic” epoch also called forth to life a new polis-oriented morality, essentially collectivist in nature, since the existence of the individual outside the polis was impossible. The military organisation of the polis (the phalanx battle order) also contrib¬ uted to the development of that morality. The citizen’s highest virtue was selfless defence of his native polis. But the new morality preserved certain principles of the ethics of the Homeric times with its basic element of competitiveness. Political reforms in the poleis were such that this morality lived on, as the reforms did not deprive the aristocracy of its rights but rather raised the common citizenry to the level of aristocracy as far as the extent of their politi¬ cal rights was concerned. Because of this, the tradi¬ tional ethics of the nobles spread in the masses, although in a somewhat changed form : the desire to serve the native polis best was the guiding principle now.

Religion was also going through a transformation. The unity of the Greek world that was emerging at that time despite all the local differences resulted in the appearance of a pantheon of gods common to all the Greeks. Greater order in the internal structure of society was reflected in greater order in the pan¬ theon, where the functions of the gods were more strictly delimited. The idea of an omnipotent deity was alien to the Greek religious consciousness, parti¬ cularly at that period of its development: an imper¬ sonal force, Fate or Ananke, towered above the world of the Olympian gods. A unified Greek religion had not yet arisen owing to political fragmentation and the absence of priesthood, but a great many ex¬ tremely similar, though not identical, religious sys-

209

14—344

terns already existed. As the polis worldview deve¬ loped, the conception of special ties between a certain deity and a polis of which it was a patron or patroness took shape. Thus the goddess Athena was closely linked with Athens; Hera, with Samos and Argos; Apollo and Artemis, with Delos; Apollo, with Delphi; Zeus, with Olympia, etc.

Characteristic of the Greek worldview at that time was not only polytheism but also the notion of uni¬ versal animatedness of nature. Each natural pheno¬ menon, each river, spring, mountain or coppice had a divinity of their own. In the Greek’s view, there was no insurmountable boundary between the world of men and that of gods; these two worlds were con¬ nected through the mediation of heroes. Such heroes as Heracles were included among the gods for their labours. Greek gods were anthropomorphous them¬ selves, they had human passions and could suffer like men.

The archaic epoch marked the beginning of the formation of Greek architecture. The primacy of social and, above all, sacral architecture is abso¬ lutely indubitable. The dwelling houses of that time were primitive; the society’s main resources were spent entirely on monumental edifices, and in the first place on temples. The temples of the com¬ munity’s patrons took absolute priority. The devel¬ oping feeling of the unity of a civic community expressed itself in the construction of such temples believed to be the dwellings of the gods. Early tem¬ ples repeated the ground plan of the megaron of the 2nd millennium B. C. The temple of the new type was born in Sparta, and that was only natural, for Sparta was in fact the most ancient polis of Hellas. A characteristic feature of Greek architecture was the use of orders - a special system of construction which emphasised the building’s architectonics and lent a particular expressiveness to the load-carrying and other elements of the structure, revealing their func¬ tion. A building in one of the orders usually has a ^ stepped foundation on which a series of columns are ^ erected-vertical load-carrying supports for the 5 entablature reflecting the structure of the beam ceil- 5 ing and the roof. Originally, temples were built on n acropolises or fortified hills, which were the ancient | centres of settlements. Along with the general j democratisation of society, the location of temples | later changed, too. They were now also built in the 5 lower town, mostly in the agora or main square, s

210

which was the centre of the community’s social and business life.

The temple as an institution facilitated the devel¬ opment of various arts. The custom of bringing offer¬ ings to the temple became established very early. Part of the booty captured from the enemy, often their weapons, were brought to the temple; gifts were offered on the occasion of release from danger, etc. A considerable share of these gifts were works of art. Particularly important in this respect were tem¬ ples popular throughout Greece, of which the tem¬ ple of Apollo at Delphi was the most famous. The rivalry between aristocratic clans and later between poleis contributed to the concentration here of the best works of art, while the shrine’s territory became a kind of a museum.

During the archaic epoch, monumental sculpture, an art previously unknown in Greece, appeared. The earliest sculptures were effigies crudely carved out of wood, often with ivory inlays, covered with sheet bronze. Advances in the techniques of stone dressing did not affect architecture alone-they also resulted in the emergence of stone sculpture, while improvements in metalworking brought about the emergence of bronze sculpture. In the 7th and 6 th centuries B. C., two types prevailed in sculpture - the nude male figure and the draped female. The birth of the statuary type of a man’s nude figure was con¬ nected with the principal trends in the development of society at that time. The statue portrayed a hand¬ some and valorous citizen, winner at sports who made his native city famous through his victories. Statues on tombs and figures of deities also followed this model. The appearance of reliefs was mostly connected with the custom of erecting monuments over graves. Later reliefs developed into complex compositions of many figures, becoming an obliga¬ tory element of the temple’s entablature. Statues and reliefs were usually painted.

Unlike paintings on vases, Greek monumental painting is but little known. Vase paintings offer a better chance of tracing the principal trends in the evolution of art-the development of realistic princi¬ ples, and the interaction between traditional art and Oriental influences. In the 7th and early 6 th cen¬ turies B. C., Corinthian and Rhodian vases with par¬ ticoloured paintings of the so-called “carpet style” prevailed. They usually carried vegetable designs and various animals and fantastic creatures

arranged in rows. In the 6th century B.C., the “black-figure style” was dominant in vase painting: figures painted in black lacquer stood out sharply against the reddish clay background. Most popular in the black-figure style were mythological themes. Athens became the most prominent of the cities where these vases were made.

The greatest achievement of the Greek culture of the archaic epoch was the development of the alpha¬ betic system of writing. Transforming the Phoeni¬ cian syllabic system, the Greeks worked out a simple and economical method of recording information. Learning to read and write no longer required long years of hard work; the system of education was “democratised”, so that practically all free citizens of Greece gradually became literate. Knowledge was thereby secularised too, which, on the one hand, became one of the causes of the absence of priest¬ hood as the carrier of society’s bank of knowledge, and on the other, increased the intellectual potential of society as a whole.

The archaic epoch witnessed the emergence of philosophy - an event of extreme importance in the history of European culture. Philosophy was a fun¬ damentally new approach to the cognition of the world, basically different from that which prevailed in the Near East and in Greece of the earlier times.

The transition from religious-mythological concep¬ tions of the world to its philosophical interpretation signified a qualitative leap in mankind’s intellectual development. The posing of worldview problems, their formulation, emphasis on the human mind as the instrument of cognition, and orientation towards the search for the causes of all that happens in the world itself rather than outside it — these are the fea¬ tures that substantively distinguish the philosophical approach to the world from religious and mythologi¬ cal views. Two principal views of the emergence of philosophy are current in present-day literature. According to one school of thought, the birth of phi¬ losophy is derivative from the development of science, quantitative accumulation of positive knowledge resulting in a qualitative leap. According 5 to the other explanation, early Greek philosophy dif- f fered from the chronologically earlier mythological system of world cognition only in the mode of ^ expression. Recently, the view has been expressed |" which appears to be more correct than the other r two; it postulates the birth of philosophy from the |

211

social experiences of the citizen in the early polis. The polis and the relations between the citizens within the polis-that was the model in terms of which Greek philosophers conceived the world and the structure of the universe. This is borne out by the fact that in its earliest form, that of natural philoso¬ phy (concerned above all with cognition of the most general laws of the universe), philosophy emerged in the poleis of Asia Minor, which were the most advanced at the time (late 7th and 6th centuries B. C.). It was here that the first philosophers - Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes were active. The philosophy that came into being there was spontaneously materialistic. The search for the material first elements of all that is was the principal concern of the first philosophers. The natural philo¬ sophical theories of the first principles permitted the construction of a general worldview and an explana¬ tion of the general picture of the universe without resorting to the gods. Thales, the founder of Ionic natural philosophy, believed that water in its perpe¬ tual motion was the element of nature; its transfor¬ mations created all things, which in their turn ulti¬ mately became water. Thales pictured the earth as a flat disc floating on the surface of primordial water. Thales was also believed to be the founder of mathe¬ matics, astronomy and various other sciences. Com¬ paring records on the successive solar eclipses, ht predicted the solar eclipse of 597 (or 585) B. C. and explained it by the fact that the moon stood in the light of the sun. According to Anaximander, the first element of all that is was the apeiron, or an indefinite, eternal and endless substance in perpetual motion. Anaximander gave the first formulation of the law of conservation of energy and constructed the first geo¬ metrical model of the universe.

The materialism and dialectics of the Ionic natural philosophers were rejected by the Pythagor¬ eans-the followers of the teaching of Pythagoras who founded a religious-mystic society in southern Italy. The Pythagoreans attached paramount im¬ portance to mathematics, believing that it was not quality but quantity, not substance but form, that determined the essence of all that is. Ultimately they identified things with numbers, depriving them of their material content. The abstract number raised to an absolute was seen as the basis of the nonmater¬ ial essence of the world.

At the beginning of the archaic epoch, the epic

14 *

poems inherited from the previous times were the dominant genre. Under Peisistratus, Homer’s poems were recorded in Athens, and that marked the end of the “epic” period. As a reflection of the experiences of all society, epics had to give way to other types of literature under the new conditions. In that epoch of turbulent social conflicts in which men became con¬ sciously involved, lyrical genres reflecting the individual’s emotions and experiences began to develop. The poetry of Tyrtaeus, who inspired the Spartans in their struggle for possession of Messenia and dominance over the helots, was distinguished for its civic spirit. Tyrtaeus’s elegies praised military valour and set down the norms of a warrior’s beha¬ viour; they were sung during military campaigns in later times, too, and also enjoyed popularity outside Sparta as hymns in praise of polis patriotism.

The poetry of Theognis, an aristocratic poet who realised that the supremacy of the aristocrats had come to an end, and suffered from that realisation, was imbued with hatred for the lower classes and a passion for revenge:

Trample the empty-souled commoners hard with your

heel,

Prick them with sharp-pointed sticks, and fetter them

fast to a yoke.

Archilochus, one of the first lyrical poets, spent a life full of misfortunes and suffering. The son of a noble and a slave woman, Archilochus was driven by dire need to leave his native island of Paros for Thasos in the company of some colonists; he fought the Thracians, served as a mercenary, visited “beau¬ tiful and happy” Italy, but nowhere did he find happiness.

My barley bread is kneaded in my spear

And in my spear flows my Ismarian wine

Leaning upon my spear, I drink.

The work of another great lyric poet, Alkaios, re¬ flected the stormy political fife of the times. His themes were politics, conviviality, the joys of life, the sadness of love, and the inevitability of death. Merry-making was probably his favourite subject.

feus lets it rain, and terrible from heaven

Comes winter's breath; the streams are frozen fast

Let's flout the winter: fan the fire,

And mix sweet wine a-plenty in a mug,

And then, with ardent pleasure,

Upon a downy pillow lay your head.

There is also this exquisite line to Sappho, his great contemporary:

Sappho, violet-locked and pure, tenderly smiling... Sappho mostly wrote of women suffering from love and the pangs ofjealousy; of a mother’s tender love for her children. The tone of her poems is mostly one of sadness, which lends them special charm.

Blessed like the immortals to me seems He who is sitting so close at your side,

Tour sweet voice hears, and also your Laughter enchanting Can hear. Truly it sets in my breast My racing heart a-flutter.

Anacreon was a poet of beauty, love, and joy; he never wrote of politics, wars, or civil strife. These lines to Bacchus, translated by Thomas More, are typical:

“Oh, Bacchus! we shall sing to thee,

In wild but sweet ebriety!

And flash around such sparks of thought,

As Bacchus could alone have taught!

Then give the harp of epic song,

Which Homer's finger thrill'd along;

But tear away the sanguine string,

For war is not the theme / sing!”

The genius of Anacreon and the fascinating style of his verse made an enormous impact on European poetry, Russian poetry included.

Towards the end of the archaic epoch, prose emerged as a separate genre in the works of the logo- graphs who collected local legends, genealogies of aristocratic families, and stories of the founding of poleis. The art of the theatre was also born at that time, developing from the popular rites of the cults connected with land cultivation. The tyrants, who liked to have famous poets at their courts, did a great deal to encourage the development of Greek litera¬ ture. They patronised poets in much the same way as they embellished their cities with beautiful build¬ ings : poets were also ornaments that made the polis famous.

212

Classical Greece

According to the generally accepted periodisation, the classical period in the history of Greece covers the epoch from the end of the 6th and the beginning of the 5th centuries B. C. to 338 B. C., when the bat¬ tle of Chaeronea put an end to the independent exis¬ tence of the world of Greek poleis. That was the time of Greece’s efflorescence, many phenomena that had developed in the archaic epoch, particu¬ larly in the field of culture, reached their peak. It was the time of the supremacy of the polis as a speci¬ fic form of socioeconomic and political organisation of society. In the view of many researchers, it is the polis form of the organisation of society which explains all the principal traits of the development of ancient Greek society, including those of culture and art. The polis evolved in the archaic epoch, and some of its distinctive traits were fully expressed at that time, but it really flourished at the beginning of the classical period.

The polis is usually defined as a civic community. This definition stresses two elements-the communal character of this social organism and the specificity of this community, its difference from the other types of communities (clan, family, territorial community, etc.). The principal distinctive feature of the classi¬ cal civic community was its basis - the classical form of property, thoroughly studied by K. Marx who showed that this type of property differed from all the others in its diunal nature, the dialectic unity of the state and private principles of ownership. This feature of the classical form of property explains all the basic traits of the ancient Greek polis, in the first place the coincidence, in principle, of the political collective (the collective of full-fledged citizens) and

that of landowners, the interrelatedness of the civic status and the right to own land. All the groups of the population who had no civil rights were also deprived of the right to own land. The reverse dependence also existed, though it was not so clearly expressed: in many poleis, the loss of a plot of land signified the loss of political rights. The polis as a col¬ lective of citizens had the supreme right to own land. The fact that the right to own land and the civic status were mutually conditional, and the social and the political structures basically coincided, ensured, in the ideal, equal political rights for all the citizens. The polis was run by various organs of government (such as the Council and the magistracies), but the popular assembly, which had the ultimate say on all the most important issues, was the supreme organ (even in poleis with obvious oligarchic tendencies). That determined the general trend towards democ¬ racy in the development of ancient Greek society.

Another most important feature of the polis was the coincidence of the political and military organi¬ sations. Armed citizens formed the military force of the civic community. Being a warrior and fighting to defend the polis were the right, the privilege, and the duty of the citizen. The citizen and property owner was at the same time a warrior defending the polis and thereby his private property.

The economy of the polis was primarily based on 5 agriculture, which was the principal sphere of the 5 citizen’s activities. Even in the economically most 9 developed poleis, such as Athens, agriculture was § the main occupation of most citizens. In the public opinion, farming stood above all the other types of | activity. It was firmly believed that only a peasant

could be a good citizen and warrior, whereas trade advanced centres. Under classical slavery (best and the crafts were less respected, if not downright known from Athens), the slave was not only entirely disreputable. In some poleis, abandoning farming deprived of the implements and means of production for the handicrafts or trade automatically entailed but was himself merely “a speaking tool” and as the loss of civil rights. Even in such an advanced such the master’s absolute property. The slave- polis as Athens, where these occupations were not owner’s right to his slave was without any limi- regarded as disgraceful, the body of petty craftsmen tations. A thing and not a human being according to and traders was made up by medcs-foreigners who the prevailing legal norms, the slave was deprived of had moved to Athens from other poleis and had few legal protection; he was the object and not the sub¬ political rights. ject of law. Slaves had no family, and the children of

The idea of auttarkeia (autarky), or self-sufficiency, slave women also became slaves. In Greece, slaves of was the main economic principle of the polis. Autarky the classical type were not natives of the country in was the economic basis of freedom. Neither a separa- which they toiled; they were captured in other coun- te individual nor the polis as a whole felt entirely tries during wars or piratical raids and then taken to free if their means of subsistence depended on so- slave markets.

meone else. As far as the individual was concerned, In Athens, a decisive impetus to the development

autarcy implied the ideal of a peasant, the owner of of slavery in its classical form was given by Solon’s a homestead who derived his subsistence from it. reforms, which brought about an accelerated Autarky for the polis as a whole meant the sum of economic development of Athens and, accordingly, the autarkies of separate households. The polis a greater need for manpower. At the same time they system of values was worked out in accordance ensured the economic independence of the peasants with these basic principles and continued to exist and banned endogenous slavery. The polis became a and exert its influence even when the conditions of mechanism for ensuring the dominance of slave- life changed. The most essential elements of this owners over their slaves the polis’s yet another most system of values were as follows: the firm conviction important trait. At the beginning of the classical that the polis was the supreme value, that man’s epoch most citizens did not of course had slaves, but existence outside the polis was impossible, and that the number of slave-owners grew with the develop- the well-being of the individual entirely depended ment of the economy, and the deeper that process on the well-being of the polis; the idea of superiority went, the more obvious became the polis’s function of farming over all the other occupations; condem- as an instrument of slave-owners’ power over the nation of striving for profit, the desire to maintain slaves, whose increasing numbers presented a grow- the immutability of the economic basis and of all ing threat.

the other conditions of life, and the primacy of the Such was the picture of the Greek polis at the

tradition. Taken as a whole, the polis emerges as a beginning of the classical epoch. It evolved under

kind of “peasant republic” with all the traits the particular environmental, socioeconomic, and inherent in such a social organism. It should be political conditions prevailing in ancient Greece and borne in mind, however, that the “model” described was practically unknown in the early civilisations of here is somewhat generalised, whereas historical the Near East, sharply differing from the forms of reality was much more complex, the individual societal organisation existing there. But the forma- poleis often deviating from that model. tion and development of the polis was a pheno-

The classical epoch was characterised by yet i menon of world-historical significance, since the another important phenomenon, namely the begin- 5 polis world represented an entirely different civilisa- ning of the wide spreading in Greece of slavery of the tion, a new mode of the development of the slave- classical type, although there had been slaves in „ owning system. At the very beginning of its exis- Hellas in the previous epoch as well. There were two § tence, this world had to defend its own path of principal forms of slavery at that time: slavery of the j development in a severe test of its strength. The end helot type, which existed not only in Sparta but also | of the archaic and the beginning of the classical pe- in some other agricultural regions, and slavery of the ^ riod coincided with great changes in the Near East, classical type, most widespread in the economically | where the Achaemenid “world” empire arose. Its

westward expansion threatened the very existence of Persian army against the Greeks. Some of the

the polis civilisation. poleis, believing that resistance was useless,

Already in the mid-6th century B. C., the Greek accepted Achaemenid rule; others declared their

poleis of Asia Minor were subdued by the Achae- neutrality; and only some Greeks, led by Sparta and

menids. The Persians imposed tribute on the cities Athens, were firm in the resolve to fight for their

and in most of them changed the state structure by freedom. The first serious encounter occurred in the

thrusting on them tyrants loyal to themselves. In 500 Thermopylae pass leading from northern to central

B. C., the Greeks rose in revolt. The resistance lasted Greece. Here a unit of 300 Spartans led by their king

for five years, but in the end it was suppressed. The Leonidas heroically fought off the whole of the Per-

Greek cities of Asia Minor were terribly devastated, sian army for several days. A traitor led a Persian

and it took them many years to recover. force across the mountains. Surrounded, the Spar-

Under the pretext that some of the poleis of the tans all fell in the unequal battle. Later, a monu-

Balkan peninsula had supported the rebels, the Per- ment in the shape of a lion was erected on the former

sians increased their pressure on the West. Crossing battlefield. At the same time a naval battle was

the Hellespont, they established a bridgehead in fought off Cape Artemisium. It lasted for two days, Thrace. In their plans for a decisive blow against and its outcome was still undecided when it became

Greece, the Persians chose Athens as their prime known that the Persians had crossed the Thermopy-

objective. Using their powerful navy, the Persians lae; the Greek fleet retreated. The Persian army’s

captured a number of islands and in September 490 breakthrough into central Greece was a terrible

disembarked on the territory of Attica near the vil- blow. The population of Athens had to abandon lage of Marathon. It was here that a decisive battle their city seeking refuge on the island of Salamis and

was fought, in which the Athenian force and an aux- in the Peloponnese. After these defeats, serious dif-

iliary unit from the Boeotian city of Plataea engaged ferences arose among the leaders of the Greeks’ com-

a Persian army which far outnumbered them. The bined forces. The Spartans insisted on the navy’s

Persians could not stand the onslaught of the Athe- retreat to the Isthmus of Corinth, where the land

nian phalanx and were routed. The Marathon vie- forces had taken up their positions, while the Athe-

tory was proudly remembered by the Athenians for nians were in favour of a decisive sea battle. Themis-

many years to come. tocles tried to persuade the Greeks that a battle at

Although the offensive was repulsed, both the Salamis would be greatly to their advantage, as the

Greeks and the Persians realised that the fight would Persians would be unable to deploy their force in the

inevitably go on. True, owing to king Darius I’s narrow straits. This time again history proved the

death and other events, the Persians were only able Athenian strategist right. The Athenians were

to resume hostilities several years later. Most Greek resolved to fight to the last man.

poleis, however, made no serious preparations for Advance, ye sons of Greece, from thraldom save

rebuffing the Persian aggression. Only in Athens did Tour country, save your wives, your children

some significant changes occur. It was in those years save ,

that the Athenian state obtained for the first time The temples of your gods, the sacred tombs

considerable means from the exploitation, begun at Where rest your honoured ancestors; this day

that time, of the silver mines at Laurium. Themisto- The common cause of all demands your valour.

cles, the leader of Athenian democrats at the time, These lines, written by Aeschylus, who himself

proposed a plan for building a powerful navy with took part in the fighting, express the Athenians’ mood

that money. Despite aristocratic opposition, the plan __ in those terrible days. The Persian fleet suffered a was accepted, and 100 ships were built. The imple- 4 crushing defeat. The Battle of Salamis marked the mentation of Themistocles’s plan made a great im- 3 turn of the tide in the fortunes of war, but the pact on the subsequent destiny of Athens and of * decisive events happened in the summer of 479 B. C. Hellas in general, while at that particular moment it §= According to the tradition, the Persians were de- helped to beat off the Persian invasion. Later events g feated on the same day on land near the township showed the correctness of Themistocles’s policy. e> of Plataea and in a naval battle off Cape Mycale. In the spring of 480 B. C., king Xerxes led a vast The Persian armies left the territory of Greece,

215

and the Greek cities of Asia Minor were also libera¬ ted. Although the hostilities lasted for another 30 years, the events of the years 480 and 479 B. C. changed the entire situation. It was now clear that Greece could defend its independence, and that the Greek poleis had proved their viability.

The consequences of the Greek victory were manyfold. The psychological result was most impor¬ tant. The Greeks, particularly the citizens of those poleis who had fought the Persians from the begin¬ ning, were proud of their victory over the powerful Achaemenid empire; they believed that it was their freedom that had brought them victory, while the Persians’ defeat was explained by the fact that they were all slaves of a “great” king. The idea of a basic difference between the Greeks and all the other peo¬ ples developed during that war into the conviction of the Greeks’ superiority over the world of the barbarians.

The Graeco-Persian wars greatly affected the whole course of the socioeconomic development of Hellas. Although the Persian invasion had done great damage to the Greek economy, the results of the victory outweighed the damage. Particularly im¬ portant was the second phase of the war, when the Greeks won victories and made their numerous cap¬ tives slaves. After the victory at the Eurymedon alone they captured 20 thousand prisoners of war. As masses of captives were brought to the slave mar¬ kets, the prices of slaves dropped sharply, and people of modest means could now afford to buy them. The Graeco-Persian wars thus contributed to a wide spreading of slavery in Greece and its introduction in all spheres of economic activity.

The consequences of the Graeco-Persian wars were most far-reaching in Athens, which became the largest economic and political centre of Hellas. The subsequent period in the history of Greece was a time of undoubted ascendancy of Athens and its great influence on the destiny of the entire Mediter¬ ranean world. The rise of Athens should be consi¬ dered in terms of the development in three closely connected spheres: foreign policy (the founding of the Athenian naval power), economy (the develop¬ ment of Athens into the largest economic centre of Greece), and domestic policy (the consolidation of Athenian slave-owning democracy).

The first steps towards the establishment of Athens as a naval power were made in 478 B. C.

After the defeat of the Persians in Greece, the alliance of Greek poleis was joined by those cities which had previously been neutral or even subdued by the Persians, including the Greeks of Asia Minor. All of this tended to aggravate the relations, for the Spartans, who headed the armed forces of the alliance, took a very contemptuous attitude towards those who had not participated in the struggle against the Persians from the very beginning. As a result of the frictions, the Spartans left the alliance, and Athens assumed the command. A formal treaty was concluded between the allies, and the sacred island of Delos was declared to be its centre; here the allied treasury was kept and the allied Council sat (hence the name, the Delian Naval League). The command of the League’s armed forces was entrusted to the Athenians. It was decided that the forces would consist of 100 triremes, 10,000 foot and 1,000 horse. The larger poleis had to contribute warships and warriors, and the smaller ones, provide the finances for their upkeep. The contributions were apportioned by Aristides, an Athenian states¬ man nicknamed The Just, and were accepted by the allies without demur.

The League, which was originally a union of equal poleis in the common cause of fighting against Persia, gradually fell under the control of Athens. The ascendancy of Athens, both economic and mili¬ tary, obvious from the beginning, later increased, partly due to the position of the allies themselves. Most of them preferred not to send warriors to the army or the navy, merely paying their dues. Athens encouraged this attitude, and soon only the largest of the poleis (like Samos, Mytilene and Chios) con¬ tinued to take part in the military operations against Persia side by side with the Athenians. The money contributed by the allies was used by the Athenians to build more ships, thereby consolidating their dominant position in the League. Plutarch, the ancient Greek historian, wrote that, constantly sail¬ ing the seas and never letting arms out of their hands, the Athenians, thanks to the allies’ unwilling¬ ness to serve, received military training in the cam¬ paigns, while the allies, having got accustomed to fear and flatter the Athenians, imperceptibly be¬ came their tributaries and slaves.

Originally, both democratic and oligarchic poleis were members of the Delian League, but gradually (often as a result of suppression of oligarchic upris-

216

ings), a uniform political system, following the Ath- had been set up had been achieved - the Greeks had

enian democratic model, was introduced in the won the war, the freedom of the Greeks in Asia

member poleis. At the same time the allied Council Minor was now ensured, and the Persians had no

gradually lost its rights, and the policy of the League right even to send their fleet to the Aegean. A move-

was increasingly determined by the Athenian popu- ment to dissolve the League began in many poleis,

lar assembly. Athens had complete charge of the but in the preceding years Athens had consolidated

allied treasury, which had been moved from Delos to the system ensuring its hegemony to such an extent

Athens; Athens alone determined now the amount that it was able to control that crisis,

of the allies’ contribution. Even their legal indepen- After the Persians had been driven away from

dence was restricted, and the most important legal Greece, the economy made rapid progress, particu-

cases of the allied poleis were now tried in the larly in Athens. There were changes not only in the

Athens court. crafts and trade but also in agriculture. In the first

After the suppression of a rebellion in a polis disaf- place, slave labour came to be widely used here, and

fected by the policy of Athens, it became customary although it did not oust the labour of free men,

to confiscate part of the rebels’ lands and distribute slaves now appeared in nearly every household. The

them among Athenian military settlers, the cleruchs. employment of slave labour did not result in a con-

Remaining Athenian citizens, the settlers formed a centration of land property. Large slave-owning

kind of garrison controlling the situation in a city estates were exceptional, and the middle peasant

where unrest was feared. Almost all the members of remained the most typical agrarian. But the nature

the confederacy were coastal or island cities whose of the economy changed radically: production was

economy was closely linked with the sea and with now chiefly intended for the market. The area under

maritime trade, and Athenian naval supremacy grain crops decreased, while vine- and especially oli-

made them dependent on Athens. Besides, the Athe- ve-growing expanded. Most of the agricultural

nians endeavoured to control all of their allies’ produce was sold, sometimes even exported; not

economic activities. They had control of all the sea only industrial products but also grain was now

routes to the Black Sea along which the bulk of grain bought in the market.

came to Greece from the Pontic coastal areas; not The handicraft industries underwent even great-

content with that, they passed a decision according er changes. Apart from the economic advances

to which all Black Sea grain had to be brought first achieved throughout Greece, the changes in Attica

to the Athenian port of Piraeus and only then could were also due to the special position of Athens as a

it be taken to other poleis. Athens concluded trade major city and the focal point for many Hellenic

agreements with its allies, which were often cities. The power of Athens rested on its navy, and

weighted in its favour. An attempt was even made to shipbuilding and related crafts therefore began to

forbid the allied cities to mint their own coin, but it grow rapidly. Merchant ships, as well as warships, failed. were built. The crafts servicing the military (produc-

The Delian Naval League thus gradually devel- tion of shields, swords, etc. ) also flourished. Finally, oped into the Athenian naval empire —the greatest Athenian democratic statesmen aspired to make

political force in the Greek world. In its heyday, it their city the most beautiful in Greece. A vast con-

embraced about 250 poleis. Using the League’s struction programme was in progress, which natur-

resources, Athens embarked on an imperial policy. ally stimulated fast growth of all the branches of the The empire evolved in a very complex situation; building industry, beginning with stone quarrying Athens was often compelled to suppress the resis- ^ and ending with ivory carving and the gilding of tance of its allies dissatisfied with their subordinate |" statues. It should also be taken into account that the position. Originally, the force that held the confe- - general standard of living had greatly improved in deracy together was the threat of Persian aggression w Athens, and that increased the population’s needs, and the need to fight it; the conclusion of the peace 9 An important branch of the Athenian economy was treaty with Persia in 449 B. C. brought about the | mining. The Laurium silver mines, so famous in most serious conflict in the League’s history. The 55 antiquity, were on Attica’s territory, officially recognised objective for which the alliance I Small workshops with two or three workers

217

predominated in Athens, but in some industries the Again, if some city was rich in iron, copper or flax,

nature of production and the degree of the division where was it going to market them unless it had the

of labour achieved required greater number of consent of those who dominated the seas? The

workers. A pottery usually had five to eight workers. expansion of international trade resulted in speciali-

According to modern scholars’ estimates, the normal sation of the various regions of the world. Miletus

functioning of the workshop processing the ore from was especially famous for its patterned woollen

the Laurium mines required an average of 33 fabrics, Phoenicia, for its purple dye, copper was

workers. Slave labour was much more widely used in brought from Euboea and Cyprus, metal wares,

the handicrafts than in agriculture. In small work- from Corinth, Argos and Chalcis (on Euboea), the

shops, the owner himself, a free man (citizen or best wines, from the islands of Chios, Lesbos, Phasos

metic) and one or two slaves worked. As far as we and Naxos; papyrus came from Egypt via Naucratis,

can judge, free artisans usually planned on buying a the medicinal plant, from Cyrene, etc.

slave boy and teaching him their craft, so as to live The appearance of the first forms of banks, the tra-

by his labour in old age. Slaves were inexpensive, pezitai, which grew out of money-changers’ establish-

and after two or three years the investment paid off. ments exchanging coins of different states, was a ref-

Only slaves skilled in some craft cost a great deal. lection of the fairly high level of development of

The larger workshops used slave labour only. The commodity-money relations.

mines and the workshops processing ore-that is, the Further development of Athenian democracy was

branches of the economy where the working condi- also linked with the successes of Athens in foreign

tions were worst-employed almost exclusively slave policy and its growing role as a major economic

labour. The sources mention Athenians who had centre. Athenian democracy was consistently suc-

hundreds of slaves whom they hired out for work in cessful in its continual fight against the aristocratic

the mines: Nicias hired out a thousand slaves, Hip- circles. Ephialtes and later Pericles, leaders of Athe-

ponax, 600, Philomonides, 300, etc. nian democracy, aimed at eliminating from the

The development of the crafts and the growth of Athenian constitution anything that ran counter to

the ratio of commodity output to total output stimu- the democratic principles, and at making these de¬ lated further development of exchange. The most mocratic principles really effective. The success of

important import items in Attica were foodstuffs that process was made possible by the growing mili-

(grain above all) and raw materials. The bulk of tary and economic role of the poorest citizens. The

grain came from the Pontic cities. Athens took great might of Athens lay in its navy, mostly manned by

care to ensure the security of the trade routes, estab- the poorest citizens. The payment they received

fishing control over the Bosporus, the Dardanelles during their service was a great help to them econo- and the coastal cities of Thrace, for it was along that mically, but much more important than that was route that grain came to Attica. Athens exported their growing social weight, for everybody realised

olive oil, wine, and products of the art crafts, espe- now that Athens’ might and prosperity depended on

daily the famous Athenian pottery. Evidence of them. The intense development of the crafts and

Athenian trade is found in the Athenian coins trade increased the economic well-being of the citi-

discovered throughout the Mediterranean region zenry. Under Pericles, stupendous construction pro-

and in Asia (as far as Afghanistan). Piraeus became jects were carried out in Athens, and these, too, pro-

a major Mediterranean port, and the Athenian civic ^ vided job for the poorest citizens. The need for a large community received great profit from the port a force of Athenian citizens to control the allies also duties. Generally speaking, the ascendancy of 5 benefited these strata of the citizenry. I he policy of Athens in the Mediterranean area and its control ^ founding cleruchies worked towards that end, too. over the sea routes brought considerable dividends. 0 Landless Athenian citizens received land allotments A certain oligarchically-minded author wrote that | outside Attica, becoming landowners, only the Athenians could have wealth, not the bar- g, Several political reforms implemented in that pe- barians. Indeed, he reasoned, if some city was rich in | riod contributed to further democratisation of the ship timber, where was it going to market it unless it ^ Athenian system. The Areopagus lost even the rem- had the consent of those who dominated the seas? | nants of its former significance; restriction on the fill-

218

ing of public offices by the poor citizens were finally tans feared that any changes in the internal and lifted; laws were adopted which ensured the inviola- external conditions might result in the weakening of bility of the democratic constitution; and election of Sparta’s positions and in the helots’ fresh uprisings,

citizens to various offices by drawing lots was widely The rise of Athens was therefore perceived as a chal-

practised. Just as important were the measures in- lenge. This attitude was reinforced when Athens tended to ensure the actual participation of all supported a helot revolt and later helped the rem-

citizens in the management of the polis affairs. The nants of the rebels to settle in the city of Naupactus.

most important of these measures was the introduc- Sparta regarded these acts as a direct threat from tion of payments for the performance of public Athens. Corinth also feared Athens’ growing duties (participation in court sessions, etc.). Thus a strength. Already in the archaic epoch, a kind of democratic system finally took shape in Athens un- division of “spheres of influence” between these der which the main body of the citizenry actually major economic centres had been established:

participated in the management of the polis affairs. Athens expanded towards the east and the north,

All these radical reforms were carried out in the Corinth, towards the west. In the 5th century B. C., years when Athenian democracy was led by Pericles. however, Athens gradually began to penetrate west- Son of Xanthippus, who commanded the Athenian wards as well, establishing control over the routes fleet in the battle of Mycale, and nephew of Cleis- leading to Sicily and southern Italy. Some old Cor- thenes, he was one of the noblest of the Athenian inthian colonies even became members of the Athe- aristocrats who linked their destiny with the victor- nian Naval League. Within the Peloponnesian ious demos. He realised the needs of the epoch and of League, Corinth was the most resolute opponent of his native city better than anyone else, and that was Athens, inciting Sparta towards a fight, l he position the ultimate basis of his authority in Athens. He was of Megara, another major centre of crafts and trade, a talented and well-educated person, a brilliant ora- was similar to that of Corinth, tor with a superb gift of persuasion. All these contradictions were gradually coming to

The consolidation of the Athenian naval confeder- a head, and sometimes led to conflicts, even armed acy gradually increased tension in Greece. The ones, but for a long time neither of the sides dared growing might of Athens caused anxiety in many declare war. The growing frictions finally made the poleis for various reasons. The oligarchic and aris- situation intolerable for all those involved, and in tocratic circles in the member poleis of the alliance 431 a war broke out which the Greeks called the were disgruntled at the Athenian policy of support- Peloponnesian War. It lasted until 404, and nearly ing democracies. The aristocrats and oligarchs of the all Greece was drawn into it.

poleis which did not join the League took a similar Both the Peloponnesian and the Athenian

attitude, feeling threatened by its continual expan- Leagues pursued extremely far-reaching goals, but sion. The democratic circles in these poleis, in their the methods of attaining them differed, depending turn, mostly endeavoured to preserve their indepen- on the nature and extent of the means at the dispos- dence. The very nature of the polis as a relatively al of each of them. The Athenian plan of war, self-contained social organism stimulated their worked out by Pericles, rested on the assumption opposition to Athens. that the land forces of Sparta and her allies were su-

Athens’ greater enemy was Sparta and the Pelo- perior to those of Athens, while Athenian naval supe- ponnesian League it headed. The League was not a riority was beyond doubt. The basic principle of uniform entity, comprising as it did both Sparta Athenian strategy, in Pericles’s view, must be avoid- with its agrarian economy and such economically _ ing at all cost any ground fighting with the Spartans, advanced poleis as Corinth and Megara, as well as jr even giving up, if need be, the territory of Attica, the poor small polei of Achaia and Arcadia. The 5 and sitting it out behind the mighty walls of the principal aim of that League, in the view of modern 5 double city of Athens - the Piraeus, while blockading researchers, was the preservation of a stable political g 3 the Peloponnese from the sea and strangling the ene- and social situation. The Spartan political structure | my in the coils of that blockade. The leaders of the rested on the exploitation of a vast mass of down- Athenian democracy were confident that their naval trodden helots ever ready for an uprising. The Spar- £ might and the huge financial resources of the Athe-

219

nian treasury would enable them to win the war. died in the epidemic. The struggle in Athens

The Spartan plan was not worked out in such fine between the proponents and opponents of the war

detail. There were several basic ideas underlying grew. The radical democratic wing became increas-

that plan. First, the Spartans were sure of their ingly active, advocating a vigorous campaign to

superiority over Athens on land and therefore in- achieve final victory, an all-out mobilisation of

tended to seek a decisive battle in the field. Second, forces, including increased financial contributions

they saw the vital importance of external economic from the allies, and a rigid imperial policy towards connections for Athens, especially of links with the them. This party was led by Cleon, owner of a tan-

Pontic regions, from which grain came to Attica; nery, frequently ridiculed by the great Athenian

hence the idea of trying to disrupt these links by cap- comedy writer Aristophanes, who was in favour of

turing the coastal cities through which vitally impor- peace.

tant routes lay. Third, the Spartans believed that the The radical democrats dealt Sparta a serious

Athenian Naval League was a rather fragile blow. Owing to Cleon’s energy and the military

organism, and they mounted from the start a broad talent of the strategos Demosthenes, the Athenian

propaganda campaign (supported financially and forces inflicted a crushing defeat on a Spartan unit

militarily), declaring their objective in the war to be on the island of Sphacteria, taking 120 Spartan hop-

the “liberation” of the Greeks from Athenian lites prisoner. The Athenians declared that in the

tyranny. event of further incursions into Attica all the Spar-

Although both plans on the whole proceeded from tan warriors would be executed. They also achieved

correct assumptions, in the event, neither of them some other successes, which, however, brought some

fully met the real situation. The leaders of neither of unexpected results. In Sparta, the positions of those

the Leagues could foresee the scope and nature of circles which insisted on a more vigorous prosecution

the war. It was fought with great ferocity, as in of the war also grew stronger,

many poleis it stirred up conflicts between demo- Led by the Spartan general Brasidas, a small

crats and oligarchs, the former looking towards Spartan unit, consisting mostly of helots to whom

Athens, the latter towards Sparta. Even slaves were freedom was promised, secretly crossed the whole of

sometimes involved in these confrontations. Greece and appeared on the Chalcidice peninsula.

The Spartans began the hostilities with an inva- Enlisting the help of the local opponents of Athens,

sion of Attica. In the first period of the war, Spartan Brasidas captured the city of Amphipolis, Athenian

forces appeared in Attica nearly each year during main stronghold in that region, and a number of

harvest time, plundering and devastating the rural other fortresses. The Athenians saw only too clearly

areas. This caused grave economic difficulties and what threat that posed for them. Cleon was sent to

badly affected the morale of the Athenians, who Chalcidice at the head of a large force. A fierce battle

were soon beset by fresh misfortunes. An epidemic was fought near Amphipolis, in which the Spartans

(most likely typhus) broke out among the crowded defeated the Athenians and both Cleon and Brasidas

population of Athens and Piraeus, taking away one- fell.

third of the Athenian army and navy. Although the As a result, the positions of pacifists were streng-

operations of the Athenian fleet along the shores of thened both in Sparta and in Athens. In 421 B. C.,

the Peloponnese inflicted damage on Sparta and her peace was concluded on status quo terms. True, allies, there were no signs yet that these operations _ neither side fully implemented the terms of the peace

might bring the Peloponnesian League to its knees, a treaty. The treaty excited discontent among many

In this situation, discord among the Athenian 5 Spartan allies, especially Corinth and Megara, since

citizens grew. The peasants, who saw only the seamy ^ none of the causes of the war had been resolved. In

side of the war and bore the main brunt of it, were ^ Athens itself, the radical democrats, recovering from

particularly dissatisfied with the trend of the events. | the defeat, wanted to resume the war. The militarist

As a result, Pericles was not elected to the college of g, party was led by Alcibiades, Pericles’s distant rela-

strategoi for the first time in many years; he was then | tive and ward. A talented military leader, a popular

tried, and a great fine was imposed on him. A year - orator, and an educated man, he employed all his

later, he was again elected a strategos, but soon after |- gifts in the service of an inflated ambition and was

220

ready to do anything to achieve power. Alcibiades endeavoured to persuade the Athenians that all problems could be solved by a drive west, against Sicily; all Greek cities of Sicily might be conquered at one blow, which would ensure absolute superior¬ ity of Athens over any enemy. The Athenian popu¬ lar assembly decided in favour of such an expedition, and a great fleet and army were gathered. Alci¬ biades was appointed leader of the expeditionary force. However, a few days before the fleet was due to sail, some unknown persons smashed the herms-the posts with the statues of Hermes that stood on many Athenian crossroads. Alcibiades’s opponents spread the rumour that the deed had been done by Alcibiades and his young friends who had no piety or respect for the religion of their fathers. Despite Alcibiades’s demand that the matter be con¬ sidered immediately, his opponents pressed the deci¬ sion that the fleet should sail at once, while the inves¬ tigation in Athens continued : Alcibiades’s opponents succeeded in casting suspicion on the military lead¬ er. A ship was sent to Sicily with orders for Alci¬ biades to return to Athens for the trial. Realising that he was marked for a frame-up, Alcibiades escap¬ ed to Sparta and betrayed all the Athenian military plans to the Spartans.

That aggravated the Athenians’ already difficult position in Sicily. With the arrival of the Athenian fleet, most Sicilian Greeks united in the struggle against the aggression. After Alcibiades’s flight, the Athenian forces were headed by men who did not believe in victory and therefore acted sluggishly and hesitantly. Following Alcibiades’s advice, Sparta decided to interfere in the Sicilian affairs and sent a task force there which inflicted a terrible defeat on the Athenians, destroying some 200 triremes, several thousand hoplites and cavalry, and 10 to 15 thou¬ sand sailors and lightly armed warriors. That catas¬ trophe echoed throughout Greece, where enemies of democracy and of Athens raised their heads. Another blow was struck by the Spartans in Attica. At Alcibiades’s prompting, Spartan forces captured the fortress of Decelea and became virtual masters of Attica. The Spartans also announced that they would free all Athenian slaves that would desert to their side. More than 20,000 slaves ran away from Athens. The Athenian crafts received a most severe blow. Taking advantage of the weakening of Athens, the oligarchic circles of a number of allied poleis

revolted and, seizing power, went over to the Spar¬ tan side. But that was not the end of Athenian disas¬ ters. Taking Alcibiades’s advice, the Spartans estab¬ lished contacts with the Persians, and getting gold from them in return for a promise to restore Persian rule over the Greek cities of Asia Minor, built their own navy for the first time. When the Spartan fleet appeared in the Aegean, several other poleis, mostly insular ones, seceded from the Delian League.

All these heavy blows sustained by Athens brought about an oligarchic coup in the city. The democratic leaders had been compromised by the Sicilian disaster and Alcibiades’s betrayal; the masses of poor citizens, which formed the basis of demo¬ cracy, had suffered immense losses; and the popu¬ lar assembly was in the grip of despondency and confusion. Taking advantage of the situation, the oligarchs succeeded in changing in 411 B. C. the state system of Athens.

But the forces of Athenian democracy had not yet been crushed. The Athenian navy refused to recog¬ nise the coup and demanded a restoration of democ¬ racy. Alcibiades, who by that time had quarrelled with the Spartans, became a leader of the demo¬ crats. The oligarchic power was overthrown. Under Alcibiades’s leadership, a series of victories were won over the Spartans, including the triumph in the bat¬ tle of Cyzicus, in which the whole of the Spartan fleet was annihilated. With Persian help, however, the Spartans recovered. Their fleet was now headed by the talented military leader and diplomat Lysander, who succeeded in uniting the forces of oli¬ garchs opposed to Athens. The situation in Athens was one of confusion and vacillation. As a result, Alcibiades was dismissed from command, and later the strategoi who had defeated the Spartans in the battle of the Arginusae Islands were executed on a false accusation. The realisation that a catastrophe was imminent became increasingly stronger; in 405 B. C. Lysander completely destroyed the Athenian fleet, the city itself was besieged and in 404 B. C. sur¬ rendered. The surrender of Athens brought an im¬ mediate change in its political system; power again was seized by the oligarchs.

The defeat of Athens radically changed the situa¬ tion in Greece. The Athenian Naval League ceased to exist. Democratic regimes which had been estab¬ lished in most Greek poleis were replaced by oligar¬ chic ones, relying on Spartan garrisons. Sparta

became the unchallenged hegemon of the Greek world. Most modern researchers believe that the Peloponnesian War was the most important land¬ mark in the history of Greece in the classical epoch. It revealed all the internal contradictions of the polis world and signified the beginning of its crisis.

The Greek Culture of the Classical Period. The 5th cen¬ tury B. C. is regarded as the zenith of Greek culture. The polis with its distinct tendency towards democ¬ racy, and the viability of the aristocratic ethical norms, formed the ideological soil on which the Greek culture of the classical epoch flourished.

New tendencies were clearly expressed in town building. Most Greek cities retained the traditional chaotic system or rather lack of any system inherited from the earliest times, with narrow crooked streets and absence of any conveniences whatever. But the regular system of town planning, born in the epoch of the great Greek colonisation, gradually began to exert its influence on the theory and practice of town building in Greece. Hippodamus, the founder of the theory of regular town planning, apparently lived in the 5th century. Olynthus and Miletus, restored after its destruction by the Persians, were planned in accordance with the ideas of Hippodamus. His theory included more than the principle of gridiron town planning: it also contained the idea of zoning, i. e., the division of the city area into several districts differing in their functions (the public centre, the housing districts, the harbour, the trade centre, and the industrial zone). The democratic trend in urban construction was most fully expressed in the plan of Olynthus where not only the districts but the blocks within them were all of equal size. The structure of all dwellings was also absolutely identical.

The temple remained the main type of public building in that period. In the first half of the 5th century B. C., the most outstanding monuments of Doric architecture were created the magnificent temples in the city of Poseidonia (in southern Italy) and the temple of Zeus at Olympia. The temple of Zeus was regarded as the most remarkable of all Hellenic shrines, with its colossal gold and ivory stat¬ ue of Zeus sitting on the throne, by the Athenian sculptor Pheidias.

The Athenian Acropolis complex occupies quite a special place in the history of ancient Greek archi¬

tecture. Destroyed by the Persians in 480 B. C., it was restored during the 5th century B. C. The Acro¬ polis ensemble is believed to be the summit of ancient Greek architecture, the symbol of the high¬ est might and efflorescence of Athens. It included a number of structures-the ceremonial gates (the Propylaea), the temple of Nike Apteros (Wingless Victory), the Erechtheion, and the Parthenon, the main temple of Athens dedicated to Athena the Virgin.

The Acropolis ensemble was built according to a plan worked out mostly by Pericles and Pheidias. The building of these splendid edifices provided jobs for the poorest Athenian citizens. Athenian states¬ men endeavoured to build a complex of major shrines which would not only make Athens famous but also become the religious centre of the entire Athenian Naval League. Hence the architectural syncretism, the combination in one edifice of the principles of the Doric and Ionic orders (e. g., in the Propylaea and the Parthenon). Groups of statuary were mounted on the pediments of the Parthenon: the birth of the goddess Athena on the eastern one and the argument between Athena and Poseidon over the possession of Attica, on the western. It was a symbolic theme: in those times, the goddess Athena was perceived as the patroness of democracy, and Poseidon, the patron of aristocracy. Behind the external colonnade of the temple a relief frieze ran along the upper parts of the walls of the inner build¬ ing, portraving a ceremonial procession during the great Panathenaic festival in which both the citizens of Athens and Athenian metics and delega¬ tions from the allies had to take part. Inside the tem¬ ple was an enormous gold and ivory statue of Athena by Pheidias.

The sculpture and painting of Greece in the 5th century developed the traditions of the previous epoch. Gods and heroes, the patrons of the poleis, ^ the ideal citizens remained the principal themes. ~ However, art made a great step towards realism, 5 which was largely due to the spreading of the idea of ^ “mimesis” or similarity as the basic esthetic cate- 515 gory. The frozen quality of figures and the schemat- | ism characteristic of earlier sculpture were over- == come. Statues became more realistic. Three famous | masters Myron, Polyclitus and Pheidias-made the greatest contributions to the development of sculp- 5 ture in the 5th century B. C. The most famous of

Mvron’s sculptures is the Discobolus. The sculptor pides. Although the protagonists of the tragedies

showed remarkable skill in conveying the sense of were, as a rule, gods and heroes, the issues treated in

motion in the figure of the athlete. Polyclitus’s them were usually highly topical. The mythological

favourite subject was figures of athletes perceived as plot merely served as a vehicle expressing the strug-

an embodiment of the highest qualities of a citizen. gle of ideas. For example, Aeschylus’s Oresteia de-

His best known works are the Doryphorus and the scribed events at Mycenae after the end of the Tro-

Diadumenus. Doryphorus is a powerful warrior with a jan War, but what was important for the Athenian

spear, quiet dignity personified. The Diadumenus is a spectator were the political ideas which the author

graceful youth tying on the fillet of the winner in a wanted to express. Thus he glorified the Areopagus,

contest. Solemn grandeur, a certain aloofness, and which, in terms of the political struggle of that time,

heavenly beauty were the characteristic features of indicated the playwright’s anti-democratic stance. Pheidias’s works. His statue of Zeus in the temple at Aeschylus, who lived in the times of the formation

Olympia was regarded as one of the seven wonders of democracy in Athens and fought in the Graeco- of the world. Persian wars, was the founder of tragedy with a civic

The same tendency towards a realistic portrayal message. His main themes were glorification of civic

of man is apparent in 5th-century painting, which courage and patriotism. One of the most remarkable

reached its peak in the works of Polygnotus and heroes of his tragedies was Prometheus, the implac-

Apollodorus of Athens. Polygnotus created composi- able theomachist, used by Aeschylus as a symbol for

tions of many figures, endeavouring to express the the upsurge of the Athenians’ creative power. He

perspective and to make his figures seem three- portrayed Prometheus as an inflexible fighter for the

dimensional. Apollodorus discovered the chiar- ideals and happiness of mankind, as an embodiment

oscuro effect, thereby laying the foundation of paint- of reason overcoming the power of nature over man,

ing in the, modern sense of the word. and a symbol of the struggle for the liberation of

Greek vase painting in the 5th century was mankind from tyranny embodied by the cruel and

dominated by the so-called red-figure style; the vengeful Zeus.

background was covered with glossy black lacquer The tragedies of Sophocles expressed the esthetic

while the figures were left unpainted and retained ideal of democratic Athens-the same ideal which

the natural colour of clay. Some of the vase painters was conveyed in plastic form in the sculptures of

of that time were influenced by Polygnotus, and Pheidias. His images were profoundly human, and their works give some idea of the style of that famous the spiritual life of his heroes was much richer than painter. in Aeschylus, who often portrayed conflicts between

Greek literature also flourished in that period. titanic forces. By increasing the complexity of the

Pindar, the last and most outstanding poet of the plot, Sophocles introduced greater variety in the

Greek aristocracy, composed solemn odes in honour emotions of his characters, showing various aspects

of winners at Panhellenic sports contests - Olympic, of their nature in different situations. His heroes

Pythian (at Delphi), and others. Pindar never de- were carriers of noble spiritual qualities, of greatness

scribed the contests themselves, the victory only in- combined with simplicity and mildness. But Aeschy-

terested him as a theme for glorifying the victor’s lus’s thinking was deeper, and his problems more

valour, which was not, in his view, the victor’s per- acute than those chosen by Sophocles. The signifi-

sonal quality but something handed down from cance of Sophocles for world literature lies in the

generation to generation in the aristocratic families artistic images that he created. The incomparably due to their divine origin. His epinician odes became monumental characters of Oedipus, Antigone, and

expressions of the aristocratic worldview. jT Electra later figured in many works of European

The 5th century B. C. was the time of the efflores- ' literature - the tragedies of Racine, Corneille, Vol-

cence of dramatic art. The most important dramatic ^ taire, and others.

genres were tragedies, based on myths about heroes Aeschylus and Sophocles created antique tragedy

and gods, and comedies, mostly political ones. The | in its classical form, with moral conflicts as their most famous names in the history of the ancient $ main theme. Conflicts between the state and the Greek tragedy were Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euri- | clan, between freedom and despotism, written and

223

unwritten law, suffering in the name of duty, the his comedies, The Acharnians, Dicaeopolis (“The Just relationship between man’s subjective intentions Citizen”) concludes peace with the neighbouring and the objective meaning of his deeds-that was the poleis and enjoys prosperity, while the boastful war- range of problems raised in the best tragedies of Aes- rior Lamachus suffers from the burden of war. The chylus and Sophocles. poet described the war as an unbidden guest: “hav-

The tragedies of Euripides expressed the crisis of ing burst riotously in upon us while enjoying all the traditional polis ideology and the search for the manner of good things, as a party of noisy roisterers, foundations of a new worldview. He was sensitive to after a /copog, might intrude upon some quiet res- the burning issues of political and social life, and his pectable party. And he did all the harm he could, theatre is a kind of encyclopaedia of the intellectual and began upsetting and spilling everything, and development in Greece in the second half of the 5th showing fight; and moreover, though I kept inviting century B. C. The works of Euripides posed diverse him, ‘Do seat yourself and join in the drinking, and problems with which Greek society was concerned, take this loving cup’, he went on all the more burn- and expounded and discussed new ideas. The critics ing my vine-props, and brutally spilling all the of antiquity called Euripides philosopher on the wine out of our vines”. Another peasant, Trygaeus stage. He was not, however, an adherent of some (“The Winegrower”), the hero of the comedy Peace, definite philosophical teaching, and his own views wins peace for all Greece. He leads the farmers of were not distinguished for consistency or per- all Greece, armed with picks and spades, to Mount manence. His attitude towards Athenian democ- Olympus, where they free from incarceration the racy, which he sometimes praised as an embodiment goddess of peace hidden by the god of war Polemos. of freedom and equality, was vacillating, for he was Aristophanes strikingly expressed the hopes and aspi- afraid of the indigent mob of citizens whose mood in rations of simple peasants anticipating the joys of the popular assembly was influenced by the dema- peaceful labour: gogues. All of Euripides’s work is permeated by an See, how their iron spades glitter and

interest for the individual and his subjective aspira- how beautifully their three-pronged

tions-yet another element characteristic of the crisis mattocks glisten in the sun! How

of the polis ideology. Euripides’s characters had regularly they align the plants!

nothing in common with the monumental prota- / also burn myself to go into the

gonists of Sophocles standing high above the every- country and to turn over the earth

day level-he portrayed men and women with their I have so long neglected.

desires and urges, joys and sufferings. This difference Changes in the political situation in Athens after

was pointed out by Sophocles himself, who said: “I its defeat in the Peloponnesian War affected the depict men as they ought to be, but Euripides por- spirit of Aristophanes’s comedies, which became less trays them as they are.” His characters, especially trenchant and topical. But Aristophanes continued female ones (Medea, Phaedra, Electra) are marked to tackle political and social problems in the carnival by an exceptional depth of psychological insight. forms typical of the early comedy. In Ploutos, the The spectators of Euripides’s tragedies were com- poor man Chremylus seizes blind Ploutos pelled to reflect on their place in society, their atti- (“Wealth”), cures him of blindness, and everything tude to life and fellow men. in the world changes for the better: all honest people

Politically the most incisive genre was the ancient __ become well-to-do.

Attic comedy. Its origin and social leanings made it §. Aristophanes satirised incisively, courageously, an art most congenial to the peasants. It is best 5 and often profoundly the political and cultural state represented in the work of Aristophanes, who did s of Athens at a time when democracy was going some of his best work during the Peloponnesian 1 through a crisis. His comedies portrayed extremely War. The comedies he wrote in those years give a § diverse strata of society-statesmen, military leaders, clear idea of the publicistic spirit of his work. Peace g> poets, philosophers, peasants, soldiers, ordinary city was the main theme of his comedies in those years. | dwellers and slaves. The caricatures and typical Aristophanes was a fierce opponent of war, and he ^ masks became generalised characters in his work, used his brilliant talent to fight for peace. In one of J Using the simplest devices, Aristophanes achieved

224

acute comic effects, combining the real and the fan¬ tastic and reducing the ideas he ridiculed to an absurdity. Aristophanes wrote in a flexible and lively language, ranging from everyday speech, often crude and primitive, to a parody of the elevated style; it was rich in unexpected comical coinages.

The ancient Greek theatre, especially Athenian theatre, was closely linked with the life of the polis.

It was in fact a kind of second assembly where the most burning issues, both theoretical and political, were discussed. The likeness was emphasised by the fact that theatrical performances were given on fes¬ tive days, and the spectators were expected to choose the winner on the artistic merits and message of a tragedy or comedy.

Herodotus and Thucydides, the two greatest Greek historians, both worked in the 5th century B. C. The work of Herodotus had been prepared by the activities of the logographs, who had recorded local legends and genealogies of aristocratic families.

A most important feature of Greek historiography of the classical epoch was its concern with the recent past. Herodotus’s main goal was the description of the Graeco-Persian wars, while Thucydides was mostly concerned with the Peloponnesian War. A strengthening of the rationalistic principles and a desire to study the real causes of events were charac¬ teristic of the development of historiography of that time, especially in its highest achievement work of Thucydides.

The philosophy of ancient Greece went through a complex evolution in that period. Heraclitus of Ephesus, whose work concluded the quest of the natural philosophers of the previous epoch, lived at the end of the archaic and the beginning of the clas¬ sical eras. Heraclitus asserted that the eternal pro¬ cess of motion and change is the highest law of nature. He was the first to arrive at the idea of the world’s dialectical development as a law inherent in matter.

Spontaneous materialism, born in the Ionic school of natural philosophy, continued to develop in the work of Empedocles and Anaxagoras. The material- ^ ist conception of the world reached its peak in the ? work of Leucippus and especially Democritus. 5 Democritus combined consistently atomistic views p with the idea of dialectical development. A charac- g teristic feature of the work of most philosophers of ^ the materialist orientation was a blend of pragmatic s

225

interests and studies with the working out of basic theoretical problems of philosophy.

The sophist movement, which began in the mid-5th century B. C., was a reaction against the primacy of natural philosophy. The Sophists were mostly concerned with epistemological problems, the nature of human knowledge and the criteria of its truth or falsity. That was a major step forward in the development of philosophy, as these issues had not been considered by natural philosophers. Sophistry also arose from the practical needs of the polis: since power in the polis was ultimately vested in the popular assembly, each statesman had to be able to refute the arguments of his opponent by showing their falsity and to substantiate his own positions by proving their truth. In this way, the development of philosophy, combined with the demands of political practice, called to life the Sophist movement led by Protagoras and Gorgias “Man is the measure of all things,” insisted Prota¬ goras, an ideologue of democracy. But that proposi¬ tion, regardless of Protagoras’s subjective political sympathies, opposed the individual to the collective, introducing scepticism and relativism into ethics. With some justification, the bulk of Athenian citizens saw the political theories of Sophists and their rhetorical sophistication as tools for undermin¬ ing democracy and a means of deceiving the people. At the same time, out of the fight with the Sophist movement arose the idealist philosophy of Socrates, the ideologue of the Athenian oligarchic and aristo¬ cratic circles. He insisted that truth is born of argu¬ ment. He founded the so-called Socratic method of conducting an argument, in which the wise man, by asking some leading questions, compelled his opponents first to recognise the erroneousness of their positions and then to admit the correctness of his own thesis. In Socrates’s view, the wise man arrived at the truth through knowledge of himself and of the objectively existing spirit, i. e., objectively existing truth. Socrates strongly emphasised the need for professional knowledge, deducing from it the idea that a person not engaged in politics profes¬ sionally could have no judgements about it. That was a direct challenge to the basic principles of Athenian democracy, which wanted to make the management of the polis affairs the concern of all the citizens.

A most important development in the 5th century

15-344

was the separation of the individual sciences from tinually alienated the funds of wealthy citizens and

natural philosophy. Herodotus was not only the metics, spending them in nonproductive spheres,

founder of historiography but also, apparently, of Besides, the polis principles did not permit consider-

some branches of geography. Especially significant able sections of rich Athenian population (e. g., the was the progress in medicine connected above all metic trapezitai ) to engage in the most profitable

with the work of Hippocrates. The basic feature of forms of entrepreneurial activity because they could

Hippocratic medicine was strict rationalism; in the not accept land, the principal form of a citizen’s view of Hippocrates, all diseases were caused by property, as security. For the same reason, the natural factors. He insisted that the physician should metics could not exploit the mines in Laurium. All treat each patient individually, taking into account this was all the more important as the crafts, trade the disposition of the patient himself and of his and credit operations were the principal spheres of natural environment. the metics’ activities. All these conflicts were

Mathematics developed mostly under the impact brought about by economic advances and the conse- of Pythagorean teaching. During the 5th century, it quent changes in the character of property. Pre¬ ceased to be the Pythagoreans’ exclusive domain, viously, the predominant form of property in the becoming an independent scientific discipline stud- polis was the antique one, while now a new form, ied professionally by scholars who did not belong to approaching absolute private property, crystallised, any philosophical trend. Particular progress was The economic development and the growing role

achieved in arithmetic, geometry, geometric algebra of purely economic factors in society’s life entailed and stereometry. Astronomy also made considerable changes in the political sphere. The old division of advances in the 5th century. the citizenry into adherents of oligarchy and fol-

The heyday of Greek culture in that century was lowers of democracy was replaced by the division linked with the flourishing of the classical polis. The into groups with differing economic interests. The rise of democracy, participation of vast masses of free group headed by Demosthenes had interests in sea citizens in political life, fierce political and social trade, particularly with the northern Black Sea area conflicts demanding each individual’s self-deter- supplying Athens with grain; the Hyperides group mination, the progress of positive science, extension expressed the interests of those whose well-being of the geographic horizons, and realisation of the depended on the Laurium mines, etc. Each of these superiority of the Greek way of life over the modes of groups endeavoured to direct the policy of the Athe- life of other peoples-all this determined the features nian polis in a way most advantageous to itself,

of the Greek culture of the classical epoch. Although the ideologues of these groups declared

their adherence to democratic principles, the decla¬ rations often concealed a desire to change the exist- The Crisis of the Classical Polis. Modern students of ing structure, e. g., through limiting the number of antiquity define the 4th century B. C. as the time of citizens to property-owners only, or restricting the the crisis of the ancient Greek polis. The crisis was authority of the popular assembly and especially of most pronounced in Athens; it did not coincide with the court (Heliaea) - the principal defender of the

a decline in the economy, as earlier believed, but democratic foundations of the polis. In a word, occurred at a time of economic growth. The crisis Athenian slave-owning democracy was going manifested itself most clearly in the development of a _ through a crisis which undermined its organism like conflict between the polis’s traditional socioecono- “ a long-drawn-out illness.

mic structure and the nature of its economic evolu- 3 The crisis of the polis took a different form in tion. The polis, which had arisen as a community of y Sparta. Here, the Peloponnesian War also acted as a landed citizens, impeded the development of com- 1 . factor which pushed the polis towards a critical modity-money relations. The citizens’ yearning for | state. A polis with an archaic structure, which had land was truly ineradicable; part of the money s= diligently cultivated primitive equality of citizens, earned by practising a craft or a trade, was saved to | contempt for wealth, the spirit of a closed civic com- buy land. Through “liturgies” or voluntary offices, ^ munity, a polis which impeded in every way the extraordinary taxes and other means, the polis con- 5 development of commodity-money relations, sud-

denly became ruler over all Greece. In the years of nificant in this respect was the ethnic structure of the

the war the Spartans had seen something of the mercenary troops: for the most part, the soldiers

world, they had learnt the sweetness of luxury and came from the poor small poleis of northern Pelo-

had become accustomed to money-“the sinews of ponnese (Arcadia and Achaia). war”. The wealth that flooded Sparta fell into the It was in these poleis that the internal social con-

hands of men who were ready to use it. The war flicts were most severe. In Athens, the struggle

years had changed the psychology of the Spartiates among the citizens usually found expression in fierce

they had got rid of many traditional moral values debates in the popular assembly, court trials, and

that had stood in the way of winning the victory. banishment of political opponents, whereas in other

The wealth of all Greece, falling into the hands of poleis the conflicts often erupted in civil wars,

Sparta, very soon gave rise to extreme economic in- usually fought with great ferocity. The situation was

equality between different strata of that changed aptly described by Plato, who wrote that two hostile

society. The civic community swiftly broke down states existed in each polis-the state of the poor and

into the haves and the have-nots. That process cul- the state of the rich.

minated in the law, introduced by the ephor Epita- The social conflicts in Greece led to the revival of

deus, which permitted alienation of the kleroi, or tyranny in the 4th century B. C., which is called

land allotments. This destroyed the very basis of “younger tyranny”, to distinguish it from the earlier

Spartan equality. An immediate consequence of that one. There was one common trait in the system of

law was a sharp decline in the number of citizens tyrannic rule everywhere - the great role played by

enjoying full rights, since a Spartan who lost his mercenaries as a most important element in the

kleros also lost many of his rights. Concentration of power structure of the tyranny. Tyrants came to

land property also became a cause of Sparta’s mili- power in Corinth, Sicyon, on Euboea, in Locris,

tary weakening. It suffered crushing defeats at the Thessaly and other cities. Euphron, the tyrant of

hands of the Thebans and lost its power over Mes- Sicyon, relied on democrats and a 2,000-strong unit

senia, which further aggravated its internal difficul- of mercenaries. Although tyrannical regimes mostly

ties, since Messenia provided half of the lands distri- arose on the basis of democratic movements, oligar-

buted among the Spartans. chic tyrannies were not rare at all. The principal

The forms of the crisis of the polis are not, of weakness of tyrannical regimes was that maintaining

course, limited to the Athenian and Spartan models. a hired army required considerable means, which

That process took different courses in different the treasury was usually unable to provide. A polis

poleis, depending on the character of the polis, as could not keep a hired army for any length of time,

the examples of Sparta and Athens show. Tyrants were therefore compelled to resort to

The wide use of mercenaries became one of the extraordinary methods of getting money: campaigns

most striking symptoms of the polis crisis. Research against neighbours, confiscation of the property of

has shown that the 4th century B. C. saw a continual political opponents, etc. But all these sources were

growth in the number of mercenaries used both by extremely unreliable. The tyrants of Phocis found a

Greek poleis and Persian kings and satraps, and also way out by robbing the Panhellenic shrine at Del-

by the Egyptian rulers that revolted against Persia. phi. That wealth enabled them to maintain hired

There were dozens of thousands of mercenaries in army of 40,000 for many years. This fact throws in

such a relatively small country as Greece, and they relief not only the policies of tyrants but also the de-

were ready to serve for their daily bread only, which cline of religious feeling in Greece,

clearly shows that the bulk of the mercenaries were _ Not only poleis under tyrannic rule were per- poor men driven to risk their lives by hunger. It can j? manently in need of money-the situation was the

thus be assumed that the development of commodi- 5 same in most other poleis. The position became par¬ ty-money relations in Greece and economic progress 5 ticularly unbearable during wars. Citizens did not

did not mean that the relative stability observed in £ want to and could not fight, and the poleis’ armies

Athens existed everywhere else. In the small and g therefore mostly consisted of mercenaries who had to

economically weak poleis the crisis manifested itself c> be paid. A new principle was adopted: war had to

in the loss of land by many citizens. Especially sig- s feed itself. Enemy, and often allies’, territory was

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15 *

constantly plundered. The population of captured height of the struggle against Athens, Sparta had

cities was commonly all sold as slaves. Mercenaries promised Persia to hand over to it the Greek poleis

were a striking indication of the crisis of the polis and of Asia Minor; now, after its victory, it was in no

one of their major problems, which figured pro- mood at all to honour that promise, which naturally

minently in all the projects for overcoming the crisis led to a conflict between the two countries. The

suggested at that time. Spartans became involved in the dynastic conflict in

The morality of society changed. The traditional Persia, supporting Cyrus the Younger, who was the

polis morality increasingly gave way to individual- satrap of the western parts of Asia Minor. Persia

ism, and patriotism, to profit-seeking. Money used that as a pretext for a war against Sparta,

became the main factor that determined the individ- which was waged in Asia Minor between 399 and

ual’s place in society. A comedy by an Athenian 394 B. C. Although the military operations were

author of the 4th century B. C. was very eloquent on sluggish, Persia was nevertheless able to deal Sparta

the subject: a powerful blow by using its tested weapon of subsi-

If you ask me, silver and gold dies to Sparta’s enemies. The money sent by the Per-

Are useful gods perhaps the only ones. sians helped the enemies of Spartan hegemony, the

You bring them to your house-and there, Boeotian League led by Thebes, and Athens, to arm

You have whale'er your heart desires: themselves. A Spartan punitive expedition against

Land, houses, maids and ornaments, Thebes ended in a defeat for the Spartan army and

Friends, witnesses and judges. Pay, the death of its famous leader Lysander. After that,

And e’en the gods will be your servants. the victors were joined by Argos, Corinth, Euboea,

These were the principal features of the crisis of Acarnania, Locris, Chalcidice, part of Epirus, and the polis system in Greece in the 4th century B. C. Thessaly. A long hard fight began. The Persian fleet, The crisis began during the Peloponnesian War and commanded by the Athenian Conon, destroyed the made a decisive impact on all the aspects of life in Spartan naval forces. It became clear that Sparta Greece, including the course of its political history. would not be able to retain its rule over Greece. In The victory of Sparta in the Peloponnesian War this situation, there was a sharp rise in internal polit- signified a radical change in the overall situation in ical conflicts in many Greek poleis, where demo- Greece. The Spartans promptly forgot their pro- crats supported the anti-Spartan coalition. The war

mises about freedom for all Greeks. Lysander, ended in 387 B. C. with the signing of the so-called

Sparta’s nauarchos, or commander of the fleet, estab- Peace of Antalcidas, after the Spartan ambassador fished a regime of terror throughout Greece, hand- at the congress, or the King’s Peace. Persia did not

ing over power in the poleis to oligarchs, mostly his want to weaken Sparta excessively, believing that its

personal friends, supervised by Spartan commanders best interests would be met by a divided Greece. It of garrisons (harmosts,). All democrats were cruelly therefore changed its orientation and supported the persecuted; frequent punitive expeditions were Spartans; a peace treaty was concluded which undertaken against recalcitrant poleis; the Spar- proved to be the highest achievement of Persian dip- tans imposed their taxes instead of the Athe- lomacy since the end of the Graeco-Persian wars, nian phoros. It seemed that the harsh Spartan rule An additional guarantee of Spartan hegemony in

over Greece would last a long time. However, two Greece was a ban on all alliances except the Pelo- circumstances-one domestic, the other internation- _ ponnesian League. Sparta paid for the support by al put an end to it. a ceding to Persia its power over the poleis of Asia

Lysander’s great influence and the fact that many 5 Minor.

Greek cities were controlled after the war by his ~ Sparta tried to restore its unchallenged hegemony friends inspired suspicions and fear in the Spartan - in Hellas and at first succeeded in it. The most im- government, which began to oppose the more deci- § portant Spartan achievement was the capture of sive actions by Lysander and his followers. Thus, it g, Thebes, the replacement of its democracy by an oli- permitted the restoration of a democratic system in | garchy, and the dissolution of the Boeotian League. Athens. s But that was the Spartans’ last success. Supported by

There was also the international factor. At the Athens, Theban democrats killed the oligarchs and

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made the Spartan garrison surrender. Democracy rose in revolt. In the course of the Social War

was restored, as was the Boeotian League headed by (357-355), Athens was defeated, and that was the

Thebes. The Boeotian League was governed by a end of the Athenian League.

college of five boeotarchs, of which the most influen- Thus the middle of the 4th century B. C. found

tial were the well-known democratic statesmen Pelo- Greece weakened and disunited. All the major polit-

pidas and Epaminondas. Taking advantage of ical forces had been undermined, the leading

Sparta’s difficult position, Athens also revived its alliances had disintegrated, and no single state could

naval confederacy (378 B. C.). The Second Athe- claim hegemony. That process went on against the

nian League was much smaller than the first (as the background of an acute socioeconomic crisis which

poleis of Asia Minor, now ruled by Persia, could no showed that the classical polis with its basic princi-

longer participate), and it was founded on somewhat pies of autonomy and autarchy had outlived its use-

different principles. The allies remembered the fulness. The crisis involved increased social conflicts,

experiences of the past, and the treaty included the struggle between political groups, a severe finan-

guarantees against a renewal of Athenian imperial cial dislocation, and wide recourse to mercenaries,

poleis. The Athenians undertook not to establish Members of the Hellenic intellectual elite pro-

cleruchies, Athenian citizens were forbidden to pos- posed various plans for overcoming the crisis. Des-

sess land on the territory of allied poleis, and a great pite differences over particulars, these plans rested

role was intended for the synedrion (the council of on the conviction that all Greece’s problems could

representatives of the allied poleis), which con- be solved at the expense of Persia: a united Greece

trolled the League’s finances. The restoration of the could destroy the rich but weak Achaemenid

League enabled the Athenians to inflict a heavy empire. The intention was not only to plunder Per-

defeat on the Spartans, who were now obliged to sia but also to seize part of its territory. Poleis would

reconcile themselves to its existence and officially be built on conquered territory where indigent

recognised it. But the final blow to Spartan hege- Greeks would settle, while the local population

mony was dealt by the Thebans. The war between would be enslaved. These ideas found increasing

Sparta and Thebes, which had lasted several years, support in Greece, but a campaign in the East was

entered its decisive stage. In 371 B.C., the Spartan hardly feasible in view of the country’s extreme

army was routed by the Thebans in the battle of political fragmentation.

Leuctra. The consequences of that defeat were disas- In the meantime, a force was maturing in the

trous for Sparta. The Peloponnesian League disinte- north of Greece that was destined to carry out, to

grated, and the Spartans were now more concerned some extent, the plans worked out by the intellec-

with the defence of their city than with hegemony. tuals of Hellas but not in the way they expected. The

Messenia became independent, and the city of Mes- Macedonian kingdom came on the scene, and dur-

sene arose on the slopes of Mount Ithome. In the ing the 4th century B. C. it kept growing stronger,

north of the Peloponnese, several small Arcadian more and more vigorously interfering in Greece’s

poleis formed the Arcadian League, of which the affairs.

newly built city of Megalopolis became the centre. Under king Philip II (359-336 B. C), Macedonia

In the end, Sparta’s possessions were reduced to achieved power it had never known before. It was

Laconica, and its influence on the affairs of the Pelo- mostly an agricultural country; compared with the

ponnese became minimal. Greek world, class society and the state developed

But the Thebans’ great victories did not bring rather late here. For this reason, most of Mace- them hegemony over Greece. The long years of war ^ donia’s population in the 4th century B. C. were free had undermined Theban economy, while the The- ? peasants who usually served in infantry. Cavalry was bans’ former allies rose against them as soon as the : the aristocratic force. King Philip reformed the prospect of Theban hegemony became apparent. * army making it the strongest in the Balkan penin- Somewhat later, Athens also suffered a severe blow. g= sula. Philip’s army was hardened in countless cam- Seeing the weakening of Sparta and Thebes, Athe- g paigns, and there were many talented military nians thought it an opportune moment to revert to o leaders among the king’s associates. Capturing the their imperial policy, but their allies immediately | mines of Mt. Pangaeus, Philip began to mint his

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gold coin and, unlike most Greek poleis, had no fiscation of property, and remission of debts, all of

trouble in financing his military and political moves. which was in the interests of the propertied sections

A sober politician with a fine grasp of the political of the population. Manumission of slaves for pur-

situation in the Balkans, Philip skilfully interfered in poses of political revolt was strictly forbidden. The

the affairs of Greece. Athens became the main foreign policy of the Greek League was entrusted to

opponent of Macedonia. In the long fight between king Philip. The affairs of the League were managed

them Macedonia gradually gained the upper hand, by an assembly of representatives of all the poleis.

consolidating its positions on the Thracean coast. Finally, war against Persia was declared on behalf of

Philip interfered in the so-called Sacred War, which Greece and Macedonia, and Philip was elected

raged for many years in central Greece, where Supreme Commander of all the allied forces,

numerous Greek poleis fought against Phocis. The Thus ended the most important period in the his-

rulers of Phocis had plundered the Delphi temple tory of Greece. From that moment, Greece found

and, hiring a considerable army of mercenaries with itself under a foreign power and lost its independ-

the money, repulsed the attacks of their opponents. ence.

In the course of that war, Philip subdued Thessaly, The period of crisis in Greece did not signify a

which added the famous Thessalian cavalry to his complete decline of its culture. On the contrary, it

army, then defeated Phocis and consolidated his was marked by many important achievements in

positions in central Greece. Finally, he destroyed literature, science, philosophy, and art. A number of

the alliance of the Greek poleis of Chalcidice and outstanding thinkers of antiquity, Plato and Aristo-

firmly established his presence on the Aegean coast. tie among them, lived and worked in that epoch.

Macedonia’s growing might and Philip’s increas- The crisis of the polis certainly led to great

ing interference in Greek affairs resulted in a certain changes in social consciousness and morality; the

polarisation of forces in Athens and many other growth of individualism and the decline of the tradi-

Greek poleis. With his enormous wealth, the king of tional collectivist morality of the polis became pro-

Macedonia was able to suborn a number of sta- nounced. But on the other hand, these phenomena

tesmen in different cities, but there were also quite a stimulated profound theoretical studies in the nature

few selfless supporters of Macedonia who hoped that of the polis, the causes of its evolution and decline, its

the establishment of Macedonian hegemony would typology and the possibility of creating a stable or

bring political and social stability, and later enable “ideal” polis. These problems were worked out on

Greece to start a war against Persia. an idealist basis by the pupils of Socrates, above all

Philip extended his activities to the Peloponnese. by Plato. Plato came from an aristocratic Athenian

Demosthenes managed to build a rather powerful family-his father Ariston was said to have traced his

alliance, including Athens, Corinth, Argos, Thebes descent through Codrus to the god Poseidon; he

and a number of other poleis. The allies raised an received an excellent education and was an out-

army of more than 30,000, which fought a decisive standing erudite. He was a major representative of

battle against the Macedonians near Chaeronea the idealist trend in ancient Greek philosophy and

(338 B. C.). Though the Greeks put up a stubborn the founder of the Academy-the philosophical fight, they suffered a crushing defeat. That meant school uniting his disciples. The basis of Plato’s views

the end of the freedom of the Greek poleis. In the was the notion of ideas-eternal and immutable pro¬

following year, Philip convened a congress in Cor- __ totypes of things, of which the objects of the real inth attended by representatives of all the Greek ~ world are weak reflection. This theory also served as poleis with the exception of Sparta. The congress £ a basis for Plato’s views on the polis. The idea of the proclaimed a Greek League (or League of Corinth) J polis also existed in the higher world, the world of under the hegemony of the Macedonian king. Uni- ^ ideas, and the task of the lawgiver was to build a real versal peace was declared, wars between poleis were | polis closely approaching the ideal one. Plato forbidden, as were the interference of poleis in gj worked out in detail a project for dividing the popu- the internal affairs of each other and any changes in | lation of the polis into three groups: farmers, the state structure which existed at that moment. A = craftsmen and traders engaged in production and ban was also imposed on redistribution of land, con- g exchange and having no rights at all; guards exclu-

230

sively engaged in military affairs, deprived of pro- one than Plato’s. He proposed to build Greek poleis

perty and family, and devoting themselves entirely on lands wrested from the barbarians, on which the

to the defence of the polis; and finally, wise men or citizens would live by exploiting the local popula-

philosophers concerned with the management of the tion. The wide spreading of slavery led to the emer-

polis and living the same harsh life as the guards. gence of the so-called “slave question” as a problem

Plato’s project echoed the ideals of a long-gone for sociological analysis. Expressing the very essence

era-the Spartan system of the time of Lycurgus, of the slave-owning system, Aristotle developed the

and naturally could not be implemented. Plato’s idea of “slavery by nature”, according to which all

attempts to realise it in Sicily with the help of the non-Greeks (barbarians) were intended by nature

tyrants of Syracuse nearly cost him his life. itself to be Greeks’ slaves. Aristotle’s economic ideas

There was a scholar among Plato’s disciples whose were extremely profound. He observed quite cor-

powerful influence went far beyond his time, his rectly that the polis mode of life was only compatible

country, and antiquity in general. That scholar was with a definite level of economic development, while

Aristotle. He was an encyclopaedist in the true sense excessive progress in commodity-money relations

of the word; his interests ranged over philosophy, resulted in the disintegration of the polis. Just as im-

history, mathematics, physics, zoology, botany, portant were his observations concerning the depend-

medicine, ethics, theory of art, literature and ence of politics on the economic interests of vari-

theatre, and rhetoric. He began his work as Plato’s ous groups of the citizenry. Aristotle’s influence

disciple but later broke with his teacher and founded on the subsequent development of antiquity and

his own school, the Lyceum. Aristotle’s natural phi- early Middle Ages was truly immense. Translated

losophy was close to materialism. According to Aris- into Arabic, his works were absorbed by Islamic

totle, matter and form are inseparable; they are not science, and later the originals of these works and

abstract concepts but two aspects of a single life pro- translations into many other languages became some

cess. The strongest aspect of Aristotle’s natural phi- of the most treasured possessions of European and

losophical system was his theory of motion, without world civilisation.

which there is neither time, space, nor matter. The In the second half of the 5th and the 4th centuries,

theory of the methods of thinking, or logic, comple- the art of oratory reached its peak. Legal eloquence mented that system. assumed the greatest importance; countless cases

Aristotle created an all-embracing scientific-phi- came to the courts, and this necessitated a knowledge

losophical system which synthesised all the achieve- of the laws and the art of persuasive speech. As a

ments of the Greek science of the classical period. result, the profession of logographers, or compilers of

Aristotle’s scientific views were inseparable from his court speeches, became established (both prosecu-

general philosophical principles. He worked on tion and defence rested with the litigants in the Athe-

mathematical problems and created a general nian court). The classic representative of logo-

theory of the qualitative changes and transforma- graphy was undoubtedly Lysias, who brought the

dons of bodies. Aristotle’s works on animate nature art to perfection; his style was simple, his arguments

are an important part of his scholary heritage. He sober and convincing.

described 485 species of animals and was the first Isocrates, the most famous teacher of rhetoric at

scholar to suggest a classification of the animal the time, was an unsurpassed master of solemn elo-

world. Aristotle’s work was continued by his pupils, quence. His whole activity as a political orator and

notably by Theophrastus. writer was inspired by a single idea an alliance of

Aristotle also developed a theory of the state in his , all Greeks for a war against the barbarians. Only a

remarkable work Politics a treatise based on 158 f united campaign would save Greece from all its mis-

studies, each of them devoted to the state structure 5 fortunes-civil wars, conflicts between poleis, the in-

and history of an individual polis and carried out * stitution of mercenaries, banishment of citizens,

either by Aristotle himself or his pupils. Aristotle’s f poverty and destitution. The wars engulfing Greece

analysis of the Greek polis (its essence, types, evolu- | should be taken over to Asia, and the riches of Asia,

tion, causes of decline, etc.) was unsurpassed; he also 53 to Europe. That Panhellenic idea permeated all of

worked out a project of an ideal state a more viable § Isocrates’s speeches-only the names of possible

231

organisers of such a campaign changed. Disap- endeavoured to solve difficult technical tasks. Espe-

pointed in his native Athens, Isocrates turned to the daily famous of Apelles’s paintings was Aphrodite

powerful rulers, first Dionysios, the tyrant of Syra- Anadiomena — Aphrodite rising out of the sea, her

cuse, and later the Macedonian king Philip. The lat- body seen through the water,

ter accorded with his ideal of a leader capable of The development of Greek science in the 4th cen-

pacifying the Greeks and heading an eastern tury B. C. was mostly determined by the work of

campaign. professional scholars (mathematicians, astronomers,

But the great and tragic figure of Demosthenes, and natural scientists) and, to a lesser degree, by the

one of the greatest orators of all times and peoples, efforts of philosophers. The greatest scholar of the

towers above all the Greek speakers. Demosthenes’s 4th century was Eudoxus of Cnidus. In mathema-

court speeches were numerous and important, but tics, he developed the general theory of proportions,

he acquired his fame mostly through his part in which was properly appreciated only in the second

political debate. Both for his contemporaries and half of the 19th century. He also invented 'the

later generations Demosthenes was above all a poli- method of exhaustion and applied it to the first

tician, fighter and patriot. He realised quite early rigorous proof of the volume of the pyramid. He

the danger of the Macedonian king Philip for the in- played a still greater role in antique astronomy,

dependence of the Greeks, and began a struggle becoming in fact the father of theoretical astronomy,

against him. The speeches of Demosthenes against Eudoxus calculated the orbits of planets, compiled a

Philip and in defence of the freedom of Athens raised catalogue of the stars, and built the first astronomic

him to the position of a leading statesman. Demos- observatory. His model of the cosmos based on the

thenes tirelessly endeavoured to stir up the citizen notion of concentric spheres uniformly revolving

body to vigorous activity, and to build a coalition of round the earth stimulated the development of

the poleis against Macedonian danger. His speeches spheric geometry and the kinematics of moving

combined brilliant oratory and great fighting spirit; points, circles and spheres. Eudoxus’s ideas were

his passionate conviction and the power of his argu- further developed by his disciples-the mathemati-

ments moved his listeners. He was the last outstand- cians Menaechmus and Dinostratus, the astronomer

ing master of public oratory in independent Greece. Polemarchos who, in his turn, became the teacher of

The new phenomena in 4th-century Greek society the outstanding astronomer Callippus.

were also reflected in the development of art. Many Ancient Greek culture occupies a very special

prominent sculptors were then active in Greece place in the heritage on which human civilisation,

Scopas, Leochares, Timotheus, Bryaxis, Praxiteles, and particularly European culture, relied in its sub-

Lysippus. All of them abandoned the simple and sequent development. In the esthetic sphere, the

strict principles of the epoch of “high classicism”. Greek heritage is not only a source of modern knowl-

The desire to convey the individual’s traits, emo- edge but also a living and fascinating spiritual force,

tions, and inner world became paramount. Scopas Antique culture is a constituent part of modern cul-

usually created sculptures on mythological themes, ture, not just its antecedent. Significantly, the turn-

but his types expressed stormy spiritual experiences ing point in the development of West European art

(see, for instance, his figure of a Maenad in the grip began with the epoch of the Renaissance, or the

of Bacchic frenzy, or the faces of wounded warriors, revival of antique art. As Engels wrote, “In the

expressing intense suffering, on the pediment of the manuscripts saved from the fall of Byzantium, in the

temple of Athena at Tegea). Hedonistic themes were 3. antique statues dug out of the ruins of Rome, anew strong in the work of Praxiteles, who loved to por- 5 world was revealed to the astonished West, that of tray Aphrodite, Dionysius and his companions. He y ancient Greece; the ghosts of the Middle Ages became especially famous for his sculpture of Aphro- f vanished before its shining forms.” 1 The images of dite of Cnidos. | antique mythology were treated in numerous paint-

The same features were inherent in 4th-century is ings by Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Botti- painting, of which the major representatives were | _

Pausamas of Sicyon and Apelles. Pausanias invented ^ 1 Frederick Engels, Dialectics of Nature, Progress Publishers,

the technique of encaustic, or hot-wax painting. He J Moscow, 1972, p. 20.

232

If

rhelli, Titian, Rubens, Rembrandt, Watteau, Fra¬ gonard, Ivanov, Bruni, and in the sculptures of Vitali, Kozlovski, Demuth-Malinovsky, and others. The subjects of antique mythology were used by many great writers and musicians Dante, Shake¬ speare, Pushkin, Mayakovsky, Haydn, Gluck, Offenbach, Stravinsky, and others. It is hard to find a single area where the influence of Greek culture would not be felt, and therein lies its intransient sig¬ nificance for all mankind.

Alexander the Great. The epoch of Alexander the Great was a transitional one from the classical to the Hellenistic era. That short historical period (336-323 B. C.) was full of events which determined the course of history during several centuries to come. The war with the Persians was begun already under Alex¬ ander’s father, but the assassination of Philip II in 336 delayed for a while the fulfilment of the great plans for a campaign in the East. On his accession to the throne, Alexander ruthlessly exterminated the assassins of his father and possible claimants to the throne. But the greatest threat came from the out¬ side : in the north, Thracian and Illyrian tribes pre¬ pared to invade Macedonia, and in the south, the Greeks were ready to rise in revolt. In this situation, Alexander acted swiftly and resolutely. He led an army into central Greece and camped outside Thebes. Intimidated, the Greeks recognised Alex¬ ander’s claim to all his father’s rights. Just as swiftly, the Macedonian army moved north and defeated Thracians and Illyrians in several battles. At this time, the false rumour of the death of the Mace¬ donian king incited the Greeks to revolt. Realising the seriousness of this development, Alexander returned earlier than the Greeks could have possibly expected him, captured Thebes-the hotbed of the rebellion, razed the city to the ground and enslaved its citizens. He also showed himself as astute politi¬ cian: the decision to destroy Thebes was taken by the allied Greek poleis.

The rebels thus brought to heel, Alexander turned to his principal task the campaign against the Per¬ sians. In spring of the year 334 B. C., the Mace¬ donian army and the allied Greek forces crossed into Asia Minor. The war was on. The Persian army was greatly superior in numbers, but Alexander’s force was remarkably well trained, disciplined and armed.

The first encounter with the forces of the satraps of Asia Minor took place on the banks of the river Granicus; the Persian army was routed in a fierce battle. That opened the way to the conquest of Asia Minor, which in fact did not go beyond capturing coastal cities and establishing overall control over the country. Officially, the war had been declared to be in revenge for the desecration of the Greek shrines during the Graeco-Persian war; Alexander was very skilful at using Panhellenic slogans. He drove away oligarchs in the Greek cities and established democratic regimes, which ensured support from the Greek population of Asia Minor.

While Alexander was busy conquering Asia Minor, the situation in the Aegean became unfa¬ vourable to him. The Persian commander-in-chief, the Greek Memnon, captured a number of islands and even threatened to disembark on the Balkan shore. His sudden death gave Alexander a respite. Having conquered Asia Minor, Alexander crossed Cilicia and entered northern Syria. Here again he met the Persian army, this time headed by King Darius III himself. In the battle near Issus in the autumn of 333 B. C., both sides suffered heavy losses, and the Macedonians only gained a victory by a supreme effort. Darius fled in such a hurry that he abandoned his family to its fate, and it was captured by the enemy. In Damascus, the Persian king’s tra¬ velling treasury was seized, which greatly relieved Alexander’s severe financial difficulties. It was apparently after the victory at Issus that he con¬ ceived the idea of conquering the whole of the Per¬ sian empire.

Alexander then occupied the Syro-Phoenician coast, where Tyre offered the greatest resistance. Relying on the insular position of their city and a strong fleet, the inhabitants of Tyre hoped to with¬ stand the siege. To take the city by storm, a dam was built to connect the island with the mainland. Tyre was stormed and harshly punished for its resistance. The capture of Gaza opened the way to Egypt, whose satrap surrendered as his army was not strong 4 enough to offer effective resistance. The Egyptians ' received Alexander as their liberator from Persian S" rule. During his stay in Egypt, Alexander founded a 9 city in the Nile Delta which he named after himself. | He made a pilgrimage to the Ammon (Amon) oracle ^ in the desert, and the priests there declared Alex- s ander to be Ammon’s son, thus recognising his

233

I

divine origin. In this way, his power in Egypt was aristocrats who entirely depended on him, and sanctified by the religion. crushed it. Parmenio, one of the most renowned

In the spring of 331, Alexander moved north. military leaders and an associate of Philip II, his son

Crossing the Tigris and the Euphrates unopposed, Philotas and many prominent members of Mace-

he approached the village of Gaugamela, where a donian aristocracy lost their lives. Somewhat later

decisive battle, one of the greatest in antiquity, took Cleitus, one of Alexander’s closest associates who

place on October 1, 331. Although the Persian army had saved his life in the battle of the Granicus, was

was now stronger than at Issus, the Macedonians also killed. Then came the disclosure of the so-called

defeated it again. The central provinces of the Per- “conspiracy of the pages”-of young men from aris-

sian empire now lay defenceless. Ancient Babylon tocratic families who formed the Macedonian king’s

and Susa, where the Achaemenid treasury was kept, personal bodyguard. Finally, Callisthenes, Aristo-

were captured without battle. The enormous riches tie’s nephew and the official historiographer of the

accumulated by the Persian kings passed into the campaign, also fell a victim of the persecutions, as he

hands of the conquerors. Alexander devastated Per- had expressed the discontent of the Greek cam-

sepolis, the ancient capital of the Achaemenids. This paigners who saw that Alexander had no intention

fact has puzzled many researches, since at that time at all of sharing the gains of the campaign with the

Alexander was already actively conducting a policy Greeks, completely preoccupied with consolidating

of rapprochement with the Persian aristocracy. It is his personal power.

believed that the Macedonian king wanted to The conquest of the eastern satrapies, especially of

demonstrate to the Greeks his devotion to Panhel- the southern areas of Central Asia, proved to be the

lenism and the ideas of revenge upon the Persians. most difficult part of Alexander’s drive east. As dis-

The point is that an anti-Macedonian movement led tinct from the situation in the west, where the popu-

by the Spartan king Agis III broke out at that time lar masses viewed the change in authority with com-

in Greece. Not knowing yet that his governor Anti- plete indifference, a real people’s war against the

pater had already defeated the Greeks, Alexander invaders began in Central Asia, led by Spitamenes, a

wanted to win their sympathies. Sogdian chieftain. The struggle against Bactrians

The defeat at Gaugamela and Alexander’s occu- and Sogdians lasted for three years and took a great

pation of the entire western part of the Achaemenid deal of effort. Alexander had to reorganise his army,

empire did not signify a complete rout of the Per- adapting it to the new conditions of warfare. He sians. Darius still had the entire eastern part of the meted out mass reprisals to the rebels, and at the

empire in his hands, and he hoped to gather the same time tried to attract the local aristocracy to his

forces for a further struggle in Ecbatana, the capital side. He himself married Roxana, the daughter of

of Media. Alexander’s irresistible rush frustrated Oxyartes, one of the former leaders of the resistance,

those plans. Darius fled from Ecbatana. A conspir- and included Bactrian and Sogdian cavalry in his

acy was hatched by the Persian aristocrats in his army.

entourage during his flight, and he was assassinated. Alexander now dreamed of establishing his

During the Macedonian army’s march east, into dominion over the whole world; that dream could

regions practically unknown to the Greeks, there be realised if he conquered India. Although Alex-

were first signs of discontent with Alexander’s policy. ander was able to conquer large areas in the Indus

Alexander established ever closer links with the Per- ^ valley, inflicting a defeat on king Porus, he could not sian aristocracy, declaring himself the avenger of the bring his Indian campaign to a victorious conclu-

death of the Persian king. To increase his authority, 5 sion. The army, exhausted by the drive east beyond Alexander began to replace the old Macedonian tra- y all human endurance, resolutely refused to march ditions with new ones, borrowed from the Achae- ^ forward. Moving down the Indus towards the ocean, menids. The old Macedonian aristocracy, which saw | Alexander divided his force into two parts. The the transformation of their king’s power after the j larger portion marched overland to Mesopotamia, Oriental model as an infringement of their tradi- 1 the centre of Alexander’s new empire; the other part tional privileges, rose in opposition. In his struggle 5 ; sailed on ships, built on the spot, for the mouth of the against this opposition, Alexander relied on those Tigris. The return proved very difficult for both

234

forces, but at the beginning of 324 Alexander and the remnants of his army came back to Babylon.

On his return, Alexander had to deal with a number of difficult problems. Many of the satraps that he had left behind never expected him to return from the Indian expedition; they built up armed forces of their own and spent enormous sums of money, behaving as independent sovereigns. Alex¬ ander took decisive measures to suppress these sepa¬ ratist inclinations.

Alexander’s policy in those years was aimed at a unification of his vast empire. He endeavoured to consolidate peaceful relations between Macedonians and Persians. Apart from other measures, he organised a great wedding party for ten thousand of his warriors who married local maidens on the same day. 30,000 Persian youths were enlisted in his army. He promulgated an edict concerning the return of exiles to Greece and restoration of their property which was a breach of the covenant of the Greek League. He also demanded that the Greek poleis deify him. Numerous new cities were founded on conquered territories; Alexander regarded them as strongholds of his power. He also made preparations for new campaigns, probably intending to conquer Carthage, Sicily, South Arabia. A new fleet was built and an army raised, but at the height of these preparations Alexander died of fever at the age of 33, in 323 B. C.

The scope of Alexander’s campaigns and con¬ quests, which opened up new lands to the Greeks, made a great impression on his contemporaries. The argument about Alexander continues to this day. Earlier historiography largely idealised the Mace¬ donian king, regarding him as a genius bearing the high Hellenic civilisation east and thereby carrying out a great historical mission. This kind of unre¬ strained idealisation has given way to a more sober approach. Alexander’s activities defy any simplistic appraisal. He was undoubtedly a major statesman and a great military leader. His campaigns de¬ stroyed the Achaemenid empire, which was already in a state of degeneracy at that time, but the Graeco- Macedonian army brought devastation, slavery and death to the conquered peoples. Towns and villages were destroyed, men died, and whole tribes were exterminated. Alexander’s empire, which was greater in size than the Persian state, united by force of arms extremely diverse countries and peoples-

highly advanced Greek poleis and Macedonia with its survivals of the primitive communal structure, the Nile valley and Mesopotamia with their thous¬ and-year-old culture and the nomadic tribes of east¬ ern Iran. A purely military entity, the empire had no unified economic basis. The Macedonian con¬ quest largely took the form of capturing major cities and strategically important strongholds. The state that arose on the ruins of the Persian empire strongly resembled the latter. Alexander was content with recognition of his rule and the payment of taxes, which were collected under the supervision of Mace¬ donians and Greeks. There were no major changes, however, in the conditions of life, especially in areas remote from the centre.

At the same time a stream of Greeks and Mace¬ donians flowed east both during the campaigns and especially after them, bringing new forms of social relations and culture. Some of the cities which Alex¬ ander founded became centres of political and economic life. The campaigns brought an extension of the geographical limits of the Greek world, new communication routes were established, and naviga¬ tion expanded. All of this facilitated the develop¬ ment of the economy and of trading links, the begin¬ ning of a new period in the history of the eastern Mediterranean regions, marked by complex and contradictory processes of interaction between Grae¬ co-Macedonian and local elements the Hellenistic period.

Alexander’s world empire could not stand the test of time, as it had no firm political or economic basis. But his campaigns affected the destinies of many peoples not only in Europe but also in the Near and Middle East. In the epoch of Hellenism, ethnic, polis and religious seclusion began to break up, new forms of state arose, exchange and commerce expanded, foundations of new faiths were laid, and at the same time the process of polarisation of an¬ cient societies continued, as the class struggle of the have-nots and slaves against slave-owners intensified. It was as a result of Alexander’s campaigns that the East and the West truly met, and this encounter affected many aspects of their life, initiating mutual cultural enrichment. Whatever the appraisal of Alexander’s personality and activity may be, his campaigns undoubtedly played an important role in bringing the European and Oriental civilisations closer together.

Chapter 14

The Epoch of Hellenism

The period that followed Alexander the Great’s campaigns and the founding of the Graeco-Mace¬ donian empire is commonly referred to as Hellenis¬ tic. The term “Hellenism”, introduced by the Ger¬ man historian J. G. Droysen in the 1830s, is still widely debated; there is no consensus among scho¬ lars neither on the chronological and geographical boundaries of the Hellenistic world or on the signifi¬ cance of that period for the history of mankind.

Hellenism is often interpreted as a purely cultural phenomenon; accordingly, all areas in which the Hellenic and local cultures are observed to have in¬ teracted in antiquity are included in the Hellenistic world, some researchers stressing the fact of the in¬ teraction itself and the consequent syncretism of Hellenistic culture, others seeing it, above all, as a further development of Greek culture and the “crea¬ tive spirit” of the Greeks.

On a deeper plane, Hellenism is identified with Hellenistic civilisation. Apart from common cultural development, this concept covers the forms of politi¬ cal organisation and socioeconomic relations charac¬ teristic of that epoch (mostly in the eastern Mediter¬ ranean area). The historiography of Hellenism was greatly influenced in this respect by the theory of Michael Rostovtzeff (a Russian scholar who emi¬ grated to the USA), according to which the Hel¬ lenistic world (including the eastern Mediterranean and northern Pontic regions) should be viewed as a single political and socioeconomic system character¬ ised by stable internal economic links and political balance between the states of the region. In Rostov- tzefTs view, the basis of that system was the poleis and the “bourgeois class”. Owing to these elements,

the Greek urban (i. e., bourgeois) structure pre¬ vailed over the Oriental feudal one, and Greek cul¬ ture spread. Emerging as a result of the conquest of the East, which opened up new markets and exten¬ sive spheres of entrepreneurial activity, especially for the Greeks, the Hellenistic world achieved prosper¬ ity, which was, however, short-lived and was fol¬ lowed by a decline due to resultant political im¬ balance and the rise of the “Oriental reaction”. RostovtzefFs theory, with its socio-political emphasis and modern colouring (cf, e. g., the analogy between Hellenistic and capitalist economy), is still sometimes echoed in many modern works on the his¬ tory of Hellenism.

In their polemics with the trend towards moderni¬ sation of historiography, a number of Soviet histor¬ ians (S. I. Kovalyov, V. S. Sergeyev, A. B. Rano- vich, K. K. Zelyin, K. M. Kolobova and others) have proposed a fundamentally different interpre¬ tation of Hellenism. Pointing out some of the charac¬ teristic traits of Hellenism - the division of labour, the growth of export-oriented artisan industries, in¬ tense development of commerce and of money rela¬ tions, and the emergence of new centres of trade and ^ industry - they emphasise, quite rightly, that all a these processes unfolded within a society that was 5 basically slave-owning. In the Hellenistic period, --j eastern Mediterranean countries were going ' through different stages in the development of slave- ? owning relations. In the most advanced Greek sc states, the polis structure and its characteristic forms | of slave-owning relations were in a state of crisis; in - Macedonia and the poleis of north-western Greece, £ slave-owning grew and the political systems consoli-

236

dated; in Egypt and Near East, the antique forms of slavery and the polis structure spread, and various tribes within the Hellenistic world and in the outly¬ ing regions were undergoing the process of the for¬ mation of class society.

Soviet historians regard Hellenism as a concrete historical phenomenon within a limited geographi¬ cal areal, characterised by a combination and inter¬ action of Hellenic and local elements in the economy, socio-political structure and culture of the countries of the eastern Mediterranian and Near East in the late 4th-1st centuries B. C. Hellenism had been prepared by the interaction between the Greeks and the Near Eastern peoples in the previous period; the Graeco-Macedonian conquest lent it great scope and intensity. The new forms of culture and of political and socioeconomic relations arising in the Hellenistic period were the product of a syn¬ thesis in which the correlation of the local (mostly Oriental) and Greek elements was determined by the concrete historical conditions. The varying role of the local elements in the development of Hellenis¬ tic states affected the mode of social struggles within them, largely determining the historical fates of the diverse regions of the Hellenistic world.

The history of Hellenism falls into three distinct periods: the emergence of Hellenistic states (late 4th-early 3rd centuries B. C ); the moulding of the socioeconomic and political structure of these states and their efflorescence (3rd-early 2nd centuries B. C.); and economic decline, growth of social conflicts, and subjugation by Rome (mid-2nd-late 1st centuries B. C.).

The sources of our knowledge of the Hellenistic period are mostly works by such antique authors as Polybius, Diodorus, Strabo, Cicero, Pausanias, Appian, Plutarch, Justin (who recounted the work of an earlier author, Pompeius Trogus) and some other historians, rhetoricians, poets and comediogra- phers. These sources mostly provide information on the socio-political and cultural life of Hellenistic society and are complemented by inscriptions, papyri, cuneiform tablets and coins, which are some¬ times our only sources. Their number continually in¬ creases through regular excavations and accidental finds in Greece, Asia Minor, the Near East, Central Asia and Egypt. Recently, the so-called Qumran MSS, or Dead Sea Scrolls (1st century B. C.-2nd century A. D.) were found in caves near the Dead

Sea; they provided important information on the religious and social movements in Judea during the Hellenistic and Roman times.

The Emergence of the Hellenistic States. At the time of Alexander the Great’s death, his empire embraced the Balkan peninsula, the islands of the Aegean, Asia Minor, Egypt, the whole of the Near East, the south¬ ern areas of Central Asia stretching as far as the lower Indus. For the first time in history was such a vast territory included within the framework of a single political system. Communication and trade routes between remote regions were established dur¬ ing the conquests through founding new towns, sta¬ tioning garrisons, sinking wells, etc. Broad oppor¬ tunities opened up for the surplus population of the Greek poleis (and possibly of Phoenicia and Meso¬ potamia) to colonise and exploit the conquered ter¬ ritories, particularly the backward regions. How¬ ever, the peaceful exploitation of the new lands was preceded by several decades of fierce conflicts between Alexander’s generals or diadochoi, as they are usually referred to.

The army was the most important political force and the mainstay of state power in Alexander’s empire. The army eventually determined the state’s fate after his death. A short struggle between the in¬ fantry and the Horse Guards ended in an agreement according to which the empire was to exist as a sin¬ gle whole, while the imbecile Arrhidaeus, Philip’s natural son (the creature of the infantry, who adopted the name of Philip III on accession to the throne), and Alexander IV, Alexander’s son born by Roxana already after his death, were declared Alex¬ ander’s heirs. The actual power fell in the hands of a small group of Macedonian aristocrats who had occupied the highest military and court posts under Alexander. Perdiccas became regent; Craterus was appointed the prostates of the kingdom; Antipater remained ruler of Macedonia and Greece; Thrace was handed over to Lysimachus; Antigonus, satrap of Central Phrygia, was the most influential ruler of Asia Minor. The satrapies of Paphlagonia and Cap¬ padocia, which devolved on Eumenes, a Greek from Cardia who had been Alexander’s chancellor, still had to be conquered, in fact, as they were only nominally included in the Macedonian empire. Egypt was to be ruled by Ptolemy, son of Lagos,

237

while the eastern provinces remained under the decisions taken at Triparadeisos showed that, while power of the satraps appointed by Alexander. Cas- preserving the nominal unity of the empire under sander, son of Antipater, and Seleucus occupied im- the Macedonian dynasty, the diadochoi were in fact

portant command posts. tearing the state apart.

Alexander’s death and the strife between his In the two years that followed, Antigonus nearly

former close associates triggered off a resurgence of ousted Eumenes from Asia Minor, but in 319 Anti- the anti-Macedonian movement in Greece. It was pater died, handing over his authority to Polyper- initiated by the Athenian demos; later, Aetolia, chon, one of the old generals loyal to the Mace- Phocis, Locris and Thessaly joined Athens. Anti- donian dynasty, and the political situation abruptly pater was besieged in Lamia, whereupon the rebels changed again. Antipater’s son Cassander, sup- were joined by Argos and Corinth. With the arrival ported by Antigonus, opposed Polyperchon. In a of Craterus, however, the balance of forces tipped in retaliatory move, Polyperchon, on behalf of the favour of the Macedonians. The Greek fleet was kings, appointed Eumenes sirategos of Asia (replacing routed off Amorgos Island, and their land forces, in Antigonus) and commander of the regiment of the the battle of Crannon (322 B. C.). Greek resistance argyro asp ides, or Silver Shields, giving him the right was crushed, Athens, as the initiator of the war, was to use the royal treasury for recruiting an army, punished most cruelly: a Macedonian garrison was Eumenes soon raised a considerable army, and the stationed at Munychia, a constitution based on pro- war between the diadochoi flared up with renewed perty qualifications was introduced, and the leaders force. Greece and Macedonia became the principal of democracy were executed or fled the country. arena of that struggle, with the royal house, the

In the meantime, Perdiccas, playing on the mood Macedonian aristocracy, and the Greek poleis get- of the army that had grown accustomed to live by ting all involved in the conflict between Polyperchon

plundering conquered territories and therefore and Cassander.

retained to some extent its aggressive spirit, tried to To undermine Cassander’s position and win the

consolidate his autocratic rule in the eastern part of Greek poleis over to his side, Polyperchon promul- the empire but immediately ran into opposition gated an edict, in the name of Philip III Arrhidaeus, from the other diadochoi. His actions against Anti- announcing the restoration in Greece of the political gonus and Ptolemy, who had disobeyed his orders, status that had existed before the Lamian War, began a long period of strife among the diadochoi. which immediately entailed anti-oligarchic revolu- Our information about that period is extremely frag- tions in Athens and other cities. To increase his mentary and confused, and therefore only the main authority, Polyperchon invited queen Olympias, the trends of historical development can therefore be widow of Philip II and mother of Alexander the outlined. Great, who lived in Epirus, to move over to Mace-

Perdiccas’s unsuccessful campaign in Egypt in 321 donia. Olympias invaded Macedonia with a small B. C. caused discontent in the army, and he was force of Epiriotes and, supported by Polyperchon, killed by his own subordinates, one of whom was seized and executed Philip III Arrhidaeus, her step- Seleucus. At the same time Craterus fell in an son, his wife Eurydice and a number of Macedonian encounter with Eumenes in Asia Minor. A second aristocrats, including Cassander’s brother, to settle distribution of offices and satrapies therefore took old scores. Her actions compelled Cassander, who at place at Triparadeisos in Syria in 321. The regency ^ that time laid siege to Tegea in the Peloponnese, to of the empire passed on to Antipater, who ruled over I move against Macedonia. Surrounding Pydna, Greece and Macedonia, and soon the royal family 5 where Olympias took refuge, he pressed her extradi- was brought over to Macedonia. Antigonus became ^ tion in 316, after a long siege. Not daring to execute strategos autokrator of Asia in charge of all the royal n the old queen on his own authority, he had her tried forces stationed there. The rule of Ptolemy over the | by the army assembly, condemned and executed, recently captured cities of Cyrenaica was recog- j Alexander IV and his mother Roxana also found nised. Seleucus became satrap of Babylonia. The | themselves in the hands of Cassander as captives or conduct of the war against Eumenes and other Per- = hostages rather than the reigning family, diccas’s followers was entrusted to Antigonus. The £ Cassander’s successes in Macedonia and Polyper-

238

chon’s indecision and failures brought about a for the Greek cities, Ptolemy, to give up his claims to change in the orientation of the Greek poleis. Syria, and Lysimachus, to Hellespontine Phrygia.

Cassander’s lenient attitude to the poleis that had Although the name of king Alexander IV still

used to fight against him and his restoration of figured in the text of the treaty, the diadochoi already

Thebes destroyed by Alexander in 335 consolidated acted as independent rulers of the territories they

and expanded his power basis in Greece. His mar- had carved out for themselves,

riage to Thessalonice, daughter of Philip II and A new phase in the war between the diadochoi

Alexander’s half-sister, opened a legitimate path to began in 307. By that time, the last vestiges of formal

the Macedonian throne for Cassander, but the situa- links between the parts of Alexander’s former empire

tion in the eastern part of the empire kept him from had disappeared, as Roxana and her son were assas-

taking the last decisive step to royal power. sinated at Cassander’s orders. Apparently aspiring

The struggle between Eumenes and Antigonus to seize Macedonia, Antigonus began to prepare a

shifted east, to Persis and Susiana. Eumenes com- bridgehead in Greece. The Greek poleis played an

bined his forces with those of the eastern satrapies, important role as strategic strongholds, and also as

but the alliance was extremely fragile, as the allies’ arsenals of weapons and sources of reinforcements

interests differed. Eumenes himself entirely depen- for the army:

ded on his army, and only his skill as a military The relationship between the diadochoi and the

leader enabled him to hold out for several years poleis also had a socio-political aspect, since the

against Antigonus. After the first failure, he was armies largely consisted of Greek mercenaries. Play¬ handed over to the enemy by his associates the ing on the socio-political conflicts within die poleis

argyroaspides in exchange for the army transport and their traditional aspirations towards political in-

(their property, their wives and children) seized by dependence, the diadochoi proclaimed “freedom” for

Antigonus, and then the troops themselves went over the Greek cities. The demagogic nature of the mani-

to Antigonus’s side (late 317-early 316 B. C.). The festoes proclaiming the liberation of Greek poleis is

satraps, Eumenes’s former allies, ceased resistance, clear from surviving inscription from the city of

recognizing Antigonus’s authority as the strategos of Scepsis containing Antigonus’s message on the occa-

Asia. sion of the peace treaty of 311, in which the agree-

Antigonus took pains to consolidate his power ment between the diadochoi was presented as a proof of

over the most important Near Eastern satrapies. By Antigonus’s solicitude “for the freedom of the Hel-

316, he was the most powerful of the diadochoi, with lenes, to which we (i. e., Antigonus) have made con-

vast financial resources that could be used to main- siderable concessions”. The diadochoi supported now

tain a great army. The threat arose of an expansion the demos, now the oligarchs, using these levers to

of his rule to other satrapies as well, which made gain the consent of the poleis to station their garri-

Seleucus, Ptolemy and Cassander conclude an sons on their territory. Political revolutions were

alliance against Antigonus. The alliance was joined accompanied by confiscations, banishments and exe-

by Lysimachus, who, preoccupied with the expan- cutions, and conflicts between the diadochoi over pos-

sion and consolidation of his possessions in Thrace session of the poleis entailed harsh reprisals and

and the western Black Sea coast, had not interfered plunder.

in the struggle of the diadochoi. A new series of fierce In 307, Antigonus’s son Demetrius led a powerful

battles began on land and sea, all over Syria, ^ fleet to Athens and announced the “liberation” of Phoenicia, Babylonia, Asia Minor, and Greece. -| Greek poleis. He drove Macedonian garrisons out For several years, the war between Antigonus and of Megara and Athens, but success in Greece largely

the coalition was in the balance, and only in 312 did depended on naval superiority; here, Ptolemy was

Ptolemy win an important victory near Gaza in S' the most serious opponent, with his powerful fleet

Syria. In 311, a truce was concluded between Anti- -S’ and the harbours of the dependent and allied Greek

gonus, Ptolemy, Cassander, and Lysimachus, but it poleis. The principal battles were therefore fought was quite unsatisfactory to all the parties: Antigonus ^ near the islands of the Mediterranean and Aegean,

was compelled to recognize Cassander as the strategos j? In 306, Demetrius defeated Ptolemy s fleet off

of Europe, Cassander had to agree to independence | Salamis in Cyprus. After that major victory Anti-

239

gonus assumed the royal title, conferring the same dignity on Demetrius; he thereby claimed the Mace¬ donian throne. In response, Ptolemy and the other diadochoi did likewise. A campaign against Egypt which Antigonus undertook proved a failure; he then delivered a blow against Rhodes, one of Pto¬ lemy’s most important allies, strategically and economically. After a two-year siege (305-304 B. C.) by Demetrius, who was nicknamed Poliorcetes (“Besieger”), Rhodes was compelled to take the side of Antigonus. Only after that could Demetrius achieve major successes in Greece: he drove Mace¬ donian garrisons out of several cities of the Pelopon- nese, restored the Corinthian League, proclaimed all Greece “free”, and moved on Thessaly. The threat to Cassander and Lysimachus became imminent.

At that time Seleucus, taking advantage of Anti- gonus’s preoccupation with the affairs of the west, went on a campaign through eastern satrapies as far as India, and returned to Babylon with sufficient means and military forces to go to war with Anti¬ gonus. Again all Antigonus’s enemies united against him. In a decisive battle near Ipsus in 301, the com¬ bined forces of Lysimachus, Seleucus and Cassander routed the forces of Antigonus; Antigonus himself fell in battle, and his possessions were divided, mostl) between Seleucus and Lysimachus.

The battle of Ipsus in a way marked the beginning of one of the major Hellenistic states, the kingdom of the Seleucids which included all the Middle Eastern and some Near Eastern satrapies of Alexander’s empire and some areas of Asia Minor. The boun¬ daries of the Ptolemy kingdom had been defined somewhat earlier: it included Egypt, Cyrenaica and Coelesyria. In 297/6, the kingdom of Bithvnia emerged, and in 297 the Pontic kingdom.

Further peripeteias of the struggle between the diadochoi mostly took place on the territory of Greece, Macedonia and Asia Minor. After Gassander’s death in 298, the struggle for the Macedonian throne broke out. The throne was claimed by Cas- sander’s sons, as well as Demetrius Poliorcetes and Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, one of the most talented military leaders of the times. At first, Demetrius gained the upper hand, but already in 288, Lysi¬ machus and Pyrrhus saw their chance when Demet¬ rius’s despotic forms of government caused wides¬ pread discontent among Macedonians; they banish¬ ed Demetrius and divided Macedonia into two

So

a

parts. Soon, however, Lysimachus gained ascendan¬ cy over Pyrrhus and in 285 united Thrace and Macedonia in one kingdom, continuing also to ex¬ pand his possessions in northwestern Asia Mi¬ nor.

Lysimachus’s rise led him to a confrontation with Seleucus. In the battle at Corupedion (in Lydia, not far from Sardis) in 281, Lysimachus suffered a defeat and was killed. Seleucus, whose power now extended nearly over all the Asian lands conquered by the Macedonians and the Greeks, could now claim the Macedonian throne and restore the unity of the empire built by Alexander. But that proved impossible. In 280, on his way to Macedonia Seleucus was killed by Ptolemy Ceraunus who apparently acted with the tacit consent of the Mace¬ donian aristocracy hostile to Seleucus and the politi¬ cal regime he established in his possessions. That is the only explanation for Ptolemy Ceraunus’s being proclaimed king of Macedonia.

Apart from the devastating dynastic wars, in the early 270s Macedonia and Greece suffered destruc¬ tive inroads by Celtic tribes, whose mass migrations had involved the whole of southern Europe late in the 4th century. In the first conflict with the Gala¬ tian Celts the Macedonians were defeated, and Pto¬ lemy Ceraunus was killed. The second wave of the Celtic invasion reached Delphi, and was only stopped by the united efforts of the poleis of the Del¬ phi Amphictionic League Boeotia and Phocis) and Aetolia. The Celtic invasion was finally checked only in 277 by Antigonus Gonatas, son of Demetrius Poliorcetes, who continued to hold sway over some Greek cities captured by his father and had a power¬ ful army and navy at his disposal. In the battle near Lysimachia in Thrace he inflicted a crushing defeat on a large force of the Galatians and thereby not only relieved Macedonia and Greece from the threat of Celtic invasion but also won access to the Macedonian throne. Soon he was proclaimed king of Macedonia, starting the new dynasty of the Anti- gonids, which united southern Thrace and Mace¬ donia under its rule. In this way, the third major Hellenistic state became a relatively stable territorial and political entity.

In the fifty years of strife between the diadochoi, a new, Hellenistic society with a complex social struc¬ ture and a new type of state evolved. The activities of the diadochoi, guided by selfish motives, ultimately

240

manifested certain objective tendencies in the histor¬ ical development of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Near East the need for close economic links between the hinterland and the coastal regions as well as between the separate areas of the Mediter¬ ranean, and at the same time the tendency towards preserving the existing ethnic community and the traditional political and cultural unity of the separ¬ ate regions; the need for safe and regular trade links and the development of cities as centres of trade and handicrafts; the need for cultivating new lands to feed the increasing population, and finally the need for cultural interaction as the necessary condition for further development of culture. The individual traits of the statesmen competing for power, their military and political talent or lack of it, political short-sight¬ edness, energy and unscrupulousness in the attain¬ ment of their goals, ruthlessness, contempt for human life, greed, and so on all this made the events highly involved, acutely dramatic, and to some extent fortuitous. Still, certain common fea¬ tures of the diadochoi s policies are obvious.

Each of them endeavoured to unite under his rule inland and coastal areas and to ensure his domina¬ tion over the major routes, commercial centres and harbours. Each of them faced the problem of main¬ taining a strong army as the only real mainstay of power. The cadre of the army consisted as a rule of Macedonians and Greeks who had formerly served in the royal army or in the garrisons left in various fortresses during Alexander’s campaigns, and of mercenaries recruited in Greece. In part, the armies were paid and kept out of the booty of Alexander or the diadochoi themselves, but collecting taxes or trib¬ ute from the local population was also a vital prob¬ lem necessitating the organisation of the adminis¬ tration of conquered territories and of well-ordered economic life. These issues apparently proved deci¬ sive for the consolidation of the positions of the diado¬ choi. For instance, Antigonus, who seized the whole r? of the royal treasury in Asia, apparently did less than | the other dmdochoi for the economy and adminis- Z. tration of the lands under his control, and that ulti- mately determined the outcome of the struggle, to * some extent.

In all the regions except Macedonia, each of the jT' diadochoi faced the problem of the relations with the t local non-Greek population. Two tendencies ? became apparent in its solution: (1) continuation of §

241

Alexander’s policy of rapprochement between the Graeco-Macedonian and local aristocracy, and the use of the local traditional forms of social and politi¬ cal organisation; (2) a harsher policy towards the conquered local population, deprived of all rights, and introduction of the polis structure. In their rela¬ tions with the remote eastern satrapies all the diado¬ choi had to follow the practices established under Alexander and probably going back to the Persian times: the power was vested in the local aristocracy on conditions of vassalage and payment of tribute in money and in kind. Peithon’s attempt to interfere in their internal administration ended in failure. Seleucus, who campaigned in the eastern satrapies, merely achieved a recognition of his supreme power and the payment of tribute. As later documents show, Ptolemy Lagos left the socio-political structure of Egypt without any essential changes, adapting it to suit his interests. Seleucus apparently acted in the same way in Babylonia.

Founding new poleis was one of the means of economic and political consolidation of power in the conquered territories. That policy, begun by Alex¬ ander, was vigorously continued by the diadochoi. The new poleis were founded both as strategic strongholds and as administrative and economic centres. Some of them were laid out on empty lands and settled by newcomers from Greece, Macedonia and other regions; others emerged through volun¬ tary or forcible union of two or several impoverished towns or villages; while still others arose from the reorganisation of deserted Oriental cities where Graeco-Macedonian migrants settled. New poleis appeared throughout the Hellenistic world, but their number, location and mode of origin reflected the historical circumstances and the features of the various regions. In the densely populated and highly advanced areas of Egypt and the Near East, the dia¬ dochoi founded only isolated poleis at strategically important points (Ptolemais in Upper Egypt, Seleucia on the Tigris, etc.); in northern Greece and Macedonia new harbour towns arose (Demetrias, Thessalonice, Cassandria, Lysimachia). The great¬ est number of poleis were founded in the coas¬ tal regions of Asia Minor and Syria (Antioch on the Orontes, Seleucia Pieria, Apamea, Ptolemais in Coe- lesyria, Smirna, Nicaea, etc.), which was apparently due to the strategic and economic significance of these formerly thinly populated areas.

16-344

The Eastern Mediterranean Region in the 3rd Century B. C. the war, Ptolemy retained southern Syria and south-

The tendencies that first evolved during the strife ern Phoenicia and somewhat expanded his posses-

between the diadochoi became more apparent in the sions in Asia Minor, but Cyrenaica won its indepen-

3rd century B. C. By the mid-270s, the boundaries of dence from Egypt.

the Hellenistic states were largely fixed, and a new Antigonus Gonatas did not take part in that war,

stage in the political history of the eastern Mediter- as he had to fight over the Macedonian throne with ranean and the Near East began. The Seleucids, the Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, who had returned to Greece

Ptolemies and the Antigonids began a long- from his bootless campaigns in southern Italy and

drawn-out struggle for hegemony over the indepen- Sicily. Antigonus won a victory at Argos (where dent cities and states of Asia Minor, Greece, Coele- Pyrrhus fell in battle), re-established his rule over

Syria, and the islands of the Mediterranean and the Macedonia, and began to expand his possessions in

Aegean. The means employed in that struggle were Greece. The danger of Macedonian conquest caused

not only open military conflicts between the rivals an upsurge of patriotic feeling in Athens and Sparta,

but also diplomatic intrigues and clever use of the Ptolemy II, anxious to curb Antigonus’s expansion

political and social frictions within the poleis. in Greece, supported that mood, concluding

In the 3rd century, Ptolemaic Egypt, which beca- alliances first with each polis separately and then

me established as an independent state somewhat with Athens, Sparta and all its allies collectively,

earlier than the other Hellenistic powers and was the- The Lacedaemonian coalition was headed by Areus,

refore economically stronger, had an advantage over king of Sparta, and the Athenian people’s prostates

its rivals the Seleucid kingdom and Macedonia. were the democratic statesmen Chremonides and

The interests of Egypt and of the Seleucid empire Glaukon. The war that soon broke out was called

mainly clashed in southern Syria and Palestine, as after the first of the prostates, who was apparently the

possession of these territories brought a vast income initiator of the alliance.

from revenue and ensured a dominant role in the The chronology of the Chremonidean War has

trade with Arab tribes. Besides, that region was stra- not been firmly established; some historians date its

tegically important both geographically and because beginning to 270-268 B. C., while most point to

of its cedar timber, the main building material for 266-262. According to Pausanias, Antigonus moved

warships and merchant ships alike. The same causes on Athens at the head of his army and fleet, laid

brought Egypt, the Seleucid state and Macedonia waste on Attica and surrounded the city. Despite

into conflict over Asia Minor. But here the aggres- Athens’ loss of the leading position among Greek

sive tendencies of the major Hellenistic states cities, Macedonian kings desiring to establish their

brought them into collision not only with one rule over Greece always endeavoured to subdue

another but also with the evolving local Hellenistic Athens first both by force of tradition and because

states aspiring to independence. The bone of conten- Athens still remained a major centre of trade and in-

tion between Egypt and Macedonia was the islands dustry. The Egyptian fleet, which Ptolemy had sent

of the Aegean and Greece-industrial producers, to succour Athens, lay off Cape Sunion and could

consumers of farming products and sources of mili- not offer any decisive help to Athens, not having any

tary reinforcements and skilled manpower. The land troops. Concentrating all his forces against the

political and social strife within the Greek poleis Lacedaemonians, Antigonus defeated them near

offered ample opportunity for the Hellenistic states ^ Corinth and, after a long siege, seized Athens to interfere in their internal affairs. & (263/262 B. C.). The Chremonidean War thus in-

The conflict between Egypt and the Seleucid 5 creased Antigonus’s influence in mainland Greece, kingdom over Coelesyria began in 274. Not long s while Ptolemy retained his positions in the Aegean

before that, Egypt lost Cyrenaica; Ptolemy II’s half- I, and Mediterranean seas and in Asia Minor. The

brother Magas, who ruled there, proclaimed himself | Seleucids were at that time trying to subdue the king and turned to Antiochus, Seleucus’s heir, for i rebellious Pergamum.

help. Our information about the course and out- | Though he had lost his influence in Greece, Ptole-

come of the First Syrian War is still imprecise; most = my II did not give up an active foreign policy in the

scholars assume that it lasted until 271. As a result of J Aegean and the Sea of Marmora. The kingdoms of

242

Bithynia and Cappadocia, and the Greek poleis decided on war and peace, passed laws affecting the

Heraclea and Byzantium saw him as an ally in the whole League, and elected the high officials a stra-

fight for independence from the Seleucids. Ptolemy’s tegos, who was in charge of military affairs and diplo-

interference in Bithynia’s internal affairs resulted in macy, his deputies-a hipparchos and a chancellor,

a fresh conflict with the Seleucids. and a college of the apokletoi. All the poleis of the

Our data on the Second Syrian War are even League retained their internal political system and

more scanty than on the First. Historians mention a autonomy and had equal rights and obligations to-

joint siege of Ephesus by Antiochus and a Rhodian wards the union (with the exception of the poleis

force, a sea battle between the Egyptians and a Rho- that joined in later; these were in a subordinate posi-

dian fleet, and the fact that Ptolemy II, in his desire tion); all of them had to contribute military con-

to put an end to the exhausting war, gave his tingents and pay dues that went to the League’s

daughter Berenice in marriage to Antiochus, provid- treasury. The Aetolian League was mostly hostile

ing her with a fabulous dowry. Egypt sustained con- towards Macedonia and supported democratic ele-

siderable territorial losses as a result of that war; in- ments in other states.

eluding the poleis of Asia Minor, the islands of In 284 B. C., the Achaean League emerged, and

Samos and Samothrace, the possessions in Pamphy- by the mid-3rd century it already included such

liaand Cappadocia, and, temporarily, the Cyclades. major poleis as Sicyon, Corinth, Megara; in 230 the

Annexation by Macedonia offered Greek poleis Achaean League had a membership of some 60

no special economic or political advantages. Besides, poleis and covered much of the Peloponnese. The

the centuries-old traditions of autonomy and members of the Achaean League also retained their

autarchy were particularly strong here. Macedonian political regimes and internal autonomy, they con-

expansion therefore met with stubborn resistance, tributed contingents to the League’s armed forces

especially from the demos, as the stationing of Mace- and finances to the League treasury. The League

donian garrisons was usually accompanied by the had a unified system of weights and measures and

establishment of oligarchic regimes. The continued minted its coin. Its centre was the city of Aegium.

existence of small poleis independent from the sys- The supreme organ of power were the assemblies of

tern of Hellenistic monarchies became, however, all the citizens of the League the synkletos, where

impossible. Besides, the tendencies of the socioe- issues of war and peace were considered and the

conomic development of the poleis themselves League’s officials elected, and the synodoi, which

demanded the setting up of broader state unions fe- handled current affairs. Persons elected on the basis

derations of poleis. Characteristically, the initiative of age and property qualifications played a much

to found such federations came from the relatively greater role in the Achaean League. For instance,

backward areas rather than from Greece’s old Aratus of Sicyon, whose efforts brought that polis

economic and political centres. into the League, was elected strategos 16 times and

The Aetolian League, which arose out of an guided the League’s policy for nearly 30 years. Both

alliance of Aetolian tribes, achieved some impor- within the poleis and in the framework of the

tance already in the early 3rd century B. C. The League power belonged to the richest citizens,

Aetolians’ authority grew after they had defended and that determined the Achaean League’s domestic

Delphi against the Galatians’ invasion and became and foreign policy.

the leaders of the Amphictionic League. Towards rj Emerging as an organisation of poleis defending the end of the 3rd century, the Aetolian federation -§ their independence, the Achaean League played a comprised nearly all of central Greece, Elis and significant role in the opposition to Macedonian

Messenia in the Peloponnese, and some Aegean expansion on the Peloponnese. A particularly im-

islands. Some poleis joined in voluntarily, while ^ portant act was the expelling of the Macedonian others, like Boeotia, were conquered. The supreme -I 1 garrison from Corinth in 243 and the capture of organs of power in the Aetolian League were the ^ Acrocorinth a fortress on a high hill controlling the assembly of all the League’s citizens which was con- 4 Isthmus. That operation increased the political vened annually at Thermum, and the council of | authority of the Achaean League, which was joined representatives from all the poleis. The assembly 1 at that time by several major poleis. It coincided

243

16 *

with the Third Syrian War, and, apparently, that coincidence was not fortuitous: Aratus, the League’s strategos and initiator of the capture of Acrocorinth, kept up contacts with the Ptolemies and was sub¬ sidised by them.

The pretext for the Third Syrian War (246-241 B. C.) was the accession to the throne of Seleucus II, son of Antiochus II by his first wife. Ptolemy III took this as a violation of the rights of Berenice and her son and led his army to assist his sister. There seemed to be no unity in the ruling circles of the Seleucid empire. Some supported Seleucus II and his mother Laodice, while others favoured closer ties with Egypt and backed Berenice’s claims. That is the only explanation for the grand reception of Ptolemy III in Seleucia Pieria and in Antioch. But Berenice and her son had apparently been killed not long before the arrival of the Egyptian force at Antioch. Ptolemy III responded to the assassination by a punitive expedition into the country’s interior. War was simultaneously waged on the coast of Asia Minor, in the Aegean, and in the inner regions of the Seleucid empire. As a result of his military successes, Ptolemy III took a vast booty back to Egypt, returning to the temples the treasures once taken to Persia by Cambyses. Egypt’s former possessions in Asia Minor, including Miletus, Ephesos and the island of Samos, were returned to it; the new acqui¬ sitions included Chersonese in Thrace and the island of Thasos. Egypt’s possessions in Syria expanded: Seleucia Pieria remained under the Ptolemies’ power until the campaigns of Antiochus III.

Ptolemy Ill’s success in the Third Syrian War was apparently due to some extent to the internal in¬ stability of the Seleucid empire. C. 250, Diodotus and Euthydemus, the governors ofBactriaand Sog- diana, broke with the Seleucid empire, and several years later Bactria, Sogdiana and Margiana formed an independent Graeco-Bactrian kingdom. Almost simultaneously, the governor and the Seleucid garri- ^ son in Parthia were destroyed by the local tribes of §. the Parni-dai led by Arsaces, who founded the new, 5 Parthian dynasty of the Arsacids, which according s to the tradition began to rule in 247 B. C. 1

The balance of political forces in the relations | between the states of the Hellenistic world which =o emerged from the Third Syrian War remained | essentially unchanged in the subsequent decades, 5 but at the end of the 3rd century B. C. the situation g-

altered drastically, and the reason for that change lay in the previous socioeconomic development of the Hellenistic states.

The Formation of the Socioeconomic and Political Structure of the Hellenistic States. The most characteristic fea¬ ture of the economic development of Hellenistic society was the growth of trade and commodity pro¬ duction. Despite the frequent military conflicts, regular sea routes were established between Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, Greece and Macedonia. Trading across the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf as far as In¬ dia became regular. Trading links between Egypt and the Pontic region, Carthage and Rome came into being. Major trading and industrial centres emerged, such as Alexandria in Egypt, Antioch on the Orontes, Seleucia on the Tigris, Pergamum and others, whose industrial production was largely intended for export. The Seleucids built several poleis along the old caravan routes linking upper satrapies with Mesopotamia and the Mediterrane¬ an. The Ptolemies founded several ports on the Red Sea coast. With the appearance of new trad¬ ing centres in the eastern Mediterranean, the trad¬ ing routes in the Aegean shifted, the role of Rhodes and Corinth as transit trade ports grew, while the importance of Athens diminished. Money cir¬ culation and money operations were intensified by the minting of coin from the precious metals from the treasuries of the Persian kings and temples.

The numerous poleis which emerged in the Orient attracted artisans, traders and other profes¬ sionals. The Greeks and Macedonians that settled in the East brought with them their customary mode of life, and that increased the number of slaves. The need to supply food for the traders and craftsmen necessitated an increase in the agricultural produce intended for the market. Monetary relations began to spread even in the Egyptian village, the koma, un¬ dermining the traditional relations and increasing the exploitation of the rural population.

The fact itself of the development of trade indi¬ cates a significant growth in the economic potential of the Hellenistic states. Both the volume of handi¬ craft production and its technical level rose. The scope of agricultural production also increased through expansion of the areas under cultivation as well as their more intensive exploitation. Evidence of

244

this is found in papyri and archaeological excava- with 40 banks of oars built on Ptolemy IV’s orders; tions at Fayum: land melioration began already un- its size staggered the contemporaries’ imagination, der Ptolemy I Soter, and new farming centres but it proved little suited for navigation, l he ton- emerged at that time. There are no reasons to nage and speed of the merchant navy increased, har-

believe that that phenomenon was exceptional or bours were better equipped, and piers and ligh-

characteristic of the kingdom of the Ptolemies only. thouses were built. The Pharos lighthouse in Economic and technical progress was greatly sti- Alexandria, built by Sostratos of Cnidus in 285-280,

mulated by the interaction in the field of material was the greatest such structure in antiquity,

production between Greeks and non-Greeks, Continual wars during the strife between the dia-

between the local population and the newcomers, dochoi and later stimulated the development of siege

exchange of experiences and skills in farming and and defence techniques. Such complex machines as

the crafts, as well as exchange of plants for cultiva- battering rams, various types of catapults and balistai

tion and scientific knowledge. Settlers from Greece (throwing arrows and stones), siege towers ( helepo - and Asia Minor brought to Syria and Egypt their lis), invented already in the 4th century, became skills at olive- and vine-growing, and in their turn standard equipment in the Hellenistic period; their borrowed from the local population the cultivation power and variety were increased and construction of date-palms. Papyri report that attempts were improved. Simultaneously, fortifications improved, made to acclimatise the Miletan breed of sheep at too, as the techniques of town-building developed. Fayum. This kind of exchange of breeds and culti- The practice of founding poleis, to which all Hel-

vated plants must have occurred before the Hellenis- lenistic rulers resorted, created favourable condi- tic period, but now the conditions for it became tions for the development of construction skills and

more favourable. It is difficult to identify changes in of architecture. New towns were built in accordance agricultural implements, but the large-scale irriga- with the principles of town-planning worked out tion systems in Egypt, mostly built by the local already in the 5th century by Hippodamus of Mile- population directed by the Greek “architects”, can tus on the gridiron plan, the streets aligned on the be seen as a combination of the techniques and cardinal points where the terrain permitted. The

experiences of both peoples. One of the irrigation main street, the broadest of all, was adjoined by the

devices used in Egypt was improved by Archimedes agora surrounded on three sides by public buildings

(the Archimedean screw or pump). and the porticoes of traders; the most important

In the handicrafts, the combination of the tech- temples and gymnasia were usually erected not far niques and skills of local craftsmen and newcomers from it; theatres and stadiums were usually built on

(both Greeks and non-Greeks) and increased suitable grounds outside the housing area. The cities

demand for industrial products resulted in a number were surrounded by defensive walls with gate-and of important inventions which gave rise to new types watch-towers; besides, a citadel was built on the of handicrafts, a narrower specialisation of the highest and strategically most important site. Exca- craftsmen and the possibility of mass production of vations of Priene and Nicaea in Asia Minor and of some objects. Dura-Europos on the Euphrates provide models of

Already the first decades of the Hellenistic epoch the planning of Hellenistic cities. According to an- witnessed an intense development of the technique tique authors, the plan of Alexandria in Egypt was of shipbuilding and navigation, production of mili- n worked out by the architect Deinocrates of Rhodes, tary equipment and town-building. Along with the ■§ Its two intersecting main streets were 30 metres triremes and pentremes which were the navy’s main ’ broad. Water supply, regularity of construction in the force under Alexander the Great, Athenian, Corin- " housing areas, and drainage were objects of special thian and Phoenician shipbuilders began to build on ? concern in town building. In the 3rd and 2nd centu- orders from Demetrius Poliorcetes, powerful and > ries B. C., the type of a rich private residence with a swift warships with 13 and 16 banks of oars. War- f peristyle and painted walls evolved which later ships with 20 and 30 banks of oars were built at the ^ spread to the south of Italy. At the same time houses warfs of Alexandria in the 3rd century, the tendency ? &f several storeys intended as flats for the poor appe- culminating in the famous tessaraconter-a ship 1 ared in Tyre, Aradus, Alexandria and other cities.

245

There were technical advances in other crafts, too. the migration of the most vigorous and enterprising

A type of mould was invented in metallurgy which sections of the population to the Oriental countries,

permitted the casting of many objects, say bronze but also a different socio-political structure and a

statues, from the same mould. The Greeks learnt to different character of the social processes. At the end

use an improved type of a loom that was in use in of the 4th century B. C. the Greek polis, as a form of

Egypt and the Near East, and workshops appeared socioeconomic and political organisation of antique

producing figured fabrics (in Alexandria) and gold society, was in a state of deep crisis. The polis was a

brocade (in Pergamum). In Egypt, mass production drag on further economic progress, as the autarchia

of papyrus was organised, and later, in the 2nd cen- and autonomia inherent in it imposed constraints on

tury, of parchment (in Pergamum). Jewelers discov- the expansion and consolidation of the economic

ered the amalgamation process, that is, the tech- links. Neither did it correspond to the needs of socio-

nique of covering objects with a thin layer of gold political development, for, on the one hand, it did

from a solution of gold in mercury. The methods of not ensure the reproduction of the civic community

producing mosaic, two-colour cut, engraved and as a whole (since its poorest sections inevitably faced

gilded glass were discovered. The artifacts thus pro- the threat of losing civil rights), and on the other, it

duced were regarded as luxury objects, and some of did not guarantee the external security or the stable

them were real objects of art. Relief pottery became domination of that community, torn by inner strife,

widespread, the ware covered with dark varnish over slaves and non-citizens,

with a metallic sheen, imitating in form and colour The historical events of the late 4th and early 3rd

more expensive metal vessels (the so-called Megara centuries led to the establishment of a new form of

cups). This ware was mass produced owing to the socio-political organisation-the Hellenistic monar-

use of small cliches whose combinations permitted chy combining elements of an Oriental despot-

numerous variations in the ornament. Split moulds ic state (the monarchic form of power relying on a

were now used in terracotta production just as in the regular army and a centralised administration) and

casting of bronze statues; this permitted the making some features of the polis structure (cities with rural

of objects of more intricate design in numerous territory attached to them, retaining their organs of

copies. In this way works by artists and craftsmen internal self-government largely subordinated, how-

became objects of mass production intended not ever, to the king). The size of the territory handed

only for the very rich but also for citizens of modest over to the polis depended on the king, and so did

means. the economic and political privileges of the poleis;

Against the background of flourishing new eco- the polis had no right to an independent foreign

nomic. centres in the Seleucid empire, Egypt and policy; in most cases the polis organs of self-govern-

Asia Minor, the state of the economy in Greece and ment were controlled by a royal official, the epis-

Macedonia is seen by many researchers as stagnat- tates. The loss of independence in foreign policy by

ing or even declining. But that is an erroneous view. the polis was compensated for by greater security,

In these areas, too, new trade and crafts centres social stability and stable economic links with the

Thessalonice, Cassandria, Philippopolis-arose. The other parts of the state. In its turn, the city popula-

fast ships and siege equipment for Demetrius Polior- tion became the necessary social basis of royal

cetes were first built at Greek cities and ports, like power, a source of contingents for the army and the

Corinth and Athens. Shipbuilding and production ^ administration.

of military equipment apparently continued to de- a Agrarian relations on the polis territory followed velop in Greece and Macedonia, as in the second 5 the usual pattern: the citizens owned their allot- half of the 3rd century Macedonian kings had a navy j ments, the city, the lands that were not divided capable of competing with that of the Ptolemies. 1 between the citizens. A complication arose here:

The economic development of Greece and Mace- I lands could be handed over to the polis together donia proceeded, of course, at a slower rate than with villages whose inhabitants did not become elsewhere. The reason for that is not only the debili- 1 citizens of the polis but continued to own their allot- tating wars of the diadochoi and the struggle of the - ments, paying tribute to the city or the private per- Greek poleis against Macedonian domination, or ~ sons that had received these lands from the king and

246

later given them to the city. All land that was not though the more primitive forms (enslavement for

divided between cities belonged to the king. Accord- debts, self-selling, etc.) continued to exist. Presuma-

ing to the Revenue Laws of Ptolemy II Philadelphus bly slave labour in Hellenistic cities (mostly in the

and some other Egyptian papyri, royal land fell into household and probably in the urban handicrafts)

two categories: royal land proper and “conceded” played no less a role than in the Greek poleis. On

lands. The latter included temple lands, lands given the whole, however, slave labour in agriculture, par¬ away to members of his retinue, and lands given in ticularly on royal lands, could not, to any consider-

small allotments ikleroi) to the warriors, kleruchoi or able extent, oust the labour of the local popula-

katoikoi, as reward for service. There might be vil- tion-“king’s peasants” in Egypt, “king’s people” in

lages on all these categories of land, whose inhabi- the Seleucid empire whose exploitation was just as

tants continued to own their hereditary allotments, profitable. On large estates received by aristocrats

paying tribute or taxes. from the king, slaves performed administrative func-

This complexity of agrarian relations condi- tions or did unskilled work. However, the growing

tioned the multi-layer social structure of the Hel- role of slave-owning in the overall system of socio-

lenistic states. The royal house with its court staff, economic relations entailed a strengthening of non-

the higher military and civil officials, the more pros- economic forms of coercion of the rural population

perous citizens and high priests constituted the and disintegration of forms of communal organisa-

upper stratum of the land- and slave-owning aristoc- tion, which had ensured the economic stability and

racy. Their well-being was based on lands (belong- independence of small peasant holdings,

ing to the city or received as gifts from the king). The principal form of economic organisation in

profitable offices, trade, farming of the taxes (telonia) Egyptian agriculture was the petty holdings of

and usury. “king’s” or “state” peasants. The quantity of land

The middle classes were more numerous; here suitable for cultivation was restricted to the area irri-

belonged urban traders and craftsmen, the royal gated by the Nile’s floods or artificially. Beyond that

administrative personnel, farmers, kleruchoi and narrow strip lay a stony desert hardly suitable even

katoikoi, local priests, professionals (architects, physi- for grazing. Cultivation was impossible without irri-

cians, philosophers, artists and sculptors, etc.). The gation; the construction of canals and dams, their

upper and the middle strata, with all the differences repairs and maintenance demanded joint and coor-

in the size of their wealth and direction of their inter- dinated efforts of all the villagers dwellers of a

ests, constituted the ruling class which was termed in koma - and, consequently, of definite forms of organi-

Egyptian papyri “Hellenes” not so much from the sation of that labour. Commodity-money relations

ethnic membership of the individuals as their social were but poorly developed, and the koma' s demand

position, which set them apart from all the “non- for industrial products was mostly met by local

Hellenes”, i. e., the indigent urban and rural popula- craftsmen. All this would seem to offer the necessary

tion or laoi (the people, the mob). conditions for the stable existence of the rural com-

The laoi were mostly dependent or semi-depen- munity, but Hellenistic documents indicate only

dent peasants who tilled the lands of the king, the traces of community organisation in the Egyptian

aristocrats and the citizens as lease-holders or tradi- koma.

tional tenants. Here also belonged hypoteleis -the One of the principal elements of the community

workers of the royal monopolies (i. e., the workshops structure - a combination of communal ownership of in those industries which were the state’s monopoly), i land and the commoners’ private ownership of land All of them were considered to be personally free but )) allotments-was transformed in Hellenistic Egypt they could only live and work in those residential into ownership of the koma' s lands by the crown and areas and workshops where they were registered. « the renting of separate plots by the commoners. The Only slaves stood lower on the social ladder. -3? reservation must be made that this was only the legal Graeco-Macedonian conquests, the wars of the ^ form of the agrarian relations brought by the Graeco- diadochoi, the spreading of the polis structure —all of ^ Macedonian conquest. In actual fact, however, this gave a strong impetus to the development of I? Egyptian peasants continued to own their allot- slave-owning relations in their classic antique form, § ments, they could hand them down to their heirs,

247

divide them between joint owners, or give them Hellenistic papyri do not mention any assemblies

away as dowry. The king could only take away the of koma peasants (or even “the king’s peasants”), allotments from their owners if they failed to pay There are some data on their collective actions,

taxes. Each koma had a territory traditionally though-e. g., mass anachoresis or taking refuge in

attached to it, but this might include, besides allot- temples in protest against pressure from the royal

ments of the king’s peasants, estates belonging to administration. One of the inscriptions found on the

temples or kleruchoi, and estates given to the aristo- territory of Fayum contains, however, the tradi-

cracy by the king. Grazing lands and those which for tional formula concerning the decision of a mee-

some reason became barren and unprofitable and ting of the kometai to set up a gymnasium in their

were abandoned by their owners were in the hands koma.

of the local administration. Formally, these lands Having transformed the organs of the koma self-

were similar to community lands not divided among government into an administrative mechanism, the

the commoners, but their use was determined by the state made obligatory the commoners’ former res-

interests of the treasury rather than the needs of the ponsibilities before the community: the peasants

koma’s people. were obliged to properly cultivate their plots of land

In the 2nd century B. C., when lands were aban- in order to pay taxes regularly; the maintenance and

doned on an alarming scale and the royal treasury extension of the irrigation network became an obli-

suffered heavy losses, the king ordered the local gatory “liturgy” or duty; the commoner’s bond with

authorities to forcibly distribute abandoned lots the community changed into his customary or legal

among villagers for cultivation, or rather for collect- duty to toil where he was born and at the trade he

ing taxes. Again, on the formal side, this forcible dis- was born into.

tribution of land, or epibole , was similar to the divi- During the Hellenistic period, the koma' s popula-

sion of communal land among commoners, while in tion was not uniform either ethnically or socially,

actual fact-in its purpose and significance for the Besides “kings’s peasants”, military colonists

peasants of the komas -it was a form of exploitation. katoikoi, kleruchoi, machimoi ), citizens of poleis, offi-

Papyri mention the common “king’s threshing- cials, farmers, priests, craftsmen, traders, day-

floor”, where all villagers threshed their wheat. This labourers, and slaves lived in the komas permanently

practice must have arisen within the community in or temporarily. There were Egyptians, Greeks, Jews,

remote antiquity because of scarcity of unflooded Syrians, and tribesmen from adjacent territories

land. That custom, too, was used by the state in its among them. In the course of time, the ethnic ditfer-

own interests: the threshing was done under the ences were gradually erased, whereas the differences

supervision of a king’s official, and no one could take in the economic and legal position increased, giving

away their grain until they had paid the taxes. rise to conflicts between different social groups. All

Another important element of the communal these factors state interference, the influx of

structure, the organs of self-government, also went migrants, and social differentiation within the koma -

through considerable changes. The names of the weakened the links within the community and

offices involved in the life of a koma, preserved in changed the nature of its institutions.

Hellenistic papyri, possibly originated in the com- Thus the socio-political structure of the Hellenis-

munal organisation, but under the Ptolemies they no tic states took shape during the 3rd century with a

longer denoted elected officials but, in most cases, system of management of the state or crown

representatives of the local royal administration who ^ economy; the central and local military, administra-

were remunerated, in one form or another, by the 5 five, financial, and legal apparatus; a system of taxa-

king’s treasury. The main concern of the koma y tion, farming and monopolies; relations between

administration was ensuring the flow of revenue to 1 cities and temples on the one hand and the royal

the royal treasury; for this purpose, the necessary | administration on the other; the social stratification

irrigation work was done, and land cultivation, sow- > of society and the corresponding legislation defining

ing and harvesting were controlled. The purpose, | the privileges of some strata and the obligations of

motives and forms of the activity of officials had thus r others. The social conflicts inherent in that structure

changed. e~ also became apparent.

248

Aggravation of Social Conflicts in the Hellenistic States in In the 3rd century social differentiation in all

the Late 3rd-Early 2nd Centuries B. C. The study of the Greek poleis increased. Indigent citizens continued

social structure of the eastern Hellenistic states shows to lose their land and incur debts while riches and

that the main burden of maintaining the state lands accumulated in the hands of the polis aristoc-

apparatus was borne by the rural population. The racy. In the mid-3rd century B. C., these processes

cities were in a more favourable position, which were most acute in Sparta, where most Spartans had

must have been one of the main causes of their rapid virtually lost their land allotments. The need for

growth and efflorescence. social reform made the Spartan king Agis IV

The social development in Greece and Macedonia (245-241 B. C.) propose a cancellation of debts and a

took a different route. Macedonia also evolved as a redistribution of land, to increase the number of

Hellenistic state combining the elements of monar- citizens. These reforms, framed as a restoration of

chy and of polis structure. But, although the land the laws of Lycurgus, were fiercely resisted by the

possessions of the Macedonian kings were relatively ephorate and the aristocracy. Agis fell a victim of

great, there were no masses of dependent rural that conflict, but the social situation in Sparta

population (with the possible exception of the Thra- remained tense. Several years later, king Cleomenes

cians) that could be exploited to provide the cost of III (235-222) proposed the same reforms. Remem-

maintaining the administration personnel and large bering Agis’s fate, Cleomenes began by consolidat-

sections of the ruling class. The burden of maintain- ing his positions through successful operations in the

ing the army and building warships was equally car- war against the Achaean League that started in 228.

ried by the urban and rural population. Differences Enlisting the support of the army, he liquidated the

between Greeks and Macedonians, rural and city ephorate, banished the richest citizens from Sparta,

dwellers were determined by their economic posi- and then cancelled debts and redistributed land, in-

tion, the principal class division being between free creasing the number of citizens by 4,000. The events

men and slaves. The principal trend in the develop- in Sparta incited unrest throughout Greece. Man-

ment of the economy was towards further spreading tinea left the Achaean League and joined Cleo-

of slave-owning relations. menes; disturbances began in other Peloponnesian

In Greece, the Hellenistic epoch did not bring any cities. The war with the Achaean League flared up

essential changes in the socioeconomic system as it again, Cleomenes occupied several cities, and Cor-

existed at the end of the 4th century B. C. The most inth went over to his side. Frightened by these devel-

tangible change was the migration of the population opments, the oligarchic leadership of the Achaean

(mostly young and mature warriors, artisans, and League appealed for help to Antigonus III Doson,

traders) eastwards, to the Near East and Egypt. This king of Macedonia. The balance of forces now went

should have had a dampening effect on the social against Sparta. Cleomenes then let some 6,000 helots

conflicts within the poleis. But the nearly continual buy their freedom, including 2,000 of them in his

devastating wars of the dmdockoi, the devaluation of army. But in the battle near Sellasia in 222 B. C. the

money due to the influx of gold and silver from Asia united forces of the Macedonians and the Achaeans and the corresponding rise in the price of consumer destroyed the Spartan army, Cleomenes lied to

goods ruined the indigent and middle strata of the Egypt, a Macedonian garrison was stationed at

population. The problem of overcoming the econo- Sparta, and Cleomenes’s reforms were annulled,

mic isolation of the poleis remained unsolved. Antigonus III founded the Hellenic League under

Attempts were made to resolve that issue in the -I Macedonia’s hegemony, which included the framework of confederacies (cf., e. g., the intro- ^ Achaean League, Sparta and other Greek poleis,

duction of a unified system of weights and measures * with the exception of the Aetolian League and

and minting of coin in the Achaean League). In the ? Athens.

poleis dominated by Macedonia, oligarchic or ty- ■§* Cleomenes’s defeat could not stop the growth of rannical regimes were set up, the freedom of interna- ^ social movements. Already in 219, Chilo again tried tional relations was restricted, and Macedonian gar- ^ to eliminate the ephorate in Sparta and to imple- risons were stationed at strategically important | ment a redistribution of property; in 215, the oli- points. | garchs were driven out of Messenia, and a redistri-

249

bution of land was carried out; in 210, the tyrant The social situation in Egypt became especially

Machanidas seized power in Sparta; after his death tense in the last decades of the 3rd century. In 219, in the war with the Achaean League, the Spartan the war with the Seleucids over Coelesyria flared up

state was headed by the tyrant Nabis (206-192), who again. One of the first acts in that war was the cap-

implemented even more radical reforms, redistribut- ture in 219 of Seleucia by Antiochus III through

ing the lands and property of the aristocracy, freeing suborning the commanders of the Egyptian garrison

helots and giving land to th e perioikoi. In 205, an which defended it. In 218 Antiochus invaded Coele-

attempt to cancel debts was made in Aetolia. Syria and, conquering one city after another by bri-

The growing acuteness of the social struggles com- bery or siege, approached the borders of Egypt. The pelled the aristocracy of the Greek poleis to seek decisive battle between the armies of Ptolemy IV

support from a stronger state authority, which was and Antiochus III took place in 217 near Raphia.

favourable to the expansion of Macedonian in- The forces of the two sides were well matched, and,

fluence. However, an attempt to subdue the Aeto- according to Polybius, Ptolemy won the victory only

lian League during the so-called War of the Allies due to the success of his Egyptian phalanxes. Antio-

(220-217) proved unsuccessful. Then Philip V, in- chus retreated, and many cities of Coelesyria

tending to consolidate his positions in the Adriatic, reverted to Ptolemy. But the latter did not have suf-

formed an alliance with Hannibal (215 B. C.) and ficient strength to pursue the enemy and recapture

dislodged the Romans from their possessions in his possessions in Syria; besides, soon after the batde

Illyria, acquired in 229. That was the beginning of near Raphia, troubles apparently broke out in

Philip’s first war against Rome (215-205) which was, Egypt; he was compelled to begin peace negotia-

in fact, Philip’s war against his Greek opponents tions and accept Antiochus’s conditions, retaining

which joined Rome-Aetolia, Sparta and Perga- only part of Coelesyria adjoining the borders of

mum and ended favourably for Macedonia. The Egypt.

last years of the 3rd century witnessed the peak of The unsuccessful war and the hardships it brought

Macedonia’s political and economic power. Her rise caused unrest among the masses, first in Lower

was facilitated by the overall political situation in Egypt and then throughout the countiy. The trou- the eastern Mediterranean. bles apparently began among Egyptian warriors and

Towards the end of the 3rd century B. C., internal then spread to the rural population. The thoroughly

conflicts in the socioeconomic structure of the Hel- Hellenised areas of Lower Egypt were fairly quickly

lenistic states became apparent, particularly in the pacified by the government of Ptolemy IV, whereas

state economy in Egypt. The entire organisation of the unrest that had started in the south of Egypt had

the royal estates was aimed at extracting the greatest grown into a broad popular movement by 206 B. C.

profit from lands, mines and workshops. As Egyp- Thebes seceded from the Ptolemies, and local tian papyri clearly show, the system of taxes and dynasts ruled there for more than two decades, tributes, worked out in great detail, swallowed most Their names, Anhmachis and Armachis, are men-

of the harvest, exhausting the economic potential of tioned in private documents from those times. Ptlole-

the small holdings. The expanding royal administ- mais remained the Ptolemies’ only stronghold in

ration, as well as farmers and traders, added to the Upper Egypt.

exploitation of the local population. One of the more Some works concerned with that period stressed

common forms of protest against oppression was ana- ___ the “nationalist” anti-Hellenic aspects of the move- choresis, sometimes on a mass scale, and, in the case of 2. ment. It should be borne in mind, however, that by slaves, running away from their masters. Later, the 3 the end of the 3rd century the term “Hellenes” had popular masses resorted to more active forms of y come to denote a social rather than ethnic concept, struggle. Thus it was civil unrest in Egypt that made r During the Greeks’ more than a century-long Ptolemy III Euergetes hurriedly conclude peace | domination of Egypt, significant changes occurred during the Third Syrian War. In the Seleucid * in the population’s social and ethnic structure. In empire, the secession of Parthia and Bactria was also | Alexandria and Ptolemais, Graeco-Macedonians brought about by an uprising of the local population jr were more or less able to maintain their ethnic isola- against increased social oppression. g; tion and retain the polis customs and laws, whereas

250

in the chora mixed marriages became quite common. lenistic world changed, too. Small Hellenistic states

Judging from testaments from the 3rd century B. C., like Pergamum, Rhodes, Cappadocia and Pontus

cleruchoi often lived with their slave- or freed-women, began to play an increasing role in the international

Egyptian or Syrian, and later adopted the offspring. relations, while the political influence of the Ptole-

The new generation learnt the local customs and maic kingdom, which was weakened by the con-

beliefs from their mothers and at the same time tinual popular movements and acute political strife

could be educated in the Greek style at gymnasiums within the ruling circles, decreased,

which existed at Alexandria, Naucratis, Ptolemais, In the last years of the 3rd century, taking advan-

and, towards the end of the 3rd century, in the tage of the internal instability of Egypt, Philip V

centre of nomes and even some komas of Fayum. and Antiochus III seized the Ptolemies’ external

In the south of Egypt, Greek colonisation was possessions. Macedonia now controlled all the

much less thoroughgoing than in the Delta and poleis that had formerly belonged to the Ptolemies

Fayum, and the old pre-Ptolemaic traditions were on the Hellespont, in Asia Minor and on the

more stable. But here, too, the local aristocrats that Aegean, while Antiochus occupied Phoenicia and

had survived the Graeco-Macedonian conquest and Coelesyria after his victory at Panion (200

now strove to retain their positions in the temples B. C.). Macedonia’s expansion infringed upon the

and the administration increasingly became Hel- interests of Rhodes and Pergamum; this caused a

lenised, learning Greek and absorbing Greek cul- war (201 B. C.), in which Philip V began to gain the

ture the necessary prerequisites of membership in upper hand; Rhodes and Pergamum then turned for

the privileged strata. For this reason, the movement help to the Romans. This was a convenient pretext

in Thebes may have been to some extent a protest for Rome to begin a war against Macedonia, as after

against foreign oppression, but the sources clearly the successful conclusion of the Second Punic War

show its social colouring. Some Egyptian priests may Rome had subdued all western Mediterranean and

have joined the rebels the temple of Horus at Edfu shifted the direction of its aggressive intentions east,

was in the rebels’hands for twenty years), but on the In this way the conflict between the Hellenistic

whole the priesthood was loyal to the ruling dynasty, states developed into the Second Macedonian War

and many temples suffered from the “impious” and (200-197 B. G.).

the “apostates”. The Romans’ demagogic campaign, in which the

Against the background of endless uprisings in the traditional slogan of “freedom” for the Greek poleis

south of the country, the struggle in the court circles figured prominently, attracted the Aetolian and

never subsided either. With the accession to the Achaean Leagues to their side; this was especially

throne of the six-year-old Ptolemy V in 204, a true of the propertied strata, which saw Rome as a

vicious fight for the regency broke out among the force capable of protecting their interests without

various groups of the court aristocracy. Relying imposing the monarchic form of rule, so odious to

mostly on mercenaries, they also often resorted in the demos. After the defeat near Cynoscephalae Phi-

their strife to such a terrible weapon as the anger of lip V had to conclude a peace according to which

the Alexandrian mob. Macedonia lost all its possessions in Asia Minor, the

The end of the 3rd and beginning of the 2nd cen- Aegean, and Greece. Having solemnly declared free-

turies B. C. can be viewed as a landmark in the his- dom for the Greek poleis during the Isthmian

tory of the Hellenistic world. In the previous period, g Games in 196, Rome went on to disregard com- the contacts between the countries of the eastern and ■§ pletely the interests of its former allies, setdng state western Mediterranean were mostly economic and 7. borders, stationing its garrisons in Corinth, Deme- cultural, while political (primarily diplomatic) links '. trias and in Chalcidice, and interfering in the poleis’ were very irregular; in the last decades of the 3rd ? internal affairs. The Romans robbed Greece of im- century, however, there was a tendency towards a -J mense numbers of bronze and marble statues, and of more active political interaction, as shown by the ^ vast quantities of gold and silver in the shape of alliance between Philip V and Hannibal during the ^ objects of art, bullion, bars, and coins. The “libe- Second Punic War and the so-called First Mace- j? ration” of Greece was in fact the first step in the donian War. The balance of forces within the Hel- | spreading of Roman domination in the eastern

251

Mediterranean and the beginning of a new stage in gradual subjugation of one country after another by

the history of the Hellenistic world. Rome. The premises of the process lay, on the one

Macedonia’s defeat in the war against Rome and hand, in the demands of the economic development

internal conflicts in Egypt created a favourable sit- of antique society as a whole, including the Hellenis-

uation for the growth of the political might of the tic states, for the establishment of closer and more

Seleucid kingdom. Its rise began with Antio- stable economic links between the western and the

chus Ill’s eastern campaign in 212-204 B. C., which eastern Mediterranean, and on the other, in the

partly followed Alexander the Great’s route. In the external conflicts and internal socio-political insta-

course of the campaign, Antiochus III subdued bility of the Hellenistic states. The unification of the

Sophene and Greater Armenia, made the Parthian western Mediterranean under Roman power intro-

king Arsaces II and the king of Bactria Euthydemus duced significant changes in the traditional trading

recognise their allegiance to the Seleucids, and links between Greece and Sicily and other western

renewed friendly relations with the local rulers of Greek colonies, and in the links, consolidated in the

north-western India, receiving from them gifts of 3rd century, between Egypt and Syria, on the one

elephants and food supplies. Having consolidated his hand, and North Africa and Italy, on the other,

positions in the east and annexed Coelesyria after The trading links and economic centres shifted

the battle of Panion in 200 B. C., Antiochus seized, again, the Romans continued their drive east, and

during Philip V’s war with Rome, the cities of Cili- the eastern economic centres adapted to the new sit-

cia, Lycia and Caria, which had previously uation. The Roman military and economic expan-

belonged to the Ptolemies, and then began to reduce sion was accompanied by an intense development of

the poleis of Asia Minor and Thrace liberated by slave-owning relations in Italy and in the conquered

Rome from Macedonian rule. Foreseeing an inevi- lands.

table conflict with Rome, he settled his relations All these developments affected the internal situa-

with his neighbours in Asia Minor and tried to win tion in the Hellenistic states. Those groups of the

allies in Greece, but only Aetolia and Boeotia joined aristocracy, mostly urban, which were interested in

him. the expansion of commodity production, trade and

The war with Rome, which began in 192 on slave-owning, more and more came into conflict with

Greek territory, ended in a defeat of Antiochus’s the strata of Hellenistic society linked with the royal

army at Magnesia at Sipylus in Asia Minor (190 administrative apparatus and temples and deriving

B. C.), as a result of which he had to renounce all their income mostly from traditional forms of exploi-

Seleucid claims in Europe and north of Mt. Taurus tation of the rural population. These clashes of inter¬ in Asia Minor. For diplomatic reasons, the Romans est manifested themselves in palace coups, fierce

handed these territories over to their allies, Rhodes dynastic wars, uprisings in the cities, and the persis-

and Pergamum. Antiochus’s defeat stirred separatist tent attempts by the poleis to win complete inde¬ movements within the kingdom : recently subdued pendence from royal authority. The strife within the

Greater Armenia and Sophene seceded, and unrest ruling class was aggravated by the struggle of the

in the eastern provinces renewed. The victory of the popular masses in the chora, komas and the cities

Romans and their allies over the greatest of the Hel- against the tax burden, usury and enslavement,

lenistic states, the Seleucid kingdom, radically which sometimes developed into virtual civil wars

changed the political situation. Now none of the __ that exhausted the economy and the states’ military Hellenistic states could claim hegemony over the §. potential.

eastern Mediterranean. The threat of further 5 Private ownership of lands increased during the Roman expansion became very real, but conflicts ^ 2nd century. Land was acquired in various ways,

between Hellenistic states ruled out any chance of 2 but mostly through direct purchasing of escheated,

their joining forces. I abandoned or confiscated allotments. The lands of

j, temples and kleruchoi gradually passed into private 1 hands. The sale, resale, division and ceding of land, The Hellenistic World and Rome. The subsequent po- ? dowry settlements and bequests of privately owned

litical history of the Hellenistic world was one of |- land are recorded in numerous Egyptian papyri.

252

Despite the diversity of these deeds, they show a ten- honours and riches to the courtiers. Bv the beginning

dency towards concentrating privately owned land of the 2nd century B. C., the situation had changed,

in the hands of the more privileged individuals in the The interests of large sections of the court aristocracy

royal administration in the nomes and toparchies, of which headed the administrative mechanism

garrison officers, the higher echelons of the kleruchoi became increasingly interwoven with those of the

( katoikoi ) and priests, rich farmers, traders and higher nobles of the nomes, who wanted to increase

craftsmen from nome centres, and well-to-do peas- their incomes by cutting expenditure on foreign

ants who usually held administrative posts in the policy ventures, the maintenance of a powerful navy

komas. There is no evidence, however, of the forma- and large contingents of mercenaries. Already in the

tion of large estates. Even the lands of major owners last decades of the 3rd century B. C., the first clash

were always divided into small lots for renting out. occurred between these court circles and Alexan-

Of the settlers from Greece, the Aegean islands, dria’s rich traders and manufacturers over Ptolemy

Asia Minor and other Greek areas who came to V’s regency. Against the background of court strife,

Egypt at the end of the 4th and first half of the 3rd the role of mercenaries stationed in Alexandria and

centuries, some got richer, profiting from trade, of their commanders grew.

farming, and official or priestly posts, while others The self-seeking officialdom exempt from all con-

failed to retain their membership in the ruling class, trol or punishment, beginning with the lowest offi-

becoming common craftsmen and peasants, part of cials and ending with the strategoi, undermined the

the laoi. Towards the end of the 3rd century the liv- system of the state economy from within. The local

ing conditions of the laoi deteriorated so much that administration, rigorously organised and, under the

the government of Ptolemy V had to cancel tax first Ptolemies, entirely dependent on central

arrears and reduce taxes, but life remained very authority, became an uncontrolled independent

hard in the 2nd century as well. The burden of taxes force completely preoccupied with personal enrich-

and tributes was aggravated by the abuses of the ment. The government had to issue special decrees

local aristocracy. Complaints about officials’ abuses to protect peasants and craftsmen connected with

and oppression on the part of rich and influential the royal estate against their greed, and to get its

people poured into the king’s and strategoi 's offices, share of the income.

but the higher royal administrators were already un- But the decrees could only temporarily slow down

able to take any effective measures against these the restructuring of socioeconomic relations. Cor-

abuses. porate ownership of land, of which the most pro-

The court had to reckon with the united and minent feature was the preponderance of crown land

economically strong body of the local military, bu- providing income accumulated in the state treasury

reaucratic and priestly aristocracy, on which the in- and then distributed among the courtiers, officials,

come of the royal court and the higher royal priests and the army in the form of upkeep, salary or

administration largely depended, as did supplies of gifts, was giving way to private ownership of land

foodstuffs and raw materials to Alexandria. Towards and of the income yielded by this land, the state

the end of the 3rd century B. C., the local aristocracy economy being reduced to a size sufficient only for

itself apparently realised its economic and political the maintenance of the royal court, mercenaries and

importance and began to actively interfere in the the state mechanism in the narrow sense,

court intrigues at Alexandria. g Towards the end of the 2nd century, the dynastic

Under the first Ptolemies, the aims of the court i strife in Egypt increasingly became interwoven with

aristocracy, which occupied the most important Z. that in the Seleucid kingdom, and relations with

military and bureaucratic posts, and of Alexandria’s Rome assumed ever greater importance. Roman

rich traders and owners of workshops more or less diplomacy played a considerable role in fanning the

coincided, as both were interested in getting maxi- § dynastic conflicts within and among the Hellenistic mtim income (in the shape of grain, raw materials, 0 states.

and money) from the Egyptian chora and in conduct- 3 . Roman diplomacy was particularly effective in ing an active foreign policy, which extended the |= the conquest of Macedonia and the states of Asia

sphere of Alexandria’s trade and brought new | Minor. On the eve of the Third Macedonian War

253

(171-168), Rome achieved an almost complete isola- ruptions, for more than a hundred years. The

tion of Macedonia. Despite the attempts of the economic situation in the Egyptian chora was very

Macedonian king Perseus to attract the Greek grave. Considerable tracts of land lay fallow, and the

poleis to his side through democratic reforms (he government had to introduce compulsory rentals to

announced cancellation of state debts and the return make people till these lands. The greater part of the

of exiles), he was joined by Epirus and Illyria only. laoi were destitute even in the eyes of the royal

After the defeat of the Macedonian army near administration. The official and legal documents of

Pydna, the Romans divided Macedonia into four the end of the 2nd century point to anarchy and

isolated districts and prohibited exploitation of abuses of power in Egypt during the dynastic wars,

mines, salt-works, export of timber, purchase of real Anachoresis, refusal to pay debts, seizure of other peo-

estate, and marriages between the inhabitants of dif- pie’s lands, vineyards, houses and property, appro-

ferent districts. In Epirus, the Romans destroyed priation of temple and state incomes by private indi-

most of the cities and sold more than 150,000 people viduals and enslavement of free people occurred on a

into slavery; in Greece, they revised the boundaries mass scale. Records of economic activity, petitions,

between the poleis. royal decrees (the so-called “decrees ofphilanthropia"

While Rome was busy conquering Macedonia, published in times of reconciliation between the fac-

the conflict between Egypt and the Seleucids over tions) point to decline in the state economy, decrease

Coelesyria flared up again. By that time, the Seleu- of cultivated areas of land, disintegration of the royal

cid kingdom had recovered from the damage done monopoly on the crafts and trade, devaluation of

by the war with Rome and the payment of indem- money, abuses of officials in charge of collecting

nity, and Antiochus IV again tried to increase the taxes and customs. The officials’ abuses gave rise to

territory of his kingdom. In 170, and later in 168, he the phenomenon of “protection”. More or less well-

campaigned successfully in Egypt, capturing Mem- to-do peasants, craftsmen, traders and farmers

phis and besieging Alexandria, but Roman interfer- enlisted the support of influential persons in order to

ence compelled him to give up his conquests. Addi- dodge payments of taxes or other duties to the state;

tional taxes imposed in connection with prepa- on the other hand, sometimes whole korrns appealed

rations for a war with Egypt caused an uprising in to higher officials to protect themselves against the

Jerusalem. Antiochus crushed the rebellion, built abuses of the lower officials and tax farmers,

the Acra fortress in Jerusalem and left a garrison Social struggles also grew more acute in the Bal-

there. Power in Judea was handed over to the “Hel- kan peninsula where they took the form of an anti-

lenists”- that part of priestly aristocracy which was Roman movement. The reprisals against Macedonia

interested in closer ties between Judea and the and Epirus and crude interference in the internal

Seleucids. Judaism was banned, and the cults of affairs of the Greek poleis gave rise to open rebel-

Greek gods were introduced. These measures caused lions against Roman domination in Macedonia (in

a new uprising in Judea (in 166), which developed 149-148) and the Achaean League (146), suppressed

into a popular war against Seleucid domination. In with customary Roman ruthlessness. Macedonia

164, the insurgents led by Judas Maccabaeus cap- was declared a Roman province, all leagues of Greek

tured Jerusalem and besieged the Acra. Judas Mac- poleis were dissolved, and oligarchies were estab-

cabaeus adopted the title of high priest, distributed fished everywhere. The population was sold in great

priestly offices regardless of nobility of birth, and numbers into slavery outside the country, and Hellas

confiscated the property of the Hellenists. In 160, I was impoverished, depopulated and generally in a Demetrius I routed Judas Maccabaeus and sta- 5 state of desolation. Rhodes suffered, too, for its neu-

tioned his garrisons in Judean cities, but the Jews did s trality during the Third Macedonian War. The

not cease to fight. 0. Romans deprived it of territories in Caria and Lycia

After Antiochus’s campaigns, popular movements | received after the defeat of Antiochus III, and de- began again in Egypt in the nomes of Middle a- dared Delos a free port, which made that small

Egypt, headed by Dionysius Petosarapis (suppressed | island a major centre of transit trade and slave-

in 165), and in Panopolis. Simultaneously, acute - market, undermining Rhodes’ trade importance dynastic strife began, which lasted, with brief inter- | Having subdued Greece and Macedonia, Rome

254

began an offensive against the states of Asia Minor. That crisis expressed itself in a hitter dynastic

By spurring conflicts between Pergamum and its strife accompanied by military clashes, urban rebel- neighbours, the Romans exhausted their military lions, and bloody massacres of opponents. Twelve strength. At the same time Roman traders and pretenders succeeded one another on the throne in usurers penetrated the economic systems of the states just 35 years, and sometimes two or three kings ruled of Asia Minor, increasingly subordinating the simultaneously; the pretenders relied on rival groups domestic and foreign policy of those states to the in- of the aristocracy. The territory of the Seleucid king- terests of Rome. Pergamum’s position was worst; the dom kept shrinking until it included only the lands social situation there was so tense that king Atta- of Syria proper, Phoenicia, Coelesyria and part of lus III (139-133), despairing of the stability of the Cilicia. Major cities strove for autonomy or even in- existing regime, bequeathed his kingdom to Rome. dependence (cf. the tyrannies in Byblos, Tyre, But neither that act nor the reform which the aris- Sidon, etc.). Between 83 and 69, most Syria fell un- tocracy endeavoured to carry out after his death der the rule of Tigranes, king of Armenia. In 64, the could prevent a popular movement against the -Seleucid kingdom was annexed by Rome as the

Romans and the local nobles which enveloped the province of Syria. A year later, Judea, where fierce

whole country. For more than three years (132-129), social and dynastic conflicts were in progress, was the insurgent peasants, slaves and the underprivi- also added to the Roman state, leged urban population led by Aristonicus stub- In the 1st century B. C., Roman aggression was

bornly resisted the Romans. After the suppression of most stubbornly resisted by the Pontic kingdom, the uprising, Pergamum was erected into a Roman which under Mithridates VI Eupator extended its

province under the name of Asia. rule over almost the whole of the Black Sea coast. In

The situation in the Seleucid empire grew more 89, Mithridates began a war with Rome, and his act and more unstable. Following Judea, the eastern was enthusiastically supported by the masses in Asia satrapies also showed separatist tendencies, leaning Minor and Greece. Hatred for the Romans, who towards Parthia. The attempt of Antiochus VII shamelessly plundered the territories under their Sidetes (138-129 B. C.) to restore the unity of the sway, was so great that at a call from Mithridates, all empire ended in his complete failure and death. Romans in Asia Minor were massacred on the same

That was followed by the secession of Babylonia, day. In 88, he occupied almost the whole of Greece Persia and Media, which fell under the sway of without much difficulty. But Mithridates’s success Parthia or of independent dynasts. Early in the 1st was shortlived. His advent brought no significant

century B. C., Commagene and Judea became inde- improvement in the life of the Greek poleis; the

pendent. The aggravation of the domestic strife in Romans inflicted several defeats on the less disci-

the Seleucid kingdom and the separatist tendencies plined Pontic army, and the social measures later in its provinces stemmed from the differences implemented by Mithridates cancellation of debts, between its eastern and the western regions. The redistribution of land, and the granting of citizen- western provinces, profoundly Hellenised (with the ship to the medcs and slaves-cost him the support exception of Judea) gravitated towards economic of the well-to-do citizens. In 85, Mithridates had to

links with the Mediterranean, whereas the eastern admit defeat and give up his conquests. On two

satrapies were more closely linked with caravan- more occasions, in 83-81 and 73-63, he tried to stop

route trading, economic development of the Caspian 0 the Roman drive into Asia Minor, relying on the and Central Asian regions and trading across the i anti-Roman mood of the masses, but the alignment Persian Gulf. Their Hellenisation was fairly superfi- * of the social forces and the tendencies of historical cial: even those cities which were most Hellenistic in ' development determined the defeat of the Pontic their appearance and political organisation largely S' king.

retained their traditional social structure and ide- 7 Early in the 1st century B.C., Roman possessions ology. Parthian rule apparently offered them greater ^ extended already as far as the borders of Egypt. In economic and political advantages than that of the 7 96, Cyrenaica, which had seceded from Egypt two

Seleucids, whose empire was in the grip of an acute |= decades before, fell under Roman sway. The Ptole- socio-political crisis. § maic kingdom was still shaken by dynastic strife and

2 55

popular movements. C. 88, a mass uprising flared of Oriental despotic states and the pofis organisation

up in the Thebes region, and it was suppressed only of the cities. The Hellenistic polis is, however, rather

three years later by Ptolemy IX, who destroyed different from the classical Greek one. The earlier

Thebes, the hotbed of the rebellion. In the next 15 principles of the polis structure -eleutheria (freedom,

years, there was also unrest in the nomes of Middle political independence), aulonomia and autarkia- un-

Egypt in Hermopolis and, twice, in Heracleopolis. derwent considerable changes both in the old poleis

Although the Roman Senate debated more than and those newly founded by the Hellenistic rulers,

once the annexation of Egypt, the internal and Poleis that formed part of the Hellenistic states lost

external situation did not permit Rome to begin an their political and economic independence; they

open war against this state, comparatively strong were no longer free agents on the international

and virtually inaccessible in strategic terms. Only in arena, and had to obey the laws promulgated by the

48 B. C., as he pursued Pompey, did Caesar lead his head of state. The independence of the polis organs

troops into Alexandria. After eight months of hard of self-government-the popular assembly, council

fighting with the Egyptians, mostly Alexandrians, he and appointed officials-was restricted. The position

too merely included Egypt in the Roman sphere of and the socio-political role of the Hellenistic polis

influence as an allied kingdom. Only two decades place it between the classical Greek polis and the

later, Alexandria, that major centre of handicrafts, Roman municipium.

science and art, probably the most important port In the Hellenistic period, essential changes took

on the Mediterranean of those times, and the capital place in the ethnic and social stratification of the

of one of the richest countries, reconciled itself to the population. The ethnic distinctions between Greeks

inevitability of Roman domination. In 30 B. C., from different parts of Greece and even between

after his victory over Antony, Octavian subdued Greeks and Macedonians lost their former signifi-

Egypt almost without resistance. The last Hellenistic cance, for they were all Hellenes in the eyes of the

state fell. conquered peoples of the Near East and north-east-

As a political system, the Hellenistic world was ern Africa, their language and culture differing from

swallowed up by the Roman empire, but elements of those of the local population. In the course of time,

the socio-political structure which took shape in the however, the ethnic term “Hellene”, as we have

Hellenistic epoch made a great impact on the eas- mentioned, acquired social signification as well: the

tern Mediterranean’s later history, largely determin- “Hellenes” were now those sections of the popula-

ing its specific features. First of all, a new step in the tion whose social position permitted them to recei-

development of productive forces was made during ve an education after the Greek model and to live in

the Hellenistic epoch. The area of cultivated land an appropriate style, regardless of their ethnic

was significantly expanded, irrigation systems were origin.

extended and improved, and the mining of mineral That socioethnic process was reflected in the

deposits became more intense. Noticeable progress moulding and spreading of a common Greek lan-

was achieved in some handicrafts, particularly in guage, the so-called koine , which became the lan-

construction techniques and production of luxury guage of Hellenistic literature, the official language

goods. A number of new cities, major centres of of all the Hellenistic states, and later, side by side

trade and industry, emerged; some of them have with Latin, the official language of the eastern half of

survived from the Hellenistic epoch to this day (cf., ^ the Roman empire.

e. g., Alexandria in Egypt, Laodicea (modern s All these changes in the economic, social and po-

Latakia) in Syria, Thessalonice (modern Salonika) 5 litical spheres were accompanied by a restricting of

in Greece, etc. Trading and navigation intensified; j the socio-psychological makeup of the man of the

new caravan and sea routes appeared, and old ones Z, Hellenistic epoch. The instability of the foreign and

functioned more regularly. There was a distinct ten- I domestic political situation-continual wars between

dency towards a unification of the monetary system j states, internal domestic strife, political revolutions

within definite regions. ( in the poleis, and social movements on the local and

A new type of state emerged in the Hellenistic ? national scale-brought about the impoverishment,

epoch - Hellenistic kingdoms combining the features £ ruin and enslavement of some and the enrichment of

256

others, development of slave-owning and slave- trade, migration of the population from one locality to another, from the rural areas to the city and from the city to the chora. All this, in its turn, undermined the links within the civil communities of poleis and the communal links in villages, intensifying indivi¬ dualistic attitudes. The polis could no longer guar¬ antee the freedom and material well-being of the citizen; personal ties with members of the royal administration and patronage of the powers that be assumed greater importance. From generation to generation, psychological attitudes changed, and the former citizen of the polis became the king’s subject not only in formal status but also by political convic¬ tion. The same process somewhat later occurred in the Roman empire.

Hellenistic culture. The most important heritage of the Hellenistic world was the culture that it created, which spread to the outlying areas of the Hellenistic world and made a great impact on the development of Roman culture (particularly of the eastern Roman provinces) as well as the culture of the other peoples of antiquity and of the Middle Ages.

Hellenistic culture was not uniform throughout the Hellenistic world. In each region, it was moulded by the interaction between the stable, tra¬ ditional local elements and those brought by the conquerors and migrants, Greeks and non-Greeks.

The particular combinations of these elements, and the forms of their synthesis, were determined by many concrete factors - specific for each given locali¬ ty- the size of the various ethnic groups (local and newly arrived), the level of their culture, social organisation, conditions of economic life, political situation, etc. Even if we compare the major Hel¬ lenistic cities-Alexandria, Antioch on the Orontes, Pergamum, etc., where the Graeco-Macedonian population played the leading role - distinctive fea- ^ tures of cultural life in each of them stand out quite ■§ clearly. They are naturally more distinct in the in- * terior regions of the Hellenistic states, such as the Thebaid, Babylonia, or Thrace. ?

Still, Hellenistic culture may be regarded as some- ■|’ thing integral and original, since all its local variants have certain common traits determined, on the one 5 , hand, by the obligatory presence of elements of |= Greek culture in the overall synthesis, and on the |

257

other, by analogous trends in the socioeconomic and political development of society throughout the Hel¬ lenistic world. The development of cities, commodi¬ ty-money relations, and commercial links in the Mediterranean countries and the Near East largely conditioned the moulding of the material and non¬ material culture in the Hellenistic period. The emer¬ gence of Hellenistic monarchies, which absorbed some features of the polis structure, facilitated the formation of new legal relations, of a new socio-psy- chological makeup of man and society as a whole and of novel ideology. Compared with classical Greek culture, the content and nature of Hellenistic culture manifested more clearly the differences between the Hellenised upper strata of society and the indigent urban and rural population, which retained its cultural traditions more tenaciously.

Evidence of interaction between Hellenic and local elements in the material culture is found in the development of handicraft techniques, in arma¬ ments, shipbuilding, town planning, and applied arts. The same phenomena were observed in other areas of artistic creativity, above all in architecture. The architecture of the Hellenistic poleis continued the Greek traditions, but side by side with temple construction civil engineering-the building of theatres, gymnasia, bouleuteria, and palaces-now played a major part. The interior and exterior deco¬ ration of buildings became more varied and sump¬ tuous; porticoes and columns, mostly of the Ionic and Corinthian orders, were widely used; colon¬ nades were built to frame separate edifices, the agora, and sometimes the main streets (cf. the porticoes of Antigonus Gonatas, of Attalus on Delos, or those in the main streets of Alexandria). Kings built or restored cities and numerous temples dedicated to Greek and local deities. The projects were stupen¬ dous and the means insufficient, so construction sometimes lasted dozens and hundreds of years. The most magnificent and beautiful of these temples were believed to be Sarapeum in Alexandria, built by Parmeniskos in the 3rd century B. C.; the temple of Apollo at Didyma near Miletus, the construction of which began in 300 B. C., lasted nearly 200 years and was never completed; the temple of Zeus in Athens, designed by the architect Cossutius, begun in 170 A. D., and finished at the beginning of the 2nd century A. D., under emperor Hadrian; and the temple of Artemis in Magnesia on the Meander,

17 — 344

designed by the architect Hermogenes (begun late in the third or early in the 2nd century, finished in 129). The temples of the local deities-the temple of Horus at Edfu, of the goddess Hathor in Denderah, of Khnum in Esnae, of Isis on the island of Phylae, of Esagila in Babylon, or the temples of the god Nabu, son of Marduk, in Borsippa and Uruk-were built just as slowly. The temples of the Greek gods were built according to classical canons with slight devia¬ tions. The architecture of the temples of the Oriental deities also rigorously followed the traditions of ancient Egyptian and Babylonian architects, and the only traces of Hellenistic influences are found in separate details and in inscriptions on temple walls.

A novel development of the Hellenistic period was the construction of new types of public buildings - li¬ braries (in Alexandria, Pergamum, Antioch, and other cities), the Museum (in Alexandria), the light¬ house of Pharos, the Tower of the Winds in Athens. The Pharos lighthouse, erected by the architect and builder Sostratos of Cnidus and believed to be one of the seven wonders of the world, was the most magni¬ ficent and complex of these structures. Its tower crowned with a statue of Poseidon rose to the height of 120 metres. Its base was a square, with the sides aligned on the cardinal points; it narrowed down towards the central part, an octahedron with sides aligned on the directions of the prevailing winds; and the upper part was a cylindric lantern equipped with metal mirrors. The fuel for the lighthouse was carried by donkeys up a winding staircase or path within the building. The Pharos lighthouse was at the same time an observation post, a sort of weather station, and a fortress, presumably with a garrison and supplies of provision and water (in a tank in the underground part of the tower). The octagonal Tower of the Winds in Athens, with a weather-vane in the shape of a Triton figurine on the roof, appar¬ ently played similar meteorological functions. It also had sundials on the walls and a water clock within for bad weather.

The Alexandriana Library was believed to be the largest library of antiquity. Books were brought here from all the countries of the classical world, and in the 1st century B. C. it possessed, according to legend, some 700,000 scrolls. We have no description of the building in which the Library of Alexandria was housed; it must have adjoined or been part of the Museum complex (the temple of the Muses).

The Museum itself was part of the palace complex. Besides the temple, it included a large house with a common dining-hall for the scholars attached to the Museum, and an exedra- a roofed gallery with seats for work-and a place for walks.

The construction of such public edifices, which served as centres of scholarly work or application of scientific knowledge, may be regarded as a symptom and a material expression of the growing role of science in the practical and spiritual life of Hellenis¬ tic society.

The knowledge accumulated in the previous epoch in the Greek and the Oriental world, and the possibility of bringing them together necessitated the classification of the available material and some kind of summing up. Differentiation began in the syncre¬ tic body of scientific concepts, as mathematics, astronomy, botany, geography, medicine and phi¬ lology became separated from philosophy and estab¬ lished as sciences in their own right.

Eucleidean Elements (or Principles) can be seen as a synthesis of mathematical knowledge of the ancient world. For centuries, its postulates and the deductive methods of proof formed the basis of textbooks on geometry. The works of Appollonius of Perga on conic sections laid the foundations of trigonometry. Archimedes of Syracuse, who worked for a while at Alexandria, discovered one of the principal laws of hydrostatics, worked out the basics of infinitely large and infinitesimal calculus, formulated some impor¬ tant propositions of mechanics and invented many technical devices.

The Babylonian centres of stydying astronomical phenomena, which existed long before the Greeks took up these observations, and the works of the Babylonian fourth-century scholars Kidenas and Sudines had a great influence on the development of astronomy in the Hellenistic period. Aristarchus of Samos (310-230 B. C.) formulated the hypothesis that the earth and the planets revolve around the S* sun along circular orbits. Seleucus of Chaldea tried 5 to substantiate that proposition. Hipparchus of -i Nicaea (146-126 B. C.) discovered (or repeated I Kidenas’s discovery of) the phenomenon of equinoc- s tial precession, measured the duration of the lunar jo month, compiled a catalogue of 805 stationary stars | with their coordinates, and divided them into three - classes according to their brightness. He rejected, |. however, Aristarchus’s hypothesis on the grounds

258

that the orbits he suggested did not accord with observed planetary motions, and his authority helped to assert the geocentric system in antique science.

Alexander the Great’s campaigns considerably extended the Greeks’ geographical horizons. On the basis of this extended knowledge, Dicaearchus drew up a map of the world (c. 300); he also calculated the height of many mountains in Greece. Eratos¬ thenes of Cyrene (275-200), an extraordinarily eru¬ dite scholar who for some time was in charge of the Alexandriana Library, assumed the earth to be a globe and calculated its circumference at 252,000 stadia (approx. 39,700 kilometres), which practi¬ cally coincides with the actual circumference (approx. 40,076 kilometres). He also insisted that all seas form a single ocean, and that it is possible to arrive in India by sailing round Africa or west of Spain. His hypothesis was supported by Posidonius of Apamea (135-51), a scholar with wide-ranging in¬ terests who studied the tides of the Atlantic and vol¬ canic and meteorological phenomena, and proposed the division of the earth into five climatic zones. In the 2nd century, Hippalus discovered monsoons, and Eudoxus of Cyzicus showed their practical im¬ portance by sailing to India across the open sea. Numerous geographical descriptions, later lost, formed the foundation for Strabo’s overview, Geogra¬ phy, which he finished C. A. D. 7. It contains the des¬ cription of the whole world known at that time, from Britain to India. Along with purely geographical data, Strabo included in his Geography a considerable body of historical information and legends about the countries and peoples described.

The study of nature and man made considerable advances. Theophrastus, Aristotle’s disciple and suc¬ cessor in the Peripatetic school, wrote his History of Plants after the model of Aristotle’s History of Animals, systematising all the information accumulated by the beginning of the 3rd century B. C., including the data gathered during Alexander’s campaigns. Later works of antique botanists made some significant additions only to the knowledge of medicinal herbs, which was connected with the development of medi¬ cine. There were two trends in medical knowledge in the Hellenistic epoch-the “dogmatic” or “book¬ ish”, pursuing the task of speculative cognition of the nature of man and the causes of diseases concealed in it, and the empirical one, aimed at the study and

treatment of each concrete disease. Herophilus of Chalcedon (3rd century B. C.) made a great contri¬ bution to the study of the anatomy of man. He wrote of the existence of nerves and established their con¬ nection with the brain. He also expressed the hypothesis that human cognitive abilities were con¬ nected with man’s brain; he believed that it was blood, and not air, that circulated in the veins and arteries, that is to say he arrived in fact at the idea of blood circulation. His conclusions apparently rested on personal experiences in the dissection of corpses, and on those of Egyptian experts in medicine and mummification. Erasistratus of Chios (3rd century B. C.) was just as famous; he distinguished between motor and sensor nerves and studied the anatomy of the heart. Both of them performed difficult ope¬ rations and had their schools of disciples. Herac- leides of Tarentum and other empirical physicians paid great attention to the study of medicines.

This short account of the scientific achievements of Hellenistic times should show that science as a whole became one of the most important forms of social consciousness. Other indications of this de¬ velopment were the museums and libraries estab¬ lished at the courts of Hellenistic kings, to increase their prestige, and their patronage of scholars and poets, who were provided the necessary facilities for work. The material and moral dependence on the royal court imposed, however, a definite imprint on the form and content of scientific and artistic creati¬ vity, so that Timon the Sceptic had every right to call the scholars of the Alexandrian Museum “capons in a chicken coop”.

The literature of the Hellenistic epoch was ext¬ remely extensive and varied; the sources mention more than a thousand names of writers and poets, including scientists and philosophers. The tradi¬ tional genres-epics, tragedy, comedy, lyrics, rhetor¬ ical and historical prose-continued to develop, but q new types of works also emerged, such as philologi- •I cal studies (cf. the work of Zenodotus of Ephesos on _ the true text of Homer’s poems), dictionaries (the first Greek lexicon was compiled by Philetas of Cos S' c. 300), biographies, poetic versions of scientific ■S’ treatises, epistolography, etc. Splendiferous and

• sophisticated poetry abounding in mythological im-

•L agery but devoid of sincere feeling and divorced

s from real life flourished at the courts of Hellenistic

£

| kings. Its highest achievements were the idyls and

259

17 *

hymns by Callimachus of Cyrene (310-245 B. C.), by his works - Court of Arbitration, The Samian Woman,

Aratusof Soli (3rd century), the epic poem Argonau- Crop-head, Grumbler, The Shield, The Man from Sicyon,

tica by Apollonius of Rhodes, and other works. Brief The Hateful One, and others-have survived in the

and expressive epigrams, a genre in which all poets papyri of the 2nd-4th centuries found in remote

were active, particularly in the 2nd and 1st centuries cities and komas of Egypt. Menander’s works proved

B. C., were more intimate and had greater vitality. to be so viable because he stressed the best traits of

Epigrams evolved from dedicatory inscriptions and his characters, typical of his times, and asserted the

epitaphs and varied greatly in content, expressing new, humanistic attitude to each individual regard-

brief appraisals of works by poets, ardsts and archi- less of his position in society, to women, foreigners,

tects, portraying certain individuals, or describing and slaves.

scenes of everyday life and erotic ones. The epigram The mime, just as the comedy, has existed in

expressed the poet’s feelings, moods and thoughts, Greece since remote times. It was frequently an inl¬ and only in the Roman epoch did it become mostly provisation performed in a square or at a feast in a

satirical. In the late 4th and early 3rd centuries private house by an actor (or actress) without a

B. C., most popular were the epigrams of Ascle- mask who used facial expressions, gestures and tones

piades, Posidippus, and Leonidas of Tarentum, of voice to portray various characters. That genre

and in the 2nd and 1st centuries, those by Anti- became particularly popular in the Hellenistic

pater of Sidon, and Meleager and Philodemos of epoch. But no texts of mimes have survived except

Gadara. those of Herondas (3rd century), and these were in-

Theocritus of Syracuse (born in 305 B.C.) was a tentionally written in the Aeolian dialect that had

major lyrical poet, author of bucolic idyls. That become obsolete by that time, and were not meant

genre arose from the Sicilian competitions of she- for the broad public. Still, they give some idea of the

pherds ( boucoloi) in the performance of songs, distichs style and content of such works. Scenes written by

or quatrains. Theocritus’s bucolic verse abounded in Herondas pictured a procuress, a keeper of a

vivid realistic descriptions of nature and graphic im- brothel, a cobbler, a jealous mistress torturing her

ages of shepherds, while in other idyls, similar to slave lover, and other characters. In a vivid scene

mimes but with a lyric colouring, he painted scenes laid at a school, a poor woman plaintively described

of urban life. how hard it was for her to pay tuition fees, and asked

Epic poems, hymns, idyls and even epigrams the teacher to give a sound thrashing to her son, an

mostly appealed to the taste of the privileged strata idler who played dice instead of studying which the

of Hellenistic society, whereas the interests and tastes teacher did willingly, aided by the other pupils. Un-

of the broad masses were reflected in such genres as like the Greek literature of the 5th and 4th centuries,

comedy and mime. Menander (342-291 B.C.) was Hellenistic literature was not concerned with the

the most popular of the authors of the New Comedy, major socio-political and ethical problems of those

or comedy of manners, which flourished in Greece in times, its themes being limited to the interests, mora-

the late 4th century B.C. and was concerned with lity and everyday life of the narrow social group to

citizens’ private rather than public life. which a given author belonged. Many of these works

Menander wrote at the time of the formation of therefore quickly lost their social and artistic signifi-

the Hellenistic states. Political instability, frequent cance and were forgotten, and only some of them left

changes of oligarchic and democratic regimes, the a trace in the history of culture,

ravages of frequent wars on Greek territory, ruin of I The themes, images and moods characteristic of some people and enrichment of others-all this 5 fiction were paralleled in sculpture and painting, brought confusion into the citizens’ moral and ethi- s Monumental sculpture, intended for squares, tem- cal notions and undermined the foundations of the j. pies and other public edifices, continued to develop, polis ideology. Uncertainty about the future and f Its characteristic features were mythological themes, beliefin destiny and chance grew. These moods were j vast scale, and complexity of composition. Thus the reflected in the New Comedy. An indication of | Colossus of Rhodes, a bronze statue of Helios created Menander’s popularity in Hellenistic society and - by Chares of Lindus (3rd century B. C.), rose to a later in the Roman epoch was the fact that many of |- height of 35 metres and was believed to be an artistic

260

and technical wonder of the world. The battle of the an adherent of Cleomenes’s reforms (late 3rd cen-

gods and titans on the famous frieze, more than 120 tury). Another trend in historiography, biased

metres long, on the altar of Zeus in Pergamum (2nd though it might be, followed a dryer and more

century B. C.), consisted of a great number of figures rigorous method of presenting facts. That was the

and was marked by dynamism, extraordinary style of the history of Alexander’s campaigns written

expressiveness and dramatism. In early Christian by Ptolemy I (after 301), of which only fragments

literature the Pergamum altar was called “the tern- have survived, the history of the struggles between

pie of Satan”. Schools of sculpture at Rhodes, Perga- the diadochoi written by Hieronymus of Cardia

mum and Alexandria, which continued the tradi- (mid-3rd century), and other works. Polybius, a

tions of Lysippus, Scopas and Praxiteles, evolved in major historian of the 2nd century (198-117), was

this period. The statues of the goddess Tyche (Des- the author of the Universal History in 40 books, which

tiny), patroness of Antioch, of Nike from the island dealt with the events of 221-146, i. e., the period

of Samothrace, Aphrodite from the island of Melos when Rome emerged as a Mediterranean power and

(Venus de Milo), and Aphrodite Anadyomene of Cy- subdued Greece and Macedonia. Following Poly-

rene are believed to be masterpieces of Hellenistic bius, universal histories were written by Posidonius

sculpture. The emphatic dramatism, characteristic of Apamea, Nicolaus Damascenus, Agatharchides of

of the Pergamum school of sculpture, later degener- Cnidus, and Diodorus Siculus. But research in the

ated into cold theatricality characteristic of such history of separate states continued : chronicles and

sculptural groups as Laocoon or the Famese Bull. decrees of Greek poleis were studied, and interest

Portrait sculpture (as illustrated, e. g., by for the history of Oriental countries grew. In the

Polyeuctus’s Demosthenes, c. 280) and portrait paint- early 3rd century, Manetho, an Egyptian priest,

ing (cf. the Fayum portraits) achieved a high level of wrote a history of pharaonic Egypt in Greek, and

skill. Apparently the same moods and tastes that Berossos, a Babylonian priest, a history of Babylonia,

engendered Theocritus’s bucolic idyl, epigrams, the also in Greek; later, a history of the Parthians was

New Comedy and mimes, were reflected in realistic written by Apollodorus of Artemites. Historical

sculptural images of old fishermen, shepherds, works in local languages also appeared, as, e. g., the

numerous terracotta figurines of women, peasants Books of the Maccabees about the revolt of Judea

and slaves, in the portrayal of comic characters, in against the Seleucids.

depicting everyday scenes and rural landscapes in The choice of topics and presentation of events

mosaic and wall painting. The influence of Hellenis- were undoubtedly affected by the political struggles

tic art can also be traced in traditional Egyptian and political and philosophical theories of that

sculpture (reliefs on tombs and the statues of the Pto- epoch, but these are often difficult to detect, as most

lemies), and later in Parthian and Kushan art. historical works of the Hellenistic period have sur-

Art and literature mostly reflected the worldview vived only in fragments or accounts of later authors,

aspects of man’s private life and inner world, Only the relatively well-preserved work by Polybius

whereas historical and philosophical works revealed permits an investigation of the methods of historical

his attitude to society, and to political and social research and some historico-philosophical concepts

problems of the times. Historical works mostly dealt characteristic of the times.

with events of the recent past and current events. In Polybius, a prominent statesman of the Achaean

form, the works of many historians bordered on fic- „ League, was taken, after the defeat of Macedonia in tion: the presentation was skilfully dramadsed, and 4 168, to Rome as one of a thousand hostages. There,

rhetorical devices were used to produce an emo- _ he became an associate of Scipio and absorbed tional impact on mass audiences. That was the style " Roman ideology, particularly the idea of the provi- in which the history of Alexander the Great was r dential mission of Rome. Polybius’s work was in- written by Callisthenes (end of the 4th century) and -f tended to show why and in what way the entire Clitarchus of Alexandria (mid-3rd century); the his- ^ world known at that time found itself under Roman tory of the Greeks of the western Mediterranean, by t. domination. In his view, the history of the world was Timaeus of Tauromenium (same period); the his- |= determined by destiny: it was Tyche who forcibly toryofGreece between 280 and 219, by Phylarchus, | brought together the histories of separate countries

261

to start world history, and it was Tyche who gave view, man was no longer a citizen of the polis but of

the Romans world domination. The power of Tyche the cosmos; to achieve happiness, he must learn the

was manifested in the causal links between all natural law of phenomena predetermined by the

events. At the same time Polybius insisted on the supreme force (destiny) and live in harmony with

great role of man, of outstanding personalities. He nature. The eclecticism and ambivalence of the

endeavoured to demonstrate that the Romans had Stoics’ principal propositions ensured their popular-

been able to create a powerful empire due to their ity in various strata of the Hellenistic and later

perfect state structure, which combined elements of Roman society, permitting the merging of Stoic doc-

monarchy, aristocracy and democracy, and due to trines with mystic faiths and astrology, paradoxi-

the wisdom and moral superiority of its statesmen. cally combined with certain elements of mate-

idealising the Romans and their state structure, rialism, mostly in ontology.

Polybius tried to make his compatriots reconcile The philosophy of Epicurus was a further step in

themselves to inevitable subordination to Rome and the development of Democritus’s materialism (the

the loss of political independence by the Greek doctrine of spontaneous deviation of atoms from rec-

poleis. The appearance of such views showed that tilinear movement), but it also focused primarily on

the political attitudes of Hellenistic society had basi- man. Epicurus’s main task, as he saw it, was to free

cally departed from the polis ideology. man from the fear of death and of destiny: he

This was even more evident in philosophical doc- asserted that the gods had no influence over the life trines. The schools of Plato and Aristotle, which ref- of nature and man, and endeavoured to prove the

lected the worldview of the civic community of the materiality of the soul. Man’s happiness lay in

classical city state, lost their dominant position with achieving tranquility and undisturbed peace of the

the decline in the political significance of the polis. soul ( ataraxm ) through cognition, self-perfection,

Simultaneously, the influence of the schools of Seep- and avoidance of passions, sufferings, and vigorous

tics and Cynics, which had been born of the crisis of activity.

the polis ideology in the 4th century B. C., in- Gradually joining forces with the followers of

creased. But the most popular teachings of the Helle- Plato’s Academy (the so-called Middle Academy),

nistic period were those of the Stoics and of Epicu- the Sceptics levelled their criticism mostly against

rus, which emerged late in the 4th and early in the the epistemology of Epicurus and the Stoics. They

3rd centuries B. C., absorbing the principal features also identified happiness with ataraxia, but the latter

of the new epoch’s worldview. The Stoic school, was interpreted as the realisation of the impossibility

founded in 302 in Athens by Zeno of Cyprus to cognize the world (Timon the Sceptic, 3rd cen-

(c. 336-264 B. C.), included many major philoso- tury B. C.), which signified a renunciation of the

phers and scholars of the Hellenistic world, such as cognition of the surrounding reality and of social

Chrysippus of Soli (3rd century), Panaetius of activity.

Rhodes (2nd century), Posidonius of Apamea (1st Although they reflected certain general traits of

century), and others. These were men of different the worldview of their epoch, the doctrines of the

political orientation and stature, ranging from kings’ Stoics, Epicurus and Sceptics were intended for the

advisers (like Zeno) to inspirers of social reform more cultured and privileged circles. Unlike any of

(Sphaerus was Cleomenes’s tutor in Sparta, Blossius, them, the Cynics conducted their talks, or diatribes ,

the tutor of Aristonicus at Pergamum). The Stoics ^ before crowds in the streets, squares, at harbours, mostly concentrated on man as personality and on I proving the unreasonableness of the existing order ethical problems, leaving problems of the essence of 5 and preaching poverty not only in word but also in being in the background. The awareness of the insta- a deed by their mode of life. The best-known Cynics of bility of man’s social and economic position at a time ^ the Hellenistic times were Crates of Thebes when links with the polis or rural community weak- | (c. 365-285) and Bion Borysthenites (3rd century

ened and military and social conflicts were rife, was g> B. C.). Crates came from a rich Theban family, but, interpreted by the Stoics as man’s dependence on a | absorbing the ideas of Cynicism, he dismissed his supreme benevolent force (logos, nature, god) dir- y slaves, gave away his riches and, like, Diogenes, ecting all that is in accordance with reason. In their c began to lead the life of a mendicant philosopher.

262

Sharply criticising his philosophical opponents. Crates preached moderate cynicism and was renowned for his humaneness. He had a great number of pupils and followers, including Zeno, the founder of the Stoic school. Bion was born in the northern Black Sea region, a son of a freedman and a hetaera, and in his youth was sold into slavery. Receiving on the death of his master freedom and a legacy, he came to Athens and joined the school of Cynics. It was Bion who introduced the genre of dia¬ tribes -speeches and talks preaching Cynical philoso¬ phy, full of polemics with their opponents and acute criticism of generally accepted views. But the Cynics did not go beyond criticism of rich men and rulers, searching for happiness in the renunciation of needs and desires, in the “beggar’s bag”, and opposing the mendicant philosopher not only to the kings but also to the “foolish mob”.

The element of social protest reflected in the phi¬ losophy of the Cynics was also expressed in the social Utopia that emerged in the Hellenistic epoch. Euhe- merus (late 4th-early 3rd centuries B. C.) in his fan¬ tastical story about the island of Panchaea, and Iam- bulus (3rd century B. C.) in his description of a voyage to Sun Islands created the ideal of a society free from slavery, social vices and conflicts. Unfor¬ tunately, their works have only survived in an account by the historian Diodorus Siculus. Iambulus drew a picture of life on Sun Islands, where people of high spiritual culture lived in exotic surroundings without kings, priests, family, property, or division of labour. These happy people worked together, per¬ forming public duties in rotation. In his Sacred His¬ tory , Euhemerus also described a happy life on an island lost in the Indian Ocean, but the population of that island was divided into priests and men of in¬ tellectual occupations, farmers, shepherds, and war¬ riors (there were no landowners). There was a “Sacred History” on a column of gold on the island describing the deeds of Uranus, Chronos and Zeus who once arranged the life of the islanders. In expounding the History, Euhemerus actually explained his views on the origin of religion: the gods were merely outstanding personalities that once existed, organisers of social life who proclaimed themselves to be gods and established their own cult. The appearance of this hypothesis was undoubtedly connected with the spreading of royal cults in the Hellenistic states.

Hellenistic philosophy was created by the privi¬ leged, deeply Hellenised strata of society, and it is difficult to trace the influence of Oriental elements on it, whereas Hellenistic religion was the product of the broadest strata of the population and its most characteristic feature was syncretism of many reli¬ gious faiths, with the Oriental heritage playing a great role.

The gods of the Greek pantheon, identified with ancient Eastern deities, acquired some new features. The forms of their worship changed. Some Oriental cults (of Isis, Cybele and others) were adopted by the Greeks in an almost unchanged form. Tyche, the goddess of destiny and patroness of Antioch, the capital of the Seleucid kingdom, achieved the eminence of a principal deity. The cult of Sarapis, established in pursuance of the religious policy of the Ptolemies, was a distinctly Hellenistic phenomenon. Apparently life itself at Alexandria, with its multi¬ lingual population with their different customs, faiths and traditions, prompted Ptolemy I the idea of founding a new religious cult that could unite this motley foreign crowd with the indigenous Egyptian population. The atmosphere of spiritual life in those times demanded that such an act should take a mys¬ tic form. According to the sources, an unknown deity appeared before Ptolemy in a dream; that dream was interpreted by the priests, a statue of a deity in the shape of a bearded youth was then moved from Sinope to Alexandria, and that youth was proclaimed Sarapis-the god that combined the traits of Osiris-Apis of Memphis and the Greek gods Zeus, Hades and Asclepius. Ptolemy’s principal assistants in the shaping of the cult of Sarapis was the Athenian Timotheus, a priest from Eleusis, and the Egyptian priest Manetho, from Heliopolis. Appar¬ ently they succeeded in lending the new cult form and content that accorded with the spiritual needs of the times, for the worship of Sarapis fairly quickly spread through Egypt, and later Sarapis and Isis became the most popular Hellenistic deities; their cult existed until the triumph of Christianity.

The local differences in the pantheon and cult forms in various regions of the Hellenistic world con¬ tinued to exist, but certain universal divinities com¬ bining the functions of the most worshipped deities of various peoples gradually became widespread. Zeus Hypsistes (the Highest) emerged as one of the primary gods, identified with Phoenician Baal,

263

Egyptian Ammon, Babylonian Belus, Judean Jeho- the face of religion and mysticism, while mysteries,

vah and many other principal deities of various magic and astrology became widespread. At the

regions (such as Zeus Dolichenus of Asia Minor). same time, signs of social protest increased-social

His numerous epithets-Pantokrator (Omnipotent), Utopias and prophecies gained popularity again.

Soter (Saviour), Helios (Sun), etc.-point to an unu- Papyri have preserved numerous magic formulas

sual expansion of his functions. Zeus’s rival in popu- with which men hoped to make gods or demons

larity was Dionysus, whose cult, with its mysteries, change their destiny, cure diseases, destroy an

was close to that of Osiris in Egypt and Sabasios and enemy, etc. Initiation into mysteries was seen as

Adonis in Asia Minor. Of the female deities, the offering a chance of direct communication with the

Egyptian Isis, who embodied many Greek and Asian gods and freedom from the power of fate. The Tales

goddesses, and Mother of the Gods of Asia Minor, of Khamuas, a wise man of Egypt, described his

became the principal and almost universally wor- search for the magic book of the god Thoth, which

shipped divinities. The syncretic cults which ori- made its owner exempt from the power of the gods;

ginated in the East spread to the poleis of Asia the transfiguration of an ancient powerful magician

Minor, Greece and Macedonia, and later to the into Khamuas’s son; and the miraculous deeds of the

western Mediterranean. boy magician. Especially curious among these deeds

Relying on the ancient Oriental traditions, Hel- was Khamuas’s voyage into the next world, where

lenistic kings did their best to spread the royal cult. the boy magician showed his father the ordeals of a

That phenomenon was engendered by the political rich man and the blissful life of the righteous poor

needs of the newly formed states. The royal cult was men next to the gods.

in fact one of the forms of the new Hellenistic ideo- Attempts to put the social Utopia into practice

logy combining the ancient Oriental notions of the were made by the Judaist sects of the Essenes in

divine origin of royal power, the Greek cult of heroes Palestine and therapeutai in Egypt, which appeared in

and oekistai (the city founders), and the philosophi- the 2nd and 1st centuries B. C. and combined reli-

cal theories of the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C. on the gious opposition to Judaist priests with the assertion

nature of state power. The cult of kings embodied of alternative forms of socioeconomic existence,

the idea of the unity of the new Hellenistic state, According to such ancient authors as Pliny the

magnifying the king’s political authority through Elder, Philo of Alexandria, and Josephus Flavius,

religious rites. Just as many other political institu- the Essenes lived in communities, jointly owned

tions of the Hellenistic world, that cult was inherited property and worked together, producing only the

by the Roman empire and further developed in it. things that were necessary for consumption. Entry

The decline of the Hellenistic states and the begin- into the community was voluntary, the internal life,

ning of the Roman aggression, accompanied by management of community affairs and religious rites

aggravation of social conflicts, impoverishment of were strictly regulated, the younger members

the population, and mass enslavement of war cap- obeyed their seniors in age and seniority; some com-

tives, brought in its wake significant changes in Hel- munities prescribed continence. The Essenes

lenistic culture. Throughout the Hellenistic epoch, rejected slavery; their moral, ethical and religious

works in local languages were written which views were marked by messianic and eschatological

retained the traditional forms (religious hymns, features and the opposition of community members

funeral and magic texts, instructions, prophecies, to the surrounding “world of evil”. The therapeutai

chronicles, and fairytales) but reflected to some I may be regarded as an Egyptian variety of the extent the features of the Hellenistic worldview. 5 Essenes. They, too, jointly owned property, rejected From the end of the 3rd century B. C., the role of 5 riches and slavery, limited their needs to the vital these works in Hellenistic culture began to grow. ones, and were extremely pious and ascetic. They

Ecclesiastes , one of the books of the Bible, written at 5 also had many traits in common with the Essenes in the end of the 3rd century B.C., is permeated with a, religious rites and the community’s internal organi- profound pessimism. Wealth, wisdom, work were all | sation.

“vanity of vanities”, according to its author. 2 The discovery of the Qumran texts and archaeolo- Rationalistic elements in the worldview receded in |- gical research have given unquestionable proof of

264

the existence in the desert of Judea of religious com- literature, art and philosophy. Adaptations of

munities related to the Essenes in their religious, themes from Menander and other authors of the

moral, ethical and social principles of organisation. New Comedy by Terence and Plautus, the flourish-

The Qumran community existed from the middle ing of the Stoic, Epicurean and other philosophical

of the 2nd century B. C. to A. D. 65. Along with Bib- schools on Roman soil, and the spreading of Orien-

lical texts, a number of apocryphal works were found tal cults to Rome were only some of the more

in its “library”, and, most importantly, a number conspicuous signs of the influence of Hellenistic

of texts which were created within the community culture.

itself Rules, hymns, comments on Biblical texts, and Not only these but also many other features of the

texts of apocalyptic and messianic character, which Hellenistic world and its culture were inherited by

gave a notion of the ideology of the Qumran com- the Roman empire. They were most fully manifested

munity and its internal organisation. The Qumran in the last centuries of its existence in its eastern half,

community had many features in common with the But the immense significance of the Hellenistic

Essenes but opposed itself more sharply to the sur- epoch in the history of world civilisation goes far

rounding world, which was reflected in the doctrine beyond this. It was at that time that, for the first

of the opposition between the “kingdom of light” time in the history of mankind, contacts between

and the “kingdom of darkness”, of the struggle Afro-Asian and European peoples became stable

between the “sons of light” and the “sons of dark- and regular rather than temporary and accidental,

ness”, in their preaching on the “New Alliance” or involving cooperation in creating the economy, cul-

the “New Testament”, and in the great role of the ture and new modes of social life within Hellenistic

“Teacher of Righteousness” - the founder and pre- states, and not just military campaigns or commer-

ceptor of the community. cial relations. Social and ethnic antagonisms natu-

The significance of the Qumran manuscripts is rally imposed their imprint on this cooperation, in

not, however, limited to evidence of the Essenes as a which some parties proved to be in a dependent

socio-religious trend in Palestine in the 2nd century position while others, in a privileged one. But suc-

B.C. and 1st century A. D. Comparison of these cesses in the development of agriculture and the

manuscripts with early Christian and apocryphal crafts and in creating perennial works of art were

works shows the similarities in the ideological con- undoubtedly achieved by the joint efforts and com-

cepts and principles of organisation of the Qumran bination of production and artistic skills of Balkan,

and early Christian communities. There was also a Near Eastern, and Egyptian craftsmen, peasants,

significant difference between them: the former was builders, architects, artists and sculptors,

a closed organisation keeping its doctrine secret in This interaction in material production was re-

the expectation of the Messiah’s arrival, whereas fleeted, in a mediated form and in varying degrees,

Christian communities, which regarded themselves in the nonmaterial culture of the Hellenistic epoch,

as followers of Christ the Messiah, were open to all, It would be an oversimplification to see it merely as

spreading their doctrine among the broadest masses. a development of the Greek culture. It is no accident,

The Qumranite Essenes were merely the forerunners for instance, that the most important discoveries in

of the new ideological trend, Christianity, which the Hellenistic period were made in those branches

emerged later, in the times of the Roman empire. of science where knowledge previously accumulated

The subordination of Hellenistic states by Rome, n in the ancient Oriental science clearly interacted accompanied by the extension of Roman forms of | with that of Greece (astronomy, mathematics, medi- political and socioeconomic relations to the coun- * cine). Hellenistic religious ideology was a particu- tries of the eastern Mediterranean, had as its reverse * larly vivid manifestation of joint creativity of the side the penetration of Hellenistic culture, ideology ? Afro-Asian and European peoples. It was ultimately and elements of the socio-political structure into j? on this same basis that the politico-philosophical Rome. Art objects, libraries (e. g., the library of Per- 3 idea of the universe, of the world as a single whole, seus brought to Rome by Aemilius Paulus), and edu- ^ arose which was reflected in the creation of Universal cated slaves and hostages taken to Rome as booty |= History (Polybius and his followers), in the Stoic made a great impact on the development of Roman \ theory of the cosmos and the cosmopolitan, etc.

265

The areal of the spreading and influence of Hel¬ lenistic culture, syncretic in its nature, - was ex¬ tremely extensive, including Western and Eastern Europe, the Near East and Central Asia, and North Africa. Hellenistic elements can be traced not only in Roman but also in Parthian, Graeco-Bactrian,

Kushan and Coptic cultures, and in the early medie¬ val cultures of Armenia and Iberia. Many achieve¬ ments of Hellenistic science and culture were inheri¬ ted by the Byzantine empire and the Arabs and became part and parcel of human culture as a whole.

Chapter 15

From the Origin of Rome to the Unification of Italy

The Problem oj the Emergence of Rome and the Epoch of the Kings. Until recently, the early history of Italy and Rome was only known from accounts by classical authors, often contradictory and unreliable, since Greek writers had little interest for Italy, and works by Roman historians date from later times (mostly from the 2nd century B.C. and later), while earlier ones are only known in fragments. Their accounts of the history of Rome and Italy echoed myths and legends that were hard to separate from descriptions of real events. Most early Roman historians, or annalists, belonged to aristocratic families and laid special stress on the exploits of these families. Besides, with rare exceptions, we only have Roman versions of the historical events. There are only brief and muffled reports of what the conquered peoples thought of Rome, and Roman sources are thus prac¬ tically unverifiable. jp

As a result, many modern historians, particularly 1 in the 19th and the first half of the 20th century, a believed early Roman history to be almost com- 51 pletely unknowable. This sort of hypercritical atti- ^ tude has been revised in recent times, when rigor- ? ously scientific archaeological excavations were £ conducted on a vast scale, and linguistic methods, in “ particular analysis of ancient Italic languages, were ^ vastly improved. Archaeological and linguistic data 1 have extended our knowledge of ancient Italy; they s have showed that what was earlier believed to be * complete myths, absorbed by the Roman historical ^ tradition, were founded on real historical facts, and | that events later embellished by legend actually § occurred, though in a way rather different from the ^ myth. For example, according to a fairly late <!■

Roman tradition, Greeks from Arcadia led by king Evander settled on the Palatine hill already before the Trojan War, teaching the local population to cultivate land and establishing the Lupercalia festi¬ vities in honour of the Arcadian god Pan, identified with Italic Faunus, to increase the fertility of the flocks and to protect them from wolves; returning from Spain, Hercules visited Evander and fought the Cacus monster; Evander was an ally of the Trojan hero Aeneas, son of Anchises and Venus, who, after the fall of Troy, disembarked with his men and son Julus in Italy, fought the Latins, conquered them, married Lavinia, daughter of king Latinus, founded the city of Lavinium (which shows that he was a forebear of Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome), and was deified after his death, while his son became the forefather of the gens Julia.

Recent archaeological and linguistic studies have shown that there was an Arcadian settlement in c. 12th century B. C. on the Palatine hill, that the name Evander (Euandros) is an Arcadian name, and that the Lupercalia rites have a great deal in common with the rites of the cult of the Arcadian god Pan. 6 th- or 5th-century B. C. figurines were also discovered portraying Aeneas carrying Anchises from burning Troy on his shoulders; other finds in¬ clude a sanctuary (the so-called heroon, i. e., the place of the cult of a Hero) dedicated to Aeneas in a very ancient tomb ( 8 th century B. G), and an in¬ scription in which he was called “Lar Aeneas”. A connection has been established between the legends about Aeneas, and the sacred penates he had brought from Troy, and the arrival in Italy of Thra- co-Illyrian tribes, since it was believed that Aeneas

267

came from the family of Dardanus, king of the Ulyr- of Indo-Europeans) coming from the north, seem to ian tribe of the Dardans, and Romans themselves be the most ancient inhabitants of Italy (to be pre¬ linked their penates with the mysteries in honour of cise, of its north-western part). The regions of Ve- the Cabeirian gods performed on the island of rona and Padua were inhabited by the Rhaeti, who Samothrace. In Lavinium, remnants of 9th- and were shepherds and hunters; next to them lived the 8 th-century settlements have been found. These and warlike Veneti, who made the conquered popula- other coincidences between linguistic and archaeo- tion their helots, and killed slaves during the funeral logical data, on the one hand, and the Roman tradi- of their master. The much more advanced Umbro- tion, on the other, have increased the faith in the lat- Sabellic tribes inhabited central Italy. Linguisti- ter, although it is still believed by many historians to cally, they were divided into two groups. One group be unreliable on many accounts, and many issues of included the Falisces, the Marsi, the Aequi, the the early history of Italy and Rome are either moot Volscians, the Hernici, the Vestini, the Peligni, the or completely unexplored. Frentani; the other, the Samnites, the Herpini, the

It has become clear that ancient Italy, and in par- Fucani, the Brutii, the Osci. The warlike Samnites, ticular the Tyrrhenian coast of Fatium, earlier who lived in the Appenines, were the least believed to be inhabited by primitive tribes isolated advanced. The Adriatic shores were inhabited by from the external world, came into contact with the the Picenes and Iapyges who had come from Illyria. Mediterranean world at a rather early stage. The A great role in the migration of the tribes was

Achaeans maintained links with this area in the played by the so-called “sacred spring” custom,

Mycenaean epoch. The founding of such important when the redundant younger generation set forth in cities in the south of Italy as Metapontum, Sybaris, search of new places of settlement. According to

and Croton was attributed to them. They exported legend, the path that they took was pointed to them

the metals and alum found in Toscana, imported by some deity: Mars showed the way to the Marsi

handicraft products, and they also spread their cults, and the Mamerci; the goddess Ops, to the Osci;

as for instance the cult of Artemis. The Rhodians, Vesta, to the Vestini; Vulcan, to the Volscians; or who probably founded Paestunt and Naples, also else it could be some animal dedicated to a deity: the kept up links with Italy. They also made an impact bull showed the way to the Boviani; the wolf, to the on Fatium, where the cults of Dioskouroi and Her- Herpini, and the woodpecker, to the Picenes. cules flourished, and objects brought from Greece Fatium was inhabited by Fatin tribes (30 in

have been found. The ties with Greece were not in- number, according to Pliny the Elder) united in a

terrupted after the fall of Mycenae either, but they league which had its cult centre, dedicated to the were particularly intensified at the time of the great goddess of the forest and maternity, Diana, on Fake Greek colonisation. In 706 B. C., the Spartans Nemi near Aricia, and the one dedicated to Jupiter founded Tarentum in Apulia. The cities previously Fatiaris with a shrine on Mount Alba near the city founded in Fucania and Calabria acquired new sig- of Alba Fonga, where representatives of the tribes nificance; Paestum and Cumae flourished in Cam- annually met in council and to celebrate the festivi- pania. Excavations on the island of Pithecusa in the ties in honour of the god.

Bay of Naples have shown that in the 8 th century Most of the tribes inhabiting Italy lived in consan-

B. C., all Greek cities in Italy, and some cities of guine or neighbourhood communities, villages and Fatium, had links with all the centres of Greece, so-called pagi , which had territories of their own, with Syria, Egypt and Phoenicia. The Greeks made a partly divided among the families, partly remaining considerable impact on the local population, with 5 in common use. The communities were headed by which they traded both by sea and by land, through ^ elders. Some of the communities united round a the rather extensive network of roads leading inland. n more significant and well-fortified urban-type settle- The indigenous population was rather varied- § ment; here, rites were performed, the council of ethnically, linguistically, socioeconomically, and j, elders gathered, craftsmen settled, and products culturally. Genetically, it was in part Indo-Euro- | were exchanged. Such a city was governed by pean. The non-Indo-European pastoral tribes of the 5 elected magistrates. We know from the tablets with Figurians, who later mixed with the Celts (a branch 1 ritual texts from the F T mbrian town of Iguvium that

268

the territory of the city was considered to be sacred; ived, as well as clients-people who had lost their

annually, special priests went on a ceremonial round links with their own clan or came in search of the

of the territory, offering sacrifices to the gods and patronage of a strong local clan. We know from later

reciting the proper prayers. More or less identical sources that clients received land allotments on the

myths were connected with the founding of cities. clan’s lands from the patron, and they were obliged

Thus Praeneste was founded by Caecula. The city of to accompany them during war and help them in

Cures was founded by the son of the god Quirinus every way. The bonds within the clan and the clien-

and a maid that fell asleep in his temple. The legend tele gradually changed in character, but they always

of the founding of Rome belongs in the same cate- played a great role in Rome’s social life. However,

gory. Romulus and Remus were descendants of even before the unification of separate settlements in

Aeneas, the sons of Rhea Silvia, daughter of Numi- one city, the clan community was gradually ousted

tor, king of Alba Longa, driven from that city by his by the neighbourhood one. Members of clans mi-

brother Amulius, and of the god Mars; or, according grated, and the clans themselves became divided

to a different version quoted by Plutarch, they were into large families, each headed by the father, the

the sons of a slave woman and the hearth deity. pater familias. But members of stronger and older

Thrown into the Tiber on Amulius’s orders, they clans continued to play the leading role in territo-

were found by a she-wolf who suckled them under a rial communities.

fig-tree that afterwards became sacred; later they At the time of the emergence of Rome, Italy was

were found and brought up by the herdsman Faus- largely dominated by the Etruscans, who inhabited

tulus and his wife Acca Larentia. When the children the territory of modern 1 uscany and were gradually

grew up and learnt the truth about their origin, they moving towards the valley of the river Padus

reinstated their grandfather as king of Alba Longa (modern Po), where their centres were Arretium

and, together with a crowd of runaways from var- and Perusia, and towards Campania, where Capua

ious places, founded Rome. In a quarrel, Romulus on the lands of the Osci rose to greatest prominence,

killed Remus and became solitary ruler of the new The origin of the Etruscans was a matter of debate

city. He invited to a feast his neighbours, the already in antiquity, and scholars still argue about

Sabines, who were unwilling to give their daughters it. According to some authorities, they were

in marriage to the disreputable Romans. During the migrants from Asia Minor or from the north;

feast, Romulus’s warriors abducted the Sabine according to others, they were autochtonous. It is

maids, which led to a war with the Sabines, but it not yet clear to what group the Etruscan language

ended at a plea from the women. The Romans and belonged, and there are therefore no linguistic

the Sabines became one people, populus Romanus pointers on their origin. But a general outline of

Quiritium, ruled at first jointly by Romulus and Titus Q their history and culture can be drawn from the in- Tatius, the king of the Sabines, and after the latter’s formation we find in antique authors and from

death, by Romulus alone. 5 materials yielded by archaeological excavations.

Roman scholars believed Rome to have been 5 , The Etruscans had a highly developed metallurgy, founded in 753 B. C., on April 21, the day of the fes- i with centres at Populonia and Vetulonia. Here, var- tivities in honour of Pales, the ancient goddess of she- « ious objects were made of iron mined on the island of pherds. Although the story of the founding of Rome S? Ilva (modern Elba), and of bronze, lead, zinc, and is a myth, excavations have shown that it was in the 3 precious metals. Tarquinii, Arretium, and Perusia middle of the 8 th century B. C. that the settlements ^ were centres of textile industry. Other cities were which had originally arisen on the Palatine hill and § agrarian rather than industrial. Shipbuilding was a later on the other hills were united. Such settlements s- major craft. Etruscan warships and merchant ships formed communities or pagi, whose traces continued S' were built by skilled craftsmen, and Etruscan mer- to exist on Roman territory until the 1st century J chants could therefore compete with Greek and B. C. At some time in the past a pagus may have been | Carthaginian ones, combining sea trade with piracy, inhabited by members of one clan, which sometimes § They traded with the cities of Greece, with Sicily, included several hundred descendants of one com- ^ Corsica, Sardinia, Spain, and raided the islands of mon ancestor from whom the clan’s name was der- | the Aegean, capturing slaves and other booty. Con-

269

struction techniques were highly advanced. Roads cans. Presumably they had a powerful aristocracy,

crossing Roman territory linked Tuscany with Cam- and in some cities aristocratic republics were estab-

pania. The cities were built strictly on the gridiron lished with elected magistrates or warlords (Mastar-

plan with two main streets crossing at right angles, na), others were ruled by kings (the Lucumones).

and the streets running parallel to these two dividing The royal insignia, later borrowed by the Romans,

the city into regular rectangles built up with one- were the golden crown, the sceptre, the gold-embroi-

and two-storey houses. dered purple toga, the double axe in a bunch of rods,

The Etruscan alphabet, together with the Greek the fasces, and seats ornamented with gold and

one, formed the basis of the script used by the Italic ivory. The kings were at the same time supreme

tribes. Etruscan art, which we know from the paint- judges and priests. There was a considerable number

ings of rich tombs and vessels, from figurines, clay of household slaves. The common people were free

and metal masks, ornaments on mirrors, etc., was artisans or peasants dependent on the nobility,

moulded by Oriental and Greek influences, but Together with mercenaries, these made up the

gradually it worked out its own style. Religion Etruscan army. Later, in the 4th and 3rd centuries

mostly involved ideas about the nether regions inha- B. C., violent but unsuccessful democratic move-

bited by monstrous daemons, where the dead person ments occurred in some Etrurian cities,

continued, as it were, his earthly life. Etruscans Etruscan cities formed leagues the focus of which

believed that a person of noble origin must depart was a common cult centre (one such league had its

for the next world in a chariot, provided with all the centre at the temple of Voltumna), but they retained

everyday objects that he might need; tombs were complete autonomy. Links between the Etruscans

replicas of houses complete with all the furniture, and Carthage were particularly close. A bilingual

and necropolises were built on the usual city plan. gold plate was found at Pyrgi, the harbour of the city

Gods and goddesses of heaven were also worshipped of Tarquinii, with a dedication in Punic and Etrus-

like Tinia, portrayed with lightning in his hands, can to Phoenician Astarta, whom the Etruscans

Uni and Mnerva, corresponding to the Roman identified with their goddess Uni. It may be assumed

Jupiter, Juno and Minerva (it is a matter of debate that a Carthaginian settlement and temple were

whether they were borrowed by the Romans from situated there. The alliance of the Carthaginians

the Etruscans or vice versa); the god of war and fer- and the Etruscans was based on their enmity tow-

tility Voltumna, and the great mother Turan. Aplu ards the Greeks, their chief rivals in sea trade. It is a

(Apollo) and Herkles (Hercules) were borrowed fact that there were even major military conflicts

from the Greeks. The Etruscans had various ways of between the Greeks, on the one hand, and the Etrus-

divining the will of the gods from numerous pheno- cans and the Carthaginians, on the other. At the end

mena lightning and thunder, the flight of birds, of the 6th century the Etruscans were routed by

and the entrails, in the first place the liver, of sacrifi- Aristodemos, tyrant of Cumae,

cial animals. The haruspices (who divined the will of Thus Rome emerged amidst extremely diverse

the gods from animals’ entrails) and augurs (who tribes and peoples. Its convenient geographical

foretold events by the flight of birds) were believed situation on the bank of the navigable Tiber and

to have received the very complex rules for the inter- on the roads leading from Etruria to Campania

pretation of divine omens from the revelations of a brought an influx of migrants and stimulated the

certain divine being called Tages, which rose from ^ development of crafts, commodity exchange and a the earth; other revelations were ascribed to the a rise in agriculture, along with livestock-breeding nymph Vegoia and to Cacus, who was apparently 5 practised here from the earliest times. The valley of connected with the cult of fire. Augurs divided the the Forum, and the hills - Palatine, Velia, Esquiline

sky into definite areas with their rods; the liver was and Capitoline-were settled. The villages and pagi

divided into 16 parts. Each area or part were § still retained a certain autonomy, but their com- devoted to a definite deity and were believed to be munity lands were already merging to form the nu-

either favourable or unfavourable. All this wisdom f cleus of the future Roman public land -ager publicus. was later absorbed by Rome. s The cults of the separate settlements merged, too,

We know little of the social structure of the Etrus- s the pastoral deities of the hill dwellers being identi-

270

fied with the agricultural gods of the valleys. The dence, in the Forum, where all the principal sacred

ancient cult colleges were doubled; thus there were objects of Rome, the pledge of its prosperity, were

now two colleges of the Luperci, the priests of Pan- kept: Mars’s spear, the shield that fell from heaven

Faunus, and two of the Salii, priests of Mars and and 11 other shields, replicas of the first one, which

Quirinus. The Palatine, Velia, Subura, Caelius and were made to prevent the enemies from stealing the

others were the first to be united in the Septimon- original, and the penates brought by Aeneas,

tium, which was probably the first name of the city According to legend, Numa introduced the cult of

and later the name of a festival including a cere- loyalty to the oath, or fides, which formed the basis of

monial procession and sacrifices to the Tiber. That the relations between citizens, patrons and clients,

was the ancient Roma quadrata divided into four parts and later between the Romans and their allies,

by the roads crossing in the Forum. The population Numa also compiled a calendar, fixing holidays and

was divided into three bodies each called tribus business days, lucky and unlucky days (no undertak-

(apparently tribes) — Ramnes, Luceres and Tities— ings could be started on unlucky days), and priestly

and 30 wards called curiae, each of which was subdi- books for the colleges oiflamines, pontifices and others,

vided into 10 clans or gentes. That artificial division Putting aside the issue of the reliability or other-

was later ascribed to Romulus. The curiae had com- wise of the tradition concerning the first kings of

mon lands, their own cults, and an elected head, the Rome, we can now reconstruct the principal features

curio', each contributed a contingent of 100 foot, of its life in this period. The main fact was an in-

which formed a legion, and 10 horse from the most creasingly close unity of the population-the Roman

aristocratic and richest families, who formed the people or the Quirites (the word quirites, just as the

king’s bodyguard. According to the legend, word curia and the name of the god Quirinus, appar-

Romulus founded the city in the way prescribed by ently derives from co-viria, or “gathering of men”),

the Etruscan ritual, marking its boundaries with a At the head of the people stood an elected king, com -

plough drawn by a bull and a cow and lifting the bining the functions of supreme priest, judge, legisla-

plough where the gates of the city wall would be built. tor and military chieftain. The king consulted the

The land thus circumscribed was sacred territory Senate, or council of elders, presumably consisting of

“within the pomerium" (later, the pomerium was the heads of the gentes, but the most important

extended many times). There could be no armed sol- issues were settled by the popular assemblies of the

diers or temples of foreign gods on this territory. curiae, or the comitia curiata. After the king’s death, his

Each year, a procession of the priestly college of the functions were performed by senators elected by

Arval brothers (Fratres Armies, “brothers of the casting lots, who ruled in rotation. They also pro-

field”) marched along its boundaries, purifying the posed the candidacy of the new king, who was then

city through sacrifices in the sacred coppice of the 5 approved by the people. The gens continued to play Dea Dia and prayers to the spirits of the ancestors, j an important role (we know, for instance, that in Lares and Mars, begging them to remove all evil p; later times, in the 4th century B. C., gens Fabia, 306 from the city and help the people. > strong, counting clients and slaves, went to war

The traditions about the first kings of Rome are 3 against the Etruscan city of Veii), but the principal accepted by some historians (with the exception of ? socioeconomic cell was the family the property and the legends about Romulus) and rejected by others, js the people in the power (potestas ) of the father: his Thus, according to Roman historians, Romulus 5 wife, sons, grandsons and greatgrandsons with their (who suddenly disappeared after 30 years of rule, £ wives, unmarried daughters, clients, slaves, and and was deified under the name Quirinus) was fol- | freedmen. The father’s power was absolute. The lowed by the Sabinian Numa Pompilius, who added 5 life and death of the family’s members were in his to Romulus’s political and military institutions the ? power, he could sell any of them, and he appro- principal religious establishments, including the .£ priated their labour. None of them could have any priestly college of theflamines and the college of Ves- | property of their own, everything they acquired tal virgins, who tended the eternal fire in the temple 5 belonged to the father alone, and only the father ofVesta, the goddess of the city’s sacred hearth, built ^ could be a party to a contract. The father was also by Numa. He also built the regia, or the king’s resi- •! the supreme priest of the family cult, of which the

271

focus was the cult of ancestors, or Lares, who pro- himself officiated as the priest of Janus. There may

tected the house, the estate, the family, and saw to it have existed a myth concerning the origin of men

that justice was observed in the relations within the from trees, which were still worshipped (cf., e. g.,

family: thus, a slave or a younger member of the the sacred fig-tree, and the oaks dedicated to

family appealed to the altar of the Lares to protect Jupiter). Coppices dedicated to various gods and

him from the excessive cruelty of an irate father or goddesses were regarded as sacred, as were springs

master. After the death of the father who was also in- inhabited by nymphs, and fire, worshipped as Vesta,

eluded among the ancestor gods, his sons became in- the guardian of the community hearth, and as the

dependent individuals (sui juris), heads of their fami- god Volcanus. The most ancient form of banishing a

lies; they either continued to work together or person was his “interdiction from fire and water”,

divided the father’s legacy. According to the tradi- the symbols of communal unity. Numerous legends

tion, Romulus gave two jugera of land (half a hec- were connected with the wolf, dedicated to Mars,

tare) to each head of the family; these were, pre- During the Lupercalia, the naked priests, the

sumably, the homesteads. For the main part, Luperci, whipped women with belts from the skin of

Roman land was public. Everyone could occupy a a sacrificial goat, which was supposed to increase

plot and begin to cultivate it, becoming its owner, their fertility. The dead were worshipped as Manes,

but the Roman community remained the supreme the gods living underground. They had to be propi-

owner of land. If an owner ceased to cultivate his tiated with gifts on the days of remembrance of the

plot, the land reverted, as it were, to the common dead, when they were believed to be present at the

stock, and could be occupied by any other citizen a meals of their families, after which they were driven

rule that was effective throughout Roman history, as underground by incantations,

was the law that the head of the family was obliged The triad of the most ancient principal gods in¬ to till his land well and to increase his property. It eluded Jupiter, the god of heaven, thunder, light-

was believed that a city was rich when its citizens ning, and rain; Mars, who protected the community

were rich, and, vice versa, the citizens prospered of the descendants of his son Romulus from dangers

when the city was powerful and rich. Most of the coming from the outside as well as from internal mis-

land was pasture in common use it could be used fortunes; and Quirinus, the god of communal unity,

both by members of the curiae and those of the pagi. Many other gods were also worshipped. The most

We know little of the earliest Roman religion. important of these were Saturn, probably the god of

Later, it experienced a strong Greek influence, and a sowing, although his original function is not clear;

great deal was forgotten and distorted, becoming in- the goddesses of the earth, differently known as

comprehensible to the Romans themselves. Most Tellus, Telumo, Ops; the deities of growing plants

modern scholars see the Roman religion as a very and those that protected cereals and fruit-Ceres,

dry one, based on pettifogging regulation of rites and Liber, Libera, Pomona, Flora, Robigus; the shep-

formulas of addressing the deity. It is pointed out herds’ goddess Pales, whose festival the shepherds

that the Romans had no mythology, which is seen as celebrated by leaping over bonfires and sulphurat-

a sign of their inability to perceive the world emo- ing sheep to cleanse themselves and their livestock of

tionally and poetically. Other researchers attempt to all things unclean, begging the goddess to forgive

identify elements of a primordial Roman mythology them their sins and to protect the health of their

similar to that which existed among other primitive flocks, their dogs, and themselves; the god of the un¬ tribes. Indeed, there are echoes of this mythology in ~ derground granary Consus; during his festival, the

the work of later writers. Thus it may be assumed * Consualia, shepherds staged competitions, and

that the two-faced god Janus (later the god of any horses and mules were crowned with garlands,

beginning, of entry and exit), was worshipped in the n According to the legend, the Sabine maids invited

earliest times as the creator of the world from chaos, | by Romulus were abducted during the first Consua-

the builder of the metal firmament (a double arch g> lia. There were many other gods and goddesses

covered with bronze was erected in his honour in the 1 whose significance was later forgotten, while the fes-

Forum, allegedly by Numa), and as the god who ^ tivals and rites dedicated to them remained. Myths

encouraged the human species to multiply. The king s: may have existed about sacred marriages between,

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say, slave women as priestesses of the hearth and the god of the home fires, and about the birth of heroes from such marriages - heroes like Caecula, Romulus and Remus.

For a long time, researchers attached great signifi¬ cance to the influence of the Etruscan religion on the Romans. At present, however, more emphasis is placed on the Italic beliefs that had taken shape before the rise of the Etruscans.

Military campaigns against their neighbours played the decisive role in the life of the Romans. They began in March and ended in September. War was declared and peace concluded with special cere¬ monies and set formulas by priests of the college of Fetiales. At the beginning and conclusion of cam¬ paigns a horse was sacrificed to Mars, weapons and war trumpets were ritually cleaned, and the Salii, singing hymns, performed warlike dances in honour of Mars, carrying his shields and shaking his spear. Lands seized from the enemy were partly divided among the citizens, and partly added to the common stock.

Despite the continued independence of the separ¬ ate communities, the unity of the city grew stronger. That process was especially intensified in the 6 th century B. C. under the three last Roman kings Tarquinius Priscus, Servius Tullius, and Tarquinius Superbus. All of them came from Etruria, which was then in the zenith of its strength and glory. Some scholars believe that Rome (Ruma, later Roma) was given its name by the Etruscans. They settled in con¬ siderable numbers in Rome, where an Etruscan quarter, mostly inhabited by craftsmen, arose. The f Etruscans introduced the custom of according a vie- 1 torious military leader a triumphant reception-a s custom that assumed particular importance in later 5 ! history. The organisation of the gilds of jewellers, * carpenters, blacksmiths, potters, dyers, fullers, cobb- ? lers, and trumpeters was ascribed to Numa, but in ? the first centuries of the city’s existence crafts re- " mained household occupations, and only under the Etruscan kings did they become independent I branches of the economy. ^

Trade expanded, as indicated by great numbers of » imported objects from Etruscan and Greek cities f found during excavations. The Romans traded with | Carthage, among other cities. In 509, a treaty was S concluded between Rome and Carthage which ^ divided the maritime spheres of influence: the •§-

Romans undertook not to enter Spanish waters, as the Carthaginians exported most of their metals from Spain. Construction techniques in Rome were improved; the facing of buildings with tiles with stucco mouldings was borrowed from the Etruscans. The Etruscan kings were said to have built an exten¬ sive system of drainage (the so-called cloaca maxima ), cobbled the streets, and erected a great number of buildings, including the circus, where games in honour of the gods (competitions of charioteers and athletes) were introduced, and the famous temple on the Capitoline dedicated to the new triad of gods- Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, which also emerged un¬ der Etruscan influence. The Capitoline hill became the centre of Rome and a symbol of its power and glory. The greatest sacrificial ceremonies were held there; it was to the Capitoline that the triumpher’s procession went, and here the triumpher, wearing the robes of Etruscan kings, put his golden crown at the feet of Jupiter and brought the thanksgiving sac¬ rifices. The city’s territory was expanded. The popu¬ lation grew to such an extent that Rome could now arm 600 equestrian warriors and 6,000 infantry, i. e., two legions, which now fought on the model of the Greek phalanx. After a number of victories over neighbouring communities, Rome became head of the Latin League, which now included 47 communi¬ ties. The Diana cult was moved to Rome, and a tem¬ ple of Diana was built on the Aventine.

The most striking figure among the Etruscan kings was the second of them, Servius Tullius, remembered by the Romans as a great reformer and the people’s benefactor. According to the legend, he was born of Tarquinius Priscus’s slave woman and the Larfamiliaris. Tanaquil, the king’s wise wife, fore¬ seeing the exceptional gifts of the child, a special favourite of the goddess Fortune (he later built several temples in her honour), brought him up and helped him in his rise to eminence. After Tarquinius Priscus’s death, he became king against the will of the Senate due to the support of the people, as he gave them land to make them free and independent of the aristocracy.

Servius Tullius was said to have introduced many important institutions, the most important of these being the introduction of census and the organisa¬ tion of territorial tribes. Citizens were divided by the property qualifications into property classes that formed the army and the popular assembly (comitia

273

18-344

centuriata) which replaced the old (comitia curiata). clan organisation gave way to the territorial one. The richest and most aristocratic families formed 18 True, the tribal aristocracy remained influential eno- centuries of equites or knights. Then came 80 cen- ugh. The rural tribes were known by the names of turies of men who could afford to buy heavy arms. the aristocratic gentes-Cornelii, Claudii, Fabii, Ho- Next followed 95 centuries of four property classes ratii, Sergii, Papirii, etc., who had the greatest pos- who could only afford light arms. To these were sessions on the tribe’s territory. The urban tribes were added two centuries of trumpeters and two centuries named after the city blocks. As Rome conquered

of craftsmen. Last came the century of the proletar- new lands, new tribes were organised, and their

ians, who did not serve in the army as they could not number ultimately rose to 35. buy arms at all. Later, when minted copper coins Servius Tullius’s activities were fiercely opposed

were introduced in Rome, the property qualifica- by the Senate, which was behind the king’s assas; tions were computed to asses (the time of the intro- sination. But his son-in-law and successor Tar- duction of minted coins is uncertain; the 5th, 4th quinius Superbus continued his policy of developing

and even 3rd centuries B. C. are mentioned as possi- crafts, trade and construction advantageous to the

bilities). Members of the first class had to have not common people. He added some members from the less than 100,000 asses; of the second, 75,000; of the less prominent families to the Senate. He was even third, 50,000; of the fourth, 25,000; and of the fifth, accused of disrespect for the Senate, and of excessive 12,500 asses. Each century had one vote in the expenditure on labour-consuming construction pro- popular assembly, and decisions were taken by a jects. Servius Tullius’s and Tarquinius Superbus’s simple majority of the centuries. It is frequently policies were apparently similar to those imple- stressed in scholarly literature that Servius Tullius’s mented by contemporary tyrants of Greece, the reform was plutocratic in character, since citizens of south of Italy and of Sicily installed by democratic the first class, by forming a bloc with the equites, parties, were always in the majority. The well-known French historian C. Nicolet has shown, however,

that the reform had a more profound significance. The Establishment of a Republic and the Formation of the introducing what Nicolet (citing Aristotle) calls pro- Roman Civic Community. The Conquest of Italy. In 510 portionate or “geometric” equality; the sum of the B. C., Tarquinius was banished by the insurgent citizens’ rights equalled the sum of their duties. The defenders of “freedom”, that is, of the power of the richer the citizen and the nobler his family, the more Senate, led by Junius Brutus, and the monarchy was he had to contribute to the commonwealth in terms replaced by an aristocratic republic,

of money and effort. For instance, when the city had The reign of the last Etruscan kings saw the for-

to resort to a loan (the so-called Iributum) in case of mation of the orders of patricians and plebeians, of war, each gave in accordance with his property qua- the aristocracy and the common people-a process of lification. In later times, the census was taken every the greatest importance for the subsequent history of

five years, and in dividing the citizens into classes, Rome. By the time of the expulsion of the kings,

the censor took into account not only their property these two orders had taken definite shape, and the

but also their services to society. The Romans them- overthrow of the monarchy was a triumph for the

selves saw Servius Tullius’s reform as a democratic patricians. Later, all political leaders defending the one, for it gave a chance of promotion not only to the ^ interests of the plebs, beginning with Spurius Cassius nobly born but also to gifted men, who could move =• (early 5th century B.C.) and Manlius Capitolinus on to a higher property class if they made a fortune 5 (early 4th century B. C.), who proposed to divide through their industry and talent. Servius Tullius among the plebeians the public lands seized by the himself became a symbol of a worthy man attaining r patricians and to cancel the plebeians’ debts to the

high status despite lowly birth. The division of the | patricians, and ending with the Gracchi and Julius

citizens into classes somewhat weakened the influen- a= Caesar, who acted as leaders of the people, were in- ce of the tribal aristocracy. A still greater effect in f variably accused by the Senate of aspiring to royal this respect had the division of the entire Roman ter- ? power and tyranny, and the Senate brought about ritory into tribes-4 urban and 16 rural ones. The 5 their destruction by fair means or foui.

274

The banishment of Tarquinius, who had support¬ ers both in Rome and outside it (such as Lars Por- senna, king of the Etruscan city of Clusium, who began a war against Rome), was aided by the decline of the influence in Italy of the Etruscans defeated by the Greeks. The final defeat of the Romans over Porsenna and the expulsion of the Etruscan garrison from Rome became possible when Aristodemus, ty¬ rant of Cumae, inflicted a crushing defeat on Aruns, Porsenna’s son, near Aricia. Tarquinius’s death in exile put a definite end to attempts at restoring royal power, and consolidated the republic.

The question of the original organisation of the republic is acutely debated in modern historiogra¬ phy. There is no doubt but that the king was re¬ placed by elected magistrates. According to Roman historians, these magistrates, the consuls, were elected for a year; the first consuls were Junius Brutus and Valerius Poplicola (i. e., “lover of the people”), his accomplice in the plot against Tar¬ quinius. The consuls had the highest authority ( im- perium) in times of peace and were supreme com¬ manders during a war. In cases of extreme danger to Rome from external enemies or internal distur¬ bances, the entire power was vested in a dictator elected for six months.

The priestly college of pontiffs, headed by the chief pontiff fontifex maximus), which eclipsed the flamines, had to perform the cult rites and aslo record annually the most important events and the names of elected consuls in the so-called fasti consulates, or the lists of consuls. Some modern scholars believe that changes were later introduced in the earliest fasti to please the aristocratic families. Others have greater confidence in them, stressing that in the first decades of the republic there were both patricians and plebeians among the consuls; that is to say, that magistracy was then accessible to the plebs. Soon, however, the patricians blocked the plebeians’ way to the consulate and to other magistracies added in the 5th century B. C.-that of praetor (who kept up order in Rome), quaestor (who was at first a consul’s assistant and later had charge of the treasury), and censors. Only the patricians knew what days of the calendar were favourable to convening the popular assembly, and only they knew the legal procedure, which gave them an edge over both the popular assembly and the individual plebeians compelled to appeal to the court. The patricians’ political

275

domination increased their economic supremacy, and vice versa. They occupied more and more of the public lands, while plebeians were ruined by the constant wars, crop failures, murrain, falling domes¬ tic and foreign trade and decline in the crafts in the wake of the expulsion of the Etruscans; debtors who could not pay their debts were enthralled or sold into slavery. The position of the plebeians is clear from Pliny the Elder’s remark that, among the ancestors, a man who killed his colon (that is, a tenant), incurred the same liability as if he had killed an ox, and not a human being. In the words of another author, only patricians were regarded as freeborn in those times. On the path that Rome fol¬ lowed, the orders were becoming classes of major landowners and of dependent peasants and slaves, and a state was formed in which political power was in the hands of the dominant class. However, this mode of development, characteristic of many primi¬ tive societies, was slowed down by the stubborn and successful resistance of the plebeians against the pa¬ tricians. The conflicts centred on three main issues: the plebeians demanded that newly conquered lands should be divided amongst them, whereas the patri¬ cians wanted to add them to the public lands open to their occupation; the plebeians insisted on cancel¬ ing debtor bondage and enslavement of insolvent debtors, which the patricians refused to concede; finally, in a bid to protect their rights, the plebeians demanded greater authority for the popular assem¬ bly and access to the magistracies and priesthood, whereas the patricians tenaciously held on to their privileges.

This struggle, now dying down, now flaring up, was interwoven with Rome’s continual wars with the neighbours. It was partly the need to present a semblance of unity in the face of the enemy, and to avoid exciting the fury of the plebeians, who formed the basis of the Roman army, the infantry legions, that made the patricians satisfy the plebeians’ demands one after another.

The first episode in the struggle between the patri¬ cians and the plebeians occurred during the war with Latin communities that made an attempt to throw off Roman hegemony. The plebeians refused to fight and retreated to Mons Sacer (the so-called first secession of the plebeians in 494). They only agreed to return on winning the right to elect, at separate meetings, tribunes of the people, defenders

is*

of their interests, from their midst. Tribunes of the confirmed, but an article was introduced according

people could veto the orders of magistrates (with the to which a patron who cheated his client was cursed,

exception of a dictator’s orders), convene meetings The father’s authority was restricted by an article

of the plebs, and protect against injustice any pie- stipulating that he could sell his son into slavery

beian who took refuge in their house, which was three times, after which the son was no longer in the

open day and night. The tribunes themselves were father’s power. There was a very important interdic-

declared to be under the protection of the gods and tion on personal privileges to anyone. That affirmed

inviolable; anyone who hurt in any way the person the citizens’ equality before the law and ruled out

of a tribune of the people was cursed and became an the practice, very common among ancient societies,

outcast without any rights whom anyone could kill. of handing over a territory to some highborn

The reconciliation between the patricians and the individual who collected taxes from that territpry.

plebeians resulted in a splendid victory over the The entire territory of the Roman community was to

Latins at Lake Regillus and in the restoration of remain entirely under community control. Here also

Roman hegemony. An alliance was concluded with belonged the law forbidding the handing over of

the Latins which was called foedus Cassianum after the lands to temples, which precluded the emergence of

consul Spurius Cassius. Now the Romans would get an economically and therefore politically strong

half the booty won in a war waged jointly with the priesthood in Rome. The laws confirmed the

allies, while the allies divided the other half among citizen’s right to occupy abandoned plots, which

themselves. after two years of tenancy became their property.

But the struggle between the patricians and the That rule did not apply to foreigners-only a Roman

plebeians continued. The temple of the peasant dei- citizen could possess land on Roman territory. The

ties-Ceres, Liber and Libera, a triad opposed, as it ancient laws also regulated the procedure for the

were, to the patrician triad on the Capitoline-built alienation of the property of a pater familias. Objects

by Greek craftsmen from Campania, became the of the greatest importance for agriculture-land

centre of the plebeian organisation. Soon, the cult of allotments, cattle, and slaves-were alienated

the Greek god Hermes (named Mercury in Rome) through a complicated procedure of mancipation in-

as the god of trade was adopted in Rome, and a col- eluding the pronunciation of fixed formulas in the

lege of grain dealers associated with that cult was presence of five witnesses and a weigher who

organised. This was intended to stimulate imports of weighed the copper paid for the property. An estate

grain and thus stop unrest among the plebeians who usually passed on to the sons, to next of kin on the

suffered from bread shortages. male side, or to other members of the gens. If a per-

Relations between the orders again sharply dete- son wanted to make a will disinheriting a son, it had riorated in the middle of the 5th century B.C. The to be approved by the popular assembly. All these

plebeians demanded written laws to be able to fight are signs of the community’s rigorous control over

the patricians’ abuses. A board of ten, the decemviri, private as well as public property,

was elected in 451 B.C. to write down the laws The first committee of the decemviri was succeeded

approved by the popular assembly on ten tablets by a second one, of extreme anti-plebeian orien-

that were posted in the Forum and formed the basis tation. It added two more tablets of laws (that is why

for further development of Roman law. Judging by the first written Roman law is called the law of 12

surviving fragments of these laws, they were largely ^ tablets), forbidding marriages between patricians based on common law characteristic of other peoples and plebeians and abolishing the office of tribunes of

that stood on approximately the same stage of de- 3 the people, which led to the second secession of the velopment, but they also introduced some new fea- ^ plebeians. The situation was aggravated by food tures. They regulated the legal procedure and estab- 0 shortages and the plague. As a means of averting the lished penalties for various crimes (e. g., high | plague the temple of Apollo, the first Greek god to treason, arson, theft, sorcery, etc.), reserving the is be included in the Roman pantheon under his own citizen’s right to appeal to the popular assembly as | name, was erected in Rome. A new reconciliation the highest judicial organ, if he was under threat of ^ between the patricians and the plebeians was execution or banishment. Harsh laws on debts were jj achieved with the restoration of the power of the

276

tribunes of the people and the lifting of the ban on in external affairs but also of its laws and courts; it marriages between members of the two orders. To had to accept the laws and the courts of the Romans,

provide the plebeians with land, the Romans began to contribute contingents to the Roman army and to

to plant colonies on conquered territories. In the 5th pay the tributum\ its people became Roman citizens

century B. C., some 10 colonies were founded, and in with all the obligations that Roman citizenship

the 4th century, 15. The colonies were subject to entailed without the right to participate in the

Roman and Latin laws, but their inhabitants could Roman popular assembly or to vote in the elections

only become Roman citizens by moving to Rome or of magistrates. The victory over Caere and its allies

to the territory of one of its tribes. The colonies were gave the Romans access to the grain and metals of

meant to be Rome’s strongholds and bearers of Etruria and greatly consolidated their positions.

Roman influence but, unlike other ancient con- According to a census of the mid-4th century B. C.,

querors, Romans did not turn the conquered peoples there were already 255,000 Roman citizens at that

into helots-on the contrary, they abolished the time, and they could raise 10 legions. The new treaty

helot estate where they found one. This policy, along with Carthage, concluded in 348, again divided the

with expanding colonisation, largely ensured the sta- spheres of maritime influence, which pointed to a

bility of Roman power on conquered territories. revival of Roman trade. Judging from the introduc-

Internal strife receded into the background to tion of a tax on manumissions in 357, there were

some extent due to an outbreak of war for control already great numbers of slaves in Rome who were

over certain important trade centres of Latium. used in different capacities.

After a war that lasted ten years, the Etruscan city of The frequent wars necessitated further concessions

Veii bordering on Latium was destroyed, which con- to the plebeians. In 367 B. C., a new law was

solidated Rome’s influence both in Latium and in adopted after a fresh outbreak of disturbances, pro¬ file south of Etruria. But now a new and terrible posed by the popular tribunes Gaius Licinius Stolo

danger threatened Rome. The Celtic tribes, whom and Lucius Sextius. According to that law, one of

the Romans called the Gauls, had moved in on the consuls had to be elected from among the ple-

Italy’s north and by the year 390 reached Latium. beians; it was forbidden to occupy more than 500

They inflicted a major defeat on the Romans on the jugera (125 hectares) of public land or to graze upon

river Allia, then took Rome by storm and sacked it, them more than 100 head of cattle and 500 sheep;

burning down many buildings. Only the Capitol’s landowners were required to hire a definite number

garrison, commanded by Manlius, who was later of free men as labourers; the interest already paid on

named Capitolinus, held out for seven months, until debts was to be deducted from the principal. The

the Gauls, learning of attacks on their lands by the law of Genucius (341 B.C.) stipulated that both

Veneti, left with a large ransom in gold. A great jp consuls could be elected from among the plebeians, many buildings and the pontiff’s records were de- f The dictator Camillus erected a temple to the god- stroyed by the fires. The Gallic invasion remained in a dess of harmony between the citizens, Concordia, to the memory of Romans as a terrible misfortune, and $ mark the reconciliation of the orders that followed the Gauls, as Rome’s eternal enemies. a the introduction of that law.

The entire first half of the 4th century B. C. was ~ Soon the Romans had to fight other enemies, the taken up by wars with Etruscan and Latin cities, in ^ tribes of the Lucanians and Samnites, who spread which the Romans ultimately gained the upper 3 throughout Campania and Apulia after the decline hand. In 358 B. C., the city of Caere was taken. Pre- ^ of the Etruscans, seizing Capua, the richest city of viously, the conquered cities of Latium were in- | Campania, as well as Cumae, Nola, and Pompeii, eluded in the Latin League as allies, retaining their s Those Samnites who remained in the mountains autonomy. Caere, as an Etruscan city, was given a continued to raid the rich farmlands of the valleys, special status, which was termed ms Caeritum and ? In 343, Capua turned to Rome for help, and the later extended to many other conquered cities that | ensuing wars between the Romans and the Sam- surrendered unconditionally, i. e., recognised = nites, the Latins, the Etruscans, and Capua that Rome’s legal right to their lands, people and prop- ^ later betrayed Rome, lasted until 290. During the erty. Caere was deprived not only of independence 3- hostilities against the Samnites in the mountains,

277

where the phalanx battle order was unsuitable, smaller and more mobile units, the maniples were used, which ensured the success of the Romans. In the end, the Romans won a complete victory in these wars of attrition. For the Latins, it meant the end of the foedus Cassiamm. They were no longer allies but Rome’s subjects, citizens without a vote, like those of Caere. Many cities were given the status of munici- pia, that is, they were obliged to pay tribute; their lands were confiscated, and colonies of citizens were planted on these lands. The extremely fertile lands round Capua, the Falernian fields, became Roman public land. Victories over the Gauls still remaining in the north of Italy gave Rome the lands along the Adriatic coast and in the valley of the Padus. According to some computations, by the end of the 4th century B. C. the Romans had a territory of 20,000 square kilometres, which permitted them to establish new colonies and increase the army of peas¬ ants ready to fight hardily for new lands and booty.

Now the Romans found themselves face to face with the Greek cities of the south of Italy, which had previously had no fear of Rome, as she had no navy.

But in 312 B. C. the Romans elected special duumviri navales entrusted with the task of building warships, and began to consider seriously the need for achiev¬ ing supremacy on the sea. These pretensions led to a conflict with Tarentum, which turned for help to Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, who enjoyed the support of Egypt. Pyrrhus sent 3,000 soldiers to Tarentum commanded by Cineas, who knocked together an anti-Roman coalition of Greek cities as well as the Samnites, the Lucanians and the Brutii. Fifty battle elephants were received from Egypt. In 280, Pyrrhus himself came over to Italy and started the hostilities.

The Romans, who had previously never encoun¬ tered battle elephants, were defeated in the very first battle, but Pyrrhus himself suffered staggering losses (hence the expression “Pyrrhic victory”). In 275, Pyrrhus was utterly defeated and left Italy. In the next eight years Rome occupied all the cities of a Magna Graecia. They retained a certain measure of 5 autonomy but were obliged to supply Rome with ^ warships. The Samnites and the Etruscans were - finally subdued. |

Rome became an unchallenged head and master g> of the federation of Italic cities and tribes of ex- | tremely diverse levels of development-from the ^ agrarian, industrial and trading cities of Magna s:

278

Graecia and Etruria, with their very high culture, to the Samnites, Marsi, and others who were still at the primitive communal stage. The conquerors and the conquered mutually influenced one another, the Ita¬ lic cities absorbing Roman political and socioeco¬ nomic institutions, language, and cults. In their turn, the Romans also assimilated the cults of the vanquished peoples following the ancient custom of I evocation-inviting the deity of a hostile city to take the side of the Romans and promising to build a temple in its honour in return. Between the year of I the founding of the republic and the end of the war with Pyrrhus, more than 20 temples were built to old and new deities.

Considerable changes also took place in Rome’s internal life. The plebs won one victory after another. In 326, the Poetelian law banned enslave¬ ment for debts. An insolvent debtor paid with his property, not his person. The torture or corporal punishment of Roman citizens were also forbidden. According to the law of Q. Publilius Philo of 339 B. C., confirmed by the law of Publius Hortensiusof 287 B. C. ( lex Hortensia), decisions taken at meetings of the plebs (the plebiscites) had the full force of laws. From then on, the comitia centuriata were re¬ placed by meetings of the tribes, where there were no census distinctions ( comitia tributa ). Open ballot was later replaced by the secret vote, lest patrons should influence the will of their clients. It was prohibited for patrons to demand payment of money from their clients. The law of 311 gave the people the right to elect 16 out of 24 military tribunes. By the lex Ogulnia of 300 B. C., the way to the priestly colleges of augurs and pontiffs was thrown open to the ple¬ beians. The office of the chief pontiff became an elected one. Censor Appius Claudius admitted sons offreedmen to the Senate; as for the freedmen them¬ selves, who had Roman citizenship but had pre¬ viously been included only in the urban tribes, they I were now distributed among all the tribes in an attempt to democratise the latter. The establishment of colonies, the setting of a limit to land property, the rich booty divided among soldiers, and the introduc¬ tion of salaries (stipends) for the soldiers - all this im¬ proved the position of the plebs.

Thus by the beginning of the 3rd century B. C., Rome evolved into an antique civic community, owing to the victories of the plebs, as had Athens through the triumphs of the demos. As the well-

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known British historian M. I. Finley shrewdly ob- who had to bring both the defendant and the wit-

served, Greece and Rome demonstrated a pheno- nesses to court himself, and after the trial, to carry

menon fairly rare in antique societies-the inclusion out the sentence. The heavy penalties for criminal

of peasants into an urban community as citizens offences envisaged by the laws of the 12 tablets were

having equal rights with town-dwellers. In Rome in gradually replaced by fines (or banishment, at

particular, the peasants-farmers and warriors-were most), and the triumvirs who punished criminals, as

for a long time regarded as the salt of the earth, one well as the duumviri who dealt with particularly grave

might say, and were held in higher esteem than offences, gradually lost their functions. Besides, a trib-

town-dwellers. It was this phenomenon which pre- une of the people could personally interfere in the

determined the development of Rome as a civic trial at any stage, imposing a veto or freeing the

community. Its principal features were the existence accused. Only the army was bound by iron disci-

ofboth collective and private land property, though pline: a commander could impose any punishment

community ownership was supreme, and private on the soldiers, including the so-called decimation,

plots did not differ from occupied public lands in the i. e., the execution of each tenth soldier in a unit

right of alienation, identical for both, but in the fact that showed cowardice or insubordination,

that private plots were exempt from rent while a The ideology that dominated society accorded

rental had to be paid for the occupied lands to the with the civic community system. It was based

Roman people’s treasury; the near identity of the above all on the concept of “the good of all” and on

concepts of landowner, warrior and citizen; the each citizen’s duty to spare neither property nor

right of every citizen to receive land and other labour nor life itself for the well-being of the citi-

means of subsistence; the equality of the citizens’ zenry as a whole. Everyone was expected to do their

political and legal rights; the supreme authority of duty in their appointed positions: patrician and the

the popular assembly on all issues concerning both richest of the plebeian families had to perform their

the body of the citizenry and each individual duties of magistrates free, arrange games and specta-

cidzen; and the principle of “geometric” equality, cles for the people at their own expense, and com-

which implied contributions from each individual to mand the legions; citizens of more modest means

the common good, understood as the good for each were obliged to fight bravely, to till their lands con-

citizen. scientiously, to bring up their children, and to take

As the chances for exploiting compatriots as serfs care of the well-being of their family. A sense of duty

or slaves sharply decreased, mostly foreigners were permeated the relations between the citizens and the

made into slaves and placed outside civic society. gods officially included into the Roman pantheon,

Distribution of the still not very numerous slaves between the members of a family and its deities,

among families, where they were supervised by the S between fathers and sons, and between the citizens masters who had absolute authority over the 5 and the magistrates. All these relations were covered members of the family and especially over slaves, a by the concept of pietas. The second basic concept and emancipation of clients and colons, who became ? was freedom, libertas, the freeborn citizen’s right to full-fledged citizens and owners of their land allot- 3 freely express his will, which distinguished him from ments, slowed down the formation of the classes of ' slave and even freedman, both of whom had to con- big landowners and dependent peasants, and of a | ceal their thoughts. The free man also had to have strong state mechanism that was necessary for the 3 certain virtues that set him apart from the slave- suppression of exploited strata. Rome returned, at a ^ courage, quiet dignity, stern reticence, incorruptibil- new and higher stage, as it were, to the community | ity, and honouring his word, or fides. Pietas, libertas , system, with its council of elders, elected officials, ? and fides, together with courage, or virtus, which and a popular assembly. In that period, just as in the ? became synonymous with all virtue, were the cor- next two centuries, the state apparatus did not yet s' nerstones of the Roman civic community. These take shape; the army, consisting of citizens, only | ideological attitudes, identical for all free Romans, served to suppress resistance from the outside; there 5 which grew even firmer with the establishment of was neither police nor organs of prosecution; taking ^ the equality of the orders, helped them to recover a case to court was the private affair of the plaintiff, f quickly from the worst defeats and to win new vic-

279

tories. The two centuries from the establishment of military discipline during a war with the Latins;

the republic to the achievement of equality between Furius Camillus, who took the city of Veii and

the orders formed the basis of the “Roman myth”, begged the gods to turn their wrath against him and

remaining in the memory of the subsequent gene- not the city of Rome, if its military successes were

rations as the ideal times of the ancestors who lived disagreeable to them (accused later of concealing

simply and modestly (which is incidentally sup- part of the booty, he was banished from Rome but,

ported by archaeological excavations, where finds of when the Gallic invaders came, he forgot the old

imported and expensive objects are few) and were hurt, returned to Rome, assumed command as dic-

renowned for their exceptional courage and patrio- tator and defeated the Gauls); Cincinnatus, whom

tism. A whole series of half-legends about the the ambassadors that came to offer him the dictator-

Romans of those times became part and parcel of the ship during the war with the Volscians, found walk-

Roman and later of European culture. The heroes of ing behind a plough, and who returned to his field

these legends are Mucius Scaevola, who slipped into after his victory; Curius Dentatus, who defeated the

Porsenna’s camp in order to kill him and on being Samnites and Pyrrhus and took as his reward only a

caught burnt his hand on the fire in the king’s tent wooden sacrificial vessel and a plot of land which he

to prove the courage of Roman youths; Horatius could cultivate with his own hands; he was cooking

Codes, who defended, together with two other war- turnips when the Samnites’ ambassadors came to

riors, the bridge across the Tiber against Porsenna’s him with great amounts of gold, but he rejected their

Etruscans, giving the Romans the time to prepare gifts saying that as long as he could be content with

for defence, and then destroyed the bridge and swam turnips, he preferred to have power over those who

across the river to his side; Manlius Torquatus had gold rather than gold itself. The memory of (given that name after he killed a Gallic chieftain in these models of “the virtues of the ancestors” was

single combat and took his torques, or neck orna- revered in later epochs, but gradually a moral de¬

ment), who executed his own son for a breach of dine set in in Rome.

Chapter 16

The Rise of the Roman Empire. The Crisis of the Republic

Roman Expansion in the Mediterranean Region. Changes in the Socioeconomic Structure of Rome. The peoples and tribes with which Rome was destined to come in contact varied greatly in the level of their socio¬ economic, political and cultural development. Macedonia, Greece, Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt were ruled by Hellenistic kings; they were debili¬ tated both by internal social conflicts and by wars. The western Mediterranean was dominated by Car¬ thage. Founded in the 8th century B. C. as a Phoeni¬ cian colony, it gained independence after the con¬ quest of Phoenicia by Assyria and grew rich and powerful through transit trade and the exploitation of the subdued, tribute-paying Libyan tribes. Power was in the hands of big landowners whose estates were run on principles of rationally organised slave labour (worked out theoretically by a certain Mago whose books were later translated into Latin), rich shipowners and traders. The supreme organs were the council of elders with 300 members, the council of 30, a college of judges of 400 members, and elected magistrates or suffetes ( suffetim). The com¬ mon people were in fact barred from participation in politics and from serving in the army, which con¬ sisted of mercenaries. Taking possession of western Sicily, with a stronghold at Lilybaeum, as well as Corsica and Sardinia, and founding several colonies on the Spanish coast, Carthage controlled sea trade in the western Mediterranean.

The population of the Iberian peninsula was of extreme ethnic diversity. The peninsula was excep¬ tionally rich in metals, including precious ones, and this attracted Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and Greeks since very early times; trade in metals ac¬

celerated the development of the south of the penin¬ sula, where gold and silver were mostly mined. At the end of the 2nd millennium B. C., the kingdom of Tartessus arose in the south-west, which was famous for its wealth. This kingdom with clearcut social dif¬ ferentiation and written laws kept up trade relations with the entire Mediterranean. At the end of the 6th century B. C., Tartessus disintegrated for unknown reasons, but its culture made a great impact on the Iberian tribes which lived on its territory. They were also influenced by the Carthaginian and Greek col¬ onies founded on the peninsula. The Iberians built cities ruled by aristocrats or kings, they had a writ¬ ing system of their own and highly advanced art. The central and north-western parts of the peninsula were inhabited by the aboriginal tribes of the Astur¬ ians, the Cantabrians, the Celts and the Celtiber- ians. Some of them still lived in small village com¬ munities collectively owning their land, while others already had fortified cities, such as Tarragona, Ter- mantia, or Numantia, with their councils of elders, popular assemblies, and warlords. The latter rec¬ ruited their warriors who pleaded allegiance to the chieftains and believed it to be a disgrace to outlive their commander killed in battle without avenging his death. The Celts brought well-developed metal¬ lurgy and agricultural technology with them, but the poor quality of soil on the uplands, suitable only for livestock-breeding, forced the mountain tribes to pillage the valley, fight one another, or serve as mer¬ cenaries in Carthaginian and Greek armies.

A considerable part of Europe (modern Britain, France, Switzerland, and Belgium) were inhabited by the Celts; their tribes also varied in social struc-

_

ture. In Britain, for instance, they were at a very low force, and it had to pay Rome one-tenth of the crops

level of development, while the Gallic tribes and grazing taxes, a total of 24 million denarii a

achieved a higher social and economic development year. The Greek communities of Sicily were de-

owing to a relatively high agricultural technology, dared free cities and paid no taxes. Soon, Rome

the skills of their metallurgists, and trade. Especially also seized Sardinia and Corsica, which became its

prominent among them were Druid priests and the second province.

tribal aristocracy. Highborn Gauls had extensive Roman losses in the war were enormous. They lost

land property and large clienteles, and the common a total of 600 warships. The 50 million denarii bor-

people became increasingly dependent on them. In rowed from rich citizens as a tributum could not be

some areas, royal power still survived, while among paid back from the booty and the indemnity. In 264-

other peoples it gave way to oligarchic rule. 233, the number of citizens fell from 293,234 to

Beyond the Rhine lived the Germans. They did 270,213. Still, in 229 the Romans were able to send not yet lead a settled life and had no private land 200 ships against the pirates of queen Teuta, seize

ownership. They elected their chieftains and settled the island of Corcyra and force the cities of Apol-

all their affairs at popular assemblies or tings. The Ionia and Epidamnus to recognise Roman protec-

eastern coast of the Adriatic was occupied by the torate. Between 225 and 218, they defeated the

Illyrians, skilled seamen and pirates. In the 3rd cen- Ligurians and the Celts in the north of Italy, took

tury B. C., they were temporarily united under their capital, Mediolanum, establishing a new pro¬ queen Teuta. vince - Cisalpine Gaul, and founded the colonies of

That was Rome’s environment in the epoch when Cremona, Modena and Placentia, connected with

it took steps to subordinate the Mediterranean Rome by the famous Via Flaminia. In the same per-

region. The First Punic War with Carthage was the iod, the popular tribune Flaminius promulgated a

first step in that direction. The conflict broke out law providing land allotments to all of Rome’s poor-

when the Oscian tribe of the Mamertines seized in est citizens; with his support, the Claudian law was

289 B. C. the city of Messana, established a democ- passed forbidding senators and their sons to possess

racy there and began to interfere with the shipping merchant ships capable of carrying more than 300

in the Messina Straits. Hiero II of Syracuse went to amphoras, i. e., 80 hectolitres. These laws suited not

war against them in 265. The Mamertines then only the plebs but also big businessmen among

turned to Rome for help, reminding her of their ori- Romans and Italics, as they got rid of the competi-

gin from Mars, the father of Romulus. For his part, tion on the part of the senatorial order, the richest of

Hiero II concluded an alliance with Carthage. The them all. The democratic reform of the comitia centur-

Roman Senate hesitated, but the comitia centuriata, iata was also in the interests of the plebs; 373 cen-

fearing a blockade of the Messina Straits, pro- turies were formed instead of the former 193, and the

nounced themselves in favour of war. The war, in proportion of the centuries of the equites and first

which the Romans now gained victories, now suf- class citizens to the rest of the centuries changed

fered defeats, lasted nearly 20 years. In the course of drastically - 88 to 258 instead of the former 98 to 95.

the war, the Romans mastered the art of naval war- Despite internal democratisation, Roman foreign

fare, in particular the tactics of grappling and policy was basically one of support for the aristoc-

boarding enemy ships (first used by the consul Gaius racy of all the tribes and peoples with whom they

Duilius). In 241 B. C., they defeated the fleet of the came in contact. Thus the Romans helped the aris-

Carthaginian admiral Hamilcar Barca off the 1 tocracy of the Etruscan city of Volsinii to suppress Aegates or Aegusae Islands, after which negotiations > an uprising of the enslaved population, began and a peace treaty was concluded according J In the meantime, Hamilcar moved to Spain and, to which the Carthaginians ceded Sicily to Rome supported by Carthaginian colonies and some local and had to pay an indemnity of 36 million denarii | kings and chieftains, made his way across the penin- during 20 years. All Sicily, with the exception of j sula, ruthlessly suppressing any resistance. In 229 he Hiero’s kingdom, came under the Roman rule. It 1 fell in action, and the army was headed by his son- became the first Roman overseas province ruled by a ^ in-law Hasdrubal, who founded the city of Carthago Roman governor who commanded the occupation s Nova, or Cartagena, which soon became a major

282

centre owing to the rich silver mines in its vicinity. also to diplomatic moves. In Greece, the Romans

When Hasdrubal was assassinated by a Celt slave, knocked together an anti-Macedonian coalition,

he was succeeded by Hamilcar’s son Hannibal. Han- Philip was forced to conclude peace with Rome,

nibal persistently gathered men and money, hoping After two years of siege, in 212, Syracuse was taken

to avenge the defeat in the First Punic War. The by Marcellus with the aid of the local aristocracy

pretext for the war was Hannibal’s destruction of the after a tunnel was dug leading into the city.

Greek colony of Saguntum, Rome’s ally, south of the Capua also fell. One by one, the Greek cities cap-

Ebro. Hannibal placed his hopes on an alliance with tured by Hannibal were won back. As a result, the

the Gauls and the secession of Roman allies in Italy; whole of Sicily became a Roman province, while

he also planned to form an alliance with king Phi- Capua was harshly punished, deprived of its lands

lip V of Macedonia, who feared the strengthening (now added to Roman public lands) and of its status

of Roman influence in the Adriatic. He failed to take as a city. In 210, an army was sent to Spain headed

into account, however, that the ruling circles of most by 26-year-old Publius Cornelius Scipio, later nick-

Italian cities were already closely linked with Rome named “Africanus”. Disembarking at the Greek city

and had a vested interest in its support and naval ofEmporion, an ally of Rome, Scipio showed excep-

supremacy. As for the Roman and Latin citizens of tional military talent, seizing Cartagena by a sudden

the colonies, they were ready to defend their land to assault the following year and capturing an enor-

the last. mous booty. A number of Iberian and Celtic tribes

The beginning of the war was exceptionally propi- went over to his side. In 206, he forced the Cartha-

tious for Hannibal. His great military talent and ginians to leave Spain, which then became a Roman

skill, and the differences between the Roman people province. In 204, setting forth with his army from

and the Senate on the tactics to be employed in the the Sicilian harbour of Lilybaeum, he disembarked

war, brought him victories over the Romans in the in Africa, where he concluded an alliance with

battles near the Ticino river, the Trebia river, Lake Masinissa, king of Numidia and an enemy of Trasimene and especially in the battle of Cannae, Carthage. Recalled from Italy, Hannibal fought Sci- where 50,000 Romans were slain. This seemed to pio’s army near the city of Zama Regia, was roundly

make the Roman position hopeless, but Rome again defeated and escaped to king Antiochus III of

recovered. Various measures were taken, beginning Syria. Much later, meeting Hannibal at that king’s

with numerous religious ceremonies intended to court, Scipio is said to have asked Hannibal whom

ensure the assistance of the gods and the cohesion of he believed to be the greatest general. Hannibal

the people, and ending with calling up slaves for ser- 5 placed Alexander the Great first, himself second, and vice in the army-a measure that appeared desper- 5 Scipio third. Amazed, Scipio asked Hannibal why ate to later Roman historians, as slaves were strictly 5 ; the latter believed himself greater than he, Scipio, forbidden to serve in the army. After the Cannae ^ after a defeat at his hands. Hannibal replied, “Had I defeat, the Samnites, the Lucani and the Bruttii, ^ defeated you, I would have been greater than who had not yet been Romanised deep enough, rose ' Alexander.”

against Rome. Capua, Rome’s old rival, took the ^ The Second Punic War ended in a complete side of the Carthaginians (except for the aristocracy, ^ triumph for Rome. Under the terms of the peace which remained loyal to Rome) and effectively | treaty, the Carthaginians had to pay an indemnity helped Hannibal. But the Greek cities and most * of 600 million denarii in 50 years, and to hand over allies remained loyal to Rome, as did Roman and -i to the Romans their elephants and all but ten war- Latin colonies. True, Hannibal managed to take ? ships, they would also have no right to wage wars Tarentum, Metapontum and Heraclea, and con- 5 ^ without the consent of Rome. Masinissa’s right to eluded an alliance with king Hiero of Syracuse, but Q most of Numidia was confirmed. Roman victory had the tide of war had definitely turned against Car- = been won at a very high cost. According to modern thage. Commanded by Fabius Maximus, nick- ^ computations, it cost them 200 million denarii- named Cunctator (“The Laggard”), the Romans 1 three times as much as the First Punic War. Hannibal adopted the tactics of skirmishing and avoiding deci- "I destroyed about 400 settlements' in the lands of sive battles. They resorted not only to military but ? Roman allies. During the war, when the Romans

283

had to maintain 36 legions and 150 warships, the prices grew skyhigh. Many lands in Apulia and Lucania were abandoned and became pastures, although part of them was distributed among Sci- pio’s veterans.

Hannibal’s supporters were harshly punished. 32,000 Tarentians were sold into slavery; the Bruttii were made state slaves; 40,000 Ligurians, who had taken the Carthaginians’ part, were driven from northern Italy to the Beneventum area. The colonies of Lucca, Bononia and Aquileia were founded in northern Italy, and the lands of the rural and tribal communities of those areas were added to the Roman public lands, which increased to 55,000 square kilometres. They were open to occupation for a rental of one-tenth of the cereal crops, one-fifth of fruit gathered, and a tax on grazing land. Colonies were founded in other areas, too. Colonists received from 5 to 50 jugera, and commanders in veterans’ colonies got as much as 100 to 140 jugera. Land-sur¬ veying went on all over Italy, and roads, bridges and cities were built. Colonisation and resettlement of the population stimulated the Romanisadon of Italy, the spreading of Roman technology and of the Latin language, and the organisation of cities after the Roman model, with elected magistrates and senates.

New sources of enrichment appeared. In the absence of a state mechanism, a system of tax-farm¬ ing was introduced; collecting taxes in the provinces and rentals from the public lands, construction work, and exploitation of Spanish silver mines, where more than 40,000 slaves were employed, were handed over to publicani. As all these enterprises required great capital investment and were thus beyond the means of individual publicani (e. g., the exploitation of the Spanish mines required 26 mil¬ lion denarii for buying slaves, five million a year for their upkeep, and 10 million in payments to the Roman treasury), the publicani and contractors set up companies which also included men of very modest means who later received dividens on their investments. Judging from Polybius’s account, nearly the whole of the Roman people was a kind of limited company exploiting the provinces and Italy itself. As a result, the Roman economy not only re¬ covered but also made rapid progress. Middle as well as major entrepreneurs were getting richer on dividends from capital they mostly invested in the

buying of private or occupation of public lands, as agriculture was traditionally the most prestigious source of income. To be a city magistrate, a person had to own real estate. Thus, according to a statute of the city of Tarentum (dating, however, from later times), only a person owning a house on city terri¬ tory covered with not less than 1,500 tiles (a tile measured 0.65 by 0.45 metre) could be a magistrate. Men of substance bought estates or villas in different areas of Italy. The growth of urban population' created a market for agricultural produce. The chase after profit became universal.

The demand for money, which was invested in various enterprises, stimulated usury. The interest rates paid by Roman citizens were limited by law, but usurers found ways to circumvent that law, lend¬ ing money to front men who had no Roman citizen¬ ship; in the provinces, the interest rates reached 48 per cent per annum. Usurers grew fabulously rich.

As a result of all these processes, medium-sized villas (100 to 250 jugera) and large tracts of grazing land became widespread throughout Italy. The former produced grain, wine, olives, fruit, and vege¬ tables; the latter, meat, milk, and wool that was spun, woven and dyed by artisans in the cities. A sin¬ gle family and a few slaves no longer sufficed to run such an estate. More manpower was needed. As we have mentioned already, in a civic community such manpower could not be recruited among exploited compatriots, and the only way out was to increase the number of slaves born on the estate or bought during sales of war prisoners. That period marked the beginning of extremely rapid development of the antique slave-owning mode of production, which soon reached its peak. Slaves and slave-owners became the two principal antagonistic classes of society.

A villa with 10 to 15 slaves was described by Cato in his treatise on agriculture. He had it all worked ^ out in great detail-the size and the organisation of a the labour force, the division of labour (still rather •s primitive), the meagre rations of the slaves, which ^ depended on their skills and capacity for work, the r production quotas, the duties of the villicus, the villa | manager, the conditions of hiring extra hands dur- g> ing harvest or construction workers, the advantages | of buying various tools in different cities. Cato’s s villa, selling its agricultural produce on the market, s; is often seen as a sort of analogue of a capitalist

284

enterprise and evidence of the birth of capitalism in and kept them accordingly, the slave’s human per-

Rome. We believe, however, that Cato’s treatise sonality was entirely suppressed. The position of

clearly shows the difference between simple commo- slaves in the cities was somewhat better; here, the

dity production in some branches of the Roman master sometimes gave them some small property,

economy and capitalist production. Accumulation the so-called peculium, that helped them to save

rather than acceleration of capital turnover and money with which to buy their freedom and with it,

expanded reproduction was its prime purpose. A Roman citizenship. Urban slaves mixed with free

good master, Cato taught, must not buy he must plebeians and attended spectacles, but here, too,

sell. An estate owner did his best to produce every- they were despised. It was taken for granted that a

thing that he could on his estate. Hoarding treasures slave was a thief, a scoundrel and a cheat. To quote

that might come in handy at a time of need or be a line from a contemporary comedy: if a slave does

expended on ostentatious display of wealth or on not lie, that is not unlike a miraculous omen,

public needs was the owner’s principal goal. Such a Although Romans often let their trusted slaves into

villa could hardly have been highly profitable - the private and political intrigues, and slaves had entry

profits of publicani, sea traders and usurers must have into all spheres of society, they remained outsiders in

been much higher. But slave-owners’ villas had a it. To be suspected of a slave’s vices was a terrible

number of advantages over small-scale peasant hold- disgrace for a freeborn person. The development of

ings. They practised simple cooperation and division slavery largely determined the subsequent history of

of labour, which increased labour productivity, and Rome and, with the spreading of slavery throughout

they were also able to buy better implements, like the provinces, of the Roman republic as a whole,

ploughs, presses for olives and grapes, etc., all of The advantages Rome derived from the wars with

which brought an upsurge in Italic agriculture. Carthage, incited it to further expansion east and

Slaves were also used in artisans’ shops, though not west, where new lands promised new profit,

on the same scale as in agriculture. Slaves’ marks Although wars demanded considerable financial

alongside of free craftsmen’s occur on pottery, tiles outlay (10 legions, 100 warships and 400 transport

and bricks. ships had to be permanently maintained), all

The growing role of slaves in production affected members of the “limited company” in the above

their position. Once, they had been to some extent sense had at first a vested interest in them. Both in

responsible for their acts and could even be guaran- the east and in the west the Romans succeeded best

tors in bargains; they had participated in acts of when they could play on their opponents’ external

worship (in household cults), while now they were n and domestic conflicts, supporting one state in the equated with cattle by the lex Aquilia (its precise date f fight against another or the aristocracy against the is unknown): damage done by a slave was the res- Z commons. They had great difficulty in conquering ponsibility of the master, who paid for it as if it had s tribes with little social differentiation. Vegetius, an been done by a quadruped—by handing over the ^ author of a treatise on military art who lived in the culprit to the injured party or by paying a fine. The jf 4th century A. D. and drew on a thousand years of master was responsible for robbery, theft, or murder ^ Roman military experience, wrote that even the committed by a slave at the master’s bidding, for the ? smallest people cannot be conquered if it is not torn slave could not disobey the master for fear of punish- jf by inner strife.

ment. The master or the villicus (steward and over- § In the east, directly after the victory near Zama seer of an estate) made a sacrifice to the Lares on the Romans interfered in the affairs of the Hellenis- behalf of the entire family, and ordinary slaves took 3 tic states, demanding that Philip V should stop no part in the rite. Kinship among slaves was not a waging war on Rhodes, Pergamum and other Greek recognised; a slave could only have a concubine, not p cities that had appealed to Rome for help. Winning a wife, and it was accepted that a slave had no | over to their side the Illyrians, the Achaean and the father. In Cato’s view, a slave must work so much as ^ Aetolian Leagues, the Romans, commanded by to be unable to think of anything but sleep. « Titus Quinctius Flamininus, defeated Philip. In the Although each landowner knew that his well-being I following year, Flamininus solemnly declared free- depended on the fitness of his cattle and his slaves, fe dom for the Greek cities during the Isthmian Games,

285

and was deified by the Greeks. A temple was built in his honour. Flamininus brought to his triumph in Rome the booty he had won in Greece: 18,270 pounds of silver, 3,714 pounds of gold, 14,514 gold and 80,000 silver coins, 114 gold wreathes given him by the Greek cities, and numerous works of art.

Soon after the end of the war with Philip, the war with Antiochus III began, this time in alliance with Macedonia, and in 189 B. C. Antiochus was defeated near Magnesia. In 168, Perseus, Philip V’s heir, was defeated. Seventy settlements were destroyed and 150,000 inhabitants were sold into slavery in Epirus, which had joined Perseus.

The “freedom” which the Romans had given to the Greek cities proved rather illusory, and the dominion of the pro-Roman oligarchy in the cities, exceedingly onerous. When Andriscus, who claimed to be Perseus’s son, led an uprising in Macedonia, many Greek cities joined him. In 148, the Romans suppressed the revolt and made Macedonia, Epirus and Illyria their provinces. In 146, Mummius crushed the democratic regime that had been estab¬ lished in the Achaean League, and destroyed Cor¬ inth, seizing a great number of slaves and objects of art as his booty. Only Athens, Sparta and Delphi retained their freedom, while all the other Greek cities were subordinated to the governor of Mace¬ donia. Finally, in that same year 146 B. C., after the short Third Punic War begun by the Romans out of fear of Carthage’s revival, Scipio Aemilianus, grand¬ son ofScipio Africanus, destroyed Carthage, cursing the very land on which Rome’s great rival had stood. Carthage’s possessions became the Roman province of Africa. Soon after, Attalus of Pergamum, Rome’s sincere friend, left his kingdom as a legacy to Rome, and it formed the province of Asia.

In the west, the Romans encountered the greatest difficulties in Spain, which was finally subdued only after 200 years of struggle. Several uprisings in the early 2nd century B. C. in the south and south-east of the peninsula, where the Romans relied on the a urban and tribal aristocracy were rather quickly 3 suppressed, but the tribes of the Celtiberians and the ~ Lusitanians, who lived on the territory of modern 1 Portugal, put up a stiff resistance. The Spainish wars | cost the Romans great losses, the soldiers unaccus- ^ tomed to the climate died of exposure, discipline | declined, and no one wanted to serve there. =

The conquests of the 2nd century B. C. brought |

about a decisive change in all spheres of Roman life. Despite the great military spending, the profit in booty and taxes was so vast (some 2,000 tons of silver were brought to Rome between 200 and 150 B.C.) that in the 170s the government no longer needed to resort to the tributum. New market-places specialising in the sale of cattle, vegetables, fish and meat were built in Rome. Objects of luxury-delicacies, fine clothes, ornaments, fine-looking and well-trained servants-became highly fashionable. Well-to-dp citizens were rebuilding their modest houses. New public buildings - circuses and temples-were erected in the cities. Laws against luxury promul¬ gated several times (not less than six), whose purpose was to reduce inequality among citizens and the out¬ flow of precious metals to Greece and Asia, the sources of imported luxury goods, were ineffectual. At the same time, an increasingly narrow circle of Romans —mostly generals, governors, and publicani- profited from the conquests, while ordinary citizens gained less and less.

The socio-political structure of Roman society changed, too. The nobility, which monopolised the magistracies, became established; senators no longer served in cavalry; and the second privileged order, that of the equites, evolved. This order included per¬ sons of noble origin (sons of senators or knights) who owned not less than 400,000 sestertia and partici¬ pated in no less than ten campaigns as cavalrymen. Military tribunes, and prominent citizens of Italic cities were sometimes included among the equites. Many of them had large tracts of land in Italy and the provinces, invested money in usury and com¬ merce, and played a leading role in publican ?s com¬ panies. There were orators and prominent lawyers among them.

Although the equites and the senators belonged to the same class of big property owners, and as often as not to the same aristocratic family, they competed with one another over the offices of publicani or gov¬ ernors of provinces which offered considerable opportunities for enrichment through exploitation or direct plunder. The office of governor was so pro¬ fitable that it was said that when a governor went out to his province, he was poor and it was rich, and when he returned to Rome, he was rich and the province was poor. The offices of consul and praetor, which opened the way to governorship, became more and more desirable. All sorts of manoeuvres

286

were resorted to during elections -secret pre-election transportation adversely affected the markets of both

agreements, agitation, bribes, and discrimination of agriculture and the crafts. Transportation by sea

rivals. Laws against abuses during election cam- was cheaper and promised great profit in case of suc-

paigns (of which not less than 12 were passed) were cess, but it required considerable capital outlay, and

unavailing. In 149, special senatorial courts were set the risk factor was rather great, as ships might

up to try cases of violation of these laws and consider founder, be seized by pirates, etc. The law therefore

accusations of abuses in the provinces, but the judges did not restrict the interest rates on credit to finance

of these courts were not as harsh as they used to be in sea trade, as the creditor shared the risk,

the times of the laws of XII Tablets. The penalties Borrowing money often resulted in loss of prop-

did not go beyond fines or banishment from Rome at erty, which meant expulsion from the higher order the most. Besides, the senators were inclined to or census class for the privileged, while for the ple-

acquit members of their own order and condemn the beians, especially rural ones, it meant debtor servi-

equites. tude, which was restored in circumvention of the lex

Differentiation among the plebeians increased, Petelia. too. The rural plebs, which frequently had to inter- Great changes had also been brought about in the

rupt its peaceful pursuits because of the constant culture of Roman society and its ideology by the in¬ wars, and suffered from the competition of the more ternal processes and Rome’s altered international

profitable slave-owners’ villas as well as from forcible position.

seizure of lands by rich neighbours who armed their Opposition to Rome was very strong in the con-

slaves, lost its allotments and was brought to ruin. quered countries. In Asia, it was prophesied that

The peasants’ ruin undermined the fighting effec- Rome would soon fall, the Romans would be made

tiveness of the Roman army despite the fact that the slaves and would have to atone twentyfold for the

property qualifications for the conscripts were low- evil they had done. Romans were said to be so

ered several times. Discipline in the army declined. bloodthirsty that, not content with wars and the in-

It grew more and more difficult to recruit soldiers. creasingly fashionable gladiator shows, they hired

The urban plebs, whose numbers swelled as more men who killed each other during their feasts, and

impoverished peasants came to the city and more they were said to be so vain that they were followed

slaves were freed, was mostly employed in the crafts, by a retinue of 20,000 slaves whenever they left their

petty trade, and construction work; it had little in- house. Fawning on the Romans in public, the

terestfor land, being mostly concerned with cheaper Greeks secretly despised them and believed them to

foodstuffs, lower rent, and more orders for the arti- 5 be barbarians. The most farsighted of the Roman sans and contractors that meant steady employment ■? politicians, amongst whom the Scipios and their cir- for them. Of great importance for the entire plebs 5 cle (the so-called Philhellenes) played the leading was winning greater powers for the popular assem- s role, realised that such a reputation was detrimental bly and tribunes of the people, the two institutions ' to Roman diplomacy, which was no less important that curbed the power of the magistrates and the S' in asserting their domination than weapons. They nobility. This became especially important in view ^ began to study intensely the Greek language, Greek of extreme rise in debts owed to big property-owners ? literature and philosophy, paying enormous sums of and usurers by the plebs and other sections of the § money for educated Greek slaves to teach their population. The senators needed money for pomp, s children (it is a well-attested fact, for instance, that for election campaigns, and sops to their numerous .§ the Greek grammarian Daphnides was bought for clients who supported them in the popular assembly. ? 700,000 sesterces, whereas an ordinary slave cost

The peasants needed money to better their position S about 2,000). Many of these slaves later became after crop failure or murrain, to buy labour imple- 9 freedmen and gained fame as rhetoricians, gram- ments, and to equip their sons for service in the § marians and writers, or opened schools where army. The urban plebs needed money to start work- ° children of the plebeians were educated. Literacy shops, to buy food and pay rent. But possibilities for ' became widespread among the people and even getting money were limited, except for publicani and among slaves. Rich people began to send their sons

usurers. The difficulty and expense of overland ? to Athens, Ephesus and other cities of Greece and

287

Asia Minor to listen to lectures by famous orators and philosophers. Some of these moved to Rome; thus the historian Polybius and the Stoics Panaitios and Posedonios were warmly received in the Philhel- lenes’ circle. Educated Romans were familiar with the principal schools in Greek philosophy. Stoicism became popular among the aristocracy, while the middle strata were more inclined towards Epicu¬ reanism.

The art of oratory, which was particularly neces¬ sary for success in the popular assembly and the courts, made great advances. The ability to be per¬ suasive assumed a knowledge of human psychology. One school of oratory even insisted that the skill of rousing the listeners’ emotions was more important than a knowledge of law and custom. Attention to the psychology of persons of different sex, age, and status became a distinguishing trait of Roman es¬ thetic theories and Roman art. Roman nobles, who began to write a history of Rome in Greek, aimed in part at their readers’ psychology, hoping to persuade the Greeks that the Romans’ victories and their right to rule the world were rooted in their exceptional virtues. But the Roman virtues did not inspire much confidence among the vanquished. The Greek Poly¬ bius, who was close to the Scipios’ circle, ap¬ proached the problem in a different fashion. Taking into account the Greeks’ interest in the problem of ideal political order, he wrote the Universal His¬ tory-a. history of Roman victories intended to prove that these victories stemmed from and were justified by Rome’s perfect political system. Rome was the only state that proved able to combine the advan¬ tages of monarchy (as represented by the magis¬ trates), aristocracy (represented by the Senate) and democracy (represented by the popular assembly). An ideal political system uniting all citizens and ensuring everyone’s proper rights, provided they performed their duties, made Rome invincible and capable of founding a great state and of ruling it for the benefit of its people. Polybius’s theory, along with the Romans’ confidence in their mission to rule the world, intended for them from the beginning by destiny and the gods, formed the basis of Roman political thought and later of the official ideology of the Roman empire.

During the Second Punic War, to inspire hope for divine intervention among the citizenry, and to achieve closer unity with their allies from Greek

cities by stressing the common origin of the Greeks and Aeneas’s descendants, the Romans, the Senate commenced to include in the Roman pantheon some foreign gods-Venus Erucina, so called after her famous temple on Mt Eryx (Erice) in Sicily; Cybele, the Great Mother of Gods worshipped on Mt Ida in Pergamum; and somewhat later Aesculapius, the god of doctoring. The Saturnalia, the festivities in honour of the god Saturn, were now organised after the model of the Greek Kronia and intended to remind the people of the Golden Age of plenty and freedom. The masters offered food and drink to their slaves, who took part in the noisy, carnival-style merry-making along with free men. Various new games in honour of the gods were initiated. In 265, during the funeral of the former dictator Junius Pera, his grandsons replaced the custom of killing captives, as part of the ceremony during funerals of highborn citizens, by fights among these captives. That was the beginning of gladiatorial fights, which were soon moved to the circus and enjoyed great popularity among all sections of the population. Stage plays, after the Greek model, were also intro¬ duced in Rome, and a whole constellation of play¬ wrights immediately appeared. As a rule, they took Greek tragedies and comedies as their material, adapting them to the Roman public’s taste. Mere fragments of their countless works have survived, and only the works of Plautus and Terence have been fully preserved. Terence (190-150 B. C.) was a freedman, accepted, despite his past, in the Scipionic circle. His comedies, copying Greek models, written in refined language and full of moral dicta, bored the general public, while the comedies of Plautus (254-184 B. C.), who came from the lowest strata of the plebs, were extremely popular. He also took the plots of Greek comedies as his starting point, but he filled them with numerous details borrowed from Roman folklore, everyday life, or court cases, and with funny jokes. The principal character in most of §. his plays was a slave —dodgy, cunning and resource- 5 ful. With his inexhaustible supply of tricks, he ^ helped the son of his master, a stingy grumbler, to make the father part with the money the youth § needed to buy the freedom of his beloved, a pimp’s jj slave (who in the end proved to be a freeborn maid | whom the young man could marry). Plautus’s com- ^ edies showed the spectators a whole range of types 5 they knew so well-citizens of modest means preoc-

288

cupied with their villas and commerce, boastful sol¬ diers, shrewish wives, toadies, swaggering major- domo slaves, etc. Each actor had to wear a costume and wig suitable to his character during the performance, which was accompanied by flute-play¬ ing. The actors, recruited among the common peo¬ ple, freedmen, and slaves (the actor’s craft deprived the man who practised it of a citizen’s honour), as well as the musicians and the playwrights, were organised in colleges attached to the Apollo temple. Plays about life in Rome (the so-called togatae, as dis¬ tinct from the Greek palliatae) were also produced.

The rule was that a slave could be cleverer than his master in comedies about Greek life but not in the togatae. A genre of comedies arose on the Italic soil that were called atellanae (from Atella, a city in Cam¬ pania), with a set of masks (the Fool, the Glutton, the Scoundrel, the Stinger, the Gossip), but not even fragments of these comedies have survived.

Next to Plautus and Terence, their older contem¬ porary, Livius Andronicus, born in Tarentum, made into a slave and then freed, also enjoyed great renown. He was the first to begin writing plays, and he also translated the Odyssey into Latin. Naevius, a Roman citizen and veteran of the First Punic War, wrote besides comedies, an epic poem about that war, starting from Aeneas’s wanderings. Although only fragments of that work have survived, it can be assumed to have expressed the idea of Rome’s great mission and to have praised the virtues of the Romans. Ennius, a citizen of the Calabrian town q near Brindisium, sang the praises of the Roman aris¬ tocracy in works of extreme diversity-he wrote many tragedies, the Annals (a patriotic history of Rome in verse), and translated Euhemerus’s Sacred History, which endeavoured to prove that the gods were ancient kings and heroes deified for their deeds.

The poet Lucilius, who came from an aristocratic family and was close to the Philhellenes, wrote satires on various themes; thus he described, in jocu¬ lar style, a council of the gods convened by Jupiter to decide on punishment for a certain unworthy Roman. In Plautus’s comedy Amphitryon, Jupiter appeared as Amphitryon, the husband of Alcmene, the future mother of Hercules, in order to get into her bedroom, while Mercury assumed the guise of Amphitryon’s slave Sossius, which led to all sorts of funny situations in which the gods appeared ridicu¬ lous-something quite incompatible with the

Romans’ traditional solemn attitude towards the gods. Those were the first cracks in the attitude of the Roman community to the religion of their ances¬ tors, if not in the whole of Roman ideology.

Acquaintanceship with the Odyssey in Livius Andronicus’s translation and with statues and pic¬ tures brought from Greece and Asia Minor and placed in temples and squares made a decisive im¬ pact not only on the Philhellenes but also on all Romans. The Greek gods, given Latin names by Roman poets and playwrights (thus, Zeus became Jupiter; Hera, Juno; Athena, Minerva; Aphrodite, Venus; Demeter, Ceres; Cronos, Saturn, etc.), were identified with Roman gods and linked with Greek myths, which were already well known to the specta¬ tors of tragedies.

The poets and playwrights who wrote at the end of the 3rd and the 2nd centuries were mostly clients of aristocratic families and did their best to glorify their patrons and the ancestry of their patrons. Thus Scipio Africanus was said to have been the son of none other than Jupiter. Ennius dedicated to him verses that were full of rapturous praise. Roman generals became patrons of many provincial cities and tribes, which built temples in their honour (e. g., the temple of Flamininus). Contempt for the common people became widespread among the upper strata. Lucilius defined virtues as science or knowledge that was only accessible to an educated person. This view, adopted by the privileged strata, was later expressed in the brief maxim : virtue is wis¬ dom, of which the plebs has none.

The growing strength of the nobility incited a reaction among the higher strata as well as among the plebs. The opposition took various forms, includ¬ ing resistance against Hellenic culture spread by the Philhellenes. This resistance was led by Cato, one of the few plebeians who became a consul and a censor. He was famous among the plebeians as an inflexible guardian of the “customs of the ancestors”. His per¬ sonal and political rivalry with the Scipios was aggravated, particularly during his censorship, by his campaign against foreign excesses-luxury, effe¬ minacy, laziness, swagger, profit-seeking and a pen¬ chant for fame. The Greeks, Cato wrote, boasted of their heroes, while Rome’s greatness had been built by all Romans, who demanded no reward other than recognition of their deserts by the compatriots. The citizens’ stern virtue, courage, and modesty had

19-344

brought glory to Rome. Cato’s statue with a grateful peregrines. On coming into office, city praetors pub-

inscription was erected, at the people’s expense, in lished edicts defining their intentions in solving cases

the temple of Salus, the goddess of Salvation. Cato of certain types, and the sorcalled inter dicta, mostly

was particularly hostile to Greek philosophy and aimed at defending possession of property. All these

rhetoric. When the philosopher Carneades, who documents, together with senatus consulta, plebiscites,

arrived with a Greek embassy, made a speech prais- magistrates’ instructions and decisions of judges con¬ ing justice, so highly valued by the Romans, and on stituting the precedents, made law extremely com-

the next day, another speech proving that there was plex and chaotic, in Cicero’s words. A knowledge of

no justice whatever in the world, and, if there had law, along with the art of rhetoric, was one of the few

been, the Romans would have had to give up all ways of achieving eminence for those who, like

their conquered lands, Cato hastily expelled him Cicero, came from the lower classes. There emerged from Rome that he might not corrupt Roman youth. a theory of the rights of peoples, natural law, and

Later, the issue of justice became a burning one for civil law (which only applied to Roman citizens,

Rome. Cicero, who spent a great deal of effort on regulating the relations between them), of the differ- reconciling what is useful with that which is just and ence between natural justice and formal application

noble, finally found the solution, announcing that of literally interpreted law which might result in

usefulness and justice coincided when peoples or in- “supreme injustice”. All this accorded with purely

dividuals incapable of making reasonable use of Roman ideas and needs. On the purely theoretical

their freedom were subordinated to others. Some plane, the Epicurean interpretation of law as a result

senators supported Cato’s fight against foreign in- of “social contract” was borrowed from the Greeks,

fluences and innovations. Thus, when a man who and so was the Stoic one identifying the law of the

owned land on the Janiculum announced in 181 that city with that of the universe, the “supreme reason of

he had dug up Numa’s tomb and the books he had the divinity”,

written, expounding Pythagoras’s philosophy, the Senate issued an order to burn those books.

The spreading of “foreign excesses”, stimulated The First Stage of the Civil Wars. Conflicts between the

by objective changes in the life of society, could not different social strata of Roman society became par-

be stopped by agitation or forcible measures. By no ticularly exacerbated when slaves’ resistance began

means all elements of Greek culture were assimi- to assume extremely dangerous forms due to the in-

lated, though. For instance, the Sophists’ idea that tensification of their exploitation by big property-

the strong had the right to trample laws and mora- owners, and their degradation to the state of beasts

lity, placing himself beyond good and evil, was of burden from their former position of members of

never absorbed, as it was incompatible with the tra- the family in which two or three slaves worked

ditional Roman respect for the good of all. Neither together with the master and took part in the Lares

was there any interest for Utopian theories, so popu- cult. In the early 2nd century B.C., there were

lar in Greece, as the Romans believed that the ideal several outbreaks of unrest among Carthaginians

social structure had already been implemented in sold into slavery. In the 180s, the slave herdsmen of

the Roman republic. The Romans accepted the Apulia revolted. These movements were quickly

Greek cults only to the extent to which they did not suppressed, but the uprising of slaves in Sicily, begun

violate ancient morality. The cult of Dionysus, iden- ^ in 138, posed a real threat to slave-owners. The land-

tified with the Italic Liber, was permitted, but with- §. owners of that province, fleeced by Roman gover-

out the nocturnal orgies, the bacchanalia, banned & nors and publicani, tried to recover their losses by

by a special senatus consultum. harsh exploitation of their numerous slaves, most of

Roman law, which always played a significant I whom came from Syria and Asia Minor. Besides,

role in Roman society, developed on an independent | there were not only major landowners but also quite

basis. Compared with the laws of the XII Tablets, it a few very poor peasants there, who owned plots of

had grown quite complex, as had Roman society | one jugerum only. In the cities, numerous slaves toiled

itself. A special praetor was appointed to try cases of ? in artisans’ workshops that exported their products,

litigation between citizens and non-citizens, or the Driven to despair, the slaves rose in revolt; they were

290

led by the Syrian Eunus (who was regarded as a pro¬ phet and elected king under the name of Antiochus) and the Cilician Cleo, who joined his force with that of Eunus. The cities of Enna and Tauromenium became the centres of the uprising. The numbers of the insurgents swelled as they were joined by peas¬ ants. The Roman armies sent against Eunus and Cleo suffered one defeat after another. They ma¬ naged to take Enna and Tauromenium only in 132, largely because of treason. Almost simul¬ taneously with that uprising began the revolt in Per- gamum headed by Aristonicus, a pretender to the Pergamum throne. He was joined by all opponents of the passage of Pergamum under Roman domina¬ tion. Slaves and impoverished free citizens, who dreamed of founding the just state of the Heliopo- lites, or worshippers of the sun-god, Helios, were the prime force of the uprising. Slaves also rebelled on Delos, Chios and in Attica. The uprisings were only suppressed at a great cost.

Slaves’ uprisings and the fall of the Roman army’s fighting efficiency threatened the stability of Roman power. Shrewd politicians realised the need for reforms that might revive the peasant army and unite the citizenry. One of these politicians was Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, a man of noble extraction, Scipio Africanus’s grandson on the maternal side, a disciple of the Greek philosopher Blossius, and a veteran of the Third Punic and of the Spanish wars in which he saw for himself the sad state of the Roman army. Elected a tribune of the p people in 133, he proposed a bill restricting public 4 land that could be occupied by citizens to 500 jugera ^ (plus 250 jugera for each of two grownup sons); the ^

surplus would be distributed among the poor in holdings of 30 jugera. The proposed law was in fact in 5 line with the traditional recognition of the civic com- ^ munity’s supreme ownership of land and its right to ~ dispose of it, but it was fiercely resisted by the great g majority of big landowners, who persuaded Tiber- 5 ius’s colleague, the tribune M. Octavius, to veto the 4 bill. Tiberius then asked the popular assembly if > someone acting against the people’s interest could be £3 a tribune of the people. The assembly, attended by p masses of peasants, divested Octavius of power, I which was an unheard-of violation of the Roman ' tradition that did not permit an elected official to be " recalled before his mandate expired, and voted for ■§ Tiberius’s bill. A committee of three was elected for ?

291

the implementation of the law - Tiberius himself, his father-in-law Appius Claudius Pulcher, and his brother Gaius. Tiberius proposed to use the treasury of Pergamum to supply the peasants receiving land with everything they would need for work, which ran counter to the interests of the publicani and big landowners. When Tiberius announced his intention to run for the tribunate for the second year in succes¬ sion (which also contravened the tradition), his opponents, mobilising all their forces, began an in¬ tense campaign against him, accusing him of royal pretensions. On the day of voting, they brought all their supporters and clients to the popular assembly. It all ended in a massacre, during which Tiberius and 300 his followers were killed.

His law was implemented very slowly in the face of desperate resistance of the owners of occupied lands (possessores). Scipio Aemilianus, who lent his authority to the opposition, proposed that the dis¬ putes arising in the implementation of the law should be considered by the Senate, which naturally slowed down the process. Soon Scipio Aemilianus was found dead in his bedroom, and the adherents of the reform were immediately accused of secret assas¬ sination of the famous hero. The affair was compli¬ cated by unrest among the Italic allies, who insisted that they had not been fairly compensated for the burden of the wars which they had shared with the Romans. They also demanded Roman citizenship for themselves, in order to gain access to land and all those rights and freedoms which Roman citizens enjoyed. A rejection of their demands caused an uprising in Asculum. The revolt was crushed, but the problem of the allies became a constant worry for the Romans.

In 124, Gaius Gracchus was elected tribune of the people. He saw himself as his brother’s successor, but, not content with merely repeating his agrarian law, he wanted to build a broad front of the various social strata opposed to the Senate. He promulgated the so-called lexfrumentaria (corn law), which bene¬ fited the urban plebs; by that law, poor plebeians were allowed to buy 60 modia of wheat at a reduced price (6.3 asses per modius). A new road-building project was intended to give employment to contrac¬ tors and workers. The law proposing to farm out the tithe in the new province of Asia, and another on the participation of the equites in the courts, benefited the publicani and the equestrian order. The peasants’

19 *

interests were to be met by a law limiting military service to 17 years, providing them with arms at state expense, and extending the right of appeal to the popular assembly to include soldiers, to curb the abuses of commanders. Besides, Gaius proposed to found colonies for 6,000 in Capua, Tarentum and Carthage, giving each colonist a land allotment of 200 jugera. Finally, he proposed to grant Roman citi¬ zenship to the allies. But this last suggestion was in¬ tensely disliked by the Roman plebs which did not want to share its rights and privileges with the Ital¬ ics. The opposition again raised its head and started an agitation against Gaius. He was accused of ne¬ glect for the curse on the land of Carthage. At a popular assembly convened to discuss this issue, fighting broke out between Gaius’s followers and his opponents. In the end, the former occupied the Aventine, but the consul Opimius, granted extraor¬ dinary powers, led his supporters and a mercenary unit, the Cretan archers, against them. Three thou¬ sand Gracchans were killed, and Gaius himself com¬ mitted suicide. Later, Cicero accused the Gracchi of being the initiators of civil wars that lasted a hundred years, and of inciting the people’s unruli¬ ness. In his work on oratory he gave a list of argu¬ ments counsel for the defence could use to justify assassination, citing Opimius as one of the examples: in killing Gaius Gracchus, the latter saved the republic. The people, however, revered the memory of the Gracchi.

The Gracchi reforms were to some extent neutra¬ lised. In 119 B. C., the agrarian commission was dis¬ solved (though it had granted land allotments to some 50 or 75 thousand families), and according to the law of 111, both land received from the commis¬ sion and land occupied in Italy and the provinces, regardless of the size of the holding, was declared private, i. e., rent-free and not subject to redistribu¬ tion. The lex frumentaria and the law on courts remained in force, and the participation of the equites in the courts made court trials an especially sharp weapon in the hands of the conflicting groups.

New conquests in Gaul, where the Allobrogi tribe was subdued and a new province, of which Tolosa was the capital, established, as well as the founding of the Narbo colony and of two colonies on the Balearic Islands, provided more lands for the pea¬ sants and satisfied the businessmen. For a while, peace was restored, but it did not last long, as the

most acute issues remained. It was, in fact, impos¬ sible to restore the Roman community of peasants and warriors (which was the Gracchi’s ultimate aim; under the conditions of developing commodity- money relations, slavery, increasing social differen¬ tiation, and economic inequality.

The war with Jugurtha, a pretender to the Numi- dian throne, which began in 111 B. C., showed the extent of the corruption of the Roman army and its command. The soldiers cared for nothing but the booty. The commanders, including Opimius, the murderer of Gaius Gracchus, bribed by Jugurtha, lost battles to him. During that war, which was a dis¬ grace to Rome, two men rose to prominence, Marius and Sulla, who were destined to play an enormous role in the fate of the republic.

Gaius Marius came from a small village near the city of Arpinum; he began his military career in Spain, under Caecilius Metellus, the patron of Mar¬ ius’s father. Metellus’s patronage, Marius’s courage, and later his marriage to a woman of noble birth (Julius Caesar’s aunt) helped Marius in his career that was exceptional for a person of humble birth. Rising from one magistracy to another, he was finally elected consul in 107 and carried out an im¬ portant military reform. Now everyone could join the army regardless of their property qualifications; apart from salary and part of the booty, soldiers received a land allotment on retirement after 16 to 20 years of service. The agrarian question was now shifted to quite a different plane: land allotments were now a prize for the indigent plebeians serving in the army, and the army could fight for its interests much more effectively than the popular assembly. The veterans now expected their land allotments to come from their commander, who was, as it were, obliged to provide them, and not from the Roman people. The ties between the civic community and the soldiers weakened, while their links with the supreme commander grew stronger. He protected §. their interests in the government, and they sup- 5 ported him with their votes and, if peaceful means g were inadequate, with their arms.

2, Another traditional mainstay of the life of the 5 Roman civic community, the inalienable link io between the concepts of “warrior” and “citizen”, | was also broke; not all citizens were now obliged to s be warriors. All this signified the beginning crisis of g Rome as a civic community. It could no longer

292

remain such a community, as it had become the the capital of the insurgents. They won several vic-

centreofan enormous state where conflicts were rife tories, although they failed to capture any fortified

between slaves and slave-owners, big and small cities, especially because the urban slaves did not

landowners, Senate and plebs, citizens and Italics, support them. The uprising was suppressed, and

Italics and provincials, and in the provinces, Sicilian slaves were forbidden to carry arms on pain

between a handful of the pro-Roman aristocracy of death, even for hunting.

and all the other social strata. The civic community This uprising in Sicily, just as the previous one, in-

could not overcome these conflicts in the absence of cited unrest among the plebeians in Rome. In the 1st

a well-developed state apparatus. The army became century B. C., two parties in Rome’s political life

the only real force. Earlier, it was a force directed took shape th t populates and the optimates. The opti-

against the outside world. Marius’s reform made it a mates were supporters of the power of the Senate and

force capable of asserting itself within Rome as well. its monopoly of exploiting the provinces and the

Marius recruited an army, introduced iron disci- public lands; they opposed any reforms that bene-

pline in it, and changed its structure - the principal fited the plebs and any increase in the power of the

unit was now a cohort consisting of six centuries, so tribunes of the people. The populates supported such

that a legion was now made up of 10 cohorts and 60 reforms and appealed to popular assemblies and ral-

centuries. This army routed Jugurtha, who fled to lies of the plebs. Though they had no official status,

the Mauretanian king Bocchus. Lucius Cornelius these rallies played an increasing role in Rome’s

Sulla, Marius’s questor, was sent to conduct negotia- political life.

tions with Bocchus and secured the extradition of The question of whether the optimates and the

Jugurtha, thus laying the beginning of a dizzy populates were, in a sense, political parties, has been

career. debated in modern scholarly literature on several

Marius’s army also honourably acquitted itself in occasions. Apparently they were not parties in the

another hard test-the war with the Germanic tribes modern sense of the word; they had no orderly

of the Cimbri and Teutones, who invaded Gaul and organisation, Rules, or permanent membership, in¬

northern Italy and inflicted a number of crushing dividual politicians constantly changing sides. Still, defeats on the Romans, who lost 60,000 soldiers. they were sufficiently clearcut trends with their dis- Marius, now elected consul year after year, repulsed tinct programmes and ideologies, with which we are

the onslaught of the Germans after some hard fight- familiar from the works of the optimas Cicero and the

ing in 102 and 101, capturing 150,000 prisoners of populatis Sallust. Both admitted that Rome’s affairs

war, including Teutobodes, king of the Teutones. £ were in a bad way, and that the cause of that lay in In the same year 101 B. C., Marius’s colleague, H deviation from the customs of the ancestors, and consul Aquilius, suppressed another uprising of slaves ~ from the ideal republican system they had created, in Sicily, which had lasted for three years. The inci- s Cicero held that this deviation was due to the “unru- dent that started the war strikingly characterises the * liness” of the people and of the tribunes of the peo- position of the population of the Roman provinces g pie the demagogues who undermined the authority and vassal kingdoms. To fight the Germans, Marius 'A of the Senate and of the optimates, i. e., rich and asked the king of Bithynia to send auxiliary units, ^ noble citizens or simply the well-to-do who were not but the latter replied that he could not comply with s’ inclined to rebel. The government should be in the the request as most of his subjects had been sold into “ hands of those entitled to rule by their origin, slavery to various provinces by the publicani. The _| wealth, and education; the common people must Senate ordered an inquiry into the matter and the pursue their occupations, obey laws and maintain restoration of freedom for the unlawfully enslaved. S3 peace and tranquility. Cicero believed the attempts The governor of Sicily freed 800 slaves but then o to undermine the existing relations of property, to stopped the inquiry, bribed by the masters. The § redistribute land and cancel debts to be the greatest slaves rebelled, electing the Syrian Salvius, who took 'A evil contravening natural justice and all the norms of the name of Tryphon, their king. Another rebel » human intercourse. In Sallust’s view, all misfortunes army was commanded by the Cilician Athenion, ■§. came, on the contrary, from divesting the people of who later joined forces with Tryphon in Triocala, § power and from the abuses of the corrupt, suborned,

293

and decadent nobility. The people and the tribunes of the people must occupy their proper place and show the Senate and the magistrates that all their laws and actions were powerless without the people, as the plebeians’ secessions had once showed. After its victory, the people would have to do away with luxury, the power of money, and usury, becoming again a people of peasants and warriors.

The populares, who were often scions of noble fami¬ lies, frequently spoke at rallies of the common people (the conciliaplebis), denouncing rich property owners who barred the access to public lands for the ple¬ beians, made their debtors work in fetters on their immense estates, and surrounded themselves with crowds of slaves, some of whom, being their masters’ favourites, were better off than many freeborn citizens. Their speeches apparently echoed the views of Poseidonius, who endeavoured to prove the perni¬ cious effect of excessive development of slavery, cit¬ ing the Sicilian uprisings as an example. The speeches of the populares found a lively response among listeners. Legends about Roman kings were very popular among the plebs, especially the one about Servius Tullius, who had given the people land liberating them from dependence, and had offered everyone a chance for promotion through ability rather than noble birth. Fortune, Servius Tullius’s beloved, who had humiliated the highborn and elevated worthy simple people, was worshipped, as were the Lares, guarantors of justice in relations between members of families and between neigh¬ bours. Colleges dedicated to their cult embraced ple¬ beians and slaves and were the broadest and the most active organisations.

In the late 2nd and early 1st centuries B. C., Marius, who enjoyed great popularity, was the recognised leader of the populares. His demand for land for his veterans was opposed by the Senate, and that threatened to bring to nought his military reform and to undermine his personal authority. ^ Marius was supported by the popular tribunes Apu- a leius Saturninus and Servilius Glaucia who, relying 5 on the votes of Marius’s veterans, promulgated in j 100 B. C. a law providing for the founding of colonies for veterans in Gaul, Sicily, Achaia, | Macedonia, and Africa, where each veteran would i get an allotment of 100 jugera. That made them I owners of villas similar to those of Cato. The next - year Marius was elected consul for the sixth time, |-

and Saturninus, tribune of the people for a second term. But during the election campaign of Glaucia, who was to be elected praetor, his supporters killed Memmius, the optimates’ candidate, which resulted in fresh disturbances. The supporters of Saturninus and Glaucia occupied the Capitol. The Senate dec¬ lared a state of emergency and entrusted Marius with the task of suppressing the rebellion, which the latter did after some hesitation. The Capitol was taken, Saturninus and Glaucia were killed, and their followers banished from Rome. Marius’s betrayal made his position insecure, and he was compelled to leave for Asia.

The Social War and the Disintegration of the Roman Civic Community. The optimates won a temporary victory, but the unrest continued. The allies (socii) again demanded Roman citizenship; when the Senate refused to grant it, they rebelled. The war with the allies, called the Social War, lasted from 91 to 88 B. C. and was fought with extreme ferocity'. In the city of Asculum, where the uprising began, all Romans were slaughtered. The Picenes, the Marsi, the Samnites and other, poorer tribes joined the rebels. Big landowners in Etruria, Umbria, northern Italy, as well as Greek dues and Latin and Roman colonies, remained loyal to Rome. The rebel army, commanded by the Marsian Pompedius Silo and the Samnite Papius Mutilus, was about 100,000 strong. Capturing the colonies, the rebels killed the local nobles and recruited in their army the common peo¬ ple and the slaves, who massacred their masters. Rome resorted to recruiting units of Gauls, Numi- dians and Spaniards, and still it could not achieve success. All Campania fell into the hands of the allies, and even Etruria and Umbria began to vacil¬ late. In the end, Rome had to make concessions. In 89 B. C., all Italy south of the Padus was granted Roman citizenship, and in 88 B. C., Cisalpine Gaul received Latin citizenship. In that same year, the Roman army, commanded by Sulla, reoccupied Campania and defeated the allies.

Although at first the new citizens were distributed only among eight or ten tribes, to diminish their in¬ fluence, the impact of the war was still quite consid¬ erable. Roman citizens, who now inhabited the whole of Italy, could not, practically speaking, take part in popular assemblies, so that the principle of

294

citizen participation in the government became powers of the tribunes of the people and of the popu-

void, as did the link between citizenship and owning lar assembly were curtailed and those of the Senate

land on community territory for now any inhabitant increased.

of Italy could own land in any part of its territory. However, as soon as Sulla left, at the head of his

Service in the legions became accessible to the new army, for the war against Mithridates, the populares

citizens, who received land for it, and the influence raised their head again. The consul L. Cornelius

of supreme commanders spread throughout Italy. Cinna revived the proposals of Sulpicius Rufus, but

Italy was thus completely Romanised. The influence Cinna’s colleague Octavius, an optimas, pressed his

of well-to-do citizens and owners of villas and slaves expulsion, and Cinna was forced to leave for Cam-

grew, as they were mostly elected to the offices of city pania, where the soldiers stationed there went over

magistrates and municipal councils. to his side. Marius returned from Africa. Disembark-

At the same time the situation in the provinces ing in Etruria, he began to gather his supporters and

further deteriorated. The war with king Mithrida- even promised slaves freedom. Slaves began to

tes VI of Pontus began. Concluding alliances with throng towards his camp, but that gave his

Nicomedes III, king of Bithynia, with Tigranes, opponents a reason to describe his actions as those of

king of Armenia, with the Thracians and the Scyth- a tyrant. Even his personal bodyguard (the Bar-

ians, Mithridates captured nearly all of the Pontic diaei) consisted of slaves. Combining their forces,

coast, Paphlagonia, and Galatia; in Cappadocia, he Cinna and Marius took Rome, cancelled Sulla’s

overthrew the Roman protege and installed a crea- orders and began to persecute his followers, killing

ture of his own. As he moved across Asia Minor, the them and confiscating their property. Together with

provincials everywhere received Mithridates as their Cinna, Marius was elected consul for the year 86 (his

liberator. In response to his call, the population of seventh consulship), but he soon died. Many of his

the province of Asia slaughtered on the same day followers resented the fact that Marius had armed

80,000 Romans, Italics, their freedmen and slaves slaves. One of these malcontents, Sertorius, led a

living there. On taking Delos, a major trade centre, unit of troops which surrounded at night the camp of

Mithridates massacred all the Italic businessmen Marius’s bodyguard and massacred them. Valerius

there. When he seized Athens, he drove away the Flaccus, who replaced Marius, and Cinna were

rich pro-Roman aristocracy and established a de- entrusted with command of the army in the war

mocracy. against Mithridates, but both of them were killed —

The Senate entrusted the prosecution of the war Flaccus in Illyria and Cinna, in Ancona, by rebel- against Mithridates to Sulla, who had proved him- g lious troops.

self a talented general and a confirmed optimas. That i In the meantime, Sulla, supported by the pro-Ro- decision roused discontent among the populares. (L man aristocracy, achieved major successes in the war When Sulla left for the army awaiting him at Nola, ^ against Mithridates. After a long siege, he seized they forced the Senate to hand the command over to ' Athens and let his soldiers sack the city; this was fol- Marius, who had by that time returned to Rome. ? lowed up by several other victories over the Pontic Simultaneously, the tribune Sulpicius Rufus pro- army in Greece. In an attempt to strengthen his

mulgated the law on distribution of the new citizens » party, Mithridates declared Greek cities free, can- among all the tribes and the return of all those g celled debts, announced his intention to redistribute banished after the rebellion of Saturninus and Glau- § land, granted citizenship to the metics, and freed cia. Sulla’s soldiers, fearing that Marius would re- 4 many slaves, which increased the aristocracy’s cruit a fresh army and they would be deprived of a 3 hatred towards him. The Romans won back Mace- chance of rich booty in Asia Minor, refused to obey 5 donia, Pergamum, and the islands of the Aegean, the decision of the popular assembly and demanded p Sulla, impatient to return to Rome, concluded peace that Sulla should lead them against Rome under the § with Mithridates in 85 B. C. Mithridates gave up plea of saving Rome from Marius’s tyranny. The ^ Asia Minor and had to pay an indemnity of 2.3 mil- city was taken, Sulpicius Rufus was killed, and his ^ lion talents. As punishment for its disloyalty, Asia laws were repealed. Marius, declared an enemy of -f had to pay 20,000 talents and tribute for five years, the people, fled to Africa. On Sulla’s orders, the |i In the spring of 83, Sulla led 1,600 ships to

295

Brundisium and disembarked 40,000 troops there. gave slaves a chance to take part in the fighting

Prominent optimates flocked to that city. A new civil among freemen. The lands of proscribed individuals

war began, in which Marius’s followers suffered were confiscated and handed over to the veterans at

several defeats. In 82, Sulla seized Rome. Marius’s the bidding of the head of the victorious group and

adherents were punished with extraordinary cruelty. not by sanction of the citizens’ body. Sulla’s absolute

The Samnites who had supported them were exe- and unlimited dictatorship contravened the princi-

cuted in the field of Mars. The cities of Samnium pies of the Roman constitution which, though un-

and Etruria were destroyed. The so-called proscrip- written, was sanctified by custom and tradition,

dons-a list of Sulla’s outlawed opponents-were Sulla’s personality was also far from the ideal of the

announced in Rome. Everyone who killed any of the ancestors-he claimed that Fortune and Venus were

persons proscribed, or informed on them, received a especially kind towards him, and called . himself

reward; if the killer or informer was a slave, the re- Felix, “the lucky one”. At the same time the war

ward was freedom. The property of outlawed between Marians and Sullans showed the signifi-

citizens was confiscated and sold at auctions. Forty cance and strength of the new army. On the whole,

senators and 1,600 knights were thus put to death. the social base of Sulla’s dictatorship was narrow.

Ten thousand slaves who had belonged to pro- The plebeians, the equites, the landowners who lost

scribed persons and who were set free by Sulla (they their estates, the provincials oppressed by their own

were named “cornelians”) formed his personal aristocracy and now fleeced without any checks by

bodyguard. 120,000 veterans received lands in Sam- the governors and their staff consisting of freedmen

nium, Etruria, and Campania. The popular assem- and slaves all were against Sulla. An excellent

bly appointed Sulla dictator. The number of sena- illustration of this fact is Cicero’s famous speeches

tors rose from 300 to 600, all the new members being against Verres, governor of Sicily. In Cicero’s words,

Sulla’s followers. To investigate various criminal even the name of Romans was hated in the prov-

offences, new permanent courts were set up, which inces. The war with Mithridates showed that the

were given the right to mete out punishment in population of the provinces was ready to rise at the

accordance with an emergency procedure. The first opportunity.

equestrian order was barred from participation in The inviability of Sulla’s measures became appar-

the courts. The number of questors and praetors was ent immediately after he gave up the dictatorship,

increased. The governors of provinces-two procon- for reasons still not clear, in 79 B. C., and died a year

suls and eight propraetors-were granted absolute later. Right after a ceremonious funeral, distur-

powers, and the publicani lost their most profitable bances broke out again. Aemilius Lepidus, the con¬ sources of income in Asia. Sulla introduced greater sul of 78 B. C., tried to abrogate Sulla’s laws, but the

order in the passage of officials through the magis- Senate declared him a public enemy. His army was

tracies and established the candidates’ minimal beaten by a force commanded by Pompey. The

age 30 years for a questor, 40 for a praetor, and 43 Marian Sertorius, invited to Spain by rebellious

for a consul. Tribunes of the people were forbidden Lusitanians, firmly established himself there. He was

to fill magistracies after their term of office. He pub- immensely popular among the tribes of Spain which

fished several laws which introduced harsh penalties believed him to be a favourite of the gods. At the

for criminal offences (murder, forgery, etc.), failure head of an army consisting of these tribesmen and

to obey the magistrates, power abuses, and bribery. ^ the Marians who had fled to Sertorius, he inflicted Sulla’s measures were an important stage in the a several defeats on Pompey sent against him. Only transformation of Rome into a state in the modern S after Sertorius’s assassination by a traitor was this acceptation of the term. -h movement crushed. In 73 B. C., however, a new war

Although Sulla’s dictatorship was supported by Z, with Mithridates began. The Roman forces were the optimates who proclaimed themselves champions § commanded by L. Lucullus. At first, he won several of the “customs of the ancestors”, it deviated greatly victories, taking Sinope, Mithridates’s capital, and a

from the norms of the old civic community. Just as | large booty, but his further progress was slowed Marius’s appeals to slaves, proscriptions under- = down by mutiny among the troops, mined the absolute power of the pater familias, and In74B. C., at a time of defeats in external conflicts

296

and at the peak of internal disturbances, a major dangerous to the Roman slave-owners than the

uprising ofslaves broke out; it was headed by Sparta- rebellions in Sicily, showed quite clearly that slaves

cus, a Thracian who had been made a gladiator for had become a numerous class hosdle to slave-

refusal to serve in the Roman auxiliary forces. Anti- owners, and that a strong state was needed to sup-

que authors described Spartacus as a very talented press it.

strategist and a brilliant organiser. The revolt began Despite the slave-owners’ victory, internal diffi-

with the escape of Spartacus and 70 other gladiators culties continued. The agrarian question again

from a gladiators’ training school in Capua. They became acute at that time, although it took some-

established a fortified camp on Mt Vesuvius, and what different forms from those of the past. Veterans

their numbers gradually increased as slaves and im- and poor peasants demanded land allotments and

poverished peasants joined them. A 3,000-strong guarantees from seizure of their holdings by rich

Roman unit barred the descent from Vesuvius, but neighbours. Big landowners demanded guarantees

Spartacus outmanoeuvred it. Using ladders made of against new agrarian laws and redistribution of

wild vines, Spartacus and his force descended Vesu- land. Sulla's followers, buying up the lands of pro-

vius on the opposite side, took the soldiers in the scribed owners for a song, had made immense for- rear and routed them. Praetor Varinius, sent against tunes. Their estates, often covering many thousand

Spartacus, was also worsted. The slave army grew jugera, were mostly tilled not by slaves but by

rapidly, and soon it was 70,000 strong (100,000, ac- tenants, the colons, who were often their clients,

cording to other sources). The movement spread Strabo mentions that some of Latium’s smaller

from Campania to other regions. Roman historians towns became villages on private lands apparently

believed that Spartacus’s goal was to lead the slaves inhabited by colons. The labour of enslaved debtors

across the Alps to free Gaul. Indeed, at first Spartacus was widely used on such estates. Extensive grazing

triumphantly made his way to the north of Italy. lands were very profitable. Among the richest men

Near Mutina, he defeated the army of the governor of the end of the republic, Pliny the Elder mentioned

of Cisalpine Gaul, opening the way to the Alps, but Cecilius Claudius Isidorus, a freedman who left in

then, instead of crossing them, he turned back. The his will 3,600 pair of oxen, 257,000 heads of other

reasons for that decision were not clear. Somemodern livestock, 4,116 slaves and 60 million sesterces. From

historians believe that discord began among the in- Varro’s work on agriculture we know that its organi-

surgents, while others hold that Spartacus had sation was vastly improved compared to Cato’s

intended to take Rome from the very beginning. In times. The improvement was brought about by

any case, he moved south and beat the army of £ accumulated experiences and knowledge, a well- both consuls in Picenum. The Senate then sent If thought-out placement of workers, division of labour against Spartacus the praetor M. Licinius Crassus, ^ among specialists in various branches of the granted extraordinary powers and assisted by Lu- ^ economy, a system of penalties and rewards, and cullus and Pompey recalled from Spain. Spartacus, ^ specialisation of the functions of the villa’s consi- however, went further south, intending to go across s derably increased administrative staff, which now to Sicily with pirates’ help and stir up rebellion A enjoyed various privileges. For instance, a villicus among slaves there. But he was deceived by the » was given not only a concubine but also a peculium, pirates and had great trouble extricating himself 3 which sometimes enabled him to rent part of the

from Bruttium where Crassus had invested him. a master’s land, contract for various jobs, etc.

For reasons unknown, two units, 12,000 strong, f Rational management of an estate, particularly one broke away from Spartacus’s army and were an- > planted with perennials, demanded capital invest- nihilated by Crassus’s troops. In 71, the insurgents S ment, but, as Cicero wrote, landowners did not want were destroyed by Crassus’s army in Apulia, despite $ to invest money in improvements on their estates for the desperate fight they put up, and Spartacus him- « fear of confiscations and agrarian laws. Guarantees self fell in battle. The remnants of Spartacus’s army A for small-scale and larger properties and optimal were mopped up by Pompey, and 6,000 slaves were ;; conditions for land cultivation were becoming vital crucified along the via Appia. f necessities for further development of the economy,

The Spartacus uprising, which was much more J which had by that time achieved a rather high level.

297

Craftsmen of all kinds were very numerous, parti¬ cularly in Rome. Fairly large workshops appeared. Thus, up to 100 slaves were employed in some work¬ shops producing fine pottery. Jewellers, craftsmen dying fabrics in purple, perfumers and others toiled to produce luxury articles. Thousands of slaves and plebeians worked on the construction of villas, city residences, and public buildings. Household crafts continued to exist, but urban craftsmen who worked for the market or to fill clients’ orders played an in¬ creasing role. Not only luxury objects but also food¬ stuffs, clothes, and objects of metal and wood were items of trade. Apart from wholesale merchants there were small shopkeepers and pedlars. The level achieved by agriculture, the crafts, and trade became incompatible with the social system of old peasant Rome.

The republic, which had arisen on the basis of the civic community, could no longer cope with the new social and economic tasks. Ruled by a fraction of the nobility, which grew rich by plundering the prov¬ inces, and by citizens who could attend popular assemblies (these were mostly urban plebeians fed and amused with money pumped out of the provin¬ ces), it could not build a broader social basis, either in Italy or in the provinces, for Roman domination, and neither did it see any need for such a basis. It was also unable to transform the army-the main force in the civil wars-into a part of the military and bureaucratic mechanism necessary to run the state. Realising that a strong army was needed to maintain sway over the conquered lands and to acquire new ones, the Senate at the same time con¬ tinually fought supreme commanders and thus the army over allotments for veterans. As for the com¬ manders, they had to rely on the popular assembly on this issue, in order not to lose their authority, and that meant concessions to the plebs.

The Fall of the Senate Republic. That was exactly what 5. happened in 70 B. C., when the optimas Pompey and -5 the Sullan Crassus, famous for his wealth acquired ^ during the proscriptions, gained consulships, with r the support of the plebs. They repealed Sulla’s laws, 1 removed 60 of the most loyal Sullans from the Senate, restored the powers of the tribunes of the | people, handed the courts over to committees of 5 senators, equites, and aerarian tribunes ( tribuni aera- 5

rii) elected by the tribes, and restored the offices of publicani in Asia for members of the equestrian order. After the consulship of Pompey and Crassus, the populaces again became active. Gaius Julius Caesar, Marius’s nephew and Cinna’s son-in-law, became one of their leaders on his return from banishment. During the funeral of his aunt, Marius’s wife, he made a speech praising Marius’s services to the republic, and when he became questor, he restored Marius’s trophies in the Forum removed by Sulla.' In 63, Julius Caesar was elected chief pontiff, and in his term office as praetor he spent huge sums of money on games and handouts for the people, denouncing at the same time prominent Sullans at court trials. Cicero also began his career at that time with a speech against Sulla’s richest freedman, I Chrysogonus, and Sicily’s governor Gaius Verres; the pains Cicero took to gather the facts against Verres, and his brilliance as a public speaker, imme¬ diately attracted general attention.

In the meantime, the situation called for a fresh reconciliation between the Senate and Pompey. In I 67 B. C., Pompey had been given extraordinary powers to exterminate piracy that endangered the I transportation of food supplies to Rome, and he had coped with that task in just three months. After that he had been granted the same extraordinary powers I to complete the war with Mithridates that had not I been finished by Lucullus. In 63 he triumphantly I ended that war and began to arrange things in Asia as he saw fit, appointing and removing the kings of I states conquered by Rome. Pompey founded about 40 poleis in the eastern provinces, handing over to the city magistracies the collection of taxes from the urban neighbourhood and thus consolidating the position of those magistracies.

Owing to Pompey’s conquests, the income of the Roman treasury increased by 70 per cent. He was a real hero in the eyes of the public. In Asia, even his favourite freedmen were honoured as kings. In 62, he returned to Italy.

The situation here was far from tranquil. In 64 B. C., Cicero was elected consul. His rival Catiline (Lucius Sergius Catilina), who was defeated at the polls and had earlier been suspected of underhand dealings, organised a conspiracy to overthrow the existing system, in which extremely diverse strata of the population were involved including both nobles and plebeians who demanded cancellation of debts.

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The conspiracy was joined by the enslaved peasants of Etruria, who organised armed groups com¬ manded by a certain Gaius Manlius. Some of Cati¬ line’s adherents also appealed to the urban slaves, who had small shops and workshops as their peculia or did odd jobs as hired hands with their masters’ permission, coming in close contact with free ple¬ beians, taking part in the colleges, and supporting the plebs at rallies.

Some antique authors believed, apparently with certain justification, that Catiline was backed by Crassus, an enemy of the Senate, and Caesar. Cicero knew about the conspiracy, but he had no sufficient evidence to proceed from speeches against Catiline to more decisive action. Finally a letter from some Catilinarians to the ambassadors of the Allobrogi who were at that time in Rome, calling on them to rise in revolt, fell into his hands. That was proof of high treason, and Cicero ordered the arrest of some Catilinarians. Catiline himself joined Manlius. The conspirators were tried in the Senate; despite Cae¬ sar’s protest, they were sentenced to death and stran¬ gled in gaol. Catiline himself fell Fighting the troops sent against Manlius. Cicero posed as the country’s saviour, singing his own praises.

What we know of Catiline comes from the writ¬ ings of his two worst enemies. Cicero described him in his speeches as an instigator of all rebellious ele¬ ments and enemies of law and order, ready to des¬ troy Rome to avoid paying their debts. The histo¬ rian Sallust saw Catiline as a typical representative 5 of corrupt and vice-ridden nobility, ambitious, self- f seeking, and shameless. It is therefore difficult to draw a true picture of Catiline and of his movement.

In any case, he undoubtedly had a following among ? certain sections of the plebs, and his failure was an =• indication of the latter’s weakness. The plebs was "S, even unable to counteract the dissolution of colleges ? ordered by the Senate. On the other hand, the | Senate’s ability for resistance also weakened. When = Pompey’s demand for land allotments for his JT veterans was rejected, and his desire to run for the office of consul thwarted, Pompey formed an ; alliance with Crassus and Caesar, who had just 9 returned from Spain, where he had been propraetor. £

That agreement was later termed the First Trium- ^ virate. It united the army, represented by Pompey, ^ big businessmen close to Crassus, and the populares §’ who recognised Caesar as their leader-all of them ?

opposed to the Senate. The triumvirs ensured the election of Caesar as consul for the year 59. Despite the Senate’s opposition headed by Marcus Cato, greatgrandson of Cato the Censor, Caesar promul¬ gated the law granting land allotments for Pompey’s veterans from the remaining public lands. At the end of Caesar’s consulship, he was made governor of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyria and granted the right to recruit two legions.

By that time Caesar must have realised that only the army could be a real power base of a political leader, not the badly organised plebs. The move¬ ment of Clodius, elected popular tribune for the year 58, was an even more striking indication of the plebs’s weakness than Catiline’s failure. Clodius began his career by inciting Lucullus’s troops to mutiny; he then returned to Rome, where he joined Caesar’s party and gained notoriety by wearing women’s clothes to steal into Caesar’s house for an assignation with his wife during the festivities of the Bona Dea, at which no men could be present. Caught in the act, he was tried for sacrilege. Cicero spoke against him, but the judges, bribed by Crassus, acquitted him. Caesar, who appeared as a witness, spoke in favour of Clodius, and when the latter decided to become a tribune of the people, Caesar arranged his transfer from the patrician to the plebeian order, and Clodius was elected for the office. In the words of Cicero, Clodius acted as a demagogue and a candidate for tyranny. Restoring plebeian colleges which served the cult of the Lares and had been banned by the Senate, he recruited to these colleges masses of plebeians, freedmen and slaves, who terrorised the optimates and even Pompey himself. With their help, Clodius burnt down the temple of the Nymphs where the census archives were kept; he intended to make the slaves of the king of Cyprus, who had just bequeathed his kingdom to Rome, freedmen, and even to free all slaves, follow¬ ing the example of tyrants. Clodius promulgated a new lex frumentaria, according to which 300,000 ple¬ beians could receive grain free, and forced the banishment of Cicero, blaming him for the illegal execution of the Catilinarians, who had been deprived of the chance to appeal to the people. Cicero’s property was confiscated, his house de¬ stroyed, and on its site the temple of Freedom was erected. The optimates, frightened by all these events, surrounded themselves by bodyguards, buying glad-

299

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iators for that purpose. Elections of magistrates were to surpass one another in the splendour of the specta-

often disrupted. cles they put on, so that the spectators learnt to

In practical terms, however, Clodius did not expect more and more expensive amusements. Next achieve much, although, as a populans, he went to comedies and tragedies, mimes, or amusing short much further than Caesar had believed necessary. plays, appeared. Publilius Syrus, a freedman, was Gradually Clodius retired from public life, and in 52 famous as an author of mimes, and his sayings B. C. he was killed by the slaves of Milo, his fierce became popular proverbs (sententiae). enemy. The plebs, divided into rural and urban, There were quite a few authors (often slaves and

with further subdivisions within the urban plebs, freedmen) who wrote works on history, linguistics,

which included both indigent citizens and owners of and literary criticism. Greek and Latin books were shops and workshops concerned that they might lose in great demand. The thirst for education became their property during disturbances, could no longer universal. In the view of Vitruvius, an author of a justify the hopes that populates like Sallust set on it. It treatise on architecture, an architect must be con- could only become a force again when organised as versant not only with construction engineering but an army. All these events and class shifts in society also with medicine, astronomy, philosophy, and radically changed the nature of Rome as a civic mythology. In Varro’s words, an estate owner and community. Rome was on the eve of major political his manager must know something of agronomy, and social changes. Certain developments that had medicine, veterinary matters, and astronomy. Varro begun to show in the 2nd century B.C., now stood himself was a scholar of wide-ranging interests-he out clearly in all the spheres of culture and everyday wrote on agriculture, Latin, the history of Roman life. cults and religious institutions, and many other sub-

Magnificent public and private edifices were jects. Another outstanding thinker was Lucretius

built. Having learnt the dome technique, the Carus, author of the famous poem De rerum natura

Romans could increase considerably the size of their written in the spirit of Epicureanism. Aspiring to

buildings. After the invention of concrete made from conquer man’s fear of the gods and the destiny of the lava, it became possible to paint large frescoes on soul after life, he formulated a natural explanation of walls, with outsize figures and landscapes. The villas the origin of the universe, the earth, plants, animals, and city residences of the aristocracy were sur- and the history of human society, an explanation rounded with gardens, and specially trained slaves that did not envisage any intervention from the gods became gardeners, a privileged group among house- and was entirely based on the theory of combination hold servants. Multistorey buildings were also and separation of eternally moving atoms. Society,

erected, where rooms were let to the poor that in his view, did not evolve at the will of the gods but

flocked to Rome, at a great profit for the landlords. owing to men’s observations of nature and a reason-

Roman sculptors followed Greek patterns, but they able idea of the good of all recorded in customs and

evolved a style of their own in portrait sculpture. laws which could change along with changes in the Unlike the Greeks, who often prettified the originals, conception of the good of all. the Romans did their best to achieve an exact por- The endless misfortunes brought by external and

trayal of the subject’s appearance and character. civil wars made men look for consolation and guid- Cicero, and later Horace in his Ars poetica, worked ance to teachings concerned with the question of out a theory of realistic art of which the principal how one could live when all the customary norms tasks were the study and representation of real life in I and concepts disintegrated and the evil reigning in all its diversity and precise deliniation of character, 5 the world raised doubts about divine and human habits and views of persons of different age and s justice. Various answers were offered, based on the status. They condemned deviations from the truth of 2, theories of diverse Greek philosophical sch&ols that life and opposed any embellishment of it. Cicero | had numerous adherents in Rome. Epicureans believed that even in architecture, ornaments with- g, advised to “live inconspicuously”, to avoid political out a purpose might appear pleasing at first but soon | strife, to be content with a circle of friends and men began to pall, like an excessively sweet dish. At the ^ of similar views, and to be moderate, lest excesses same time magistrates, in a bid for popularity, tried | should lead to suffering. Stoics believed that man

300

could be happy if he valued, above all other things, view. The main theme of the work of Catullus, one

virtue prompted by nature itself, did his duty by of the best Roman poets, was his love, happy at first

society, and set little store by the external circum- and miserable later, for P. Clodius’s sister, a well-

stances -wealth, status, honours, freedom and even known “society lioness” whom he called Lesbia. The

life itself. Pythagoreanism again became wide- world that surrounded him was largely eclipsed by

spread; its exponent in Rome at that time was Pub- the joys and sufferings of love which he described

lius Nigidius Figulus, famous for his learning. As- with extraordinary force.

trologv, philosophically substantiated by Marcus The development of individualism also manifested

Manilius, became extremely popular everyone itself in an acute interest for the lives of outstanding

believed in it, beginning with slaves, who turned to persons. Prominent political leaders, such as Sulla,

fortune-tellers infesting the Forum, and ending with Cicero and Caesar, wrote memoirs in which they

Marius, Sulla, or Pompey, who constantly resorted justified their actions (only Caesar’s Commentaries on

to astrologers’ advice. the Gallic and Civil wars have survived). Catiline’s

There was a revival of interest in various prophe- conspiracy and the war with Jugurtha were the

cies, such as the Etruscan tradition about a periodi- themes of Sallust’s works.

cally repeated sequence of ages and the imminent Cicero did a great deal for the development of cul-

comingof a new “Golden Age”. Returning from the ture of his times. His speeches, letters to his friends,

East, soldiers brought to Rome the cults of Egyptian later published, and other works are the principal

and Asian gods. Despite interdictions these cults source of our knowledge of the history, culture and

found great numbers of followers. The Dionysus cult ideology of those turbulent years,

and his mysteries were again revived. Many Romans Returning in 54 from exile as something of a hero,

in Greece were initiated in the Eleusinian and he began a vigorous literary activity. He wrote

Samothracian mysteries. several historico-philosophical treatises-the De

At the same time, neglect for the traditional republica, De Legibus- expounding his views of the

Roman religion grew among the upper classes. best possible state structure and of laws that must

Cicero’s treatise De divinatione mocked all the tradi- underly it. In his philosophical treatises, he also tried

tional ways of divining the will of the gods, and his to establish links between philosophy and a political

treatise De natura deorum (On the Nature of the Gods ) programme for the renovation of the republic, call-

expressed the view that religion and its institutions ing for the unification and harmony between all the

were obligatory for the common people, but believ- “good” people, that is, people loyal to the existing

ing or not believing in the gods was a matter of pri- p system; at the same time Cicero created the image of vate preference. Varroheld a similar opinion, divid- % a certain “ideal man” (whose prototype he saw in ing religion into that of the poets, who invented all g. Scipios, particularly Scipio Aemilianus, who had kinds of absurd myths, the religion of the philoso- __ fought against the Gracchi), a princeps capable of phers and religion obligatory for all citizens and ? heading the republic and establishing order in it in established by the society they lived in. Family mo- §■ the common interest in actual fact, in the intersts of rality, formerly so rigorous, declined. Divorces A the optimates. He saw no contradiction between abso- became more frequent. Sons were in fact less and less * lute personal power and the republic, which he dependent on fathers and had property of their own. | defined as the “property of the people”, in accor- Rich aristocratic women lived a life of ease and free- s dance with the traditional Roman views. Any form dom, indulging in numerous love affairs. JT of government-monarchy, aristocracy, democra-

All this was evidence of basic changes in the tradi- s cy was beneficial for the republic, provided they tional ideology of the civic community, and of the S functioned in the common interest and did not vio- development of individualism. Significant in this res- ^ late law and justice. Only the perverted forms of pect was the activity of the so-called Neoteroi (“new I government-tyranny, oligarchy and ochlocracy poets”), to which the poet Catullus belonged. Fol- A (the power of the mob) were pernicious for the lowing Hellenistic models, the Neoteroi wrote ’ republic, Cicero believed. In this way, he justified elaborate poems on mythological themes and were V ideologically the transition to absolute personal absolutely useless members of society, in Cicero’s power which had been prepared practically by the

301

dictatorship of Sulla, the extraordinary powers of Pompey, and the rule of the triumvirs. Cicero saw such an absolute ruler as an aristocrat of exceptional merits. The plebeians awaited a successor to the people-loving kings who had liberated the people from the power of the Senate. The question was who would become head of the republic. It was clear from the overall situation that the choice would be made in favour of a leader supported by the army and capable of solving the acute problems of every¬ day life.

Pompey, whose links with the Senate again became closer, particularly after Crassus fell in the war with Parthia, was a possible candidate for dicta¬ torship. But it was precisely these links with the Senate that undermined Pompey’s popularity. Besides, he did not have the qualities necessary for a decisive break with the past. Caesar’s role at that time kept growing. He had the reputation of a popu- laris and great charisma, as even his enemy Cicero admitted, but his most important assets were his dip¬ lomatic and military talents that had brought him the victories in Gaul. It had taken 200 years to sub¬ due Spain, and 10, to conquer Gaul. Caesar began the war on the plea of liberating the Gauls from the forces of the German chieftain Ariovistus who had invaded their lands, although in his Commentaries on the Gallic War (De hello Gallico) Caesar recorded these words Ariovistus is supposed to have said during their conversation: whoever conquered anyone without declaring that he was bringing freedom? This fairly cynical idea was apparently Caesar’s own. Skilfully playing on the contradictions between various tribes and between tribal aristocracy and the people, suppressing any resistance to the Roman army, crossing the Rhine twice and moving on to Britain then unknown to the Romans (which pro¬ duced a great impression in Rome), he turned Gaul into a province and won a great booty and a million prisoners of war. Besides, Caesar’s gifts as military leader, his concern for the needs of his soldiers, with whom he shared all the hardships of the campaigns, and his talent for oratory, helped him to build a well-trained, disciplined and loyal army. He also won the favour of the Gallic aristocracy, granting it Roman citizenship, privileges and lands, and admit¬ ting its members to his army. When the Arverni tribe rose against Caesar at the end of the war, led by its king Vercingetorix, who tried to unite all Gaul

in a war against the Romans, the aristocracy of the other tribes did not support him, and Caesar, despite the rebels’ superior numbers and several victories, was able to suppress the uprising, seizing the fortress of Alesia in which Vercingetorix took refuge.

In the eyes of the Romans, Caesar was not only a conqueror of a vast new territory but also an avenger of Rome’s humiliation during the Gallic invasion of 390 B. C. True, the Senate, headed by extreme opti- mates like Cato, was disgruntled at Caesar’s rise to eminence, and it demanded that his army should be disbanded, threatening to withdraw permission to run for the office of consul. When the popular trib¬ une Mark Antony imposed a veto on that demand, the Senate disregarded it, and Antony fled to Cae¬ sar. The Senate now set all its hopes on Pompey, appointed “consul without a college”. The war became inevitable. On January 10, 49 B. C., Caesar, under the plea of defending the rights of the tribunes of the people, crossed the river Rubicon separating Cisalpine Gaul from Italy. One after another, Italic cities went over to Caesar’s side. It was rumoured that on seizing power Pompey intended to announce proscriptions, as Sulla had done. Even Pompey’s troops stationed in Italy joined Caesar. Pompey had no other choice but to flee. He went to Greece, accompanied by numerous optimates, including Cicero, who wrote to his friend Pomponius Atticus that, although he had no special liking for the Pom¬ peians, he followed the optimates out of habit, as an ox will follow oxen and sheep will follow sheep.

The civil war also spread through the provinces- Spain, Greece, and Africa. Pompey was supported by the local aristocracy loyal to the Senate, and Cae¬ sar, by urban landowners opposed to the aristocracy and the power of the Senate. Almost everywhere the cities went over to Caesar, who granted Roman citi¬ zenship to his adherents, sometimes to whole cities (e. g., Gades). It was the army’s loyalty and the alliance with the urban population that ensured S Caesar’s victory.

5 On occupying Italy, Caesar went over to Spain, y where some of Pompey’s troops were stationed. ^ Defeating them near the city of Ilerda, Caesar | moved to Greece, where Pompey’s main forces were gj concentrated. Caesar lost the Grst battle near Dyr- | rhachium in Epirus, but in the second battle, at s Pharsalus in Thessaly, Pompey was routed and fled | to Egypt, where he was killed on orders from king

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Ptolemy XI Dionysus, who feared Caesar’s anger. tent with half-measures. This antagonised many of

Following Pompey to Egypt, Caesar interfered in his followers but did not win him the favour of the

the dynastic strife there and, after a rather difficult Senate, although he included 600 new members in

campaign that was later called the Alexandrian it-military men with a fine war record, municipal

War, handed over the throne of Egypt to queen aristocrats and even provincials. All this seemed to

Cleopatra, who had become his mistress. the nobility an unheard-of violation of all norms and

After a speedy victory over Pharnaces, king of traditions. There were long delays in providing Pontus (the famous report to the Senate, Vent, vidi, veterans with land allotments. Only a few colonies,

via, referred to that victory), Caesar returned for a Carthage and Corinth among them, were founded

while to Rome and then departed for Africa, where for the poor. The plebs was disgruntled at the reduc-

the Pompeians had gathered significant forces and tion of grain dole and the new ban on colleges. A

concluded an alliance with Juba, king of Numidia. certain reduction of the plebs’s debts to usurers’ and

But here too the cities went over to Caesar’s side, landlords brought unified relief. Caesar’s measures

and the Pompeians’ position became hopeless. In the to extend the social basis of Roman domination in

battle of Thapsus they were defeated; Juba was the provinces were more consistent. Cisalpine Gaul

killed, and his kingdom, was made a province. Utica was granted Roman citizenship and ceased to be

was the Pompeians’ last stronghold. Here, Cato the regarded as a province. A special municipal law un-

Younger established his headquarters, but the Cae- ified the administrative system of colonies and muni-

sarean party gained the upper hand there too. Cato cipia, which now reproduced the structure of the

committed suicide and was later named Uticensis; Roman civic community. The popular assembly

his name became a symbol of a hero who would die elected magistrates out of those who had the neces-

rather than outlive freedom. The last and, as Caesar sary property qualification (apparently 200,000 ses-

himself admitted, the most difficult campaign of the terces); they made up the municipal council and

civil war was the second campaign in Spain against were called decurions. The city was given a territory

Pompey’s sons, Gnaeus and Sextus, who had gath- divided into private allotments and public lands,

ered considerable forces. In 45 B. C., the war ended The latter, just as the city’s treasury, were managed

with Caesar’s victory near the city of Munda. by the magistrates, who pledged their property as

Gnaeus was killed soon after, but Sextus escaped. they swore to manage the affairs conscientiously.

Caesar became an absolute ruler of the Roman Public lands, workshops, belonging to the city, and

state. He was granted an unlimited dictatorship and contracts to various projects were leased. It was the

tribunitian powers for life. He was named Impera- £ decurions’ duty to see to the correct performance of tor-a title usually conferred on a victorious general | the city gods’ rites, to the conduct of festivals and by troops on the battlefield, and was also granted the 5 spectacles, regular supplies of foodstuffs for the city, title of “father of the country”. Without consulting H the administration of justice, and census-taking on anyone, he could decide the issues of war and peace, ^ the city’s territory. In this way, a stratum of urban propose candidates for the magistracies, and look S' land- and slave-owners, bearers of Roman policy after the society’s morals. His insignia were a purple ^ and Roman culture, evolved; later, the decurions toga, a laurel wreath and a seat ornamented with ? became the third privileged order, next to the sena- ivory and gold. In May 45, his statue was erected in 1 tors and the equites, but during Caesar’s dictator- the temple of Quirinus in Rome. a ship that order was merely taking shape and could

But Caesar, who had exercised such talent, resolu- .J not be a great help to him. tion and even cruelty on his way to power, was un- s' The nobility took advantage of Caesar’s half-and- able to make use of it when it was in his hands. He j half policies. Rumours were circulated about his in- forgave Cicero, who returned to Rome, outwardly p tention to become a king, after the model of Hel- submissive but in actual fact full of hatred for Cae- 5 lenistic monarchs, and to move the capital to sar. “We are all Caesar’s slaves,” he wrote, “and ° Alexandria. His liaison with Cleopatra was con- Caesar is a slave of the circumstances.” Caesar for- ; demned. He was called a tyrant who had strangled gave Pompeian nobles, made them members of his ? freedom. The people recalled Brutus of the ancient retinue, and rejected the idea of proscriptions, con- ? times and appealed to his descendant Junius Brutus,

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a friend of Cicero and a particular favourite of Cae- and given the provinces of Crete and Cyrenaica.

sar. Brutus, who hesitated at first, was involved in Sextus Pompey would be allowed to return to Italy

the conspiracy against Caesar headed by Cassius, a and to assume possession of his father’s property.

Pompeian forgiven by Caesar-a strong-willed and Dictatorship would be banned for all time to come,

vigorous man who had made a reputation for him- When Antony pressed the law on the handing

self during the war with Parthia. The conspirators over of Gaul to him, his relations with the Senate

were in a hurry to finish off Caesar, since the latter, deteriorated again. Cicero was especially fierce in his

sensing the weakness of his position, intended to denunciations of Antony. He made 14 speeches

leave Rome for the war with Parthia. He may have (which he called Philippics) purporting to prove

known of the conspiracy and believed death at the that Antony was a drunkard and libertine and that,

hands of the conspirators to be the best way out of like Caesar, he would consolidate his positions in

the situation. When asked what sort of death he pre- Gaul and then seize power. Cicero called on all the

ferred, he is said to have replied, “A sudden one”. In “best people” to unite against the new tyrant,

any case, on the day appointed by the conspirators During this conflict, which was daily growing

for his assassination, March 15, 44 B. C., he went to more fierce, Octavian, Caesar’s grand-nephew,

the Senate despite advice on all sides not to do so, adopted son (under the name of Gaius Julius Caesar

and was killed there. Octavian) and appointed heir, became a major

I his act of terrorism could not, however, save the force. Together with his friend Agrippa, 18-year-old

republic of the nobility. The conspirators believed Octavian was studying military art in the city of

that, when they announced the tyrant’s death and Apollonia in Epirus when he received news of the

the restoration of freedom, the grateful people would events in Rome. The youth’s mother and stepfather

declare them their saviours and throw the body of advised him not to go to Rome and not to interfere

assassinated Caesar into the Tiber. But for Caesar’s in the whirlwind events. But the soldiers of Caesar

veterans and for the people Caesar remained, des- and Agrippa stationed in Apollonia urged him to try

pite the inconsistency of his policy, a victorious his strength and to accept Caesar’s inheritance,

emperor, leader of the populates, a hero who fell at According to legend, a famous astrologer offered to

the hands of the Senate, like Servius Tullius. VV'hen tell the fortunes of Octavian and Agrippa. Aerippa’s

consul Mark Antony announced in his speech at the career appeared so brilliant that proud Octavian

funeral that Caesar had bequeathed 300 sesterces to refused to have his fortune told, for fear of being

each plebeian, and his rich gardens beyond the eclipsed by his friend. But when the astrologer drew

Tiber, to the whole of the people, the people’s indig- up his horoscope, after all, he went down on his

nation flared up with even greater force. The people knees before the youth who was destined, he said, to

started to sack the houses of optimates, and on the site become the ruler of the world. However that may

of Caesar’s funeral pyre sacrifices were made to him have been, Octavian arrived in Italy, where Cae-

as if he were god. It was believed that the comet sar’s veterans and rich freedmen thronged to his

which appeared in those days was Caesar’s soul that house inciting him to revenge. In Rome, Octavian

had ascended to heaven. The frightened optimates did went to Antony demanding Caesar’s treasury, that

not dare to appear in public, and the conspirators he might fulfil his father’s will. Antony rudely re¬ took refuge on the Capitoline. In the end, they plied that Caesar’s treasury was empty, and that

decided to settle the matter with Antony, who had ^ Octavian had only Antony to thank that he was not had time to take possession of Caesar’s treasury and - now the son of a disgraced tyrant. Octavian then papers (which enabled him to cite Caesar’s yet un- 5 began to play a game that was remarkably subtle for published instructions). At a session of the Senate at ^ someone of his age. On the one hand, he ingratiated which Cicero was present, a compromise was - himself with Cicero, calling him father and asking reached: Antony and his colleague Dolabella would ? his advice. Realising that Caesar’s son could be a restore order in the city; Caesar would not be de- gj great asset to the opposition to Antony, and taking dared a tyrant, and his orders would remain valid, | Octavian’s modesty for a sign of mediocrity, he but his assassins would not be punished either- ^ began praising Octavian everywhere as someone Brutus and Cassius would be sent off from Rome g sent by Jupiter himself to save Rome from Antony’s

304

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tyranny. On the other hand, in conferences with his followers Octavian said that his relations with Cicero were no more than a ruse to which he had to resort in view of.Antony’s behaviour, and that he would avenge Caesar’s death as soon as he felt strong enough. He used the money he received from the Senate through Cicero’s mediation to seduce Antony’s soldiers with higher salaries.

At the end of 44 B. C., Antony went to Gaul. The Senate sent an army against him, which was joined by the troops recruited by Octavian. Antony was defeated in the battle of Mutina. The Senate then decided that it could now do without Octavian, and refused him the consulship it had earlier promised. Octavian then joined forces with Antony and Aemi- lius Lepidus, a Caesarean and governor of Gallia Narbonensis-allegedly at the insistence of the troops that grieved over discord among men who were closest to Caesar. The Second Triumvirate was concluded before the assembled troops. Rome was taken without much difficulty by the Caesarean army. Octavian was elected consul, and the popular assembly granted the triumvirs extraordinary powers to restore the republic. The amnesty to Cae¬ sar’s assassins, who were gathering armed forces and money in the eastern provinces, was cancelled, and it was decided to declare war on them. To punish Caesar’s assassins and their adherents, proscriptions were drawn up in which, at Antony’s insistence, Cicero was included among the first; he was soon killed by a centurion who recognized him. Distribu¬ tion of land among the veterans began. Eighteen cities of Italy were deprived of land, implements, and slaves in favour of the new owners. Optimates’ lands were confiscated. During the proscriptions, 300 senators, 2,000 equites and many other people died. That period remained in the memory of the Romans as a time of terror and chaos. Wives in¬ formed on their husbands, and children, on their fathers, slaves, on their masters, to get the reward or simply for revenge. The troops committed numerous outrages. Citizens cursed the “ungodly soldiers” that had deprived them of their lands and other property.

The situation in the eastern provinces, where Brutus and Cassius exacted money and men from the population, was no better. Both sides declared, however, that they were fighting for freedom (as the historian Appian remarked, the word “freedom”

was always attractive and always empty). The war ended in a defeat for Brutus and Cassius, who com¬ mitted suicide.

Antony, the victor in the battle of Philippi, went east to settle the problems there. Lepidus was soon pushed into the background; Octavian, who received the western provinces, remained in Italy. Sextus Pompeius established himself in Sicily, where he recruited into his army the optimates and slaves that fled to him. His strong navy interfered with the transportation of grain supplies to Italy. The Parth- ians, taking advantage of Rome’s weakness, seized Syria. It took Ventidius Bassus a great effort to drive away the Parthians in 39 B.C. In 36, Agrippa eli¬ minated the threat from Sextus Pompeius, whose freedman Menas went over to Octavian, surrender¬ ing the fleet which he commanded. Octavian prom¬ ised to respect the freedom of the slaves that had fought on Sextus Pompeius’s side, but later sent them to different provinces and secretly ordered the governors of these provinces to disarm and seize them on the same day. Thirty thousand slaves were returned to their owners, and when it was impossible to establish who the slave’s master was, the slave was executed. That act marked the beginning of Octa- vian’s reconciliation with the propertied classes. He then stopped the proscriptions and, to consolidate his links with the senatorial aristocracy, he married Livia, the divorced wife of Tiberius Claudius Nero, an enemy of the triumvirs. Octavian and his retinue ~ began to encourage the prophecies, that were cur- "2 rent among the people, that the age of terrible mis- - fortunes and disturbances would soon come to an ^ end and a new Golden Age would arrive, owing to Octavian’s deserts-an age of plenty, happiness and ? peace. His popularity grew, and all the inhabitants of Italy pledged allegiance to him.

But the pacification could not be complete as long j as Antony remained ruler in the east. He became in-

3 volved with Cleopatra, changed the rulers of vassal

4 kingdoms at his will, and made gifts of land to his ' children by Cleopatra. Antony’s abuses of power

5 were played up by Octavian and his followers. Rumours were spread about Cleopatra’s intention to

e become queen of Rome, about Antony being tied to ^ her apron strings, etc.

War between Octavian and Antony became in- •f evitable. It began in 32 B. C. and ended in a defeat ~ of Antony and Cleopatra’s fleet in September 31 in

305

20-344

the battle of Cape Actium in western Greece. Antony and Cleopatra sailed for Egypt, while Antony’s troops, after waiting for him for several days on the sea coast, went over to Octavian, who promised to reward them as his own soldiers. In 30 B. C., Octavian arrived in Egypt and seized it with¬ out difficulty, making it a province subordinated to him. Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide.

Octavian became absolute ruler of the empire. The vast Egyptian booty enabled him to buy rather than take by force lands for his veterans. Some 300,000 received land allotments. Virtually all lands in Italy were redivided. Octavian’s commanders and retinue received estates of several hundred jugera. In this way, large-scale estates, or latifundia, emerged. Medium- and small-scale holdings, based on the labour of slaves who were again beaten into submission, also grew stronger. The supreme right of disposing of land passed on to the head of the state, and land owners no longer feared new agrarian laws adopted by the plebs. Their ownership of land became just as solid as a master’s ownership of his slaves. It was at that time that a new legal term, dominium (from dominus “master”), appeared.

Octavian now decided on a switch from the policy of terror to that of clemency (later called “satiated cruelty” by the philosopher Seneca). Thus a new period in the history of Rome began-the period of absolute rule or empire. Modern scholars have often discussed the question of whether this transition was a revolution. Some historians believe that the events that then happened can be regarded as signs of a revolution, while others object on the grounds that Roman society did not change its structure, remain¬ ing a slave-owning one. The Soviet researcher S. L. Utchenko pointed out that revolutions have occurred that did not involve a radical change of the dominant mode of production (e. g., the 1848 revo¬ lution in France) but did bring about considerable changes in the structure of the ruling class, in the political system and general trend of policy. The establishment of the empire was a victory for the class of municipal land- and slave-owners, and in part of the provinces, over the upper stratum of the landed aristocracy, as later policy of Octavian and his successors showed. From this viewpoint, the tran¬ sition to empire can be described, in a sense, as a revolution.

Chapter 17 The Roman Empire

Augustus's Principate. Octavian became an undis¬ puted master of what was in fact an empire. Then, in 27 B. C., he solemnly resigned his extraordinary powers and handed them back to the Senate and the people. He always insisted (particularly in a list of his services to the people) that the only things that distinguished him from other magistrates were his great moral authority (auctoritas) and the fact that he came first in the lists of the Senate. Hence his official title of princeps and the name “principate” for this system of power. In actual fact Octavian wielded absolute power-he was Imperator, i. e., supreme commander, for life; each year he was granted tri- bunicia potestas, i. e., the powers of a tribune of the plebs; he had the right to propose candidates for the magistracies (he himself stood for and received con¬ sulship many times); and he had control of the trea¬ sury. The Senate voted him the cognomen “Augustus” (“exalted”, “sacred”), which lent his power a sacral character. Since Caesar had been dei¬ fied already at the time of the triumvirs and a temple had been built for him, Augustus was also son of the god, which was part of his titulature: Imperator Caesar Augustus divifilius “Emperor Caesar Augustus, son of the god”. In the Eastern provinces, shrines were built to him as they had been to Hellenistic kings. Towards the end of his life, altars were erected to him in Italy as well; the priests of his cult were called “augustals”. Even before that, anniversaries of his victories, his own birthday and those of his relatives were marked in some cities by prayers to the gods and to Augustus himself. After the death of Lepidus, the triumvir who had been elected chief pontiff, Augustus assumed that dignity as well. Thus

Augustus and his successors, who inherited all his titles, wielded absolute civil, military and religious power.

The official view was that the Roman people transferred to Augustus and his successors its “power and majesty”, thus handing over to them the supreme ownership of land and the right to dispose of it, and the power over the provinces which had previously been regarded the “property of the Roman people”. Augustus and his adherents insisted that the republic had been restored. In those times, the Romans associated the republic with any form of government that upheld justice and benefited all. Augustus’s rule was perceived as the end of the triumvirs’ extraordinary powers and a restoration of the traditional system of government, although in actual fact the latter had undergone a radical change. The people who had embodied their power in the personality of the princeps formally remained sovereign, but everything that they had formerly owed to the civic community they now owed to the princeps. Augustus appointed many of his ardent followers members of the Senate, and it was now completely subordinated to him, although it was outwardly respected as the supreme organ of govern¬ ment (in actual fact, only unimportant issues were submitted to the Senate for discussion) and senators remained the highest privileged order of the Roman state. Various newly created offices were filled with equites; in particular, Egypt was governed by an equestrian prefect. Cicero’s programme of uniting all the orders “for the benefit of all” was to all appearances implemented.

Augustus was a born statesman. Avoiding any dis-

307

play of power that might be construed as an insult to the Roman traditions and stressing, on the contrary, his modesty, moderation, and devotion to the ancient cults and customs, he skilfully used his power for the solution (however temporary) of the most pressing issues, in the first place for the setting up of a strong state apparatus. He organised the picked Italian-born troops in nine praetorian cohorts com¬ manded by an equestrian prefect; these were the Guards, stationed in Rome and around it and in¬ tended to maintain public security. Praetorians served only 16 years, not 20, as all the other legionaries; they received higher pay and were often appointed centurions in the Roman legions. All this ensured their loyalty to the emperor. Besides, he set up three city police cohorts under the prefect of Rome whose duty it was to keep slaves and the plebs in check, and watchmen’s cohorts for putting out fires and maintaining order at night. These units were sufficiently effective instruments of enforcing Augustus’s laws against mutiny, preventing the arm¬ ing of freemen and slaves as a preliminary to rebel¬ lions. After the provision of land for the veterans, the army was reduced to 25 legions consisting entirely of Roman citizens, which were stationed, together with the provincial units (infantry cohorts and cavalry alae) attached to them, along the empire’s frontiers or in insufficiently pacified provinces. Legion com¬ manders of senatorial rank, who were simul¬ taneously provincial governors, were directly res¬ ponsible to Augustus. The “peaceful” provinces, in which no troops were stationed, were formally under Senate administration, although Augustus actually controlled these, too. The prefects of the auxiliary units were of equestrian rank, but ordinary soldiers also had a chance of promotion, even to the rank of centurion, and centurions who won special distinc¬ tion could be admitted to the equestrian order. Upon discharge, veterans received a grant of land and were exempt from taxes. In this way, men who were formerly branded as “ungodly soldiers” were tamed and made the basis of firm authority and order.

Although the popular assemblies in Rome lost in fact any significance whatever and were later discon¬ tinued entirely, Augustus, who had begun his career as Caesar’s successor in the role of the leader of the populares, thought it expedient to win the favour of the plebs not only through largesses and spectacles

(of which the Secular Games were particularly splendid) but also through certain laws. The lex Pete- lia was revived, according to which an insolvent debtor had to give up his property to the creditor but remained free and retained possession of any¬ thing he might gain later. Permission was granted again to organise in Rome and other cities colleges of the Lares consisting of freemen, freedmen and slaves, with the proviso that they would also practise the cult of the genius of Augustus. In this way Augustus wanted to ensure the support and loyalty to the regime among the broad masses. A special permis¬ sion was required, however, each time a cultic or craftsmen’s college was set up; these were called “lit¬ tle men’s” colleges, intended to provide decent bur¬ ial to their members. The organisation of an unau¬ thorised college was equated with armed seizure of a public building. Rigid control was thus imposed upon the plebs.

Augustus willingly promoted landowners from Italic cities to equestrian or even senatorial rank. The things they particularly liked about Augustus was his devotion to the ancient Roman virtues of pietas, aequitas, and dementia inscribed on a gold shield which the Senate presented to the princeps, and to the “customs of the ancestors”, which was re¬ flected, among other things, in his legislation aimed at consolidating the family ties that had grown weaker during the civil wars the strict laws against adultery and privileges for fathers of three children. The opposition of Roman citizens to all non-citizens (the so-called “peregrines”) was also in the spirit of the “customs of the ancestors”. His laws directed against slaves occupy a special place in Augustus’s legislation. The harshest of them was the so-called Silanian senatus consultum according to which, in the event of a master’s violent death, all slaves under the same roof or within call who failed to come to his aid were subject to torture and execution. A person who helped a member of a proscribed family to flee was tried as a murderer, while anyone informing on a runaway received a reward. Realising at the same time that it was dangerous to drive slaves to extremes of discontent, Augustus prosecuted masters who cruelly tortured their slaves, and permitted slaves to seek asylum as the last resort (the Caesar temple had the right of asylum), the case later to be tried by magistrates. Setting an example to other slave-owners, Augustus treated his slaves mildly. He

308

set a policy that was later continued and developed The Augustan age was the time of the flourishing

by his successors: suppression of slaves not only by of Roman culture, of literature in particular. The

the power of the master but also by that of the state, three great poets of that age-Virgil, Horace and

curbing at the same time the slave-owners’ abuses of Ovid-made an enormous impact on their contem-

their rights. In a way, slaves became subjects of the poraries and descendants. Virgil (70-19 B. C.) came

state, not just of their masters. To slow down the from Mantua. During the proscriptions he lost his

growth of the body of proletarian plebeians and to estate but was given another by Augustus and

check the adulteration of their ranks by unreliable became a member of the circle of the most talented

elements, Augustus regulated the manumission of authors under Maecenas, who was close to

slaves, setting the limit to the number of slaves that a Augustus. Virgil published a collection of poems

master could set free (depending on the size of his called the Eclogues , mostly devoted to love among

family), to the age of the master (not less than 20) shepherds and shepherdesses and showing some signs

and of the slave to be released (not less than 30). If a of the influence of Theorcitus’s Idylls. That was

slave had been branded or fettered for some offence, before the battle of Actium, but the poems of that

he received no Roman citizenship upon manumis- book already reflected Virgil’s admiration for Octa-

sion. On the other hand, Augustus forbade the vian as a beneficent divinity. Particularly famous is

enslavement of freedmen and reduced their obliga- the fourth eclogue prophesying the birth of a divine

tions to their former patrons. child destined to introduce a new Golden Age on

Augustus’s policy towards the provinces was of earth. (Despite the numerous attempts of both

great importance. The role of the publicani was signi- Roman and modern commentators to read the rid-

ficantly limited. In some places, the taxes were col- die of this mysterious child, it is still not known

lected, in accordance with the census taken in the whom Virgil meant.) In response to Augustus’s

provinces by Augustus’s agents-slaves or freedmen. desire to restore agriculture ruined by the civil wars,

Assemblies of highly placed provincials received the Virgil later wrote the Georgies, a poem on country

right to complain about the abuses of the governors- life. Advice on agriculture alternated in it with de¬ general, and their complaints were investigated. scriptions of Italian scenery, appeals to the country

Numerous colonies were founded in all the prov- gods, and profound meditations. Particularly inter-

inces. Old cities and individual provincials particu- esting are Virgil’s ideas on the Iron Age of Jupiter

larly loyal to Augustus were given various privileges. succeeding the Golden Age of Saturn. Under

In this way a class was consolidated that was able to Saturn, when nature itself provided everything that

ensure the stability of Roman domination in the pro- men needed, they led a carefree life; but Jupiter

vinces. A lasting peace was yet another factor benefi- decided that they must learn to toil, think and in¬ dent for Italy. vent the crafts and arts that would improve their

True, there were wars and rebellions in the pro- lives. Virgil’s most famous work was his Aeneid, vinces in Augustus’s times. In Spain, the Canta- recounting the wanderings of Aeneas and his son

brians and the Asturians rose; the suppression of lulus, Aeneas’s love for Dido, the queen of Carthage,

that uprising completed the subjugation of the Ibe- his abandonment of her at the orders from Jupiter, rian peninsula. It took a great effort to put down the who intended him to become the founder of Rome,

revolts of the Dalmatians and the Pannonians in Aeneas’s arrival in Italy, his war against the Latins

Illyria. The Romans were completely routed by and the other Italic tribes, his victory and marriage

rebellious Germans in the battle of the Teutoburg to Lavinia, daughter of king Latinus. The high poetic

forest, and they failed to establish their presence on |( quality of the Aeneid, the author’s thorough knowl- German territory beyond the Elbe. 5 edge of ancient traditions, beliefs and rites, as well

However, compared to the external and especially ^ as of the philosophical theories of the origin of the

civil wars of the past, all these were relatively minor ? universe, ensured its unprecedented success among

episodes, and Augustus proudly stated that with his * the poet’s contemporaries and later generations. But

rule the Golden Age of peace and prosperity came. 1 the main point of the poem was the merging of the

Augustus had numerous admirers who enjoyed his j*> “Roman myth” with the nascent “Augustan myth”,

patronage. f- With the aid of the Cumaean sybil, Aeneas descends

309

to the underworld to question his father Anchises and that the gods should grant Rome and Augustus wet e

about the future. Anchises reveals to him his own eternal happiness. num ,

destiny and that of Rome, which would be founded Ovid (43 B. C.-A. D. 17) was a younger contem- ■ publ

by Aeneas’s descendants and would rule all the peo- porary of Virgil and Horace. He won fame through I

pies, merciful to the obedient and harsh on the recal- his love poems and the Metamorphoses , a long poem I 3 ^

citrant. Anchises shows to Aeneas the souls of on the transfiguration of men into animals and I f unc

Roman kings and heroes awaiting incarnation, in- plants ending with the transformation of deified I A

eluding Augustus, the greatest descendant of lulus Caesar into a star. Ovid’s Art of Love, with its instruc- ou j

who will carry out and complete Rome’s mission. tions for courtship, seduction and strengthening the

Virgil died before he could accomplish the Aeneid, ties of love, incurred the displeasure of Augustus who

but even in this unfinished form it became the most saw it as a mockery of his marriage laws, but the ercc

popular work in Roman literature. young nobles, who found those laws very irksome,

Horace (65-8 B. C.) came from the family of a liked the poem very much. Augustus banished Ovid out(

freedman of modest means who managed to provide to the town of Tomis on the Black Sea. From Tomis,

an excellent education for his son. Having fought at the poet wrote sad epistles to Rome describing his Qj r

Philippi on the side of Brutus and Cassius, he was for hard life among the barbarians and pleading for H timt

a long time in disgrace, but later he was accepted, pardon, which never came. H a q U

through the good offices of Virgil, at Maecenas’s cir- The “Roman myth” was reflected not only in the V

cle and received the gift of a small farm. Horace’s classically perfect Aeneid but also in a history of f Ice i

work is noted for the extreme diversity of the style Rome written by Livy (Titus Livius) of Patavium p ea

and meter of his poems (he himself wrote that (Padua). Little of the History has survived, but even p OI

Romans surpassed in this respect their Greek from the extant text we can form a clear conception p,. a

teachers who had brought the arts to “rural of the authors’ intention to show that the Romans IU

Latium”) as well as of his subjects. Horace was a elevated their small town on the Tiber to the status p l(1

typical representative of his times, his work reflect- of the world’s ruler through their valour, patriotism, ,| 1( .

ing the complexity and contradictions of the spiri- resilience in recovering from their worst defeats, and | l)(1

tual life of that epoch. He sang the praises of the old through worshipping the gods and their patronage. H

times, of simple life in the womb of nature, and the In that same period, Dionysus of Halicarnassus, a \

unsophisticated rural festivals, but at the same time Greek living in Rome, wrote his Roman Antiquities, a , ( |

he acknowledged that he could not live far from the study of the first stages in the history of Rome in ll|s

Rome of Augustus, so different from that of which he endeavoured to show the community of |M |

Romulus, that he suffered whenever Maecenas Roman and Greek cults and institutions. Of the

failed to invite him, and that he craved fame. His great many other literary scholarly works of the

poems were a mixture of Epicurean appeals to enjoy Augustan age only a few have survived, including

the fleeting moments without a thought for the Vitruvius’s treatise On Architecture, Strabo’s Geogra- I ^u

future and of Stoic insistence on harsh virtue. He phy, containing a description of all the countries then I p U

also wrote Satires on the vices and fads of Roman known, the Bibliotheca historica by Diodorus Siculus, H

society. Horace held high the mission of poetry and and some others. The men who surveyed lands

poets, whose duty it was to correct the mores and to assigned to the colonies in Italy and the provinces MU

instruct and entertain the public. Combining talent ^ under Augustus, wrote books on the various methods fol

and erudition, the poet must incessantly toil and 5- of land surveying and measurement, the rules for the un

strive for perfection, for “neither the gods nor the 5 assignment of land to cities, villages dndpagi, and for

people nor booksellers could stand mediocrity” in ~ compiling inventories of private and public lands as

poetry. Just as other poets, Horace adulated - well as for drawing plans of cities marking the boun- su

Augustus, glorifying him as a deity. For the Secular | daries of lands of different categories. Agrippa, be

Games, he wrote a hymn, sung by choirs of youths Augustus’s closest associate and husband of his I wl

and maidens, in honour of Apollo whom Augustus | daughter Julia, took part in drawing the map of the I wj

worshipped particularly, imploring him that there ^ western provinces. Augustus highly valued educated be

should be nothing greater under the sun than Rome, jj persons, who were accepted at his court even if they

310

were freedmen, like Hyginus, the author of Agrippa, his son-in-law, his heir, and after the lat-

numerous works. Augustus was the first to establish a ter’s death, the sons of Agrippa and Julia. But these,

public library in Rome after the Greek model, where too, died before Augustus, and he had to adopt

disputations and public readings of books by their Tiberius, Livia’s son from her first marriage, whom

authors were arranged, apart from the usual library he disliked despite his reputation as a talented mili-

functions. tary leader. At Augustus’s death in 14 A. D. (on his

A great many construction projects were carried deathbed, he is said to have asked certain ex-consuls,

out in Augustus’s time. “I found Rome built of “Have I played my part in the farce of life creditably

bricks; I leave her clothed in marble,” Augustus enough?”, and when they assented, he told them,

boasted -quite justifiably. New temples were “Then send me off with a good clap”), Tiberius

erected, and the Forum was rebuilt. Augustus built became his successor. Augustus was deified, and all

himself a palace on the Palatine Hill. With money strata of society participated in his cult, as they did

out of his own purse, Agrippa raised the Pantheon, a in the cults of the later deified emperors. The office

“temple of all the gods”, which was later made a of a priest of the imperial cult was regarded as the

Christian church and has survived to the present height of a provincial or city politician’s career,

times. It was also Agrippa who built the Roman The beginning of Tiberius’s reign was inauspi-

aqueduct to supply water for the residencies of the cious. The legions stationed on the Danube and the

nobility and the public reservoirs. One of the magni- Rhine mutinied immediately on his accession,

ficent works undertaken at the time was the “altar of demanding land for the veterans and payment of sal-

peace” in honour of August, with splendid reliefs ary arrears. The campaigns of Tiberius’s nephew

portraying the goddess of the Earth, the goddess of Germanicus beyond the Rhine were failures. The

Peace, and various symbols of affluence and prosper- Gauls and later the Numidians rebelled. The revolts

ity. Indeed it might appear to both Romans and were crushed, but the Senate opposition, that had

provincials, who still remembered the misfortunes of not dared to move under Augustus, raised its head,

the civil wars, that Augustus, the beneficent deity, Tiberius was accused of haughtiness and of tram-

brought them peace and happiness for all time to pling freedom. Some senators could not reconcile

come. themselves to the loss of their former privileged posi-

There was, however, a great danger in this mood, tions, particularly in the provinces, or to the fact

a danger that became quite obvious under Augus- that the Roman treasury had ceased to be their

tus’s successors. All the aspirations of society seemed property. Tiberius responded with reprisals, relying

to have been satisfied, all the slogans under which its on the law of lese-majesle. People were now punished

various strata fought became the slogans of the offi- not only for mutiny or treason but also for words and

cial propaganda. The idea of the inevitability of the actions insulting to the princeps. Many senators

existing state of things that might change in detail were executed, and their confiscated property passed

but not in the essentials took root in the minds of the on to the emperor. The greatest atrocities were corn-

public, and that led to the loss of the realisation of mitted by Sejanus, prefect of the praetorians, but he

the collective social goals of the Roman community was later found guilty of conspiracy against the

by its members, to a sense of alienation, estrange- emperor, executed and thrown into the Tiber,

ment and disruption of links between individuals, That was the beginning of the fight, which lasted

followed by a feverish search for the lost integrity, throughout the 1st century A. D., between the sena- unity and harmony. 0 torial opposition and the emperors, first of the Julio-

4 Claudian dynasty of the relatives of Augustus and The Empire in the 1st and 2nd Centuries A. D. All this ' Tiberius, and later of the Flavian dynasty. Our data surfaced under Augustus’s successors, when it N about those times mostly come from the works of became clear that the system Augustus had built, 3 authors who either belonged to the senatorial oppo- whatever its advantages over the senatorial republic, §> sition or lived already in the 2nd century, when the was by no means as perfect as his close associates had 1 new, Antonine dynasty came to power, which broke believed. jp officially with the policies of their predecessors. The

Augustus, who had no sons, wanted to appoint g principal of these authors are the historian Tacitus,

311

Suetonius, the biographer of the first twelve Caesars, characters his closest associates. A conspiracy against

and the trenchant satirist Juvenal. Their positions him, betrayed by a slave, was used as a pretext for

determined, for many centuries to come, the attitude mass reprisals, executions and confiscations. Among

to the emperors and the society of the 1st century. the victims were Seneca, the poet Lucan, known for

The former were portrayed as despots whom abso- his praise of Julius Caesar’s enemies in his poem the

lute power corrupted to the point of madness, while Pharsalia, and Petronius, author of the Satyricon- a

society was described as consisting of servile and picturesque novel describing the adventures of three

adulating senators ready to inform one on the other rascals and a feast given by Trimalchio, a rich, vul-

in order to curry favour with the emperors, only a gar and extremely ignorant freedman, the whole

handful of the senators daring to signify their protest being, according to contemporary report, a parody

by silence. of Nero and his court. The adherents of the “ances-

According to that tradition, Tiberius, a cruel, vile tors’ customs” were particularly outraged by Nero’s

old man, was strangled in A. D. 37 by Macro, pre- passion for poetry, music, and the theatre. Nero

feet of the praetorians, and Gaius Caesar, nick- composed poems and songs, appeared on the stage,

named Caligula, one of the few relatives of Tiberius and went on a tour of Greece to take part in artistic

whom he had not executed, became emperor. That competitions there. The Senate made sacrifices in

bloodthirsty madman put to death many noblemen honour of his “divine voice”, while the people

without any guilt whatever, and was finally assas- applauded Nero’s performance and sang his songs,

sinated (A. D. 41) by Cassius Chaerea, a praetorian In the end, however, the provinces rebelled ruined

tribune who could no longer stand his taunts. The by the high taxes Nero exacted to pay for his amuse-

praetorians proclaimed Claudius, Germanicus’s ments and extensive construction projects, such as

brother, emperor. Tiberius had left Claudius alive the Golden House-a magnificent palace that he

because he had expected no danger from that quiet built for himself, and the rebuilding of Rome almost

crank completely immersed in the study of antiqui- completely destroyed by the fire of A. D. 64 (started

ties. As emperor, he became a plaything in the hands by Nero himself, according to some accounts). To

of his wives (first Messalina, notorious for her profli- stop the unrest caused by these rumours, the fire was

gacy, and then the imperious and ambitious Agrip- blamed on the Christians, then a new sect in Rome,

pina) and of his freedmen, who grew unbelievably who were thereupon subjected to harsh reprisals. In

rich and arrogant. Agrippina induced Claudius to the Christian literature, Nero figured as an impious

adopt Nero, her son from her first marriage with man, a servant of Antichrist or even Antichrist him-

Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, married Nero to self. In 68, Gaul, Spain and Africa rose against Nero.

Claudius’s daughter Octavia and, after some pre- The Roman troops stationed in the provinces allied

paratory work, poisoned Claudius (A.D. 54). The themselves with the local population, proposing

praetorian guard proclaimed Nero, then sixteen, Galba, Otho or Vitellius for emperor. A mass upris-

emperor. At first, under the beneficent influence of ing broke out in Judea even before that, in A.D. 66

the philosopher Seneca, his tutor, he ruled in har- Vespasian, sent to suppress it, was proclaimed

mony with the Senate, but later his vicious nature emperor by his troops. Praetorians also deserted

asserted itself. Intent on marrying the beautiful but Nero. The Senate, taking courage, deposed him;

depraved Poppaea Sabina, he murdered Octavia Nero fled from Rome and ordered a freedman who

and sent assassins to his mother, whose domination ^ had followed him to kill him. he came to resent; but first he poisoned Claudius’s 3. A civil war began between the claimants to the son Britannicus. After the assassination of his 5 throne, each of which ruled for a few months only,

mother, he did not dare to leave his mansion for h The outcome was decided by the army on the

Rome for a long time, fearing that matricide would ^ Danube, which supported Vespasian (in full, Titus

make him odious to the Romans. But when the § Flavius Vespasianus). He took Rome, and the

Senate received him with great honours upon his gs Senate proclaimed him Imperator. His son Titus,

return, he exclaimed, “Before this, no princeps has | relying on the upper classes of Judea, which were

known just how far he might go.” His relations with s frightened by the extreme radical direction of the

the Senate deteriorated. He made all kinds of shady popular masses’ uprising, ended the Judean war

312

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seized Jerusalem, and got hold of immense spoils of war and great numbers of enslaved war captives. Simultaneously, Vespasian’s general, Q. Petillius Cerialis, suppressed an uprising in Gaul headed by Gaius Julius Civilis, chieftain of the Batavians. Roman historians treated Vespasian more favoura¬ bly than Nero or other emperors. Born in the Sabine country near Reate, of a humble family, he began his career in the army, ultimately becoming an experienced general and skilful administrator. Ves¬ pasian admitted Italic citizens to the Senate, and was commended for the modest life-style of these new senators and even of himself which set an exam¬ ple for the Roman aristocracy. But he, too, had to cope with some opposition, punishing certain philos¬ ophers who favoured the opposition circles, in parti¬ cular the well-known Stoic Helvidius Priscus.

Vespasian died in A. D. 79 and was succeeded by Titus, who only ruled for two years, being in his turn succeeded by Vespasian’s younger son Domitian- yet another tyrant in the eyes of the senatorial oppo¬ sition. Accusations of high treason, reprisals, execu¬ tions and confiscations again became the order of the day, especially after an attempt in 89 by Antonius Saturninus, legate of the army of the Rhine, to become emperor through rebellion. Informers, both freemen and slaves, were encouraged with high re¬ wards. Domitian, a haughty and gloomy man, in¬ sisted on being regarded as Minerva’s son and inces¬ santly glorified. Later, senator Pliny the Younger recalled that whenever the Senate convened, even if it were to discuss a minor question like the setting up of a firebrigade, it began its decree with an enume¬ ration of Domitian’s great merits and triumphs. Anyone not doing his share of the glorification was suspect. The opposition grew especially strong after the crushing defeat inflicted on the Romans on the Danube by Decebalus, king of Dacia. In 96, Domi¬ tian was killed by two of his freedmen, and Marcus Cocceius Nerva, a creature of the Senate, Avas pro¬ claimed emperor. A new epoch began, which was , known in the senatorial historiography as the f “Golden Age of the Antonines” (the dynasty was ~ named after emperor Antoninus Pius).

But were the Julio-Claudian and Flavian periods ? indeed as dark as they were painted ? The personali- g= ties of the emperors apart, it must be recognised that § the tendencies initiated by Augustus continued to jp develop in that epoch, and considerable progress 5

was achieved in various fields. Many accusations on the part of the senatorial opposition were no more than a reflection of its own conservatism. Thus the opposition demanded a continuation of harsh poli¬ cies towards the provinces. Under Claudius, the Romans conquered and made a province of the part of Britain in which a pro-Roman party, nonexistent under Caesar, emerged. But the atrocities of the Roman military settlers at Camulodunum, and the practice of enslaving debtors by Roman creditors (of whom, incidentally, Seneca was one) led to an upris¬ ing of the lceni tribe led by the queen Boadicea (properly Boudicca). The Senate demanded a war to exterminate all the rebels, and was extremely in¬ dignant at the government’s concessions and offers of peace to them. The government wanted to Romanise at least the upper stratum of the Britons, making them its supporters. As the Roman power in the provinces lost its harshness, it gained in stability. Vespasian gave Latin rights to the cities of Spain, and now each occupant of a city magistracy there received Roman citizenship. The influx of provin¬ cials to the equestrian and senatorial orders grew, and the cities of Italy and of the provinces flouri¬ shed.

The Senate was also dissatisfied with the emperors’ foreign policy, finding it insufficiently rigid. When Tiberius recalled Germanicus from the Rhine, realising that further advance into German territory was impossible, and resorted to diplomacy, setting some German tribes against others and appointing kings ready to obey Rome, the senators declared that he was simply envious of the successes of his nephew. They also condemned the policy to¬ wards Parthia. Augustus concluded an honourable peace with Parthia, recovering the Roman eagles the Parthians had captured from Crassus, but under Nero war to influence strategically important Armenia broke out again. Carbulo, the Senate’s favourite, prosecuted the war with all the resolute¬ ness of the generals from the times of the “ances¬ tors”, but the government was in favour of a reason¬ able settlement here as well: Tiridates, a creature of Parthia, was recognised as the king of Armenia, but he received his crown from Nero’s hands, in Rome. The client kingdoms of Thrace, Mauretania, and Comagene were made provinces without much trou¬ ble, except for an uprising in Mauretania. The administration of Pannonia, Dalmatia, Moesia and

313

war

Noricum, formerly included in Illyria, was reor- could dispose of it in any way he pleased, as the city require

ganised. community had once been in a position to do. The ing the

Under Claudius and Domitian, service in the aux- old law, according to which abandoned land the wor

iliary units was regulated: provincials had to serve became the property of the person who began to till umella

for 25 to 26 years, whereupon they and the children it, regardless of who the previous owner had been, | produc

born by their concubines received Roman citizen- remained in force throughout the existence of the I skilled

ship, assignments of land and veterans’ privileges, all empire, but the emperor’s right was not challenged *

of which made service in the army attractive for either. True, the Senate believed that the “tyrants” I liable .

them. The veterans of the legions and of auxiliary exercised that right much too extensively. Indeed, I growe;

forces stationed in provincial cities reinforced the they could confiscate lands (mostly badly tilled or ' and dii

class of decurions, which was the carrier of Roman entirely abandoned latifundia), dividing them into I he hat

methods of economic organisation, Roman mode of lots granted to the emperor’s supporters. Sometimes i in the

life, and Roman culture; in short, decurions were the lands of major landowners (mostly in the prov-

the agents of the Romanisation of the provinces. The inces, it seems) were distributed among small worke

opposition also protested against the influence of farmers. A “good” emperor could not, in the I skills;

emperors’freedmen. But the empire’s administrative Senate’s view, act that way. Let the emperor own I of his

apparatus consisted in part of such freedmen as everything, said Pliny the Younger, addressing him-

well as slaves. Claudius set a number of departments self to Trajan, but those who possessed the lands I necess

to handle appeals to the emperor as the highest in- assigned to them must remain their owners. In a I swallc

stance, and to keep books, manage archives, etc. All word, the senators demanded that the emperor’s I duct,

these departments were run by freedmen and staffed authority as the suzerain, as head of state, should be B villicu

by slaves. Imperial freedmen and'slaves were also separated from his authority as the supreme owner H Colui

sent to the provinces, where they were mostly of land. edge

employed in the financial departments and But the emperors paid a great deal of attention to ■ his n

managed the crown estates, which constantly grew the agrarian policy, as can be seen, for instance, H come

through confiscations. The governors and their small from Vespasian’s decree that took away the public

staff did not stay in any one place long, being con- lands from rich men who had seized them and I en J°)

stantly transferred from province to province; they handed them over to small farmers. The right to use H famii

had but a poor grasp of the local situation and of the neighbouring grazing lands, to use sand and lime

administrative procedures. The emperors’ slaves and from neighbouring holdings, water cattle there, etc.,

freedmen, together with the veterans, were reliable was also established in the interests of small farmers,

proponents of Roman policies and official ideology. Support for small- and medium-scale farmers at the

Thus, they initiated various steps to demonstrate expense of the latifundia was part of the emperors’

their loyalty to the imperial regime, building statues agrarian policy. I desil

for the principes and organising the colleges of the Certain alarming symptoms appeared at that I g enl

cult of Augustus and the other deified emperors time in Italy’s agriculture. The Soviet researcher I P rui

(apart from Augustus, the emperors Claudius, Ves- V. I. Kuzishchin has shown that several types of I an t

pasian and Titus were deified in the 1st century), holdings evolved at that time: farms, or villas, in the I thai

and the cults of their Lares, Genii, etc. Many of neighbourhood of cities, often specialising in prod-

these freedmen used their position as a source of uce for the city market; farms remote from cities, eral

gain, becoming very rich men. Provincial I mostly engaged in mixed natural economy; latifun- I the

businessmen and governors also made fortunes. 5 dia, based on extensive economy and combining ■ I

Highly placed officials sent their freedmen and ^ land cultivation, livestock-breeding and the handi- I cer

slaves to the provinces, where they went into whole- ^ crafts (at potters’, fullers’, metal workers’ and other em

sale trade and usury, enriching themselves and their | workshops). The theory of rationally conducting a lab

patrons. j relatively large estate (not a latifundium, though) I tio

The government and the senatorial opposition | was developed by Columella, who endeavoured to gre

also differed considerably on the agrarian question. ^ prove that such a farm could yield a great income, no

Becoming the supreme owner of land, the emperor £ comparable to that from usury, provided all the inf

314

requirements of agronomy for the tilling and fertilis¬ ing the soil, cultivating the plants, and organising the work of slaves were satisfied. But the ideas of Col¬ umella’s treatise were mostly utopian. The level of production on such farms would demand highly skilled and attentive workers capable of initiative. In Columella’s view, however, such workers were unre¬ liable and inclined towards rebellion. A good vine- grower, costing 8,000 sesterces, was obstreperous and disobedient because of his skills and knowledge; he had to be driven to work in fetters and locked up in the house dungeon, the ergastulum, for the night.

It was only natural under these conditions that the worker had no desire to exercise his knowledge and skills; Columella complained that neither he nor any of his neighbours could make the vine-growers care¬ fully divide the vines into varieties. It was therefore necessary to increase the number of overseers, which swallowed up a considerable part of the surplus pro¬ duct. But that was not very effective either, for the villicus, an overseer of an estate, was expected by Columella to have not only a wide-ranging knowl¬ edge of agriculture but also an exceptional loyalty to his master-a commodity that would be hard to come by.

On farms remote from the market, where slaves enjoyed a relative freedom and had their own huts, families and a few head of cattle, the situation was better. On the latifundia, attempts to use the labour of hundreds of fettered slaves resulted in enormous expenditure on managerial staff. The use of some primitive machines like reapers and mowers saved labour but wasted a great deal of the harvest. The desire to save labour resulted in untimely and negli¬ gent performance of various operations, like the pruning of vines. All treatises of those times speak of an extremely wasteful use of land on latifundia, so that the emperors who confiscated and divided them into small lots proceeded from practical consid¬ erations that were as weighty as those of the times of the Gracchi.

It was not only the government that was con- .f cerned with the difficult economic situation in the ^ empire. It was now clear to many people that slave N labour, which had promoted progress when produc- 3 tion was primitive enough, became a drag on it as it ? grew more complex. These tendencies were observed 1 not only in agriculture but also in the crafts, increas- Ep ing with the growing specialisation of production f-

and higher demands of buyers and customers. Large-scale enterprises using slave labour failed Thus workshops using the labour of 100 to 150 slaves in the production of ceramics folded after a short while; large workshops producing brick and tiles, that were concentrated in the hands of the emperors at the beginning of the 2nd century, began to disin¬ tegrate into smaller units. Everything turned on the need to carry the large expenses of overseeing the slaves.

Sober, practical men looked for a way out in such measures as leasing part of their land to the villici or, in smaller lots, to colons for a fixed rent (in money or in kind) or part of the harvest; leasing parts of work¬ shops (such as kilns); forming associations whose members (often freedmen of one patron) divided the workshop among themselves; and offering incentives to the most skilled slaves by assigning a peculium to them in the form of shops or workshops together with tools and slaves, and letting them manage their business on their own.

Theoreticians like Seneca suggested the restruc¬ turing of the relations between masters and slaves after the model of the relations between patrons and clients; Pliny the Elder believed it necessary to revert to small holdings that could be tilled by small families. Poets and writers did their best to implant the ideas of mutual love between masters and slaves, invoking instances of loyalty of some slaves for their masters, whom they saved at the time of proscrip¬ tions and other misfortunes. But none of these appeals were very effective, for it was practically im¬ possible to offer incentives to all slaves. The leases merely increased production costs. Naturally, slaves continued to hate their masters, they ran away, and often killed their owners, despite the rigidly enforced Silanian senatus consultum.

The signs of crisis appeared first of all in the old slave-owning regions of Italy. On the contrary, Cisalpine Gaul, where there were many peasants, and where large estates were mostly tilled by colons, not slaves, flourished. By the end of the 1st century, most of the praetorians and legionaries, as well as senators, came from Cisalpine Gaul. The policy of the emperors of the 1st century thus marked the beginning of efflorescence of the provinces, which had fallen into decay under senatorial rule, and not of Italy itself.

The senatorial opposition constantly complained

315

about the loss of liberty, glorifying Cicero, Cassius, Brutus, and Cato Uticensis as real fighters for free¬ dom. At the same time Tacitus, Seneca and other ideologues of the opposition held that absolute rule was inevitable, and their one wish was to have a “good” emperor, a philosopher on the throne. Others believed that one should pray the gods to send a good princeps and bear with bad ones, as we endure thunderstorms or hail. In the 1st century, the reprisals mostly fell on the upper sections of the sena¬ torial order, while the citizens of Italic and provin¬ cial cities enjoyed greater freedom and willingly spent money on municipal needs, hoping for promo¬ tion for themselves and their children. At the same time the overall climate was one of tolerance. Even books by persons subject to reprisals were not de¬ stroyed. Anyone could believe in any gods whatever or follow no faith at all, provided he performed the rites of the imperial cult; anyone could adhere to any philosophical doctrine, provided it did not entail lese-majeste. But the general “spirit of freedom” was illusory. The decurion estate, which profited greatly from the establishment of the empire, believed that excessive freedom was conducive to unrest. Plutarch, who came from a small Greek city of Chaeronea, wrote in his instructions for city magistrates on the proper way to conduct the affairs that the emperors offered enough freedom for the cities, and there was no need for more. In his speeches to the people he insisted that it was better to remember the sad consequences of rebellions than to dwell on the great past of the Greeks. The plebs ousted from political life, lost its interest in such life entirely. When one princeps succeeds another, wrote Phaedrus, Tiberius’s freedman and fable writer who was very close to the people, nothing but the mas¬ ter’s name changes for the little man.

The painful awareness of lack of freedom was shared by various sections of society. It stemmed not so much from the policies of the emperors as from the absence of common goals, increasing depen- I dence of the upper strata on the emperors, of provin- 5 cials on governors and imperial officials, of colons on y landowners, of artisans’ and other colleges on the ^ patrons that now regulated all aspects of their lives, § and of each little man on his superior, who expected as him to be respectful and servile. The dependence § was both material and moral. The emperors ^ demanded that their subjects should praise their I

316

virtues and the happiness they brought to the peo¬ ple. City magistrates and patrons of colleges expected the citizens to glorify their deeds and to put up their statues with grateful inscriptions. Setting up colleges in their homes and on their estates, the mas¬ ters demanded signs of loyalty and submission from the members of these colleges-freedmen, slaves and clients. The intellectuals were especially sensitive to their dependence on their rich patrons, who were often vulgar and ignorant.

Under favourable circumstances, there was a chance of promotion and enrichment for men of dif¬ ferent strata: thus a senator could become a gover¬ nor of a province and even member of the princeps’s council, after holding a number of magistracies; a knight could rise to be a prefect of Egypt or prefect of the praetorian guard; a decurion could become a knight; a time-expired peregrine soldier could become a Roman citizen and a decurion; a slave could receive a peculium, buy his freedom, get rich, and his children would be freemen. However, anyone who stood out in any way inspired suspicion and mistrust. Emperors were afraid of senators renowned for their wealth, talents, or education, as their probable rivals. In the cities, the rivalry and in¬ trigues among candidates for various magistracies were unending. The position of the common people is best described in the catchword: “It is dangerous for a lowly man to surpass others in any art.” Finally, no one could be certain of what the next day might bring. The disfavour of the emperor, the patron or master, litigation or denuciation could deprive a person at one stroke of everything that he had attained.

Men who rejected all this strove for ways to retain at least their spiritual freedom and a sense of inner independence and self-respect. These were the pre¬ cepts of the Stoics, of whom Seneca and the former slave Epictetus were the most outstanding pro¬ ponents. They wrote of the unity of the world im¬ bued with the supreme world reason, or world soul, uniting all that is; of the justice of the laws estab¬ lished by nature itself; and of the duty of each indi¬ vidual to follow the natural necessity reigning in the world, to bring one’s wishes in harmony with that necessity, to perform one’s duty to the fellow citizens and the entire mankind, and to play conscientiously one’s role in the “world drama”, condemning nothing and complaining of nothing. Things exter¬

nal, tl have r the ini table stress* from he wl to wl Howi had i his b him must to d wou mas Ii the but

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nal, they taught, are beyond our control, but they Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Au- have no significance; the only significant things are relius, all of them deified after death- resolutely con- the inner “I” and the inner virtue remaining immu- demned the “tyrants” that preceded them, giving

table in all the peripeteias of destiny. Epictetus up reprisals and achieving a reconciliation with the

stressed in particular that only a person independent Senate. By that time, the Senate itself and its claims from the material world could be free. He said that had changed. The majority of the Senate were no

he who could give us all we want and take away all longer members of the old aristocracy but new-

to which we are attached would always be master. comers from Italian cities and the provinces who However, he who despised riches and the body, and laid no claim to a share of the profit from the exploi- had neither desires nor attachments, could give up tation of the provinces, and who recognized the his body and life to the tyrant but would not permit monarchy without qualification. Significantly, the him to direct his ideas and judgement. The wise man emperors of that dynasty were born in the provinces: must entrust himself to the gods and live according Trajan and Hadrian in Spain, and Antoninus Pius to divine laws, and not for earthly pleasures; he in Gaul. The Antonines’ dynastic policy also satis- would not then be afraid of earthly rulers and fied the Senate: rather than leaving the throne to masters. chosen members of their family, they adopted as

In the 1st century A. D., some of the Stoics close to their heirs men that were popular in the army and the senatorial opposition were subjected to reprisals, approved by the Senate. Thus Nerva adopted Tra- but during the 2nd century the Antonines encour- jan (98-117), whom Roman historians regarded as aged Stoicism, and it became very popular. an ideal ruler. He routed Decebalus and made Epicureanism, on the other hand, lost its attrac- Dacia with its fertile lands and rich gold mines a

tiveness. Epitaphs in the Epicurean spirit, urging Roman province. His successful wars with Parthia

men to enjoy life, as there was nothing to be considerably extended Roman possessions in the

expected after death, became more and more pes- East. He was generous with all kinds of handouts to

simistic, stressing the ultimate utter destruction. At the plebs; he arranged splendid games that ran for the same time the faith in the immortality of the several days on end, and set up alimentary institu- soul, previously quite uncharacteristic of Romans, dons to help the poor-landowners needing money became stronger. There were more and more epi- mortgaged their lands, and then the state used the taphs expressing the hope that the deceased’s soul interest on the loans to help needy parents educate was alive, enjoying bliss, as a reward for his virtuous their children. Trajan went so far in his condemna-

life, in communion with the gods in Elysium-and tion of “tyrants” that, handing the sword to the pre-

that he himself might be a god. The cults and mys- feet of the praetorians, he said: “Use it to defend me

teries of Dionysus, Isis and Osiris, and later of the if I rule well, and against me, if I rule badly.” This Iranian god Mithra spread among the upper and apparently sanctioned the right to assassinate “tyr- middle classes. Those initiated in the mysteries ants”. Trajan’s successor Hadrian (117-138) was hoped to grasp the secrets of the universe and famous for his erudition, his patronage of philoso- achieve immortality. The common people remained phers, scholars, orators and writers, his love for true to the Roman gods but showed a preference for Greek culture and antiquities, his attention for the those which were least connected with the official provinces, which he kept touring, his extensive con- cult, such as the forest godlet Silvanus, who grew in struction projects, and democratic conduct in pub- the eyes of the plebs and slaves into a powerful god _ lie: he used to walk about Rome on foot and talk to the creator and at the same time great worker and the people he met without ceremony. Antoninus helper of workers. Hercules, included among the " Pius (138-161) was popular as a just ruler renowned gods for his labours for the benefit of the people, was " J for his piety (hence the cognomen). Finally, Marcus also very popular. The importance of religion grew, S Aurelius (161-180), the last Stoic of antiquity of any and the search for a god worthy of worship, to whom ? distinction, was seen as precisely that type ofphiloso- one might entrust one’s whole life, became more and 1 pher on the throne of whom both Greeks and more intense. g 1 Romans had dreamed.

The emperors of the Antonine dynasty-Nerva, 5 Under the Antonines, the empire reached the

317

peak of its economic development. Construction high posts, were provincials, too. Mathematicians, techniques were greatly improved. The Flavian astronomers, geographers and physicians were amphitheatre, or Colosseum, Hadrian’s mausoleum active in the famous scholarly institutions of Perga- and villa, Titus’s triumphal arch and other magnifi- mum and Alexandria. Such great men of antique cent edifices were built at that time. After the con- science as the physician Galen and the astronomer quest of Dacia, the architect Apollodorus built Ptolemy worked in that period,

a 1.5-km-long bridge across the Danube. The art The position of slaves improved under the

of mosaic ornamentation of public and private Antonines, although the Silanian senatus consultum buildings, and the production of glass ware deve- was not abolished, and under Trajan it was even loped. Agriculture, crafts and construction made extended to the murdered man’s freedmen. How- rapid advances in the provinces; education and art, ever, the masters were deprived of the right to exe- which followed Greek and Roman models, received cute slaves, lock them up in ergastula, fetter them for a fresh impetus. Road construction, well-organised life, or send them to the mines and gladiator schools, navigation and the building of harbours streng- The slaves of cruel masters could appeal to magis- thened commercial links between the provinces, as trates with a request to sell them to less harsh well as between the empire and other countries and owners. Slaves guilty of grave criminal offences peoples-Transrhenish and Transdanubian tribes, punishable by death or hard labour were tried by Arabia, India, and even China, to some extent. Both the courts. All this signified a further development of luxury goods and agricultural and craftsmen’s prod- the tendency, started by Augustus, to make slaves, to ucts intended for the mass market were imported some extent at least, the state’s subjects. The slaves’ and exported. Some areas specialised in certain com- rights to their peculia, and their actual legal capabi- modities. Thus Spain exported metals, olive oil, and lity (“in natural law”) to be a party to bargains were fishery products; Italy, wine and pottery; Africa, consolidated. Slaves’ family ties were also actually grain and olives; Asia Minor and Syria, fabrics, jew- recognized; some of the richer slaves married free elry, etc. Provincial cities received the status of col- women, and lawyers even considered suits involving onies and municipia, and the number of provincials dowries received by such slaves’ wives. Where there attaining Roman citizenship grew. There was a was doubt as to the slave’s right to freedom (an obs- great deal of activity in the cities. Magistrates, who cure will or other document or condition of had to pay certain sums for the honour of filling their manumission, etc.), slaves were given the benefit of posts, decurions, and rich freedmen (that were the doubt by decree. The exercise of the patrons’

members of the estate of seviri augustales, which rights to their freedmen’s various obligations (to

served the imperial cult) were those who paid for work for their former masters, to leave them part of the building of temples, circuses, theatres, market- their property in their wills, to maintain an impover- places, bath-houses, and aqueducts, paved streets, ished patron) was also controlled. The law especially and held games and feasts for the people; patrons of supported well-to-do freedmen and slaves who colleges gave the latter gifts of buildings for assem- owned large peculia and, without changing their

blies, money for treats and handouts on the birth- legal status, already actually passed into the class of

days of emperors, patrons themselves and their rela- owners of means of production and even of slaves, as tives. Festivals in honour of the gods were accom- the latter could be employed in th e peculia. Imperial panied by solemn processions which made, in the ^ bureaucracy was further consolidated under the words of Plutarch, the common people, even slave S Antonines. Although the state apparatus was still women, feel their own importance. Provincial intel- 5 staffed by the emperors’ slaves and freedmen, the lectuals also made a considerable contribution to the s principal offices were now entrusted to knights, with common Graeco-Roman culture. The poet Martial r salaries appropriate to their rank, was born in Spain; the writer and philosopher Apu- § However, processes were already maturing which leius, in Africa; the historian Appian, in Alexandria; gj ultimately put an end to this epoch of efflorescence, the famous satirist Lucian, in Syria; and the orator I The empire’s socioeconomic structure was not and philosopher Dio Chrysostom, in Asia Minor. = uniform, comprising as it did various social struc- Many prominent lawyers, who sometimes occupied 5 tures which developed in different ways and at dif-

318

ferent rates. In the last centuries of the republic and The third structure was associated with the enor-

the first centuries of the empire, the city communi- mous estates, often called saltus, of the emperors and ties, with their public and private lands, precisely provincial nobles, both native and newly come from

delimited and entered in land-survey records, with Italy and Rome. They were tilled by colons who

their slave-owners’ farms, well-developed crafts and rented the land from the owners or by tenants long

trade, with the underlying principle of the work of settled on lands belonging to tribal chieftains or tern- each citizen, to the extent of his means and abilities, pies. Impoverished peasants as well as slaves and

being aimed at the common weal, and with the an- freedmen given the status of colons swelled the

tique culture synthesising Greek and Roman tradi- numbers of those working on the latifundia. Since

tions, formed the dominant structure. The principal the exploitation of communities bound by mutual

antagonistic classes here were slave-owners and responsibility was more profitable than that of indi¬ slaves, whose relations determined the state of the vidual colons, saltus owners organised, in addition to

economy; owners of small holdings in the cities, of the existing communities, new communities of

craftsmen’s workshops, and shops also played a con- freedmen on the lands they rented out. The staff of a

siderable role, as a class. The cities varied in their saltus usually consisted of the owner’s slaves who

size, character, and importance. Apart from Rome regularly collected the fixed rent and the landlord’s

itself with its population of more than a million, share of the harvest, and sometimes supervised the

there were such large rich centres of trade, crafts and corvee on the lands the estate owners left unleased,

culture as Antioch and Palmyra in Syria, Alexan- They had their markets, temples, and workshops

dria and Carthage in Africa, Arelate, Nemausus, where slaves and free artisans worked. Their popula-

Narbo Martius, and Lugudumun in Gaul, Gades, tion had few ties with the external world, and only

Tarragona and Carthago Nova in Spain, Ephesus, the owner, or rather his trusted agents, sold the

and many others, where rich landowners and mer- produce at external markets. The principal anta-

chants lived. gonistic classes of this socioeconomic structure were

Another structure, not very prominent in the first landowners and colons, the latter depending in vary-

centuries, was represented by consanguine and rural ing degree on the former. The relations between

communities-villages, pagi, and neighbourhoods, them were not yet those of feudal societies, but ele-

which continued to exist even in the north of Italy ments of feudal relations could develop faster here

and were more or less numerous in various areas of than on the slave-owning villas of the cities,

the western and eastern provinces. These communi- In reward for distinguished service, saltus owners

ties collectively owned tracts of land within or out- were permitted to withdraw their estates from the

side city boundaries, which they divided among its city administration, so that neither they nor their

members; they were also collectively responsible for colons had any obligations before the city. In the

the taxes imposed on the members. The communi- middle or at the end of the 2nd century a law was

ties had their own popular assemblies, officials passed according to which all the lands of senators, (sometimes subordinated to the city magistracies), their sons and grandsons were withdrawn from the cults (partly surviving from the pre-Roman times city territories (the so-called exempt saltus), which and partly Romanised), and traditions, which the deprived the cities of their richest taxpayers, sacri- Roman authorities could hardly ignore. Some of fice-makers, and the bulk of buyers in the city mar-

these communities began to disintegrate under the kets. All lands belonging to the emperors were also

impact of the developing commodity-money rela- _ exempt in this sense. The towns, especially little tions. Rich individuals with special rights to their 4 ones, whose territories were often smaller than the lands (mostly veterans and Roman citizens) became ’ territories of the neighbouring saltus, were extremely prominent in the communities, while at the other N hostile to their owners, their imperial adminis- pole there appeared the exploited stratum of indi- ? tration, and their big lessees (or conductores), who gent community members and aliens. If the disinteg- subleased the lands.

ration of a rural community went far enough, it 1 All these socioeconomic structures interacted with received city status; but such communities were still J one another, forming various hybrids (e. g., large numerous, and their traditions, very tenacious, f- estates on city territory cultivated by colons, or

319

slave-owning farms on village territory), but they soldiers. Petitions have survived in which peasants

became increasingly isolated from and opposed to from Thrace, Africa and Asia Minor appealed to the

one another, the slave-owning socioeconomic struc- emperor to punish abuses, threatening to abandon

ture losing its dominant role. their lands and flee if their demands were not met.

Hadrian was compelled to cancel tax arrears to Peasants were again losing their independence as

the tune of 900 million sesterces incurred by provin- they became insolvent debtors and colons tilling the

cial cities but the arrears accumulated again. As the lands of landlords from whom they could not escape

slave-owning economy in the provinces developed, it until they paid off all their debts,

ran into the same problems that had arisen in Italy. The ruin of the peasants, who were the backbone

The slave-owning mode of production could only of the army, led to a fall in the numbers of Roman

partly develop through improving production im- citizens-and only Roman citizens could serve in the

plements: progress mostly had to be attained legions. Hadrian had to give up some of Trajan’s

through raising the workers’ skill and initiative, but conquests in the East, and he also began to recruit

the basic contradictions between slaves and masters peregrines from the provinces for the legions, grant-

impeded this mode of development. The same anta- ing them Roman citizenship. Giving up the offensive

gonism was the reason why large enterprises capable strategy, the emperor went on the defensive and

of the complex cooperation inevitably preceding the began to construct powerful fortifications, the so-

invention and integration in production of machines called Hadrian’s Wall, along the empire’s boun-

did not emerge. It proved impossible either to lower daries.

production costs or to increase labour productivity Despite the glorification of the Antonines who, in

to any significant extent. Besides, the well-to-do the words of Tacitus, succeeded in combining abso-

members of communities traditionally had to spend lute rule with freedom, certain alarming tendencies

considerable sums for the “public weal”, and these were becoming apparent in the mood of various

expenditures constituted a great part of the surplus social strata. The desire, conscious or unconscious, to

product. Even simple reproduction, not to mention go beyond the strictly regulated aimless routine gave

reproduction on an extended scale, became less and rise to a morbid interest in all things extraordinary,

less feasible. mystical and irreal. Works reflecting actual life were

Despite all the attempts of the Antonines to sup- superceded by popular tales of miracles, ghosts,

port the cities and city land-owning through cancel- vampires, daemons, spirits, statues coming to life,

lation of arrears, subsidies from the treasury, exotic peoples and animals, tales that flooded even

appointment of special curators supervising city works purporting to be scholarly. With the excep-

finances, and limiting expenditure on the most tion of Alexandria and Pergamum, science declined,

expensive spectacles like gladiator fights, the cities, increasingly becoming speculative and based on a

especially the smaller ones, grew impoverished, and chain of logical constructs and assumptions, often

city magistracies became an onerous burden rather arbitrary, rather than on observation. Losing its

than honourable and highly coveted offices. former ties with science, philosophy moved closer to

Some lands that brought no profit were aban- religion. On the other hand, practical application of

doned. Hadrian issued a decree offering various pri- the achievements of science was impeded by the

vileges to those persons who began to cultivate aban- growing contempt among the upper classes for any

doned lands, but the results were not encouraging. ^ sort of mundane activity. Seneca wrote that those On the other hand, land was increasingly concentra- ^ who believed that the wise men of antiquity had

ted in the hands of the richest individuals, mostly j3 taught men various useful things, and invented those

senators and the emperor himself, and these lands, y things, were wrong. If they had done so, they had together with their colon tenants, were no longer ~ not acted as befitted wise men, for invention was an under the jurisdiction of the cities. Small land- f occupation suitable for contemptible slaves, not phi-

owners, who paid large taxes and carried the gs losophers. Science and life increasingly diverged,

burden of all sorts of exactions, suffered more than 1 The physician Sextus Empiricus protested against the rest of the populace from the pressure and even s this kind of speculative and dogmatic scholarship, violence on the part of the provincial officials and jj- insisting that science could only be based on experi-

320

Dish with a picture of a hunter with four dogs. Clay. 4th millennium B.C. A. S. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

King Narmer’s palette. End of the 4th mil¬ lennium B.C. Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Knife made of a thin strip of flint. Flint, ivory. Late 4th-early 3rd millennium B.C.

The sphinx and the pyramid of Khefren (Kha-f-Ra) at Gizeh, Egypt. 27th century B.C.

A night view of the Sphinx and pharaohs’ tombs at Gizeh

The great pyramids. Gizeh. 27th century B.C.

Scarab. 16th-17th centuries B.C.

A sphinx of the Old Kingdom at Gizeh. 27th century B.C.

Relief from the tomb of treasurer Isi. Limestone. Mid-3rd millennium B.C. A. S. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts

Statue of Pharaoh Amenemhet III. Basalt. 18th century B.C. A. S. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

Head of a queen’s statue. Granite. 18th century B.C. A. S. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

Relief from a scribe’s tomb. Limestone. Mid-3rd millennium B.C. A. S. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

Figurine of a scribe. Basalt. 18th century B.C. A. S. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

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Model of a boat. Wood, paint. 18th cen¬ tury B.C. A. S. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

Boat. Wood. 18th century B.C. A. S. Push¬ kin State Museum of Fine Arts, Mos¬ cow

Sarcophagus of a farmer. Wood, paint. 15th century B.C. A. S. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

Scarab with a hieroglyphic text reporting the killing of 102 lions by Pharaoh Amen- hotep III. Steatite. 15th century B.C. A. S. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

The Book of the Dead. Papyrus, paint. 13th century B.C. A. S. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

Relief from a Memphis tomb. Limestone. 13th century B.C. A. S. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

Relief with heads of Hittites. Sandstone. 13th century B.C. A. S. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

Statue of an Ethiopian queen. Basalt. 4th century B.C. A. S. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

Portrait of a man. From the Fayum oasis. Wood, paint. 2nd century B.C. A. S. Push¬ kin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

Portrait of a woman. From the Fayum oasis. Wood, paint. 2nd century B.C. A. S. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

Sculptured model of a bust. Limestone. 3rd century B.C. A. S. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

Portrait of a man from the Fayum oasis. Wood, paint. 2nd century B.C. A. S. Push¬ kin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

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Statue of a ruler in prayer. Limes¬ tone. C. 3300 B.C. Bagdad Museum

Seal portraying a hero fighting ani¬ mals. Steatite. 3rd millennium B.C. A. S. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

Statue of a man in prayer. Plaster. C. 2700 B.C. Bagdad Museum

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Statue of a goddess with a vessel from the palace of Zimri-Lim (Mari). Limestone. Early 18th century B.C. Museum, Aleppo

Ebih-il, an official from Mari. Alabaster. C. 2400 B.C. Louvre, Paris

The Naramsin stele. Limestone. C. 2250 B.C. Louvre, Paris

Statue of King Ashurnasirpal II. Alabas¬ ter. 9th century B.C. British Museum, London

- u.

ELA AMORI ©

(Shanid

36

40

44

48

(Tepe Gawra

(Zawi Chemi)

EBLA

J Alalakh (5)

(Tell Halaf)

Arbelw

[arim Shahir)

Assur

(Samarra,

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180km

MESOPOTAMIA

Area of the Hassuna culture

Area of the Jarmo culture Archaeological sites ELAM Names of historical regions and states AMO RITES Peoples

® Significant centres of the Early Dynastic period (1st half of 3rd millennium B.C.)

(§) Centres of the important states (2nd half of 3rd millennium B.C.) O Other ancient settlements H Area of irrigation

— Ancient coastline and courses of the Tigris and the Euphrates (Shanidar) Modem names

Reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate. Baby¬ lon. Glazed brick. Early 6th century B.C. Berlin Museum

Offerer with a kid. Sargon II’s palace at Dur-Sharrukin. Painted plaster. End of the 8th century B.C. Louvre, Paris

Assyrian reliefs. Archers

Cuneiform tablets. Clay. 2nd millennium B.C. A. S. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

Vase in the shape of a lion. Kanish (Anato¬ lia). 20th-19th centuries B.C. Louvre, Paris

Hittites. A seal.

Hittite god of the storm. Basalt. 9th cen tury B.C. Istanbul Museum

Portrayal of a goddess in childbirth. Qatal Hiiyiik, level II. Terracotta. 6th millen¬ nium B.C. Hittite Museum, Ankara

Hittites. The “Daemon’s Head” lead amu¬ let. The Hermitage, Leningrad

“Standard” mount from a royal tomb at Alaca Huy iik (Anatolia). Bronze and silver. C. 2300 B.C. Ankara Museum

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Statuette of a goddess giving benediction (Ugarit). Bronze. Mid-3rd millennium B.C. Damascus Museum

Vessels, dagger, plaque (Phoenicia). Gold, silver, lapis lazuli. 19th- 18th centuries B.C. National Museum, Beirut

Vessel in the form of a human head (Pales¬ tine'. Terracotta. 1 7th-16th centuries B.C. Jerusalem Museum

Woman’s head in tall headgear (Ugarit). Ivory, gold. 14th century B.C. National Museum, Damascus

Figurines on a votive chariot fUgantj 13th century B.C. Louvre, Paris

NEAR EAST

NAIRI States and historical regions

ARAMAEANS Peoples

Capitals of states Other ancient cities

Old Bahylonian Empire under Hammurapi (18th century B.C.)

Hittite Empire in 14th century B.C.

Assur colonies

Assyrian Empire in mid-7th century B.C.

Kingdom of Van’ in the 7th century B.C.

Lydian Empire in the 1st half of the 6th century B.C.

Trade routes

Gold mines

Copper mines

Iron mines

Later names

Ancient coastline

□

A

(CARIA)

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C3,

(Sinope ,

HfHLAGONI*,

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(Trapezus)

Tekhebaini

^(KarMirBlur))

ihinili (Armavir)

Carchemish

Alalakh

Arbela

By bios*^ Beirut q'^

Sidonrs£?

Palmyra

Megidib

1 Nippur }

Steppe

Syro-Mesopotamian

Juruhen ^

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Horse’s head. Mount on a chariot pole. Bronze. 8th century B.C. Museum of the History of Armenia, Yerevan

Dish with a cuneiform inscription from Teishebaini. Bronze. 8th century B.C. The Hermitage, Leningrad

Ornament on a cauldron. Bronze. 8th cen¬ tury. The Hermitage, Leningrad

Fragment of a wall painting with figures of bulls and ornament. 8th century B.C. Museum of the History of Armenia, Yerevan

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Erebuni. Armenian SSR Erebuni. Reconstruction of the hall

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Winged lion with a human head. Throne ornament. Bronze. 8th century B.C. The Hermitage, Leningrad

Gold necklace with turtle-shaped pen¬ dants. From excavations at Vani. (Geor¬ gian SSR). 5th century B.C.

Gold temple ornaments. From excavations at Vani (Georgian SSR). 5th century B.C.

Urartu. Teishebaini. View of the excava¬ tions. 7th century B.C.

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Urartaean vessels from Erebuni and Teishebaini. 8th-7th centuries B. C. A. S. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

Ariadne. Terracotta. 2nd-1st centu¬ ries B. C. (Georgian SSR)

Temple at Garni. The Hellenistic epoch

Sculptured felt figurines of swans from the 5th Pazyryk kurgan (High Altai . 5th-4th centuries B.C. The Hermitage, Leningrad

Heads of rams (saddle ornaments). From the 2nd Bashadar kurgan (High Altai). Wood, gold foil. 5th century B.C. The Her¬ mitage, Leningrad

Panther. Gold plaque on a shield from the Kelermes kurgan (Kuban Region ). 7th-6th centuries B.C. The Hermitage, Leningrad

Deer. Gold shield plaque from a kurgan near Kostromskaya village (Kuban Region). 7th-6th centuries B.C. The Her¬ mitage, Leningrad

Gold comb from the Solokha kurgan (North Black Sea coast). 4th century B.C. The Hermitage, Leningrad

-

Felt carpet (detail) from the 5th Pazyryk kurgan (High Altai). 5th-4th centuries B.C. The Hermitage, Leningrad

felt carpet (detail) from the 5th Pazyryk kurgan (High Altai). 5th-4th centuries B.C. The Hermitage, Leningrad

Felt saddle cover from the 1st Pazyryk kur- gan (High Altai). 5th-4th centuries B.C. The Hermitage, Leningrad

Figurines of eagles (saddle ornament). From the 2nd Bashadar kurgan (High Altai). Wood, gold foil. 5th century B.C.

Bridle ornament: browband in the shape'of an eagle. Wood. 6th century B.C. The 1st kurgan near Thekta, Altai

Pile carpet from the 5th Pazyryk kurgan (High Altai). 5th-4th centuries B.C. The Hermitage, Leningrad

Silver amphora from the Chertomlyk kur¬ gan (North Black Sea coast). 4th century B.C. The Hermitage, Leningrad

Silver vessel with a mythological scene from a kurgan near Voronezh. 4th century B.C. The Hermitage, Leningrad

Gold cover of a bowcase from the Cher- tomlyk kurgan (North Black Sea coast). 4th century B.C. The Hermitage, Lenin- grad

Gold pectoral from the Tolstaya Mogila kurgan (North Black Sea coast). 4th cen¬ tury B.C. Museum of Historical Treasures, Kiev

DYAKOVSKAYA / CULTURE

ANANYINSKAYA

CULTURE

iYRSAGET AE GORODETSKAYA f

CULTURE /

EARLY SARMATIANS^£^

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Kelermes

TASMOLIAN CULTURE

0 (SEA \ OF ARAL!

Tagisken ^ ^

Cyprus

Nineveh’

Syro-Mesopotamian Steppe /

^Jerusalem

Ecbatana

Babylon!©

‘Persepolis>L

(Lake Baikal)

TAGAR

CULTURE*

Arzhan

IAN CULTURE

(Lake Balkhash)

^ Chelektinsky

Ussyk Kul,

T'ai-yuan

© Cheng

Hsien-yang

420km

ELAM

States and historical regions

SCYTHIANS

Peoples

®

Significant ancient cities

□

Areas devastated by the Cimmerians in the 7th century B.C.

A

Barrows of 7th-6th centuries B.C.

Barrows of 5th-3rd centuries B.C.

—

Trade routes

(Volga)

Modem names

100

110

I

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Elamite’s head. Clay. 2nd millennium B.C. Louvre, Paris

Facade of the apadana. Persepolis. 5th cen¬ tury B.C.

Head of a Bactrian. Eastern staircase of the apadana. Persepolis. 5th century B.C.

Mede with a dagger. Eastern staircase of the apadana. Persepolis. 5th century B.C.

Figurine of a doe. Gold. 6th century B.C. The Hermitage, Leningrad

“Gate of All Peoples”. Built under Darius I and his son Xerxes. 5th century B.C.

Gold sword hilt. Ecbatana (Hamadan). Achaemenid epoch, 5th century B.C. Teh¬ ran Museum

i vLei,

Darius I’s tomb (522-484 B.C.) Bottom left'. Shapur I’s victory relief (241-272 B.C.) and the later Naksh-i-Rustam double relief

Frieze with Darius’s archers from Susa. Glazed brick. 5th century B.C. Louvre, Paris

Warrior’s head. Persepolis. 4th century B.C.

Necklace with a lioness’s heads detail). Gold, bronze. 6th century B.C. The Her¬ mitage, Leningrad

Medallion portrait of the Parthian King of Kings. Silver. The Hermitage, Leningrad

Dish portraying a sacred bird taking a god¬ dess to heaven. Silver. 8th century B.C. The Hermitage, Leningrad

Figurine of a galloping horseman. Gold. The Hermitage, Leningrad

Figurine of an eagle tearing a swan to pieces. Gold, enamel. The Hermitage, Leningrad

Akina, From 5th c

Gold

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Heac

baste

Insti

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Akinakes scabbard. Ivory, relief, engraving. From Takhti-Sangin (South Tajikistan). 5th century B.C.

Gold head of a bull from Altin-depe (Turk¬ menian SSR). The bronze epoch

Head of a Hellenistic ruler. Painted Ala¬ baster, polychrome. From Takhti-Sangin. Institute of History of the Tajik Academy of Sciences, Dushanbe

Votive altar with sculpture of Silenus. From Takhti-Sangin. The altar is made of limestone, the figurine is bronze;. 2nd cen¬ tury B.C. Institute of History of the Tajik Academy of Sciences, Dushanbe

Machaira hilt portraying the struggle between Heracles and Silenus from Takhti- Sangin. 4th-3rd centuries B.C. Ivory, relief, engraving. Institute of History of the Tajik Academy of Sciences, Dushanbe

K run

Rhyton from Nisa. Carved ivory. 2nd cen¬ tury B.C. The Hermitage, Leningrad

Golden belt from a warrior’s tomb at Tillya- tepe (modern Afghanistan;. The plaques portray the goddess Cybele riding a lion. Late 1st century B.C.-early 1st century A.D. National Museum, Kabul

Two gold figurines of winged goddesses from Tillya-tepe. Late 1st century B. C.- early 1st A.D. National Museum, Kabul

Head of an old man (fragment of a vessel). From Zar-tepe. Ceramics. lst-4th centuries A.D.

Head of a prince from Dalverzin-tepe. lst-2nd centuries A.D.

Buddha’s heac centuries A.D

“Game of Nard” frescoe from Panjikent. 7th century A.D.

Figurine of a female deity from Khorezm. Terracotta. lst-4th centuries A.D.

Carved capital of decorative pilaster. Buddhist religious centre at Kara-tepe hill in Termez. White limestone. 2nd-3rd cen¬ turies A.D. The Hermitage, Leningrad

“The Musicians” scene. Airtam frieze. lst-2nd centuries A.D.

“The Musicians” scene. Detail. “The Drummer”. Airtam frieze

“The Musicians” scene. Detail. “The Lute Player”. Airtam frieze

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Figurine of a priest from Mohenjo-Daro. Steatite. 3rd-2nd millennia B.C.

Seals from Mohenjo-Daro. Steatite. 3rd-2nd millennia B.C.

Queen in a garden. Fresco. Ajanta. 5th-6th centuries A.D.

“Leonine Capital” at Sarnath. 3rd century B.C.

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it ilrtt.M T/o ■nli'iMk* y tat'llferA.'; ••ii.

Yakshinis. Bhutesar. Sandstone. 2nd cen¬ tury A.D. Indian Museum, Calcutta

Scene from Jataka of Mahakaji. Relief on the Bharhut stupa. 2nd century B.C. In¬ dian Museum, Calcutta

Bas-relief. Nagarjunakonda. 2nd-3rd cen¬ turies A. D. National Museum, Delhi

Statue of Buddha. Sandstone. Archaeologi¬ cal Museum, Sarnath

North gate of the stupa at Sanchi. 2nd cen¬ tury B.C.

(Harappa)

Ahicchi

^Shravasti > Vi K OS H ALA\

/4 •• I

f £ (Mohenjo-daro)

Kanauj^^

Mathurlr

.Vaishali

(Chanhu-daro)

Pattala

Kaushambi

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Va,anasi A

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AVANTI

monsoons)

Palura

‘Jy QCrangarone

Kaverip,

Lanka

360km

ANCIENT INDIA

PUNJAB

States and historical regions

®

Major ancient cities

Harappa culture area (3rd-lst half of the 2nd millennia B.C.)

•

Excavated settlements of the Harappa culture

Route of Alexander the Great’s army

□ Ashoka’s possessions (273-236 B.C.) VMMPPW* Gupta Empire in the 5th century A.D.

/ / / / Temporary dependencies of / // / the Gupta Empire

Centres of commerce with the Mediterranean world (after the “Periplu de Mare Erythraeum”)

Finds of Roman coins

Kumari

Chnstian communities in the 4th-5th centuries A.D

Kushan Empire at its peak Trade routes

(Mohenjo-

-daro)

Modern names

“Stone man” in the sitting posture. Stone. From the excavations of the Ju Hao tomb. Shang-Yin epoch. 2nd millennium B. C.

Cart drawn by an ox. Wood. From excava¬ tions in the province of Kansu Han epoch. 2nd century B.C.-2nd century A.D.

Bronze image of mythological winged monster. From the excavations of the tomb of the ruler of the state of Chungshan. Chankuo epoch. 5th-3rd centuries B.C.

Man with broad-hilted weapon in his belt. Nephrite. From excavations of the Ju Hao tomb. Shang-Yin epoch. 2nd millennium B.C.

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Figurine of a warrior from the tomb of emperor Ch’in Shihhuangti. Terracotta. From excavations near Sian. Ch’in epoch. 3rd century B.C.

Head of a warrior’s figurine from the tomb of emperor Ch’in Shihhuangti. Terra¬ cotta. From excavations near Sian. Ch’in epoch. 3rd century B.C.

Gown. From excavations near Changsha. Han epoch. 2nd centurv B.C.-2nd century A.D.

Painted wooden figurines. From excava¬ tions in the province of Kansu. Han epoch. 2nd century B.C.-2nd century A.D.

Ceramic moulds for casting coins. Wang Mang epoch. 1st century A.D. The Hermi¬ tage, Leningrad

Cover. Lacquer. From excavations near Changsha. Han epoch. 2nd century B.C.-2nd century A. D.

Bronze galloping horses. From excavations in the Kansu province. Han epoch. 2nd century A.D.

Gold mines Copper mines Iron mines Lead mines Tin mines Salt-mines “Silk route” Trade routes Great Wall

(Tibet) Modem names

Monuments of the Shang Age

Excavations of the “Great city of Shang” 2nd half of the 2nd mil. B.C.

_ u ,_ t Major kingdoms before the emergence of the first '-'HU centralised state (5th-3rd centuries B.C.)

CHI Capitals of major ancient kingdoms

HSIEN-YANG Capital of Ch’in Empire CH'ANG-AN Capitals of Han Empire (2nd century B.C.-2nd century A.D.)

• Important trade and handicraft centres

Fortresses built in the 2nd-early 1st centuries B.C.

“Barbariari’invasions (2nd-lst centuries B.C.)

Areas of greatest population density in the 2nd century A.D. (after census data)

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Palace at Phaestos. Between 2000 and 1500 B.C.

So-called “La Parisienne”, fragment of a frescoe from the palace of Knossos. C. 1500 B.C. Heraclion. Archaeological Museum

The Lion gate at Mycenae. End of the 14th-15th century B.C.

Funeral mask, so-called mask of Agamem¬ non, from the tomb V of the circle A. Gold. Second half of the 16th century B.C. National Museum, Athens

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Statues of Cleobis and Biton. Marble 590-580 B.C.

Kore 671. Marble. C. 520 B.C. Acropolis Museum, Athens

Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sunion. Mar¬ ble. 450-440 B.C.

Parthenon on Athenian Acropolis. Marble. 447-432 B.C

Parthenon. Fragment of the Equestrians. Western frieze

procession.

Erechtheion temple on Athenian Acro¬ polis. Marble. 421-406 B.C.

Myron. Discobolus. C. 450 B.C. Roman marble copy. Rome National Museum.

Syracusan decadrachma, so-called demara- teion. Silver. C. 479 B. C. British Museum, London

Statue of Poseidon. Bronze. 460-450 B.C. National Museum, Athens

Head of the statue of a youth, the so-called “fair-haired ephebus”. Marble. C. 480 B.C. Acropolis Museum, Athens

Praxiteles. Aphrodite of Cnidos. C. 350 B.C. A reconstruction in gypsum from Roman copies. Museum of Moulds, Munich

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Vase from Dipylon (copy). Clay. Mid-8th century B.C.

Red-figure crater. “Gigantomachy”. Painted earthenware. 4th century B.C. Apulia. The Lycurgus Painter

Black-figure amphora with dancing maenads. Clay. 540s B.C.

Black-figure amphora. Clay. C. 530 B.C. Attica.

Amphora. A Stag. Earthenware. Third quarter of the 6th century B.C. Clazo- menae. Enmann Class

Red-figure crater by the “master of Villa Giulia”. Clay. Mid-5th century B.C.

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SYRACUSE

Historical regions

Major cities and political centres

Important cult centres

Other ancient settlements

Persian dependencies in the early 5th century B.C.

LYDIA

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Delphi

Acroterion from Phanagoria. Marble. Mirror stand. Aphrodite with Erotes,

Third quarter of the 4th century B.C. Bronze. C. 480 B.C. Aegina

Sparta’s allies in the 5th century B.C.

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Man’s head, the so-called “Eubuleus”. Marble. Second half of the 4th century B.C. National Museum, Athens

Head of Dionysus. Marble. Early 3rd cen¬ tury B.C. Thasos Museum

Head of Epicurus. First quarter of the 3rd century B.C. Antique replica in marble. Metropolitan Museum, New York

Temple of Apollo at Didyma. Main facade. Marble. 3rd-2nd centuries B.C

Theatre at Pergamum. Basalt. 3rd century B.C.

Seated Woman. Marble. Second half of the 4th century B.C. Staatliche Museen, Ber¬ lin

I he Pergamum great altar. North-western corner. Marble and limestone. First half of the 2nd century B.C. Staatliche Museen, Berlin

Zeus and Porphyrian. Detail of the eastern frieze of the Pergamum altar. Marble. 180-160 B.C. Staatliche Museen, Berlin

Terracotta figurines from Tanagra and Myrina. Clay. 4th-3rd centuries B.C.

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Facade of a rock tomb at Cyrene. 3rd-2nd centuries B.C.

Intaglio. “Heron in Flight”. Carved chal¬ cedony and gold. Second half of the 5th century B.C.

Mosaic floors at Pella. 4th-3rd centuries B.C.

Statue of Demetrius I of Syria. Bronze. C. 150 B.C. Capitol Museum, Rome

Black-figure kylix with horsemen. Clay. 4th century B.C. Corinth

■■ — ■

Dying Gaul. 220-210 B.C. Antique replica in marble. Capitol Museum, Rome

Head of a goddess from Alexandria. Mar¬ ble. 3rd century B.C.

Portrait of Antiochus III. C. 200 B.C. Antique replica in marble. Louvre, Paris

Statue of Aphrodite. C. 250 B.C. Antique replica in marble. National Museum, Rome

The Victory of Samothrace. Marble. C. 190 B.C. Louvre, Paris

• X H Jfc a’aUU

Lekuthos. Sphinx. Painted earthenware. Late 5th century B.C. Attica

Statue of Aphrodite (from the collection of Khvoshchinsky). Marble. Roman copy from a Greek original from the 3rd century B.C.

Statue of Aphrodite, the so-called Venus de Milo. Marble. End of the 2nd century B.C. Louvre, Paris

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- - Roads and trade routes

3 Gold mines

Ag Silver mines

« Copper mines

^ Iron mines

(Tibet) Modem names

Lanka

Head of a satyr in pine wreath. Marble. Roman replica of 2nd century original

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She-wolf of Capitol. Bronze. Second quarter of the 5th century B.C. Palazzo of Conservatives, Rome

Wrestling scene. Fragment from painting on the Francois Etruscan tomb at Vulchi 2nd century B.C. Villa Albani, Rome

Appian way, near Rome: 312 B.C.

Fortune’s shrine at Palestrina. View from north-west. After 80 B.C.

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Statue of Augustus from Prima Porta. Marble. C. 20 B.C. Vatican Museums, Rome

Aqueduct in Nimes. End of the 1st century A.D.

As. Copper. C. A.D. 37-41. Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Coin with the portrait of Domitian. A.D. 80-90. British Museum, London

Sesterce Aurihalk, C. A.D. 66. British Museum, London

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The Flavii Amphitheatre, the so-called Colosseum. A.D. 80

Tombstone of the Vibius family. Marble. Second half of the 1st century B.C. Vatican Museums, Rome

Temple of Hadrian at Ephesos, 2nd cen¬ tury A.D.

Statue of the ruler of Gorgippia (from Ana¬ pa). Marble. 2nd century A.D.

Portrait of a Roman woman, the so-called Syrian. Marble, 160s-170s. The Hermi¬ tage, Leningrad

Helmet with a visor from Ribchester. Great Britain, Bronze. End of the 1st cen¬ tury A.D. British Museum, London

Portrait of Marcus Aurelius. Detail. Mar¬ ble. A.D. 170s-180s. National Museum, Rome

Portrait of a Roman. Bronze. Last quarter of the 1st century B.C. The Hermitage, Leningrad

Initiation in the mysteries of Dionysus. Fragment of wall-painting at the Villa of Mysteries, Pompeii. C. 50 B.C.

Sarcophagus with Dionysian scenes. Mar¬ ble. Early 3rd century A.D.

Sesterce. Aurihalk. Between A.D. 117-138

Sesterce. Aurihalk. C. A.D 119. Capitol Museum, Ro

Wall-painting from villa Farnesi. C. 19 B.C. National Museum. Rome

Portrait of Emperor Trajan. Marble. Early 2nd century A.D.

Head of a youth from Egypt. Marble. Mid-1st century A.D.

Roman city in Timgad, Al¬ geria. 2nd century A.D.

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mcnt, observation, and method, and that it had bet¬ ter refrain from unsubstantiated assertions. His works, however, could do little to stop the universal craze for the fantastic.

The romances of that time described the incred¬ ible adventures of incredibly beautiful and noble heroes and heroines going through terrible priva¬ tions when captured by brigands, pirates, Persian satraps, overcoming all obstacles through their vir¬ tues and the assistance of the gods, and ultimately getting married. In the eyes of the people of those times, it was not outstanding political figures and military leaders striving for the glory of their country who were the greatest heroes but clairvoyant pro¬ phets always retaining their inner freedom and therefore towering head and shoulders above those who tried to subjugate them. The literary type of a noble outlaw also appeared at this time; he robbed the rich, and helped the poor, he was wise and virtuous despite his crimes, and met his death as befits a hero. All of this was a kind of “compensation”, an escape from the reality with its humiliations and inevitable compromises with one’s conscience.

Magic, astrology, and daemonology increasingly held sway over the people’s minds. Lucius Apuleius, the author of the novel Metamorphoses describing the adventures of a young man transformed into an ass, paid a great deal of attention to magic, developing a theory of various categories and functions of genii and daemons mediating between the gods and the world.

Stoicism no longer appeared satisfactory either.

The works of the last of the Stoics, the emperor Marcus Aurelius, are full of hopeless pessimism. He asserted that nothing in the world could be either changed or improved, all things had been, were, and would be the same through eternity. Baseness, flat¬ tery and falsehood would always exist. The glory of even the greatest of men was forgotten, and then, what use would glory be to them after death? In that chaos, the only important thing was to preserve the inner “I” and follow the path of virtue. But that vir- § tue could no longer serve as a guideline in life, as it 5 was not directed towards any goal.

The common people felt an increasing revulsion against the world of the rich and the powers that be.

The propaganda of friendship between slave and | master, rich man and poor man, could not shake the J people’s conviction that the rich and the strong who f

posed as benefactors and friends of the poor and the weak were merely cunningly trying to divide and subjugate the little men, that the rich man was either a scoundrel himself or a scoundrel’s heir, and that virtue did not live in stately mansions. The peo¬ ple opposed their own virtues charity, good nature, industry, and readiness to help one another and for¬ give the enemy-to the official virtues of the ances¬ tors included in imperial propaganda, and the vir¬ tues of philosophers based on knowledge.

In this period, Christianity began to spread. The personality of its founder and of his closest disciples, the dating of various Christian works, and the nature of diverse early sects and their doctrines are still the subject of controversy that has given rise to a vast literature. Whatever the solutions of these numerous problems, early Christianity was undoub¬ tedly the best answer to the needs and aspirations of the cotnmon people. The destiny of Jesus Christ was a model of life and death that could be followed with greater conviction than the example of Hercules, Dionysus, Silvanus or Mithra, all of whom had lived in times long gone and probably never lived at all. The Christian author Lactantius wrote that Jesus appeared on this earth as a son of a carpenter and died the death of a slave in order that anyone, even the lowliest of the lowly and the poorest of the poor, might follow him. Christianity posed new goals, both general (the attainment of the Kingdom of God on earth) and individual (the attainment of eternal bliss in paradise). Christianity sanctioned breaking away from the official world, in which one had to live rendering to Caesar the things that were Cae¬ sar’s but inwardly keeping at a distance from it and retaining one’s spiritual freedom. Unlike many Oriental cults that became widespread in the empire, Christianity, far from endeavouring to become part of the imperial cult, resolutely rejected it. One Christian author wrote that Roman rulers, beginning with Romulus the fratricide, should have been forbidden to approach the temples for their evil deeds, let alone worship them. Early Christianity appealed to the poor and the simple; it proclaimed the slogan, “If any would not work, neither should he eat”; it rejected the rich and the noble with their “wisdom” and contempt for toil, and undermined the assumption of the inevitability of the existing order on which the whole of official Roman ideology was founded since the times of Augustus. At first,

321

28-344

• _

Christianity spread among the lower urban classes, ing in the arena (reminiscent of Nero’s appearances

but gradually these were joined by other social as an actor), the omnipotence of his favourites, and

strata. They brought with them their own philoso- of the humiliating peace treaty with the Germans, to

phy, which coloured the doctrines of various Chris- whom he was now obliged to pay tribute. In 192 he

tian sects; they wrote treatises expounding the was assassinated. He was succeeded by Pertinax,

Christian faith and refuting Greek and Roman favoured by the Senate but soon also assassinated

religions. and replaced by Didius Julianus, who promised the

Christianity was becoming popular. After Nero’s praetorian guards more money than the other clai-

persecudon the government sometimes punished in- mants to the throne; after a two-months reign, he

dividual Christians for refusal to participate in the was also killed.

imperial cult, and then at other times paid no atten- A civil war began between the candidates for the

tion to them, believing, as many contemporaries did imperial purple supported by different armies: Pis-

(cf. e. g., the anti-Christian treatise written by Cel- cennius Niger, proclaimed emperor in the East; Clo-

sus), that Christianity was an absurd superstition of dius Albinus, supported by the nobility of Gaul and

ignoramuses, a branch of Judaism despised by the Spain; and African-born Septimius Severus, who

Greeks and Romans. They failed to realise that the was proclaimed emperor by the army on the

growing numbers of Christians were a dangerous Danube and defeated his rivals. His reign saw the

sign of an impending crisis. beginning of a struggle, which lasted a whole cen¬

tury, between the so-called soldier emperors (who were favoured by the army and in their turn heaped The Crisis of the 3rd Century. The crisis began in the privileges on it) and the emperors favoured by the

reign of Marcus Aurelius (161-180). In the 1st and Senate, who implemented its policies.

2nd centuries, the peoples living beyond the Danube Although the senators believed that the situation

and Rhine made, partly due to contacts with the was merely a reversal to the relations under the

empire, considerable progress in agriculture, crafts, Julio-Claudian and Flavian lines, the basis of differ-

and military art; forming tribal military confedera- ences between the Senate and the emperors was now

cies, they began to attack the empire. After a war of quite different. The Senate, mostly consisting of

attrition against Parthia, Marcus Aurelius had to major landowners of the eastern and western prov-

fight, nearly during the whole of his reign, against inces, wanted the emperors to carry out the policies

the tribes of the Quadi and the Marcomanni on the that suited it best. The eastern potentates demanded

Danube a fight which on the whole ended in a a strong imperial power that would restrict both the

draw. The plague epidemic, which carried away the freedom of the cities (only Rome must be a city,

emperor himself, and the financial burden of war wrote Dio Cassius, senator and historian from the

adversely affected the empire’s economy. In Egypt, city Nicaeain Asia Minor) and the unruliness of the

where the peasants were especially harshly mob, relying on the optimates, i. e., the most wealthy

exploited, they ran away to the Nile Delta in their and prominent citizens, the army and the state

thousands and rose in rebellion that was known as apparatus that had to be maintained at the public

the “herdsmen’s revolt”. In northern Italy and expense. Everyone was to receive obligatory educa-

southern Gaul, the deserter Maternus raised a force tion at state schools, where they would be taught to

of peasants and slaves that terrorised the obey the emperor and to forget all about free

landowners. Avidius Cassius, governor of Syria, rose I thought. The western nobles wanted to have an against the emperor. All these were forerunners of 5 emperor, elected by the Senate, who would merely much more terrible events. y act as a commander-in-chief and whose duty it

Despite the Antonine tradition, Marcus Aurelius 1 would be to conquer new lands, get the manpower made his son Commodus heir to the throne, which | to cultivate those lands, maintain the army without caused grave discontent in the Senate and darkened burdening the population, and keep the soldiers in

the relations between the Senate and the new 1 check. The emperor must not interfere in the inter¬

emperor, who was accused of abuse of power, ^ nal affairs of the state, particularly those of the prov- cruelty, public appearances among gladiators fight- | inces, these nobles believed; these affairs would be

322

dealt with by the Senate and the local aristocracy. the colons settled on imperial lands refused to pay

Freedom of thought and of cults must not be cur- rent or obey the managers, the latter called in the

tailed. The two factions had but one point in com- troops. The agents of the imperial treasury had to

mon: they both insisted that, far from confiscating report those who tried to evade paying taxes by con-

lands, the emperor must hand over or sell his own cealing their incomes. In their attempts to introduce

lands to private individuals. greater order in the administration of the empire,

Relying mostly on the army, the soldier emperors the Severi paid special attention to elaborating

also had some support from the urban population, Roman law. The most prominent lawyers now

often closely connected with the army, since veterans served as praetorian prefects, edited imperial edicts,

frequently settled in the cities while decurions served and wrote replies to petitions and pleas, as well as

for a while in the army. These sections of the popula- comments on the existing laws and rules for legal

tion also had a programme of their own, expounded procedures.

in the work of Apuleius about Plato’s theories and During the reign of the first Severi, the last traces

Philostratus’s novel about the wise man and magi- of equality among citizens disappeared. According

cian Apollonius of Tyana. That programme to an edict of Caracalla, the entire population of the

demanded a certain freedom for the cities and empire, with the exception of deditkii (freedmen

encouragement for the activities of the upper stra- guilty of grave misconduct during slavery or those

turn of the urban population. The claims of the rich who had fought against Rome as foreigners)

men had to be restrained, but the common people received Roman citizenship. But the citizens were

and demagogues also had to be firmly controlled. divided in the eyes of the law into the nobles (sena-

The emperor could name any of his sons successor to tors, equites, decurions) and the plebs, or the com-

the throne (apparently to ensure their greater inde- mon people. No nobleman could be executed with-

pendence from the Senate), but he must not be a out the emperor’s sanction, sentenced to corporal

“tyrant”. He had to have an army, but he also had punishment or hard labour in the mines, but the

to pursue a peaceful policy of conciliation and common people were liable to all these indignities,

concessions. The nobles’ evidence had greater weight in court,

Septimius Severus, and later his son and successor and an insult to a noble was punished more severely.

Antonine, nicknamed Caracalla, endeavoured to In general, punishment for various crimes became

support the cities. They lavished special attention on much harsher now, and reprisals were directed not

the cities of Africa, partly because Africa was the only against the senatorial opposition but the

native land of Septimius Severus, and partly empire’s whole population. Not only mutiny or lese-

because, with the impoverishment of Egypt, it majeste were now punishable by death but also prac-

became the principal supplier of grain for Rome. tising magic, divination involving the destiny of

However, the policy of the Severi on this score was master or emperor, and spreading of new doctrines

rather contradictory: while trying to maintain the tempting the simple people. Surveillance ofmalcon-

cities as civic communities, they also increased the tents by secret agents, eavesdropping on conversa-

obligations of magistrates and decurions to the cities. tions at taverns, bath-houses and other public facili-

Needing a lot of money, they demanded regular ties, which was not unknown already under the

payment of revenue by the cities. Citizens now tried Antonines, was stepped up. Slaves could inform on to avoid serving in the once honourary offices. their masters in cases of lese-majeste , tax evasion or Decurions were going to rack and ruin at an appal- ^ adultery.

ing rate. ■§ The first Severi’s main support was the army,

As a result of confiscations of the property of ’ which grew to 600,000 and was mostly recruited in nobles supporting Clodius Albinus and later oppos- N the Danube provinces, where numerous indepen- ing Septimius Severus, the emperor’s lands grew ? dent peasantry still existed. In the other provinces, manyfold, far outstripping in size the estates of the 3> mostly veterans’ sons joined the army. The soldiers’ wealthiest individuals. Accordingly, the men who | salary was increased, they were permitted to have managed these lands played an ever increasing role, |> families and own land, and they gradually turned being in some provinces virtually uncontrolled. If ; into military settlers. Limitations on the social back-

323

28 *

ground of candidates for command posts were lifted, resorted to debasement of the coinage, adding cop-

and any soldier could now hope to rise to the highest per to silver, and that resulted in inflation and price

rank. Centurions were included in the equestrian rises. Commanders and officials now received their

order. Many posts in the bureaucratic apparatus salaries in kind, not in money. The amount of food-

were given to the military. The old praetorian guard stuffs, clothing, jewelry, utensils, and the number of

was disbanded, and the new guard was recruited servants and concubines allotted to them were deter-

from the legionaries. In the provinces, small detach- mined by their rank. The offensive of the German

ments of the so-called beneficiani were set up which tribes intensified again. During one of the German

acted as a police force, tracking down runaway campaigns, Alexander, his mother and Ulpian were

slaves and fighting brigands whose numbers con- murdered by mutinous soldiers (A. D. 235).

stantly swelled as slaves and impoverished peasants The troops proclaimed Maximin, nicknamed

joined them. All these measures were intended by “The Thracian”, as emperor. He is said to have

Septimius Severus to maintain order in the state and been a simple Thracian shepherd before enlisting in

raise the army’s effectiveness. The latter was all the Septimius Severus’s army, in which he rose to the

more necessary as German tribes resumed their rank of tribune of a legion owing to his exceptional

attacks against the empire, and relations with strength and bravery. Maximin carried out mass

Parthia grew worse. Caracalla was killed during a reprisals against major landlords, confiscating their

campaign against Parthia, and the kaleidoscopic lands, for which the Senate compared him to Spar-

succession of “senatorial” and “soldier” emperors tacus and Athenion, but he had adherents not only

resumed. Of these, none died a natural death or in the army, which he led to victory over the Ger-

reigned for more than a few years and even months. mans, but also in the cities. Owners of latifundia in

Two more emperors of the Severi dynasty ruled in southern Numidia rose against him, arming their

Rome, both of them grand-nephews of Septimius slaves and colons and proclaiming Gordian, gover-

Severus’s wife, Julia Domna, who came from a noble nor of Africa, as emperor. Gordian came from a

Syrian priestly family. One of them, Elagabal, a her- noble family and had great wealth. He and his son

editary high priest of the god Elah-Gabal wor- were attacked by the legion stationed in Africa and

shipped in the city of Emesa in the shape of a black the citizens of Garthage, and fell in ensuing battle,

stone, was deposed for his attempts to impose that Simultaneously (in 238), the troops killed Maximin,

god’s cult on Rome. To the Romans, the cult seemed and a compromise between the army and the Senate

absurd, and its ceremonies immoral. The other, brought to the throne Gordian’s grandson, who

Alexander Severus, appeared to be an ideal emperor assumed the name Gordian III. He continued Alex¬ in the eyes of the Senate-mostly because he tried to ander’s policy, but in 242 he was also murdered by

replace a standing army by irregular troops re- the troops.

cruited locally, settled on estates on the empire’s The empire’s position on the international scene

borders and provided with slaves and implements; also kept deteriorating. The Sassanid dynasty, which

practised the granting of state lands to senators; and came to power in Iran, consolidated the army and

restricted the independence of cities. The praetorian the state and immediately started a war with Rome,

prefect under Alexander was Ulpian, the famous The empire’s frontiers were attacked by the Goths,

lawyer, who actually conducted all the affairs of Carpiens, Franks, Sarmatians, and Moors, which

state together with Julia Mamaea, the young also began to form tribal confederacies headed by

emperor’s mother. The self-enslavement of free adult I kings. Many of the provinces were devastated, many Roman citizens was legally sanctioned in the inter- 5 villas destroyed and looted. Emperor Decius fell in a ests of major landlords who needed more manpower, jj war with the Goths on the Danube. Emperor Valeri- That was the end of the last immutable principle of an (253-260) was taken prisoner by the Persian king

the Roman civic community the interdiction on | Shapur-a disgrace that Rome had never known, the enslavement of a Roman citizen. ;o The ruination reached its height under Gallienus

By the end of Alexander Severus’s rule the eco- | (253-268), Valerian’s son and joint ruler. Unlike his

nomic situation of the empire also deteriorated. In ^ father, favoured by the Senate, he was, despite his their need for money, the government regularly | noble origin, a “soldier” emperor. At the same time

he was a highly educated man; he endeavoured to formed an alliance with the Moors. In Gaul, the

restore the cities, and restrict the exactions imposed revolt began of peasants who called themselves

on colons, extending his patronage to cultural figures “Bagaudae”, that is, “fighters”. They seized villas

such as the philosopher Plotinus, founder of neo-Pla- and even captured the city of Augustodunum.

tonism. His predecessors Decius and Valerian, both In 268, Gallienus was murdered by the cavalry

supported by the Senate, had fought against the commander Aureolus, but his military reforms bore

opposition among municipal circles, in which there fruit under his successors known as the “Illyrian

were many Christians already, persecuting the emperors” (all of them came from the Danubian

Christians who refused to make sacrifices in imperial provinces) - Claudius II, Aurelian and Probus.

temples, banishing them and even executing some of Claudius II, nicknamed Gothicus, inflicted a severe

them, especially the clerics, whereas Gallienus defeat on the Goths, many of whom were made

stopped the persecution of Christians, for which they colons and military settlers. Tetricus, the last Gallic

were duly grateful. To spite the Senate, he barred ruler and the richest landlord of Aquitania, fright-

the entry of senators to the army; neither could they ened by the scope of the movement of the Bagaudae,

be governors of provinces where troops were sta- and the disobedience of the troops stationed on the

tioned. On the other hand, promotion from the Rhine, secretly wrote a letter to Aurelian pleading

ranks to the highest command posts was facilitated. for help and promising to surrender the army. In

The emperor reformed his cavalry, as mounted war- this way Gaul was restored to Rome. Aurelian also

riors were the principal force of the Germans, Sar- put an end to Zenobia’s kingdom in the face of con-

matians and Persians: he brought all the cavalry siderable opposition from anti-Roman and pro-Per-

units under the command of one general, which in- sian parties. Only Dacia was irrevocably lost. Probus

creased the effectiveness of the Roman army. Gal- won several victories over Franks, whereupon they

lienus was naturally hated most profoundly by the were settled in the western provinces as soldiers and

nobles, who inspired mutiny in many provinces. farmers.

Usurpers appeared who tried either to seize the By the 280s the position of the empire appeared to

throne in Rome or to secede from the empire. In be improving, but the crisis was so acute that a re-

most provinces, the revolts did not last long, being covery was no longer possible. During the times of

quickly suppressed by troops loyal to Gallienus, but general devastation, only the landed aristocracy

Gaul, Britain and Spain formed a separate Gallic thrived, seizing the lands of ruined petty and

empire headed by Postumus, a creature of the local medium farmers, and making impoverished

landed aristocracy; he recruited Germans in his peasants, whole rural communities, and captives

army. In the East, unable to resist the Persian on- settled on land their colons. In the cities, many of

slaught, Gallienus was compelled to recognize which had been completely ruined, all power was

Odaenathus, prince of Palmyra, as his joint ruler. concentrated in the hands of those who had

Gathering Syrian and Arab troops, Odaenathus managed to survive the period of devastation and

drove away Shapur who was laying Syria waste. But even profit by it. The role of the slave-owning social

after Odaenathus’s mysterious assassination, the structure in the economic life of the empire fell,

anti-Roman party headed by his wife, the ambitious while those structures in which the rudiments of

and wilful Zenobia, gained the upper hand. Zenobia future feudal relations were given free play were in

was regent of Palmyra for Odaenathus’s young sons; the ascendant. The economic links between different

under her, Palmyra seceded from Rome and estab- ^ parts of the empire grew weaker as natural economy

fished sway over Syria, Arabia, a considerable por- ? became predominant and village communities and

tions of Asia Minor, and Egypt, where Zenobia was 5 saltus almost unconnected with markets and cities,

supported by a strong anti-Roman party. True, Gal- N Separatist tendencies developed among provincial

lienus won a number of victories over separate bar- J nobles, bringing about a revival of provincial cults,

barian tribes, and concluded alliances with others, g> local languages, and local art. Under these condi-

but the position of the empire still remained very dif- 1 tions, the unity of the empire could clearly be pre-

ficult. In Africa, an uprising of peasants and colons j*i served only through strong state authority. The

broke out under the leadership of Faraxenes who f emperors of the 3rd century made a decisive break

325

with the Antonines’ policy. They assumed the titles with its unity and integrity. Plotinus recognized the

of “lord and master”, patronised Oriental solar cults need for “civic” virtues opening up the path to the

tracing back the emperors’ ancestry to the sun-god, higher virtues, and he also recognized the need for

ordered their sculptures to be erected, with diadems conscientiously performing one’s role on the world

of sunrays, and insisted on the emperor’s eternity scene. He believed that men did wrong to grumble

and invincibility. A preamble to any speech now at God who permitted evil to pervade the world, for

had to mention the “Golden Age” that set in with they themselves were to blame for allowing the bad the coming of the current emperor. and the strong to rule them, rather than fight evil,

This kind of official propaganda naturally lost all for behaving like sheep allowing wolves to eat them,

semblance of credibility. Previously popular doc- But these appeals of Plotinus to be active found no

trines now collapsed, and men more and more response. His disciple Porphyry mostly called for an

turned to religion rather than to philosophy, accept- escape from the world of vanity to a desert, to a life

ing divine reveladons, as those of the Egyptian god among the few pure and like-minded people far from

Thoth, identified with the Greek god Hermes Tris- the evil of life. The whole system of neo-Platonism

megistos. It was believed that revelations, mysteries was too abstruse for the broad public and later be-

and magic formulas could enable the initiated to came the ideology of fairly narrow intellectual circles

escape the action of this world’s necessity and evil to in some cities of the Orient.

the celestial spheres of genuine freedom. Many felt a Plotinus’s esthetics had a much greater effect on

repugnance to the real, material world. Various phi- the minds. It is not the external body that should be

losophico-religious schools emerged which, relying portrayed, he insisted, but the inner soul or idea,

on Plato’s ideas and the authority of the wise men of The art of those times lost interest in the reality, the

the Orient, taught that the earthly world had been beauty of the human body and man’s individual

created by an evil god but that the elect and enlight- traits, concentradng on representing a certain image

ened could and should know a higher and true god or symbol of the inner essence. Only the enormous

by forsaking the world. eyes contemplating eternity were alive in the por-

The numbers of Christians grew. Christian com- traits of the common people, while emperors’ statues

munities were now strong organisations headed by were intended to symbolise above all their grandeur,

bishops who had treasuries at their disposal which menacing, frozen, and oppressive,

swelled through donations from rich Christians. The bishops distributed alms only to the “worthy”, that

is, poor men obedient to them, and banished any The Dominate and the Fall of the Empire. Despite the

dissenters, declaring them to be heretics. The works gravity of the overall situation, some progress was

of Cyprian, a bishop of Carthage in the mid-3rd cen- made in the restoration of the empire on a new basis

tury, beheaded at the time of Valerian’s persecu- by the emperor Diocletian and his successor Con¬ dons, point to the replacement of the democratic stantine. Diocletian (284-305) was the son of a Dal-

spirit once prevalent in Christian communities by matian freedman, and he rose from a private soldier

the bishop’s iron will. to the rank of commander of the imperial guard.

In that epoch, Plotinus called for the preservation After the assassinadon of the sons of the emperor of the surviving values of classical culture. He Carus, Diocletian was proclaimed as emperor and expounded the doctrine of world unity and har- implemented a number of important reforms. He

mony, and of the penetration of the supreme and in- a divided the empire into four parts, making his com- tegral Good (or the One) in all its parts. All the trou- 5 rade-in-arms Maximian his colleague, both of them

bles of the world came from the fragmentation and y bearing the title of Augustus, while Galerius and

disunion arising from unity becoming diversity I Constantius I Chlorus were nominated Caesars. The through a series of intermediate stages. Man could | provinces were divided into smaller units, to increase

only achieve harmony and happiness by looking a, the efficiency of the administration. To avert the

deep into his own soul and purifying it, as a piece of | danger of military pronunciamentoes, the military gold, from the dirt of passions and desires adhering s authority of commanders was separated from the to it. He could even rise above reason by merging J civilian authority of the governors. The army now

326

consisted of legions stationed along the borders and of mobile units easily transferred from one region to another. Barbarians settled on the provincial lands - Laeti and the foederati recruited among the allied tribes and also given lands in the empire served in the Roman army, too. Landowners were obliged to enlist part of their colons as soldiers. Veterans’ sons also usually joined the army.

Land taxes were standardised and collected in kind. The taxes on state lands were higher than those on private estates. In accordance with an assessment of property, taxes were computed on the basis of a cer¬ tain amount of land that could be cultivated by a single individual, the quality of land and the types of plants grown on it being taken into account. Res¬ ponsibility for collecting taxes from city areas was now vested in members of municipal councils now called curials; in rural communities, the taxes were collected by the magistrates of pagi and villages, and in exempted saltus, by their owners. City merchants and craftsmen paid the taxes in money, while col¬ leges delivered all kinds of produce in lieu of taxes.

To fight inflation and high prices, Diocletian issued new coins and an edict on maximum prices-not only on grain, as had earlier been practised, but also on all agricultural produce and craftsmen’s pro¬ ducts, as well as various services. The edict proved unenforcible, and profiteering continued. The enormously swollen bureaucratic machine consisting of officials of numerous ranks was also streamlined, and new court ceremonies were introduced.

Diocletian made the final step to becoming a dominus, not a pnnceps (hence the name of the late empire, the dominate, as distinct from the early empire or principate). Diocletian adopted the divine surname of Jovius, the representative on earth of Jupiter, whereas Maximian became Herculius, the earthly counterpart of Hercules. The Christians, who opposed the idea of the emperors’ divinity, were even more cruelly persecuted than before; many of them died in that period and were later included in the Christian martyrology. The subjects that had the 4 rare honour of seeing their emperor had to prostrate ' themselves before him. Senators continued to be the N highest order, but all state affairs were handled by ? the emperor’s council, not the Senate. But the vie- |> tories of Diocletian and his colleagues over the Ger- § mans, Persians, Moors and, which was the main thing, over movements of the Bagaudae and peas- f

ants in Africa satisfied the nobles. The rebels were treated as common brigands and crucified on the spot without investigation or trial, or sold as slaves without the right of manumission. Ornate pane¬ gyrics praised Diocletian and Maximian as latterday Olympians triumphing over the giants-the rebel¬ lious “sons of the earth”.

In 305, Diocletian abdicated and withdrew to his native Dalmatia, settling down in a magnificent mansion on the site of modern Split. After a short struggle between the pretenders to the throne, the son of Constantius Chlorus, Constantine (306-337) became emperor. He was the sole ruler of the empire but preserved its division into four prefectures subor¬ dinated to praetorian prefects and divided into prov¬ inces forming dioceses.

Constantine won special fame by stopping the per¬ secution of Christians and convening the famous ecu¬ menical council at Nicaea, which worked out a uni¬ fied symbol of the creed thereby making Chris¬ tianity a state religion. Constantine himself was baptised before his death, hoping, according to his ill-wishers, that the baptism would cleanse him of his numerous grave sins, especially the numerous execu¬ tions (including those of nearly all his relations). The church now became a powerful ally of the state. As early as the end of the 2nd century, Tertullian, a prominent figure in the Christian church in Africa, wrote in his defence of Christianity against its adver¬ saries that happiness, peace, charity and universal brotherhood would prevail in the empire if the emperor himself were to be a Christian. This dream, which had earlier seemed quite Utopian, had now come true, but that did not improve the position of either the empire’s population or the Christian church itself. Having become a dominant religion and made numerous converts among self-seeking courtiers currying favour with the emperor, it imme¬ diately became the scene of fierce struggle among various trends (Nicaeans, Arians, Donatists, and others). Whenever one of these groups emerged vic¬ torious, it declared all the opponents to be heretics and used the power of the state machinery to repress them. The general councils that were convened to promote unity and concord actually only fanned the passions and arguments. Besides, the decisions of the councils were influenced by the emperor’s will. Hav¬ ing rejected the imperial cult, the church sanctioned the idea of emperor as God’s representative on earth.

327

Everything in any way connected with the emper- Having broken with all the Roman traditions,

or his edicts, palace, bed chamber-were declared Constantine no longer wanted to stay in Rome where

to be sacred. Disobedience in the face of imperial the senatorial nobility, true to those traditions, was

authority was regarded sacrilegious. Those who still influential, and moved the capital to Constanti-

were disaffected by this degeneration of the church nople founded on the site of Byzantium. The new ca-

set up their own “heretical” sects and retired to pital symbolised a union of East and West. The trans¬ deserts, starting various orders of monks, which ference of the capital to a more eastern location was

gradually became more and more numerous. The a sign of the process often called the “Orientalisadon

church grew richer through donations from of the empire” in scholarly literature. This is usually

emperors and private individuals, and it now owned taken to mean the theocratisation of imperial au-

lands and colons. Elections of bishops were accom- thority and the establishment of a court etiquette si-

panied by intrigues and even massacres, as that post milar to that of the Persian kings, but these were

carried with it power, influence, and riches. At the merely outward indications of deep internal pro¬

same time Christian theology and philosophy devel- cesses. Having gone through the stage of a civic com- I

oped; borrowing a great deal from the ideas of clas- munity with its characteristic features, Rome arrived, ;

sical philosophy, they offered their interpretations with the disintegration of that community, at a sys- t

and modes of solution of the same problems with tern close to that of the Oriental states, with their vast !

which the former was concerned. crown lands, estates of rich magnates, a population (

The internal situation in the empire remained at different stages of dependence between slaves and i

tense. Constantine’s policy made the condition of the freemen, and with undeveloped economic ties. The i

population even harder than it had been. Curials similarity of the socioeconomic structure was bound i

and their descendants were bound to reside in their to produce a similarity in the outward form of state

cities, and if they left them, they were forcibly authority. But, as was often the case in Oriental t

brought back. Later emperors regularly issued states, that authority was fairly weak, despite all the a

orders to seek out the curials, who had in the mean- external attributes of power. This became particu- t

time become officials, crown colons, or even slaves of larly clear under Constantine’s successors. s

influential patrons, and send them back to their His reforms, which continued those of Diocletian, E

native cities. When arrears in city taxes accumu- consolidated the position of the empire for a short tl

lated, curials were thrown into prison and whipped. time only. Of the later emperors the best-known p

Craftsmen were hereditarily tied down to their col- was Julian nicknamed “The Apostate” (reigned e

leges, and even marriages between different colleges 361-363). He tried to restore classical culture and d

were forbidden. The workers of crown workshops or religion, to lighten the burden of the people and im- p

factories were branded to make it easier to find them prove the position of cities, but the crises did not b

and return them to their workplaces if they ran abate and were even exacerbated. The army, which ol

away. Colons were bound to their plots, and consisted of colons and ruined peasants, was losing ai

runaway colons were sought out and returned to its fighting efficiency. More and more often the rec- tl

their owners in fetters, while those who offered them ruits came from the barbarians settled on the lands fo

refuge were fined. The laws that improved the con- of the empire or hired abroad. Their commanders’ fo

dition of slaves were repealed. If a slave should die influence at the imperial court grew, while the to

after being beaten by the master, said an edict of ^ troops often failed to put up an effective resistance to m

Constantine, the latter was not responsible for the 8. their tribesmen that resumed their onslaught on the b« 

death as he had the right to reform a bad slave. A 3 empire’s frontiers. True, the barbarians had not yet as

slave attempting to run away to barbarians had a j learnt to besiege fortified cities, but they devastated ar

foot cut off. Dog collars were fastened round slaves’ ~ rural areas. They were often joined by peasants who tei

necks giving the master’s address, where they had to § rose to fight their oppressors. The Bagaudae fought vvi

be taken by those who captured them to claim re- j in Gaul and Spain, and Christians of the Agonistic th« 

ward. A free woman forming a connection with a | sect (which also meant “fighters”), in Africa. They of

slave was burned alive, and a slave who informed on ^ seized villas, destroyed promissory notes, and raised ba

the woman was freed. g slaves to the position of masters, making the latter set

328

ir;

i Kj®irj

if. ju. ^.44 JtC. «•>*« A*

J.x—tf.to-y

„V_r-7;.”

slaves. Their mood can be judged by the poems of Commodianus, a Christian poet born in Syria but resident in Africa who wrote in a language and style intended for the common people. He described in graphic verse the coming struggle of true Christians, the poor and the righteous, against Antichrist, and their triumph over the latter. He wrote that righ¬ teous men would march on Rome, destroying cities along the route and justly restoring to the people the riches stolen from them, that they would seize Rome, depose the emperor, and compel the Senate with the aid of the Goths to obey them. The nobles and the powers that be would become the slaves of their slaves, a thousand-year-long kingdom of peace and justice would come, and for a thousand years the enslaved oppressors would suffer for their sins. Sometimes the uprisings were headed by local des¬ cendants of tribal chiefs, like the Moor Firmus in Africa. It was never possible to stamp out these uprisings completely, and they flared up again and again.

In 378, the Goths settled on the Danube rose and, together with colons and gold miners, routed the army of emperor Valens (364-378), ruler of the eas¬ tern provinces. The emperor fell in battle. He was succeeded by Theodosius (379-395), who united the Eastern and Western empires under a single rule for the last time; resorting both to reprisals and com¬ promises, he suppressed the uprisings, but the empire never got back on its feet. After Theodosius’s death the division into the eastern and western parts became permanent, and the rulers of the latter became a plaything in the hands of the commanders of the hired troops of Germans. The discontent among the nobles of the Western provinces grew. By this time they had grown stronger than ever, raising forces of their own capable of defending their great fortified villas (the burghs) and of barring entrance to imperial officials; they saw the central govern¬ ment, incapable of stopping the onslaught of the barbarians and of suppressing peasant revolts, only as a dangerous usurper of their vast incomes. Time and again the Western magnates supported pre¬ tenders to the throne who often formed alliances with barbarian chieftains. On the other hand, all those who suffered from the enthrallment and abuses of the bureaucrats also pinned their hopes on the barbarians and ran away to them in their masses in search of more bearable conditions of life. Principali¬

ties headed by local chieftains and actually indepen¬ dent from Rome emerged in the west. Armorica fell away from Rome, reverting to the primitive com¬ munal structure. The empire, grown exceedingly weak, easily fell a prey to the barbarians. In 410, Alaric, the chieftain of the Visigoths, seized and sacked Rome. True, the Goths later withdrew, but the fall of the “eternal city” left a shattering me¬ mory.

In the decades that followed, one Western prov¬ ince after another passed into the hands of the Goths, Burgundians, Langobards, Vandals, and Franks, who founded their kingdoms there. The chiefs of German troops planted and deposed Roman emperors who had no real power at all. In 476, Odoacer of the tribe of Scyrri deposed the last emperor Romulus, nicknamed Augustulus, and, without bothering even to appoint a new emperor, sent the insignia of imperial power to Constantino¬ ple, the capital of the Eastern empire, which lasted, under the name of Byzantium, for another thousand years.

The history of the Graeco-Roman world was over. The Middle Ages, the period of the formation of the feudal socioeconomic structure, began. The problem of the nature of the transition from classical slave¬ owning society to feudal is a subject of lively contro¬ versy. Was it an evolutionary or revolutionary tran¬ sition? And if we have a revolution here, what were its specific features and its difference from bourgeois revolutions? What were the classes that carried out the revolution? What classes opposed them? And who were the carriers of the new relations ? Had this transition been prepared by feudal relations that had matured within the empire, or did these rela¬ tions emerge only after the fall of the empire out of a synthesis of the elements of the Roman and barbar¬ ian social structure? Why did the Western empire disintegrate while the Eastern one continued to exist? To what extent did the new societies that „ emerged on the ruins of the Roman empire retain -§ the traditions, technical skills, types of settlement, 0 and forms of social links and social relations of anti- N quity? Or could it be that only a few cities, which ? changed their nature, the Christian church, the ? Latin language, and the Roman law adapted to the § new conditions were retained? These are the princi- g 1 pal issues debated by modern historians, issues that | have not so far been given generally acceptable solu-

329

29-344

tions. There can be no doubt, however, that Rome and the classical world as a whole exerted an enor¬ mous influence on the entire subsequent history and culture of mankind.

That influence was manifested in most diverse spheres of material and nonmaterial culture of the subsequent epochs, extending not only to the peoples that at one time formed part of the Graeco-Roman empires but also to those peoples that replaced them or inhabited the neighbouring countries-Germans, Slavs, Arabs, and others. The study of the influence, assimilation and transformation of the classical heri¬ tage in societies with different socioeconomic and political structures is of prime scientific significance for the study of the general problem of transition from one socioeconomic formation to another, of in¬ teraction between different cultures, of the possibil¬ ity of cultural borrowings-a problem range that has a direct bearing on general historico-philosophi- cal theories. Nearly all the founders of modern cul¬ turological theories, such as Spengler, Toynbee, Kroeber, and others, regarded Graeco-Roman cul¬ ture or civilisation as a kind of standard for the emergence, development and decline of any culture or civilisation. But the main thing is that historians rejecting the concept of closed cultural cycles and accepting the basically different assumption of natural succession of social formations also see the great scientific significance of the classical world - not only as a social formation without the study of which the world-historical process as a whole cannot be understood but also because, owing to the dis¬ tinctness of the stages passed by the antique world, it opens up great possibilities for comprehending the interaction of various socioeconomic, political and cultural processes. Although this interaction assumes specific forms under concrete historical conditions, it is also governed by general historico-cultural and sociological laws of development.

All down the centuries, the Graeco-Roman world and its culture constantly attracted the attention of philosophers, writers, and artists. For the broadest public, the antique images, figures and heroes often served as models to be imitated or, on the other hand, to be criticised. Suffice it to remember the treatment of Caesar, Brutus and Cassius in world literature and historiography: they aopeared now as tyrant and his assassins, the liberators fas, e. g , dur¬ ing the French Revolution), now as an almos idea!

ruler and his criminal murderers placed by Dante in the last circle of hell. The replacement of the Roman republic by empire has been variously described as a beneficent transition from the rule of hidebound aristocracy to a “democratic monarchy” (thus Mommsen) and as a sad demise of freedom trodden down by tyranny.

In the modern times, the ideas of freedom and democracy have been often associated with classical models. As the Soviet student of antiquity S. L. Ut- chenko aptly put it, therein lies a certain “phe¬ nomenon of the antique polis”. The classical civic community was not a democracy in the modern sense either in Greece or in Rome. Only a limited number of full-fledged citizens had access to the popular assembly and the magistracies. The possibi¬ lities for the free expression of citizens’ will were extremely limited, particularly in Rome. The princi¬ ple of “geometric” equality based on property quali¬ fication does not correspond to the modern ideas of civic equality, and neither does the concept of free¬ dom as primarily economic independence, limited in actual fact by working for other men. Still, despite these and other essential differences, fighters for free¬ dom and democracy in the modern times drew upon the idealised concepts of Athenian democracy and the Roman republic. The same is largely true of the idea of the harmoniously developed man, the idea of humanitas -respect for man’s bodily and spiritual qualities. This idea, so dear to the thinkers of the modern times, was also traced back to antiquity, although in actual fact the Graeco-Roman world in¬ terpreted “man” as “citizen”, and a sufficiently well-to-do and educated citizen at that, a citizen of a leading community, for citizens of allied and subju¬ gated communities (not to mention the barbarians) were not seen as full-fledged citizens and were often enslaved. Still, it was precisely in antiquity that the ideal of man and of human relations was sought for.

The ideas of democracy, freedom and humanity, 5 albeit modified in accordance with new notions and -s conditions, constituted an important part of the n common cultural heritage of the whole mankind.

The ideas of early Christianity, which took shape g, in the framework of the Roman empire, continued I to inspire the exploited people in their fight for social ^ justice during the Middle Ages and in the modern e~ times. Roman law, which worked out in greatest

30

detail all types of contractual relations and legal suits, formed the basis of the law of many European countries, and later affected the legal systems of other continents. Classical science, though different in its methods and potential from modern science, in many respects formed the basis of the latter. Alexan¬ drian mathematicians came very close to creating algebra, which was later worked out by the Arabs. The heliocentric systems, which preceded Ptolemy’s geocentric system, gave an impetus to the studies of Copernicus. Archimedes’s law and Euclidean geo¬ metry are still alive today. Classical philosophy, closely linked with science, often posed the same questions as the philosophy of the modern times; it was not only a monument of antique thought but also a basis for the development of many branches of modern philosophy. The atomistic theory of Lucre¬ tius and his brilliant hypotheses concerning the his¬ tory of the world and of mankind nourished the thinking of the materialists of the modern times; the logic of Aristotle, the science of formal logic; and the dialectics of classical philosophers, the modern dia¬ lectical method. Significant in this respect is the pro¬ found interest for the attainments of classical philos¬ ophy displayed by many outstanding philosophers

and thinkers including Marx, Engels, and Lenin.

The interest for human psychology and realistic portrayal of the world made a great impact on the art of the modern times-both the visual arts and drama. Modern playwrights appreciate the compo¬ sition and the subjects of antique tragedies and com¬ edies, and antique characters gain a new lease of life in these times, as writers turn to the images of Anti¬ gone, Phaedra, Medea, or Orestes, linking them up with present-day ideas and quests and giving them a contemporary colouring. The character of a cunning and clever slave became the prototype of the ser¬ vants in the plays by Lope de Vega, Goldoni, and Moliere.

Western Europe mostly became acquainted with classical culture through its Roman interpretation, whereas Russia and Eastern Europe perceived it through the mediation of the Byzantine empire, where Greek traditions were always retained. Whatever the differences between the structure and worldview of the modern world and those of antiquity, the history of modern culture cannot be understood without the study of our Graeco-Roman heritage and the ways in which it was assimilated under various historical conditions.

I

Afterword

The ancient civilisations of East ana West are a most important chapter in the history of human society. It was in that remote epoch, preceded by a long period of the formation of Man as a biological species and the development of the first human col¬ lectives, of culture and social relations, chat the foun¬ dations of subsequent evolution were laid which largely determined the nature and course of the historical process. It was a time of great achieve¬ ments in material culture (agriculture, livestock¬ breeding, metallurgy, the crafts), which were the source of a further growth of productive forces, and made a decisive impact on the subsequent evolution of society’s socioeconomic structure and progress in spiritual culture. It was then that classes and the state emerged, as well as cities, writing, science, phi¬ losophy, and it was then that art received a funda¬ mentally new impetus.

It is not coincidental that the ancient civilisations of East and West are presented in this work in a general context of historico-cultural development and made a subject-matter of scientific study. This reflects both the historical reality itself and the authors’ view of the history of mankind and of the unity of the historical process.

Characteristic of the epoch of antiquity both in the West and in the East was the transition from the first, preclass socioeconomic formation the primi¬ tive communal, to the first class one, the slave-own¬ ing formation, although the forms and character of social development in the East and in the West dif¬ fered. The degree of the development of slave-own¬ ing and its specific features in the ancient Orient were also different from those of the Graeco-Roman

world (in the latter, slave-owning assumed its classi¬ cal form). In both regions, the feudal structure began to take shape at the concluding stages of the period of antiquity, later developing into a new socioeconomic formation.

East and West have for a long time been regarded as opposing entities by historians and the general public alike. In the modern time the opposition between East and West was used by historians to substantiate the proposition that the two followed dif¬ ferent paths of historical development. This view was rooted in an inadequate and often superficial know¬ ledge European scholars had of the history and culture of the Orient the available stock of Eastern sources was rather limited at the time. All too often Western scholars proceeded from the assumption of Europocentrism, regarding the “European ma¬ terials”, the ancient history of the countries of the West, as the standard and frame of reference for assessing social and cultural phenomena ofnon-Euro- pean communities. These unscientific theories were actively propagated by adherents of colonial policies.

In opposing the West to the East, Western politi¬ cians and public and cultural figures variously appraised Oriental civilisations, but these apprai¬ sals, by and large, followed two principal trends belittling the cultural achievements of the East, emphasis on its backwardness and inability to “rise” to the level of the West, and exaggerated praise for the “Oriental models” and for the “spirituality” of the East. Even major European philosophers ^ accepted the interconnected propositions concerning | the “spirituality” of the East and the “materialism” s of the West, the “rational and active” in the West

332

and the “sensual and passive” in the East, the “pro¬ gress” of the West and the “stagnation” of the East. Hegel’s division of all peoples into historical (Greeks, Romans, the Christian peoples of Europe) and non- historical ones (the peoples of the East) also found a great many supporters. Kipling’s line, “East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet”, has been a familiar catchword for decades in Eur¬ ope. This was also the established attitude of Wes¬ tern science to ancient civilisations.

While accepting the specificity of the paths of development and the diversity of societies and cul¬ tures of that epoch, modern science must, in our opinion, proceed from the assumption of the unity of the historical process, and thus reject the opposition of the ancient East and the ancient West. The Oriental bias, characteristic of some works of Asian scholars, is based on a diametrically opposed but essentially just as unhistorical conception. Fresh his¬ torical data show quite clearly the unscientific nature of such positions.

The studies of the recent decades prove conclu¬ sively that the “ancient Orient” must be taken to mean not only a certain chronological and geo¬ graphical framework but also a definite stage in the historical development of ancient societies. Typolo- gically, the early societies of the Aegean world and of the northern Mediterranean have a greater affinity to the early Oriental than to the Graeco-Roman ones. The Scythian states of the northern Black Sea coast must also be included in the early Oriental type. In other words, the ancient East becomes less and less the East pure and simple.

A similar statement may be made about the West. Consider, for instance, Roman Egypt, or a whole series of other synthetic cultures, in which the line between the East and the West is hard to draw. The view that the ancient countries of East and West were isolated from each other —an opinion rather similar to the approach outlined above —must cer¬ tainly be revised. The data now available to scholars demonstrate that the peoples and tribes of East and West had close contacts already in very ancient times, and these contacts were beneficent for their respective material and nonmaterial cultures. These varied mutual links continued throughout the pe¬ riod of antiquity, and, since civilisation took shape x much earlier in the East than in the West, the latter 3 benefited from these contacts much more than the 3

former. Moreover, it may even be said that Greek culture could not have achieved such a high level of development without the contribution of the ancient Orient. We know, for instance, that the Greek sys¬ tem of writing was derived from the Phoenician script, that some kinds of cultivated plants and domestic animals were borrowed from the East or became widespread under the influence of the Orient, that science of the ancient East made a great impact on Greek science, and so on and so forth. Oriental material culture greatly influenced not only the peoples of Greece and Italy but also of other regions of Europe, which borrowed millet and rye, for example, from the Near East and the Caucasus. Citric plants and melons also came to Europe from Asia. The ancient Orient also made a sizable contri¬ bution to the development of metallurgy and metal¬ work in Europe.

For a long time, the concept of ancient East in¬ cluded only the so-called countries of the classical Orient - Egypt, Mesopotamia, Iran, Palestine, and Phoenicia. The archaeological discoveries of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and finds of new written monuments made scientists extend this con¬ ventional geographical framework to include the ancient cultures of Anatolia and the Caucasus as typically Oriental ones. In the recent decades, the ancient Oriental areal became even more extensive covering India, China, as well as Arabia and certaii areas of South-East Asia.

In recent years, the chronological boundary of the concept of ancient Orient was pushed back, owing to fresh archaeological discoveries, to the 9th or 8 th millennium B. C., not the 5th or the 4th, as had ear¬ lier been believed.

Links between distant areas were established not only directly but also in relay fashion, as was the case of connections between the ancient cultures of Eu¬ rope and the Far East. Archaeological data point to permanent rather than sporadic contacts covering in the 8 th through 3rd centuries B. C. the huge distance of up to 7,000 kilometres - we refer here to the Old Silk Route described above. It led from the Balkan peninsula and the Northern Black Sea coast to Ordos, crossing the Urals, the Altai Mts and Tuva. Goods and objects of art travelled along the Silk Route from China to the Mediterranean. This unity of the ancient civilisations of different peoples was preserved and even consolidated after the appear-

333

ance of the Western Graeco-Roman civilisations on velopment that repeats, as it were, stages that have

the historical scene. Greeks and Romans got as far as already been passed, but repeats them in a different

India and China, there were Indian trading colonies way, on a higher basis ('the negation of negation’), a

in Iran and Egypt, and Roman factories in southern development, so to speak, that proceeds in spirals,

India. not in a straight line”. 1

The periods of Hellenism and the Roman empire Owing to the continuity of experiences and

were extremely important for the establishment of mutual links, the ancient civilisations of East and

links between East and West. A kind of synthesis of West entered the Middle Ages carrying a rich cul-

cultures was taking shape-not as a sum of hetero- tural heritage. As historical fate would have it, a

geneous elements (Eastern and Western ones) but as great deal of that cultural heritage was not perceived

an organic whole, as a novel and original phe- by the subsequent generations-much was destroyed

nomenon (cf. Graeco-Bactrian and Gandhara art, and dissipated. Only in some Oriental countries

the Kushan pantheon, Alexandrian science, Fayum (such as India and China) was a certain continuity

painting, etc.). of culture and tradition preserved in the transition

Throughout the period of antiquity, the links from antiquity to the Middle Ages; Byzantium and

between Eastern and Western civilisations covered the Arab world directly absorbed a great deal from

extremely diverse spheres —commercial, cultural, the classical and Oriental cultures. Contemporary

scientific, etc. The attitude towards the East in the archaeological, historical and linguistic studies res-

classical world varied from epoch to epoch and was tore to life, as it were, many monuments of the

often hostile, especially during the Graeco-Persian ancient civilisations of East and West, filling in the

wars, when the East was seen as alien and barbarian. gaps in their overall historico-cultural development.

But real life, the historico-cultural process itself, Each discovery on this path strengthens the excep-

pushed the ancient civilisations towards each other, tional importance of these ancient epochs in the his-

as they followed an objective and natural path of tory of humankind and the formation of world

development. culture.

The period of the crisis of Roman society and its Here we would like to mention the great contribu-

culture was an extraordinary chapter in the history tion made by Soviet specialists in the ancient civili-

of the relations between the Graeco-Roman world sations of the East and the West to the study of their and the East. At that time, the East, and in the first history and culture. We can list here only some of

place Iran with its learning of the Magi and India the recent works, such as S. L. Utchenko, Julius

with its religion and philosophy of Brahmanism, Caesar (Moscow, 1976); V. M. Masson, The

were perceived as a source of wisdom and high ideals Economy and Social Structure of Ancient Societies (Mos-

that might help to find a way out of a spiritual crisis, cow, 1976); Ye. M. Shtayerman, Ancient Rome.

rather than as something backward or alien. Problems of Economic Development (Moscow, 1978);

In considering the ancient civilisations of the G. A. Koshelenko, The Greek Polis in the Hellenistic

West, it would be wrong to exaggerate the integral East (Moscow, 1979); Yu. Ya. Perepelkin, The

quality of the whole of the Graeco-Roman world, Revolution of Amen-Hotla IV, Vols. 1-2 (Moscow,

seeing it as a phenomenon given once and for all. In- 1979-1984); B. G. Gafurov and D. I. Tsibukidis,

deed, Mycenaean Greece, Athens of the times of Alexander of Macedon and the East ( Moscow, 1980);

Pericles, the epochs of Alexander and of the Roman M. A. Dandamayev and V. G. Lukonin, The Cul-

empire represent different social institutions, cul- ture and Economy of Ancient Iran (Moscow, 1980);

tural levels and ideological forms. Evolution was not I. D. Rozhansky, Classical Science (Moscow, 1980);

always progress, there were periods of stagnation E. D. Frolov, The Torch of Prometheus. Essays on An-

and even temporary regress, but the “spirals of his- tique Social Thought (Leningrad, 1981); V. G. Ard-

tory” ineluctably drew classical society to a new zinba, The Rituals and Myths of Ancient Anatolia (Mos-

level and to types of social development that were cow, 1982); A History of the Ancient World, Vols. 1-3

progressive from the historical standpoint. The his- _ _

tory of ancient civilisations offers an instance of | > v. I. Lenin, “Karl Marx”, Collected Works, Vol. 21, Pro¬ development that was described by Lenin as “a de- gress Publishers, Moscow, 1978, p. 54.

334

(Moscow, 1982); I. Sh. Shifman, Ugarite Society of the 14th and 13th Centuries B.C. (Moscow, 1982); B. B. Piotrovsky, Wadi Allaki, the Path to the Gold Mines of Nubia (Moscow, 1983); I. D. Amusin, The Qumran Community (Moscow, 1983); I. L. Mayak, Rome under the First Kings. The Genesis of the Roman Polis (Moscow, 1983); Classical Greece. Ed. by Ye. S. Golubtsova, L. P. Marinovich, A. I. Pav¬ lovskaya and E. D. Frolov, Vols. 1, 2 (Moscow,

1983) ; A History of the Ancient Orient. The Birth of An¬ cient Class Societies and the First Fountainheads of the Slaveowning Civilisation , P. 1. Mesopotamia. Ed. by I. M. Dyakonov (Moscow, 1983); I. S. Klochkov, Babylon's Nonmaterial Culture. Man, Destiny, Time (Moscow, 1983); E. M. Yanshina, The Formation and Development of Old Chinese Mythology (Moscow,

1984) ; T. V. Gamkrelidze and V. V. Ivanov, The Indo-European Language and the Indo-Europeans , Vols. 1, 2 (Tbilisi, 1984); The Earliest States of the Caucasus and Central Asia (Moscow, 1985); The Culture of Ancient Rome. Ed. by Ye. S. Golubtsova. Vol. 1 (Moscow,

1985) , Vol. 2 (Moscow, 1986); G. M. Bongard-Le- vin and G. F. Ilyin, India in Ancient Times (Moscow, 1985); M. A. Dandamayev, The Political History of the Achaemenid Empire (Moscow, 1985).

Well-known throughout the world are the works of Soviet historians and philologists specialising in the history and culture of the Orient-B. A. Tu- rayev, S. F. Oldenburg, V. V. Struve, M. A. Ko- rostovtsev, F. I. Shcherbatskoy, T. V. Gamkrelidze (all members of the USSR Academy of Sciences); G. A. Melikishvili, member of the Georgian Aca¬ demy of Sciences; M. Ye. Masson, member of the Turkmenian Academy of Sciences; Professors V. K. Shileiko, I. M. Dyakonov, V. A. Livshits; major specialists on Greece and Rome such as Academicians S. A. Zhebelev and A. I. Tyume- nev; Professors I. I. Tolstoy, N. A. Mashkin, V. S. Sergeyev, S. I. Kovalev, P. F. Preobrazhen¬ sky, A. B. Ranovich, S. L. Utchenko, V. F. Gai¬ dukevich, and others. It was owing to intense stu¬ dies by Soviet archaeologists and historians that the original civilisations of the Caucasus and Central Asia, as well as most interesting monuments of Graeco-Roman culture in the Black Sea region, were discovered and studied and certain chapters in the chronicled history of the peoples of these regions were read for the first time. Of considerable scientific significance is the research that Soviet archaeologists

did abroad (in Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq, Mongo¬ lia, and other countries).

There is a long-established view in historiography that practically all progress in ancient cultures was achieved in the world of sedentary farmers and craftsmen, while their neighbours, the livestock-rais¬ ing nomads, were seen as a destructive force whose raids devastated everything that had been created by the agricultural population. Modern research shows, however, that these nomadic peoples made a considerable contribution to human culture, with their conquest of the vast open spaces of the steppe and deserts and their culture adapted to the condi¬ tions, often of extreme hardship, under which they lived. Modern research has also shown that farmers and their nomadic neighbours could not, in fact, exist without each other, since exchange of their res¬ pective produce was a most important element of the economic system of antiquity.

The earliest class societies have yet another specif¬ ic feature of great significance. Slave-owning states, whether Western or Eastern, never occupied the whole of mankind’s oikoumene. Slave-owning so¬ cieties were always surrounded by numerous bar¬ barian peoples still at the primitive-communal stage of development. Some researchers believe even that the existence and evolution of slave-owning society is in principle impossible without this primitive envir¬ onment, since the barbarian outlying regions were the main source of slave labour.

The dynamics of relations between the zone occu¬ pied by slave-owning peoples and that of primitive peoples is contradictory. The former largely de¬ velops at the expense of the latter. Inequitable trade, alienation of natural resources demanded by the growing slave-owning economic system, and en¬ slavement of the population were only some of the modes of exploitation of primitive societies by slave¬ owning states. In objective terms, however, direct or indirect invasion by class societies of the zone in which primitive-communal relations still prevailed promoted historical development of these peoples. Traditional links were destroyed, social differentia¬ tion accelerated, and the upper stratum of the popu¬ lation often consolidated its dominant position by acting as an organiser of the fight against the rapa¬ cious neighbour. It frequently happened that bar¬ barian peoples tipped the balance of force in their favour.

However that may be, we must always bear in mind that the foundation of the remarkable ancient cultures was built not only by the peoples with which their efflorescence is primarily connected but also by thousands and even millions of nameless workers torn by the force of historical necessity from their native hearths and thrown into quarries, work¬ shops, and on slave-owning farms (villas). Modern research has shown that many of the famous Ath¬ enian vase-painters were slaves and aliens in Athens; Aesop, the renowned fabulist, was a Phrygian slave, as was the outstanding philosopher Epictetus. Spar- tacus, the unforgettable leader of rebellious slaves, was a Thracian.

Some technological discoveries made in the ancient world, such as wheeled vehicles, calendar, compass, paper, glass, glaze, coins, etc., still benefit mankind. Along with these achievements in material culture, one must just mention monuments of Orien¬ tal culture such as the Gilgamesh epic, Mahabha- rata and Ramayana, The Book of Odes, or Shihching, Ka¬ lidasa’s dramas, Historical Memoirs by Ssuma Ch’ien the architectural complexes of Persepolis, Egyptian and Kushan sculpture, the philosophical doctrines of Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism, and so on.

The Graeco-Roman world gave us the remark¬ able gifts of monuments of literature, poetry, sculp¬ ture and painting, of philosophical and scientific thought Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, the comedies of Aristophanes, the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, the poetry of Horace and Ovid, the logic and philosophy of Aristotle, the atomistics of Democritus and dialectics of Lucretius, the medical methods of Hippocrates, the sculptures of Praxiteles, the wisdom of Socrates and Plato, Cicero’s oratory, and a great deal else. The men of the Renaissance and of the modern times often turned to the char¬ acters and plots of antiquity; the classical ideas of democracy and freedom inspired the men of the French Revolution, just as the scientific achieve¬ ments of the Greeks inspired the founders of present- day science.

Unfortunately, we know very little (let us stress it again) about the true creators of material wealth- about the ordinary working people; just as fragmen¬

tary, however, is our knowledge of the creators of nonmaterial culture, those who wrote ancient poetry, solved the first and most difficult mathemati¬ cal problems, and created masterpieces of painting and sculpture. Their names may never be known, but humankind must, and will, always gratefully remember these nameless creators, those who built cities and dams, made pottery, melted metals, pro¬ ducing the works of material and nonmaterial cul¬ ture of which we are justly proud even in these days.

Problems of the cultural heritage of the peoples of East and West are not only of academic interest at present-they often become burning political issues debated by the broad public holding varying and often opposed views. The interest for the remote past of one’s country is quite natural, but the approach to these chapters of history must be objective, without any bias, modernistic revision, or any ideas of national exclusiveness.

Cicero wrote that history is the teacher of life. The history of the past historical epochs, even as far removed from the present as those considered in this book, may be quite instructive. Consider, for in¬ stance, the problem of ecology, so vitally important today. Man had to face his first ecological problem already in the Palaeolithic, when he hunted down to extinction animals that provided his means of subsis¬ tence. Or take Italy of the period of the Roman empire, when several centuries of uncontrolled, predatory exploitation of soil fertility (which was treated much like slave labour) caused a disaster on quite a large scale. And what about the forests of Greece, the disappearance of which was bemoaned already by Plato?

The ancient civilisations of East and West are not just the history of remote epochs but also part of our modern material and nonmaterial culture. We turn to these chapters of the historical past not only to enjoy the masterpieces of world art and literature and study their profound humanist message. The lessons of the past must also serve peace and pro¬ gress-the most noble goals of the modern times, they must serve the cause of the moral upbringing of those who are only beginning to study the heritage of the ancient civilisations of East and West.

Name Index

A

Abayev, V. I. 103 Achthoes - 44, 50

Aeneas 267, 269, 271, 288, 289, 309, 310

Aeschylus-215, 223, 224, 336

Ain 186

Ajatashatru 152

Alcibiades 220, 221

Alexander the Great 96, 100, 125, 127, 128, 140, 145, 152, 153, 233-238, 241, 245, 252, 258, 259, 261, 283, 334 Alkaios 212 Alyattes - 83, 117

Amenhotep IV (Akhenaton or Ikhnaton) — 41, 45, 49, 51, 80 Anaxagoras 225 Anaximander 211 Anaximenes 211 Andragoras 132, 141 Antigonus - 237-241 Antiochus 1-140, 242, 243 Antiochus III (“The Great”)-95, 141, 155, 244, 250-252, 254, 255, 283, 286 Antipater-234, 237, 238, 260 Antoninus, Pius-317 Antony, Mark-95, 100, 133, 256, 302, Apelles - 232

Apollodorus-223, 261, 304-306 Apries-47, 48, 69 Apuleius, Lucius 318, 321, 323 Archilochus-212

Archimedes of Syracuse-245, 258, 331 Ardys - 83 Aristides 216

Aristophanes-220, 224, 225, 336 Aristotle-205, 230, 231, 234, 259, 262, '274, 331, 336 Arrian 152

Arshak (Arsaces) - 132, 141, 244 Artaxerxes I 125, 126

Artaxerxes II 95, 126, 127 Artaxerxes III-127 Aryabhata 169 Ashoka- 141, 153, 154 Ashvaghosha- 167

Assurbanipal-47, 54, 65, 67, 74, 83, 93 Asty ages - 69,117-119 Atheas- 108, 110

Augustus, Gaius Julius Octavianus (Octa- vian) - 170, 256, 304-311, 313, 314, 318, 321, 326 Aurelian-325

Aurelius, Marcus- 170, 317, 321, 322 8

Berossos-55, 56, 78, 261 Bhamaha -167 Bimbisara- 152 Bindusara- 153 Blavatsky, V. D.-16 Botta, Paul Emile-54 Brasidas - 220

Brutus, Junius-274, 275, 303-305, 310, Bryaxis-232, 316, 330 316, 330

Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) - 163-165, 167, 168

C

Caesar, Gaius Julius 256, 274, 292, 298- 305, 307, 308, 310, 312, 313, 321, 330 Caligula (Gaius Caesar)-312 Callippus - 232 Callisthenes-234, 261 Cambyses 1-47, 48, 114, 117, 118 Cambyses 11-47, 48, 120-122, 129 Caracalla, Marcus Aurelius Antonius- 323, 324

Carter, Howard-41 Cassander - 238-240

Catiline (Lucius Sergius Catilina) - 298, 299, 301

Cato-284, 285, 289, 290, 294, 297, 299, 302, 316

Catullus, Gaius Valerius 301 Chadwick, James 197 Champollion, Jean Francois 40 Chandragupta-153, 156, 167 Chang Chiao 190 Chang Heng 191 Charondas 206 Cheops 43, 50 Ch’in Shihhuangti - 182, 183 Chuangtzu -179 Ch’ii Yuan-181, 192 Cicero, Marcus Tullius 237, 290, 292, 293, 296-305, 307, 316, 336 Cidenas (Kidinnu)-78 Cinr.a, Lusius Cornelius 295, 298 Cleisthenes 208, 219 Cleitus- 232

Cleomenes III 249, 261, 262 Cleon - 220

Confucius (Kung tzu) 178, 179, 193 Constantine - 326-328 Crassus, Marcus Licinius-95, 132, 133, 297-299, 302, 313 Croesus-83, 119, 120 Ctesias- 121 Cyaxares-68, 117 Cyrus I 118

Cyrus II -48, 69, 118-122, 126, 129-131, 139

Cyrus the Younger 114, 126, 228 D

Darius 1-95, 108, 114, 121-124, 128-131, 139, 215

Darius III 127, 128, 233, 234 Darwin, Charles Robert 20

337

David 86

Demetrius Poliorcetes 141, 155, 239, 240, 245, 246

Democritus 165, 225, 262, 336 Demosthenes 220, 226, 230, 232 Dinostratus-232 Diocletian - 326-328

Diodorus Siculus-104, 110, 237, 261, 263, 310

Drako - 206

Droysen, Johann Gustav-236 Dyakonov, I. M.-12, 114, 335

E

Empedocles-225

Engels, Frederick-9, 11, 17, 196, 232, 331

Epaminondas - 229

Epicurus - 262

Eudoxus-232

Eumenes - 237-239

Euripides-133, 223, 224, 229, 336

Evans, Sir Arthur John 197, 198

F

F’an Shenchih 191 Finley, M. D. 279 Firdaousi Shahnama 131

G

Galen-170, 318

Gallienus (Publius Licinius Egnatius)- 324, 325

Gandhi, Mahatma-164 Golenishchev, V. S.- 12 Gorgias

Gracchus, Gaius Sempronius 291, 292, 301, 315

Gracchus, Tiberius Sempronius 291, 301, 315

Grotefend, Georg Friedrich 54

H

Hadrian 170, 257, 317, 320

Hammurapi — 55, 59-62, 71, 115

Han Feitzu-180

Hannibal-250, 251, 283, 284

Hatshepsut-45

Hattusili 1-80

Hattusili 11-46

Heraclitus-179, 225

Herodotus 42, 78, 86, 97, 102-104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 114, 118, 120, 121, 225, 226 Hesiod-81, 204 Hippocrates 170, 226, 336 Hippodamus - 245

Homer-96, 166, 201, 212, 259, 336 Horace- 187, 300, 309, 310, 336 Hsiaokung -181, 182 Hsiintzu 178, 180 Hyperides-226

I

Isocrates-231, 232

J

Jones, William-147 Julian (“The Apostate”)-328 Justin 114, 237 Juvenal-312

K

Kalidasa 166, 167, 336 Kanishka 143, 156 Knorozov, V. 150 Korostovtsev, M. A. 12, 335 Kuang Wuti-186, 187 Kuzishchin, V. I. 314

L

Layard, Sir Austen Henry - 54

Lenin, V. I. 17, 331, 334

Leochares-232

Leonidas -124, 215

Lepidus, Aemilius 296, 305, 307

Leucippus- 225

Liehtzu- 179

Liu Pang 183, 184, 190

Livshits, V. A. -114, 132, 335

Livy (Titus Livius) 310

Lucilius 289

Lucretius Carus, Titus 191, 300, 331, 336

Licullus, Lucius Licinius 296, 297-299

Lugalzaggesi-56-58, 75

Lycurgus-231, 249

Lysander-221, 228

Lysias-231

Lyssippus-232, 261

M

Mani- 135

Marius, Gaius 292-296, 298, 301

Marx, Karl Heinrich-17, 213, 331

Mashkin, N. A.-16, 335

Masson, V. M.-17, 149, 334, 335

Mazdak 135

Memnon- 233

Menaechmus - 232

Menander 260, 265

Menes 41, 42

Mengtzu- 178

Midas-82

Minayev, I P. 147

Mithridates VI 95, 99, 255, 295-298

Mo Ti (Motzu) -179, 180

Myron-222, 223

N

Nabonidus 69, 70, 121 Nabopolassar-67, 68 Nagarjuna-158, 165, 169 Naram-Sin-58

Nebuchadnezzar 1-63 , 68 , 69, 77, 121 Nebuchadnezzar 11 54, 86, 117 Necho-47, 68, 85, 128 Nefertiti-51 Nehru, Jawaharlal-164 Nero, Tiberius Claudius-96, 305, 312, 313, 322

Nicolet, Claude-274 O

Odoacer 329 Okladnikov, A. P.-25 Oldenburg, S. F. 147, 335 Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) 309, 310, 33b

P

Pan Ku- 187, 192 Pan Piao 192 Parrot Andre-55 Pausanias-232, 237 Peisistratus- 208, 212 Pelopidas 229 Pericles-218-22, 222, 334 Pheidias 222, 223

Philip II 98, 110, 127, 229, 230, 232-234, 237-239 Pindar 223

Piotrovsky, B. B.-12, 17, 89, 93 Plato 178, 227, 230, 262, 323, 326, 336 Plautus, Titus Maccius- 265, 288, 289 Pliny the Elder-78, 187, 264, 268, 275, 297, 315

Plotinus-325, 326

Plutarch 153, 216, 237, 269, 316, 318 Polemarchos - 232

Polybius-118, 155, 237, 250, 261, 262, 265, 284, 288 Polyclitus-222, 223 Polygnotus 223

Pompey (Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus) - 256, 296, 297-303 Porus 234

Praxiteles-232, 261, 336 Prinsep, James-154 Protagoras-225

338

Psammetichus I 47, 67, 83, 120 Ptolemy I 187, 192, 237-241, 245, 261, 263

Pyrrhus 240, 242, 278, 280 Pvthagoras 211, 290

R

Ramses I 45 Ramses II 41, 45, 46, 80 Rassam, Hormuzd 54, 74 Rostovtzeff, Michael 16, 236 Roxana-140, 234, 237, 239 Rusa I 67, 92, 93, 116

S

Sammu-ramat 66 Samudragupta 156, 157 Sappho 212 Sargon I 57, 58, 61 Sargon II 54, 64, 67, 82, 92, 93, 115, 116

Saul 86

Schliemann, Heinrich 199 Scopas 232, 261 Seleucus I 140, 153, 238-242 Seneca, Lucius Annaeus-306, 312, 313, 315, 316, 320 Sennacherib-64, 65, 67 Servius Tullius-273, 274, 294, 304 Severus, Lucius Septimius- 322-324 Shalmaneser III-66, 90 Shang Yang-180-182 Shapur 1-134, 135, 156, 324, 325 Suppiluliumas I 62, 79, 80 Sneferu 43, 48

Socrates-225, 230, 336 Solomon-86 Solon-207, 208, 214 Sophocles-223, 224, 336 Spitamenes-234 Spartacus-297, 324, 336 Ssuma Ch’ien- 185, 192, 336 Strabo 78, 99, 100, 155, 237, 259, 297, 310

Struve, V. V.-12, 48, 335 Sulla, Lucius Cornelius 132, 292, 293- 298, 301, 302 Sung Yii- 181

T

Tabarna 79 Tacitus-311, 316, 320 Tagor, Rabindranath-164 Takhos- 127

Tarquinius Superbus - 273-275 Telepinush 1-80 Terence 265, 288, 289 Thales-211

Themistocles-125, 215 Theognis - 206, 212 Thucydides - 114, 225 Tiberius-311-313, 316 Tiglath-pileser I 63, 90 Tiglath-pileser III 64, 66, 92, 93, 116 Timotheus- 232 Tolstov S. P. - 137

Trajan-96, 100, 156, 170, 314, 317, 318, 320

Trogus, Pompeius- 114, 237 Turayev, B. A. 12, 335 Tutankhamen 41, 45, 80 Tuthmosis I 45, 51

Tuthmosis III 41, 45, 46 Tyrtaeus-212

U

Udayin 152 Ur-Nammu 58, 59 Uruinimgina - 56

Utchenko, S. L. 16, 306, 330, 334, 335

V

Vasco da Gama 85 Ventris, Michael 197 Virgil 187, 309, 310 Vipper, R. Yu. 16

W

Wang Mang 186, 187, 193 Wheeler, Mortimer 150 Winckler, Hugo 79 Woolley, Leonard -55 Wuti- 183-186, 192, 193 Wuwang - 1 74

X

Xenophon- 114, 121, 126, 178 Xerxes-124, 125, 131, 215

Y

Yang Chu - 180, 181 Z

Zaleukos-206

Zedekiah-68, 69

Zoroaster (Zarathustra) - 130, 139

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Feudal Society and Its Culture. Ed. by V. I. Rutenburg, Associate Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences

This is an exhaustive study by a pro¬ minent Soviet mediaevalist of the history of feudal society and its culture in Wes¬ tern Europe, the East and America from the 5th to the 18th century. The authors devote much space to European feudal expansion during the discovery of Amer¬ ica, penetration into India, and forma¬ tion of the first colonial systems.

The book examines the relations between Africa and Europe in the years of the great geographical discoveries and the forcible transportation of Africans overseas. The section on Africa also con¬ centrates on the formation and develop¬ ment of feudal states peculiar to north¬ ern Africa and Ethiopia.

A major part of the book is devoted to the feudal societies of the East and their unique culture

The history of feudalism in Russia is reviewed from the 9th century to the for mation of the Russian Empire.

The edition is l avishly illustrated and intended for broad readership.

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The Russian Orthodox Church, 10th to 20th Century A. D. Chief Editor Alexander Preobrazhensky

Written by prominent Soviet histor¬ ians and students of religion, this is an exhaustive piece of research into the past and present of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The authors review the evolution of Russian Orthodoxy and the Church over the one thousand years of their existence. There are chapters on the appearance of Christianity in ancient Rus and the in¬ itial financing of the Church by the Prince, its transformation into a lan¬ downer and a major force in the country’s economic and political life, the Church’s role in the formation of the Russian centralised state, the struggle between secular and ecclesiastical auth¬ orities over land and peasants, attempts by the clergy in the 17th century to subordinate the tsar’s power, the reforms of Peter the Great which placed the Church under state control, and other major landmarks.

The authors also make a detailed study of the present state of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The volume is richly illustrated, has a bibliography and name and subject indexes.

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SOGRIN V., Founding Fathers of the Un¬ ited States. Historical Portraits (“The Man Through the Ages” Series)

The outstanding political leaders who laid the foundations of American statehood, parties and ideological tradi¬ tions are referred to in the United States as the country’s Founding Fathers.

The author disproves the myths created by Western authors about the Founding Fathers of the United States and the claim that today’s policies of Washington are a direct continuation of their ideals and deeds. Drawing on the latest published multi-volume archives of the Founding Fathers, V. Sogrin reconstructs vivid and extremely realistic portraits of George Washington, Alex¬ ander Hamilton, Samuel Adams, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson.

The book is supplied with a reference section.

Intended for broad readership.

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The ancient civilisations of East and West, falling in one of the most striking periods in world history, were marked by outstanding advances in the material and nonmaterial culture of humankind: cereals were cultivated, animals were domesticated, metals came into use, writing was invented, and scientific knowledge evolved. The first world religions, Buddhism and Christianity, emerged in that period. The state appeared on the scene, and close links were established between Greece and Rome on the one hand and the Orient on the other.

Recent archaeological, historical and linguistic discoveries have thrown new light on many aspects of the ancient civilisations of East and West. The purpose of the pres¬ ent volume is to assess the main achievements of these cultures and to show both the unity of the historical process and each people's contribution to world civilisation.

The authors have drawn upon original materials from written monuments, archaeology and numismatics. The volume's chronological framework is quite impressive — from the origin of man to the beginning of the feudal epoch; and so is its geographic scope- from Spain in the west to China in the east.