Ancient eastern countries. What is the ancient east

The main centers of primitive agricultural cultures were located in the territory of Western Asia. However, the process of transition to sedentary agriculture and cattle breeding was going on in other regions of the world, right up to Southeast Asia. The first settlements tended to be small water bodies or places where agriculture was possible thanks to rainwater irrigation and soft soil cultivated with a hoe and a primitive plow. This was during the Neolithic period.

The first civilizations were formed on the basis of early agricultural cultures in the Eneolithic era. The point, however, is not the very appearance of a new material - copper. Copper tools were not used very often and did not always have an advantage over stone ones. Over the several millennia that separate the "age of stone" from the "age of metals", people have changed themselves - both in the process of production activities and with the acquisition of social experience.

The first civilizations appeared not in the place of the most ancient agricultural cultures, but where people previously avoided settling - in the valleys of the great rivers (Nile, Euphrates). On soft alluvial soils, high-yielding agriculture has developed, based on the use of various irrigation systems. The relative surplus of food made it possible to create its reserves, which were necessary as a guarantee of survival. In the zones of artificial irrigation, the population increased, settlements of the early urban type with dense buildings and fortifications arose. Social stratification developed and state institutions took shape.

States are formed initially around cities with adjoining rural areas, within the boundaries determined by natural geographic or economic conditions: between the branches of the river, around the main irrigation canal, etc. Such are the Egyptian nomes and the Sumerian states.

They are usually headed by hereditary nobility (nomarchs in Egypt) or priests - the leaders of the community concentrated around the local temple (in Sumer). For early antiquity, large farms are characteristic - royal, noble, temple. They are usually occupied by dependent people, united in labor detachments. Craftsmen and merchants serve such a household, acting, for example, as temple workers or clerks of the royal court. For the needs of accounting, writing was invented - first pictographic, then verbal and syllabic (Egyptian hieroglyphics, Sumerian cuneiform).

A typical phenomenon was labor services, which involved the bulk of the population. They were always presented as aimed at the common good, but often they boiled down to serving the political elite, which monopolized the right to speak on behalf of the people. In Egypt, already at the beginning of the III millennium BC. NS. a deified power was formed, in the Sumerian-Akkadian kingdom a despotic form of government was established in the last third of the same millennium. “Earthly gods” built monumental monuments for religious and political purposes (pyramids in Egypt, temple ziggurat towers in Mesopotamia).

The foreign policy of the early states was still reminiscent of the war of tribes or communities, the leaders of which regularly attacked their neighbors, mainly not with the aim of conquering territory, but for plunder, seizing prey. Initially, prisoners were apparently rarely taken, for their labor was not profitable enough, and it was unsafe to force them to work. More often women were taken prisoner, who could be used as concubines and in the form of servants. However, the development of slavery contributed to the fact that the capture of "two-legged cattle" in a foreign country became a phenomenon as widespread as the "four-legged".

The type of religions corresponded to the communal type of the state, the main one in which was the arrangement of festivities with feeding the gods (sacrifices) and treating the whole collective. These were religions, the very basis of which was the strict performance of ritual ceremonies, and non-performance threatened everyone with terrible disasters. Dogmatics was replaced by mythology. The problem of individual faith did not arise at all.

Early civilizations existed as scattered foci in a sea of ​​primitive tribes. However, it must be said that such foci were already in the III millennium BC. NS. were located not only in the valleys of the Nile, as well as the Tigris and Euphrates (Mesopotamia), but also in the Eastern Mediterranean, in Southwestern Iran (Elam), in Central Asia - up to remote Harappa. The fates of each of them developed in different ways: some existed for thousands of years, others - only a few centuries, then dissolving among the surrounding barbarian tribes.

The example of the so-called Indus civilization with such “megalopolises” as Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, peculiar writing and wonderful art is indicative. It covered the entire territory of modern Pakistan and the northwestern region of the Republic of India, and in the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. NS. died mysteriously, having lost all the characteristic features of civilization (urban construction and craft, professional art and writing). No matter how the question of the reasons for its death was resolved in science, it should be borne in mind that in the overwhelming majority of settlements of the Harappan archaeological culture, the famous seals and inscriptions, and indeed any traces of familiarity with writing, have not been found. High culture was characteristic only of the top of the population of large cities. The transition from civilization back to primitiveness could be almost invisible to the majority of the population. Early civilizations seem to be very fragile: a thin touch of civilization by no means excludes the return of society to a primitive state.

The picture is gradually changing in the II millennium BC. NS. A large state that arose not only in Egypt, but also in Babylonia united many of the old urban communities into a single whole. Territorial communities consisted of large patriarchal families. Slaves were quite widely used in the homes of wealthy people, but their position resembled the status of the younger member of the family. At the same time, the status of the latter was similar to that of a slave, both in relation to the head of the family and in relation to state power. The most important source of replenishment of the number of slaves was, obviously, natural increase - the result of the cohabitation of slaves and slaves (just like with livestock). There was a tendency towards the development of debt bondage, which brought the debtor closer to the state of slavery. But communal and kinship solidarity, ancient traditions and religious norms, and, finally, direct intervention of the state power - all hindered the transition of society to this natural consequence of socio-economic development.

At this time, international trade is still too risky for individual business activities. Therefore, it finds itself in the hands of large clans, associations based both on common interests and on kinship, ethnic origin (for example, the Kanishian trading colony at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC).

By the middle of this millennium, large powers began to emerge, far beyond their natural boundaries, both ethnic and geographic. The goal of the conquest was no longer just plunder, but the annexation of territory and the collection of regular tribute. Egypt in the epoch of the XVIII dynasty added to its own territory several vast provinces, consisting of dependent cities and principalities. This administrative structure could survive for two or three centuries. Arrays of state land are used most often not for organizing large farms, the economic effect of which is questionable. Lands are leased, hired labor is used. For many countries, a system of official tendencies is typical, in which the site becomes a form of payment in kind for the service performed (administrative, military, priestly).

II millennium BC NS. - the heyday of the Bronze Age. The social structure of society of this time was characterized by the domination of the aristocracy. In the middle of the millennium, first in Asia Minor, then in Egypt and in other countries - up to distant China - a light war chariot drawn by horses spreads. The chariot also has an important social meaning: the nobility goes to the battlefield in a chariot - ordinary soldiers fight on foot.

New regions are joining civilization, far removed from the fertile valleys of the great rivers. These are plateaus and even mountainous regions, where a rare population lives - cattle breeders and farmers who do not have wide arable lands, but cultivate gardens and vineyards. In the orbit of civilizations, there are such "peripheral" regions as Asia Minor with peoples who spoke Indo-European (Anatolian) languages, Upper Mesopotamia and Syria with West Semitic and Hurrian populations (kingdom of Mitanni). The ever closer communication between the states of the Middle East creates a certain cultural unity in this vast region.

The forest-steppe zone of South-Eastern Europe comes into motion. Towards the end of the millennium, the migration of tribes who spoke Indo-European languages ​​began to change the situation in the Middle East (Iran and Central Asia) and in Northern India. The Indo-Iranians (Aryans) have different traditions than the Semitic (or, more broadly, the Afrasian) peoples of the Middle East. First of all, they have a solid social hierarchy of the caste-class type. The Aryans lead a semi-nomadic life, they do not have the practice of building temples and worshiping images of the gods. Their attitude to deities is more abstract than that of the ancient inhabitants of Egypt or Mesopotamia. If the basis of the spiritual culture of the peoples of the river valleys was writing, then the Aryans for a long time do without it, carefully memorizing their sacred texts (Avesta, Rigveda) and diligently protecting them from outsiders - those who do not belong to full-fledged Aryans. In the process of migrations, the culture of Indo-Europeans is superimposed on various substrates: the Iranians find themselves under the great influence of the peoples of the Middle East with their thousand-year history, the Indo-Aryans perceive the heritage of the numerous primitive tribes of North India and the distant descendants of the inhabitants of Harappa.

Ancient China in the II millennium BC NS. continues to develop in relative isolation. The Yin state is taking shape in the Yellow River Valley. In the early history of China, one can name a number of such features that seem archaic (belief in zoomorphic ancestral ancestors, human sacrifice, etc.). But the hieroglyphs on the oracular bones resemble those seen in a modern newspaper.

In the 1st millennium BC. NS. everywhere in the Ancient East - where earlier, where later - the Iron Age came. The widespread use of metal tools makes the community solidarity of neighbors and relatives less necessary. Large families are gradually falling apart. The territorial community changes its character, providing assistance to the state in collecting taxes and contributing to the exploitation of fellow villagers. The development of the iron industry (hardening, making "steel") leads to the development of vast areas, previously poorly suitable for life. Isolated centers and zones of civilization are increasingly merging, and now the places of settlement of primitive tribes seem to be islands. Super-large states are being created - world powers, or ancient empires. Their internal composition, of course, is very variegated - in language and ethnicity, in terms of economic activity and way of life, in terms of the level of development of civilization. The barbarian periphery is located not only outside the borders of empires, but also within these borders ("inner periphery"). The rulers who lead the world powers strive in various ways to consolidate the territories belonging to them and ensure power for their descendants forever. They have a particularly aggressive foreign policy.

In the Near and Middle East, one world power replaces another: the New Assyrian and New Babylonian kingdoms, the Achaemenid Persian power. New rulers and leading countries appear, but the overall development trend remains unchanged. The consolidation processes did not end with the death of the Persian Empire. She was inherited by the power of Alexander the Great and the huge Hellenistic states (and to the west of them, at the same time, the rise of the Roman Republic took place, which seized the entire Mediterranean). South Asia in the III century. BC NS. unites for the first time under the rule of the Mauryan dynasty. Within the same century, the first Chinese empire appeared (during the Qin dynasty). At the beginning of the new era, the Roman Empire, Parthia, the Kushan Kingdom and the Han Empire divided the world from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Regular ties are established between different, including very remote, parts of this world.

At the turn of the 1st millennium BC. NS. and the 1st millennium A.D. NS. syncretic cultures arise that unite seemingly incompatible - features of completely different civilizations. Religions of a new type are being formed, in which ritual loses its former significance and focuses on dogma and ethics. Along with the traditional priests, prophets and teachers appear who talk about the highest goal - salvation. Sometimes these are monotheistic religions, sometimes they deny the very figure of a creator god and place teachers above traditional celestials. These religions, as a rule, strive not to hide their sacred texts from strangers and the uninitiated, but, on the contrary, to propaganda, missionary work, and multiply the number of followers of the true faith. The personal, emotional connection of the individual with God for most of these religions seems to be especially important. Buddhism and Christianity began to conquer the world already in the first centuries of our era.

By the end of antiquity, the vast territory of the civilizations of the Old World has clear outlines - this is a zone, the boundaries of which are determined by geographic and climatic conditions. In the northern part of Eurasia, in the deserts of Arabia, in Tropical Africa, the transition to civilization takes place after the end of antiquity and the beginning of a new world-historical era - the Middle Ages.

The countries of the Ancient East include Ancient Egypt, Babylonia, Ancient India and Ancient China, Assyria, i.e. territory from the shores of the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas to the Pacific Ocean.

In these countries for several millennia BC.

The first centers of culture arose. It was in the countries of the Ancient East that the economic progressiveness of slaveholding relations in comparison with primitive (communal) relations manifested itself earlier than in other territories of the world.

The rapid economic development of the countries of the Ancient East was facilitated by the warm climate, the presence of fertile river valleys and easily cultivated soil.

Common to the development of all countries of the Ancient East was the irrigation type of economy. Each country formed next to a major river (Nile, Tigris, Euphrates, Ganges, Yellow River). The farming regime here completely depended on the hydro regime. Therefore, a condition for the production of agricultural crops was the artificial regulation of the river regime with the help of dams and canals for irrigation (irrigation) of lands.

In the absence of mechanization, only the collective labor of large masses of people could provide irrigation construction. Irrigation construction forced political unification in the countries of the Ancient East. The emerging centralized states, in turn, intensified this construction, expanded the enslavement of prisoners of war and the exploitation of neighboring peoples.

The state, as the manager of irrigation works and the manager of water, naturally became the supreme owner of all irrigated lands.

The land was disposed of through state (royal) and temple farms. The peasant community has also survived, which had the right to inherit the use of land for payment in kind, the value of which was established by the biological, and not by the granary harvest1 by government officials.

The biological harvest is the harvest before the harvest, and the granary harvest is after the harvest.

The states of the Ancient East were distinguished by a high degree of centralization of the economy, a rigid system of hierarchy. Power and property in them were merged together, and in contrast to subsequent periods of economic development based on private property, in the countries of the Ancient East the one who had power became rich, and not vice versa. In addition, the absolute power of the head of state (pharaoh, king, etc.), illuminated by religion, took the form of oriental despotism. Everything and everything in these countries depended on the state - and the official, who had the benefits as long as he was pleasing to the higher authorities; and a commoner, who receives both grain for sowing and working cattle for cultivating the land from the state for a time; and a craftsman, because the craft was centralized.

Together, they were also supposed to carry various state duties.

The stateization of the economy, the total regulation of public life, its bureaucratization were associated with the most important feature of Eastern society as a whole - the desire for stability and immutability in everything: the economy, socio-cultural and political life.

More on the topic Chapter 6. Countries of the Ancient East:

1. Chapter 2 POLITICAL AND LEGAL THOUGHT IN THE COUNTRIES OF THE ANCIENT EAST
2. SECTION I STATE AND LAW OF THE ANCIENT EAST COUNTRIES
3. SECTION 1 STATE AND LAW OF THE ANCIENT EAST COUNTRIES
4. CHAPTER 2. POLITICAL AND LEGAL DOCTRINES IN THE STATES OF THE ANCIENT EAST
5. CHAPTER 6. POLITICAL AND LEGAL DOCTRINES IN THE ARABIAN EAST COUNTRIES DURING THE MIDDLE AGES
6. § 1. General characteristics of the conditions for the origin and development of philosophical and legal ideas of the Ancient East

The ancient East is a huge world of states, peoples and tribes, stretching from the northern coast of Africa to the Pacific Ocean in the strip between the Northern Tropic and approximately 40 ° north latitude. There are still disputes among researchers about the geographical and temporal boundaries of the concept of "Ancient East". Most domestic scientists consider the beginning of the ancient Eastern stage of human history at the boundary of the A-3rd millennium BC. BC, that is, the time of the appearance of the first states in the Nile Valley and in the south of Mesopotamia, at the end - the first centuries of the new era. This period was preceded by six to seven millennia of "prehistory", when in several regions of Asia, Africa and Europe, agriculture, cattle breeding, crafts (pottery, weaving, metalworking) appeared and began to develop, and the first settled settlements appeared. Until the 10th millennium BC. NS. people everywhere lived exclusively by gathering, hunting and fishing.

Let's list the most important states of the Ancient East. On the northern coast of Africa, opposite the island of Sardinia, in the 9th century. BC NS. immigrants from Phenicia founded the city of Carthage, which over time subjugated many areas in the south of modern Spain, Sicily and North Africa. In the 3rd-2nd centuries. BC NS. the Carthaginians fought bloody wars with Rome, ending with the fall of Carthage in 146 BC. NS. (see Ancient Rome). To the east of Carthage, at the western border of the Nile Delta, lay Libya. In the 2nd millennium BC. NS. Libyans repeatedly encountered the Egyptians, and in the 10th century. BC NS. one of the Libyan kings became the pharaoh of Egypt. Ancient Egypt occupied the territory of the Nile delta and valley up to the 1st threshold; in some periods, the power of the Egyptian pharaohs extended far beyond these limits - to the Sinai and the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, as well as upstream of the Nile to the 4th threshold.

South of Egypt in the 1st millennium BC NS. in the Nile Valley there were the kingdoms of Napata and Meroe, and on the African coast of the Red Sea - Axum (see Africa in antiquity and the Middle Ages). The kingdoms of Saba and Main lay on the Arabian coast of the Red Sea, and to the north, near the Gulf of Aqaba, the Nabataean kingdom.

The eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea was occupied by the Phoenician cities of Tire, Sidon, and others; in the Jordan Valley in the 1st half of the 1st millennium BC. NS. there was an Israel-Judean kingdom. Farther from the sea, in Syria, there were several relatively small kingdoms with centers in the cities of Alalah, Ebla, Dimash, Karkemish, which either fell into dependence on their powerful northern and eastern neighbors, or successfully opposed them.

Numerous states existed in Asia Minor. At first, the Hutts lived there, and in the 2nd and 1st millennia BC. NS. -the Hittites, who founded a large empire. In the 7-6 centuries. BC NS. almost the entire western part of the Asia Minor peninsula became part of the Lydian kingdom. In the area of ​​lakes Van, Urmia and Sevan, as well as on the territory of Transcaucasia in the 1st millennium BC. NS. the state of Urartu was formed.

In the south of Mesopotamia, in Mesopotamia, at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. NS. there were more than two dozen Sumerian city-states (Uruk, Ur, Kish, etc.). In the 24th century. BC NS. Mesopotamia, inhabited by the Sumerians, was conquered by the Akkadians, who extended their rule to the entire area between the Euphrates and the Tigris. In the 2nd millennium BC. NS. here two large kingdoms were formed - Babylonia in the south and Assyria in the northeast. In the 7th century. BC NS. Assyrian kings subjugated all of Mesopotamia, Syria and Egypt. However, the Assyrian "world" power existed for only a few decades and at the end of the 7th century. BC NS. fell under the onslaught of the Medes and the rebellious Babylonians.

Ruins of Carthage - once a powerful city-state in northern Africa.

Southwestern regions of modern Iran in the 3rd - 1st millennia BC NS. occupied Elam, with whom the inhabitants of Mesopotamia waged wars throughout their history. Media (in the north of Iran) and Persis (in the southeast) are two regions from where the Iranians began their campaigns, which led to the creation of the powerful Persian state of the Achaemenids (6-4 centuries BC). The Achaemenid state at the end of the 4th century BC NS. was conquered by Alexander the Great (see Alexander the Great Power).

Several Hellenistic states arose on its territory, where Alexander's generals became the founders of the ruling dynasties. Later, the Parthian kingdom arose here, waging a stubborn struggle with the Romans for domination in the East (see Hellenism).

In the basin of the Indus from the middle of the 3rd to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. NS. numerous cities of the Indian civilization flourished (Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro). From the 2nd half of the 2nd millennium BC. NS. the settlement of Northern India by the Aryan tribes who came from the northwest begins.

Finally, in China, in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, around 1500 BC. NS. the state of Yin was formed, with the center in the city of Shang. In the 11th century. BC NS. Yin was conquered by the Zhou tribes who came from the upper reaches of the Yellow River. In the 7th century. BC. the kingdom of Zhou falls into decay: on its territory and in neighboring lands, several states are formed, waging a struggle for supremacy among themselves. From the middle of the 1st millennium BC. NS. the Yangtze River valley and the southern regions of the country are being developed. The first centralized state in China was the Qin Empire (221-207 BC). It lasted only 14 years and fell apart as a result of a popular uprising.

The leader of the rebels, a minor official, Liu Bang, took the title of emperor and proclaimed the beginning of a new Han dynasty (202 BC - 1st century AD). The agricultural civilizations of the Ancient East surrounded the semi-nomadic and nomadic tribes of the Amorites, Arameans and Arabs in Arabia and the Syrian steppe; Cimmerians and Scythians in the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region; Iranian-speaking nomads in the south of Central Asia; "Northern barbarians" at the borders of China. These nomadic peoples either traded with their sedentary neighbors, then attacked and plundered them, or themselves became victims of retaliatory military campaigns.

This incomplete list of ancient Eastern states and peoples allows us to see what a variegated picture the Ancient East was. Here are the dwarf city-states of Sumer, and huge empires, such as the Han or the Persian state of the Achaemenids, stretching from Elephantine on the Nile to the Hindu Kush. The differences between the countries of the Ancient East at first glance seem to be countless: they have different climatic and natural conditions, their population spoke different languages, differed in customs, laws, beliefs; they were sometimes separated by many thousands of kilometers in space and hundreds and thousands of years in time.

However, upon careful study, it turns out that there are not only differences between the ancient Eastern countries, but also similarities, and if the differences are mainly external in nature, then the similarity is mainly observed - in all countries of the Ancient East, similar historical processes took place.

The most important of them is the formation of statehood and the emergence of urban civilization. In various parts of the world, relatively small villages in a fairly short time turned into populous fortified cities. Behind this visible change lay deep changes in the way of life of people. The population of the settlements was rather homogeneous (that is, it did not differ greatly in terms of the level of prosperity); in the life of people, everything was determined by kinship and ties; such a community was ruled by elders from the most influential families. The power of the elders rested on their personal authority and on the support that relatives were obliged to provide, if necessary.

Pyramid and Sphinx at Giza.

After 100-150 years, the picture has changed. Power was concentrated in the hands of the ruler of the city - the leader of the warriors or the chief priest. He already relied on the squad, which he himself maintained, and on the administrative apparatus, which consisted of all sorts of managers, keepers, overseers, etc. public needs, including the maintenance of the palace and temples. Using their power, the rulers and the elite of society sought to appropriate an increasing share of the values ​​created by the labor of their fellow citizens. In the once homogeneous society, there was a sharp stratification of property. Clan relations were supplanted by social, social ones: it was not a person's belonging to one clan or another that became important, but the place he occupied on the "social ladder" - was it a simple farmer, commander of a detachment of warriors, managing a temple economy, etc. The impoverished and trapped in dependence on more successful neighbors, they ceased to be full citizens. Slaves also appeared, they were considered the complete property of their masters (see Slavery, Slave Trade). Slavery on a larger or smaller scale is known in all countries of the Ancient East, on the basis of which most Russian historians considered the ancient Eastern states to be slaveholding.

The resulting division of society into layers and classes becomes very rigid over time and is fixed in written laws. The laws not only determined the duties and rights of various categories of the population, but sometimes prescribed appropriate clothing, food, etc. to each of them. One ancient Chinese text, for example, says: “Clothing depends on rank ... headdress, clothing, the number of fields and the size of the dwelling; after death - in the size of the inner and outer coffin, shroud and grave pit ”. A similar situation was observed in other ancient Eastern states, although there such rules were, perhaps, not so finely defined as in China.

The interests of various groups of the population constantly collided, and at the same time the most unexpected alliances arose. Thus, the kings often had to fight for power with a large priesthood and rely on small and medium-sized farmers and merchants. From time to time there were spontaneous actions of the lower classes, but even the victory of the rebels did not essentially change the structure and character of society.

The city with the adjacent territory (sufficient for its population to feed itself) was the most ancient type of state. The center of such a city-state was the ruler's palace and the temple of the local deity. The ancient Eastern temple is not only a place of worship for a deity, but also a very important center of economic life. In temple treasuries and vaults, tremendous wealth was collected; in case of famine due to crop failure or siege, temple grain supplies were distributed to the population.

In Egypt, Mesopotamia, in the Indus Valley and China, city-states arose independently, in other regions - under the influence and in the likeness of the states that already existed nearby. Everywhere the early city-states were at enmity with their neighbors, sought to conquer them or completely subordinate the alliance of cities to the ruler of one of them. Under favorable conditions, large kingdoms and even "world" empires were formed.

Thutmes. Portrait of Queen Nefertiti. 1st quarter of the 14th century BC NS. Egypt.

However, the unity of such empires was maintained only by the force of military coercion: there were few benefits from such a unification for the "provinces", and the tribute to the central government was very burdensome. Only fear of the most severe punishment and complete ruin could keep the remote areas of the empire in obedience. Bad roads and lack of vehicles made even successful punitive campaigns difficult and costly undertakings that drained the treasury and kept the state under constant strain. Therefore, all the ancient Eastern empires were short-lived and were kept within their maximum boundaries for only a few decades.

So, in the Ancient East, mankind for the first time left the state of primitiveness and created the first civilizations. Here the foundations were laid, which for a long time determined the subsequent course of world history. It was in the East that the most important discoveries in the field of material culture were made: many species of animals were domesticated (goat, sheep, bull, donkey, horse, camel), cultivated cereals and plants (wheat, barley, millet, rice, flax, cotton, melons, grapes, date palm), valuable agricultural skills have been developed. People learned how to process metals (copper, silver, gold, iron), make glass, earthenware, porcelain, paper, build reliable ships for long voyages, and build gigantic structures. The Great Wall of China stretches for more than 5000 km, a 10-meter high stone rampart, built in the 3rd century. BC NS. to protect the country from the invasions of northern nomads. The Egyptian pyramids still amaze travelers (see Seven Wonders of the World).

Writing appeared in the Ancient East, perhaps the most important of the ancient Eastern inventions, which ensured the accumulation and reliable transfer of knowledge from generation to generation. Ancient monuments of writing - Egyptian papyri and inscriptions on the walls of tombs and temples, Mesopotamian clay tablets covered with cuneiform, Aramaic and Hebrew letters on parchment and shards of vessels - tell about the life of ancient Eastern peoples, about their beliefs, customs, laws; they have preserved for us ancient epic tales and songs, legends and historical traditions, works on various branches of knowledge - mathematics, astronomy, geography, medicine. In large temples and palaces of rulers, whole libraries of ancient "books" were collected. During the excavations of Nineveh in the ruins of the palace of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (669-626 BC), archaeologists found 25,000 cuneiform tablets! There were business documents, reports of scouts sent to neighboring countries, decisions on court cases and collections of laws; on many tablets were written Sumerian and Assyrian prayers, conspiracies, medical recipes, bilingual (Sumerian-Akkadian) dictionaries, fortune-telling texts, reports of astrologers and diviners, summaries of observations of celestial bodies, mathematical problems, etc. (see Archives).

Image composed of tiles. Babylon. 7-6 centuries BC NS.

The Babylonians achieved outstanding success in astronomy: they knew how to predict solar and lunar eclipses, they determined the length of the solar year with an accuracy of 4 minutes. The works of the Babylonian astronomers Nabu-Rimani and Kidinnu (4th century BC) were translated into Greek. The Babylonian system of measures and weights formed the basis of many subsequent ones and was finally supplanted from use only in the last century by the introduction of the metric system. Still. we divide the circle by 360 degrees, the hour by 60 minutes, and the minute by 60 seconds, using the ancient Mesopotamian sixagesimal number system.

Several collections of laws have come down from Mesopotamia. The code of laws of the Babylonian king Hammurabi (18th century BC) is the best preserved. The earliest records of fairy tales have been found on Egyptian papyri. Some of these tales are reminiscent of the Arabian Thousand and One Nights. The oldest recorded epic poems come from Mesopotamia.

This is the epic about Gilgamesh, the semi-legendary king of the Sumerian city of Uruk, who tried to find the "herb of immortality" and save people from death; a poem about the creation of the world by the god Marduk - "Enuma elish"; a poem about the creation of man and the flood. The huge epic works "Mahabharata" and "Ramayana" were composed in ancient India. For many hundreds of years they have been passed down by word of mouth; recorded them relatively late, at the beginning of the Middle Ages. Let us also recall the Bible, a book that was created for over a thousand years and for almost two thousand years determined the appearance of European culture (see Mythology).

Finally, it should be said that in the Ancient East there were religious and religious-philosophical teachings that left a deep imprint on the history of the spiritual development of mankind: Confucianism and Taoism - in China, Hinduism and Buddhism - in India, Zoroastrianism - in Iran, Judaism and Christianity - in Palestine (see Religion).

The civilization of the Ancient East had a significant impact on ancient (Greco-Roman) Europe and the medieval Muslim East, and through them, on the world culture of modern times. For many countries of the East (for example, China, India, Israel), traditions dating back to antiquity are still alive today and continue to largely determine the lives of millions of people.

THE ANCIENT EAST

a set of several countries of the South. and Vost. Asia, North. and North-East. Africa during the emergence and existence of slave owners. formations (from the middle of the 4th millennium BC - for Sumer, from the end of the 4th millennium BC - for Egypt, from the 2nd millennium BC - for India and China) before the formation of feudalism in the first centuries A.D. NS. The most important of the DV cultures developed in river valleys, where for the development of agriculture it was necessary to create a network of irrigats. structures. In the bourgeois. ist. to science, only the ancient cultures of Bl. East, excluding China and India, civilization to-rykh had less impact on the West and therefore was not considered classical.

On Wednesday. century DV (as well as the ancient world) was not systematically studied. Dr.-east languages ​​(except for Hebrew, Sanskrit and Chinese) and many others. writing systems (Egyptian and Hittite hieroglyphs, cuneiform, etc.) were forgotten. The sources of information about DV were the Bible and ancient authors. However, the study of the Bible was in the hands of theologians (Christian and Jewish), and the fragmentary and inaccurate information of Herodotus and other ancient authors was accepted without any criticism. Attempts to explain the few then known ancient Egyptians. inscriptions (P. Langlois (16th century), A. Kircher (17th century)) were reduced to arbitrary guesses. Accidental information about the ancient monuments of the East was brought by travelers: the Venetian Marco Polo (13th century), the Friulent Odorico (14th century), the Spaniards A. Govea and G. Silva da Figueroa (17th century), who first drew attention to cuneiform texts, and etc. In the end. 16th century portug. the author of Mendoza first introduced Europe to the whale. ist. tradition, and in the 17th century. dates. missionary A. Roger - from Ind. lit-swarm.

The first attempts of scientific. researches of DV problems in foreign countries were made by European. bourgeois. scientists - B. Spinoza (17th century) and French. doctor J. Astruc (18th century) applied critical. method for studying the Old Testament. In the 18th century. were translated into English. language of Old Ind. laws of Manu. In 1799, during an expedition to Egypt by Napoleon Bonaparte, many were discovered. monuments of art and writing of this country (including the famous Rosetta stone). In 1802 it. philologist GF Grotefend found the key to reading Persian. cuneiform. In 1822 the French. the scientist J. F. Champollion deciphered Egypt. hieroglyphics, in the same years, English. the scientist G. Rawlinson completed the deciphering of the Persian. cuneiform. He, along with other scientists, deciphered in ser. 19th century and. Babylonian cuneiform. In 1915-16 Czech. researcher B. Grozny interpreted Hittite cuneiform texts. In the end. 19 - early. 20th century in prov. In Henan, inscriptions were found on animal bones and tortoise shells, which were deciphered by Luo Zhen-yu, Wang Kuo-wei, and others. During the 19th and 20th centuries. excavated numerous cities, temples, tombs in various countries of Asia and North. Africa. Archives of the 3rd - 1st millennium BC have been discovered. NS. and the beginning of n. e., tens of thousands of inscriptions have been read in OE. languages. The object of study was the past of little-known peoples (Hittites, Urarts) and completely forgotten (Sumerians, Mitannians). In connection with the beginning of the transformation of the countries of the East into the object of the colonial expansion of Europe. powers develops anti-science. the theory of the superiority of Europeans over the east. peoples (French scientists R. du Man (17th century), F. Volney (18th century), J.A. Condorcet (18th century)). Classic the formulation of this theory was given by G.V. Hegel in his "Philosophy of History". He declared the Chinese and Indians incapable of the East. development. Persians, Phoenicians, Jews and Egyptians, who are closer to Europe, were put by them one step higher, but in comparison with Europe. peoples were considered less gifted. D.V.'s study in the 19th century. boiled down to a listing of kings, a description of wars and court intrigues and a description of religions. systems. Nar. the masses of the East were portrayed as submissive and inert. The culture of each country was interpreted as unchanging. A typical representative of this trend is German. Egyptologist G. Brugsch. Means. shifts were observed in the works of the French. orientalist G. Maspero ("Ancient history of the peoples of the East", 2nd ed., M., 1911), to-ry recognized the political. and cultural evolution of OE. peoples, for the first time noted the role of slave labor and even talked about slave uprisings. Various stages in the economy, life and culture were established for Egypt by him. scientist A. Erman (A. Erman, Aegypten und aegyptisches Leben im Alterthum, Tübingen, 1885), for Babylonia and Assyria - it. scientist B. Meissner (V. Meissner, Babylonien und Assyrien, Bd 1-2, Hdlb., 1920-25), for Israel - it. scientist J. Welhausen in 1878 ("Introduction to the history of Israel", translated from German, St. Petersburg, 1909). However, these works were empirical. character. Reasons ist. shifts either remained without explanation, or were reduced to psychological. motives or to biological. patterns.

Most typical and consistent. idealistic. the current was Pan-Babylonism, which spread in the first two decades of the 20th century. (chief representatives - German Assyriologists G. Winkler and F. Delitzsch). This is reaction. the racist trend singled out among the eastern peoples the Babylonian people, who allegedly at the dawn of their development created a high culture based on the observation of heavenly bodies and developed depending on changes in the starry sky. The culture of other ancient peoples was presented as a mechanical borrowing of Babylonian samples. As well as in the historiography of Greece and Rome (see Antiquity), some bourges. historians DV showed hypercriticism, reaching the level of complete agnosticism. Franz. Egyptologist R. Weill (R. Weill, Les Hyksôs et la restauration nationale ... (published in the "Journal asiatique" for 1910-1913) and other works) declared fictional messages of primary sources about the uprisings of the working masses of Egypt, about the invasions Asians, etc. Typical for the bourgeois. Oriental studies was also the idealization of the East. despotism. Even such a large Amer. Egyptologist, like J. H. Brasted ("History of Egypt from ancient times to the Persian conquest", translated from English, v. 1-2, M., 1915), considered a just conqueror. egypt politics. Pharaohs, Assyriologist A. Olmstead (A. Olmstead, History of Assyria, N. Y. - L., 1923) glorified the Assyrian kings-conquerors, etc.

Along with these areas, focusing on the political. and cultural history and deliberately bypassing social problems, at the end. 19th century and especially in the 20th century. in oriental studies (as well as in the study of Greece and Rome), there is a reaction. current, supporters to-rogo focus on the study of economics and social relations, trying to prove the recurrence in the course of ist. development of the same types of production. relations (in a cycle, i.e. in a circle); ch. the representative of the cyclical nature of the theory - it. historian E. Meyer (E. Meyer, Geschichte des Alterthums, Bd 1-5, Stuttg., 1884-1902). The interest of the bourgeois. science to change societies. forms reflects the new conditions prevailing in the capitalist. the world passing into the stage of imperialism. In an atmosphere of aggravated class. struggle, the most militant ideologues of the bourgeoisie seek to oppose the Marxist concept of the development of society along an ascending line (in the presence of temporary deviations) with a frank modernization of antiquity associated with reaction. theory of cyclicity. In the DV countries, cyclists stubbornly sought corvee, quitrent, fiefdom, vassal dependence, and other phenomena characteristic of feudalism, and in Greece and Rome - capitalist. relationship. The role of slave labor was reduced in every possible way and it was attributed to it of secondary importance in comparison with serf and wage labor.

Many archaeologists have been made in recent decades. discoveries (excavations of Ur and Mari in Mesopotamia, the tombs of Tutankhamun in Egypt, Mohenjo-Daro in India, etc.; a general overview of the latest excavations was given by the English scientist G. Child), philologist. and literary critic. research, the most important of which are made by English. Egyptologist A. Gardiner, Amer. Sumerologist S. N. Kramer, as well as him. Sumerologists A. Deimel, A. Pöbel and French. Sumerologist F. Thuro-Dangin. However, allow osn. questions and reveal the specifics of OE. society is the newest bourgeois. historiography is unable to. Achievements of the Marxist-Leninist ist. sciences evoke a different response among the capitalist orientalists. countries. The most advanced of them strive to meet the requirements of the time and to some extent take part in the resolution of socio-economic. problems of the history of D. V. There are special. work dedicated. slavery in East (I. Mendelsohn, Slavery in the ancient Near East, NY, 1949; Abd el - Mohsen Bakir, Slavery in pharaonic Egypt, Le Caire, 1952); Assyriologist T. Jacobsen).

However, pl. representatives of the bourges. sciences continue to develop reaction. direction of cyclism and ignore slavery in the East. By various exaggerations, they try to discover not only feudalism, but also capitalism in the DV. (Belgian J. Pirenne on the bourgeoisie in Egypt, American Assyriologist E.A. etc.) and even "state socialism" (A. Moret, Histoire de l "Orient, t. 1-2, P., 1936). Another direction hostile to advanced science is militant idealism, which manifests itself in denying the role of economics Thus, for example, the Western German Egyptologist W. Helk explains the emergence of the state by the development of religious magical beliefs. discussion of particular issues (see "Cambridge ancient history" - The Cambridge ancient history, v. 1-12, Camb., 1923-39).

As a result of the collapse of colonialism and the liberation of a number of Asian and African countries, the study of DV is increasingly ceasing to be a monopoly of Europe. science. A number of specialists appeared in the Arab. countries and India. Egypt archaeologist MZ Goneim discovered an unknown pyramid of the III dynasty (1956), Iraqi Assyriologists F. Safar and T. Bakir made valuable research in Tel Harmal (1939-48) and Eridu (1946-49). The cultural history of Phenicia and Palestine is being studied by the Syrian researcher H. Huddad and the Lebanese historian M. Shehab. Ind. historians Bimala Low, H. Raichhaudhuri and many others. others have devoted a number of studies to the distant past of their country. However, these works are characterized by the idealization of the ancient kings (especially Ashoka) and the underestimation of slavery and class. fight. Sh. Dange (S. A. Dange, India from primitive communisme to slavery, Bombay, 1949) gave a Marxist-Leninist interpretation of the history of India from ancient times.

Very early on, interest in the countries and peoples of the East manifested itself in Russia. Travels to India (A. Nikitin in the 15th century), China (N.G. Spafari and others in the 17th century), to Egypt and Western Asia (A. Sukhanov in the 17th century, V.G. Grigorovich-Barsky in the 18th century, etc.) were accompanied by the study of ancient monuments. Means. achievements rus. oriental studies date back to 19 - early. 20th century In 1908-15, M. V. Nikolsky published the most valuable Sumerian and Akkadian documents of households. reporting (this work has retained its significance to the present), as well as the cuneiform texts of the Transcaucasus; V. S. Golenishchev acquaints the scientific world with the unique monuments of ancient Egypt. lit-ry. Generalizing works by Dr. Egypt and the countries of Western Asia were given by Acad. B.A.Turaev. His merit is the recognition of ist. the role of the East and the fight against Eurocentrism. B.A.Turaev created a Russian school. Egyptologists and Assyriologists, many others. of which continue to work in the present. time (V. V. Struve, N. D. Flittner, V. K. Shileiko and others). However, his concept was idealistic. character. Main ist. religion was declared a factor, and DV, in contrast to the medieval one, was regarded as pre-Christian. An important role was played by the works of the outstanding Russian. Sinologist N. Bichurin and Russian. indologists K.A.Kossovich, I.P. Minaeva and others.

In the first years after Vel. Oct revolution, orientalists began to pay more attention to the economy of the state-in DV, the position of the people. the masses and their struggles. However, many old ideas (about the feudal character of the Old Eastern society, about the special, different from Europe, path of development of DV, etc.) continued to persist. Only in the 30s. Soviet oriental studies, relying on Marxist methodology, took the path to decide. struggle against both cyclism and the theory of absolute isolation of the East. peoples. During discussions about socio-economic. problems of the history of DV (for example, discussions about the "Asian mode of production"), which took place during 1929-35, was created by the Sov. D. V.'s school of study. In May 1933 at GAIMK with a report "The problem of the origin, development and decline of the slave-owning society of Dr. V." V. V. Struve made a speech. Based on the provisions of K. Marx, F. Engels and V. I. Lenin on the socio-economic. formations, relying on a wide range of sources, he put forward the concept of a slave owner. the nature of the Old East. society. V. V. Struve's provisions were supported by Yu. P. Frantsev, A. B. Ranovich, V. I. Avdiev, A. V. Mishulin and others. A. I. Tyumenev, N. M. Nikol'skii, I. M. Lurie and others, but later they also refused to understand OE. society as a feudal one, and V.V. Struve's theses with certain clarifications were adopted by the Sov. ist. science. In the present. time point of view of owls. historians in OE. society as a slave-owning firmly argued and receives new confirmation. Along with the decision of the main. problems of the history of Old East. society about the nature and local characteristics of the method of production among the ancient peoples of the East, owls. science has shed light on a number of other issues in a new way (for example, the specifics of early slave-owning society in the east). Sov. Assyriologists have uncovered the characteristic features of land tenure in dr. Mesopotamia (primarily the works of V.V. Struve, as well as I.M.Dyakonov and others), studied the family community in the countries of Western Asia (L.A. Lipin, N. B. Yankovskaya), state. the system of Sumer and Babylon (V. V. Struve, I. M. Dyakonov, A. I. Tyumenev, etc.), as well as a number of new monuments (publications by A. P. Riftin). Socio-economic. relationship dr. The studies of Yu. Ya. Perepelkin, NS Petrovsky, TN Savelyeva, OD Berlev are devoted to Egypt. Formation of state. the apparatus in Egypt was studied by N. M. Postovskaya, military history - by V. I. Avdiev; difficult questions egyp. philology and grammar - M. A. Korostovtsev and N. S. Petrovsky.

Owls occupy a prominent place in science. research on Hittology (V. V. Ivanov, I. M. Dunaevskaya, E. A. Menabde, G. A. Kapantsyan) and Dr. Iran (V. V. Struve, I. M. Dyakonov and I. G. Aliev, M. A. Dandamaev, V. I. Abaev, E. A. Grantovsky). The owls came up in a new way. researchers to the history of dr. Palestine, where elements of slavery are revealed and the position of communal farmers is investigated, to-rykh who were previously mistaken for serfs (the works of V.V. Struve, A.B. Ranovich and in recent times I.D. Qumran Studies - see Qumran Finds). The peculiar conditions of the slave society of Syria and Phenicia are studied by the Sov. Semitologists M. L. Geltser, I. N. Vinnikov, I. L. Shifman. Works of Sov. specialists for dr. India (G.F. building, etc. Sov. Sinologists L.I. Duman, L.V. Simonovskaya, T.V. Stepugina, V.A. slavery. A characteristic feature of owls. historiography is the increased attention to the little-studied periphery of the Old East. the world. This includes the study of Urartu (I.I.Meshchaninov), Dr. Nubia (I.S.Katsnelson), south. Arabia (N. V. Pigulevskaya, A. G. Lundin) and especially the ancient history of Transcaucasia and Wed. Asia. Archeol. discoveries of B. B. Piotrovsky in Armenia, B. A. Kuftin in Georgia and S. P. Tolstov in Khorezm, M. E. Mason in Nisa, linguistic. studies of GA Melikishvili, GA Kapantsyan and others in urartology, the beginning of the study of the controversial inscriptions of Nisa (Parthian period) open up broad prospects for the study of the monuments of DV on the territory. our country.

Much attention is paid to questions of ideology. In addition to the previous works on the history of the religion of Egypt and Palestine by IG Frank-Kamenetsky, studies by Yu. P. Frantsev and A.B. Ranovich were added, revealing the class. essence of ancient egypt. and other Heb. beliefs. Egypt The works of M.E. Mathieu are devoted to mythology. The role of the Old East. science, which in many ways anticipated the achievements of antiquity, was shown by V. V. Struve (in Egyptian mathematics), A. A. Vaiman (in Babylonian mathematics) and M. A. Korostovtsev (on the writing and scribes of Dr. Egypt). East. the role of dr.-kit. culture is studied in the works of A. A. Petrov and L. D. Pozdneeva. In foreign socialist. countries, the study of DV has noticeably revived. Especially noteworthy are the works of the Czechoslovakians. Egyptologists F. Leksa and Z. Zhaba on the history of literature, science and religion Dr. Egypt, the Czechoslovak Assyriologist J. Klim on social and economic. history of Mesopotamia, Polish Egyptologist T. Andrzejewski on literature and history of religion Dr. Egypt. Together with the owls. whale scientists. historians emphasize the slave owner. the character of the ancient whale. society. Part of the whale. historians, however, differ on the question of the time of the emergence and decomposition of the slave owner. formations in dr. China. Some of them restrict the slave owner. system of the 2nd millennium BC NS. (Tszyan Bo-tsan), others date the transition to feudalism from the 7th-5th centuries. BC NS. (Go Mo-jo and Lee Ya-nun).

Sci. institutions and bodies ist. periodicals according to D. V. see Art. Antiquity, Arab Studies, Assyriology, African Studies, Byzantine Studies, Oriental Studies, Egyptology, Indology, Iranian Studies, Semitology, Sinology, Turkology, Japanese Studies.

Lit .: Buzeskul V.P., Discoveries XIX and early. XX centuries. in the region. history of the ancient world, part 1, East, P., 1923; Turaev B.A., Rus. the science of the Ancient East until 1917, L., 1927; Struve V.V., Problems of the history of the ancient East in the Sov. historiography, "VDI", 1947, No 3; Postovskaya N. M., Study of the ancient history of the Near East in the Sov. Union (1917-1959), M., 1961; Bibliography, in the book: V.I. Avdiev, History of the Ancient East, (M.), 1953, p. 684-735; Uch. app. Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, t. 25, M., 1960.

D. G. Raeder. Moscow.

Soviet Historical Encyclopedia. - M .: Soviet encyclopedia. Ed. E. M. Zhukova. 1973-1982 .

See what "ANCIENT EAST" is in other dictionaries:

The Ancient East is a historiographic term to denote the totality of regions that are very distant in geographical and economic conditions, sedentary and nomadic peoples that existed in a period of history that is chronologically and genetically ... ... Wikipedia

The Ancient East- (education and training) The term D.V. it is customary to designate all civilizations of the Ancient world, with the exception of Greco-Roman (see Antiquity). Some civilizations (Indian, Chinese) continued to develop after the end of the era of antiquity (1 century ... Pedagogical terminological dictionary

THE ANCIENT EAST AND THE BIBLE.- D.V. it is customary to call a group of civilizations that developed in Vost. Mediterranean, along the banks of the Nile and in Asia Minor. (The concept "DV" also includes the countries of Southeast Asia and the Far East). To outline the limits of the Near Asian-Egyptian D.V. Bibliological dictionary

I. THE ANCIENT EAST AND ANTIQUITY. - full- ... Rulers of the World

I. THE ANCIENT EAST AND ANTIQUITY- ... Rulers of the World

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The oldest states in the world arose in the ancient East - in the countries of Northeast Africa and South Asia. Here scientific knowledge was born for the first time, writing appeared, architecture and other types of art reached a relatively high development.

Why exactly in the countries of the ancient East was the beginning of modern civilization?

People began to engage in agriculture many thousands of years ago: women loosened the ground with sticks or wooden hoes and threw grains into it. However, such instruments of labor could cultivate only a little land, and that is very bad, so the first farmers reaped poor harvests. The matter was not much improved when copper tools appeared: copper is a soft metal, tools made of it quickly became unusable.

The best conditions for agriculture were in the valleys of the large rivers of Northeast Africa and South Asia. Here the soil was soft, the floods of the rivers brought a lot of moisture and fertile silt. True, people had to invest a lot of work in the construction of canals and dams for irrigating fields, as well as for draining swamps formed during spills. But the soft soil of the river valleys could be worked with copper and even wooden tools. The moistened fertile soil of the river valley, warmed by the hot rays of the southern sun, gave rich harvests even with poor cultivation. There was not only enough bread to feed those who worked the land, worked on the construction of dams and canals, but there was also a surplus. Harvesting increased even more when people learned to use a wooden plow for plowing fields. It became profitable to have extra workers: they could do more than was necessary for their existence. Therefore, they began to turn captives into slavery, and then their impoverished fellow tribesmen.

In the IV-V millennia BC. NS. in the valleys of the large rivers of Northeast Africa and South Asia, a slave system began to take shape, and slave states appeared. In the valley of the Nile River, the Egyptian state was formed, in the interfluve of the Tigris and Euphrates - the city-states of the Sumerians and the Akkadian kingdom, and then the powerful Babylonian kingdom rose. Later, states were formed in the valleys of the Indus and Ganges rivers in India and the Yellow River in China. With the advent of iron implements, irrigation (irrigation) farming became possible on lands with harder and more stony soil. In this regard, the slave system spread to new regions of Asia: Iran, Transcaucasia, Asia Minor, the valley of the Amu Darya River. All these countries are united by a common name - the ancient East.

Even the ancient Romans called the entire eastern part of their vast empire "East". This name was assigned to the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean, and later spread to the territory to the east of them.

The slave-owning states of the ancient East fought almost continuously among themselves, seeking to seize slaves and other booty. The stronger states ruined and conquered the weaker ones. In the VIII century. before and. NS. Assyria strengthened - originally a small state on the banks of the Tigris River. The Assyrians conquered not only almost all of Southwest Asia, but also most of Egypt, imposing a heavy tribute on the conquered population. In the VI century. BC NS. a huge Persian kingdom was formed. His possessions stretched from the banks of the Indus River to the vast deserts of Africa. To maintain the domination of a small handful of slave owners over the masses of slaves and the poor, over the conquered peoples, a strong royal power was needed. The states of the ancient East were for the most part despotic: the king was considered a god or equated with him, the king's power was not limited by anything, he owned all the land and water in the country, his word was law. The Tsar was surrounded by dazzling luxury.

However, the huge ancient Eastern despotism that mercilessly oppressed the working population was fragile: their forces were undermined by the almost continuous struggle of the masses for their liberation.

In the IV century. BC NS. the vast Persian kingdom collapsed under the onslaught of the Greco-Macedonian army. New conquerors - the Macedonians and Greeks - penetrated into Southwest Asia and Egypt.

Despite the devastating wars, the merciless oppression of the working masses, the peoples of the ancient East went ahead of all mankind in the development of culture. There were many skilled artisans, artists and scientists here. The labor of peasants and slaves created huge canals and dams for that time, large cities with remarkable architecture were built.

Three thousand years before our era, when almost all of Europe was still covered with virgin forests and swamps, and its inhabitants were engaged in hunting and fishing, in the countries of the East, fields and gardens tilled by the labor of farmers and slaves, crossed by canals, were already spread out for hundreds of kilometers. The peoples of the ancient East mastered many previously unknown useful plants: cotton, flax, tea, grapes - they tamed goats, sheep, camels, donkeys, cows, and later horses, birds, cats and other animals.

While in Europe only miserable villages of hunters, fishermen and the first farmers huddled in the ancient East, large cities with noisy markets already existed in the ancient East, with quarters of artisans, where they made fine fabrics, sculpted, burned and painted dishes, made elegant decorations ... Towers towered in the cities, from where the priests watched the heavenly bodies, magnificent temples and palaces. Busy caravan roads ran between the cities of the ancient East.

The development of the economy in the ancient East led to the emergence of science and writing there.

Thanks to the work related to the measurement of fields and the laying of canals, with the calculation of crops, food supplies, etc., mathematics arose - geometry and arithmetic. The counting of time, which we now use, first appeared in the ancient East, people even then divided time into years and months, and in some countries also into weeks, days, hours and minutes. The beginning of time counting was laid by the observations of farmers for the movements of the Sun, Moon and other planets.

Scientists of the ancient East well studied the movement of five planets visible to the naked eye, they even knew how to predict such phenomena as eclipses of the Sun and the Moon.

Skilled doctors appeared in the countries of the ancient East who knew how to treat some diseases and even performed the simplest operations.

The Ancient East is the birthplace of writing. Its emergence and development were caused by the accumulation of knowledge that it was no longer possible to keep in memory, the growth of cultural ties between people, and then the needs of states. Various peoples of the ancient East developed and improved writing in different ways, finally creating the first types of alphabetical writing. The later revised by the Greeks formed the basis of our modern alphabet.

The contribution of the peoples of the ancient East to world culture was enormous. The ancient Eastern slave-owning states have long disappeared, many of the once noisy cities lie in ruins, covered by the sands, but the hard work of the people was not in vain. The high culture created over the millennia was inherited by the peoples who lived later, developed by them and formed the basis of the modern culture of mankind.

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