What happened in ancient Greece. History of Greece

The history of Ancient Greece, which played an important role in the development of European civilization, covers the period from the eighth century BC (the emergence of the Homeric epics) to 146 BC (the integration of Greece into the Roman Empire) from Hellas to the Archaic period.

Archaic period of Ancient Greece (circa 700-500 BC)

The Archaic period served in many ways as the basis for the classical period of ancient Greece. Initially, after the "Dark Ages", the works of Homer are now known - the epics "Iliad" and "Odyssey", they were written approximately 750-730 (Iliad) and 800-720 (Odyssey) BC, and in written form form. Even before Homer, the poems of Hesiod appeared, which also influenced the study of the mythology and worldview of the people of those times.

During its existence, a new state system was formed in Ancient Greece, the development of which began already in the 12th century BC. During the period from the eleventh century BC, a system of government was established in most Greek settlements: the Polis (city-state). It became the dominant state form (with the exception of the regions of northern Greece and the Peloponnese).

The nobility, which was not yet an aristocracy, gained influence and at the same time, due to royal rule, was increasingly pushed aside and for the most part disappeared. Among other things, oligarchs began to emerge, while in other city-states the population began to participate more actively in government. Developed democracy, as in the case of Athens, arose, however, only in the classical period.

Full citizens had the right to participate in political life in the polis. Of course, the degree of participation varied from city to city. Often, the participation of citizens in political life was still limited to the region of their city. The exceptions were large cities with a sprawling territory, such as Athens and Sparta. Typically, each polis had an acropolis and an agora, a market that served as an economic and political center.

Great Colonization

Already at the end of the 2nd millennium BC, the Greeks inhabited Asia Minor. During the period 750-550 BC. A colossal colonization took place, during which colony cities were created in many areas of the Black Sea and Mediterranean regions. Mainly in southern Italy and Sicily - after Thucydides, and in 735 Naxos and 730 BC. Syracuse - many colonies were founded. The reasons were not overpopulation and the provision of trade routes, but conflicts between the population and the internal opposition in the polis. The concept of colonization should not be interpreted according to modern standards. Newly created cities were independent of the capital, and settlements were usually formed where serious resistance from the local inhabitants could not be expected.

Greek colonization spread throughout the Mediterranean - from the Aegean Sea. In the period from 700 BC. the influence of eastern elements on art increased, especially associated with the cities of Euboea and then Corinth. The Greeks modified and reworked the Phoenicians' alphabet for their own use.

Ionic philosophy also emerged during this period of expanding horizons. Its outstanding representatives were philosophers, mathematicians and “black” dialecticians.

Meanwhile, in the Greek state, various poleis vied for supremacy and often fought with each other. Argos was the leader in the Peloponnese for a long time; but after the conquest of Messinia, Sparta managed to fight several brutal wars until 640 BC, and on the basis of internal reforms became the leading military power of Greece. The military model of civilian militia forces was already familiar - hoplite tactics. Around 550 BC Sparta finally founded the Peloponnesian Confederation and thereby strengthened its claims to power.

Autonomy of Greek city-states

In the 7th and 6th centuries. BC the spread of the tyranny form of government occurred. This happened first in Corinth, where Cypselus, having come to power, established the very first tyranny in Greece around 660 BC, and then in Sikyon and Samos, and later in Athens. The term tyranny originated from Asia Minor and originally denoted a type of autocracy. As a rule, powerful aristocrats who led the polis ensured their power through the armed forces and sought support from other heads of state. Thus, there was no legal basis, but pure political power. In the western Mediterranean, tyrants came to power in later times, and the development of tyranny in Sicily was quite impressive. However, in the Greek heartland, Sparta opposed this form of government and actively fought against it.

The ancient Greek world knew no sense of nationality in the modern sense. Each polis, no matter how small, clung to its autonomy and did not want to give it up voluntarily. As a result, war in Ancient Greece was a fairly common event and course of life.

It must be said that major events took place in Greece, to which Greeks from various policies flocked, evoking in them a sense of unity, first of all, these were events that took place in the form of the Pan-Hellenic Games, the most famous of which were the Olympic Games. Everyone took part in them, even, for example, Greeks from Italy.

However, fundamental in the creation of the community was, first of all, known from the Homeric epics, the construction of the first temples in archaic times. The ancient Greek city-states were very religious. Although it was not a bookish religion—the religion was defined by myths and heroic stories—almost all public and private actions were accompanied by invocations to the gods.

A clear sense of community, which was also expressed politically, received its maximum development only on the eve of the Persian wars. In 510, tyranny in Athens was finally eliminated. Athens came to wield supreme power in Attica, and soon after in Asia Minor, when the Ionian Revolt (500-494 BC) became a decisive event recorded in world history.

Greece in the classical period (c. 500-336/323 BC)

The Ionian Revolt, the Persian Wars and the Development of Democracy in Athens

For decades, Greece was under Persian domination of the Achaemenid powers in both Asia Minor and Cyprus, only half-heartedly supported by Athens. However, the Persian king Darius the Great took the opportunity to justify further expansion of his kingdom, which he described as a "campaign of retaliation." With this campaign the war with Persia began for Greece. Herodotus, the father of historiography, provided extensive information about these events in his writings.

Athens won the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC, this happened ten years before the resumption of the campaign led by Darius' son, Xerxes I in 481. After , Salamis came to the decisive battle. The Greeks destroyed the numerically superior Persian fleet (480 BC). A year later, the Persian land army was defeated at the Battle of Plataea. In 478 BC. The conquest of Ionia began. Sparta, however, refused to take over the defense of the Greeks so far from home. Athens, being the second military center, took on this task and founded it in 478-477 centuries. to. AD Attic Maritime Union.

Based on the reforms, as well as the naval supremacy of Athens in the Aegean Sea, Solon in Athens became the leading statesman developing the 5th century. BC democracy. At the same time, according to the historian Thucydides, he developed a dualism between the naval fleet of Athens and the power of Sparta, which should ultimately lead to the Peloponnesian War.

Culture and society of Athens during democracy

While Thebes operated in Boeotia, establishing hegemony over other Boeotian communities, Athens pursued a similar aggressive policy under the leadership of Pericles. The Attic League, as a tool for the realization of Athenian interests, meanwhile, is increasingly developing into the Attic Empire. In 460-57 BC. The so-called Long Walls were built, which connected Athens with the port of Piraeus and turned Athens into an impregnable fortress. Based on the financial resources of the confederation, in which the allies began to pay tribute to Athens, the Acropolis of Athens was a government center, with a brilliantly thought out construction program, it became the center of a new great power, which was presented as the culture of the Greek school.

During the Archaic period (c. 700-500 BC) the polis system was created and the Greek colonization of the Mediterranean occurred, the Classical period (c. 500-336 BC) was a time of great cultural development and laid the foundation for of all Western culture. At the same time, central political concepts were formed. Ancient Greek culture includes architectural monuments such as the Acropolis of Athens, sculptures, works of poetry, the foundational philosophy and historical writings of Herodotus and Thucydides, as well as significant knowledge of mathematics and events such as the Olympic Games.

From the mid-fifth century, Athens also became the spiritual center of Greece, to which the sophists sought to study in the paideia in which followers of philosophy, and, were trained. In the 5th century, the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides appeared, and then the comedies of Aristophanes. The great sculptor Phidias, who led the construction program on the Acropolis. In the 4th century, the orator Demosthenes, despite his strong oratory, was, however, powerless in the face of Macedonian superiority and remained a great orator until the time of.

Athenian democracy ensured equal participation in politics for all full citizens and lasted for about a century and a half, but had the disadvantage that women and slaves were completely excluded from voting and had no rights. Democracy was not directly protected from the foreign policy of the authorities. Now this can only be partially compared with modern democracy.

Athens continued to be the hegemon in the Attic maritime league after the Persian wars and fought against the Persian empire in the eastern Mediterranean. Eventually they even supported an anti-Persian revolt in Egypt, and then showed their power and capabilities by inflicting huge losses on the Persians. The equalization of relations with Persia occurred in 449 BC in connection with the historically controversial so-called Peace of Callia.

In Southern Italy and Sicily, since the Great Colonization, the Western Greeks who settled there were subject to threats of attack from the Etruscans and the mighty Carthage. At the Battle of Cumae in 474 BC. e. The Etruscans were defeated. In Sicily, the conflict was developed by Carthage and the Carthaginians in 480 BC. e. were defeated at the Battle of Himera. Tyrants such as Gelon, who was at times considered the most powerful man in the Greek world, continued to hold power in many city-states.

Between Athens and Sparta in 460-446 BC. The Lesser Peloponnesian War began. The reason was the temporary withdrawal of Megara from the Spartan alliance and its transfer to Athens. During the Athenian naval expedition to Egypt (460-454 BC) in 457 BC, the Battle of Tanagra took place against the Spartans, but instead of capturing Aiginas, he now had to join the Attic League. Finally, the outcome of the war between the two Greek great powers was decided in 446 BC. A thirty-year peace was concluded in Athens with Sparta, although underlying tensions remained.

Corinth's conflict with Kerkyra over Athens' participation in the civil war in Epidamnos, Athens' fear of Corinth's commitment to the north and trade conflict with Sparta's ally Megara, as well as Sparta's fears of a further increase in Athenian power, finally escalated into the Peloponnesian War ( with interruptions 431-404 BC), the course of which up to 411 BC is described by Thucydides in his historical work in 432 BC. e.

In the 3rd century BC. Megara and Corinth called on Sparta to intervene, but the war began rather unplanned with an attack by the Theban Party, an ally of Sparta, in the city of Plataea. Sparta fell in 431 BC. Pericles called on the population to defend the Long Wall. Meanwhile, the Athenian fleet plundered the Peloponnese. Pericles counted on exhausting the enemy, but the Spartans invaded Attica every year.

Battles and campaigns

The flowering of military campaigns corresponds to the situation at the beginning of the war in 431 BC. With the exception of semi-barbarian Macedonia, which was initially neutral.

After the death of Pericles in 429 BC, a new generation of politicians came to power in the third century BC. Cleon behaved aggressively, and Attica had a compensatory policy towards Sparta. In 425 BC. Sparta was ready to make peace, but Cleon rejected the peace agreement. Sparta reacted, and marched under Brasidas in 424 BC into Thrace, thereby threatening the Athenian grain supply. 421 BC e. a peace treaty was concluded, which, however, did not dispel all disputes. Sparta fought its rival Argos, and Athens, under the influence of Alcibiades, undertook an important campaign against Sicily (415-413 BC). This campaign ended in disaster for Athens. The capture of Syracuse failed and the Athenian army was defeated. The Greek Alcibiades, who sided with the Spartans, convinced them of new tactics against Athens. A long-term base was established at Dhekeleya, and in addition, Sparta gained the support of Persia. With the help of Persian gold, Sparta created a powerful fleet. More and more members of the maritime league, representing the colonies of Athens, left the Attic Maritime League.

As punishment for the fallen, and in an effort to develop a maritime empire as an instrument of domination, the Athenian side during the Peloponnesian War increasingly sought atrocities and attacks, exemplified by the small Aegean island of Melos.

Democracy was promoted with the aim of stabilizing dominance, following the example of Athens, within the maritime alliance and was used as a means to achieve the political goals of leadership power. In 411 BC. e. almost reached the oligarchic constitutional revolution, due to the tense military situation in Athens, however, already in 410 BC. e. it was canceled with the support of Alcibiades, who joined Athens.

The new fleet of Sparta, under the able leadership of Lysander, continued to threaten the life of Athens. In 406 the Athenians were still victorious at Argina, but the fleet suffered losses in 405 at the Battle of Aegospotami. Athens capitulated in 404 BC. but were not destroyed by Sparta, because Sparta wanted to maintain the balance of power. However, Corinth and Thebes felt deceived by their failed military goals and began to pursue personal goals, including against Sparta.

The rise of Thebes and the struggle with Sparta for hegemony

Sparta prospered after its victory in 404 BC. She had to make efforts to take leadership of Athens; it lacked both the resources and the legal framework to do so. In addition, the war for Asia Minor (400-394 BC) took place between Sparta and Persia, since Sparta refused to give up some Greek cities to the Persians according to the treaty of 412 BC. But even in Greece the fighting did not stop. In the Corinthian War (395-87 BC), Argos, Athens, Corinth and Thebes fought against the Spartans in 387-386. BC Finally, in the 3rd century BC. e., the so-called Royal Peace was formed, which was in fact a Persian dictatorial peace, but at least temporarily stopped the war on Greek soil.

Persia received Asia Minor and Cyprus, while Athens was allowed to keep some of its remaining cities. All other policies were to become autonomous. Based on the principle of autonomy and equality, the idea of ​​universal peace was founded by Koina Eren, which in subsequent years had a strong political influence and preceded Panhellenism, which formed the political thought of the time. Ultimately, however, this idea of ​​peace failed again and again due to the inability to enforce it without the guarantee of a strong hegemonic power. Some researchers consider the King's Peace to be the first embodiment of the idea of ​​​​Koina Eren.

Greece during the hegemony of Thebes

In 371-362 BC being the guardian of the Royal Peace, Sparta first strengthened its own positions. However, increasing resistance to Athens, which was slowly recovering from defeat in the Peloponnesian War, was founded in 378-377. BC, the new Attic League, and began to submit less and less to the influence of the Athenian supremacy. In fact, both Sparta and Athens were concerned about the growth of Theban power and tried to contain Theban influence. But, in 371 BC, two old enemies collided. At the Battle of Leuctra, the Spartan army was defeated in open battle by the Thebans. This meant the collapse of Spartan hegemony. The rise of Thebes ended a few years later when the chief strategist Epaminondas fell in 362 BC. Sparta, however, lost Messinia and thus became a minor power.

In Sicily, wealthy poleis such as , prospered and achieved a quasi-hegemonic position under Dionysius I. During the 4th century BC, Syracuse was engulfed in serious civil wars. From the beginning of the 5th century, Carthage and the Sicilian Greeks fought fiercely. In fact, it was only the outskirts - the so-called Third Greece, away from Athens and Sparta, which flourished after the Peloponnesian War, as did Boeotia and Thebes, also Thessaly, Corinth and Megara, which recovered from the war and their economies began to flourish.

Revolt of Macedonia in northern Greece

In 359 BC. Philip II ascended the throne of Macedonia. He succeeded in making the most of the superiority of the Greek polis. He was able to rally the noble families in battle stronger than before, bringing them closer to the royal family. First of all, he created a permanent and professionally trained army, thanks to which Macedonia became the leading military power in Greece. In the 50s he fought against Fokker and in 352 BC he won in Thessaly. In 343 BC. the conquest of Thrace followed, including the local gold mines, which laid the economic basis for further increases in power. Athens was seriously threatened by Philip's expansionist policies. In particular, Demosthenes tried to convince the Athenians that Philip wanted to subjugate them, but they initially did not listen to him. In 340 BC. e. Finally, a defensive coalition was formed, but in 338 BC. e. the army was defeated. Philip founded the League of Corinth in 337 BC, he was appointed hegemon and became the de facto ruler of Greece. However, he could no longer carry out his plans to fight Persia: he was killed in 336 BC.

However, his son Alexander, later called the Macedonian, carried out Philip's ambitious plans. He raised the rebellious Greek cities from their knees and destroyed Thebes. With his legendary campaign (from 334 BC) he opened the door to a new world for the Greeks: he defeated the Persian armies and advanced to India. This ended the classical age of Greece.

This began the Hellenistic age, in which the Greek city-states were formed after the death of Alexander in 323 BC. e., and federations were formed, playing only a subordinate role, despite the fact that Greek culture was spreading to India.

Greece in Hellenistic times (336 BC - 30 BC)

Greece remained a battleground for the Hellenistic great powers. First of all, the Antigonid dynasty tried to resume the old Macedonian hegemony. Adan's attempt to regain power after Alexander's death failed. Instead of poleis, Greek states were formed as a force factor. The two most important of these were the Aetolian League and the Achaian League. Culturally, the emphasis shifted more to the East, with Alexander playing a particularly important role in Egypt and later in Pergamum in Asia Minor.

As a result of the struggle between the Greek new and old authorities, as well as against Macedonia, it came to intervention against Philip V in Macedonia and the Second Roman-Macedonian War (in 200-197 BC). Macedonia fought decisively. In 196 BC. e. Roman general Titus Quinctius Flamininus declared freedom for Greece, however, Rome remained in power. Since the situation was unstable, Rome was forced to intervene again and again subsequently. After the Battle of Pydna, in 168 BC. BC, in which Macedonia once again tried under King Perseus to achieve dominance in Greece against Rome, but was completely excluded as a factor of power. Rome took an active part in governing Greece. This led, after the destruction of Corinth, to the transformation of Greece into a Roman province.

In 133 BC. e. the empire of Pergamum was annexed by Rome, 64-63. BC The Seleucid Empire in Syria (which had only regional importance since the 2nd century and lost its richest provinces) was also annexed in 30 BC by the last Hellenistic power, Ptolemaic Egypt.

Roman Empire and the period until the end of antiquity

The independent political history of Ancient Greece ended, but Greek culture continued to flourish in the Roman Empire and increasingly shaped Roman civilization from the 2nd century BC. Emperor Nero was essentially a philhellen and granted Greece numerous privileges, which his successors subsequently revoked. Until late antiquity, it was almost natural for Rome's elite to speak both Greek and Latin, and classical Greek education remained in demand for a long time, at least in the eastern half of the empire, even after the establishment of Christianity.

Crisis of the Empire of the 3rd century AD then it also affected Greece, which suffered from barbarian invasions, but it was able to recover a little, and then Neoplatonism, the last important philosophical movement of antiquity, was born. Athens remained a major center of ancient learning until the 6th century AD. Beginning in 580, Slavic peoples invaded the Eastern Balkan provinces; around 600 AD Greece was inhabited mainly by Slavs until the Peloponnese and was only restored in the Middle Ages for the Greek-speaking Byzantine Empire.

The conquest of the regions of the Roman East by the Islamic Arabs (from 636 AD) is the beginning of the fall of ancient Greek culture and the end of antiquity: in 698 AD. Greek was the official language replaced by Arabic in the empire of the caliphs. However, the conquerors were open to many of the achievements of Greek civilization; therefore some of them were preserved for posterity only by the Arabs.

The civilization of Ancient Greece played an important role in the development of mankind. Science, philosophy, art, politics and many languages ​​originate in Ancient Greece. In mathematics textbooks, from century to century, almost the same definitions that Euclid gave in his time were rewritten, and artists and poets rewrote the images of Hercules, Zeus, Apollo, Achilles, Pericles, Homer and Alexander the Great. For everything that modern people are fighting for now, for freedom, truth and equality, the Greeks also fought many thousands of years ago. And by the way, we can safely say that they achieved their goal, no matter what it cost them. If you want to better understand the modern world, the development of which has been based on all eras, you need to become as close as possible to the history of Ancient Greece.

We will begin our story with antiquity. So, the territory of Greece has been inhabited since ancient times, and there is no room for surprise here. After all, thanks to the favorable geographical location, favorable maritime climate and generous nature, everything was possible. But, unfortunately, many Greeks emigrated to nearby and distant lands in search of food, since in these places there was no land suitable for cultivation. Ancient culture, art and philosophy began in the 5th-4th centuries BC. The era was called the Golden Age of Pericles.

The ancient Greeks were not like modern colonialists. They merged with them, all thanks to their knowledge and their developed culture. Ancient Hellas blossomed and flourished beyond the borders of the Balkan Peninsula, far from the islands of the Aegean Sea. This kind of settlement developed in its own way, and as a result, today thousands of people on earth recognize themselves as real Greeks, and even those who cannot even speak a single word of Greek. Descendants of the Greeks live in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, India, Africa and Latin America.
We can safely say that this unusual country is the cradle of a series of great civilizations: the Minoan civilization settled on the island of Crete and destroyed by a volcano, the Mycenaean civilization centered in Tiryns and the civilization of Troy, which was not a figment of the imagination of the elder Homer, also existed as a city-state, with its own culture, the Macedonian kingdom.

During its existence, Greece managed to survive a large number of conquerors: these were the Romans, the Turks, the Crusaders, and Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great. The greatest residue in the creation of modern Greeks was left by the centuries-old Turkish yoke. Although, it was the crusaders who became the impetus for the accession of the Turks on the soil of Greece, who, on their way to liberating the Holy Sepulcher from the Muslim people, managed to conquer, for an unknown reason, the Orthodox Christian capital of Constantinople. This event dates back to 1024. They conquered Greek cities and weakened the Byzantine Empire so much that they could not withstand the onslaught of the troops of Mahmet II (1453) and finally disappeared under Turkish rule. It can be added that in 2001, Pope John Paul II visited Greece and publicly asked for forgiveness from all Orthodox Christians for the events that occurred five hundred years ago.

Middle Ages and Modern Times. The Greeks call the period of Ottoman rule "400 Turkish years". The National Liberation Revolution put an end to this difficult period, which began in 1812. It is noteworthy that the plan for the Revolution was developed by the secret organization of Greece “Filiki Eteria”, created in Odessa. There is one more fact: in 1827, the first ruler of free Greece was the former Russian Foreign Minister and close associate of Tsar Alexander I - the Liberator - Ioannis Kapodistrias. In 1831, he was treacherously killed for his pro-Russian morals. During this period, the free country of Greece changed two capitals - the island of Aegina and the city of Nafplion.

Greece returns again in 1833-1862 to a monarchy led by Otto, a Bavarian prince. Despite the fact that he was famous among the Greek people, the monk managed to make his contribution to the development of the country. He moved the capital to Athens and brought the ancient city, which at one time resembled an ordinary village, into a proper European state.

The post of King Otto from 1863 to 1913 was occupied by the European nobleman Danish Prince Wilhelm Glicksburg. George the First reigned on the throne of Greece along with his wife Olga Konstantinovna, Grand Duchess of the House of Romanov. For Greece, the nineteenth century ended with defeat in the war with the Turks, which led to the payment of large indemnities, the bankruptcy of the country and the borrowing of huge funds from the IEC (International Economic Commission).

Twentieth century. For Greece, the twentieth century was notable for its bankruptcy and complete economic recovery, and a series of military victories and defeats. The country, it may be noted, liberated northern Greece from the Turkish yoke in 1913. But, unfortunately, the people of Greece were not able to fully enjoy the victory: in 1915, the Young Turks of Kemal Ataturk massacred all Armenians, in 1919 they massacred three hundred thousand Pontic Greeks, and in 1922 the Greeks were exterminated once again by Turkish troops. And subsequently, almost millions of residents left their homes and lands to save their lives.

Following the Asia Minor catastrophe, an exchange of populations began: the Turks, who had lived on the lands of Greece for centuries, were evicted to Turkey, and the Greek population in Turkey to Greece. The country, almost until the middle of the 20th century, was under the yoke of dictators. One of the dictators, in response to an ultimatum issued by the Italian fascist state in 1936, gave a laconic, tough and daring answer with one word “OHI”, that is, “NO”. The Greek people remembered this word for a long time. And today, the twenty-eighth of October is considered a holiday among the Greeks and is one of the two main public holidays.

After some time. Greece, like Europe, was drawn into the Second World War, where it again reconciled the claims of the Italian people to the lands of Greece. But this time, not a single word was spoken, a weapon was taken into hand. Greece, unfortunately, was unable to resist the German onslaught, and the enemy managed to occupy the country. The Greeks, as a courageous and courageous people, held out to the last, and even when occupied by German troops, they did not give up even a share of their territory to Bulgaria, an ally of Germany, which encroached on their lands.

After the liberation of the country in 1944, the troubles of the Greek people did not end. The world war gave way to a fratricidal, civil war, which lasted until 1949 and ended with the defeat of the Democratic Front and another departure of the Greek people from their own country. More than one hundred and twenty thousand Greeks, in order to avoid new bloodshed, crossed the borders and were accepted by socialist states, which included the USSR (Uzbekistan).

At that time, Greece took a course in a slightly different direction, namely, with the coming to power of the government of Georgios Papandreou - the rule of the country was seized by the junta of the Black Colonels, which established a dictatorial regime in the country for seven years (1967-1974). The abolition of the regime was led to the uprising of Athenian students, the tragedy that occurred in Cyprus (1974), the Turkish invasion and the division of the island into the southern part, where the Greeks lived, and the northern part, which was occupied by the Turks.

In mid-1974, Konstantinos Karamanlis triumphantly returned from Paris to Athens, who became the permanent prime minister of Greece for many years, and then its president and founder of the liberal New Democracy party, which played an important role in Greece joining European Union. In 1981, Greece became a full member of the EU.

Timeline of Greek history

Now we will briefly talk about the most important events in the history of Greece in chronological order.

• 40,000-6000 BC e. - At this time the settlement of the Cyclades islands and the island of Crete occurred. Also, during this period the first civilizations of the Mediterranean arose.
• 2000-1400 BC e. - the island of Crete and the Minoan culture flourished. During this period, magnificent palaces were erected, art and science began to flourish, and writing began to emerge.
• 1900 BC e. - there was an invasion of the northern part of the country by the Achaeans, then the Aeolians and Ionians. The Mycenaean civilization arose on the Peleponnese Peninsula. Also, at this time the most powerful cities appeared: Tiryns and Mycenae.
• 1450 BC e. - a strong volcanic eruption occurred on the island of Santorini, which subsequently caused a huge tsunami, due to which the Minoan civilization perished on the island of Crete and on neighboring nearby islands.
• 1250 BC e. - the beginning of the Trojan War.
• 1200 -1100 BC e. - the Dorians invaded from the north and displaced the Ionians and Achaeans. During this period, the nationality was also united into a single culture and nation.
• 1100-800 BC e. - Pan-Greek writing appeared, the formation of slave-owning city-states-policies took place.
• 850-750 BC e - date is the estimated time of life of the great poet Homer, who created the Iliad and Odyssey.
• 776 BC e. - the first Olympic Games began, which were subsequently held every four years.
• 594 BC e. - the first Athenian democracy in the history of mankind (the laws of Solomon) was born.
• 560 BC e. - Athens managed to become a powerful economic center under the tyrant Peisistratus. At this time, such famous temples as the Temple of Demeter and the Parthenon Temple were founded.
• 550 BC e. - Sparta unites the states of the Peleponnese Peninsula.
• 6-5 centuries BC e. - the Greco-Persian War began; 490 BC the Battle of Marathon took place.
• 443-429 BC e. - The Golden Age of Athens began, during which time Pericles ruled.
• Mid 4th century BC e. - the Macedonian kingdom was strengthened.
• 336-323 BC e. - Macedonian king, Alexander the Great becomes the conqueror of Asia Minor, Egypt, Persia and part of India.
• 278-222 BC e. - sculptures by Chares, student Lysippos installs a giant statue of the Colossus of Rhodes. The almost forty meter high statue stood for almost sixty years and was destroyed due to an earthquake. Now she bears the title of the seventh wonder of the world.
• 146 BC e. - Greece submits to Rome. From the twenty-seventh year BC, Greece became part of the Roman Empire and became a province called Achaia.
• 49-58 years - the formation of early Christianity takes place.
• 324-337 - Emperor Constantine the Great adopts Christianity as the state religion.
• 326 - Byzantium becomes the capital of the empire. In 330 it was renamed Constantinople.
• 395-1453 - The Roman Empire is divided into Eastern and Western Greece. Also, during this period, the rise of the Byzantine Empire began, the capture of Constantinople by the crusaders and the Latin Empire was created.
• 1453-1821 - the most difficult and darkest period in Greece - Turkish rule.
• 1821-1829 - the national liberation revolution begins against the Turkish yoke, against the background of the Russian-Turkish war.
• 1827 - Greece was declared a presidential republic. The first president was Ioannis Kapodistrias, who served in Russia in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under Alexander the First.
• 1830 - Greece receives the title of an independent state.
• 1832-1909 - the monarchy is restored in the country.
• 1912-1913 - Greece, taking part in the Balkan wars, returns its northern territories.
• 1917 - the country takes part, on the side of the Entente, in the First World War.
• 1919-1921 - Greece wages war with Turkey and Bulgaria for territories in Asia Minor.
• 1941-1944 - Greece is occupied by Italian and German fascists. The National Resistance Movement began.
• 1952 - The country joins NATO.
• 1979 - the country joins the European Union.
• 2002 - the single European currency - the euro - is introduced.
• 2004 - The Olympic Games are held in Athens.

Mythology of Greece

We can say with all confidence that Greek mythology is the richest and most ancient creativity in the world. The gods that the Greek people worshiped were nothing like the ruthless counterparts of Egypt, whose human bodies were adorned with the heads of birds of prey and animals. On the contrary, the ancient deities of ancient Hellas were people whom nature endowed with supernatural abilities. But, nevertheless, mortals quite often won in cunning, intelligence and dexterity. It is not for nothing that the best book is considered to be a collection of Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece, which describes a large number of interesting love dramas, stories and military battles.

Scenes taken from Greek mythology became the basis for many works of art; heroes of mythology came to life on paintings, and they could also be seen on marble, stone and on the fronts of architectural structures. The Venus de Milo, or to be more precise, Aphrodite from the island of Milos, can rightfully be considered an unsurpassed masterpiece of art. The Goddess of Love, Venus, was named by the Romans themselves, who built their mythology on the vital material of the ancient Greeks.
It is worth adding that the mythology of Greece, and to be more precise, religion, is not just another invention of a talented author. The stories that became the basis of many legends and myths are real, although slightly embellished. And there is proof of this: a large number of archaeological finds of the 20th century, for example, Troy, which was found by Heinrich Schliemann, excavations by Arthur Evans and the discovery of the Knossos palace of King Minos, who was the ruler of the Cretan labyrinth. Undoubtedly, there are stories that are still considered myths and have not the slightest bit in common with the real world. However, it is quite possible that archaeologists in the very near future will present evidence of the reality of another myth or legend.

In mythology, in accordance with the development of ancient Greek society, such stages are distinguished as the most ancient chthonic, or pre-Thessalian period; pre-Olympic period; Thessalian period; Olympic period; classical or heroic period.

Today we will talk about the most widely known period in Greek mythology - the Olympic period. The twelve deities of Olympus are the most powerful elite of Greek mythology, that is, seven gods and five goddesses. The Olympians had influence over mortals, they could interfere in their lives, they could help some, and vice versa for others, they could fall in love with mortal men and women, and acquire children. As a result of such “unequal” marriages, children-heroes and demigods were born. Zeus the Thunderer was the father of all gods, he struck with lightning and thunder those who ignored him, and was also a very loving immortal, who gave birth to a whole galaxy of demigods. His children were: Hercules and Helen the Beautiful. Zeus was married to his sister, the powerful goddess Hera, who was the patroness of “honest” women. Hera suffered all the time and quietly took revenge on the mortal lovers of her husband and those who dared to challenge her beauty and strength.

The power over the universe of all twelve Olympian gods was divided among three gods: the supreme god Zeus had unlimited power over the celestial land, the god Poseidon ruled the seas and oceans, and Pluto, who had no place on Olympus, became the ruler of the underworld and ruled the world of the dead. Among the goddesses, no less powerful were: Hera, the wife of Zeus, Demeter - the goddess of fertility, Athena - the goddess of wisdom, Artemis - the goddess of hunting, and the goddess of beauty and love - Aphrodite. Among the gods it is worth highlighting: Ares - the god of war, Hephaestus - the god of fire, Apollo - the god of light and the sun and Hermes - the god of trade. All these gods did not miss the opportunity to express themselves and show themselves to mortals.

The mythological world of the Greeks is densely populated with minor gods and deities, monsters, dryads, nymphs, cyclops, centaurs, giants, that is, all those who lived with people. Every corner of Greece, even the most distant, has its own mythological history. Many sciences are engaged in exploring various aspects of the mythology of this country.

Those people who assume that the Greek people abandoned and forgot their Olympian gods and turn to them exclusively through ancient manuscripts, school textbooks and illustrated books are mistaken. This is a wrong assumption, since even today there is a belief in twelve gods. Sect, religion, heresy, you can call it whatever you want, but it exists. And today, those who profess an ethnic religion perform rituals on the territory of ancient Greek temples, and sincerely believe that the number “12” denotes perfection. By the way, the number “12” was also a symbol of the philosopher’s stone.

Chronology of Greek history, events.

B.C.

2.500 - Cycladic culture

1.800 - Naval Crete - Minoan civilization

1.200 - Dorians come to Greece

Trojan War (1200-1180)

800 - Homer composed the Iliad and Odyssey

776 - First Olympic Games

621 - Draco's Laws

594 - Solon's reforms

508 - Cleisthenes' reforms in Athens

499 - Ionian Revolt (before 493 BC)

492 - Persians begin campaign against Greece - warlord Mardonios conquers Thrace and Macedonia, and their fleet is destroyed at Athos

490 - Second Persian Campaign - Battle of Marathon

480 - New Persian campaign led by Xerxes

Battle of Thermopylae - Battle of Salamis

479 - Battle of Plataea

431 - Peloponnesian War (before 404 BC)

415 - Sicily Campaign

412 - Spartans allied with Persians

405 - Destruction of the Athenian fleet at Aius Potamus

404 - Thirty tyrants in Athens

403 - Restoration of democracy in Athens

371 - Battle of Leuctra

362 - Battle of Mantinea

359 - Philip King of Macedonia

338 - Athenians and Thebans - allies

336 - Murder of Philip. His son inherited the throne

Alexander the Great

335 - Alexander crushes the revolt in Thebes

and destroyed the whole city except the house of the poet Pindar

334 - Alexander begins a campaign against the Persian state.

Alexander's victories. Conquers Egypt and

founds Alexandria (331)

331 - Alexander - victories continue

Battle of Gaugamela

327 - Alexander - campaign against India

(Before 325 BC)

323 - Death of Alexander. His successors wage war among themselves, which leads to the dismemberment of the state that he created. Over the next century, Alexandria, Antioch and Pergamon become the spiritual centers of Hellenism

296 - Pyros becomes king in Ipiro

280 - Founding of the Achaean League

228 - Cleomenes' reforms in Sparta

219 - war between the Achaean and Aetolian League

215 - Macedonian War

200 - Second Macedonian War. The Romans defeated Philip V

171 - Third Macedonian War - The Romans defeated the Macedonians at the Battle of Pydna

148 - Macedonia becomes a Roman province

146 - Battle of Lefkopetra. Destruction of Corinth. Greece conquered by the Romans AD

324 - Constantine the Great moves the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Constantinople.

337 - Death of Constantine the Great

361 - Emperor Julian tries to restore the old religion

394 - Emperor Theodosius cancels the Olympic Games

425 - University (Pandidakterion Magnaffas) founded in Constantinople

475 - A great fire destroys the library in Constantinople

527 - Byzantium Emperor Justinian

537 - Grand opening of the Church of Hagia Sophia

540 - The Huns invaded Byzantium - the beginning of the war with the Persians

610 - Heraclius - Emperor of Byzantium

626 - Avars and Persians besieged Constantinople. In subsequent years, the Arabs attacked Byzantium

697 - The Arabs occupied Carthage and Africa was finally lost to Byzantium

824 - Arabs occupy Crete

1054 - Schism of churches

1096 - First Crusade

1099 - Crusaders conquer Jerusalem

1147 - Second Crusade

1176 - Byzantines against Seljuks. Defeat at Myriokephalo

1189 - Third Crusade

1204 - fourth crusade - the crusaders occupied Constantinople - the Byzantine state begins to disintegrate.

1261- Michael Palaiologos is crowned Emperor of Constantinople

1453 - Turks occupy Constantinople - Death of Emperor Palaiologos

1456 - Turks occupied Athens

1460 - Peloponnese conquered by the Turks

1669 - Crete passes from Venetian domination to Turks

1687 - Morosini bombs and destroys the Athens Parthenon

1768 - Russian-Turkish war

1769 - Orlov arrives in the Peloponnese. The beginning of revolutionary movements

1797 - French occupy the Ionian Islands

1799 - The Russian-Turkish fleet occupies the Ionian Islands

1807 - The French returned to the Ionian Islands.

1809 - Ionian Islands under the British

1814 - the organization Society of Friends was founded in Odessa

1822 - First National Assembly in Epidaurus. Destruction of Chios. Peta's battle.

1823 - Second National Assembly of the Astros.

1824 - civil wars in Greece.

1828 - Kapodistrias came to Greece.

1829 - London Protocol. Creation of the Greek state. Battle of Peter. 4 National Assembly in Argos.

1830 - new protocol in London. Greek independence.

1831 - Murder of Kapodistrias.

1837 - Establishment of the University in Athens.

1862 - Otto's expulsion. Creation of a technical university

1864 - The Ionian Islands were united with Greece.

1866 - revolution in Crete. Holocaust of Arkadi.

1881 - The Greek state expands into Thessaly and Epirus.

1896 - First Olympic Games in Athens.

Governor I. Kapodistrias

1909 - Military coup in Gudi. Eleftherios Venizelos comes to Athens.

1911 - Prime Minister Venizelos. New Constitution. The Italians occupied the Dodecanese (1911-1912).

1912 - 1st Balkan War. Liberation of the city of Thessaloniki. Battle "Ellie".

1913 - Liberation of Ioannina. Assassination of George I.

The new king Constantine II.

1916 - Venizelos revolutionary movement in Thessaloniki.

1918 - Treaty of Versailles.

1922 - Catastrophe of Asia Minor

1924 - Proclamation of the Republic.

1925 - Establishment of the University of Thessaloniki.

1936 - Metaxas - dictatorship.

1940 - Greco-Italian war.

1941 - Battle of Crete (until 1944).

1944 - Liberation from German occupation. December events.

1946 - Civil war begins (until 1949).

1961 - Association Agreement with the EEC.

1974 - Turkish invasion of Cyprus. The collapse of the dictatorship. Restoring democracy in Greece. Referendum - abolition of the royal throne

1975 - Adoption of a new Constitution.

1978 - an agreement on Greece's accession to the EEC was signed.

1980 - Establishment of Greece in the EEC.

About 10,000 years have passed since Mesolithic people - no doubt natives of Asia Minor - set sail on the Aegean Sea. In those days it was much easier to travel by water than by land.

Since 3200 BC. The Cycladic civilization developed on the islands, represented by marble statues found in necropolises. In addition to cattle breeding, the inhabitants of the Cyclades were engaged in growing wheat, grapes and harvesting olives. This civilization flourished in the 3rd millennium BC, the Bronze Age, when cities were strengthened and trade relations with Egyptian and Phoenician ports were established.

About the Minoan civilization

In the last third of the 3rd millennium BC. The Minoan civilization in Crete is experiencing unprecedented prosperity. The island's fertile lands and isolation contribute to the development of a hierarchical society, concentrated in large cities famous for their “bohemian” lifestyle. Trade is carried out with Egypt, Cyprus, Greece, the Middle East and Asia Minor. Information about these transactions has reached us thanks to clay tablets covered with hieroglyphs (Linear A), which have not yet been fully deciphered.

Over time, new colonies arose in southern Greece and the islands of the Aegean Sea. This is how a new culture was born, combining the achievements of the Cyclades and Crete. Around 1700 BC the palaces were destroyed by a strong earthquake; their restoration marked the beginning of the short-lived golden age of Minoan culture. Later, by 1450 BC, it loses its significance. For a long time, there was an opinion among scientists that this was due to a volcanic eruption that destroyed all life on Santorini.

Even though it is impossible to say with certainty whether the tsunami caused by the volcanic eruption really destroyed the Cretan cities, it is likely that it caused irreparable damage to maritime trade and led to irreversible climate changes that contributed to the decline of the Minoan civilization. It is also possible that she became a victim of a foreign invasion: the island, left without fortifications, could not defend itself from enemies.

Mycenaean civilization

While the Cyclades and Crete were experiencing their golden age, characterized by the flourishing of cities, mainland Greece was filled with waves of migration from Central Europe: the Achaeans, Ionians and Aeolians. As a result of the assimilation of these first Greeks (proto-Greeks) into the local population, starting in 1650 BC. one of the most outstanding civilizations in human history - Mycenaean - is born. Fortified citadels are being built in Argolis (Peloponnese). War remains the main occupation. Far from the eyes and ears of the people, as the tragedies tell, there are court intrigues and struggles for power, resulting in bloody feuds and fratricide. Despite the fragmentation, by 1400 BC. Mycenae becomes an undeniable power in Mediterranean Greece and the Aegean Sea - and takes part in the Trojan War. Their triumph, however, did not last long. By the 12th century BC. they were presumably absorbed by another people who flooded Greece from the north - the Dorians. Perhaps social upheaval was to blame.

Greek Middle Ages

This little-known period, often called the Dark Ages, lasted until the end of the 9th century BC. Among the few objects of this era found during excavations, vases painted with concentric lines often appear. For this reason, that time is sometimes called geometric time.

Later, gigantic population migrations occur from one shore of the Aegean Sea to the other. The invaders push the Ionians to the borders of Asia Minor, where the first city-states arise under the auspices of the tyrants: Miletus, Ephesus and Phenicia. Ionia, the birthplace of the first Greek scientists, poets and philosophers, would soon give the world Homer and his famous epic poems (the creation of the Iliad and Odyssey dates back to the 8th century BC), large marble statues of kouros (boys) and kors (girls).

Rule of city-states

The rise of Greek civilization begins after the first Olympic Games (776 BC), simultaneously with the strengthening of maritime trade and colonial expansion. The first settlers are believed to have been Ionians from Miletus, who in 756 BC. Cyzicus is founded in the Sea of ​​Marmara, and a little later the Euboeans settle in southern Italy. Very soon the Greeks establish control over all surrounding territories. From the 7th century BC. Miletus owns four ports, 200 ships and 24 colonies, stretching from the Black Sea coast to Egypt. The Phoenicians found Marseille, conquered Etruria, Sardinia, Corsica and the Iberian coast. The Corinthians and Athenians are not lagging behind, as are other peoples of archaic Greece, which began to rapidly change. The income is so high that the region of Caria becomes the birthplace of two fabulous fortunes: Midas, king of Phrygia, and Croesus, king of Lydia. During the 7th century BC. construction of sanctuaries is underway at Delphi and on the island of Delos.

Golden Age of Athens

Gradually, the center of Greece moved to the mainland, where large cities completely different from each other developed: militant Sparta, commercial Corinth, intellectual Athens. In political terms, the kingdoms here are replaced by a regime of military oligarchy, then tyranny, and finally by a democratic system established in Athens by the local legislator Solon in the 6th century BC.

At the very beginning of the 5th century BC. Greek cities located in Asia Minor become part of the Median state. Athens sends a fleet in support of the Milesian revolt, starting the First Median War. In 490, the conquerors landed in Marathon, but local troops managed to repel the attack. Ten years later, the second Median war begins. Greece is invaded by the Persian army, which, according to Herodotus, numbers up to two million soldiers and 1,200 ships. Athens is sacked, but thanks to an alliance with other cities they again manage to defeat the enemy. Since then, Athens has continued to play a dominant role in the life of the country.

The “Age of Pericles” becomes an era of unprecedented flowering of art, architecture, science and philosophy. In 477 BC. the city prudently forms the League (confederation) of Delos, a long-term military and political alliance with the Ionian cities and islands of the Aegean Sea. The Third Median War ends in 449 with the complete liberation of the cities of Asia Minor. But within Greece itself the flames of a new conflict are already flaring up: the confederation becomes an instrument of influence for Athens, the city imposes tribute on its allies... In 446 BC. The Greek world is divided into spheres of influence: the eternal rival Sparta receives power over land, and Athens - dominion over the sea. But this can’t change anything: Sparta will win the two Peloponnesian wars, and in 404 BC. Athens will fall.

Alexander the Great

Weakened by endless wars, in the 4th century BC. Greece surrenders to the aggressive ambitions of one of the greatest strategists in history - Philip II of Macedon, king of a small province in the north of the country. A convinced Hellenist, Philip plans to unite Greece and go to war with Persia. After his assassination in 336, his twenty-year-old son Alexander follows in his footsteps. During his reign, an era of unprecedented conquests began for Greece, which brought its soldiers to the borders of India. After Alexander's death in Babylon in 323, his empire was divided into three kingdoms: Macedonia, Syria and Egypt.

Roman Empire

As the revolt against the Macedonians matures, the Greeks are enslaved by a new conqueror - Rome. In 146 BC. Legionnaires capture Corinth and establish Roman rule over Greece. 60 years later, Sulla plundered rebellious Athens and sent a huge amount of valuable works of art to Rome. The Mediterranean of Alexander's descendants becomes Mare Nostrum ("our sea", Latin). In 130, under the auspices of Emperor Hadrian, Athens, once again prosperous thanks to the “Roman Peace,” experienced a grandiose reconstruction for the last time. After the fall of the Roman Empire in the 4th century, the Mediterranean lost its unity.

Byzantine Empire

Christianity gradually spreads in the region, especially after the rise to power of Emperor Constantine, who renames the Byzantine city Constantinople and makes it the capital in 330. The rightful successor of the Roman Empire in the East, the Byzantine Empire returns Greece to its unity based on Christianity and the Greek language, but its opponents press it on all sides. Later, enmity brews between Christians and Muslims. The raids of the Arabs, who dominate the Eastern Mediterranean, are becoming more frequent. The coast and islands are devastated by pirates. Two centuries later, in 1054, the Christian Church split into Eastern Orthodox and Western Catholic. After this division, the powerful Western European maritime powers set course for Greek lands. The Normans, who came from Sicily in the middle of the 12th century, the Venetians and the Franks captured the country. Three years after the capture of Constantinople by the crusaders (1207), Greece is divided between the allies: Venice takes the lion's share - the Ionian Islands, part of the Cyclades, Crete, Euboea. The Genoese settled on the islands of Lesbos and Chios, and the Peloponnese (renamed Morea) and the islands of the Saronic Gulf went to the Franks. In 1306, the Order of the Knights of St. John captured Rhodes. The network of military fortresses is designed to support the territorial ambitions of the “guardian of Christianity” against the Ottoman Empire.

Turkish rule

In 1453, the Turks captured Constantinople, putting an end to the second Byzantine Empire, created at the beginning of the 13th century. Three years later, Athens suffers the same fate, and then comes the turn of the Greek islands. Venetian Crete resisted until 1669, and the island of Tinos (Cyclades) until 1714. European fleets at that time were heading west: their attention was captured by America. Greece fell into oblivion, which was only partially compensated by the development of trade with the Ottoman Empire. The Turks did not oppress the local residents, but demanded a poll tax from the Greek peasants - a fifth of the harvest. In the 18th century, a resistance movement gradually emerged.

The path to independence

The decline of the Ottoman Empire contributes to the strengthening of nationalist sentiments. In 1821, an uprising breaks out. European volunteers from among the philhellenes in love with classical Greece, who went in search of their roots, join the fight following the example of Lord Byron. The great Greek armorers, who became rich at the end of the 18th century, donated their ships to the liberation movement. But the uprising is in danger of defeat, and the intervention of France, England and Russia is required. In 1832, the tiny Kingdom of Greece, having lost the lion's share of its historical territories, finally received the right to exist. Two years later, Athens becomes the capital of the new state. One of the sons of Louis I of Bavaria ascends the throne under the name of Otto I of Greece. The Greeks, removed from power, united against him, and in 1862 they sought his removal. He is succeeded by George I, imposed on the country by the British. During his reign in 1896, the first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens. In 1912, Crete returned to the national fold, and after the end of the First World War, Macedonia, Thrace and the islands of the northern Aegean Sea.

Modern era

The dream of restoring Magna Graecia (Enosis) was realized already in the 20th century. In 1923, the country, destroyed by Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, is forced to agree to a population exchange: one and a half million Orthodox Greeks emigrate from Asia Minor to Greece, while 400,000 Muslim Turks make the journey in the opposite direction. The population of Athens is increasing many times over. Nevertheless, this exchange contributes to the formation of a new nation, rare in its homogeneity, both culturally and geographically. In 1924, the Greek Republic was proclaimed. The country goes through a period of destabilization, characterized by numerous coups d'etat, until it finds itself under occupation by Italian troops in 1940 and then, a year later, by the Wehrmacht army. Bloody battles are taking place. At the end of the war, a kingdom is formed. But soon a civil war (1947-1949) breaks out, ending with the defeat of the communist rebels. In 1967, a military coup sends King Constantine into exile, and the junta establishes a “regime of colonels.” Democracy was restored in 1974, and in 1981 Greece joined the EEC. In January 2002, it will become one of the first countries to adopt the euro.

5th century. Heyday and two wars.

The fifth century BC is considered the heyday of Greek civilization, it began with the great war of the Greeks with the Persians and ended with the great war of the Greeks among themselves, and this did not prevent the flourishing. The Persians tried to conquer ancient Greece twice, the Persians are modern Iran, which was then the greatest empire in the world. In 490 BC. They landed their troops on the western coast of Attica (this is the peninsula of which Athens was the capital), but there their Athenians defeated them in the famous Marathon battle, which took place on the Marathon field. After the battle, the soldier ran the entire distance from the marathon field to Athens, said the famous phrase “we won” and died, unable to withstand the stress, hence the marathon. But for the Persians it was a test attack on Greece, 10 years later, the Persians returned and, this time, everything was very serious. In 480 BC, a huge Persian army came to Greece, subjugating everything in its path. Almost all of northern and central Greece submitted to the Persians without a fight. In southern Greece, a coalition of city states is formed that decide to oppose themselves to the Persians. Sparta and Athens, eternal competitors, led the coalition. The first skirmish took place at Thermopylae. The interesting story about the heroism of the 300 Spartans, unfortunately, is known more from caricatures in Hollywood films. The latest Hollywood film “300” is actually an adaptation of a cartoon. The decisive battle was fought at Salamis, where the united Greek fleet destroyed the Persian armada. This was the turning point in the war. The fact is that for Asians, Europe in the 5th century BC is an island, not a continent. The only acceptable way from Asia to Europe is through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. When the Greeks, having defeated the Persian fleet, gained an advantage at sea, they could cut off the Persians from their continent (Asia), blocking the sea route to the island of Europe. Under such conditions, the only land route from Asia to Europe would be a journey along the northern coast of the Black Sea. And this is the territory of modern Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, Abkhazia, Georgia, Turkey and Iraq. Even today, not every person would dare to make this journey by car, especially in the 5th century BC. So, Xerxes (the Persian king) decides to leave Europe. Retreating, he left a contingent of Persian troops in Greece, which was defeated a year later, in 479, in the land battle of Plataea.

These two battles (Salamin and Plataea) are considered very important in the history of Europe, due to the fact that after them began what is called the ideological basis of European civilization. After the Persian Wars, the golden 50th anniversary of the fifth century BC begins. It is a rare case in world history when so much is created in such a short period of time. There is a surge in construction and the flourishing of sciences; philosophical thought revealed Socrates to the world. The political history of Greece, having passed through the phases of monarchy, aristocracy, oligarchy, and tyranny in previous centuries, crystallized the Athenian democracy on the one hand, and the Spartan order on the other. This was a period of confrontation between two military-political blocs and two ideological archetypes - Athens and Sparta. These two cities, having divided almost all of Greece into spheres of influence, were on the brink of war for most of the 50-year period; they crossed this line in 431.

The reasons for the outbreak of war between Athens and Sparta (Peloponnesian War) are relevant to this day; the famous ancient Greek historian Thucydides, the father of scientific historiography, wrote about them. His analysis will become the basis for such a concept as “preventive war.” By the way, Herodotus is considered the father of history, but Herodotus loved to use myths in his stories. A myth, this is not verified information; there are many such Herodotus to this day. I consider Thucydides the father of scientific historiography, since he didn’t just talk, he also thought about what he was saying. Trying to identify important things that are usually NOT obvious. So, according to Thucydides, Sparta was afraid of the further strengthening of Athens, which developed dynamically throughout the entire period of the golden 50th anniversary, while the power of Sparta remained static. In 431 BC, in order to prevent the further strengthening of Athens and, as a consequence, potential aggression from its uncontrollably growing rival, Sparta was the first to attack Athens - this was the first preventive war of antiquity. Thucydides' analysis is still relevant today. Moreover, according to Thucydides, the external, let's say, television reason for the start of the war was a minor quarrel between the ally of Athens - the island of Kerkyra and the ally of Sparta - the city of Corinth. The Spartans just as successfully elevated this petty quarrel into a pan-Greek problem as the Americans attacked Iraq, motivating the war by the presence of mythical chemical weapons in Saddam Hussein's possession (the television reason for the war). Officially (on television), the conflict between Kerkyra and Corinth became the reason for the start of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC). The Athenians supported Kerkyra, the Spartiates classified the Athenian support as a violation of thirty years of peace and went to war with Athens. This was the first preventive war of antiquity. The relevance of Thucydides' analysis has not exhausted itself even today. In the 21st century, we came up with new technologies, but we didn’t come up with anything conceptually new. We have ancient ideas, today, spinning at breakneck speed, the essence of new technologies is acceleration. The ancient Greek preventive war lasted a full 30 years (the technology was not the same) and involved almost the entire Greek world, divided into two camps - it was a phenomenally destructive pan-Hellenic war that undermined the economic basis of Athens and the demographic basis of Sparta.