Typology of written sources on the history of ancient Greece. Written sources on the history of ancient Greece. Anthologies, readers, etc.

10.11.2020

Sources on the history of ancient Greece have a number of features, which directly affects the ability to fully and comprehensively restore historical realities. The main problem of ancient studies is the scarcity of the source base. Many stages of ancient Greek history spanning several centuries are poorly reflected in written monuments, which provide basic information about the life of society in the past. In fact, not a single era of ancient Greek history has a complete and comprehensive coverage in the sources. In addition, in many sources that have come down to us, information on a number of issues is presented in a very complex or veiled form, this causes an ambiguous and often debatable assessment of objective realities and subjective phenomena in the life of the society of Ancient Greece.

Material sources- Systematic archaeological research carried out both on the Balkan Peninsula (in Athens, Olympia, Delphi) and the islands of Rhodes and Delos, and on the Asia Minor coast of the Aegean Sea (in Miletus, Pergamum), gave historians a huge number of the most diverse sources. As a result of archaeological research, the most diverse and sometimes unique sources fell into the hands of antiquities, discovering many previously unknown or unfamiliar in the history of ancient Greece. Huge and growing from year to year, the material of archaeological excavations is the most important source of knowledge about the most diverse aspects of the life of Greek society. The archaeological material is the most diverse: whole cities have been discovered (excavations of Olynthus, Tauric Chersonesos, Corinth), pan-Greek sanctuaries (temple complexes in honor of Apollo in Delphi and Delos), the famous religious and sports complex in Olympia. Interesting data were obtained during the excavations of the potters' quarter in Athens and the Athenian central square - the agora, the study of the Athenian Acropolis, the theater in Epidaurus, the necropolis in Tanagra and other similar complexes. Hundreds of thousands of items for various purposes were found here - tools, weapons, everyday items.

epigraphic sources, i.e., inscriptions made on a solid surface: stone, ceramics, metal. Greek society was educated, and therefore quite a variety of inscriptions have come down to us. These are state decrees, articles of contracts, building inscriptions, inscriptions on the pedestals of statues, dedicatory inscriptions to the gods, gravestone inscriptions, lists of officials, various business documents (accounts, property lease and mortgage agreements, acts of sale, etc.) , inscriptions during voting in the national assembly, etc. (more than 200 thousand inscriptions have already been found). But the main thing is that the inscriptions were made in most cases by ordinary citizens and express their worldview. Thus, there are many lengthy inscriptions regulating relations between Athens and their allies. Very meaningful are the inscriptions on the legally established contributions of different cities of the First Athenian Maritime Union from 454 to 425 BC. e. By the end of the IV century. BC e. refers to a very important inscription from Chersonesus, the so-called Chersonesus oath on the state structure of Chersonesos.

The study of the coins, the symbols and signs on them, the inscriptions, the composition of the coin treasures makes it possible to obtain information about the circulation of money, commodity production, trade and political relations of cities, religious beliefs, cultural events, etc. But archaeological finds alone cannot give a complete understanding of the historical processes of the development of society.

Written sources- One of the most important sources (works of ancient Greek historians) Unlike poets, historians strive to give a true story, to pick up real facts. The first Greek historians were the so-called logographs, of which the most famous Hecataeus of Miletus and Hellanicus of Mitylene. Logographs described the ancient history of native cities. In their works, they included quite reliable information of a geographical and ethnographic nature, obtained by them during their travels to various Greek cities and countries of the Eastern Mediterranean. The first proper historical research was the work Herodotus of Halicarnassus, called in ancient times the "father of history". In his work, which is commonly called "History", Herodotus described the course of the war between the Greeks and Persians. This is genuine scientific work. To reveal the cause of the war, Herodotus turns to the background of events. He talks about the history of the ancient Eastern countries and peoples that became part of the Persian state, and then about the history of the Greek policies, and only after that he proceeds to describe military operations. And although the degree of reliability of the information collected by the historian varies, most of the information from the "History" is confirmed by other sources, and above all by archaeological discoveries. Thucydides conceived to describe the history of the Peloponnesian War. To find historical truth, Thucydides conducts a strict critical selection of historical sources, using only those that contain reliable information. This approach to facts allows him to find the objective causes of events and the reasons that caused them, which helps to identify the patterns of historical events. For him, a direct connection between successes in the conduct of hostilities and the stability of the internal political situation in the state is clear. Thucydides played a decisive role in establishing scientific knowledge about the past. He developed a critical method for analyzing historical sources and was the first to reveal patterns of historical development. His work is a valuable historical source, in which the events described are as objectively as possible covered. Xenophon of Athens- a supporter of the Spartan state system, was critical of Athenian democracy. This explains a certain bias in the presentation of the material. His " Greek history”, describing the events from 411 to 362 BC. e., remains the most important source for studying the difficult era of acute struggle between the policies and the crisis of the classical Greek policy. In the essay “On the State Structure of the Lacedaemonians”, he idealizes the Spartan order, and in the “Cyropaedia”, dedicated to the education of the founder of the Persian state, Cyrus the Elder, he sympathizes with the idea of a monarchical state structure. Of great interest from the point of view of the development of philosophical thought and the characteristics of Athenian life are Xenophon's treatises "Memories of Socrates", "Economics" (or "Domostroy"), "On Incomes". In general, Xenophon's numerous treatises contain diverse and valuable, but not always objective, information about the most diverse aspects of the life of the Greek society of his time. An irreplaceable historical source are philosophical and rhetorical works. An outstanding philosopher was Plato. For historians, his treatises "The State" and "Laws" are of great interest, where the author, in accordance with his socio-political views, suggests ways for a just reorganization of society and gives a "recipe" for an ideal state system. Plato's Disciple Aristotle tried to explore the history and political structure of over 150 states. Of his works, only the Athenian Politia has survived, which systematically describes the history and state structure of the Athenian policy.

Hellenistic Sources. In the era of Hellenism, narrative sources (i.e., narrative) acquire new features. During this period, the Greek historian Polybius(c. 201 - c. 120 BC) the first "General History" was written. In 40 books (the first five books have been fully preserved) of the General History, historical events in the Mediterranean from 220 to 146 BC are described. e. Carefully selecting the facts, Polybius strove for historical truth in order to show the pattern of Rome's gaining world domination. Based on the study of historical processes, he created an original theory of historical development, in which there is a pattern of degeneration of the main forms of the state - from royal power to democracy. Another major historian of this period was Diodorus Siculus(c. 90-21 BC). In his "Historical Library" (out of 40 books, books 1-5 and 11-20 have come down to us, and only fragments from the rest) described in detail the history of the Mediterranean states, including the history of classical Greece. Diodorus pays special attention to the economic development of the Hellenistic states and the socio-political struggle between their rulers. Essays contain important information. Plutarch(c. 45 - c. 127), primarily biographies of major Greek and Roman politicians and Hellenistic kings, as well as various information from the socio-political and cultural life of ancient society. The facts used to cover the activities of prominent personalities of the Hellenistic period are more reliable than the data of earlier eras. Interesting information, the reliability of which is confirmed by archaeological excavations, was left by the Greek historian Pausanias(II century) in the ten-volume Description of Hellas. This work, based on the author's observations and other sources, contains a detailed description of architectural monuments (temples, theaters, public buildings), sculptures and paintings. The rapid development of book culture is associated with the Hellenistic era. Treatises on economics are of great interest to historians: the pseudo-Aristotelian "Economics" (end of the 4th century BC) and the "Economics" of the Epicurean philosopher Philodema(I century BC). Reliable and valuable information contains "Geography" Strabo. The writer traveled a lot and supplemented his observations with information gleaned from other scientists. Strabo tells in detail about the geographical position of countries and regions, climate, the presence of minerals, and the features of the economic activity of peoples. A huge number of inscriptions have come down to us, which contain a wide variety of information on almost all spheres of the life of the Hellenistic society. Of great interest are the economic documents of the temple of Apollo on the island of Delos, the decrees of the rulers and the manumisia - acts of freeing slaves to freedom. In the era of Hellenism, texts appeared on papyri (there are more than 250 thousand of them), created mainly in Ptolemaic Egypt. They contain a wide variety of information: these are royal decrees, economic documents, marriage contracts, religious texts, etc. Thanks to papyri, the many-sided life of Egypt is better known than the life of other Hellenistic states. Modern historians have at their disposal numerous and varied sources that allow them to fully explore all aspects of the life of ancient Greek society.

Crete-Mycenaean period. linear letter "B", found in 1953 by Evans, lists of slaves are contained there, and households. Lists. In addition to the tablets found in the palace archives, inscriptions have been preserved, consisting of abbreviations of individual words, applied with paint or scratched on the walls of clay vessels, individual letters on seals placed on clay corks and tags.

Written sources are all kinds of works, including literary works of the era under study, inscriptions of various contents that have come down to us; One of the most important sources are the writings of ancient Greek historians. Historians strive to give a true story, to pick up real facts. The first Greek historians were the so-called logographs, of which the most famous are Hecateus (540-478 BC) and Hellanicus (480-400 BC).

The first proper historical study was the work of Herodotus (485-425 BC), who was called in ancient times the "father of history." Dark vaka The first Greek literary monuments - Homer's epic poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey" - are practically the only sources of information about the dark ages of the XII - VI centuries. BC e., i.e.

In his work, which is commonly called "History", Herodotus described the course of the war between the Greeks and Persians. This is a genuine scientific work, since already in the first lines the author formulates a scientific problem that he is trying to investigate and substantiate. But the main merit of Herodotus is that, through his work, a source appeared in the hands of scientists, where the core of the described events is historical time and consciously introduced historicism.

Thucydides (c. 460-396 BC). He was born into a noble family, took part in the Peloponnesian War, but due to the fact that he could not protect the city of Amphipolis from the Spartans, he was expelled from Athens. In exile, where he spent almost two decades, Thucydides decided to describe the history of the Peloponnesian War. The historian is interested in all the events of which he was a contemporary. But in order to find historical truth, Thucydides conducts a strict critical selection of historical sources, using only those that contain reliable information. For all subsequent generations of researchers, Thucydides laid the foundation for understanding the meaning of historical development and human actions. His work is a valuable historical source, in which the events described are as objectively as possible covered.

The genre of historical research further development in the 4th century The unfinished "History" by Thucydides, which ended at the description of the events of 411 BC. e., continued literally from the last phrase in his "Greek History" Xenophon (c. 445-355). But in his presentation of the material more clearly than in Thucydides, the personal position of the author, who came from a wealthy family, received an aristocratic upbringing and was a student of Socrates, is manifested. A supporter of the Spartan state system, Xenophon was critical of Athenian democracy .. However, his "Greek History", describing the events from 411 to 362 BC. e., remains the most important source for studying the difficult era of acute struggle between the policies and the crisis of the classical Greek policy.

An outstanding philosopher was Plato (427-347 BC). For historians, his treatises "The State" and "Laws" are of great interest, where the author, in accordance with his socio-political views, suggests ways for a just reorganization of society and gives a "recipe" for an ideal state system.

Plato's student Aristotle (384-322 BC) tried to explore the history and political structure of over 150 states. Of his works, only the Athenian Politia has survived, which systematically describes the history and state structure of the Athenian policy. Based on the study of the life of the Greek policies, Aristotle created a generalizing theoretical work "Politics" - about the essence of the state. His provisions, Aristotle based on an analysis of the real processes of the historical development of Hellas, predetermined the further development of political thought in ancient Greece.

The number of sources relating to this time increases compared to the previous period, new categories of sources appear, for example, documents written on papyri, which were discovered during excavations in Egypt.

From historical writings that give a coherent account of the events of Hellenistic history with a certain author's concept, with verification of facts, as far as it was then possible, highest value have the works of Polybius and Diodorus. Polybius (200-118 BC) is one of the prominent Greek historians. In his youth, he was active in politics in the Achaean League, after the defeat of Macedonia at Pydna in 168 BC. e. he was transferred to Rome as a hostage and lived there until his death. In Rome, Polybius became close to a number of major politicians, in particular with Scipio Aemilianus, and was aware of all public affairs of the Roman Republic, that is, the entire Mediterranean. Polybius traveled widely. He was in Egypt, Asia Minor, Roman Africa, Spain, traveled all over the Atlantic coast of Africa and Spain. Polybius was a well-informed historian, had access to state archives, met with many eyewitnesses of historical events. His work details the history of the Greek and Roman world from 220 to 146 BC. e., contains valuable information about public finances, military affairs, socio-political clashes, about the structure of many states. The author developed in his work a well-thought-out theory of historical development in the form of repeating cycles in which a natural and regular degeneration of the main state forms takes place (monarchy into aristocracy, aristocracy into democracy).

In the "Historical Library" of Diodorus Siculus (I century BC), consisting of 40 books, books I - V, XVIII - XX are completely preserved, in which, in addition to the history of classical Greece (V - IV centuries BC), AD) describes in detail the struggle of the Diadochi, the history of the reign of the tyrant Agathocles in Sicily, and other events of early Hellenistic history (before 30 BC). Diodorus used reliable sources, and his factual material is of great value. Along with military-political events, Diodorus also covers the economic situation of the warring parties, such as Egypt and Rhodes, and briefly reports on social clashes.

The richest information of the most varied content is given in Strabo's "Geography" (64/63 BC - 23/24 AD). Strabo's work is not so much geography in the conventional sense, as an encyclopedic guide for the practical needs of public administration. Therefore, Strabo most carefully describes not only the geographical location, climate, natural resources, but also the features of the economic life of each region, the state structure, the most significant political events, cultural attractions. Most of Strabo's voluminous work (12 books out of 17) is devoted to the description of the Greek world. In the books of Strabo there is quite a lot of information relating to the archaic and classical times, but the most information is given just for the Hellenistic period of Greek history.

Of great value to early Hellenistic history are the writings of Plutarch, especially his biographies of major Greek and Roman politicians of the 3rd-1st centuries. BC e. In total, Plutarch gives a description of the biographies of 9 prominent Greeks, including Alexander and Pyrrhus. Plutarch gives a biography of both the Hellenistic kings and politicians of various Greek policies. Biographies of Plutarch are compiled on the basis of numerous, carefully selected sources, many of which have not survived to our time, and contain the richest material on the political history, religion and culture of the early Hellenistic era. In general, the biographies of Hellenistic figures are written by Plutarch with greater care and accuracy than the biographies of the Greeks of the archaic and classical periods.

Unique in its richness of material for recreating the history of Greek culture of all eras, including archaic, classical and Hellenistic, is the work of Pausanias (2nd century AD) "Description of Hellas". The work of Pausanias consists of 10 books, inscriptions of historical content edited by Tod, also a collection of historical inscriptions edited by Moretti (in 1967-1975) and a number of other publications. Collections of inscriptions from some regions have been published, for example, a collection of Greek and Latin inscriptions from the Northern Black Sea region, prepared by V.V. Latyshev in 1885-1916, vol. I, II, IV. The numismatic material is constantly replenished, numbering up to several hundred thousand different coins. Hundreds of archaeological expeditions from many countries of the world are conducting intensive and fruitful excavations of various centers of Hellenistic societies.

Different categories of sources complement each other. For example, the history of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom is largely known on the basis of numismatic materials and archaeological excavations. The discovery of such interesting and rich cities as Dura-Europos on the Euphrates and Ai-Khanoum in Northern Afghanistan (the ancient name of this city is unknown) expanded our knowledge on the history of urban planning, military fortification, urban life and economy, social and political relations," the culture of the Seleucid state, although there is practically no evidence of these cities in literary sources.

A new category of sources for the study of Hellenistic history, especially the Ptolemaic kingdom of Egypt, are the numerous papyri texts. To date, more than 250 thousand different papyrus finds from Egypt are known, and a special scientific discipline, papyrology, is engaged in their processing. Among the papyrological documents, whole historical and artistic works were found, for example, Aristotle's treatise "Athenian polity"; historical essay describing the Greek history of the first half of the 4th century BC. BC e. (the so-called Oxyrhynchus historian), many comedies by Menander, texts by Homer, etc. The content of this huge collection of papyri is unusually diverse: royal orders, laws, literary works, accounts, business contracts, marriage contracts, correspondence, student exercises, petitions, religious texts, resolutions of various assemblies, etc. The papyri characterize the inner life of Ptolemaic Egypt with such completeness that we do not have for any Hellenistic society. At present, the Egyptian papyri have been collected and published in multi-volume series. The largest are the multi-volume collections of papyri from Tebtyunis, Oxyrhynchus, Gibelen, the publication of Zeno's archive, and many others.

In general, numerous and diverse sources on the history of various periods of Greek history make it possible to show the main directions in the development of ancient Greek society - from initial stages the formation of a class slave-owning society and state before the conquest of the Greek policies and Hellenistic states by Rome.

At the disposal of modern researchers there are numerous sources of various categories. These are primarily written materials (historical works, works of fiction and scientific literature, journalism, speeches of speakers, legal documents, letters, business documents, etc.).

etc.), monuments of material culture, mainly obtained during archaeological excavations (ruins of cities, remains of fortifications, public buildings, residential buildings, tombs, temples, tools, weapons, everyday items, etc.), material of ethnographic observations (the study of ancient customs, institutions, rituals), a large number of various inscriptions, coins. Information about the distant past can be gleaned by analyzing the structure of the vocabulary of the ancient Greek language and the traditions of oral folk art (recorded folklore materials).

1. Sources on the history of Crete and Achaean Greece of the 5th millennium BC. e. The few sources of this time are divided into three main categories: written monuments written in the B syllabary, data from archaeological excavations of cities and settlements, and information on the history of the 2nd millennium BC. e., preserved in the works of Greek authors of a later time.

Tablets written in letter B were found during excavations in CreteA. Evans in 1901, but only in 1953 did the English scientist M. Ventris decipher the incomprehensible language of the inscriptions. Currently, several thousand tablets are known written in the letter B. They were found in the ruins of Knossos on Crete, during excavations of the cities of Pylos, Mycenae, in Thebes, Tiryns, but most of all (over 90% of all texts) were found in the archives of Knossos and Pylos. The vast majority of the tablets date from the 14th-12th centuries. BC e. The inscriptions are very brief and are mainly business accounting documents. They contain information about the lease of land, the number of livestock, the distribution of food to workers and service personnel; often these are lists of slaves and slaves employed in certain services of the palace, lists of artisans and a list of raw materials with them; lists of soldiers and sailors subject to mobilization, as well as inventories of confiscated property. The tablets provide information about the functioning of the palace economy, about the relationship between the palace and the lower administrative units, about the management of the state as a whole, which allows us to present the main features of the management and economy of the Achaean kingdoms of the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. e.

In addition to the tablets found in the palace archives, inscriptions have been preserved, consisting of abbreviations of individual words, applied with paint or scratched on the walls of clay vessels, individual letters on seals, placed on clay plugs and tags.

Archaeological excavations provide a wide variety of information about material culture. The most important finds were discovered during excavations of vast palace complexes: in Knossos and Phaistos on about. Crete, Mycenae and Pylos in the Peloponnese. Numerous rooms, complex planning of palaces, including luxurious apartments, reception halls, temple rooms, craft workshops, storerooms, a huge number of various everyday items and various weapons give an idea of the rich and intense life of these centers of the largest monarchies of the 2nd millennium BC.

Of great interest is the discovery of enlarged settlements of the end of the III millennium BC. e. in Lerna (in the northern Peloponnese) and in Rafina (in Attica), where a bronze foundry was discovered. Bo the second half of the II millennium BC. e. around the palaces in Mycenae, Pylos, Athens, Thebes, settlements appear in which artisans and merchants live.

Examples of rural settlements where the bulk of the Achaean population lived are the settlements excavated in Koraku (near Corinth), in Ziguriyes (near Mycenae), and the necropolis of one of the rural settlements in Attica in Sparta. The remains of modest dwellings, complex in terms of planning public buildings, and megaron-type premises were found here. The impressive size of individual buildings, finds of a large number of ceramics, including painted ones, as well as bronze and gold items, indicate the process of property stratification in the environment. rural population second half of the 2nd millennium BC. e.

Some information about the history of the Achaean and Cretan kingdoms is contained in the late Greek tradition. In Homer's poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey", compiled in the IX-VIII centuries. BC e., not only living memories of the recent past, in particular the events of the Trojan War, but also entire songs and legends composed in the Achaean era have been preserved. The poems correctly reflect the political situation in Greece on the eve of the Trojan War, in particular the predominance of Mycenae, the main allies and opponents of the Greeks, the very course of the Trojan War and its results. In Homer's poems, many realities of the Achaean time are conveyed: a description of a number of household items (for example, Nestor's cup), types of weapons, construction of war chariots, combat techniques, etc.

In the works of Greek authors of the 5th-4th centuries. BC e. (Herodotus, Thucydides, Aristotle) and subsequent centuries (Strabo, Plutarch, Pausanias) preserved separate vague memories of the glorious past of the Greeks, the power of the Cretan king Minos, the creation of a vast power by him, the high culture of that time. Quite diverse, although very difficult to study material about the history and culture, customs and religion of the Greeks of the II millennium BC. e. is contained in numerous legends and myths of the Greeks about gods and heroes: about the glorious Athenian hero Theseus, who liberated Athens from the cruel power of the Cretan king Minos, about the great Heraute, who served the cowardly king of Tiryns Eurystheus, about the voyage of Greek heroes led by Jason on the ship " Argo” to the distant shores of Colchis, etc. A thorough critical study of the content of these legends and myths allows us to separate real facts from fiction and replenish our knowledge of the history of Greece in the 2nd millennium BC. e.

A small amount of data, mainly on the foreign policy situation of the Cretan and Achaean kingdoms, is contained in ancient Eastern monuments. In particular, some Hittite inscriptions of the XIV-XIII centuries. BC e. mention the union of the Hittites with the state of Ahhiyava, located in the western part of Asia Minor. Some Egyptian things of the middle of the II millennium BC. e. (scarabs, amulets, beads, even a diorite figurine of an Egyptian with an inscription of his name User was found) were found in Crete. Crete (Keftiu) is mentioned in some inscriptions of Pharaoh Thutmose III as an equal ally of the powerful Egyptian kingdom.

2. Sources on the history of archaic and classical Greece. The total number and variety of sources for studying the history of Greece in the VIII-IV centuries. BC e. increases sharply. Written sources of various genres are presented with special completeness.

The earliest written sources were the epic poems attributed to the blind storyteller Homer - the Iliad and the Odyssey. These works, considered the best examples of the epic genre of world literature, were compiled on the basis of numerous tales, legends, songs, oral folk traditions dating back to the Achaean time. However, the processing and reduction of these heterogeneous parts into a single work of art took place in the 9th-8th centuries. BC e. It is not excluded that this work could belong to some brilliant storyteller, known to us under the name of Homer. Poems were transmitted orally for a long time, but in the 7th-5th centuries. BC e. were written down, and the final edition and recording of the poems was carried out in Athens under the tyrant Peisistratus in the middle of the 6th century. BC e.

Each poem consists of 24 books. The plot of the Iliad is one of the episodes of the tenth year of the Trojan War, namely a quarrel in the camp of the Greeks between the commander of the Greek army, King Agamemnon of Mycenae, and Achilles, the leader of one of the Thessalian tribes. Against this background, Homer gives a detailed description of the military operations of the Greeks and Trojans, the organization of the military camp and weapons, control systems, appearance cities, religious beliefs of the Greeks and Trojans, everyday life.

The poem "Odyssey" tells about the adventures of King Odysseus of Ithaca, who returned after the destruction of Troy to his native Ithaca. The gods subject Odysseus to numerous trials: he gets to the ferocious cyclops, leads the ship past the monsters of Scylla and Charybdis, escapes from the cannibals of the Laestrigons, rejects the spell of the sorceress Kirka, who turns people into pigs, etc. Homer shows his hero in different situations of peaceful life, which allows him to characterize its most diverse aspects: economic activities, the life of the royal palace and estate, the relationship between those in power and the poor, customs, particulars of everyday life. However, in order to use the data of Homeric poems to recreate the historical reality reflected in them, the most careful and painstaking analysis is required. After all, each of the poems is, first of all, a work of art in which poetic fiction and historical truth are mixed in the most bizarre way. Poems were created and edited for several centuries, and therefore they reflected different chronological layers: the life and customs of the Achaean kingdoms, social relations of the so-called Homeric time (XI-IX centuries BC) and, finally, the time of compiling poems (IX-VIII centuries BC).

Valuable information about agriculture, hard peasant labor and rural life can be obtained from the poem "Works and Days" by the Boeotian poet Hesiod (the turn of the VIII-VII centuries BC). He also owns another poem - "Theogony", which describes in detail the religious views of the Greeks, the origin of the gods, their genealogy and relationships.

To study the socio-political struggle that unfolded in Greek society in the 7th-6th centuries. BC e., important data are given in the political elegies of Greek poets - Archilochus from Paros, Solon from Athens, Theognis from Megara. They realistically describe the hard lot of the poor, the sharp hatred of the demos for the aristocracy, they talk about expulsions and confiscations, about the miserable life of wanderers far from their native city.

One of the most important sources are the writings of ancient Greek historians. Unlike poets, in whose works it is difficult to separate fiction from reality, historians strive to give a true story, to pick up real facts. The first Greek historians were the so-called logographs, of which the most famous are Hecateus of Miletus (540-478 BC) and Hellanicus of Mitylene (480-400 BC). Logographs described the ancient history of native cities. For lack of data, they turned to myths, trying to rationalistically interpret the information contained there. The critical analysis of the mythological tradition carried out by the logographers was rather superficial, and therefore many of the facts cited by them should not be trusted.

Logographers were not limited to the interpretation of the mythological tradition. In their works, they included quite reliable information of a geographical and ethnographic nature, obtained by them during their travels to various Greek cities and countries of the Eastern Mediterranean. In the works of the logographers, myth and reality differed little, and this determined the limited significance of their works. The writings of the logographers have survived only in small fragments.

The first proper historical study was the work of Herodotus of Halicarnassus (485-425 BC), who was called "the father of history" in antiquity. Herodotus was born into a wealthy family, received a good education, took part in the political struggle in his city, and was expelled by victorious opponents. Being in exile, Herodotus traveled a lot, traveled to almost all countries

Eastern Mediterranean, including Babylonia and Egypt, he was also in Great Greece and the Black Sea region, for example, he visited Olbia, where he studied the history and life of the Scythian tribes surrounding it. In his mature years, Herodotus lived in Athens, was a supporter of Athenian democracy, and was friends with its leader Pericles. Herodotus witnessed a brilliant era in Greek history, an era of rapid economic development and cultural prosperity that came after the victory over the huge Persian power. Herodotus sought to clarify on concrete material why small and weak Greece was able to defeat the huge and powerful Persian state and why Athens itself acquired paramount importance in Greece itself. According to Herodotus, this was not an accident. The work of Herodotus is devoted to the history of the Greco-Persian wars and consists of 9 books, which in the III century. BC e. were named after 9 muses. Actually, the last five books are devoted to the history of the wars themselves (the presentation was brought up to 479 BC), and the first four books describe the history of individual countries, peoples, cities of Asia Minor, Babylonia, Media, Egypt, Scythian tribes, Greek cities of the Balkan Greece.

Herodotus draws attention to the selection and critical analysis of the collected information: he travels around the places and cities he writes about, asks knowledgeable people, uses the available records and archives, he knows well the authors who preceded him, in particular the logographers. The presentation of events by Herodotus is strictly factual, although he sometimes resorts to mythological and dubious information, trying to explain them rationalistically. Modern archaeological data confirm the vast majority of Herodotus' information. Huge factual material on the history of the entire Eastern Mediterranean, an attempt to critically analyze it, a well-thought-out author's concept, respect for the cultural achievements of all peoples (and not just the Greeks), high literary merit made the work of Herodotus an outstanding work in Greek and world historiography, a source of valuable information on history. Near East and Greece 7th - early 5th c. BC e.

Another outstanding work of Greek historical thought was the work of the Athenian historian Thucydides, son of Olora (about 460-400 BC), dedicated to the events of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC).

Thucydides received an excellent education, held responsible positions in Athens, including the highest military position of a strategist, i.e. knew well the mechanism of political events of his time. Expelled from Athens for the unsuccessful conduct of the war in 424 BC. e., Thucydides settled in Thrace and devoted the last years of his life to working on the "History". He had enough funds and free time to collect and critically process a huge amount of factual material on the history of the Peloponnesian War. If Herodotus sometimes still used some legendary information in his history, then Thucydides strictly selects and carefully checks the facts, discarding all doubtful information. The critical method of working with sources was an outstanding achievement of ancient historiography.

The work of Thucydides consists of 8 books, they outline the events of the Peloponnesian War from 431 to 411 BC. e. (The work was left unfinished.) However, Thucydides is not limited to careful and detailed description military actions. He also gives a description of the internal life of the belligerents, including the relationship between different groups of the population and their clashes, changes in the political system.

Thucydides was one of the first Greek historians who saw in the social struggle an important factor in the development of Greek policies. Thucydides also showed with extraordinary force what incalculable disasters war brings with it. With his "History" he, as it were, called on the Greeks to peaceful unification, to the rejection of such destructive weapons as wars like the Peloponnesian.

A diverse literary legacy was left by Thucydides' younger contemporary, historian and publicist Xenophon of Athens (430-355 BC). Xenophon served as a mercenary for the Persian prince Cyrus, fought in the Spartan army, including against his policy, was expelled from Athens and even sentenced to death penalty, lived for a long time in the Peloponnese. At the end of his life, he received an amnesty and was invited to Athens, but did not take advantage of this invitation.

An experienced politician and military man who has seen a lot in his lifetime, Xenophon left behind many different writings. In his Greek History, he continued the work of Thucydides from the events of 411 BC. e. and brought him to the battle of Mantinea in 362 BC. e. However, unlike Thucydides, Xenophon did not conduct such a thorough analysis of his material; there are many omissions, omissions, and inaccuracies in his work. The value of the historical work of Xenophon is that he wrote about his time, he himself was a participant in many events and knew the facts first hand, although Xenophon lacks the critical instinct of Thucydides, moreover, in his work he tries in every possible way to praise Sparta and its politics.

Xenophon also wrote other works: several essays on economic topics (treatises "Economics", "On Incomes"), a journalistic treatise "On the State Structure of the Lacedaemonians", "Kyropedia" ("Education of Cyrus"), Xenophon develops conservative views, idealizes the Spartan oligarchy , and in The Education of Cyrus he even tries to substantiate the fruitfulness of monarchical ideas through the image of an ideal ruler, as shown by the founder of the Persian state, Cyrus. Very valuable information about the life and way of life of the eastern regions of Asia Minor, about the organization of a mercenary army is contained in the work of Xenophon "Anabasis" (literally "Ascent"), which tells about the retreat of the Greek mercenary contingent, in which Xenophon himself was, from Northern Babylonia to the southern coast Black Sea. The treatise "Memoirs" has also been preserved, in which Xenophon sets out the content of the conversations of the philosopher Socrates with his students.

Written on various topics, the works of Xenophon contain the most diverse and valuable information about many aspects of the life of Greek society at the end of the 5th - the first half of the 4th century. BC e. From other Greek historians of the IV century. BC e. should be called Ephora and Theopompus, but their works have survived only in small fragments.

One of the earliest examples of political journalism with a fierce denunciation of their political opponents - the Athenian democrats and the entire political system of Athenian democracy - is a treatise by an unknown Athenian oligarch in the mid-20s of the 4th century. BC e., which is conditionally called the pseudo-Xenophon Athenian polity (the treatise was found among the writings of Xenophon, but does not belong to him).

A lot of information of a diverse nature is contained in the numerous speeches of Athenian orators of the 4th century BC that have come down to our time. BC e. - Lysias, Isocrates, Demosthenes, Aeschines, Hyperides, etc. The earliest of these speeches by Lysias date back to the end of the 5th - beginning of the 4th century. BC e., the latest belong to Hyperides and Dinarchus (20s of the 4th century BC). Speakers composed speeches on various topics: political accusations or defense, civil lawsuits, cases of bribery and embezzlement, and bribery. The orator in his speeches accused someone or led the defense and, depending on this task, selected some materials and omitted others. Speeches are very tendentious sources in which the true state of affairs is deliberately distorted, but the speeches also contain a lot of material of the most varied nature: speakers often refer to articles of laws, legal regulations, cite articles of international treaties, mention inheritances and property, the situation in society of their clients and many other information. The value of speeches lies in the fact that they convey the true atmosphere of immediate historical reality, they are a living document of the era.

B V-IV centuries. BC e. in Greece, various works of a scientific and philosophical nature were published, which reflected the multifaceted life of the Greek city-states. The famous Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle own works of the most diverse content, which reflect both the dominant political ideas, worldview concepts, scientific ideas, and many other information about their time.

Among the writings of Plato (427-348 BC), his extensive treatises "State" and "Laws", written in the last period of his life, are of the greatest importance. In them, Plato, starting from an analysis of the socio-political relations of the middle of the 4th century. BC e., offers his version of the reorganization of Greek society on new, fair, in his opinion, principles.

The work of the greatest Greek thinker Aristotle (384-322) is striking in its diversity. He owns treatises on logic and ethics, rhetoric and poetics, meteorology and astronomy, zoology and physics, which are informative sources. However, the most valuable works on the history of Greek society in the 15th century. BC e. are his writings on the essence and forms of the state - "Politics", in which he summarized the gigantic material of the political history of 158 different Greek policies, and a special treatise on the state structure of Athens, one of the largest Greek policies with developed forms of government, "The Athenian Politia" . A thorough critical analysis of the vast amount of factual material makes Aristotle's writings the most valuable historical source.

Historical reality of the V-IV centuries. BC e. received a peculiar reflection in works of fiction, in tragedies and comedies that are staged in theaters. The great Greek tragedians Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides (5th century BC) took plots for their tragedies from mythological legends, but put ideas and ideas of their time into them, which makes them interesting sources. Rich information about the internal and external situation of Athens during the Peloponnesian War and at the beginning of the 15th century. BC e. give numerous comedies (11 comedies have been preserved) by Aristophanes (445-c. 385 BC). Drawing the Athenian life in a comic way, Aristophanes touches upon the issues of war and peace, the well-being of the rich and the poverty of the poor, the embezzlement of officials, mediocre commanders, and the plight of the allies. The data of Aristophanes show Athenian life, as it were, from the reverse side and serve as a good addition to Thucydides' information about Greek society during the Peloponnesian War.

The Greek history of archaic and classical times became the object of study of a number of historians and writers of the Hellenistic and Roman times. Of course, when studying the events of the distant past, historians depended on the sources at their disposal, on the political trends of their time, and therefore the reliability of the information they provide is very different. The most valuable are the works of Diodorus Siculus (1st century BC) “Historical Library”, in the surviving parts of which Greek history is described from 481 (preparation of Xerxes’ campaign against Greece) to 302 BC. e. (preparation for the Battle of Ipsus), numerous works of Plutarch (1st century AD), a native of the Boeotian city of Xeponei, especially biographies of famous political figures of Greece (Theseus, Lycurgus, Solon, Themistocles, Pericles, Alcibiades, Cimon, Nikias and etc.), the work of Pausanias (II century AD) “Description of Hellas”.

In the complex of historical sources on the history of ancient Greece, epigraphic sources occupy an equally important place. These are inscriptions on stone (stone slabs, walls of buildings, steles, statues, etc.), ceramics, metal plates. The inscriptions varied from a few letters to hundreds of lines. However, there are few large inscriptions (several dozen lines), the main part of the epigraphic material contains a text of several lines.

The Greeks made inscriptions quite often and for various reasons: treaties with other states, articles of laws, financial and other reports, records of expenses, property sales, mortgages, lease agreements, dedications to the gods, building inscriptions, listing the merits of the deceased and much more. The very nature of the Greek inscriptions, therefore, suggests an unusually wide amount of the most diverse information, acquaintance with which allows you to learn about such aspects of life that all other sources are silent about. The inscriptions, as a rule, are contemporary with the events mentioned in them, present reliable facts, since they were exhibited for public viewing.

The information contained in the inscriptions, in addition, allows you to verify the data contained in the works of ancient Greek historians. For example, lists of foros received from Athenian allies that have come down to us confirm the well-known position of Thucydides and other Greek authors about the cruel exploitation of allies by Athens. A large inscription about the conclusion of the Second Athenian Maritime Union in 378 BC. e. confirms the profound change in the nature of relations between Athens and its allies in the 4th century. BC e.

The significance of the inscriptions as a historical source also lies in the fact that they were found not only in Athens, but also in many other cities of Greece, about which the authors do not provide any information. Currently, over 200 thousand inscriptions from all over the Greek world have been discovered. They are collected, processed and published in the form of multi-volume collections-corpuses. The most complete collections of Greek inscriptions are as follows: "Corpus of Greek Inscriptions", published by A. Böck and his students in 1825-1877. (vol. I-IV); "Inscriptions of Greece", since 1878, 15 volumes have been published. The inscriptions of historical content were collected by the English epigraphist M. Tod (“Collection of Greek Historical Inscriptions”, 1946-1948. Vol. I-II).

One of the oldest Greek inscriptions are friendly treaties between the Peloponnesian cities of Elis and Gerea and between the inhabitants of two small policies in Elis, the Anetians and the Metapians (6th century BC).

Of great interest to the historian are the inscriptions of a legislative nature. So, the inscription 409-408. BC e. from Athens contained the text of the most ancient Athenian legislation Draco, dating back to the end of the 7th century. BC e. On the walls of one of the public buildings in the Cretan city of Gortyna, a text of laws was found, which has been preserved almost entirely and is one of the longest Greek inscriptions (the so-called "Gortyn Truth"). An example of lengthy inscriptions regulating the relations of the colonists in the newly

derived colonies, the so-called stele of the founders of the Greek colony of Cyrene about their relationship with the metropolis of Thera, inscriptions about the division of lands and endowing colonists with them in two Lokrid policies (end of VI - beginning of V century BC) can serve.

There are many lengthy inscriptions regulating relations between Athens and its allies, for example, the resolution of the Athenian National Assembly on the status of the city of Erythra in the union (60s of the 5th century BC) and the city of Chalkis (445 BC) . The inscriptions about the legally established contributions of different cities of the 1st Athenian Maritime Union from 454 to 425 BC are very informative. e. By the end of the IV century. BC e. refers to a very important inscription from Chersonesos (modern Sevastopol), the so-called Chersonesus oath on the state structure of Chersonesos.

Thanks to the success of numismatics, the importance of coins as a historical source is currently increasing. Found in very large numbers (several thousand coins are found annually), they represent massive material that can be subjected to statistical processing. The study of the weight of coins, the symbols and signs on them, the inscriptions, the composition of the coin hoards, the distribution of coins makes it possible to obtain information of the most diverse nature (about money circulation, commodity production, trade and political relations of cities, religious beliefs, cultural events, etc.). ). The most complete publications of the available coin collections are the catalogs of the British Museum, as well as a summary of all Greek coin hoards, which was undertaken by the American Numismatic Society in 1973.

Huge and growing from year to year, the material of archaeological excavations is the most important source of knowledge about the most diverse aspects of the life of Greek society. On the territory of Greece, other countries of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, hundreds of archaeological expeditions work annually, which conduct large-scale work. The archaeological material is the most diverse: whole cities were discovered (excavations of Olynthus, Tauric Chersonesos, Corinth), common Greek sanctuaries (temple complexes in honor of Apollo in Delphi and Delos), the famous religious and sports complex in Olympia (during the excavations of 1876-1881, 130 sculptures, 1000 inscriptions, 6000 coins, several thousand bronze items, not counting the foundations of many buildings).

Interesting data were obtained during the study of individual complexes, for example, during excavations of the potters' quarter in Athens and the Athenian central square-agora, the study of the Athenian Acropolis, the theater in Epidaurus, the necropolis in Tanagra and other similar complexes. Hundreds of thousands of items for various purposes were found here - tools, weapons, everyday items.

Constant archaeological research is carried out in the Greek cities of the Northern Black Sea region, in the cities of Olbia (including Berezan), Tauric Chersonese, Panticapaeum, Phanagoria and many others.

3. Sources on the history of Greece in the Hellenistic period. The number of sources relating to this time increases compared to the previous period, new categories of sources appear, for example, documents written on papyri, which were discovered during excavations in Egypt.

Of the historical writings that give a coherent account of the events of Hellenistic history with a certain author's concept, with verification of the facts, as far as it was then possible, the works of Polybius and Diodorus are of the greatest importance. Polybius (200-118 BC) is one of the prominent Greek historians. In his youth he was active

political activity in the Achaean League, after the defeat of Macedonia at Pydna in 168 BC. e. he was transferred to Rome as a hostage and lived there until his death. In Rome, Polybius became friends with a number of major political figures, in particular with Scipio Aemilianus, and was aware of all state affairs of the Roman Republic, i.e. the entire Mediterranean. Polybius traveled widely. He was in Egypt, Asia Minor, Roman Africa, Spain, traveled all over the Atlantic coast of Africa and Spain. Polybius was a well-informed historian, had access to state archives, met with many eyewitnesses of historical events. His work details the history of the Greek and Roman world from 220 to 146 BC. e., contains valuable information about state finance, military affairs, socio-political clashes, and about the structure of many states. The author developed in his work a well-thought-out theory of historical development in the form of repeating cycles in which a natural and regular degeneration of the main state forms takes place (monarchy into aristocracy, aristocracy into democracy).

In the "Historical Library" of Diodorus Siculus (I century BC), consisting of 40 books, books I - V, XVIII-XX are fully preserved, in which, in addition to the history of classical Greece (V-IV centuries BC. .) describe in detail the struggle of the Diadochi, the history of the reign of the tyrant Agathocles in Sicily, and other events of early Hellenistic history (before 30 BC). Diodorus used reliable sources, and his factual material is of great value. Along with military-political events, Diodorus also covers the economic situation of the warring parties, such as Egypt and Rhodes, and briefly reports on social clashes.

The richest information of the most diverse content is given in Strabo's "Geography" (64/63 BC - 23/24).

n. e.). Strabo's work is not so much geography in the generally accepted sense as an encyclopedic guide for the practical needs of public administration. Therefore, Strabo most carefully describes not only the geographical location, climate, natural resources, but also the features of the economic life of each region, the state structure, the most significant political events, cultural attractions. Most of Strabo's voluminous work (12 books out of 17) is devoted to the description of the Greek world. In the books of Strabo there is quite a lot of information relating to the archaic and classical times, but the most information is given just for the Hellenistic period of Greek history.

Unique in its richness of material for recreating the history of Greek culture of all eras, including archaic, classical and Hellenistic, is the work of Pausanias (2nd century AD) "Description of Hellas". The work of Pausanias consists of 10 books, each of which is devoted to the culture of the regions of Balkan Greece richest in historical monuments. Pausanias describes in detail temples, sanctuaries, architectural complexes, remains of buildings, statues, paintings, includes legends and myths associated with certain monuments in these descriptions. The accuracy of his data is confirmed by archaeological excavations. Important and cited by him historical references about those monuments that he describes (biographies of the persons to whom the statues were placed, the historical circumstances of their installation).

Hellenistic history was the object of constant attention of historians of the Roman period, with particular interest aroused by the history of the reign of Philip II and his illustrious son Alexander the Great. The most famous are the “History of Philip” by Pompey Trogus (end of the 1st century BC) in 44 books (the work is preserved in the abridgement of Justin, author of the 2nd-3rd centuries AD), “The History of Alexander the Great” by Curtius Rufus (1st century BC), "Anabasis of Alexander" by Flavius Arrian (II century AD). These works describe in detail the preparation, course and results of the campaigns of Alexander the Great, the countries and regions through which he passed, his policy towards the conquered peoples. In the work of Pompey Trogus, in addition to characterizing the reigns of Philip and Alexander, a coherent history of most of the Hellenistic kingdoms of the 3rd-1st centuries is given. BC e., and the latest source studies confirm the accuracy of the facts cited by him.

Appian, Roman historian Il c. n. e., wrote the history of the state of the Seleucids, Macedonia of the Pontic kingdom. In the center of the narrative is mainly the events of the late Hellenistic history of the II-I centuries. BC e., the conquest of the Hellenistic states by Rome, and the main attention is paid to the description of the military-political history.

Valuable sources on various aspects of the life of Hellenistic societies are works of scientific and fiction. First of all, these are treatises on economics, in particular, the treatise attributed to Aristotle (it bears the name of the pseudo-Aristotelian "Economics", the end of the 5th century BC), and the treatise "Economics" belonging to Philodemus (I century BC) . Of great interest are the works of Aristotle's student Theophrastus (370-288 BC). The treatise "On Plants" gives a detailed description of various plants, including cultivated ones: cereals, vines, oilseeds and fruit trees. The treatise "Characters" is an interesting study of the socio-psychological types of people and their behavior depending on the way of life, social status and degree of prosperity (incredulous, talkative, arrogant, arrogant person, etc. n.).

From works of fiction as a meaningful source of everyday life and everyday life of the end of the 4th-3rd centuries. BC e. important are the everyday comedies of the Athenian playwright Menander (342-292 BC), a collection of small poems by Theocritus (III century BC), dedicated to the glorification of a simple quiet life, far from the worries of the world, called "Idylls" .

There are numerous epigraphic, numismatic, and archaeological sources on the history of Hellenism. Tens of thousands of the most diverse inscriptions have been found from almost all areas of the Greek world of the most diverse content, from legislative documents to student exercises. In addition to general collections of inscriptions distributed by regions, such as the "Inscriptions of Greece", separate categories of inscriptions are published in the form of separate volumes. Thus, collections of legal inscriptions edited by Darest, Ausoullier and Reinac (in 1891-1904), texts of treaties of various states edited by G. Schmitt (in 1969) were published, in addition to the already mentioned collection of inscriptions of historical content edited by Toda , also a collection of historical inscriptions edited by Moretti (in 1967-1975) and a number of other publications. Collections of inscriptions from some regions have been published, for example, a collection of Greek and Latin inscriptions from the Northern Black Sea region, prepared by B.B. Latyshev in 1885-1916 rr., vol. I, 11, IV. The numismatic material is constantly replenished, numbering up to several hundred thousand different coins. Hundreds of archaeological expeditions from many countries of the world are conducting intensive and fruitful excavations of various centers of Hellenistic societies.

Different categories of sources complement each other. For example, the history of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom is largely known on the basis of numismatic materials and archaeological excavations. The discovery of such interesting and rich cities as Dura-Europos on the Euphrates and Ai-Khanoum in northern Afghanistan (the ancient name of this city is unknown) expanded our knowledge on the history of urban planning, military fortification, urban life and economy, social and political relations, and the culture of Ce - the Leucid state, although there is practically no evidence of these cities in literary sources.

Egypt, and their processing is handled by a special scientific discipline - papyrology. Among the papyrological documents, whole historical and artistic works were found, for example, Aristotle's treatise "Athenian polity"; historical essay describing the Greek history of the first half of the 4th century BC. BC e. (the so-called Oxyrhynchus historian), many comedies by Menander, texts by Homer, etc. The content of this huge collection of papyri is unusually diverse: royal orders, laws, literary works, accounts, business contracts, marriage contracts, correspondence, student exercises, petitions, religious texts, resolutions of various assemblies, etc. The papyri characterize the inner life of Ptolemaic Egypt with such completeness that we do not have for any Hellenistic society. At present, the Egyptian papyri have been collected and published in multi-volume series. The largest are the multi-volume collections of papyri from Tebtyunis, Oxyrhynchus, Gibelen, the publication of Zeno's archive, and many others.

In general, numerous and diverse sources on the history of various periods of Greek history make it possible to show the main directions in the development of ancient Greek society - from the initial stages of the formation of a class slave society and state to the conquest of Greek policies and Hellenistic states by Rome.

The natural conditions of Greece are quite difficult. Mountain ranges divide the territory of the country into many narrow, isolated and infertile valleys with access to the sea, except for Laconia, Boeotia, Thessaly and about. Euboea. In the ancient Greek period, three-quarters of the territory was pasture and only one-eighth was arable land. Both the flora (oak, wild walnut, etc.) and the animal world (bears, wolves) were rich and diverse, but the sea provided especially many resources. The subsoil concealed significant deposits of minerals, primarily iron (Laconia), as well as silver, copper (Evia), gold (Thessaly), white marble (Attica)

Unlike many countries of the Ancient East, which are characterized by ethnic diversity, a certain ethnic homogeneity is characteristic of the Aegean basin and the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula.

These areas were inhabited mainly by the Greek people, represented by four tribal groups: Achaeans, Dorians, Ionians and Aeolians. Each of these tribal groups spoke a dialect and had some peculiarities in customs and religious beliefs, but these differences were insignificant. All Greeks spoke the same language, understood each other well and were clearly aware of their belonging to one nationality and one civilization.

The most ancient tribal group was the Achaeans, who came to the southern part of Balkan Greece at the end of the 3rd millennium BC. At the end of the II millennium BC. under the pressure of the Dorian tribes moving from the area of \u200b\u200bmodern Epirus and Macedonia, the Achaeans were partially assimilated, partially pushed back to the highlands. In the 1st millennium BC the descendants of the ancient Achaeans lived in the mountains of Arcadia, in the Asia Minor region of Pamphylia and in Cyprus. The Dorians, on the other hand, settled most of the Peloponnese (Laconia, Messenia, Argolis, Elis), most of the southern islands of the Aegean, in particular Crete and Rhodes, and some territories of Caria in Asia Minor. Close to the Dorians were the inhabitants of Epirus, Aetolia and other regions of Western Greece.

The third tribal group, speaking an Attic-Ionian dialect, settled in Attica, Euboea, the islands of the central Aegean, such as Samos, Chios, Lemnos, and in the region of Ionia on the coast of Asia Minor. The tribal group of Aeolians lived in Boeotia, Thessaly and in the region of Aeolis on the Asia Minor coast north of Ionia, on the island of Lesbos.

However, neither the Achaeans, nor the Dorians, nor the Aeolians were the indigenous population of Ancient Greece. Before them, tribes lived here, whose linguistic and ethnic affiliation remains problematic. They preserved the oldest untranslatable place names ending in -"nf": Corinth, Olynthus, Tiryns, etc., as well as plant names ending in -"nt", "-s": hyacinth, cypress, narcissus. Most likely, the pre-Hellenic population was not Indo-European and was related to the tribes of Asia Minor. Later, after the appearance of the Hellenes, the local tribes will be called "Leleges", "Pelasgians", "Carians". The remnants of these pre-Greek tribes lived in the Aegean region and did not play a significant role in the ethnogenesis of the population of Greece in the 1st millennium BC. More important in the fate of the Greek states were the inhabitants of South Thrace.

As for the sources on the history of Hellas, there are a great many of them. On the territory of Greece, the Aegean Sea and a number of other Mediterranean countries, archaeologists carried out numerous excavations, as a result of which a huge number of material monuments were discovered.

Until the 70s of the 19th century. only history was known, starting from the 8th century BC. The German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann and the English Arthur Evans carried out excavations, as a result of which the legendary city of Troy and the culture of the Cretan-Mycenaean civilization were discovered. In the 30s. 20th century Greek and American archaeologists discovered and studied the ruins of a large palace on the southwestern coast of the Peloponnese, on the site ancient city Pylos. Soviet researchers in the second half of the XX century. actively explored the places of Greek colonization in the Northern Black Sea region.

In the 70s. Zh.I. Cousteau explored the ruins of ancient settlements located on the seabed, near the coast of Crete and Santoria (dr. Fera). Somewhat later, a part of the Greek city of Phanagoria, which had settled in the sea, was explored.

As for written sources, they are very diverse. The vast majority of the inscriptions were made in ancient Greek, ostraca - clay fragments - are considered especially valuable. But during excavations on the island of Crete, as well as Mycenae and Pylos, linear inscriptions of 2 types were found: A and B. The first was written in Cretan, and the second in one of the dialects of the ancient Greek language.

The most vivid idea of those times is given to us by the works of ancient Greek historians: Herodotus' History of the Greco-Persian Wars, Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War (the work is not finished). The works of Pausanias "Description of Hellas" (antiquities, legends, myths) are very remarkable. Xenophon made his contribution, leaving several historical works: "Greek History", where he spoke out against Athenian democracy, "Memories of Socrates", "Domostroy", "On Incomes". The historian Polybius wrote the General History, of which only 1/3 has come down to us. Another historian, Plutarch, was noted for the fact that he applied the analysis in Comparative Life Descriptions, where he first described the biography of a famous Greek figure, then the biography of a Roman figure similar to him, at the end comparing these faces and talking about their similarities and differences. Playwrights, poets, orators (particularly noteworthy are the court speeches of Lysias, describing the activities of merchants in the 4th century BC), poems (Homer's Iliad and Odyssey), and myths.

At the beginning, works considered historical combined several genres: historical, geographical, ethnographic; they also included myths. These first works contained descriptions of the circle of lands known then, separate regions of the Greek world, genealogies and very briefly covered the events of the time close to them or did not touch them. The authors of these works were called logographers (in Greek, "logos" - the word and "grapho" - I write), who lived in the 6th-5th centuries. BC. In their writings there is no scientific - critical assessment of the material, but there is already a rational approach to explaining individual events of mythological time. Representatives of the logographers are Hecateus, who wrote the Description of the Earth and Genealogy, Hellanicus, who wrote an essay on the history of Athens and several Genealogies. Especially a lot of information is contained in the works of the geographer Strabo. In his work "Geography" he speaks about the life and history of various countries, their nature.

The periodization of ancient Greek history begins with the early Minoan period (XXX-XXIII centuries BC). Here we observe the dominance of tribal relations, the beginnings of crafts and the development of metals, the development of navigation, and a relatively high level of agrarian relations. In the Middle Minoan period (XXII-XVIII centuries BC), the construction of monumental palaces begins and the beginnings of statehood and early forms of writing appear. The development of the Crete-Mycenaean civilization is completed by the late Minoan period (XVII-XII centuries BC). During this period, the Minoan civilization flourished, the unification of Crete, the creation of the sea power of King Minos, the formation of original writing, the wide scope of Crete's trading activities in the Aegean Sea and the activation of contacts with the ancient Eastern states. Natural disaster of the middle of the XV century. BC e. becomes the cause of the decline of the Minoan civilization, which created the prerequisites for the conquest of Crete by the Achaeans, who in the XII century. BC e. finally destroy the Minoan state along with the Dorians.

The history of Balkan Greece begins with the early Helladic period (XXX-XXI centuries BC). Here tribal relations dominate among the pre-Greek population. The first large settlements and proto-palace complexes appear. In the Middle Helladic period (XX-XVII centuries BC), the settlement in the south of the Balkan Peninsula of the first waves of speakers of the Greek language - the Achaeans, began, in which the decomposition of tribal relations began, accompanied by a slight decrease in the overall level of socio-economic development of Greece. In the late Helladic period (XVI-XII centuries BC), an early class society arose among the Achaeans, the formation of a productive economy in agriculture. In the XII century. BC e. Greece is invaded by a new tribal group - the Dorians.

In the Homeric (prepolis) period, the "dark ages" (XI-IX centuries BC), tribal relations dominate, transforming into early class relations, unique prepolis social structures are formed.

In the archaic era (VIII-VI centuries BC), polis structures are formed. The Great Greek colonization takes place, the ethnic consolidation of the Hellenic society, tyrannies appear. Iron is being introduced into all spheres of production, economic growth is taking place, and contradictions between the elites and the masses are growing. In the era of the classics (V-IV centuries BC), the economy and culture of the Greek cities flourished, and the aggression of the Persian superpower was reflected. There is a growing conflict between trade and craft types of policies with a democratic state system and backward agrarian policies with an aristocratic system. The Peloponnesian War takes place, which undermined the economic and political potential of Hellas. The beginning of the crisis of the polis system and the loss of independence as a result of the Macedonian aggression

First Hellenistic period (334-281 BC). Campaigns of the Greco-Macedonian army of Alexander the Great, a brief period of existence of his world power and its disintegration into a number of Hellenistic states.

Second Hellenistic period (281-150 BC). The heyday of Greek-Eastern statehood, economy and culture.

Third Hellenistic period (150-30 BC). Crisis and collapse of the Hellenistic statehood.