History of mankind. From ancient times to the 6th century BC

The Kyzylkum Desert, surrounding the oasis of Khorezm, is a strange desert. Among the dunes, on the tops of desert rocks in the spurs of Sultanuizdag, there are traces everywhere human activity. Remains of ancient canals, dotted lines stretching for tens of kilometers, ruins of large settlements and cities. Today this world is dead. The majestic buildings of ancient Khorezm were captured by crows, lizards and snakes. It seems that you are in an enchanted kingdom, in a land of materialized mirages...

Khorezm, historical region and ancient state V Central Asia, in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya.

The first mentions of Khorezm (which in translation means “Land of the Sun”) are found in the Behistun inscription of Darius I and holy book Zoroastrianism - "Avesta". In the middle of the 6th century. BC e., Khorezm became part of the Persian Achaemenid state. By the time of Alexander the Great, Khorezm was an independent state. In the 4th-3rd centuries. BC Khorezm was experiencing an economic and cultural boom: irrigation systems were being improved, cities were being built, crafts and art were developing. The dominant form of religion was Zoroastrianism. The territory of ancient Khorezm is often called “Central Asian Egypt”. And, I must say, this is a very appropriate comparison. There are not many places in the world where such a number of ancient architectural monuments would be concentrated in a relatively small area. There are more than a dozen fortresses here alone. And just like Egyptian pyramids, they stun a person who finds himself in the world for the first time close proximity from them.

An outside observer or traveler immediately has many questions: how could the ancient builders, in the absence of any construction equipment, build all these grandiose buildings? Thanks to what, many buildings have survived to this day? But most of them are two thousand years old. Some ancient fortresses look as if they were abandoned by their inhabitants quite recently. And what is surprising is that, despite their majesty and good preservation, the very existence of these fortresses today is known only to a narrow circle of specialists. Perhaps this is also why they are so well preserved because they are located off the beaten path and it is very, very difficult to get to them without the help of local historians. The choice of location for the construction of fortresses remains one of the historical and geographical mysteries of ancient Central Asia to this day. What theories have been put forward on this matter! It is generally accepted that people have always sought to live closer to water. But in those places where the fortresses are located, water was difficult to access. At the same time, there is not a single large defensive structure near the Amu Darya. Perhaps this is explained by the fact that the ancient inhabitants of Khorezm sought to build fortresses on natural hills, and they are almost never found along the banks of the Amu Darya.

The Khorezm people solved the problem of water supply with the help of many kilometers of irrigation canals. It is not known exactly what the length of these structures is, but the scale of ancient construction is comparable only to shock socialist construction projects like the White Sea Canal. It is likely that thousands of people worked day and night to dig canals in the desert. In addition, for the construction of fortresses it was necessary to deliver building materials to the work sites - river sand and clay, necessary for the production of mud bricks. It is still unclear how the ancient foremen managed to establish supplies, but the fact remains that river sand and clay were supplied uninterruptedly from tens of kilometers away. You can imagine these caravans stretching across the desert! And the results of the Khorezm people’s work are amazing. Take, for example, the grandiose complex of Toprak-Kala (Earth City), the walls of which stretch for more than a kilometer. It was the whole city, in which historians counted at least ten blocks.

The city began to be built in the 1st century AD. Since it was built on a plain, it had to be surrounded by a high wall to protect it from attacks. And it was built. Up to 10 meters high! Just imagine the scale of the construction: hundreds of people took part in the bulk works, and in parallel with this, the actual high place A beautiful castle was also being built. Another, no less majestic fortress Kyzyl-Kala (Red City) defended the borders of the state in the 1st-12th centuries. Despite its relatively small size (65 by 65 meters), it was a tough nut to crack for enemies. The double walls, eight meters thick, rose 15 meters in height. Inside, the fortress was two-story, with the first floor starting from a 4-meter base, so that the battering guns could not give the attackers access to the interior.

The site for the construction of the fortress was chosen especially carefully. As we have already noted, preference was given to higher ground, but there was also such a tradition. Somewhere near the proposed construction site, a wild animal was caught and killed, and if the ancient Aesculapians found signs of some kind of disease in it, construction was not started, rightly believing that the same illness could befall the people who settled here. Perhaps the most good place was chosen for the construction of the Ayaz-Kala (City on the Wind) fortress. It is difficult to overcome the steep ascent to a natural hill with a fortress on top even if you are light. This is a classic Khorezm border structure. Its walls face the cardinal directions, and the entrance is necessarily located on the south side. The explanation for this feature is very simple. The prevailing south wind in these parts blew dust and debris out of the fortress. At the same time, the entrance to the fortress was not a kind of passage yard. The plan of every Khorezm fortress necessarily included a gate labyrinth - a kind of fortress within a fortress. Once here, the attackers found themselves trapped and received fierce resistance.

Historians suggest that the Ayaz-Kala fortress was built in the 4th-3rd centuries BC, but, oddly enough, it was most likely never used for its intended purpose. Moreover, there is an opinion that for some reason the fortress was not completed. Archaeologists did not find a single evidence of human habitation here, but they found a lot of previously prepared but unused building material. And yet this fortress, which stood for many centuries, seems to have been abandoned quite recently. Its harsh grayish-pink adobe walls with narrow slits arrow-shaped loopholes, formidable towers, round and pointed arches of the portals still look terrifying today. From the top of Ayaz-kala there is a view of the lake of the same name Ayazkol, the water of which is so salty that even in summer it seems covered with an ice crust. In the north, the silhouette of the next castle, Kyrkkyz-Kala, is barely visible on the horizon, where archaeologists found an amazing burial according to the ritual of ancient fire worshipers - parts of the human skeleton, cleansed by the sun and birds of prey, were placed in a ceramic jug - hum in the shape of a woman's head. The grandiose ruins are covered with numerous legends and tales. People still believe that in many fortresses there are hidden underground passages, guarded by evil forces, and that anyone who tries to look for innumerable treasures here must perish. Fortunately, not a single case tragic death It was not noted among archaeologists over all the years of research. As for the “countless treasures,” scientists do not deny the possibility of future sensational discoveries. The fact is that of the numerous buildings of ancient Khorezm, present moment studied in best case scenario half. For example, the same Kyzyl-Kala fortress is a completely untouched object. It’s strange, but historians still know very little about ancient Khorezm. Chronicle dead cities this state is replete with undeciphered pages that are sure to be read sooner or later. There is an example: it is difficult to believe that even at the beginning of the 19th century science knew little about ancient history Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, and now we know about the past of these powerful empires quite a few. Perhaps the history of ancient Khorezm will reveal its secrets over time.

Amphora, "Gadra" style, IV-III centuries BC (Feodosia Museum of Antiquities)

The city of Miletus, located on the southwestern coast of Asia Minor (this region was called Ionia) and inhabited by the Ionian Greeks (one of the groups of Hellenic tribes), showed the greatest activity in the development of the northern Black Sea coasts. It developed very intensively; here, faster than in other emerging policies, internal prerequisites for colonization, in addition, from the middle of the 7th century BC Asia Minor greek cities suffered from aggression eastern states- Lydia, Media, and in the 6th century BC - Persia.

The first half - the middle of the 6th century BC - was the time of the most active settlement of the inhabitants of Ionia outside their homeland. The Greek writer Arrian called Theodosia "an ancient Hellenic city, Ionian, a colony of Milesians." In Feodosia, fragments of black-figure ceramics and terracotta figurines from Hellas, made no earlier than the second half of the 6th century BC, were found. The most likely time for the founding of Feodosia is around the middle of the 6th century BC.

The next wave of colonists occurred at the turn of the 6th-5th centuries BC. It is associated with the anti-Persian uprising of the Greek cities of Ionia, led by Miletus and ending in defeat. It is likely that another batch of immigrants from Ionia arrived in Feodosia at that time.

In the first half of the 4th century. BC e. The city became part of the Bosporan Empire and received a new name - Theodosius - “Given by God”. We first encounter the name of the city “Theodosius” in sources of the 4th century BC - works of ancient authors, inscriptions of the Bosporan kingdom and on coins minted by the city.

The remark of the ancient grammarian Ulpian is very important: “Theodosius is a town in the Bosporus. The name of the market was given either from the sister or from the wife: there is disagreement about this.” Many researchers believe that we are talking about the sister or wife of the Bosporan ruler Leukon 1, who, as we will see later, conquered the independent Feodosian state and annexed it to his possessions. This sad event occurred in the first decades of the 4th century BC. It follows that used to be a city had a different name. Which?

When the Feodosian state was independent, it issued coins with the inscriptions: “feodeo” or “feodos”. This is an abbreviated word, possibly from male name Theodeos, which includes the word "theo" (deity). Note that on the obverse side of the early Theodosian coins a male head is clearly visible. It is known that the Greeks often named their colonies after their founders (Oikists), and after their deaths they honored them as heroes. It seems that the colonists who settled on the coast of the Feodosia Gulf named their city in honor of its founder, and later placed his portrait (with a ribbon on his head, as a sign of heroization) on their first coins.

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When Leukon 1 annexed the city to his kingdom, he apparently renamed it, calling it Theodosia (Theodosia), that is, God's gift. It is impossible not to notice that the new name is close in sound to the old one; it is possible that in this way the Bosporan king tried to endear himself to his new subjects. In addition, Levkon felt like the second founder of the city: in the 4th century BC, after joining the Bosporus, Theodosius experienced a period of prosperity.

For Levkon and his successors, such an acquisition as Theodosius truly became a “gift from God”: at her expense the royal family and many business people on the Bosporus. It is very likely that the deity in the new name of the city meant Apollo, who, firstly, was considered the patron saint of the colonists by the Greeks, and secondly, was the supreme deity in the Bosporus. Theodosian coins with the image, possibly, of Apollo and the inscription "theodos", reflecting the new city ​​name, could have been minted soon after its annexation to the Bosporus. The legends of the two subsequent coin issues - "feudo" and "feu" - also represent the new name of the city - Feodosia.

25.07.2016

In 2015, Georgian archaeologists discovered an inscription on an altar during excavations on Mount Grakliani, near the village of Igoeti, 40 kilometers from Tbilisi. At first, the age of the inscription was supposedly estimated as 7-8 century BC.

Now the date has been set as accurately as possible. A laboratory in the USA confirmed that the inscription was made in the late 11th early 10th century BC.

“We took three samples from here, they were sent to the Miami beta laboratory. And the other day we received a completely sensational answer - that this inscription was made either at the end of the 11th century or in the 10th century BC,” the head of the Tbilisi archaeological expedition told reporters state university, Professor Vakhtang Licheli.
According to him, this means that writing actually appeared on the territory of Georgia three thousand years ago. “We previously believed that this happened 1,500 years ago, but now these data have changed and are scientifically confirmed,” noted the leader of the expedition. According to him, the inscription has not yet been deciphered, but scientists suggest that since it was made on the pedestal of the altar, it is related to religion. At that time, only the priests knew the meaning of such messages.
Archaeological excavations in Grakliani also confirm that there was not a spontaneous settlement here, but an organized society where traditions were observed and aesthetic things were created.
Excavations at Grakliani have been ongoing since 2007, and during this period many unique finds have been made. These include signets made in the 4th century BC. e. in Southern Mesopotamia. As Liceli said, these are the only such exhibits discovered in the Caucasus region; they were used to certify legal documents.
The settlements discovered in Grakliani are laid out on terraces. The houses were of the same type; during their construction, they took into account climatic conditions– all buildings are oriented to the south, and in winter sunlight freely entered houses.
“When Alexander the Great conquered Babylon, he sent an army here to annex the Caucasus. This settlement became a victim of this process. This is evidenced by numerous ceramic dishes that were discovered in an already abandoned place,” says Professor Liceli.
Participants in the excavations, students from Georgia, Europe and the United States, told reporters that in the pagan temple discovered in Grakliani 2,500 years ago, the gods of fire and fertility were extolled.
According to them, the settlement discovered in Grakliani is an example of civilization at the junction of the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age. Excellent ceramics were produced here. The inhabitants of Grakliani had their own faith and a developed culture. If we take into account the latest data, it turns out that they were the first to create writing in the Caucasus.

Information about archaeological site Grakliani is listed in leading scientific publications in France, Holland, Great Britain, Italy, Germany and Spain.

One of the two temple complexes discovered in Grakliani dates back to the reign of the first king of Iberia ( Eastern Georgia) - King Parnavaz (years of life 331 -239 BC).

The new discovery also completely changes our understanding of historical events in the world. Previously, it was believed that the Caucasus was distanced from the processes of destruction taking place in the world at that time Ancient Greece and the Hittite Empire in the Middle East, note the expedition members.

Until recently, archaeologists attributed the appearance of writing in Georgia to the 4th-5th centuries AD. Although there were suggestions that writing could have been developed on the territory of Georgia back in pre-Christian times.

By 1 AD, Rome, with a population of somewhere between 800,000 and 1 million inhabitants, was the largest and most powerful city in the world. Most of what we know about the civilization of this ancient era comes from history recorded during Roman rule.

The world population was about 231 million people

Almost impossible to find out exact figure, but according to some estimates, the world's population was about 200 million people. The most populated areas were the communities founded near the Ganges, Tigris, Yangtze, Nile and Po rivers.

Early marriage was common

Jewish girls, for example, got married when they turned 12.5 years old. In those days, marriage was concluded in two stages. The formal engagement was agreed upon between the husband and the girl's father. A few months later, the girl moved to her husband's house. Only after the move was the marriage considered official.

Women had no or only very limited legal and economic rights

Women were rarely economically independent. A woman's earnings went directly to her father or husband, depending on her marital status. Legally, women had no right to file for divorce, while men could order his wife to be abandoned. On the other hand, the man had to be sure that he could ransom his wife if he was captured.

Census of China in the second century lists 57,671,400 people

Considered to be the oldest surviving census in the world, the Han Dynasty's census aimed to count its people in order to determine income and military power in every region. And even in the first century, China accounted for a huge part general population globe.

The first vending machines sold sacred water

Vending machines were invented in the first century AD in the city of Alexandria. However, the residents of this city did not buy chips and sparkling water, but sacred water. When a coin fell into the slot, its weight pulled the plug out of the tap, and the device dispensed sacred water.

People began to master modern books

Until the first century, most of what was written could be found on scrolls of parchment. But with the beginning of the first century, the practice of stringing wooden tablets into a codex arose. As a precursor to the book, the codex became popular once it was used to rewrite the Bible, which was done by a new religious group, the Christians.

The economy of the city and the country were completely different

Of course, there are still price differences between urban and rural areas, but such a difference cannot be compared with that of the first century. For example, fruit was 3-6 times more expensive in Jerusalem than in the surrounding countryside. Livestock was also more expensive in the city, and doves for sacrifice were sold at a great profit.

You might have worked as a camel driver, a pigeon competition organizer, or a dog manure collector.

There were some pretty strange types of work in the first century. The list of professions that were viewed with contempt by most of the population included being a shepherd, a butcher, and a doctor.

After work, men spent time in public baths

Public baths were a major part of Roman culture and everyday life. At the end of the working day, men of all ages and social classes gathered at local baths to discuss business and relax. Also on the territory where the baths were located, there were areas for sports and grocery shopping.

Gladiators were something like today's movie stars

Although extremely cruel, they were a popular form of public entertainment in first century Rome. Even though many gladiators were criminals, slaves, or prisoners, successful participants won great fame and fortune.

Instead of football, people attended chariot races

As with gladiatorial combat, chariot racing was a dangerous and bloody sport that often resulted in the death of the rider or horse. However, all this made the competition even more popular. Thus, about 200,000 chariot racing fans gathered at one of the oldest stadiums in Rome, the Circus Maximus.

Terrorism existed even then

The early terrorists, the Sicarii, or “daggermen” as they were also called, were an extremist group who opposed the Roman leadership of the Jews and wanted to recapture Jerusalem.

Tunics and togas were in fashion

Most men and women in Ancient Rome wore tunics, which they tied with a belt at the waist. The length and design of the tunic determined social status person. Elite Romans wore long striped tunics, while slaves and workers wore tunics that reached above the knee to allow for freedom of movement. Only men were allowed to wear togas, which draped around the body over the tunic.

Infant mortality was very high

In the first century, only 75 percent of children lived to be one year old, and half of all children died before age 10. It was the father who decided whether to leave the newborn child in the house. If a child had defects or the family could not support the child, he was left on the street where someone else could pick him up as a slave or servant.