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Drawing ideas from a treasure trove Greek literature, it is possible to create completely clear picture the origin of our world. Historians, however, believe that all these legends were not even invented by the Greeks themselves, but were only passed down to them from now completely forgotten Middle Eastern religions, and therefore Greek authors often, in their harmonious system of the origin of the world, encounter rather radical contradictions, which they, however, did not seem to pay any attention. But nonetheless…

According to one version, which has reached our time only in fragments, the goddess of all things Eurynome copulated with the world serpent Ophion and gave birth to the world. According to another version, told by Homer, the world originated from the union of Ocean and Tethys, who personified the primeval waters.

The main Greek version says that in the beginning there was only eternal, boundless and dark Chaos, from which both the world and the immortal gods arose. In particular, the goddess of Earth is Gaia. Very far below her, the gloomy Tartarus appeared - a terrible abyss, darkness. Also, out of Chaos, reviving Love was born - Eros, and the world began to be created. Chaos gave birth to the eternal Darkness - Erebus and dark night- Nyuktu, from whom came the eternal Light - Ether and the joyful bright Day - Hemera.

The Earth gave birth to Sky - Uranus, Mountains and Sea. She gave birth to them herself, without any participation from her father. Uranus (her son) took Earth as his wife, and they had titan children: six sons and six daughters. The son Ocean, surrounding the earth, and the goddess Thetis gave birth to rivers and oceanic sea goddesses. Titan Hipperion and Theia produced the Sun - Helios, the Moon - Selene and Dawn - the pink-fingered Eos (Aurora). From Astraeus and Eos came all the stars and all the winds: northern Boreas, eastern Eurus, southern Not and western Zephyr.

The earth also gave birth to three giant Cyclops with one eye in the forehead and three huge fifty-headed and hundred-armed giant Hecatoncheires. Even Uranus was horrified by the strength of his children and imprisoned them in the bowels of the Earth goddess, forbidding them to come into the light. She, unable to bear such a burden, convinced the children to rebel against their father, but they were afraid. Only the younger, insidious Cronus (chronos - all-consuming time) overthrew Uranus by cunning. The Goddess Night gave birth to terrible creatures as punishment for Krona: Tanata - death, Eridu - discord, Apata - deception, Kera - destruction, Hypnos - heavy nightmare and Nemesis - vengeance. These creatures brought discord, deception, struggle and misfortune into the world, which was once like paradise.

Cronus, who himself had once overthrown his father, was afraid of his children. He ordered his wife Rhea to bring the born descendants to him and mercilessly swallowed them. This fate befell five: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades and Poseidon. But Rhea, moved motherly love, on the advice of her parents, Uranus and Gaia, retired to the island of Crete and there, in a cave, having given birth to Zeus, she hid him from her cruel father, allowing him to swallow a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes instead of his son.

Zeus grew up in Crete, and the nymphs Adrastea and Idea fed him with the milk of the divine goat Amalthea, the bees brought him honey from the slopes of Mount Dikta, and the young demigods-curetes guarding the entrance to the cave struck their shields with swords every time the baby cried so that Cronus would not heard the baby and did not suffer the fate of his brothers and sisters.

Zeus grew up, rebelled against his father and forced him to return the children he had swallowed to the world. They began to fight with Kron and the Titans for power over the world. After a long struggle, they managed to establish themselves on high Olympus. Some of the titans took their side, and the first were Ocean, his daughter Styx and their children: Zeal, Power and Victory.

The Cyclopes also came to the aid of Zeus, forging thunder and lightning, which Zeus threw at the titans. After ten years of equal struggle, Zeus decided to free the hundred-armed giants Hecatoncheires from the bowels of the earth, and they rushed at the Titans, tearing off entire rocks from the mountains and throwing them at the enemy. The Titans, dodging giant stones flying at them, could not even approach Olympus. The earth groaned, the air filled with roar, and even Tartarus shook. Zeus threw lightning one after another, the whole earth was engulfed in fire, and it was so hot that even the seas boiled.

Modern man will see in this description not so much a battle as a geological catastrophe: either a volcanic eruption, or the fall of a huge meteorite. And perhaps a war between two powerful civilizations. However, we will discuss this topic a little later. For now, let's continue the story about ancient Greek legends.

The Titans were defeated. The Olympians cast them down into Tartarus, and placed the Hecatoncheires at its gates. Thus ended the power of the titans on earth.

But Gaia-Earth was offended that Zeus treated her children so cruelly, and married Tartarus, giving birth to the monster Typhon, owner of hundreds of dragon heads. Rising from the ground, he howled, and in this terrible cry the barking of dogs, human crying, the roar of a lion and other equally terrible or unpleasant sounds were mixed. Flames blazed around him, and the ground beneath him trembled.

Well, another geographical catastrophe...

The gods were frightened, but Zeus began to throw lightning, and the battle began. The earth caught fire again, the seas began to boil, and even the vault of heaven began to tremble. Zeus managed to burn all one hundred heads of Typhon with lightning, and he collapsed to the ground. Even from his exhausted body such heat emanated that everything around him was burning. Zeus took Typhon's body and threw it into Tartarus. But even from there, Typhon caused trouble for the gods and all living things. He caused storms, earthquakes and eruptions, and together with Echidna, a half-woman, half-snake, he gave birth to the two-headed dog Orff, hellhound Kerberos, Lernaean Hydra and Chimera. But nothing threatened the power of the gods: Zeus took the sky, Poseidon the sea, and Hades the underground kingdom of the dead. The gods left the earth in common possession. Zeus became the first among equals among the gods.

The entrance to Olympus was guarded by three beautiful oras, raising and lowering (when the gods descend to earth or return to their abode) a thick cloud covering the gates of the abode of the gods.

In the abode of the gods there is neither rain nor snow and reigns eternal summer. From here Zeus rules the world, and good and evil are in his hands. The goddess Themis helps him maintain order and ensure that the laws are followed. The daughter of Zeus, the goddess Dike, also oversees justice.

But the destinies of people are determined by the goddesses of fate - the Moiras, guided by the commands of Rock, which only they know. Moira Clotho determines a person's lifespan by spinning the thread of their destiny. Moira Lachesis determines, without looking, the lot that befalls a person in life. And the third moira, Atropos, writes down in a long scroll everything that is assigned to a person.

Zeus's brother Hades rules underground. The sacred river Styx flows there, even the gods swear by its waters. Here are the souls of the dead, who endlessly complain to each other about their joyless life without sun and without desires.

Hades, who rules kingdom of the dead Together with his wife Persephone, they serve as the goddess of vengeance Erinyes. With whips and snakes they pursue the criminal, not leaving him alone for a minute, and tormenting him with remorse. At the throne of Hades stand the judges of the kingdom of the dead - Minos and Rhadamanthus, as well as the god of death Tanat with a sword in his hands. In a black cloak, with huge black wings, he flies to the dying man's bed and cuts off a strand of hair from his head with his sword, and plucks out the soul. Along with him stand the Kers, who on the battlefield press their lips to the wounds of warriors, greedily drink hot blood and tear out souls from their bodies. Also sitting at the throne of Hades is the beautiful young god of sleep, Hypnos.

The Greek gods, like many other early gods of humanity, which I will talk about later, did not separate themselves from people with an impregnable wall, but, on an equal basis with them, as naturally as such equality is possible, took part in earthly affairs.

God or gods became something unattainable, an exalted object of prayer, much later, with the beginning of the era of Christianity or Islam. Even in the biblical Old Testament, God often descends from heaven to give orders to his chosen ones. Such dramatic changes in divine behavior, or rather, a change in the role of gods in myths, can be explained by many factors, but some researchers come to the conclusion that our ancestors considered gods to be some more developed civilization that colonized the Earth for some purpose. A little lower in the book we will discuss this version in more detail, but for now we will return to ancient Greek mythology.

The gods took part in human affairs, not only by “leading from Olympus.” For example, in Delphi there was a sanctuary of Apollo, where the Pythia priestess gave predictions. Predictions that, according to contemporaries, very often came true. The extent to which it is possible to talk about paranormal abilities is unknown, but it is perhaps worth talking about the wisdom of the priestess: the prediction given to King Croesus of Lydia during his war with Persia sounded like: “If you cross the River Halys, you will destroy the great kingdom.” Croesus, rejoicing, set out to destroy the kingdom. But the kingdom that perished as a result of the war turned out to be by no means Persian (Croesus was defeated, and his country was ruined). Nevertheless, the prediction came true.

But, in addition to the advice given through the priests, there were more specific interventions: just remember Prometheus, who stole fire for people. The image of a supreme being who favored people is found in the myths of many nations. A certain god not only steals fire for people, but warns the doomed human race about the global flood planned by the other gods.

But let's return to Apollo. Initially, he was considered a god protecting the herds. He soon became the god of light, and later the patron of settlers, the Greek colonies, and also the patron of art. According to legend, he was born on the island of Delos. His mother Latona, pursued by the dragon Python sent by Hera and pregnant by Zeus, wandered around the world until she came to Delos.

The son of Apollo, Asclepius, the god of doctors and medical art, became famous for bringing even the dead back to life. Here is another divine intervention in human affairs. Or simply miracles of highly developed medicine unknown to the ancient Greeks?

It is worth saying that the gods interested the ancient Greeks much more more people and nature, and therefore many stories from their lives have come down to us. It is possible, perhaps, endlessly to draw various, sometimes very interesting, parallels, but let’s stop. We will tell you only a couple of things that, as it seems to us, are directly related to the topic of our book. One of them is the legend of Phaeton.

The son of the Sun-Helios from Klymene, the daughter of the sea goddess Thetis, Phaeton once talked with the son of the thunderer Zeus Epaphus. He mocked him and remarked:

“You are the son of a mere mortal.” Your mother is deceiving you! I don't believe that you are the son of God!

Phaeton first went to his mother, and then to his father, Helios, and asked him to dispel doubts. Helios embraced Phaeton and, swearing by the waters of the Styx, confirmed his origin and promised, seeing that he was upset, to fulfill any of his wishes. Phaeton asked to be allowed to ride across the sky instead of Helios himself in his golden chariot. No matter how he tried to dissuade the foolish young man, explaining that even Zeus himself could not cope with the horses harnessed to this chariot, but in the end, not daring to break his oath, he retreated.

“Don’t rise too high,” Helios said to his son, “so as not to burn the sky, but don’t fall too low, otherwise you’ll burn the earth.”

And again he asked him to change his desire, which could bring him death. But Phaeton had already jumped onto the chariot, grabbed the reins and set off. Soon he got lost, the horses bolted, and when he looked at the ground, he was frightened, and his eyes darkened. The flames from the approaching chariot engulfed the earth, and large, rich cities began to perish one after another. The rivers boiled and the seas dried up.

Gaia turned to Zeus, urging him not to let her die, and he smashed the chariot with lightning. The horses ran away different sides, and Phaeton, with curls burning on his head, fell into the waves of the Eridanus River. Today, unfortunately, it is difficult to establish where this is. Rivers in Attica and the north had similar names, perhaps the Western Dvina and the Po River. Helios was so upset by the death of his son that he did not appear in the sky, and the earth was illuminated only by the light of fires.

Modern man immediately understands that the legend speaks of the fall of a great celestial body, which caused such strong fires that, apparently, the rising smoke and dust created such a curtain that sunlight could not penetrate to the ground for some time.

To complete this beautiful story, it is worth saying that Phaethon’s mother, Clymene, found not her son’s body, but his tomb on the banks of Eridanus. Supporters of the theory of a highly developed civilization will immediately say that it was not a tomb, but spaceship, which the young man could not control. But still, we must leave room for legends, especially since they are very beautiful: together with their mother they mourned the deceased young man and her daughter, the Heliades. Their grief was so boundless that the gods turned them into poplars. And their resin tears falling into the water immediately turned into amber.

Like other religions of the world, the ancient Greeks believed that humanity began to exist in paradise. Or rather, here it was called the golden age. But gradually life on earth worsened, and, for example, Hesiod believed that he was living in the worst period of history.

The human race was created by Cronus, according to Greek myths, happy.

People knew neither worries, nor sadness, nor the need to work. People had neither illnesses nor old age. And even death itself did not contain anything terrible, but was just like a deep sleep. Gardens and fields provided them with food in abundance, and huge herds grazed in the meadows. Even the gods came to people for advice. But the golden age, like all good things, ended, and all the people of the first generation died, turning into spirits, patrons and protectors of people of new generations (angels?). This reward was given to them by Zeus: shrouded in fog, they fly throughout the earth, defending the truth and punishing evil.

The second human race who lived in silver Age, was no longer so happy: these people could not compare with the previous generation either in strength or intelligence. For a hundred years they grew up foolish in the houses of their mothers and only when they matured did they leave them, managing to live only a short time in adulthood. Because the most They were unreasonable in life, they saw a lot of grief and misfortune. They did not listen to the gods and refused to make sacrifices to them, and Zeus destroyed their family, settling them in underground kingdom where there is neither joy nor sadness.

After this, Zeus created the third generation, and the third age began - the copper age. The people of this age, created from the shaft of a spear, were terrible and powerful. In addition to their enormous height, they had indestructible strength and a fearless heart. Most of all they loved war and battles. They did not sow anything, did not eat the fruits that the gardens bore in abundance, but only fought. Both their weapons and their houses were forged from copper, and they also worked with copper tools.

How can one not recall official science and its copper age? Greek storytellers also note that iron was learned only by later generations. Soon the people of the Copper Age destroyed each other, and Zeus created the fourth age and a new human race. These people were noble, fair and practically equal to the gods. But they all died in various wars and battles: some at the seven gates of Thebes, some at Troy, where they came for Helen, etc.

After death, Zeus settled these people at the ends of the earth, on islands in the ocean, far from the living, so that they could enjoy a happy and carefree life. The land there bears fruit three times a year, and its fruit is as sweet as honey.

After this, the Thunderer created the last, fifth century - the Iron Age, and the human race, which lives to this day. People of this generation are haunted by sorrows and exhausting work. The gods send them heavy worries, not forgetting, however, to give good, but still they suffer more evil and bad weather. Children do not respect their parents, friends betray each other, there is no love between brothers, and hospitality has become rare. Oaths are broken, and good is repaid with evil. There is violence all around, and the goddesses Conscience and Justice left people, flying up to Olympus, and people have no protection from evil.

One of the popular theories of the origin of humanity claims that before our civilization emerged on Earth, there were several more, and, according to some assumptions, more highly developed ones. Ancient Greek myths, as we see, this is confirmed.

We all know, at least in general terms, the legend about the Flood. It turns out that this legend already existed in ancient Babylon. Well, we know better the story from the Bible about Noah who built the ark. The Greeks told the story this way...

The people of the Copper Age not only disobeyed the Olympian gods, but also became famous for their wickedness. Once Zeus decided to visit the king of the city of Lycosura in Arcadia in human form. Entering the palace, Zeus gave a sign, and everyone realized who it was and fell on their faces. But King Lycaon did not want to honor Zeus and began to mock those who greeted him. And he even decided to test whether Zeus was a god. He killed the hostage, boiled part of his body, fried part of it and offered it to the Thunderer. He, terribly angry, destroyed Lycaon's palace with a lightning strike, and turned him into a wolf.

But even after this, people did not become more pious, and Zeus decided to destroy the entire human race. He decided to arrange global flood, and for this he sent a heavy downpour to the earth, forbade all winds to blow, and only the humid southern wind Not drove dark rain clouds across the sky. At first, the rivers simply overflowed their banks, but soon the stormy waters covered the houses, then the fortress walls, and only the double-headed peak of Parnassus remained above the water.

Of the entire human race, only two were saved: Deucalion, the son of Prometheus, and his wife Pyrrha. Deucalion, on the advice of his father, built a huge box, put enough food supplies in it, and the box was carried on the waters for nine days and nights until it washed up at Parnassus. The rain stopped, Deucalion and Pyrrha came out of the box and made a thanksgiving sacrifice to Zeus. The water began to recede, and the land was exposed, completely devastated. The water washed away not only all the buildings, but also the gardens and fields. Zeus sent Hermes to Deucalion and promised to fulfill his every desire.

He also asked that the land be populated again by people. Zeus ordered Deucalion and Pyrrha to pick up stones and throw them over their heads without turning around. Those stones that Deucalion threw turned into men, and those that Pyrrha threw turned into women. A new kind of people came from stone (although the next century, as you remember, was called iron).

But not all Greeks traced their ancestry to stones. Some tribes considered themselves autochthonous, that is, arising from the earth. The Thebans, for example, thought that they came from the teeth of the dragon killed by the Phoenician Cadmus, which he sowed into the ground.

It's difficult to talk briefly about Ancient Greece. After all, this country had a huge influence on the formation of not only Western culture, but also the entire world civilization. Europeans' ideas about politics, philosophy, architecture, literature, medicine, astronomy, and art are based on the ideas of the ancient Greeks.

For example, a person cannot be considered educated if he does not know the basics of Greek mythology. At any art gallery Without this knowledge, it is generally impossible to understand what is depicted on most paintings. European languages contain a large percentage of Greek definitions and words. And in the Russian language, the Cyrillic alphabet is based on Greek writing.

It's amazing that such huge role In the history of human civilization, a small number of people inhabiting a small territory played a role. People lived in city-states located in the southernmost part Balkan Peninsula.

Even in their heyday, the total population of residents did not exceed one million people. This was much less than in Egypt, Persia, Babylonia, and other great ancient monarchies. But we all know that often it’s not a matter of quantity, but quality. Alexander the Great said that one Hellene (ancient Greek) can be equated to a hundred barbarians.

The inhabitants of the Balkan Peninsula called the peoples living in their neighborhood barbarians. This definition also applied to the eastern powers. The Greeks themselves considered themselves the flagships of human civilization. It should be noted that this opinion is largely correct.

Natural features of Greece

Nature has divided the Balkan Peninsula into three parts. These are northern, middle and southern. Northern part begins south of Macedonia. In ancient times, it included states located in the north of the peninsula. Currently, the historical regions of Epirus and Thessaly are located here.

middle part Greece is separated from the north by high mountains. Communication is carried out through the Thermopylae Passage along the coast of the Aegean Sea. In ancient times, areas such as Boeotia, Aetolia, Phocis, as well as the most developed and richest of them, Attica, were located here. Its main center was the city of Athens.

Southern part represents the Peloponnese Peninsula. It is separated from the middle regions by the Isthmus of Corinth. Here the main region was considered Laconia. It is better known to modern people by the name of the militarily strong city of Sparta.

Near the Balkan Peninsula there are many islands located in the Aegean Sea. The largest of them are Crete, Rhodes, Euboea, Chios, Lesbos. Ancient people also inhabited the eastern coast of the Aegean Sea. In these places there were areas such as Caria, Ionia, and Aeolis.

Everyone understands that mountainous terrain limits areas suitable for agriculture. Here, great skill is required to cultivate the land. Therefore, it was difficult with arable land and crops in these places. But rugged and difficult to pass coastline became the reason for the rapid development of navigation.

Ancient era

In ancient times, the lands of Ancient Greece were inhabited by people called Pelasgians. Their skin was light and their hair was dark. In the 3rd millennium BC. e. they knew writing, lived in fortified settlements, engaged in various crafts and agriculture.

At the end of this millennium, invaders from the north of the Balkan Peninsula invaded the fertile lands. Historians call them proto-Greeks, but they are better known as the Achaeans. As a result of aggression indigenous people was either destroyed or driven out of their rightful lands. Those who survived and managed to adapt to the new situation mixed with the invaders.

City of Mycenae

The Achaeans created large city-states. The largest and strongest of them was the city of Mycenae. The emergence of the city of Troy dates back to this same period. It was inhabited by the Teucr tribe. Homer in the 8th century BC. e. wrote a poem telling about the campaign of the Achaeans against the Trojans.

For a long time, historians considered the Trojan War a fiction. But archaeologist G. Schliemann discovered the ruins of the ancient city in the 19th century and put forward the idea that it was destroyed by a strong fire. The fire consuming everything could have arisen as a result of the siege and assault of Troy by Achaean troops.

Minoan civilization

Speaking briefly about Ancient Greece, the island of Crete should also be mentioned. It was a prosperous area in 2000-1400 BC. e. This period referred to as Minoan civilization or Minoan culture.

The name comes from the luxurious palace in the city of Knossos. According to ancient legend, King Minos lived in it. The entire island was under his rule. It was by order of Minos that a huge fleet was built. With his help, the formidable ruler subjugated the neighboring islands. It is believed that even proud Athens paid tribute to the all-powerful ruler.

Ancient Greek dishes

However, as King Solomon said, everything passes. At the end of the 15th century BC. e. A natural disaster occurred in Crete. As a result of this, the Minoan civilization died. Experts believe that the cause was a volcanic eruption on the island of Fera. The eruption caused a tsunami. Huge wave destroyed the Cretan cities along with their inhabitants. After this, the Achaeans occupied the island of Crete and settled on it.

There is every reason to believe that it was a natural disaster in Crete that became the source of the legend of Atlantis. People distorted the historical truth and came up with a mighty power that existed on a huge continent in the Atlantic Ocean.

Archaic era

The Achaeans, who settled in the Balkans, lived calmly and prosperously until the end of the 13th century. It was at this time that the sea peoples appeared on the fertile and well-fed lands of Ancient Greece. Almost nothing is known about them. Only ancient Egyptian sources describe them as slender, white-faced people with dark and blond hair.

These warlike tribes destroyed most of the Achaean cities. Their population was slaughtered. Only those who managed to escape to the mountains and settled in hard-to-reach places were saved.

It is assumed that the vacated lands were settled by the Dorians. These people stood at a much lower stage of development. Therefore, the culture fell into decay. The construction of stone buildings stopped, and tools became primitive and crude. The old writing was forgotten, but a new one was not created. The period of general decline occurred in the 12th-9th centuries BC. e. Historians call it the “Dark Ages.”

In the Balkans, people lived in small villages ruled by local kings. The backbone of society was made up of patriarchal families who had their own household. At that time there were extremely few slaves. They were owned only by temples, sanctuaries and rulers.

But then came the 8th century BC. e. It is characterized by rapid growth in all areas of life. In just 200 years there have been dramatic changes in ancient Greek society. What caused the rapid evolution is unclear. But in place of wretched villages, prosperous city-states appeared.

Trade and money circulation began to develop rapidly. A new writing arose, based on the Phoenician alphabet. The construction of temples, theaters, stadiums began, public buildings. Greek ships began to ply the waters of the entire Mediterranean Sea. Colonies of settlers appeared in Asia Minor, Southern Italy, Sicily, and on the shores of the Black Sea.

Writing utensils and papyrus sheet in Ancient Greece

City-states or, more correctly, policies (polis in Greek means city) were headed by kings. An aristocracy formed around them. Below there was a large stratum of the common population, and at the very bottom of the social ladder were slaves. At the same time, their numbers rapidly increased.

Thus, speaking briefly about Ancient Greece, we can conclude that in the 8th century BC. e. A completely new state was formed. It took as a basis the culture that was inherent to the Achaeans. Based on these core values, an even more progressive culture was created. In addition, a new writing arose, science and philosophy began to develop rapidly. The period of the ancient world began, about which modern people quite a lot is known.