Capitol Hill in Antiquity. Here, as well as on the nearby Palatine Hill, Romulus, a descendant of the Trojans, founded Rome. If his brother Rem had won the dispute, the new community, and then the huge state, would have been called «Remoria»
Then, following the progressive model of the Hellenes and in opposition to the barbarians, the Romans form a Republic – the «Common Cause». New strokes – the invasion of Gauls, the same geese not sleeping on the Capitol, a sword in the scales – «woe to the vanquished», a war with Great Greece, which settled in southern Italy, King Pyrrhus and catastrophic Pyrrhic victories.
First Punic War. Struggle with Carthage for the island of Sicily, the founding of a fleet modeled on a progressive Carthaginian ship washed ashore. The theater of military operations moves to Africa, where the Roman victories first entail euphoria, and then a serious defeat. The remnants of the army are evacuated by sea. But on the way back, almost the entire Republican fleet perishes in the storm.
World of the Punic Wars. The third party to the conflict is Great Greece. Now this state entity belongs to the entire south of Italy and part of Sicily.
The fighting moves to Sicily, where the troops of Carthage are commanded by the commander Hamilcar Barca. The forces of the parties are extremely depleted. Toward the end of the day, the Carthaginian fleet is severely defeated by the Romans who have learned to fight at sea. Carthage pays Rome a hefty indemnity and renounces Sicily.
Second Punic War. Two centuries BC. The commander Hamilcar Barka dies, leaving the world, or rather the war, three sons – Hannibal, Magon and Hasdrubal. Their goal is the same as that of their father – Rome must be destroyed.
Hannibal transports his troops to Italy across the icy Alps and, among other things, inflicts a cruel defeat on the Romans at Cannes. 60 thousand Romans die here. A year later, having pacified three quarters of Italy, Hannibal tries to take the city of Rome. Due to unpleasant omens for both sides, the assault will not take place. The Romans capture the Greek city of Syracuse, allied to Carthage. At the same time, the great scientist of antiquity, Archimedes, perishes. The 30,000th Roman Expeditionary Force under the command of Scipio Africanus sets foot on the land of Africa. The commander makes an alliance with the Libyan tribes and defeats the army of Carthage at Zama. Hannibal flees to the king of Antioch, in the south of modern Turkey. This commander more than once participates in battles against Rome and the second time he personally meets with Scipio. Then he moved to Armenia, which became independent from the Seleucids, where he supervised the construction of the capital near modern Yerevan. In Bithynia (northern Turkey), the local king, not wanting unnecessary complications, decides to extradite Hannibal to Rome. The Carthaginian general takes poison.
Sunset of Carthage. Medieval engraving
Fifty years of peace. Carthage pays indemnities, which seemed to the Romans themselves simply unaffordable. He is still rich and dangerous. Having violated the terms of the treaty, the Carthaginians rebuff the official ally of Rome, a certain Libyan tribe. The thought of Cato the Elder, «Carthage Dilindum Essay -“ Carthage must be destroyed», repeated at the Senate meeting, now acquires energy and flesh. The third Punic War begins. Legionnaires disembarking in Africa lay siege to the capital of the African and Asian empires. Three years later, the civilization of the Pun-Phoenicians-Canaanites ceases to exist on the physical plane.
Rome during the Civil War
…The Roman Republic is experiencing the tyrannies of Sulla and Gaius Maria, who almost became kings, with difficulty reflecting the large-scale invasion of the Gauls and Teutons. Only by calling in troops from the provinces, the Romans suppress the uprising of the gladiators led by Spartacus. Ten years after the suppression of this rebellion, the Caesar-Pompey-Crassus triumvirate is formed. Dreaming no longer of money (he has it), but of military glory Crassus with four legions perishes in Parthia, (modern Iran and Turkmenistan) formed from the Seleucid state.
Fifty years BC e. An all-out war of the Romans under the leadership of Guy Julius Caesar against the Gauls begins throughout the territory of modern France. There is a brief invasion of Britain. With the death of the wife of Gnaeus Pompey (the Great), daughter of Caesar, the family ties between the Roman consuls disappear. The ambitious Gaius Julius crosses the Rubicon River (not alone, but with legions of hardened loyal soldiers) and captures Rome. The Civil War, which broke out on all sides of the world, takes away at least a quarter of the Roman male citizens. The loser of everything, Pompey tries to find refuge in Egypt, but dies off the coast of the Mediterranean Sea at the hands of a traitor.
Guy Julius Caesar (100—44 BC) on a Roman coin
Caesar starts an affair with the heiress of the pharaohs, the Egyptian queen Cleopatra, which, in the end, leads to the inclusion of Egypt in the structure of the not republican, but not yet imperial Rome.
…Gaius Julius Caesar, dictator, great pontiff (literally «Builder of bridges»), high priest, willingly or unwillingly, the founder of the famous title Caesar – Ksar – King. A representative of the patrician estate, beloved by ordinary people (including soldiers). It is not known for sure whether Gaius Julius was involved in suppressing the uprising of the world’s most famous gladiator Spartacus. At this time, he, the military tribune, prepares new recruits. From 63 BC – thanks to his popularity and big money, the young Caesar becomes the Great Pontiff. From 58 BC the Gallic War starts. In something more like genocide, a million Gauls die. Ten years later, Caesar and his ambitions are against the Republic. Four years of the Civil War culminate in the Battle of Munda (Spain), the hardest of all that Caesar fought. This time, 30,000 rebel supporters of the republican system are killed. The dictator first triumphs after the victory of the Romans over the Romans, which is considered not comme il faut. In the same year, for the first time, an image of a living person appears on coins – of course, Caesar.
A year later, Gaius Julius Caesar, already dreaming of an invasion of Arabia, is killed by conspirators, led by Mark Brutus, possibly the illegitimate son of the dictator. At the stake of judges’ chairs and benches, the body of the beloved dictator burns the people. After the fiery speech of Gaius Julius’ comrade-in-arms, Mark Antony, here, over the ashes, the Civil War in the bleeding country breaks out with renewed vigor.
Ancient israel
The first Hebrew tribes, in the manner described in the Bible, or in some other way, appear in the territory with the general name Canaan forty-two centuries ago. This is followed by a series of periods of assimilation or isolation of the Jews among other nations.
Canaan, «the Promised Land» on the map of the Ancient World
The Epoch of Judges, interpreters of the law, lasts three hundred years, marked, at the end, by a certain decline in morals. The last of the Judges, Samuel creates a kind of school of prophets who speak the truth to the rulers in the face, not caring about the consequences. He anoints the kingdom of the chosen one of God, Saul. His successor, the shepherd David, who ascended to the very pinnacle of power because of his decisive disposition, has the capital in Jerusalem. Having finally dealt with the Ammonites, Philistines and other tribes that have inhabited Canaan since ancient times, he created a mono-ethnic Jewish state. The son of David, Solomon erects the First Temple – the only legal place for God to serve among the Jews. After the death of the king, the country is divided into Israel with the capital Samaria, where ten tribes of Jews find shelter and Judea with the center of power – Jerusalem.
Judea (Jerusalem), Israel (Samaria) and Assyria (ancient capital – Ashur), eighth century BC
Seven centuries BC. The first superpower of antiquity, Assyria, turns Israel into a scorched desert. Ten of the twelve tribes are taken prisoner by the invaders. Their traces are lost. Later, Judea, which remained aloof from the battle, includes Babylon into its empire. Residents are taken away into slavery. After some time, thanks to the beloved wife of King Esther, the Babylonians declare them equal and allow them to return to their historical homeland. The liberated Jews build the Second Temple on the ruins of the First Sanctuary. Another one and a half centuries of relative peace and Judea falls under the control of the Greek dynasty of the Ptolemaic-Seleucids. The uprisings directed by the Hasmonean clan and the branch of Maccabees emanating from it (a nickname that has become a household name for the implacable defenders of the faith), dissatisfied with Hellenization, make the Hasmonean kingdom quite independent. But internecine wars break out. To resolve all issues, as an arbitrator, the Jews call on the great Wrath Pompey. All this ends with the fact that the Roman commander includes Judea in the structure of his Republic.
In the sixty-sixth year A.D. The First Jewish Revolt breaks out. The emperors of Rome, father and son, Titus and Vespasian, are systematically carrying out reprisals against the rebels. In Jerusalem, six hundred thousand inhabitants perish from hunger, in internecine massacres and at the hands of legionnaires. Another fifty years of dull discontent and under the Emperor Trajan follows the Second Uprising. As a result, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and founded the Hellenized city of Aelia Capitolina in its place.
Fifteen years later, during the reign of Emperor Hadrian, who forbade circumcision so important for the Jews, the rebellion of Shimon Bar-Kokhba breaks out. The Iron Legions capture the last stronghold of the rebels – the mountain fortress of Betar. Judea completely loses its autonomy. The surviving 30% of its inhabitants are settled throughout the Ecumene.
Ancient China
A new colorful smear in our head – China, two hundred years BC. After the death of the great and terrible Emperor Shih Huang Ti, Confucianism (the school of learned scribes) was revived in the new Han Empire, a philosophy that still replaces the Celestial Empire.
Jin Empire
Han ruled for six hundred years. It is replaced by the Jin dynasty. In the fourth century A.D. e. North China is invaded by the Huns. For two centuries, the most powerful Chinese gene pool turns aliens into true Chinese. The next dynasty restores the state as if nothing had happened.
A new series of wars, enlargements, fragmentation of kingdoms, leads to the emergence of the great, flourishing Tang Empire (636—907) in the east of modern China. This dynasty controls part of Central Asia, Sogdiana, the territory of present-day Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. A native of one of the regions, the border governor in the service of the Yellow Emperor An Lushan convinces the monarch to replace the officers of the titular nation at the court with mercenaries from the steppe personally loyal to the Sogdian. The further course of events is not so difficult to predict. An Lushan almost without hindrance, using the resources of a huge state, forms an army tied only to him. When the masks are thrown off, the indigenous Chinese can only shrug their hands sadly. The insidious alien makes a trip to the capital Chang’an (now the provincial Xi’an, the location of the famous Shi Huang Terracotta Army).
Tang Empire, 7th century AD e. Dangerous territorial acquisitions. The Tang empire is marked in green, the territorial acquisition of Sogdiana, which destroyed the metropolis, is in purple.
There should be a whirlwind of wars of all against all, for the state, the emperor, your family and just food. Women and children become soldiers or simply murderers. The greatest city with a population of millions, reminiscent of a chessboard stretching beyond the horizon, Chang’an is turning into a heap of ruins. Look! All roads and shoulders are littered with corpses. This water in lakes and rivers retains its purple color for months. Don’t try to quench your thirst with it. According to census takers and tax collectors, 50 million China is losing 36 million of its inhabitants. Perhaps a significant part of them do not die, but move to other areas. However, the An Lushan uprising is considered the largest post-WWII armed conflict in history in terms of casualties.
During the Song dynasty, in the twelfth century, China was invaded by the Manchu Jurchen tribe. The Celestial Empire is entering a new round of assimilation. At the beginning of the thirteenth century, a 300,000-strong army of even more brutal invaders invades from the North. With each new campaign, the Mongols of Genghis Khan are advancing more and more south. Trying to fight back, the Chinese widely use multiply-charged crossbows, powder charges, missiles, and primitive artillery. Millions of people die in fire and smoke. The capital of the Celestial Empire Zhongda – modern Beijing surrenders in 1264. 16 years later, the whole of China falls under the hooves of Mongolian horses. The grandson of Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan, proclaims the creation of the Yuan dynasty in the Great Yuan State. At the same time, four Mongol ulus left the single rule of the Horde.
Mongol expeditions to Japan and Vietnam have not met with much success. In the first case, this happens due to irresistible external reasons – «divine wind». In the second, because of the desperate resistance of the Vietnamese. Ciao paper banknotes are being massively introduced. Paper innovation is not always a sign of progress. The Chinese economy is in a fever. Most of the Chinese become slaves, in the Mongolian dialect, arats (commoners). Craftsmen even lose their craft skills. Agriculture and trade are declining. The complex irrigation system ceases to function.
In the middle of the fourteenth century, the secret organization «White Lotus» organizes its people for a decisive struggle against the invaders. Having tasted the taste of their own blood, the Mongols leave to the north, to the familiar steppes. One of the leaders of the uprising comes to power – the son of a simple peasant Zhu Yuanzhang. This man founds no less, a new Ming dynasty. The era begun by the successful son of a farmer is marked by the flourishing of science, crafts and shipping. Authorities organize an ocean expedition led by Admiral Zheng He. The «Golden Fleet» consists of 40—60 Baochuan «treasure ships», 117 meters long, 48 wide, and 200 escort ships. The number of the expedition is 28 thousand people.
The huge Chinese fleet makes seven long-distance voyages. But the composition and views of the ruling dynasty suddenly change. Orders are coming from Beijing: burn all ships, destroy expedition reports. China is adopting a strictly isolationist policy.
Meanwhile, the Jurchens from South Manchuria recall their military past. Initially, they stop paying tribute to central China. Then the nomads unite with Inner Mongolia and organize massive raids on the metropolis. Moving south and west, in 1683 the former vassals seize the last stronghold of the resistance of the Celestial Empire – the island of Taiwan. Now China is named after the Manchu dynasty itself – Qing. The aliens are trying to prevent mixed marriages. But they do not oppose their culture to the local, and everything, as quickly as always before, turns into Chinese. By the early nineteenth century, the Qing population was 300 million.
Chinese goods are in great demand in Europe. However, the Chinese accept only silver, gold, Russian furs and Venetian glass as payment. This approach does not suit the British, who are importing a new popular product from India into the Celestial Empire – opium. Dried in the sun, the milky juice of unripe opium poppy capsules contains morphine, codeine, narcotine. By 1830, sales reach 1,500 tons per year. It’s a lot. 35% of the Qing population becomes drug addicts. The Chinese emperor prohibits this simple happiness. In response, the Yellow Empire is attacked by the main drug dealer – Great Britain. China loses this war, pays an indemnity and hands over the island of Hong Kong to the winners, formally on a 99-year lease.
In 1851, the Taiping rebellion took place. The Chinese Christian Hong Xiutsuan became the organizer of the large-scale riot. The main idea of this Chinese dreamer is the expulsion of the Manchus and, note, the founding of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The million-strong Taiping army is distinguished by discipline, a humane attitude towards the population, and the absence of robberies. A community of 25 families is becoming the cell of society in the territories occupied by Chinese Christians. Hierarchies and estates are to be liquidated.
After twelve years of confrontation, marked by the emergence of more and more centers of the Civil War, the Second Opium War takes place. Everything is proceeding according to the same scenario, with the same sad result for China.
Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Banner
Hong Xiuquan, from the very beginning of the great Liberation campaign, departs from practical matters and indulges in meditation. Its commanders continue a fierce struggle, including among themselves. Considering Europeans as brothers in faith, the Taipings cannot understand why the British and French turned against their new relatives. The Heavenly Kingdom Army strictly prohibits smoking opium and, in addition, destroys everything associated with Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. Things are getting worse. The besieged capital of the Taiping, Nanjing, disappears into the flames of a majestic conflagration. Hong Xiuquan commits suicide. His son, heir to the throne, ends his young life on the chopping block. The last detachments of the Kingdom of Heaven, after a desperate attempt to storm Beijing, perish almost in full force on August 16, 1868.
During the Taiping uprising, between 20 and 30 million people are separated from their precious lives. The Chinese authorities, to this day, are trying to limit the spread of Christianity. In 1900, during the uprising of the ihetuan (boxers), the adherents of traditional beliefs exterminated almost all the Christians in Beijing (Chinese), seeing them as accomplices of the Europeans. Be that as it may, with or without them, the Celestial Empire is occupied by the forces of Germany, Russia and Japan. The winners receive an indemnity of 450 million lans of silver (the bar weighs 31 grams) and open up conservative China to the world even more fully.
In 1908, the two-year-old Emperor Pu I. ascends the throne of the Yellow Empire. Three years later, the Wuchansk uprising breaks out. The war of all against all leads to the collapse of the Qing Empire and the proclamation of the Republic of China. Tibet and Mongolia are leaving China «in their own way».
Emperor Pu Yi (1906—1967)
Pu Yi, aka Xundi – «The Forsaken Emperor» – since 1932 has been the ruler of the puppet republic of Manzhou-go, formed by militaristic Japan for its own purposes. In 1945, Pu Yi surrendered to a Soviet airborne assault force near the city of Mukden. For some time, the humble monarch was kept in a Soviet prisoner of war camp near Khabarovsk. He is later allowed to return to China. Here Pu Yi is re-educated according to the system of the Red Emperor, Mao Zedong for nine years, and after that, for the amusement of the entire Communist Party of China, they are given relative freedom. The last emperor watering plants in the Beijing Botanical Garden. Then, like an ordinary archivist, he goes through the books in the National Library
Ancient Rome by Octavian Augustus
…Several decades before the beginning of our era. Two ambitious generals, Octavian Augustus and Mark Antony, divide Rome into Eastern and Western empires.
Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian Augustus (63 BC – 14 AD), adopted son of Caesar, successor who won the Civil War. The first real Roman emperor.
Mark falls under the spell of the heiress of the Egyptian dynasty of the Ptolemies, Cleopatra, who is not averse to becoming the queen of Rome itself. The emperor gets involved in a war with the Roman Senate and former friend Octavian Augustus. Alternating feasts with military preparations, he misses the blows of the metropolis one after the other and, in the end, ends his colorful life with a blow of the sword. The enchantment of thirty-nine-year-old Cleopatra no longer works on the winner. The heiress of the pharaohs follows the example of Anthony. After her, four children remain. Seventeen-year-old Caesarion, son of Caius Caesar, is killed by order of Augustus. Two twins from Anthony are raised by the sister of the new emperor. We do not know anything about the fate of the fourth.
Emperor Tiberius, stepson and heir to Augustus, was allegedly strangled during an illness by his own grand-nephew and adopted son Caligula.
Guy Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (Caligula), 12 -41 y. AD, the second Roman emperor, according to Seneca’s definition «boundless depravity combined with boundless power.» Eight months after the ascent, initially peaceful Caligula falls ill with encephalitis. Having recovered, he becomes an insane dictator. Favorite expression – «Let them hate, if only they were afraid» – (Oderint dum mitvant). In 41 A.D. conspirators surround the emperor in one of the underground passages from the theater to the baths. The last thing that Caligula hears – the formula used in the sacrifice «Do it» (ok aje) – after which he is struck with a sword. Together with Caesar, the Praetorians kill his wife and two-year-old daughter
Having ascended to the pinnacle of power, Caligula builds bridges from ships, floating palaces, cracks down on senators – and he is loved by the people for the fact that life in the Empire is at least somewhat different. This emperor, however, was stabbed to death by his own bodyguards. The new ruler, a distant relative of Caligula, Claudius, is remembered by mankind according to Messalina, who has become a household name for an unfaithful and insidious wife. The next wife of Claudius Agrippina, the middle sister of Caligula, already has her son Nero. Her plot succeeds. Native blood, Nero becomes the emperor of Rome. But the mother’s reign over time ceases to appeal. The parent is going to bring to power her own son Claudius and Messalina, the beloved Britannica of the masses. Nero feeds his opponent with poisoned mushrooms in time. The ungrateful son also tries to poison Agrippina, but she in time accepts the invention of the eastern king, Mithridates Eupator, an effective antidote. Unable to drown his mother during a staged shipwreck (in the past, the empress’s hobby is diving for pearls), Nero explicitly orders a naval officer to stab her.
This is the story offered to us by the victorious ill-wishers of the emperor.
Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, 37—68, Roman emperor, the last of the Julian-Claudian dynasty, persecutor of Christians, nicknamed «Antichrist».
The tax-cutting policy brings the monarch nationwide popularity. But, after the death of Agrippina, the emperor loses his former administrative acumen. The rebuilding of Rome after a fire, the construction of the Golden Palace with an area of one and a half kilometers, gladiatorial fights comparable in scope to full-size battles, digging a canal across the Isthmus of Corinth and constant large-scale orgies drain the treasury. Legions rise in depleted and impatient provinces. One not at all fine morning, Nero does not find any of his guards in his palace. The emperor flees to a country house. Realizing that the sweet life is over, he takes it into account.
After the son of Agrippina, the brutal but sane emperors Titus and his son Vespasian rule. They are inherited by Vespasian’s younger brother, Domitian, (killed by his own servant for the execution of Nero’s assistant in suicide).
After the average Emperor Galba comes the golden autumn of the Empire. Five worthy rulers come to power in a row – Trajan, Adrian, Antoninus Pius, Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius. At the end of the time of this galaxy, the era of soldier emperors elected by the Praetorian Guard begins.
Emperor Marcus Aurelius (121—180). Since the departure of the last emperor of the era of the «Golden Autumn of the Empire», Marcus Aurelius, the era of legendary Antiquity ends. Rome is waiting for the extinction of the previous institutions of power, a series of defeats, the loss of the meaning of the existence of a superpower and a change of religion.
The coming to power in 323 of Constantine the Great marks the transition of the state to Christianity. Forty years later, Emperor Julian (the Apostate) is trying to revive paganism. He encourages the priests of Jupiter to be as godly as Christians. These efforts are in vain. Nobody seriously believes in Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mithra, Hera and some guides to the afterlife, nums. The last emperor, the young Romulus Augustulus, was sent into exile by the rebellious barbarian commander Odoacer. Little is known about the further fate of Romulus, except that perhaps this boy became a Christian monk. Although Odoacer ruled over the remnants of Western Rome by formal permission from the monarch of the Eastern Empire, AD 476 historians are officially considered the last milestone of Antiquity.
…In the youth of Rome, (5th-2nd century BC), slaves are quite rare. As a rule, they have the status of family members. The second-first centuries BC and the beginning of the new era are marked by a significant increase in the number of prisoners of war. Over time, the ratio of the number of free people to slaves in Italy reaches 2.5: 1, in the provinces 10: 1. The situation of the slaves deteriorates sharply. Nevertheless, they cherish not an illusory hope of raising their status, free literacy, the generic name of the master in addition, and unlimited promotion up the social ladder. At least two emperors of Rome were originally slaves.
The price of a slave in the first century BC is 4—400 denarii, depending on the degree of success of the last war. The daily salary of a legionnaire is 1 denarius, (4 sestertius or 16 aces), including bonuses. For this amount, you can buy 20 loaves of bread of your choice, 4 liters of regular or a liter of fine Falernian wine. If we count in terms of gold, the price of which remains unchanged as an opportunity to acquire basic material goods, a soldier earns 40 thousand rubles a month.
Gladiator games last until the reign of the last ruler of the Empire – Flavius Theodosius (370—395). The institution of slavery comes to naught with a general softening of morals, as well as at the behest of lawyers, who usually take the side of the oppressed. Serfdom is taking over the baton of this phenomenon. Emperor Diocletian (284—305) issues a law attaching peasants – both tenants and owners of land, as well as artisans to their place of residence, or to a profession inherited by inheritance.
Roman legion in battle formation
…The Roman legion (legionis – military collection) consists of 5—7 thousand, later 4.5 thousand infantry and auxiliary units. Heavy cavalry (equits) – 300 people. Archers – 200 people. The latter act from the flanks, firing arrows along the line of raised shields. Velites – «Swift» – irregular infantry, recruited from local allied tribes or young legionnaires. Armament – a round shield with a diameter of 90 cm, a helmet, several darts «gasta velitaris», 120 cm long and a short, 50 cm. Roman sword – «gladius». In a free formation, dodging projectiles by jumping, the velites throw spears at the enemy and retreat behind the ranks of the heavily armed infantry.
The first line of the legion lined up for battle is the ghastats (spearmen), warriors 20—25 years old, who really need combat experience. Armament – chain mail, or, in the era of the Empire – plate armor, rectangular shield scutum, gladius and two one and a half meter darts – pilum.
The second line is the principles («First»). These are warriors in their prime, 25—35 years old. They give the young men experience, let the hastats pass between the maniples and continue the fight.
On the third line are the triarii («Third») warriors 40—45 years old, veterans, the reserve of the legion. Among other things, they are armed with long shock spears.
The army is ruled by six tribunes (people’s representatives) and a representative of the clan aristocracy – a legate.
In the era of the Republic, the legion consists of 30 maniples («handful» or «hand»), two centuria («hundred») in each. The centuria has 60 to 120 fighters. The manipulators are united in ten cohorts («enclosure») of 360 legionnaires. One of the cohorts (First) is considered elite and has a doubled membership.
Roman legionaries. Historical reconstruction
In the days of the Empire, the maniple disappears as a tactical unit. There remains a cohort consisting of 6 centuries.
The legion deployed from the marching column follows to the place of battle with maniples or centuria, located in a checkerboard pattern. This makes it easier to move around rough terrain. Then the squares made up of fighters are rearranged into three solid lines. «Brothers» hurl pilums, sometimes putting the enemy to flight with this one volley, close shields and draw swords.
Ancient Latin America
Inca city, Machu Picchu, territory of modern Peru. Height 2.5 km. Architects fit stones of various shapes to each other, like puzzles. The Incas also erected pyramids, but these temples never reached the splendor of Mayan structures.
The Incas. State of Tahuantisuyu. The western coast of South America, starting from the northern territories of modern Chile and Colombia. Another smear in memory – one thousand two hundred years BC. – the first ruler of Manco Capaca. The last, who led the revolt against the Spaniards, the Great Indian – Tupac Omaru (1570—1572).
There is no monetary system. The benefits are distributed according to the order established by the leader.
Aztecs. The self-name of the people is Meshika, hence the well-known toponym «Mexico». These Indians are to the south of Mexico from the north, in the thirteenth century AD. e. The Aztecs rebuild the city of Tenochtitlan, the future Mexico City on an island in the middle of a lake, and in a short time become the rulers of local tribes. But in 1519 the Aztecs meet even more ambitious Spaniards. After just six years, the huge, by the standards of Europe in the Middle Ages, the Aztec empire ceases to exist. Presumably, by this time the Indians were already 95% mowed down by smallpox and chickenpox, introduced by Columbus in 1492, and spread to both continents. The world, equal in culture to Ancient Egypt during its heyday, moves into the realm of legends.
One of the Mayan pyramids in modern Mexico is the pyramid of Kukulkan. Initially, these structures are not intended for performing bloody rituals. However, the Aztecs who came to these lands use them for mass executions of prisoners of war.
For a warrior and a priest, it is considered permissible to write poetry. Let's listen to excerpts from the author's hymns of the Aztecs:
May our land be forever!
Yes, the mountains are indestructible!
So says Ayokuan Kuezpaltsin
Here in Tlaxcale, in Huesocinco
Let them feed everyone without exception
And ruddy maize and cocoa
May the Earth be forever!
(A. Kuezpaltsyn)
We got drunk in Michuacan
We were called to a feast, we went for the booty
We came and were completely drunk from the fight
…And they saw how our soldiers fled
How the gold quivered and the quetzal feather banners faded
If only the soldiers did not become prisoners
Hurry up – so that this does not happen to you
If the young warriors become prisoners.
They will be sacrificed, condemned to the slaughter
If this happens, what are we going to do?
We will growl as fierce as jaguars
We, the eagles, the old men, will call the eagles
Avoid captivity, fear the slaughter
Hurry up – so that this does not happen to you!
(«Song of the Old Men», by the warrior Aishakatl)
Mayan.
Former possessions of the Maya, the city of Teotehuacan («The place where the gods gather»)
The territory of the legendary founders of Mesoamerica is located somewhat south of the future possessions of the Aztecs. Scientists deduce the beginning of civilization as a thousand years BC. e. By the ninth century A.D. Mayan culture is in decline. The reason, according to the conclusion of paleogeologists, is a long-term drought caused by a change in ocean currents. The inhabitants of the country simply disappear. They leave behind magnificent pyramids, a complex irrigation system and a calendar.
Overview of World Religions
Mohammed. The beginnings of Islam. End of Antiquity. Mohammed is born on April 20, 571, in Mecca (Saudi Arabia), in the influential tribe of the Courshaites. At twenty-five, he marries a forty-year-old Khadija, is engaged in trade, escorting caravans and building (repairing the Kaaba). From the age of forty, almost every evening, Mohammed ascends a mountain near Mecca, where he prays in a cave that has survived to this day.
At the top of this mountain near the city of Medina there is a cave in which the Prophet Mohammed received a revelation from the Archangel Gabriel
His insights will later be translated into lines of the Qur’an. Islam («submission to God») is accepted by a wife and several relatives. The new faith is woven from the writings of the Tanakh, the Gospel, Arabic legends, in the arrangement of Mohammed. The first sermon at the sacred Kaaba causes only ridicule among the crowd. Then Mohammed finds the right words and the situation is straightened out. Over the next three years, about a hundred people are recruited into the community. After the death of his uncle, the influential Abu Talib, the Islamists are ousted from Mecca. The community moves to the city of Medina, where it endures many difficulties (seven to eight dates per person per day of work). At the same time, raids on trade caravans and the struggle to spread the faith begin. Muslims lose the first battles. However, their perseverance bears fruit, and the army of Mohammed enters Mecca without a fight. A series of wars to unite the Arab tribes followed, raids on Byzantium were made. During the capture of one of the cities, in order to avoid the use of wine by the warriors, a sura is accepted, prohibiting alcohol.
Mohammed dies in Medina. His body finds rest in the Central Mosque.
Any worthy Muslim who knows the Koran well, regardless of his social status, can be the Imam (the leader of the common prayer). Imams are often teachers (mentors), business intercessors, and drafters.
For Shiites, only the blood heirs of the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law can have an imam (supreme imam) who has the right to interpret the Qur’an and guide believers. «Small imams», that is, in the Sunni tradition, fakikhs (people who have a special theological education for serving in a mosque) are appointed imams. Succession law and appointment instead of elections is practiced primarily in Iraq and Iran.
The division of Muslims into Shiites and Sunnis occurs when the exclusive right to power of the Prophet’s son-in-law (married to Mohammed’s daughter Fatima), Ali Talib, is challenged by another imam. The battle ends with a truce, but after Ali, the first man to convert to Islam, is still killed. Muslims who believe that power in the Caliphate can belong only to the descendants of Ali Talib (Alidam) – Shiites, those who recognize any chosen Muslim as worthy of it are Sunnis. Shiites believe that among their midst is Imam Muhammad, who once disappeared under unexplained circumstances. He watches over people and prepares to become the new messiah.
The aggravation of the struggle between the two branches of Islam occurs during the rise of the Ottoman Empire. The Sultan needs a good reason to attack one of the Muslim countries. Until then, the differences between Shiites and Sunnis were considered insignificant.
According to the well-established tradition, this mountain in Egypt is identified with Mount Sinai. Here the prophet Moses received from Gd himself the Ten Commandments that changed the world
The idea of Islam is one God (Allah). The difference from Christianity is not the acceptance of the principle of the Trinity of God, in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In addition, Muslims assume that Issa (Jesus) did not die on the Cross to atone for the sins of mankind, but… then follows a complex story of how He escaped this. Meanwhile, the idea of Christianity is precisely earthly life, as a result of which God the Father exchanges with people a sufficiently understandable revelation.
The Qur’an depicts a paradise full of carnal pleasures for men. Women are from among the former spouses, as well as virginal houris who appear in the morning every time. The buildings are built of golden bricks. Paradise has several levels. The upper level is the Firdaus garden. Above is only the Throne of Allah.
Some Muslim theologians believe that all of these descriptions reflect the concept of paradise at the level of modern concepts.
All this is not in the Christian Eden. «The Revelation of John the Evangelist» represents the City of God, New Jerusalem, Cube, with a side of 2400 kilometers. However, the Apocalypse is considered by some theologians to be an apocryphal – a work on a biblical theme, not recognized by the Church.
The third world religion is Judaism. The Old Testament is the forerunner of the Gospel. This religious principle does not imply any intelligible afterlife. The Old Testament eschews the ideas of the journey of a weightless soul and proclaims the extension of a person’s life in his fleshly children.
Second Temple in Jerusalem (516 BC – 70 AD), artistic reconstruction. According to Christian tradition, the Third Temple will be erected shortly before the Second Coming of Christ, during the reign of the Antichrist.
Protestant churches (temples), despite their influence (USA, England, the total number of parishioners is 800 million), as a rule, do not differ in rich decoration. There is no veneration of icons. A church building can be any public building. In the altar there is a table stretched across the hall, with the books of the Old and New Testaments and lamps. Here the priest preaches, conducts liturgy, communion and baptism. The ordinances presented are the only ones recognized by this denomination. Much attention is paid to solving the secular problems of parishioners, unraveling family conflicts, etc. (faith without works is dead). Protestants are not in some kind of confrontation with Judaism, like the Orthodox and Catholics. Moreover, they view the state of Israel as an important field of God’s activity until the second coming of Christ.
The priest is chosen from among the respected parishioners and can be easily removed. There is no apostolic succession (ordination through ordination, i.e. ordination).
Confucianism in the Chinese language is called Pinyin, «School of educated people», and does not contain the nickname of the founder, philosopher and politician Kun-Fu-tzu. The real name of the «Teacher from the Kun clan» is Chzhun-ni. Confucius was born in the 6th century BC. e. The texts of the mentor of the nation, rewritten several times, contain descriptions of the rites of worship of ancestors, temples created in their honor, moralizing, the history of a fictional ideal country. The sky is seen as a source of moral meanings, a resonator that responds to the behavior of people and sends them the necessary signs. In a sense, Confucianism coincides with the Chinese folk religion, also Pinyin, with 500 million followers. In this belief, in addition to Heaven, the world energy Qi is important, as well as the souls of ancestors, with whom, if certain conditions are met, a connection can be established.
Hinduism is popular in many European countries and the United States as an unusual course of psychotherapy, but it is still localized in its native India. The complex of philosophical ideas, ethical norms, traditions is called Sanatana-Dharma («Eternal Law»). Sacred texts – Vedas, Upanishads, epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, like a set of books of the Old Testament in many ways, although much less realistic, reflect the history of the formation of India. The Supreme God of Hinduism can define the concept of Brahman (originally – «Prayer»), the soul of the world, the fundamental principle of things. He can be worshiped in any conceivable form. Supporters of Vaishnavism serve the Absolute in the avatar of Vishnu, the Guardian of the Universe, as well as more human-like reflections – Krishna and Rama. Shivaites worship Shiva, the static male principle of the Universe, the creator of rebirth, sometimes very destructive. The general meaning of service is merging with the Absolute, while preserving the individual principle, improving the personal position, including the material one, at each rebirth. Brahma (Brahma) is the god of creation, the first among equals, together with Shiva and Vishnu constitutes Trimurti (triad), the spiritual principle of Everything – Brahman.
Buddhism claims to be a world religion, a controversial, but all the more exciting continuation of Hinduism. The founder of the teaching is Buddha Shakyamuni, in Sanskrit «Awakened Sage» (623 – 543 BC). There are several Buddhas before Shakyamuni, but he is the most famous. The coming awakened Teacher, under whose guidance people will lead a holy life – Maitreya («Benevolent»). The main idea is non-resistance to evil by violence, passive resistance to adversity, acceptance of the world as it is. As a result of this behavior, a higher rational being (that is, a Buddhist monk) must get out of the captivity of consciousness, which created such a mosaic image of him. Buddhism does not imply any gods, One Mind, Paradise, Hell as a natural area of attraction for a religious ascetic. The only goal is the «fading out of the candle» of self-awareness.
Shamanism, although not a world religion, was once widespread throughout the Earth. Now this belief system is localized in some tribes of South and North America, Africa, Southeast Asia, Siberia and the Far East. The shaman enters himself into a trance by striking a tambourine, dancing, singing, and lies for a long time, not responding to external influences. In a disturbing dream, traveling along the branches or roots of the archetypal World Tree, he visits the middle, higher, or lower worlds. The higher worlds are inhabited by enlightened beings, the lower ones – by aggressive creatures. The schemes of otherworldly worlds are individual, therefore they cannot be reduced to a picture acceptable for the creation of classical religion.
One of the varieties of shamanism is voodoo. The main provisions of the belief – the world is inhabited by many spirits, loa (from the French loi – «law»). You can contact them and get some kind of help. Sacrifices are laid out on the altar, which has a somewhat unkempt appearance. These are sweets, alcohol, and slaughtered animals.
European Middle Ages
With the beginning of the Middle Ages, historians associate changes in the calendar, up to the removal of three centuries from it. This is not so difficult to do. Only monks and some officials in charge of the kings own the literacy. The clash of swords is heard everywhere. The common people do not give in to philosophy. In the seventh century, knowledgeable people only have to slightly correct the complex and incomprehensible Roman numerals. Whether it is true or not, it is not known for sure, but it is clear that from the middle of the sixth century to the beginning of the tenth, a very sparse desert extends on the calendar.
Until the thirteenth century, the Eastern Roman Empire flourished. But, progress, development disappears in it, so that sometimes it is even too lazy to look through the biographies of its emperors, marked by palace intrigues rather than great, albeit not always specious achievements.
The symbol of the European Middle Ages, donjon (fr. – «master’s tower»). The central tower is placed within the walls of the castle, or separately. It serves as a warehouse for weapons and food supplies. First of all, the donjon is a symbol of the rule of a dynasty or community over a territory.
We dive into the European Middle Ages, emerge in the nineteenth century, the era of science and steam.
…European Union at the beginning of the Middle Ages. France, in the recent past, Roman Gaul, is the core of the ancient «European Union». Merovingians. The founder of this great dynasty is the semi-mythical leader Merovei (which can be translated as «Bee»). The monarch has ruled since the beginning of the fourth century AD. His grandson Clovis pushes the boundaries, produces sons, bequeaths to everyone a piece of the kingdom and orders them to live in peace. Fighting with each other, the offspring are taken to unite these allotments. The winner divides the state according to the number of male children. In the finale of this life’s drama, the true rulers of the country are the accountants of the royal court, the enterprising majordomo. One of them elevates to the throne his heir, the future father of Charlemagne, the founder of the Carolingian dynasty (747).
In the seventh century, Charles expands the empire, on all sides, to modern Spain, the middle of Italy, the shores of Normandy and Poland.
Charlemagne (742—814), among other things, founder of the title «King» – «Charles»
Two hundred years later, France, Italy, Germany gain independence, but are considered a single Holy Roman Empire until the beginning of the nineteenth century. The states maintain a cultural community, deploy troops for the Crusades and repulse the onslaught of the Ottoman Empire. The Vatican watches over the behavior of the rulers. If the whims of a certain king go beyond the limits, spiritual power, in cooperation with other monarchs, is able to correct something.
…In France, after the childless King Louis the Fifth Carolingian, Count Hugo Capet comes to power. He approves the Capetian dynasty (kapa is the robe of the priest, which this nobleman likes to wear).
In 1313, the famous Capetian, Philip the Fourth the Handsome, crushes the first transnational corporation, the richest Order of the Knights Templar, closed in the awareness of its own superiority. On the scaffold or with weapons in hand, a thousand knights are sent to another world. Brutal repression falls on another 20,000 Order workers, servants and squires. A year later, according to the curse of the head of the Templars, Jacques de Molay, as a result of an accident while hunting, the organizer of this operation, not so handsome as greedy, the French king, himself and his three sons die after a short time, leaving no direct heirs.
Philip the Fair’s cousin, Philip the Sixth of France, establishes the Valois dynasty, the younger branch of the Capetian, on the throne. He has no sons, so to speak, initially, which becomes the reason for the outbreak of the Hundred Years War.
Marguerite de Valois (1553—1615), she is «Queen Margot», daughter of Henry II and Catherine de Medici, the Princess is married to the young Henry de Bourbon, King of Navarre, one of the leaders of the Protestants. The wedding spills over into St. Bartholomew’s Night after six days. Margarita refuses to file a divorce under violent pressure from relatives. So she saves the life of her husband and several other eminent nobles.
A few more rulers of the Valois dynasty, and the hero of the novels of the father and son of Dumas, Henry of Anjou, bursts into the stormy stream of history. His sister is Queen Margot (Margaret), married to Henry of Navarre, one of the brothers is Charles Maximilian, the current King Charles the Fourth. Their parent is a subtle connoisseur of poisons, a leading politician in Europe, Catherine de Medici. In order to somehow pass the time, Henry of Anjou becomes the Polish king. The monarch is preparing for a dynastic wedding on Anna Jagiellonka, who, otherwise, could have become the wife of Ivan the Terrible. But, having learned about the sudden death of his brother Charles, this nobleman leaves his residence in Poland and hurries for the more prestigious French crown. In Paris, however, the nomination of the Catholic Duke Heinrich de Guise is popular. Henry III manages to lure the brothers of Gizov, the duke and the bishop into negotiations. Here they, along with bodyguards, are stabbed with swords by the adherents of the king.
The troops of two Henrys – Navarre (Bourbon), who became Margot’s husband and at the same time a Catholic, and Anjou, besiege the outraged Paris. A dexterous, desperate scout plunges a knife into Henry III, interrupting the entire Valois dynasty with a single precise movement. A month later, the crowned Henry IV of Navarre also dies from the dagger of his colleague, Ravallaca. This monarch’s own kingdom, Navarre, is consolidated within France. So, rather unexpectedly, the younger branch of the Capetian, the Bourbons («blackbirds»), comes to power in France. The son of Henry of Navarre, Louis the Thirteenth, also a very famous hero of historical novels, marries Princess Anne of Austria. Under him, the country was ruled by the wise Cardinal Richelieu.
For a more complete immersion in History, we will sing the ancient Breton song "Drink cider, Lau!" You have probably heard its intricate melody more than once:
What will we drink for seven days in a row
What are we going to drink, because the thirst is so great?
But we have enough for everyone
We all drink together, roll out another barrel
We all drink together and no one is alone
…Since the middle of the seventeenth century, for almost seventy years, France has been ruled by the famous Bourbon, the Sun King Louis the Fourteenth, aka «The State is Me». The son of the sun, Louis the Fifteenth Beloved (1710—1774), is better known for his mistress, a true enchantress, the Marquise de Pompadour.
Louis the Fourteenth (1643 – 1715)
Louis the Fourteenth, despite his love, has only one legitimate son, married to Maria of Spain (daughter of the Spanish king). Louis the Great Dauphin died under mysterious circumstances in 1711 in the midst of the struggle for the Spanish inheritance (theoretically, this aristocrat unites the crowns of France and Spain). Equally unintelligible, officially, from measles aggravated by bloodletting, other heirs also die. Only the great-grandson of the «Sun King», Louis the Fifteenth Beloved (1710—1774), survives and occupies the French throne.
Louis the Sixteenth has long postponed reforms to levy taxes from nobles and clergy. Endlessly maneuvering between the estates, he gets entangled and throws the steering wheel of the state to the mercy of fate.
Louis the Sixteenth (1754—1793), king and blacksmith
In the end, the king is condemned by the revolutionary convention. The former monarch ascends the scaffold. He is followed by his wife, Marie Antoinette. The execution of the queen is very disliked by the German (European) Habsburg dynasty, whose representative is Antoinette Habsburg-Lorraine. The last direct heir of the Bourbons, recognized by the monarchies of Europe as King Louis the Seventeenth, dies of malnutrition and mistreatment, ten years old.
The French Revolution. Napoleon Bonaparte
Marie Antoinette of Habsburg-Lorraine (1755 – 1793), the youngest daughter of Emperor Franz I and Marie Theresa. The raison d’être of this lady is gambling and balls. She was decapitated by the decision of the Convention, buried in the same place where 139 people who died at her stormy wedding were buried.
Liberty, Igality, Fraternity – Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood. The French Revolution. The guillotine, a humane instrument of justice approved by the king himself, later tested on himself. The convention, the taking of the Bastille and the cult of the Supreme Being instead of Christianity. Jacobin Club with branches throughout France. Suspicious Law, Marat, Robespierre and Danton. Friends of the people become enemies and vice versa with kaleidoscopic speed. An abyss suddenly opens up between the village and the city. Recruiting in the province of Vendee sparks a powder keg. Twelve «infernal columns» of a predominantly urban Republic are deploying a large-scale «French-French genocide» in the peasant and Catholic provinces. It seems that the goal of the revolutionary French is now the complete destruction of the peasants, the creation of agricultural settlements, ready to participate in all the adventures of the Convention, and not hindering the withdrawal of grain from citizens. Killed 30 thousand republican soldiers and 180 thousand peasants, every sixth or seventh inhabitant of the department.
Thermidor is a counter-revolutionary coup, unexpected as snow on the head. The leaders of the French Republic are dragged from the rostrum right during their performance and taken to a date with the scaffold. Directory – five elected directors. Council of Five Hundred. And only a chant from the audience, in response to another proposal to intensify the terror: «Justice for all!» stops the work of the guillotine.
Maximilian Robespierre (1758 – 1794), aka «Incorruptible» and «Mad Hyena», the founder of the «Great Terror». Guillotined by Robespierre by his own Convention without trial or investigation. There is not a single street in France bearing the name of Robespierre.
….Officer Napoleon, referring to the illness, avoids the dubious honor of a participant in the suppression of the Vendée uprising. However, it manages to stand out. The big players’ field has been cleared. The countries of the monarchical coalition are striving to impose peace on France by war, and every initiative active person is in demand. Captain Napoleon shows himself well in the capture of the rebellious Toulon. He becomes a brigadier general after the use of artillery against the «golden youth» on the streets of Paris, with arms in hand, seeking the restoration of the monarchy. After the Italian and Egyptian companies, the last of which was designed to create a staging area for the invasion of the Indian possessions of England, the general gains popular popularity. The Council of Five Hundred, which once dispatched an ambitious officer on foreign campaigns, is also dispersed by it. The Napoleonic Code (Civil Code) is adopted, combining Roman law and revolutionary conquests.
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 – 1821)
