Features of the formation of Greek states. Education system in ancient Greece

The Greco-Roman world did not develop out of nowhere, not in isolation, not like a “closed society.” Early centers of civilization and the first proto-states arose in the Mediterranean basin as early as the 3rd-2nd millennium BC, and not without a noticeable influence from the Eastern world. Subsequently, especially during the period of the “great colonization” (VIII-VII centuries BC), with the founding of a number of Greek settlements (cities) on the Asian coast, the interaction between the two civilizations became even closer and deeper. The Greek cities in Asia Minor - Miletus, Ephesus and others - became open gates through which trade, cultural and other connections between the then East and West were carried out. The ever-increasing political contacts of the Greeks, and later the Romans, with eastern countries allowed them to use and rethink foreign, overseas state and legal experience, and seek their own more rationalistic approaches to lawmaking and politics.
Creation of the first proto-states, and then larger ones state entities in the south of the Balkan Peninsula and on the islands of the Aegean Sea in the III-II millennium BC. was the result of the conquest of the autochthonous population of this region (Pelasgians, Minoans) by the Achaean Greeks. The conquest led to the mixing and crossing of different cultures, languages and peoples, which gave rise to the high Cretan-Mycenaean civilization, represented by a number of rising and falling states (Knossos, Mycenaean kingdom, etc.).
The monarchical nature of these states, the presence of a large state-temple economy and a land community testified to their similarity with typical eastern monarchies. The Cretan-Mycenaean traditions affected the subsequent statehood of the Achaean Greeks for a long time, which was characterized by the presence of a communal structure associated with the royal palace, which served as the supreme economic organizer.
One of the most important features in the formation of a state in Ancient Greece was that this process itself, due to the constant migration and movement of tribes, proceeded in waves and intermittently. Thus, the invasion in the 12th century. BC to Greece from the north of the Dorian tribes again threw back the entire natural course of the formation of statehood. The “dark ages” that followed the Dorian invasion (XII century BC - the first half of the 8th century BC), and then the archaic period, again returned the Hellenes to tribal statehood and proto-states.
Features of the process of formation of statehood in ancient world(unlike the countries of the East) were largely predetermined by natural and geographical factors. Greece, for example, was a mountainous country where there were few fertile lands suitable for grain crops, especially those that would require, as in the East, collective irrigation work. In the ancient world, the land community of the eastern type could not spread and survive, but in Greece it developed favorable conditions for the development of crafts, in particular metalworking. Already in III thousand cell years BC the Greeks widely used bronze, and in the 1st millennium BC. iron tools, which contributed to increasing the efficiency of labor and its individualization. The widespread development of exchange and then trade relations, especially maritime trade, contributed to the rapid development of a market economy and the growth of private property. Increased social differentiation became the basis of an intense political struggle, as a result of which the transition from primitive states to highly developed statehood took place more rapidly and with more significant social consequences than was the case in other countries ancient world.
Natural conditions influenced the organization of government in Greece in other ways. The mountain ranges and bays that dissected the sea coast, where a significant part of the Greeks lived, turned out to be a significant obstacle to the political unification of the country and, even more so, made centralized government impossible and unnecessary. Thus, the natural barriers themselves predetermined the emergence of numerous, relatively small in size and quite isolated from each other city-states - policies. The polis system was one of the most significant, almost unique features of statehood, characteristic not only of Greece, but of the entire ancient world.
The geographical and political isolation of the polis (on the mainland and on the islands) with a far-reaching division of labor made it dependent on the export of handicrafts, on the import of grain and slaves, i.e. from pan-Greek and international maritime trade. The sea played a huge role in the life of the ancient (primarily Greek) polis. It provided his connection with outside world, with other policies, with colonies, with eastern countries, etc. The sea and maritime trade linked all city-states into a single polis system and created an open pan-Greek and Mediterranean political culture and civilization.
The liquidation of the monarchy led to the victory in the ancient world of the republican system, as well as to the final approval (before the era of crisis and decomposition of the slave society) of the polis system of state organization.

On early stages In its development, law in terms of the level of legal technology and the degree of development of basic institutions had many similarities with the legal systems of Eastern countries. Development of law in ancient greece and Rome was carried out within the framework of individual policies, and the level of development of democratic institutions in individual city-states was reflected in law.
The recognition of legislation, and not custom, as the main form of law-making (Greece), or its approval as one of the most important sources of law (Rome), was accompanied by the codification of legal customs that had developed in a more archaic era. This is the oldest, according to Greek tradition, codification of law, carried out by Zaleucus in Locri (Italy), as well as the codification of Charondus in Catano (Sicily). Similar collections were compiled in other Greek city-states, including Athens at the end of the 7th century. BC (Laws of Draco).
The beginning of a new democratic constitution in Athens, providing for a developed procedure for the adoption of laws by the people's assembly, was laid by the reforms of Solon and Cleisthenes in the 6th century. BC In Rome, traditional legal customs were processed and recorded in the Laws of the XII Tables. These laws also provided for the rule that the decision of the people's assembly is considered law.
In Athens, where a democratic system of legislation was established, where law in the eyes of citizens was associated with reason and justice, a unique legal state emerged, the benefits of which, however, could not be enjoyed by slaves and foreigners. The cult of law and respect for law developed to an even greater extent in Roman society. Unconditional adherence to republican laws was for the Romans not only a legal obligation, but also a matter of honor. The same connection of the Roman Republican state with its own laws and law as a whole was reflected by the outstanding Roman lawyer Cicero, who viewed the state not only as an expression of the common interests of all its members, but also as a union of many people “connected by agreement in matters of law.” So the idea rule of law originates in Republican Rome.
It is no coincidence that it was in Roman society, where laws had long been considered sacred, that the most perfect laws in the ancient world were developed. legal system, having a holistic and comprehensive nature. For the first time in history, Roman law acted as a systematic, carefully developed legal entity. Classic Roman law- this is the pinnacle in the history of the law of antiquity and the ancient World as a whole. It represents one of the greatest achievements of ancient culture, the influence of which on the subsequent development of European law and civilization can hardly be overestimated. It has acquired, to a certain extent, a timeless, ahistorical character.

1. Features of the formation of Greek culture

In the V–IV centuries. BC e. Greek culture became one of the most developed systems of the ancient world. Three most important features give it an exceptional character: completeness, diversity and a certain completeness of the constituent parts of culture (literature, art, philosophy); its humanistic orientation; the great contribution of the Greeks to the treasury of world culture, the creation of masterpieces that enriched the cultural creativity of subsequent generations and firmly entered the life of the peoples of the Mediterranean and Europe.

The culture of the Greeks was primarily created on the basis of a more dynamic method of production, a rationally organized economy. The Greek economy with commodity production, built on the principles of private property, ensured the receipt of surplus product through more organized and efficient exploitation of workers, and created sufficient material opportunities for cultural creativity. The ruling class, consisting of owners of relatively small estates, workshops, and ships, had to take an active part in organizing production and was interested in general cultural progress. The social basis of the polis organization was the average citizenship, primarily wealthy landowners, who at the same time were full citizens and warriors. This socio-politically active category of citizenship was more ready to perceive cultural values than, for example, downtrodden and powerless community members in the countries of the Ancient East.

The process of cultural creativity in different cities of Greece had its own degree of intensity, and was more fruitful in states with a democratic structure. The absence of a closed layer of a ruling bureaucracy and a mercenary army separated from the bulk of citizenship, the concentration of power in the hands of the People's Assembly, the annually replaced and controlled administrative apparatus, the militia as the basis of the military organization gave rise to closeness state institutions and the bulk of citizenship, assumed the active participation of citizens in government affairs, education of a cultural and politically thinking personality. Constant participation in debates, discussion of bills and decisions in the People's Assembly formed the political thinking of the citizen, on the one hand, and on the other, contributed to the flourishing oratory. It is no coincidence that it was in Greece in the 5th–4th centuries. BC e. famous speakers appear: Pericles, Cleon, Isocrates, the famous Demosthenes.

The development of Greek culture was facilitated by the absence in the country of a powerful priestly organization, such as, for example, in the countries of the Ancient East, where the process of cultural creativity was taken under control. The nature of the Greek religion, the simplicity of religious rites, and the conduct of the main religious ceremonies by elected magistrates excluded the possibility of the formation of an extensive and influential priestly corporation. This predetermined the freer nature of education, the education system, worldview and the entire culture. Another important factor acted in the same direction: the fairly widespread spread of literacy, that is, the ability to write and read; the Greeks had access to wonderful works by historians, philosophers, playwrights, and writers. Widespread literacy is characteristic of democratic states, which require the political activity of ordinary citizens, their participation in elections, voting, drawing up decisions, and becoming familiar with documents of national importance. It was the opportunity to read and competently judge what was read that was an important stimulus for the creativity of Greek thinkers.

One of the indispensable conditions for the formation of Greek culture is the features of its natural environment. In general, natural conditions at that stage of historical life turned out to be quite favorable for the flourishing of Greek culture. And the point is not that Greek nature is very generous to man and easily provides him with all the benefits, but that it encouraged people to work, demanded from them diligence as necessary condition existence. The hilly terrain, the land of average fertility, overgrown with tenacious bushes, in the classical period of Greek history began to bring generous harvests of grapes, olives, fruits, vegetables, and in a number of areas - grains because the Greeks had to clear the cultivated areas from trees and bushes, loosen and fertilize rocky soil, introduce new agricultural techniques, and develop new varieties. The territory of Balkan Greece has many mineral resources: iron and copper ore, high-quality clay, building limestone and marble, silver and gold. However, they lie deep in the ground and, in order to extract them and use them in production, it was necessary to cut deep mines, build branched drifts from them, and all this required knowledge, ingenuity, hard work, and faith in the creative powers of man.

It is impossible to imagine Greek nature without the sea. The sea played a huge role in life and individuals, and almost all Greek city policies. The coastline of the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula is indented by numerous bays, bays, and harbors. The Aegean Sea is dotted with hundreds of large and small islands. At sea, the Greeks caught fish and shellfish for food, and along sea routes they established connections between different cities, even distant ones, with coastal local tribes. The sea protected from the enemy, and the sea brought peoples together; maritime connections not only ensured the receipt of food and raw materials, but also contributed to mutual enrichment and the exchange of cultural achievements. The Greeks took possession of the sea, it became part of their life, way of life, and culture. But in order to master the capricious and powerful elements, it was necessary to show courage, have special knowledge, adapt to the vagaries of sea currents and winds, develop navigation techniques, new types of ships were needed that could set off on long voyages.

The deep aestheticism of Greek culture was largely generated by beauty surrounding nature. In Balkan Greece, this small country with low mountains dividing the territory into many small valleys, covered with green forests descending from the mountains, and an endless sea, you can see a balanced combination of different types of landscape and various natural colors of mountain peaks, green valleys, blue sea, blue sky. The worldview of the ancient Greek of classical times, the entire Greek culture, is characterized by a subtle sense of nature, the proportionality and natural harmony inherent in it, which was realized in different ways in music, philosophy, architecture, sculpture, and literature.

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Introduction

Subsequently, especially during the period of the “great colonization” (VIII-VII centuries BC), with the founding of a number of Greek settlements (cities) on the Asian coast, the interaction between the two civilizations became even closer and deeper. The Greek cities in Asia Minor - Miletus, Ephesus and others - became open gates through which trade, cultural and other connections between the then East and West were carried out.

The ever-increasing political contacts of the Greeks, and later the Romans, with eastern countries allowed them to use and rethink foreign, overseas state and legal experience, and seek their own more rationalistic approaches to lawmaking and politics.

The conquest led to the mixing and crossing of different cultures, languages and peoples, which gave rise to the high Cretan-Mycenaean civilization, represented by a number of rising and falling states (Knossos, Mycenaean kingdom, etc.).

In Athens, where private property, slavery, and market relations were most fully developed, where a civil community was formed that united its members, despite all the differences in their property and political interests, into a single integral whole, ancient democracy reached its peak and became, as subsequent history testifies, enormous creative power.

Features of the formation of states in the ancient world

The creation of the first proto-states, and then larger state formations in the south of the Balkan Peninsula and on the islands of the Aegean Sea in the 3rd-2nd millennium BC. was the result of the conquest of the autochthonous population of this region (Pelasgians, Minoans) by the Achaean Greeks. The conquest led to the mixing and crossing of different cultures, languages, etc. peoples, which gave rise to the high Cretan-Mycenaean civilization, represented by a number of rising and declining states (Knossos, Mycenaean kingdom, etc.).

The monarchical nature of these states, the presence of a large state-temple economy and a land community testified to their similarity with typical eastern monarchies. The Cretan-Mycenaean traditions affected the subsequent statehood of the Achaean Greeks for a long time, which was characterized by the presence of a communal structure associated with the royal palace, which served as the supreme economic organizer.

One of the most important features in the formation of a state in Ancient Greece was that this process itself, due to constant migration and movement of tribes, proceeded in waves and intermittently. Thus, the invasion in the 12th century. BC to Greece from the north of the Dorian tribes again threw back the entire natural course of the formation of statehood. The “dark ages” that followed the Dorian invasion (XII century BC - the first half of the 8th century BC), and then the archaic period, again returned the Hellenes to tribal statehood and proto-states.

The peculiar combination of internal and external factors in the process of the genesis of the state in Greece makes the thesis, widespread in Russian literature, that the emergence of the state in Athens occurs in its “pure form”, i.e. directly from the decomposition of the clan system and class formation. The significant influence of external factors, in particular the Etruscan factor, which has not yet been fully studied, also affected the development of the Roman state.

The peculiarities of the process of formation of statehood in the ancient world (unlike the countries of the East) were largely predetermined by natural and geographical factors. Greece, for example, was a mountainous country where there were few fertile lands suitable for grain crops, especially those that would require, as in the East, collective irrigation work. In the ancient world, the eastern type of land community could not spread and survive, but in Greece favorable conditions developed for the development of crafts, in particular metalworking. Already in the 3rd millennium BC. the Greeks widely used bronze, and in the 1st millennium BC. iron tools, which contributed to increasing the efficiency of labor and its individualization. The widespread development of exchange and then trade relations, especially maritime trade, contributed to the rapid development of a market economy and the growth of private property. Increased social differentiation became the basis of an intense political struggle, as a result of which the transition from primitive states to highly developed statehood took place more rapidly and with more significant social consequences than took place in other countries of the ancient world.

In the V-IV centuries. BC e. Greek culture became one of the most developed systems of the ancient world. Three most important features give it an exceptional character: completeness, diversity and a certain completeness of the constituent parts of culture (literature, art, philosophy); its humanistic orientation; the great contribution of the Greeks to the treasury of world culture, the creation of masterpieces that enriched the cultural creativity of subsequent generations and firmly entered the life of the peoples of the Mediterranean and Europe. Several conditions for such an unprecedented rise can be pointed out.

The ruling class, consisting of owners of relatively small estates, workshops, and ships, had to take an active part in organizing production and was interested in general cultural progress. The social basis of the polis organization was the average citizenship, primarily wealthy landowners, who at the same time were full citizens and warriors. This socially and politically active category of citizenship was more ready to perceive cultural values than, for example, disenfranchised community members in the countries of the Ancient East.

Constant participation in debates, discussion of bills and decisions in the People's Assembly shaped the political thinking of the citizen, on the one hand, and on the other, contributed to the flourishing of oratory. It is no coincidence that it was in Greece in the V-IV centuries. BC e. famous speakers appear: Pericles, Cleon, Isocrates, the famous Demosthenes.

Another important factor acted in the same direction: the fairly widespread spread of literacy, that is, the ability to write and read; the Greeks had access to wonderful works by historians, philosophers, playwrights, and writers. Widespread literacy is characteristic of democratic states, which require the political activity of ordinary citizens, their participation in elections, voting, drawing up decisions, and becoming familiar with documents of national importance. It was the opportunity to read and competently judge what was read that was an important stimulus for the creativity of Greek thinkers.

The hilly terrain, the land of average fertility, overgrown with tenacious bushes, in the classical period of Greek history began to bring generous harvests of grapes, olives, fruits, vegetables, and in a number of areas - grains because the Greeks had to clear the cultivated areas from trees and bushes, loosen and fertilize rocky soil, introduce new agricultural techniques, and develop new varieties.

The territory of Balkan Greece has many mineral resources: iron and copper ore, high-quality clay, building limestone and marble, silver and gold. However, they lie deep in the ground and, in order to extract them and use them in production, it was necessary to cut deep mines, build branched drifts from them, and all this required knowledge, ingenuity, hard work, and faith in the creative powers of man.

It is impossible to imagine Greek nature without the sea. The sea played a huge role in the lives of both individuals and almost all Greek city states. The coastline of the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula is indented by numerous bays, bays, and harbors. The Aegean Sea is dotted with hundreds of large and small islands. At sea, the Greeks caught fish and shellfish for food, and along sea routes they established connections between different cities, even distant ones, with coastal local tribes.

The sea protected from the enemy, and the sea brought peoples together; maritime connections not only ensured the receipt of food and raw materials, but also contributed to mutual enrichment and the exchange of cultural achievements. The Greeks took possession of the sea, it became part of their life, way of life, and culture. But in order to master the capricious and powerful elements, it was necessary to show courage, have special knowledge, adapt to the vagaries of sea currents and winds, develop navigation techniques, new types of ships were needed that could set off on long voyages.

The deep aestheticism of Greek culture was largely generated by the beauty of the surrounding nature. In Balkan Greece, this small country with low mountains dividing the territory into many small valleys, covered with green forests descending from the mountains, and an endless sea, you can see a balanced combination of different types of landscape and various natural colors of mountain peaks, green valleys, blue sea, blue sky

The worldview of the ancient Greek of classical times, the entire Greek culture, is characterized by a subtle sense of nature, the proportionality and natural harmony inherent in it, which was realized in different ways in music, philosophy, architecture, sculpture, and literature.

PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT 2

Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation

Federal state budget educational institution

higher vocational education

"Chuvash state university named after I.N. Ulyanov"

Faculty of Law

Department of Theory and History of State and Law

TEST

by discipline “History of the State and Law of Foreign Countries”

on the topic: “Features of the formation of states in the ancient world. Polis system»

Completed:

1st year student

Faculty of Law

Groups ZYu-30-14

Ezyukoa Yuri

Cheboksary

2015

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………….3

Features of the formation of states in the ancient world…………………………4
Polis system…………………..………………………………………………………….6

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………10

References………………………………………………………………………………………...11

Introduction

The Greco-Roman world did not develop out of nowhere, not in isolation, not like a “closed society.” The early centers of civilization and the first proto-states arose in the Mediterranean basin as early as the 3rd-2nd millennium BC, and not without a noticeable influence from the Eastern world.

Subsequently, especially during the period of the “great colonization” (VIII-VII centuries BC), with the founding of a number of Greek settlements (cities) on the Asian coast, the interaction between the two civilizations became even closer and deeper. Greek cities in Asia Minor Miletus, Ephesus and others became open gates through which trade, cultural and other connections between the then East and West were carried out.

The creation of the first proto-states, and then larger state formations in the south of the Balkan Peninsula and on the islands of the Aegean Sea in the III-II millennium BC. was the result of the conquest of the autochthonous population of this region (Pelasgians, Minoans) by the Achaean Greeks.

By the VIV centuries. BC Among the several hundred ancient Greek city-states, the two largest and most militarily powerful city-states come to the fore: Athens and Sparta. The entire subsequent history of statehood in Ancient Greece unfolded under the sign of the antagonism of these two policies.

1. Features of the formation of states in the ancient world

The peculiar combination of internal and external factors in the process of the genesis of the state in Greece makes the thesis, widespread in Russian literature, that the emergence of the state in Athens occurs in its “pure form”, i.e. directly from the decomposition of the clan system and class formation. The significant influence of external factors, in particular the Etruscan one, which has not yet been fully studied, also affected the development of the Roman state.

The peculiarities of the process of formation of statehood in the ancient world (unlike the countries of the East) were largely predetermined by natural and geographical factors. Greece, for example, was a mountainous country where there were few fertile lands suitable for grain crops, especially those that would require, as in the East, collective irrigation work. In the ancient world, the eastern type of land community could not spread and survive, but in Greece favorable conditions developed for the development of crafts, in particular metalworking. Already in the 3rd millennium BC. the Greeks widely used bronze, and in the 1st millennium BC. iron tools, which contributed to increasing the efficiency of labor and its individualization. The widespread development of exchange and then trade relations, especially maritime trade, contributed to the rapid development of a market economy and the growth of private property. Increased social differentiation became the basis of an intense political struggle, as a result of which the transition from primitive states to highly developed statehood took place more rapidly and with more significant social consequences than was the case in other countries of the ancient world.

2. Polis system of the ancient world

Natural conditions influenced the organization of state power in Greece in other respects. The mountain ranges and bays that dissected the sea coast, where a significant part of the Greeks lived, turned out to be a significant obstacle to the political unification of the country and, even more so, made centralized government impossible and unnecessary. Thus, the natural barriers themselves predetermined the emergence of numerous, relatively small in size and quite isolated from each other city-states - policies. The polis system was one of the most significant, almost unique features of statehood, characteristic not only of Greece, but of the entire ancient world.

The geographical and political isolation of the polis (on the mainland and on the islands) with a far-reaching division of labor made it dependent on the export of handicrafts, on the import of grain and slaves, i.e. from pan-Greek and international maritime trade. The sea played a huge role in the life of the ancient (primarily Greek) polis. It ensured his connection with the outside world, with other policies, with colonies, with eastern countries, etc. The sea and maritime trade linked all city-states into a single polis system and created an open pan-Greek and Mediterranean political culture and civilization.

From my point of view internal organization The ancient polis was a closed state, outside of which were not only slaves, but also foreigners, even people from other Greek polis. For the citizens themselves, the polis was a kind of political microcosm with its own sacred forms for a given city political structure, traditions, customs, law, etc. Among the ancient Greeks, the polis replaced the land-communal collectives that had disintegrated under the influence of private property with a civil and political community. Great differences in economic life, in the severity of political struggle, in the historical heritage itself were the reason for the great diversity in the internal structure of city-states. But various republican forms- aristocracy, democracy, oligarchy, plutocracy, etc.

The very development of Greek society from the patriarchal structures and proto-states of the Homeric era to classical slavery and the flourishing of ancient democracy reveals some patterns in the development of political life and in the change in the very forms of organization of city-states. At the end of the 2nd millennium BC, as evidenced by the Homeric epic, in the Greek world there was a relatively general tendency towards strengthening the power of the king as a military leader, judge, supreme leader of the palace economy, etc. In the methods of his rule, the despotic features inherent in ancient monarchs, especially eastern ones, increasingly appeared. A similar picture can be seen several centuries later in Rome during the era of the kings.

The collapse of patriarchal-communal ties, on which the sole power of the king (basileus, rex) was based, and the growth of opposition from aristocratic families with great wealth and social influence, resulted in destruction in almost the entire ancient world royal power, accompanied in a number of cases (as was the case in Rome with Tarquin the Proud) by the murder of the king himself.

The liquidation of the monarchy led to the victory in the ancient world of the republican system, as well as to the final approval (before the era of crisis and decomposition of the slave society) of the polis system of state organization. But in the early republican period, the democratic potential inherent in the polis system, which included elements of direct democracy (people's assemblies, etc.), did not receive full development. The common people in the city-states, who had no political experience and drew their ideas about power from the patriarchal-religious past, ceded the reins of government in almost all ancient city-states to the clan, priestly and new propertied aristocracy. This was exactly what state power was like in Athens on the eve of Solon’s reforms, in early period patrician republic in Rome, etc. The further process of democratization of political life in ancient city-states was accompanied by an intensification of the struggle between the aristocracy, which held power in its hands and sought to preserve the old polis orders, and the people (demos), increasingly aware of their civil unity. The result of this struggle (eupatrides and demos in Athens, patricians and plebeians in Rome, etc.) was a series of legislative reforms that undermined the monopoly of the aristocracy in government agencies and creating the basis for the development of democratic institutions.

In many Greek city-states, the final establishment of a democratic system was preceded by the usurpation of power by individual tyrant rulers, usually from an aristocratic environment, but using their power to undermine the old aristocratic and patriarchal order, to protect the interests of broad sections of the population of the polis. Such regimes of personal power, called tyranny, were established in Miletus, Ephesus, Corinth, Athens, Megara and contributed to the strengthening of private property and the elimination of the privileges of the aristocracy, the establishment of democracy as a form of state that best reflects the general interests of the civil and political community.

By the VI-V centuries. BC Among the several hundred ancient Greek city-states, the two largest and most militarily powerful city-states come to the fore: Athens and Sparta. The entire subsequent history of statehood in Ancient Greece unfolded under the sign of the antagonism of these two policies. In Athens, where private property, slavery, and market relations were most fully developed, where a civil community was formed that united its members, despite all the differences in their property and political interests, into a single integral whole, ancient democracy reached its peak and became, as subsequent history testifies, enormous creative power.

In contrast to Athens, Sparta went down in history as an example of an aristocratic military camp state, which, in order to suppress the huge mass of the forced population (helots), artificially restrained the development of private property and unsuccessfully tried to maintain equality among the Spartiates themselves. Thus, the rivalry between Athens and Sparta resulted in a kind of competition between two different civil and political communities in Greece. What is instructive in the history of ancient Greek statehood is that the confrontation between the two “police superpowers” drew the entire Greek world into the bloody and protracted Peloponnesian War, which resulted in the weakening of the entire polis system and the fall of democratic institutions. Ultimately, both Athens and Sparta fell prey to the Macedonian monarchy.

The reason for the death of ancient Greek statehood, in particular Athens, which became the ideal of a democratic state based on the autonomy of the private owner as a full member of the civil community, is not so much slavery as the internal weakness of the polis structure of the state itself. This device, associated with pre-given territorial and political parameters, had no room for political maneuver and for further progressive evolution.

The strengthening of the power of the late Roman emperors and the adoption of Christianity brought the final line under the polis order. As for the most recent Roman Empire, it finally breaks with republican-police democracy and increasingly acquires, especially in its eastern part, the features of medieval statehood.

Conclusion

The peculiarities of the process of formation of statehood in the ancient world (unlike the countries of the East) were largely predetermined by natural and geographical factors. The widespread development of exchange and then trade relations, especially maritime trade, contributed to the rapid development of a market economy and the growth of private property. Increased social differentiation became the basis of an intense political struggle, as a result of which the transition from primitive states to highly developed statehood took place more rapidly and with more significant social consequences than was the case in other countries of the ancient world.

The polis system was one of the most significant, almost unique features of statehood, characteristic not only of Greece, but of the entire ancient world. The sea and maritime trade linked all city-states into a single polis system and created an open pan-Greek and Mediterranean political culture and civilization.

The liquidation of the monarchy led to the victory in the ancient world of the republican system, as well as to the final approval (before the era of crisis and decomposition of the slave society) of the polis system of state organization. But in the early republican period, the democratic potential inherent in the polis system, which included elements of direct democracy (people's assemblies, etc.), did not receive full development. The common people in the city-states, who had no political experience and drew their ideas about power from the patriarchal-religious past, ceded the reins of government in almost all ancient city-states to the clan, priestly and new propertied aristocracy. This is precisely what state power was like in Athens on the eve of Solon’s reforms, in the early period of the patrician republic in Rome, etc. The further process of democratization of political life in ancient city-states was accompanied by an intensification of the struggle between the aristocracy, which held power in its hands and sought to preserve the old polis orders, and the people (demos), increasingly aware of their civil unity. The result of this struggle (eupatrides and demos in Athens, patricians and plebeians in Rome, etc.) was a series of legislative reforms that undermined the monopoly of the aristocracy in government bodies and created the basis for the development of democratic institutions.

By the 1st century BC The polis system in Rome also exhausted itself when it became especially obvious that the city republic could not cope with slave uprisings and was unable to ensure internal civil unity. Under these conditions, maintaining a republican system designed to govern a city-state becomes an anachronism. To replace the republic, which turned into the 1st century. BC an empire comes to a world power. Impact of the policy system long history The Roman Republic became so great that during the first centuries (principate) the emperors, seeking to create a centralized bureaucratic monarchy, could not free themselves from the republican polis institutions for a long time.

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