In the archaic period (XII-VIII centuries BC), the most common types of Greek warships were Triacontor and pentekontor(respectively, "thirty oarsmen" and "fifty oarsmen"). Triakontor was very close in design to Cretan ships (see) and special attention does not deserve.

Pentekontor was a single-tier rowing vessel, driven by five dozen oars - 25 on each side. Based on the fact that the distance between rowers cannot be less than 1 m, the length of the rowing section should be estimated at 25 m. To this it makes sense to add also approximately 3 m for the bow and stern sections. Thus, the total length of the pentecontor can be estimated at 28-33 m. The width of the pentecontor is approximately 4 m, the maximum speed is approx. 9.5 knots (17.5 km/h).

Pentecontors were mostly deckless (Greek. afract), open courts. However, sometimes deck houses were also built (Greek. cataphract) pentecontors. The presence of the deck protected the rowers from the sun and from enemy projectiles and, in addition, increased the cargo-and-passenger capacity of the ship. The deck could carry supplies, horses, war chariots and additional warriors, including archers and slingers, who could help in combat with an enemy ship.

Initially, the pentekontor was intended mainly for the "self-transportation" of troops. The same warriors sat on the oars, who subsequently, having gone ashore, waged a war, for the sake of which they sailed to Troas, to Crete (see Iliad, Odyssey, Argonautica). In other words, the pentekontor was not a ship specifically designed to destroy other ships, but rather a high-speed military transport. (Just like dracars Vikings and boats Slavs, on whose oars ordinary combatants sat.)

The appearance of a ram on the pentecontors means that at some point the opposing city-states and coalitions of the Aegean basin come to the conclusion that it would be good to sink enemy ships along with the troops before they land on the shore and begin to destroy their native fields.

For warships designed to conduct naval battles using a ram as the main anti-ship weapon, the following factors are critical:

- maneuverability, on which depends a quick exit on board an enemy ship and a swift escape from a retaliatory strike;

- the maximum speed on which the kinetic energy of the ship depends and, accordingly, the power of the ramming strike;

- protection from enemy ram attacks.

To increase speed, you need to increase the number of rowers and improve the hydrodynamics of the vessel. However, on a single-tiered ship, such as the pentekontor, an increase in the number of rowers by 2 (one on each side) leads to the fact that the length of the ship increases by 1 m. Each extra meter of length in the absence of quality materials leads to a sharp increase in the likelihood that the ship break in the waves. So, according to calculations, a length of 35 m is very critical for ships built using the technologies that the Mediterranean civilizations of the 12th-7th centuries could afford. BC.

Thus, while lengthening the ship, it is necessary to strengthen its structure with new elements, which makes it heavier and thus nullifies the advantages of placing additional rowers. On the other hand, the longer the ship, the greater the radius of its circulation, that is, the lower the maneuverability. And, finally, on the third hand, the longer the ship as a whole, the longer, in particular, its underwater part, which is the most vulnerable place for hitting enemy rams.

Greek and Phoenician shipbuilders under such conditions made an elegant decision. If the ship cannot be lengthened, then it must be make higher and place the second tier of rowers above the first. Thanks to this, the number of rowers was doubled without significantly increasing the length of the vessel. So there was bireme.

Birema

Rice. 2. Early Greek bireme

A side effect of adding a second tier of rowers was to increase the security of the ship. To ram the bireme, the stem of an enemy ship needed to overcome the resistance of twice as many oars as before.

The doubling of the number of rowers led to the fact that the requirements for the synchronization of the movement of the oars increased. Each rower had to be able to very clearly maintain the rhythm of rowing, so that the bireme would not turn into a centipede, entangled in its own legs-oars. That is why in Antiquity almost not the notorious "galley slaves" were used. All rowers were civilian employees and, by the way, earned during the war as much as professional soldiers - hoplites.

Only in the III century. BC, when the Romans during the Punic Wars had a deficit in rowers due to high losses, they used slaves and criminals sentenced for debts (but not criminals!) on their large ships. However, firstly, they were used only after preliminary training. And, secondly, the Romans promised freedom to all slave rowers and honestly fulfilled their promise at the end of hostilities. By the way, there could be no talk of any whips and scourges at all.

We actually owe the appearance of the image of "galley slaves" to the Venetian, Genoese and Swedish galleys of the 15th-18th centuries. They had a different design, which allowed using only 12-15% of professional rowers in the team, and recruiting the rest from convicts. But the Venetian galley technologies "a scalocio" and "a terzaruola" will be discussed later in another article.

The appearance of the first biremes among the Phoenicians is usually dated to the beginning, and among the Greeks - to the end of the 8th century. BC. Biremes were built both in deck and deckless versions.

Birema can be recognized as the first ship specially designed and built to destroy enemy naval targets. Bireme rowers were almost never professional warriors (like hoplites), but they were quite professional sailors. In addition, during the boarding battle on board their ship, the rowers of the upper row could take part in the battle, while the rowers of the lower row had the opportunity to continue maneuvering.

It is easy to imagine that the meeting of the bireme of the 8th century. (with 12-20 hoplites, 10-12 sailors and a hundred rowers on board) with a pentekontor from the time of the Trojan War (with 50 rowing hoplites) would be deplorable for the latter. Despite the fact that the pentecontor had on board 50 warriors against 12-20, his team in most cases would not be able to use their superior numbers. A higher side of the bireme would have prevented a boarding battle, and the ramming blow of the bireme–> pentekontor was 1.5-3 times more effective in damaging effects than the blow of pentekontor–> bireme.

In addition, if the pentecontor maneuvers to get the bireme on board, then it should be assumed that all his hoplites are oared. While at least 12-20 bireme hoplites can shower the enemy with projectiles.

Due to its obvious advantages, the bireme quickly becomes a very common type of ship in the Mediterranean and for many centuries firmly occupies the position of a light cruiser of all major fleets (although at the time of its inception, the bireme was just a superdreadnought). Well, the niche of a heavy cruiser two centuries later will take triremes- the most massive, most typical ship of classical Antiquity.

Trier

Since the first, fundamentally important step from monera (single-tiered) to polyrheme (multi-tiered) had already been made during the transition from pentekontor to bireme, it turned out to be much easier to switch from bireme to trireme.

According to Thucydides, the first trireme was built around 650 BC. In particular, we find from him: “The Hellenes began to build ships and turned to navigation. According to legend, the Corinthians were the first to start building ships in a way that is already very similar to the modern one, and the first triremes in Hellas were built in Corinth. The Corinthian shipbuilder Aminocles, who arrived to the Samians about three hundred years before the end of this war [meaning the Peloponnesian, 431-404 BC - A.Z.], built four ships for them. with the Kerkyrians (and about two hundred and sixty years have passed from this battle to the same time) ... "

Trier is a further development of the idea of ​​a multi-tiered rowing ship, it has three tiers of oars and a length of up to 42 m.

A length of 35-40 meters is quite critical even for improved narrow wooden structures that lack a powerful longitudinal set (stringers). However, the logic of the arms race is to reach the most marginal, the most dangerous values ​​of all technological parameters of military equipment. Therefore, the length of the trireme crept up to 40 m and fluctuated at this mark throughout its long history.

A typical Greek trireme had 27 + 32 + 31 = 90 (that is, 180 in total) rowers, 12-30 soldiers, 10-12 sailors on each side. Managed rowers and sailors keleist, trier as a whole commanded trierarch.

The rowers who were on the lowest tier of the trireme, that is, closest to the water, were called talamites. Usually there were 27 on each side. Ports, cut into the sides for their oars, were very close to the water and even with a slight wave were overwhelmed by the waves. In this case, the talamites pulled the oars inward, and the ports were battened down with leather patches (Greek. ascoma).

The rowers of the second tier were called zigits(32 on each side). And finally, the third tier - transits. Oars of zigits and tranits passed through the ports in paradox- a special box-shaped extension of the hull above the waterline, which hung over the water. The rhythm of the rowers was set by the flutist, and not by the drummer, as on the larger ships of the Roman fleet.

Contrary to appearances, the oars of all three tiers had the same length. The fact is that if we consider the vertical section of the trireme, it turns out that the talamites, zygites and tranites are located not on the same vertical, but on a curve that is formed by the side of the trireme. Thus, the blades of the oars of all tiers reached the water, although they entered it at different angles.

Trier was a very narrow ship. At the level of the waterline, it had a width of about 5 m, which with a length of 35 m gives a length to width ratio of 7:1, and with a length of 40 m - 8:1. However, if measured by the width of the deck, or even more so by the width of the trireme along with the parados, that is, by the maximum dimension with the oars retracted, then this ratio drops to 5.5-6: 1.

These ships were built without frames, according to external templates, with the plating fastened with dowels. The Greeks began to use round dowels, both ends of which were sawn. Small wooden wedges made of acacia, plum or blackthorn were driven into such a cut. Then the pins were inserted in such a way that the wedges were located across the fiber. Thus, the cladding boards fit closely to each other.

The length of the oars is estimated at 4-4.5 m. (Which, for comparison, is 1.5-2 m shorter than the sarissa of the sixth rank of the Macedonian phalanx.) There are a variety of opinions regarding the speed of the trireme. Skeptics call 7-8 knots maximum. Optimists say that a well-built trireme with excellent rowers could keep a cruising speed of 9 knots for 24 hours. (Assuming, apparently, that every eight hours the rowers of one tier are resting, and the other two are rowing.) Fantasts invent incredible speeds of 18-20 knots, which is the ultimate dream for an armadillo during the Russian-Japanese war (1904-1905). , 14-19 knots).

The modern reconstruction of the trireme ("Olympia") has not yet been able to squeeze out more than 7 knots, on which the arguments of skeptics are based. I really think that re construction is not yet construction. The fact that the modern British have worked with an electric hammer and a cyber chisel for their own pleasure is not at all the same as what the Greeks did a thousand times for the sake of the prosperity of the Athenian Arche. I am ready to admit that the trireme with the Piraeus serial number 1001 could squeeze 10 knots with the active assistance of Neptune, and with the favor of all the Olympians and the non-intervention of the insidious Hera, reach the divine 12.

One way or another, experiments with the Olympia showed that despite the low speed, the trireme was a fairly power-armed ship. From a stationary state, it reaches half the maximum speed in 8 seconds, and the full maximum in 30. The same battleship of 1905 could breed pairs for 3-6 hours. And this is just to get moving!

Like later Roman ships, Greek triremes were equipped with a proembolon buffer ram and a trident- or boar-head-shaped battle ram.

Triremes did not have fixed masts, but almost all were equipped with one or two (according to some sources, sometimes three) removable masts. With a fair wind, they were quickly mounted by the efforts of the sailors. The central mast was installed vertically and stretched for stability with cables. Bow, designed for a small sail (gr. artemon), was installed obliquely, supported by an acrostol. The third mast, as short as the bow one, also carried a small sail and was located at the very end of the deck in the stern.

Sometimes triremes were optimized not for naval battles, but for transport. Such triplets were called hoplitagagos(for infantry) and hippagos(for horses). In principle, they were no different from ordinary ones, but they had a reinforced deck and, in the case of hippagagos, a higher bulwark and additional wide gangways for horses.

Biremes and triremes became the main and only universal ships of the classical period (IV-V centuries BC). Alone and as part of small squadrons, they could perform cruising functions, that is, conduct reconnaissance, intercept enemy merchant and transport ships, deliver especially important embassies and devastate the enemy coast. And in major battles of the main forces of the fleet (Salamin, Egospotamy), triremes and biremes acted as ships of the line, that is, they were used in line formations (2-4 lines of 15-100 ships each) and fought with targets similar in class.

It was the biremes and triremes that played leading role in the victory of the Hellenes over the huge fleet of the Persians in the battle of Salamis.

Messenger

"The order was obeyed, as expected.
Dinner was prepared, and to the oarlocks
Each rower hastened to adjust the oars.
Then when the last ray of the sun went out
And the night has come, all the rowers and warriors
With weapons, as one, they boarded the ships,
And the ships, lining up, called to each other.
And so, keeping to the order that was indicated,
Goes to sea and in sleepless swimming
The ship's people are regularly serving.
And the night has passed. But nowhere did
Attempts by the Greeks to secretly bypass the barrier.
When will the earth be white again
The luminary of the day filled with bright radiance,
There was a jubilant noise in the camp of the Greeks,
Similar to a song. And they answered him
Thundering echo of the rock of the island,
And immediately the fear of the bewildered barbarians
Proshiblo. The Greeks did not think about flight,
Singing the solemn song
And went to battle with selfless courage,
And the roar of the trumpet kindled hearts with courage.
The salty abyss was foamed together
Consonant strokes of Greek oars,
And soon we saw everyone with our own eyes;
Went ahead, in perfect formation, right
Wing, and then proudly followed
The entire fleet. And from everywhere at the same time
A mighty cry rang out: "Children of the Hellenes,
Fight for the freedom of the motherland! children and wives
Free the native gods of the house,
And great-grandfathers graves! The fight is on!"
Persian speech our monotonous hum
Answered the call. It was impossible to delay here.
A ship with a copper-studded prow at once
Hit the ship. The Greeks began the attack
Ramming the Phoenician through the stern,
And then the ships went to each other.
At first, the Persians managed to hold back
Head. When in a narrow place there are many
Ships accumulated, no one to help
I could not, and the beaks directed copper,
Own in their own, destroying oars and rowers.
And the Greeks ships, as they planned,
We were surrounded. The sea was not visible
Because of the rubble, because of the overturned
Vessels and lifeless bodies, and corpses
The shallows were covered and the coast was completely.
Find salvation in a disorderly flight
The whole surviving barbarian fleet tried,
But the Greeks of the Persians, like tuna fishermen,
Anyone with anything, boards, debris
Ships and oars were beaten. Screams of terror
And the cries resounded the salty distance,
Until the eye of the night hid us.
All troubles, lead me even ten days in a row
The story is sad, I can not enumerate, no.
I'll tell you one thing: never before
So many people on earth did not die in a day."

Aeschylus, Persians

At the same time, single-deck galleys (uniremes), heirs of the archaic triacontors and pentecontors, continued to be used as auxiliary ships, avisos (messengers) and raiders.

Rice. 5. Late Greek pentekontor

The largest ship built in Antiquity is the semi-mythical tesseracontera (sometimes simply "tessera"), which was created in Egypt on the orders of Ptolemy Philopator. Allegedly, it reached 122 m in length and 15 m in width, carried 4,000 rowers and 3,000 soldiers. Some researchers believe that it was most likely a huge double-hull catamaran, between the hulls of which a grandiose platform was built for throwing machines and warriors. As for the rowers, then, most likely, there were 10 people for each grandiose oar of this floating fortress.

Publication:
XLegio © 1999, 2001

Most of Greece is surrounded by the sea, so the Greeks have always been considered good shipbuilders and, and Ancient Greek ships- the best watercraft of ancient times. Wealthy trading cities such as Athens and Corinth had powerful navies to protect their merchant ships. The largest and most maneuverable ancient Greek ship was considered triremes, driven by 170 rowers. Her ram, located in the bow of the ship, punched holes in the enemy ship. But creation triremes due to the appearance of other warships, earlier built. This is exactly what my story is about.

pentekontor

In the archaic period from the 12th to the 8th century BC, the most common type of ships of the ancient Greeks were pentecontors.

Pentekontor It was a 30-meter single-tier rowing vessel, driven by twenty-five oars on each side. The width was about 4 m, the maximum speed was 9.5 knots.

Pentecontors were mostly deckless open courts. However, sometimes this ship of the ancient Greeks was equipped with a deck. The presence of the deck protected the rowers from the sun and from enemy projectiles, and also increased the cargo-and-passenger capacity of the ship. The deck could carry supplies, horses, war chariots and additional warriors, including archers, capable of withstanding enemy ships.

Original Ancient Greek pentecontors intended mainly for the transport of troops. At the oars sat the same warriors who later, having gone ashore, entered the battle. In other words, pentekontor was not a warship specifically designed to destroy other warships, but was a military transport. ( Note. Just like, on the oars of which ordinary combatants sat).

The emergence of a desire to drown the enemy along with the troops before they landed on the shore and began to destroy their native fields contributed to the appearance on the ship of the ancient Greek device, called the ram.

For the warship of the ancient Greeks, which participated in naval battles using a ram as the main anti-ship weapon, important indicators remained: maneuverability - the possibility of a swift escape from a retaliatory strike, speed - contributing to the development of the force of impact, and armor - protecting against similar enemy strikes.

The preservation of these characteristics nullified the calculations of the Mediterranean shipbuilders of the 12th century BC, thereby forcing the ancient Greeks to look for more rational ideas. And an elegant solution was found.

If the ship cannot be lengthened, then it can be made taller and place another tier with rowers. Thanks to this, the number of oars was doubled without significantly increasing the length ancient Greek ship. So there was bireme.

bireme

As a result of adding a second tier with rowers, security has also increased. ancient Greek ships. To ram bireme, the stem of the enemy vessel now needed to overcome the resistance of more oars.

The increase in the number of rowers also led to the fact that they were required to synchronize their actions in order to bireme did not turn into a centipede entangled in its own legs. Rowers were required to have a sense of rhythm, so in ancient times the labor of galley slaves was not used. All the merry men were civilian sailors, and received a salary during the war, like professional soldiers - hoplites.

bireme rowers

Only in the 3rd century BC, when the Romans during the Punic Wars had a shortage of rowers due to high losses, they used on their slaves and criminals sentenced for debts, who had undergone preliminary training. The appearance of the image of galley slaves actually went down in history with the advent. They had a different design, which made it possible to have only about 15 percent of trained rowers in the team, and the rest were recruited from convicts.

The appearance of the first bireme the Greeks are dated to the end of the 8th century BC. Birema can be recognized as the first ancient ship specially built to destroy enemy naval targets. The rowers of ancient ships were almost never professional warriors like land hoplites, but were considered first-class sailors. In addition, during the boarding action on board their ship, the rowers of the upper tier often took part in the battles, while the rowers of the lower tier were able to continue maneuvering.

It is easy to imagine that the meeting biremes VIII century with 20 warriors, 12 sailors and a hundred rowers on board with Pentekontor during the Trojan War with 50 rowing warriors would be deplorable for the latter. Although pentekontor had 50 warriors on board against 20 biremes, his team in most cases would not be able to use their numerical superiority. First, a higher board biremes would have prevented a boarding battle, and a ramming blow biremes would be twice as efficient pentekontor.

Secondly, while maneuvering pentecontors all his hoplites are oared. While 20 hoplites biremes can attack with projectiles.

Due to its obvious advantages, the bireme began to spread rapidly across the Mediterranean, and for many centuries firmly occupied the position of "light" of all large fleets. However, the place "" after two centuries will take triremes- the most massive ancient ship Antiquity.

triremes

Trier is a further development of the idea of ​​a multi-tiered rowing ship of the ancient Greeks. According to Thucydides, the first triremes was built around 650 BC and was about 42 meters long.

in classical Greek triere there were about 60 rowers, 30 soldiers and 12 sailors on each side. Rowers and sailors led " keleist", commanded the whole ship" trierarch».

"trierarch"

The rowers who were on the lower tier triremes, almost at the very water, were called " talamites". There were 27 of them on each side. The ports cut in the hull of the ship for oars were very close to the water, so with little excitement they were often overwhelmed by waves. In this case " talamites"retracted the oars inward, and the ports were battened down with leather patches.

The rowers of the second tier were called " zigits"and, finally, the third tier -" transits". Oars " zigits" and " transits» passed through the ports in « paradox"- a special box-shaped extension of the hull above the waterline, which hung over the water. The rhythm of the rowers was set by the flutist, and not by the drummer, as on the larger ships of ancient Rome.

The oars of all tiers had the same length of 4.5 meters. The fact is that if you look at the vertical slice triremes, then it turns out that all the rowers are located along the curve formed by the side of the vessel. Thus, the blades of the oars of three tiers reached the water, although they entered it at different angles.

Trier was a very narrow ship. At the waterline level, the ship had a width of about 5 m, and allowed a maximum speed of up to 9 knots, but some sources claim that it could reach up to 12 knots. But, despite the relatively low speed, triremes was considered a very power-armed ship. From a stationary state ancient ships reached maximum speed in 30 seconds.

Like later Roman ships, Greek triremes equipped with a buffer ram-proembolone and a battle ram in the form of a trident or head.

ram trireme

Most effective weapon of the ancient ships was a ram, and an auxiliary, but also quite effective means of armed struggle - a boarding battle.

The success of the naval battle primarily depended on a swift strike at full speed on the side of the enemy ship, after which the crew also had to quickly reverse to change position. The fact is that the attacking ship was always at risk of attack, since it could receive more damage and get stuck in the wreckage of the oars, and therefore lose its course, and its crew would be instantly attacked by various projectiles from the side of the enemy ship.

trireme tactical maneuver - swim

One of the common tactical maneuvers during sea ​​battle in Ancient Greece was considered " diek plus"(swimming). The purpose of the tactical technique was to choose a course of attack that was advantageous from the point of view of the position and deprive the enemy of the opportunity to evade the blow. For this triremes moved towards the enemy ship, inflicting a glancing blow. At the same time, while passing along the side of the enemy, the rowers of the attacking ship had to retract the oars on command. After that, significant damage was inflicted on the oars of the enemy ship from one side. In a moment, the attacking ship moved into position and delivered a ramming blow to the side of the immobilized enemy ship.

Trieres did not have fixed masts, but almost all were equipped with one or two removable masts, which, when fair wind mounted quickly. The central mast was installed vertically and stretched for stability with cables. Bow mast designed for a small sail - " artemon", was installed obliquely, based on" acrotable».

Sometimes triremes modernized for transportation. Such ships were called hoplitagagos" (for warriors) and " hippagos"(for horses). Fundamentally these ancient ships were no different from trier, but had a reinforced deck, a higher bulwark and additional wide gangways for horses.

biremes and triremes became the main and only universal ancient ships Antique period from the 4th to the 5th century BC. Alone or as part of small formations, they could perform cruising functions: conduct reconnaissance, intercept enemy trade and deliver critical cargo and attack the enemy on the coast.

The outcome of naval battles was decided primarily by the level of individual training of the crews - rowers, sailing crew and warriors. However, much also depended on the battle formations of the formation. On the passage, the ancient ships of the Greek fleet, as a rule, followed in the wake formation. Rebuilding in line was carried out on the eve of a collision with the enemy. Wherein ships sought to line up in three or four lines with a mutual shift of half a position. This tactical move was carried out in order to make it difficult for the enemy to maneuver " diek plus", because having broken the oars of any of the ships of the first row, the enemy ship exposed his side to the ramming of the ships of the neighboring line.

In ancient Greece, there was another tactical arrangement of ships, which in modern tactics corresponds to a deaf defense - this is a special circular formation. It was called " hedgehog”And was used in cases where it was necessary to protect ships with valuable cargo or avoid linear battles with superior enemy ships.

As ancillary ships, or raiders used single-tier galleys - " uniremes", heirs of archaic triaccounts and pentecontors.

In the classical period of the 5th century BC, the fleet of Ancient Greece formed the basis of military power and was an important component of the armed forces of the Hellas coalitions.

Military navy of ancient greece numbered up to 400 trier. ancient ships were built at state shipyards. However, their equipment, repairs and even the hiring of rowers was carried out at the expense of wealthy Athenians, who, as a rule, became trierarchs- ship captains. At the end of the voyage trier returned for storage at the base of the navy in Piraeus, and the crew was disbanded.

Development ancient greek navy contributed to the emergence of a new category of citizens - sailors. According to their hierarchical position, they were not rich people and outside the maritime service they did not have sources of permanent income. In times of peace, when the demand for highly skilled sailors declined, they were engaged in small trade or were hired as farm laborers to wealthy landowners. Sailors who were written ashore inhabited the urban poor in Piraeus and Athens. Along with this, these were the people on whom the military power of Ancient Greece depended.

Interestingly, an ordinary worker earned about half a drachma a day, and rowers on ships and hoplites during the military campaign received 2 drachmas daily. With this money, one could buy 40 kg of grain, four buckets of olives or 2 buckets of inexpensive wine. A ram cost 5 drachmas, and renting a small room in a poor quarter cost 30 drachmas. Thus, for a month of sea wanderings, an ordinary rave could provide himself with provisions for a whole year.

Most the capital ship of the ancient Greeks, built in Antiquity, is considered a mythical tesseracontera, created in Egypt by order of Ptolemy Philopator. Sources claim that this ancient ship reached a length of 122 m and a width of 15 m, and on board there were about 4,000 rowers (10 per oar) and 3,000 warriors. Some historians believe that it was rather a large double-hull catamaran, between the hulls of which a grandiose platform was built for throwing machines and warriors.

Sorry about the names Greek ships little is known. Athens had two triremes with luxurious exterior trim, which had the names " Paralia" and " salaminia". These two ships were used for solemn processions or for sending especially important orders.

The Mediterranean was getting tighter. To the north lay another sea already mastered by the Phoenicians. Its waves left their salt on the sides of the Hellenic ships: in the time of Catreus, the Argonauts visited there. But the way to Pontus was shown to them by the blind soothsayer Phineus. Phoenician. He pointed it out only because among the Argonauts were his sons-in-law Zeth and Kalaid. It was not the sea itself that frightened the Greek helmsmen. They were afraid of the way to it. The path was narrow, and it was reliably guarded by the ships of Priam.

Troy had a vested interest in controlling the Straits. The ships of the Black Sea peoples brought to the shores of Asia Minor selected wheat, skins of rare animals, stainless steel weapons, intricate utensils and jewelry, and most importantly - the highly valued Colchian and Scythian slaves. Having saturated the Phoenician market, the Black Sea merchants inevitably had to make contacts with the allies of the Phoenicians - the Dardanians. Troy became rich in gold, it competed with Mycenae. Intermediary trade has always been a profitable business.

It cannot be said that the Greeks put up with this state of affairs. The excavations of G. Schliemann and especially W. Dörpfeld showed that before the time of Agamemnon, Troy was destroyed at least five times. The sixth was an event that went down in history as the Trojan War, sung by Homer and indirectly connected with the death of Katreya.

The reason for the war was at first glance trifling. After Priam's son Paris presented Aphrodite with a golden apple with the inscription "Give it to the most beautiful" on Mount Ida Phrygian, he sailed to Sparta to stay with Menelaus11. Just at this time, Katreus died at the hands of his son in Rhodes. The body of Catreus was brought with due honors to Crete for burial. Since Menelaus was the grandson of Katreus on the maternal side, the king of Sparta, naturally, could not evade participation in the feast. Paris took advantage of his departure. On a high-speed ship, made by the hereditary shipbuilder Ferekl, the son of Harmon, the prince took away the wife of Menelaus, Helen, who liked him. They found their first refuge on the island of Kranai, which belonged to the Phoenicians. From there, Paris went to Sidon, then spent some time in Cyprus, and finally arrived in Troy.

With a high degree of probability, it can be assumed that Paris left his ship on Kranai in payment for asylum and did the rest of the journey on Phoenician ships. When the brother of Menelaus Agamemnon finally managed to assemble a fleet to chase his windy wife, then, “not knowing the sea route to Troy, the soldiers landed on the shores of Mysia and devastated it, mistaking this country for Troy ... Leaving Mysia, the Hellenes sailed into the open sea , but a strong storm began, and, breaking away from each other, each moored to their native shores ... After they gathered again in Argos ... they faced a great difficulty that prevented them from sailing: they did not have a leader, who would be able to show them the sea route to Troy" (3, Epitoma, III, 17-19). It is unlikely that Paris had such a "leader" (pilot).

This passage not only testifies to the state of maritime affairs among the Aegean peoples, but also adds a small detail to Homer's story: the Cretans arrived at Troy separately, because someone else knew the blue roads of the Aegean very well. What could have delayed them? We don't know. Perhaps some urgent pirate raid. Perhaps a natural disaster - not so devastating as to cause serious damage to the island, but enough to damage or delay the fleet. And yet the Cretans arrived at Troy. The presence of their ships at the Hellespont and the absence of the Phoenician ones can tell something about the international position of the Priam kingdom and about the sphere of interests of the hegemons of the sea: the Cretans were vitally interested in penetrating the Black Sea waters; the Phoenicians preferred to remain observers, not wanting to get involved in the struggle of the giants. Isn't that why Homer honors them so much through the mouth of his heroes?

The rivalry between Crete and Phoenicia, their struggle for the sea did not stop for a moment. The capture of new lands contributed to the safety of the blue roads connecting them. We must pay tribute to the Phoenicians: unlike the Cretans, they knew how to ensure their hegemony without resorting to extreme means. Where it was impossible to do without these funds, they launched a ram - pirate squadrons. Apparently, this ram, despite its rare use, was quite effective: we do not know the clashes of Crete and other states with Phoenicia. Minos preferred to be content with what he had, other lords saved their prestige by inventing new epithets for the "thugs". On the other hand, the Phoenicians, having once outlined and captured the key bases for their trade, used their advantages without disturbing the hornet's nest into which the Cretans turned the Aegean.

But the hidden "war of all against all" did not subside, and methods were invented in it that outlived their creators for many centuries. One of them was the device of false signal lights. Probably, by that time, all permanent sea routes and the most important parking lots were already equipped with lighthouses (11a, XIX, 375-377): ... Across the sea, the light shines for sailors in the darkness, The light from the fire, far on top of the burning mountain, In the wilderness of the desert ... For example, Ithaca was equipped with such lights (11b, X, 29-30): Suddenly, on the tenth day, the shore of the fatherland appeared to us. He was already close; we could see all the lights on it.

These lights are by no means the lights of dwellings or random fires. The word standing here in the original can be translated as "support the fire." But in another place (11a, XVIII, 211) a more specific concept appears - "signal fire" or "watch fire" ("lighthouse" of the translation). It was these lights that were used to confuse sailors and take possession of their good. The Greeks attributed the invention of this craft to the king of Euboea, Nauplius, the son of Poseidon and Amymone.

Euboea was at that time the largest international slave market in the Aegean. Catreus sells his daughters to Nauplius for further resale (according to some versions of the myth, Nauplius married one of them, Klymene, and they gave birth to Palamedes, the inventor of writing and counting, weights and measures, navigation and lighthouses, dice and other arts, who died under Troy on the slander of Odysseus). Hercules sells Nauplia - also for resale - the priestess of Athena, Avga, who was seduced by him, the daughter of the Arcadian king Aleus and the future wife of the king of Misia Teutrant. This Nauplius, says Apollodorus, "lived a very long time and, sailing the sea, lit false signal lights to all the sailors he met with the aim of destroying them" (3, II, 1, 5). In this favorite way, he also took revenge on the Greeks, who were returning from near Troy, for the death of Palamedes. When their fleet approached Euboea at night, Nauplius, having accurately calculated the time, lit a fire on Mount Cafarea, or Xylophage. The signal was given at the moment when there was a chain of reefs between the Greek ships and the coast. Many of the winners died on them. This happened in the southeastern part of Euboea, at Cape Kafirefs, or Doro, the northwestern entrance cape to the strait of the same name, formed by the northern slope of the three-headed mountain Ohi, 1397 m high. Nauplia. It was a symbol of power over the sea.

There were no Cretans among the dead at Euboea. Idomeneo, rejoicing, hurried home by the shortest route - through the Cyclades. At Troy, he performed many glorious deeds, causing a lot of trouble to the Dardanians. It would seem that this should have predetermined his fate. Nevertheless, Poseidon, whose sympathies in this war belonged to the Greeks, decided to sink the Cretan ship. Then Idomeneo swore to sacrifice to him the first living creature that would meet him on the shore. He was absolutely sure that this would be his favorite dog. But the gods know what they're doing. The first to meet Idomeneo was his son, born and raised during his ten-year absence.

The king was faced with a dilemma. To become an oathbreaker is to bring upon oneself the punishment of the gods. To keep the word given to Poseidon - the consequences are the same, but in the face of the god of the seas, he acquires an intercessor before the gods, moreover, this is not as shameful as breaking the oath. Idomeneo chose the latter. But Poseidon did not think to protect him. The angry gods sent a plague to the island, and the king was expelled from Crete by his subjects. He went to Italy, settled near the Salentinsky Cape and founded the city of Salent there, where he died. The exile was buried with royal honors and gained immortality for his loyalty to the word given to Poseidon12. The gods punished innocent Crete for the crime of its master. That's what the legends say. What about history?

Loss of independence by Crete

The end of the Cretan kingdom was reconstructed quite fully. In 1500 BC. e. The first volcanic eruption began on the island of Santorini (Thira), 130 km from Crete. A powerful wave of eruptions took place throughout the Mediterranean. In 1470 BC. e. The kingdom of Crete was destroyed by a powerful earthquake. Palaces and cities perished, the relief changed. (Evans immediately noticed traces of sudden and violent death.) And 70 years later, warlike tribes of the Achaeans broke into the exhausted island, soon ousted from there by the Ionians, and then the Dorians. Apparently, at this time, the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur finally took shape, telling that Athens threw off the almost thirty-year yoke of Minos. The Greek hero defeated the Cretan monster, Hellas gained freedom. Thirty years is for a myth. In fact, "in those days, the year was equal to eight current years," Apollodorus testifies (3, III, IV, 2)13.

So, the gods punished the magnificent Crete three times, and two punishments, according to myths, are associated with the name of the god of the sea and the "shaker of the earth" - Poseidon.

Around 1700 BC e. - a strong volcanic eruption with a seaquake (a fire-breathing bull sent by Poseidon).

Around 1470 BC. e. - an earthquake (the open earth swallowed up the patricide Altemen).

Around 1400 BC. e. Crete suffers punishment for the murder of Idomeneo's son because of an oath to Poseidon (it is possible that the Achaeans captured Crete after some other cataclysm).

If you believe the myths, the last two punishments are associated with the death of the heirs to the throne - before the reign of Idomeneo and at its end, that is, during the life of one generation. According to science, about 70 years passed between the last catastrophe and the conquest by the Achaeans - also the lifetime of one generation. “Three generations after the death of Minos (a hundred years later. - A.S.), - writes Herodotus, - the Trojan War broke out, when the Cretans turned out to be faithful allies and avengers of Menelaus. And after returning from Troy, famine and pestilence began on the island people and livestock, until Crete was deserted for the second time; now the third Cretan population lives on the island, along with the remnants of the former inhabitants" (10, VII, 171).

Sounds like a myth? It seems that the legends about Altemene and Idomeneo only change places in time. But then they are legends, not history. Other dates do not match either: the Trojan War took place around 1190-1180. BC e. (Tacitus, for example, believes that his era is separated from it by 1300 years), and the death of the Cretan kingdom - about 1380 BC. e., 20 years after the invasion of the Achaeans. Well, this only indicates the time of creation of the myth and its Achaean source.

"Keftiu", as the Egyptians called the Cretans, disappear forever from the stage. This word reappears several centuries later, but now it already means "Phoenicians" (80, p. 121).

We know little more about the ships of Minos than about Minos himself. The main material for conclusions about their design is provided by images on vessels and seals, as a rule, fragmentary, extremely generalized and schematic.

B. G. Petere, who dealt specifically with this problem, developed an interesting classification chronological table of the Aegean types of ships, based on the type of propulsion device and the presence or absence of a ram (94, pp. 162-165). But this table, along with the Cretan ones, also includes images of the ships of Achaean Greece, and one has to speak about the ships, especially Crete, only presumably, based on where this or that image was found. Only from about 1600 BC. e., as you think. J. Lurie, "the Mycenaean culture is only an offshoot of the Cretan without any significant differences," and starting from that time it is legitimate to transfer the features of the Achaean ships to the Cretan ones or vice versa (87, p. 59).

In the early Minoan period (before 3000 BC), the Cretans, apparently, did not yet know sailing ships. In any case, not a single image of them has come down to us. All ships of that time were equipped with rams, their sternposts rising high above the deck (according to B. G. Peters, they are from 4.5 to 7.5 times the height of the side) and decorated with carved images of fish or dolphins. BG Petere believes that these are "images of long-distance vessels with stocks of drying fish and devices for extracting fresh water" (94, p. 161). These "devices" are ordinary mutton skins that condense moisture from the air at night. According to the number of dashes denoting oars, it is possible to distinguish several types of vessels: 26-, 32- and 38-oared, depicted on vessels from the island of Syros. “Ships of this type,” concludes B. G. Petere, “in the future, they will probably be replaced by penteconter. the bow and stern of the vessel, raised to different heights, were a kind of stabilizers, which, if it stopped at sea, automatically brought one of its extremities to the wind, thereby reducing the possibility of flooding it with water through board" (94, pp. 161-166). The side wave was very dangerous. Pindar quotes an ancient proverb (24, p. 137):

Which shaft hits the side, That one is more disturbing for the sailor's heart. At the end of the Early Minoan period, a single mast appears (hence, the design is keeled), which is now present in all images, and a two-legged, probably metal, anchor. Only two images of masted ships belong to the early Minoan period. Perhaps others have not yet been found, but it cannot be ruled out that these two drawings should be dated a little later - the Middle Minoan period (3000-2200 BC), when Minos reigned in Crete and when Daedalus flew there. It was to Daedalus that the Cretans, along with many of his other good deeds, attributed the invention of the sail, and yet the only purpose of the mast is to carry the sail. These vessels "were more suitable for long-distance navigation and had a highly raised stern and bow, which ended in the middle part with a ram, as well as a mast and, probably, sailing equipment" (94, p. 166). Homer also called the Cretan ships “big-nosed”, and Pindar mentions “ships with a high stern”. We can also agree with the proposal of B. G. Peters that at least some Cretan ships had a hypothesis, common for Egyptian ships, but for some reason attributed by I. Sh. Shifman (108, p. 43) to the Phoenicians, who allegedly invented it in the 7th century BC e. The curved yards of the Cretan ships also resemble those of Egypt. Such coincidences are hardly accidental, they may suggest that contacts between Crete and Egypt took place much more often than is commonly believed. S. Ya. Lurie suggests that long-distance sea voyages should have forced the Cretans to master the basics of nautical astronomy (87, p. 45). And the mutual borrowing of some techniques may indicate that while the kings were measuring their strengths, someone who, perhaps, was deliberately taken with them on such campaigns, made sketches or memorized foreign designs, so that later they could be compared with domestic ones and made conclusions. The safety of the navigation of the Cretan ships was ensured by their rams, but a ship intended for battle is not a single ram.

Ships of the late Minoan period (2200-1400 BC) give a much greater variety of types. During the time of Thutmose III, the Cretans built them from Lebanese cedar, and this could not but affect their seaworthiness. Even in the Middle Minoan period, cabins for helmsmen appeared on ships (a seal from Knossos), which may indicate an increased range of navigation. Now there are spacious cabins intended for passengers (golden ring from Tiryns). Rammed ships are being built specifically for transport purposes (on one seal from Knossos, a ship for transporting horses is reproduced). The sail becomes the main mover, and in pursuit of speed, the Cretans sometimes supply their ships with two or even three masts. Such an innovation requires special structural strength, and one image reveals the secret: the frame of the vessel was ordered by frames and, apparently, beams, since these ships are decked. On such a fast ship, Demeter, the goddess of fertility, was captured in Crete and taken to Attica, to the city of Forik, for sale into slavery (39, p. 92).

These ancient brigantines, which participated in the Trojan War, could become flagships in the squadrons of Morgan and Drake. Even the little we know about them allows us to recognize them as courts of a higher class than contemporary Egyptian ones. They sometimes had rams on both stems, and the hypothesis and steering oars in the bow and stern allowed them to attack and retreat with equal ease in any direction.

Their worthy rivals were the ships of the Achaeans, lovingly mentioned by Homer at every opportunity. Most often they are accompanied by the epithet "black". "They must have been kept generously tarred," suggests L. Casson (111, p. 36), and he is not alone in this opinion. But here's what is strange: 29 fleets arrived at Troy, and Homer stubbornly calls the ships only 13 of them, always the same. Why? The concept of "untarred ship" was for all ancient peoples as absurd as, for example, "dry water". Naturally, the Greeks also did not spare resin or wax for their ships. And why is the birthplace of these "black" ships limited to a fairly clear region: the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula from Thessaly to Argos with the islands of Euboea, Aegina and Salamis? The exceptions here are the Echinades Islands off the western coast of the peninsula, nearby Ithaca and even Crete far to the south ...

There is another circumstance that is usually overlooked: sculpture, temples, utensils - everything that was made of solid material was always painted by the Greeks. Ships were no exception (especially since a thickly tarred tree is an unpleasant thing for those who sit on it). Herodotus, for example, assures that "in ancient times, all ships were painted red (red lead) ..." (10, III, 58), and Bacchilid adds another traditional coloring detail associated with religious ideas: they painted on the prows of ships blue eyes. Another Greek poet, Timothy, mentions "black rook legs" (24, p. 287), that is, oars. But after all, the oars never tarred at all, they could only be painted. Traces of colors are preserved on the Parthenon. They are also preserved in Homer's poems: his Achaean ships are "dark-nosed", "red-breasted", "purple-breasted". Somehow, these sunny colors do not fit well with the resin liquefied by the sun ... One could assume that the epithet "black" indicates the material used in the construction of these ships: Homer calls oak bark "black oak" (11b, XIV, 12 ). It is possible that the stern of Theseus' ship was trimmed with such an "oak", as Bacchilidus mentions (24, p. 265), and even then, most likely, as a sign of mourning - for the same reason that his ship carried black sails. But oak is common throughout the Mediterranean...

It remains only to assume a different meaning of the word ielac, cited by N. I. Gnedich in the main meaning. And then the resin turns out to have nothing to do with it: "black" ships are "ominous" ships, "terrifying" ships. The epithet "black" was used in this sense by both the Greeks and the Romans: for example, Plutarch (26d, 27) mentions the "black days of the year" in connection with the death of the Roman army in the battle with the Cimbri (cf. Russian, "black day", ancient Iranian "Black", that is, severe, sea). Perhaps the basis for such an epithet was the frightening war paint of these boats or the figure of some monster on the acroterium, but rather the highest perfection of their design in the entire Greek fleet.

Ship types

Homer has sometimes been attributed a Phoenician origin. It is impossible not to remember the Phoenicians when looking at the map, if you highlight on it the areas that sent "black" ships to Troy. These are exactly the places where the Phoenicians created their settlements. And then the epithet "black" takes on another meaning. Unsurpassed Phoenician ships, terrifying and envious, dark-nosed and red-breasted, blue-eyed and black-footed - these ships carried black sails! Only the Phoenicians painted sails in this color, and when Theseus went with a sacrifice to Crete, where the son of a Phoenician ruled, he sailed on a "black" ship. The "black" ships brought Achilles and Odysseus, Ajax and Idomeneo to Troy. They were brought in by those who argued loudest about the power of the sea. And perhaps the primacy among them had passed by that time from the Cretans to the Myrmidons, whose ships have another permanent epithet in Homer: “fast-flying”, while the ships of the Argives are only “wide”, and the Achaeans are “multiple” and “steep-sided”. Probably, these epithets reflect the main types of ships that prevailed in that era: high-speed "long" with a large number of rowers and several masts and merchant "round" ones with a round stern and a wide bottom to increase the capacity of the hold (they were called in imitation of the Phoenicians "sea horses" ).

The first type should include 50-oar penteconters, the second - 20-oar eicosors. A 20-oared ship is depicted on one Athenian vase; perhaps this is the scene of the abduction of Helen by Paris: a man is about to board the ship and - a unique circumstance! - woman. Homer's "multi-oared" ships were real pirate ships, and their designers took care not only of their speed, but also of their capacity: in addition to fifty warriors (they were also rowers), these "black" ships were capable of carrying passengers, food supplies, weapons and at least a hundred sacrificial bulls. Their suitability for long-distance voyages was brilliantly proved by the Argonauts, and after the war Menelaus and Odysseus confirmed them. Their silhouettes were remembered by Egyptian artists and reproduced in the tombs of their masters.

"Round" ships became widespread a little later and did not leave the scene soon. From the myths, you can learn that Perseus and his mother Danae swam in a box (like Osiris - in a sarcophagus), and Hercules already swam across the sea in the Cup of Helios - the direct predecessor of the "round" ships. “Piracy, which served for Homeric society, with its undeveloped productive forces, the form of relations corresponding to them, had to fall and fell defeated by a more planned and less spontaneous organization of commodity exchange opposed to it,” writes K. M. Kolobova. “In this contradiction of two forms relations - piracy and trade - trade won, and the pirate (long) ships of Greece were replaced by merchant (round) ships "(82b, p. 10-11).

Homer describes in detail both the technique of shipbuilding and navigation techniques. When the time came for Odysseus to leave the island of the nymph Calypso, he set about building a raft. For this, he chose two dozen dry trunks of black poplar, alder and pine. Having cut them down with a double-edged labrys, he cleared the trees of the bark, scraped them smoothly, using the same ax instead of a planer, and hewed them along the cord. Further, Odysseus drilled the resulting beams and fastened them with long bolts (one must think that the nymph ended up by accident) and spikes made of hard wood, which usually replaced nails. He made the underwater part of the raft as wide as that of the "round" ships, and fastened the surface with transverse bars and laid a deck of thick oak planks on them. He let the mast pass through the deck, fixed it in the lower logs and provided it with a yardarm. Finally, he lined the deck with wicker bough railings, leaving room only for the helm, and did not forget to take ballast for stability. The "ship" was ready, and its construction hardly differed much from the construction of real ships. Having prepared a sail and "everything to develop and twist it, having fastened the ropes," Odysseus launched his offspring into the water (11b, V, 234-261).

We find much of this description in other places in the poems, where we are no longer talking about rafts, but about real ships. The double-edged ax, it turns out, among the sailors was also a "terrible weapon" (11a, X, 254; XXIII, 854). The correct cord is well known to shipbuilders (11a, XV, 409). Actions consonant with Odysseus are performed by his son Telemachus (11b, II, 423-428):

Obeying him, a pine mast

They raised at once and, deep into the nest, hoisted,

She was approved in it, and ropes were pulled from the sides;

White was then tied with braided sail straps;

Filled with wind, it rose, and the purple waves

Noisily, under the keel of the ship flowing into them, they rustled ...

The belts mentioned here were woven from cowhide, with which the lower edge of the sail was tied to the mast, since there was no lower yard on Greek ships. These straps were resilient, strong and reliable - more reliable than other tackle, made of hemp and, according to Homer, decayed in eight or nine years. In the same way as Odysseus did, a "platform" was laid on the ships - a half-deck in the bow and stern (rowers occupied the middle part), fenced with rails. The "strongly built deck" with which Bacchilid supplies the ship of Theseus is probably just a poetic image. On the aft half-deck, a "soft-wide carpet with a linen sheet" (11b, XIII, 73) could be spread out for the rest of the ship's commander or an honored guest. The altar located here guaranteed their personal integrity and pleasant dreams.

Skiteless Greek ships are unknown, and this is natural: their construction would be pointless, because in Greece there are no rivers like the Nile, and even those that exist almost all dry up in summer. Therefore, even fishing boats in most cases were supplied with a keel: people noticed early on that such a design was more reliable. Keel, according to Bacchilids, was also Theseus' "wonderfully built ship" (24, p. 267). Swimming was practiced within sight of the shore, but they were far enough away, since it is possible to go around almost the entire Aegean Sea without losing sight of the land. From island to island, from archipelago to archipelago, from Europe to Asia. Fear of the abyss gave way to self-confidence, sometimes, perhaps even excessive. The Greeks also mastered night swimming. Already in the time of Odysseus, sailors were guided in the open sea by the stars created by Atlas and divided into constellations by the wise centaur Chiron, the compiler of the first map of the starry sky (it was used by the Argonauts), the inventor of the armillary sphere, teacher and mentor of many outstanding personalities, demigods and heroes. Homer knows Sirius and Orion, he repeatedly names the Pleiades, Bootes and the Bear. “The Phoenicians discovered without a pole that nondescript star, which they recognized as the most reliable leader in their night voyages,” writes E. Curtius, “while the Greeks preferred to have the more brilliant constellation Ursa Major as a guiding star for navigation; if they were therefore inferior to the Phoenicians in accuracy astronomical definitions, then in all other respects they became their happy competitors and rivals. On this basis, they gradually pushed back the Phoenicians; that is why it was on the coast of the Ionian Sea that so few legends about the dominance of the Phoenicians on the sea were preserved "(85, p. 31-32) . If the opportunity presented itself, the ships landed at night so that the crews could rest (there was not even a hint of comfort on the ships, except for the aforementioned carpet on the deck). In view of the coast, the sails were removed, the mast was lowered on the ropes into the hull and fixed in a special nest iotodokn, the rowers took up the oars and drove the ship to the shore stern forward (so as not to break or tie a ram). Therefore, the main attention was paid to decorating the stern. The "thinly cut stern" of Tesey's ship (24, p. 268) was his "calling card". If the ship got into the port, a stone anchor was released from the bow, the stern was moored to the mooring stone and a ladder or gangway was lowered from it. Usually the ships had two anchors - at the bow and at the stern, and the Greeks had a saying: "A ship at one anchor, but life cannot survive on one hope" (24, p. 405). And here is what the port of that time looked like (11b, VI, 262-269):

With loopholes the walls surround him; A deep pier envelops it on both sides; the entrance to the pier is constrained by ships, with which the coast is lined on the right and left, and each of them is under a protective roof; There is also a trading square around the Poseidon temple, Standing firmly on huge hewn stones; the rigging of all the ships is there, the supply of sails and ropes are kept in spacious Buildings; there smooth oars are also being prepared.

Such ports were rare. More often, the night caught the navigator in a desert area, and here he performed the same ritual, only instead of mooring, the ship was pulled ashore, placed on rollers that protected the hull from damage and facilitated its ascent and descent, and the crew went to bed. If the area was unsafe, the ships were surrounded by a wall. Sometimes the wall was real, like a rampart, in another case, judging by Homer's epithet "copper", a rather strong guard in copper armor was simply put up. Apparently, everything here depended on the duration of the parking lot.

At sunrise, the ships were dragged into the water and a special pole "twenty-two cubits long" (about 10 m), used as needed both as a repulsive hook and as a lot, were taken to the depth. Further, the actions were repeated in the reverse order: the mast was raised and strengthened in the steps on the same ropes, the oars were disassembled and pushed into the belt loops on the gunwale, and the sails were set. “At first, the mast was pulled up with two forestays, installed in the steps from the stern side with a backstay. One sail with its yard was raised and installed with the help of braces to catch the wind. The windward sheet was installed quickly, and the helmsman took his place with a lee sheet in one hand and a tiller - a bar attached to the steering oar - to the other. To shorten the sail, the Homeric sailors used gits instead of reefs; the lines ran from the yard, wrapped around the base of the sail and went below deck. They turned the sail to the yard in the same way that Venetian blinds rise "( 111, p. 38). Like the Cretan ships, the Achaeans had a frame frame and one or more masts. Homer does not indicate their number, but it can be assumed, by analogy with Crete, that the Achaeans knew three-masted ships. Several masts and sails had the "magic" ships of the feacs, on the ship of Odysseus there was one mast, but at least three sails.

In general, a detailed acquaintance with the Homeric epic convinces us that both the shipbuilding technique and the methods of naval combat were then not as simple as they sometimes believe. Here's another example. Agamemnon in a prayer to Zeus mentions (11a, II, 415) that he intends to burn the gates of Troy with "destructive fire" (prnoai de nopos dnioio vvretra). It seemed like an unremarkable threat. Another epithet, Homer has many of them. However, let us recall the opinion of Eratosthenes that Homer "never throws epithets in vain" (33, C16). In the XVIth song of the Iliad (122-124), the opponents of Agamemnon also use similar fire: ... The Trojans immediately threw a noisy Fire at the ship: a fierce flame quickly spread. So the stern of the ship burned.

(After all, the ships were pulled ashore stern first.) Three lines below, Achilles in a panic calls Patroclus for help, shouting that "the fire of destruction is raging on the ships," but for some reason no one extinguishes the fire, although nothing could be more sensitive for the Greeks than the deprivation of ships. Why?

There is a translation error here. Literally, Homer says that an unquenchable flame suddenly spread over the ship (tnc d "aiya kat" aoBeotn keхvto floe) - the same as Agamemnon intended to set fire to the Trojan gates. By the way, how was he going to do this: approach in front of the defenders of the city and kindle a fire? And how did the Dardanians themselves "throw" the fire?

Everything convinces us that we are dealing here with the earliest mention of the most terrible weapon, which later received the name "Greek fire". It was a "destroying flame" in the truest sense of the word. Many recipes have been proposed for the reconstruction of its composition. 4th century author BC e. Aeneas the Tactician in the "Guide to the siege of cities" mentions the composition of the mixture used in his time to ignite enemy ships: incense, tow, sawdust of coniferous trees, sulfur and resin. These components were always at hand on land and at sea (sulfur and frankincense were used for cult purposes). Probably there were other compositions. The Byzantines used at least three types of "Greek fire": "liquid", "marine" and "spontaneous". But the tactics of its use were the same: a fragile clay ball was stuffed with a mixture and thrown from a stationary or manual device at the enemy. When the ball fell, it split, and the mixture spontaneously ignited, spreading in all directions. All this happened at once, creating an unimaginable noise ("noisy fire") and causing confusion. Tarred ships were generally an excellent combustible material, and such a flame can only be extinguished with foam, but the Greeks, of course, did not know this and called it aoBeotoe - "unquenchable", "unstoppable", "undying", "eternal". As can be seen, this weapon has been known on both sides of the Aegean since at least the 8th century. BC e., when Homer composed his hexameters.

A similar problem of time arises if we touch on another question - a question that researchers of the heroic era try to get around as best they can. "Troy did not have a fleet, and the Greeks were the undivided masters of the sea" (111, p. 35). This phrase of L. Kasson aphoristically expresses the very essence of the problem.

"Troy did not have a fleet ..." Could the largest power of that time, having access to the Aegean, Marmara and Black Seas, owning the islands, controlling the Straits so tightly that the rest of the Aegean was forced to conquer for itself for ten years, could not have a fleet? the right to swim in Pontus? From the fact that Homer does not say a word about Trojan ships, it is difficult to draw conclusions: after all, Herodotus never mentioned Rome, and Homer did not mention Tyre, but it does not occur to anyone on this basis to assert that these cities did not exist at that time. According to this logic, the reverse conclusion is no less legitimate: Homer is silent about the ships of the Trojans precisely because they were superior to the Achaean ones, and it is not known how the naval battle could have ended. How the land war ended is known.

But if you take a closer look at Homer, you can be sure that the Trojans had a fleet. Decent fleet. So worthy that its introduction into action could have a detrimental effect on the sublime heroism of the Homeric images of the Achaean leaders. During a storm, Homeric sailors "calling the sons of powerful Zeus for help, slaughtering white lambs for them, gathering on the prow of the ship" (39, p. 136). The state of maritime affairs in Troy can be judged, for example, by the fact that Menelaus served as helmsman of the Trojan Frontis, ... the most of all terrestrial

The secret penetrated to own the ship in the coming storm (11b, III, 282-283). It is quite natural that this Frontis was the son of Onetor, the priest of Zeus of Idea. Onetor himself was revered by the people as a god. Medea, who felt herself in Pontus as in her own palace, was also a priestess of Hecate and was known in Colchis as a sorceress. The Greeks did not yet have priests, burdened with the most diverse information and secrets: the functions of the priests were combined by the kings - basileus. Only when the Temple of Delphi rises, when it becomes a pan-Greek sanctuary, only then will the other "earthborn" have naval commanders and helmsmen who are not inferior to Frontis, helmsmen who, according to Pindar, are able, according to Pindar, to foresee a storm in three days (24, p. 139). From the words of Homer quoted above, it follows that the Trojan fleet was incomparable in the Aegean.

Causes of the Trojan War

Therefore, it is most likely that the Trojan War began precisely with a sudden attack on Priam's ships and their destruction. Only this can explain such a mysterious fact as the transformation of Sigey and Tenedos of the Dardanian ship sites into the ship sites of the Achaeans. Many years later, Strabo was amazed at this: "... the Ship Parking ... is so close to the modern city (Ilion. - A. S.) that it is natural to be surprised at the recklessness of the Greeks and the cowardice of the Trojans; the recklessness of the Greeks, because they kept the Ship Parking unfortified for so long... The Ship Station is at Sigeus, and near it is the mouth of the Scamander, 20 stadia from Ilion. But if anyone objects that the so-called Achaean Harbor is now the , even closer to Ilion, about only 20 stadia from the city ... "(33, C598). The Greeks did not care about the safety of their ships, because they knew about the death of the Trojan fleet. Why didn't Homer mention this? Perhaps because this was told in the "Cyprias" - the first of the eight books of the "kyklic epic" (only the second and seventh - "Iliad" and "Odyssey" have come down to us), attributed to Homer.

Some light on this question is shed by Virgil, who began his Aeneid where Homer ended the Iliad. This is where the problem of time arises: did Virgil use any early sources unknown to us, or did he transfer the technical data of the ships of his age to the heroic era?

Much speaks for the fact that Virgil described the ships whose helms were held in the hands of the Trojans. But their resemblance to those described by Homer - the Achaean ones - is very suspicious. Moreover, Virgil willingly notes the features common to all ships of the heroic era, and, if possible, avoids detailing, which inevitably wears national traits. These ships, built by Aeneas from maple and pine in the forests near Antandra, are multi-sailed and keeled, capable of withstanding long passages out of sight of the shore; they moored in the same way with their stern to the shore, and the Trojans got over to land along the gangway, filed in the stern, or along the ladders lowered from the high stern. In the event of a hasty landing, they jumped directly from the sides into the water if it was not very deep (which means the ships had low sides), or glided along the oars like real pirates. Mentions Virgil and some other details familiar from Homer: twisted ropes, "poles and gaffs with a sharp tip", painted sheathing.

But he also has details that Homer does not have. The Trojans knew how to walk on tacks, setting the sail obliquely to the wind, and the yards of their ships turned with the help of ropes tied to their extremities - legs; they were perfectly oriented by the stars; their ships had sharp rostra prows; they bore their own names, given according to the figure decorating the acroterium, and their identification sign ("flag"), like that of the Phoenicians, was copper shields attached to the stern; unlike the Achaeans, these ships were "blue-breasted" (9, V, 122).

Homer mentions a hundred bench (ekatocvyoc) ship (11a, XX, 247). The Greeks did not know such ships, the number of their rowers did not exceed 50 (each rower was entitled to a separate bench). It is also hard to believe that the Trojans owned such long and slow ships. Maybe Hector was just bragging? But after all, Homer "in vain does not throw epithets" ... We find an unexpected solution in Virgil (9, V, 118-120): He led the "Chimera" Geass - a ship huge, like a city, They drove it with force, sitting in three tiers, the Dardanians , In three steps they raised three rows of oars.

The world's first trier?! It would be difficult to overestimate this evidence if, like the description of the "Greek fire", it belonged to Homer, and not to the poet of the Augustan age. Elsewhere (9, X, 207) Virgil again mentions a hundred-oared ship, this time silent about its construction. But this is a later time when triremes could appear.

Is it possible to find out with what speed the Dardanian helmsmen drove their ships? This can be judged by two hints from Virgil - and again with an eye to the time factor. At the beginning of his wanderings, Aeneas makes two transitions: Delos - Crete and Crete - Strofades. Their magnitude is approximately 210 and 320 km, respectively. Virgil points out that the Trojans conquered the first segment by the dawn of the third day, and the second - by the dawn of the fourth (9, III, 117, 205). Guided by his unambiguous indication of round-the-clock navigation, we can conclude that the average speed of the Trojan ships was very high for that time - 2.37-2.38 knots in stormy conditions (for comparison: Odysseus's ship sailed at an average speed of 1.35 knots; in at the time of Herodotus, this figure increased to 2.5 knots, and at the time of Pliny - up to 4 knots). Here, perhaps, is just the case when Virgil can not be believed: he clearly transferred the speed of ships of a later time to the ships of the heroic era.

The Trojan War undermined the power of all these magnificent fleets of pride, glory, rivalry and envy. "Peoples of the Sea" no longer disturbed the rest of the pharaohs. Although the Thracians became the thalassocrats of the Aegean, according to Diodorus, after the Trojan War, they did not dare to move away from their shores. The Phoenicians remained the true, undivided rulers of the seas. It is they who can rightfully be called the winners in the Trojan War: they won it, watching the battles from the Solim Heights.



In continuation of the topic of ancient civilizations, I offer you a small compilation of data on the racial and ethnic history of the Hellenic world - from the Minoan era to the Macedonian expansion. Obviously, this topic is more extensive than the previous ones. Here we will dwell on the materials of K. Kuhn, Angel, Poulianos, Sergi and Ripley, as well as some other authors ...

To begin with, it is worth noting a few points related to the pre-Indo-European population of the Aegean basin.

Herodotus about the Pelasgians:

"The Athenians are of Pelasgian origin, while the Lacedomonians are of Hellenic origin"

“When the Pelasgians occupied the land that is now called Greece, the Athenians were Pelasgians and were called Kranaii; when the Cecrops ruled, they were called Cecropides; under Eret they became the Athenians and, as a result, the Ionians, from Ionus, the son of Xutus "

“... the Pelasgians spoke a barbarian dialect. And if all Pelasgi were such, then the Athenians, being Pelasgians, changed their language at the same time as all of Greece.

"The Greeks, already isolated from the Pelasgians, were few in number, and their number grew by mixing with other barbarian tribes"

“... the Pelasgians, who had already become Hellenes, united with the Athenians when they also began to call themselves Hellenes”

In the "Pelasgians" of Herodotus, it is worth considering a conglomeration of various tribes, having both autochthonous Neolithic origin, and Asia Minor, and the North Balkan origin, which passed, during the Bronze Age, the process of homogenization. Later, the Indo-European tribes who came from the north of the Balkans, as well as the Minoan colonists from Crete, were also involved in this process.

Skulls of the Middle Bronze Age:

207, 213, 208 - female skulls; 217 - male.

207, 217 – Atlanto-Mediterranean type (“basic white”); 213 – European Alpine type; 208 - Eastern Alpine type.

It is also necessary to touch upon Mycenae and Tiryns, the civilizational centers of the Middle Bronze Age.

Reconstruction of the appearance of the ancient Mycenaeans:

Paul Fort, "Daily life in Greece during the Trojan War"

“Everything that can be learned from the study of skeletons of the early Hellenic type (XVI-XIII centuries BC), with the current level of anthropological information, only confirms and slightly supplements the data of Mycenaean iconography. The men buried in the circle B of the royal tombs at Mycenae averaged 1.675 meters in height, seven were over 1.7 meters. Women - mostly 4-8 centimeters lower. In circle A, two skeletons are more or less well preserved: the first reaches 1.664 meters, the second (the bearer of the so-called mask of Agamemnon) - 1.825 meters. Lawrence Angil, who studied them, noticed that both had extremely dense bones, bodies and heads were massive. These people clearly belonged to a different ethnic type from their subjects and were on average 5 centimeters taller than them.

If we talk about the "God-born" sailors who came from across the sea and usurped power in the old Mycenaean policies, then here, most likely, we have a place with the ancient Eastern Mediterranean tribes of sailors. The "God-born" found their reflection in myths and legends, with their names began the dynasties of the Hellenic kings, who already lived in the Classical era.

Paul Fort about the type displayed on the death masks of kings from the "god-born" dynasties:

“Some deviations from the common type on the golden masks from the burial grounds allow us to see other physiognomies, one is especially interesting - almost round, with a more fleshy nose and eyebrows fused at the bridge of the nose. Such persons are often found in Anatolia, and even more often in Armenia, as if on purpose wanting to substantiate the legends, according to which many kings, queens, concubines, craftsmen, slaves and soldiers moved from Asia Minor to Greece.

Traces of their presence can be found among the populations of the Cyclades, Lesbos and Rhodes.

A. Poulianos about the Aegean Anthropological Complex:

“He stands out for dark pigmentation, wavy (or straight) hair, medium chest hair growth, above average beard growth. The influence of the Near East elements is undoubtedly evident here. According to the color and shape of the hair, according to the growth of the beard and hair on the chest in relation to the anthropological types of Greece and Western Asia, Aegean type occupies an intermediate position

Also, confirmation of the expansion of navigators "from across the sea" can be found in the data dermatology:

“There are eight types of prints, which can easily be reduced to three main ones: arcuate, looped, whorled, that is, those whose lines diverge in concentric circles. The first attempt at comparative analysis, made in 1971 by Professors Rol Astrom and Sven Erikeson on the material of two hundred copies of the Mycenaean era, turned out to be discouraging. She showed that for Cyprus and Crete the percentage of arc prints (5 and 4%, respectively) is the same as for the peoples of Western Europe, for example, Italy and Sweden; the percentage of looped (51%) and whorled (44.5%) is very close to what we see among the peoples of modern Anatolia and Lebanon (55% and 44%). True, the question of what percentage of Greek artisans were Asian emigrants remains open. And yet the fact remains: the study of fingerprints revealed two ethnic components of the Greek people - European and Middle Eastern "

Coming up to more detailed description population Ancient Hellas – K. Kuhn about the ancient Hellenes(from "The Races of Europe")

“... In 2000 BC. there were, from a cultural point of view, three main elements of the Greek population: local Neolithic Mediterraneans; aliens from the north, from the Danube; Cycladic tribes from Asia Minor.

Between 2000 BC and the era of Homer, Greece was invaded three times: (a) by the Corded Ware tribes who came from the north later than 1900 BC and who, according to Myres, brought the Indo-European basis Greek language; (b) the Minoans from Crete, who gave the "ancient genealogy" to the dynasties of the rulers of Thebes, Athens, Mycenae. Most of them invaded Greece later than 1400 BC. © "God-born" conquerors, such as Atreus, Pelops, etc., who came from the Aegean on ships, learned the Greek language and usurped the throne, marrying the daughters of the Minoan kings ... "

“The Greeks of the great period of the Athenian civilization were the result of a mixture of various ethnic elements, and the search for the origins of the Greek language continues ...”

“The skeletal remains should come in handy in the process of reconstructing history. The six skulls from Ayas Kosmas, near Athens, represent the entire period of mixing of Neolithic, "Danubian" and "Cycladic" elements, between 2500 and 2000 BC. BC. Three skulls are dolichocephalic, one is mesocephalic, and two are brachycephalic. All faces are narrow, noses are leptorrhine, orbits are high ... "

“The Middle Helladic period is represented by 25 skulls, which represent the era of the invasion of the Corded Ware culture from the North, and the process of strengthening the power of the Minoan conquerors from Crete. 23 skulls are from Asin, and 2 are from Mycenae. It should be noted that the population of this period are very mixed. Only two skulls are brachycephalic, they are both male and both are associated with short stature. One skull is of medium size, high skull, narrow nose and narrow face; others are extremely broad-faced and Hamerrin. They are two different broad-headed types, both of which can be found in present-day Greece.

Long skulls are not a homogeneous type; some have large skulls and massive brows, with deep nasal cavities, reminiscent of one of the Neolithic dolichocephalic variants from Long Barrow and the Corded Ware culture…”

“The rest of the dolichocephalic skulls represent the Middle Helladic population, which had smoothed eyebrows and long noses, similar to the inhabitants of Crete and Asia Minor in the same era ...”

“...41 skulls of the late Helladic period, dated between 1500 and 1200. BC, and having their origin, for example, from Argolis, must include a certain element of "God-born" conquerors. Among these skulls, 1/5 are brachycephalic, mostly of the Cypriot Dinaric type. Among the dolichocephalic, a significant proportion are difficult-to-classify variants, and a smaller number are undersized Mediterranean variants. The similarity with the northern types, with the type of Corded Ware culture in particular in this era seems to be more noticeable than before. This change of non-Minoan origin must be related to the heroes of Homer"

“... The racial history of Greece in the classical period is not described in as much detail as in those periods that were previously studied. Up to the beginning of the slave era, there may have been small population changes. In the Argolis, the pure Mediterranean element is present in only one of the six skulls. According to Kumaris, mesocephaly dominated Greece throughout the Classical period, both in the Hellenistic and Roman eras. The average cephalic index in Athens, represented by 30 skulls, of this period is 75.6. Mesocephaly displays a mixture of various elements, among which the Mediterranean is dominant. Greek colonies in Asia Minor display the same combination of types as in Greece. The mixture with Asia Minor was supposed to be masked by a noticeable similarity between the populations of both shores of the Aegean Sea"

“The high-bridged Minoan nose and lithe body came to classical Greece as an artistic ideal, but human portraits show that this could not have been commonplace in life. Villains, funny characters, satyrs, centaurs, giants and all objectionable people both in sculpture and in vase painting are shown as broad-faced, snub-nosed and bearded. Socrates belonged to this type, similar to a satyr. This Alpine type can also be found in modern Greece. And in the early skeletal materials, it is represented by some brachycephalic series.

In general, it is surprising to contemplate the portraits of the Athenians and the death masks of the Spartans, so similar to the modern inhabitants of Western Europe. This similarity is less noticeable in Byzantine art, where one can often find images similar to modern inhabitants of the Middle East; but the Byzantines, in the main, lived outside of Greece.
As will be shown below(Chapter XI) , the modern inhabitants of Greece, oddly enough, practically do not differ from their classical ancestors»

Greek skull from Megara:

The following data leads Lauren Angel:

“All evidence and assumptions contradict Nilsson's hypothesis that the Greco-Roman decline is associated with an increase in the reproduction of passive individuals, the bastardization of the originally racially pure nobility, as well as their low birth rate. Since it was this mixed group, which appeared in the Geometric period, that gave rise to the Classical Greek civilization"

Analysis of the remains of representatives different periods Greek history, reproduced by Angel:

Based on the above data, the dominant elements in the Classical era are: Mediterranean and Iranian-Nordic.

Greeks of the Iranian-Nordic type(from the works of L. Angel)

“Representatives of the Iranian-Nordic type have long high skulls with strongly protruding occiputs that smooth out the contour of the ovoid ellipsoid, developed eyebrows, sloping and wide foreheads. Considerable height of the face and narrow cheekbones, combined with a wide jaw and forehead, give the impression of a rectangular "horse" face. Large but compressed cheekbones are combined with high orbits, an aquiline protruding nose, a long concave palate, massive wide jaws, chins with a recess, although not protruding forward. Initially, representatives of this type were both blue-eyed and green-eyed blondes and brown-haired, and burning brunettes.

Greeks of the Mediterranean type(from the works of L. Angel)

“Classic Mediterraneans are thin-boned and gracile. They have small dolichocephalic heads, pentagonal in vertical and occipital projection; contracted neck muscles, low rounded foreheads. They have delicate beautiful features; square orbits, thin noses with a low nose bridge; triangular mandibles with a slight protruding chin, barely noticeable prognathism and malocclusion, which is associated with the degree of wear of the teeth. Initially, they were only below average height, with a thin neck, brunettes with black or dark hair.

Having studied the comparative data of the ancient and modern Greeks, Angel draws conclusions:

"racial continuity in Greece is striking"

“Poulianos is correct in his judgment that there is a genetic continuity of the Greeks from antiquity to modernity”

For a long time, the question of the influence of the northern Indo-European elements on the genesis of the Greek civilization remained debatable, so it is worth dwelling on a few points related to this particular topic:

The following writes Paul Fort:

“Classical poets, from Homer to Euripides, stubbornly draw heroes tall and blond. Any sculpture from the Minoan era to the Hellenistic era endows goddesses and gods (except perhaps Zeus) with golden curls and superhuman growth. It is rather an expression of an ideal of beauty, a physical type not found among mere mortals. And when the geographer Dikearchus from Messene in the 4th century BC. e. surprised at the blond Thebans (dyed? red?) and praises the courage of the fair-haired Spartans, he only emphasizes in this way the exceptional rarity of blondes in the Mycenaean world. And in fact, on the few images of warriors that have come down to us - - be it ceramics, inlay, wall paintings of Mycenae or Pylos. we see men with black, slightly curly hair, and their beards, if any, are as black as agate. No less dark are the wavy or curly hair of priestesses and goddesses in Mycenae and Tiryns. Wide-open dark eyes, a long thin nose with a well-marked or even fleshy tip, thin lips, very fair skin, relatively small stature and slim figure- we invariably find all these features on Egyptian monuments where the artist sought to capture "the peoples that live on the islands of the Great (Substantial) Green". In the XIII, as in the XV century BC. e., most of the population of the Mycenaean world belonged to the oldest Mediterranean type, the same one that has been preserved in many regions to this day "

L. Angel

"there is no reason to suppose that the Iranian-Nordic type in Greece was as light-pigmented as the Nordic type in northern latitudes"

J. Gregor

“... Both the Latin “flavi”, and the Greek “xanthos”, and “hari” are generalized terms with many additional meanings. "Xanthos", which we boldly translate as "blonde", was used by the ancient Greeks to define "any color of hair except jet black, and that color was in all probability no lighter than dark chestnut" ((Weiss, Keiter ) Sergi)…”

K. Kuhn

"... we cannot be sure that all prehistoric skeletal material that appears to be north-Caucasian in the osteological sense was associated with light pigmentation"

Buxton

“With regard to the Achaeans, we can say that there seems to be no reason to suspect the presence of a North Caucasian component”

Debets

“In the composition of the population of the Bronze Age, we generally find the same anthropological types as in the modern population, only with a different percentage of representatives of certain types. We can't talk about mixing with the northern race."

K. Kuhn, L. Angel, Baker and, later, Aris Poulianos were of the opinion that the Indo-European language was brought to Greece along with the ancient tribes of Central Europe, which, as an integral element, became part of the Dorian and Ionian tribes that assimilated the local Pelasgian population.

We can find indications of this fact in the ancient author Polemona(living in the era of Hadrian):

“Those who managed to preserve the Hellenic and Ionian race in all its purity (!) are men rather tall, broad-shouldered, stately, well-cut and rather fair-skinned. Their hair is not quite light (that is, light brown or light brown), relatively soft and slightly wavy. The faces are broad, high cheekbones, the lips are thin, the nose is straight and shiny, full of fire, eyes. Yes, the eyes of the Greeks are the most beautiful in the world.

These features: a strong physique, medium or tall height, mixed hair pigmentation, wide cheekbones indicate a Central European element. Similar data can be found in Poulianos, according to whose research the Central European Alpine type in some regions of Greece has specific gravity 25-30%. Poulianos studied 3,000 people from various regions of Greece, among which Macedonia is the most light-pigmented, but at the same time, the cephalic index there is 83.3, i.e. an order of magnitude higher than in all other regions of Greece. In northern Greece, Poulianos distinguishes the Western Macedonian (North-Pindian) type, it is the most light-pigmented, is sub-brachycephalic, but at the same time, it is similar to the Helladic anthropological group (Central Greek and South Greek type).

As a more or less illustrative example West Macedonian complex damn - Bulgarian-speaking Macedonian:

An interesting example is the fair-haired characters from pellets(Macedonia)

In this case, the heroes are depicted as golden-haired, pale (as opposed to mere mortals working under the scorching sun?), very tall, with a straight profile line.

In comparison with them - image detachment of hypaspists from Macedonia:

On the image of the heroes, we see the underlined sacredness of their image and features, which are as different as possible from the "mere mortals" embodied in the hypaspist warriors.

If we talk about paintings, then the relevance of their comparison with living people is doubtful, since the creation of realistic portraits begins only from the 5th-4th century. BC. - before this period, the image of features that are relatively rare among people dominates (an absolutely straight line of the profile, a heavy chin with a soft contour, etc.).

However, the combination of these features is not a fantasy, but an ideal, the models for the creation of which were few. Some parallels for comparison:

In the 4th-3rd centuries. realistic images people are starting to become widespread – some examples are:

Alexander the Great(+proposed face reconstruction)

Alcibiades / Thucydides / Herodotus

On the sculptures of the era of Philip Argeada, the conquests of Alexander and in the Hellenistic period, which are distinguished by a higher realism than in earlier periods, dominates atlanto-mediterranean(“basic white” in Angel's terminology) type. Perhaps this is an anthropological pattern, and possibly a coincidence or a new ideal, under which the features of the depicted personalities were summed up.

Atlanto-Mediterranean characteristic of the Balkan Peninsula:

Modern Greeks of the Atlanto-Mediterranean type:

Based on the data of K. Kuhn, the Atlanto-Mediterranean substrate is to a large extent present in Greece everywhere, and is also the basic element for the populations of Bulgaria and Crete. Angel also positions this anthropological element as one of the most prevalent in the population of Greece, both throughout history (see table) and in the modern era.

Antique sculptural images showing features of the above type:

The same features are clearly visible in the sculptures of Alcibiades, Seleucus, Herodotus, Thucydides, Antiochus and other representatives of the Classical era.

As mentioned above, this element also dominates among population of Bulgaria:

2) Tomb in Kazanlak(Bulgaria)

The same features are visible here as in the previous paintings.

Thracian type according to Aris Poulianos:

"Of all the types of the southeastern branch of the Caucasoid race Thracian type the most mesocephalic and narrow-faced. The profile of the bridge of the nose is straight or convex (often concave in women). The position of the tip of the nose is horizontal or raised. The slope of the forehead is almost straight. The protrusion of the wings of the nose and the thickness of the lips are medium. In addition to Thrace and eastern Macedonia, the Thracian type is common in Turkish Thrace, in the west of Asia Minor, partly among the population of the Aegean Islands and, apparently, in the north, in Bulgaria (in the southern and eastern regions). This type is closest to the central one, especially to its Thessalian variant. It can be opposed to both Epirus and Western Asian types, and is called southwestern ... "

Both Greece (with the exception of Epirus and the Aegean archipelago), as a zone of localization of the civilizational center of the Classical Hellenic civilization, and Bulgaria, with the exception of the northwestern regions, as the ethnic core of the ancient Thracian community), are relatively tall, dark-pigmented, mesocephalic, high-headed populations, whose specificity fits into the framework of the Western Mediterranean race (see Alekseev).

Map of peaceful Greek colonization in the 7th-6th centuries. BC.

During the expansion of the 7th-6th centuries. BC. Greek colonists, having left the overpopulated cities of Hellas, brought the grain of classical Greek civilization to almost all parts of the Mediterranean: Asia Minor, Cyprus, Southern Italy, Sicily, the Black Sea coast of the Balkans and Crimea, as well as the emergence of a few policies in the Western Mediterranean (Massilia, Emporia, etc. .d.).

In addition to the cultural element, the Hellenes brought there the "grain" of their race - a genetic component isolated Cavalli Sforza and associated with areas of the most intensive colonization:

This element is also visible clustering of the population of South-Eastern Europe by Y-DNA markers:

Concentration of various Y-DNA markers in the population of modern Greece:

Greeks N=91

15/91 16.5% V13 E1b1b1a2
1/91 1.1% V22 E1b1b1a3
2/91 2.2% M521 E1b1b1a5
2/91 2.2% M123 E1b1b1c

2/91 2.2% P15(xM406) G2a*
1/91 1.1% M406 G2a3c

2/91 2.2% M253(xM21,M227,M507) I1*
1/91 1.1% M438(xP37.2,M223) I2*
6/91 6.6% M423(xM359) I2a1*

2/91 2.2% M267(xM365,M367,M368,M369) J1*

3/91 3.2% M410(xM47,M67,M68,DYS445=6) J2a*
4/91 4.4% M67(xM92) J2a1b*
3/91 3.2% M92 J2a1b1
1/91 1.1% DYS445=6 J2a1k
2/91 2.2% M102(xM241) J2b*
4/91 4.4% M241(xM280) J2b2
2/91 2.2% M280 J2b2b

1/91 1.1% M317 L2

15/91 16.5% M17 R1a1*

2/91 2.2% P25(xM269) R1b1*
16/91 17.6% M269 R1b1b2

4/91 4.4% M70 T

The following writes Paul Faure:

“For several years, a group of scientists from Athens - V. Baloaras, N. Konstantoulis, M. Paidusis, X. Sbarunis and Aris Poulianos - studying the blood groups of young conscripts of the Greek army and the composition of bones burned at the end of the Mycenaean era, came to a double conclusion about that the Aegean Sea basin shows a striking uniformity in the ratio of blood types, and a few exceptions, recorded, say, in the White Mountains of Crete and in Macedonia, find a match among the Ingush and other peoples of the Caucasus (while throughout Greece the blood type is “B "approaches 18%, and the group "O" with slight fluctuations - to 63%, here they are noted much less often, and the latter sometimes drops to 23%). This is a consequence of ancient migrations within the stable and still predominant Mediterranean type in Greece "

Y-DNA markers in the population of modern Greece:

mt-DNA markers in the population of modern Greece:

Autosomal markers in the population of modern Greece:

AS A CONCLUSION

It is worth making several conclusions:

Firstly, Classical Greek civilization, formed in the 8th-7th centuries. BC. included a variety of ethno-civilizational elements: Minoan, Mycenaean, Anatolian, as well as the influence of the North Balkan (Achaean and Ionian) elements. The genesis of the civilizational core of Classical civilization is a set of processes of consolidation of the above elements, as well as their further evolution.

Secondly, the racial genetic and ethnic core of the Classical civilization was formed as a result of the consolidation and homogenization of various elements: Aegean, Minoan, North Balkan and Anatolian. Among which the dominant was the autochthonous East Mediterranean element. The Hellenic "core" was formed as a result of complex processes of interaction between the above elements.

Thirdly, unlike the "Romans", who were essentially a polytonym ("Roman = citizen of Rome"), the Hellenes formed a unique ethnic group that retained a family relationship with the ancient Thracian and Asia Minor population, but became the racial genetic basis for a completely new civilization. Based on the data of K. Kuhn, L. Angel and A. Poulianos, there is a line of anthropological continuity and “racial continuity” between modern and ancient Hellenes, which manifests itself both in comparison between populations as a whole, as well as in comparison between specific micro-elements.

Fourth, despite the fact that many people have an oppositional opinion, the Classical Greek civilization became one of the bases for the Roman civilization (along with the Etruscan component), thereby partly predetermining the further genesis of the Western world.

Fifth, in addition to influencing Western Europe, the era of the campaigns of Alexander and the wars of the Diadochi was able to give rise to a new Hellenistic world, in which various Greek and Oriental elements were closely intertwined. It was the Hellenistic world that became fertile ground for the emergence of Christianity, its further spread, as well as the emergence of the Eastern Roman Christian civilization.

The Greeks - shipbuilders They invented a high-speed ship with 70 oars called a trireme, where rowers sat in three rows on both sides of the ship, and a ram was installed on the bow of the ship - a pointed log, which made its way through an enemy ship. The Greeks believed that their ship was alive, and they painted an eye on the bow of the ship so that it could see far away.

The ancient Greeks built beautiful buildings - temples for their gods. The Parthenon temple in Athens on the Acropolis, erected in honor of the goddess Athena, was very beautiful. Its walls and columns were made of hewn stone blocks. The splendor of the temple was complemented by statues and panels carved from marble. In the center of the temple stood a 12-meter statue of the goddess, covered with ivory and gold, the creation of the great sculptor Phidias. Greeks are architects

The Greek theater was like a modern circus or stadium, only cut in half. The actors sat on the stage, and the audience sat on stone benches on the slopes of the hill. The theater accommodated 18 thousand spectators. In Greek theater, all roles were performed by men. The Greeks invented theater

So that far-seated spectators could see everything, the actors put on painted masks that conveyed the character and mood, emphasized the age and gender of the character. The mask had a large open mouth, which acted as a mouthpiece - amplifying the voice of the actor so that it could be heard in the far rows. The Greeks invented theater

Which of the three goddesses (Athena, Aphrodite, Hera) did Paris give an apple with the inscription "Most Beautiful"? What is the name of the king of the gods, the lord of thunder and lightning, what is his symbol? What are the brothers of Zeus? How did they share dominance? How did Hera try to kill Hercules as an infant? What was the name of the sculptor whom Aphrodite helped bring the statue to life? To which god do the presented attributes correspond Competition - Gods and heroes of myths Aphrodite Zeus; Serpents in the cradle Hades - the kingdom of the dead; Poseidon - the lord of the seas Pygmalion Ares - the god of perfidious war

One of the bravest Greek heroes who besieged Troy. He was killed by an arrow from Paris that struck his heel. Competition - Gods and heroes of myths Achilles King of Ithaca; He was famous for his intelligence, cunning, resourcefulness and courage. Hero of Homer's Iliad. Odysseus Hero who killed Medusa Gorgon Perseus ancient greek hero. By order of his father, who was predicted to die at the hands of his son, he was abandoned as a baby in the mountains. Saved by a shepherd, he unknowingly killed his father and married his mother. When he learned that the oracle's prediction had come true, he blinded himself. Oedipus

Competition - Gods and Heroes of Myths The leader of the Argonauts, who set off for the Golden Fleece, which the hero obtained with the help of the sorceress Medea. Jason (Jason) The hero who did not flinch before the Minotaur (terrible half-bull-half-man) and freed the captives Theseus (Theseus)

1. Nemean lion; 2. Lernaean hydra; 3. Stymphalian birds; 4. Augean stables; 5. Kerinean fallow deer; 6. Erymanthian boar; 7. Cretan bull; 8. Horses of Diomedes; 9. Belt of Hippolyta; 10. Cows of Geryon; 11. Cerberus; 12. Apples of the Hesperides Competition - 12 labors of Hercules

What feat did Hercules perform in the cradle? What is special about Stymphalian birds? How did Hercules manage to clear the Augean stables in one day? What did the Kerinean doe look like and to whom did it belong? What special property did the apples of the Hesperides have? Competition - myths about Hercules He destroyed the snakes sent by the Hero Their feathers were bronze arrows, and the claws and beaks were copper He changed the riverbeds and directed their waters through the stables She had golden horns and copper hooves; belonged to Artemis They gave eternal youth