European nation. Russian traditions
AND LANGUAGES spread over most of Asia and almost all of Europe; belong to the Caucasian tribe, embracing: Hindus, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Germans, Slavs and Celts. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. ... ...
The peoples of Oceania at the beginning of European colonization- Unlike Australia, Oceania has archeological monuments and even monuments of writing, but the former are still little explored, and the latter are only being deciphered. Therefore, the study of its history relies mainly on anthropological data, ... ... The World History. Encyclopedia
Indo-Europeans Indo-European languages Anatolian Albanian Armenian Baltic Venetian Germanic Illyrian Aryan: Nuristani, Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Dardic ... Wikipedia
INDO-EUROPEAN PEOPLES AND LANGUAGES distributed over most of Asia and almost all of Europe; belong to the Caucasian tribe, embracing: Hindus, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Germans, Slavs and Celts. Dictionary of foreign words included in ... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language
Scheme of Indo-European migrations in 4000-1000 years. BC e. in accordance with the "Kurgan hypothesis". The pink area corresponds to the alleged ancestral home of the Indo-Europeans (Samara and Srednestog cultures). The orange area corresponds to ... ... Wikipedia
Contents 1 History 2 Life at the time of the arrival of Europeans 3 XVII-XVIII centuries ... Wikipedia
Anthropology of Russians is a complex of hereditarily determined traits that characterize the genotype and phenotype of Russians. Most of the anthropological and genetic indicators of Russians are close to the European average. Contents ... Wikipedia
This term has other meanings, see White. White people (English White people, in American English also Caucasian people) is a historical and cultural ethnographic term used in various contexts for ... ... Wikipedia
I Contents: I. General concepts. II. Historical outline E. from ancient times to the beginning of the XIX century. III. European E. in the XIX and early XX. IV. E. from selected countries(E. statistics): from Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Russia and ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary F. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron
The son of an archpriest of the Moscow Commercial School, (born May 5, 1820 in Moscow, died there on October 4, 1879), is one of the largest representatives of Russian historical science of the 19th century. In the family, S. was lonely, since his sisters, significantly ... ... Big biographical encyclopedia
Books
- , Weiss G.. The book is a reprint edition of 1875. Although serious work has been done to restore the original quality of the edition, some pages may…
- The external life of peoples from ancient times to our times. Vol. 2. The history of clothing and utensils in the Middle Ages from the 4th to the 14th century to our time. Part 1. Byzantium and the East. Part 2. European peoples.
- Consuls in the Christian states of Europe and the North American United States. 1894. V. 2. The history of clothing and utensils in the Middle Ages from the 4th to the 14th century to our time. Part 1. Byzantium and the East. Part 2. European peoples (Fragment - 70 pages). , Weiss G. This book will be produced in accordance with your order using Print-on-Demand technology. The book is a reprint edition of 1875. Despite the fact that there was a serious…
Foreign Europe includes the territory of Europe to the west of the borders of the Russian Federation with a total area of about 6 million square meters. km. The geographical zonality of Foreign Europe is determined by a combination of wide lowlands (the eastern part of the East European Plain, Central European, Lower and Middle Danube Plains, the Paris Basin) and a number of mountain ranges (Alps, Balkans, Carpathians, Apennines, Pyrenees, Scandinavian mountains). The coastline is heavily indented, has a large number of bays, convenient for navigation. Many rivers flow through the region, the longest of which are the Danube, the Dnieper, the Rhine, the Elbe, the Vistula, the Western Dvina (Daugava), and the Loire. For most of Europe abroad, a temperate climate is characteristic, for Southern Europe - a Mediterranean climate, for extreme north subarctic and arctic.
The vast majority of the population of modern Europe speaks the languages of the Indo-European family. The period of existence of a common Indo-European language dates back to the 5th-4th millennium BC. At the end of this period, the migration of their speakers and the formation of separate Indo-European languages began. The geographical localization of the ancestral home of the Indo-Europeans has not been precisely established. Various hypotheses place it on the Balkan Peninsula, Asia Minor, in the Black Sea region. In the II-I millennium BC. Indo-European languages spread throughout Europe, but as early as the 1st millennium BC. peoples of non-Indo-European origin were preserved: the Etruscans in Italy, the Iberians in the Iberian Peninsula, etc. Currently, only the Basques living in the north of Spain and the adjacent regions of France are native speakers of a language dating back to the pre-Indo-European era and not related to any other modern languages.
In the course of settling across Europe, separate groups of languages of the Indo-European family were formed: Romance, Germanic, Slavic, Celtic, Greek, Albanian, Baltic, and also the now non-existent Thracian.
Romance languages go back to Latin, which spread in the first centuries of our era on the territory of the Roman Empire. They are spoken by such numerous peoples of the south-west and west of Foreign Europe as the French (there are 54 million people in Foreign Europe), Italians (53 million people), Spaniards (40 million people), Portuguese (12 million people) . The Romance group includes the languages of the Walloons of Belgium, the Corsicans who inhabit the part of France Islands Corsica, Catalans and Galicians of Spain, Sardinians of the Italian island of Sardinia (in a number of classifications they are considered as a group of Italians), Romansh (Friuls, Ladins and Romanches) in northeastern Italy and southern Switzerland, Franco-Swiss, Italo-Swiss, San -Marinians, Andorrans, Monaco (Monegasques). The Eastern Romance subgroup includes the languages of the Romanians, Moldavians, as well as the Aromanians, who live dispersed in the countries of the Balkan Peninsula.
The languages of the Germanic group are common in Central Europe, where the Germans live (more than 75 million people). On the German Austrians, German-Swiss, Liechtensteiners also speak. In Northern Europe, the peoples of the German group include the Swedes (about 8 million people), Danes, Norwegians, Icelanders, Faroese; in the British Isles - the British (45 million people), the Scots - the people Celtic origin, who has now switched to English, as well as the Ulsters - the descendants of immigrants to Ulster from England and Scotland; in the Benelux countries - the Dutch (13 million people), the Flemings (they live in Belgium and the adjacent regions of France and the Netherlands), the Frisians (they live in the north of the Netherlands), the Luxembourgers. Until the Second World War, a significant part of European Jews spoke Yiddish, which was formed on the basis of German dialects. At present, the Hebrew language of the Semitic group of the Afroasian family is widespread among the Jews. In addition, in everyday life they communicate in the languages of those peoples among whom they live.
The peoples of Central, South-Eastern and Eastern Europe speak the languages of the Slavic group. The languages of Ukrainians (43 million people) and Belarusians (10 million people) together with Russian form an East Slavic subgroup; Poles (38 million people), Czechs, Slovaks and Lusatians of East Germany - West Slavic; Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, Montenegrins, Slovenes, Bulgarians, Macedonians - South Slavic.
The languages of the Celtic group, in the 1st millennium BC. widespread in Europe, survived in the British Isles, where the Irish, Welsh and Gaels (Northern Scots who did not switch to English) live. The language of the Bretons, the population of the Brittany Peninsula (France), is also Celtic.
The Baltic group includes the languages of Lithuanians and Latvians, the Greek - Greeks, Albanian - Albanians. The language of the European Gypsies, whose ancestors migrated to Europe from Asia, belongs to the Indo-Aryan group of the Indo-European family.
Along with the Indo-Europeans, peoples living in foreign Europe speak the languages of the Finno-Ugric group of the Uralic language family. These are the Finns (about 5 million people), Estonians (1 million people), the Saami, whose ancestors penetrated from the east into the Baltic Sea area in the 2nd millennium BC, as well as the Hungarians (12 million people) - the descendants of nomads who settled at the end of the ninth century. on the Danube lowland. Turks, Tatars, Gagauz, Karaites, whose languages belong to the Turkic group of the Altaic language family, live in South-Eastern and Eastern Europe. The language of the Maltese (more than 350 thousand people), formed under the influence of Arabic, belongs to the Semitic group of the Afroasian language family.
The population of foreign Europe belongs to a large caucasian race, within the boundaries of which it forms the Atlanto-Baltic, White Sea-Baltic, Central European, Indo-Mediterranean, Balkan-Caucasian small races.
Economy. The peoples of Foreign Europe belong to the HKT of arable farmers. In the mountainous zone on small plots of land until the 20th century. preserved elements of manual farming. For example, the Basques used the Neolithic Laya tool, which consisted of two sharp rods mounted on a wooden handle, to loosen the earth.
The Apennine and Pyrenean Peninsulas were characterized by a light, wheelless plow of the Roman (Italian) type, suitable for cultivating stony, infertile soils. To the north, a heavy asymmetrical plow with a wheeled front was common, which dates back to the Celtic cultural tradition. The peoples of Eastern Europe and the Balkan Peninsula used the Slavic plow with a skid. Archaic arable tools survived longer in this zone. The peoples of the Balkan Peninsula in the XIX century. used a light ralo with a symmetrical plowshare, which, unlike the later plow, did not have a wheeled plow and a blade.
In the Middle Ages, European agriculture was characterized by two-field and three-field crop rotations, and for the forest areas of Eastern and Northern Europe with a low population density, also slash-and-burn agriculture, which persisted in Finland until the beginning of the 20th century.
In the XVIII-XIX centuries. In Europe, there was an industrial revolution that affected agricultural production. England and Flanders became the centers for the invention and implementation of new agricultural technologies and tools during this period, the economy of which was distinguished by the early development of capitalist relations. Here in the middle of the XVIII century. they began to use a light Brabant (Norfolk) plow, which increased the depth of plowing and reduced the number of weeds on the field, agronomic knowledge developed, multi-field crop rotation systems were introduced, which were subsequently introduced and improved in other European countries.
Traditionally in Europe, cereals were grown (wheat, barley, oats, in cooler areas - rye), legumes, vegetables, root crops (turnips, rutabaga). In the XVI-XIX centuries. there was an introduction of new crops, including corn, potatoes, tobacco, and sugar beets imported from the New World.
Currently, grain farming is developed in the southern part of Foreign Europe, including Ukraine. In the more northern zone, agriculture is focused on growing potatoes and vegetables.
Favorable for agriculture are the climatic conditions of Southern Europe, where olives, citrus fruits, rice are cultivated, which appeared in Spain and Italy under the influence of the Arabs, and on the Balkan Peninsula - the Turks. Viticulture and related winemaking have long been developed here. The culture of grapes has become widespread among European nations and is grown as far north as Germany and the Czech Republic, and in small quantities even in England.
Among the peoples of Northern Europe - Icelanders, Norwegians, Swedes, Finns - agriculture was less important because of the harsh climate and infertile soils. Animal husbandry, fishing, and various crafts played an important role in the economy of this region.
Animal husbandry (breeding of cattle, sheep, goats, horses, pigs) is practiced throughout Europe. It is most significant in mountainous regions inconvenient for agriculture (Alps, Carpathians, Apennines, Balkans). Transhumance with vertical transhumance of the herd with a change of two or three pastures per season was the main occupation of some groups of the population of the Alpine zone, where large cattle, as well as Polish gourals engaged in sheep breeding in the Beskids, Moravian Vlachs of the Czech Republic, Transylvanian Hungarians, Aromunians of the Balkan Mountains.
In a number of cases, the predominant development of animal husbandry was determined by commercial gain: meat and dairy animal husbandry in Denmark and Northwestern Germany; sheep breeding in England, where sheep's wool became an important export. Sheep breeding has acquired special meaning and in the Faroe Islands, whose climate is extremely unfavorable for agriculture.
Fishing was of the greatest importance for the inhabitants of the Atlantic coast. The Portuguese, Galicians, Basques caught cod, sardines, anchovies. The main object of fishing for Dutch fishermen was herring. The peoples of Northern Europe - Norwegians, Icelanders, Faroese, Danes have long practiced sea fishing (fishing for cod and herring) and whaling. In particular, the Faroese fished for the pilot whale, a whale whose migration routes pass by the Faroe Islands.
The Finns developed lake and river fishing, as well as hunting. The northernmost people of Foreign Europe - the Saami - were engaged in reindeer herding, hunting and fishing.
The dwelling depended on climatic conditions and the availability of building material. Due to the fact that forests have been cut down in many parts of Foreign Europe, frame structures of houses and brick buildings have spread here. The tree is widely used in construction up to the present time in Scandinavia, Finland, the Baltic states, Belarus.
The southern part of Foreign Europe is characterized by the South European type of house, which developed from a room with a hearth, and subsequently additional residential and utility rooms were attached to it. A South European house can be one-story or have several floors. Its most common variant - the Mediterranean house consists of two floors, the lower of which is economic, the upper one is residential. The house is distributed throughout the Mediterranean from Portugal to Turkey. Houses were built of brick and stone, on the Balkan Peninsula, up to deforestation, they also used log construction. Homestead (house and adjoining outbuildings) often had a plan of a closed quadrangle with an open courtyard. The yard could have economic functions (the Italians of the Alpine zone kept cattle in such a yard) or was a place of rest (the Spaniards of Andalusia).
The Albanians, along with the Mediterranean houses, had residential stone towers - "kuls" (square or rectangular in plan), which also had a defensive function.
In Central and Southern Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Northern France, a house of the Western Central European type is common. Initially, this house consisted of a middle room with a hearth and a bread oven (a door led into it from the street) and two side rooms. Subsequently, the number of rooms increased, utility rooms were attached to the house, forming a verb-like or resting courtyard. One-story (France, Belgium) and two-story (Germany) variants of this type are known.
For Northern Germany, the Netherlands, Alsace and Lorraine, a house of the northern European type is characteristic, which developed from a single-chamber building with a gate in a narrow wall. The main part of it was occupied by a threshing floor, along the side walls there were stalls for cattle, and at the wall opposite the gate there was a residential part with a hearth. Later, a wall appeared that separated the utility room from the residential one, although back in the 17th century. met at home without such a wall. This same type of house was brought in modern England the ancestors of the British - the Angles and Saxons, who moved to the British Isles in the VI century. When agriculture in England lost its importance, the threshing floor turned into a hall - a spacious front hall.
In Germany, the construction of frame houses, known by the German term "half-timbered". In such buildings, the supporting base is sections of dark wooden beams, visible from the outside of the house. The space between the beams is filled with adobe or brick, then plastered and whitewashed.
Half-timbered construction is also used in the construction of houses of the Western Central European type.
The dwelling of the Western and Eastern Slavs, part of the Austrians, Hungarians belongs to the Eastern Central European type. Its basis was a single-chamber building of a log or pillar structure with a hearth or stove (hut / hut). The entrance was through a cold extension (canopy). Since the 19th century a cage-chamber was attached to the dwelling, which in the past was an independent building. As a result, the dwelling acquired the following layout: hut - canopy - hut (chamber). The hearth and the mouth of the stove were transferred to the canopy, the body of which was in the hut, thereby becoming warm and turning into a kitchen. Log buildings are more ancient. In the Czech tradition, the gaps between the logs were plugged with moss and covered with clay, which was painted in various colors. Sometimes the walls of the log house were completely whitewashed. From the 16th century in Western Poland, the Czech Republic, under German influence, the frame technique (half-timbered) spread.
Finland, northern Sweden, northern Norway were characterized by the northern Scandinavian type of dwelling - a log building with a gable roof, consisting of a living room with a stove, a clean room and a cold canopy between them. The house was sheathed with boards, which were usually painted in dark colors.
Southern Sweden, southern Norway and Denmark were dominated by southern Scandinavian-type houses, consisting of a middle dwelling with an oven and hearth (in Denmark only with a stove) and two rooms on the sides. The frame (cellular) technique, similar to the German fachwerk, prevailed.
The northern and southern Scandinavian types were characterized by a closed type of courtyard, in the southern zone - also resting or with a free arrangement of buildings. In Finland, Northern Sweden and Norway, there were two-story log cabins and barns. In Finland, the obligatory construction of the estate was a bathhouse (sauna).
The original types of dwellings were formed among the peoples living in mountainous conditions, where there was a need to combine residential and utility premises in a small area of the area. In the Alpine mountains, the area of residence of the Bavarian Germans, Austrians, the peoples of Switzerland, such, for example, is the Alpine type of house - a huge two- (or three) storey building with a gable roof, combining residential and utility rooms. The lower floor was usually built of stone, the upper ones - of logs (as an option, they had a frame structure). Along the facade wall at the level of the second floor, a gallery with wooden railings was arranged, which was used for drying hay. The Basques of the Pyrenees are characterized by a special type - the Basque house. This is a massive two- or three-story square building with a gable sloping roof and a gate in the front wall. In ancient times, such a house was built from logs, from the 15th century. - made of stone.
Clothing. The common elements of the complex of men's clothing of the peoples of Foreign Europe were a tunic-shaped shirt, trousers, a belt, a sleeveless jacket. Until the middle of the XIX century. among the peoples of the Western part of Europe, the trousers were narrow, slightly below the knee length, they were worn with short stockings or leggings. In the 19th century pants of a modern cut and length spread. The modern costume of the peoples of Europe has absorbed many elements of the English clothing of the 19th century: jackets, tuxedos, raincoats of modern cut, galoshes, rain umbrellas.
The costumes of the inhabitants of some mountainous regions were original. Such, for example, is the typical Tyrolean costume for the inhabitants of the Alps - Austrians, Germans, German-Swiss, which included a white shirt with a turn-down collar, short leather trousers with suspenders, a cloth sleeveless jacket, a wide leather belt, knee-length stockings, shoes, a narrow-brimmed hat and pen.
The components of the men's costume of the Highlanders were a checkered skirt (kilt) knee-length, a beret and a plaid of the same color, a white shirt, and a jacket. The colors of the kilt corresponded to the clan, although not all lowland clans had their own colors in the past.
Albanians and Greeks also wore white men's skirts (fustanella), but they were worn over trousers.
Men's headwear was hats, the shape of which depended on the current fashion, in the Mediterranean - also caps. In the 19th century soft caps with a visor spread in Europe. The ethno-specific headdress of the Basques was the beret.
A typical women's costume consisted of a shirt, skirt, sleeveless jacket. The clothes of the Protestant peoples in most cases were distinguished by darker tones.
Archaic versions of women's clothing survived in the 19th century. in Eastern Finland: over a tunic-shaped shirt with embroidery, two unsewn panels were worn, held on shoulder straps. Among the Bulgarians there was a piece of woolen fabric replacing the skirt, fitting a tunic-shaped shirt below the waist; among the northern Albanians - the so-called "jublet", consisting of a bell-shaped skirt and a corsage, sleeves and shoulder pads worn separately, the joints of which were decorated with fringe.
In some areas of foreign Europe there were sundresses. They were worn in Norway, Eastern Finland, Belarus, Southern Bulgaria. Shoulder scarves were popular. In particular, on the Iberian Peninsula they wore colorful shawls - mantillas. Caps served as headdresses, which could be decorated with lace. In the German tradition, women's hats were also common.
Men's and women's shoes for most peoples were leather. In France, Belgium, the Netherlands, they also wore cheap wooden shoes, Belarusians were known for bast shoes.
The Muslims of the Balkan Peninsula had specific elements of clothing: for women - harem pants, over which they put on a skirt, for men - a fez - a red headdress in the form of a cylinder without brim, originally common among the Turks.
Of course, clothes depended on the climate. Thus, the men's and women's costumes of the peoples of Northern Europe included a variety of woolen knitted items, outerwear made from fur.
Food. Among the peoples of foreign Europe, bread (both unleavened and sour) made from wheat, rye, corn flour, porridge, and various dough products was widespread. For example, pizza is typical for Italian cuisine - type open pie, pasta - various pasta, for Czech - bread dumplings (pieces of soaked white bread, which are served as a side dish). In modern times, potato dishes have become widespread. The potato occupied a large place in the cuisine of the Irish, the peoples of the Baltic states, and the Eastern Slavs.
Soups and stews, which were especially diverse in Eastern Europe (borscht among Ukrainians, cabbage soup and borscht among Belarusians). Meat dishes were prepared from pork, beef, lamb, and the Icelanders - also from horse meat. The manufacture of sausages, sausages, smoking hams was practiced. French along with various types meat (including rabbit and pigeon) was eaten by frogs, snails, oysters. Among Muslim peoples, pork is a taboo meat. A typical dish of Muslims of the Balkan Peninsula was pilaf with lamb.
For the inhabitants of the sea and ocean coasts, fish dishes are typical - fried or boiled sardines and cod with potatoes from the Portuguese, herring from the Dutch, fried fish with french fries from the British.
Cheese making is practiced in the culture of many peoples of Europe. A wide variety of cheese varieties exist in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Germany. in Switzerland at the beginning of the 20th century. processed cheese was invented. Cheese dishes include fondue (a hot cheese dish with wine, common in Switzerland and French Savoy), onion soup with cheese (from the French). The Slavic peoples are known various ways fermentation of milk, the inhabitants of the Balkan Peninsula prepare cheese from sheep's milk - cheese.
For most peoples, the main non-alcoholic drink is coffee. Tea is popular among the peoples of the British Isles and Eastern Slavs. A variety of alcoholic drinks of European peoples. Beer is known everywhere, the most famous varieties are produced in the Czech Republic, Germany, Belgium and the British Isles. Cider, a low-alcohol drink made from apples, was popular among the Basques and Bretons. In the viticulture area in large numbers wine is consumed. Grape and fruit brandies are also known (for example, slivovitz among the Western Slavs), grain vodka. Whiskey is produced in the British Isles - a strong drink based on barley, as well as gin - juniper vodka, also popular with the Dutch.
Islam does not allow the use of alcoholic beverages, so the celebratory ritual drink of Muslims is coffee.
Religion. Most of the peoples of Foreign Europe profess Christianity, which is divided into several directions.
Catholicism is practiced by the Irish, the peoples of the Iberian and Apennine Peninsulas (Spaniards, Catalans, Portuguese, Galicians, Basques, Italians), France, Belgium (Walloons and Flemings), Austria, Germans of southern and western Germany, Austrians, part of the population of Switzerland, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, Slovenes, Croats, some Albanians.
Protestantism is spread mainly in the northern part of Europe. Lutherans are the peoples of Finland and Scandinavia, the Germans of the east of Germany; Calvinists - Franco-Swiss, part of the German-Swiss, Dutch, part of the Hungarians, Scots; Anglicans - the British and the Welsh (the latter also have small Protestant churches especially Methodism).
Orthodoxy is characteristic of Southeastern and Eastern Europe. This branch of Christianity is professed by Ukrainians, Belarusians, Greeks, Bulgarians, Macedonians, Serbs, Montenegrins, Romanians, Aromans, Gagauz, part of the Albanians.
Islam spread in the Balkan Peninsula and in the Crimea during the entry of this territory into the Ottoman Empire. Turks, Crimean Tatars, Bosnians, some Albanians, Nomaks Bulgarians are Sunni Muslims, some Albanians are Shiites belonging to the Bektashi tariqa. Jews and Karaites profess Judaism. Among the Saami of Europe Abroad, who belong to the Lutheran Church, traditional animistic beliefs have also been preserved.
Calendar ritual. traditional customs and the rites of the peoples of Foreign Europe have a typological similarity, since historically they were closely connected with general agricultural occupations. Pagan rituals partly survived into the Christian era. Having lost their former meaning, they turned out to be included in the rituals of the Christian holiday calendar, or they existed in parallel with the church tradition. Catholicism and Orthodoxy were more loyal to the remnants of paganism. In contrast, the Protestant churches that arose in the 16th century. and those who fought for the renewal and purification of Christianity showed intolerance towards them. For this reason, archaic customs and rituals are less pronounced in the culture of Protestant peoples.
For many peoples - Catholics and Protestants - the beginning of the winter season was considered St. Martin's Day (November 11). By this day, agricultural work was completed, cattle were brought from mountain pastures. Meals were arranged, the obligatory dish of which for many peoples was a fried goose. In the wine-growing regions, for example, among the Spaniards, Italians, Croats, there was a tasting of young wine, pouring it from vats into barrels.
In the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, the Czech Republic, St. Nicholas Day (December 6) was a popular folk holiday. Saint Nicholas was represented as a man with a long gray beard, in the white robes of a bishop. He rode on a horse or a donkey with a bag of gifts on his back and rods in his hand for naughty children. During the Reformation period, the Protestants, who rejected the cult of saints, transferred the giving of gifts to Christmas, and St. Nicholas was replaced by other characters: the Christ child or, in the German tradition, the Christmas man ( Weihnachtsmann ). Processions of mummers on the eve of St. Nicholas Day have been preserved in the cities of the Netherlands.
An important holiday was Christmas (December 25). Catholics have a tradition of arranging models of a manger in which, according to the biblical legend, Jesus Christ was born. Clay or porcelain figurines of the Virgin Mary, Joseph, the baby Christ and other biblical characters were placed in the Christmas manger. On the evening of Christmas Eve (December 24), a meal was held in the house, before which a ritual of lighting a Christmas log was performed. The head of the family put a large log in the hearth, which was supposed to smolder for as long as possible, sometimes, like the Italians, for twelve days - this was the name of the period from Christmas to Epiphany, corresponding to the Russian Christmas time. The coals and firebrands of the Christmas log were credited with miraculous powers.
In the 19th century throughout Europe, the custom of decorating the Christmas tree, originally known in southwestern Germany, spread.
The Poles, Czechs, and Slovaks had beliefs about the first guest (polyaznik) associated with Christmas. The well-being of the family depended on the personality of the visitor. next year, therefore, the polaznik was often chosen from among respected men, his function included performing ritual actions: for example, in Poland, the polaznik, having entered the hut, sat down and clucked, depicting a chicken. Well-being was also symbolized by the sheaves that the Western Slavs brought to the house on Christmas Eve.
During the twelve-day period in all countries of Europe, groups of children went home, sang songs, practiced fortune-telling. The festivities ended on the feast of the Epiphany (January 6), known in folk tradition as the Day of the Three Kings - the biblical Magi who saw the Star of Bethlehem and came with gifts to baby Jesus. There were processions in which the masks of the three kings (Melchior, Gaspar, Balthazar) took part, who were presented in pseudo-Oriental costumes embroidered with stars.
The Carnival holiday, celebrated for several days before Lent, was very popular - in German this holiday is called fastnacht ("Lenten night", meaning the night before Lent). Carnival is characterized by abundant fatty foods, flour products. The symbol of the holiday was a scarecrow of a big fat man, whom the Spaniards called Don Carnaval, the Italians - the King of Carnival, the Poles - Bacchus. At the end of the festivities, the effigy was burned at the stake. During the days of the Carnival, there were processions of mummers who put on masks of animals, evil spirits, dressed in clothes of the opposite sex. In the cities of Europe, carnival processions spread in the Middle Ages. Then they had a clear regulation, representatives of craft workshops took part in them. In the past, the holiday also included ritual actions aimed at ensuring a good harvest, for example, symbolic plowing. Protestant churches since the 16th century. successfully fought against carnival traditions, considering them a manifestation of paganism. So, among the peoples of Scandinavia, professing Lutheranism, only some games were preserved, the custom of baking special buns and cakes. In modern Europe, the most famous urban carnival processions in Cologne (German Catholics) and Venice (Italians).
After Carnival, Great Lent began, lasting seven weeks until Easter. A common Christian tradition is the dyeing of eggs. For many peoples, a lamb roast is prepared for Easter, symbolizing the Lamb of God - Jesus Christ. In German culture, Easter acquired features children's holiday. There was a custom to hide colored eggs in the garden or in the house. If a child found a red egg first, it promised happiness, blue - misfortune. It was said that these eggs are brought to children by hares - animals associated in the popular mind with fertility, fertility and wealth, which have become one of the symbols of the German Easter celebration.
May Day (May 1) was associated with the onset of the warm season of the year and summer greenery. On the eve of the holiday, a May tree (a real tree dug with roots or a decorated pole) was installed at the site of youth festivities. During the competition, they chose the May king and queen - the most dexterous guy and the most beautiful girl who led the parade. The houses were decorated with flowers. In France, the symbol of May 1 is lilies of the valley, which are usually given to girls. The Germanic peoples had ideas about the special danger of witches who flock to the Sabbaths on the night of May 1 (for these peoples, it is known as the day of St. Walpurgis, and the night, respectively, as Walpurgis). To protect against evil forces, crosses were painted on the doors of the barn, bonfires were lit, rifles were fired into the air, a harrow was dragged around the village, etc.
St. John's Day (June 24) is associated with the summer solstice. On the eve of the holiday, bonfires were lit, medicinal herbs were collected, fortune telling was made. It was believed that the water on Ivanovo night acquires miraculous power. Therefore, in the morning they washed themselves with dew or water from springs. The peoples of Scandinavia on St. John's Day set up a tree similar to the May tree (a pole with various decorations). In many countries, May 1 and St. John's Day are widely celebrated to this day.
The feast of the Assumption of the Virgin (August 15) is timed to coincide with the end of the main summer agricultural work. The Catholics held solemn processions, the participants of which carried the ears of the new harvest to the church for consecration.
The year ended with All Saints' Day (November 1) and All Souls' Day (November 2). On the first day, it was customary to attend a church service, and on the second day, to come to the graves of relatives and arrange a memorial meal at home.
The peoples of the British Isles have preserved holidays associated with the ancient traditions of the Celtic peoples. The Christian Day of All Saints (Halloween, November 1) included the rites of the pagan Celtic holiday Samhain or Samhain (in Gaelic - "end of summer") - processions of mummers, whose participants carried torches or lanterns made of turnips mounted on long sticks; divination and various games. On August 1, the Lugnas holiday fell (on behalf of the pagan god Lug, and later the character of medieval Irish sagas), which in modern English is called Lamma day (according to one version, from Loaf masse- loaf mass, on the other - from Lambmass - masses of lambs). On this day, youth festivities took place, the British brought bread from the flour of the new harvest to the church, the Irish had a common meal, for which they roasted a whole sheep and cooked young potatoes for the first time.
Among the Orthodox peoples of the Balkan Peninsula, the beginning of the cold season, when cattle were driven from mountain pastures and the sowing of winter crops was completed, was considered St. Dmitry's Day (October 26 / November 8), and the beginning of the warm season, when cattle were driven out to pastures, was St. April 23/May 6). By Christmas (December 25/January 7) rituals were timed with a Christmas log, the first guest, dressing up. The analogue of the Catholic carnival is known among the Orthodox (including the Eastern Slavs) as Shrovetide. In Eastern Bulgaria, processions of kuksrovs (sportily dressed men), dating back to ancient Thracian traditions, have been preserved. The ceremony included kukers going around the village, collecting gifts (grain, butter, meat), ritual plowing and sowing in the village square, the symbolic murder of the chief kuker and his subsequent resurrection, and cleansing bathing of the kukers in the river.
Some rituals of ancient origin were timed to coincide with other church holidays. St. Andrew's Day (November 30 / December 13) was celebrated by the southern Slavs as a bear holiday - in folk beliefs Saint Andrew rides a bear. For the she-bear, whose image in the traditional consciousness was associated with fertility, a treat cooked from corn cobs and dry pears was left in front of the house. Saint Nicholas Day (December 6/19) was considered a family holiday. Serbs and Montenegrins arranged a meal with the participation of all family members, the central dish of which was bread consecrated in the church. Meals were also arranged on St. Elijah's Day (July 20/August 2), which acquired the features of a pagan god of thunder. On St. John's Day (June 24/July 7), the Orthodox, as well as Catholics and Protestants, lit fires, gathered herbs, wove wreaths, and wondered. Serbs and Montenegrins performed similar rites also on St. Peter's Day (June 29/July 12).
The rituals of Belarusians and Ukrainians had their own characteristics in connection with climatic conditions. So, the beginning of the cold period was considered here - Pokrov (October 1/14). On the feast of the Trinity, celebrated seven weeks after Easter, houses were decorated with greenery, young trees were placed in front of the entrance. The Orthodox Slavs of the Balkan Peninsula performed a similar ceremony as well as the Catholics on May 1 (14) (in Orthodoxy - the Day of St. Jeremy). In general, the calendar rituals of the Eastern Slavs - Ukrainians and Belarusians - are characterized by great similarity with the Russian.
The traditional calendar rites of the Bosnians and Albanians, despite belonging to Islam, basically did not differ from the rites of the neighboring Christian peoples. This was due to the common origin and long-term residence in similar conditions.
The Day of St. Dmitry corresponded to the Day of Kasim (aka the holiday of winter), October 26, and the Day of St. George - the Day of Khyzyr (April 23). Muslim Albanians celebrated Christmas, which has merged in folk culture with the midwinter holiday, timed to coincide with the Winter Solstice (First Snow Day). In particular, they knew the ritual of kindling a Christmas log. The New Year of Christians corresponded to the spring holiday Nauruz (March 22). On this day, the Albanians performed actions aimed at expelling snakes, personifying evil forces: they went around fields and gardens and made noise, ringing bells and hitting tin with sticks. Their neighbors, the Orthodox of the Balkan Peninsula, performed a similar ceremony on the Annunciation (March 25/April 7). A special holiday for the Albanians was Midsummer Day, celebrated at the end of July. The inhabitants of the villages climbed to the tops of the mountains, where they kindled fires that burned throughout the night.
Family and social structures. For the peoples of foreign Europe in modern times, small (nuclear) families were characteristic. Among the Catholic and Protestant peoples, the tradition of majorat prevailed, in which the household was inherited by the eldest son. The remaining sons did not receive real estate and went to work for hire. The tradition of primacy prevented the fragmentation of farms, which was relevant in conditions of high population density and limited land resources.
On the periphery of the region - in Belarus, Ukraine, Eastern Finland met big families. Among such peoples of the Balkan Peninsula as Serbs, Montenegrins, Bosnians, back in the 19th century. there was a special kind of large family - a zadruga, which consisted of a father with married sons (paternal zadruga) or several brothers with their families (fraternal zadruga). Zadruga had collective ownership of movable and immovable property. The position of the head (it was held by a man) could be elective, or inherited. The head did not have absolute power: decisions were made collectively. Zadrugs united from 10–12 to 50 people. and more. In the second half of the XIX century. the zadrug section began.
The Albanians in the mountainous part of Albania until the beginning of the 20th century. there were fises - tribal associations, controlled by an elder (he held a position by inheritance) and a gathering of men. Fiss owned land, divided into family plots. According to historical tradition, 12 fises are considered the oldest ("original", "large" fises), the rest are considered to have arisen later. One fis could include persons of different confessions.
For a long time, the Highland Scots and Irish retained the clan structure. The clans were the basis of the military organization of these peoples. The disappearance of clans occurred due to economic reasons and was reinforced by the introduction of relevant laws: in Ireland, the clans were abolished by the British in 1605 after the suppression of the uprising of local residents, in Highland Scotland - in the 18th century, after the strengthening of the power of the English monarchy. However, among the Scots, the idea of a person's symbolic belonging to a clan persists to this day.
Ritual life cycle. In traditional culture, acquaintances of young people took place at gatherings, fairs, and festivities. Wedding rituals usually included matchmaking, which could consist of several stages. Catholic and Protestant peoples had a tradition of entering into a written dowry agreement at matchmaking - the forerunner of modern marriage contracts.
Remnants of ancient beliefs have long been preserved in folk cultures. For example, in the German tradition, on the eve of the wedding, a polterabend (literally, an evening of noise, roar) was arranged in the bride's house, or separately at the bride and groom's house. Many guests gathered for the holiday, who made toasts and, after drinking, broke dishes (cracked cups were kept in the house especially for such an occasion). It was believed that the noise drove away young evil spirits, and a large number of shards promised great happiness to the new family. Also, in order to deceive evil spirits in Spain, there were traditions to kidnap the bride and groom on the wedding night or to prevent it in every possible way (ants were launched onto the marriage bed, salt was poured, they hid under the bed, during the night the guests constantly entered the room).
Traditional wedding festivities could last several days. In a number of countries (Denmark, Scotland) Protestant churches and secular authorities in the XVI-XIX centuries. they tried to regulate the wedding so that the population would not spend a lot of money on it: restrictions were imposed on the number of guests, dishes served at the table, and the duration of the wedding.
Protestants view weddings as a simple ceremony, unlike Catholicism and Orthodoxy, which consider weddings to be a church sacrament. Among Protestant peoples, for example, among Norwegians, young people could start a life together after betrothal. Among the Scots, there was an "irregular marriage" or "handshake marriage", which consisted in a verbal statement of a couple in front of witnesses that they were becoming husband and wife. Such a marriage was not approved by the Presbyterian (Calvinist) church, but from the point of view of popular ideas it was considered valid.
The birth of a child was also accompanied by magical actions. In the Italian tradition, the woman in labor was placed on the adobe floor near the hearth to be helped by household spirits living under the hearth. There are remnants of the kuvada rite - imitation of labor pains by the husband. For example, in Spain in the Leon region, a husband would climb into a basket and squat down and cackle like a chicken. There were widespread beliefs about the connection between the birthday of a child and his future fate. Family meals were organized on the occasion of the baptism of the child, the appearance of the first tooth, the first haircut and nails. In the economically developed regions of foreign Europe, archaic elements of maternity rituals disappeared quite early due to the spread of rational medicine and the emergence of professional midwives (in England - from the 16th century, in Scandinavia - from the 18th century).
Christians necessarily baptized the child. For Muslims, the rite of circumcision was obligatory. The Bosnians performed it in the first ten years of a boy's life (usually at three, five or seven years old), the Albanians - in the period from 7 to 12 years. The rite of circumcision was followed by a feast.
In the funeral rites of some Catholic and Orthodox peoples, funeral laments, which were performed by women, have been preserved. Sometimes, as with the Basques, they were professional mourners who were paid for their art. Only the Albanians performed men's laments, which were considered appropriate at the funeral of respected men. In some cases, there were ideas about special methods of delivering the deceased to the cemetery: the Poles and Slovaks were supposed to hit the coffin on the threshold three times, which symbolized the farewell of the deceased to the house; Norwegians practiced transportation at any time of the year of the coffin with the body of the deceased to the cemetery on a sleigh - a vehicle of the pre-wheel era. The European peoples knew the tradition of memorial meals, which was preserved in the most developed form among the Orthodox peoples, who arranged such meals on the day of the funeral, on the ninth, fortieth days after death.
From the first decades of the III century. an ever-increasing onslaught on the Roman Empire of the tribes of Europe, as well as Arabia and Africa, begins.
Like other slave-owning states, the Roman Empire was going through an acute crisis, which made it easy prey for invading tribes from outside. During this period, new, previously unknown tribes appear, moving from areas only indirectly affected by Roman influence. Tribal unions are formed, which served as the basis for the formation of peoples who created medieval states.
Geomancers
The Marcomannic wars of Marcus Aurelius served as the beginning of wars that did not stop for almost the entire 3rd century between the empire and the tribes of Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. These wars were determined not so much by the internal state of the empire, but by the changes that took place among these tribes. The path of development that they passed during the first two centuries of the existence of the empire has already been described above. Comparison of the Germans of the time of Tacitus with the Germans of the III century. shows how great was the difference between them. In the III century. German society already had a fairly strong and wealthy tribal nobility, who needed fine fabrics, elegant utensils, precious jewelry, good weapons, gold, and silver. The local handicraft had reached a level where it could meet these needs. Findings in the Schleswig marshes of things dating back to the middle of the 3rd century allow us to judge its condition. and well preserved due to the fact that they were covered with peat. These findings show how high level there were local weaving, leather, ceramic, glass, metallurgical industries based on Roman technology, which was mastered and developed by local artisans. Of particular importance was the level of processing of metals, from which weapons and numerous jewelry were made. Trade with the tribes of the Baltic and Scandinavia made the Germans of Central Europe good shipbuilders and navigators. In the same swamps, oak boats for 14 pairs of rowers were found. The Germans used their ships not only for trade, but also for pirate raids, which gave them valuables and slaves to sell. The improvement of agriculture and cattle breeding made it possible to develop excellent breeds of horses and create cavalry, which became the main military force of the Germans.
Economic progress led to further disintegration of the primitive communal system. It has reached the stage when military campaigns to seize booty and new lands are of particular importance, when large masses of people appear who have not found use for their forces in their homeland and are ready to seek their fortune in a foreign land. An increasing number of Germans enter the Roman service. Roman emperors and usurpers during the endless civil strife of the III century. willingly used the services of German soldiers and especially the German cavalry. They were attracted not only by its combat qualities, but also by the fact that the newcomer Germans did not have, like Roman soldiers, ties with the population of the empire. Part of the Germans who served Rome received land in the border areas of the empire in order to cultivate and protect them. For service in the army, their commanders were endowed with Roman citizenship, their land plots passed to their sons if they also became soldiers. The government sometimes supplied them with grain, livestock, implements, and even slaves to help them set up a farm.
Gradually, this system developed more and more, replacing the previous system of client "realms". The last to the III century. finally outlived itself. The experience of the Marcomannic wars showed that the peoples suffering from Roman exploitation were the first to oppose the empire. They have become too strong to continue to endure their addiction meekly. Now, on the contrary, emperors often had to pay large sums of money to neighboring tribes in order to buy peace, and when the payment of this “subsidy” for some reason was delayed, the tribal leaders came to the empire to demand payment with weapons in their hands.
In the III century. strong tribal unions are formed among the Germans, in which the tribes of the inner regions of Germany play the main role.
Tribes of Scandinavia
One of the earliest and strongest unions occurs among the Germanic tribes of Scandinavia. According to Tacitus, the inhabitants of southern Scandinavia were the Syons. Tacitus characterizes the Svions as skilled navigators, notes that they have wealth in honor and that the "royal power", by which one must mean the power of a tribal leader, is stronger among them than among other Germanic tribes. This evidence is to a certain extent confirmed by archeological data, which show that in the first centuries of our era, as a result of trade with the empire and neighboring tribes, a rich tribal nobility stood out among the Svions. Especially rich burials were found in Jutland, where the trade routes of the Baltic and North Seas crossed. Precious imported jewelry, metal, earthenware, and later glassware were found in these burials.
Objects and Roman coins imported from the empire are found in significant quantities in other parts of Scandinavia. The importance of trade with the empire is indicated by the coincidence of ancient Norse weight units with Roman ones. The local craft has also reached a high level. According to the Roman model, excellent weapons were made - wide double-edged swords, spears, shields, etc., as well as metal tools - hatchets, knives, scissors. From the beginning of the 3rd century the import of Roman products and coins falls, the local craft is freed from the influence of Roman provincial culture and develops more independently, although under the significant influence of the style that developed in the Northern Black Sea region and in the III-IV centuries. quickly spread throughout Europe. In Scandinavia, items decorated with colored enamel, semi-precious stones, and filigree prevail at this time. It has been suggested that in the 3rd c. some South German tribes invaded there, bringing with them this archaeological find of the 3rd-4th centuries. show that, despite the decline in trade with the empire, the wealth concentrated in the hands of the tribal nobility is increasing at this time. The number and weight of previously rare gold items is increasing. Of particular interest are two golden drinking horns, one 53 cm long, the other 84 cm long, decorated with figures of people and animals and provided with a runic inscription containing the name of the master. In general, runic writing, which previously had a purely magical character, is now becoming more widespread, which also testifies to the high level of development achieved by the tribes of Scandinavia. It is possible that Sviony in the III-IV centuries. took part in campaigns against the empire and that the booty they captured contributed to the accumulation of wealth in the hands of tribal leaders and leaders of squads.
German tribal unions of Central Europe
In Central Europe, the tribes of North-East Germany, which are militarily stronger, are especially active. The decomposition of their primitive communal system was facilitated by the significantly developed trade that these tribes conducted with the empire, with Scandinavia and the nearest regions of Eastern Europe. In the eastern part of Germany, along the shores of the Baltic Sea, tribal alliances of the Vandals are being strengthened or re-formed, which during the wars of Marcus Aurelius began to move south and were partially settled by this emperor in Dacia, as well as the Burgundians, who at the beginning of the 3rd century. moved into the area of the Main River. Further west, between the Oder and the Elbe, a strong union of the Alamans arose, closer to the mouth of the Elbe lived the Lombards, and in the south of Jutland - the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, brave sailors and pirates who attacked Britain and West Coast Gaul. The tribes of the Batavians, Hattians, and others who lived along the Rhine formed a tribal union of the Franks. All these tribal unions in the III century. launch an offensive against the empire.
Tribes of the Danubian regions and Eastern Europe. Goths in the Black Sea region
In the III century. The Germans were not the only enemy of Rome in Europe. The tribes of the Danubian regions of the Carpathian region, the Northern Black Sea region, the Dnieper region and the Volga region are undergoing the same changes in the economy and social system as the Germans. The trade relations of these tribes with the Roman provinces and cities of the Northern Black Sea region contributed to the development of local crafts and agriculture, the accumulation of wealth in the hands of the tribal nobility, the growth of property inequality, and the improvement of military affairs. And here new, stronger tribal unions are formed - free Dacians, Carps, whom Roman writers sometimes call Getae, Alans, and, finally, a powerful union of a number of tribes of the Black Sea region, to which ancient writers gave the common name of the Goths.
In the IV-V centuries. the Goths played a big role in the history of the fall of the empire. Later Roman historians believed that the Goths also played a leading role in the tribal union that fell upon Rome in the middle of the 3rd century. The historians Cassiodorus and Jordanes, who lived at the courts of the later Gothic kings, wishing to flatter them, glorified the power of the Goths, which supposedly existed for a long time. However, in the III century. the Goths were only one of the constituent parts of the tribal Sotoz, which, in addition to them, united the Getic, Dacian, Sarmatian and Slavic tribes. Ancient historians of the III century. in imitation of Greek writers classical period often gave them the common name of the Scythians. In the middle of the III century. the Goths began their devastating raids on the empire. At first, Dacia and Moesia Inferior were the main object of their offensive, but gradually the scope of their activities expanded. In 251, the Goths took the Thracian city of Philippo-pol, plundered it and took many of the inhabitants into captivity. They lured the army of Emperor Decius, who had come out to meet them, into impenetrable swamps and inflicted a terrible defeat on it: almost all the soldiers and the emperor himself died in battle. The new emperor Gallus could not prevent the Goths from leaving with all the booty and prisoners, and undertook to pay them a "subsidy". However, after 3 years they again invaded Thrace and reached Thessaloniki. From 258, the most devastating sea expeditions of the Goths begin, which lasted 10 years. During this time, numerous cities of Greece and Asia Minor were devastated and destroyed, including Ephesus, Nicaea, Nicomedia. According to ancient authors, the largest expedition of the Goths (267) involved 500 ships and several hundred thousand people. In 269, Emperor Claudius II defeated the army of the Goths at the city of Naissus; at the same time, their fleet operating off the coast of Greece was destroyed. Since then, the onslaught of the Goths on the empire has gradually weakened. They settled in the Black Sea steppes and divided into Ostrogoths (Eastern Goths) and Visigoths (Western Goths), the border between which was the Dniester.
Slavs
Above, we have already given data that testify to the development of productive forces among the Eastern and Western Slavs in the 3rd-4th centuries. n. e. At the same time, their economic ties with the Roman Empire and its Danubian provinces were sharply reduced. The number of Roman things imported into the Slavic regions is decreasing, and the finds of Roman coins are becoming isolated. On the other hand, ties with the Northern Black Sea region are being strengthened, the main centers of which (Olbia, Tyra, etc.) were now in the hands of the "barbarians". Ties are also growing between individual Slavic tribes and their neighbors, primarily with numerous Sarmatian tribes.
Like other peoples of Central and Eastern Europe, the Slavs are involved in the struggle against the slave-owning world of the Roman Empire. Slavic tribes participated in the Marcomannic wars of the second half of the 2nd century BC. n. e. They also took part in the so-called Scythian (or Gothic) campaigns of the III-IV centuries. At the same time, they entered into a struggle with the Goths and Huns. The historian of the Goths Jordanes (mid-VI century) tells about this struggle. The Wends, according to him, tried to resist the warlike leader of the Goths "Rix" Germanaric, who was considered invincible and defeated only by the Huns. Later, at the very end of the 4th or at the beginning of the 5th century, when one of the successors of Germanaric, Vinitar, tried to subdue the Antes, the latter defeated him. In response to this, Vinitar, during the second invasion of the lands of the Antes, crucified the leader of the Antes, God, his sons, and 70 Antian elders.
Although the major campaigns of the Slavs against the empire begin only at the very end of the 5th and in the 6th centuries, there is reason to believe that the Slavs had previously taken part in the struggle that put an end to the power of slave-owning Rome over the peoples it oppressed.
At the end of the 4th or the beginning of the 5th c. the southern ancient Slavic tribes were attacked by the Huns. This is evidenced by the numerous settlements of the Slavs left, apparently in a terrible hurry, including the aforementioned pottery village near Igolomnia on the Upper Vistula, as well as buried treasures found in large numbers in Powisle and Volhynia. This invasion of the Huns forced part of the Slavic population to leave their homes and seek salvation in the dense forests and swamps of Polesye. It marked the beginning of those movements that will unfold with particular force in the subsequent time.
The struggle of the tribes of Central and Eastern Europe with the Roman Empire
The struggle of the tribes of Central and Eastern Europe with the Roman Empire at the beginning was not yet a struggle for new places for settlement. It assumes such a character only from the second half of the 3rd century. Apparently, the campaign of 267, on which the Goths set off with their families and property, was not aimed at capturing booty, as before, but at acquiring land. In the IV century. "barbarians" are already settling in the areas they have captured.
In the 3rd century, despite the victories of the "barbarians", the superiority in military equipment and organization was still on the side of the empire; in systematic battles, her troops for the most part won a victory. "Barbarians" did not know how to take cities that were sufficiently fortified, since their siege technique was still in its infancy. Therefore, during hostilities, the surrounding population usually fled to the protection of the city walls, which could often withstand a long siege. However - and this is important to emphasize - the advancing party is no longer slave-owning Rome and its outposts such as the Greek cities of the Northern Black Sea region, but those tribes that in previous centuries were objects of robbery and exploitation by the slave-owning states. Now they are inflicting crushing blows on the empire and its allies, exacerbating and exacerbating the crisis of the slave system.
The alignment of class forces is also changing. During the period of aggression, the Romans relied on the nobility of those tribes that they enslaved. Now the nobility of the free tribes, who have grown stronger, are no longer looking for support from the slave-owning empire tending to decline. On the contrary, the opponents of Rome, invading its territory, meet with the sympathy and direct assistance of the broad masses of the people, slaves, columns, who are ready to see their liberators in the "barbarians". There are cases when slaves or columns served as guides to troops invading the territory of the empire, when they created their own detachments that joined these troops, when they, together with the "barbarians", dealt with large slave owners and landowners. The further, the more strengthened this alliance, which ultimately led to the fall of the slave system. The aggravation of the class struggle, which made the exploited population of the empire an ally of its enemies, was one of the most important reasons for the success of the tribes advancing on the empire. These successes were also facilitated by the fact that the rapidly changing emperors and their rivals themselves repeatedly sought the help of the “barbarians”, opening their borders and surrendering cities. The main bases for the attack on the empire in the III century. there was an area between the Danube, the Rhine and the Elbe, as well as the Northern Black Sea region.
There are 58 nations in Western Europe. 96% of the population speak the language of the Indo-European family. The most significant of this family (in terms of the number of peoples) are the Germanic group, the Romanesque group, the Slavic group, etc.
Anthropological composition: Caucasoid racial type.
Greeks: the beginning of this ethnic group in the lands of modern Greece. In the 8th-5th centuries. BC. a common ethnic name was established - Hellenes, homeland - Hellas. The main occupations are growing grapes, olives, almonds, transhumance sheep breeding and goat breeding, pottery and carpet weaving. Houses made of raw stone (1st and 2nd floors), where livestock also lives. Folk men's costume: black or blue trousers, white shirt, waistcoat, sash, fez, raincoat; female - a long white shirt of a tunic cut with a wide long sleeve, a wide long skirt.
Albanians. They come from the ancient population of the Balkans - the Illyrians (Thracians). In the 4th century BC. the first state formations. The main occupations are: transhumance cattle breeding, agriculture (cereals - barley, rye; in the mountains - oats, wheat; in the valleys - millet; they also grow potatoes, corn, cotton, sugar beet). Rural settlements of three types: scattered, crowded and regular. Usually 2-storey houses with a veranda. More than 2/3 are Muslims, about a quarter are Orthodox.
Roman group. 15 nations (Italians, Italo-Swiss, Corsicans, Spaniards, Portuguese, French, Romanians, etc.). The Romans subjugated and assimilated many peoples, Romanization went on until the 5th century. AD The traditional occupations of Italians are gardening, grain farming, animal husbandry. Food - pasta, a lot of spices and seasonings. More than half of the population lives in cities, rural settlements of 3 types: villages, farms, fortresses. Suit: male - knickers, kamicha (tunic-shaped shirt), jakka (jacket), hat or beret; female - gona (long skirt), camicha, corsetto, jacket (outerwear), fazzoletto (head scarf), wooden shoes with iron spikes. Believers are mostly Catholics. Traditional occupations of the French: animal husbandry, field cultivation, viticulture. The main crops are rice, corn, rye. Food: cheese, rabbit meat, poultry (pigeons in the south), vegetables, root crops. Rural settlements of 2 types: street plan (row) and cumulus. This is a 1-storey house under a roof, residential and utility rooms. Men's costume: pants, shirt, vest, neckerchief, straw hat. Believers are mostly Catholics. Walloons(40% of the population of Belgium) - handicraft people. Large villages of street and cumulus type. Peoples of the Iberian Peninsula: Spain is in 1st place in the production of olive oil. Developed grain farming. Already in the Roman era, cattle were bred, fishing has very ancient origins. Women's costume: a wide pleated skirt with an apron, a light blouse, a corsage, a scarf on the head. Catholics.
German group- 17 nations. They speak the languages of the Germanic group (Germans, Austrians, German Swiss, Luxembourgers, Lorraine, Danes, Swedes, Dutch, Norwegians, English, Scots, etc.). The traditional occupation is animal husbandry (cattle) - transhumance-stall nature, agriculture. Traditional settlements: large cumulus villages with randomly arranged houses and crooked streets. Clothing: men's - a shirt (consists of two panels), long trousers, leather soles with leather straps served as shoes; female - a shirt also made of two panels, a cloak with a hood. Crafts - knitting, carpet weaving, weaving, embroidery.
Celtic group. 4 peoples - Irish, Welsh, Gaels, Bretons. Traditional occupations are agriculture and cattle breeding. Grow barley, oats, wheat. Animal husbandry (cattle) plays the main role. Food - cereals, fish, dairy dishes, soups. One of the oldest cities is Dublin. Rural settlements of the farm type. The houses are stone and wicker. Traditional costume: black clothes for older women; young people have a long wide skirt and a corset, a long white apron and a white lace cap; male - tight short pants, a jacket with a deaf collar, a hat. Mostly Catholics.
The Celts can safely be called the core of the formation of almost all the titular nations of Central Europe. One and a half thousand years before the birth of Christ, the tribes of the Celts concentrated only in the eastern part of France, in the adjacent part of Western Germany, southern Belgium and northern Helvetia, or Switzerland. But already in the 4th century BC, the Celts began to spread rapidly throughout the European part of the continent.
They have reached the territory modern Poland and Western Ukraine. Their raids are well remembered by the Balkans and the Apennines. With their ferocity, they made a huge impression on the inhabitants of Iberia (this is the current Spanish kingdom), and on the Saxons who inhabited the British Isles. They reached the territory of modern Scotland, Ireland, assimilated and drastically changed the attitude of the population of all the above territories.
History of occurrence
The Celts are not aliens from distant continents. These are related tribes that lived in the Rhine valley, in the upper reaches of the Danube, in the upper reaches of the Seine, Meuse and Loire. The Romans, sincerely surprised by their appearance and manners, called them Gauls. Here is the toponymy famous words: Gallic rooster, Galicia, Helvetia, halit.
But the word "Celt" has a somewhat artificial origin. It was proposed by Lloyd in the 17th century. A linguist who studies the linguistic similarity of different historical and ethnographic regions of Great Britain noted the similarity between them. He also gave them the name "Celtic group", which took root, becoming a household name for all ethnically homogeneous peoples, even before our era, "spread out" throughout Europe. The southern part of the continent did not succumb to expansion, although it was pretty frightened by such aliens.
Religion
The Celts are one of the most famous pagans, whose sacred traditions are being actively restored and theatricalized today. The Celts had an extensive pantheon of divine beings: Taranis and Esus, Lug and Ogmius, Brigantia and Cernunnos. But they did not have a single supreme deity, such as Zeus, Odin, Perun or Jupiter. It was replaced by the World Tree. In 98%, this was the name of the most sprawling and powerful Oak in a grove close to the Celtic settlement.
The oak was served by druid priests. They avoided human victims, but in case of urgent need they could water the root system of the head Oak with human blood. The priests were engaged in rituals and cults, the education of the children of the tribe. In addition, the priests had the last word on any Judgment Seat.
The average Celts believed in an afterlife, so they accompanied the dead with many necessary items, from plates and weapons to wives and horses. But they usually cut off the heads of enemies, because they believed that the human soul lives in the head. In the course of hostilities, they cut off and collected the heads of enemies, hanging them from the saddle. Having brought home, they nailed it over the entrance to the dwelling. The most valuable enemy heads were kept in containers filled with cedar oil. In scientific circles, the idea is circulating that later these heads were participants or objects of religious cults.
social organization
The Celtic tribes lived like typical tribal societies with a pronounced patriarchal character. At the head of the communities were priests and leaders, constantly pulling the "blanket" of power over themselves. Judicial power was nominally in the hands of the head of the clan. But very often he listened to the opinion of the Bregons. This is the lowest division of the druid priests, which was engaged in the interpretation of laws and monitored the observance of all required rites.
Male warriors were the backbone of the society of the Celtic tribes. It was they, the father or the eldest son, who received the ransom for the daughter when she got married. By the way, according to local laws, she could do this no more than 21 times. In the event of a divorce, women could take all their property.
The Celts had a very developed system of fines and ransoms. For example, for the murder of one man, the culprit had to pay the relatives of "7 slaves". Living slaves were the main monetary unit of the Celts. As a last resort, they were replaced by cows. There were penalties for beatings, mutilations, for injuries, for killing from an ambush or unintentionally taking the life of a member of the clan. The amount of payments was adjusted depending on what status the affected Celt occupied in society. The richer he was, the more his death "cost" the murderer.
The first Celts lived in dugouts, caves and huts half dug into the ground. Later, they began to build stone fortifications - oppidums. These are examples of the first European fortresses. With the development of civilization, they turned into entire fortification cities. The Celts-men were engaged in hunting, war and fishing. But the abundance of slaves allowed individual clans to engage in agriculture, moreover, quite effective. The Celts perfectly mastered the art of smelting and metal processing, cattle breeding and maintained trade relations with most of the European peoples that had not yet been captured.
The Celts are considered one of the most ferocious and tough warriors of the European continent. A huge impression on the opponents was made by the invasions of practically naked people, painted in blue paint and with their heads smeared with lime. In order to impress opponents not only by sight, but also by sound, they screamed and howled into special pipes, which were called carnyxes, and looked like the heads of wild animals. They had helmets on their heads, in which cock feathers were stuck. By the way, the Romans, who first saw the Celts on the battlefield, that is why they called them Gauls, that is, roosters.
Having sorted out and established a hierarchy within the Alpine territory, the Celts loudly declared themselves to the whole of Europe, attacking Massalia 600 years before Christ. This is today's Marseille and a former Greek colony. Blue naked people with tattoos and rooster feathers on their heads, screaming and smelling like lions, bears or wild boars, made an oppressive impression on opponents, sowed horror and panic, so they easily won.
After 200 years, after such striking episodic attacks, the Celts managed to capture Rome. Simultaneously with this event, the eastern groupings of the Celts began to move along the Danube, to the Balkan Peninsula, to the northern part of modern Greece. The attempt of the odious leader of the Celts, Brennus, to plunder the temple of Delphic Apollo and cut off the head of the statue of the Sun God dates back to the same time. But the thunderstorm that began frightened off the superstitious barbarians, giving Delphi the opportunity to admire their temple for another couple of centuries.
King Nicomedes the First (281-246 BC), sitting on the shaky throne of Bithynia in Asia Minor, invited a group of Celts, literally 10 thousand people, with wives, children, cows and slaves, to cross the Bosphorus and support him in dynastic wars . It was these ten thousand mercenaries that became the basis of Galatia, a state that existed for four hundred years in the vastness of modern northwestern Turkey.
Thus, the Celts very successfully settled on the mainland of Europe and firmly entrenched in the British Isles and Ireland. In those places where they were opposed by the empire, in the manner of Rome, the migratory military maneuver did not work. Therefore, the south of Iberia, the Apennine Peninsula and the coastline of the Balkans remained uncaptured by the barbarians. In these parts, they were only allowed to conduct trading operations and sometimes practice the art of surprise raids and primitive blitzkriegs.
The Irish and Cornish, the Bretons and the Scots, the Welsh, the East French, the Belgians, the Swiss, the indigenous people of Bohemia, and the West Germans today consider the Celts to be their ancestors.
Thracians
The Thracians became famous all over Europe because of their two tribesmen: the singer Orpheus and the rebel Spartak. The place where he was formed and lived given ethnos, Xenophanes and Herodotus called the Balkan Peninsula. The Thracians occupied the territory from the Pinda ranges and the Dinaric highlands to Staraya Planina and the Rhodope inclusive. They were recorded in the western part of Asia Minor, on the territory of the modern Turkish ulus of Anatolia. But beyond the Carpathian arc, the ethnic group that gave the world the legendary lyre musician did not spread.
Due to the fact that the now dead language of the Thracians belongs to the Indo-European language family, it is assumed that the representatives of the ancient people themselves came to the Balkans from South Asia. One of the large-scale stops of the ancestors of the Thracians, who left a number of characteristic artifacts there, was their long-term stay on the territory of modern Ukraine. In the very center of the state, in the Belogrudovsky forest of the Cherkasy region, tulip-shaped vessels, scoops, agricultural implements made of bronze, but with silicon inserts, were found.
Having “lit up” in the 11-9th century BC on the Podolsk Upland, between the Dnieper, the Southern Bug and the Dniester, the ancestors of the Thracians migrated beyond the Carpathians, to the Balkans, in order to form in this fertile area into a single ethnic monolith.
Religion
The Thracians were pagans who believed in animal gods, in gods - tamers of natural elements. According to them, the soul of a deceased person moved to the World of Ancestors and led a life there similar to that of the earth. In order to facilitate the existence of a fellow tribesman in another world and save his body from desecration by people and beasts, the Thracians built dolmens, or stone tombs, for their dead. For richer people, real "afterlife palaces" were created. They had a spacious burial chamber, a dromos corridor, and a vestibule in which unpleasant surprises awaited potential disturbers of the peace of the body, such as a collapsed ceiling or a nest with snakes. For poorer tribesmen, individual small burial chambers were cut in the surrounding limestone or marl rocks.
During the formation of sacred beliefs, there was an alternation of the significance of female goddesses responsible for fertility, water, earth, and male images represented by gods, lords of hunting, lightning, wars and blacksmiths. The periods depended on what exactly the Thracians were doing at the moment. They lived on the fertile lands of Ukraine and the Balkan Peninsula, doing agriculture, female goddesses became more important. During periods of migration and search for new lands, when new territories had to be recaptured, male gods came to the fore. By the way, it was at this time that the role of priests decreased. But, as soon as the Thracians found a more or less stable haven, the priests again gained strength.
Agricultural products or the results of hunting were sacrificed to the gods; traces of human sacrifices have not been found to date.
social order
The Thracians in the period BC are the canonical representatives of the primitive communal system. They lived in scattered tribal groups, with an obligatory leader and chief sorcerer. The status of a member of the community directly depended on his wealth, the more horses, cows and food supplies a person had, the more his fellow tribesmen listened to his opinion. Women's rights were not infringed. But, before the main migration to the Balkans, polygamy was widespread among the Thracians, which also depended on the status of the “husband”. The richer a man was, the more wives he could take on his maintenance.
The Thracians actively used the work of slaves. Slaves were both prisoners of war and trespassing fellow tribesmen.
By the beginning of our era, Thracian society was divided into clear classes: princes, warriors, free people engaged in agriculture, trade or crafts, and slaves. At special talents or luck, there was a transition from one social category to another.
Thracian settlements differed geographically. Those peoples who were grouped on the territory of modern Bulgaria, Slovakia, surrounded by forests and hidden behind mountain ranges, built unfortified settlements and considered mountain rivers, thickets and ridges to be the best elements of fortification.
The southern Thracians, who lived on the coast of the Adriatic, Mediterranean, Marmara and Pontic Seas, were forced to defend their settlements, open to all sea travelers. Therefore, they fortified their settlements and built primitive but effective fortresses.
Wars with other nations and migrations
The heyday of the Thracian people fell on the 1st-5th century AD. There were more than two hundred Thracian tribes, therefore, for the convenience of study, scientists divided them into four regional groups.
The first group includes, in fact, Thrace. This is a historical and cultural region that occupies the territory of today's Bulgaria and the European territory of Turkey. Another, no less famous region of compact residence of the Thracians is called Dacia. These are the lands of today's Romania. The third and fourth regions, Mysia and Bithynia, were nearby, on the peninsula of Asia Minor, on the coast of the Marmara and Pontic Seas, only one to the west, and the other to the east, ending at the very ridges of the Pontic Mountains.
Soon after the resettlement of the Thracians to the Balkans, the great migrations of the so-called "peoples of the sea" began. This gave them a chance to firmly gain a foothold on the land they had chosen. Until the fifth century BC, the Thracians were mainly occupied with intra-tribal conflicts and attempts to unite under the rule of one leader, a potential monarch.
The result of long negotiations and episodic wars was the emergence of the Odrysian kingdom, which became the most major state of his time. The last state of the Thracians formed before our era is Dacia. Gathered under his control all the lands inhabited by this ethnic group, the king of Burebista. With the power and power of weapons, he connected a vast territory into a single organism. This included lands from the Southern Bug itself, the Carpathian valleys, all of Bulgaria, Moravia and Staraya Planina.
After Burebista was killed by the rebels, the unification was continued by King Decebalus. For this, he had to fight all his life with the Romans, who did not want the appearance of a single Thrace. Emperor Trajan spent five years of his life conquering the kingdom of Decebalus. After the defeat of the Thracian troops, the king stabbed himself with a sword, and the Romans turned Dacia into their colony.
A little later, already in the 5th century AD, the Celts came to the lands of the Thracians, drove out the Romans and formed their own kingdom, the Gallic one, choosing the city of Tilis for the capital. Over time, the Thracians successfully assimilated with the Scythian plows, therefore they became the basis for the formation of the southern branch of the Slavs: Bulgarians, Slovaks, Czechs, Yugoslav peoples.
Goths
The peak of the influence of the Goths on Europe fell on the 1st-8th century AD. Many Swedish kings and Spanish aristocrats proudly call themselves descendants of one of the most significant nations in Europe. The formation of the ethnic group itself took place in the southeastern part of the Scandinavian Peninsula, even before our era. This is the territory of today's Sweden. The Gothic historian of Alanian origin Jordanes of Croton called this place Scandza. A separate line in the definition of the area where the Goths were identified as a people is the island of Gotland, a narrow arrow stretching along the coast of Sweden.
History of occurrence
In the first century AD, Berig, a charismatic leader and northern "Moses", launched the entire European process of the "Great Migration of Nations". Berig and his loyal people, on three ships, sailed across the Baltic Sea, landing in the north of modern Poland, in the region of Gdansk, Sopot and Gdynia. The epic about the motivation of people, swimming and the first steps in Pomorie are described by the historian Jordan in the work "Getica".
The passengers of the three ships gave birth to three basic tribes: the forest tervings, the steppe greitungs, and the powerful and aggressive Gepids. In the meantime, having united, they forced out the vandals and ruts who had already mastered it from the fertile Pomorye. The union of three Gothic tribes took shape in the so-called Wolbar culture.
The oppressed ruts and vandals began to move south, to an even more comfortable Mediterranean. The Roman Empire felt the consequences of such a global migration. The Goths themselves, led by the leader Filimer, moved south in the 6th century, occupying almost the entire territory of modern Ukraine and Romania, giving rise to the unique Chernyakhiv culture.
Religion
Despite the huge influence of the Goths on modern ethnic European solitaire, accurate information about religion has not been preserved. The main source about them is the work of the historian Jordanes. And since he was the current Bishop of Croton, he deliberately did not pay any attention to the host of gods of the early pagan Goths.
A smaller but more reliable source is the Herver Saga. It mentions only the god of battles, thunder and lightning - Donar, but does not deny the existence of other divine beings. The clergy did not have much influence on the bulk of the population. They lived separately from the tribe, in the Mirkvid forest, among fabulous and mythical creatures. There is a version that the Ukrainian-Romanian Molfars received power and knowledge precisely from their Ostrogothic ancestors.
The early Goths burned their dead, the later ones carefully laid them out in the burial grounds. Metal ornaments, goblets, combs and ceramic dishes were found next to the dead people more than once.
More information has been preserved about the sacral preferences of the Visigoths. In the 4th century, the leader Freitigern, seeing great benefits in a centralized religion, ordered a Christian priest from the Byzantine emperor Constantius II and the archbishop of Nicomedia.
The priest Vulfil, an ethnic Goth, arrived at the Visigothic leader. It was he who helped turn Freitingern's subjects into Christians. Bishop Ulfilas compiled the Gothic alphabet and, using it, translated it into native language Bible. In the 6th century, all the Visigoths, given by King Reccared, converted to Christianity.
social organization
The powerful Gothic people did not have a permanent leader, only situational leaders appeared, whose influence was lost after a raid, advance or military action against the enemy. AT Peaceful time or an episodic lull, the entire Gothic people was divided into genera. At the head of each was his leader, who jealously guarded his authority and land.
The leaders of the largest clans could enter into vassal relations with their fellow tribesmen. To some, sayons or vigilantes, the leaders issued weapons. Others, bucellarii or boyars, received weapons and decent plots of land. The leaders had unlimited power, and especially in the battle period and the period preceding it.
Initially, back in those days when the Goths had just set foot on Polish soil, the leader was chosen by an assembly free people. In the period from the first to the seventh century, the right of succession to the throne and the right to elect constantly replaced one another, causing instability in society, inter- and intra-tribal squabbles.
Women of the early Goths had more rights than those that ladies of the 5th-8th century could enjoy. The people used the work of slaves, fortunately, the wars regularly supplied free labor.
Wars with other nations and migrations
The basis of the power and expansion of the Goths was laid in an ideal military organization. The main structural unit of the army was considered a dozen fighters. They were managed by a dean. Hundreds were made from dozens. She obeyed the centenary. Hundreds were made into a thousand, headed by millennials. But the millenarians themselves did not plan battles, but only obediently carried out the orders that came from the leader, the leader, later king, or its monarcho-substitute - duki. In battle actions, the late Goths willingly replaced the infantry with cavalry.
The tribes of the Goths already in the 3rd century split into two parts. During the active, combat displacement from the territory of modern Moldova, then Dacia, the Romans, great people scattered in different directions.
The first is the eastern branch. They are the descendants of the Greytungs - people of the boundless steppes, or Ostrogoths. They engaged in a dense development of the territory between the Dnieper and the Dniester within the borders of modern Ukraine, Transnistrian Moldavia, the Danubian part of Romania and a small part of modern Russia, represented by the Taman Peninsula. The historian Herodotus, traveling along the Northern Black Sea coast, was surprised by the beauty, freedom and martial art of Gothic women. He “settled” his Amazons, who became a legend, right here, in the interfluve of the Dnieper and Dniester. From their position, the Goths were pushed back by subsequent invasions of the Goons.
The second branch are the heirs of the Tervingi. They are Western Goths or Visigoths who moved west.
The Visigoths crossed the Bosporus and ended up in Greece, where they marked themselves by plundering the Chalkidiki peninsula and attacking Thrace. We visited Corinth and raced on horseback through Athens. In the Balkans, after a skirmish with the Visigoths, Marcus Aurelius fled, leaving the lands of modern Serbia to the enemy. A little later, the Goths caught up with the Romans, and once again defeated their army at Andrianople. The last chord, before walking a victorious march along the entire Apennine coast, was the destruction of Rome by the troops of Alaric.
After this, the Visigoths in the 5th century AD. invade Iberia, Gallicia and establish their kingdoms everywhere. Then they had to defend their lands from the warlike Franks, African Arabs and the strengthened troops of Emperor Justinian. Until the 9th century, the Goths were completely assimilated with the local population. All that remained of them were beautiful legends, linguistic bases of a number of modern languages and unique jewelry artifacts such as the multi-crown hoard found in Toledo and Jaén.
Etruscans
The Etruscans are a people who once lived in the central part of the Apennine Peninsula. This is today's Tuscany, Lazio, Umbria and Emilia-Romagna. Much of what is today considered to be primordially Roman traditions was inherited by the Romans from the Etruscans. For example, gladiator fights or masked saturnalia, the culture of ablution and kuafura in terms, funeral rites and the high art of sculptural and mosaic images.
Origin
Already in the 7th century BC, the inhabitants of Etruria, today's central Italy, mastered writing and the art of conveying forms and emotions with the help of a chisel and brushes. There are two main versions of the origin of such a highly civilized people. According to the first, the Etruscans lived in the Apennines since the Stone Age, developing on this land, learning and establishing themselves as one of the most advanced peoples in Europe. According to the second version, the ancestors of the Etruscans settled this fertile land, migrating here from the east.
Herodotus believed that great architects and sculptors came here from Asia Minor. In time, he connected this resettlement with the end of the Trojan War. The settlers called themselves Tyrrhenians or "children of the sea". At the same time, the name of Aeneas emerges, allegedly leading the migration of the ancestors of the Etruscans to the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Today most of accept the second, Trojan-Aeneas version of the origin of the cultural ancestors of the Romans. The intermediate point of the migration of the flow of Trojan refugees was the island of Sardinia. A great many early artifacts have been found on it, similar to those left by the Etruscan culture on the peninsula.
Religion
The great people had a host of gods, but did not forget to deify the forces of nature. The main god was Tin, belonging to Heaven. His wife and assistant were Menrwa and Uni, respectively. The deities of a smaller caliber included 16 more gods responsible for their own sector of the sky and the branch of earthly work. In addition to them, the deities of the third echelon included spirits living in plants, stones, rocks, in streams and lakes. Separate respect was given to the god of the sea and the master of the underworld. He was settled, either in the vent of Etna, or in the crater of Stromboli, constantly bursting with fire. He was represented by Aeneas in the form of a fiery demon with dancing snakes on his head.
The Etruscans respected and served the spirits of their ancestors. Small food and jewelry-souvenir sacrifices were regularly made to all the gods, trying not to miss or forget anyone, so as not to anger.
In special cases, human sacrifices were appointed. In times difficult for the whole people, the most exalted members of society killed themselves with their own hands, sacrificing them. When rich and respected people died, the Etruscans forced captives or slaves to fight among themselves, until the first death, so that the blood and soul of the deceased would propitiate the god of the underworld, who accepted the soul of their deceased.
Having moved to Italy, the Etruscans began to cremate their dead on fires, the size of which corresponded to the status of the deceased. After that, the ashes were collected and placed in an urn. All urns were buried in specially designated cemeteries - urn fields.
social organization
The entire territory of the Etruscans was divided between twelve policies. Each was headed by a king. But the power of the king was like that of the high priest in Egypt. The kings were engaged in rituals and harmonization of moods between gods and people. Political power, the treasury and international, or rather interstate relations, were in the hands of the princes, who received their positions by hereditary or elective methods.
Only King Lukomon managed to become the king of Etruscan Rome, who gathered in his hands all the powers of the first person of the state. He moved the princes to a lower position. The role of adviser, boyar, senator, but nothing more.
Women had the same status as men. Their position in society was determined by their wealth. All women and men, except for the priests, cut their hair short. Cultists only removed them from their foreheads using a gold or silver hoop.
Wars with other nations and migrations
The son of the Greek Demarat, Lukomon (second half of the 7th century BC), who became the first real Etruscan king, opened the era of power and greatness of the Etruscans. Under him, the Roman Empire became the center of 12 colonies inhabited by kindred peoples. At the same time, a constant, purposeful expansion into the southern regions of the Apennine Peninsula was noted.
After the murder of Lukomon, power passed to his son Servus Tullius. Servus was killed by his own brother, Tarquinius the Proud. He gladly tried on the toga of the new Roman king. He was a tough monarch, with the manners of a tyrant and a sadist, therefore, although he regularly expanded the territory of his kingdom within the boundaries of the Apennine Peninsula, he was captured and expelled from Rome in disgrace. The Etruscans moved from the phase of the monarchy to the phase of the Republic.
After this, the Etruscans captured almost the entire central part of modern Italy, gained access to the ports of the Adriatic Sea and established active trade relations with the Greek policies.
Trade with the Greeks did not prevent them from entering into permanent military alliances, and from time to time from fighting against them. So they "gave" Sardinia to the Carthaginians, but conquered Corsica from the Greeks.
Then began a period of military and territorial degradation. The Syracusans took Corsica and Elba from the Etruscans. The Republicans lost influence in Latium, lost the roads that connected them with Campania and Basilicata. Rome was lost (the battle for Fidenae and Vei) and Bologna was given to the Gauls. The temporary truce of the conglomerate of Perugia, Croton and Arezzio with the Romans no longer saved the great civilization.
The Etruscans first became allies of the Romans against a more powerful and terrible enemy, the Gauls. Then, already together, only under the Roman banners, they took part in the first and second Punic Wars, which the Romans started against the Carthaginians. Due to the fact that not a single Etruscan settlement raised an uprising in a difficult period for the Romans, they were recognized as equivalent to the new owners of their land.
Then the Etruscans were granted Roman citizenship, and they very organically merged into the Roman Empire, bringing with them a high aesthetic culture and original rituals. Longest of all, as purebred Etruscans, the haruspex, long-haired priests-soothsayers, held out. As early as 199, Etruscan speech could be heard on the streets of Rome and on the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Roman art of this period is called Etruscan-Roman, and the most complete collection of artifacts, jewelry, especially brooches, sarcophagi, sculptures and black-bodied ceramics can be seen in one of the Vatican Museums, in 9 rooms of the Etruscan Museum.
Vikings
History of occurrence
Anxiously looked at the waters of the Atlantic and mediterranean sea residents of coastal communities. After all, at any moment narrow ships with bright sails and rearing stems could appear from there. In a matter of minutes, ruthless warriors jumped off them, burned houses, killed townspeople and retreated with lightning speed, taking all the most valuable and edible.
The Vikings called themselves people who inhabited the Scandinavian and Jutland peninsulas. The peoples of Western Europe most affected by their raids called them Normans. And although in our time the word "Viking" is a symbol of fearlessness, courage and heroism, but, in the Scandinavian sagas, in European chronicles, the term has a sharply negative connotation, to refer to those who left native land for the purpose of robbery.
But, no matter how they are called, the place of origin of the legendary warriors is the territory of the modern Norwegian, Danish and Swedish kingdoms. The history of the military glory of the Vikings began from the edge of Fennoscandia, when the Scandinavian tribes, genetic relatives of the Angles and Danes, forced the nomadic Finns to the east, to places abounding in swamps and lakes. The exact time the Viking ancestors appeared in Scandinavia is unclear, but artefacts left by hunters and gatherers dating back 10-9 thousand years ago have been found in Finnmark and Nurmer.
social organization
The ancestors of the people who became Vikings lived in scattered groups or counties. 20-30 such groups were quite enough to create local conflicts, maintain excellent combat readiness of all warriors and organize regular quarrels between leaders, kings or jarls in a local way.
In order to coordinate the actions of the jarls, to analyze land claims and issues of succession to the throne in each county, a single assembly was created - Ting. Ting did not have a permanent center. All free Scandinavians could attend the meeting. But only a group made up of representatives from each county dealt with the cases. The only condition was that the representative did not directly depend on his jarl.
Each county was divided into smaller structural units, hundreds or herads. It was ruled by a hersir, who received a position from his parent. It was they who resolved civil litigation, but the kings were engaged in the "international" policy of their county, became the head of the army during hostilities. And although it was believed that the king was of divine origin, and the tribesmen paid him a tax, the so-called viru, but as soon as the king began to openly infringe on the rights of his tribesmen or went against their interests, he could be killed or expelled from his native land.
The Vikings were led by jarls and cuirassiers. The bulk of the Normans were free peasants or bonds. It was they who, suffering from the scarcity of local soil, went on distant campaigns. It was they who, having set sail from their native shore, instantly turned into Vikings.
A small part of society was made up of slaves, who were mined during military campaigns. It is worth noting that the children of a slave could become a Jarl or Khersir. Slaves were not allowed to the Thing.
A special position was occupied by the Hirdmanns, the king's retinue. They were at the maintenance of the monarch, protected him from the insinuations of his fellow tribesmen and accompanied him on the hunt, and formed the core of the army.
The boundaries between members of class groups were not rigid. Thanks to his personal merits, a slave could become a free man. Women occupied a worthy place in society, attended feasts and could fully inherit the property of their parent. And a certain Freydis, the daughter of Eric the Red, even led a trip to Vinland, killing all her competitors at the end of the voyage.
Religion
The restless and warlike nature of the Vikings was fully consistent with their gods. All the deities of these legendary pagans lived in the majestic fortress - Asgard. The citadel occupies a central place in the human world, in Midgard. The walls and towers of the divine fortification reach the sky, and from enemies of any plan they are protected by thick walls and sheer cliffs.
The most important god is Odin. He was considered the creator of the Universe, he was the best interpreter of runes and knew all the sagas in the world. He was in charge of the war and distributed the victories. He was in charge of a dozen Valkyrie maidens. It was Odin who was considered the owner of the Valhalla palace, in which he received the souls of the Scandinavians who died in battle. Everyone who honestly died moved to the palace, where there was an uninterrupted feast, the warriors told sagas, sang and danced.
Odin's wife, Frigga, was responsible for marriage, love and childbearing. She was considered a seer, but preferred not to share her knowledge with people. The god Thor, the master of thunder and lightning, protected Asgard, Middlegard and Valhalla from the giants.
Wars with other nations and migrations
Wars with other peoples and migrations are directly related to the existence of the very concept of "Viking". When a resident of the Scandinavian peninsula, and later of Jutland, left his native land in search of booty, he began to be called a "Viking".
There are two main streams of migration, accompanied by active hostilities. The inhabitants of the territory, which is occupied by the modern Swedish kingdom, were oriented to the southeast. The silhouettes of the Varangian-Viking Drakkars were well known in the valley of the Dnieper, the Vistula, on the Daugava, on the Niva. They even managed to get to the valley of the Northern Dvina, which they called the land of Biarmia. But the bulk of the operations were trading, because the ancient Russians fought no worse than the Varangians. Many of the failed Varangians had to earn money by being hired by the whole team in the squad of the Russian prince. Such a phenomenon was very common, bringing benefits to both parties.
Another stream, from the lands of today's Norwegian and Danish kingdoms, was oriented to the West. In the deltas of the Elbe, the Rhine, the Seine, the Thames, the Loire, the Charente and the Garron, the local population looked warily into the sea, expecting raids by warriors with whom it was impossible to negotiate. Due to their low landing and the ability to move both due to the force of the wind under sail and due to rowers, drakkars, coming from the sea, easily climbed up large rivers, robbing cities. The warlike Normans are well remembered on the coast of Spain and France. There is evidence that they even reached Byzantium.
In the year 960, Gardar Svafarson's ship was thrown out by a storm on the island of Iceland. Already 14 years later, the Vikings began to colonize and populate this region, which is as harsh as Scandinavia, but which had an additional attraction due to the sources of thermal waters. The reason for all the migrations and military raids of the Vikings was a very inefficient agriculture in the narrow mountain valleys and a high density of "hungry mouths" in coastal areas where fish could be fished.
Over time, the nobility of the Vikings began to consider their main source of enrichment, namely military raids aimed at Western, less eastern and central Europe. And a breakthrough in shipbuilding, namely the art of building longships, provided the Vikings with free, easy and graceful movement throughout the North Atlantic.
Germans
History of occurrence
The core of the formation of the ethnos of the ancient Germans was the middle part of Europe from the Oder to the Rhine. In addition to these lands, now occupied by the FRG, western Poland, the Netherlands and Belgium, traces of an ancient people are found in the south of Jutland and on the southern edge of eastern Scandinavia, which belong to today's Kingdoms of Denmark and Sweden.
The Germans began to be considered a full-fledged ethnic group only in the 1st century BC. And already from the beginning of our era, the Germans began to actively "spread" across Central Europe, attacking even the northern borders of the great, seemingly eternal, Roman Empire. The result of the attacks of the Russo-headed barbarians was the fall of the Western part of the Roman Empire, and various traces of the presence of the Germans were found on a vast territory from Cape Roca to the Crimean Peninsula and from the English Channel to the southern African coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
Initially, the Germanic ethnos was compared with the Celts. Only the former was considered even more wild and pristine in terms of culture than the Celts, who fought naked, blue and with rooster feathers on their heads. In order to somehow distinguish their unpredictable northern neighbors, the Latins began to call them "Germans", which means others.
Spreading across Europe, the Germans actively assimilated with the captured peoples. So they replenished their gene pool with Celts and Slavs, Goths and a number of small tribes who hid from the Great Migration of Peoples in the rather isolated Alpine mountain valleys. But the basis of the nation is still considered those tribes that originally lived at the mouth of the Elbe, in the south of Jutland and Fennoscandia.
Religion
According to Strabo and Julius Caesar, the Germans were far less pious than the Celts. They endowed with divine power only sunlight and moonlight and the warmth that fire exudes. But the German customs to know the future surprised even the Romans. Like a terrible fairy tale, the peoples of Europe passed on to one another stories about gray-haired witches cutting the throats of their victims. By the way the blood fills the fortune-telling cauldron, women determined the outcome of future battles, the fate of a newborn or life path new leader.
Having settled in Europe, the Germans acquired a small host of their own gods, borrowing them from the captured tribes. This is how the myth about the god Mann, who gave birth to their people, appeared. The ancestors of today's Danes and Germans began to recognize classical Greek and Roman gods such as Mercury or Mars. A special place was occupied by the cult of women. Each of them implied the divine principle, which makes it possible to reproduce their own kind.
Having known foreign gods, the ancient Germans did not lose their love for various fortune-telling. Soothsayers actively used runes, the insides of birds, the neighing of sacred horses. Predictions of the outcome of an important battle, obtained by simulating a duel, were popular. In the “probe”, an honorary tribesman and a prisoner from a potential enemy converged in a mortal battle. In the 4th century, Christianity began to penetrate the lands of the ancient Germans.
social organization
At the head of the tribe, the clan were leaders - military leaders. They were surrounded by a ring of elders, experienced warriors, and prophetic priests. The bulk of the warriors were formed by free Germans. They were the main force and voice of the people's assemblies, where they came in full military attire. By the way, it was here that the next leader and new military leaders were chosen, responsible for the outcome of future battles.
The lower social levels were occupied by freedmen and slaves. The slave was obliged to pay the owner a dues, and he could kill him with impunity.
With the beginning of our era, the Germans appear kings, whose power was inherited. But before the next war, despite the presence of a king in the region, a leader was still elected, authorized by the function of a commander. Both kings and leaders had their own squad, which they fed, armed and clothed. Money was paid only after another successful robbery or military raid on neighbors.
Elders, elderly and experienced warriors, were engaged in the division of land, sorted out property and interpersonal disputes. In order to make decisions faster, the power of the elders was reinforced by a detachment of warriors who were supported by the community.
According to the notes of the same Julius Caesar, who wanted to know everything about his opponents thoroughly, the ancient Germans did not have their own land plots. Each year, the king, chief or elder was engaged in the redistribution of land suitable for cultivation. Therefore, most members of the community preferred to engage in animal husbandry. Cows and sheep have long been the most stable currency. This was until the Germans copied the very concept of “money” from their enemies and launched their own coins into circulation.
At the beginning of the first century, the Germans had poorly developed handicrafts, shipbuilding, and even the manufacture of fabrics from plant fibers. Both women and men wore cloaks and capes made of animal skins. Pants were worn only by the richest citizens. The family of the average German lived with their cattle in a long, one-story house covered with clay.
War with other peoples and migrations
For the first time, Europe started talking about the Germans when the Teutonic tribes attacked the northern colonies of the Roman Empire in 103. The new barbarians made an impression on a more civilized people, so the myths about them were filled with new, chilling details.
For several centuries in a row, the Germanic tribes fought with the Roman Empire. The most famous battle took place in the Teutoburg Forest (September 9th year), during which 3 Roman legions were destroyed. Throughout the 2nd century, the Germans attacked, and the Romans tried to maintain at least their former borders.
The ferocity and attacks of the young tribe were so great that, due to their unwillingness to compete with the Germans for the lands of Dacia, the Romans left immediately after the death of Emperor Decius. But, despite the retreat, with the beginning of the Great Migration of Nations, the Germans still penetrated and settled in Roman lands. This happened in the 4th century.
In the 5th century, the Germans began to attack the Roman Empire from the other side. They easily knocked out the Roman governors from Iberia, the land of the present Spanish kingdom. Then they became famous in the wars with the Huns, converging on the Catalaunian field in battle with the hordes of Attila.
After that, the Germans began to take an active part in the appointment of emperors by the Roman Empire. Romulus Augustus, who tried to show independence, was deposed, which provoked the beginning of the end great empire.. In 962, King Otto the First began to form his own Roman-German Empire, which included more than a hundred small principalities.
The ancient Germans formed the basis of a number of European peoples: Germans, Danes, Belgians, Dutch, Swiss and Austrians.
