Why Russian sovereigns called themselves tsars and not kings. Military despotisms of the ancient world New stage of spiritual life

1) Find 6 errors in the text

Byzantium emerged as an independent state in 295 as a result of the division of the Roman Empire into Eastern and Western. The inhabitants of Byzantium called their state the Greek Empire, and called themselves Greeks.

The territory of the empire covered countries of ancient agricultural culture, among them Egypt, Gaul, Syria, and Palestine.

Byzantium was famous for its numerous rich cities: Constantinople, Alexandria, Soissons, Santioch. The capital of the Byzantine Empire was Rome.

Answer: 1. The division of the Roman Empire occurred in 395.

1. The Empire was called "Roman".
2. They called themselves Romans.
3. Gaul was never part of Byzantium.
4. Soissons did not belong to Byzantium.
5. The capital of the empire has always been Constantinople.

2) One of Justinian's contemporaries, the famous Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea, in his works created a contradictory image of the emperor: on the one hand, he showed him as a cruel tyrant, and on the other, as a wise politician and reformer. What actions of Justinian allowed him to characterize the emperor this way? How did Justinian himself understand the goals of his reign? What is your opinion of Justinian?

Answer: He was suspicious, insidious, vengeful, greedy, indiscriminate in the ways of obtaining funds, cruel to his opponents and enemies, with strong-willed decisions he interfered in the lives of people close to him, and did not hesitate to execute his loved ones. Beneath the outward politeness hid a merciless tyrant. With all these qualities, he had tireless perseverance and hard work, was well educated and energetic. He issued a set of laws, which other states subsequently took as a basis when drawing up their laws. He reformed the administrative and tax system, legislation, developed foreign trade, considering it a source of wealth for the empire, annexed many provinces lost to the Western Roman Empire, reformed the army, rebuilt Constantinople and created a masterpiece of architecture - the Church of St. Sophia.

Personally, my opinion is ambiguous. Firstly, all his achievements became possible thanks to his environment. Secondly, after the reign of Justinian, the Byzantine economy was greatly weakened by numerous wars and exorbitant expenses, and people fled to the barbarians due to huge taxes. On the other hand, he restored all the destroyed cities and built fortresses.

3) Think about why in Byzantium itself the rulers were called Roman (Roman) emperors, and in the West they were called the rulers of Constantinople.

Answer: The Roman Emperor Constantine I moved the capital, calling it “New Rome”, but in the west the city was called Constantinople - after the name of the emperor, therefore in the west the rulers of Byzantium were called Constantinople.

Byzantium wanted to restore the Roman Empire and therefore called themselves that, but since they did not rule in Rome, they could not do this.

With the advent of the Iron Age - the appearance of the first iron tools - the productivity of farmers increased. It became possible to plow lands that previously could not be cultivated, but were used as pastures. Farmers began to crowd out neighboring pastoral tribes. Expanding agricultural territories had to be protected from raids by nomads, which required the creation of new states. Unlike the first kingdoms of antiquity, their functions were not related to the organization of irrigation of the land. Thanks to more advanced tools, rural communities have already coped with this task.

The new state formations were military despotisms. They provided agricultural communities with for artisans and protection for city merchants from external enemies. The taxes collected went to support the army, the administrative apparatus, and the court nobility. The more lands the military despotism controlled, the more funds were at the disposal of its overlords. This stimulated constant expansion. Wars in the name of expanding territory were waged continuously.

The emerging empires were fragile and relied only on military force. The economic and religious heterogeneity of the lands included in them, the desire of the local nobility for independence in the face of serious military defeats led to their collapse. The centers of the first military despotisms were the states formed in Asia Minor, on the Iranian Highlands (the power of the Hittites, Assyria, Urartu). A struggle developed between them for control of the fertile lands of Mesopotamia. In the XIV-XIII centuries, BC. The greatest successes were achieved by the Hittites, who fought unsuccessfully against the Egyptians. Then Acciruia emerged as the first military despotism. It dates back to the 19th century BC. competed with Babylon for dominance over the fertile lands of Mesopotamia. In the X - VII centuries, BC. Assyria extended its power to all of Asia Minor, conquered not only Babylon, but also Phenicia, the kingdom of Damascus, the kingdoms of Judah and Israel in Palestine, Egypt, lands of the Hittites, Persian and Median tribes.

In the 7th century BC. the alliance of Median tribes refused to submit to Assyria and began a war against it. Babylon took advantage of the weakening of Assyria, seizing most of its possessions.

In the 6th century BC. The rise of the Persian Empire began. The Persians, under King Cyrus I (ruled in 558-5ZO BC), freed from the power of the Medes, began campaigns of conquest. They managed to conquer Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, Phenicia, and Asia Minor. Under King Cambyses they took possession of Egypt. Under King Darius 1 (reigned 522-486 BC), who conquered the west of India, a new administrative system of government emerged. His empire was divided into 20 provinces (satrapies), each of which paid taxes depending on the size and fertility of the land being cultivated. For the convenience of payments and trade, the minting of silver coins began for the first time in the world, and silver bars were also used as a means of payment. Darius's treasury received about 400 tons of silver annually.

The Persian Empire turned out to be fragile: after defeat in the war with the city-states of Greece, in the 4th century BC, it collapsed under the blows of Macedonian troops.

Ancient India

In India, several large government entities also changed. In the III - II centuries, BC. Most of its territory was controlled by the Mauryan Empire.

After its collapse, a long period of rivalry between small states began, ending only in the 4th century, when the borders of the Tupta dynasty expanded. However, under the blows of nomadic tribes in the 6th century, this empire also collapsed. Many small states re-emerged on Indian territory.

The difficulty of creating large military despotisms in India was partly explained by the vastness of its territory, a significant part of which was occupied by rugged jungles, deserts and mountains. A unique system of social relations played a major role here.

Even within the framework of the tribal system, on the basis of communities leading subsistence farming (they usually included several settlements), a rigid system of inheritance of professions developed. Society was divided into varnas - closed groups of people. The highest varnas included brahmanas (priests) and kshatriyas (leaders and warriors). The most numerous Vaishya vara united ordinary community members. Strangers (those who strayed from their communities, captives and their descendants) constituted the lowest varna - the Shudras. Marriages between representatives of different varnas, transition from one varna to another were impossible.

The origin of the varn system is not known with certainty. One hypothesis is that it was associated with the conquest of India by Indo-European Aryan tribes. According to Indian scientists, the ancestral home of the Aryans was Central Europe. At the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. some of their tribal alliances began to move to the East. Some settled on the territory of modern Iran (in particular, the Medes and Persians are their descendants). Others moved further south, to India, subjugating local tribes. Relatively few conquerors - leaders, warriors, priests, not wanting to completely merge with the conquered population, sought to make their power hereditary. The tradition they laid down of inheriting a social role took root in society over time.

The varna system, which originated in the Ganges valley, gradually spread to most of India. With the advent of new professions, the varnas at the beginning of the new era, especially among the Vaishyas, were divided into castes of artisans, traders, farmers, etc.

The caste system, of which there were more than a hundred (it was abolished only in the twentieth century), divided society into many small segments that avoided contact with each other. She was extremely conservative and excluded the possibility of any changes. Representatives of each caste had different, strictly defined privileges, rights and responsibilities. The tradition of intra-caste solidarity and mutual support was strong.

Successive conquerors could impose taxes on communal households, but were unable to influence the established norms of caste behavior or secure support for themselves in Indian society, which lived according to its own laws. The decisive role was played by the local spiritual and secular nobility - brahmins and kshatriyas. This determined the fragility of the empires that arose in India.

China in ancient times

The development of the state in Ancient China had its own characteristics. The vast territory between the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers has long been inhabited by agricultural tribes, who gradually settled on the flat part of the territory of modern China.

In the process of rivalry between small state formations, led by exalted tribal nobility (their number reached several hundred), a number of large powers gradually emerged. At the turn of the 2nd - 1st millennia BC. the most influential was the Western Zhou, whose head, the wang (emperor), was considered the son of Heaven, standing between gods and people. In the 8th century BC. Zhou falls into decline, and seven large rival states emerge on Chinese territory. The most powerful of them, the Qin Empire, in the 3rd century BC. unites almost the entire country for a short time. It is believed that it was at this time, by order of Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi, that the construction of the Great Wall of China was completed to protect against nomads.

The gigantic dimensions of the wall (its length reaches 5000 km, height - from 6.6 to 10 m, thickness in the lower part - 6.5 m, in Bepx - 5.5 m, watchtowers rise every few hundred meters) gave rise to many hypotheses about the time of its construction, but their reliability is doubtful. Since nomadic tribes constantly approached the borders of the ancient Chinese states, it is possible that the wall was built by them over several centuries, and was repeatedly completed and repaired.

From the 2nd century BC. until the 3rd century AD supremacy in China passes to the Han Empire. During this period, conquest campaigns were organized in Korea and Vietnam, trade relations were established with many states of Central Asia and the Middle East (the Great Silk Road).

Peculiarity China was that the main danger to its integrity was created by the separatist aspirations of the local nobility. With the development of commodity-money relations, its position strengthened, it seized control over communal lands, and many farmers fell into debt slavery.

China was the only country in the Ancient World where attempts were made to weaken the importance of the nobility, in particular to free the state apparatus from its influence. The practice became widespread in which appointment to a public position required certain knowledge and passing an exam.

People from all segments of the population were admitted to it. For their service, officials were not rewarded with land, but received regular salaries.

The authorities often sought to rely on the support of ordinary community members, speaking out in defense of their interests and their usual (traditional) way of life. Repeated attempts were made to limit the development of commodity-money relations and to complicate the redistribution of land in favor of the nobility. Thus, during the Zhou state, land was considered to belong to the state, to which farmers paid taxes. In the Han Empire in the 1st century, all hereditary titles were abolished, and the purchase and sale of land was prohibited. The state regulated prices in markets and controlled the production of products by artisans. The maximum size of land holdings, as well as the number of slaves that could be at the disposal of one owner, were limited.

Initially the maximum size of the estate was 138 hectares, then it was reduced to 2 hectares. A tax was introduced on individuals owning slaves. At the same time, state slavery acquired increasing proportions.

Abuse of power by officials, embezzlement and low efficiency of their activities (in particular, the irrigation system of the Yellow River fell into decay, which caused floods and famine), the constant increase in taxes (funds were spent on maintaining the state apparatus) led in the 1st century to an uprising that included history as the "red eyebrows" movement. It was suppressed with great difficulty, but the policy of the authorities did not change.

A new stage of spiritual life

With the advent of the Iron Age and the improvement of tools, the degree of human dependence on nature decreased. This led to a decline in the influence of religions based on the deification of its elemental forces. At the same time, the mystery of death still remained a mystery to man. This contributed to the emergence and rise of new religions - Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Judaism. Despite the great differences between them, a common feature stood out: a person’s life path on Earth was considered as a kind of test, and those who passed it with dignity received a reward after death.

The spread of Zoroastrianism is associated with the teachings of Zoroaster (Zarathushtra), (VIl-VI centuries BC), who lived in Iran. According to his views, there is a struggle between two forces in the world - Good and Evil. Man was viewed as a product of the forces of Good, but it was believed that, having free will, he could choose the path of Evil, onto which dark forces were pushing him. People who embarked on the path of Good went to heaven after death. Those who surrendered to Evil doomed themselves to eternal torment in hell. Zoroastrianism assumed the victory of the forces of Good and the establishment of an ideal kingdom on earth. The teachings of Zoroaster spread widely among Iranian tribes in the 3rd-7th centuries.

The founder of Buddhism is considered to be Siddhartha Gautama (623-544 BC). According to his teachings, after the death of a person, a new rebirth awaits, the form of which is determined by the law of karma (retribution) for deeds committed in this and previous lives; a sinner can be reborn in the body of an animal or insect, a righteous person - in a child of a higher caste. Achieving absolute righteousness leads to nirvana - the cessation of the cycle of rebirth, eternal bliss. Buddhism in the 1st-2nd centuries spread widely not only in India, but also in China, Korea, and Japan.

Confucianism is less a religion than a system of moral and ethical standards developed by the Chinese thinker Confucius (551-479 BC). He considered these norms mandatory for all self-respecting people. They included strict adherence to traditions, respect for elders, obedience to authority, adherence to the order established by higher powers, Heaven. Confucius viewed the state as a large family in which the elders, i.e., the authorities, should take care of the people and rule not through coercion, but on the basis of virtue. Many followers of Confucius believed that the people have the right to rebel against the government if it infringes on its rights and resorts to arbitrariness.

Judaism established itself in the ancient Jewish state of Palestine in the 10th-7th centuries BC. It was built on faith in the one god Yahweh, who promised salvation to his chosen people of Israel if they followed the covenants set out in the holy books. According to the Old Testament, the Last Judgment would befall all the living and the dead. The righteous will find eternal life, unlike the beliefs of the past, which assumed that a person can only pray for support from higher powers, appeasing them with sacrifices, new religions made a person’s fate dependent on his actions, including in relation to others, This was a reflection of the increased role of social development factors humanity.

Questions and tasks

1. Indicate the differences between state power and tribal structure. List the characteristics of a state.

2. In what regions of the world did the first state formations take shape? How did climatic and natural conditions influence the formation of ancient states? Give examples.
3. Why was the extreme form of social inequality (slavery) inherent in all ancient states? What was the situation of slaves in Ancient Egypt? Identify the sources of slavery.
4. Think about why the rulers of the eastern states were proclaimed living gods. What place did priests occupy in the social hierarchy? Why was the construction of pyramids and other funeral rites given great importance in Ancient Egypt?
5. Tell us about the cultural achievements of Ancient Egypt .

6. Indicate the reasons for the weakness of the despotic states of antiquity. How long did the Ancient Egyptian state last? What are the reasons for its decline?
7 What relationships were regulated by the most ancient systems of legal norms? Which of the ancient eastern rulers first backed up their power with the force of law?
8. Characterize the despotisms that developed at the beginning of the Iron Age. Why were there continuous wars for territorial expansion? What military despotisms arose on the territory of Western Asia? Why did they decay relatively quickly?
9 Tell us about the features of the development of Ancient India. What are varnas and castes?
10. Fill out the table: Table “New stage of spiritual life”

Draw a conclusion about the differences between new religions and previous beliefs

Related information.

The terms “tsar” and “king”, which in Russian were used to designate rulers, were especially clearly delineated. If “tsars” were called semi-officially from Ivan III, and from 1547 and the coronation of Ivan IV, officially, Russian rulers, then only European monarchs were called “kings”.

The etymology of these words and their origins differ, although both terms came to Europe, and even to Rus', from Rome and from the time of the formation of the Roman Empire. By the way, the first ruler who called himself tsar was not a Russian, but a Bulgarian monarch, Tsar Simeon the Great, who took this title in 917. Following him, already in the 14th century, Serbian monarchs began to bear this title, and then the “new fashionable trend” reached Rus'.

Where does the word come from?

According to the most popular version, the word “king” itself comes literally from the name of Gaius Julius Caesar. And many researchers see some irony in this. Since the word “Caesar” itself originally had a generic affiliation and could not mean a royal person, but the word “hairy”.

And Gaius Julius Caesar himself did not at all strive to become a supreme and authoritarian ruler, for whose title in Rome, by the way, there was a different word - “rex”. And in general, as history has shown, he did the right thing, but power was still concentrated in his hands, which ultimately became the reason for the conspiracy and murder of Caesar. But after Gaius Julius, in order to emphasize their continuity, the Roman rulers began to be called Caesars.

Tsar in Rus'

With our country and the title “tsar” there is a separate story, since at a certain moment we began, and not unreasonably, to consider ourselves “spiritual heirs of Byzantium.” That is, the Eastern Roman Empire. Therefore, it is logical that after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, which was called “Tsargrad” in Russian chronicles, Ivan III began to be called Tsar, and his grandson Ivan the Terrible officially received this title.

Ivan groznyj

With the term “king” everything is historically even more interesting, if only because there is no single version of the origin of this word. The most common theory is that he also went on behalf of Charlemagne, Emperor of the West.

In particular, Pope Leo III placed the imperial tiara on the head of this ruler in December 800. But already from the time of Princess Olga, the reference point for the legitimacy of rule for the Russians was Byzantium, and not Rome. Moreover, the Roman rulers in Rus' were perceived as “alien”, “not truly purple-born” rulers.

It is worth recalling at least the attempt of Olga’s Varangian dignitaries, after her long and not entirely successful trip to Constantinople, on her behalf and without her knowledge to invite Western Christian missionaries to Rus' with the aim of rapprochement with Rome. The attempt, as we remember, turned out to be a complete failure, and the missionaries generally went back with great difficulty and risk to their lives.

And all this because Olga did not seek rapprochement with the “kings” and with their version of Christianity, which was then still united, but already increasingly divergent. She sought kinship precisely with Byzantium, as the homeland of “true monarchs,” kings. And therefore the word “king” began to refer specifically to European Western rulers. As lower in dignity than the term “king”.

However, there is another version, which claims that the word “king” was in a “glorified” form quite common in Rus', and it came precisely from the word “rex”, transformed in French, for example, into “roi” or Spanish "rey". But literally, this same “rex” simply meant “ruler.”

And analogues of this title already existed in European languages. For example, the Scandinavian “konung”. And these “kings” were the “princes” in Rus', that is, both rulers and military leaders. It is clear that within the Russian hierarchy of titles, the “king”, who was associated with the “prince”, one of many, stood significantly lower in dignity than the “tsar”, who was the sole and all-powerful ruler of the state.

Other versions

There is another version of the history of the word “king”, which indirectly confirms the etymology of the term “prince”. This is an origin from the proto-Aryan “h₃rḗǵs” from which, for example, Indian “rajas” appeared, essentially the same “princes”, rulers among many of the same.

Well, the actual Slavic version, which says that the word “king” was formed from “karati”, that is, to punish or punish. In general, from any point of view, the word “king” for a unified and centralized Russian state was not entirely correct. Therefore, within the framework of the concept of “Moscow - the Third Rome”, it was logical that the word “tsar” was adopted into circulation, and then, again following the example of Byzantium, “emperor”.

My son and I are going through the history of the Ancient World. The textbook is interesting (Ukolova V.I., Marinovich L.P. History of the Ancient World).

It is interesting, among other things, because at the end of each paragraph there are two groups of questions and tasks. You can calmly answer the first group if you have read the paragraph.

But to answer the second, the knowledge from the paragraph is no longer enough. That is, they are not in it at all. You must either look for knowledge somewhere else, for example on the Internet, or complete entire works, so-called creative tasks. With the involvement, presumably, of dads, moms and other relatives. It would be nice if among them there was at least a candidate of historical sciences.

Of course, many of these questions are presented to the whole class for discussion. In principle, from the knowledge contained in the paragraph, it is possible to derive answers to “unparalleled” questions. But you have to think very logically about this. There is a chance that the collective mind of the class, with the help of the teacher’s guiding and guiding thoughts, will be able to answer these questions. So in this sense, questions are good and correct - they awaken creative thought and develop logical-historical thinking.

But we were particularly unlucky: the child got sick and sits at home, and homework comes over the Internet (in progress! or in our time - you get sick and get high). They need to be done - so we do them.

The task came to answer the second group of questions on paragraph 9: Mesopotamia: the birth of civilization.

The first question is simple: Why did ancient city-states arose on the banks of rivers?

The textbook only says that ancient city-states arose on the banks of rivers. And it's all. But we easily figured it out - there are a lot of people in the city, they just need to drink water, wash themselves in the mornings and evenings, grow crops for food, and it is also convenient to use the river as a route for trade.

Question two: Discuss in class: why, with the emergence of the state, traditions and customs could no longer ensure order in society and rulers began to make laws?

At this point dad was already scratching his head, since the collective brain of the class with the guiding and guiding thought of the teacher was not at hand. I even had to look on the Internet in order to somehow organize what first came to mind - society has become more complex than a tribe in the forest, private property has appeared, the number of disputes has increased and a new management system is needed - a state that is more convenient to govern with the help of laws, even if carved in stone by Comrade Hammurabi. In general, they painted it in half with sin.

Question three: Think about why the rulers of Sumer relied not on the clan nobility, but on officials.

This was a complete waste - I can’t even imagine how the teacher’s mind would cope with such a question. It’s good that at one time your humble servant, through the famous book by Mikhail Voslensky “Nomenklatura”, became acquainted with the hypothesis of the historian Karl Wittfogel about “hydraulic” societies. In short, to carry out complex irrigation work, as well as the construction of pyramids, palaces and temples, the mobilization of all forces of society is required, which is easier to do through the state and the officials appointed by it.

True, Wittfogel did not answer the question of why such work, for example, in Holland and Italy, did not lead to the emergence of “hydraulic” societies. Well, we didn’t go to such heights. We will do this if we suddenly need to write a candidate's dissertation.

In the meantime, they simply wrote it down - they say that the rulers of Sumer needed to carry out major construction work, and this is easier to do through officials, and not through the willful and impudent clan nobility.

When I was at school, we had a classic ancient history textbook with a picture of the triumphal arch at Palmyra. Recently, this arch was blown up by new vandals from ISIS (banned in Russia - damn, it turns out that if you are a media outlet, you must write for every mention of ISIS that it, or it, or he is banned in Russia. Otherwise there will be troubles under the media law. It's good that I'm not a media person yet). Pichalka, in short. In the meantime, as a CDPV, I’m exhibiting an arch from the ancient city of Myra in Anatolia, which, by the way, was taken with my own hands.

1. Indicate the differences between the state and tribal organization of public life. List the characteristics of a state.

In a tribe, just like in a state, there is power, but it is based on authority. In a state, in addition to authority, the government also has a coercive apparatus, as a rule, including armed forces separated from the rest of society.

The characteristics of a state that distinguish it from pre-state societies include the following:

Division of society into the governed and the managers;

The presence of a management apparatus, designed in the form of special institutions;

The presence of an apparatus of coercion of the governed;

The presence of armed forces, formalized as a special institution;

Availability of judicial institutions;

Replacement of customs and traditions with laws.

2. In what regions of the world did the first state formations develop? How did climatic and natural conditions influence the formation of ancient states? Give examples.

The first states arose in the subtropics in the valleys of large rivers. These rivers once surrounded plains with a lot of game, so many tribes roamed there. Then the climate became increasingly arid, which drove people to the river itself, where the entire population of previously vast territories ended up. The threat of famine forced people to switch to agriculture and cattle breeding. But at the same time, the river valleys were not ideal for agriculture: a significant part of them remained swampy. To drain swamps, people developed irrigation systems. Gradually they began to be used in reverse for irrigating agricultural fields. Irrigation required the organization of labor of a large number of people and accurate calculations and knowledge. It was thanks to this that the first states based specifically on irrigation agriculture appeared. To understand the veracity of this theory, it is enough to remember where the most ancient civilizations arose: in the interfluves of the Tigris and Euphrates (Mesopotamian civilization), the Indus and the now dry Saraswati (the so-called Harappan civilization), the Yangtze and Yellow River (Ancient Chinese civilization), in the Nile Valley (Ancient Egyptian civilization ).

3. Why was an extreme form of social inequality (slavery) inherent in all ancient states? What was the situation of slaves in Ancient Egypt? Identify the sources of slavery.

All ancient civilizations had similar farming conditions (irrigated agriculture), therefore the same phenomenon became widespread in all of them - patriarchal slavery. In all of these civilizations, including Ancient Egypt, slaves were considered part of a large family group (patriarchal household) and often performed the same jobs as free family members. Prisoners of war, or debtors who failed to pay on time (or the children of such debtors) became such slaves.

5. Think about why the rulers of eastern states were proclaimed living gods. What place did priests occupy in the social hierarchy? Why was the construction of pyramids and other funeral rites given great importance in Ancient Egypt?

When a person took up farming, he encountered new problems unknown to himself. Previously, only a long series of unsuccessful hunts could lead to famine, but a farmer's harvest can be destroyed by one brief event, such as a flood. The attitude towards many natural phenomena has changed. The hunter could simply move away from many of them to more favorable places, but the farmer was tied to his field, so many things really became a disaster. Based on all this, ideas have developed about omnipotent, formidable deities who must be prayed for mercy, who must be served in order to earn this mercy.

New religious systems gave new answers to the main question of human existence - the existence of his soul after earthly life. Ancient Egyptian ideas required such structures as pyramids, mortuary temples, etc. for these purposes.

The priests, on the one hand, were intermediaries between people and these terrible all-powerful gods, they helped to earn mercy. But at the same time, the priests also accumulated practical knowledge; it was they who organized irrigation work that required precise calculations.

The prosperity of ancient civilizations depended on high yields, which were obtained thanks to irrigation agriculture. In order for irrigation systems to work harmoniously, a unified leadership was required, a strong authority, which ideally no one should contradict. That is why the ruler was considered one of those terrible gods - so that he had absolute power, which no one dared to contradict.

6. Tell us about the cultural achievements of Ancient Egypt.

The ancient Egyptians are known primarily for their architecture, especially associated with the cult of the dead. The great pyramids, rock-cut tombs, and mortuary temples still amaze the imagination, even though they have not reached us in their original form.

Also, their writing systems (hieroglyphic and hieratic), medicine, etc. played a big role in the history of mankind.