The origin of primitive people, the emergence of religion and art. The rise of art and religious beliefs

Today, dear friends, the subject of our article will be ancient religions. We will plunge into the mysterious world of the Sumerians and Egyptians, get acquainted with fire worshipers and learn the meaning of the word "Buddhism". You will also find out where religion came from and when the first thoughts of a person appeared about

Read carefully, because today we will talk about the path that humanity has traveled from primitive beliefs to modern temples.

What is "religion"

A long time ago, people began to think about questions that cannot be explained only by earthly experience. For example, where are we from Who created the trees, mountains, seas? These and many other tasks remained unanswered.

The way out was found in animation and worship of phenomena, landscape objects, animals and plants. This is the approach that distinguishes all ancient religions. We will talk about them in more detail later.

The very term "religion" comes from the Latin language. This concept means world consciousness, which includes higher powers, moral and ethical laws, a system of cult actions and specific organizations.

Some modern beliefs do not fit all points. They cannot be defined as "religion." Buddhism, for example, is more inclined to refer to philosophical trends.

Before the emergence of philosophy, it was religion that dealt with issues of good and evil, morality and morality, the meaning of life and many others. Also, since ancient times, a special social stratum stood out - priests. These are modern priests, preachers, missionaries. They not only deal with the problem of "salvation of the soul", but represent a rather influential state institution.

So, where did it all start. Now we will talk about the emergence of the first thoughts about a higher nature and supernatural things in the environment.

Primitive beliefs

We know about beliefs from rock paintings and burials. In addition, some tribes still live at the Stone Age level. Therefore, ethnographers can study and describe their worldview and cosmology. It is from these three sources that we know about ancient religions.

Our ancestors began to separate the real world from the other world more than forty thousand years ago. It was at this time that such a type of person as the Cro-Magnon, or homo sapiens, appeared. In fact, he is no longer different from modern people.

Before him there were Neanderthals. They existed for about sixty thousand years before the arrival of the Cro-Magnons. It is in the graves of the Neanderthals that ocher and grave goods are found for the first time. These are symbols of purification and materials for life after death in the afterlife.

Gradually, a belief is formed that all objects, plants, animals have a spirit in them. If you can appease the spirits of the stream, there will be a good catch. The spirits of the forest will give you a successful hunt. And the placated spirit of a fruit tree or field will help with a bountiful harvest.

The consequences of these beliefs have survived through the centuries. Is this why we are still talking with devices, apparatus and other things, hoping that they will hear us, and the problem will be eliminated by itself.

As the development of animism, totemism, fetishism and shamanism appear. The first assumes the belief that each tribe has its own "totem", protector and progenitor. A similar belief is inherent in tribes in the next stage of development.

Among them are Indians and some other tribes from different continents. An example is ethnonyms - the tribe of the Great Buffalo or the Wise Muskrat.

This also includes the cults of sacred animals, taboos, etc.

Fetishism is a belief in superpower that certain things can bestow upon us. This includes amulets, talismans, and other items. They are designed to protect a person from evil influences, or, conversely, to contribute to a successful course of events.
Any unusual thing that stood out from the crowd could become a fetish.

For example, a stone from a sacred mountain or an unusual bird feather. Later, this belief is mixed with the cult of ancestors, amulet dolls begin to appear. Subsequently, they turn into anthropomorphic gods.

Therefore, the dispute about which religion is older cannot be resolved unequivocally. Gradually, fragments of primitive beliefs and everyday experience were assembled among different peoples. More complex forms of spiritual concepts arise from such a plexus.

Magic

When we mentioned ancient religions, we talked about shamanism, but did not discuss it. This is a more advanced form of belief. It includes not only fragments from the rest of the worship, but also implies the ability of a person to influence the invisible world.

Shamans, according to the conviction of the rest of the tribe, can communicate with spirits and help people. These include healing rituals, calls for luck, requests for victory in battle, and good harvest spells.

This practice is still preserved in Siberia, Africa and some other less developed regions. Voodoo culture can be mentioned as a transitional part from simple shamanism to more complex magic and religion.

There are already gods in it who are responsible for various spheres of human life. In Latin America, African images are superimposed on the properties of Catholic saints. This unusual tradition sets the voodoo cult apart from such magical movements.

When mentioning the rise of ancient religions, it is impossible to ignore magic. This is the highest form of primitive beliefs. Gradually becoming more complex, shamanic rituals absorb experience from different areas of knowledge. Rituals are created that are designed to make some people stronger than others. It was believed that, having passed the initiation and received secret (esoteric) knowledge, magicians become practically demigods.

What is a magic rite. It is a symbolic performance of the desired action with the best possible outcome. For example, warriors dance a battle dance, attack an imaginary enemy, suddenly a shaman appears in the form of a tribal totem and helps his children to destroy the enemy. This is the most primitive form of the rite.

More complex rituals are described in special books of spells that have been known since ancient times. These include the books of the dead, the witch's books of spirits, the Keys of Solomon and other grimoires.

Thus, over several tens of thousands of years, beliefs have gone from worshiping animals and trees to worshiping personified phenomena or human properties. We call them gods.

Sumerian-Akkadian civilization

Further we will consider some of the ancient religions of the East. Why do we start with them? Because the first civilizations arose on this territory.
So, according to archaeologists, the oldest settlements are found within the "fertile crescent". These are lands belonging to the Middle East and Mesopotamia. It is here that the states of Sumer and Akkad arise. We will talk about their beliefs further.

The religion of ancient Mesopotamia is known to us from archaeological finds on the territory of modern Iraq. And also some literary monuments of that period have survived. For example, the legend of Gilgamesh.

A similar epic was recorded on clay tablets. They were found in ancient temples and palaces, and later deciphered. So, what did we learn from them.
The oldest myth tells of the old gods, who personify water, sun, moon and earth. They gave birth to young heroes who began to make noise. For this, the firstborn decided to get rid of them. But the sky god Ea unraveled the insidious plan and was able to put his father Abuz to sleep, who became the ocean.

The second myth tells of the rise of Marduk. It was written, apparently, during the subordination of Babylon to the rest of the city-states. After all, it was Marduk who was the supreme deity and guardian of this city.

The legend says that Tiamat (primary chaos) decided to attack the "heavenly" gods and destroy them. In several battles, she won and the firstborn "became depressed." In the end, they decided to send Marduk to fight Tiamat, who successfully completed the task. He cut the body of the defeated one. From its various parts, he made the sky, the earth, Mount Ararat, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

Thus, the Sumerian-Akkadian beliefs become the first step towards the formation of the institution of religion, when the latter becomes an important part of the state.

Ancient Egypt

Egypt became the successor of the Sumerian religion. His priests were able to continue the work of the Babylonian priests. They developed such sciences as arithmetic, geometry, astronomy. Also, stunning samples of spells, hymns, sacred architecture were created. The tradition of posthumous mummification of noble people and pharaohs has become unique.

The rulers of this period of history begin to proclaim themselves the sons of the gods and, in fact, the inhabitants of heaven themselves. On the basis of such a worldview, the next stage of the religion of the ancient world is being built. A table from the Babylonian palace speaks of the dedication of the ruler received from Marduk. The texts of the pyramids illustrate not only the chosenness of the pharaohs, but also show a direct kinship.

However, this veneration of the pharaohs was not from the very beginning. It appeared only after the conquest of the surrounding lands and the creation of a strong state with a powerful army. Before that, there was a pantheon of gods, which later changed a little, but retained its main features.

So, as stated in the work of Herodotus "History", the religion of the ancient Egyptians included ceremonies dedicated to different seasons, worship of deities and special rituals designed to strengthen the country's position in the world.

The myths of the Egyptians tell about the goddess of the sky and the god of the earth, who gave birth to everything that surrounds us. These people believed that the sky was Nut, standing over Geb, the god of the earth. She only touches him with the tips of her fingers and toes. Every evening she eats the sun, and every morning she gives birth to it again.

The main deity in the early period of Ancient Egypt was Ra, the sun god. He later lost the primacy to Osiris.

The legend of Isis, Osiris and Horus later formed the basis of many myths about the murdered and resurrected savior.

Zoroastrianism

As we mentioned at the beginning, the religion of ancient people attributed powerful properties to various elements and objects. This belief was preserved among the ancient Persians. Neighboring peoples called them "fire worshipers", as they especially revered this phenomenon.

It is one of the first world religions to have its own Holy Scriptures. This was not the case in Sumer or Egypt. There were only scattered books of spells and hymns, myths and recommendations for mummification. In Egypt, it is true, there was a book of the dead, but it cannot be called Scripture.

In Zoroastrianism, there is a prophet - Zarathushtra. He received the scripture (Avesta) from the supreme god Ahura Mazda.

This religion is based on freedom of moral choice. A person vacillates every second between evil (he is personified by Angro Manyu or Ahriman) and good (Ahura Mazda or Hormuz). The Zoroastrians called their religion "Good Faith" and called themselves "faithful".

The ancient Persians believed that reason and conscience were given to man in order to correctly determine his side in the spirit world. The main tenets were helping others and supporting those in need. The main prohibitions are violence, robbery and theft.
The goal of any Zoroastrian was to achieve good thoughts, words and deeds at the same time.

Like many other ancient religions of the East, "Good Faith" proclaimed in the end the victory of good over evil. But Zoroastrianism is the first creed in which concepts such as heaven and hell are encountered.

They were called fire worshipers for the special reverence they showed to fire. But this element was considered the crudest manifestation of Ahura Mazda. The main symbol of the supreme god in our world was considered by the faithful to be sunlight.

Buddhism

The religion of Buddhism has long been popular in East Asia. Translated into Russian from Sanskrit, this word means "teaching about spiritual awakening." Its founder is considered to be Prince Siddhartha Gautama, who lived in India in the sixth century BC. The term "Buddhism" appeared only in the nineteenth century, but the Indians themselves called it "dharma" or "boddhidharma".

Today it is one of the three world religions, which is considered the most ancient of them. Buddhism permeates the cultures of the peoples of East Asia, therefore, it is possible to understand the Chinese, Hindus, Tibetans and many others only after acquaintance with the basics of this religion.

The main ideas of Buddhism are as follows:
- life is suffering;
- suffering (dissatisfaction) has a cause;
- there is an opportunity to get rid of suffering;
- there is a way to escape.

These postulates are called the four noble truths. And the path that leads to getting rid of dissatisfaction and frustration is called "Eightfold".
It is believed that the Buddha came to these conclusions after seeing the troubles of the world and sitting for many years under a tree in meditation on the question of why people suffer.

Today this belief is considered a philosophical movement, not a religion. The reasons for this are as follows:
- in Buddhism there is no concept of God, soul and redemption;
- there is no organization, unified dogmas and unconditional devotion to the idea;
- his adherents believe that the worlds are endless;
- in addition, you can belong to any religion and be guided by the principles of Buddhism, this is not prohibited here.

Antiquity

By adherents of Christianity and other monotheistic beliefs, the first worship of nature by people is called paganism. Therefore, we can say that this is the oldest world religion. Now we will move from India to the Mediterranean coast.

Here, in the period of antiquity, the Greek and Roman cultures were especially developed. If you look closely at the pantheons of ancient gods, they are practically interchangeable and equivalent. Often the only difference is the name of a particular character.

It is also noteworthy that this religion of the ancient gods identified the inhabitants of heaven with people. If we read the ancient Greek and Roman myths, we will see that immortals are just as petty, jealous and self-serving as humanity. They help those who are well pleased, they can be bribed. The gods, angry over a trifle, can destroy an entire people.

Nevertheless, it is precisely this approach to world outlook that helped shape modern values. On the basis of such frivolous relations with higher powers, philosophy and many sciences were able to develop. If you compare antiquity with the era of the Middle Ages, it becomes clear that freedom of expression is more valuable than the implantation of "true faith."

Ancient gods lived on Mount Olympus, which is located in Greece. Also, people then inhabited forests, reservoirs and mountains with spirits. It was this tradition that later developed into European gnomes, elves and other fabulous creatures.

Abrahamic religions

Today we divide historical time into the period before the birth of Christ and after. Why did this particular event become so important? In the Middle East, a man named Abraham is considered the progenitor. It is mentioned in the Torah, the Bible and the Koran. He first spoke about monotheism. About what the religions of the ancient world did not recognize.

The table of religions shows that it is the Abrahamic beliefs that have the largest number of adherents today.

The main trends are considered Judaism, Christianity and Islam. They arose in the order listed. Judaism is considered the oldest, it appeared somewhere in the ninth century BC. Then, around the first century, Christianity appeared, and in the sixth - Islam.

However, these religions alone have spawned countless wars and conflicts. Intolerance of the Gentiles is a hallmark of the adherents of the Abrahamic beliefs.

Although if you read the Scriptures carefully, they speak of love and mercy. Only the early medieval laws described in these books are confusing. Problems begin when fanatics want to apply outdated dogmas to a modern society that has already changed significantly.

Due to the disagreement between the text of the books and the behavior of believers, different trends have arisen for centuries. They interpreted the Scriptures in their own way, which led to "wars of faith."

Today the problem has not been completely solved, but the methods have improved a little. Modern "new churches" are more focused on the inner world of the flock and the purse of the priest than on the subjugation of heretics.

Ancient religion of the Slavs

Today, on the territory of the Russian Federation, one can find both the most ancient forms of religion and monotheistic movements. However, who did our ancestors worship initially?

The religion of Ancient Russia today is called the term "paganism". This is a Christian concept that means the faith of other nations. Over time, it acquired a slightly derogatory connotation.

Today, attempts are being made to restore ancient beliefs in different countries of the world. Europeans, while reconstructing the Celtic faith, call their actions "tradition." In Russia, the names "relatives", "Slavic-Arians", "Rodnovers" and others are accepted.

What materials and sources help to restore bit by bit the worldview of the ancient Slavs? Firstly, these are literary monuments, such as "Veles's Book" and "The Lay of Igor's Campaign." It mentions some of the rites, names and attributes of different gods.

In addition, there are many archaeological finds that vividly illustrate the cosmogony of our ancestors.

The supreme gods were different for different tribes. Over time, Perun, the god of thunder, and Veles stand out. Also, Rod often appears in the role of the progenitor. Places of worship for deities were called "temples" and were located in forests or on the banks of rivers. Wooden and stone statues were placed on them. People came there to pray and make sacrifices.

Thus, dear readers, today we met with such a concept as religion. In addition, we got acquainted with various ancient beliefs.

Good luck friends. Be tolerant of each other!

Much in the surrounding world was mysterious and frightening for primitive man. People believed that earth, water and heaven were inhabited by gods and spirits who govern the phenomena of nature and the lives of people themselves. So about 200 thousand years ago religion was born. The earliest traces of the funeral cult date back to that period. Archaeologists have discovered burials in which the skeletons are oriented east-west. They are sprinkled with ocher, symbolizing the color of life ??? Zubov said - "like blood" ?? ..., and on the gravestone mounds was found pollen of conifers and flowers, which covered the grave, during the farewell to the deceased. All this testifies to the rudiments of religious beliefs that appeared in primitive man.

The further development of religious beliefs led to the establishment in the era of the Upper Paleolithic of developed forms of primitive religion in modern humans:

o Totemism (the belief that there is a mystical connection between a person and a certain class of objects of the surrounding nature)

o Fetishism (religious worship of material objects - fetishes, which are attributed to supernatural properties)

o Animism (belief in the existence of souls and spirits, belief in the animation of all nature)

o Magic (one of the oldest forms of religiosity, elements of which are contained in the religious traditions of most of the peoples of the world)

Mantica - the practice of fortune-telling and predictions, in order to find out the will of the gods

The perception of primitive beliefs separately, in isolation from others, is impossible - they were all closely related.

Those. = a person recognized the supremacy of higher forces over himself, the immaterial world, to which the world of everyday existence of people is subordinated.

It was believed that some people who are called shamans are able to communicate with the gods. Shamans supervised the performance of special rituals. People performed ritual dances, recited spells, believing that in this way it was possible to drive away evil spirits and call on the good for help.

Elements of culture, albeit in an embryonic form, arose simultaneously with man.

Apparently, some simple forms of dance, singing, music were known to both Pithecanthropus and Neanderthals. Their rudiments in instinctive forms can be found even in monkeys: they can swing rhythmically and make sounds, as it were, in time. But only at the end of the ancient Stone Age did people have the need and the ability to depict, draw, carve.

· + Myths - an attempt to find answers to the main questions of being, human origin, life and death, drawing up a picture of the world.

But only with the appearance of homo sapiens sapiens, a modern human species, about 40-35 thousand years ago, and together with him the tribal community, the culture of primitive society reaches its highest development. Finally, artistic creation appears, and spiritual culture takes on complete forms.

The first elements of human artistic-figurative thinking date back to the Aurignac-Solutre era in the Upper Paleolithic, 35-20 thousand years ago. The first attempts to depict something were the application of zigzag stripes or handprints on a stone surface. Then there is a round sculpture of clay and bone, drawing with ocher, marl or soot, and images made with a flint chisel.

Women are the first members of the human race to be portrayed. Several such drawings have survived in the caves. More often they preferred to make sculptural images of them. These were small figurines made of mammoth tusk, bone, stone, specially prepared clay mass, which could fit in the palm of your hand. Usually women were portrayed as full and naked - mothers with many children. But there are also figures of slender, graceful women, as if they have not yet experienced the hardships and joys of motherhood. These are young hunters, as agile as the men, although not as strong. In all likelihood, figurines of women were used in rituals and worn as amulets.

The creations created by the hand of a primitive artist were sometimes not only works of art, but also religious and magical symbols.

Painting reaches its peak in primitive society in the era of Madeleine (20-10 thousand years ago). At this time, animals were depicted with great skill, almost life-size, and skillfully painted. Images of animals - bison, horses, mammoths - striking in their perfection and accuracy of observation were applied to the walls and low ceilings of caves in Spain, southern France, and the Urals.

This is how art arose - an image. But primitive man could not yet create complex compositions.

In the subsequent Mesolithic era, multi-color images are replaced by schematic and largely conventional drawings of animals and people. But during this period, a person complicates the drawing and an art-rhythm appears, which finally allows multi-figured drawings to be combined into compositions, often devoted to plots on the theme of hunting. The departure from realistic images was due to the fact that, having cognized individual objects of the surrounding world with the help of an artistic image, primitive man went through a complex composition to comprehend another problem: what is he, a person, in this world.

So, with the help of art and artistic images, primitive people cognized the world around them and comprehended the secrets of a multifaceted and complex life. Primitive art played an important role in the history and culture of ancient mankind.

Spiritual culture, forming over the centuries and millennia, was focused on performing at least two social functions - identifying the objective laws of being and preserving the integrity of society. In other words, we are talking about the cognitive function that science (and partly art) implements in the system of spiritual culture, and the general logical, regulatory function, which is performed by political, legal and moral culture, religion, and art. These elements of spiritual culture carry out the "theoretical" and "practical-spiritual" assimilation of reality. What place does religion occupy in this development? We will restrict ourselves to considering the interaction of religion with art, morality and science.

Religion is a very multifaceted, branched, complex social phenomenon, represented by various types and forms, the most widespread of which are world religions, which include numerous directions, schools and organizations.

In the history of culture, the emergence of three world religions was of particular importance: Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. These religions have made significant changes in culture, entering into complex interactions with its various elements and aspects.

The term "religion" is of Latin origin and means "piety, shrine." Religion is a special attitude, appropriate behavior and specific actions based on belief in the supernatural, something higher and sacred. It appears as such a form of reflection of reality in which a psychological, irrational element prevails - various states of the soul, moods, dreams, ecstasy. However, the basis of religion is belief in God, the immortality of the soul, the other world, that is, myths and dogmas.

Religion and art

In interaction with art, religion turns to the spiritual life of a person and interprets the meaning and goals of human existence in its own way. Art and religion reflect the world in the form of artistic images, comprehend the truth intuitively, through enlightenment. They are inconceivable without a person's emotional attitude to the world, without his developed imaginative imagination. But art has wider possibilities of figurative reflection of the world, which go beyond the limits of religious consciousness.

Historically, the interaction of art and religion was carried out as follows. Primitive culture was characterized by the indivisibility of social consciousness, therefore, in ancient times, religion, which was a complex interweaving of totemism, animism, fetishism and magic, was merged with primitive art and morality, all together they were an artistic reflection of the nature surrounding a person, his labor activity (hunting , agriculture, gathering). At first, obviously, a dance appeared, which was a magical body movement with the aim of appeasing or frightening spirits. Then music and mimicry were born. From the aesthetic imitation of the processes and results of labor, the fine arts gradually developed, aimed at the propitiation of spirits.

Religion had a huge influence on ancient culture, one of the elements of which was ancient Greek mythology. From myths we learn about the historical events of that time, about the life of society and its problems. Thus, the Homeric epic is considered an important primary source in the study of the most ancient period of Greek society, about which there is no other evidence.

Ancient Greek myths served as the basis for the emergence of the ancient theater. The prototype of theatrical performances was the festivities in honor of the very popular and beloved god Dionysus in Greece. During the festivities, choirs of singers dressed in goat skins performed, who sang special hymns - praises (from the Greek dithyrambos - the song of the goats). It was from them that the Greek tragedy arose later. A tragic comedy was born from rural festivities with comic songs and dances. Ancient Greek mythology has had a great influence on the culture of many modern European peoples. She was approached by Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Rubens, Shakespeare, Mozart, Gluck and many other composers, writers and artists.

Biblical myths, including the main myth of the God-man Jesus Christ, were the most attractive in art. For centuries, painting has lived with interpretations of the birth and baptism of Christ, the Last Supper, the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. On the canvases of Leonardo da Vinci, Kramskoy, Ge, Ivanov, Christ is presented as the highest ideal of Man, as the ideal of purity, love and forgiveness. The same moral dominant prevails in Christian icon painting, frescoes, and temple art.

The temple is not only a place of worship, it is a fortress, a symbol of the strength and independence of the state (city), a historical monument. So, the most ancient church in the Leningrad region is the church of St. George in Staraya Ladoga - was built in honor of the victory over the Swedes who besieged Ladoga in 1164, and is dedicated to Saint George, the patron saint of military affairs. The main temple of Pskov - Trinity Cathedral - was a symbolic expression of the capital's functions as an independent veche republic. The monument to the approval of the Kiev state, the main Christian church in Kiev, St. Sophia Cathedral was built by Yaroslav the Wise in the XI century. at the place where the victory over the Pechenegs was won. In a luxurious setting, among precious decorations and works of art of world significance, solemn ceremonies of initiation into grand dukes and higher hierarchical ranks, receptions of ambassadors took place here. Here was the chair of the Kiev metropolitans. The first library in Russia was created in the St. Sophia Cathedral, chronicles were kept.

Thus, the temples, being religious buildings, had great cultural significance: they embodied the history of the country, traditions and artistic tastes of the people.

For each temple, ancient Russian masters found their own unique architectural solution. Knowing how to accurately choose the best place in the landscape, they achieved its harmonious combination with the surrounding nature, which enhanced the expressiveness of the temple structures. An example is the most poetic creation of ancient Russian architecture - the Church of the Intercession in the bend of the Nerl River on the Vladimir-Suzdal land.

Religion, being a rich, centuries-old layer of world culture, has had a huge impact on literature. She left the Vedas, the Bible and the Koran to the world.

The Vedas are a vast fund of ideas, the most valuable source of ancient Indian philosophy and various knowledge. Here we are talking about the creation of the world, many concepts are introduced (cosmology, theology, epistemology, the world soul, etc.), practical ways of overcoming evil and suffering, gaining spiritual freedom are determined. The attitude to the Vedas determined the authority and variety of ancient Indian philosophical schools (Vedanta, Sakhis, Yoga, etc.). On the basis of the Vedas, the entire ancient Indian culture arose, giving the world the Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita - one of the most popular parts of the Mahabharata, which deals with the moral aspect of Hinduism, internal freedom, good, evil and justice. Here, the doctrine of yoga as a system of practical improvement of the body, soul and spirit is being developed.

The Bible is a monument to Hebrew literature (Old Testament) and early Christian literature (New Testament). The Old Testament includes chronicle-legislative books, works of popular preachers, as well as collections of texts related to various poetic and prosaic laurels - religious lyrics, reflections on the meaning of life (the books of Job and Ecclesiastes), a collection of aphorisms (the book of Proverbs of Solomon), wedding songs , love lyrics (the book "Ruth" and the book "Esther"). The Bible reflects the life of the peoples of the Ancient Mediterranean - wars, agreements, the activities of kings and military leaders, the way of life and customs of that time. Therefore, the Bible is one of the largest monuments of world culture and literature. Without Bible knowledge, many cultural values ​​remain inaccessible. Most of the artistic canvases of the era of classicism, Russian icon painting and philosophy cannot be understood without knowledge of biblical subjects.

The Koran includes the Islamic teaching about the fate of the world and man, contains a collection of ritual and legal regulations, edifying stories and parables. The Koran presents ancient Arab customs, Arabic poetry, folklore. The literary merit of the Quran is recognized by all experts in the Arabic language.

The role of religion in the history of world culture was not only in the fact that it gave humanity "sacred" books - sources of wisdom, kindness and creative inspiration. Religion has had a significant impact on the fiction of different countries and peoples. Take Christianity and Russian literature, for example. Having lost their bearings in the vain world, in the chaos of relative values, Russian authors have long begun to turn to Christian morality and later to the image of Christ as the ideal of this morality. In ancient Russian literature (in the lives of the saints), the lives of saints, ascetics, righteous princes were described in detail. Christ had not yet acted as a literary character: the sacred awe and reverence for the image of the Savior were too great. In the literature of the XIX century. Christ was not portrayed either, but images of people of the Christian spirit and holiness appear in it: for FM Dostoevsky - Prince Myshkin in the novel The Idiot, Alyosha and Zosima in The Brothers Karamazov; Leo Tolstoy - Platon Karataev in "War and Peace". Paradoxically, Christ first became a literary character in Soviet literature. A. Blok in the poem "The Twelve" put Christ in front of people enveloped in hatred and ready to die, whose image obviously symbolizes the hope of people for cleansing and repentance at least sometime, in the future. Later, Christ will appear in M. Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita under the name Yeshua, with B. Pasternak in Doctor Zhivago, with Ch. Aitmatov in Plakh, with A. Dombrovsky in the Faculty of Unnecessary Things.

The writers turned to the image of Christ as the ideal of moral perfection, the savior of the world and humanity. In the image of Christ, the writers saw what was common to him and what our era is going through: betrayal, persecution, unjust judgment. In such an environment, a person was tired of living and became incredulous. Devaluing life, fear of death gave rise to cowardice, hypocrisy, obedience, betrayal in his psyche.

When people lose spiritual guidance, break with eternal values ​​and start living only with momentary problems, taking care of food, clothing, housing, then culture and society inevitably find themselves in crisis. This is how it was at the end of antiquity, it was so at the end of the last century, and it is happening now. The way out of the impasse is in the moral revival of people, which has always been accomplished on a spiritual, including religious basis.

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First tribes

The first communities began to appear when several families united for joint hunting: this was the first step towards creating tribes. In order for the joint hunting to be successful, the first communities had to constantly move in search of territories teeming with game. These communities grew little by little, so that more and more abundant lands were required for hunting. From associations in several families, people moved on to life in broader communities - "clans"; members of the same clan, as a rule, had one common ancestor. Over time, various needs, the increasingly complex social life, as well as the tasks of hunting and, perhaps, wars led to the need to unite various clans into even more extensive alliances - tribes.

The simplest social relations, limited to the family circle, by their very nature were clear and natural for all members of the community. But the more this community expanded, the more complex became the laws of social life, subject to fairly strict rules and obligations. Our rude ancestors were able to understand that the good and safety of everyone requires some kind of sacrifice from everyone: the freedom of a person narrowed, but in return the strength and well-being of the entire community increased. The first duty was to take care of the food for all members of the group, and not just about your own. This task, of course, was assigned to the most powerful men. As a result, they were considered the most important people for society, worthy of special respect and veneration.

During the hunt, it became necessary to act together; as a result, the first forms of social life appeared.

In addition to hunting, adults had other responsibilities: they protected society from enemies, they were entrusted with the most difficult responsibilities during resettlement. Men who were busy with hard work could devote very little time to their own family, and in particular to children. The latter were usually very numerous - children should have been procreated and cherished, since only they gave the tribe as a whole hope of survival. The children probably sometimes did not even recognize their father, who had returned from a long hunt, so much adversity and hard work could change that. Many did not return at all, becoming victims of the struggle for existence.

Religion

Diseases, hunger, cold, all sorts of misfortunes wiped out entire peoples from the face of the earth: from some of them nothing remained, the existence of others is told by a few and unreliable evidence. Seeing his complete insecurity, every day not hoping to live to see the next, primitive man sought protection and help and supernatural beings with superhuman powers. Most often, they turned with trust and hope to natural forces: fire, sun, darkness and light, to rain, thunder and lightning, to the fertile forces of the earth. As out of the general need to get food, a collective hunt arose, so from the general need for protection from above, rituals and sacrifice were born. The need to perform prayers and incantations together was even more urgent for people than the need for joint military action.

This is the mammoth, the ancestor of the elephant; hunting him was not easy given the enormous size of the animal and the weak means that primitive people had at their disposal.

The mediator between people and the deity was a shaman, both a priest and a healer, a sorcerer and an interpreter of nature. He was entrusted with the most mysterious and intimate matters: everything connected with the life and death of a person. He had to not only appease the gods, invoking them and making sacrifices to them, but also determine the causes of diseases, investigate the healing properties of herbs and the power of other medicines. Another important task was entrusted to the shaman: he brought up the youth. Keeper of sacred rites and cultural tradition, he could best prepare future generations to understand the concerns that lay ahead. Thus, in addition to performing complex rituals of initiation, quite practical educational tasks were also entrusted to him.

Some of the most impressive were the ceremonies associated with sad events. Usually they settled in huge spacious caves at night. During these gatherings, torches were lit, casting bizarre shadows on the walls of the cave, which acted on the imagination of people. The most revered in the community were magical rituals, performed during dramatic, stressful days of crop failure, epidemics and similar disasters. Sometimes, in exceptional cases, human sacrifices were made.

The shaman is a storehouse of all kinds of wisdom. He was entrusted with the most important task of educating young soldiers.

Mortality in those days was high, and funeral ceremonies were often held, which did not detract from their solemnity and magical significance. With certain differences, in the funeral ceremonies of various peoples there was a lot in common: for example, the dead body was usually given the pose of a resting person, painted with red or brown paint, and, putting it in a hole in the ground, the hole was closed with stones. In the early periods of the prehistoric era, the dead were buried near the settlements, in the same place where they lived. Together with the body was placed the most necessary utensils: a stone ax, a scraper, as well as food for food in extraterrestrial life. And by the end of the Neolithic era, the custom had spread to bury the dead away from human habitation, in caves that were heaped up with boulders, so that the deceased was provided with peace undisturbed by the close presence of the living. From the same time, the first traces of collective burials have come down to us: the first cemeteries revered by primitive man.

Gradually, people learned to make weapons and household tools from the bones of large animals.

Art

It is most likely that it was religious beliefs and magical rituals that gave rise to the first forms of art. A visible sign, statuette or drawing was necessary for primitive man when he turned to the deities with a prayer for help and protection. Exquisitely decorated tools, in large numbers that have come down to us, are eloquent evidence of the brilliant development of the artistic feeling to which man was obliged to religious feelings. We know of some delightful examples of the first drawings and graffiti. Their charm and expressiveness have not faded at all, on the contrary, thanks to their antiquity, they have for us a special charm of mystery. Rock paintings very often cover the walls of caves and grottoes, which for thousands of years served as the usual premises for religious services. The first artists most often depicted figures of animals and people. Hunting scenes, figurines of people and animals depicted in various poses are living testimonies of a distant era, which would have remained completely unknown to us without them.

Dressing in animal skins, people performed magic spells to ask the deity for abundant prey on the hunt.

It is believed that the first, almost unconscious, art form was sculpture; it was followed by relief images, drawing and painting. There is no doubt that the artists should have enjoyed special respect, because they were akin to the mysterious and omnipotent spirits

Topic: « The emergence of art and religious beliefs "5 cl.

Target: identify the constituent elements of primitive art and religious beliefs; analyze the cause-and-effect relationship in the formation of the primitive man's worldview.

Planned results:

subject: learn to use the techniques of historical analysis to reveal the essence and significance of art and religion for primitive man; explain the reasons for the emergence and development of the foundations of spiritual culture in a primitive society; study and systematize information based on various historical sources;

metasubject UUD: form your own point of view; listen and hear each other; independently formulate an educational problem; find ways to solve the assigned tasks; give definitions of concepts; be able to extract information from texts of different types;

personal UUD : to form personal motivation to study new material; to realize the importance of cultural and moral heritage for a modern person and society as a whole.

Basic concepts: werewolves, soul, religious beliefs, cave painting, "land of the dead", witchcraft, art.

Equipment : a textbook on the history of the Ancient World, a multimedia board, ½ A4 sheet and pencils of three colors - black, red, brown.

Lesson type: a lesson in solving particular problems using an open method.

I. Organizational moment

II. Updating basic knowledge

Frontal poll (conversation)

The dates are written on the board:2 million liters n., 100 thousand l. n., 40 thousand l. n.

What events relate to the specified dates?

– Why did ancient people not die during a cold snap on Earth? List the main reasons.

– Why could only a close-knit group of people succeed in hunting large animals?

– What signs of a clan community does the word "community" express? And what signs does the word "generic" express?

III ... Formation of an educational problem.

The teacher draws the attention of students to the topic of the lesson, and on its basis the formation of the educational task takes place.

Lesson topic

"The Rise of Art and Religious Beliefs"

The teacher highlights words"art" and"belief"

How do you understand the words "art" and "belief"?

Pupils give their own answer options, which the teacher records on the board. From the listed associations, we form the main task of the lesson -"Determine the cause-and-effect relationship in the formation of the spiritual life of primitive man"

IV. Learning new material

Cave painting. Riddles of ancient drawing

Working with text, reading, talking, working with illustrations(time, strictly controlled by the teacher, allotted for acquaintance with the text).

Clauses 1, 2 § 3 - independent work with the text.

Conversation on questions:

– How was cave painting discovered?

– Why did primitive artists depict humans poorly and convey the appearance and character of animals well?

– Why did primitive artists depict mammoths, bison, deer, horses? What role did these animals play in people's lives?

Man "bewitches" the beast. Religious

beliefs.

Teacher storytelling based on illustrations and creating a reference diagram.

In the Paleolithic era, drawings were created, which depicted people in strange clothes (Appendix 1), according to most scientists, these are sorcerers.(here you can work with the class - Who is a sorcerer?)

Ancient man was powerless in the face of natural phenomena - wind, storm, thunder, lightning, etc. - he was afraid and worshiped the elements of nature. A stable concept is being formed so that natural forces are supportive of a person, it is necessary to make a sacrifice to them. This is how paganism arises - the deification of the forces of nature. At the same time, a funeral cult appears, that is, various rituals and beliefs associated with the burial of the dead.

Other forms of belief arise and develop in primitive society:

Totemism - belief in the mysterious connection of the human race (tribe) with certain animals or plants;

Animism is a belief in invisible "spirits" or "souls" with which animate and inanimate objects were endowed;

Magic - witchcraft

The ancient people believed that the success of the hunt depends on supernatural forces. Therefore, figures of animals pierced with spears and arrows were painted on the walls of the caves (Appendix 2). Some tribes drew the alleged victim on the ground and pierced the pattern with spears during a ritual dance.

Supernatural forces, deities, people represented in different ways - in the form of people, animals, or fantastic creatures. He carved their images from scrap material (wood, bone, stone) and worshiped them. In ancient times, even human sacrifices were brought to idols.

In the course of the development and complication of religious ideas, former sorcerers become professional servants of the gods. Gradually they stand out into a special group.priests who lived off of offerings and passed on their profession by inheritance.

The beliefs that appeared among primitive people - in witchcraft, in the soul, in life after death - are called religious.

V. Consolidation of the studied material

Each student has ½ A4 sheet on the desk and pencils of three colors - black, red, brown.

Exercise:

Draw on a piece of paper a scene from your daily life, taking into account the basic rules: 1 - you are a primitive person; 2 - we use only three colors (black, red, brown - min. Paints); 3 - features of rock painting technique (a person is depicted schematically); 4 - time is limited (10-15 min.)

Vi. Reflection

– What was the goal, tasks we faced at the beginning of the lesson?

– Have you been able to achieve them?

– What skills and abilities did you acquire in the lesson? Will they be useful to you in your everyday life? Can they be used in other lessons?

– What else would you like to reflect on from what you heard in the lesson? Why do you think this is significant?

Vii ... Homework

§ 3, task 2 p.20

The teacher voices the assignment and demonstrates the accompanying image (Appendix 3 )

Why did primitive artists sometimes depict a hand on the body of an animal painted in a cave?

Annex 1

Appendix 2

Appendix 3