Contents

When I was writing this book, all the time I was looking for the answer to the question that you may ask me. Why is it necessary — to know History? Will we get more satisfying, tasty food, or special pleasure this way? Increase personal safety?

I like it.

I will try to clarify the meaning of the word «like».

If we learn history so well that we can see the past inside our heads, then we will push the boundaries of our precious personality. We will become… immortal, figuratively and perhaps literally. Take a step towards great resuscitation. After all, the world is eternal. Partake of it. And for this you need to read this book many times. You can slide up and down in Time until the past becomes present.

Let’s go from trilobites and horsetails of the Mesozoic era to Antiquity and the Middle Ages. We will plunge into the world of sophisticated dances, clash of swords and sighs of steam engines. We will ride through the empire of Genghis Khan, learn the poems of the Incas, plunge into the world of the great social experiment of Red Russia. Let’s take a look at World War II step by step. Let’s go through major and minor conflicts after this war. This way you can tell the truth to those who are trying to deceive us.

The story is this; while flipping through the pages, you can see it well. But if you move the book aside, the picture quickly fades. Close your eyes — what is there? Darkness floating in circles. Try creating text with pictures in your head. Does not work? Human memory is structured differently than a computer; it is analog. This has advantages and serious disadvantages.

Let’s single out the scheme of History, focusing on which it is possible to resurrect its entire organism.

Let’s learn to resurrect

Original in Russian — Оригинал на русском языке — Рем Ворд, «История от сотворения мира»

Big explosion

The Big Bang is a generally accepted theory of the origin of the universe.

Of course, this is the realm of scientific legends and fantasies. First, everything that is now in the world (including this light itself, and even it seems that time itself) is in the so-called proto-Egg. This is an area of space, the size of an atom, with a density of 10 to 90 kg / cm³. For reasons unknown to science, both a large and at the same time a very small Egg explodes. One plasma passes into another, and back at an unimaginable speed, while emitting the so-called relic short-wave radiation. After 380,000 years, everything calms down. The first stable hydrogen atoms appear.

Another 400 million years of boring gray void, and gaseous nebulae appear. Thanks to the all-pervading force of gravitational attraction that does not know distances, cold gas is concentrated in hot stars and, numbering billions of stars in the galaxy.

Our Galaxy (with a capital letter), otherwise — the Milky Way (Latin — via lactea) is formed 13 billion years ago and has 400 billion stars. The Solar System is 4.5 billion years old. Our Star Abode has eight recognized classical planets, as well as at least five so-called dwarf planets, including Pluto, now expelled from the A group.

Geological eons

Katarchei, Archean

Our planet Earth is formed from a protoplanetary disk in a fairly complete form about 3.5 billion years ago. The first primitive life forms, nuclear-free cells, prokaryotes, appear in its waters after the termination of devastating asteroid bombardments (eon Katarchei, duration 600 million years), as well as the formation, as a result of a chilling glancing blow on Gaia, an object the size of Mars, the future companion of lovers Moons…

However, for a long one and a half billion years of the stage of development, called Archaea, life forms hardly develop. The top of the current day after day, year after year, hundreds after hundreds of millions of years of the demiurgic process is prokaryotes, bacteria without a nucleus and eukaryotes at all, the basis of plants and animals, which have this nucleus. Multicellular algae, barely visible to the naked eye, appear.

All these organisms have a single, universal common ancestor. The genetic set of living things on Earth is exactly the same. DNA is assembled from four biological molecules — adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine.

Proterozoic

Proterozoic (Greek «earlier life») — the longest geological period, 2 billion years, starts 2.5 billion years ago. For one reason or another, oxygen accumulates in the atmosphere. This gas leads to the extinction of almost all anaerobic creatures. The ozone layer is forming. The next trouble is the great Huron glaciation (2.4 — 2.1 billion years ago). Methane combines with oxygen to form carbon dioxide, which is more transparent to reflected light. As a result, the Earth turns into a huge «snowball». It is as cold at the equator as it is in modern Antarctica. Life is preserved in polynyas and reservoirs with melt water.

Volcanoes increase levels of carbon dioxide and methane. A new perturbation is being prepared. For some thousand years, significant territories are freed from ice and the planet’s climate returns to the norm known to us.

The second option, explaining the presence of signs of glaciers in the equatorial regions, is a fairly rapid rotation of the Earth’s poles, followed by their return to their place. According to some bold calculations of scientists, the replacement of the North by the South and vice versa takes almost a single day.

One way or another, sea sponges appear, that is, aquatic multicellular animals leading an attached lifestyle, as well as fungi, essence, eukaryotic communities that combine the characteristics of plants and animals. As a result of their vital activity, soil appears.

The single continent of Rodinia is split into two parts. Pieces of sushi diverge to the poles. The northern half is called Laurasia, the southern half is Gondwana.

The sun increases luminosity by 12%. The era of the Precambrian or Cryptozoic, «Hidden Life» (sometimes this is how the aeons of Archean and Proterozoic are called together) ends.

Phanerozoic

Multicellular beings, namely, higher plants, adorn the Universe with themselves 580 million years ago, laying the foundation for the Phanerozoic («manifest life») aeon. In this period of time we are also living with you.

The first era is called the Paleozoic («Ancient Life»). The Paleozoic is divided into several periods. Let’s remember; Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous and Permian. These periods of time last for 20—60 million years.

In the Cambrian, organisms learn to build strong skeletons, which can be identified by paleontologists or forensic experts. The star of this period is the trilobite, a pretty rounded arthropod, a kind of prototype of modern cancer.

There are those that, with some stretch, can be ranked among the modern cephalopods - reminiscent of octopuses and squids. Their heyday falls on the Ordovician. The Silurian, lasting “only” 25 million years, is marked by two massive (up to 50% of the genera of marine life) extinctions. One of them, which occurred 443 million years ago, Ordovician-Silurian, was caused by the movement of the Gondwana continent to the South Pole and a sharp drop in ocean level. The already thriving brachiopods (something like our oysters), bivalve molluscs, bryozoans (colonies of small worms) and corals were especially affected. The Devonian period is characterized by terrestrial vertebrates, the famous cross-finned fish, insects, as well as gymnosperms (“naked” seeds are hidden in cones), fern and horsetail plants. Shellfish and fish appear. Trilobites, on the other hand, are rapidly dying out with such an abundance of predators. However, a massive pestilence at the end of the Devonian affects more than half of all marine life. The reason for this may be the fall of a comet.

Quite a long (60 million years) Carboniferous period, or Carboniferous, begins 359 million years ago. It is characterized, as the name implies, by intense coal formation. Gymnosperms develop and thrive: conifers, cordaites (trees that resemble these very conifers), and cicadas (a cross between a palm tree and a fern), baluns and horsetails. Amphibians thrive in warm swamps. Here are the stegocephals, they are labyrintodonts, resembling a crocodile-newt, and ripidists, an even larger 8-meter crocodile. In the seas, sharks frolic, reaching 13 meters. lengths Above our heads soar mega-neuras - dragonflies with a wingspan of up to 65 cm. This heady air itself is characterized by an increased - up to 35%, oxygen content (now 21%).

In the Permian period (the name comes from the naming of the Russian city, in the vicinity of which this stage is highlighted), the continents are united in a different way. Formed, washed by the great ocean of Panthalassa, the global land of Pangea.

In the Jurassic period of the next era, it will split into the six continents we know. The geological process is now characterized by a sharp decrease in the area of inland water bodies and the onset of deserts. Sand dunes cover almost the entire territory of present-day Siberia. Carboniferous deposits (coal) are overlain by Triassic variegated sandstone and shell limestone.

The successes of speciation of the Permian are rather modest — only a few species of insects. The period ends with the largest Permian-Triassic extinction in history, 252 million years ago. In less than 60 thousand years, 96% of marine species, 70% of terrestrial vertebrates and 83% of the insect class die. The main hypotheses of the causes of this event are as follows. The first is the fall of an asteroid with a diameter of several tens of kilometers onto our planet. A crater in the Wilkes Land area in Antarctica, a 300 kilometer ring anomaly, seems to confirm this version. The second is the release of greenhouse gas from frozen and for the time being resting at the bottom of methane hydrates. In this case, the oceans boil, riddled with bubbles, like champagne in a bottle freed from a cork. In less than half a century, the water column releases four trillion tons of methane into the atmosphere. The weather is going crazy, harsh, 6 Сº in a year of warming give way to cold snaps and this is not at all to the liking of the inhabitants of the planet. The third is anoxia (suffocation). Water interacts with hydrogen sulfide released into the atmosphere by Siberian traps, flooding vast territories with lava and losing oxygen. Animal remains also emit hydrogen sulfide, which exacerbates the tragedy.

Be that as it may, the cute trilobites, and with them the Paleozoic itself, comes to an end.

The restoration of the biosphere takes five million years. The Triassic, the first period of the Mesozoic era, opens.

Of the surviving reptiles, archosaurs stand out. Who are these «initial lizards»? They are classified according to the characteristics of the skull, nasal septum and jaws. The lucky ones become the ancestors of modern birds and crocodiles, as well as the entire family of dinosaurs. Belemnites appear, a kind of squid, ammonites with shells twisted into a spiral, gastropods (gastropods), i.e., snails, as well as bivalve mollusks known to us — oysters.

Bony fishes, they are also ray-finned fishes, are distinguished from armored fish with ganoid scales (rhombic plates that connect in a semblance of an external skeleton).

A classic turtle is being formed.

Synapsids, they are also theromorphs, they are animal-like, namely, their suborder cynodonts of the theriodonts group (animal-toothed lizards), according to Darwin’s theory, become the ancestors of us mammals. This lizard has four very long legs, lays eggs, has wool, judging by the structure of the nasal septum, it warms the inhaled air and, in general, is no longer a cold-blooded reptile.

The Triassic lasts 50 million years and ends 200 million years ago with another global catastrophe. The reasons for the Triassic-Jurassic extinction may be the same that marked the onset of this era. The result is the liberation of ecological niches that dinosaurs immediately occupy.

Dinosaurs, that is, «terrible lizards» differ from the usual reptiles for this time only in size. There is no fundamental difference. But, size does matter. The largest representative of the group of herbivorous sauropods (tetrapods) — seismosaurus, reaches 36 m in length, 20 m in height and weighs 140 tons. Titanosaurus weighs only 50 tons, but is much more widely represented in fossil remains. Theropods, that is, bipedal animals, are usually predators. Their champion is Tyrannosaurus Rex. Height to the end of the thigh is 4.5 meters, length is 13 m, weight is 8 tons. The modern African elephant can boast of a slightly smaller mass.

The Jurassic period (named after the Jura mountains in Switzerland) is characterized by clastic rocks (sharp stones), shales (layered accretion of minerals), igneous rocks (basalt is a loose gray stone with crystalline inclusions), clays and sands. All this is evidence of the disintegration of Pangea into continental blocks, with the accompanying formation of many shallow warm seas. Treelike ferns with branches lying in one plane, forming a semblance of a leaf, and also, similar to palm trees, but less lush 10—18 meter cycads, are spreading. Reef communities (simply reefs) are formed from coral polyps formed in the Triassic.

Archeopteryx appears — an «ancient bird» the size of a crow, clumsily, according to paleontologists, planning from tree to tree. Actually, the scientific community still does not have a generally accepted theory of the origin of birds. It is in the Jurassic that pterosaurs, flying warm-blooded lizards, conquer the air. A well-known representative of this genus, the pterodactyl suborder — pteranodon has a wingspan of considerable 7 meters. Also known are their big brothers, found in North America quetzalcoatl, 12 m wide, which corresponds to the dimensions of a light bomber during the Second World War.

The Cretaceous Period (Cretaceous), which began 145 million years ago, is characterized by abundant deposits of correspondingly writing chalk. What students use to draw signs on the board from the remains of funny invertebrate marine animals — ammonites, is formed. Vast tracts of land diverge, forming bodies of water, warm shoals and islands. Flowering plants appear, they are angiosperms, with a flower as a reproductive organ and complex double fertilization.

This is extremely pleasing to insects, which become the main pollinators of plants. Their diversity is increasing dramatically. Mesozoic landscapes flourish

In the sky, together with pterodactyls that look like huge bats, real, that is, feathered birds, already fly.

All this idyll ends 65 million years ago, during the Cretaceous-Paleogene great extinction, which was most studied by scientists.

The main version is the fall of a celestial body, which caused the appearance of the Chicxulub crater near the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico). The diameter of the killer asteroid is 10 kilometers, the depth of the crater is 17—20 km. width 180 km. The impact force is 2 million times greater than the energy released during the testing of the most powerful hydrogen bomb AN 602 on Novaya Zemlya.

Perhaps this impact was reinforced by the fall of a second celestial body, an asteroid or comet. Evidence of this emergency is the oval crater Shiva off the coast of modern India, 400 kilometers in diameter at its narrowest part. The fact is that, apparently, after the first outbreak of extinction, some species of dinosaurs have existed for another one or two million years.

As a consequence, chalk deposits are separated from the rocks of the next period by a layer of gray clay, sand and lime.

New era — Cenozoic («new life»). It starts from the Paleogene. This geological period is distinguished by a fairly even tropical climate, the dominance of mammals, birds, the first cetaceans, as well as teleost fish. Some cephalopods get rid of shells and turn into octopuses, cuttlefish and squid known to us.

Neogene opens 23 million years ago. Whales are taking shape. Their basis is the mesonychia, extinct 63 — 28 million years ago, one of the few predators among ungulates. They resemble a wolf, bear and lion at the same time.

…Placentals, ie, viviparous mammals dominate. The fauna of the period is already clearly similar to the modern one.

The Quaternary period, he is also an anthropogen («creating man») starts 2,588 million years ago. It is separated from the previous epoch by the Gauss-Matuyama paleomagnetic boundary. The north and south magnetic poles of the Earth are reversed. The first era — the Pleistocene (from the Greek «numerous» and «modern») — the time of glaciations and interglacial periods, ends only 11.7 thousand years ago. Here, look, you are surrounded by woolly rhinos, saber-toothed tigers, cave lions, marsupial lions, mammoths and diprotodons (something like marsupial grizzlies), mastodons (simplified — short-haired mammoths with a special structure of jaws). Severe cold snaps, during which glaciers occupy 30% of the land area, last on average 40 thousand years. They are replaced by 20 thousand-year interglacials.

The last ice age, that is, the Wurm glaciation, starts 110 thousand years ago. A stunning ice sheet spreads across Eurasia from Norway. The covers of Antarctica are being formed. The last glacial maximum ends 11 thousand years from our time with you. The level of the World Ocean rises by 120—135 m. It seems that everything is fine.

Why did the fossil nowadays warm-blooded animals, adapted to many perturbations, become extinct? The main reason, so beloved by scientists, is still the same — the fall of an asteroid on the territory of present-day Canada or Mexico and the associated sharp, within one day, global, simply violent cooling. Mammoths freeze while standing, not even having time to digest food.

Be that as it may, the main time is dominated by the Holocene («whole» and «new»), the interglacial period, which continues to this day, is relatively favorable for our life.

Man stands out from the animal world three million years ago, in the Paleolithic, roughly coinciding with the Pleistocene. People practically indistinguishable from modern Homo sapiens formed 35—40 thousand years before us. These figures are controversial, but we can present them as the basis for all subsequent calculations. Skills — making ceramics, fishing, hunting, and other tools from bone, leather, wood.

The first religious rituals appear.

Stone, Bronze, Iron Age

The late Holocene is marked by the wide strides of Homo sapiens. The first of them — the Neolithic or Stone Age — lasts from the beginning of the Pleistocene. It is preceded by the Mesolithic, when people accumulate the skills of joint hunting, improve their speech, develop an understanding of social norms, religious prohibitions, and long-term traditions.

Modern scholars advertise the first pronounced archaeological culture — the so-called. «Hamburg», which suddenly appeared on the territory of the modern Netherlands and Germany. It is evidenced by stone spearheads with a lateral recess and stone incisors. The oldest city on Earth mentioned in the annals is Jericho (in Arabic — «Ariha», Greek — «Jericho», located now on the territory of the Palestinian National Authority, 30 km north-west of Jerusalem.

About 6, 5 thousand years ago, mankind passes into the Bronze Age (in America, it is rather copper-obsidian). By the 13th century BC, the era of human development, characterized by the general peaceful coexistence of tribes, for better or worse, ends. Sources point to «a split in the single proto-Indo-European community», grandiose migrations of peoples, and the loss of the former peace-loving culture.

The Iron Age is marked by a series of bloody military conflicts and at the same time rapid technological development. This era is preceded by the so-called «Bronze Collapse». For two or three centuries, humanity falls into the abyss of great troubles and general decline. The reason for this is the eruption of the supervolcano Hekla in Iceland, or its powerful brother Santorini in the opposite part of the planet (12th century BC). Perhaps the culprit is a change in ocean currents, a total drought, the appearance of an iron miracle weapon and, as a consequence, an unprecedented activation of the military class. We can only guess about all this.

This is the official history of our planet. But for the construction of its building, qualified master-scientists select only those bricks of knowledge that do not spoil the overall idealized picture.

History of Antiquity

Sumerians. Ancient Egypt

…Sumerians. Four and a half thousand years ago. Territory of southern Iraq. Cuneiform, the world’s first wheel, brewing. First, Babylon was formed as a small village. Sumerians dissolve into new peoples. But their withered blood gives new, wonderful shoots. The Babylonian kingdom rises, flourishes for several centuries, then it is ravaged by the Hittites (the area of residence is the south of modern Turkey). The Hittites are at war with Egypt, seizing its province, but unable to survive the bronze collapse — a sudden loss of writing and skills, possibly under the influence of the eruption of the supervolcano Hekla, lose to the «sea peoples» who came from the Balkans and Asia Minor.

From a modest nome, i.e., the rural settlement of Ashur, in the center of modern Iraq, the great power of antiquity, Assyria, is developing. Piece by piece, exuding bloody drool, it engulfs the territories of modern Turkey, Syria, Israel and partially Egypt. The pearl of Assyria, Babylon retains autonomy from its once province, seeks allies, revolts, dies and rebuilds again. In the absence of strong garrisons, shouts, swords, chariots, whips and overseers, military power in the new provinces simply does not work. Assyria gets tired of fighting. Descending from the northern mountains, at first as loyal allies, even more ruthless and uncultured Scythians wander through its territory, almost without encountering resistance. Media and Babylon are gathering armies according to the Assyrian model, destroying the new capital of Assyria, Nineveh, its sacred center Ashur and all this utterly militarized state.

The remnants of the armies of the once formidable superpower are looking for an alliance with the reborn, like Osiris, Egypt and in the end are lost somewhere in its endless deserts ...

Sample of Sumer poetry:

...

Ancient Egypt (Latin pronunciation «Ayguptus», Hebrew «Mitsraim», Arabic «Masr», self-name Ta-Kemet, «Black Earth»).

The oldest Egyptian kingdom was founded five thousand years ago by the monarch Menes and his people, who supposedly arrived from the now flooded coast of Western India. Let's remember and color this historical scheme. Early Kingdom, Ancient, Middle and New. Pharaoh Psammetichus (664-610 BC) expels hard-hearted Assyrians from his country. Independence does not last long. In the fifth century BC, Egypt was captured by Persia (the Achaemenid dynasty). Two centuries later, the country is ruled by the Hellenic dynasty of the Ptolemies. As a rule, the conquerors, admiring the developed culture of the "Black Earth", treat the Egyptians rather softly. In total, for two and a half millennia of the era of the Ancient World, 32 rather long dynasties rule Egypt.

Poetry of Ancient Egypt:

Even the place where they stood was not preserved

(Song from the house of the deceased king Antef, inscribed in front of the singer with a harp)

…In the first century BC, with the death of the son of Cleopatra and Caesar, the unfortunate youth Caesarion, Egypt completely passed into the hands of the Romans. Since the beginning of the eighth century AD, the Arabs have dominated here.

Until the very late period, the Egyptians did not know any developed monetary system. At the very least, financial means are substituted for 42 kg sacks of grain. and the debens are bars of copper or silver. To a large extent, everything in Ayguptos depends on what the rulers decided and how correctly their words were reflected on the papyrus by an almost equally significant figure — the scribe.

The kitchen of a standard Egyptian dwelling does not have a roof, but has a millstone for grinding grain and an oven. The basis of the diet of ordinary, and not ordinary residents of the country Ka-Temet, too, is wheat buns. Beer «hake», from date juice and bread, sweetish or bitter, considerable 10 degrees, almost like wine, with additions of mandrake, anise, saffron. Famous varieties — «Merry fellow traveler», «Fine».

For some religious reasons, the ancient Egyptians do not eat pork, as well as the Semites living a little to the east.

Temples and other large-scale religious buildings in Egypt are not intended for mass gatherings. Only priests are involved in the service. The basis of religion is the need to collect some disconnected «aspects» in order to continue to exist in a spiritual form. On the physical plane, this is expressed in the need to mummify and preserve the bodies of people who have gone to another world in a special way.

Greece and Persia

Ancient Greece. One thousand hundred years BC — the beginning of the so-called polis period. The first cities, houses, temples and fortress walls. The invasion of the Dorians from the north (in their pure form — the Spartans), the high achievements of culture and social structure. Amphoras and Forums. Militant Sparta rules over the Greek world on a par with the wise Athens. Mighty, albeit imperceptibly withering, Persia concludes a de jure treaty with the Greeks, on the protectorate, which Sparta monitors.

By this time (or, to be precise, 492 BC), the new ruler of Persia, Darius the First, founds the Achaemenid empire, including, among other things, Syria, Asia Minor and Egypt. Accusing the Greeks of violating the union treaty, formalized in a "small text" as an entry into this empire, he sends an expeditionary force of 25,000 soldiers to Greece, but receives a decisive rebuff from the founders of democracy. The Persians lose 7,000 soldiers, the Greeks - only 194. 19 years after the Battle of Marathon that has not faded for two and a half millennia, the Battle of Thermopylae and the naval battle of Salamis follow. The troops of the son of Darius, Xerxes, suffer a final defeat at the Greek Plataea.

Ancient Greek poetry:

And a keen feeling of love

Runs faster through the veins

And ringing in the ears… and a riot in blood…

And cold sweat comes out…

And the body — the body keeps trembling…

The faded flower is paler

My look, exhausted by passion…

I am breathless… and, numb

(Sappho, Lesvos Island, 570—630 BC, translated by V. Krestovsky)

But the testosterone-soaked, muscle-flexing allies now turn their gaze to each other. … In the First Peloponnesian, ancient Greek Civil War, Sparta prevailed. The country of aggressive ascetics seizes Athens, exhausted by struggle, and ends the century of its democracy with the accession of a militaristic oligarchy devoid of any creative principle. This is not at all pleasant to the freedom-loving Greek colonies on all sides of the Ecumene (the world mastered by mankind). Detachments of volunteers, grasping the oars, amicably rush to the metropolis. In the end, the troops of Thebes (a powerful polis somewhat north of Athens) and Athens, which are reborn in spite of the enemies, unite, and step by step, push the Dorians back to the southeast of the Peloponnesian peninsula. Here the Spartans, becoming, in their own way, a relic of the poor, but implacable warriors, century after century, turn into ordinary Greeks.

…Macedonia (northern part of the Balkan Peninsula), the Greek kingdom, before that, by the way, the former vassal of Persia rises and sets up its garrisons in all the major city-states of Greece.

The ruler of the now united Greece, the commander Alexander the Great, conquered Persia and part of the adjacent countries in 330 BC. e. Seven years later, this huge, but loose, like a jellyfish state disintegrates into Seleucia, Parthia and Egypt. Egypt is now ruled by the wise companion of Alexander Ptolemy, who becomes the new pharaoh and the founder of the dynasty of his name.

But quite soon, by historical standards, even more powerful western neighbor — Rome, will pay attention to sunny, even Great Greece…

Ancient China. Thirty-six centuries BC. This is the bottom of the world history known to us.

The first state covered by written sources is the semi-mythical Shang-Yin (1600 BC — 1046 BC). Difference from states, for example, European ones — both in ancient and modern China there are no temples dedicated to the great gods. Everywhere there are only home altars dedicated to deceased ancestors, a kind of technical points of contact with them. The Great Sky, in which the souls of ancestors and great rulers live, is not a personified deity, the giver of the meaning of life and the resonator of all your actions.

…After Shang slides into the abyss of corruption and debauchery, the whole kingdom is easily conquered by the army of the benevolent rebel general U-Wang. Now it is called Zhou, after the ruler of one of the provinces, Wu-Wang’s father.

The flowering of Confucianism and Taoism falls on the fourth century BC. Be that as it may, prosperous Zhou is divided into seven warring states — Qin, Wei, Zhao, Han, Qi, Yan, Chu.

For two centuries BC. the legendary emperor of one of them, Qin Shi Huang, deprives all his neighbors of independence. The northern sections of the walls of the former kingdoms are joined together and henceforth form the Great Wall of China. The dictator massively destroys scientists in whom he sees the main reason for the changes in the beneficial Heavenly Order and burns every single book, as far as possible. However, shortly after the physical death of Qin Shi Huang, this whole «unchanging» order, together with the state and the Qin dynasty, disintegrated.

Ancient Rome

A pencil sketch of a living picture this time is as follows. Seven centuries BC — the foundation of the capital of the future Empire by the children of the vestal Rhea Sylvia and Mars itself, lovers of wolf milk, brothers Romulus and Remus. Two centuries BC — the royal period, seven active Roman kings.

Then, following the progressive model of the Hellenes and in opposition to the barbarians, the Romans form a Republic — the «Common Cause». New strokes — the invasion of Gauls, the same geese not sleeping on the Capitol, a sword in the scales — «woe to the vanquished», a war with Great Greece, which settled in southern Italy, King Pyrrhus and catastrophic Pyrrhic victories.

First Punic War. Struggle with Carthage for the island of Sicily, the founding of a fleet modeled on a progressive Carthaginian ship washed ashore. The theater of military operations moves to Africa, where the Roman victories first entail euphoria, and then a serious defeat. The remnants of the army are evacuated by sea. But on the way back, almost the entire Republican fleet perishes in the storm.

The fighting moves to Sicily, where the troops of Carthage are commanded by the commander Hamilcar Barca. The forces of the parties are extremely depleted. Toward the end of the day, the Carthaginian fleet is severely defeated by the Romans who have learned to fight at sea. Carthage pays Rome a hefty indemnity and renounces Sicily.

Second Punic War. Two centuries BC. The commander Hamilcar Barka dies, leaving the world, or rather the war, three sons — Hannibal, Magon and Hasdrubal. Their goal is the same as that of their father — Rome must be destroyed.

Hannibal transports his troops to Italy across the icy Alps and, among other things, inflicts a cruel defeat on the Romans at Cannes. 60 thousand Romans die here. A year later, having pacified three quarters of Italy, Hannibal tries to take the city of Rome. Due to unpleasant omens for both sides, the assault will not take place. The Romans capture the Greek city of Syracuse, allied to Carthage. At the same time, the great scientist of antiquity, Archimedes, perishes. The 30,000th Roman Expeditionary Force under the command of Scipio Africanus sets foot on the land of Africa. The commander makes an alliance with the Libyan tribes and defeats the army of Carthage at Zama. Hannibal flees to the king of Antioch, in the south of modern Turkey. This commander more than once participates in battles against Rome and the second time he personally meets with Scipio. Then he moved to Armenia, which became independent from the Seleucids, where he supervised the construction of the capital near modern Yerevan. In Bithynia (northern Turkey), the local king, not wanting unnecessary complications, decides to extradite Hannibal to Rome. The Carthaginian general takes poison.

Fifty years of peace. Carthage pays indemnities, which seemed to the Romans themselves simply unaffordable. He is still rich and dangerous. Having violated the terms of the treaty, the Carthaginians rebuff the official ally of Rome, a certain Libyan tribe. The thought of Cato the Elder, «Carthage Dilindum Essay -“ Carthage must be destroyed», repeated at the Senate meeting, now acquires energy and flesh. The third Punic War begins. Legionnaires disembarking in Africa lay siege to the capital of the African and Asian empires. Three years later, the civilization of the Pun-Phoenicians-Canaanites ceases to exist on the physical plane.

…The Roman Republic is experiencing the tyrannies of Sulla and Gaius Maria, who almost became kings, with difficulty reflecting the large-scale invasion of the Gauls and Teutons. Only by calling in troops from the provinces, the Romans suppress the uprising of the gladiators led by Spartacus. Ten years after the suppression of this rebellion, the Caesar-Pompey-Crassus triumvirate is formed. Dreaming no longer of money (he has it), but of military glory Crassus with four legions perishes in Parthia, (modern Iran and Turkmenistan) formed from the Seleucid state.

Fifty years BC e. An all-out war of the Romans under the leadership of Guy Julius Caesar against the Gauls begins throughout the territory of modern France. There is a brief invasion of Britain. With the death of the wife of Gnaeus Pompey (the Great), daughter of Caesar, the family ties between the Roman consuls disappear. The ambitious Gaius Julius crosses the Rubicon River (not alone, but with legions of hardened loyal soldiers) and captures Rome. The Civil War, which broke out on all sides of the world, takes away at least a quarter of the Roman male citizens. The loser of everything, Pompey tries to find refuge in Egypt, but dies off the coast of the Mediterranean Sea at the hands of a traitor.

Caesar starts an affair with the heiress of the pharaohs, the Egyptian queen Cleopatra, which, in the end, leads to the inclusion of Egypt in the structure of the not republican, but not yet imperial Rome.

…Gaius Julius Caesar, dictator, great pontiff (literally «Builder of bridges»), high priest, willingly or unwillingly, the founder of the famous title Caesar — Ksar — King. A representative of the patrician estate, beloved by ordinary people (including soldiers). It is not known for sure whether Gaius Julius was involved in suppressing the uprising of the world’s most famous gladiator Spartacus. At this time, he, the military tribune, prepares new recruits. From 63 BC — thanks to his popularity and big money, the young Caesar becomes the Great Pontiff. From 58 BC the Gallic War starts. In something more like genocide, a million Gauls die. Ten years later, Caesar and his ambitions are against the Republic. Four years of the Civil War culminate in the Battle of Munda (Spain), the hardest of all that Caesar fought. This time, 30,000 rebel supporters of the republican system are killed. The dictator first triumphs after the victory of the Romans over the Romans, which is considered not comme il faut. In the same year, for the first time, an image of a living person appears on coins — of course, Caesar.

A year later, Gaius Julius Caesar, already dreaming of an invasion of Arabia, is killed by conspirators, led by Mark Brutus, possibly the illegitimate son of the dictator. At the stake of judges’ chairs and benches, the body of the beloved dictator burns the people. After the fiery speech of Gaius Julius’ comrade-in-arms, Mark Antony, here, over the ashes, the Civil War in the bleeding country breaks out with renewed vigor.

Ancient israel

The first Hebrew tribes, in the manner described in the Bible, or in some other way, appear in the territory with the general name Canaan forty-two centuries ago. This is followed by a series of periods of assimilation or isolation of the Jews among other nations.

The Epoch of Judges, interpreters of the law, lasts three hundred years, marked, at the end, by a certain decline in morals. The last of the Judges, Samuel creates a kind of school of prophets who speak the truth to the rulers in the face, not caring about the consequences. He anoints the kingdom of the chosen one of God, Saul. His successor, the shepherd David, who ascended to the very pinnacle of power because of his decisive disposition, has the capital in Jerusalem. Having finally dealt with the Ammonites, Philistines and other tribes that have inhabited Canaan since ancient times, he created a mono-ethnic Jewish state. The son of David, Solomon erects the First Temple — the only legal place for God to serve among the Jews. After the death of the king, the country is divided into Israel with the capital Samaria, where ten tribes of Jews find shelter and Judea with the center of power — Jerusalem.

Seven centuries BC. The first superpower of antiquity, Assyria, turns Israel into a scorched desert. Ten of the twelve tribes are taken prisoner by the invaders. Their traces are lost. Later, Judea, which remained aloof from the battle, includes Babylon into its empire. Residents are taken away into slavery. After some time, thanks to the beloved wife of King Esther, the Babylonians declare them equal and allow them to return to their historical homeland. The liberated Jews build the Second Temple on the ruins of the First Sanctuary. Another one and a half centuries of relative peace and Judea falls under the control of the Greek dynasty of the Ptolemaic-Seleucids. The uprisings directed by the Hasmonean clan and the branch of Maccabees emanating from it (a nickname that has become a household name for the implacable defenders of the faith), dissatisfied with Hellenization, make the Hasmonean kingdom quite independent. But internecine wars break out. To resolve all issues, as an arbitrator, the Jews call on the great Wrath Pompey. All this ends with the fact that the Roman commander includes Judea in the structure of his Republic.

In the sixty-sixth year A.D. The First Jewish Revolt breaks out. The emperors of Rome, father and son, Titus and Vespasian, are systematically carrying out reprisals against the rebels. In Jerusalem, six hundred thousand inhabitants perish from hunger, in internecine massacres and at the hands of legionnaires. Another fifty years of dull discontent and under the Emperor Trajan follows the Second Uprising. As a result, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and founded the Hellenized city of Aelia Capitolina in its place.

Fifteen years later, during the reign of Emperor Hadrian, who forbade circumcision so important for the Jews, the rebellion of Shimon Bar-Kokhba breaks out. The Iron Legions capture the last stronghold of the rebels — the mountain fortress of Betar. Judea completely loses its autonomy. The surviving 30% of its inhabitants are settled throughout the Ecumene.

Ancient China

A new colorful smear in our head — China, two hundred years BC. After the death of the great and terrible Emperor Shih Huang Ti, Confucianism (the school of learned scribes) was revived in the new Han Empire, a philosophy that still replaces the Celestial Empire.

Han ruled for six hundred years. It is replaced by the Jin dynasty. In the fourth century A.D. e. North China is invaded by the Huns. For two centuries, the most powerful Chinese gene pool turns aliens into true Chinese. The next dynasty restores the state as if nothing had happened.

A new series of wars, enlargements, fragmentation of kingdoms, leads to the emergence of the great, flourishing Tang Empire (636—907) in the east of modern China. This dynasty controls part of Central Asia, Sogdiana, the territory of present-day Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. A native of one of the regions, the border governor in the service of the Yellow Emperor An Lushan convinces the monarch to replace the officers of the titular nation at the court with mercenaries from the steppe personally loyal to the Sogdian. The further course of events is not so difficult to predict. An Lushan almost without hindrance, using the resources of a huge state, forms an army tied only to him. When the masks are thrown off, the indigenous Chinese can only shrug their hands sadly. The insidious alien makes a trip to the capital Chang’an (now the provincial Xi’an, the location of the famous Shi Huang Terracotta Army).

There should be a whirlwind of wars of all against all, for the state, the emperor, your family and just food. Women and children become soldiers or simply murderers. The greatest city with a population of millions, reminiscent of a chessboard stretching beyond the horizon, Chang’an is turning into a heap of ruins. Look! All roads and shoulders are littered with corpses. This water in lakes and rivers retains its purple color for months. Don’t try to quench your thirst with it. According to census takers and tax collectors, 50 million China is losing 36 million of its inhabitants. Perhaps a significant part of them do not die, but move to other areas. However, the An Lushan uprising is considered the largest post-WWII armed conflict in history in terms of casualties.

During the Song dynasty, in the twelfth century, China was invaded by the Manchu Jurchen tribe. The Celestial Empire is entering a new round of assimilation. At the beginning of the thirteenth century, a 300,000-strong army of even more brutal invaders invades from the North. With each new campaign, the Mongols of Genghis Khan are advancing more and more south. Trying to fight back, the Chinese widely use multiply-charged crossbows, powder charges, missiles, and primitive artillery. Millions of people die in fire and smoke. The capital of the Celestial Empire Zhongda — modern Beijing surrenders in 1264. 16 years later, the whole of China falls under the hooves of Mongolian horses. The grandson of Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan, proclaims the creation of the Yuan dynasty in the Great Yuan State. At the same time, four Mongol ulus left the single rule of the Horde.

Mongol expeditions to Japan and Vietnam have not met with much success. In the first case, this happens due to irresistible external reasons — «divine wind». In the second, because of the desperate resistance of the Vietnamese. Ciao paper banknotes are being massively introduced. Paper innovation is not always a sign of progress. The Chinese economy is in a fever. Most of the Chinese become slaves, in the Mongolian dialect, arats (commoners). Craftsmen even lose their craft skills. Agriculture and trade are declining. The complex irrigation system ceases to function.

In the middle of the fourteenth century, the secret organization «White Lotus» organizes its people for a decisive struggle against the invaders. Having tasted the taste of their own blood, the Mongols leave to the north, to the familiar steppes. One of the leaders of the uprising comes to power — the son of a simple peasant Zhu Yuanzhang. This man founds no less, a new Ming dynasty. The era begun by the successful son of a farmer is marked by the flourishing of science, crafts and shipping. Authorities organize an ocean expedition led by Admiral Zheng He. The «Golden Fleet» consists of 40—60 Baochuan «treasure ships», 117 meters long, 48 wide, and 200 escort ships. The number of the expedition is 28 thousand people.

The huge Chinese fleet makes seven long-distance voyages. But the composition and views of the ruling dynasty suddenly change. Orders are coming from Beijing: burn all ships, destroy expedition reports. China is adopting a strictly isolationist policy.

Meanwhile, the Jurchens from South Manchuria recall their military past. Initially, they stop paying tribute to central China. Then the nomads unite with Inner Mongolia and organize massive raids on the metropolis. Moving south and west, in 1683 the former vassals seize the last stronghold of the resistance of the Celestial Empire — the island of Taiwan. Now China is named after the Manchu dynasty itself — Qing. The aliens are trying to prevent mixed marriages. But they do not oppose their culture to the local, and everything, as quickly as always before, turns into Chinese. By the early nineteenth century, the Qing population was 300 million.

Chinese goods are in great demand in Europe. However, the Chinese accept only silver, gold, Russian furs and Venetian glass as payment. This approach does not suit the British, who are importing a new popular product from India into the Celestial Empire — opium. Dried in the sun, the milky juice of unripe opium poppy capsules contains morphine, codeine, narcotine. By 1830, sales reach 1,500 tons per year. It’s a lot. 35% of the Qing population becomes drug addicts. The Chinese emperor prohibits this simple happiness. In response, the Yellow Empire is attacked by the main drug dealer — Great Britain. China loses this war, pays an indemnity and hands over the island of Hong Kong to the winners, formally on a 99-year lease.

In 1851, the Taiping rebellion took place. The Chinese Christian Hong Xiutsuan became the organizer of the large-scale riot. The main idea of this Chinese dreamer is the expulsion of the Manchus and, note, the founding of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The million-strong Taiping army is distinguished by discipline, a humane attitude towards the population, and the absence of robberies. A community of 25 families is becoming the cell of society in the territories occupied by Chinese Christians. Hierarchies and estates are to be liquidated.

After twelve years of confrontation, marked by the emergence of more and more centers of the Civil War, the Second Opium War takes place. Everything is proceeding according to the same scenario, with the same sad result for China.

Hong Xiuquan, from the very beginning of the great Liberation campaign, departs from practical matters and indulges in meditation. Its commanders continue a fierce struggle, including among themselves. Considering Europeans as brothers in faith, the Taipings cannot understand why the British and French turned against their new relatives. The Heavenly Kingdom Army strictly prohibits smoking opium and, in addition, destroys everything associated with Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. Things are getting worse. The besieged capital of the Taiping, Nanjing, disappears into the flames of a majestic conflagration. Hong Xiuquan commits suicide. His son, heir to the throne, ends his young life on the chopping block. The last detachments of the Kingdom of Heaven, after a desperate attempt to storm Beijing, perish almost in full force on August 16, 1868.

During the Taiping uprising, between 20 and 30 million people are separated from their precious lives. The Chinese authorities, to this day, are trying to limit the spread of Christianity. In 1900, during the uprising of the ihetuan (boxers), the adherents of traditional beliefs exterminated almost all the Christians in Beijing (Chinese), seeing them as accomplices of the Europeans. Be that as it may, with or without them, the Celestial Empire is occupied by the forces of Germany, Russia and Japan. The winners receive an indemnity of 450 million lans of silver (the bar weighs 31 grams) and open up conservative China to the world even more fully.

In 1908, the two-year-old Emperor Pu I. ascends the throne of the Yellow Empire. Three years later, the Wuchansk uprising breaks out. The war of all against all leads to the collapse of the Qing Empire and the proclamation of the Republic of China. Tibet and Mongolia are leaving China «in their own way».

Pu Yi, aka Xundi — «The Forsaken Emperor» — since 1932 has been the ruler of the puppet republic of Manzhou-go, formed by militaristic Japan for its own purposes. In 1945, Pu Yi surrendered to a Soviet airborne assault force near the city of Mukden. For some time, the humble monarch was kept in a Soviet prisoner of war camp near Khabarovsk. He is later allowed to return to China. Here Pu Yi is re-educated according to the system of the Red Emperor, Mao Zedong for nine years, and after that, for the amusement of the entire Communist Party of China, they are given relative freedom. The last emperor watering plants in the Beijing Botanical Garden. Then, like an ordinary archivist, he goes through the books in the National Library

Ancient Rome by Octavian Augustus

…Several decades before the beginning of our era. Two ambitious generals, Octavian Augustus and Mark Antony, divide Rome into Eastern and Western empires.

Mark falls under the spell of the heiress of the Egyptian dynasty of the Ptolemies, Cleopatra, who is not averse to becoming the queen of Rome itself. The emperor gets involved in a war with the Roman Senate and former friend Octavian Augustus. Alternating feasts with military preparations, he misses the blows of the metropolis one after the other and, in the end, ends his colorful life with a blow of the sword. The enchantment of thirty-nine-year-old Cleopatra no longer works on the winner. The heiress of the pharaohs follows the example of Anthony. After her, four children remain. Seventeen-year-old Caesarion, son of Caius Caesar, is killed by order of Augustus. Two twins from Anthony are raised by the sister of the new emperor. We do not know anything about the fate of the fourth.

Emperor Tiberius, stepson and heir to Augustus, was allegedly strangled during an illness by his own grand-nephew and adopted son Caligula.

Having ascended to the pinnacle of power, Caligula builds bridges from ships, floating palaces, cracks down on senators — and he is loved by the people for the fact that life in the Empire is at least somewhat different. This emperor, however, was stabbed to death by his own bodyguards. The new ruler, a distant relative of Caligula, Claudius, is remembered by mankind according to Messalina, who has become a household name for an unfaithful and insidious wife. The next wife of Claudius Agrippina, the middle sister of Caligula, already has her son Nero. Her plot succeeds. Native blood, Nero becomes the emperor of Rome. But the mother’s reign over time ceases to appeal. The parent is going to bring to power her own son Claudius and Messalina, the beloved Britannica of the masses. Nero feeds his opponent with poisoned mushrooms in time. The ungrateful son also tries to poison Agrippina, but she in time accepts the invention of the eastern king, Mithridates Eupator, an effective antidote. Unable to drown his mother during a staged shipwreck (in the past, the empress’s hobby is diving for pearls), Nero explicitly orders a naval officer to stab her.

This is the story offered to us by the victorious ill-wishers of the emperor.

The tax-cutting policy brings the monarch nationwide popularity. But, after the death of Agrippina, the emperor loses his former administrative acumen. The rebuilding of Rome after a fire, the construction of the Golden Palace with an area of one and a half kilometers, gladiatorial fights comparable in scope to full-size battles, digging a canal across the Isthmus of Corinth and constant large-scale orgies drain the treasury. Legions rise in depleted and impatient provinces. One not at all fine morning, Nero does not find any of his guards in his palace. The emperor flees to a country house. Realizing that the sweet life is over, he takes it into account.

After the son of Agrippina, the brutal but sane emperors Titus and his son Vespasian rule. They are inherited by Vespasian’s younger brother, Domitian, (killed by his own servant for the execution of Nero’s assistant in suicide).

After the average Emperor Galba comes the golden autumn of the Empire. Five worthy rulers come to power in a row — Trajan, Adrian, Antoninus Pius, Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius. At the end of the time of this galaxy, the era of soldier emperors elected by the Praetorian Guard begins.

The coming to power in 323 of Constantine the Great marks the transition of the state to Christianity. Forty years later, Emperor Julian (the Apostate) is trying to revive paganism. He encourages the priests of Jupiter to be as godly as Christians. These efforts are in vain. Nobody seriously believes in Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mithra, Hera and some guides to the afterlife, nums. The last emperor, the young Romulus Augustulus, was sent into exile by the rebellious barbarian commander Odoacer. Little is known about the further fate of Romulus, except that perhaps this boy became a Christian monk. Although Odoacer ruled over the remnants of Western Rome by formal permission from the monarch of the Eastern Empire, AD 476 historians are officially considered the last milestone of Antiquity.

…In the youth of Rome, (5th-2nd century BC), slaves are quite rare. As a rule, they have the status of family members. The second-first centuries BC and the beginning of the new era are marked by a significant increase in the number of prisoners of war. Over time, the ratio of the number of free people to slaves in Italy reaches 2.5: 1, in the provinces 10: 1. The situation of the slaves deteriorates sharply. Nevertheless, they cherish not an illusory hope of raising their status, free literacy, the generic name of the master in addition, and unlimited promotion up the social ladder. At least two emperors of Rome were originally slaves.

The price of a slave in the first century BC is 4—400 denarii, depending on the degree of success of the last war. The daily salary of a legionnaire is 1 denarius, (4 sestertius or 16 aces), including bonuses. For this amount, you can buy 20 loaves of bread of your choice, 4 liters of regular or a liter of fine Falernian wine. If we count in terms of gold, the price of which remains unchanged as an opportunity to acquire basic material goods, a soldier earns 40 thousand rubles a month.

Gladiator games last until the reign of the last ruler of the Empire — Flavius Theodosius (370—395). The institution of slavery comes to naught with a general softening of morals, as well as at the behest of lawyers, who usually take the side of the oppressed. Serfdom is taking over the baton of this phenomenon. Emperor Diocletian (284—305) issues a law attaching peasants — both tenants and owners of land, as well as artisans to their place of residence, or to a profession inherited by inheritance.

…The Roman legion (legionis — military collection) consists of 5—7 thousand, later 4.5 thousand infantry and auxiliary units. Heavy cavalry (equits) — 300 people. Archers — 200 people. The latter act from the flanks, firing arrows along the line of raised shields. Velites — «Swift» — irregular infantry, recruited from local allied tribes or young legionnaires. Armament — a round shield with a diameter of 90 cm, a helmet, several darts «gasta velitaris», 120 cm long and a short, 50 cm. Roman sword — «gladius». In a free formation, dodging projectiles by jumping, the velites throw spears at the enemy and retreat behind the ranks of the heavily armed infantry.

The first line of the legion lined up for battle is the ghastats (spearmen), warriors 20—25 years old, who really need combat experience. Armament — chain mail, or, in the era of the Empire — plate armor, rectangular shield scutum, gladius and two one and a half meter darts — pilum.

The second line is the principles («First»). These are warriors in their prime, 25—35 years old. They give the young men experience, let the hastats pass between the maniples and continue the fight.

On the third line are the triarii («Third») warriors 40—45 years old, veterans, the reserve of the legion. Among other things, they are armed with long shock spears.

The army is ruled by six tribunes (people’s representatives) and a representative of the clan aristocracy — a legate.

In the era of the Republic, the legion consists of 30 maniples («handful» or «hand»), two centuria («hundred») in each. The centuria has 60 to 120 fighters. The manipulators are united in ten cohorts («enclosure») of 360 legionnaires. One of the cohorts (First) is considered elite and has a doubled membership.

In the days of the Empire, the maniple disappears as a tactical unit. There remains a cohort consisting of 6 centuries.

The legion deployed from the marching column follows to the place of battle with maniples or centuria, located in a checkerboard pattern. This makes it easier to move around rough terrain. Then the squares made up of fighters are rearranged into three solid lines. «Brothers» hurl pilums, sometimes putting the enemy to flight with this one volley, close shields and draw swords.

Ancient Latin America

The Incas. State of Tahuantisuyu. The western coast of South America, starting from the northern territories of modern Chile and Colombia. Another smear in memory — one thousand two hundred years BC. — the first ruler of Manco Capaca. The last, who led the revolt against the Spaniards, the Great Indian — Tupac Omaru (1570—1572).

There is no monetary system. The benefits are distributed according to the order established by the leader.

Aztecs. The self-name of the people is Meshika, hence the well-known toponym «Mexico». These Indians are to the south of Mexico from the north, in the thirteenth century AD. e. The Aztecs rebuild the city of Tenochtitlan, the future Mexico City on an island in the middle of a lake, and in a short time become the rulers of local tribes. But in 1519 the Aztecs meet even more ambitious Spaniards. After just six years, the huge, by the standards of Europe in the Middle Ages, the Aztec empire ceases to exist. Presumably, by this time the Indians were already 95% mowed down by smallpox and chickenpox, introduced by Columbus in 1492, and spread to both continents. The world, equal in culture to Ancient Egypt during its heyday, moves into the realm of legends.

For a warrior and a priest, it is considered permissible to write poetry. Let's listen to excerpts from the author's hymns of the Aztecs:

(A. Kuezpaltsyn)

How the gold quivered and the quetzal feather banners faded

If only the soldiers did not become prisoners

Hurry up — so that this does not happen to you

If the young warriors become prisoners.

They will be sacrificed, condemned to the slaughter

If this happens, what are we going to do?

(«Song of the Old Men», by the warrior Aishakatl)

Mayan.

The territory of the legendary founders of Mesoamerica is located somewhat south of the future possessions of the Aztecs. Scientists deduce the beginning of civilization as a thousand years BC. e. By the ninth century A.D. Mayan culture is in decline. The reason, according to the conclusion of paleogeologists, is a long-term drought caused by a change in ocean currents. The inhabitants of the country simply disappear. They leave behind magnificent pyramids, a complex irrigation system and a calendar.

Overview of World Religions

Mohammed. The beginnings of Islam. End of Antiquity. Mohammed is born on April 20, 571, in Mecca (Saudi Arabia), in the influential tribe of the Courshaites. At twenty-five, he marries a forty-year-old Khadija, is engaged in trade, escorting caravans and building (repairing the Kaaba). From the age of forty, almost every evening, Mohammed ascends a mountain near Mecca, where he prays in a cave that has survived to this day.

His insights will later be translated into lines of the Qur’an. Islam («submission to God») is accepted by a wife and several relatives. The new faith is woven from the writings of the Tanakh, the Gospel, Arabic legends, in the arrangement of Mohammed. The first sermon at the sacred Kaaba causes only ridicule among the crowd. Then Mohammed finds the right words and the situation is straightened out. Over the next three years, about a hundred people are recruited into the community. After the death of his uncle, the influential Abu Talib, the Islamists are ousted from Mecca. The community moves to the city of Medina, where it endures many difficulties (seven to eight dates per person per day of work). At the same time, raids on trade caravans and the struggle to spread the faith begin. Muslims lose the first battles. However, their perseverance bears fruit, and the army of Mohammed enters Mecca without a fight. A series of wars to unite the Arab tribes followed, raids on Byzantium were made. During the capture of one of the cities, in order to avoid the use of wine by the warriors, a sura is accepted, prohibiting alcohol.

Mohammed dies in Medina. His body finds rest in the Central Mosque.

Any worthy Muslim who knows the Koran well, regardless of his social status, can be the Imam (the leader of the common prayer). Imams are often teachers (mentors), business intercessors, and drafters.

For Shiites, only the blood heirs of the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law can have an imam (supreme imam) who has the right to interpret the Qur’an and guide believers. «Small imams», that is, in the Sunni tradition, fakikhs (people who have a special theological education for serving in a mosque) are appointed imams. Succession law and appointment instead of elections is practiced primarily in Iraq and Iran.

The division of Muslims into Shiites and Sunnis occurs when the exclusive right to power of the Prophet’s son-in-law (married to Mohammed’s daughter Fatima), Ali Talib, is challenged by another imam. The battle ends with a truce, but after Ali, the first man to convert to Islam, is still killed. Muslims who believe that power in the Caliphate can belong only to the descendants of Ali Talib (Alidam) — Shiites, those who recognize any chosen Muslim as worthy of it are Sunnis. Shiites believe that among their midst is Imam Muhammad, who once disappeared under unexplained circumstances. He watches over people and prepares to become the new messiah.

The aggravation of the struggle between the two branches of Islam occurs during the rise of the Ottoman Empire. The Sultan needs a good reason to attack one of the Muslim countries. Until then, the differences between Shiites and Sunnis were considered insignificant.

The idea of Islam is one God (Allah). The difference from Christianity is not the acceptance of the principle of the Trinity of God, in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In addition, Muslims assume that Issa (Jesus) did not die on the Cross to atone for the sins of mankind, but… then follows a complex story of how He escaped this. Meanwhile, the idea of Christianity is precisely earthly life, as a result of which God the Father exchanges with people a sufficiently understandable revelation.

The Qur’an depicts a paradise full of carnal pleasures for men. Women are from among the former spouses, as well as virginal houris who appear in the morning every time. The buildings are built of golden bricks. Paradise has several levels. The upper level is the Firdaus garden. Above is only the Throne of Allah.

Some Muslim theologians believe that all of these descriptions reflect the concept of paradise at the level of modern concepts.

All this is not in the Christian Eden. «The Revelation of John the Evangelist» represents the City of God, New Jerusalem, Cube, with a side of 2400 kilometers. However, the Apocalypse is considered by some theologians to be an apocryphal — a work on a biblical theme, not recognized by the Church.

The third world religion is Judaism. The Old Testament is the forerunner of the Gospel. This religious principle does not imply any intelligible afterlife. The Old Testament eschews the ideas of the journey of a weightless soul and proclaims the extension of a person’s life in his fleshly children.

Protestant churches (temples), despite their influence (USA, England, the total number of parishioners is 800 million), as a rule, do not differ in rich decoration. There is no veneration of icons. A church building can be any public building. In the altar there is a table stretched across the hall, with the books of the Old and New Testaments and lamps. Here the priest preaches, conducts liturgy, communion and baptism. The ordinances presented are the only ones recognized by this denomination. Much attention is paid to solving the secular problems of parishioners, unraveling family conflicts, etc. (faith without works is dead). Protestants are not in some kind of confrontation with Judaism, like the Orthodox and Catholics. Moreover, they view the state of Israel as an important field of God’s activity until the second coming of Christ.

The priest is chosen from among the respected parishioners and can be easily removed. There is no apostolic succession (ordination through ordination, i.e. ordination).

Confucianism in the Chinese language is called Pinyin, «School of educated people», and does not contain the nickname of the founder, philosopher and politician Kun-Fu-tzu. The real name of the «Teacher from the Kun clan» is Chzhun-ni. Confucius was born in the 6th century BC. e. The texts of the mentor of the nation, rewritten several times, contain descriptions of the rites of worship of ancestors, temples created in their honor, moralizing, the history of a fictional ideal country. The sky is seen as a source of moral meanings, a resonator that responds to the behavior of people and sends them the necessary signs. In a sense, Confucianism coincides with the Chinese folk religion, also Pinyin, with 500 million followers. In this belief, in addition to Heaven, the world energy Qi is important, as well as the souls of ancestors, with whom, if certain conditions are met, a connection can be established.

Hinduism is popular in many European countries and the United States as an unusual course of psychotherapy, but it is still localized in its native India. The complex of philosophical ideas, ethical norms, traditions is called Sanatana-Dharma («Eternal Law»). Sacred texts — Vedas, Upanishads, epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, like a set of books of the Old Testament in many ways, although much less realistic, reflect the history of the formation of India. The Supreme God of Hinduism can define the concept of Brahman (originally — «Prayer»), the soul of the world, the fundamental principle of things. He can be worshiped in any conceivable form. Supporters of Vaishnavism serve the Absolute in the avatar of Vishnu, the Guardian of the Universe, as well as more human-like reflections — Krishna and Rama. Shivaites worship Shiva, the static male principle of the Universe, the creator of rebirth, sometimes very destructive. The general meaning of service is merging with the Absolute, while preserving the individual principle, improving the personal position, including the material one, at each rebirth. Brahma (Brahma) is the god of creation, the first among equals, together with Shiva and Vishnu constitutes Trimurti (triad), the spiritual principle of Everything — Brahman.

Buddhism claims to be a world religion, a controversial, but all the more exciting continuation of Hinduism. The founder of the teaching is Buddha Shakyamuni, in Sanskrit «Awakened Sage» (623 — 543 BC). There are several Buddhas before Shakyamuni, but he is the most famous. The coming awakened Teacher, under whose guidance people will lead a holy life — Maitreya («Benevolent»). The main idea is non-resistance to evil by violence, passive resistance to adversity, acceptance of the world as it is. As a result of this behavior, a higher rational being (that is, a Buddhist monk) must get out of the captivity of consciousness, which created such a mosaic image of him. Buddhism does not imply any gods, One Mind, Paradise, Hell as a natural area of attraction for a religious ascetic. The only goal is the «fading out of the candle» of self-awareness.

Shamanism, although not a world religion, was once widespread throughout the Earth. Now this belief system is localized in some tribes of South and North America, Africa, Southeast Asia, Siberia and the Far East. The shaman enters himself into a trance by striking a tambourine, dancing, singing, and lies for a long time, not responding to external influences. In a disturbing dream, traveling along the branches or roots of the archetypal World Tree, he visits the middle, higher, or lower worlds. The higher worlds are inhabited by enlightened beings, the lower ones — by aggressive creatures. The schemes of otherworldly worlds are individual, therefore they cannot be reduced to a picture acceptable for the creation of classical religion.

One of the varieties of shamanism is voodoo. The main provisions of the belief — the world is inhabited by many spirits, loa (from the French loi — «law»). You can contact them and get some kind of help. Sacrifices are laid out on the altar, which has a somewhat unkempt appearance. These are sweets, alcohol, and slaughtered animals.

European Middle Ages

With the beginning of the Middle Ages, historians associate changes in the calendar, up to the removal of three centuries from it. This is not so difficult to do. Only monks and some officials in charge of the kings own the literacy. The clash of swords is heard everywhere. The common people do not give in to philosophy. In the seventh century, knowledgeable people only have to slightly correct the complex and incomprehensible Roman numerals. Whether it is true or not, it is not known for sure, but it is clear that from the middle of the sixth century to the beginning of the tenth, a very sparse desert extends on the calendar.

Until the thirteenth century, the Eastern Roman Empire flourished. But, progress, development disappears in it, so that sometimes it is even too lazy to look through the biographies of its emperors, marked by palace intrigues rather than great, albeit not always specious achievements.