Home Garden on the windowsill Video lesson “The emergence of art and religious beliefs. The emergence of religious beliefs and art

Garden on the windowsill

Video lesson “The emergence of art and religious beliefs. The emergence of religious beliefs and art

Religion (lat. religio - piety, piety, shrine, object of worship) - a specific form of social consciousness, worldview and attitude, as well as appropriate behavior and specific actions (cult), which are based on the belief in the existence of (one or more) gods, "sacred", that is, one or another variety of the supernatural.

In essence, religion is one of the types of idealistic worldview, opposed to the scientific one. The main sign of religion is belief in the supernatural, but this does not mean that religion is the relationship that connects man with God, as it is usually defined by theologians. “... Any religion is nothing more than a fantastic reflection in the minds of people of those external forces that dominate them in their daily lives - a reflection in which earthly forces take on the form of unearthly ones. In religion man is enslaved by the products of his own imagination. Religion is not only a specific form of social consciousness, but also performs the function of a regulator of social behavior.

According to modern scientific data, religion arose, apparently, during the Upper Paleolithic ( stone Age) 40–50 thousand years ago on relatively high level development of primitive society. Monuments of the Upper Paleolithic art depict the origin of the cult of animals and hunting witchcraft. The presence of religious beliefs is also evidenced by the Upper Paleolithic burials, which differ from earlier ones in the custom of burying the dead with tools and jewelry. This speaks of the emergence of ideas about posthumous existence - about the "world of the dead" and the "soul", which continues to live after the death of the body. Similar representations and accompanying rituals have been preserved up to our time.

The emergence of religion is associated with such a level of development of the human intellect, when the rudiments of theoretical thinking appear and the possibility of separating thought from reality ( epistemological roots religion): the general concept is separated from the object designated by it, turns into a special "being", so that on the basis of reflection human consciousness what is, ideas about what is not in reality itself may appear in it. These possibilities are realized only in connection with the totality of a person's practical activity, his social relations ( social roots religion).

At the initial stages of human history, religion is a product of the limited practical and spiritual mastery of the world. In primitive religious beliefs, people's fantastic awareness of their dependence on natural forces is imprinted. Without yet separating himself from nature, man transfers to it the relations that develop in the primitive community. The object of religious perception is precisely those natural phenomena with which a person is connected in his daily practical activities and which are of vital importance to him. The impotence of man in front of nature caused a feeling of fear of its "mysterious" forces and the incessant search for means of influencing them.

Briefly(In primitive society, religion existed in the form polydemonism or paganism(poly - a lot, demon - the name of an elemental natural force, which in the full sense of the word cannot yet be called God, but, nevertheless, it possessed supernatural power). In terms of content, different peoples had different views about the gods and the order of the world. However, within the framework of polydsmonism, one can distinguish forms of worship that are found among all peoples: animism, animatism, totemism, magic, fetishism, shamanism).

The simplest forms religious beliefs already existed 40 thousand years ago. It is at this time that the appearance human modern type ( homo sapiens), which differed significantly from its alleged predecessors in physical structure, physiological and psychological characteristics. But his most important difference was that he was a reasonable person, capable of abstract thinking.

The existence of religious beliefs in this distant period of human history is evidenced by the practice of burial primitive people. Archaeologists have established that they were buried in specially prepared places. At the same time, certain rituals were performed to prepare the dead for the afterlife. Their bodies were covered with a layer of ocher, weapons, household items, jewelry, etc. were placed next to them. Obviously, at that time religious and magical ideas were already taking shape that the deceased continued to live, that along with the real world there is another world where the dead live.

Religious beliefs of primitive man reflected in the works rock and cave art, which were discovered in the XIX-XX centuries. in southern France and northern Italy. Most of the ancient rock paintings are hunting scenes, images of people and animals. An analysis of the drawings allowed scientists to conclude that primitive man believed in a special kind of connection between people and animals, as well as in the ability to influence the behavior of animals using some magical techniques.

It was found that the veneration of various objects, which should bring good luck and ward off danger, was widespread among primitive people.

This material allows you to acquaint students with the concepts of "art", "religion"; find out the reasons for their occurrence. Using a presentation helps learners to imagine the events that are discussed in the lesson.

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Slides captions:

Concept work

people who lived before the invention of writing, before the appearance of the first states and large cities people who lived before the invention of writing, before the appearance of the first states and large cities

decals of the state

what a person does

science that studies the past and present of mankind

picking up ready-made types of food: roots, fruits, berries

historical monuments that provide information about the life of people in the distant past

Solve problems

Ancient people could not live alone. They united in groups - collectives. What were these groups called?

human herd

About 3,000 years ago, human herds turned into permanent groups of relatives. They were called ………………

tribal community

During archaeological excavations, 339 stone tools and over 10,000 fragments of animal bones were found in the Teshik-Tash grotto. Of the total number of bones, it was possible to establish the belonging of 938. Of these, a horse - 2, a bear - 2, a mountain goat - 767, a leopard - 1. What is the main occupation of the inhabitants of the Teshik-Tash grotto?

What finds does an archaeologist need to find in order to say with certainty that the most ancient people lived here?

The rise of art and religion

Art is a creative reflection of reality

Marcelino de Sautuola Sautuola worked alone, came to the cave - and dug day after day. (Archaeologists were then still loners - pioneers of their science). Although the archaeologist was not completely alone: he took his daughter, Maria, with him. A walk in the mountains is useful for the girl, and while her father was working, she liked to walk around the cave and look at it. And then one day he heard her sonorous exclamation: “Dad, look, painted bulls!” Taking off from the ground, dad raised his tired eyes - and froze in surprise, not knowing what to think. Indeed, bulls.

Religion is belief in supernatural forces (gods, spirits, souls) and worship them

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The rise of art and religion

Lesson Objectives : To ensure that students understand the concepts of "religion", "art"; their reasons

Appearances. Continue the formation of the ability to reason, think logically, elemental

Tarno analyze historical sources, facts.

Equipment: presentation

During the classes :

I. Repetition

For several lessons, we studied the life of primitive man. Let's remember what we have learned.

1. Work on concepts(slide 1 - 7)

2. Problem solving (slide 8 - 16)

II. Learning new material

Pay attention to this slide. In addition to the objects you mentioned, here we also see rock paintings, which were also a hallmark of primitive man.

The conversion of primitive people to a new type of activity for them - art - is one of the greatest events in the history of mankind. Primitive art reflected the first ideas of man about the world around him, thanks to him knowledge and skills were preserved and transferred, people communicated with each other. In the spiritual culture of the primitive world, art began to play the same universal role as a pointed stone played in labor activity.

The primitive era is the longest in the history of mankind. Its countdown starts from the time of the appearance of man about 2.5 million years ago and is brought to the third or first millennium to new era.

Primitive art, the art of the era of the primitive communal system, arose around the 30th millennium BC. e.(slide 18)

Art - creative reflection of reality.

The immediate cause of the emergence of art was the real needs of everyday life. For example, the art of dance grew out of hunting and military exercises, from peculiar dramatizations that figuratively conveyed the labor occupations of the primitive community, the life of animals.Primitive art reflected the first ideas of man about the world around him, thanks to him knowledge and skills were preserved and transferred, people communicated with each other.

In 1878 in Spain, the archaeologist Sautola(slide 19) and his daughter went to the cave of Altamira. When Sauto la lit the torch, they saw pictures painted on the walls and roof of the cave. A total of 23 images were counted - a whole herd! They were made by the firm hand of an ancient artist who skillfully used the natural bulges of the cave vault. He revived these bulges with a chisel and outlined them with paint - not just drawings, but colored bas-reliefs were obtained. Massive carcasses of bison with characteristic humpbacked scruffs were painted with red paint..(slide 20)

Later, other caves with drawings by ancient artists were discovered.

Let's see what the primitive artists depicted.(slide 21-22)

Among the images are easily recognizable bison and deer, bears and rhinos. All the drawings were made with amazing skill - although not without curiosities - there were images of animals with big amount legs - so the artists tried to convey the movement

Many drawings contain riddles - incomprehensible signs and objects, people with bird heads, or in attire similar to a spacesuit. But most importantly, we cannot understand why the hunting scenes were painted in hard-to-reach, dark caves. There is a version that the drawings were of a magical nature - if you depict an animal in a cave, it will definitely fall into a trap.And if the image is hit with a spear, then this will help to succeed in hunting.It is possible that ritual ceremonies were played out before the drawings - the hunters, as it were, worked out the course of the future hunt.

Why did ancient people do this?

Ancient people were able to do a lot, but they did not know the true reasons natural phenomena. In order not to be afraid, a person had to not only learn a lot useful things, but also learn to explain everything that happens around him and with him.

So they had a belief that between the animal and its image, which the artist creates, there is some kind of supernatural connection. Everything in nature had its own spirit. Spirits in relation to people could be both good and evil. To appease the spirits of nature, people made sacrifices to them and performed special rites in their honor.

This is how primitive people develop religion.(slide 23)

Religion - it is belief in supernatural forces (gods, spirits, souls) and worship them.

Ancient people believed that every person has a soul. The soul is an incorporeal principle that makes a person a living and thinking being. When a person sleeps, he does not notice or hear anything. So the soul left his body. It is impossible to wake a person sharply: the soul will not have time to return.

People believed that when the soul leaves the body, the person physically dies, but his soul continues to live.

People believed that the souls of their ancestors moved to a distant "land of the dead."

Religious beliefs originated:

from the impotence of man before the power of nature;
from the inability to explain many of its phenomena.
They originated with the advent of a reasonable person, able not only to take care of his immediate needs, but also to think about himself, about his past and future.
Religious beliefs were manifested in the performance of special rites associated with important events in life.

Primitive people created their art, which was associated with their religious beliefs.

Homework: § 3, questions

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Posted on http://www.allbest.ru/

Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation

FGBOU VPO

"Chuvash State Pedagogical University

them. AND I. Yakovlev"

Department of National and Regional History

on the topic: "Religion and art of the ancient and ancient world"

Completed by: 1st year student of ChSPU

group I-1 Lvova Oksana Olegovna

Checked by: Sergeev T.S.

Cheboksary 2012

Introduction

2. Primitive art

3. The beginning of religion

3.1 Matriarchy, patriarchy

3.2 Fetishism

3.3 Totemism

4. Art of the Ancient World

5. Religion of the Ancient World

5.1 History of the study of religion

5.2 Emergence and early forms of religion: Judaism

5.5 Brahmanism

5.6 Jainism

5.7 Buddhism in India

5.8 Hinduism

5.9 Religion in ancient China

5.10 Confucius and Confucianism

5.11 Taoism

5.12 Chinese Buddhism

5.14 Lamaism

Conclusion

List of used literature

Introduction

The oldest surviving works of art were created in the primitive era, about sixty thousand years ago.

Primitive (or, otherwise, primitive) art geographically covers all continents except Antarctica, and in time - the entire era of human existence, preserved by some peoples living in remote corners of the planet to this day.

Until recently, scholars held two opposing views on the history of primitive art. Some experts considered cave naturalistic painting and sculpture to be the most ancient, others - schematic signs and geometric figures. Now most researchers are of the opinion that both forms appeared at approximately the same time. For example, among the most ancient images on the walls of caves of the Paleolithic era are prints of a human hand, and random weaves of wavy lines, pressed into the wet clay with the fingers of the same hand.

These and many other questions are answered by the history of the discovery of primitive art.

1. The history of the discovery of primitive art

Primitive art originated in Europe during the Late Paleolithic, about 30 thousand years BC. First of all, we are talking about rock carvings - ancient drawings on the walls of caves, on open stone surfaces and on individual stones. Rock painting flourished in the fifteenth - thirteenth millennium BC. It was during this era of the so-called Wurm glaciation that ancient people began to cover the walls and vaults of caves with real picturesque "canvases" that well conveyed the shape, proportions, color and volume of the depicted objects. The most striking examples of such primitive art have been discovered in the caves of southern France and northern Spain. They are the first to be included in the World Heritage List.

Primitive art - only part primitive culture, which, in addition to art, includes religious beliefs and cults, special traditions and rituals.

Primitive art - the art of the era of primitive society. It arose in the Late Paleolithic around 30 thousand years BC. e., reflected the views, conditions and way of life primitive hunters(primitive dwellings, cave images of animals, female figurines). Neolithic and Eneolithic farmers and pastoralists had communal settlements, megaliths, and piled buildings; images began to convey abstract concepts, the art of ornamentation developed. In the Neolithic, Eneolithic, Bronze Age, the tribes of Egypt, India, Western, Central and Minor Asia, China, South and South-Eastern Europe developed an art associated with agricultural mythology (ornamented ceramics, sculpture). Northern forest hunters and fishermen used to have rock carvings and realistic figurines of animals. The pastoral steppe tribes of Eastern Europe and Asia at the turn of the Bronze and Iron Ages created the animal style.

Anthropologists associate the true emergence of art with the appearance of homo sapiens, which is otherwise called Cro-Magnon man. The Cro-Magnons (as these people were called after the place of the first discovery of their remains - the Cro-Magnon grotto in southern France), who appeared from 40 to 35 thousand years ago, were people tall(1.70-1.80 m), slender, strong build. They had an elongated narrow skull and a distinct, slightly pointed chin, which gave the lower part of the face triangular shape. In almost every way they resembled modern man and became famous as excellent hunters. They had a well-developed speech, so that they could coordinate their actions. They skillfully made all kinds of tools for different occasions: sharp spearheads, stone knives, bone harpoons with teeth, excellent axes, axes, etc.

2. Primitive art

The first works of art of the Stone (primitive) age were created around the 25th millennium BC. These are primitive human figures, mostly female, carved from mammoth tusk or soft stone. Often their surface is dotted with depressions, which probably meant fur clothing.

The works of art of the early Stone Age, or Paleolithic, are characterized by simplicity of forms and colors. Rock carvings are, as a rule, the contours of figures of animals, made with bright paint - red or yellow, and occasionally - filled with round spots or completely painted over. Such "pictures" were clearly visible in the twilight of the caves, illuminated only by torches or the fire of a smoky fire.

In the initial stage of development, primitive fine art did not know the laws of space and perspective, as well as composition, i.e. intentional distribution on the plane of individual figures, between which there is necessarily a semantic connection.

The first images of rock art are paintings in the cave of Altamira (Spain), dating back to about the 12th millennium BC. - were discovered in 1875, and by the beginning of the First World War in Spain and France, there were about 40 such "art galleries".

The drawings are well preserved due to the special microclimate of the caves. As a rule, they are located on the walls, remote from the entrance. For example, to see the paintings in the cave of Nio (France, around XII millennium BC), you need to cover a distance of 800m. Sometimes they made their way to the cave "gallery" through narrow wells and cracks, often crawling, swimming underground rivers and lakes.

Gradually, man not only mastered new methods of processing soft stone and bone, which contributed to the development of sculpture and carving, but also began to widely use bright natural mineral paints. Ancient masters learned how to convey the volume and shape of an object, applied paint of various thicknesses, changed the saturation of the tone.

At first, the animals in the drawings looked motionless, but later the primitive "artists" learned how to convey movement. Figures of animals full of life appeared on the cave drawings: deer run in panic fear, horses rush in a "flying gallop" (front legs are tucked in, hind legs are thrown forward). The wild boar is terrifying in a rage: he jumps, baring his fangs and bristling.

Cave paintings had a ritual purpose - when going hunting, a primitive man would draw a mammoth, a wild boar or a horse, so that the hunt would be successful and the prey would be easy. This is confirmed by the characteristic imposition of some drawings on others, as well as their multiplicity. So picture a large number The bulls in the paintings of Altamira are not some kind of artistic technique, but simply the result of repeated drawing of the figures.

At the same time, already at that time, the first signs of narrative appeared in the rock ""paintings"" - ground images of animals, meaning a herd or herd. For example, horses galloping one after another in the drawings in the Lascaux cave (around the 15th millennium BC, France).

The most striking examples of painting of the Middle Stone Age, or Mesolithic, are rock paintings on the east and south coasts. Iberian Peninsula, in Spain, (between VIII and V millennium BC). They are located not in the dark, hard-to-reach depths of the caves, but in small rocky niches and grottoes. Currently, about 40 such places are known, including at least 70 individual groups images.

These murals differ from the images characteristic of the Paleolithic. Large drawings, where animals are presented in full size, were replaced by miniature ones: for example, the length of the rhinoceroses depicted in the Minapida grotto is about 14 cm, and the height of human figures is on average only 5-10 cm.

"Artists" used, as a rule, black or red paint. Sometimes they used both colors: for example, they painted the upper body of a person red, the legs black.

A characteristic feature of rock art is a peculiar transmission of individual parts human body. An exorbitantly long and narrow body, having the appearance of a straight or slightly curved rod; as if intercepted at the waist; legs are disproportionately massive, with convex calves; the head is large and round, with carefully reproduced details of the headdress.

Like the images found earlier in Spain and France, the paintings of the Mesolithic period are full of vitality: animals do not just run, but seem to fly through the air.

People depicted on a light gray background of rocks are also full of swift energy. Their naked figures are outlined with the same graceful clarity as the silhouettes of animals. The "artists" of this period achieved true mastery in group images. In this they are much superior to the cave "painters". In rock art, multi-figured compositions appear, mostly of a narrative nature: each drawing is truly a story in colors.

A masterpiece of rock art of the Mesolithic period can be called a drawing in the Gasulha Gorge (Spanish province of Castellón). On it are two red figures of shooters aiming at a mountain goat that jumps from above. The posture of people is very expressive: they stand, leaning on the knee of one leg, stretching back the other and bending their torso towards the animal.

The art of the Stone Age had a great positive value for the history of ancient mankind. Fixing his life experience and attitude in visible images, primitive man deepened and expanded his ideas about reality, enriched his spiritual world.

From generation to generation, the technique of making tools and some of its secrets were passed down (for example, the fact that a stone heated on fire is easier to process after cooling). Excavations at the sites of Upper Paleolithic people testify to the development of primitive hunting beliefs and witchcraft among them. From clay they sculpted figurines of wild animals and pierced them with darts, imagining that they were killing real predators. They also left hundreds of carved or painted images of animals on the walls and arches of the caves. Archaeologists have proven that monuments of art appeared immeasurably later than tools - almost a million years.

Experts believe that the genres of primitive art arose approximately in the following time sequence: 1. stone sculpture;

2. rock art

3. earthenware

In ancient times, people used improvised materials for art - stone, wood, bone. Much later, namely in the era of agriculture, he discovered the first artificial material - refractory clay - and began to actively use it to make dishes and sculptures. Wandering hunters and gatherers used wicker baskets - they are more convenient to carry. Pottery is a sign of permanent agricultural settlements.

It is difficult for us to imagine the music of the primitives; of people. After all, then there was no written language and no one knew how to write down either the words of the songs or their music. Most general idea we can learn about this music partly from the surviving traces of the life of people of those distant times (for example, from rock and cave paintings), and partly from observations of the life of some modern peoples who have preserved the primitive way of life. so we learn that even at the dawn of human society, music played an important role in people's lives.

Mothers, singing, rocked the children; warriors inspired themselves before the battle and frightened the enemies with warlike songs - calls; the shepherds gathered their flocks with drawling words; and when people gathered together for some work, measured shouts helped them to unite their efforts and more easily cope with the work. When someone from the primitive community died, his relatives expressed their grief in songs of lamentation. This is how the oldest forms of musical art arose: lullabies, military, shepherd, labor songs, funeral laments. These ancient forms continued to develop and survived even today, although, of course, they have changed a lot. After all, the art of music is constantly evolving, as well as human society, reflecting the whole variety of feelings and thoughts of a person, his attitude to the surrounding life. This main feature real art.

Music was included in the games of primitive people as an indispensable component. She was inseparable from the words of the songs, from the movements, from the dance. In the games of primitive people, the beginnings of various types of art were merged into one whole - poetry, music, dance, theatrical action, which subsequently became isolated and began to develop independently. Such an undivided (syncretic) art, more like a game, has survived to this day among tribes living in a primitive communal system.

In ancient music there was a lot of imitation of the sounds of the surrounding life. Gradually, people learned to select from huge amount sounds and noises, musical sounds, have learned to be aware of their relationship in height and duration, their connection with each other.

Rhythm was developed earlier than other musical elements in primitive musical art. And there is nothing surprising here, because rhythm is inherent in the very nature of man. Primitive music helped people find rhythm in their work. Melodically monotonous and simple, this music was at the same time surprisingly complex and rhythmically varied. The singers emphasized the rhythm by clapping their hands or stamping: this is the most ancient form singing with accompaniment. Compared to the music of primitive society, music ancient civilizations stood at an immeasurably higher level of development. Bas-reliefs on the ruins of Assyrian temples, Egyptian frescoes and other monuments of distant times have preserved for us images of musicians. But what exactly the musicians played, what the singers sang about, we can only guess about.

Much more important for subsequent times was the music of ancient Greece. She then sounded in theatrical performances, where the recitation was replaced by the singing of the choir, and on folk holidays and in everyday life. Greek poets did not recite their poems, but sang them, accompanying themselves on the lyre or cithara. Dances among the Greeks were accompanied by playing the aulos, a wind instrument.

Yet our modern musical culture owes great value to antiquity. Ancient myths, legends, tragedies have been a source of inspiration for musicians for many centuries. The plots of the first operas created in Italy at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries were based on Greek myths, and since then composers have returned countless times to the poetic traditions of the ancient Greek people. The myth of the singer Orpheus, whose singing made stones cry, pacified wild animals and even helped the singer to penetrate the "realm of the dead", caused the appearance of Gluck's opera, Liszt's symphonic poem, and Stravinsky's ballet.

But not only the plots and images of ancient art have been inherited by us from the Greeks. Greek scholars gave great attention laws of musical art, its theory. Pythagoras, the famous philosopher and mathematician, laid the foundation for a special science - musical acoustics. Until now, music science uses many terms and concepts that originate from the Greek theory of music. The words "harmony", "gamma", the names of some musical modes (for example, Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian) came to us from Ancient Greece, where they were associated with the names of the tribes that inhabited it.

3. The beginning of religion

In ancient times, man did not even think of separating himself from nature, but this does not mean that he did not seek to understand, to explain the world in which he lived. Apparently, one of the first ways of such an explanation was the transfer by a person of his own properties and sensations to the whole world. the world. Thus was born the belief that nature is alive. Stones, trees, rivers, clouds - all these are living beings, only unlike a person, just as a tiger, an elephant, a bear are unlike him. And those that differ too much from a person may have completely special, incomprehensible and inaccessible to people properties. Fire burns, lightning kills, thunder rumbles in a way no man can shout.

People watched how sprouts appeared from the earth, grew stronger, became trees, which means that someone cared about growing edible fruits for them, someone populated the lands, waters and skies with animals, fish, birds. Someone finally gave birth to the man himself. A sensitive, watchful, attentive man of ancient times simply could not help but feel the force invisibly present in the world, on which both life and death depended. Often, when studying primitive beliefs, scientists meet the veneration of this force in the face of matriarchy.

3.1 Matriarchy, patriarchy

Profound changes in the Neolithic era affected not only the forms of management, but also religion, which, undoubtedly, was reflected in art. In the pagan religion, two fundamentally different types of beliefs were formed.

Nomadic shepherds worshiped the masculine principle - a god who embodied the powers of a male animal, most often in the form of a bull. They moved from one pasture to another, and their only permanent place was the burial, which they designated with conventional signs. Huge boulders (menhirs) indicated places of worship of ancestors.

Farmers, on the contrary, had permanent housing, and land and livestock were their property. The house, hearth, seeds and fertile soil were identified with fertility in the form of a woman. The main symbols of a woman as the bearer of life were the geometry of space, divided into four cardinal directions, the cycles of the Moon and water. Instead of beliefs in a male god, ideas about the Great Mother appeared. In Mesopotamia it was Innin-Ishtar, and in Egypt - Isis. Figurines of the Great Mother stood in all dwellings of farmers. However, as further development all ancient Eastern civilizations moved away from the feminine principle in culture. He was supplanted by the masculine. Anthropologists strongly associate the concept of patriarchy with the ancient Eastern civilizations of the mature period.

The era of patriarchy is the time of the decay of primitive society and the formation of early states. In other words, the phenomenon of the state and the phenomenon of patriarchy are so closely linked that it is simply impossible to separate them from each other. And both of them became the forerunners of the birth of culture and civilization in the modern sense.

3.2 Fetishism

When the first Portuguese navigators in the XV century. landed on the coast West Africa, they were faced with a complex and unfamiliar world of representations of black natives. Attempts to convert them to the "true faith" failed because local population had its own faith, and the Portuguese involuntarily had to study it. The further they moved into the depths of the African continent, the more they were amazed at the widespread custom of local tribes to worship various objects to which supernatural properties were attributed. The Portuguese called them fetishes. In the future, this form of religion was called fetishism. Apparently she is one of the most early forms known to all peoples of our planet. Any object that for some reason struck the imagination of a person could become a fetish: a stone unusual shape, a piece of wood, animal body parts (teeth, fangs, pieces of skin, dried paws, bones, etc.). Later, figurines made of stone, bone, wood, and metal appeared. Often a randomly selected object turned out to be a fetish, and if its owner was lucky, then the fetish has magic power. Otherwise, it was replaced by another. Some peoples had a custom to thank, and sometimes punish fetishes.

A special group of fetishes is associated with the cult of ancestors, which is widespread among many peoples of the world. Their images become fetishes that are worshipped. Sometimes these are idols - humanoid figures made of wood, stone, clay, and sometimes the ancestor depicts a special sign, as was customary, for example, in China.

A vivid example of a fetish associated with the cult of ancestors is the alels of the Yenisei Kets. Alel is a wooden doll with a large head, arms, legs, eyes made of beads or buttons, dressed in traditional Ket clothes made of cloth and deer skins. Usually, dolls depict old women who are called to help the family in all its affairs. They guard the house, watch over the children and cattle - deer, dogs. Alels are passed from parents to children. When migrating, they are carried in a special birch bark tueska. According to the Kets, a person should take care of them, feed them, clothe them, treat them respectfully. Otherwise, family members are threatened with death.

3.3 Totemism

Fetishism is closely intertwined with other forms of beliefs, primarily with totemism.

Totemism (“ot-otem” in the language of North American Indians means “his clan”) is a system of religious ideas about the relationship between a group of people (usually a clan) and a totem - a mythical ancestor, most often some animal or plant. The totem was treated as a kind and caring ancestor and patron who protects people - their relatives - from hunger, cold, disease and death. Initially, only a real animal, bird, insect or plant was considered a totem. Then their more or less realistic image was enough, and later the totem could be designated by any symbol, word or sound.

Each clan bore the name of its totem, but there could be more "specialized" totems. For example, all the men of the tribe considered one animal or plant to be their ancestor, while the women had a different totem.

The choice of totems is often associated with the physical and geographical nature of the area. So, for example, among many tribes of Australia, kangaroos, emu ostriches, opossums (large marsupial rats), wild dogs, lizards, crows, which are common here, act as totems. bat. At the same time, in the desert or semi-desert regions of the country, where natural conditions and animal world are scarce, various insects and plants become totems, which in this capacity are not found anywhere else.

Totemism is the religion of an early tribal society, where blood ties are the most important between people. A person sees similar connections in the world around him, he endows all nature with kinship relations. Animals and plants, which form the basis of the life of a hunter and gatherer, become the subject of his religious feelings.

Once totemism was widespread in India. Until now, Indian tribes living in isolation in mountainous and forest regions and not affiliated with Hinduism have maintained a division into genera bearing the names of plants and animals.

Totemic features are clearly visible in the images of gods and heroes in the beliefs of the indigenous inhabitants of Central and South America. Such are Huitzilo-pochli - hummingbird - the supreme deity of the Aztecs, Quetzalcoatl (Serpent, covered with green feathers) - one of the main deities of the Indians, the creator of the world, the creator of man, the lord of the elements.

In the religious ideas of the ancient Greeks, traces of totemism are kept by myths about centaurs, often found motifs of turning people into animals and plants (for example, the myth of Narcissus).

4. Art of the Ancient World

The art of primitive society in the late period of its development approached the development of composition, the creation of monumental architecture and sculpture. In the ancient world, art for the first time achieved wholeness, unity, completeness and synthesis of all forms, serving as an expression of large, comprehensive ideas: all works of art that had a public character bear the imprint of epic, special significance and solemnity. These qualities attracted attention after the next generations. Even when deep contradictions led to the death of the ancient world.

The slave-owning system, which replaced the communal-tribal one, was historically logical and, in comparison with the previous era, had a progressive significance. He became the basis further growth productive forces and culture. The exploitation of slaves gave rise to the division of physical and mental labor, which created the ground for the development of various forms of spiritual creativity, including art. From the nameless milieu of artisans, great architects, sculptors, carvers, casters, painters, etc., emerge.

If in pre-class society art was part of the material and labor activity of a person, then with the emergence of the class state, it became a peculiar form of consciousness and acquired an important role in social life and class struggle. Artistic creativity basically retained a folk character, being formed in the sphere of mythological thinking. The complication of social life contributed to the expansion of the figurative and cognitive range of art. Magical rites, funeral rituals of primitive man were transformed into solemn ceremonies. Burial hills were replaced by tombs, arks by temples, tents by palaces, magical rock paintings by pictorial cycles that adorned temples and tombs; they fascinatingly told about the life of the people of the ancient world, kept folk legends, tales and myths frozen in stone. Instead of naive ritual figurines, monumental, sometimes gigantic statues and reliefs appeared, perpetuating the images of earthly rulers and heroes. Various types of art: architecture, sculpture, painting, applied art entered into commonwealth with each other. The synthesis of arts is the most important achievement of the artistic culture of the ancient world.

In the performance of the work, the difference between craft and art begins to show. Perfection of form, refinement in ornament, elegance in the processing of wood, stone, metal, precious stones, etc. are achieved. The sharp observation of the artist is now combined with the ability to think in generalized concepts, which is reflected in the emergence of permanent types, in strengthening the sense of artistic order, strict rhythm laws. Artistic creativity in this period, in comparison with pre-class society, becomes more holistic, it is united by common principles and ideas of the era. Great monumental styles emerge.

Religion goes through complex processes of transition from the worship of the beast to the concept of gods, similar to man. At the same time, the image of man is becoming more and more established in art, his active power, his ability to heroic deeds are glorified.

With all the diversity of the historical development of the slave-owning societies of the ancient world, they were characterized by two forms.

The first is the eastern one, where the communal system with its patriarchal foundations was preserved for a long time. Here slavery developed at a slow pace; the yoke of exploitation fell on both the slaves and most free population. Slave-owning despotic states arise between 5 and 4 thousand BC. e. in the valleys and deltas of large rivers - the Nile (Egypt), the Tigris and Euphrates (the most ancient states of Mesopotamia), etc. The ideological content of the art of ancient despotism was determined mainly by the requirement to glorify the power of the gods, legendary heroes, kings, and perpetuate the social hierarchy. Artists also drew subjects from modern life, paying special attention to the scenes of collective labor, hunting, festivities; (Egypt), military historical events(Anterior Asia), reproduced in a monumental-epic plan. The long-term preservation of communal relations hindered the development of interest in individual person, his personal qualities. The art of Western Asia emphasized common tribal principles in the image of a person, sometimes sharpening ethnic features. In Egypt, where the personality of a person acquired great importance, the portrait for the first time in history received a perfect artistic embodiment, to a large extent determining the path for the further development of this genre. In the art of the ancient Eastern despotisms, a lively observation of nature is combined with folk artistic fantasy or conventionality, emphasizing the social significance of the depicted character. This convention was slowly overcome in the history of the development of ancient oriental culture. Art is still not completely separated from the craft, creativity remained mostly nameless. However, in the art of the ancient Eastern states, the striving for the significant and perfect is already clearly expressed.

The second form of the slave-owning society - the ancient one - is characterized by the rapid change of primitive exploitation by the developed one, the displacement of despotism by the Greek states-policies, and the social activity of the free population engaged in labor. Relatively democratic character ancient states, flourishing personality, trends harmonious development determined the citizenship and humanity of ancient art. Developing on the basis of mythology, closely connected with all aspects of public life, Greek art was the most striking manifestation of realism in ancient fat. The universe ceased to be for the Greek thinkers something unknown, subject to irresistible forces. Horror before the formidable deities was replaced by the desire to comprehend nature, to use it for the benefit of man. The art of Ancient Greece embodied the ideal of beauty of a harmoniously developed personality, which affirmed the ethical and aesthetic superiority of man over the elemental forces of nature. Ancient art during its heyday in Greece and Rome appealed to the masses of free citizens, expressing the basic civic, aesthetic and ethical ideas of society.

In the era of Hellenism - the next stage in the development of ancient artistic culture - art was enriched with new diverse aspects of the perception of life. It became emotionally intense, imbued with drama and dynamics, but lost its harmonic clarity. At the last stage of its development, in the era of the Roman Republic and the Empire, ancient art came to assert the meaning of an individually unique personality. The art of the era of the late empire - the era of the decline of ancient culture - contained in the bud what would bear fruit later. Thinkers and artists turned to inner world man, outlining the development of European art of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

The historically determined limitation of ancient art was that it passed by social life, social contradictions. Ancient art appealed mainly to free citizens.

5. Religion of the Ancient World

5.1 History of the study of religion

art christianity buddhism shinto lamaism

The first attempts to understand the essence of religion and the reasons for its emergence date back to ancient times. Back in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. Greek philosophers were among the first to draw attention to the fact that religious ideas are not immanently inherent in man, that people invented their gods. Ancient philosophers believed that this was done to instill fear in people, to force them to comply with the laws. Fear of formidable natural phenomena, according to Democritus, is the basis of religion.

One of the first to shake blind faith in church dogmas at the turn of the 17th century was F. Bacon, who compared the human mind with a distorting mirror that distorts reality, and thereby gave impetus to a direct criticism of religion. Bacon's compatriot, the Englishman T. Hobbes, declared that it is the fear of an invisible force, imagined on the basis of fictions allowed by the state, that is called religion. Ignorance and fear gave rise to religion.

The Dutch philosopher B. Spinoza attacked religion even more sharply. Spinoza saw the origins of religion in man's lack of confidence in his abilities, in his constant fluctuations between hope and fear.

The ideas of the 17th century paved the way for the flourishing in the 18th century of an even more revealing critique of religion. P. Halbach considered religion a fiction created by the human imagination. P.S. Maréchal compared religion to a drug, to opium, while drawing attention to the power of religious tradition.

It is religion and the tradition sanctioned by it that largely determines the appearance of a particular civilization. In the life of society, in the history and culture of the people, it played a high role: Christianity, Islam, Indo-Buddhism, and Confucianism - all these doctrines, together with local religions such as Taoism, Shintoism, Jainism, so clearly defined the face of civilization that they can be considered her calling card. This is especially true of the religions and civilizations of the East.

5.2 Emergence and early forms of religion

The origins of the first religious ideas of the ancestors of modern man are closely connected with the emergence of early forms of spiritual life among them. It is possible that even before the completion of the process of "reasonableness" for thousands of years, the accumulated practice of hunting or burying the dead had already formed the norms of behavior among the members of the primitive herd.

First, the practice of burials. The caveman “reasonable” person buried his loved ones in special burials, the dead went through a rite of certain preparation for the afterlife: their body was covered with a layer of red ocher, household items, jewelry, utensils, etc. were placed nearby. This means that the collective that buried their dead already had a rudimentary idea of the afterlife.

Secondly, the practice of magical images in cave painting. The vast majority of cave drawings known to science are hunting scenes, images of people and animals, or people dressed up as animals.

Totemism arose from the belief of a particular group of people in their relationship with a certain type of animal or plant. Gradually, it turned into the main form of religious ideas of the emerging kind. Members of the tribal group believed that they were descended from ancestors who combined the signs of people and their totem.

Animism - belief in the existence of spirits, the spiritualization of the forces of nature, animals, plants and inanimate objects, attributing to them reason and supernatural power.

Monotheistic Religions: Judaism

All three monotheistic religious systems known to the history of world culture are closely connected with each other and flow from one another. The first and oldest of these is Judaism, the religion of the ancient Jews.

The history of the ancient Jews and the process of the formation of their religion are known mainly from the materials of the Bible, more precisely, from its ancient part - Old Testament. At the beginning of the II millennium BC. Jews were polytheists, that is, they believed in various gods and spirits, in the existence of the soul. Each more or less large ethnic community had its own main god, to whom they appealed in the first place. Yahweh was one of such deities - the patron and divine ancestor of one and the tribes of the Jewish people. Later, the cult of Yahweh began to come out on top, pushing others aside. Yahweh guards his people and opens all paths for them.

So, the quintessence of the Old Testament is in the idea of being chosen by God. God is one for all - the great Yahweh. But the almighty Yahweh singled out one of all nations - the Jewish one.

Judaism not only sharply opposed polytheism and superstition, but was also a religion that did not tolerate the existence of any other gods and spirits along with the great and one God. The distinctive feature of Judaism was expressed in its exclusive faith into the omnipotence of Yahweh.

Judaism of the Jews of the Diaspora. The destruction of the temple (7th year) and the destruction of Jerusalem (133rd) put an end to the existence of the Hebrew state and, together with it, ancient Judaism. Another religious organization arose in the diaspora - the synagogue. Synagogue - a prayer house, a kind of religious and social center Jewish community where rabbis and other Torah scholars interpret sacred texts and pray to Yahweh.

In Judaism of the Jews of the Diaspora, much attention was paid to the rituals of circumcision, ablutions, fasting, strict observance of rituals and holidays. A true Jew should only consume kosher meat (not pork). On the days of the Easter holidays, it was supposed to eat matzo - unleavened cakes without yeast and salt. The Jews celebrated the Feast of the Day of Judgment, Yam-Kinur (in autumn).

Judaism has played a certain role in the history of culture, in particular, Eastern cultures. Through Christianity and Islam, the principles of monotheism began to spread widely in the East. The countries and peoples of the East, especially the Middle East, closely connected with Judaism by common roots and cultural and genetic closeness. Judaism had a direct impact through the Jews of the Diaspora. Judaism became widespread among the highlanders of the Caucasus, in Central Asia, in Ethiopia.

Over time, he became more and more isolated within the framework of his communities and isolated himself from the religions that surrounded him. Existing mainly in a Christian or Islamic milieu, Judaism turned out to be practically only the earliest version of the dominant religion.

5.3 Christianity in the countries of the East

Christianity is the most widespread and one of the most developed religious systems in the world. It is, first of all, the religion of the West. But Christianity is closely connected with the East and its culture. It has many roots in the culture of the ancient East, from where it drew its rich mythopoetic and ritual-dogmatic potential.

How did religion appear relatively late, under conditions already developed society with sharp social, economic and political contradictions.

The main idea of Christianity is the idea of sin and the salvation of man. People are sinners before God, and this is what equalizes them all.

Apart from the Russian one, the rest of the Orthodox churches, which found themselves in the sphere of domination of the Islamic world, did not receive wide influence. Under their spiritual influence were only the Greeks, part of the southern Slavs, Romanians.

The Coptic Monophysite Church developed in Egypt - it insisted on a single divine essence of Christ. The Armenian-Gregorian is close to the Greek-Byzantine Orthodoxy, the Victorians - the followers of the Bishop of Constantinople Nestorius - are a kind of forerunner of Orthodoxy. The Roman Catholic Church is associated with the East at a relatively late time and is reduced to a missionary movement (Asia, Africa, Oceania).

In general, Christianity, represented by various churches and sects, is perhaps the most widespread world religion, dominating in Europe and America, having a significant position in America and Oceania, as well as in a number of regions of Asia. However, it is in Asia, that is, in the East, that Christianity is spread the least.

Islam is the third and last of the developed monotheistic religions. It also originated in the Middle East, rooted in the same soil, nourished by the same ideas, based on the same cultural traditions as Christianity and Judaism. This religious system developed on the basis of its two predecessors. holy book Muslims is the Koran.

Islam played a huge role in the history and culture of not only the Arabs, its first adherents, but also all the peoples of the Middle East region, as well as Iranians, Turks, Indians, Indonesians, many peoples of Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Volga region, the Balkans, part of the population of Africa. Islam originated among the Arabs, the indigenous inhabitants of Arabia.

The cornerstone of the religious theory of Muslims, the main creed of Islam is the well-known phrase: "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet." There is only one Allah - God is the only and faceless, supreme and omnipotent, the creator of all things and its supreme judge. The role of Muhammad in the emergence of Islam is difficult to overestimate. It was he who was the founder of the new religion, determined its main parameters, formulated the essence of its principles and gave it its unique specificity.

5.5 Brahmanism

Brahmanism as a system of religious and philosophical views and ritual and cult practices is the direct successor of Vedic culture. However, Brahmanism is a phenomenon of a new era. Estates appeared - varnas of brahmins (priests), kshatriyas (warriors), vaishyas (farmers, merchants) and shudras (slaves). The class of priests occupied leading positions: the Brahmin priests made sacrifices to the gods, performed rites, held in their hands a monopoly on literacy, sacred texts, and knowledge.

Through the efforts of the Brahmin priests, the so-called Brahmins, prose texts, were compiled.

So, the brahman priests, the ideas of the supreme Brahman-Absolute that appeared - all this led to the formation of brahmanism - the religion of the ancient brahmins. The formation of this religion was accompanied by a sharp rise in the status of the Brahmins themselves. The Brahmins received a fee for the rituals of sacrifice they performed: it was believed that without this the sacrifice was useless. According to the Brahmins - comments, there were 4 forms of payment: gold, bulls, horses and clothes.

5.6 Jainism

Jainism has played a significant role in the history and culture of India. The emergence of this teaching is associated with the name of Mahavira Jina, who lived in the VI century BC. In the beginning, the followers of Jina were only ascetics who renounced everything material for the great goal of salvation, liberation from karma. All members of the early Jain community - laymen, priests, ascetic monks, men and women - obeyed certain general laws, observed certain norms of behavior and prohibitions.

The teachings of the Jains proceeded from the fact that the spirit, the soul of a person is higher than his material shell. The soul can achieve salvation and complete liberation if it is freed from everything material. The world consists of two eternal uncreated categories: jiva (soul) and ajiva (inanimate, material principle).

The Jain doctrine is introvertive, that is, it is oriented towards the individual search for salvation for each individual.

5.7 Buddhism in India

Buddhism as a religious system is incomparably more significant than Jainism. The appearance of his legend connects with the name of Gautama Shakyamuni, known world under the name of Buddha, the enlightened one.

Buddha's teaching. Life is suffering. Birth and aging, sickness and death, etc. - all this is suffering. It comes from the thirst for being, creation, power, eternal life. To destroy this insatiable thirst, to give up desires - this is the way to the destruction of suffering. The Buddha developed a detailed eight-step path, a method for realizing the truth and approaching nirvana.

Mahaena Buddhism in the first centuries of our era spread quite quickly in Central Asia, penetrated into China, through it - into Korea and Japan, even in Vietnam. In some of these countries Buddhism began to play a very important role, in others it became the state religion. In India, by the end of the 1st millennium, Buddhism had practically ceased to play any significant role in its history and culture, in the life of its people. It was replaced by Hinduism.

5.8 Hinduism

In the process of rivalry between Buddhism and Brahmanism, Hinduism arose as a result of continuation. At the highest level of the religious system of Hinduism, learned Brahmins, ascetics, monks, yogis preserved and developed secret meaning their doctrines. Folk Hinduism adopted and preserved ancient ideas about karma with its ethical basis, about the holiness of the Vedas. In Hinduism, simplified and revised for the needs of the broad masses of the people, new deities, new hypostases of the ancient gods, came to the fore.

The three most important gods of Hinduism are Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu. They, as it were, divided among themselves the main functions inherent in the supreme god - creative, destructive and protective.

Priests of Hinduism, carriers of its foundations religious culture, ritual rite were members of the Brahmin castes. Both in the system of Hinduism and in the socio-political structure of India, the Brahmins continued to occupy a prominent place. From among them, the kings chose their advisers and officials. Brahmins were household priests in wealthy families.

During the rituals, the home brahmin priest performs all the necessary ritual actions right in the house.

The wedding ceremony is the most solemn: the young go around the sacrificial fire, into which various products are thrown, and only after that the marriage is considered concluded. The funeral ceremony is also different. There are no cemeteries in India - only sacred places.

5.9 Religion in ancient China

If India is the realm of religions, then China is a civilization of a different type. The true Chinese valued above all just the material shell, that is, his life. The greatest and generally recognized prophets here were considered, first of all, those who taught to live with dignity and in accordance with the accepted norm, to live for the sake of life.

In China, too, there is a higher divine principle - Heaven. But the Chinese Sky is not Yahweh, not Jesus, not Allah, not Buddha. This is the highest supreme universality, strict and indifferent to man. It is impossible to love it, it is impossible to merge with it, it is impossible to imitate it. In the system of Chinese thought, there existed, besides Heaven, both Buddha and Tao.

Priests Ancient China did not know. The duties of the high priest in the rituals were performed by the ruler himself, and the functions of the priests who assisted him were performed by the officials who served the ruler. These priest-officials were primarily officials of the state apparatus, assistants to the ruler. They usually performed priestly functions on the days of rituals and sacrifices.

5.10 Confucius and Confucianism

Confucius (551-479 BC) was born and lived in an era of great social and political upheaval, when China was in a state of serious internal crisis. Having criticized his own age and highly valuing the past centuries, Confucius created his ideal on the basis of this opposition. perfect man- Jun Tzu. The highly moral jun-tzu had to have two most important virtues in his view: humanity and a sense of duty. A true Zun Tzu is indifferent to food, wealth, life's comforts and material gain.

The “noble man” of Confucius is a speculative social ideal, an instructive set of virtues. Society should consist of two main categories: tops and bottoms - those who think and govern, and those who work and obey. Confucius and the second founder of Confucianism, Mencius, considered such a social order to be eternal and unchanging.

The success of Confucianism was largely facilitated by the fact that this teaching was based on slightly modified ancient traditions, on the usual norms of ethics and worship.

Not being a religion in the full sense of the word, Confucianism became more than just a religion. Confucianism is also politics and administrative system, and the supreme regulator of economic and social processes- the basis of the entire Chinese way of life. For more than two thousand years, Confucianism has shaped the minds and feelings of the Chinese, influenced their beliefs, psychology, behavior, thinking, and speech.

5.11 Taoism

Taoism arose in China almost simultaneously with the teachings of Confucius in the form of an independent philosophical doctrine. The founder of Taoist philosophy is the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu. At the center of the doctrine is the doctrine of the great Tao, the universal law and the Absolute. Tao dominates everywhere and in everything, always and without limits. No one created him, but everything comes from him. To know the Tao, to follow it, to merge with it - this is the meaning, purpose and happiness of life.

5.12 Chinese Buddhism

Buddhism entered China from India. Spreading and strengthening, Buddhism was subjected to significant sinicization. Already in the 4th century, Chinese Buddhists tried to prove that the Buddha is the embodiment of Tao. Dao-an is the first known Chinese patriarch of Buddhism. He introduced the surname Shi for Chinese Buddhist monks. The second authority of Chinese Buddhists after Tao-an was Hui-yuan. Sinicization of Buddhism in his activities was manifested in the establishment of the cult of the Buddha of the West-Amitaba. Buddhism has existed in China for almost 2,000 years. He had a huge impact on traditional Chinese culture (art, literature, architecture).

5.13 Buddhism and Shinto in Japan

Having penetrated Japan in the middle of the 6th century, the teachings of the Buddha turned out to be a weapon in an acute political struggle noble families for power. By the end of the 6th century, this struggle was won by those who staked on Buddhism. Buddhism spread in Japan in the form of the Mahayana and did a lot there to establish and simplify a developed culture and statehood. Since the 8th century, the influence of Buddhism has become decisive in the political life of the country. The number grew rapidly Buddhist temples: in 623 there were 46 of them. Many sects of Buddhism found their second home in Japan.

The complex process of cultural synthesis of local tribes with newcomers laid the foundations of Japanese culture itself, a religious and cult aspect, which was called Shintoism. Shinto (“way of the spirits”) is the designation of the supernatural world, gods and spirits. The origins of Shinto go back to ancient times and include all the forms of beliefs and cults inherent in primitive peoples - totemism, animism, magic, the cult of the dead, the cult of leaders. Ancient Shinto myths have retained their own, actually Japanese version of ideas about the creation of the world. So, initially there were two gods: a god and a goddess. A Shinto shrine is divided into 2 parts: an inner and a closed one, where the kami (shintai) symbol is usually kept, and an outer prayer hall.

5.14 Lamaism

In the late Middle Ages, in the region of Tibet, a peculiar form of world religion arose - Lamaism. The doctrinal basis of Lamaism (from the Tib. "Lama" - the highest, that is, an adherent of the teaching, a monk) is Buddhism. A new modification of Buddhism - Lamaism - absorbed a lot from the original source. Lamaism was a kind of synthesis of almost all of its main trends. The teachings of Darani - Tantrism, played a significant role in the development of Lamaism, since almost all the specifics of Lamaism, many of its cults and rituals arose primarily on the basis of Buddhist Tantrism. The foundations of the theory of Lamaism were laid by Tsonghava. Lamaism pushed nirvana into the background as the highest goal of salvation, replacing it with cosmology. The top of her buddha is Adibuddha, the lord of all worlds.

Conclusion

Primitive art played an important role in the history and culture of ancient mankind. Having learned to create images (sculptural, graphic, pictorial), a person has acquired some power over time. The imagination of a person was embodied in a new form of being - artistic, the development of which can be traced in the history of art.

Religion sanctioned and illuminated political power, contributed to the deification of the ruler, turning him into a divine symbol that binds the unity of this community. In addition, closely connected with the conservative tradition and fixing its mechanism, illuminating its norms, religion has always stood guard over the inviolability of social culture. In other words, in relation to the state and society, religion was the centering basis. It is known that different religious systems did not strengthen the traditional social structure or the existing political power to the same extent. Where the religious system weakly supported the state, power and society with it perished more easily, as can be seen in the example of the ancient Near Eastern empires, whether Persian, Assyrian or any other. Where it functioned normally, optimally, the result was different. Thus, in China, the religious system energetically illuminated the political structure, which contributed to its preservation for thousands of years in an almost unchanged form. In India, religion was indifferent to the state - and states there easily arose and perished, were fragile and unstable. But in relation to social structure religion acted actively and effectively, and this led to the fact that, despite the frequent and easy change of political power, the structure with its castes as the leading force has been preserved in India almost unchanged to this day.