Podgorensky municipal district

Voronezh region

History of time measurement,

or what do we know about watches?

(research work)

Completed:

4th grade student

Panyuta Ivan Vitalievich

Head of work:

primary school teacher

Kulkina Lyudmila Vladimirovna

X. Krasyukovsky, 2012

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………. 3

History of time measurement…………………………………………. ………… 5

The most famous watches………………………………………………………...... ………… 9

Practical part………………………………………………………………………………11

Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………… …………13

List of sources……………………………………………………………14

Applications

Proverbs and sayings……………………………………………………… 15

Riddles………………………………………………………………………………… ………… 16

Poems…………………………………………………………………………………. 17

Booklet “Learn to value time”……………………………………………………….18

Introduction Relevance of the topic Time is the score by which a person’s learning, work, and good deeds are assessed. The value of time has now increased significantly because people's time is filled with big and significant things. We often count time not by years or hours, but by minutes. Often precious time is lost due to disorganization, excessive fuss, and inability to use it rationally. You need to learn to take care of your own and other people’s time already at school, since the teenage years are not only years of study, but also the time of personality formation and preparation for work. The ability to appreciate every minute is especially important these days, when the pace of life and work accelerates, and the amount of information and knowledge increases. People who are constantly late everywhere and annoy others with this grow up from children whose parents did not explain the value of time in childhood. We often hear proverbs from grandmothers: “Time for work, time for fun,” “Time is money.” These phrases repeated daily are the key to understanding time and how to properly distribute it. The first clocks arose when a person learned what time was and realized that he needed to keep track of it.
Formulation of the problem: study the history of the appearance and invention of watches by man.
Object of study: clock, time.
Hypothesis: I think that man began to measure time a very long time ago, I want to find out in what ways he did it.
Goals and objectives:

find out how our ancestors measured time; get acquainted with the action and structure of sun, sand, water and other types of clocks; learn to navigate the past hours; prove that people create watches to make their lives easier;

studying literature on this topic; searching for information on the Internet; conducting experiments, experiments.

Research results:

History of time measurement

A watch is a tool with which

you can divide the day into small ones

intervals and do

these gaps are visible.

Johann Litrow. Secrets of the sky. 1834

How did the clock come into being?

It is not known exactly who invented the first clock, since people have tried to measure time at all times and in different ways: using water, sand, oil, candles, etc.

The first clocks arose when a person learned what time was and realized that he needed to keep track of it. The history of the invention of watches goes back to ancient times.

Sundial

And the most convenient way to keep track of time was with the help of the sun, which passed the same path across the sky every day. The most ancient clocks that people used to at least approximately know the time were solar clocks. The dial of such a watch was placed in an open place, brightly illuminated by the sun, and the arrow served as a rod that cast a shadow on the dial.

But people could not always use a sundial. The clock only works in sunny weather. You can't bring them into the house. They do not work at night and in the evening.

Water clock

The man began to think and came up with a water clock. Water was poured into a tall and narrow glass vessel with a hole at the bottom. Drop by drop, water flowed out of the hole. It became less and less. But such watches were inconvenient - you had to add water all the time.

Hourglass

The hourglass also came to us from ancient times. Maybe some of you have seen them? After all, hourglasses are still used in medicine when you need to measure a small but very specific period of time.

An hourglass consists of two small cone-shaped vessels connected at the tops to each other, with a narrow hole at the junction of the vessels. The upper vessel contains sand, which seeps in a thin stream through the hole into the lower vessel. When all the sand from the upper vessel is in the lower one, a certain time passes, for example, one minute.

Fire watch

In addition to solar and water clocks, the first fire, or candle, clocks appeared at the beginning of the 13th century. These are thin candles about a meter long with a scale printed along the entire length. They showed the time relatively accurately, and at night they also illuminated the homes of church and secular dignitaries. Metal pins were sometimes attached to the sides of the candle, which fell as the wax burned out and melted, and their impact on the metal cup of the candlestick was a kind of sound signaling of time.

Flower clock

A long time ago, people noticed that some flowers open in the morning and close during the day, others open in the evening, others only at night, and during the day they are always closed. They open up not when they please, but at “their own” time. This is how the flower clock appeared. But they “walk” only in sunny weather.

Early in the morning, golden dandelions raise their heads towards the sun's rays, and behind them, wild carnations, rose hips, flax and others open their petals.

Flowers that opened their petals early begin to fall asleep during the day... In cloudy weather, the flower clock does not “work” at all. Their flowers remain closed. Therefore, people use them only to decorate flower beds. (According to Yu. Dmitriev.)

A long time has passed since man invented a watch with a mechanism. I put a spring inside them, twisted it, and to prevent it from unwinding, I attached a gear wheel to it. It clings to another wheel and spins it. The second wheel turns the hands, and the hands show the hours and minutes. This is a mechanical watch. They have a crown. When it is turned, a creaking sound is heard inside the clock. This is the spring being wound up.

There are watches without a spring. Instead, there is a small electric motor inside the watch, which is powered by a battery. There is no need to wind such a watch. And the crown serves only to move the hands.

Large electric clocks hang on the streets, towers, and subways. Their hands jump at the command of the commander - the main clock. A minute passed - they jumped, another minute - they jumped again.

But the man did not stop and invented a clock without hands. In such a watch, only the numbers glow. They change very quickly, just have time to see them. These watches are electronic and, like electric ones, run on batteries.

There are also pocket, table, floor, wall clocks, pendant clocks, alarm clocks and many other clocks.

The most famous watches of our country

Kremlin chimes

There are also clocks on city streets and squares. They are installed on towers, station buildings, theaters and cinemas.

The most famous clock in Russia - the Kremlin chimes, installed on the Spasskaya Tower, appeared at the beginning XVII century. They were created by the English master Christopher Galovey. For his work, he received a royal gift - a silver cup and, in addition to it, satin, sable and marten fur.

After some time, Russian Tsar Peter I ordered another watch from Holland. At first they were transported by ship by sea, then delivered on thirty carts to the Kremlin.

Master Galovey's old watch was removed and replaced with a Dutch watch. When this clock became dilapidated, they were replaced by another large chiming clock, which was kept in the Armory Chamber.

For several centuries, the Kremlin's Spasskaya Tower has been decorated with clocks. A whole team of experienced watchmakers maintains their work, making sure that the watches do not lag behind and are not in a hurry. There are 117 stone steps leading to the chimes. Behind them begin the cast-iron steps of a spiral staircase leading to the eighth floor. The chiming mechanism is located here.

“The iron colossus is all shiny and oiled. The polished copper disks of the dials shine, the levers are painted red, and the gilded disk of the pendulum, similar to the circle of the sun, shines. He reigns over this system of shafts, cables, gears, forming a complex timekeeping mechanism” (L. Kolodny).

On December 31, with the first strike of the Kremlin chimes, the country enters the New Year. Having heard the chime of the famous clock, we wish each other happiness and congratulate each other on the New Year!

The clock is a fairy tale

The fairy tale clock hangs on the wall of the Central Puppet Theater in Moscow. As soon as the hands freeze on the number 12, the golden rooster sitting on a high pole turns importantly, spreads his wings and shouts throughout the street: “Ku-ka-re-ku-u!” - inviting people to the show. The ringing of bells is heard, followed by 12 measured strikes. Everyone is waiting for a miracle. And a miracle happens.

One after another, the doors of the magic houses open, and musicians, led by a bear, appear and begin to play cheerful music. The donkey dashes the strings of the balalaika, the ram stretches the bellows of the harmonica, and the cymbals ring in the paws of the bear. “Whether in the garden or in the vegetable garden,” the musicians sing cheerfully.

The musicians will play and hide in the houses again.

Practical part

Experiment

In one minute

Target: form ideas about units of time - seconds, minutes, hours, check what I can do in one minute.

Material and equipment:

watch (stopwatch), book, sheet of paper, scissors.

Experiment:

Time it for 1 minute and during this time read the text, count how many strips of paper I can cut, how many times I can sit down.

In one minute I read 90 words, cut 4 strips 20 cm long, and squatted 50 times.

Conclusion: You can do something in 1 minute, so time must be valued and distributed correctly throughout the day.

Experience

Making a sundial

Target: demonstrate the movement of the Earth around the Sun through the movement of the shadow.

Materials: rod with a pointed end.

Progress:

D We make a sundial according to the algorithm: draw an even circle in the sand, fix the rod exactly in the center and during the day make marks on the circle and put numbers in accordance with the time.

Conclusion:

The shadow of the peg actually moves in a circle. The inconvenience is that the weather is autumn, the sun often hides behind the clouds - and the clock does not work at this time.

Experience

Manufacturing of water and paraffin watches

Target: immerse yourself in history, understand how our ancestors measured time.

Material: candle, 2 cups, watch with stopwatch.

Manufacturing progress:

Paraffin watch: Take a candle, make marks along its entire length with a marker at regular intervals. We light a candle, note the time and determine how long it takes the candle to burn to each mark. At the end we determine how much time has passed.

Water clock: Take a plastic cup and make a hole in the bottom. We tie ropes to the cup and hang it. We place another cup under this cup. Pour water into the top cup. Every minute we note the water level in the upper cup. This device is used as a minute clock.

Conclusion: The watch is not convenient to use: the candle burns out - you can’t restore it, you have to constantly add water.

Conclusion

I am satisfied with the research: my hypothesis was confirmed - people really came up with different ways to measure periods of time. Many of these methods are not convenient. Nowadays we have precise instruments for measuring time.

I used to think that a minute was a very short period of time, now my idea of ​​a minute has changed - I will try not to waste time.

I also noticed that if you are very passionate about something, then time flies by and you almost never get tired. And if you do a job that you don't like, time passes very slowly.

. In all types of human activity, one way or another, time orientation and a sense of time are required. A person who has not developed this feeling has to overcome many additional difficulties. In turn, the sense of time encourages a person to be organized, collected, helps to save time, use it more rationally, and be precise. All these qualities will help you avoid many problems in adulthood.

List of sources used

Dybina O.V. What happened before... - M.: Sphere shopping center, 2001.

Kobitina I.I. Preschoolers about technology. - M.: Education, 1991.

Kulikovskaya I.E., Sovchir N.N. Children's experimentation. - M.: Pedagogical Society of Russia, 2003.

Encyclopedia for children. Volume 8. Astronomy. – Moscow: “Avanta +”, 1997.

Yudin G. Zanimatika. - M.: ROSMEN, 2005

Internet sources:

http://papa-vlad.narod.ru/photo/predmety/CHasy-2.files/064-Ognennye-chasy.html

Annex 1

Order saves time. Establish order - he will move on himself. Time for business, time for fun.

If you hurry, you will make people laugh.

Live and learn.

Appendix 2

We strike regularly every hour,And you, friends, don’t beat us. (Watch)
From cabin to cabinLittle ones run byThe minutes are counting. (Hourglass)
Behind the wooden doorSomeone's heart is beating. (Cuckoo-clock)

Appendix 3

People who are constantly late everywhere and annoy others with this grow up from children whose parents did not explain the value of time in childhood. We often hear proverbs from grandmothers: “Time for work, time for fun,” “Time is money.” These phrases, repeated daily, are the key to understanding time and how to properly distribute it.

Modern working conditions require a person to be able to monitor the passage of time in the process of activity, distribute it over time, respond to different signals at a certain speed and at given time intervals, speed up or slow down the pace of their activities, and use time rationally. In all types of human activity, one way or another, time orientation and a sense of time are required. In turn, the sense of time encourages a person to be organized, collected, helps to save time, use it more rationally, and be precise. Time is a regulator not only of various types of activities, but also of human social relations.

Municipal state educational institution

Dankovskaya basic secondary school

Learn

appreciate the time

Prepared by: 4th grade student

Panyuta Ivan

Head: primary school teacher Kulkina Lyudmila Vladimirovna

X. Krasyukovsky,

2012

Time is the score by which a person’s learning, work, and good deeds are assessed. The value of time has now increased significantly because people's time is filled with big and significant things. We often count time not by years or hours, but by minutes.

Often precious time is lost due to disorganization, excessive fuss, and inability to use it rationally. You need to learn to take care of your own and other people’s time already at school, since the teenage years are not only years of study, but also the time of personality formation and preparation for work.

Rational distribution of time is facilitated by periodic timing of your working day: determine how much time is spent on homework, lunch, reading newspapers, talking on the phone, looking for the right textbook, notebook, etc., how much time was lost in class.

At the end of the working day, it is necessary to analyze whether it could have been done more rationally, i.e. where and due to what it was possible to reduce the loss of time, what it would be better to use it for. Subsequently, these findings should be taken into account in your work.

B
a minute ticks by.
The minute is short
But in a minute you can
Find a star, a beetle,
The solution to the problem and a rare mineral,
which is still
Nobody opened it.
(S.Ya. Marshak)

Proverbs and sayings

Order saves time. Establish order - he will move on himself. If you miss a minute, you'll lose an hour. Take care of a second - this is where time gains begin. Time for business, time for fun.

• Soon the fairy tale is told, but not soon the deed is done.

  If you hurry, you will make people laugh.

  Do it quickly - redo it.

• Soon the fire is burning and the water is running.

  Live and learn. It's a long day until the evening, if there's nothing to do. I got up early, but didn’t exert myself much.

How to learn to save time?

1 . Learn to save your time.
“Take a picture” of one of your ordinary days: on a piece of paper on the left, write down every single task, even the smallest one, and on the right, write down the time spent on it. In the evening, look through the records and determine where and when time was wasted. This “photography” will help you learn to value time and develop a rational daily routine.
2. Do your homework within the allotted time.
It is recommended to spend no more than 1 hour on homework: in elementary grades - 1 hour, in grades 5-8 - 2.5 hours, in high school - 3.5 hours. Therefore, strictly plan the start and end time of preparing your homework - this will help you not to be distracted while doing it.
3. Best time to do homework in the first half of the day between 10 and 12 hours, in the second half - between 15 and 18 hours.
4. Before starting homework:
1) a hearty lunch - no later than 2-2.5 hours before they start, a light meal can be 1-1.5 hours before; but do not go to work hungry;
2) performing high physical activity is permissible no later than 2-2.5 hours before performing mental work;
3) ventilate the work area well;
4) prepare your workplace.
5. In what order you should do your homework depends on your characteristics:
if you get into work easily and at the beginning you work with enthusiasm, more productively than at the end of classes, but get tired relatively quickly, then start preparing your homework with the most difficult subject;
if you get involved in work slowly, spend a lot of time “building up”, work productivity increases gradually, and fatigue does not appear so quickly, then you should start with tasks of average difficulty and gradually move on to more complex ones;
if you generally have difficulty starting homework, if any failure in completing it makes you nervous, then it is better to start with the simplest ones, success in which brings you satisfaction;
If you cannot solve a difficult task, put it off “for later”, otherwise you may not have enough time to prepare other tasks.

Sections: Physics

Science begins as soon as they begin to measure.
DI. Mendeleev

For a long time, people have been faced with the need to determine distances, lengths of objects, time, areas, volumes, etc.

Measurements were needed in construction, in trade, in astronomy, in fact in any area of ​​life. Very high measurement accuracy was needed during the construction of the Egyptian pyramids.

The importance of measurements increased as society developed and, in particular, as science developed. And in order to measure, it was necessary to come up with units of various physical quantities. Let us remember how it is written in the textbook: “To measure a quantity means to compare it with a homogeneous quantity taken as the unit of this quantity.”

The purpose of my work was to find out: what units of length and mass existed and exist now, what is their origin?

Vershok, elbow and other units...

Measure everything that can be measured and make what cannot be measured accessible.”
G. Galileo

The most ancient units were subjective units. So, for example, sailors measured the distance with pipes, that is, the distance that the ship travels during the time until the sailor smokes a pipe. In Spain, a similar unit was a cigar, in Japan - a horse shoe, that is, the path that a horse walked until the straw sole tied to its hooves, which replaced a horseshoe, wore out.

The program of the Olympic Games of Ancient Hellas included a race to the stage. It has been established that the Greek stage (or stages) is the length of the stadium in Olympia - 192.27 m. A stage is equal to the distance that a person walks at a calm pace during the time from the appearance of the first ray of the sun, at its rise, until the moment when the entire disk of the sun is above horizon. This time is approximately two minutes...

The Romans (185 cm), the Babylonians (about 195 cm), and the Egyptians (195 cm) used stades as a unit of measuring distances.

In ancient times, in Siberia, the measure of distances used was the beech. This is the distance at which a person ceases to see the horns of a bull separately.

Many peoples used a unit of arrow length to determine distance - the arrow's flight range. Our expressions “keep out of sight of a rifle shot”, and later “keep out of sight of a cannon shot” - remind us of similar units of length.

The ancient Romans measured distances in steps or double steps (step with the left foot, step with the right). A thousand double steps constituted a mile (Latin “mille” – a thousand).

It is difficult to measure the length of rope or fabric in steps or stages. Units found in many nations, identified with the names of parts of the human body, turned out to be suitable for this. Elbow - the distance from the end of the fingers to the elbow joint.

A length measure for fabrics, ropes, etc. Many nations had a double cubit of winding materials. We still use this measure to approximate the length...

For a long time in Rus', the arshin (approximately 71 cm) was used as a unit of length. This measure arose during trade with eastern countries (Persian, “arsh” - elbow). Numerous expressions: “As if swallowed by an arshin”, “Measure by your own arshin” and others - indicate its spread.

To measure smaller lengths, a span was used - the distance between the ends of the spread thumb and index fingers.

A span or, as it was also called, a quarter (18 cm) was 1/4 of an arshin, and 1/16 of an arshin was equal to a vershok (4.4 cm).

A very common unit of length was the fathom. The first mention of it occurs in the 11th century. Since 1554, the fathom has been set equal to 3 arshins (2.13 m) and it is called royal (or eagle, printed) in contrast to arbitrary ones - flywheel and oblique. The swing fathom - arm span - is approximately 2.5 arshins. The fisherman, who shows us what a big fish he missed, shows us the flywheel.

Oblique fathom is the distance from the end of the outstretched right arm to the toe of the left foot, it is approximately equal to 3.25 arshins.

Let us remember, as in fairy tales about giants: “A slanting fathom in the shoulders.” The coincidence between the ancient Roman measure of length - the “architectural cane” and the ancient Russian oblique sazhen is surprising: 248 cm. This means a sazhen “oblique from foot to hand, from the ground to the ground.” This fathom was determined by the length of the rope, one end of which was pressed with the foot to the ground, and the other was thrown over the arm of a standing person bent at the elbow and dropped back to the ground.

When folding the above-mentioned oblique fathom into four, we obtain a “Lithuanian cubit” (62 cm).

In Western Europe, the units that have long been used are the inch (2.54 cm) - the length of the thumb joint (from the Dutch "inch" - thumb) and the foot (30 cm) - the average length of a person's foot (from the English "foot" - sole).

Rice. 6 Fig. 7

Elbow, vershok, span, fathom, inch, foot, etc. are very convenient for measurements, since they are always “at hand.” But the units of length corresponding to parts of the human body have a major disadvantage: different people have different lengths of fingers, feet, etc. To get rid of arbitrariness, in the 14th century. subjective units begin to be replaced by a set of objective units. So, for example, in 1324 in England, a legal inch was established equal to the length of three barley grains placed next to each other, extended from the middle part of the ear. A foot was defined as the average length of the foot of sixteen people leaving the church, i.e., by measuring random people they sought to obtain a more constant value of the unit - the average length of the foot.

What quantity do we determine by weighing a body on a lever scale?

It is unknown which people invented lever scales and when. It is possible that this was done by many peoples independently of each other, and the ease of use was the reason for their widespread use.

Rice. 9

When weighing on a lever scale, the body to be weighed is placed on one cup, and weights on the other. The weights are selected so as to establish balance. In this case, the masses of the body being weighed and the weights are balanced. If balanced scales are transferred, for example, to the Moon, where the weight of a body is 6 times less than on Earth, the balance will not be disturbed, since the weight of both the body and the weight on the Moon decreased by the same number of times, but the mass remained the same.

Therefore, when weighing a body on a lever scale, we determine its mass, not its weight.

Units of mass, like units of length, were first established according to natural models. Most often, by the mass of a seed. For example, the mass of precious stones was and is still determined in carats (0.2 g) - this is the mass of the seed of one of the types of beans.

Later, the mass of water filling a vessel of a certain capacity began to be taken as a unit of mass. For example, in Ancient Babylon, a talent was taken as a unit of mass - the mass of water filling a vessel from which water flows evenly through a hole of a certain size for one hour.

Metal weights of different weights were made based on the weight of grains or water. They were used for weighing.

The weights, which served as a standard (sample), were kept in temples or government institutions.

In Rus', the oldest unit of mass was the hryvnia (409.5 g). There is an assumption that this unit was brought to us from the East. Subsequently it received the name pound. To determine large masses, a pood (16.38 kg) was used, and a spool (12.8 g) was used for small masses.

In 1791, in France, it was decided to create a decimal metric system of measures. The main quantities in this system were length and mass.

The commission, which included leading French scientists, proposed taking 1/40,000,000 of the length of the earth's meridian passing through Paris as a unit of length. . The astronomers Mechain and Delembert were commissioned to measure the length of the meridian. The work lasted six years. Scientists measured the part of the meridian located between the cities of Dunkirk and Barcelona, ​​and then calculated the full length of the quarter of the meridian from the pole to the equator.

Rice. eleven

Based on their data, a standard for a new unit was made from platinum . This unit was called the meter - from the Greek word “metron”, which means “measure”.

Rice. 12

The mass of one cubic decimeter of distilled water at a temperature of its highest density of 4°C, determined by weighing in a vacuum, was taken as a unit of mass. A standard of this unit, called the kilogram, was made in the form of a platinum cylinder

In 1869, the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences appealed to scientific institutions around the world to make the decimal metric system of measures proposed by French scientists international. This appeal also stated that “advances of science have led to the need to abandon the previous definition of the meter as 1/40,000,000 of a quarter of the length of the Parisian meridian, since later, more accurate measurements of the meridian gave different results.” In addition, it became known that the length of the meridian changes over time. But since it was unthinkable to change the length of the meter after each measurement of the meridian, the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences proposed taking the meter stored in the French archive (archival meter) as a prototype - the first sample and making possibly accurate and stable copies from it for different countries, making this international metric system of measures.

When was the metric system of measures introduced in our country? Advanced Russian scientists, who did a lot to ensure that the metric system of measures became international, were unable to overcome the resistance of the tsarist government to the introduction of the metric system of measures in our country. What was achieved was that in 1899 a law prepared by D.I. Mendeleev was adopted, according to which, along with Russian measures, “it was allowed to use the international meter and kilogram in Russia,” as well as their multiple units - gram, centimeter, etc.

The issue of using the metric system of measures in Russia was finally resolved after the Great October Socialist Revolution. On September 14, 1918, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR issued a decree that stated: “To base all measurements on the international metric system of weights and measures with decimal divisions and derivatives.”

Conclusion

According to the calculations of academician B. S. Jacobi (a supporter of turning the metric system into an international one), by replacing the previous system of measures with a metric one, the teaching of arithmetic at school gained a third of the time allotted to this subject. Accordingly, calculations in industry and trade have been significantly simplified.

Conclusion: Length and mass went through such a long history until they began to be measured in meters and kilograms, respectively.

What we have now:

SI units

Dimensions of basic quantities in SI

SI base units

Definitions of basic units

1. Meter equal to the distance traveled by a plane electromagnetic wave in a vacuum in 1/299792458 of a second.
2. Kilogram equal to the mass of the international prototype kilogram.
3. Second is equal to 9,192,631,770 periods of radiation corresponding to the transition between two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the cesium atom 133 Cs.
4. Ampere is equal to the strength of direct current, which, when passing through two parallel straight conductors of infinite length and a negligibly small circular cross-sectional area, located in a vacuum at a distance of 1 m from each other, would cause an interaction force equal to 2 10 on each section of the conductor 1 m long –7 N.
5. Kelvin equal to 1/273.16 of the thermodynamic temperature of the triple point of water.
6. Mole equal to the amount of substance in a system containing the same number of structural elements as there are atoms in carbon 12 C weighing 0.012 kg.
7. Candela equal to the luminous intensity in a given direction from a source emitting monochromatic radiation with a frequency of 540·10 12 Hz, the energetic luminous intensity of which in this direction is 1/683 W/sr.

References:

1. S.A. Shabalin. Measurements for everyone.
2. Encyclopedia of Cyril and Methodius.
3. A.G. Chertov. Physical quantities.
4. I.G.Kirillova. Physics reading book.

The time of history is the time of various societies, states, civilizations. It is no coincidence that the ancients said Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis (tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis - times change, and we change with them).

A historian works with time: he is interested in the origin, development and change of phenomena over time, how much later a historical event the written source telling about it was written. Or in which country this or that custom appeared first. Or in what order the battles of the ancient war took place. “Temporis filia veritas” (t’emporis filia v’eritas – “truth is the daughter of time”).

All the events of our life occur in some year, in some week, in some minute. The famous scientist Claude Lévi-Strauss noted: “There is no history without dates... If dates are not the whole story and not the most interesting thing in history, then in any case they are something without which history itself would disappear.” Humanity in history seems to float in a seething stream of moments that endlessly recede into the past. The current is so fast that people do not have the strength to turn back or simply hold out for even a moment in one place. The poet Virgil has the following lines: “Meanwhile, irrevocable time runs, runs”…. Behind in a necklace of splashes - "past". The farther you go, the more vaguely the silhouettes of Lethe are visible. Something is hiding from us around the bend. Ahead, the river of time is covered with impenetrable fog - the future.

Think about why a person needs to be defined in time?

Time has its own direction. It is directed from the past to the future. Seconds turn into minutes, minutes into hours, hours into days, days into months, and months into years. A hundred years is a century, a hundred centuries is a millennium. All of them are just particles of eternal time, as if lined up in one line one after another. What happened earlier could influence what happened later, but never vice versa. When exploring the past, a historian must have an excellent grasp of the sequence of events in time. This is not an easy task, since in ancient times people used various methods chronology.

Try to explain the meaning of the word “chronology”. Check your guess using a dictionary.

In order to know how people measured time in ancient times, a historian must study historical chronology. This is a system of knowledge about methods of calculating time. The name of this science comes from two Greek words: “chronos” - “time” and “logos” - “word”, “thought”.

Probably, the first methods of recording the movement of events in time appeared already 30 thousand years ago. Scientists have discovered ancient fragments of bones with notches, which, in their opinion, could represent days or some longer periods of time. Time was perceived by ancient people as a repeating reality. The circle became a symbol of time as unchanging eternity. Events of the past - distant and close in the eyes of ancient people could change places. The present seemed to be a repetition of what had already happened.

All the most important events of life: birth, marriage, death seemed to people to be a repetition of events in which gods, heroes and their ancestors once participated. The understanding of time as a continuous and irreversible process first appeared only about 2,500 years ago in Ancient Greece.

Time was revered as the great gift of the gods to people. Therefore, only priests and rulers could monitor its progress. Since ancient times calendar (a system for determining the length of the year and the order of succession of years) was considered sacred. Each nation had its own calendar, differing not only in different dates for the beginning of the year, but also in its duration, alternating measured periods of time.

In the circulation of different peoples there were three main systems for counting time in the annual circle and determining the change of years: solar, lunar and lunisolar calendar.

The first, according to scientists, arose moon calendar, because It is easier to observe the changing phases of the moon than the movement of the sun: look at what phase the moon is in the sky, and you can tell whether the month is beginning or coming to an end. Such a calendar appeared among pastoral peoples who led a nomadic lifestyle. It was used in Ancient Babylon, Ancient China, with some modifications in Ancient Greece and Rome.

The lunar year is 11 days less than the solar year and its beginning shifts according to the seasons. The lunar month lasts about 29.5 days. Since a month cannot include 29.5 days, the year (354 days) was divided into 12 months of 29 and 30 days, each of which began on the new moon. From time to time, a 30th day was added to the twelfth month, consisting of 29 days. The names of the months reflected agricultural work: “month of sowing”, “month of harvest”, “month of lighting fires”, etc.

In Ancient Babylon they tried to create a lunisolar calendar. In each eight-year period, the second, fifth and eighth years had 13 months instead of 12. So the lunar calculation caught up with the solar one.

As humanity developed and people's lives became more complex, the need arose for a more accurate calendar. Among agricultural peoples, the most widespread solar calendar. He determined the length of the year by the movement of the Sun around the Earth. It is assumed that such a calendar first appeared in Egypt in the 4th millennium BC.

In the temples of Ancient Egypt, priests observed the heavenly bodies and the floods of the Nile. They found that the brightest of the fixed stars, Sirius, after disappearing behind the Sun, reappears in the morning sky only after 365 days (length of the solar year = 365.24 days).

The calendar was divided into 12 months of 30 days + 5 additional days. Unfortunately, the year with its 365 days was too short. The periods of flooding, sowing and harvesting increasingly “overtook the calendar.” Therefore, centuries later, the calendar was simplified and thereby improved by making it more accurate - 1 day was added to every fourth year and this extended year was 366 days. This is what we do now, but in Antiquity this idea did not receive support and was forgotten for a long time. Thousands of years later, the Roman commander and ruler Gaius Julius Caesar returned to this idea. He introduced a calendar compiled taking into account the interaction of three defining objects: the Moon, the Sun and the stars.

The year according to this calendar began on January 1 and lasted 365 days and 6 hours. Over the course of 4 years, these hours added up to an additional day. That is why every fourth year became one day longer than the previous one. All odd months had 31 days, and even months had 30. And February only had 28 days. Most modern month names are borrowed from this calendar.

Without undue modesty, Caesar named the new calendar in his honor - Julian. And in his honor the warmest and most pleasant month of the year was named July.

The Julian calendar was very simple and therefore convenient. It formed the basis of the modern calendar system. Yet this calendar was imperfect. An error that crept into it lengthened each year by 11 minutes 14 seconds. Every 128 years, extra days accumulated. Gradually, people began to be surprised - the longer it took, the more the calendar diverged from reality. Therefore, in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII convened specialists who identified the accumulated errors and decided what needed to be done to get rid of them. In honor of the Pope, the new calendar was named Gregorian. We still use this calendar today.

The accumulated error of 10 days was corrected by ordering to assume that after October 4, October 15 would immediately come. To prevent the error from accumulating again, the final years of subsequent centuries were extended by one day only if only the first two digits of that year were divisible by 4. Thus, 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200 and 2300 began to be considered common. This innovation shortened every 400 years by 3 days, bringing the length of the calendar year closer to the Solar one.

In our country, the Gregorian calendar was established recently, only in the 20th century, and the Orthodox Church in Russia still uses the Julian calendar. (That’s why we celebrate the holiday of Christmas not on December 25, like all of humanity, but on January 7, “in the old way,” and our “old” New Year falls on January 13.).

When we talk about chronology, we mean the system currently accepted in the Christian world. It is in it that the years are counted from the conventional date of the Nativity of Christ.

At the beginning of the third millennium, it is not easy to imagine that our ancestors determined which year was going on in a completely different way.

We read in the chronicle: “In the summer of 6621. There was a sign in the sun at 1 o’clock in the afternoon; It will soon be seen by all people: there is little sun left... the month of March is on the 19th day, and the moon is on the 29th.” Of course, you understand that this is about a solar eclipse. But what is this “summer of 6621”? According to the chronicle, we are talking about the times of the Grand Duke of Kyiv Vladimir Monomakh, i.e. about the beginning of the 12th century. But in order to understand what the year named in the chronicle corresponds to, you need to know that the chronology of that time had its own characteristics. Until 1700, years were counted from the mythical date - the creation of the world. Christian teachers claimed that the creation of the world by God took place 5508 years before the birth of Christ. A new era began with Christmas. Why was this countdown only until 1700? Yes, because in 1700 Tsar Peter I carried out a calendar reform.

Historians have established that in Ancient Rus' the new year began in the spring - on March 1. The custom of starting the year in September came to Rus' from Byzantium and was established only in 1492 during the reign of Grand Duke Ivan III. The last time the New Year was celebrated on September 1 was in the summer of 7208 from the creation of the World). Thus, knowing the year and month of the event from the creation of the world, we must subtract the number 5508 not in all cases, but only when the document talks about events from January to August, and from September to December we must subtract 5509 years.

In addition, the sources do not always write the month; sometimes there are vague indications - in the summer such and such. It was agreed that in such cases a double date would be given when translating. For example, the summer of 7179 would mean 1670-1671.

But this is not all the difficulties in chronology. Each ancient civilization had its own counting of years; all peoples counted time differently. For example, the ancient Egyptians began counting the years anew each time from the reign of a new pharaoh (as the kings of Egypt were called). The first year of the reign was considered the first year.

The ancient Romans counted time from the founding of the city of Rome, i.e. from 753 BC In many countries, for example in China and Japan, the countdown of time began from the moment of the accession of one or another family of rulers. It’s good that the name of the ruler was mentioned. Otherwise, a surprised historian could come across a record that in the twelfth year someone had a daughter, and in the fifth she was married off. It is clear that we are talking about the years of reign of different people.

Often the counting of years began from some memorable event. The Olympic Games occupied a very important place in the life of the ancient Greeks, so they calculated their chronology according to the Olympiads (from July 1, 776 BC). The games were held once every four years on days close to modern June 20-25. When counting years in the Olympiads, each year was designated by the serial number of the games and the number of the year in the four-year period. So they said: “It was in the third year of the eighth Olympiad.”

Think, can we find in the Greek source the entry: “it was in the sixth year of the tenth Olympiad”?

Muslims begin their chronology on July 16, 622 AD. This is their first year. This year, the founder of Islam, Muhammad, was forced to flee from the opponents of his faith from the city of Mecca. He settled in the city of Medina, which became the most important center for the spread of his religion throughout the world.

The event from which time is counted is called an “epoch.” The countdown of time itself from a certain moment and the totality of years in one system or another is called an “era” (from the Latin aera – ab exordio regni Augusti – from the beginning of the reign of the great ruler Augustus). We call the time calculated from the Nativity of Christ our era (and it is written in abbreviation: from R.H. or AD). Our era has been going on for more than 2000 years.

The years in this era are counted in order: 1, 2, 3...10,...2004.

But, obviously, many historical events occurred before the conventional date of Christmas. Therefore, there must also be a time “BC” or the era before the birth of Christ. The years in this era are counted backwards, as it were. The first year is considered to be one year before the birth of Christ.

When counting the number of years separating an event that occurred in our era from the event before the birth of Christ, it is important not to lose a year. After all, after December 31, 1st year BC. January 1st, 1st AD comes immediately. There is no zero year between them. Therefore, from the middle of 50 BC. Before the middle of 50 AD, not 100 years passed, but 99.

Often a historian studies an event without knowing exactly when it began and when it ended. For example, the years of reign of many ancient rulers are still unknown. Then the historian indicates that this happened in such and such a century. Therefore, you and I need to learn how to determine the century using the date. Remember that a century in history is called a hundred years.

There is a fairly simple way. Let's see what the date 2004 means. This means that it is the fourth year of the first decade of the second millennium. How many centuries have passed already? 20 centuries have passed. This is the fourth year of the 21st century. This is the first half of the 21st century (the second will begin after another 50 years have passed).

You can use another method: mentally discard the last two digits, and if they are not equal to 00, add 1 to the first half of the date. If the discarded two digits are equal to 00, then the first half of the date will indicate the century.

For example: 1242=12+1=13th century.

87 = 0+1 = 1st century.

Historical consciousness, according to M. Barg, is a spiritual bridge thrown across the abyss of time - a bridge leading a person from the past to the future.

The problem of time is one of the pressing points of growth for most sciences, since time can turn into energy: “in general, a non-repeating (in time and space) human life or a non-repeating process consists of a huge part of repeating (in time and space) elements.”

At the XVII International Congress of Historical Sciences, held in Madrid in 1990, the concept of time in the historical works of Europe and Asia was discussed among three methodological topics. M. Barg analyzed in his report the category of time as a cognitive principle of historical science. He called calendar time the “external” time of history, and socio-historical time its “internal” time. Calendar time is continuous, absolute, symmetrical. The historical is discontinuous and relative; cyclicality and repetition, arrhythmias, stops, and reversals are possible in it.

Time is one of the forms of existence of matter. We rarely remember this definition. Everyday perception of time seems so natural, requiring no thought. However, it is difficult to imagine a more complex concept than time. The development of society, all phenomena of the surrounding world, all actions and actions of people - everything occurs in time. I. Brodsky wrote:

Time is greater than space.

Space is a thing.

Time, in essence, is the thought of a thing.

Indeed, the concept of “historical space” is a subject of study to a lesser extent than the concept of “historical time”. Space bears traces of historical time; it is a static picture of dynamic time. Many researchers believe that each form of motion of matter has its own time, that the characteristics of time are different in physics, biology and history. If physical time is unilinear, then in historical time the coordinates of the past, present and future intersect in a person. The problem of time is of particular importance for historical science and for the reason that the object of knowledge in it and the knowing subject are separated from each other by time.

Time in history has its beginning: it begins with the emergence of human society. Time in physics is approaching purely quantitative time - its qualitative characteristics were discovered only by A. Einstein. Time in history has pronounced qualitative properties: qualitatively different times coexist in the same era. Thomas Mann has this image: a boy sits at dusk on the edge of a well and sees the stars reflected in the water. He looks down but sees up. This dichotomy of up and down is also present in historical knowledge: the historian peers into the past to see the future. Thanks to the discrete nature of historical time, both chronology and periodization of history are possible. M. Mamardashvili emphasized that the beginning is always historical and fraught with ambiguity in content.

The category of time plays an important role in the worldview, because through the concept of time, an understanding of the direction of processes is formed in the human mind. Time is something more fundamental than everything that is conveyed by the position of the clock hands or the position of the stars in the sky. The essence of time expresses the meaning of existence and cannot be reduced to the equations of physics. However, time began to be perceived as the most important criterion for the historical orientation of a person and society as a whole relatively recently, approximately from the Renaissance. Primitive people imagined time only as the end of life and did not attach social significance to it. In myths, fairy tales, and epics, time does not develop or change. The concept of linear time became one of the achievements of Mediterranean civilization. For example, the Chukchi could not answer L.N.’s question. Gumilyov, how old are they, because they considered such an account meaningless. They were of little interest even in the change of seasons: they noted only day and night, and also distinguished between hunting seasons.

The application of the theory of cycles to human history was a consequence of a sensational astronomical discovery made in the Babylonian world at the end of the 3rd millennium BC. Three astronomical cycles were discovered - the change of day and night, the lunar monthly cycle and the solar annual cycle. For the ancient Chinese, the image of time was a circle, and the image of space was a square. Confucius understood history and historical time as the movement of Ritual. For the medieval Indian, time was a continuous series of ever-repeating cycles. The change of seasons determined not only the rhythm of field work, but also all human activity. Consideration of human life as a repeating cycle in Indian teachings postulated the idea of ​​rebirth. Time was perceived as the rotation of a wheel, the axis of which is motionless and fixed in space.

If Christianity and Islam assume the inevitable end of the world, then in Hinduism time is divided into four great eras, each subsequent one worse than the previous one, and together they make up a great era equal to one thousandth of the day of Brahma. In the Buddhist perception of time, a person who has achieved perfection becomes a Buddha and leaves the circle of reincarnations, i.e. from time. Buddha resides in Nirvana, where there is no concept of time. But if he wants to stay in the world to help other living beings, then he is called a bodhisattva - one who knows how to overcome the laws of time, space and causality. The possibility of such superpower is justified by the illusory nature of the world and time, and therefore, with sufficient application of spiritual force, with time you can do anything you want, even be in two places at the same time.

Many authors asserted that the Greco-Roman world was unable to comprehend time, to consider its existence as something extended in time. The ancient world lived in the present moment, “point-like”, representing the movement of history as a cycle. Nevertheless, it was the ancient authors who expressed many fundamental considerations about the problem of time. Thus, Hesiod grasped the linear flow of world formation: the era of Uranus is a space without time and energy; Chron era - adding time; the era of Zeus – adding energy. In our time, Hesiod's teaching has been preserved in geology in the form of the doctrine of the change of eras. Hesiod divided human history into the Golden, Silver, Bronze and Iron Ages. In the ancient world, time received a social characteristic, and an understanding of the connection between times was formed. Thus, Aristotle wrote that the present time is in contact with the past time and the future. He was the first to include time in the list of fundamental categories that structure the process of human cognition. Ancient Greek philosophers distinguished between formal time - chronos - and genuine time, full of content and meaning - kairos.

Historical time in religious concepts is sacred time, the time of God. The first person to theorize about the concept of history in European culture was St. Augustine. He warned: time stands still, we are going through this. Having developed the religious concept of historical time, Augustine emphasized that only the soul is involved in time. He was acutely aware of temporality as a defining element of the existence of the world, history and man. He experienced the movement of time almost physically, felt it as a flow. Time, according to Augustine, is the space of human life that sets the limits of individuality. In Augustine’s Confessions, much attention is paid to penetrating the mystery of time: “...what is time? As long as no one asks me about it, I understand without any difficulty; but as soon as I want to give an answer about this, I become completely stumped.”

Historical times in Christianity are dramatic. The beginning of the drama is the fall of Adam. Understanding earthly history as the history of salvation gave it a new dimension. The drama of the awareness of time was determined by a dualistic attitude towards the world and its history. Time turned into a constant and tense expectation of the end of earthly time and the coming of eternity. Early Christianity declared war on the cyclical concepts of antiquity: the wicked wander in circles, and history moves forward towards eternal bliss. The six days of creation seemed to the Christian to be an entire era; eras were understood as the ages of humanity. In the words of St. Peter, “With the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” The idea of ​​historical time, characteristic of Christianity, was internally contradictory: it did not allow one to overcome the inertia of the main postulate about the stability and immobility of the foundations of the world created by God. That is why the heroes of antiquity think like the contemporaries of the chronicler writing about them. Understanding the differences between eras rested on only one thing: history before the coming of Christ and after it. A feature of the perception of time was the merging of biblical time with the time of one’s own life. The duality of the perception of time made the world-historical struggle between good and evil a personal matter for each believer.

Since the Renaissance, practical activity and its rhythm have become synonymous with time. Time is the fabric of which life is made. In Dante's Divine Comedy, a stranger from time meets eternity. A typical teaching of that era was the maxim: “Remember that lost time cannot be returned.” The idea of ​​alternating historical cycles was discerned in Petrarch's works. Time was being rethought: the historical process acquired the character of fluctuations - the virtuous and vicious faces of time successively replaced each other. Humanists abandoned the traditions of medieval chroniclers and outlined a three-part periodization of history - ancient, middle and modern. Of great importance for the rooting of temporal ideas were the discovery of one’s own past in the form of the heritage of antiquity, the discovery of the New World and the discovery of scientific knowledge. Humanists introduced into the methodology of history the distinction between the distant and near past. They began to divide into periods not only world history or the history of a particular society as a whole, but also the history of social subsystems. For example, Baroque, classicism, and modernism are not only styles, but also periods in the development of European culture; they have temporal characteristics. And according to A. Smith, humanity in its development goes through stages that correspond to the main methods of obtaining food: hunting, pastoral, agricultural and trading.

A special perception of time is characteristic of the conservative way of thinking. For a conservative, the present includes both the memory of the past and a vague expectation of the future, so the conservative tends to find pleasure in existing things. The dispute between Westerners and Slavophiles in Russia can be defined as a clash of two models of perception of time. For Slavophiles, the past is a priority as a text that is misread in the present, but can be embodied in the future. For Westerners, the present acts as a consequence of the past and a cause of the future.

The acceleration of the pace of historical time prepared the way for the emergence of a materialistic understanding of history. K. Marx ironically said that “only petty German philistines who measure world history by their own yardstick... can imagine that in such huge processes 20 years means something more than one day, although later days may come in which 20 years". The versatility of time is manifested in history in the fact that the same period of time for each people has a special content; It’s no coincidence that L.N. Tolstoy wrote about the taste and color of time. V. Dilthey defined time as a specific form of life. It was important for him to note the unity of time with its content, for time has a different character depending on what fills it. Dilthey has a thought about the “impenetrability of time for knowledge.” But he tried to understand time as the rhythm of historical existence.

ON THE. Berdyaev considered the problem of time to be the main problem of philosophy, since time is the greatest metaphysical mystery and a complete paradox. The thread of time seemed to him to be broken: time was torn into the past and the future, and in the middle there was some elusive point of the present, and therefore there was no real time. The doctrine of progress, according to Berdyaev, is a false deification of the future, not justified from a scientific, philosophical, or moral point of view. The religion of progress views all human generations, all eras, not as having their own values ​​and goals, but only as tools and means for the future. The religion of progress, according to Berdyaev, combines boundless optimism in relation to the future with boundless pessimism in relation to the past.

The 20th century brought a lot of new things into the understanding of historical time. The time of this century split and exploded space. It flew like the winged clock of M. Chagall, and flowed like the pliantly bending dials of S. Dali. Dali’s soft watch is a symbol of the fluidity of time and a sign that time has stopped: “The clock becomes more elegant, the time becomes more and more dangerous,” writes E. Canetti, “time shrinks. Every hour is getting shorter." With the invention of cinema, it became possible to see the reversibility of time using rear projection. The cinema has lyrically mastered the return whirling of life: the young actress often plays two women of different generations. A prominent idea in modern culture has become the idea of ​​the cyclical flow of time. In the novel “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by G. Marquez, time developed into a closed age without a future in the spirit of traditional mythological thinking.

The modern era is characterized by the phenomenon of compression of historical time: memory and traditional connections with the past are strained to the limit. This is precisely what some authors tend to explain even the collapse of empires, the disruption of order in the organization of society, and the increase in the number of negative phenomena. The rapidity of change leads to crisis and stress at the level of the individual, family and society. The historical process, which took hundreds of years in the Middle Ages, is now determined by the time scale of specific political decisions.

History is far from the linearity ascribed to it - be it “linear progress” or “linear regression”. It can be understood as a wave process with many transitions, the outcome of which is not predetermined. The problem of time in history is associated with fundamental questions of historical science, such as the periodization of history, problems of causality and law, possibility and reality, and even the essence of historical fact. Historical time is characterized by endless breaks and leaps; it has different fullness in different historical periods, having the ability to become more saturated, more capacious, more intense.

The periodization of history can be called a method of interpretation and even understanding of historical events and processes. Measuring history is not a mechanical action, but a kind of scientific research leading to an in-depth explanation of the properties of a given phenomenon. Lobachevsky viewed time as a movement that allows one to measure another movement.

Such concepts of historical periodization as “period”, “era”, “century”, “century” arose in ancient Greece. They were widely used in ancient Greek astronomy, poetry, mathematics, but these concepts did not enter the mass consciousness then. This is how a modern historian writes about the 6th century BC: “The century was passing. He left unnoticed, not yet realizing himself for a century. This very concept will arise in more than a thousand years. History will begin to be measured, unshakable boundaries will be drawn between centuries, serial numbers will be carefully placed... it will be firmly established how the 6th century differed from the “archaic” 7th and “classical” 5th centuries.”

Indeed, singling out decades and centuries in the periodization of history became a custom only in the Middle Ages. One of the first attempts at such a division is contained in the famous work “Magdeburg Centuries”, published in the 16th century. Each of the 13 volumes of the history of the gradual decline of the Catholic Church covered one century. Thus, the author of this book, the Lutheran Matthias Flatius Illyricus, together with his co-authors, introduced one of the most enduring concepts of European historiography.

Periodization is the key to revealing the content of the historical process, it is a concentrated expression of its essence. Periodization reflects the direction and allows you to more accurately explain the meaning of what happened. As N. Matveeva wrote about the work of a historian,

In the guts of the breed, sleepy and gloomy,

He thrusts the research crowbar

And makes history transparent,

To see the future in the past.

Periodization organizes and streamlines the system of knowledge about historical events and processes. Behind its apparent utilitarian meaning we can discern cognitive and even ideological subtext. The very choice of periodization scheme bears the stamp of time and the historian’s worldview. Thus, the Annales school made attempts at a “non-event” structuring of historical time, which was based on the classification of processes. The dominance of structural history has sharply reduced interest in chronology.

For a long time, the European historical tradition has been characterized by the idea of ​​a staged, linear development of humanity. K. Marx called large stages of the ascending, progressive development of humanity formations. This word was borrowed by him from geology and was supposed to express with natural scientific clarity the principle of strict sequence in time. Marx intended to build a unified theory of social progress. In the last years of his life, he compiled “Chronological extracts” in the volume of about a hundred printed pages, trying to comprehend the connection of phenomena and events that occurred simultaneously or sequentially in different countries and regions. The doctrine of formations claimed to be universal and was created on the basis of the exceptional importance of the socio-economic aspect of history, the so-called basis. Explanatory models of Marxism are limited primarily to the sphere of production, and more “subtle” matters are either pushed to the periphery of scientific thought or completely ignored. The formational approach to history and especially the notorious “five-fold structure” simplified the very essence of the historical process - the history of people. The scientific hypothesis put forward by Marx has become dogma. Marx was credited with the discovery of laws that supposedly apply at all times and at all latitudes. From an inquisitive thinker, Marx was turned into the deputy of absolute truth: if all periods in the history of society are “equalized” according to the same models, then only one drum will remain from the magnificent orchestra of science.

The concept of “epoch” occupies a special place in periodization. An era is a holistic idea of ​​the world that surrounded a person and the trends of his time. The use of this term is associated with a certain qualitative state in time. Translated from Greek, “epoch” means stop. This concept is opposite to the concept of “time”, which in translation from Slavic means movement. The boundaries of eras are conditional, mobile, relative. However, approximateness in identifying eras does not mean complete arbitrariness; it is associated with the researcher’s attempt to establish real turning points in history that influenced the course of a particular process. The concept of “epoch” takes into account unevenness, asynchrony, and variability of historical development. It focuses on the dynamic aspect of historical space and time associated with human activities. An era is a level of integrity and a stage of historical development. The concept of a historical era was affirmed in the context of the culture of the Renaissance and Reformation. Humanists proposed a vision of history according to which the establishment of Christianity and the fall of the Western Roman Empire was considered the most important milestone separating ancient history from modern history.

A certain paradoxical nature of the concept of “epoch” was noticed by a Russian poet, who exclaimed: “... the more interesting an era is for a historian, the sadder it is for a contemporary.” Indeed, eras that are commonly called “turning points” or “transitional” very often literally broke human lives and destinies, but thereby attracted the attention of historians who tried to comprehend these tragedies of history.

The aesthetic function of periodization is important for historical work. To construct a periodization, it is necessary to comprehend the law of harmony and symmetry of historical time. The concept of “period” presupposes the presence of rhythm. Beauty, or aesthetic harmony, of a particular periodization probably cannot become a criterion of its truth, but it helps to get rid of errors in the process of periodization. Even mathematicians do not deny the connection between the aesthetic impression of any formula and its truth.

The period reflects the unity of discontinuity and continuity of the historical process. Often this term is replaced by the concept of “stage” and vice versa, “stage” has different meanings. This can be a separate part of a process or a period of time marked by a particularly important event, called a “stage event”. Historians also use the rather vague concept of a “moment in history.” When using it, the difference between historical time and calendar time is especially noticeable. If in everyday speech the word “moment” is synonymous with a moment or another idea of ​​something short-term, then in historical terminology “moment” acquires extension, for example, “historical moment”, “significant moment”, “tragic moment”, “current moment” . These concepts can characterize events of varying durations, up to decades. The concept of “historical moment” carries the pathos of historical optimism, being synonymous with such concepts as an outstanding, great moment, milestone or milestone in history.

Periodization can be considered as a necessary tool of historical knowledge. In historiographic analysis, the most effective use of periodization according to the methodology of history. The difference in methodological approaches is very clear in any attempt to reconstruct the historiographical process. This criterion was conceptualized by P.N. Miliukov in the book “The Main Currents of Russian Historical Thought”. However, even now in our students’ theses, preference is given to the most familiar chronological criterion. But periodization is not only a means of historical explanation. Sometimes she can become a target. Thus, by changing the periodization, one can overcome schematic ideas or outdated traditions.

Historical thought readily operates with such concepts as “the age of faith” or “the age of reason,” where the concept of a century is not equal to a century. The “long 19th century” is often referred to, beginning with the French Revolution of 1789 and ending in 1914. Some authors extend the 19th century almost until 1920. Thus, in one of the monographs on German history, the November Revolution is assessed as “the last of the European revolutions of the “long 19th century”, which eliminated absolutist atavisms in the political structure of the established industrial society.” Not only historians, but also ordinary people know that the difference between one decade and another, or the “face of the century,” is a real phenomenon. People who felt like the founders of the century are not like those who had to sum up its results. When we operate with such concepts as “the time of troubles”, “the time of Pericles” or “our time”, time loses its scientific precision, is buried in a variety of empirical definitions, but acquires noticeable qualitative characteristics.

The conventionality of periodization is clearly visible in the use of the very common term “Middle Ages,” although this concept has a certain semantic content only in relation to European history. One can speak of “new history” in relation to the peoples and countries of Asia and Africa mainly only in the sense that the rise of European civilization was associated with colonial expansion into these countries. The conventionality of periodization gives rise to discussions; the non-synchronism of different countries’ “connection” to new phenomena of world history serves as an indicator of the unevenness of historical development.

History knows of repeated but fruitless attempts to influence the irreversibility of historical time. Not only individual people, but also entire eras have become famous for mystifying the past. Epidemics of making fakes arose from the selfish motives of revising the past, from the desire to see it not as it was, but as it should have been from the point of view of the hoaxers. Some authors view historical time as pure duration, where nothing is limited or isolated, but everything merges. The German historian E. Troeltsch believed that the chronological division of historical events is an extremely crude means of orientation, which is alien to their internal division and pace. The French historian Henri Say insisted on the subjectivity and arbitrariness of any periodization, since history does not know sharp edges and everything in it is mixed up.

One of the functions of historical time is to ensure the continuity of historical development. When studying the role of historical time in the mechanisms of continuity of human history and culture, specific problems arise, associated, in particular, with the study of such an element in the structure of historical time as generation. According to P.N. Milyukov, “every new generation falls from heaven and each one discovers its America anew.” Indeed, each generation perceives and interprets the past on the basis of those concepts, those values, that worldview that determine its attitude to the world around it. The American historian K. Becker, being a specialist in the study of the mentality of the eras of the American and French revolutions, believed that each generation gives birth to its own historians. The French historian F. Furet believed that as long as historians are emotionally dependent on the revolution, it continues. Politicians start revolutions, and historians finish them. The historical time between the beginning and the end of revolutions is extraordinary in intensity and uncertain in duration. If the beginning of a revolutionary explosion is localized in the memory of the contemporary generation, then the end of the revolution is usually blurred in time, causing fierce controversy among historians of different generations.

In traditional societies, the change of generations changed little. But with the acceleration of the historical process, age replaced status. A. Tocqueville was convinced that in democratic nations, each generation is a new people. O. Comte was one of the first to realize the historical significance of the change of generations. His thoughts on this matter prompted J.St. Mill proclaimed that historical changes should be measured in intervals of one generation. The Spanish philosopher J. Ortega y Gasset made a significant clarification in the understanding of the phenomenon of generation. In his opinion, a generation and, accordingly, “the shape of life changes every fifteen years.” Of course, the “method of generations” he proposed does not allow us to take into account conflicts within a generation, but its significance is determined by the ability to understand the human content of history. Defining a generation as “a community of peers coexisting in the same circle,” Ortega emphasized the similarities in the life experiences of people of the same generation. In relations between generations, he saw a kind of polemic between one and the other. In generational conflicts, Ortega saw not an anomaly, but a norm of life, also recognizing that each new generation of people absorbed the culture of past generations. Having established a fifteen-year rhythm of generational change, Ortega believed that history is made by “selected minorities.” Ideas put forward by the elite become beliefs in subsequent generations.

The weakest point of the “method of generations” is the indisputable fact that children are born continuously, therefore the division of people into generations is very arbitrary. However, this objection does not remove the obvious similarity of feelings and views among people who have common life experiences. To some extent, periodization by generation returns to the old periodization by individual outstanding personalities, with the difference that instead of kings and generals, cultural figures come to the fore. Ortega talks about the generations of Descartes, Hobbes, Galileo, etc. It is possible to imagine scientists of one generation, but it is more difficult to imagine peasants of “Descartes’ generation.” Charles I and Cromwell, Catherine II and Radishchev belonged to the same generation, but it is difficult to talk about their ideological community. American political scientists, in addition to the concepts of the “lost generation” widespread in Europe, distinguish the “silent generation” of the 50s of the 20th century and the “noisy generation” of the 60s. Ortega did not agree that intergenerational hostility invalidated his method. In his opinion, the reactionary and the revolutionary of the 19th century are much closer to each other than either of them is to any person of the 20th century.

According to K. Mannheim, representatives of one generation occupy a common place in the historical dimension of the social process. Like Ortega, he allocates the political life of one generation to approximately thirty years. “Every generation, when it comes of age politically, spends its first fifteen years challenging and defending the generation that already has power. Then this new generation itself comes to power for fifteen years, after which its political activity weakens, and the new younger generation claims the role of successor.”

In Schlesinger's opinion, when changing generations, the element of repetition is very important. During the life of any generation, events occur that influence the dynamics of political identity. The generation in power feeds the views and ideas of the generation that replaces it. However, each new generation, having come to power, tends to reject the works of the generation it displaced and revive its own youthful ideals of thirty years ago. At the same time, there is no arithmetical inevitability in the successive change of generations. Of course, generation is a very rough concept for academic science; rather, it is not a category, but a metaphor. Generational cycles are also approximate. Thus, in Russia they were often interrupted by spontaneous wars and revolutions.

Since history consists of stages and periods, there has always been a temptation to isolate too much one historical period from another. Naturally, each historical period is independent and self-sufficient, and therefore deserves a special analysis, during which this period must be precisely contrasted with the previous and subsequent ones. Many leaps in history were preceded by dozens and sometimes hundreds of years of continuous and, at first glance, barely noticeable development. In Soviet historical science, such a contrast between the stages of history prevailed, which reached the point of absurdity. Literally after every new directive of the CPSU Congress or the Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, historians were ready to begin a new calculation of time. The mechanisms of continuity of historical development have not been sufficiently studied - in history textbooks, historical time is torn to shreds. Methodological understanding of the historical process involves a close study of how it combined discontinuity and continuity.

People cannot change the flow and direction of calendar time. However, human activity changes the value of a unit of historical time, since identical intervals of astronomical time are differently saturated with social phenomena and actions. Thus, the 20th century in historical time is not just a century following the 19th century, but a time that has a qualitative content - a century of wars and revolutions, a century of space exploration, a century of great anxieties and great hopes. Historical clocks do not show numbers and numbers, but eras and stages in the development of social and spiritual processes. Time not only records the duration, sequence, speed, rhythm, direction of social processes, but is also a real limiter of social existence, determining its continuity.

A radical change in ideas about historical time is, of course, associated with the achievements of the Annales school. Before Braudel, the perception of time in historical science was simplified and unambiguous. Historians have strung facts onto a calendar time scale. The idea of ​​time as an unconscious duration was replaced by the idea of ​​historical time, of the various temporal rhythms inherent in different realities. The category “historical time” has absorbed a whole complex of knowledge, reflecting the past and present in filmed form. Having introduced the concept of duration into historical science, Braudel, with its help, defined the very subject of history: history is the dialectic of duration. Through it and thanks to it, history is the doctrine of the social past and present. According to Braudel, the historian cannot ignore time because it sticks to his thought like soil to a gardener's spade. Every person simultaneously lives in both short and long time. In full agreement with the thesis that every new thought has only a moment of triumph, Braudel’s ideas very quickly became a “common place” and dissolved in historical knowledge.

In connection with the structuring of historical time, the event acquires a special role in it. An important function of a significant, epoch-making event is the demarcation of historical periods, a break in historical time, a break in gradualism. When a historian describes, analyzes, compares, explains, he goes beyond the boundaries of his narrative, breaks the time of history, neglects its continuity. In other words, the historian does not perceive time in its chronological continuity, but uses it as a means of historical observation.

The French sociologist Georges Gurvich wrote about the inevitable discrepancy between historical reality and what historians have projected. He called predicting the past the great temptation of historical science. Gurevich believed that time and rhythm should not be confused: rhythm is connected with time, but time is independent of rhythm and can do without it.

Modern Russian author V.I. Pantin is an active proponent of the cyclic-wave approach to history. He proceeds from the fact that the end of the previous cycle is always the beginning of a new one, while the past era does not disappear, does not go completely “nowhere”, it continues to live in the new era in the form of its culture and technology, in the form of the consciousness of people and the choices they make . The undulation of economic, political and cultural development provides the key to explaining those critical points with which human history is so rich, makes it possible to understand the deep forces leading to the rise and collapse of empires, makes it possible to see behind all historical turns and cataclysms the constant renewal of forms and the gradual complication of man and society.

Interest in the problem of historical time is a person’s interest in himself: his life, fate and personality. Nature is carefree and wasteful in relation to time. For a person, time is “measured”, so most people live according to the second hand, with today’s worries. Living by the wisdom of the day, we rarely notice the movement of the hand on large historical clocks. Science cannot ignore the differences between the thousand-year wisdom of the Bible and the monthly wisdom of a “thick” metropolitan magazine, between the wisdom of a daily newspaper and the age-old wisdom of the works of Shakespeare or L. Tolstoy.

The concepts of historical and social time coincide for some authors, while others see a significant difference between them, for example, they distinguish three types of social time: the time of the individual, the time of a generation and the time of history. In this case, historical time appears not to be the only, but the deepest and most developed side of social time. In the historical process, individuals, generations, human groups are not just united and connected by time, but, constituting something whole in this unity, they act as a new quality, as the highest form of existence of social matter.

Political scientists and political philosophers are developing the category of political time. They see its pulsation in small political circles and at rallies of many thousands, and analyze its freedom, authenticity and uniqueness as a unique destiny of culture. Wars, revolutions and dictatorships in such an analysis are symbols of the dramatic saturation of cyclical time with political events. The question of the relationship between political and sociocultural time is related to the question of how much a particular political process is determined by culture. Sociocultural time reflects the rhythms of collective action of each civilization; political time reflects the rhythms of political life.

The starting points for measuring sociocultural and political time in each civilization depend on national traditions and customs. Such, for example, is the rhythm of the duration of fairs, which determined the length of the week in a particular civilization: eight days in early Rome, ten in ancient China, seven in the Judeo-Christian tradition, five or six in certain regions of Africa and Central America. If the vector of sociocultural time consists of the sociocultural orientations of all layers and groups of society, then the vector of political time depends primarily on the generation dominating the political scene. The direction of political time may not coincide with sociocultural tradition. Linear time provokes politicians with the possibility of its “acceleration.” To attract the masses, politicians use the myth of “accelerated time.” This is how the utopias of the “great leaps” of Mao Zedong and Khrushchev were born. Any attempts to move the hands of the political clock forward ended either in disaster or in a protracted crisis and a rollback. This was the case in Turkey under Abdul Hamid II, this was the case in China during the period between Mao and Deng Xiaoping, and this is what is happening now in Russia.

In philosophical, sociological and historical thought, history is often divided into three periods, phases, stages or stages. Such schemes were proposed by J. Vico, I. Kant, Hegel, O. Comte and others. This attachment to the three periods is not associated with the symbolism of numbers, as one might assume, but rather reflects only the sequence of changes in the past, present and future. Thus, the appeal to the triad is caused not by the subjective aspirations of the thinker, but by the dialectics of life itself. Some authors, however, propose other schemes. Thus, Chinese political scientist Yan Jiaqi put forward a theory of four stages: the so-called “potato society”, consisting of self-sufficient units isolated from each other; “pyramid society” controlled from top to bottom; a legal society with developed horizontal connections and a highly organized society of the future. If we use this diagram, then the place of Russia and China is on the second level: the image of the “vertical of power” is a type of pyramid.

As for the practical application of some developments on the problem of historical time, it would be advisable to increase the number of published reference books containing synchronistic tables on history. The domestic system of historical education clearly lacks them. The circulation of available reference books is small, so the needs of teachers, students, local historians, museum workers, archives, and libraries are far from being met.

The problem of time is of particular importance in historical science, since the subject and object of research are separated from each other by time. Time- (Greek chronos) is a form of existence of matter. It is believed that each form of matter has its own time. If physical time is unilinear, then in historical time the past, present and future intersect in a person.

M. Barg, analyzing the category of time as a cognitive principle of historical science, called calendar time the “external” time of history, and socio-historical time its “internal time.” Calendar time is continuous, absolute, symmetrical. The socio-historical is discontinuous and relative; cyclicality and repetition, arrhythmias, stops, and reversals are possible in it. It has multiple speeds, multiple tiers, and different densities. History is movement, and, therefore, is possible only in time.

Time in history has the following characteristics:

• has its beginning: from the emergence of human society;
• has qualitative properties: in the same era there can be different qualitative times.

Each person has his own sense of time, which can change depending on his state of mind. A certain pattern is observed: the larger the historical event being studied, the more necessary is the language of a long temporal extent to obtain the most objective picture. And, conversely, the closer the event is to modern times, the greater the likelihood of ideological assessments.

Time began to be perceived as the most important criterion for a person’s social orientation recently, around the Renaissance. Primitive people perceived time only as the end of a person’s life and did not attach social significance to it. In myths, fairy tales, and epics, time does not change or develop. The Chukchi could not answer the question of how old they were and considered this question meaningless. Made in Ancient Babylon in the 3rd millennium BC. Astronomical discoveries made it possible to come to an understanding of time cycles: daily (day - night), lunar monthly, solar annual. The image of time for the ancient Chinese was a circle, and space - a square. In ancient India, time was perceived as the movement of a wheel, the axis of which was fixed in space. In Buddhist perception, a person who has achieved perfection leaves the circle of reincarnations, i.e. from time. Buddha resides in Nirvana, where there is no time. A bodhisattva is a perfect person, over whom the laws of time, space and causality have no power. The ancient world lived in the present. Hesiod distinguished between the Golden, Silver and Iron Ages. Ancient Greek philosophers divided time into chronos - formal and kairos - genuine, filled with meaning.

The understanding of historical time in Christianity is dramatic. Its beginning is considered to be the fall of Adam, and its course is perceived as the expectation of the end of the world and eternity. Since the Renaissance, practical human activity has become synonymous with time. Humanists outlined a 3-member periodization of history: ancient, middle, modern.

N. Berdyaev considered the problem of time to be the greatest metaphysical mystery, since in human perception there is a past, there is a future, but there is no present, since it is a moment between the past and the future.

K. Marx's theory of socio-economic formations is based on the idea of ​​historical progress. Marx envisioned human history as a line ascending upward. But most scientists believe that history is far from the linearity attributed to it. Most likely, this is a wave-like process with jumps, stops, etc.

A revolutionary explosion in the history of ideas was caused by Braudel's concept of historical time. Having introduced the concept of “duration,” Braudel defined history as a dialectic of duration. The social and philosophical meaning of the dialectical connection of the past with the present and the present with the future, which underlies Braudel’s la longue durée, allows us to talk about this category not as a finite time length, but as a “long duration” - the integrity and incompleteness of historical time, about “time under implementation”, similar to “soft time” (soft time), depicted in the surreal paintings of S. Dali. It is noteworthy that Braudel’s ideas influenced not only the views of historians and philosophers, but also the formation of I. Prigogine’s synergetic concept of time, providing an example of how the humanities can influence natural science. Based on Braudel's three-level temporal structure, Prigogine distinguishes three time scales: the time of the Earth, the time of the hydrothermal flow and the time of the first “living”. He defines history as a “diagram of bifurcations” (crises), as a “map of possibilities,” a nonlinear and irreversible process.

Russian humanities take a more critical look at Braudel’s “long duration”, giving preference to M.M.’s concept of time. Bakhtin. Yu.M. Lotman calls “long-term history” a “long breath” that brought fresh air into historical science, noting that such history is likened to a certain geological process acting on people, but not with the help of people.

Any periodization is in the nature of an interpretation of historical events and processes. Concepts such as “epoch”, “period”, “century”, “century” appeared in Ancient Greece, but came into use in the Middle Ages. Periodization reflects the direction of the historical process and allows you to organize and streamline the system of knowledge about historical events.

A special place in periodization is occupied by the concept "era" -(Greek - stop) is a holistic idea of ​​the world surrounding a person, of the trends of time. The boundaries of an era are conditional, mobile, relative. This is a qualitative stage of historical development. There is a conditional rule: the more interesting an era is for a historian, the sadder it is for a contemporary. Indeed, critical historical epochs, when people’s destinies were broken and all their negative and positive qualities manifested themselves as clearly as possible, are the most interesting for research.

Concept "period" presupposes the presence of a historical rhythm. To construct a periodization, it is necessary to comprehend the law of harmony and symmetry of historical time. The period reflects the unity of discontinuity and continuity of the historical process and is similar in meaning to the word “stage”. Periodization is a necessary tool for historical knowledge. The convention of periodization gives rise to discussions (for example, the boundaries of the Middle Ages, the advent of the New Age in Asia and Europe, etc.). Non-synchronization of the offensive

qualitative changes in different countries proves the idea of ​​​​the unevenness of the historical process.

One of the functions of historical time is to ensure the continuity of historical development. Here it is necessary to define the term “ generation" Each generation perceives and interprets the past on the basis of those concepts, those values, that worldview that determine its attitude to the world around it. In traditional societies, the change of generations changed little. But with the acceleration of the historical process, age replaced status. O. Comte was one of the first to realize the historical significance of the change of generations. His thoughts on this matter prompted J.St. Mill proclaimed that historical changes should be measured in intervals of one generation. The Spanish philosopher X. Ortega y Gasset made a significant clarification in the understanding of the phenomenon of generation. In his opinion, a generation and, accordingly, “the shape of life changes every fifteen years.” Of course, the “method of generations” he proposed does not allow us to take into account conflicts within a generation, but its significance is determined by the ability to understand the human content of history. Defining a generation as “a community of peers coexisting in the same circle,” Ortega emphasized the similarities in the life experiences of people of the same generation. In relations between generations, he saw a kind of polemic between one and the other. In generational conflicts, Ortega saw not an anomaly, but a norm of life, also recognizing that each new generation of people absorbed the culture of past generations. Having established a fifteen-year rhythm of generational change, Ortega believed that history is made by “selected minorities.” Ideas put forward by the elite become beliefs in subsequent generations.

The weakest point of the “method of generations” is the indisputable fact that children are born continuously, therefore the division of people into generations is very arbitrary. However, this objection does not remove the obvious similarity of feelings and views among people who have common life experiences. To some extent, periodization by generation returns to the old periodization by individual outstanding personalities, with the difference that instead of kings and generals, cultural figures come to the fore. Ortega talks about the generations of Descartes, Hobbes, Galileo, etc. It is possible to imagine scientists of one generation, but it is more difficult to imagine peasants of “Descartes’ generation.” Charles I and Cromwell, Catherine II and Radishchev belonged to the same generation, but it is difficult to talk about their ideological community. American political scientists, in addition to the concepts of the “lost generation” widespread in Europe, identify the “silent generation” of the 50s. XX century and the “noisy generation” of the 1960s.

Of course, generation is a very rough concept for academic science; rather, it is not a category, but a metaphor. Generational cycles are also approximate. Thus, in Russia they were often interrupted by spontaneous wars and revolutions.

• Khakimov G.A. “Long Time” by F. Braudel as a methodological principle of social and humanitarian knowledge // Questions of Philosophy. 2009. No. 8. P. 135-146.
• Lapteva M.P. Theory and methodology of history: A course of lectures. Perm:Perm. state Univ., 2006. pp. 189-190.