Kovalev Sergey

Kovalev Sergey (1886–1960) – historian of Classical society.

In 1908, he enrolled at the Physical and Mathematical Faculty of the St. Petersburg University. Two years later, he transferred at the Historical and Philological Faculty. In 1915, he went to the military service, not graduating from the university; in 1919-1938, he served at the red Army, and was involved into political propaganda. In 1922, staying at the military service, he graduated from the Petrograd University. In 1920, at the foundation of the Tolmachev Red Army University (later – Lenin Military-Political Academy) he became Dean, and then Rector; at the Military-Political Academy he worked till 1938, in parallel with other activities. In 1921, he became Head of the Propagandist Department of the Political Management Department of the Military District of the Red Army. In 1924-1956, he made lectures at the Herzen State Teachers-Training Institute; in 1930-1937, he was Head of the Sector of the History of Ancient World at the State Academy of the History of Material Culture of the Ac. of Sc. of the U.S.S.R.; in 1938-1950 – Senior researcher of the Leningrad Branch of the Institute of History of the Ac. of Sc. of the U.S.S.R.; in 1934-1958 – Head of the Chair of the History of Ancient World at the Historical Faculty of the Leningrad State University; in 1956-1960 – Director of Museum of the History of Religion of the Ac. of Sc. of the U.S.S.R. In 1938, on the recommendation of the Leningrad State University, he got the Doctor degree in History without defending the thesis.

He wrote on the issues of the social and economical history of Classical World on the base of Marxist theory of the class struggle as the moving factor of historical development. He was the author of the first Soviet manuals on the history of the Ancient World. At the last years of his life, he was interested in the history of Early Christianity, interpreting it as a result of social conflicts in the Roman Empire; he wrote some works on the class meaning of Christianity and the mythological origin of Jesus Christ.

Compositions

The Course of the World History, in 2 vol. Petrograd ‒ Leningrad, Rabochee izdatel’stvo ‘Priboi’ Publishing House, 1923‒1925. (in Rus.)
The Problem of Social Revolution in the Classical Society // К. Marx and the Problems of History of the Pre-Capitalistic Formations. Moscow ‒ Leningrad, State Academy of the History of Material Culture, 1934. (in Rus.)
Great Slaves Rebellions of the Second and First Centuries BCE in Rome // From the History of Classical Society. Moscow ‒ Leningrad, State Academy of the History of Material Culture, 1934. (in Rus.)
The History of Classical Society: Greece. Hellenism. Rome. Moscow ‒ Leningrad, Sotsecgiz Publishing House, Leningrad Branch, 1936. (in Rus.)
The History of Rome: Lecture Course. Leningrad State University, 1948. (in Rus.)
The Hellenistic Civilization. Moscow, Izd-vo inostrannoi literatury Publishing House, 1949. (in Rus.)
The Origin and the Class Essence of Christianity. Leningrad, 1952. (in Rus.)
The Myth of Jesus Christ. Leningrad, 1952. (in Rus.)
The Main Issues of the Origin of Christianity // Ezhegodnik of the Museum of the History of Religion of the Ac. of Sc. of the U.S.S.R. Vol. 2, 1958, pp. 3-25. (in Rus.)
From the History of the Criticism on Christianity (Mythological School) // Ezhegodnik of the Museum of the History of Religion of the Ac. of Sc. of the U.S.S.R. Vol. 2, 1958, pp. 46-61. (in Rus.)
The Main Issues of the Origin of Christianity. Moscow ‒ Leningrad, Ac. of Sc. of the U.S.S.R., 1964. (in Rus.)

About him

By the 70th Anniversary of Prof. S. I. Kovalev // Vestnik drevnei istorii. 1956, No 3. (in Rus.)
Botvinnik М. N. Kovalev Sergey Ivanovich // Big Soviet Encyclopedia. Moscow, Sovetskaya entsiklopediya, 1969‒1978, vol. 12. (in Rus.)
Kovalev Sergey Ivanovich // Lisovyi I. А., Revyako C. А. Classical World in Concepts, Names, and Titles: Reference Dictionary on the History and Culture of Ancient Greece and Rome / Edit. А. I. Nemirovsky. 3rd publ., Minsk, Belarus’ Publishing House, 2001. (in Rus.)

M. Sh.