Vasiliev Aleksander

Vasiliev Aleksander (1867–1953) – orientalist, Arabist, specialist in Byzantine studies.

In 1887, he enrolled to the Department of Arabic East, but then – on the recommendation of his supervisor V. R. Rosen – transferred to the Historical and Philological Faculty of the St. Petersburg University, to the famous Byzantinist V. G. Vasilievsky. He studied oriental languages (Arabic and Turkish), as well as classical ones (Greek and Latin), and history. The main his interest was in the Arabic-Byzantine relations. In 1897-1900, he was in Paris with a scholarship of the Faculty. There he kept studying oriental languages (Arabic, Turkish, and Ethiopian). He wrote his Master and Doctor theses on the interrelations of Byzantium and Arabs: the first one was on the times of the Amorian Dynasty, the second one – on the Macedonian Dynasty. In 1902, together with N. Ya. Marr, he travelled to Sinai, to the St Catherine Monastery to study manuscripts of Agathias. In 1904-1912, he was Professor of the University of Dorpat (Yuriev, now Tartu). In 1912-1922, he was Professor and Dean of the Historical and Philological Faculty of the St. Petersburg/Petrograd Teachers-Training Institute. In 1912-1925, he was Professor of the St. Petersburg/Petrograd/Leningrad University. In 1919, he was elected for Correspondent Member of the Ac. of Sc. (in 1925, he was excluded). In 1925, with the support of famous specialist in classical studies M. I. Rostovtsev, he got a position at the University of Wisconsin (Madison) in the U.S.A. and went to the emigration. In 1925-1939, he was Professor, Head of the Chair of the Ancient History of the University of Wisconsin. In 1944-1953, he was Researcher of the Byzantine Research Center Dumbarton Oaks.

Compositions

Byzantine-Arabic Relations in the Reign of Michael III // ZhMNP. 1899, part CCCXXIV, July, pp. 1-57. (in Rus.)
Byzantium and Arabs: Political Relations of Byzantium and Arabs in the Time of the Amorian Dynasty // Zapiski of the Historical and Philological Faculty of the St. Petersburg University. 1900, part 56. (in Rus.)
Byzantium and Arabs: Political Relations of Byzantium and Arabs in the Time of the Macedonian Dynasty: Emperors Basil I, Leo VI Wise and Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos (867-959). St. Petersburg, I. N. Skorokhodov Typography, 1902. (in Rus)
The Arabic Version of the Life of St John Damascene. St. Petersburg, M. Merkushev Typography, 1913. (in Rus.)
Charlemagne and Harun ar-Rashid. Yuriev, 1913. (in Rus.)
Lectures on the History of Byzantium. Vol. 1, Petrograd, 1917. (in Rus.)
Byzantium and Crusaders: the Epoch of the Komnenos (1081-1185) and the Angelos (1185-1204) // The History of Byzantium. [Iss. 1]. Petrograd, 1923. (in Rus.)
Dominion in the East: the Epoch of the Nicene and Latin Empires (1204-1261) // The History of Byzantium. [Iss. 2]. Petrograd, 1923. (in Rus.)
The Fall of Byzantium: the Epoch of the Palaiologos (1261-1453) // The History of Byzantium. [Iss. 3]. Leningrad, 1925. (in Rus.)

Bibliography

Medvedev I. P. Slavic Studies in the Pre-Revolutionary Russia: Bibliographical Lexicon. Moscow, 1979, pp. 92-94. (in Rus.)
Grushevoy А. G. On the Republication of the Cycle of General Works by А. А. Vasiliev on the History of Byzantium // Vasiliev А. А. The History of the Byzantine Empire: Up to the Crusades (to 1081). St. Petersburg, Aleteiya Publishing House, 1998, pp. 5-18. (in Rus.)

About him

Kuklina I. V. А. А. Vasiliev: ‘Works and Days’ of the Scholar in the Light of Non-Published Correspondence // Archives of Russian Byzantinists in St. Petersburg / Edit. I. P. Medvedev. St. Petersburg, 1995, pp. 313-338. (in Rus.)
Bongard-Levin V. N., Tunkina I. V. М. I. Rostovtsev and А. А. Vasiliev: New Archival Materials // Vestnik drevney istorii. 1996, No 4, pp. 168-188. (in Rus.)

A. M.