Alexander Alexandrovich Vasiliev ( Russian : Алекса?ндр Алекса?ндрович Васи?льев ; 4 October 1867 ( N.S. ) ? 30 May 1953) was considered the foremost authority on Byzantine history and culture in the mid-20th century. His History of the Byzantine Empire (vol. 1?2, 1928) remains one of a few comprehensive accounts of the entire Byzantine history, on the par with those authored by Edward Gibbon and Fyodor Uspensky .

Biography [ edit ]

Vasiliev was born in Saint Petersburg . He studied under one of the earliest professional Byzantinists, Vasily Vasilievsky , at the University of St Petersburg and later taught Arabic language there. Between 1897 and 1900, he furthered his education in Paris . In 1902, he accompanied Nicholas Marr in his trip to Saint Catherine's Monastery in Sinai .

During his stay at the Tartu University (1904?12), Vasiliev prepared and published a highly influential monograph, Byzantium and the Arabs (1907). He also worked in the Russian Archaeology Institute , established by Fyodor Uspensky in Constantinople . In 1912, he moved to the St Petersburg University as a professor. He was elected to the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1919.

In 1925, during his visit to Paris , Vasiliev was persuaded by Mikhail Rostovtsev to emigrate to the West. It was Rostovtzeff who ensured a position at the University of Wisconsin?Madison for him. ^[1] Several decades later, Vasiliev moved to work in Dumbarton Oaks . Towards the end of his life, he was elected President of the Nikodim Kondakov Institute in Prague and of the Association Internationale des Etudes Byzantines .

Bibliography [ edit ]

• Slavs in Greece (1898)
• The Latin Sway in the Levant (1923)
• History of the Byzantine Empire: Vol. 1: Constantine to the Crusades (1925 Russian; 1929 & many more English)
• History of the Byzantine Empire: Vol. 2: From the Crusades to the Fall of the Empire (1935 & many more)
• Byzantium and the Arabs, Vol. 1: Political relations between Byzantines and Arabs during the Amorian Dynasty ( 1900 Russian , 1935 and 1950 French, as Byzance et les Arabes, Tome I: La Dynastie d'Amorium (820?867) )
• Byzantium and the Arabs, Vol. 2: Political relations between Byzantines and Arabs during the Macedonian Dynasty ( 1900 Russian , 1935 and 1950/1968 French, as Byzance et les Arabes, Tome II: La dynastie macedonienne (867?959), in two parts)
• The Goths in the Crimea (1936)
• "The Opening Stages of the Anglo-Saxon Immigration to Byzantium in the Eleventh Century" in Seminarium Kondakovianum (1937)
• The Russian Attack on Constantinople in 860 (1946)
• The 'Life' of St. Peter of Argos and its Historical Significance (1947)
• The monument of Porphyrius in the Hippodrome at Constantinople (1948, 1967)
• Imperial Porphyry Sarcophagi in Constantinople (1949)
• "The Historical Significance Of the Mosaic of Saint Demetrius at Sassoferrato", Dumbarton Oaks Papers , 5 (1950) p. 29-39
• Justin, the First: An Introduction to the Epoch of Justinian the Great (1950)
• The Second Russian Attack on Constantinople (1951, 1967)
• Hugh Capet Of France And Byzantium (1951)
• The Iconoclastic Edict of the Caliph Yazid II, A. D. 721 (1956, 1967)
• A Survey of Works on Byzantine History
• The Life of St. Theodore of Edessa
• Medieval Ideas of the End of the World: West and East
• Prester John and Russia (1996, ed. W. F. Ryan)

References [ edit ]

Citations [ edit ]

This article includes a list of general references , but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations . Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. ( May 2015 ) ( Learn how and when to remove this message )

Sources [ edit ]

External links [ edit ]

• Works by or about Alexander Vasiliev at Internet Archive