Vasily Vasilievsky
Vasily Grigorievich Vasilievsky, sometimes Vasiljevskij or Wasiliewski (
The son of a rural priest, Vasilievsky was born on 2 February 1838. Graduating with honours from the
Vasilievsky edited the Journal of the Ministry of Education before founding, in 1894, the Vizantiyskiy Vremennik, which remains the chief organ for Byzantine studies in Russia to this day. He was the first to publish many medieval Greek sources relating to Russian history (Byzantium and the Pechenegs, 1872). He was also the first to research the agrarian history of Byzantium and its tax system (Iconoclast Legislation, 1878).
Vasilievsky died in Florence on 25 May 1899. His collected works were published in four volumes between 1908 and 1930. The Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (1890-1906) noted that "almost every modern Byzantinist is Vasilievsky's disciple". The foremost among his pupils was Alexander Vasiliev (1867-1953).
References
- Litavrin G.G. Василий Григорьевич Васильевский - основатель санкт-петербургского центра византиноведения (1838-1899). // Vizantiyskiy Vremennik. Moscow, 1994. Volume 55, part 1, pages 5–21.