G. L. KURBATOV. History of Byzantium (historiography). L. Leningrad State University Publishing House. 1975. 256 pages. The print run is 6550. The price is 90 kopecks.

The reader who opens the book by Professor of the History Department of Leningrad University, Doctor of Historical Sciences G. L. Kurbatov, is waiting for two surprises. First, it is not a" History of Byzantium", as indicated on the cover of the book, but a historiography of the history of Byzantium (which is explained in a smaller font on the title). Secondly, it is not only a textbook for students, as indicated under the title on the title, but also a historiographical generalizing study, which also contains in a concise form a huge reference material necessary for any Byzantine scholar.

For the first time in Russian and foreign historiography, the book presents in a systematic and consistent presentation the history of the formation and development of a fairly extensive complex branch of humanitarian knowledge from its inception to the present day, that is, in the history of the Russian state.

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in this case, for half a millennium.

The need for a consolidated and generalizing work on the historiography of Byzantine problems has become acutely felt by specialists, especially in recent years due to the growing scope of research in this area. At the XII International Congress of Historical Sciences in Vienna in 1965, this was quite clearly stated in several reports on the problem "The Byzantine world in the historical thought of Europe since the XVII century." 1 It is by no means accidental that a considerable number of historiographical articles and reviews appeared after this period, mostly written by scientists from socialist countries (the USSR, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania).

The work structure follows a strict chronological principle. It splits into two approximately equal parts by volume. The first section deals with the beginning of Byzantine studies in the XV century, the formation of scientific Byzantine studies in the XIX century and its development until the beginning of the XX century. The second one covers the period from the Great October Socialist Revolution to 1970. However, it should be emphasized that more than 2/3 of the entire volume of the book is devoted to the history of Byzantine studies during the last century, and within this period-mainly post-war, that is, modern, Byzantine studies.

The first part consists of chapters covering successively the humanistic historiography of the 15th and 16th centuries, the erudite school of the 16th and early 18th centuries, the historiography of the Enlightenment, the first half of the 19th century, and Byzantine studies of the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The second one contains only two chapters - on Byzantine studies of 1917-1945 and 1945-1970. In addition to general characteristics of the historiography of individual periods and international scientific directions, the book contains sections and subsections devoted to national schools and the fate of Byzantine studies in individual European countries.

As can be seen from the content of the work, the author set himself the following tasks. First, to show the development of Byzantine studies in an indissoluble connection with the general dynamics of historical thought in the field of medieval studies and ancient studies in general, and in the field of Slavic studies, Oriental studies, Balkan studies and Russian studies in particular. Secondly, to give an idea of the history of Byzantine studies as a complex discipline that studies not only the history of Byzantium, but also its languages, art, architecture, literature, and culture. Third, it is necessary to highlight in the most essential aspects the importance of such auxiliary disciplines as archeology, paleography, source studies, epigraphy, and sphragistics for the overall progress of Byzantine studies. Fourth, to guide the reader in the main historiography of Byzantine studies, providing the book with an index of the most important specialized literature belonging to scientists of all major national schools and directions. Finally, fifth, provide, if possible in a concise form, such reference materials as data on the leading modern centers of Byzantine studies, on organizational forms of research (faculties, institutes, libraries, museums, scientific societies), major journals and other periodicals, on series of publications of sources, on international congresses of byzantinists (at the end of the book is a list of publications of materials from all 14 world congresses of Byzantinists held so far).

Of course, it was impossible to perform such a wide range of tasks in any satisfactory way without organizing the material in accordance with some of the central aspects of its systematization and interpretation. As these aspects, the author chose to consider and highlight the formation, change and development of the main concepts and theories on such major problems of Byzantine studies as the continuity between the ancient and Byzantine worlds, the genesis of feudalism and the decomposition of feudal relations, the specifics of the Byzantine city, the state system of the empire, forms of class and intra-class struggle, features of the structure of the ruling class, social conditionality ideological trends and distinctive ways of development of Byzantine art and culture.

Identifying various schools and trends in world historiography in accordance with the approach to these problems, G. L. Kurbatov at the same time shows specific "national" features inherent in the Byzantine studies of different countries and manifested in the predominant attention to certain issues and certain historical periods, in the use of tra-

1 См.: "Jahrbuch der Osterreichischen by zantinischen Gesellschaft. Bd. XV. Graz- Koln. 1966.

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It is also possible to use a traditional research methodology, and sometimes even a stable ideological and political orientation of the conclusions, which is explained by the peculiarities of the country's position in the system of European states.

The author consistently traces the signs of the crisis of bourgeois Byzantine studies, which gradually grew by the end of the XIX-beginning of the XX century, and also reveals the inseparable connection with the ideological arsenal of this period of some modern reactionary concepts of Western Byzantine studies. The author reveals how these concepts of Byzantine history are used to justify broader, global theories of the historical process that are openly hostile to socialism.

G. L. Kurbatov paid special attention to the emergence of Marxist thought in the study of the history of Byzantium and the significance of this event for the overall progress of Byzantine studies. The process of formation of Marxist Byzantine studies in Russian science, as well as in the science of other socialist countries in the post-war period, is most thoroughly covered. The author notes the serious positive influence that Marxist Byzantine studies, especially in the 50s and 60s, had on the development of progressive trends in foreign Byzantine studies, and in particular on the solution of cardinal issues of internal Byzantine history.

Such, in general, is the range of tasks and problems that are reflected, although not equally, in a relatively small book by G. L. Kurbatov. It is clear from what has already been said that the significance of this work goes far beyond the scope of a textbook for students of the humanities faculties of universities and institutes. A work of this kind could have appeared only as a result of many years of special research in the field of Byzantine studies and no less long practice of classes with students of the Faculty of History. The organic combination of these two conditions allowed G. L. Kurbatov to successfully solve the difficult task that faced him. His book will undoubtedly be useful not only for students and postgraduates, but also for a wide range of specialists as a valuable overview of the path traveled by the world of Byzantine studies and as a compact and easy-to-use reference publication.

That is why such a lack of a book as a teaching aid, as an overload of factual material, turns out to be its advantage as a reference guide for specialists. In this regard, we can only regret that the problems of Oriental studies are reflected in the work relatively poorly (in particular, the book does not contain a historiography of the Middle East countries).

If in the field of studying Russian and Soviet historiography, the author had the opportunity to rely on the solid historiographical works of his predecessors, 2 then when recreating a complete picture of the development of foreign Byzantine studies, G. L. Kurbatov had to carry out a large and painstaking work on collecting, systematizing and understanding a huge and extremely heterogeneous material in 14 European languages. The paper describes the main ways of formation and development of Byzantine studies in Italy, France, Germany (later in Germany and the GDR), England, Austria, USA, Belgium, Holland, Greece, Turkey, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Romania.

The book, of course, is not without its shortcomings, sometimes significant. When selecting the material, the author was guided by a well-justified principle to take into account not so much the scope and importance of the subject of a particular study, but its conceptual, scientific significance. However, this selection cannot be considered ideal. In particular, the works of such prominent contemporary experts in the field of the internal state and cultural history of Byzantium as I. Meyechdorf (USA), R. Browning (England), G. Weiss and F. Schulz (Germany) fell out of his field of view. Tinnefeld (Germany), A. Guillou (France) and others.

It is hardly appropriate to use the same term for "critical direction" and the source studies of the late 17th and 18th centuries. (p. 48-49), and a certain trend in the historiography of the late XIX - early XX centuries (p.89-90). E. V. Gutnova's use of the term "critical school" in source studies in the first case seems to be more successful .3
In covering the history of the Soviet Byzantine Empire-

2 See: "Essays on the History of Historical Science in the USSR". Tt. I-IV. M. 1955-1966; O. L. Weinstein. History of Soviet Medieval Studies (1917-1966). L. 1968; Z. V. Udaltsova. Soviet Byzantine Studies for 50 Years, Moscow, 1969.

3 E. V. Gutnova. Historiography of the history of the Middle Ages (mid-19th century-1917). Moscow, 1974.

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the author made a clear disparity in the development of Byzantine studies: the formation of this branch of science in the USSR is described thoroughly and in detail with relatively limited material available to the author; the post-war period, which G. L. Kurbatov described as "the rise of Soviet Byzantine studies", is sometimes described fluently and schematically.

In general, for all countries and periods, the author's lack of attention to the problems of art, literature and culture is noticeable in the work.

Unfortunately, there are many typos in the book, and it is not clear why there is no list of at least the most important of them.

So, you can agree or disagree with the author in describing a particular direction, in assessing the significance of a particular concept, in revealing the role of a particular scientist. However, it is impossible not to recognize that for the first time in world historiography, the book presents the history of Byzantine studies from its inception to the present day in a fairly complete and consistent way, presented as an organic branch of medieval studies, reflecting the deep ideological, political and ideological trends of the distant past and our days. The book will be met with interest not only by Byzantinists, but also by Slavists, Orientalists and Balkanists. Following the monograph of E. V. Gutnova, our science has taken another step towards creating a consolidated generalizing work on the history of medieval studies.

G. G. Litavrin

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