V.P. BUZESKUL AS A RESEARCHER OF GERMAN ANTIC STUDIES OF THE XIX CENTURY

Abstract

This paper offers an analysis of the problem of the relationship between Russian and German studies of antiquity during the XIX century. Vladislav Petrovich Buzeskul (1858-1931), an expert in the political history of ancient Athens, was one of the most outstanding researchers of the history of the formation of German antiquity at that time. The main research field for the scholar was the problems of the history of the ancient world. Much less is known about the historiographic component of his work, which manifested itself in his early works, published in the late 1880s. Vladislav Buzeskul reached the pinnacle of his career when he published his work “Introduction to Greek History”, which has been reprinted many times, including in the XXI century. The first edition was published in 1903. The main distinguishing feature of the work is a deep source analysis, which is combined with an excellent knowledge of historiographical material. But “Introduction to Greek History” sums up the previous historiographical practice of the scholar. The article strives to show the “movement” of Buzeskul from one study to another, which eventually brought brilliant results in 1903. Obviously, the paper volume allows us to highlight only the main points of that “movement”. Therefore, we are focusing only on what the historiographer himself considers to be the most characteristic in his works on the history of German antiquity. Buzeskul describes the close connection between the academic search of European historians and their social and political views and practices as a “determining” value in the development of German antiquity studies. In this regard, his most relevant article is the one, where he compares the works of the German antiquity researcher E. Curtius and his British colleague J. Groth. The comparison of “Greek History” by Curtius and “History of Greece” by Groth leads Buzescul to the conclusion that the Briton’s views on the history of antiquity were predetermined by their political activities in the parliament. Buzeskul also found the same dependence in the history of the German science of world history, stating in 1915 that the dependence of historiography on “politics” clearly manifested itself in the political history of Germany throughout the XIX century.