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Boris Aleksandrovich Rybakov (Russian:Борис Александрович Рыбаков; 3 June 1908,Moscow – 27 December 2001, Moscow) was aSoviet andRussian archeologist and historian. He was one of the main proponents ofanti-Normanist vision of Russian history. He is the father ofIndologistRostislav Rybakov.[1]
Rybakov held a chair in Russian history at theMoscow University since 1939, was a deputy dean of the university in 1952–54, and administered the Russian History Institute more than 40 years. In 1954, Rybakov andAndrey Kursanov represented the Soviet Academy of Sciences at theColumbia University Bicentennial inNew York City.[2]
His first groundbreaking monograph was theHandicrafts of Ancient Rus (1948), which sought to demonstrate the economic superiority ofKievan Rus to contemporaryWestern Europe.
Rybakov led important excavations inMoscow,Novgorod,Zvenigorod,Chernihiv,Pereiaslav,Tmutarakan andPutyvl and published his findings in numerous monographs, includingAntiquities of Chernigov (1949),The Chronicles andBylinas of Ancient Rus (1963),The First Centuries of Russian history (1964),The Tale of Igor's Campaign and Its Contemporaries (1971),Muscovite Maps of the 15th and early 16th Centuries (1974), andHerodotus' Scythia (1979). In the latter book he viewed theScythians described byHerodotus as ancestors of modern Slavic nations.
In his older years, Rybakov attempted to reconstruct the pantheon and myths ofSlavic religion. He outlined his ideas inAncient Slavic Paganism (1981) andAncient Paganism of Rus (1987). Some of these reconstructions have been heavily criticized as far-fetched.[3]
