Nicholas Adontz | |
|---|---|
| Նիկողայոս Ադոնց | |
 | |
| Born | (1871-01-10)January 10, 1871 |
| Died | January 27, 1942(1942-01-27) (aged 71) Brussels, Belgium |
| Alma mater | Saint Petersburg State University |
| Known for | -Histoire d'Arménie (1946) -Armenia in the Period of Justinian: the Political Conditions based on the Naxarar System (1908) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Byzantine studies,Armenian studies |
| Institutions | Russian Academy of Sciences |
Nicholas Adontz (Armenian:Նիկողայոս Ադոնց,romanized: Nikoghayos Adonts;Russian:Николай Адонц; January 10, 1871 – January 27, 1942) was anArmenianhistorian, specialising inByzantine andArmenian studies, and aphilologist.[1] Adontz was the author ofArmenia in the Period of Justinian, a highly influential work and landmark study on the social and political structures ofearly Medieval Armenia.
Adontz was born Nikoghayos Ter-Avetikian (Armenian:Նիկողայոս Տեր-Ավետիքյան) in the village ofBrnakot inSisian, which was then part of theZangezur uezd of theElizavetpol Governorate (present-daySyunik). His family traced its roots to an eighteenth-century Armenian military figure and close ally ofDavid Bek named Ter-Avetik.[2] He attended a parochial school inTatev and later studied at theGevorkian Theological Seminary inEchmiadzin and the Russiangymnasium in Tiflis (present-dayTbilisi) from 1892–1894.[1]
Adontz was accepted to theUniversity of St. Petersburg and studied at the Departments of Oriental Languages and History and Philology under the general direction of the renowned historian and linguistNicholas Marr. He learned Latin and Greek and graduated with honors in 1899. Following this, Adontz accompanied Marr to Europe (Munich, Paris, London and Vienna) and the two worked together in the area of Byzantine studies until 1901.[1] In 1903, Adontz returned to the Caucasus, learningGeorgian and later working at the manuscript repository in Echmiadzin.[1]
Adontz wrote and defended histhesis on "Armenia in the Period of Justinian" in 1908. Adontz was appointed as the private-assistant professor at the University of St. Petersburg in 1909. He received his doctorate and the title of professor after defending his dissertation, entitled "Dionysius of Thrace and his Armenian Commentaries," in 1916. In that same year, with archaeologistAshkharbek Kalantar, he participated in the secondVan archaeological expedition organized byRussian Imperial Academy of Sciences. One year later, he was appointed honorary trustee and professor at theLazarev Institute of Oriental Languages in Moscow.[1]
In 1920, Adontz left Russia and moved to London and then Paris. Adontz was invited to deliver lectures at theUniversity of Brussels in 1930 and was appointed to the position of the head of the newly created Department of Armenian Studies. During the Second World War, after Belgium's occupation by theNazis and after Adontz and the other professors refused their orders to work at another institute, the University of Brussels was shut down. Left with no salary, Adontz willed his work to Belgium's small Armenian community, dying shortly thereafter inBrussels on January 27, 1942.[2]
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Adontz left more than 80 monographs on the history and literature of Medieval Armenia, Armenian-Byzantine relations, Armenian-Greek philology, mythology, religion, linguistics in the Armenian, Russian and French languages.[1][2] He published his first scholarly article in the journalHandes Amsorya in 1901. Some of his other notable works includeThe Peasantry of Ancient Armenia,The Art of Dionysius Grammarian and his Armenian Interpretations, andPolitical Parties in Ancient Armenia. HisArmenia in the Period of Justinian (in Russian,Armeniia v epokhu Iustiniana: Politicheskoe sostoianie na osnove Nakhararskogo stroia), based on his dissertation, however, is considered to be the most notable and one of the "most important achievements in Armenian studies of the 20th century."[1] In 1970, it was published in English by Byzantine historian Nina G. Garsoïan. In another notable work,Mashtots and his Students According to Foreign Sources, Adontz placed the date of the creation of theArmenian alphabet by its founder,Mesrob Mashtots, to the years 382–392 A.D., approximately 20 years prior to the traditional given date (405).[1]
In a stark departure from his studies on ancient and medieval Armenian history, Adontz took a vested interest in the history of theArmenian Question in the immediate years following the end of the First World War and published a number of works.[3] These included two booklets published in English in 1918,The Historical Basis of the Armenian Question and the Fall of Turkey andThe Dismemberment of Turkey; two works published in Russian in the same year,Turkey's Note and Western Armenia andThe Armenian Question and German Plans; andThe Armenian Question atSèvres, which was published in English in 1920.[3] He accused Western Europe for taking advantage of the Armenians' plight in the Ottoman Empire in order to increase their own influence in the region. Adontz also condemnedSoviet Russia for signing the 1918Treaty of Brest Litovsk, which effectively left the once-Armenian-populated regions within the borders of the Ottoman Empire.[3]
