'From a Russian Point of View': Criticism of Western Byzantine Studies in the Works of Tsarist Scholars

• In Event: Digging for the Truth: Social and Political Factors in the History of Archaeology and Related Disciplines

Abstract

The professionalization of archaeology in the late Tsarist Empire was accompanied by critique of Western explanatory models as well as outdated, stereotypical and politically biased images of the Byzantine Empire that circulated in the West. Some scholars presented their work as an “atoning sacrifice for centuries of injustice” and reasoned explicitly “from a Russian point of view”. This paper argues that purely academic reasons are not sufficient to explain this high level of pathos. Instead, we have to analyze Russian criticism within the context of inter-imperial rivalry. Byzantinists, the majority of whom shared conservative beliefs, viewed the Byzantine Empire as the cradle of Russian grazhdanstvennost, an understanding that gained prominence in the 1880s. Liberation from outdated and stereotypical images of Byzantium thus became a commitment to the imperial project.

Author

• Vitalij Fastovskij, U of Münster (Germany)