List of Russian historians

This list of Russian historians includes the famous historians, as well as archaeologists, paleographers, genealogists and other representatives of auxiliary historical disciplines from the Russian Federation, the Soviet Union, the Russian Empire and other predecessor states of Russia.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Alphabetical list

A

• Friedrich von Adelung, historian and museologist, researched the European accounts of the Time of Troubles
• Valery Alekseyev, anthropologist, proposed Homo rudolfensis
• Mikhail Artamonov, historian and archaeologist, founder of modern Khazar studies, excavated a great number of Scythian and Khazar kurgans and settlements, including the fortress of Sarkel
• Artemiy Artsikhovsky, archaeologist, discoverer of birch bark documents in Novgorod

B

• Vasily Bartold, turkologist, the "Gibbon of Turkestan", an archaeologist of Samarcand
• Konstantin Bestuzhev-Ryumin, 19th-century historian and paleographer, founder of the Bestuzhev Courses for women
• Nikita Bichurin, a founder of Sinology, published many documents on Chinese and Mongolian history, opened the first Chinese-language school in Russia
  

  Artamonov

D

• Nikolay Danilevsky, ethnologist, philosopher and historian, a founder of Eurasianism, the first to present an account of history as a series of distinct civilisations
• Igor Diakonov, historian and linguist, a prominent researcher of Sumer and Assyria

F

• Boris Farmakovsky, archaeologist of Ancient Greek colony Olbia

G

• Vladimir Golenishchev, egyptologist, excavated Wadi Hammamat, discovered over 6,000 antiquities, including the Moscow Mathematical Papyrus, the Story of Wenamun, and various Fayum portraits
• Timofey Granovsky, a founder of mediaeval studies in Russia, disproved the historicity of Vineta
• Boris Grekov, prominent researcher of Kievan Rus' and Golden Horde
• Vladimir Guerrier, historian of the French revolution, founder of the Courses Guerrier for women
• Lev Gumilev, historian and ethnologist, prominent researcher of ancient Central Asian peoples, related ethnogenesis and biosphere, influenced the rise of Neo-Eurasianism

H

• Boris Hessen, physicist who brought externalism into modern historiography of science

I

• Dmitry Ilovaysky, major 19th century anti-Normanist

K

• Pyotr Kafarov, prominent sinologist, discovered many invaluable manuscripts, including The Secret History of the Mongols
• Nikolai Karamzin, sentimentalist writer and historian, author of the 12-volume History of the Russian State, the principal early 19th-century account of national history
• Vasily Klyuchevsky, dominated Russian historiography at the turn of the 20th century, shifted focus from politics and society to geography and economy
• Alexander Kazhdan, Byzantinist, editor of the Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium
• Nikodim Kondakov, prominent researcher of Byzantine art
• Andrey Korotayev, historian and anthropologist, a founder of cliodynamics, a prominent developer of social cycle theory
• Nikolay Kostomarov, historian, folklorist and romantic writer, researched the differences between Great Russia and Little Russia and the history of Ukraine
  

  Klyuchevsky
• Pyotr Kozlov, explorer of Central Asia, discoverer of the ancient Tangut city of Khara-Khoto and Xiongnu royal burials at Noin-Ula
• Yelena Yefimovna Kuzmina, prominent researcher of prehistory of Indo-Aryan peoples

L

• Platon Levshin, president of the Most Holy Synod during the Age of Enlightenment, author of the first systematic course of the history of Russian Orthodox Church
• Nikolay Likhachyov, the first and foremost Russian sigillographer, prominent also in a number of other auxiliary historical disciplines
• Aleksey Lobanov-Rostovsky, statesman, published the major Russian Genealogical Book
• Mikhail Lomonosov, polymath scientist and artist, the first opponent of the Normanist theory, published an early account of Russian history

M

• Madhavan K. Palat
• Boris Marshak, excavated the Sogdian ruins at Panjakent
• Friedrich Martens, legal historian, drafted the Martens Clause of the Hague Peace Conference
  

  Müller
• Vladimir Minorsky, prominent historian of Persia
• Yagutil Mishiev, writer, author of books about the history of Derbent, Dagestan, Russia.
• Gerhardt Friedrich Müller, co-founder of the Russian Academy of Sciences, explorer and the first academic historian of Siberia, a founder of ethnography, author of the first academic account of Russian history, put forth the Normanist theory
• Aleksei Musin-Pushkin, prominent collector of ancient Russian manuscripts, discovered The Tale of Igor's Campaign

N

• Nestor the Chronicler, author of the Primary Chronicle (the first East Slavic chronicle) and several hagiographies, saint

O

• Dimitri Obolensky, Byzantine commonwealth researcher
• Alexey Okladnikov, prominent historian and archaeologist of Siberia and Mongolia
  

  Musin-Pushkin
• Sergey Oldenburg, a founder of Russian Indology and the Academic Institute of Oriental Studies
• George Ostrogorsky, preeminent 20th century Byzantinist

P

• Avraamy Palitsyn, 17th-century historian of the Time of Troubles
• Evgeny Pashukanis, legal historian, wrote The General Theory of Law and Marxism
• Boris Piotrovsky, prominent researcher of Urartu, Scythia, and Nubia, long-term director of the Hermitage Museum
• Mikhail Piotrovsky, orientalist, current director of the Hermitage Museum
• Mikhail Pogodin, leading mid-19th-century Russian historian, proponent of the Normanist theory
• Boris Polevoy, major historian of the Russian Far East
• Mikhail Pokrovsky, Marxist historian prominent in 1920s
  

  Pogodin
• Natalia Polosmak, archaeologist of Pazyryk burials, discoverer of Ice Maiden mummy
• Alexander Polovtsov, statesman, historian and Maecenas, founder of the Russian Historian Society
• Tatyana Proskuryakova, Mayanist scholar and archaeologist, deciphered the ancient Maya script

R

• Semyon Remezov, cartographer and the first historian of Siberia, author of the Remezov Chronicle
• Mikhail Rostovtsev, archeologist and economist, the first to thoroughly examine the social and economic systems of the Ancient World, excavated Dura-Europos
• Nicholas Roerich, painter, archeologist, and public figure, explorer of Central Asia, initiator of the international Roerich’s Pact on protection of historical monuments
• Sergei Rudenko, discoverer of Scythian Pazyryk burials
• Boris Rybakov, historian and chief Soviet archaeologist for 40 years, primary opponent of the Normanist theory
  

  Proskuryakova

S

• Dmitry Samokvasov, discoverer of Black Grave in Chernigov
• Viktor Sarianidi, discoverer of the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex and the Bactrian Gold in Central Asia
• Mikhail Shcherbatov, a man of Russian Enlightenment, conservative historian
• Sergey Solovyov, principal Russian 19th-century historian, author of the 29-volume History of Russia
• Vasily Struve, orientalist and historian of the Ancient World, put forth the Marxist theory of five socio-economic formations that dominated the Soviet education

T

• Yevgeny Tarle, author of the famous studies on Napoleon's invasion of Russia and on the Crimean War
• Vasily Tatischev, statesman, geographer and historian, discovered and published Russkaya Pravda, Sudebnik of 1550 and the controversial Ioachim Chronicle, wrote the first full-scale account of Russian history
  

  Rybakov
• Mikhail Tikhomirov, leading specialist in medieval Russian paleography, published the Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles
• Kamilla Trever, specialist in the history and culture of Transcaucasia and Central Asia
• Boris Turayev, author of the first full-scale History of Ancient East
• Peter Turchin, population biologist and historian, coined the term cliodynamics

U

• Fyodor Uspensky, Byzantinist, researcher of the Trapezuntine Empire
• Aleksey Uvarov, founder of the first Russian archaeological society, discovered over 750 ancient kurgans

V

• Vasily Vasilievsky, prominent 19th century Byzantinist
• Alexander Vasiliev, author of a comprehensive History of the Byzantine Empire
• Nikolay Veselovsky, the first to excavate Afrasiab (the oldest part of Samarkand), as well as the Solokha and Maikop kurgans in Southern Russia
  

  Solovyov
• Viacheslav Petrovich Volgin, (1879–1962), historian of early communist systems

Y

• Nikolai Yadrintsev, discoverer of Genghis Khan's capital Karakorum and the Orkhon script of ancient Türks
• Valentin Yanin, primary researcher of ancient birch bark documents

Z

• Gennady Zdanovich, discoverer of Sintashta culture settlement Arkaim
• Viktor Zemskov, researcher of political repression in the Soviet Union between 1917 and 1954

See also

People from Russia Political and religious leaders Pre-1168 1168–1917 1922–1991 1991–present RSFSR leaders General secretaries Soviet premiers (1st deputies) Soviet heads of state (and their spouses) Prime ministers (1st deputies) Foreign ministers Prosecutors general Metropolitans and Patriarchs Saints (1, 2) Military figures and explorers Field marshals Soviet marshals Admirals Aviators Cosmonauts Scientists, engineers and inventors Aerospace engineers Astronomers and astrophysicists Biologists Chemists Earth scientists Electrical engineers IT developers Linguists and philologists Mathematicians Naval engineers Physicians and psychologists Physicists Weaponry makers Artists and writers Architects Ballet dancers Composers Opera singers Novelists Philosophers Playwrights Poets Sportspeople Chess players