Nicholas Adontz

Nicholas Adontz
Born	(1871-01-10)January 10, 1871 Brnakot, Sisian, Russian Empire
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 Գևորգի Ադոնց, Nikoġayos Gevorgi Adonc’, also written as Adonts; Russian: Николай Георгиевич Адонц, Nikolay Georgievich Adonts; January 10, 1871 – January 27, 1942) was a prominent Armenian historian, specialist of Byzantine and Armenian studies, and philologist. Adontz was the author of the Armenia in the Period of Justinian, a highly influential work and landmark study on the social and political structures of early Medieval Armenia.

Biography

Early life

Adontz was born Nikoghayos Ter-Avetikyan (Armenian: Նիկողայոս Տեր-Ավետիքյան) in the village of Brnakot in Sisian, which was then part of the Zangezur uezd of the Elisabethpol Governorate (modern Syunik). His family traced its roots to an 18th century Armenian military figure and close ally of David Bek named Ter-Avetik. He graduated from a parochial school in Tatev and later studied at the Gevorkian Theological Seminary in Echmiadzin and the Russian gymnasium in Tbilisi (1892–1894).

Adontz was accepted to the University of St. Petersburg and studied at the Departments of Oriental languages and History and Philology under the general direction of the renowned historian and linguist, Nicholas Marr. He learned Latin and Greek and graduated with honors in 1899. Following this, Adontz went along with Marr to Europe (Munich, Paris, London and Vienna) and the two worked together in the area of Byzantine studies until 1901. In 1903, Adontz returned to the Caucasus, learning Georgian and later working at the manuscript repository in Echmiadzin.

Graduate studies

Adontz wrote his dissertation Armenia in the Period of Justinian and defended his MA Degree in 1908. Adontz was appointed as the private-assistant professor at the University of St. Petersburg in 1909. He received his Ph.D and the title of professor by the work Dionysius of Thrace and his Armenian Interpretations written in 1916. In 1916, with archaeologist Ashkharbek Kalantar he participated in the II Van archaeological expedition organized by Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences. One year later, he was appointed honorary trustee and professor at the Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages in Moscow.

Later life

In 1920, Adontz left Russia and moved to London and then Paris. Adontz was invited to deliver lectures at the University of Brussels in 1930 and was appointed to the position of the head of the newly organized Department of Armenian Studies. During the Second World War, Belgium was occupied by Nazi Germany 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 and died shortly thereafter in Brussels on January 27, 1942.

Academic work

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. He published his first scholarly article in the journal Handes Amsorya in 1901. Some of his other notable works include The Peasantry of Ancient Armenia, The Art of Dionysius Grammarian and his Armenian Interpretations, and Political Parties in Ancient Armenia. His Armenia in the Period of Justinian (under the full Russian title of Армения в эпоху Юстиниана: Политическое состояние на основе Нахарского строя), based on his dissertation, however, is considered to be one of the "most important achievements in Armenian studies of the 20th century." In 1970, his work 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 the Armenian alphabet by its founder, Mesrob Mashtots, to the years 382-392 A.D., approximately 20 years prior to the traditional given date (405).

In a stark departure from his studies on ancient and medieval Armenian history, Adontz took a vested interest in the history of the Armenian Question in the immediate years following the end of the First World War. He wrote several works on the subject of the Armenian Question. These included two works published in English in 1918, The Historical Foundation of the Armenian Question and the Collapse of Turkey and The Partition of Turkey; two works published in Russian in the same year, Turkey's Note and Western Armenia and The Armenian Question and Germany Plans; and The Armenian Question at Sèvres, which was published in English in 1920. He charged 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 condemned Soviet Russia for signing the Treaty of Brest Litovsk, believing that the agreement surrendered all of Western Armenia to the Turks.

Selected publications

• Template:Fr icon Samuel l'Armenien, Roi des Bulgares. Bruxelles, Palais des academies, 1938. Published also in: Etudes Armeno-Byzantines. Livraria Bertrand. Lisbonne, 1965.
• Histoire d'Arménie, les origines du X-e siècle au vie (av. J.C.). Préf. de René Grousset. Paris, 1946.
• Armenia in the Period of Justinian: the Political Conditions Based on the Naxarar System. Translated with partial revisions, a bibliographical note, and appendices by Nina G. Garsoïan. Lisbon, 1970.
• Template:Fr icon Denys de Thrace et les commentateurs arméniens. Lisbon, 1970.
• Mashtots and his Students According to Foreign Sources. 1925.

External links

• Template:Hy icon A detailed biography by ArmenianHouse.