History of the Ancient and Medieval History Department of at BSU
The Ancient and Medieval History Department traces its origins to 1936, when the Faculty of History of Belarusian State University established a joint Ancient and Medieval History Department. Three years later it was divided into two independent departments, each of which was immediately integrated into the system of postgraduate training for early‑career researchers.
The Ancient History Department was headed by Academician N. M. Nikolsky, while the Medieval History Department was led by Academician V. N. Pertev. In 1959 the two units were merged into a single Ancient and Medieval History Department within the Faculty of History, with V. N. Pertsev serving as its first Head. From 1960 to 1977 the department was chaired by the ancient historian Professor F.M. Nechai, whose research focused primarily on the history of Ancient Rome and who authored the monographs “Rome and the Italics” and “The Formation of the Roman State.” Among his students were K. A. Revyako, O. I. Khankevich, V. A. Fedosik and N. I. Minitsky.
Formation of scholarly schools
In the same years the department faced an urgent need to train specialists in the history of the Ancient Near East and Classical Greece. As it was not yet possible to provide such training in Minsk, talented postgraduate students were sent to Leningrad for advanced study: V. N. Ryabtsevich and G. I. Dovgyalo entered postgraduate programmes at the State Hermitage Museum, while M. S. Korzun joined the postgraduate school of Leningrad University. The combined efforts of scholars from the universities of Moscow, Leningrad and Minsk and from the Hermitage laid a solid foundation for the department’s further independent development and for the emergence of strong research schools in Classical Studies, Medieval and Oriental Studies.
From 1977 the department was headed by Professor D. S. Klimovsky, who passed away prematurely in 1982. Between 1982 and 1988 it was led by Associate Professor N. A. Gusakova, a prominent Belarusian medievalist. From 1988 to 2020 the Head of Department was Professor V. A. Fedosik, a student of Professor Nechai and one of the country’s leading specialists in Ancient and Medieval History. He is the author of a number of monographs, encyclopaedic works and popular‑science books, including “Mysteries without Mystery: The Emergence and Social Nature of the First Christian Sacraments” (1979), “A Critique of Theological Concepts of the Christian Catechumenate” (1983), “Church and State: A Critique of Theological Concepts” (1988), “Cyprian and Ancient Christianity” (1991), “The Jewish War” (1991), “Jewish Antiquities” (1994), “The Seven Wonders of the World”, “Antiquity through the Eyes of the Middle Ages”, “The Medieval World”, “The Ancient World: Culture, Art, History,” “Essays on the History of the Christian Church in Europe,” and others; in total he has published more than 320 scholarly and methodological works.
From 2020 to 2023 the Ancient and Medieval History Department was headed by Professor A. A. Prokhorov. During this period its academic and educational links with universities in the People’s Republic of China expanded significantly: Chinese Master’s and PhD students began to study at the Faculty of History, academic mobility increased and joint projects were launched. On Professor Prokhorov’s initiative the department became one of the organisers of the international Master’s programme “History of the Belarusian Diaspora” run jointly by the Faculties of History of BSU and Lomonosov Moscow State University (2019).
Since 2024 the department has been headed by Associate Professor N. V. Kosheleva, PhD in History and graduate of the Faculty of History at BSU. She specialises in Oriental Studies and Islamic Studies; her research interests include the history of Islam and patterns of inter‑civilizational and inter‑religious interaction. N. V. Kosheleva is the author of more than 120 scholarly and educational publications, including several textbooks and the co‑authored volume “A History of Korea from Antiquity to the Present,” as well as numerous articles on Islam and Muslim civilisation. Under her leadership the department continues to develop its core research areas, strengthens international partnerships and participates actively in research and educational projects.
Research areas and training of researchers
The Ancient and Medieval History Department is the leading specialised research centre in Belarus in the fields of Ancient Studies, Medieval Studies, the History of the Ancient East, and the History of Religion. Its staff work on problems in the history of Ancient Rome and Classical Greece, the history of ancient and early medieval Christianity, late antique and medieval mentalities, and the history of medieval Germany. The department hosts postgraduate (PhD) and doctoral programmes; with rare exceptions, most Belarusian Candidates and Doctors of Science in Ancient and Medieval History, Oriental Studies and Religious Studies received their training at the Faculty of History of BSU. The current academic staff consists entirely of graduates of the Faculty of History.
Over the years the department has been home to many distinguished scholars, including Professor G. M. Livshits (Doctor of History and Doctor of Philosophy), a specialist in Ancient History and Judaica; Associate Professor R. A. Nikolskaya, an expert in Classical and Religious Studies; medievalist Professor Y. E. Ivonin; Hittitologist and Indo‑Europeanist Associate Professor G. I. Dovgyalo; and Professor K.A. Revyako, a leading authority on the Punic Wars. Among those who taught here were eminent Latinists Professor N.A. Goncharova, S. I. Pilman, B. A. Meltser and others.
Distinct scholarly schools have emerged at the department in Antiquity, Oriental Studies, Indo‑European antiquity, the history of ancient and medieval Christianity, Religious Studies and Germanic Studies. The development of Belarusian Oriental Studies can be traced back to Academician N. M. Nikolsky; in the 1960s the work of Associate Professor G. I. Dovgyalo, a Hittitologist and Indo‑Europeanist who wrote his dissertation under the supervision of I M. Diakonoff, gave a new impetus to Belarusian Classical Studies. He passed on his interest in Indo‑European antiquity and Oriental Studies to his students A A. Prokhorov and O. V. Perzashkevich, who continue to advance these fields at BSU.
Research on the history of ancient Greece at the department was developed by Nikolsky’s students V. I. Shevchenko and R A. Nikolskaya, as well as by Professor M. S. Korzun. The study of ancient Roman history was initiated by Professor G. M. Livshits, author of the monograph “Class Struggle in Judea and Uprisings against Rome.” Professor K. A. Revyako carried forward the department’s traditions in Roman history; his monograph “The Punic Wars” became a classic work of Soviet scholarship. Questions of the socio‑political history and constitutional development of Ancient Rome were examined by O. I. Khankevich. Today the department’s traditions in Classical Studies are continued by Associate Professor A. V. Kozlenko, who focuses on the military and political history of the Roman Republic.
The emergence of Religious Studies at the department is associated with the names of N. M. Nikolsky, author of “History of the Russian Church,” and G. M. Livshits, author of a series of monographs on religion, atheism and free‑thought in different periods. Professor V. A. Fedosik established his own school for the study of ancient and early medieval Christianity; in this field his students have defended seven PhD theses and one doctoral dissertation. Research on the history of religions is now one of the department’s most dynamic areas. Professor A. A. Prokhorov examines Slavic religious beliefs, Christianity and Judaism, as well as religions of the East, while Sanskrit scholar O. V. Perzashkevich focuses on religious traditions of Asia, above all India. Associate Professor N. V. Kosheleva specialises in Islamic Studies and also works on other Eastern religions.
The study of medieval history at the department is oriented primarily towards Germanic Studies, a field whose foundations were laid by Academician V. N. Pertsev. Medieval Germany was explored by Associate Professor L. P. Sushkevich. The traditions of Germanic and Anglo‑Saxon Studies that developed at BSU are now carried forward by Professor I. O. Evtukhov, whose research focuses on Western European mentalities in Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages. Associate Professor E. D. Smirnova studies the problems of the Late Middle Ages and pays special attention to research on the history of everyday life.
Many ancient and medieval historians teaching at other universities in Belarus are alumni of the department’s postgraduate school. Teaching at the department is also carried out by its graduates who hold part‑time positions, including Associate Professor N. O. Pashkov (a former postgraduate), Senior Lecturer N. A. Gul and Lecturers Y. S. Kukharchyk and M. M. Slobozhanin.
International cooperation
The department maintains close scholarly ties with universities in Moscow, St Petersburg, Smolensk, Kazan and other cities, as well as with colleagues in the People’s Republic of China, Kazakhstan, India and others. Associate Professor O. V. Perzashkevich plays a particularly active role in international cooperation as a member of the governing bodies of the “Belarus–India” and “Belarus–Iran” friendship societies and as a partner of a number of international academic organisations.
Publications, textbooks and conferences
Every year the staff of the department publish monographs and articles on ancient and medieval history in Belarusian and international journals, including periodicals issued by leading research centres in Russia, the CIS and Asia. In addition to monographs and articles, the department is actively involved in producing textbooks and teaching materials for universities and schools in the subjects it oversees. The tradition of academic textbook publishing dates back to the works of Academicians Nikolsky and Pertsev: as early as 1912 Pertsev’s secondary‑school textbook on the history of ancient Greece appeared in Moscow, and in 1952 a textbook on ancient history for teacher‑training institutes was published under the editorship of V. N. D’yakov and N. M. Nikolsky.
In the years of independent Belarus the department has prepared all school textbooks on ancient and medieval history, as well as a number of study guides and lecture courses on the history of the Ancient East, ancient Greece, medieval Europe and the history of religions. Since the late 1990s, in memory of its founders N. M. Nikolsky and V. N. Pertsev, the department has hosted the biennial international conference “November Meetings”. This prestigious forum brings together specialists in Classical Studies, Oriental Studies and Medieval Studies from Belarus, Russia, the CIS, and Asia; the conference proceedings are published in edited volumes and specialist journals and are also made available through the BSU electronic library.
