Alexander Alexandrovich Vasiliev (1867-1953): The Patriarch of the Byzantine Studies

Tireless traveler even in the last part of his life, classical music enthusiast and author of original compositions for piano, diligent researcher of Byzantine history, Professor Vasiliev's life is not only fascinating, but also stimulating. From the impressive list of references one can notice the project of History of the Byzantine Empire, a work originally published in Russian in his early academic career in St. Petersburg, later translated and revised in two editions in English (1928-1929 and 1952) and one edition in French (1932). A second major research theme of Prof. Vasiliev was the relationship between Byzantines and Arabs in the 9th and 10th centuries. He was also the editor and translator into French of the Universal History of Agapius of Manbidj (Mabbug) and History of Yahya of Antioch (Yahya-ibn-Sa'id).