Alexander Alexandrovich Vasiliev (1867-1953) was considered the foremost authority on Byzantine history and culture in the mid-20th century. His History of the Byzantine Empire (vol. 1-2, 1928) remains one of a few comprehensive accounts of the entire Byzantine history, on the par with those authored by Edward Gibbon

Edward Gibbon

Edward Gibbon was an English historian and Member of Parliament...

 and Fyodor Uspensky

Fyodor Uspensky

Fyodor Ivanovich Uspensky or Uspenskij was the preeminent Russian Byzantinist in the first third of the 20th century. His works are considered to be among the finest illustrations of the flowering of Byzantine studies in Tsarist Russia....

.

Vasiliev studied under one of the earliest professional Byzantinists, Vasily Vasilievsky

Vasily Vasilievsky

Vasily Grigorievich Vasilievsky was a Russian historian who founded the St. Petersburg school of medieval studies and was a major force in Byzantine studies during the second half of the 19th century.The son of a rural priest, Vasilievsky was born on 2 February 1838...

, at the University of St Petersburg and later taught Arabic language

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

 there. Between 1897 and 1900, he furthered his education in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. In 1902, he accompanied Nicholas Marr in his trip to St Catherine Monastery

Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai

Saint Catherine's Monastery lies on the Sinai Peninsula, at the mouth of a gorge at the foot of Mount Sinai in the city of Saint Catherine in Egypt's South Sinai Governorate. The monastery is Orthodox and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site...

 in Sinai

Sinai Peninsula

The Sinai Peninsula or Sinai is a triangular peninsula in Egypt about in area. It is situated between the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and the Red Sea to the south, and is the only part of Egyptian territory located in Asia as opposed to Africa, effectively serving as a land bridge between two...

.

During his stay at the Tartu University

University of Tartu

The University of Tartu is a classical university in the city of Tartu, Estonia. University of Tartu is the national university of Estonia; it is the biggest and highest-ranked university in Estonia...

 (1904-12), Vasiliev prepared and published a highly influential monograph, Byzantium and the Arabs (1907). He also worked in the Russian Archaeology Institute, established by Fyodor Uspensky in Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

. In 1912, he moved to the St Petersburg University as a professor. He was elected to the Russian Academy of Sciences

Russian Academy of Sciences

The Russian Academy of Sciences consists of the national academy of Russia and a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation as well as auxiliary scientific and social units like libraries, publishers and hospitals....

 in 1919.

In 1925, during his visit to Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, Vasiliev was persuaded by Michael Rostovtzeff

Michael Rostovtzeff

Mikhail Ivanovich Rostovtzeff, or Rostovtsev was one of the 20th century's foremost authorities on ancient Greek, Iranian, and Roman history....

 to emigrate to the West. It was Rostovtzeff who ensured a position at the University of Wisconsin–Madison

University of Wisconsin–Madison

The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...

 for him. Several decades later, Vasiliev moved to work in Dumbarton Oaks

Dumbarton Oaks

Dumbarton Oaks is the conventional name for the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, situated on a historic property in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The institution is administered by the Trustees for Harvard University. Its founders, Robert Woods Bliss and his wife...

. Towards the end of his life, he was elected President of the Nikodim Kondakov

Nikodim Kondakov

Nikodim Pavlovich Kondakov , 1844, village of Khalan, Kursk Governorate, Russian Empire–February 17, 1925, Prague, Czechoslovakia), was a Russian historian, specialist in history of Byzantine art. Attended Moscow University under Fedor Buslaev in 1861–1865. Taught in the Moscow Art School...

 Institute in Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

 and of the Association Internationale des Etudes Byzantines.

Biography

• Milton V. Anastos: Alexander A. Vasiliev: a personal sketch. In: The Russian Review
  The Russian Review
  The Russian Review is a major independent peer-reviewed multi-disciplinary academic journal devoted to the history, literature, culture, fine arts, cinema, society, and politics of the Russian Federation, former Soviet Union and former Russian Empire. The journal was established in 1941 and is...
  
   13, January 1954, p. 59-63.
• Sirarpie Der-Nersessian
  Sirarpie Der-Nersessian
  Sirarpie Der Nersessian was an Armenian art historian who specialized in Armenian and Byzantine studies. Der Nersessian was a renowned academic and a pioneer in Armenian art history. She taught at several institutions in the United States, including Wellesley College in Massachusetts and as Henri...
  
  . "Alexander Alexandrovich Vasiliev, 1867-1953." Dumbarton Oaks Papers 9/10, 1956, pp. 1-21.