Nikolai Alexandrovich Mashkin

Nikolai Alexandrowitsch Maschkin ( Russian: Николай Александрович Машкин ; born February 9, 1900 in Sokolki near Mamadysch , Kazan Governorate ; † September 15, 1950 in Moscow ) was a Soviet ancient historian . He is considered the most influential representative of his subject in the Soviet Union and thus had a great influence on ancient history in Eastern Europe in the second half of the 20th century .

Nikolai Maschkin studied after attending the secondary school in Bugulma from 1918 to 1921 at the University of Samara and 1921/22 at the Lomonossow University in Moscow . After completing his studies, Mashkin was initially a Russian teacher. When the History Faculty of Moscow University was reopened in 1934, he became an ancient historian there. In 1938 he was awarded the doctorate degree. In the following years he taught at the University of Moscow and at the Academy of Sciences of the USSR . The habilitation took place in 1942 at the University of Sverdlovsk. In 1943 he was appointed to the chair of ancient history in Moscow, where he taught until his untimely death. Elena Schtaerman was one of his academic students . In 1948 he also became head of the History of the Old World section of the Academy's Historical Institute, the country's most important research institution. Mashkin died surprisingly from a heart attack .

Mashkin had a particular influence with his Roman history , which was translated into several other languages, including German. In other major research areas he devoted himself to the history of Roman North Africa, the history of the Roman provinces and the principle of Augustus . Due to his early death in 1949 he was only able to complete his principled research, which was also published in German under the title Between Republic and Empire . The work was posthumously awarded the Stalin Prize in 1951 . With more than 100 contributions to the Great Soviet Encyclopedia , Mashkin also had a great influence on the general education of the population. He also dealt with the history of ancient historical research in Russia.

Maschkin is portrayed as a restless researcher who was extremely productive in his comparatively short life. The results usually do not keep up with international research, the results of his research were largely rejected by the critics. Mashkin gains his importance above all as an academic teacher, researcher and science organizer and early pacemaker of the emerging Soviet archeology.

Fonts (selection)

• Between republic and empire. Origin and social character of the Augustan principate. Koehler & Amelang, Leipzig 1954.
• Roman history. People and Knowledge, Berlin 1954.

literature

• Heinz Heinen : Maschkin, Nikolaj Aleksandrovich. In: Peter Kuhlmann , Helmuth Schneider (Hrsg.): History of the ancient sciences. Biographical Lexicon (= The New Pauly . Supplements. Volume 6). Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2012, ISBN 978-3-476-02033-8 , Sp. 792 f.

Web links

• Mashkin, Nikolai Aleksandrovich in The Free Dictionary