Adontz Nicholas

Nicholas Adontz (b. January 10, 1871 – d. January 27, 1942) was an Armenian historian, Byzantinologist, disciple of Nikolai Marr. He studied at the Second Gymnasium of Tbilisi, and later at the Faculty of History and Philology of Saint Petersburg State University. In 1899, he completed the full course of the university and went to Munich, then Paris, Venice and London to deepen his knowledge. In 1909, he defended his master's thesis at Saint Petersburg State University (Nikolai Marr and Ivane Javakhishvili were his opponents), and in 1915, he defended his thesis. Adontz became a professor at the same university in 1916. He lived abroad since 1920. From 1930 he was a professor at the University of Brussels; He made studies in the history and philology of Armenia, as  well as in Armenian-Byzantine relations. He has noteworthy opinions on issues of historical geography of Georgia, in particular, on Tao and Speri, as well as on social terminology (the origin of the terms „გლეხი“ (peasant), „უფალი“ (lord), etc.).

Literary work: Армения в эпоху Юстиниана, Ер., 1971.

G. Maisuradze