PIGULEVSKAJA, Nina Viktorovna (née Stebnickaja). St.Petersburg 1.(13.)1.1894 — Leningrad 17.2.1970. Russian Historian of Byzantium and the Near East. Born of a family of minor nobility, daughter of Ieronim Ivanovič Stebnickij (1832–1897), a geodesist and lawyer, grew up in St.Petersburg. Studies of Semitics under P. K. Kokovcov, specialized in Syriac as the source language of early Byzantine and Sassanid history. In Byzantine studies student of A. A. Vasil’ev, in Arabic of I. Ju. Kračkovskij. In the 1920s she catalogued the Syriac manuscripts in Leningrad. In 1929 arrested, returned to Leningrad after five years in lager. Dr. istor. nauk 1939 Leningrad, in 1939-51 teaching at Oriental Faculty. Professor 1945. During the war struggled to preserve the manuscript collections and also continued teaching. Member of Soviet Academy 1946. Later also working in Moscow. Married Georgij Vasil’evič Pigulevskij (1888–1964), a chemist.
Her special fields were the contacts between the Byzantine Empire and Sassanid Iran in the 5th and 6th centuries as well as the pre-Islamic history of Arabia, both in the light of Syriac sources, but she had also many other interests including even Central Asian fragments.
Publications: At least 170 items, e.g.:
– “Fragments syriaques et syro-turques de Hara-Hoto et de Turfan”, Revue de l’Orient Chrétien 10, 1938, 3-46; “Sirijskij i siro-tjurkskij fragmenty iz Hara-Hoto i Turfana”, Sov. Vostokoved. 1, 1940, 212-234 (also in Japanese in Mōto 9:9, 1942).
– “Sirijskie istočniki po istorii narodov SSSR”, Trudy Inst. Vostokoved. AN SSSR 36, 1941, 1-172.
– Vizantija i Iran na rubeže VI i VII vekov. 289 p. M. 1946.
– Vizantija na putjah v Indiju. 409 p. M. – Lg. 1951; rev. German transl. Byzanz auf den Wegen nach Indien. 360 p. Berliner byzantinistische Arbeiten 36. Berlin 1969.
– Goroda Irana v rannem srednevekov’e. 366 p. M. – Lg. 1956; French transl. Les villes de l’état iranien aux épogues parthe et sassante. 8+266 p. P. 1963
– Araby i granic Vizantij i Irana. 334 p. Lg. 1964.
– Istorija mar Jabalahi III i rabban Saumy. Issledov., perevod i primečanija. 162 p. M. 1958.
– With others: Istorija Irana s drevnejshih vremen do konča XVIII veka. 390 p. Lg. 1958.
– Bližnij Vostok, Vizantija, Slavjane. 238 p. Lg. 1976.
Sources: H.-W. Haussig, ZDMG 121, 1971, 1-6; *A. G. Lundin, NAA 1963:6, 262–266 with bibliography & photo; Miliband 1977 (not in 1995); *A.S. Tveritinova, NAA 1963:6, 262-266 with bibliography & photo; *NAA 1970:3, 242–244 with photo; *Vasil’kov & Sorokina 2003; German Wikipedia (more in Russian version, with photo).
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