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{{Short description|Historian}} |
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{{Infobox scientist |
{{Infobox scientist |
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|name =Nicholas Adontz |
| name = Nicholas Adontz |
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| native_name = {{nobold|Նիկողայոս Ադոնց}} |
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|image = Nicholas Adontz.jpg |
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| image = Nicholas Adontz.jpg |
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| image_size = 150px |
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|birth_date = {{birth date|1871|1|10}} |
| birth_date = {{birth date|1871|1|10}} |
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|birth_place = [[Brnakot]], [[Sisian]], [[Russian Empire]] |
| birth_place = [[Brnakot]], [[Sisian]], [[Russian Empire]] |
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|death_date = {{death date and age|1942|1|27|1871|1|10}} |
| death_date = {{death date and age|1942|1|27|1871|1|10}} |
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|death_place = [[Brussels]], Belgium |
| death_place = [[Brussels]], Belgium |
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|field = [[Byzantine studies]], [[Armenian studies]] |
| field = [[Byzantine studies]], [[Armenian studies]] |
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|work_institutions = [[Russian Academy of Sciences]] |
| work_institutions = [[Russian Academy of Sciences]] |
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|alma_mater = [[Saint Petersburg State University]] |
| alma_mater = [[Saint Petersburg State University]] |
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|doctoral_advisor = |
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|doctoral_students = |
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⚫ | |||
|influences = [[Nicholas Marr]] |
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|influenced = [[Cyril Toumanoff]], [[Peter Charanis]] |
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|prizes = |
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|religion = |
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|footnotes = |
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}} |
}} |
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'''Nicholas Adontz''' ({{Lang-hy|Նիկողայոս Ադոնց}} |
'''Nicholas Adontz''' ({{Lang-hy|Նիկողայոս Ադոնց|translit=Nikoghayos Adonts}}; {{Lang-ru|Николай Адонц}}; January 10, 1871 – January 27, 1942) was an [[Armenians|Armenian]] [[historian]], specialising in [[Byzantine studies|Byzantine]] and [[Armenian studies]], and a [[philologist]].<ref name="SAE">{{in lang|hy}} [[Karen Yuzbashyan|Yuzbashyan, Karen]]. s.v. Adonts', Nikoghayos Gevorki. [[Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia]]. Yerevan: [[Armenian Academy of Sciences]], 1974, vol. 1, p. 77.</ref> Adontz was the author of ''Armenia in the Period of Justinian'', a highly influential work and landmark study on the social and political structures of [[Medieval Armenia|early Medieval Armenia]]. |
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==Biography== |
==Biography== |
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===Early life=== |
===Early life=== |
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Adontz was born Nikoghayos Ter- |
Adontz was born Nikoghayos Ter-Avetikian ({{Lang-hy|Նիկողայոս Տեր-Ավետիքյան}}) in the village of [[Brnakot]] in [[Sisian]], which was then part of the [[Zangezur uezd]] of the [[Elizavetpol Governorate]] (present-day [[Syunik Province|Syunik]]). His family traced its roots to an eighteenth-century Armenian military figure and close ally of [[David Bek]] named Ter-Avetik.<ref name="PBH">{{in lang|hy}} Yuzbashyan, Karen. "Nikoghayos Adonts'i gitakan zharangut'yune" [The intellectual legacy of Nikoghayos Adonts], ''[[Patma-Banasirakan Handes]]'' 4 (1962): pp. 115-128.</ref> He attended a parochial school in [[Tatev]] and later studied at the [[Gevorkian Theological Seminary]] in [[Echmiadzin]] and the Russian ''[[Gymnasium (school)|gymnasium]]'' in Tiflis (present-day [[Tbilisi]]) from 1892–1894.<ref name="SAE"/> |
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Adontz was accepted to the [[University of St. Petersburg]] and studied at the Departments of Oriental |
Adontz was accepted to the [[University of St. Petersburg]] and studied at the Departments of Oriental Languages and History and Philology under the general direction of the renowned historian and linguist [[Nicholas Marr]]. He learned Latin and Greek and graduated with honors in 1899. Following this, Adontz accompanied Marr to Europe (Munich, Paris, London and Vienna) and the two worked together in the area of Byzantine studies until 1901.<ref name="SAE"/> In 1903, Adontz returned to the Caucasus, learning [[Georgian (language)|Georgian]] and later working at the manuscript repository in Echmiadzin.<ref name="SAE"/> |
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===Graduate studies=== |
===Graduate studies=== |
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Adontz wrote and defended his [[thesis]] on "Armenia in the Period of Justinian" in 1908. Adontz was appointed as the private-assistant professor at the University of St. Petersburg in 1909. He received his |
Adontz wrote and defended his [[thesis]] on "Armenia in the Period of Justinian" in 1908. Adontz was appointed as the private-assistant professor at the University of St. Petersburg in 1909. He received his doctorate and the title of professor after defending his dissertation, entitled "Dionysius of Thrace and his Armenian Commentaries," in 1916. In that same year, with archaeologist [[Ashkharbek Kalantar]], he participated in the second [[Van, Turkey|Van]] archaeological expedition organized by [[Russian Academy of Sciences|Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences]]. One year later, he was appointed honorary trustee and professor at the [[Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages]] in Moscow.<ref name="SAE"/> |
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===Later life=== |
===Later life=== |
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In 1920, Adontz left Russia and moved to London and then Paris. Adontz was invited to deliver lectures at the [[Free University of Brussels (1834–1969)|University of Brussels]] in 1930 and was appointed to the position of the head of the newly |
In 1920, Adontz left Russia and moved to London and then Paris. Adontz was invited to deliver lectures at the [[Free University of Brussels (1834–1969)|University of Brussels]] in 1930 and was appointed to the position of the head of the newly created Department of Armenian Studies. During the Second World War, after Belgium's occupation by the [[Nazis]] and after Adontz and the other professors refused their orders to work at another institute, the University of Brussels was shut down. Left with no salary, Adontz willed his work to Belgium's small Armenian community, dying shortly thereafter in [[Brussels]] on January 27, 1942.<ref name="PBH"/> |
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==Academic work== |
==Academic work== |
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Adontz left more than 80 monographs on the history and literature of Medieval Armenia, Armenian-Byzantine relations, Armenian-Greek philology, mythology, religion, linguistics in the Armenian, Russian and French languages.<ref name="SAE"/><ref name="PBH"/> He published his first scholarly article in the journal ''[[Handes Amsorya]]'' in 1901. Some of his other notable works include ''The Peasantry of Ancient Armenia'', ''The Art of Dionysius Grammarian and his Armenian Interpretations'', and ''Political Parties in Ancient Armenia''. His ''Armenia in the Period of Justinian'' ( |
Adontz left more than 80 monographs on the history and literature of Medieval Armenia, Armenian-Byzantine relations, Armenian-Greek philology, mythology, religion, linguistics in the Armenian, Russian and French languages.<ref name="SAE"/><ref name="PBH"/> He published his first scholarly article in the journal ''[[Handes Amsorya]]'' in 1901. Some of his other notable works include ''The Peasantry of Ancient Armenia'', ''The Art of Dionysius Grammarian and his Armenian Interpretations'', and ''Political Parties in Ancient Armenia''. His ''Armenia in the Period of Justinian'' (in Russian, ''Armeniia v epokhu Iustiniana: Politicheskoe sostoianie na osnove Nakhararskogo stroia''), based on his dissertation, however, is considered to be the most notable and one of the "most important achievements in Armenian studies of the 20th century."<ref name="SAE"/> In 1970, it was published in English by Byzantine historian Nina G. Garsoïan. In another notable work, ''[[Mesrob Mashtots|Mashtots]] and his Students According to Foreign Sources'', Adontz placed the date of the creation of the [[Armenian alphabet]] by its founder, [[Mesrob Mashtots]], to the years 382–392 A.D., approximately 20 years prior to the traditional given date (405).<ref name="SAE"/> |
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In a stark departure from his studies on ancient and medieval Armenian history, Adontz took a vested interest in the history of the [[Armenian Question]] in the immediate years following the end of the First World War and published a number of works.<ref name="Diloyan">{{in lang|hy}} Diloyan, Valter. |
In a stark departure from his studies on ancient and medieval Armenian history, Adontz took a vested interest in the history of the [[Armenian Question]] in the immediate years following the end of the First World War and published a number of works.<ref name="Diloyan">{{in lang|hy}} Diloyan, Valter. s.v "Adontz, Nikoghayos," {{ill|Encyclopedia of the Armenian Question|hy|Հայկական հարց հանրագիտարան}}. Yerevan: Yerevan State University Press, 1996, p. 10.</ref> These included two booklets published in English in 1918, ''The Historical Basis of the Armenian Question and the Fall of Turkey'' and ''The Dismemberment of Turkey''; two works published in Russian in the same year, ''Turkey's Note and Western Armenia'' and ''The Armenian Question and German Plans''; and ''The Armenian Question at [[Treaty of Sèvres|Sèvres]]'', which was published in English in 1920.<ref name="Diloyan"/> He accused Western Europe for taking advantage of the Armenians' plight in the Ottoman Empire in order to increase their own influence in the region. Adontz also condemned [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Soviet Russia]] for signing the 1918 [[Treaty of Brest Litovsk]], which effectively left the once-Armenian-populated regions within the borders of the Ottoman Empire.<ref name="Diloyan"/> |
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==Selected publications== |
==Selected publications== |
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* {{in lang|fr}} ''Samuel l'Armenien, Roi des Bulgares''. Bruxelles, Palais des academies, 1938, 63 p. Published also in: ''Etudes Armeno-Byzantines''. Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Distributor: Livraria Bertrand. Lisbonne, 1965. |
* {{in lang|fr}} ''Samuel l'Armenien, Roi des Bulgares''. Bruxelles, Palais des academies, 1938, 63 p. Published also in: ''Etudes Armeno-Byzantines''. [[Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation]]. Distributor: [[Livraria Bertrand]]. Lisbonne, 1965. |
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* ''Histoire d'Arménie, les origines du X-e siècle au vie (av. J.C.)''. Préf. de René Grousset. Paris, 1946. |
* ''Histoire d'Arménie, les origines du X-e siècle au vie (av. J.C.)''. Préf. de [[René Grousset]]. Paris, 1946. |
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* '' |
* ''Armenia in the Period of Justinian: the Political Conditions Based on the Naxarar System''. Translated with partial revisions, a bibliographical note, and appendices by [[Nina G. Garsoïan]]. Lisbon, 1970. |
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* {{in lang|fr}} ''Denys de Thrace et les commentateurs arméniens''. Lisbon, 1970. |
* {{in lang|fr}} ''Denys de Thrace et les commentateurs arméniens''. Lisbon, 1970. |
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*''Mashtots and |
* {{in lang|hy}} ''[[:iarchive:AdontzMashtotsHA1925|Antsano't' e'jer Masht'ots'i ew nra ashakertneri keank'its' e"st o'tar aghbiwrneri]]'' [Unknown Pages from the Life of Mashtots and His Students according to Foreign Sources]. 1925. |
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*''Towards the Solution to the Armenian Question''. London, 1920. |
*''Towards the Solution to the Armenian Question''. London, 1920. |
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==Further reading== |
==Further reading== |
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*Adalian, Rouben. "Nicholas Adontz: The Quest for a Rational History," Ph.D. Dissertation, [[University of California, Los Angeles]], 1987. |
*[[Rouben Paul Adalian|Adalian, Rouben]]. "Nicholas Adontz: The Quest for a Rational History," Ph.D. Dissertation, [[University of California, Los Angeles]], 1987. |
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*Ishkhan, Mushegh. "Professor Nicholas Adontz: Remembrance and Impressions," ''[[Armenian Review]]'' 39 (1986) |
*[[Moushegh Ishkhan|Ishkhan, Mushegh]]. "Professor Nicholas Adontz: Remembrance and Impressions," ''[[Armenian Review]]'' 39 (1986): pp. 55–80. |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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[[Category:1942 deaths]] |
[[Category:1942 deaths]] |
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[[Category:People from Syunik Province]] |
[[Category:People from Syunik Province]] |
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[[Category:People from Elizavetpol Governorate]] |
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[[Category:Armenian people from the Russian Empire]] |
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[[Category:Ethnic Armenian historians]] |
[[Category:Ethnic Armenian historians]] |
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[[Category:Byzantinists from the Russian Empire]] |
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[[Category:Armenian studies scholars]] |
[[Category:Armenian studies scholars]] |
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[[Category: |
[[Category:Historians of Armenia]] |
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[[Category:Historians of the Caucasus]] |
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[[Category: |
[[Category:Medievalists from the Russian Empire]] |
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[[Category:Historians from the Russian Empire]] |
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[[Category:Soviet emigrants to Belgium]] |
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[[Category:Scholars of Byzantine history]] |
Revision as of 14:31, 26 July 2024
Nicholas Adontz | |
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Նիկողայոս Ադոնց | |
Born | |
Died | January 27, 1942 Brussels, Belgium | (aged 71)
Alma mater | Saint Petersburg State University |
Known for | -Histoire d'Arménie (1946) -Armenia in the Period of Justinian: the Political Conditions based on the Naxarar System (1908) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Byzantine studies, Armenian studies |
Institutions | Russian Academy of Sciences |
Nicholas Adontz (Armenian: Նիկողայոս Ադոնց, romanized: Nikoghayos Adonts; Russian: Николай Адонц; January 10, 1871 – January 27, 1942) was an Armenian historian, specialising in Byzantine and Armenian studies, and a philologist.[1] Adontz was the author of Armenia in the Period of Justinian, a highly influential work and landmark study on the social and political structures of early Medieval Armenia.
Biography
Early life
Adontz was born Nikoghayos Ter-Avetikian (Armenian: Նիկողայոս Տեր-Ավետիքյան) in the village of Brnakot in Sisian, which was then part of the Zangezur uezd of the Elizavetpol Governorate (present-day Syunik). His family traced its roots to an eighteenth-century Armenian military figure and close ally of David Bek named Ter-Avetik.[2] He attended a parochial school in Tatev and later studied at the Gevorkian Theological Seminary in Echmiadzin and the Russian gymnasium in Tiflis (present-day Tbilisi) from 1892–1894.[1]
Adontz was accepted to the University of St. Petersburg and studied at the Departments of Oriental Languages and History and Philology under the general direction of the renowned historian and linguist Nicholas Marr. He learned Latin and Greek and graduated with honors in 1899. Following this, Adontz accompanied Marr to Europe (Munich, Paris, London and Vienna) and the two worked together in the area of Byzantine studies until 1901.[1] In 1903, Adontz returned to the Caucasus, learning Georgian and later working at the manuscript repository in Echmiadzin.[1]
Graduate studies
Adontz wrote and defended his thesis on "Armenia in the Period of Justinian" in 1908. Adontz was appointed as the private-assistant professor at the University of St. Petersburg in 1909. He received his doctorate and the title of professor after defending his dissertation, entitled "Dionysius of Thrace and his Armenian Commentaries," in 1916. In that same year, with archaeologist Ashkharbek Kalantar, he participated in the second Van archaeological expedition organized by Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences. One year later, he was appointed honorary trustee and professor at the Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages in Moscow.[1]
Later life
In 1920, Adontz left Russia and moved to London and then Paris. Adontz was invited to deliver lectures at the University of Brussels in 1930 and was appointed to the position of the head of the newly created Department of Armenian Studies. During the Second World War, after Belgium's occupation by the Nazis and after Adontz and the other professors refused their orders to work at another institute, the University of Brussels was shut down. Left with no salary, Adontz willed his work to Belgium's small Armenian community, dying shortly thereafter in Brussels on January 27, 1942.[2]
Academic work
Adontz left more than 80 monographs on the history and literature of Medieval Armenia, Armenian-Byzantine relations, Armenian-Greek philology, mythology, religion, linguistics in the Armenian, Russian and French languages.[1][2] He published his first scholarly article in the journal Handes Amsorya in 1901. Some of his other notable works include The Peasantry of Ancient Armenia, The Art of Dionysius Grammarian and his Armenian Interpretations, and Political Parties in Ancient Armenia. His Armenia in the Period of Justinian (in Russian, Armeniia v epokhu Iustiniana: Politicheskoe sostoianie na osnove Nakhararskogo stroia), based on his dissertation, however, is considered to be the most notable and one of the "most important achievements in Armenian studies of the 20th century."[1] In 1970, it was published in English by Byzantine historian Nina G. Garsoïan. In another notable work, Mashtots and his Students According to Foreign Sources, Adontz placed the date of the creation of the Armenian alphabet by its founder, Mesrob Mashtots, to the years 382–392 A.D., approximately 20 years prior to the traditional given date (405).[1]
In a stark departure from his studies on ancient and medieval Armenian history, Adontz took a vested interest in the history of the Armenian Question in the immediate years following the end of the First World War and published a number of works.[3] These included two booklets published in English in 1918, The Historical Basis of the Armenian Question and the Fall of Turkey and The Dismemberment of Turkey; two works published in Russian in the same year, Turkey's Note and Western Armenia and The Armenian Question and German Plans; and The Armenian Question at Sèvres, which was published in English in 1920.[3] He accused Western Europe for taking advantage of the Armenians' plight in the Ottoman Empire in order to increase their own influence in the region. Adontz also condemned Soviet Russia for signing the 1918 Treaty of Brest Litovsk, which effectively left the once-Armenian-populated regions within the borders of the Ottoman Empire.[3]
Selected publications
- (in French) Samuel l'Armenien, Roi des Bulgares. Bruxelles, Palais des academies, 1938, 63 p. Published also in: Etudes Armeno-Byzantines. Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Distributor: Livraria Bertrand. Lisbonne, 1965.
- Histoire d'Arménie, les origines du X-e siècle au vie (av. J.C.). Préf. de René Grousset. Paris, 1946.
- Armenia in the Period of Justinian: the Political Conditions Based on the Naxarar System. Translated with partial revisions, a bibliographical note, and appendices by Nina G. Garsoïan. Lisbon, 1970.
- (in French) Denys de Thrace et les commentateurs arméniens. Lisbon, 1970.
- (in Armenian) Antsano't' e'jer Masht'ots'i ew nra ashakertneri keank'its' e"st o'tar aghbiwrneri [Unknown Pages from the Life of Mashtots and His Students according to Foreign Sources]. 1925.
- Towards the Solution to the Armenian Question. London, 1920.
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h (in Armenian) Yuzbashyan, Karen. s.v. Adonts', Nikoghayos Gevorki. Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia. Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1974, vol. 1, p. 77.
- ^ a b c (in Armenian) Yuzbashyan, Karen. "Nikoghayos Adonts'i gitakan zharangut'yune" [The intellectual legacy of Nikoghayos Adonts], Patma-Banasirakan Handes 4 (1962): pp. 115-128.
- ^ a b c (in Armenian) Diloyan, Valter. s.v "Adontz, Nikoghayos," Encyclopedia of the Armenian Question . Yerevan: Yerevan State University Press, 1996, p. 10.
Further reading
- Adalian, Rouben. "Nicholas Adontz: The Quest for a Rational History," Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, 1987.
- Ishkhan, Mushegh. "Professor Nicholas Adontz: Remembrance and Impressions," Armenian Review 39 (1986): pp. 55–80.
External links
- Works by or about Nicholas Adontz at the Internet Archive
- (in Armenian) A detailed biography by ArmenianHouse.
- 1871 births
- 1942 deaths
- People from Syunik Province
- People from Elizavetpol Governorate
- Armenian people from the Russian Empire
- Ethnic Armenian historians
- Byzantinists from the Russian Empire
- Armenian studies scholars
- Historians of Armenia
- Historians of the Caucasus
- Medievalists from the Russian Empire
- Historians from the Russian Empire
- Soviet emigrants to Belgium
- Scholars of Byzantine history