V.O. Kluchevsky's Reference to Antiquity in the Conceptual-Terminological and Legal Analysis of the Realities of Russian History
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The article discusses terminological analysis of sources in the works of V.O. Klyuchevsky, in the process of which he compared the concepts of Russian and Greco-Roman history, clarified the meaning of the terms of Russian realities through ancient Slavic translations of ancient stories. The terminology of social structure, social and political life, urban and rural settlements, economics, monetary circulation, legal proceedings, contained in written sources on the history of the Russian state, was subjected by V.O. Klyuchevsky to comparative analysis with Latin and Greek concepts of the relevant social spheres. Cases where the historian uses the works of authors of late antiquity are given. Attention is drawn to the fact that V.O. Klyuchevsky, when using the categorical apparatus of historical science in Russian to concretize the meaning of concepts, gave in parallel Latin and Greek terms. The article contains references of V.O. Klyuchevsky to Roman law and Byzantine innovations into it when studying the content of legal sources of Rus' (“Russian Truth”, treaties between Rus' and Byzantium, etc.). Noted is a correlation made by V.O. Klyuchevsky's between norms of medieval Russian and Roman law when studying issues of slavery and freedmen (statuses of children from parents of different classes, liberation without ransom, etc.), as well as his clarification of the similarities and differences of legal provisions. The ancient foundations of Klyuchevsky's definition of the state and its goals, the researcher's attitude to the idea of progress of historical development through the prism of ancient history are given.
Author: Vera V. Dementyeva
Institution: Yaroslavl State University
Language: English
Subfield: History
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7204107111