Radlov, Vasily Vasilyevich

Youth and Education

Born into the family of a city police commissioner; was the only son. At the end of the gymnasium entered in 1854 at the Faculty of Philosophy of Berlin University . Originally he was fond of theology , but then he became interested in comparative historical linguistics - he attended F. Bopp’s lectures. Two semesters in the University of Gallia attended lectures by A. F. Pott on Indo-European Studies and Historical Phonetics . Inspired by Oriental studies, he became a student of the geographer K. Ritter , began to take lessons in oriental languages ​​from X. Steinthal and V. Shott . Influenced by the latter, young Radlov developed an interest in the Ural and Altai languages, and he decided to go to Russia to study them. For this, he began to learn Russian .

On May 20, 1858, Radlov successfully defended his thesis on "The Influence of Religion on the Peoples of Asia" at Jena University and was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Arriving in Russia

In June 1858, Radlov arrived in St. Petersburg to study at the Asian Museum , carrying with him a letter of recommendation from V. Shott. For a while I earned my living by private lessons. In St. Petersburg, Radlov met with a Russian diplomat, Baron P. K. Meyendorf , who invited him to take the place of a teacher of German and Latin languages ​​at the Barnaul Mining School , which was transformed into a gymnasium. This would allow Radlov to study the languages ​​of Altai directly in the language environment and he, having passed on March 19, 1859, the exam for the title of German teacher in gymnasiums and on May 11 of the same year, taking the oath of allegiance and citizenship to Russia, three days later, on May 14 , he received official appointment in Barnaul. He was followed by his fiancée, the national teacher Paulina Avgustovna Fromm, with whom he became engaged in Germany . From this time on, Friedrich Wilhelm Radlov became known as Vasily Vasilyevich Radlov .

Barnaul and Altai

In Altai, V. V. Radlov began a purposeful study of local Turkic languages, folklore and history. In the summer of 1860, he used his vacation to travel to Biysk , where he collected language material in the field. He managed to convince the zaisan to send a local from Altai to Barnaul to practice his language with him. During the day, Radlov taught at the District Mining School, and in the evenings he worked with an informant. During the winter of 1860-1861. he has advanced sufficiently in speaking in order to be able to communicate with local people during annual summer trips. Similarly, he mastered other local dialects.

In Barnaul, Radlov married Pauline Fromm, his former bride since 1858; 5 children were born there. The family adhered to Lutheran traditions.

Over time, Radlov managed to visit Central Asia and expand the range of languages ​​studied. After the five-year business trip expired, the scientist went to Petersburg to extend it. In achieving this, he was helped by the famous maid of honor, Edith von Raden . Stay in St. Petersburg Radlov used to expand scientific dating.

Returning to Barnaul, Radlov continued his trips around the region and field research. In total, during his stay in Altai, Radlov made ten annual (with a break in 1864 ) trips to the Uighurs , Altaians , Teleuts , Shors , Kumandy , Tuvans , Kazakhs , Kirghiz , Abakan Tatars ( Khakas ), West Siberian Tatars , Chinese . In addition, from 1866 he began to publish the results of his studies. This year the first volume of his famous work “Samples of Folk Literature of Turkic Tribes ...” (collection of texts in Turkic languages ​​with German translation) was published. The second volume appeared in 1868 , and the third in 1870 . It was an outstanding edition of the linguistic and folk material, which immediately made the name of V. V. Radlov well-known in the scientific world. Until 1896 , four more volumes of Samples were published.

Particularly noteworthy is the role of V. V. Radlov in studying the history of the Uyghur people expressed in his unique work “On the Uighurs” of 1893. In this unique work, he draws on the works of medieval scholars in particular Rashid al-Din Jami at-tavarih thin analysis of the ethnogenesis of the Uyghur people and their history.

In 1870, he recorded and published the work of Kazakh folklore " Akbala " in the book "Samples of Folk Literature of the Turkic Tribes Living in Southern Siberia and the Dzungarian Steppe". The work tells about the unhappy love of the girl Akbala and the young Bozdak ^[4] .

In addition to studies of language and folklore, V. V. Radlov was also engaged in archaeological excavations in the Altai, in the Barabinsk and Kirgiz steppes , in the Minusinsk Basin , and in various regions of Central Asia. From 1863 to 1869, with his participation, about 150 mounds were excavated, including the world famous Great Katandinsky and Berelsky kurgans , which gave the name to the same stage in the development of the culture of the nomads of Eastern Kazakhstan of the early Iron Age (5th – 4th centuries BC.). According to experts, Radlov conducted his archaeological excavations at a high professional level, exemplary for that time. He himself developed new techniques for studying ancient monuments, he sought to improve existing ones.

In Altai, Radlov was formed as a universal turkologist, equally deeply interested in dialectology , lexicography , lexicology , comparative and historical phonetics , grammar of Turkic languages, ethnography and archeology, folklore and history of the peoples of Altai and Western Siberia.

Kazan

In 1871, V. V. Radlov went to St. Petersburg to ascertain his future fate. On the way, he stopped in Kazan , where, unexpectedly, he received an invitation to take the place of an inspector of Tatar, Bashkir and Kyrgyz Muslim schools of the Kazan school district. The initiative to appoint Radlov to this post came from the famous orientalist N. I. Ilminsky , who was then a professor of the Turkish-Tatar language at Kazan University .

Arriving in St. Petersburg, V. V. Radlov successfully resolved all organizational issues. He was assisted by the Minister of Public Education, D. A. Tolstoy, and the Chairman of the State Council, the Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich . Radlov not only received an appointment to Kazan and achieved a positive solution to all organizational issues, but also spent a scientific trip abroad for himself to gain new experience and acquire training aids for work in Kazan. Taking the opportunity, Radlov visited his parents in Berlin.

In the winter of 1872, V. V. Radlov took up his duties in the Kazan school district. Facing considerable difficulties, he took up the establishment of a teacher’s seminary, the opening of a women's school, and he himself took part in writing and editing school textbooks.

In parallel, he studied the Turkic languages ​​of the Volga region , participated in the activities of the Society of amateurs of natural science, anthropology and ethnography at the Kazan University, and also published a number of works. At the university, Radlov met the distinguished linguist I. A. Baudouin de Courtenay . Participation in meetings of the linguistic circle grouped around Baudouin de Courtenay allowed Radlov to significantly increase his general theoretical linguistic competence.

St. Petersburg - Petrograd

At the end of 1884, V. V. Radlov returned to Petersburg.

NI Ilminsky, a former Corresponding Member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences since 1870 , received an invitation to run for academics , but refused this honor due to personal circumstances and recommended Radlov’s candidature. It is possible that one of the motives of Ilminsky, a conservative and supporter of Pobedonostsev , was discontent with the growing influence of Radlov in Kazan ^[5] . Having considered this proposal, the Academy agreed with him. On November 7, 1884, V. V. Radlov was elected an ordinary academician of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in terms of the history and antiquities of the Asian peoples. Soon he was appointed director of the Asian Museum ; In this position he worked until 1890 .

At the Academy, Radlov encountered the anti-German sentiments of a number of colleagues. Apparently, their propaganda was dealt with by V. D. Smirnov , who had published an extremely negative review ^{[6] of} Radov's “Comparative Grammar” shortly before that, in which he accused the author of plagiarism and the unfair use of materials collected earlier by Russian missionaries.

Employment at the Imperial Academy of Sciences

In St. Petersburg, Radlov continued to work intensively. He conducted further studies of Turkic languages ​​and cultures, published a large number of works and several monuments, continued to engage in scientific journeys and expeditions. In 1886, Radlov traveled to the Crimea to study the language of the Crimean Tatars , and in 1887 to Lithuania and Volyn to study the language of the Karaites .

It was Radlov who organized and led the famous Orkhon expedition to Mongolia ( 1891 ), during which the Orkhon-Yenisei runic inscriptions were discovered. Radlov managed to find the key to reading more than ten characters; however, deciphering belongs to the Danish linguist V. Thomsen , who announced in 1893 the final decoding of the written language. In 1894, Radlov, based on his own and Thomsen's developments, completed the translation and carried out the publication of Orkhon monuments. A year later, in 1895 , using data from Finnish expeditions in addition to his materials, he published translations of 40 Yenisei inscriptions. From 1892 to 1903 , fifteen issues of the Collected Works of the Orkhon Expedition were published.

In 1898, Radlov organized the Turfan Expedition (Central Asia) led by D. A. Klements . He was the first to begin the study and publication of ancient Uigur monuments discovered by Klements. The publication of the Uygur text of the Golden Shine Sutra, prepared and carried out by Radlov, was of great importance for the development of domestic Uygur studies .

In 1899, Radlov published a transcription and translation of the inscription on a stele in honor of Tonyukuk , an adviser and associate of the Turkic kagan Kutlug (beginning of the VIII century ).

In March 1903, Radlov was one of the initiators of the creation of the Russian Committee for the Study of Central and Eastern Asia, whose duties he served until his death in 1918. The committee organized a number of expeditions to Siberia that enriched the collections of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography. At the same time, Radlov headed the board of the Society for the Study of Siberia and the Improvement of the Life of Its Peoples, and actively participated in the work of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, the Society of Russian Orientalists, the Imperial Society of Oriental Studies, etc.

V. V. Radlov never taught at the Faculty of Oriental Languages ​​of the University and was not officially associated with the University. However, he conducted private studies with Orientalists, especially with Turkologists. Many foreign scientific associations, societies and universities named V. V. Radlov as an honorary member, he was awarded numerous domestic and foreign awards. In 1912 the 75th anniversary of the scientist was magnificently celebrated.

Administration of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography

In 1894 , academician L.I. Shrenk , the first director of the IEA , died and a difficult situation arose at the Imperial Academy of Sciences in connection with filling a vacancy. The Physics and Mathematics Department of the Academy, whose functions previously included the election of the Director of the Museum, could not offer a worthy candidate. On March 16, at the joint meeting of the Physico-Mathematical and Historical-Philological Department held under the chairmanship of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich , President of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, it was decided to entrust the election of the new Director of the IEA with the History and Philology Department. On the same day, the latter, through elections, commissioned Academician V. V. Radlov to head the Museum. Before that, Radlov had been the director of the Asian Museum for six years and had experience in organizing museum work.

Radlov performed his duties with inexhaustible zeal, making a significant contribution to the development of the museum. The new director attracted many prominent ethnographic specialists from Siberia and the East to work in the MAE and to the collection of collections — BF Adler, L. Ya. Sternberg , S. M. Shirokogorov, and many others. Among the persons invited by Radlov to cooperate, there were quite a few former “political” ones who were on poor account because of their connections with the anti-monarchist movement, such as V. G. Bogoraz , V. I. Yokhelson , D. A. Klements , V.N. Vasilyev . During the years of leadership Radlov staff museum staff has increased significantly.

Radlov paid special attention to the purposeful formation of museum collections for peoples not previously represented in the MAE. The donors were travelers (including N. M. Przhevalsky ), collectors, and civil servants. In order to encourage donors, Radlov sought to award them with orders or increase them in rank. Thus, the Kyakhta merchants of the first guild A. A. Lushnikov and G. M. Osokin were awarded the royal orders. Under Radlov, the exchange of collections and individual exhibits with foreign ethnographic museums began.

Radlov actively used his high social position to achieve the needs of the Museum. As a secret adviser , he was not shy, in his own words, “anti-embellish” (from fr. Antichambre , “front, reception”), that is, wait in line for receiving high-ranking officials, submit letters of request to various instances. It was Radlov who, taking advantage of the preparations for celebrating the 200th anniversary of St. Petersburg, achieved the transfer of the Peter I Gallery from the Hermitage to the MAE and renamed the Museum into the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography named after Peter the Great , which strengthened the authority and position of the institution. March 5, 1914 Emperor Nicholas II visited the museum at the invitation of Radlov.

In order to finance the MAE to purchase collections in the country and abroad, as well as improve the conditions for storing items and organizing new exhibitions, Radlov initiated the creation of the Board of Trustees, which included many wealthy individuals. Thus, the third floor of the museum building was completed by the funds of Councilor V. Yu. Scottner. Another member of the council, B. A. Ignatiev, financed the scientific expedition of the spouses Merwart to India in 1914.

V. V. Radlov paid much attention to the registration of old collections and new acquisitions. Following the example of the Copenhagen Museum , a double numbering system was introduced in MAE: during registration, each exhibit received collection and serial numbers at the same time, and the latter, due to the complexity of the subject, could be accompanied by additional indices. Without exception, all staff members and non-staff members of the Museum were involved in the registration; the director himself was also involved in registering collections. He always passed his own expeditionary fees and received gifts to the MAE (collections No. 429, 451, 1033, 1489, etc.). In 1902, Radlov laid the foundation for the MAE library, presenting his extensive book collection to the Museum.

Since 1900, the MAE began to produce its own printed publication - "Collection of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography." By 1910, the exhibition areas of the Museum grew 4 times, which made it possible to open new expositions.

Until his death, V. V. Radlov continued to work fruitfully for the benefit of the Museum, despite his advanced age and difficult living conditions. He made grandiose plans for the creation of the State Museum of Anthropology, Ethnography and Archeology, preparing a detailed note on this issue.

He advised on the creation of the famous series of porcelain figurines "People of Russia" .

Demise

V. V. Radlov died on May 12, 1918. He was buried in the Lutheran part of the Smolensk cemetery . As the well-known anthropologist and ethnographer S. M. Shirokogorov noted in the obituary, "in the person of Vasily Vasilyevich, Russian science lost one of its most brilliant representatives."

On May 20, 1918, the MAE scientific personnel honored the memory of V. V. Radlov at an extraordinary meeting. It was decided annually on his birthday, January 5 (old style), “to arrange an annual meeting dedicated to the results of the work of the Museum over the past year and the development of a plan for museum and scientific publishing activities of the next year. It is desirable to coincide with this day the presentation in manuscripts of works intended for the next volume of the “Collection of the Museum ...”. On all volumes and editions of this edition indicate that it was founded by V. V. Radlov ..., arrange periodic evenings with assignment to them of the name "Radlovsky", which could also be visited by persons not belonging to the museum corporation, but interested in ethnography and oriental studies, for scientific exchange of opinions in the specified fields of knowledge ... Periodic meetings of employees introduced by V. V. Radlov into the practice of the Museum as an important means of scientific communication and friendly work should be preserved and get their its development. "

The decision, however, was carried out not for long. In the era of the domination of the “ new language teaching ”, the scientific activity of Radlov as not risen “above the level of bourgeois scholars in Czarist Russia” was highly critically evaluated by many.

Since 2002 , the MAE annually holds (as a rule, in December) three-day “Radlov readings”, collecting ethnographers, anthropologists, folklorists and museologists working with the most diverse (not only Turkic or Siberian) material. Published conference materials.

The name Radlov is named for streets in the cities of Barnaul , Gorno-Altaisk and Alma-Ata, as well as the German school in Astana .

• Benzing, Johannes

• Proben der Volkslitteratur der turkischen Stamme Südsibirien (Samples of folk literature of the Turkic tribes living in Southern Siberia and the Dzungarian steppe), texts and German translation; St. Petersburg, 1866-1896, 7 tons;
• Vergliechende Grammatik der nordlichen Turksprachen. Th. I. Phonetik. (Comparative grammar of northern Turkic languages. T. I. Phonetics), Leipzig , 1882-1883;
• Worterbuch der Kinai-Sprache (Dictionary of Kinai), St. Petersburg, 1874;
• Analysis of Bulgarian numeral names, in the news of Albekri and other authors (1878),
• Die Lautalternation und ihre Bedeutung für die Sprachenentwickelung ( Harmony of vowels and its importance for the development of languages, in “Verhandlungen des funften internationalen Orientalisten Congress”), Berlin, 1882;
• Zur Sprache der Komanen (On the Cuman language; in “Internationale Zeitschrift fur allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft”), Leipzig, 1884-18585;
• Versuch eines Wörterbuches der Türkdialecte , (St. Petersburg, 1888 et.) / Experience of the dictionary of Turkic dialects. t. I — IV. SPb., 1888-1911. Volume 1. Part 1. Volume 1. Part 2. Volume 2. Part 1. Volume 2. Part 2.
• Die altturkischen Inschriften der Mongolei (Ancient Turkic Inscriptions of Mongolia ), vol. 1 and 2, SPb., 1894, 1899;
• Observations sur les Kirghis (Notes on Kyrgyz ), Paris , 1864;
• Mythology and world view of the inhabitants of Altai (Eastern Outlook, 1882, No. 7 and 8, 1883, No. 8)
• Ethnographische Übersicht der Turkstamme Sibiriens und der Mongolei (Ethnographic survey of the Turkic tribes of Siberia and Mongolia), Leipzig, 1884;
• Aus Sibirien (From Siberia), Leipzig, 1884 (Russian translation 1989);
• Das Schamanemtum und seine Kultus (Shamanism and its cult), Leipzig, 1885;
• Siberian antiquities (in the "Materials on the Archeology of Russia, published by the Imperial Archaeological Commission"), St. Petersburg, 1888;
• Altas der Altertumer der Mongolei (Atlas of Mongolian Antiquities), St. Petersburg, 1892.
• Siberian antiquities: from travel notes on Siberia / Per. with him. and foreword A. A. Bobrinsky. - SPb., 1896. - 70 p.

• Artyukh A.Ye. On the issue of the methodology of archaeological research in the second half of the XIX century (on the example of the activity of V. V. Radlov) // 5th Borodavkin Readings, 2005. p. 251-254
• Bibliographical dictionary of domestic turkologists. - M., 1974.
• M. Demin A. Pioneers of Antiquities: [About issled. archeol. monuments of Altai in prerev. period] / Preface A. Umansky. - Barnaul: Alt. Prince publishing house, 1989. - 120 p.
• Kononov A. N. The history of the study of Turkic languages ​​in Russia. - M .: Science , 1972.
• Kurnykina G.I. Radlov, Vasily Vasilyevich // Barnaul: Encyclopedia / Ed. V. A. Skubnevskogo . - Barnaul: Publishing house Alt. state University , 2000. - ISBN 5-7904-0140-6 .
• Matveeva P. A., Rezvan E. A. “A Stone on the Road of Time”: to the 175th anniversary of V. V. Radlov (1837–1918) // Ural-Altai Studies. № 1 (6) 2012. - p. 182-193 (Section "From the history of Turkology").
• Radlov, Vasily Vasilyevich / Nasilov DM. // Pustyrnik - Rumcherod. - M .: The Great Russian Encyclopedia, 2015. - P. 156. - (The Great Russian Encyclopedia : [in 35 t.] / Ed. Yu. S. Osipov ; 2004–2017, t. 28). - ISBN 978-5-85270-365-1 .
• Essays on the history of Russian oriental studies. - M .: Institute of Oriental Studies, USSR Academy of Sciences , 1953.
• Pomelov V. B. Educational and pedagogical activity of V. V. Radlov // Pedagogy. - 2013. - № 6 . - p . 112-118 . - ISSN 0869-561Х .
• Reshetov A.M. Academician V.V. Radlov, orientalist and museologist (Main stages of activity) // Radlovskie readings-2002. Materials of the one-year scientific session. - SPb., 2002. - P.95-101.
• Turkic collection . 1971. - M., 1972 (dedicated to V. V. Radlov, list of works and literature about him)
• Radlov, Vasily Vasilyevich // Encyclopedic dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : in 86 tons (82 tons and 4 extra). - SPb. , 1890-1907.

• Vasily Vasilievich Radlov's profile on the official website of the Russian Academy of Sciences
• Historical background on the website of the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences
• An excerpt from S. Katash's article “Forerunners of Altaistic” // Barnaul, 1998, No. 1.
• Blog-conference Radloff-2012