Modestov, Vasily Ivanovich

Born on January 24 ( February 5 ), 1839 in the village of Kemtsy , Valdai County , Novgorod Province, in the family of a parish priest. In 1848 he entered the Starorussky Theological School, from which in 1853 he transferred to the Novgorod Theological Seminary . Since 1856, he studied at the Main Pedagogical Institute , in connection with the closure of which he transferred to St. Petersburg University - to the Faculty of History and Philology, which he graduated in 1860, with the rank of senior teacher of a gymnasium and with a silver medal.

After graduation, he entered the service at the Olonets Provincial Gymnasium , where he taught for about a year. After passing the exam for a master of Roman literature, he was sent in 1862 by the university on a scientific mission. In 1862-1864 he was preparing for a professorship at the University of Bonn (at Richel and Otto Jan ) and studied in Rome the monuments of antiquity. In February 1865, he received a master ’s degree in Roman literature from St. Petersburg University for his dissertation “Tacitus and His Works”.

From May 1865 to December 1867, he was an assistant professor of Roman literature at Novorossiysk University ; since 1868 - at Kazan University , where on November 29, 1868 he defended his thesis for a doctorate in "Roman writing in the period of the kings." Since December 5, 1868 - an extraordinary professor at Kazan University.

In April 1869 he received the title of Ordinary Professor and then, for family reasons, moved to Kiev . He lectured at the University of St. Vladimir and at the Kiev Theological Academy . In 1878-1879 he was an ordinary professor of the Latin language at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy ; in October 1878, the Council of St. Petersburg University was admitted to privat-docentry , but in 1879 he was removed from the teaching service and was forced to engage exclusively in journalism until the death of D. A. Tolstoy .

In 1889, the Minister of Education, Count I. D. Delyanov, was admitted to academic activity with the right to teach as a professor at the Department of Roman Literature at Novorossiysk University . In 1893 he left the university and took up journalism, living mainly in Rome, where he died on February 13 ( 26 ), 1907 . He was buried in the Roman non-Catholic cemetery .

While still a student at the institute, in 1858 he published two articles on Provencal poetry in the Library for Reading . The scientific works of V. I. Modestov, largely based on the archaeological data of Ancient Italy, were of great importance in the study of the material culture of the peoples who inhabited the Apennine peninsula since the Paleolithic ; special attention was also paid to the history of the Etruscans and messups , the problems of the emergence of Latin writing (in particular, the scientist proved that it was still of pre-Roman origin), the history of the Roman state and culture.

V.I. Modestov possessed an extraordinary journalistic talent, collaborated extensively and eagerly with the magazines Istoricheskii Vestnik , Golos , Nov , Philological Review , and others, writing for them a number of articles on literature, politics and philosophy ; He was also the author of articles on Roman history and culture in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron . The scientist also wrote several books and articles on contemporary politics and social life in some countries of Western Europe (Italy, Germany , France ). He also translated into Russian the works of Tacitus , Horace , Spinoza . Under his editorship, a Russian translation of The Real Dictionary of Classical Antiquities was published. He wrote several articles for the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary .

• Tacitus and his works. Historical and literary research. - SPb. : type of. N. Tiblen and comp., 1864 (M .: URSS, 2016)
• Roman writing during the period of kings. - Kazan, 1868.
• Skepticism in Roman History: [Speech, uttered. before the start of the dr. dispute]. - Kazan: Univ. typ., 1869
• Philosopher Seneca and his letters to Lucilius: Speech, delivered. at the celebrations. Act of the University of St. Vladimir November 9, 1871 - Kiev : Univ. typ., 1872
• Lectures on the history of Roman literature . - course 1: Kiev, 1873; course 2: Kiev, 1875 (2nd ed. - St. Petersburg, 1883; modern ed. - Moscow: URSS, 2015)
• About a Slavic name in Pompeii inscriptions. - Kiev: Univ. typ., 1875
• Scientific literature on Latin philology in 1874 and 1875 in Russia and abroad. - [Kiev]: Univ. typ., [1876]
• Plavt and its significance in universal teaching: Entry. lecture, said. Nov 10 1878 in St. Petersburg. un-those. - SPb .: type. V.S. Balasheva, 1879
• About France: Articles prof. IN AND. Modestova. - SPb .: type. V.S. Balasheva, 1889
• Selected odes of Horace ... - SPb .: type. V.F. Kirshbaum, 1889
• Question about Greek reading (pronunciation). - SPb .: type. V.S. Balasheva, 1891
• Modern Italy: Kingdom, papacy, republic. - SPb .: type. A. S. Suvorin, 1893
• The most ancient period of Rome: New archeol. data related to it. - SPb .: type. V.S. Balasheva, 1895
• On the origin of the sicula, based on literary, archaeological and anthropological data. - SPb .: type. V.S. Balasheva, 1898
• About where they came from and who were the Latins. - SPb .: type. V.S. Balasheva, 1898
• Monuments of the tsarist period and the most ancient Latin inscription on the Roman Forum. - SPb .: type. V.S. Balasheva, 1900
• Introduction to Roman History: Questions of the Ancestors. ethnology and cult. influences in Dorim. era in Italy and the beginning of Rome. Part 1-2. - St. Petersburg, 1902-1909. (Introduction to Roman History. Etruscans and Messups. - M.: URSS: Lenand, 2015)

• Anuchin D.N. Labor prof. V. I. Modestova "Introduction to Roman History" // Antiquities: Transactions / Imp. Archaeological Societies. - M., 1909. - T. 2, Iss. 2.
• Derevitsky A.N. Modestov, Vasily Ivanovich // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1896. - T. XIXa.
• Rostovtsev M.I.V. I. Modestov (Obituary) // Journal of the Ministry of Public Education . - 1907. - July.

• Memoirs, letters / professor V. I. Modestov; [comp .: A.E. Ivanov, V.S. Shandra]. - M .: Principium, 2014

• Famous teachers of SPbDA: MODESTOV Vasily Ivanovich
• Modestov Vasily Ivanovich // Biography of St. Petersburg State University