Svetlana Yakovlevna Berzina ( March 7, 1932 , Moscow - April 24, 2012 , ibid.) - Soviet and Russian Africanist, specialist in the state of Meroe. Doctor of Historical Sciences (1977), member of the Board of the Friendship Society “ USSR-ARE ” (1987), awarded the medal “In Memory of the 850th Anniversary of Moscow” (1997), Honored Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation (1999), chief researcher at the Department of the History of Material Culture and ancient art of the peoples of the East at the State Museum of the East (Moscow).
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Biography
She graduated from the history faculty of Kiev State University. T. G. Shevchenko at the Department of Archeology (1954). Since 1954, she worked as a researcher at the Kerch Historical and Archaeological Museum . From 1960 to 1981, she worked in the sector of Asian and African countries of the Fundamental Library of Social Sciences of the USSR Academy of Sciences (FBON- INION ) in Moscow. During this period, she graduated from full-time postgraduate studies at the Institute of Oriental Languages at Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosova (now the Institute of Asian and African countries ) in the Department of African Studies, from 1965 to 1970 she taught at the department. In 1970 she defended her thesis “Prerequisites for the Formation of Ancient Ghana” (1970). In 1977, she began to work for the degree of Doctor of Historical Sciences in the Department of the Ancient East of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences and successfully defended herself in 1979 on the topic “Meroe and the World. I – VIII centuries. ”From 1981 until her death she was an employee of the State Museum of the East .
She was a famous specialist in the history and culture of Ancient Meroe , participated in international conferences on meroite studies. The main area of scientific interests is the study of the role of art in the contacts of ancient and eastern civilizations. For over 15 years she was the custodian of the Gemma, Press and Bull Fund of the East Foundation, which was formed with her active participation. In 2010, the scientific catalog "Ancient gems of the East" was published, prepared on the basis of this collection. She carried out work on the attribution of African art entering the museum, a significant part of the collection of which was replenished thanks to her active work with private collectors. According to the museum’s African collection, she prepared for publication a joint catalog “Weapons and artistic metal of Tropical Africa in the collection of the State Museum of the East”. In total, S. Ya. Berzina published more than 150 scientific papers, including two monographs .
Svetlana Yakovlevna constantly participated in the exhibition activities of the Museum of the East, she prepared several exhibitions: “Pyramids of Eternity”, “Ancient Gems and Stones of the East”, “Images of Tropical Africa”, “Christianity on the Golden Horn”.
Major works
- Berzina S. Ya. Meroe and the surrounding world, I - VIII centuries. - M., 1992.
- Berzina S. Ya. Images of Tropical Africa. Exhibition catalog. - M., 2001 .-- 80 s.
- Berzina S. Ya. Ancient gems of the East. - M., 2010.
- Articles
- Berzina S. Ya. Campaign of Zerach-Kushit // Meroe. - Vol. 4. - M., 1989 .-- S. 22 - 48.
- Berzina S. Ya. The ship "Isis" in the context of relations between Egypt and the Bosporus at the end of IV - the first half. III c. BC e. // Bosporus city Nymphaeum: new studies and materials and questions of the study of the ancient cities of Sev. Black Sea. - St. Petersburg, 1999 .-- S. 8 - 9.
- Berzina S. Ya. African art in museums in the USA and Europe: The situation, trends, prospects for a unified cultural space at the turn of the 21st century // Eurocentrism and Afrocentrism on the eve of the 21st century: African studies in the global context. - M., 2000 .-- S. 71 - 82.
- Berzina S. Ya. Ceramic print from Samarkand // Central Asia: Archeology. Story. The culture. - M., 2000 .-- S. 19 - 25.
- Berzina S. Ya. Printing with Mesopotamian subjects from Sogdiana // Antiquity: Historical knowledge and the specifics of the source. - M., 2000 .-- S. 31 - 34.
- Berzina S. Ya. Egyptian exhibition at the State Museum of the East // Bulletin of Ancient History . - M., 2001. - No. 3. - S. 217 - 218.
- Berzina S. Ya. Two Ethiopian military awards from the collection of the State Museum of the East // Ethnologica africana: In memory of Dmitry Alekseevich Olderogge. - M., 2002 .-- S. 303 - 315, tab. 12.
- Berzina S. Ya. Koni in the glyptic of the Ancient East and the image of an Akhal-Teke on ancient gems and seals // Miras. - Ashgabat, 2002. - No. 1. - S. 114 - 122 (Russian language); S. 62 - 70 (Turkmen.); S. 168-176 (English).
- Berzina S. Ya. St. Athanasius, Pachomius and the Christian Church of Axum in the 4th - 5th centuries n e. Krat. abstracts of the report. // A. Ya. Kakovkin . Scientific meeting dedicated to the 135th anniversary of the birth of B. A. Turaev (June 11, 2003, St. Petersburg) // Bulletin of Ancient History. - M., 2004. - No. 1. - S. 254.
- Berzina S. Ya. Ancient Archives of Tropical Africa // Archives - the key to the history of Africa in the 20th century. - M., 2005 .-- S. 107 - 119, 5 ill.
- Berzina S. Ya. Glass medallion from Samarkand // Central Asia: Sources, history, culture. - M., 2005 (2006). - S. 191 - 204.
- Berzina S. Ya. Achaemenid gems in Khorezm // Russian Archeology . - M., 2006, No. 3. - S. 85 - 94.
- Berzina S. Ya. Egyptians and Meroites in the 4th century n e.: Summary of the report // XIV Sergeevsky Readings at the Department of the History of the Ancient World, History Department, Moscow State University M.V. Lomonosova, (Moscow, February 2 - 4, 2005) // Bulletin of Ancient History. - 2006. - No. 1. - S. 222.
Literature
- Berzina Svetlana Yakovlevna // Africa. Encyclopedic Reference / Chap. ed. An. A. Gromyko . - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia , 1986.- T. 1.