Destunis, Spiridon Yuryevich

Born in 1782 in the small town of Asso on the island of Kefalonia (modern Greece ). His family belonged to the urban aristocracy: his grandfather was a priest in the fortress of Asso, and his father, Yuri, who was engaged in medicine, enjoyed the special trust of the government, which awarded him the right to be a senator.

Spiridon Destunis received his primary education at home, further in Moscow, where his father sent him out of fear that the political movement that swept western Europe at that time had not carried away his ardent son. Destunis entered the Moscow University pension , where, among other comrades, he met Dmitry Dashkov , Dmitry Bludov , and subsequently prominent statesmen. Here Destunis indulged in his favorite subject - literature, mostly ancient. Classes in Greek and Roman literature did not prevent him from following with full attention the new European compositions, as well as studying languages, as well as Russian, Italian, French and German scripts.

Destunis entered the service and literary field in April 1802, when he decided on the archive of the College of Foreign Affairs and published his Greek (from Russian) translation of “Saving Lives” in Moscow. The translation was dedicated to Count Lusi, the son of Prussia, at the Russian court, the messenger. At the same time, Destunis translated from French the “Kampé Childish Morality” for the younger Greek generation. After serving several years in Moscow, Destunis moved to St. Petersburg , where he continued his service at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs , still engaged in literature at his leisure. Here he began to translate Plutarch 's Biographies , which he particularly valued among Greek classics. Thanks to the efforts of Alexander Sturdza and Count Nikolai Rumyantsev , Count Kapodistrias requested from the emperor in 1816 that all 13 parts of the translation should be published at the expense of the Imperial cabinet in favor of the disabled. The translator received 2,000 acres of land as a reward for his work. However, only 6 parts of the translation were published under Destunis; the rest were published with big errors and omissions.

At about the same time, Nikolai Rumyantsev, the then chancellor , realizing the importance of studying Byzantine history in connection with Russian, instructed Destunis to compose a Hellenic-Russian lexicon, in accordance with the latest achievements of philology. The review dictionary compiled by Destunis was approved by the Ministry of Education , but for some reason remained unreleased. In 1818, Destunis was appointed consul general to Smyrna for his excellent zealous service. Soon, a Greek uprising broke out here. Having received the order to move to neutral land, Destunis left Smyrna and first settled on Cherigo (one of the Ionian Islands ), and then in Venice . Here he translated into Russian the work of Melchior Gioio “Le nuove Galateo” and composed the “Historical and Topographical Description of Venice”; both of these works remained in manuscripts.

In 1826, Destunis was called to Petersburg, where he lived permanently until 1845. At this time, he translated from Greek into Russian the work of Alexander Sturdza "Handbook of the Orthodox Christian." This translation was printed in 1849, and soon its second edition came out. In 1831, the Governing Senate published the “Manual Book of Laws” translated by Destunis, or the so-called “Six Books”, compiled by Konstantin Armenopul . Shortly thereafter, Destunis began to study the law of the sea of ​​Europe in order to compile in Russian a guide to studying the main issues of the law of the sea. Mikhail Speransky , having examined the work of Destunis in the manuscript, expressed his full approval to him. In 1841, Destunis submitted his work to the Ministry of Public Education, which suggested that the author expand the task of his research and put a historical review of various treatises. Destunis considered such work to be beyond his power, left his manuscript unpublished, and published only the article “An exposition of the concepts of different peoples about power over the sea” ( Journal of the Ministry of Public Education , 1846, books 5 and 6).

Since 1838, on behalf of the Academy of Sciences , Destunis for three years was engaged in the translation of Greek " Byzantine historians ." He translated 4 parts of the publication, the rest of the translation was published by his son Gabriel after his death. In 1841, Destunis published an article “Something about Byzantine historians” in the Journal of the Ministry of Public Education (part XXXII, sect. II), where he briefly points out their significance for Russian history.

Literary and scientific studies did not interfere with official duties, and Destunis successfully carried out repeated orders from his superiors. Since 1835, he was considered the first dragoman at the Asian Department to teach modern Greek at the Training Department of the Oriental Languages ​​of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs , in 1842 he was awarded the rank of State Councilor , and in 1848 the Order of Stanislav 1st degree. In 1845, he traveled to Greece for the sake of his sick son. Shortly before his death, delighted with translations from Sanskrit Dimitrios Galanos , Destunis wrote an article “On the acquisitions made by European and especially Greek literature in the works of the ancient East” (Journal of the Ministry of Public Education, part. XLIX, sect. II), an article full of comments about modern Greek , at the end of which a sample is translated from the Greek moralizing thoughts of the philosopher Seneca .

In 1848, cholera raged in St. Petersburg, Destunis became a victim.

Even in his youth (in 1816) Destunis was elected full member of the Society of lovers of Russian literature at Moscow University , in 1837 - as a correspondent of the Imperial philanthropic society , in 1836 - as a member of the Odessa Society of History and Antiquities . The museum of this society is obliged to Destunis by a significant donation of the precious remains of ancient art collected by him in Smyrna: in 1841 he sent up to 20 pieces of ancient marbles containing fragments of bas-reliefs, tombstones, architectural ornaments, etc., as well as up to 50 pieces of clay vessels. Destunis was also a member of the Athenian Society of Fine Arts, and since 1847, a full member of the Athenian Society of Antiquities.

• Spiridon Yurievich Destunis // Russian Biographical Dictionary / Ed. under the supervision of the chairman of the Imperial Russian Historical Society A. A. Polovtsov . - St. Petersburg: type. Partnership "Public Benefit", 1905. - T. 6. - S. 338-340. - 748 s.