Nelson Carel Debboise ( Neilson Carel Debevoise ; November 8, 1903, Jersey City - December 10, 1992, Harrisburg ) - American historian, antiquarian and orientalist , military intelligence officer and State Department , member of the US National Security Council .
Nelson Dibvoise | |
---|---|
English Neilson debevoise | |
Date of Birth | November 8, 1903 |
Place of Birth | Jersey City ( NJ ) |
Date of death | December 10, 1992 (89 years) |
Place of death | Harrisburg ( Dauphin County , PA ) |
Scientific field | historian |
Place of work | University of Chicago Institute for Advanced Studies US Army Intelligence Agency US Department of State |
Alma mater | University of Illinois |
Content
Biography
He graduated from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign , in 1929 he defended his dissertation "Parthian problems" under the guidance of the famous orientalist A.T. Olmsted . From 1930 he worked at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago .
Participated in American archaeological research in Seleucia-on-Tigre , conducted for six seasons in 1927-1937 under the leadership of Leroy Waterman and C. Hopkins.
In the 1930s, he published several articles on the glyptic and architecture of the Parthians and Sassanids , and the first monograph, "Parthian ceramics from Seleucia-on-Tigre", in which almost 1600 vessels were described and researched, most of which are now kept in the Kelsey Museum of Archeology at the University of Michigan, which has the largest collection of ceramics of the Parthian era, not counting Iraqi museums [1] (and which has the chance to become the largest in the world, in the case of the capture of Baghdad by the troops of the rebel "Islamic Caliphate" ).
While working in Iraq, he studied about 30 thousand antique coins found there, creating on the basis of these studies the chronology of the Parthian-era monuments.
In 1938 he published a work that brought him worldwide fame - the monograph The Political History of Parthia. Since before him the study of Parthian history remained on the periphery of scientific research, and there was a single more or less complete special study - the work of the British orientalist George Rawlinson (1812-1902) "The sixth great eastern monarchy, or geography, history and antiquity of Parthia" (1873), Dibvoise's book was a real breakthrough.
Dibvoise
... produced a completely unique for its time comprehensive analysis of the data of the ancient written tradition on the history of the state of Arshakids. He was able to almost fully consider the Greek-Latin narrative and documentary evidence that serves as the basis for the reconstruction of the main milestones and events of Parthian history, and, in addition, used relevant information from Iranian, Babylonian, Armenian and Chinese sources to the extent that it was possible at the then state of their study. In addition, Dibvoise drew all the numismatic and archaeological materials available to him, and also made a critical analysis of all the scientific developments existing at that time and, if possible, took into account all the publications on the Parthian problem available at that time.
- Olbrykht M. I, Nikonorov V. P. The contribution of N. K. Dibvoiz to the study of the history and culture of Iran in the era of Arshakids // Dibvoise N. K. The Political History of Parthia. - SPb .: Faculty of Philology of St. Petersburg State University, 2008, p. 6-7
One of the first American researcher drew attention to the relations of Parthia with the peoples of Central Asia. As a result, despite the appearance in the subsequent decades of an enormous amount of work on the history of Parthia, the work of Dibvoise, despite a number of shortcomings [2] , still retains its scientific significance.
It is almost impossible to find a serious publication on the history of Parthia, where there would be no references to this work, which testifies to both its undoubted high scientific level and its relevance. We can safely say that in terms of the breadth and depth of interpretation of the data of the Greek-Latin written tradition “The Political History of Parthia”, Dibvoise still has no equal in the scientific literature.
- Olbrykht M. I, Nikonorov V. P. The contribution of N. K. Dibvoiz to the study of the history and culture of Iran in the era of Arshakids // Dibvoise N. K. The Political History of Parthia. - SPb .: Faculty of Philology of St. Petersburg State University, 2008, p. 9
Until 1947 Dibvoise published several more articles and reviews. In 1940-1941 he worked as a research fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton .
Since the beginning of the Second World War, he sharply changed his life, ending his scientific career and enrolling in military intelligence ( Army Intelligence ) with the rank of captain. About this period of biography, due to the peculiarities of the work, there is little information. It is only known that during the war years Dibvoiz served in Egypt, and subsequently received the rank of veteran of the USAF ( Army Air Corps ).
After the war, under Presidents Truman and Johnson , he was an employee of the State Department and a member of the US National Security Council .
Nelson Divboyz did not write the conceived work on the history of the Sassanids, giving all his strength to serving the state interests of his country. [3] .
He died at the Harrisburg Hospital in December 1992.
The Persian translation of the main work of Divboyz, made by Ali-Asker Hekmat, was published in 1963, the Russian translation by Valery Nikonorov was published in 2008; the publication is supplemented with a 500-page bibliography of publications published after 1938.
Family
Wife (1928): Martha Esther Ketchum (1905-1995)
Children:
- Elizabeth, in marriage Staz
- Nelson Thomas
Publications
- Parthian Pottery from Seleucia on the Tigris. - Ann Arbor, 1934 (University of Michigan Studies. Humanistic Series. Vol. XXXII)
- A Political History of Parthia. - Chicago, 1938 [reprint: New York, 1968]
- Tāriḵ-e siāsi-e Pārt. - Tehran, 1963
- Dibvoiz N. K. Political history of Parthia / Trans. V.P. Nikonorov. - SPb. : Faculty of Philology, St. Petersburg State University, 2008. - 816 p. - (Historical library). - ISBN 978-5-8465-0638-1 .
Notes
- ↑ Olbrykht M. I, Nikonorov V. P. The contribution of N. K. Dibvoiz to the study of the history and culture of Iran in the era of Arshakids // Dibvoise N. K. The Political History of Parthii. - SPb .: Faculty of Philology of St. Petersburg State University, 2008, p. 6
- ↑ For example, Dibvoiz recognizes the historicity of Tiridat I and Artaban I, the heirs of Arshak I denied by the majority of specialists.
- ↑ Olbrykht M. I, Nikonorov V. P. The contribution of N. K. Dibvoiz to the study of the history and culture of Iran in the era of Arshakids // Dibvoise N. K. The Political History of Parthii. - SPb .: Faculty of Philology of St. Petersburg State University, 2008, p. ten
Links
- Olbrycht MJ and Nikonorov VP DEBEVOISE, NEILSON CAREL - Encyclopædia Iranica