Evgeny Chernousov – Byzantine Scholar (by the 150th Anniversary of his Birth)

In December 2019 is the 150th anniversary of the birth of Yevgen Olexandrovich Chernousov (1869–?), a well-known representative of Kharkov Byzantine studies and Antiquity, a privat-docent (1909–1917), and a full-docent (1917–1918) at the Department of General History of Kharkiv University. The main subject of the historian’s research was the Byzantine cultural, political, legal phenomena and the socio-economic development of the Roman Empire. His scientific heritage consists of more than twenty articles published in leading Western European and Russian Byzantine journals. Y. O. Chernousov was one of the first in the Russian Empire who teached the course of the History of Byzantium at Kharkiv University, and was also the main candidate for the replacement of the Byzantine studies department, the opening of which was planned in accordance with the unrealized plan of University charter of 1906. The scientific heritage of Y. O. Chernousov demonstrates his high professional level as a byzantinist. His research method evolved on Byzantine material from a simple description of historical events by retelling evidence from sources that took place in his monograph on the history of Ancient Rome, to a deep theoretical understanding of the complex issues of the economic, political, cultural, legal development of Byzantium. In addition to Roman history and the Byzantine parties of the circus, the subject of his study was the history of the Byzantine capital and provincial culture and education, historical thought and literary tradition, the influence of Byzantine law on Old Rus. Unfortunately, due to the revolutionary events of 1917, the scientist was forced to leave Kharkov, continuing his teaching work in Poltava and in Rostov-on-Don. In 1930 he was arrested, in 1931–1934 he was in exile in the city of Kalach, Lower Volga region. His further fate and exact date of death is unknown.