Vestnik drevnei istorii
The Vestnik drevnei istorii (VDI, Journal of Ancient History, Revue d’Histoire Ancienne) is a leading Russian academic journal in the field of ancient history and related disciplines. Founded in 1937, the VDI is Russia’s oldest scholarly history journal that continues to be published. From the autumn of 1937 till March of 1941, it also accepted papers on the history of the Slavs, Byzantium, and Ancient Russia. After a break during the World War, it has been appearing quarterly since 1946.
Since 1938, the journal has been edited in the Institute of History (since 1968, Institute of World History) of the Soviet (since 1991, Russian) Academy of Sciences. It was published by the United State Publishing House [OGIZ] (1937–1941) and the Publishing House of the Soviet/Russian Academy of Sciences [“Nauka”] (1946 – present).
The editors-in-chief were Alexander Svanidze (1937), Alexander Mishulin (1938-1948), Sergey Kiselyov (1949-1962), Vassily Struve (1962-1965), Sergey Utchenko (1965-1976), Zinaida Udaltsova (1976-1987), Gregory Bongard-Levin (1988-2008), Askold Ivantchik (2009 – present).
In 1937-1947, the VDI had the French subtitle Revue d’histoire ancienne and summaries in French. Since 1967 it has the English subtitle Journal of Ancient History and summaries in English.
Media registration certificate: № 0110170 от 04.02.1993
Current Issue
Open Access
Access granted
Subscription Access
Vol 85, No 1 (2025)
- Year: 2025
- Articles: 16
- URL: https://bakhtiniada.ru/0321-0391/issue/view/20445
MONUMENTS OF THE *jj-пfr* FAMILY FROM SAQQARA AND THEIR FATE
Abstract
5-17
‘CULTIC REFORMS’ OF THE KINGS OF JUDAH IN THE LIGHT OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL DATA
Abstract
18–44
POST HOC OR PROPTER HOC? SOME REFLECTIONS ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ADOPTION OF LEX IULIA DE CIVITATE AND THE REVOLT IN ETRURIA AND UMBRIA IN THE END OF 90 BC
Abstract
45–62
Eighth Michael I. Rostovtzeff lecture
CLERUCHIC LAND: ATHENS, MACEDON, AND THE HELLENISTIC KINGDOMS
Abstract
This brief piece is an introduction to the dossier of four papers dedicated to the memory of Michael Rostovtzef on the topic of cleruchy, which shows that not only the legal framework governing the settling of settler soldiers in the Hellenistic kingdoms was inherited from that of Macedon (which does not mean that it was everywhere the same) but also that there was a common Greek archetype to the cleruchic system, as suggested by the late Archaic statute of the Athenian cleruchy in Salamis.
63–68
SALAMIS: AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE ATHENIAN CLERUCHIC SYSTEM
Abstract
Through an investigation on the creation of the Athenian cleruchy in Salamis at the end of the Archaic period, this article provides an 'archaeology' of the cleruchic system. It starts from an analysis of the late Archaic inscription that stipulates the regulations applying to the holders of cleruchic land. Then, after a short reanalysis of the war between Athens and Megara over the possession of Salamis, it moves on to the question of the origin of the genos of the Salaminioi, for which it provides a new solution that is linked to the circumstances of the creation of the cleruchic settlement in Salamis. The article concludes by examining the structural and defining conditions of the creation of a cleruchy.
69–84
THE POLIS AND ROYAL POWER IN THE BOSPORUS DURING THE SPARTOKID ERA: LANDS, CITIZENSHIP AND TAXES
Abstract
The article shows that the state structure of the Bosporan kingdom from the end of the fifth century BC until its conquest by Mithradates was very peculiar and had no close analogues in the Greek world. The Greek cities incorporated into the kingdom lost their civic institutions, autonomy, and even citizenship. The citizenship of the poleis was replaced by the common Bosporan citizenship, from which, however, only the name was preserved: the citizens became subjects. All the prerogatives of the polis — starting with the right to grant citizenship and ending with the control of finances, regulation of trade and legislation — were ceded to the ruling dynasty of the Spartokids. Theodosia preserved a separate status, but there too the range of rights enjoyed by the civic community did not differ from the Bosporan ones. The klerouchoi existed in the Bosporan kingdom and they had obligations to fulfil directly to the Bosporan tyrants. The civic communities in the Bosporus were recreated only by Mithradates, who reproduced the political structure familiar to him: the system of Greek poleis within the Hellenistic monarchy. It can be assumed that this political structure was inherited by the Spartokids from their predecessors Archaianaktidai. The Archaianaktidai were probably brought to power by the Achaemenids, who seem to conquer the Bosporus c. 480 BC. In support of the hypothesis of Persian control of the Bosporus under the Archaianaktidai, in addition to the arguments already brought by other scholars, a new one is given — the identification of column bases found on the acropolis of Pantikapalon as Achaemenid ones.
85–108
THE CLERUCHY IN HELLENISTIC EGYPT
Abstract
Information from recently published papyri is combined with papyrological and epigraphical data already known to examine the current state of knowledge of the role of cleruchic land in Hellenistic Egypt. Over time, a system that started as a means of rewarding elite Macedonian cavalry forces and of tying them to their new home was extended to the infantry and different ranks of the police force. Furthermore, as Ptolemaic concerns developed in the second century BC, the institution was opened up and key local Egyptian families are found as recipients of cleruchic land, at least in Upper Egypt where the regime was subject to on-going threat. Members of such well-established families are shown to have been important in administrative and religious, as well as in the military sphere. Finally, attention is drawn to changing local differences in the fiscal relationship of cleruchic land to the central royal treasury.
109-119
MILITARY LAND ALLOTMENTS IN ANCIENT EGYPT
Abstract
The ancient Egyptians had a long tradition of allotting land to soldiers. From the beginning of the sixteenth century BC at the latest, land in Egypt and possibly in Nubia as well was sometimes given to demobilized Egyptian and foreign soldiers as a reward for service and possibly as a means of support between military campaigns. From the seventh century BC onwards, some land in Egypt appears to have carried an explicit obligation for its holders for military service when called for duty. These traditions are distinct from the Athenian system of cleruchies in the sixth through fourth centuries BC, in which the service obligation was linked to citizenship. Consequently, both the Egyptian traditions and the Athenian system may have informed and influenced the Ptolemaic system of cleruchies in Egypt in the fourth through second centuries BC, as Michael Rostovtzeff suggested already in 1941.
120-132
Publications
NEW FINDS OF FIGURATIVE VESSELS OF THE ROMAN PERIOD FROM THE VICINITY OF CHERSONESOS
Abstract
133–162
Pages of historiography
THE RUSSIAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE IN CONSTANTINOPLE AND M.I. ROSTOVTZEFF
Abstract
163–185
Critical and bibliographical surveys
L. PERNOT. Confluences de la philosophie et de la rhétorique grecques. Paris: Librairie philosophique J. Vrin, 2022. 532 p. ISBN: 978-2-7116-3045-5
Abstract
186–198
199–213
News and events
"Lomonosov Readings" at the Department of Ancient Languages and the Department of Ancient History of the Faculty of History, Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow, March 26 and April 1, 2024)
214-217
Annual Conference "Civilizations of the Ancient Near East and Antiquity: Historical Dynamics of the Common and the Particular" (Moscow, June 10–11, 2024)
218–228
Personalia
ANNIVERSARY OF SERGEY GEORGIEVICH KARPYUK
229-230
Supplement
SILIUS ITALICUS ON THE SIEGE OF SAGUNTUM (PUNICA I. 271 – II. 707)
Abstract
231–268