Nina Viktorovna Pigulevskaia

Born Jan. 1, 1894, in St. Petersburg; died Feb. 17, 1970, in Leningrad. Soviet historian, specialist in the early medieval history of the Middle East and Byzantium. Corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1946).

Pigulevskaia graduated in 1918 from the Bestuzhev Courses (in 1918), and in 1922 she completed graduate studies in the department of oriental studies of the University of Petrograd. From 1921 to 1928 she worked at the Leningrad Public Library. In 1938 she began working in the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. From 1939 to 1941 and from 1944 to 1951 she also taught at Leningrad State University. Her major research dealt with Syrian historical and literary remains, the origin of feudalism, and the socioeconomic and cultural development of Syria, Arabia, Iran, and Byzantium in the Middle Ages. In 1960 she became a member of the French Asiatic Society, and in 1952 vice-president of the Russian Palestinian Society and editor of the collection Palestinskii Sbornik. She was awarded three orders and various medals.