Diakonov, Mikhail Mikhailovich

Born June 12 (25), 1907, in St. Petersburg; died June 8, 1954, in Moscow. Soviet Orientalist, historian of Iran and of the arts and cultures of the countries of the Near and Middle East, archaeologist, doctor of historical sciences (1946), professor (1949), Honored Scholar of the Tadzhik SSR (1951).

D’iakonov studied at the University of Oslo from 1924 to 1926 and graduated from Leningrad State University in 1930. He worked at the Hermitage, the Institute of the History of Material Culture, Leningrad State University, the Academy of Arts, and Moscow State University. He became an expedition staff member in 1946, and leader in 1953, of the Tadzhik (Sogdian-Tadzhik) Archaeological Expedition. D’iakonov was the author of the first summary work in Marxist literature on the ancient history of Iran (Outline of the History of Ancient Iran, 1961 [published posthumously]). He was also well known as a poet-translator from Persian (the poets Firdausi, Gurgani, and Nizami), Norwegian, and other languages.