Butkov, Petr Grigorevich

Butkov, Petr Grigor’evich 

Born Dec. 17 (28), 1775, in Sloboda-Osinovo, present-day Starobel’sk Raion, Voroshilovgrad Oblast; died Dec. 12 (24), 1857, in St. Petersburg. Russian historian; academician of the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg (1841).

Butkov’s research was mainly done in the ancient history of Russia. His most important work was the source study Defense of a Russian Chronicle, the Nestor Chronicle, From the Slander of Skeptics (1840). It was directed against M. T. Kachenovskii, a critic of this early Russian chronicle, who associated it with “legendary times in Russian history.” Butkov based his arguments on the authenticity of the early Russian chronicle and the distinctiveness of ancient Russian culture. Another of Butkov’s works is the well-known Materials for a New History of the Caucasus From 1722 to 1803 (parts 1-3, 1869).

REFERENCE

“Spisok pechatnykh sochinenii i rukopisnykh trudov P. G. But-kova.” Izv. AN: Otdelenie russkogo iazyka i slovesnosti, 1858, vol. 7, pp. 1-8.