Apollon Skalkowski (; born in

Zhytomyr Zhytomyr ( ; see #Names, below for other names) is a city in the north of the western half of Ukraine. It is the Capital city, administrative center of Zhytomyr Oblast (Oblast, province), as well as the administrative center of the surrounding ...

; died in

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

) was a Polish-Russian scientist and historian born in Zhytomyr (present-day

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

). He was the father of journalist Constantine Skalkovsky.

Life and work

Skalkowski was born into a Polish noble family. He studied at the universities of

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

and

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. For over 50 years, he headed the Statistical Committee in Odesa. He was also a corresponding member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in the Department of History and Philology. His extensive historical works on the Novorossiya Territory (

Southern Ukraine Southern Ukraine (, ) refers, generally, to the territories in the South of Ukraine. The territory usually corresponds with the Soviet economical district, the Southern Economical District of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. The region ...

) and the

Zaporizhian Sich The Zaporozhian Sich (, , ; also ) was a semi-autonomous polity and proto-state of Zaporozhian Cossacks that existed between the 16th to 18th centuries, for the latter part of that period as an autonomous stratocratic state within the Cossa ...

remain valuable for their use of primary sources, many of which have since been lost. Due to his pioneering contributions, his contemporaries called him the “Herodotus of Novorossiya”. Skalkowski’s critical stance toward the

Haidamaky The haydamaks, also haidamakas or haidamaky or haidamaks ( ''haidamaka''; ''haidamaky'', from and ) were soldiers of Ukrainian Cossacks, Ukrainian Cossack paramilitary outfits composed of commoners (peasants, craftsmen), and impoverished nob ...

uprising was publicly condemned by

Taras Shevchenko Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko (; ; 9 March 1814 – 10 March 1861) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, artist, public and political figure, folklorist, and ethnographer. He was a fellow of the Imperial Academy of Arts and a member of the Brotherhood o ...

in the poem "Cold Ravine" (Kholodnyi Yar). He was a frequent contributor to the Journal of the Ministry of Public Education, where he also published the oral recollections of the former Zaporizhian

Cossack The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borders of Ukraine and Rus ...

. In addition to his academic work, Skalkowski wrote several historical novels, including "Kagalnichanka", "Crystal Beam", "Brothers Redeemer", and "Mama".

Major works

* «Хронологическое обозрение истории Новороссийского края, 1730—1823», т.1-2, Одесса 1836—1838 * «Опыт статистического описания Новороссийского края», т.1-2, Одесса 1850–1853. * «История Новой Сечи или последнего коша Запорожского», т.1-3, Одесса 1885—1886 * «Наезды гайдамак на Западную Украину в XVIII столетии, 1733—1768», Одесса 1845

Literature

* Боровой С. Я. «А. А. Скальковский и его работы по истории Южной Украины», «Зап. Одес.археологич.об-ва», 1960, т. 1 * его же, «Про економічні погляди А. О. Скальковського», в кн."З історії економічної думки на Україні", Київ 1961. {{DEFAULTSORT:Skalkowski, Apollon 1808 births 1898 deaths Writers from Zhytomyr People from Volhynian Governorate People from the Russian Empire of Polish descent 19th-century historians from the Russian Empire Vilnius University alumni Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences