Robert Yuryevich Wipper (; ; – 30 December 1954) was a Russian, Latvian and Soviet historian of

classical antiquity Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural History of Europe, European history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD comprising the inter ...

, and the medieval and modern periods.

Biography

Born in

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 ...

, Wipper graduated from the faculty of history and philology at the

Moscow University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, and six branches. Al ...

in 1880. In 1894, he had become the Doctor of General History and in 1901–1919 was the Professor in Ordinary of the Department of General History. He later attained the professorship. Wipper lectured the history of prehistoric culture, the history of the Ancient East, Greece, the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...

and the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

, as well as social ideas and the methodology of history. He also authored several historical textbooks. Having emigrated to Latvia, he taught at the

University of Latvia University of Latvia (, shortened ''LU'') is a public research university located in Riga, Latvia. The university was established in 1919. History The University of Latvia, initially named as the Higher School of Latvia () was founded on Se ...

until 1940 when the country was incorporated into the Soviet Union as the

Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Also known as the Latvian SSR, or Latvia) was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1941, and then from 1944 until 1990. The Soviet occupation and annexation of Latvia began between J ...

. Wipper's works received the privilege of translation into English for foreign readership. In 1922, Wipper published a book about

Ivan the Terrible Ivan IV Vasilyevich (; – ), commonly known as Ivan the Terrible,; ; monastic name: Jonah. was Grand Prince of Moscow, Grand Prince of Moscow and all Russia from 1533 to 1547, and the first Tsar of all Russia, Tsar and Grand Prince of all R ...

. A revised edition of it, published in 1942, was welcomed by Soviet reviewers. ''The History of Greece of the Classic Epoch'' (1916) was a personal favorite of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

. In 1944, Wipper received the

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour () was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, sports ...

and the

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

in 1945. He also became a member of the

Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991. It united the country's leading scientists and was subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (un ...

. Until his death Wipper supported the

Christ myth theory The Christ myth theory, also known as the Jesus myth theory, Jesus mythicism, or the Jesus ahistoricity theory, is the fringe view that the story of Jesus is a work of mythology with no historical substance. Alternatively, in terms given by ...

. The first edition of the ''

Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; , ''BSE'') is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Great Russian Enc ...

'' characterized him as "the most talented representative in historical science of the Russian

petty bourgeois ''Petite bourgeoisie'' (, ; also anglicised as petty bourgeoisie) is a term that refers to a social class composed of small business owners, shopkeepers, small-scale merchants, semi-autonomous peasants, and artisans. They are named as such ...

intelligentsia The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the i ...

". He died in Moscow at the age of 95."ROBERT G. VIPPER", ''The New York Times'' (January 1, 1955, p.13)
Retrieved February 14, 2019

References

Bibliography

* * ''Maike Sach.'' Ein russischer Exil-Historiker in Riga. Robert Ju. Vipper (1859-1954) und sein Beitrag zur lettischen Geschichtswissenschaft in der Zwischenkriegszeit // Baltische Politiker, Historiker und Publizisten des 20. Jahrhunderts. Hrsg. Norbert Angermann, Detlef Henning, Wilhelm Lenz. Berlin: Lit, 2021, S. 381-406. * Die drei Leben eines Historikers. Robert Vipper (1859–1954) in der russischen, lettischen und sowjetischen Geschichtsschreibung. Ed. Jan Kusber, Ilgvars Misāns, Maike Sach. Berlin: Peter Lang, 2024. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wipper, Robert 1859 births 1954 deaths 20th-century Russian historians Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Imperial Moscow University alumni Moscow State University alumni Academic staff of Imperial Moscow University Academic staff of the University of Latvia Writers from Moscow Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the Order of Saint Stanislaus (Russian), 2nd class Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 2nd class Recipients of the Order of St. Vladimir, 4th class 20th-century Latvian historians 19th-century historians from the Russian Empire Russian medievalists Soviet historians Soviet medievalists Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery