The subject of this study is the academic heritage of Iya Leonidovna Mayak related to the principal issues of her research, i.e. the Roman social history of the royal time and the first half of the early republican period. The article analyzes Mayak’s ideas concerning a number of key theoretical issues of Roman studies related to the concepts of civitas, populus, ager publicus during the archaic era. This is the first attempt at generalizing the academic contribution of I.L. Mayak in the study of socio-political and socio-economic relations in Rome from the VIII to the first half of the 4th century B.C.E. The fundamental ideas of the works by Mayak are considered in the context of the world historiography of recent decades. The author stats that while the scholars of the Roman archaic society were divided in their attitude toward the annalistic tradition, as well as the interpretation of archaeological material, and one group of them, the adepts of postmodern negativity, generally denied the reliability of the sources regarding this ancient period of Roman history, I.L. Mayak invariably supported the followers of the Italian archaeologist A. Carandini, who insisted on the importance of the ancient narrative on the early city. In the discussion on pages of the Bulletin of Ancient History at the turn of the 1980s–1990s regarding E.M. Staerman’s concept of the Roman civitas as a stateless formation before the era of Octavian Augustus, I.L. Mayak was among those who did not agree with her argument, without denying Staerman’s main methodological approach. According to Mayak, the essential feature of the Roman civil community was an ancient form of ownership that distinguished civitas and polis organization as a whole from the community of ancient eastern city-states. She thought that the plebs were not included in the populus, not only in the royal time, but also during the early Republic. Mayak regarded the plebeians’ lack of access to the ager occupatorius, which was disposed by the patricians for free, as a sign of inequality in the area of land relations. She saw the purpose of the agrarian struggle as changing the mode of operation of the ager publicus in the interests of the plebs. I.L. Mayak happened to be among those few scholars who devoted their works not only to the institutional and legal history of the archaic Roman community, but also to its social studies.

Notwithstanding the abiding interest from a number of scholars in the history of the Ottoman Empire and regular flow of works devoted to this polity, it should be recognized that studies which apply synchronized historical and political science approaches to the transformation of Ottoman statehood are still rare. Hence, serious gaps exist in the formation of systemic ideas about the rise and fall of the Sublime Porte, which, in the author’s opinion, can be partially filled by resorting to the topical areas of modern political science, especially the concepts of “state sustainability” and “political stability”. The main hypothesis of this study is the assumption that the roots of both the rise and the decline of the Ottoman Empire lay mainly in the same phenomena: centralization of power, closed personalistic rule, the concomitant institutional deficit, as well as the overly conservative modality of center-peripheral relations and the lack of consistent implementation of unifying principles in the Empire’s social and information space. The author’s research follows the methodology of historical institutionalism and the pivotal idea of a “path” (“dependence on the chosen track”), addresses the views of the theorists of the political regime and political stability, and also looks at some of the most characteristic topical scenarios of domestic policy in the Ottoman Empire. As a result the author concludes that among the reasons for the political crisis and the gradual deterioration of the empire’s state structure were, on the one hand, the essentially irrational desire to maintain the competitive advantages that characterized Ottoman policy at a certain stage of history, and, on the other hand, the inability of the political class to build a strategically new vector for the development of the country, different from the usual regime models. Thus, an attempt is made to supplement the comprehension and analysis of extensive historical data by the methodology of political research, evaluating the Ottoman Empire as a type of statehood in the broad sense of the word.

An important characteristic of historical consciousness is the society’s attitude towards ancient monuments. The recognition or denial of the value of material remnants of the past, the practice of visiting historical places and the very selection of these places reflect the characteristic features of the formation of national identity and patriotism. For centuries, the city of Kiev remained one of the main symbols of ancient Russian history. Its cultural image is multilayered; it combines both secular and religious features. A lot of research is devoted to the place of Kiev in the public consciousness at different stages of historical development. Most of them are based on the analysis of historical and literary works, political rhetoric, diplomatic negotiations, and propound to a large extent the official ideology of the state and the church. At the same time, sources of personal origin, which include the diaries and memoirs of travellers, are of great interest for studying everyday historical consciousness. The comparison of the value judgments and descriptions of Kiev landmarks, reflected in the travel notes of the 18th century, shows a wide variety of views on Russian antiquities in modern period. The cornerstone of the cultural image of Kiev was the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Monastery, which defined it as a holy city, the place where Russia took the baptism and where the first Russian ascetics lived. The cult of the saints of Kiev was propagated in the publications printed by the monastery printing house, and attracted to the city numerous pilgrims, driven not so much by the thirst for knowledge of Russian history but by Christian zeal. The educated nobility, on the contrary, was primarily interested in cultural and historical aspect of visiting sites, comparing ancient Russian churches with European architectural monuments, perceiving them as aesthetic and artistic treasures. The notes of foreigners reflect a generally sceptical attitude to the sanctity of Kiev relics. Nevertheless, the secular history of the city attracts their attention. Finally, we can trace a comparison between the ancient Kiev and the antiquity in the descriptions of ceremonial receptions of crowned guests. The lack of unanimity in the perception of the main symbol of ancient Russian history shows how deep the cultural stratification of society was in the 18th century.

The efficacy of methods of historical anthropology actively implemented in present-day historical studies and the social request to research on the history of entrepreneurship enable us to address the issue of merchants’ professional knowledge and skills. Although this topic has been examined for many years, the implementation of merchants’ knowledge in this estate’s business activity remains poorly studied. Great opportunities for investigating this problem are provided by personal sources, namely, by merchants’ private correspondence. Due to them, one can better understand the merchants’ business world, their everyday concerns and thoughts. Such sources, especially those related to the merchant milieu of pre-reform Russia, are extremely scarce. One of these rarities is the 18th–19th century epistolary corpus of the Buldakov family from Veliky Ustyug. Its analysis allows us to understand that the success of a merchant in trading activities depended primarily on his experience, education and a set of special personal qualities. The abilities to conduct a thorough analysis of market trends, to collect the necessary information, to transmit it in a timely manner, to systematize and draw adequate conclusions were most important. This demonstrated availability of analytical and critical thinking, a broad outlook (ranging from specific knowledge of the postal service to understanding the impact of the international situation on the entrepreneurial activity in different countries) and the ability to implement the experience. A significant element of the success of trading was the capability to find mutual understanding with people of different status and occupations. All this, along with the merchant’s organizing abilities, ensured the effective functioning of the “enterprise”. The multiple contacts also stimulated an increase of relevant information. When studying merchants’ professional knowledge, the method of its dissemination is an important issue. Although the idea to obtain a special commercial education was very popular among enlighteners, the merchants continued to acquire it at the “practical school” of commerce, where new skills and knowledge spread much faster.

The article analyzes the German soldiers’ postcards of the 1914– 1918 World War I, epistolary practices of front-line soldiers, as well as the place and functions of postcards in the field mail of the German Empire. The war created a new situation in communication, transforming everyday verbal communication into written one. The field mail was the most important psychological resource for the soldier, asserting his identity and allowing him to withstand military trials. The German field mail service had an efficient branched structure, letters and postcards were quickly delivered free of charge. Control over the field mail was performed through two types of censorship — army and post office censorships. The use of quantitative methods has made it possible to determine such a feature of field mail correspondence as obvious predominance of postcards over letters sent from the front to the rear and circulated in the rear. A larger number of letters from the rear to the front was interpreted, inter alia, by the public requirement of giving active moral support to the soldiers. A frequent use of postcards by the soldiers themselves was due to the fact that the latter provided faster and more frequent communication than the letters, and made possible to maintain its rhythm. In addition, postcards were more practical in front-line life and required less moral, material and time costs for writing. At the same time, a soldier sometimes preferred a postcard to a letter due to the censorship requirements or the necessity to decrease pressure on postal services. Despite their widespread employment, postcards were regarded lower by the soldiers than letters that were considered more meaningful. Nevertheless, during the World War I, postcards in Germany formed the basis of the field mail. Primarily, they served as providers of the postal main function, namely, maintaining a continuous and intensive connection between the front and rear.

The author focuses on the actions of Washington and Paris during the escalation of the Greek-Turkish conflict in Cyprus in 1967–1975. This conflict is regarded not as a local and regional one or as an object of the foreign policy of the United States and France, but as a clash of opposing ideologies of “Atlantic solidarity” and “Europeanism” representing the countries of Western Europe as an independent decision-making centre. The aim of the research is to evaluate the efficiency of the methods and means employed by Washington and Paris for implementing these guiding principles. In the Greek-Turkish conflict, European solidarity, promoted by France, was expressed through the boycott of the pro- American and Atlantic military dictatorship that came to power in Athens. France secretly supported Turkey within the context of its rapprochement with Muslim countries. The United States labored to prevent an aggravation of the conflict between Ankara and Athens and provided both countries with military and economic support, although with a tilt towards Greece. The escalation of the Cyprus conflict in summer of 1974 and attempts at its quick resolution in 1974–1975 entirely changed the situation: Athens became anti-American and anti-Atlantic after leaving NATO. France strived to tie Greece to itself, promising its own and pan-European support. However, Turkey unexpectedly did not turn to the pillar of the United States in the conflict. Such a shift in the US politics gave France a chance, after its failure to consolidate Europeans around Greece, to try to gain a foothold there. Instead, this attempt dispersed French forces and remained fruitless. Meanwhile, the US having the preponderance of force, political and economic resources did not allow Turkey and Greece to get out of the US control. Having revisited the struggle of France and the USA for the influence over these two Mediterranean countries during the Cyprus conflict, the author concludes that the Western Europe, led by Paris, was unable to offer an attractive and effective alternative to Atlantic solidarity in the period.

The paper analyzes the anti-crisis economic policy of the Russian government at the end of the Soviet Union and reveals its role in combating growing crisis in the economy. The decisive condition for the implementation of this policy in August–September 1991 was the dismantling of the Soviet Union governance institutions after the defeat of the State Emergency Committee (GKChP). In historiography, the activities of the Government of the RSFSR in this period have been insufficiently studied: the employment of previously unused sources, primarily office papers, allows to significantly expand our knowledge of its work and to offer more balanced assessment of the measures introduced by the I.S. Silaev’s government and its policies in general. In the anti-crisis policy of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR in August–September 1991, two principal trends can be distinguished: reducing food deficiency and developing market reforms. To avert hunger, the Russian government organized barter exchanges with the Soviet Union republics, established channels for directing resources from the defense industry sectors, involved the personnel and equipment of the Soviet army for harvesting, and sought ways to ensure imports of necessary goods. The main content of preparations for market reform was a structural transformation of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR, launch of the process of transferring all-union property to republican jurisdiction and assessing its value, and the development of the government’s program of market reforms. The crucial problems and contradictions that influenced these preparations for the economic reform have been established on the basis of the study of structural transformations of the Council of Ministers and its administrative measures. The implementation of the anti-crisis policy of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR is considered in the context of the dynamics of inter-republic relations as one of the essential factors in the escalation of crisis. The results of the research have allowed reconsidering the role of I.S. Silaev’s government in the development of the Soviet Union and Russia after the events of August 1991.

The Xiongnu Empire occupied a vast territory from the mountains of the Western Tien Shan in the west to the Liaohe River in the east, and from Transbaikalia in the north to northern China in the south (to the Great Wall). Ethnoculturally, the Xiongnu people played an important bridging role between the West and the East on the Eurasian continent. The article dwells on the topical problem — analysis and recapitulation of the historiography of Xiongnu animal style, penned by scholars from Russia, China, Mongolia, and South Korea. The author analyzes the works which discuss the topics about the art of the nomads who lived in this region in the 3d century B.C.E. — 2nd century C.E. and on this basis identifies the problematic issues and future challenges in the study of this issue. The animal style of nomads of the early Iron Age has been extensively studied as a form of art. However, it seems that the scholars did not pay enough attention to the decorative art of the Iron Age peoples of the Transbaikal region and to the Xiongnu people in particular. Xiongnu art is known mainly through the archaeological data, i.e. through artifacts decorated in a peculiar animal style, different from the previous famous Scytho-Siberian animal style. Over the past decades, none of the academic schools has conducted a generalizing study of the Xiongnu animal style. As a rule, this topic remained peripheral while cultural objects or artefacts were considered. This article identifies the main trends in studying the art of the nomads of this region at the turning of eras, which is necessary for future research on the evolution of the Xiongnu animal style, identification of its local characteristics, production of classification and clarification of dates. Also, the resulting methods can be applied to the study of art of other steppe peoples of Mongolia and Transbaikal region. Thus, a foundation for the comprehensive and systematic study of the Xiongnu animal style has been prepared and the study of this topic carries strong potential.

For the first time in the historical research in the Baltic, the author has created a set of images with the sacred trees of the Prussians and their northeastern neighbours, the Curonians. The sacralization of the oak and the perception of its connection with the god of thunder and lightning, characteristic of most Indo-European peoples at an early stage of the formation of their cultures, were pictorially fixed among the Prussians in the 5th century C.E. In subsequent eras, various forms of the depiction of the sacred tree indicated that it occupied an important place in the Prussian cult. This conclusion is confirmed by the written reports about the sanctuary of Romow, principal for many Baltic tribes and located in the Prussian land of Nadruvia. In the center of this sanctuary grew an evergreen sacred oak tree, while its crown concealed the images and symbols of the Prussian gods. Even after centuries of the Teutonic Order’s rule, Prussia retained the rudiments of the cult of the tree, which was the place of sacrifice for the Prussian peasants in the middle of the 17th century. Archaeological data from the Viking Age directly testify to the close ties of the Prussians and the Curonians, primarily in material culture. Whereas with the Prussians, images of the sacralized tree were already known in the Attila era, the Curonians saw them appear only in the post-Viking time. As a result, it can be assumed that the aforesaid pictorial tradition (or even the entire cult of the sacred tree) came to the area of the Curonians from their southwestern neighbours. To this very day, the old wooden buildings of Zelenogradsk (Cranz), a town located at the base of the Curonian Spit, have preserved decorative details of the pediments, showing stylized representations of a sacred tree with three branches/sprouts or a tree with a cross-shaped crown, guarded by two dragons. Considering the fact that the part of Sambia where the aforesaid city is now located, in the Viking era and thereafter received groups of the Curonians, which is evidenced in the archaeological material, it is possible to assume with a great degree of caution that the decor of the local residents’ houses showcase some Curonian visual motifs dating back to tradition of the sacred tree.

The article considers the relationship between the architectural forms of the small church of Intercession on the Nerl’, the most important and probably the most renowned monument of the mid-12th-century Vladimir- Suzdal’ architecture, and the enormous diocesan Modena cathedral, which was founded in 1099 and then built until the second half of the 20th century. According to the later, not fully verified tradition, the Church of Intercession was erected in 1165 by order of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky (1157–1174) as a church of a small monastery (this date can be considered relatively reliable). In the course of the study, it became evident that most of the forms of the Church of Intercession on the Nerl’ belong to the Italian version of the Romanesque style. Moreover, a significant part of these forms has direct analogues in the slightly earlier architecture of the cathedral in Modena, the most important and complex building of Romanesque architecture in the historical region of Emilia. Some forms of the Church of Intercession are lacking in the cathedral of Modena, and this fact evidently indicates to the “combined” structure of the Romanesque team that came to Russia to erect buildings commissioned by Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky: its core consisted of the masters associated with Modena cathedral, but there were also masters from other centers of Northern Italy or those who reproduced the architectural style of these cities. Nevertheless, Modena cathedral can be viewed as the principal source of the elements of the Church of Intercession and Prince Andrei’s earlier buildings — the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir (1158–1160) and the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin at neighbouring Bogolyubovo. One can indicate Modena as the “home address” of the team, who, though not blindly copying formal elements and following stylistic programme of Modena Cathedral in some cases developed or only modified it.