From stirrup to paper

Sergei Arkadievich Ivanov, a well-known visantologist, graduate of Moscow State University in the Department of Classical Philology, professor and author of almost 200 scientific works, back in the 90s began to write essays on things - first for the magazine “Results”, then for “Daily Journal”. Later, these essays came out with a book, so that the Enlightener-2010 Award was already received by the second edition, partially processed.

I admit, in general, I am not a judge to texts related to popular science. Mainly due to the fact that the part of them in my case does not reach the goal: I did not understand this, and then they finally explained to me. As a rule, I did not understand, I don’t understand ... readers are often content with pseudo -understanding, not to mention such common and, moreover, completely illusory ideas about what is evidence.

If, by curiosity, the desire to learn a lot and different things , then it is not characteristic of me: usually I want to not so much find out as to understand . Therefore, it seems to me not so important, who and when came up with, for example, a hard stirrup , until they told me that it was impossible to do without such an aspiration and what opportunities for the rider (and most importantly - for knightly cavalry) it opened. You will also learn about this if you read an essay on the horse harness in the book of S.A. Ivanova "1000 days of insights."

For those who have not yet opened this book, these are stories about a hundred things / substances , dedicated to 10 centuries - the times of their invention. On each turn of the book of a large format, the text itself occupies only the right page, so we read this page , but we are considering the left for a long time : here in the collage technique is skillfully illustrated (artists A. Bondarenko and D. Chernogaev) written on the right. I read quickly, but I consider slowly. It seems that only in childhood I enjoyed this pleasure precisely from examination : the gloss in such cases does not annoy me at all, and the selection of illustrations here is extremely successful (for some reason I think that the author took part in this). Despite the fact that the book of S.A. Ivanov is fully consistent with its name, before us, of course, is an essay of a very high sample. However, do not think that, saying, for example , about a button and a loop or about a stationery, the author actually takes the opportunity to tell us something else . This is the secret: you do not find any whimsical wristwalks of the author’s logic. The author wanted to talk about this (about an umbrella, about the pressure cooker, about the typewriter, etc.) - and each time the text fits on the mentioned right page, in the center of which there is also a small image of the object, and at the end of the text there is also a list of illustrations.

It turns out that within the limits of such a modest textual space you can clearly, with names, dates - and with humor! - Talk about a handkerchief and an umbrella, about contraceptive tablets and a laser, about Christmas toys and bayonets, about porcelain and heroine. And the conclusion to the book is an exemplary, philosophically significant text.

And then I passionately wanted to know how S.A. Ivanova manifests itself in his scientific works.

In order for the reader to understand why, not interested in Byzantium, I can’t come off from the book of S. Ivanov (in my case, from the screen), I will bring an author’s annotation to the book about Byzantine missionary work:

“ What were the main missionary achievements of Byzantium ? A modern man would answer : in the creation of the Slavic alphabet and in the baptism of Russia . Meanwhile , not a single Byzantine source of the 9th century . He does not mention the word of Cyril and Methodius , just like not a single Greek living in the X century left us a line about the baptism of Prince Vladimir . Such a “silence of the century” cannot be an accident , especially since it is accompanied by many other missionary enterprises of Byzantium : in Ethiopia , Ara Vii , Persia . Here lies a certain fundamental feature in the perception of the medieval Greeks of the surrounding world and ourselves . This monograph is devoted to the disclosure of this specificity .

In it , for the first time in world science , the history of the Byzantine MIS Zionerism throughout its millennium is traced . The author in detail by the permissions triggers all the Christianizing enterprises of the Greeks , many of whom have so far eliminated the attention of scientists . For the first time, the Greek Orthodox mission was considered from the point of view of not only the “mission” ( it played a role in the history of Christianity in a particular country ?) How many missionary ( why did the Byzantines need “barbarians” ? ). The main question to which the author is looking for an answer : could the “ barbar ” in general become a Christian ? .. The Empire lost its confessional competitors a peaceful rivalry for Croatia , Czech Republic , Bosnia , Lithuania , Khazaria , Hungary , and the North Caucasus - why ? " .

(Byzantine missionary work: Is it possible to make a Christian from the "barbarus"? M.: Languages ​​of Slavic Culture, 2003)

As you can see, this book is written by a person who knows how to ask the main questions and, moreover, does it with elegant simplicity. That is how I imagine the educational mission of the scientist.