Jakov M. Borovskij: Poet of Latin in the Soviet Union (translation Sonja Zupančič)

Abstract

Jakov Markovich Borovskij (1896–1994), a Russian classicist of deep learning and a vigorous sense of social responsibility, who studied with Tadeusz Zielinski, Mikhail Rostovtseff, Sergej A. Zhebelev, Grigorij F. Zereteli, and Aleksander Malein, was able to pursue a career in classics while managing to survive the pitfalls of Stalin’s terror. Later he championed the idea that the gymnasium, where pupils read literary texts in ancient languages, was indispensable for humanistic education, and became one of the founding fathers of the classical gymnasium that was re-established in St. Petersburg in 1990.