Ilya Pavlovich Petrushevsky

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Ilya Pavlovich Petrushevsky was a Soviet historian and expert on the Middle East and Islam. He was born in Kiev on June 10, 1898, and died in Leningrad on March 18, 1977.

Education and early career
- He finished his studies in history and philology at Kharkiv and Baku universities in 1926.
- He worked in Baku from 1926 to 1931.
- In 1931, he studied Arabic and Persian at the Institute of Caucasus Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences in Tbilisi.
- From 1933 to 1936 he taught at the University of Tbilisi and earned his Candidate of Historical Sciences in 1935.
- He then worked at the Leningrad branch of the Institute of History of the USSR Academy of Sciences and taught at a regional pedagogical institute (1936–1941).
- He earned his Doctor of Historical Sciences in 1941 with a dissertation on feudal relations in Azerbaijan and Armenia from the 16th to early 19th centuries.

World War II and later career
- During the war, he taught in Baku and Tashkent.
- After the war, from 1945 to 1947, he worked at the Leningrad branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies and became a professor at Leningrad University in 1947.
- He led the Department of History of the Middle East at the Eastern Faculty from 1950 to 1954 and again from 1961 to 1977.
- From 1956 to 1959 he headed the Iranian Group at the Leningrad branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies (renamed the Iranian Cabinet in 1957).

Contributions and legacy
- Petrushevsky’s research covered the history of agriculture and feudal relations in the Near and Middle East, medieval Iran’s popular movements, nomadic–sedentary relations, and the history of Islam.
- His works are well regarded in Oriental studies, with some translated into Persian and English.
- He published more than 90 works.

Death
- He died in 1977 and was buried at Serafimovskoe Cemetery in Leningrad.