Unpublished course of lectures “Greek State Antiquities” by D. F. Belyaev

The study presents a historiographical analysis of a lithographed lecture course “Greek State Antiquities” by Kazan Professor D. F. Belyaev, stored in the Lobachevsky Scientifi c Library of Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University. This source, which has not been introduced into scientifi c circulation, being the highest form of conceptualization of teacher’s knowledge, contains not only information about the level of methodological culture and erudition of the scholar but also certain conceptual provisions that help to reconstruct the historiographical routine of Professor Belyaev. The analysis is based on the identifi cation of the key problems of the course related to the previous scientifi c tradition and the scholar’s intellectual experience, allowing to establish the degree of originality of the author’s concept. The primary goal of the conducted research is to identify the foundations of the Kazan scholar’s methodology and its infl uence on the nature of his results. The conclusion is that the innovative nature of the approach applied by D. F. Belyaev led him to achieving profound results in the process of his scientifi c work and that the experimental nature of his research was successfully embodied in his magnum opus, Byzantina.