There are dates that are impossible to believe.

On November 9, 2012, the greatest specialist in the ancient and medieval history of the countries of Southeast and East Asia, an antiquarian archaeologist, epigraphist, textual critic, expert on the culture of the entire East, an excellent lecturer and teacher Dega Vitalievich Deopik turns 80 years old. How does this number not fit in with his vital energy and love of science! Degas Vitalievich devoted so much time to developing and popularizing quantitative methods that it seems as if numbers have lost their power over him and he will always be the same age as the era.

Degas Vitalievich was born in the family of great artists Valentina Deopik and Vitaly Goryaev. In 1956, the hero of the day graduated from the History Department of Moscow State University. His teachers were the luminaries of Russian Oriental studies A. A. Guber and Russian linguistics Yu. K. Lekomtsev. Five years later, in 1961, he defended his PhD thesis "Early Vietnamese States", and in 1996 became a Doctor of Historical Sciences ("History of Vietnam. Part 1 (from ancient times to the end of the XVIII century)"). They have become milestones in Russian Vietnamese studies.

Along with the history of Vietnam, Degas Vitalievich has been actively engaged in archeology all his life: for forty years, he went on field expeditions, where his students-philologists and historians-gained invaluable research experience.

Degas Vitalievich is the author of monographs and hundreds of articles on the history, culture, and archeology of the East. Among his works are a section on the ancient and medieval history of Southeast Asia in the collective monograph of Russian historians " Southeast Asia in World History "(1977), "Kampuchea from ancient times to the middle of the XIX century" in " History of Kampuchea "(1981), "History of Vietnam. Part 1." (1994), "Biblical Archaeology and the ancient history of the Holy Land (course of lectures)" (1998; 2007), " History of the Ancient East "(2001; 2007), " Vietnam: History, Traditions and Modernity "(2002), sections on the history of Southeast Asia in antiquity and the early Middle Ages in the new edition "World History "(vol. 1, 2011), articles on South-East Asia in the fundamental "Soviet Historical Encyclopedia", innovative research on the origin and history of the development of the oldest written languages in East Asia, and many other remarkable works.

Degas Vitalievich successfully combines scientific and pedagogical activities. It was thanks to his talent as a lecturer and mentor that a broad scientific tradition of studying the ancient and medieval history of Southeast and East Asia developed at the Institute of Asian and African Countries at Moscow State University and the Institute of Practical Oriental Studies.

In 1990-2006. Dega Vitalievich headed the Department of History of the Far East and South-East Asia at the ISAA of Moscow State University. In 2007, the hero of the day was awarded the title of Honored Professor of Moscow State University. On his initiative, the Institute of Practical Oriental Studies was established, where he works as the dean of the Faculty of Oriental and African Studies.

His broadest erudition, human qualities that combine exactingness and sincerity, have earned sincere love and respect among students and colleagues.

We congratulate Degu Vitalievich on his anniversary and wish him good health, new discoveries and long life!

FRIENDS, COLLEAGUES, AND STUDENTS

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