A Retrospect of Antiquity While Proclaiming Peter I the Father of His Homeland, Emperor, and Great

Abstract

This article analyzes the references to Antiquity in “The Petition of the Senators to Tsar Peter I for the Adoption of the Title of Peter the Great, the Father of His Homeland and the Emperor of All Russians” (on October 21/22, 1721) and in “The Speech Written and Delivered by Peter I at the Old Trinity Cathedral of St. Petersburg after He Had Read Out the Peace Treaty with Sweden” (on October 22, 1721), when he adopted the above titles). The Latin spellings of these titles in the texts of the 1720s were examined (based on the published version of A.F. Sigismundi’s speech on signing the Treaty of Nystad). The retrospective look of the contemporaries of the studied events at the history of Antiquity was discussed: particular attention was paid to the historical ideas about the ancient Roman state expressed by P.N. Kriokshin, an associate of Peter I, along with his views on the Slavic–Russian history. The commitment to the values of ancient societies (heroic service to the Homeland, patriotism, valor, and courage) along with the political focus on the image of the Roman state strengthened the socioideological background of the Russian statehood. In was concluded that the great figures who shaped the Russian empire in the 18th century were concerned, consciously and purposefully, with providing additional stability to the whole system and thus relied on the past experience of Antiquity.