Nikolai Mashkin

Nikolai Alexandrovich Mashkin (9 February 1900, Sokolki – 15 September 1950, Moscow) was a Soviet scholar of Roman history (Doctor of Historical Sciences and Professor from 1942). Mashkin authored The History of Ancient Rome (1947–56), which was translated into several languages, and The Principate of Augustus. Its Origin and Social Essence (1949, translated into German, Italian, Hungarian and Romanian languages). In 1950 Mashkin received the State Prize of the USSR.

Mashkin was born in the village of Sokolki, present Bugulminsky District in Russia. Having finished a school in Bugulma, he studied at the Faculty of History and Philosophy of the Samara State University (1921/22) and at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Moscow University. In 1938 Mashkin received his doctorate. Mashkin extensively studied the history of Roman provinces, particularly Africa. He also authored several works on circumcellions.