Alexander Alexandrovich Vasiliev (Russian: Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Васи́льев; 4 October 1867 (N.S.) – 30 May 1953) was considered the foremost authority on Byzantine history and culture in the mid-20th century. His History of the Byzantine Empire (vol. 1–2, 1928) remains one of a few comprehensive accounts of the entire Byzantine history, on the par with those authored by Edward Gibbon and Fyodor Uspensky.