After graduating from the University of St Petersburg (1891) Turayev studied under Gaston Maspero[1] and Adolf Erman[2] and worked in museums of Berlin, Paris and London.

After the establishment of the Moscow Museum of Fine Arts, Turayev persuaded Vladimir Golenishchev to sell his collection of ancient Egyptian statuary and curiosities to the museum.

For a time he lived in the museum building, preparing the collection for exhibition.

[3] Boris Turayev's magnum opus, History of Ancient East (1911, 2 volumes), quite unprecedented in its scope, brought him recognition throughout Europe.

It was the first comprehensive study that analyzed the whole history and culture of the Ancient Middle East (that was determined by Turayev as a territory from Central Asia and Iran in the East to Carthage in the West).