He is best known for his book Greek Myths and Legends (Legendy i Mify Drevnei Gretsii), which was extremely popular with readers in the Soviet Union.

First published in 1914,[1] it has been republished many times since and translated into a number of European languages.

After graduating from Moscow University in 1903, he worked in a women's seminary in Tver, went to Germany in 1905 where he worked for one year in the Berlin University, then came back to Tver to give lectures on the history of culture in the Tver People's University.

He spent 1911 and 1912 in Rome making excursions to museums for Russian teachers and giving lectures on the arts of ancient Greece and Rome.

In 1915 he was appointed professor of history at the Moscow City People's University, and professor of social science at the Moscow University in 1920.