Thukydides. Peloponnesose soja ajalugu

Richard Adolf Kleis (1896-1982), historian, classical philologist, lexicographer, translator, and encyclopedist. Kleis studied history and ancient languages at the University of Petrograd (1915-1916) and later at the University of Tartu, where he graduated in history in 1925 and obtained a master's degree in 1934. Early in his career he taught at Hugo Treffner Gymnasium in Tartu, teaching Latin, history, and civics. From the 1930s onward, Kleis became a central figure in Estonian reference publishing, working on biographical and encyclopedic projects and serving as chief editor of the eight-volume Eesti Entsüklopeedia (1932-1937). After the Second World War, he held academic posts at the University of Tartu and various research institutes, though he temporarily lost positions during the Stalinist purges of the early 1950s. He returned to the University of Tartu in 1954 and remained there until retirement in 1978, teaching Latin and classical literature. His scholarly work focused on lexicography, classical philology, and translation. He contributed to major dictionaries, including foreign-word lexicons and Latin-Estonian dictionaries, and translated medieval and classical texts, such as the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia.