Sergey Krikh

The article analyses the process and methods of polemics between Igor M. Diakonoff and Vasiliy V. Struve as an important part of the debate about the Sumerian social and economic history. The author examines the basic terms and their correlation (scientific dispute, discussion, polemics), focusing on the definition of polemical technique as an additional way to make scientific arguments more convincing. The author tries to identify the polemical devices used by I. M. Diakonoff and V. V. Struve in a scientific dispute against each other, their connotations, as well as the overall underlying strategy and their importance for the development of Soviet historiography of antiquity.