Alandsky was born in Tosno in the Saint Petersburg Governorate, to parents Ivan Stefanovich and Yevdokia Ivanovich. His father was the village priest in Tosno.[2] At age 13, he entered the Alexander Nevsky seminary for boys in Saint Petersburg. In 1865, he graduated from the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy, and five years later graduated from the University of Saint Petersburg.[3]
Starting in 1870, he taught Latin at the Nevsky seminary while furthering his studies in Greek literature at the University of Saint Petersburg. He defended his thesis on 1 April 1873, and that fall he was admitted as an assistant professor to his alma mater, where he lectured Homer's The Iliad.[1] The next year he moved to Kiev, where he became a lecturer at the University of Saint Vladimir. In 1877, the university sent him to study ancient art monuments in Florence, Rome and Naples. Starting in 1878, he also taught history at the Kiev University for Women.
In 1883, Alandsky died just 39,[4] apparently killed on a fishing trip. He was buried at the prestigious Baikove Cemetery in Kiev, where his tomb (now destroyed) once bore a meotope of Homer, along with the inscription: "He knew all about the depths of the past, but he could not foresee the terrible event that happened to him on a fishing trip."[5]
