Grigore George Tocilescu (26 October 1850 – 18 September 1909) was a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

n historian, archaeologist,

epigrapher Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

and folkorist, member of

Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its byl ...

. He was a professor of ancient history at the

University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea din București), commonly known after its abbreviation UB in Romania, is a public university founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princel ...

, author of Marele Dicționar Geografic al României (The Great Geographical Dictionary of Romania), general secretary of the Romanian Ministry of Teaching and multiple times senator, with conservative political views. Tocilescu is one of the first Romanian historians who focused on the study of civilizations in ancient

Dacia Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus r ...

. As a folklorist he collaborated on the publication of a

folkloristics Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...

compendium A compendium (plural: compendia or compendiums) is a comprehensive collection of information and analysis pertaining to a body of knowledge. A compendium may concisely summarize a larger work. In most cases, the body of knowledge will concern a s ...

Life

Education

After finishing the primary and secondary school Ploieşti, Tocilescu went to

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

where he graduated at the

Saint Sava National College The Saint Sava National College (Romanian: ''Colegiul Național Sfântul Sava''), Bucharest, named after Sabbas the Sanctified, is the oldest and one of the most prestigious high schools in Romania. It was founded in 1694, under the name of t ...

. He then studied in universities in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, where he obtained the

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

title and the license to practice law. Back in Romania, in 1881 he became professor of ancient history and epigraphy at the

Involvement

In 1884 the Archaeological Seminary's Library was established through Professor Tocilescu's grant. At the death of Romanian historian, Romantic author, academic and politician

Vasile Alexandrescu Urechia V. A. Urechia (most common version of Vasile Alexandrescu Urechia, ; born Vasile Alexandrescu and also known as Urechiă, Urechea, Ureche, Popovici-Ureche or Vasile Urechea-Alexandrescu; 15 February 1834 – 21 November 1901) was a Moldavian, ...

, November 21, 1901, Tocilescu delivered the funeral oration.

Professional activity

In 1877 Tocilescu went to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, to the

Rumyantsev Museum The Rumyantsev Museum evolved from the personal library and historical collection of Count Nikolay Rumyantsev (1754–1826). Its origin was in St. Petersburg in the Rumyantsev house or mansion, building number 44 on the English Embankment overlo ...

, where he copied the book ''From the Beginning of the First World'' (''De-nceputul lumiei de-ntâiu''), written by

Mihail Moxa Mihail Moxa (; after 1550–before 1650) was a Wallachian historiographer and translator. Nothing is known about his family, but Moxa was probably from the Oltenia region, and was a monk at the Bistrița Monastery The Bistrița Monastery ( r ...

, and sent the copy to ''Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu'', who published it in ''Cuvente den batrâni'' ( vol. I, 1878). The work is a universal history that begins with the "creation of the world", speaks of the Assyrians,

Egyptians Egyptians ( arz, المَصرِيُون, translit=al-Maṣriyyūn, ; arz, المَصرِيِين, translit=al-Maṣriyyīn, ; cop, ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ, remenkhēmi) are an ethnic group native to the Nile, Nile Valley in Egypt. Egyptian ...

Persians The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian. ...

, then passes to the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

. It makes a brief history of the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kin ...

, after which it lists the emperors of the West and the East until the establishment of the Turkish rule in Europe and ends with the first battles of the Turks with the Romanians in 1489. Later, he left for Paris to continue his studies in the French archives and libraries, about

Dimitrie Cantemir Dimitrie or Demetrius Cantemir (, russian: Дмитрий Кантемир; 26 October 1673 – 21 August 1723), also known by other spellings, was a Romanian prince, statesman, and man of letters, regarded as one of the most significant e ...

. On this occasion he attended courses at the

Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment ('' grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris n ...

and the ''École Pratique de Hautes-Etudes'' (

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

). Returning to the country, he was appointed the director of the National Museum of Antiquities and held the position of professor of ancient history and

epigraphy Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

at the

(1881). From the point of view of archaeology, Tocilescu was the initiator of the Romanian archaeological excavations in Dobrogea. He is co-author of the work ''The Great Geographical Dictionary of Romania'' published in 5 volumes in Bucharest between 1898-1902. He was general secretary at the Ministry of Education and, several times, conservative senator. Tocilescu is one of the first historians to study the civilizations on the territory of the former

. He left three impressive works: ''Dacia before the Romans'' (''Dacia înainte de romani''), ''the Adamclisi Monument'' (''Monumentul de la Adamclisi'') in collaboration with O. Benndorf and G. Niemann and ''Fouilles et recherches archéologiques en Roumanie''. He was also concerned with the republishing of some fundamental works, such as ''The Chronicle of the Antiquity of the Romanian-Moldavian-Vlachs'' (''Hronicul vechimei a româno-moldo-vlahilor'') (Ed. Academiei, 1901) by Dimitrie Cantemir.

Bibliography

*
Cumu se scrie la noi istoria
' (How the history gets written in our lands), Bucharest, 1873 * ''Dacia înainte the Romani'' (Dacia before the Romans), Bucharest, 1880 - One of the first history books on the Pre-Roman Dacian subject * ''Manual de istoria româna: pentru școlele secundare de ambe-sexe'', Bucuresci, Lito-Tipografia Carol Göbl, 1894 * '' Marele Dicționar Geografic al României'' (The Great Geographical Dictionary of Romania), Bucharest, 1898-1902, 5 volumes *
Materialuri Folkloristice
', Bucharest, 1900 * ''Balade și doine'', (prefață Marin Bucur), București, Editura Tineretului, 1958

Reissue

* ''534 Slavo-Romanian historical documents from Wallachia and Moldova, regarding the connections with Transylvania (1346-1603) from the archives of Brașov and Bistrita in original Slavic text accompanied by Romanian translation, printed in Vienna in 1905-1906 in Adolf Holzhausen Workshops'', Sep 28, 1909, reprinted "Casa Românească" Bookstore, 1931 * ''History of the Romanians'', (re-edition) Tipo Moldova Publishing House, 2010 * ''Ballads and doines'' (reissue), Miracol Publishing House, 2010; Dacia XXI Publishing House, Cluj-Napoca, 2011, .

Notes

External links

*
Materialuri Folkloristice
Bucharest, 1900
Grigore Tocilescu on Romanian Wikisource

Grigore Tocilescu High School
in

Mizil Mizil () is a town in Prahova County, Muntenia, Romania. Located in the southeastern part of the county, it lies along the road between the cities of Ploiești and Buzău, and to the northeast of the national capital, Bucharest. Its position led i ...

, Romania {{DEFAULTSORT:Tocilescu, Grigore People from Mizil Romanian archaeologists 19th-century Romanian historians Romanian writers Romanian folklorists Epigraphers Titular members of the Romanian Academy University of Bucharest faculty 1850 births 1909 deaths Historiography of Dacia