Božidar Prokić ( Zabojnica, near

Kragujevac Kragujevac ( sr-Cyrl, Крагујевац, ) is the List of cities in Serbia, fourth largest city in Serbia and the administrative centre of the Šumadija District. It is the historical centre of the geographical region of Šumadija in central Se ...

Principality of Serbia The Principality of Serbia () was an autonomous, later sovereign state in the Balkans that came into existence as a result of the Serbian Revolution, which lasted between 1804 and 1817. Its creation was negotiated first through an unwritten agre ...

, 11 October 1859 –

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

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, 6 May 1922) was a Serbian historian who was among the first Byzantinists. He was the principal founder of

Byzantine Studies Byzantine studies is an interdisciplinary branch of the humanities that addresses the history, culture, demography, dress, religion/theology, art, literature/epigraphy, music, science, economy, coinage and politics of the Eastern Roman Empire. ...

as an independent academic discipline at the

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it me ...

in 1906. His work is considered a significant contribution to the study and understanding of John Skylitzes and the history of the origin and development of the

Bulgarian Empire Bulgarian Empire may refer to: * First Bulgarian Empire The First Bulgarian Empire (; was a medieval state that existed in Southeastern Europe between the 7th and 11th centuries AD. It was founded in 680–681 after part of the Bulgars, led b ...

under Samuel of Bulgaria. He was also the director of the National Archives of Serbia during the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans, Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg), Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro, M ...

and

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Biography

After graduating from Belgrade's ''

Grandes écoles Grandes may refer to: *Agustín Muñoz Grandes, Spanish general and politician * Banksia ser. Grandes, a series of plant species native to Australia * Grandes y San Martín, a municipality located in the province of Ávila, Castile and León, Spain ...

'', Prokić went to the University of Paris to further his studies. In 1892, he was invited to the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

where he collaborated in Byzantine Studies with

Karl Krumbacher Karl Krumbacher (23 September 1856 – 12 December 1909) was a German scholar who was an expert on Byzantine Greek language, literature, history and culture. He was one of the principal founders of Byzantine Studies as an independent academi ...

. At the time, Krumbacher was being appointed to the newly-established chair in Byzantinistik at the university. Krumbacher and his associates began establishing Byzantine Studies as an independent academic discipline in modern universities. Božidar Prokić was named professor of Medieval History at the

shortly after his arrival from Germany in 1892. Thirteen years later that institution of higher learning became the

in 1905. His most important work is ''Die Zusätze in der Handschrift des Johannes Skylitzes'', published in 1906. A second edition was published later. The value of the work was greatly enhanced by its bibliographies and it remained a standard textbook for Byzantine studies for many years to come. From 1892 until 1905, he taught at his ''alma mater'' until it became the University of Belgrade. Then he tried to convince the governors to establish a chair in Byzantinistik, like his colleague Krumbacher did in 1892 in Munich, but not fully satisfied with the university's transformation and the post he was offered, he resigned soon after. From 1911, he was the director of the National Archives of Serbia in Belgrade.

Legacy

Some consider Božidar Prokić the father of southern Slavic Byzantology since he trained and inspired the first generation of Byzantists, including Dragutin Anastasijevic. The University of Belgrade also gave Byzantine Studies a Russian-born scholar --

George Ostrogorsky George Alexandrovich Ostrogorsky (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Георгије Александрович Острогорски, Georgije Aleksandrovič Ostrogorski; 19 January 1902 – 24 October 1976) was a Russian-born Yugoslavian historian and Byzantin ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prokic, Bozidar Serbian classical scholars 20th-century Serbian historians Serbian Byzantinists 1859 births 1922 deaths Scholars of Byzantine history 19th-century Serbian historians People from the Principality of Serbia

Biography

Legacy

See also

References