Gheorghe Sion (May 22, 1822 – October 1, 1892) was a

Moldavia Moldavia (, or ; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ) is a historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester River. An initially in ...

n, later

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n poet, playwright, translator and memoirist. He was born in Mamornița to '' paharnic'' (royal

cup-bearer A cup-bearer was historically an officer of high rank in royal courts, whose duty was to pour and serve the drinks at the royal table. On account of the constant fear of plots and intrigues (such as poisoning), a person had to be regarded as thor ...

) Ioniță Sion and his wife Eufrosina (''née'' Schina), the daughter of

Filiki Eteria Filiki Eteria () or Society of Friends () was a secret political and revolutionary organization founded in 1814 in Odesa, Odessa, whose purpose was to overthrow Ottoman Empire, Ottoman rule in Ottoman Greece, Greece and establish an Independenc ...

member Gheorghe Schina. His uncles included Constantin Sion, author of a semi-fictitious noble genealogy (''Arhondologia Moldovei''); and '' spătar'' Antohi Sion, the rumored author of ''Izvodul lui Clănău'', an outright forgery. After spending two years (1837-1839) at Saint Sava College in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

, the capital of

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ; : , : ) is a historical and geographical region of modern-day Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians. Wallachia was traditionally divided into two sections, Munteni ...

, he returned to his native Moldavia. Entering the

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the Cities in Romania, third largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical ...

-based provincial administration, he became a copyist at the Justice Department in 1842, followed by work as a clerk at the Interior Department. He became a wanted man for his participation in the

1848 revolution The revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the springtime of the peoples or the springtime of nations, were a series of revolutions throughout Europe over the course of more than one year, from 1848 to 1849. It remains the most widespre ...

, and so fled to

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n-ruled

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

. He returned to Iași in 1849, working as bureau chief at the Department of Church Property and Public Education. From 1855, he worked at the State Archives. Subsequently, around the time of the Union of the Principalities, Sion moved to Bucharest, where his posts included membership in the Appeals Court and, from 1866, head of the Tobacco Monopoly Company. In 1868, he was elected a titular member of the Romanian Academy.Membrii Academiei Române din 1866 până în prezent
at the Romanian Academy site In Bucharest, he founded ''Revista Carpaților'' in 1860 and, together with V. A. Urechia, published ''Transacțiuni literare și științifice'' starting in 1872. His volumes included poetry (''Ciasurile de mulțămire a lui Gheorghe Sion'', 1844; ''Din poeziile lui Gheorghe Sion'', 1857), plays (''Influința morală'', 1869; ''La Plevna!'', 1878; ''Dramatice'', 1879; ''Sărutarea'', 1888), a travel book (''Suvenire de călătoria în Basarabia meridională'', 1857), and memoirs (''Suvenire contimpurane'', 1888).Aurel Sasu (ed.), ''Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române'', vol. II, p. 572. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sion, Gheorghe 1822 births 1892 deaths People from Chernivtsi Oblast Romanian male poets Romanian travel writers Romanian memoirists Romanian civil servants Romanian archivists Romanian magazine founders Romanian magazine editors People of the Revolutions of 1848 Titular members of the Romanian Academy 19th-century Romanian poets 19th-century Romanian dramatists and playwrights 19th-century male writers 19th-century Romanian memoirists Writers from the Principality of Moldavia