Božidar Prokić

Božidar Prokić (Zabojnica, near Kragujevac, Principality of Serbia, 11 October 1859 – Belgrade, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, 6 May 1922) was a Serbian historian and first Byzantinist. He was the principal founder of Byzantine Studies as an independent academic discipline at the University of Belgrade 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 under Samuel of Bulgaria. Also, he was the director of the National Archives of Serbia at the most difficult time, the Balkan Wars and the First World War that followed.

Biography

After graduating from Belgrade's Grandes écoles, Prokić went to the University of Paris to further his studies. In 1892 he was invited to the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich where he collaborated in Byzantine Studies with Karl Krumbacher. 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 Grandes écoles shortly after his arrival from Germany in 1892. Thirteen years later that institution of higher learning became the University of Belgrade 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

One might 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.

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References

Translated from Serbian: http://www.istorijskabiblioteka.com/art:bozidar-prokic

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