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

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 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, and member of the

Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ) 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 bylaws, the academy's ma ...

. He was a professor of ancient history at the

University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest (UB) () is a public university, public research university in Bucharest, Romania. It was founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princely Academy of Bucharest, P ...

, 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 ro ...

. As a folklorist he collaborated on the publication of a

folkloristics Folklore studies (also known as folkloristics, tradition studies or folk life studies in the UK) is the academic discipline devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currency in the 1950s to distinguish the ac ...

compendium A compendium ( 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 specific ...

Life

Education

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

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 ...

where he graduated from 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 th ...

. He then studied in universities in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

and

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, where he obtained the

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

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

Professional activity

In 1877 Tocilescu went to

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, 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 (, Cyrillic: Михаил Мoѯа; also known as Moxalie,Ioana Cristache Panait, "Pravila de la Tîrgoviște 1652), document al unității românești", in ''Revista Muzeelor și Monumentelor'', Issue 1/1980, p. 14 and originally named ...

, 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 Assyrians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to Mesopotamia, a geographical region in West Asia. Modern Assyrians share descent directly from the ancient Assyrians, one of the key civilizations of Mesopotamia. While they are distinct from ot ...

Egyptians Egyptians (, ; , ; ) are an ethnic group native to the Nile, Nile Valley in Egypt. Egyptian identity is closely tied to Geography of Egypt, geography. The population is concentrated in the Nile Valley, a small strip of cultivable land stretchi ...

Persians Persians ( ), or the Persian people (), are an Iranian ethnic group from West Asia that came from an earlier group called the Proto-Iranians, which likely split from the Indo-Iranians in 1800 BCE from either Afghanistan or Central Asia. They ...

, 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 Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

. It makes a brief history of the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...

, 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 (; ; 26 October 1673 – 21 August 1723), also known by other spellings, was a Moldavian prince, statesman, and man of letters. He twice served as voivode of Moldavia (March–April 1693 and 1710–1711). Durin ...

. On this occasion he attended courses at the

Collège de France The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...

and the ''École Pratique de Hautes-Etudes'' ( Sorbonne). 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 Academic staff of the University of Bucharest 1850 births 1909 deaths Historiography of Dacia Romanian schoolteachers