Jovan Sterija Popović

Jovan Sterija Popović (Serbian Cyrillic: Јован Стерија Поповић; January 13, 1806 – March 10, 1856) was a Serbian playwright, poet and pedagogue who taught at the Great School in Belgrade. He was one of the most famous dramatists to emerge from the Balkans in the 19th century. Born in Vršac to an Aromanian family, Popović attended grammar schools in Vršac, Sremski Karlovci, Timişoara and Budapest. He studied law at Kežmarok in present-day Slovakia... more

Jovan Sterija Popović (Serbian Cyrillic: Јован Стерија Поповић; January 13, 1806 – March 10, 1856) was a Serbian playwright, poet and pedagogue who taught at the Great School in Belgrade. He was one of the most famous dramatists to emerge from the Balkans in the 19th century. Born in Vršac to an Aromanian family, Popović attended grammar schools in Vršac, Sremski Karlovci, Timişoara and Budapest. He studied law at Kežmarok in present-day Slovakia. After he finished his studies (1830), he worked as a professor, and from 1835, when he passed his bar examination, he was a lawyer in Vršac. In 1840 he went to Kragujevac to study at the pedagogic high school of natural law. As early as the following year, he moved to Belgrade to teach at what was then the most advanced school in Serbia. He was appointed head of the Ministry of Education by the constitutional government in 1842. He remained in this position until 1848, working on organizing the school system and education in Serbia. At the... less