Grigore George Tocilescu was a Romanian historian, archaeologist, epigrapher and folkorist, member of Romanian Academy. He was a professor of ancient history at the University of Bucharest, author of :ro:Marele Dicționar Geografic al României|Marele Dicționar Geografic al României, 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. As a folklorist he collaborated on the publication of a folkloristicscompendium.
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 Grigore Tocilescu went to Moscow, to the Rumianțov Museum, where he copied the book From the Beginning of the First World, written by Mihail Moxa, and sent the copy to Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu, who published it in Cuvente den batrâni. The work is a universal history that begins with the "creation of the world", speaks of the Assyrians, Egyptians, Persians, then passes to the Romans. It makes a brief history of the Roman Republic, 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. On this occasion he attended courses at the Collège de France and the École Pratique de Hautes-Etudes. 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 at the University of Bucharest. From the point of view of archaeology, Tocilescu was the initiator of the Romanian archaeological excavations in Dobrogea. He is co-author of the workThe 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 Dacia. He left three impressive works: Dacia before the Romans, the Adamclisi Monument 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 by Dimitrie Cantemir.
Reissue
534 Slavo-Romanian historical documents from Wallachia and Moldova, regarding the connections with Transylvania 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
