Giovanni Lucio

Johannes Lucius (; ; September 1604 – 11 January 1679) was a Dalmatian historian, whose greatest work is De regno Dalmatiae et Croatiae ("On the Kingdom of Dalmatia and Croatia"), which includes valuable historical sources, bibliography and six historical maps. Due to his critical approach, he is often described as the "father of Croatian historiography".

He was a member of the Pontifical Croatian College of St. Jerome in whose catacombs he was buried after his death in January 1679.

Life and works

Johannes was the son of Peter Lucius and Clara Difnico , born in Trogir, Venetian Dalmatia (now Croatia). After some schooling in his hometown, he studied in Trogir and Rome, graduating in philosophy, mathematics, political sciences and literature in 1628. He then obtained his Ph.D. in ecclesiastical and civil law in the University of Padua.

In the book Memorie istoriche di Tragurio ora detto Traù [Historical testimonies about Trogir, now called Traù], he described the history of Trogir and Dalmatia to the mid-15th century. It was first printed in Amsterdam in 1666. This book provides an overview of both, the history of Dalmatia and history of Croatia, from the prehistory to the 15th century. While his predecessors and contemporaries used suppositions as much as facts, Lucius founded his estimates on genuine sources. At the end of the book, he included certain valuable historical sources and a bibliography with his comments. The book had six historical maps. One of maps, the historical map Illyricum hodiernum (today's Illyria) was dedicated by Joan Blaeu, Lucius' publisher to the Croatian ban Petar Zrinski. Since everyone was looking up to antiquity, the Zrinski believed their ancestors were Roman aristocrats. Lucius showed them that their roots reached back to the famous medieval dukes of Šubićs noble family from Bribir. In his book Lucius pointed out the difference between the Romance and Slavic Dalmatia, the habits of the people and the cultural borderlines.

Lucius participated in the dispute about the authenticity of the text of Trimalchio's Banquet by the Roman satirist Petronius, which had been found in Trogir.

He also published a book of Roman inscriptions from Dalmatia, including the inscriptions collected by the famous Croatian poet and writer Marko Marulić. Shortly before his death, Lucius prepared the Statute and Reformations of the City of Trogir for printing, which was published in Venice by archdeacon Jerolim Cipiko. Today in Croatia, Lucius is considered the father of modern contemporary Croatian historiography.

Works The following are his principal published works: De Regno Dalmatiae et Croatiae libri sex (6 vols., Venice, 1673); Inscriptiones Dalmaticae, notae ad memoriale Pauli de Paulo, notae ad Palladium Fuscum, addenda vel corrigenda in opere de regno Dalmatiae et Croatiae, variae lectiones Chronici Ungarici manuscripti cum editis (Venice, 1673).