Héctor Herrera Cajas

Biography and Academic career Early life and beginnings: 1930–1953 Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso Casa Central, first headquarter of the current PUCV Institute of History. Born in Pelequén, a town about 125 kilometers south of Santiago, Herrera first attended Hermanos Maristas School in San Fernando, Colchagua. During his last years in the school he served as a mathematics teacher.

After finishing his high-school education, Herrera moved to Santiago, and in 1948 joined the Universidad de Chile. He graduated in 1953 as a history, geography and social sciences teacher. Apart from his regular and compulsory courses, he studied Latin, Greek, German and Sanskrit, and became fluent in English, French and Italian. He was also interested in Chinese, Arabic and Russian, but he did not reach fluency in them. His philology studies were decisive in his intellectual training. In his classes, according to his student and close friend José Marín, the etymology of words was key in his narration of history. During his undergraduate period, Herrera was influenced by teachers like Eugenio Pereira, Mario Góngora, Juan Gómez Millas and Fotios Malleros.

Arrival at PUCV: 1953–1973 In 1953, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (PUCV) hired him with the goal of organizing its then-nascent History Institute. In 1960, he became the dean of the PUCV Faculty of Philosophy and Education

Academic maturity: 1973–1986

Despite Herrera's discomfort in the then-rebellious France, he finished his thesis on the Byzantine Empire's international relations during the Migration Period.

According to No. 159 Edition of Analysis Magazine (opposed to Pinochet), Herrera's rectorate had to face the alleged controversy of discriminatory practices towards the admission and permanence of students. According to testimonies, its indirect restrictions were based on measures such as the requirement of annual tuition of $15,000.

Later life and death: 1990–1997 On 6 October 1997, Herrera died of a myocardial infarction at Vina del Mar. and another marked by proto–neoliberal economic reforms linked to the Klein-Saks Mission (1955–1958).

Between 1973 and 1990, Herrera collaborated with Gral. Augusto Pinochet dictatorship's educational policy— through military junta—decided to take on free-market reforms that neither Ibáñez nor Jorge Alessandri wanted to apply, and the initial nationalist line of the 1974 curricular framework was later contradicted by neoliberal economic principles enshrined by the junta in the 1980 Constitution. During the whole regime, there was no major contradiction in the anti-Marxist narrative, which was consensual between classical Western values and the predominance of civic duties over rights (then curtailed). Proof of Herrera's consonance with at least two of the three points (except anti-Marxism) are given by two of his testimonies in a seminar carried out in September 1987 titled "The role of culture in the new institutionality". Politicians from the Second Republic (1925–1973), such as Mario Arnello Romo, attended. There Herrera declared:

According to Isabel Jara Hinojosa, the author that accredits the statements, Herrera showed an "evident Francoist spirit" in the first appointment which, in his opinion, was reinforced when he later talked about the concept of tradition, where he states:

Works Books El mundo del ayer. Manual de Historia Antigua y Medieval para Educación Básica. Ediciones Pedagógicas (1971) Las Relaciones Internacionales del Imperio Bizantino durante la Época de las Grandes Invasiones. Universidad de Chile Center for Byzantine and Neohellenic Studies Editions (1972) Antigüedad y Edad Media. Manual de Historia Universal, I. Academia Superior de Ciencias Pedagógicas (1983) Dimensiones de la Responsabilidad Educacional. Editorial Universitaria (1988) Dimensiones de la Cultura Bizantina. Arte, Poder y Legado Histórico. Universidad de Chile Center for Byzantine and Neohellenic Studies Editions and Universidad Gabriela Mistral Editions (1998) El Imperio Bizantino. Introducción Histórica y Selección de Documentos. Universidad de Chile Center for Byzantine and Neohellenic Studies Editions (1998) Ensayos sobre el Mundo Medieval de Héctor Herrera Cajas. Colección de escritos inéditos, compilado por Leonardo Carrera Airola (2018)

Articles "La Germania de Tácito. El problema del significado del escudo" (1957) "El Chou-King y la concepción del poder real" (1953) "Acerca del Duelo" (1955) "El problema del significado del escudo en La Germania de Tácito" (1957) "Las relaciones internacionales del Imperio Bizantino" (1958) "El Presente, tiempo de la acción" (1963) "Engaño y desengaño en la historiografía actual" (1969) "Synésios de Cirene. Un crítico del Imperio" (1970) "Dagoberto y Heraclio. Un capítulo de Historia Diplomática" (1971) "La caída del Imperio Romano en Occidente" (1976) "Res privata-Res publica-Imperium" (1977) "San Benito y la formación de Occidente" (1980) "Bizancio y la formación de Rusia (Los tratados bizantino-rusos del s. X)" (1982) "Las estepas euroasiáticas. Un peculiar espacio histórico" (1982) "El sentido de la crisis en Occidente" (1983) "Apelación a la Historia en el De Officiis de Cicerón" (1984) "Los orígenes del arte bizantino, ensayo sobre la formación del arte cristiano" (1985) "Aproximación al Espíritu Imperial Bizantino" (1986) "Temas de Claudiano" (1986) "La Constitución del ámbito cívico en el Mundo Grecorromano" (1986) "Una utopía medievalː la "Orden Nueva" concebida por Joachim of Fiore" (1988) "El totalitarismo como persistencia de la mentalidad primitiva" (1988) "José Ignacio Víctor Eyzaguirre, Historiador" (1989) "Los pueblos de las estepas y la formación del arte bizantino. De la tienda a la iglesia cristiana" (1990) "Notas sobre el significado de la guerra" (1990) "La arquitectura del 'Discurso sobre la Historia Universal' de Bossuet "(1990) "Los estudios superiores en Bizancio" (1990–1992) "Los árabes y el Islam" (1991) "La Espiritualidad Bizantina" (1993) "La Doctrina Gelasiana" (1994) "La idea imperial bizantinaː representación y concentración del poder" (1995) "La espiritualidad bizantina en el arte" (1995) "Simbología política del poder imperial en Bizancioː los pendientes de las coronas" (1993–1996) "Príncipe e Imperio en el panegírico de Trajano de Plinio el Joven" (1996) "El Milenarismo en la Historia Antigua y Medieval" (1996) "Fiestas imperiales en Constantinopla" (1997) "Cómo leer a Floro" (1998) "Lo cotidiano, ayer y hoy, aquí y allá" (1997–1998) "Ética y educación. Una reflexión sobre los valores en nuestra sociedad" (1998) "San Benito y el Ordo Romano" (1999)