Julije Balović

Julije Balović or Giulio Ballovich (; 24 March 1672 – 10 September 1727) was an entrepreneur, polyglot, judge, sea captain Venetian military officer, and collector of epic poetry from Venetian held Perast (modern-day Montenegro). Some sources speculated that he authored some of the literature works he collected. Balović wrote several manuscripts which are considered as significant literature works and historical sources. His multilingual dictionary is one of the earliest records of Albanian.

Julije Balović belonged to the noble Balović family from Perast. Following his father's footsteps, he became a sailor in the Venetian navy and advanced from the rank of ship's scribe to shipmaster. He received numerous awards and gratitude letters for his successful participation in battles against pirates and Ottomans during the Ottoman–Venetian War (1714–18).

Family Balović was born into the noble Balović family and lived in Perast (modern-day Montenegro). His father was Matija Balović who had seven sons and two daughters. and had three daughters and four sons. Two of their sons died at a young age (Petar and Antun) while remaining the two sons (Julije and Petar) had no children so Julije's branch of the Balović family ceased to exist.

Sailing career Balović began his sailing career in the Venetian navy as a ship's scribe and gradually advanced to the ranks of pilot, lieutenant, captain and finally shipmaster. He served on different ships including "Santa Croce", "Santa Antonio" and "Santa Cristoforo". Balović participated in numerous naval battles with pirates from Tripoli and Ulcinj near Durazzo and Šćedro and also in some larger military conflicts like Siege of Corfu, Battle of Preveza, Saseno and Battle of Vonjice. At the beginning of 1715 he was commander of frigate from Perast that together with ship of Venetian fleet commander Lorenzo Bragadin blocked two galleys of Ulcinj pirates from in one port in Venetian Albania. On that occasion, he demonstrated his perfect knowledge of the Albanian coast.

Balović was the second generation of honorary guards and the keepers of the doge's standard on the Venetian flagship, which was also the position held by his father Matija. The same description of the dictionary language is found in the Croatian Biographical Lexicon (published earlier, in Yugoslavia).

He is included in the History of the Serbian People published by the Serbian Literary Guild.