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Balduin Saria (born 5 June 1893 in Ptuj (Pettau in German), Lower Styria, died 3 June 1974 in Graz, Austria) was a classical historian, archeologist and numismatist. After receiving his doctorate in the field of prehistory and classical archaeology from the University of Vienna in 1921 he was employed as a librarian in the University's Archaeological-Epigraphic Seminar. In 1922 he moved to Belgrade, as the head of the Prehistoric, Roman and Numismatic Department in the Yugoslavian National Museum. In 1926 he became the associate professor of prehistory, classical archeology and numismatics at the University of Ljubljana, from 1937 as the full professor. In 1942 Saria moved to University of Graz, to teach ancient Roman art and epigraphy. In 1945 his academic career ended prematurely due to forced retirement.

Life
Saria was born 5 June 1893 in Ptuj, Austria-Hungary, now Slovenia, the oldest Styrian town (Poetovio in Roman times), located on the important communication route between the Eastern Alpine countries and the Pannonian Basin on the one hand and the central Danube region and the northern Adriatic coast on the other hand. He was the youngest of the three children in a German-speaking bourgeois family. His father Alois Saria, born in Guštanj came to Ptuj in the 1870s as a pioneer sergeant. He married Maria Oblack (also spelled Marija Oblak) from Ptuj, left the army and took over her family's trading business. His interest in ancient history developed in his early youth. The front of the house where he was born contained a built-in Roman relief depicting the Nutrices, female deities, the protectors of nursing mothers and motherhood. On the town tower, ancient epigraphic monuments could be read, and during Saria's youth, a number of important archaeological finds were discovered in the vicinity, which aroused great interest among the general public, including a cult site dedicated to the Persian deity Mithras. In the two decades from Saria's birth till the end of his high school in 1912, at least one major excavation or chance discovery took place every year in or near Ptuj. In 1912 Saria moved to Vienna to study ancient history, archaeology and classical philology at the Archaeological-Epigraphic Seminar of the Faculty of Arts. His teachers included the ancient historian and epigraphist Eugen Bormann, the ancient historian and numismatist Wilhelm Kubitschek, the archaeologist Emil Reisch and the philologist Edmund Hauler, later also the archaeologist Emanuel Löwy and the prehistorian Oswald Menghin. In 1914, when the First World War broke out, he was drafted into the Austro-Hungarian army, where he also experienced captivity as an Italian prisoner of war and the end of the war in the position of artillery first lieutenant. In 1919 he resumed his study in Vienna and as a promising student, he was soon included in the work of the Archaeological-Epigraphic Seminar. In the winter semester of 1919/20 he was a scholarship holder of the seminar and from the summer semester of 1920 he worked there as a librarian. In 1921 he completed the study with a doctorate, supervised by Emil Reisch. The dissertation title was On the development of the Mithraic cult image [Zur Entwicklung des mithrischen Kultbildes]. At that time he changed his religion from Catholic to Protestant, and also had to choose whether, as a German-minded Styrian, he should pursue his career in Austria or return to Ptuj, now part of the newly established Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians. Vienna was still one of the most important scientific centres and could offer Saria a good international career, but in the war-torn Austria, which had shrunk to an eighth of its pre-WWI size in terms of population and area, job opportunities were very limited. The financial situation in the old homeland was not much better, too, the level of scientific production was modest and there was a deep mistrust of the German-minded people, especially in Lower Styria and Carniola. However, in the new state there was a great shortage of trained and capable specialists in most scientific institutions, with great employment opportunities. This argument was probably decisive. In August 1922, he attended an archaeological conference in Yugoslavia, in Dobrna near Celje. Vladimir Petković, the respected Serbian art historian and archaeologist, the new manager of the National Museum of Serbia in Belgrade wanted to reorganize the collections according to modern museum principles. He found the young doctor Saria to be perfectly suited to such a plan. After initial hurdles, Petković invited Saria in November to come to Belgrade immediately. From 1922 to 1926 he worked at the National Museum, where he was soon entrusted with the management of the archaeological and numismatic department. At the same time he was first an assistant, then an assistant professor at the Department of Ancient History at the Faculty of Arts, University of Belgrade. By studying antiquities in Central Serbia and Southern Serbia, now Northern Macedonia (Viminacium, Scupi, Stobi, Serbian medieval numismatics), he acquired a thorough knowledge of the historical topography of these areas. His work was noticed at the University of Ljubljana, and upon the retirement of Nikolaj Bubnov (an emigrant from Kiev after the First World War) in 1926, he was invited to the position of the associate professor of ancient history, for the versatility of his scientific work, his excellent knowledge of classical languages, his previous achievements and the need to surpass the Italians .... He took over the Chair for Ancient History and Epigraphy, and gradually became the central figure of Slovenian Roman studies. In 1937 he advanced to the title of professor and until 1942 he continuously participated in the education of Slovenian historians and classical philologists (who at that time still combined the study of philology with the study of ancient history and ancient archaeology). Saria considered himself a German and ideologically joined National Socialism. After the Italian occupation of the central-southern part of Slovenia in 1941 he decided to emigrate to German Reich and in 1942 moved to University of Graz, to teach ancient Roman art and epigraphy. In June 1944 he applied for membership in Nazi Party and was accepted in November. After the capitulation of Germany in 1945 this decision prompted the end of his academic career, he was forced into early retirement. He died in Graz 3 June 1974 of heart failure.

Work
During his high school years, Saria was a member of the Ptuj Museum Society. He intensively dealt with the history of the Roman period of Ptuj and with great vigor participated in archaeological excavations and conservation of finds from the ancient Poetovium. From 1947 onwards he wrote several articles on ancient and modern history, intellectual history, cultural policy, and questions of ethnicity in south-eastern Europe. After 1949 he led excavations in Austria, on behalf of the Austrian Archaeological Institute at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, in Sankt Pölten (Aelium Cetium), in Winden am See (Roman estate) and especially between the villages Bruckneudorf and Parndorf. Between 1949 and 1955 a villa complex with the palatial main building, a large number of outbuildings and surrounding walls was uncovered here. The floor mosaics in the main building, over 300 m2 in size are the largest such find in Austria. From 1953 to 1966, Saria was a freelance researcher at the Southeast Institute in Munich. Here his language abilities and diverse specialist knowledge, his familiarity with the historical and cultural circumstances in the South Slavic countries, his practical sense to deal with various agendas carefully and quickly were all put to good use. Professor Saria's work was largely devoted to the study of antiquities in the South Slavic countries. He had a particularly thorough knowledge of the antiquity in Slovenia, and to address its issues, what was missed and needed, he was preparing an outline of the history of the classical antiquity for the eastern-Alpine region. WWII and his personal decisions related to it prevented him from completing this important work. ,, , , , , , ,  , , , , , , , ,

Selected Publications

 * Ceramiae-Deuriopos, Mitteilungen des Vereins klassischer Philologen 2 (1925) p. 34-38, 102-103
 * Vor- und frühgeschichtliche Forschung in Südslawien [Prehistoric and early historical research in South Slavia], Bericht der Römisch-Germanischen Kommission 16 (1926) p. 86-118
 * Bathinus flumen [Bosnia River], Mélanges F. Šišić (1929) p. 137-142 (also see Klio 23 [1929] p. 92-97 and Klio 26 [1933] p. 279-282)
 * Zur Geschichte des Kaisers Regalianus [On the history of Emperor Regalianus], Klio 30 (1937) p. 352-354
 * Pozorište u Stobima [Theater in Stobi], Godišnjak muzeja Južne Srbije 1 (1937) p. 1-68 (also see Archäologischer Anzeiger 1938, p. 81-148)
 * Der spätantike Limes im westlichen Jugoslawien [The Late Antique Limes in Western Yugoslavia], Studi Bizantini e neoellenici 5 (1938) p. 308-316
 * Die Inschriften des Theaters von Stobi [The inscriptions of the Stobi theater], ÖJh Beiblatt 32 (1940) p. 5-34
 * Noricum und Pannonien (ein Forschungsbericht) [Noricum and Pannonia (a research report)], Historia 1 (1950) p. 436-486
 * Der römische Gutshof von Winden am See [The Roman estate of Winden am See], Burgenländische Forschungen 13, 1951, p. 16-22
 * Die geographischen Kenntnisse der Griechen und Römer vom Ostalpengebiet [The geographical knowledge of the Greeks and Romans of the Eastern Alps], Ostdeutsche Wissenschaft 4 (1958) p. 89-98
 * Der römische Herrensitz bei Parndorf und seine Deutung [The Roman manor house near Parndorf and its interpretation], Wissenschaftliche Arbeiten aus dem Burgenland 35 (1966) p. 252-271
 * Die antike Stadt in Südosteuropa [The ancient city in southeastern Europe], Südosteuropa-Jahrbuch 8 (1968) p. 11-22

Personal Life
In February 1928 in Nova Ševa (German Neu Schewa), now Ravno Selo in Bačka, 150 km to the northwest of Belgrade, a village where pre-WWII a large share of inhabitants were of German origin, Saria married a local girl, Jolanthe, maiden name Hartmann, born 1904. They lived in Ljubljana, and had two daughters, Reingard Jolanta (born 1931) and Gertruda Katarina (born 1935).