Dimitrija Demeter

Dimitrija Demeter
Demeter drawn by Theodor Mayerhofer, c.1901
BornDimitrios Dimitriou
(1811-07-21)21 July 1811
Zagreb, Croatia, Austrian Empire
(now Croatia)
Died24 June 1872(1872-06-24) (aged 60)
Zagreb, Croatia-Slavonia, Austria-Hungary
(now Croatia)
Pen nameDimitrija Demeter
OccupationPoet, dramatist
LanguageCroatian
Period1831–1872
Genreromantic
Literary movementIllyrian movement (Romantic nationalism)
Notable worksGrobničko polje (1842)
Teuta (1844)
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Dimitrios Dimitriou (Greek: Δημήτριος Δημητρίου, sometimes spelled Dimitrija Demeter or Dimitrije Demeter; 21 July 1811 24 June 1872) was a Greek-Croatian poet, dramatist, short story writer and literary critic. One of the most learned people of his time, he played a major role in the movement for the national awakening of the Croatian nation (then under Austro-Hungarian rule) as part of what he and his close friend and colleague Ljudevit Gaj called the Illyrian people by imposing the Croatian language in the local literacy and with the creation of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb. His political activism for a Croatian national revival dealt through his participation in many patriotic pamphlets, most notably the Narodne novine and Hrvatski Sokol among many others.