Jovan Sterija Popović (Vršac 1806 – Vršac 1856), the acknowledged “father of Serbian drama”, was born as the son of a Greek merchant, and was schooled in Timișoara and Budapest, where he frequented the German theatre, sparking his interest in drama. After finishing his law studies in Kežmarok, he returned to his native town, where he first worked as lawyer and then as a Latin teacher at the local lyceum. In Vršac he also published the comedy The liar and the arch-liar (1830). This and other comedies gave him the reputation of being a Serbian Molière. In 1840 he became professor at the lyceum of Kragujevac, where he established a theatre group for students.

One year later he moved to Belgrade, where he began teaching at the Lyceum of the Principality of Serbia, the highest-ranking educational institution in Serbia and forerunner of the city’s university. Here he unfolded a number of cultural activities, establishing the Serbian Academy of Sciences and the National Museum of Serbia and launching “The educational magazine”. He wrote several text- and rule-books and was among the initiators of the Society of Serbian Letters (1841). Throughout this period he was also involved in the theatre scene; the first regular theatre house of Belgrade, the Đumruk theatre, opened with his tragedy The death of Stefan Dečanski (1841).

Popović was appointed head of the Ministry of Education in 1842 and placed in charge of reforming the country’s school system. Disagreements with the government led to his resignation six years later; he moved back to Vršac, where he died in 1856. In the period of his last return to his hometown he wrote The patriots, arguably his best-known comedy, thematizing Hungarian-Serbian debates in Vršac during the 1848 uprising against the Austrian government.