Matija Ban

{{Short description|Serbo-Croatian poet, dramatist and playwright}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2016}}

{{Infobox writer

| name = Matija Ban

| image = Poleskija Todorović - Matija Ban, GMS.png

| caption =

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| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1818|12|16}}

| birth_place = Dubrovnik, Austrian Empire
{{small|(now Dubrovnik, Croatia)}}

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1903|03|14|1818|12|16}}

| death_place = Belgrade, Kingdom of Serbia
{{small|(now Belgrade, Serbia)}}

| occupation = writer, diplomat

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| notableworks = Cvijeti Srbske (1865); Vanja (1868)

| influences =

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| native_name = Матија Бан

}}

Matija Ban ({{lang-sr-Cyrl|Матија Бан}}; 6 December 1818 – 14 March 1903) was a Serbo-Croatian poet, dramatist, and playwright. He is known as one of the earliest proponents of the Serb-Catholic movement in Dubrovnik.

Ban was born in Petrovo Selo near Dubrovnik, then in the Kingdom of Dalmatia in the Austrian Empire, now in Croatia.{{r|hrenc}} After working as a language teacher in Greek schools in Constantinople and Bursa, Matija Ban settled in Serbia in 1844. He is commonly regarded as being the first to use the term "Yugoslav", in a poem in 1835.{{cite book | last=Anzulovic | first=Branimir | page=195 | title=Heavenly Serbia: From Myth to Genocide | publisher=Pluto Press Australia | location=Australia | year=2000 | language= | isbn=1-86403-100-X}} In 1848 he came from Serbia to Dalmatia to study the state of national sentiment there. He returned to Belgrade in 1850 to teach at the Lyceum.{{Cite web |title=BAN, Matija - Hrvatski biografski leksikon |url=https://hbl.lzmk.hr/clanak/ban-matija |access-date=2024-06-04 |website=hbl.lzmk.hr}}

His best known literary works include 14 dramas and tragedies related to Slavic history (Miljenko i Dobrila, 1850; Mejrima ili Bošnjaci, 1851; Car Lazar, 1858; Marta Posadnica, 1871; 1880; Jan Hus, 1884, etc).{{Cite web |title=Ban, Matija - Hrvatska enciklopedija |url=https://www.enciklopedija.hr/clanak/ban-matija |access-date=2024-06-04 |website=www.enciklopedija.hr}}

Matija Ban was a member of the Society of Serbian Letters (1858), Serbian Learned Society (1864), and Serbian Royal Academy (1892).{{Cite web |title=Ban Matija |url=https://www.sanu.ac.rs/en/member/ban-matija/ |access-date=2024-06-03 |website=www.sanu.ac.rs}}