Raúl Buono-Core

Raúl Buono-Core Varas is a Chilean historian, specialist in ancient history and Byzantine studies, recognized for his contribution to the dissemination of classical studies in Chile^[1] and abroad.^[2][3] He is Professor Emeritus at the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso (PUCV).^[1][4][5]

Since the early 1970s, Buono-Core has served as professor at the Institute of History of the PUCV, where he has taught courses on ancient history, classical political thought, and international relations in the Mediterranean world. He has also lectured at the University of Chile and given conferences at various national^[6] and foreign universities.^[2]

His work focuses on understanding the Greco-Roman world and the international relations of the Byzantine Empire. He has also served on the Scientific Committee of academic journals such as Grecorromana, affiliated with Andrés Bello University (UNAB).^[7]

He is considered the direct successor of the Chilean Byzantine tradition founded by Héctor Herrera Cajas.^[8] In 1973, he took charge of organizing the Roman Studies Week,^[8] successfully attracting several Latin American scholars dedicated to ancient history.^[8]

Educated in Chile, Raúl Buono-Core obtained his undergraduate degree from his alma mater and later earned a doctorate in the same discipline from the University of Pisa in Italy.^[9]

After assuming the direction of the Roman Studies Week (1973), his management of this congress contributed to the institutionalization of classical studies in the country and the international projection of his alma mater as a research center for ancient humanities, having gathered researchers from countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Spain, and Italy. He has also held institutional positions at PUCV, such as Research Coordinator and Director of Graduate Programs.^[10]

In 2017, he was recognized as Emeritus Professor of PUCV, an honor highlighting his extensive academic career, university leadership, and contribution to forming generations of historians.^[1] That same year, he was appointed Corresponding Academic of the National Academy of Sciences of Buenos Aires, Argentina,^[3] a country that has included his works in digital repositories.^[11][12]

In 2019, he was invited to the University of Concepción to deliver the keynote lecture La Universitas: lo clásico, lo moderno, lo actual.^[4]

In 2025, his alma mater once again honored him by awarding the Centennial Medal, as part of the institutional tributes to faculty with more than five decades of service.

• The Mediterranean and Diplomacy in Classical Antiquity (2011)
• Republican Rome: Strategies, Expansion and Dominions (2016)

• Roman Politics in the Early Republic (1996)

• Academic profile at University of Chile
• Profile on Academia.edu