Mircea Eliade was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. Born on March 13, 1907, Eliade became one of the most influential scholars of religion of the 20th century, establishing paradigms in religious studies that persist today. His work on the theory of hierophanies, which form the basis of religion by splitting the human experience into sacred and profane spaces and times, has been particularly influential.

Eliade also developed the theory of eternal return, which suggests that myths and rituals do not merely commemorate hierophanies but actually participate in them, in the minds of the religious.

His literary works fall under the genres of fantasy and autobiography. Some of his best-known novels include Maitreyi ('La Nuit Bengali' or 'Bengal Nights', 1933), Noaptea de Sânziene ('The Forbidden Forest', 1955), and Isabel și apele diavolului ('Isabel and the Devil's Waters'). Notable novellas are Domnișoara Christina ('Miss Christina', 1936) and Tinerețe fără tinerețe ('Youth Without Youth', 1976).

Early on, Eliade was a journalist and essayist, a disciple of Romanian philosopher Nae Ionescu, and a member of the literary society Criterion. In the 1940s, he served as a cultural attaché for Romania in the UK and Portugal. During the late 1930s, Eliade expressed support for the Iron Guard, a controversial Romanian fascist organization, which later brought criticism after World War II.

Eliade was noted for his vast erudition, being fluent in Romanian, French, German, Italian, and English, and having a reading knowledge of Hebrew, Persian, and Sanskrit. In 1990, he was posthumously elected a member of the Romanian Academy.