Guide to Research in the Classics
Classical studies includes the study of archaeology and art, history and culture, literature, mythology, and philosophy of the ancient world. Doing research in the Classics is similar to participating in an archaeological dig. There are many layers of information to be uncovered. Additional clues to research on a topic are often buried in the materials discovered during the dig. Here are some of the "tools of the trade" that will facilitate the process of uncovering the hidden treasures of scholarship in the field.
Print Resources
These are resources found in theDeWitt Wallace Library. The reference sources can provide quick overviews of topics, answers to "factual" questions and refer you to other sources on your topic. When you are exploring a topic for research, these are a good place to start. Indexes and abstracts provide access to journal articles. A selected list of journals the library subscribes to is included.
Use Clicnet to find additional library books and materials about your topic. Clicnet uses the Library of Congress subject headings to provide subject access. Some of the key terms used for describing the classical period and studies are ancient, antiquities, classical, classicism, classicists, Greek, Greece, Hellenistic, Rome, Roman.
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Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and Research Guides
Classical Studies: a guide to the reference literature. Fred Jenkins. Englewood, CO.: Libraries Unlimited, 1996.
REF PA 91 J4 1996
Dictionary of the Roman Empire. Matthew Bunson. New York : Oxford University Press, 1995.
REF DG270 B86 1995
Guide to the Ancient World: a dictionary of classical place names. Michael Grant. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1986.
REF DE25 G72 1986
Oxford Classical Dictionary. Hornblower and Spawforth, eds. New York: Oxford University Press. 3rd. ed., 1996.
REF DE5 O9 1996
Praeger Encylopedia of Ancient Greek Civilization. Pierre Devambez et al. New York: Praeger, 1967.
REF DF16 D513 -
Atlases and Maps
Atlas of Classical History. Richard J.A. Talbert. New York : Macmillan, 1985.
REF G1033 A833 1985
Atlas of the Greek and Roman World in Antiquity. Nicholas G.L. Hammond, ed. Park Ridge, N.J. : Noyes Press, 1981.
ATLAS CASE G1033.A84 1981
Atlas of the Roman World. Cornell and Mathews. New York : Facts on File, 1982.
REF DG77 C597 1982 -
Biography
Who's Who in the Ancient World. Betty Radice. New York : Stein and Day, 1971.
REF DE7 R33 1971
Who Was Who in the Greek World, 776BC-70BC. Diana Bowder. Ithaca, N.Y. : Cornell University Press, 1982.
REF DF208 W48 1982 -
Literature, Language and Drama
Ancient Greek Authors. Ward W. Briggs. Detroit, MI. : Gale Research, 1997.
REF PS221 D5
Crowell's Handbook of Classical Drama. Richmond Y. Hathorn.
New York: Crowell, 1967.
REF PA3024.H35
Dictionary of Latin Literature. James H. Matinband. New York, Philosophical Library, 1956.
REF PA31 M3
Greek and Latin Authors, 800 B.C.-A.D. 1000. Michael
Grant. New York : H. W. Wilson Co., 1980.
REF PA31 G7
A Greek-English Lexicon. Liddell and Scott. New York : Oxford University Press, 1996.
REF PA445.E5 L6 1996
Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. M.C. Howatson. New York : Oxford University Press, 1989.
REF PA31 H69 1989
Oxford Latin Dictionary. 2 vols. London: Clarendon P., 1968-
REF PA2365 E509 -
Archaeology
Atlas of Ancient Archaeology, Jacquetta Hawkes, ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974.
REF GN739 .H3.8
Cambridge Encyclopedia of Archaeology. Andrew Sherratt. New York : Crown Publishers, 1980.
REF CC165 C3 1980b -
Mythology
Dictionary of Classical Mythology. Pierre Grimal. New York, NY : Blackwell, 1985.
REF BL715 G713 1986
Women of Classical Mythology, a biographical dictionary. Robert E. Bell. Santa Barbara, Calif. : ABC-CLIO, 1991.
REF BL715 B445 1991 -
Philosophy
Resources in Ancient Philosophy: an annotated bibliography
of scholarship in English, 1965-1989. Bell and Allis. Metuchen, N.J. : Scarecrow Press, 1991.
REF B171 B39 1991
Indexes
and Abstracts- These are print indexes to journal articles.
L'Annee Philologique; bibliographie critique et analytique
de l'antiquite greco-latine. Paris: Societe d'edition "Les Belles Lettres." Annual (scattered holdings) 1924-1992+
PA3001.A66
Humanities Index. New York: H. W. Wilson, v.1-
1974/1975-
REF AI3 H85
International Index. New York : H.W. Wilson, v.14-18
1955/1958-1964/1965
REF AI3 S62
Social Sciences and Humanities Index. New York : H. W. Wilson, v.19-27 1965/1966-1973/1974
REF AI3 S62
Journals - A selected list of current subscriptions to Classics journals found in the library's periodicals collection.
American Journal of Archaeology- scattered holdings 1955-1978, 1980-(also available through JSTOR 1897-1998)
American Journal of Archaeology and of the History of the Fine Arts (JSTOR only 1885-1896)
American Journal of Philology - 1958- (also available through JSTOR, 1880-1995 and Project Muse 1996-)
American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures (JSTOR only 1895-1941)
Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia- 1994-
Archaeology- scattered holdings 1958-1973, 1981-
Archaeological Reports (JSTOR only 1954-1999)
Arethusa (Muse only 1996-)
Arion- 1992-
Athens Annals of Archaeology-MAC Stacks - 4th Level DF10 .A69 1974,1976-1988,1990-
Biblical Archaeology Review- 1979-
Britannia (JSTOR only 1970-2000)
Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research- 1993:May-
Cambridge Archaeological Journal- 1991- (also available in Cambridge Journals Online 2000-)
Classical Journal- 1905-
Classical Philology- 1967- (also available in JSTOR 1906-1998
Classical Quarterly- 1970- (also available in JSTOR 1907-1998; and Oxford Journals Online 2001-)
Classical Review- 1887-1888, 1970- (also available in JSTOR 1887-1998; and Oxford Journals Online 1998-)
Classical World- 1962-1966, 1972-1974, 1976-
Greece and Rome- 1970- (also available in JSTOR 1931-1998; and Oxford Journals Online 2001-)
Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies- 1969-
Harvard Studies in Classical Philology (JSTOR only 1890-1999)
Hebraica (JSTOR only 1884-1895)
Helios- 1994-2003
Hesperia- 1967- (also available in JSTOR 1932-2000)
Historia- 1994-2002
Journal of Early Christian Studies (Project Muse only 1996-)
Journal of Field Archaeology (JSTOR only 1974-2000)
Journal of Hellenic Studies- 1889-1913,1915- (also available in JSTOR 1880-1998)
Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology- 2003-
Journal of Near Eastern Studies (JSTOR 1942-2002
Journal of Roman Studies (JSTOR only 1911-2000)
Phoenix- 1970-
Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association MAC STACKS - 3rd Level P11 .A5- scattered holdings 1932-1972 (also available in JSTOR 1897-1972)
World Archaeology (JSTOR only 1969-2000)
Commonly used abbreviations for Classics journals.
Electronic (Subscription) Resources
The electronic resources in the following list are resources to which the library subscribes. They are available only to Macalester students, faculty and staff.
Databases - Use these databases to find citations, abstracts and full text journal articles in the classics and related fields.
- L'Annee
Philologique (1959-2002)
Includes coverage for over 1,500 periodicals with citations of all known scholarly work published in any language anywhere in the world concerning the areas of ancient Greek and Latin language and linguistics, Greek and Roman history, literature, philosophy, numismatics, papyrology and epigraphy, and concerning the time period from the second millennium B.C. to roughly 500-800 A.D. Also includes coverage of research collections and conferences.
- Academic
Search Premier
(1975- )
Provides full text for nearly 4,600 scholarly publications, including full text for more than 3,500 peer-reviewed journals. Coverage spans virtually every area of academic study including classical studies.
- Arts
& Humanities Citation Index (1975 -) Multidisciplinary
database covering the journal literature of the arts and humanities.
It indexes 1,144 of the world's leading arts and humanities journals,
as well as covering individually selected, relevant items from over
6,800 major science and social science journals.
A feature of this index is the inclusion of all cited references.
- Bibliography
of the History of Art (1973 -) Covering
European and American art from late antiquity to the present, the Bibliography
of the History of Art indexes and abstracts art-related books, conference
proceedings and dissertations, exhibition and dealer's catalogs, and
articles from more than 2,500 periodicals. The Bibliography of the History
of Art is updated quarterly and covers 1973 to the present.
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PCI (Periodical Contents Index) (date varies 1770 to 1990s)
Citation index to thousands of humanities and socials sciences journals. Some citations are linked to full text JSTOR articles.
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Philosopher's Index (1968- )
Provides indexing and abstracts from books and journals of philosophy and related fields.
Electronic Journals
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JSTOR is a searchable full text archive of scholarly journals. It covers journals back to the first date they were published up to about 1996.
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Project Muse is a searchable collection of over 100 current scholarly journals. Classics titles included are American Journal of Philology, Arethusa, Transactions of the American Philological Association .
Electronic Books
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netLibrary provides access to over 4000 books to the Macalester community. These are electronic versions of printed academic works. You may set up an account to check these books out for 3 days.
Web Resources
These web sites have been selected to represent some of the more extensive Classics resources available. There are many more Web sites available. When searching the Web, be sure to critically evaluate the content of the site for accuracy, currency, authority and purpose.
Texts and Images
- Internet
Classics Archive
A searchable archive of classical literature translated into English. Some texts are from the Perseus Digital Library.
- Perseus
Digital Library
A digital library of text and images from primary and secondary sources for the study of ancient Greece and Rome.
Comprehensive
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Ancient World Web
A personal Web site that categorizes over a thousand Web sites related to the ancient world. -
Electronic Resources for Classicists
A very comprehensive classified list of electronic resources maintained at the University of California, Irvine. - Classical
and Medieval History
Developed by the Library of Congress, this site is a classified list of Web resources for classical studies.
- Internet
Ancient History Sourcebook
Organizes links to online texts that are available on the Web. Also provides some online texts and some research guides.
- Resources
for Classical Studies
Links to Web resources for the study of Greek and Roman history and literature.
- Voice
of the Shuttle: Classical Studies
Part of a larger Web site: Voice of the Shuttle: Web Page for Humanities Research, this is a classified listing of links to resources on the Web.
Scholarly Literature Access
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Bryn Mawr Classical Review
One of the first online humanities journals devoted to reviewing scholarly publications in the classics. It allows browsing and searching of issues back to 1990. -
TOCS-IN
Tables of contents of journals of interest to classicists. This is a browsable, searchable database of the tables of contents of about 160 journals dating back to 1962.
Special Interest Sites
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Ancient World Mapping Center
A project at the University of North Caroline the AWMC "exists to promote cartography and geographic information science as essential disciplines within the field of ancient studies." It produced the Barrington Atlas (currently on order for the Macalester Library) and will provide maps for downloading in September, 2001.
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Classical Myth: The Ancient Sources
A source for images and texts about mythological characters. -
Diotima
Materials for the study of women and gender in the ancient world. Provides a searchable bibliography, anthology of texts and translated texts, course materials, links to discussion lists, and much more.
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VROMA
Vroma is a site developed by teachers and scholars to create a virual learning environment for classicists. It includes virtual tours of Rome as well as lists of resources.
Librarian to contact:
Jean Beccone