Reed College Library: Classics

There are many handbooks, dictionaries, and encyclopedias that provide basic information for Classics. If you are not clear about your topic, these reference sources provide definitions and introductory information about the subject. You can also browse them to brainstorm for more ideas. Other, more specialized resources are available in the Reference Room.

Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism (CMLC)
A multi-volume survey of critical commentary on the work of specific authors and in some cases specific texts. Each entry contains biographical information, an overview of critical responses since the work was published, and a large bibliography of primary and secondary works. The bulk of each entry is a collection of lengthy excerpts of that critical commentary, providing an excellent overview of scholarly work related to that author or text. There is no order to the contents of the series as a whole. Use the index in the most recent volume in the series to identify which volume has an entry on a specific author, topic, or text.

Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Symbols, Attributes & Associations
Ref BL715 .B44 1982
Arranged by topic and association: use the index to look up a mythological figure by name. For example, "Medusa" is mentioned in the entries for "Breastplate," "Decapitation," "Hair," "Head," "Shield," and "Stone."

Encyclopedia of Ancient Civilizations
Ref CB311 .E52 1988
Heavily illustrated survey of ancient civilizations around the world.

Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire
Ref DG270 .B86 1994
Short entries on people, terms, and sites from the period 59 BCE - 476 CE. Also includes chronologies, genealogies, a bibliography, and a detailed index.

Epigraphic Database Heidelberg (EDH)
Greek and Latin inscriptions from all parts of the Roman Empire. Includes content from L'Année Epigraphique 1894-1990 and some volumes of Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum.

Guide to Research in Classical Art and Mythology
Ref N7760 .V3 1991
A detailed overview and comparison of reference works used for research in this interdisciplinary area. Particularly useful for English-speakers not familiar with French, German, and Italian which are often used in Classics and Art resources.

Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC)
Ref N7760 .L49 1981
An illustrated encyclopedia of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman mythology in art and literature. Entries include a brief description, bibliography, and usually a line drawing or image of the original art. The introduction in the first volume gives detailed guidelines on using the resource and is provided in English, French, German, and Italian. However, individual entries may be written in any one of these languages (not all four).

The Oxford Classical Dictionary
Ref DE5 .O9 2003
"An authoritative one-volume guide to all aspects of the ancient world." Entries on people, places, topics, terms, deities, texts, art, etc. Most entries include sources or a bibliography of related works. No illustrations or index, but cross-references are noted in the entries.

Thesaurus Linguae Graecae (TLG®)
"The TLG® Digital Library now contains virtually all Greek texts surviving from the period between Homer (8th century B.C.) and A.D. 600 and the majority of surviving works up the fall of Byzantium in A.D. 1453."

Atlases

Atlas of Classical History
Ref G1033 .A833 1985
Small, thoroughly annotated maps of regions, cities, and specific cites from the Classical World, Bronze Age - 314 CE.

Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World
Ref G1033 .B3 2000
The oversize atlas volume has large, detailed maps including topographical features. The two-volume "Map by Map Directory" gives an overview of each map, followed by a list of all place names and features on each map, with time period, modern name, any cross-references, and a bibliography of works related to those places.

Locating Books

To locate books, search the library catalog. If you know the author or editor, search Author, last name first. To search by Title, you must know the first few words of the title, but you do not have to know the complete title.

To search by topic, try a Word search. Once you locate some appropriate book titles, make note of the subject headings assigned to them. You can then do a Subject search on those headings to locate more books. Alternatively, you can check the stacks for other books with similar call numbers. To search successfully by Subject, you must use subject terms from the Library of Congress Subject Headings. These can be found in large red books directly behind the Reference Desk.

To search for books in the Summit system, access the library catalog as usual, and select the "Search in Summit" button. If you find books in Summit which are not owned by Reed, you can request the books directly from the Summit catalog. You will need to enter your barcode number, which is the number under the barcode on your Reed ID. You will be notified when the book arrives, and the borrowing period is three weeks with one renewal.

Finding Journal Articles and Critical Essays

Indexes (sometimes called databases) allow you to search the contents of periodicals to identify articles on your topic. Some indexes are interdisciplinary, and some focus on a particular subject area. Because Classics is itself interdisciplinary, you many need to use indexes from several disciplines in your research process.

At this time, only some indexes contain fulltext or links to fulltext from other sources. Many include citations for books, dissertations, and conference papers as well as for journal articles. Most of the time, after you find a citation for an article you want to see, you will need to check the Print & Electronic Journals list to see whether or not Reed subscribes to the journal and if we have the particular issue. (See also: How Do I Find Journal Articles?) If the article is not available at Reed, you can request it from Interlibrary loan.

L'Annee Philologique (1949 - present)
Ref PA3001 .A56 (1914 - present)
The major index to research in classics. Updated annually, with about 3 years lag time (i.e. the volume for 2004 was published in late 2006).

Arts & Humanities Citation Index (1975 - present) and Social Sciences Citation Index (1956 - present)
Part of the "Web of Science" (along with the Science Citation Index). The indexes may be searched singly or together. Enables searching of references cited in books and journal articles, as well as subject, author, and title searching.

ATLA Religion Index (1949 - present)
A comprehensive database that supports religious and theological scholarship. It includes citations to journal articles, essays in multi-author works, book reviews and Doctor of Ministry projects.

Essay and General Literature Index (1985 - present)
Use this database to find essays and articles contained in collections (i.e. books) of essays and miscellaneous works published in the United States, Great Britain, and Canada.

JSTOR Periodicals - Classics titles
Electronic access and searching capability to the journals in many disciplines. Will be useful for some topics in Classics. Most content is from the first issue of the periodical until 3-5 years before the present.

MLA (1926 - present)
Literature, languages, linguistics, and folklore from over 4,000 journals and series published worldwide. Although MLA stands for Modern Language Association, it does index journals that also cover classical topics.

New Testament Abstracts (1985 - present)
Indexes scholarship related to the study of the New Testament as well as related topics in archaeology, history, and philology.

Old Testament Abstracts (1978 - present)
Indexes scholarship related to the study of the Old Testament as well as related topics in archaeology, history, and philology.

PIO - Periodicals Index Online
PIO is an electronic index to the contents of thousands of periodicals in the humanities and social sciences, from their first issues (some back to 1770) to 1993.

Philosopher's Index (1940 - present)
Indexing and abstracts from books and journals of philosophy and related interdisciplinary fields published throughout the Western World.

Project Muse - Classics titles
Electronic access and searching capability to the journals published by the Johns Hopkins University Press and other academic publishers. Most content is from after 1995.

Selected Websites

Not all websites are appropriate for academic research - if you are not sure if the information is accurate or from an authoritative source, ask your professor or a librarian.

Electronic Resources for Classicists
Directory to hundreds of internet resources in classics, from fonts and software to bibliographies to classics departments to fulltext online.

Perseus Digital Library
Digital library of the classical world; includes classical texts in translation that can be searched online, as well as links to many museum images of architecture, sculpture, and vases.

Research Resources (Reed College Classics Department)
Links to classics resources selected by members of the Classics Department.

Library

Research Guide for Classics

Contact: Joanna Burgess , Digital Assets Librarian

Getting Started

Atlases

Locating Books

Finding Journal Articles and Critical Essays

Selected Websites