Classics: Greece and Rome
Class Materials
From the Classics Research class, you may find below information from this guide in presentation and handout format.
Search the Library Catalog
Types of E-Resources
This guide includes both BPL electronic resources and recommended Internet Resources.
- BPL Electronic Resources are specifically subscribed to by the library and most can be used at any library location. Most can also be used remotely through the BPL website with a valid BPL card number and PIN.
- Internet resources are freely available anywhere with an internet connection.
Browsing the Shelves
Both translations of classical works and books about the classical world tend to be grouped together on the shelves based on their subject matter. These are some of the call number areas where the largest amounts of books are gathered together:
- Philosophy/Religion
- B108-708: Ancient Philosophy
- BL700-820: Classical Religion and Mythology
- BR60-67: Early Christian Literature
- History
- DE: Greco-Roman World
- DF10-289: Ancient Greek History
- DG311-365: Ancient Roman History
- Politics
- JC51-93: Ancient state (Political theory)
- Literature
- PA: Greek and Latin language and literature
Please note that this list is not exhaustive, and many additional works relating to the classical world (particularly art and architecture) will be located in other call number areas.
Related Guides
These other BPL guides may be useful for specific aspects of Classics research and for gaining access to certain types of materials:
Common Translations at the BPL
Classical works are available in a variety of translations at the BPL. This section of the guide compares some of these translation series to help you choose one that's right for your needs.
Penguin Classics and Oxford World's Classics
These are two of the most commonly encountered translation series. Both series offer paperback editions that provide accessible translations for general readers, as well as introductions and explanatory notes.
The chief differences between these two series will be the translations used and the note formats. Penguin uses numbered endnotes, while Oxford uses asterisks to refer to endnotes that are identified by partial line quotations.
Circulating copies of these editions are widely available at the BPL. At right are two editions of Caesar's De bello Gallico from Penguin and Oxford.
Loeb Classical Library
However, the translations tend to be older, and the footnotes tend to be esoteric and aimed at scholars of classical languages. General readers may wish to use these translations only if no other editions are available. These editions are less frequently encountered at the BPL, and many are only available from the Delivery Desk.
Landmark Ancient Histories
This series offers perhaps the most comprehensive and attractive editions of selected ancient works of history. The books themselves are rather large, but the texts are exhaustively supplemented with introductory materials, maps, illustrations of relevant artifacts, explanatory footnotes, and extensive appendices that greatly enrich the reading experience.
The series arose quite recently, so its translations are modern and accessible, but only a limited selection of works are available. Current titles include:
- Herodotus, Histories
- Thucydides, Peloponnesian War
- Xenophon, Hellenika
- Arrian, Campaigns of Alexander
- Caesar et al., Gallic War, Civil War, Alexandrian War, African War, and Spanish War (in one volume)
Other Translation Series
In addition to these series, other classical works, particularly works of philosophy and literary works such as plays and poems, are available in a wide range of scholarly and popular translations.
For readers interested in the Greek tragedians, the premier editions are probably those from the Unviersity of Chicago's Complete Greek Tragedies series, edited by David Grene and Richmond Lattimore. A volume of Euripides from this series is pictured at right.
Publication of new translations tends to elicit comparative reviews, many of which are available online, making these a good resource for learning about the strengths and limits of various translations and selecting one that meets your needs. The Encyclopedia of Literary Translation into English, detailed in the Languages and Literatures section of the Reference Books box below, also provides comparisons of translations of Classical works up to the year 2000.
Reference Books
See also the booklist Reference Books for the Classical World.
The Oxford Classical Dictionary by Publication Date: 2012A comprehensive dictionary on all aspects of the classical era, with over 6,700 entries covering Greek and Roman history, literature, myth, religion, linguistics, philosophy, law,science, art, archaeology, near eastern studies, and late antiquity. All entries are written in an accessible style and all Latin and Greek words have been translated to ensure ease of use.
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome by Publication Date: 2009This multi-volume reference work is a comprehensive overview of the major cultures of the classical Mediterranean world - Greek, Hellenistic, and Roman - from the Bronze Age to the fifth century CE. It also covers the legacy of the classical world and its interpretation and influence in subsequent centuries.
The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Daily Life v.1 - The Ancient World by Publication Date: 2004This volume of the Greenwood Encyclopedia of Daily Life covers the domestic, economic, intellectual, material, political, recreational, and religious life of ordinary people in the ancient world.
The Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth and Religion by Publication Date: 2003Drawn from the acclaimed Oxford Classical Dictionary, The Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth and Religion offers a fully rounded guide to all aspects of religious life and thought in ancient Greece and Rome. It covers not only Greek mythologies and Roman festivals, but also devotes attention to topics such as Greek and Roman religious places, monuments, authors and texts, religious organization, imagery, divination, astrology, and magic.
Cassell Dictionary of Classical Mythology by Publication Date: 1999An alphabetical guide to the mythology of the classical world, covering all the principal myths, gods and goddesses, together with the personalities, places, animals, monsters, heavenly bodies and events of classical mythology. Background historical and archaeological information is provided.
Dictionary of Roman Religion by Publication Date: 1995Containing more than 1,400 entries this dictionary covers deities and spirits, festivals, sacrifices, temples, altars, cult objects, burial rites, writers on religion, and historical religious events, as well as different religions within the Roman world.
Ancient Writers by Publication Date: 1982This two-volume survey of Western literature in the classical period contains 47 chronologically arranged essays.
Ancient Greek and Roman Writers by Publication Date: 1999Part of the Concise Dictionary of World Literary Biography set. Essays discuss in detail both the authors' major works and the most respected critical evaluations of those works. A digital version of this resource is also available through the Artemis Literary Sources database.
Ancient Roman Writers by Publication Date: 1999A volume of the Dictionary of Literary Biography containing entries on Roman authors. This volume is also accessible online through the Artemis Literary Sources database.
The Facts on File Companion to Classical Drama by Publication Date: 2005Examines the history and development of ancient Greek and Roman drama from the late sixth century BCE through the first century CE. Approximately 400 alphabetical entries cover the 80 complete plays that survived from the classical era; the major authors; the background, characters, and themes of the dramas; and the conventions and practices of their respective theaters. Appendices include a complete list of authors and titles known to have existed.
Masterpieces of Classic Greek Drama by Publication Date: 2006Aeschylus' "Oresteia," Sophocles' "Oedipus" plays, Euripides' "Medea" and "Bacchae," and Aristophanes' "Birds" and " Lysistrata" are discussed in this lively and scholarly volume. The drama festivals, the adaptations of myth, the relevance of Aristotelian criteria, and the political and cultural background of each play are described fully, and the nature of tragedy and comedy, plot construction, stagecraft, theme, character, imagery and individual odes and speeches are analyzed in depth. Designed for high school students, undergraduates, and their teachers.
Encyclopedia of Literary Translation into English by Publication Date: 2000Though it does not cover Greek and Latin literature exclusively, this encyclopedia includes comparative assessments of English translations of many classical works up to the year 2000.
BPL - Delivery Desk - In-Library Use Only
PN241 .E53 2000x v.1 A-L
PN241 .E53 2000x v.2 M-Z
Cassell's Latin Dictionary by Publication Date: 1977Reliable, compact and adequate for the needs of all save the specialist. This edition Incorporates modern English idiom and current Latin spelling. Includes general classical information where appropriate. Shows long and short vowels where not immediately apparent. Indicates irregular plural forms. Cites and quotes ancient classical authors. Suggests paraphrases to express modern English in classical Latin form.
Oxford Latin Dictionary by Publication Date: 2012The world's most authoritative dictionary of classical Latin, with comprehensive coverage of the language from its beginnings until AD 200. As well as 40,000 headwords and 100,000 senses, the dictionary includes a vast collection of illustrative quotations taken from the canon of classical literature, each now conveniently arranged under the appropriate sense or subsense. In addition, the newly digitized text incorporates a significantamount of editorial updating, including revised English translations, expansion of many abbreviations, and clearer labelling throughout the text. Includes a new introduction by noted classical scholar Dr Christopher Stray and a guide to using the dictionary.
A Greek-English Lexicon by Publication Date: 1996The world's most authorative dictionary of ancient Greek. Liddell and Scott's Greek-English Lexicon is the central reference work for all scholars of ancient Greek authors and texts discovered up to 1940, from the 11th century BC to the Byzantine Period. The early Greek of authors such as Homer and Hesiod, Classical Greek, and the Greek Old and New Testaments are included. Each entry lists not only the definition of a word, but also its irregular inflections, and includes quotations from a full range of authors and sources to demonstrate usage.
Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World by Publication Date: 2000In 102 full-color maps spread over 175 pages, the Barrington Atlas re-creates the entire world of the Greeks and Romans from the British Isles to the Indian subcontinent and deep into North Africa. It is unrivaled for range, clarity, and detail. Over 70 experts, aided by an equal number of consultants, have worked from satellite-generated aeronautical charts to return the modern landscape to its ancient appearance, and to mark ancient names and features in accordance with the most up-to-date historical scholarship and archaeological discoveries. Chronologically, the Barrington Atlas spans archaic Greece to the Late Roman Empire.
Historical Atlas of Ancient Greece by Publication Date: 2003Illustrated with maps that are intended to complement the text and highlight the evolution of the civilization, this atlas traces the entire historical, cultural and political progress of the Greeks and examines all aspects of Greek culture.
Historical Atlas of Ancient Rome by Publication Date: 2003This work traces the historical, cultural, and political development of the small Iron Age tribe on the banks of the River Tiber who developed into the rulers of an empire that dominated the Western world. Maps highlight the development of Rome, its commerce, and military conquests.
BPL Electronic Resources
There are several ways to explore our collection of online journals and access articles:
- The main Electronic Resources page groups databases by subject.
- If you're looking for a specific journal, you can check our holdings by searching for e-Journals by title. This page can be accessed from the electronic resources drop-down menu on the BPL website.
- The e-Journals by title page also includes a menu where journals can be browsed by subject. The History & Archaeology and Languages & Literatures sections include some useful Classics-specific subheadings.
Some of the most useful databases for various aspects of Classics research are detailed below.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowJSTOR is an excellent resource for Classics research, offering access to journals in a wide range of subjects, including history, archaeology, philosophy, and Classical studies. Full-text access is extensive, but tends to be limited to journal issues older than five years.
- Literary Sources This link opens in a new windowThis is an excellent source for literary criticism and literary biography. It includes the Classical & Medieval Literature Criticism series, offering extensive full-text access to scholarship on works of Classical literature, as well as volumes of the Dictionary of Literary Biography dealing with Classical authors. Individual collections can be searched using the Advanced Search feature.
- Art Full Text This link opens in a new windowThis database benefits from EBSCO's strong subject indexing, and includes access to a wide range of articles on Classical art, architecture, and archaeology in multiple languages. Despite its name, not all items in this database are accessible in full-text.
Relevant titles in this collection include:
General
- The Classical Tradition (Harvard University Press, 2013)
Philosophy
- Encyclopedia of Classical Philosophy (Greenwood, 1997)
- Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece (Ashgate, 2005)
Mythology
- Dictionary of Classical Mythology (Oxbow, 2014)
- Who's Who in Classical Mythology (Routledge, 2002)
Languages and Literature
- Collins Latin Dictionary (HarperCollins, 1997)
- The Homer Encyclopedia (Blackwell, 2011)
History and Archaeology
- A Guide to the Ancient World (H.W. Wilson, 1986)
- Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World (Harvard University Press, 1999)
- Who's Who in the Roman World (Routledge, 2001)
- Who's Who in Ancient Egypt (Routledge, 2002)
- Science in the Ancient World: An Encyclopedia (ABC-CLIO, 2004)
- Encyclopedia of Archaeology (Elsevier, 2008)
- Encyclopedia of Archaeology: History and Discoveries (ABC-CLIO, 2001)
Gale Virtual Reference Library
Relevant titles in this collection include:
History and Archaeology
- Ancient Civilizations Reference Library (UXL, 2000)
- Ancient Europe, 8000 B.C. to A.D. 1000 (Scribner, 2004)
- Ancient Greece and Rome: An Encyclopedia for Students (Scribner, 1998)
- World Eras (Gale, 2001), esp. vol. 3: Roman Republic and Empire, and vol. 6: Classical Greek Civilization
Philosophy
- Macmillan Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Macmillan Reference USA, 2006)
- Very Short IntroductionsThese concise works offer entry into a variety of topics, providing an overview of their key facts, the course of scholarship, and recommendations for further reading. Titles relating to the Classical world include:
Overdrive and Hoopla
OverDrive and Hoopla provide access to most of the BPL's ebooks and downloadable and streaming audiobooks. Hoopla in particular has a decently extensive ebook selection of Classical works in translation in a variety of fields, including philosophy, history, and literature. Hoopla also includes a wide selection of streaming films, including several documentary films about the Classical world. Below are links to these collections.
- OverDrive eBooks and Audiobooks This link opens in a new window Choose from hundreds of digital titles available to download to your devices. Note: Additional software may be required to borrow OverDrive titles. Please visit OverDrive Help to learn the basics and get any software that you may need.
- Hoopla Streaming Media This link opens in a new window With Hoopla, you can borrow free digital video, music, eBooks, and audiobooks. Gain access to thousands of titles available for instant streaming or temporary download, and watch/read/listen on your smartphone, tablet, or computer. A Boston Public Library card and pin are required.
Other Media Sources
- Artstor This link opens in a new windowThe Artstor Digital Library is a nonprofit resource that provides over 1.6 million digital images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and sciences with an accessible suite of software tools for teaching and research. It includes a wide range of images of works of Classical art and architecture. Please not that this database can only be accessed from within the Central Library.
- Theatre in Video This link opens in a new windowThis unique database includes filmed performances of Classical works of drama, as well as a range of documentary films about the production and staging of Classical drama.
Selected Internet Resources
Many public domain translations of Classical works (as well as works in their original languages) can be found online. Note that as these translations are no longer under the copyright protection of their translators, the language will tend to be older and sometimes archaic. This section of the guide lists both Classics-specific online translation sources as well as general sources of public domain ebooks that include Classical works.
Classics-Specific Sources
Operated by the Classics Department at Tufts University, the Perseus Digital Library includes a massive collection of works by Greek and Roman authors. Some are available only in the original languages, but many works by more well-known authors are also available in English translation. The works are enriched with many useful features for reading online, including searchable text, linked tables of contents and explanatory notes, and (in many cases) linked maps illustrating place names featured in the work.
Library of Ancient Texts Online
Though it does not contain any texts itself, this site provides a well-organized and annotated list of links to works by Classical authors available online, acting as a useful finding aid for works available from sources other than the Perseus Digital Library.
General Online Sources
The Internet Archive: Text Archive,the Open Library, and Project Gutenberg offer access to public domain ebooks in a variety of formats, including many works by Classical authors:
Bryn Mawr Classical ReviewA wonderful source for Classics reviews, this site "publishes timely open-access, peer-reviewed reviews of current scholarly work in the field of classical studies (including archaeology)." It often includes useful scholarly assessments of works for general audiences.
This journal publishes their excellent book reviews online. Though it covers all aspects and periods of history, reviews of books on the Classical world appear frequently.
Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
This excellent and searchable online resource includes detailed scholarly reviews of new publications in philosophy. Works on Classical philosophy are frequently reviewed, and can be easily found using the search feature.
Many museums maintain searchable databases of their collections, including high-quality images of artworks and artifacts.
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has a nice page for browsing its collections from the ancient world. The MFA has also created a massive iOS app detailing its great collection of ancient coins.
The British Museum maintains a highly detailed database of its collections with many routes by which to locate items. It also allows visitors to search only for items with accompanying images.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has an extensive database of its collections similar to that of the British Museum, including thousands of Greek and Roman artworks and artifacts.
Searching the Catalog
The BPL catalog can be searched using several different fields.
- The Keyword field allows for a broad search and will return the most results. It will find your terms virtually anywhere in a title's record and will weight your results based on where and how frequently your terms occur.
- The Title and Author fields can be used if you have a specific book or writer in mind. Note that different editions of Classical works may translate Greek and Latin titles in different ways. In many cases, the Uniform Title field in the Full Record tab of a given title will allow you to find all editions of a work even if their titles have been translated differently.
- The Subject field searches Library of Congress Subject Headings. Please see the next tab for more information about searching by subject.
In addition, the Advanced Search can be used to search multiple fields simultaneously, exclude terms from a field, and search additional fields not available in basic search, such as Publisher, Series, and Identifier (e.g. ISBN/UPC).
Searching the catalog using the Subject field will search the Library of Congress Subject Headings used to classify and describe the content of our materials.
Using a person's name in the Subject field will tend to find items about a person rather than by them. For literary figures, the phrase Criticism and Interpretation can also be added to find works about a given author's writings.
Subject headings are also particularly useful when searching for works on Greek and Roman history, because the periodization in the subject headings for these civilizations is very thorough, allowing for precise searches about specific time periods, such as:
Rome -- History -- Period of Military Anarchy, 235-284
Greece -- History -- Macedonian Hegemony, 323-281 B.C.
All the subject headings applied to a given title will be listed on the right in a title's record, and can be clicked on to retrieve a list of all other items bearing that heading.
The headings are nested, so any subheadings separated by -- can be removed to perform a broader search and retrieve more results.
You can limit your search results by Location, Format, Audience, Titles You Can Borrow and Take Home, Language, Topic, etc. by using the clickable headings and dropdown menus on the left side of the search results page.
In addition, the Advanced Search can be used to set up limiting factors prior to conducting your search.
To locate copies of a title in a list of search results, click the in some locations or Availability details link under the call number. This will open a window listing the library's copies of a given edition of a work, and will provide you with the four critical pieces of information you need to locate a copy:
- The Location tells you which library locations hold copies of a book.
- The Collection tells you the general area where a copy is shelved at its location.
- The Call Number tells you where to find a copy on the shelves of the collection.
- The Status tells you whether a given copy should be on the shelf.
The Map of the Central Library is useful for locating collections at the Central Library. Please note that items in the Nonfiction collection with call numbers beginning with H through HJ are located in the Kirstein Business Library and Innovation Center on the Lower Level of the Johnson building. Items whose collection is listed as Nonfiction - New Shelf are located in the New & Novel area on the first floor of the Johnson building.
Books with the location BPL-Delivery Desk are held in closed shelves at the Central Library. Most of these books are for in-library use only, but many can be checked out and taken home, especially if they have been published recently. Delivery Desk books whose Collection information does not include the phrase In-Library Use Only can be requested and checked out for the standard loan period just like other circulating books.
If you're at the Central library, these books can be obtained by filling out a request form at the Delivery Desk, located in the Northwest Corridor on the second floor of the McKim Building. Be sure to bring the title, author, call number, and your library card. If the book can be taken home, staff will check the book out to you upon retrieval.
In the unlikely event that the main catalog is not working, you may also search the library's holdings using the alternate catalog.
The alternate catalog also allows you to browse subject headings, which cannot be done using the main catalog.
Booklists: Physical Books
- Reference Books for the Classical WorldIf you're beginning research on the Classical world, these are some indispensable works from the BPL's collection to provide background knowledge and help along the way.
Ancient Greeks Abroad: Exploration and ColonizationThe ancient Greeks were an itinerant bunch, establishing colonies across the Mediterranean world and into Asia, and exploring out into the Atlantic. These titles include broad surveys and focused studies of the Greek experience beyond Greece, and the social and cultural transmissions that ensued.
Hellenistic and Roman Philosophy: Exemplars and CommentariesIn the Hellenistic period and through the period of Roman dominion, philosophy took on an especially practical turn, with much emphasis placed on the conduct of life. Schools like the Epicureans, Cynics, Stoics, and Skeptics arose, each offering their adherents a different conception of the good life. The titles below offer direct access to the philosophical thought of these founders and adherents, as well as some commentary upon the period.
Biographies of Classical WomenForge a connection to the distant past with these lives of Greek and Roman women - ordinary and extraordinary, triumphant and tragic.
Women in the Classical WorldThese titles explore the diverse experiences of women in the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, making creative use of a wide variety of sources to uncover sometimes hidden lives.
Herodotus: Translations and Treatments of the 'Father of History'Herodotus has earned the moniker of 'the Father of History' for his account of the deep roots and denouement of the fifth century BCE conflict between Greece and Persia. But there's so much more to his work, from geography and folklore to ethnography and simple good storytelling. His work is available in a variety of translations, just some of which are detailed below, along with works that further explore and contextualize this foundational work of Western historical scholarship.
The Hellenistic Age: Introductions and ExplorationsThe Hellenistic age is traditionally reckoned as the period between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE and the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE. This period saw the development of new connections between Europe and Asia, new political and social forms, and novel innovations in culture, art, and intellectual life. The titles below introduce and explore a variety of aspects of this fascinating historical period.
Booklists: eBooks and eAudiobooks
Ancient Greece: Explore its History and Culture with these 9 eBooksCheck out one of these eBooks today for a general overview of Ancient Greek history or an examination of some major aspects of its society and culture, including drama, athletics, and warfare.
Athens and Sparta sometimes seem more like symbols than like actual city-states, held up as exemplars of the tensions between freedom and order, and between civility and power. Athens is drawn as cultured, intellectual, and elegant, while rustic Sparta appears as either a masculinist fantasy world or a proto-fascist terror state. The truth, naturally, is much more complicated, so try one of these eBooks to learn more about these famed polities and the epochal conflict between them.
Alexander the Great and the Mess That Came After: 11 Online TitlesAs interesting an historical figure as Alexander of Macedon is, almost more interesting is the free-for-all that followed his death, as his generals carved his short-lived empire into an archipelago of squabbling states, most of them ultimately swallowed by the inexorable advance of Rome. Take a journey into this fascinating segment of Classical history with one of these titles.
From Republic to Empire: 14 eBooks on Ancient RomeAncient Rome has inspired endless interest, commentary, and scholarship. This list features some more general and accessible titles as well as some truly niche, technical, scholarly stuff. Something for everyone.
Against Empire: 11 eBooks on Enemies and Opponents of Roman RulePlenty of folks were not thrilled about the idea of being conquered, subjugated, exploited, and enslaved by the Roman Empire. Give one of these eBooks a try to learn more about them.
Soil, Water, Bone: 9 eBooks on Materiality and Roman HistoryStereotypical Roman history can seem sentimental, one-sided, even ethereal: think of Cicero and Caesar, rich white men in their crisp white togas, debating abstract political ideas before retreating to their clean and tasteful Mediterranean villas. Part of this may have to do with a reliance on written sources that give priority to the political activities of wealthy men. But bringing materiality into play can enrich our understanding of Roman history in a number of ways. It reminds us first of all that no matter how powerful they were, the Romans were humans too, subject to the same vicissitudes of weather, disease, and bodily functions as we are, embedded within and shaped by the environment they inhabited. It reminds us that people lived not only in their minds, but extended and projected themselves into the objects they used and manipulated for practical or symbolic purposes. And perhaps most importantly, it allows us to learn about the lives of those who did not or could not leave their stories behind in writing - the laborers, the enslaved, and the conquered upon whose very bodies the foundation of the sprawling and terrifying Roman enterprise of conquest, colonization, extraction, and exploitation was built.
The Classics Reimagined: 13 eBook Adaptations of Classical LiteratureClassical literature has been a perennial source of inspiration for authors in a wide range of literary forms. Check out one of these Classics-inspired titles, all available in ebook form, and read below to learn how to find public domain translations of the works that inspired them.
