LibGuides: Classics: Background information

Encyclopedias and dictionaries

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Use this selection of online encyclopedias and dictionaries to find background information, overviews and key resources from articles' bibliographies. Useful for comps.

The Oxford classical dictionary, 4th edition, 2012, edited by Simon Hornblower and Anthony Spawforth.
First choice for new and experienced scholars, this updated edition remains essential as a starting point for research in ancient Greek and Roman cultures, and now reception studies.
The Oxford encyclopedia of ancient Greece and Rome, 2010, edited by Michael Gagarin and Elaine Fantham.
500 essays, covering the ancient world from the Bronze Age to post-Justinian era (600 CE). Index recommended.
The encyclopedia of ancient history, 2012, edited by R. Bagnall et al.

Article updates not included in one-time purchase. Focus on ancient Mediterranean civilizations, from the Bronze Age to the 7th Century CE.

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Step 2: Click on "Search in this Book", and search for topics

The encyclopedia of ancient Greek language and linguistics, EAGLL, Brill 2012- .

Oxford Bibliographies Online
Authoritative articles on the current scholarship, with expert recommendations and authoritative commentary on the best works available in the discipline covered, making them particularly useful for anyone beginning research.
Brill's New Pauly
Unlimited users.
Comprehensive modern reference work for the ancient world. Entries offer easy, direct access to basic information - names, places, dates, objects — from all areas of Greek and Roman culture as well as their predecessors, neighbors and heirs... [T]he chronological scope of the 'Antiquity' volumes of the NEW PAULY ranges from the 'Aegean Koine' (middle of the 2nd millennium BC) to the formation of early medieval Europe (AD 600 to 800).”
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Cambridge Histories Online
Includes Cambridge Ancient History, Cambridge Prehistory of the Bronze and Iron Age Mediterranean, Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare, Cambridge History of Egypt, Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Political Thought, Cambridge History of Literature: Greek and Latin, and others.
Gale eBooks
100s of Encyclopedias and dictionaries with extensive and brief articles on all different topics.
Literary Reference Center
Wide ranging collection of background information about authors and literary topics across the centuries. Search the "Subject/Author" and "Subject" box for an individual, then look for reference or biographies articles using the "faceting" (limiting) at left.

Brill's New Pauly : encyclopaedia of the ancient world : Antiquity
Call Number: PCL Stacks DE 5 N3513 2002 Lib Use Only
ISBN: 9004122591
Publication Date: 2002-2010
English translation of Neue Pauly
Paulys real-encyclopädie der classischen altertumswissenschaft by Pauly, August Friedrich von, 1796-1845 et al
Call Number: Classics Library Ref. DE 5 P33
Publication Date: 1894-
Advanced. Massive, fundamental in dense German. All aspects of classical civilization for its time, including people, places, topics, and Greek and Latin terms.
Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae (LIMC)
Call Number: Classics Lib Ref NX 650 M9 L48 Lib Use Only
ISBN: 3760887511
Publication Date: 1981-2009
Extended articles on the iconography, images of Greek, Etruscan and Roman mythology.