Library Catalog

Reference for Works Ancient History

Electronic Indexes & Databases

Internet Sites for Ancient History

Mythology Sources Print

Mythology Internet Sources

Ancient Theater Internet Resources

How to cite sources

This library guide is to serve as  basic tool to help you locate materials on Ancient Western Civilizations.  A thorough research project entails a search of  library's circulating book and reference collections, electronic encyclopedias and databases as well as Internet sites devoted to the history of the ancient world.  The following resource is crafted as a "pathfinder" to assist you to effectively explore and exploit the wealth of information available on the history of ancient Western Civilizations.

Luce Library Webcat

Search the library's web-based catalog, Webcat,  for general or specific topics in Ancient History.  The Library catalog includes all of the books and films that are in the building, including reference books. Specific reference books are recommended below.

 

Reference Works for the History of Ancient Western Civilizations

Specialty Encyclopedias

REF 938 A54
Ancient Greece and Rome : an encyclopedia for students / Carroll Moulton, editor-in-chief.

REF 939 C58
Civilizations of the ancient Near East / Jack M. Sasson, editor in chief ; John Baines, Gary Beckman, Karen S. Robinson, associate editors.

REF 902 L27E5
An encyclopedia of world history; ancient, medieval, and modern, chronologically arranged. Compiled and edited by William L. Langer.

REF 938 G79
Greece and Rome. The birth of western civilization.
Grant, Michael.

REF 932 R31     3 vols
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt
Redford, Donald, editor.

REF 930 E56  3 vols.
Encyclopedia of the Ancient World
Thomas J. Sienkewicz

Biographical Works

REF 930 G78
Great lives from history. Ancient and medieval series / edited by Frank N. Magill.

Ebsco Academic Search Elite 
Academic Search Elite provides full text for more than 1,690 academic, social sciences, humanities, general science, education and multi-cultural journals. In addition to the full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for 2,794 journals. More than 1,880 journals are peer reviewed. Full text backfiles go as far back as January of 1990, while indexing and abstract backfiles go as far back as January of 1984.

Lexis/Nexis
Access to the current news and to a comprehensive news archive; includes full text for 65 leading U.S. and international newspapers (Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Dutch); provides access to the New York Times and to the Washington Post dating back to 1980.
Also provides transcripts of major TV and radio broadcasts and constantly updated wire service reports.

Internet Sites on Ancient Western Civilization

Performing blind searches on the Internet for information to support your research often proves fruitless and/or yields unreliable material. Always evaluate your Internet "hits" by employing the rationale and criteria put forth in this Evaluation Tool : The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: or, Why It's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources by Susan E. Beck, Head, Humanities & Social Sciences Services Department New Mexico State University Library.

Ancient Scripts.com:  A resource that provides a wealth of information on writing systems and linguistics of both Western/Non-Western ancient civilizations.

ArchNet:  from  the Archaeological Research Institute at Arizona State University this site  serves as the "World Wide Web Virtual Library for Archaeology. This server provides access to archaeological resources available on the Internet.  Information is categorized by geographic region and subject."

Athena Review:  A Guide to Archeology on the Internet : An archeological research site containing "combination of graphic images and multitudes of on-line sources and databases provides fruitful grounds for exploration."  Sources are organized in by general topic or by country/region.

 Internet Ancient Sourcebook: The Internet Ancient History Sourcebook is a world wide web project designed to provide easy access to primary sources and other valuable teaching materials devoted to the study of Ancient History.  The Sourcebook was developed and is edited by Paul Halsall of Fordham University. Sections dedicated to the Ancient Near East, Greek Civilization, Hellenistic World, Rome and the Late Antiquities provide comprehensive primary text material as well as image files for all aspects of early Western Civilization.

 The Ancient World Web:  This collection of annotated user-rated web sites is devoted to both Western and non-Western History. It is well-organized and easily accessed. Most of the sites contained in this resource are highly rated and authoritative gateways; they are classified into general categories.  A search of the site for specific topic areas is also possible.

Egyptian Antiquity Information:  from the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism;  impressive collection of resources and links to Ancient Egyptian History, Culture, Mythology/Religion and Science.

Pyramids: The Inside Story:  based on the Nova program;  information on pyramid history and building;  view the inner pyramid chambers and witness an archaeological excavation.

Ancient Middle East

Mesopotamia :  from Creative Impulse, this site offers a wealth of information on the geography, history, culture, religion and people of Ancient Mesopotamia.

Ancient Greece and Rome

Ancient Greek Links:  Solid collection of research-oriented sites categorized by:  Authors & Texts;  Art & Images;  Resources & Topics;  Maps & Geography.

The Ancient Olympics :  from the Perseus Project of Tufts University;  a tour of the ancient Olympiad; information on individual sports and athletes.

Classics and Mediterranean Archaeology Home Page :  a mega-site from the University of Michigan with extensive links to web resources, texts, journals, exhibits, museums, archaeological field reports and geographic materials.

Classics Resources
Scholarly collection of web resources gathered and categorized by Professor Conrad at Washington University.  Includes classical authors and texts, general and specialized reference sources, Classics Associations, e-journals, maps and image depositories.

Creative Impulse:  The Development of Western Civilization:  Greece
An award-winning website hosted by the University of Evansville that provides a wealth of quality web resources for all aspects of Ancient Greek History:  People; Places; Events; Art and Architecture;  Literature and Drama; Music and Dance; Religion and Mythology;  Daily Life and Culture

Creative Impulse:  The Development of Western Civilization:  Rome
The "Roman" equivalent of the Greek Creative Impulse.

Diotima:  The Study of Women and Gender in the Ancient World
"Diotima serves as an interdisciplinary resource for anyone interested in patterns of gender around the ancient Mediterranean.  This site includes course materials, the beginnings of a systematic and searchable bibliography, and links to many on-line resources, including articles, book reviews, databases, and images."

 The Greeks:  Crucible of Civilization
Produced in conjunction with the PBS program.  Biographical information on famous Greeks, interactive timeline, sections devoted to Greek politics, culture and art, architecture, warfare and noteworthy ancient Greeks.

Mediterranean Archaeology Resources :  from the University of Nottingham, a listing of journals, web resources, bibliographies, institutions that pertain to Greco-Roman research and study.

The Perseus Project
The Perseus Project is an expansive collection of textual and visual sources materials put together by scholars for the study of the Ancient Greek and Roman civilizations.  "The collection contains extensive and diverse resources including primary and secondary texts, site plans, digital images, and maps. Art and archaeology catalogs document a wide range of objects: over 1,500 vases, over 1,800 sculptures and sculptural groups, over 1,200 coins, hundreds of buildings from nearly 100 sites and over 100 gems. Catalog entries are linked to tens of thousands of images, many in high resolution, and have been produced in collaboration with many museums, institutions and scholars. In addition to art and archaeology sources, essays, and tools, the classics collection features several hundred works of classical Greek and Roman authors, both in the original language and in translation."

The Roman Empire in the First Century
Produced in conjunction with the PBS Program.  A great depository of information about the Roman Empire with timelines, images and commentary by Roman history scholars.

Rome Project:   from the Dalton School in NYC;  a solid collection of resources that are classified by broad topic:  Archeology, Religion, Literature, Politics, Drama, Philosophy, Military, Maps and General. 

 The Vergil Project
"The Vergil Project is a collaborative enterprise dedicated to collecting, creating, and disseminating resources for teaching and research about Vergil.  Its main goal is to develop an on-line, interactive hypertext database of all materials that might be of interest to any student of Vergil, from the novice to the professional scholar, from the passionate amateur to the casual browser."

Mythology Sources--Print

REF 292 D15
Greek and Roman mythology A to Z : a young reader's companion / Kathleen N. Daly.

REF 292 C84
The encyclopedia of mythology : Classical, Celtic, Norse / Arthur Cotterell.

REF 291 K52
The encyclopedia of Middle Eastern mythology and religion / Jan Knappert.

REF 292 S79
The illustrated dictionary of Greek and Roman mythology / Michael Stapleton ; introduction by Stewart Perowne.

REF 290 L33
New Larousse encyclopedia of mythology. Introduction by Robert Graves [translated from the French by Richard Aldington & Delano Ames, & revised by a panel of editorial advisors from the Larousse mythologie générale edited by Felix Guirand]

REF 291 M26
Man, myth & magic : the illustrated encyclopedia of mythology, religion and the unknown / editor in chief, Richard Cavendish ; editorial board, C.A. Burland ... [et al.].

REF 292 F58
The encyclopedia of mythology: gods, heores, and legends of the Greeks and Romans/ Eric Flaum with David Pandy.

REF 291.13 M99
Mythology : an illustrated encyclopedia / edited by Richard Cavendish ; consultant editor, Trevor O. Ling.

Mythology Internet Sites

Encyclopedia Mythica
Online encyclopedia that contains entries for classical and world myths with information on heroes, gods, beasts, supernatural beings.  Legends and folklore are also included as well as genealogy tables and image galleries.

Classical Ancient Theater Internet Resources

Didaskalia Ancient Theater Site
The Didaskalia web site focuses on Greek and Roman drama, dance, and music.  Links to electronic publications, other ancient theater sites, classics sites and on-line texts of ancient plays can be accessed from Didaskalia.

 Classical Drama Sites
This website contains a collection of links to resources dedicated to Ancient Theater productions.

Ancient Greek Theater
Information about Greek actors, staging, costumes, masks, music and theater composition.  Famous Greek playwrights and their works is also presented.

The Roman Theater