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History, Ancient

Getting Started

If you are not sure what your topic is about, try one or more of the following:

Encyclopaedias: 
Handbooks: 

Books on ancient history will be found at the following call numbers on the shelves:

DF10 - DF289 Ancient Greece
DG11 - DG356 Ancient Rome
DS69 - DS75 Ancient Mesopotamia
DT56 - DT93 Ancient Egypt
PA3050 - PA4505 Greek Literature
PA6000 - PA6971 Latin Literature
N5320 - N5899 Ancient Art
BL700 - BL820 Greek and Roman Religion

Remember that two-thirds of new research in history is published in books. Use the Library Catalogue keyword search to find books on your topic. Some books are available online (e-books).

Dictionaries: 

Pocket Oxford Latin Dictionary (online)

For other Latin-to-English dictionaries held by the Library see this link.

For Greek-to-English dictionaries held by the Library see this link.

Abbreviations: 

Many abbreviations are used in ancient history. The list of abbreviations from the Oxford Classical Dictionary is available online. For information on abbreviations of journal titles, click on the Journal Articles tab above.

Image Collections

Image Collections: 

ARTstor
Over 1.5 million digital images in subject areas including art, architecture, music, religion, anthropology, literature, world history, American Studies, Asian Studies, Classical Studies, Medieval Studies, Renaissance Studies, and more.

Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum
This is the online version of the printed volumes. It provides high-quality images and descriptions of vases from ancient Greece and Italy which are preserved in museums around the world.

CLAROS
A website devoted to the art of ancient Greece and Rome. It allows you to simultaneously search the collections of a number of major institutions worldwide.

R.D. Milns Antiquities Museum, University of Queensland
Images of works held in the museum can be viewed online.

Journal Articles

For recent information, journal articles are often the best sources. Looking through individual journals in the hope of finding relevant material is time-consuming. It is better to use the databases to find articles on your topic.

Journal Articles: 

JSTOR
This database provides the full text of articles from many major journals. Use the Advanced Search and choose the Item Type article. Under narrow by discipline, choose Archaeology and Classical Studies.

L'Année Philologique
Use this database for more advanced research. It lists journal articles and books, but does not provide any references in full text. For help on searching, see our quick guide.

In ancient history, journal titles are often abbreviated. When you come across abbreviations of journal titles, consult our list of journal abbreviations in ancient history to help you interpret the reference.

Primary Materials

Primary Materials: 
  • Perseus Project
    Here you will often be able to find texts and translations of works by ancient writers. Click on Collections/Texts on the navigation bar at the top of the screen, and then select Greek and Roman Materials. Scroll down through the alphabetical list of authors.

    If the text is not available on Perseus, try one of the following sites:
  • Source books are collections of translations of ancient sources on specific topics. You can often find relevant source books by searching the Library catalogue by keyword. Use keywords such as women rome source* or politics greece source*

Specialised Resources

Specialised Resources: 

Chronologies of the Ancient World (online)

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