Guides: Find Ancient Sources: Home

What is an ancient source?

An ancient source is a source that was created before the fall of the Roman Empire
The term "ancient source" is used instead of "primary source" because an ancient source can be considered both a primary and a secondary source. Many ancient sources are based on earlier sources that may no longer exist.

Many online databases and websites provide access to ancient sources
The following are comprehensive digital collections of ancient sources for Classics (ancient Rome and ancient Greece)

Perseus Digital Library
Texts, art, and artifacts from ancient Greece, Rome, and elsewhere.

Thesaurus linguae Graecae: a digital library of Greek literature
Users must register for an individual account to access some of the collections in this database.

A collection of digitized literary texts written in Greek from Homer to the fall of Byzantium.
Subject Matter Timeframe: Homer - 200 A.D.

Names of authors and titles of works are often abbreviated using a standard format.
A list of abbreviations can be found at the Perseus Project webpage or in the Oxford Classical Dictionary.

Ancient texts use a unique numbering system for locating content.
This specialized format allows scholars to reliably refer to the same passage of an ancient source regardless of the language or publication that they are using.
Examples:
- Homer's Iliad is divided into 24 Books (what we might now call chapters); each book begins with Line 1.
- Herodotus' Histories contains nine Books, each divided into Chapters. Each chapter is further divided into sections, each beginning with Line 1.