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Subject Guide for Roman History Resources
Contents
Introduction & contact information
This is a guide to research resources for the history of ancient Rome. Some of these resources are more general
to Ancient history. There is another guide for Ancient Greek history.
There is also a guide for primary sources.
This guide attempts to create a balanced mix of resources found on the Web and those in printed form. This web
guide was created jointly with
Elizabeth Pollard, Assistant Professor of History at San Diego State University.
For further assistance, contact the Library's subject specialist:
Michael Perkins
San Diego State University Library
Office: LL505F
Phone:(619) 594-6743
E- mail: mperkins@mail.sdsu.edu
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Dictionaries, encyclopedias, chronologies
Brill's New Pauly Encyclopedia of the Ancient World (DE 5 N4813 Ref)
Originally a definitive nineteenth and early twentieth century encyclopedia in German,
the "New" Pauly began publication in German in the 1990's. This is the English version which
will be published over several years.
Cambridge Ancient History (D 57 C253)
Multivolume, multi-authored scholarly set on history of the ancient
world, with emphasis on Greece and Rome. Much discussion of sources.
Chronology of the Ancient World (D 54.5 B5 Ref)
This book describes chronology studies, calendars, etc. It also has several tables of chronological events in the back.
Chronology of the Ancient World, 10,000 BC to AD 799 (D 54.5 M44 Ref)
Divided by time periods (usually by decades) and then by category (e.g. religion and philosophy, science and technology).
Civilization of the Ancient Mediterranean: Greece and Rome (DE 59 C5)
A three volume encyclopedia with a topical approach. Essays are written by well known scholars.
De Imperatoribus Romanis
An online encyclopedia to Roman Emperors from Augustus to 1453 (thus it includes the Eastern
Roman or Byzantine). Searchable in several ways, including alphabetical by name, chronological,
and family trees. The site has a recommended links page.
Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire (DG 270 B86 Ref)
Alphabetically arranged, this work covers from the era of the Gallic Wars of Julius Caesar to
476 A.D.
Great Events from History: Ancient and Medieval Series (D 59 M26 Ref)
A three volume work in roughly chronological order with essays about events from 4000 B.C. to 1500 A.D.
Larousse Encyclopedia of Ancient and Medieval History (D 59 H553 Ref)
A topical approach (more like a text book) to history up to about 1500 A.D.
Oxford Classical Dictionary (DE 5 O9 Ref)
An alphabetical listing of terms, people, events, places, etc. in the ancient world. This is the classic (no pun intended) work in the field.
Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization (DE 5 O92 Ref)
A shorter, more "popular" version of the OCD (above) with more illustrations, set aside essays, and fewer "technical or recondite" entries.
Smithsonian Timelines of the Ancient World (D 54.5 S65 Ref)
A colorful timeline book divided by eras, then by categories and by areas of the world. Emphasis on technology, art, and social life. As with other works, ancient includes medieval times.
Who's Who in the Roman World (DG 203 H39 Ref)
Devoted to people only, this alphabetically arranged encyclopedia covers
the entire Roman era.
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Atlases
Atlas of the Roman World (DG 77 C597 Ref)
More than maps, this includes much written material and many illustrations (many in color).
Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World (G 1033 B3 Ref/Map coll)
A recent (2000) comprehensive and scholarly atlas covering Archaic Greece to the Late Roman Empire. There is an accompanying CD-ROM that explains and indexes the atlas (located in the Media Center under CDR-561)
Muir's Historical Atlas (G 1030 M838 Ref)
The well-known atlas of ancient and classical history has been incorporated into a larger work but it retains a separate identity in the front.
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Finding books
The PAC is the library's catalog and this is the way to
find what books we have and what journal titles we have. To find the latter, use the Periodical
Title search as this will tell you what journals we have in any format. To find books,
use specific terms or Rome - History. Call letters vary depending on the topic covered
(for example some gender related books will be under HQ) but the most common call number
areas are DF for history (note that this also includes modern Roman history) and PA
for classical literature.
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Finding articles
Academic Search Premier
A general database covering many topics in magazines and journals and a few newspapers.
Many of the articles are full text. Use the peer-review limit function.
ProQuest Research Library
Another general database with many full text articles. Since it includes many more
newspapers than Ebscohost, it is very important to use the peer-reviewed limit.
JSTOR
Full text scholarly articles from many fields. There are 40 history journals covered and
eleven in Classical Studies (including Journal of Hellenic Studies). The latest issues
(usually the last five years) are not included.
Project MUSE
Full text scholarly articles mostly in Humanities and Social Sciences.
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More specialized databases include:
Dissertation Abstracts/Digital Dissertations
For dissertations from around the world. Most libraries do not have these so you need to
borrow them through Interlibrary Loan.
MLA Bibliography
Literature, mostly modern but can sometimes find pertinent materials,
especially when ancient authors are compared to modern.
GenderWatch
Full text articles on the impact of gender in many subject areas. Includes
articles in history from all eras.
Finally, the only index devoted to ancient history and classical studies:
L'Annee Philologique (PA 3001 A65 Ref)
Covers classical studies literature, history, and many other fields from prehistory
to medieval times. Indexes about 1,000 periodicals written in various Western
languages. Includes book reviews, Festschriften, and materials from congresses.
Online version covers 1969 to about two years ago.
Ongoing retrospective conversion is being done.
There are also some free sites that are helpful in finding scholarly articles and other material
related to ancient history:
Bryn Mawr Classical Review
Reviews of current scholarly work in the field of classical studies (including archaeology) from
1990 to the present.
Tables of
Contents of Journals of Interest to Classicists (TOCS-IN)
A great resource for finding recent publications on a topic in ancient history. It is a searchable
table of contents tool for more than 160 journals with some links to full text articles and abstracts when available.
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Primary Sources
To find primary documents, use the online catalog (PAC) and add the word "sources" or "personal narratives"
after any heading, such as Rome History. For further information and some good tips on
finding primary sources, see the Subject Guide for Primary Sources.
Some good internet sites that are all or mostly primary sources are
Internet Ancient History Sourcebook
This website provides links to primary sources on-line. Not only are
there resources available for the study of Rome and Late Antiquity, but
also of pre-history, the Ancient Middle East, Egypt, Israel, Persia,
Greece and the Hellenistic World.
Internet Classics Archive
Includes 440 browseable classical Greek and Latin texts in English translation.
Perseus
A project to digitize sources from ancient times, both in the original language and English.
It is searchable by keyword and there are links from within the texts to other references of the term or
person mentioned.
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Other web resources
American Philological Association
Maintained by the major organization for scholars in philology and
classics, many of whom deal with topics directly related to the sources
essential to the study of ancient history.
Ancient World web
This site is maintained by an individual with professional background in web design. Her undergraduate degree was in ancient studies. This site includes ancient world in its broadest sense (not just Greece and Rome). It links to many sites.
Association of Ancient Historians
Maintained by the major organization for scholars in ancient history, this has a section called electronic resources which links to several sites. There is some emphasis on classics over history.
Diotima: Materials for the Study of Women and Gender in the Ancient World
Includes links to bibliographies, essays, and includes updates of
what's new in the study of gender in antiquity.
Electronic Resources for Classicists: The Second Generation
This valuable resource is a compendium of on-line resources useful to
scholars pursuing topics in ancient history: includes links to
electronic publications, databases, gateways of information,
bibliographies, and collections of images.
Library of Congress
Prepared by Library of Congress staff, this links to journals and other internet sites dealing with classical studies.
Voice of the Shuttle
This website includes links to general classics resources, journals,
and websites covering the archaeology of ancient Rome, and also
subscription information for several of the listserves and newsgroups
of interest to scholars of ancient history.
All of the above sites are for ancient history in general, mostly Greece and Rome and many emph
asize classical studies rather than history per se.
Some sites that deal specifically with Roman history are:
Illustrated History of the Roman Empire
A somewhat commercialized site but with much information, interactive maps, and illustrations.
Roman Internet Resources
A collection of online resources - sites, primary documents, reference works.
Yahoo
This is the part of Yahoo that deals with Roman history. Keep in mind that not all of these sites will be scholarly
or reliable.
It is always useful to search under something like "Roman history resources" in a search engine, such as Google but
remember that these sites have not been reviewed and are not necessarily academic or even accurate.
This page http://infodome.sdsu.edu/research/guides/romanhistory.shtml is maintained by Michael Perkins.
Please use our Feedback Form
for your questions, comments, and suggestions.
File saved 10/02/07 11:39 PDT
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