Open-access resources for the Classics-keen and curious
The Antigone team are pleased to pool together here the most useful, freely accessible Classics tools online. We have curated a list of 100 excellent open-access websites and resources, each chosen on the grounds of utility for the Classics learner/lover. If you think we really should have something we don’t, please do drop us a line . To explore any of the sites, just click to the section you want, click on the caption of the tile you wish, and then crack on!
Pace yourself, now…
Latin Language
Lewis & Short’s Latin Dictionary (1879): the largest open-access Latin-English dictionary online (up to AD c. 400), hosted via Perseus. Smith and Hall’s English-Latin Lexicon (1871): primarily Ciceronian Latin), hosted via Latinitium Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (1900-): all ancient Latin, for letters A – R (to relinquo ), save nemut through nymphon ) Core Latin vocabulary: the 1,000 most common words in Classical Latin, hosted by Dickinson College Allen and Greenough’s New Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges (1903), hosted in an easily readable form by Dickinson College Kennedy’s Revised Latin Primer (1888): the facts don’t change. Gildersleeve & Lodge’s Latin Grammar (1903): the same old facts. Carl Meissner’s remarkable Latin Phrase Book , translated into English by H.W. Auden (1894), can be perused with pleasure, hosted by Internet Archive ; a searchable PDF is available here .Textkit Library of Latin Language Books Further Links, via Ancient World Online And here is an immense array of downloadable Latin textbooks, hosted by Ed Donnelly. The best freely available advice on the Latin language is to be found on the Latin Discussion forum. They don’t mess about. The Logeion website (and accompanying app) is a most impressive (and accurate) tool for studying Latin vocabulary over many centuries and via many lexicographical tools.
Back to the top.
Greek Language
Liddell & Scott’s Greek-English Lexicon (10th ed., 1940), hosted via Perseus Autenrieth’s Homeric Dictionary (1891), hosted via Perseus Woodhouse’s English-Greek Lexicon (1910), hosted by the University of Chicago Cunliffe’s Homeric Lexicon (1924) Monro’s Grammar of the Homeric Dialect (1882), hosted by Dickinson College Core Greek Vocabulary: the 1,000 most common words in Classical Greek, hosted by Dickinson College Herbert Weir Smyth’s comprehensive Greek grammar (1916) can be explored in all its sprawling glory, hosted by Perseus. The classic grammar of Abbott and Mansfield is not just for schoolboys in short trousers: the no-nonsense summary of Accidence / forms (1874) can be read here , and of Syntax (1880) here , hosted by Internet Archive. The principles of Ancient Greek accentuation summarised in ten (relatively) simple rules, hosted by Antigone . H.W. Auden’s Greek Phrase Book (1899) is a brilliant resource for learning and checking Attic Greek idioms, hosted by Internet Archive. Textkit Library of Greek Language Books Easy tool for typing unicode Greek, hosted by the University of Oxford Further Links, via Ancient World Online And here is an immense selection of downloadable Greek textbooks, hosted by Ed Donnelly. The Logeion website (and accompanying app) is a most impressive (and accurate) tool for studying Greek vocabulary over many centuries and via many lexicographical tools.
Back to the top.
Latin Literature
Latin texts (with translation anad commentary), hosted by Perseus Latin texts, via The Latin Library An immense Latin bibliography, compiled by M. Van Der Poel Latin texts of the Bibliotheca Augusta (ancient and medieval), hosted by Hochschule Augsburg Search or browse Classical Latin, via the PHI Latin Library William P. Thayer’s Lacus Curtius presents many Latin texts with translation, hosted by the University of Chicago. Forum Romanum is a gateway to very many texts and translations. The “Teubner” tab of the Links Galore spreadsheet links to all open-access Teubner texts. A.S. Kline’s website contains English translations of most Classical Latin poetry. The Classical Anthology has a carefully curated range of texts with translation, hosted by the Classics Library The Loebolus List provides links to all open-acess Loeb Library texts, maintained by Ryan Baumann The Virgil Project presents Virgil’s poetry along with an excellent array of linguistic, textual and literary aids, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania The Musisque Deoque database allows for easy searching and browsing of Latin poetry, hosted by Ca’ Foscari University of Venice ClassicsIndex offers a wealth of links for most Ancient Greek authors, compiled by Mischa Hooker. Pede Certo is an excellent resource for Latin poetry, which includes a tool to analyse the scansion of any Latin you input, hosted by the University of Udine. A lecture series on Greek and Latin metre, hosted by Antigone .
Back to the top.
Greek Literature
Greek texts (with translation and commentary), hosted by Perseus Greek texts of the Bibliotheca Augusta (ancient and medieval), hosted by Hochschule Augsburg The Thesaurus Linguae Graecae allows searching and browsing of its abridged (but immense) collection (registration required), hosted by the University of California, Irvine The Chicago Homer presents the poems of the corpus along with translation and lexicographical tools, hosted by the Northwestern University. The ‘Internet Classics Archive’ offers translations of many major Greek authors, hosted by MIT. A.S. Kline’s website contains English translations of most Classical Latin poetry. The Theoi website contains many translations of Greek texts, compiled by Aaron J. Atsma. The “Teubner” tab of the Links Galore spreadsheet links to open-access Teubner texts. The Loebolus List provides links to all open-acess Loeb Library texts, maintained by Ryan Baumann. ClassicsIndex offers a wealth of links for most Ancient Greek authors, compiled by Mischa Hooker. A lecture series on Greek and Latin metre, hosted by Antigone .
Back to the top.
Greco-Roman History
The Internet Ancient History Sourcebook provides a gateway to Greco-Roman history and byeond, hosted by Fordham University. De Imperatoribus Romanis contains a wealth of information about Roman emperors and their officials, hosted by Loyola University Chicago. The In Our Time podcast regularly covers Classical themes: Andy Keen’s list has the details. The Attalus hub is filled with links and resources to the Hellenistic and Republic periods of Greece and Rome. A thorough lecture series on Greek history is offered by Professor Donald Kagan of Yale University. The Livius website has a huge number of history-related resources, especiially on Ancient Rome Feminae Romanae provides resources to explore the life of women in Ancient Rome. A quick-reference timeline of Ancient Greek history, hosted by Ancient-Greece.org. A quick-reference timeline of Ancient Roman history, hosted by World History Encyclopedia. The Demos hub provides an excellent set of introductory resources about Classical Athens and its democratic system, hosted by Stoa. The Invicta Youtube channel has lots of videos on ancient history, with a particular interest in warfare.
Back to the top.
Material Culture
The Vici.org Archaeological Atlas of Antiquity, which covers all of the Roman world, is just ridiculously good. The Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae is a vast resource, and is most profitably searchable here, hosted by the University of Basel. The Europeana.eu portal is too powerful for words to express: give it a try for whatever interests you. The Vatican Museums can be toured remotely at your leisure. The British Museum offers an excellent search tool of its collections. The Classical Art Reserarch Centre offers astoundingly rich databases of Greco-Roman art, hosted by the University of Oxford. The Mantis hub is the best starting point for exploring ancient coinage, hosted by the American Numismatic Society. Fasti Online provides the most up-to-date account of recent archaeological digs and reports, digesting the latest activity and discoveries. Carole Raddato’s Following Hadrian page on Flickr provides some 40,000 photographs of architectural sites and museums in their present state. The Chiron community on Flickr hosts over 40,000 images from the Classical world that can be shared via the Creative Commons licence. The Theoi Greek Mythology website contains very many images of ancient art, compiled by Aaron J. Atsma.
Back to the top.
Ancient Philosophy
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy offers first-rate accounts of philosophers and philosophical concepts, ancient and modern, hosted by Stanford University. The Répertoire des sources philosophiques antiques provides (in French) an excellent bibliography for Greco-Roman philosophy. The Online Library of Liberty hosts a large library of philosophical texts, including those from Greece and Rome (in translation), which can be read in full. The ever-expanding Good in Theory podcast provides a lively introduction to Greek philosophy, beginning with Plato.
Back to the top.
Inscriptions, Papyri & Manuscripts
The Digitized Medieval Manuscripts hub provides links to open-access manscuript collections across the world, populated by Sexy Codicology. The Clauss / Slaby Epigraphic Database allows the search of vast corpora of inscriptions. Attic Inscriptions Online offers text, translation and resources for Athenian inscriptions, hosted by the British School at Athens. This Introduction to Greek Palaeography provides a good starting point, hosted by the Vatican Library. This Introduction to Latin Palaeography likewise provides a good starting point, hosted by the Vatican Library. The Papyri.info database provides a wealth of information about Greek and Roman papyri. PHI Greek Inscriptions allows for easy searching over widespread corpora, hosted by the Packard Humanities Institute. The Epigraphic Database Heidelberg allows browsing of inscriptions by geographical region, hosted by the University of Heidelberg. The PapPal database is an invaluable resource for ancient palaeography, providing an excellent chronological range of dated papyri, hosted by the University of Heidelberg. The online hub of Roman Inscriptions in Britain provides easily accessible and digestible editions of thousands of British inscriptions, as well as the Vindolanda Tablets. A list of editorial abbreviations used in the apparatus criticus, hosted by Antigone .
Back to the top.
Ancient Geography & Topography
The Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire is an amazing resource, hosted by the University of Gothenburg. The Pleiades Project provides a wealth of targeted information on the Greco-Roman world, hosted by New York University. Graesse’s Orbis Latinus remains the best tool for translating ancient place names into their modern equivalents, hosted by Columbia University. The ToposText project links Ancient Greek texts to the places of the ancient world, hosted by the by the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation. The Orbis Project shows how (dis)connecected the Roman Empire was across its vast network of travel routes, hosted by Stanford University. A quick-reference map of Ancient Greece, hosted by Ancient-Greece.org. A quick-reference map of the Roman Empire at its vast extent under Emperor Hadrian in AD 125, uploaded to Wikipedia by AndreiN.
Back to the top.
Find ing Books and Articles
Every book, every article and every review can be found somewhere online. While the latter two categories are often blocked by subscription-only databases, the very great majority of books printed in the 571 years since Johannes Gutenberg first unleashed the printing press on Europe are freely available online. To see what we mean, try searching the following tools, in decreasing order of range and importance:
Google Books surpasses all: most books post-1900 are preview- or snippet-only, but almost everything earlier is fully readable. Internet Archive gives open access to an immense array of books, which can be browsed or downloaded: it is especially strong for the years 1800-1920. Project Gutenberg freely offers tens of thousands of books for online browsing or personal download. The Gallica database provides open access to a huge array of early printed books (and manuscripts), hosted by the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Hathi Trust gives access to myriads of books, especially of the 19th and early 20th centuries, although many are restricted to US readers. The Open Library, powered by the Internet Archive, allows free access to more recent books by the ‘borrow’ (short-term access) function.
Links to out-of-copyright Teubner and Loeb texts can be found under the Greek and Latin Literature sections above.
It is trickier to trace articles and reviews in periodicals , since many are only accessible via subscription. However, the following tools may help you discover what you are interested in:
Google Scholar allows you to search a huge array of scholarly periodicals and websites: keep your fingers crossed that the result you want allows open access. JStor is an immense database of periodicals: it allows you to search it freely, even though most of the results are subscription-only. Nevertheless, it can be a great tool to learn what is out there. TOCS-IN is an excellent tool for searching articles in Classics published over the last three decades. Although it does not provide links, it can provide a very helpful steer.
If you see something recent that you can’t access, you may find that the author has made it available via academia.edu . If you still can’t find access to what you want, here’s an offer from the Antigone team: if you can point us to an article or review that you cannot reach, and which you need to read to advance your studies, do send us a message at request@antigonejournal.com , and we will do our best to send you the piece you seek.
Finally, you may feel the need to pick up a cheap copy of a book you’re in desperate need of. Yet most modern academic books are priced at a truly absurd cost, and even if you had the money to hand it would very probably be poorly spent. However, on the second-hand market, most books and pamphlets can be found, and at a price that isn’t silly. These are the top two places to look:
Abebooks is the best place to search for second-hand books: use the ‘used’/’new’ filter to remove modern (mostly pirated) reprints. The most powerful tool for searching for books across the major online retailers is Add All.
If neither of these avenues works, and if you still really want to trace a book for yourself, again, please do try us at request@antigonejournal.com , as we may be able to help (as a free favour, not a paid service)!
Back to the top.
