Primary & Reference - Ancient - European History - Research Guides at The Claremont Colleges Library

Primary and Reference Resources in Ancient European History

Thesaurus Linguae Graecae This link opens in a new window
Why search here? For detailed examination of Greek literature 8 BCE to the Fall of Byzantium in 1453 CE, explore full text with word analysis of individuals phrases and words (lemma).
Content type: Primary Sources with annotations
Special Note: Create a free user name and password to use the database.
Includes links to English translations.
Language: English, Ancient Greek, Medieval Greek

These resources will lead you to texts, images, and reference sources. Some are paid resources to which the libraries subscribe and require authentication off campus with a Claremont Colleges ID.

Digital Loeb Classical Library This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Full collection of Greek and Latin texts in the original languages side-by-side with English translations.
Content type: Primary sources
Including epic and lyric poetry, tragedy, comedy, history, travel, philosophy, oratory, medical writers, mathematicians, and Church Fathers.
Language: Ancient Greek, Latin, English
Keywords: classics ancient
Patrologia Latina This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Main database for full Latin text of the Church Fathers from Tertullian (200 AD) to Pope Innocent III's death (1216).
Content type: Primary sources
Coverage dates: 200-1216
Online access to 1st ed. of Jacques-Paul Migne's text (1844-1855) and indexes (1862-1865).
Language: Latin
Keywords: Christianity Classics
Past Masters Full Text Humanities This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Access to full text of scholarly editions in literature, philosophy, and theology, plus correspondence of selected authors.
Content type: Books, correspondence
Language: English

Perseus Digital Library (Project Perseus)
A website hosted at Tufts University collecting historical materials from ancient, medieval and modern periods, but including Greek and Latin classics, some in English, some in Greek and Latin -- as well as Papyri. Includes many supplementary, secondary texts.
Ostia Ancient Texts
A website that has selected ancient authors in the original Latin and Greek.

Primary Sources in Library Catalogs

Primary sources of all types can also be found in our regular, circulating books, in special collections, and beyond. Here are few ways to find primary texts and sources by using our own Library Search.

1. Use the author search to find books we have by a particular author, politician, journalist or another type of historical witness

2. Do an advanced keyword search in The Library Search and then limit by publication year under “limit your search”) (note: you can also limit by language and many other ways)

3. Do an advanced keyword in Library Search and then limit to the word "sources" in the subject field (by using the dropdown menu), for example:

"ancient greece and medicine" in the keyword field

"sources" in the subject field.

(this brings us the Library of Congress Subject subheading “sources” which is sometimes used to designate primary source collections of different kinds — as in:

medicine-greece-history-sources

A rich source of primary materials is The Claremont Colleges LIbrary Special Collections and its librarians.

Reference Resources in Ancient History

Greek English Lexicon Part of The Perseus Digital Library.

Civilizations of the Ancient Near East Hon Ref/ DS 57 C55 1995 (volumes 1-4)

The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Ancient Near East Hon Ref/DS 56 o9 1997 (volumes 1-5)

Brill's New Pauly Encyclopedia of the Ancient World: Antiquity (Hon Ref/ DE5 N4813 2002, volumes 1-14) and Brill's New Pauly Encyclopedia of the Ancient World: Classical Tradition (Hon Ref/ DE5 P33213 2006, volumes 1-4) are the English editions of one of the most important reference works in Ancient History The German version, Der Neue Pauly Enzyklopadie der Antike, can be found at Non Ref/ DE5 N48 1996 (volumes 1-16).

In addition to the many chronologies that can be found on the internet, one might consult Brill's New Pauly Chronologies of the Ancient World: Names, Dates and Dynasties, Hon Ref/DE5 N48136 2007, and the Chronology of the Ancient World by E.J. Bickerman, Hon Ref/ D 54.5 B5 1980.

There are also many historical atlases including The Atlas of the Greek and Roman World in Antiquity, Hon Ref/ G 1033 A84 1981, and The Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East, Hon Fef/DS 69.5 R63 1990.