LibGuides: Ancient History: Getting started with reference sources

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Subjects: English, Ethnic Studies, History, Information Literacy, Library Instruction, Literature, Philosophy & Religion, Women's & Gender Studies

These sources help you in three ways.

They provide you with a short overview of the topic
They give you specific terms to help you search for more sources (names, locations, events, dates, etc.)
They provide lists of other useful sources at the end of the article (bibliography). Using bibliographies to find sources is one of the fastest ways to do your research!

Brill's New Pauly
Call Number: 2nd floor, Reference Collection, 938.003 B857
ISBN: 9004122591
Publication Date: 2011
This 15 volume set is an extremely comprehensive encyclopedia of the ancient world. Not every entry provides a bibliography and the ones that do tend to list older, canonical works of scholarship. There is also an additional 5 volume set devoted to reception of the ancient world in more modern times.
The Oxford Encyclopedia of ancient Greece and Rome
Call Number: 2nd floor, Reference Collection 938.003 O98
ISBN: 9780195170726
Publication Date: 2009
While not as comprehensive as the New Pauly, this encyclopedia's articles are easier to read for those new to ancient history, and the bibliographies are more current and focus on sources in English.
The Oxford Classical Dictionary
Call Number: 2nd floor, Reference Collection 938.003 O98c 2012
ISBN: 9780199545568
Publication Date: 2012
This dictionary of the classical world has articles ranging from a single paragraph to several pages long, making a great place to go for a quick overview of a topic. Like the New Pauly, the entries in the bibliographies tend to be for older, standard resources on the topic.