UWM Libraries Research and Course Guides: Classics: Find Scholarly Sources

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Databases for Classics Research

Academic Search Complete
Academic Search Complete is a comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 7,000 full-text periodicals, including nearly 6,000 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 11,000 journals and a total of more than 11,600 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc. The database features PDF content going back as far as 1887, with the majority of full text titles in native (searchable) PDF format. Searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,000 journals.
JSTOR
Provides access to journal articles, books, images, and primary sources. Contents include the Artstor image collection, archival and current scholarly journal content, and historical documents.
Humanities International Complete
Humanities International Complete includes all data from Humanities International Index (more than 2,100 journals and 2.47 million records) plus unique full text content. The database includes full text for more than 890 journals.
MLA International Bibliography
MLA International Bibliography indexes international scholarly materials, including over 4,400 journals, books, working papers, and conference proceedings on language, literature, linguistics, and folklore. It is updated 10 times a year.
Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts
Access ends March 31, 2025.
This database abstracts and indexes the international literature in linguistics and related disciplines in the language sciences. The database covers all aspects of the study of language including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. Documents indexed include journal articles, book reviews, books, book chapters, dissertations and working papers.
Historical Abstracts
Historical Abstracts has article abstracts from over 2,000 journals, citation of books, and dissertations on the history of the world from 1450 to the present.
Project Muse
Provides digital humanities and social sciences content with full text access to 350 journals and select full text access to ebooks. Limit to subscribed full text using the advanced search and selecting, "Only content I have access to". Why can't I access some of this content?
Web of Science
Web of Science includes citations from the Science Citation Index Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, Arts & Humanities Citation Index, BIOSIS Citation Index, Zoological Record, Current Contents Connect, Data Citation Index, and the Derwent Innovation Index. Our Web of Science subscription includes articles published from 1987 to the present; updated weekly. Useful for: systematic reviews, Highly Cited papers, citation metrics
Atla Religion Database with AtlaSerials
Atla Religion Database with AtlaSerials contains citations and some full text to international periodicals, books, and book chapters on religion and theological studies. Areas covered include Biblical studies, world religions, Church history, and religious perspectives on social issues.
Anthropological Literature
Anthropological Literature is the most comprehensive international resource for the fields of anthropology, archaeology, and related interdisciplinary research. Produced by one of the world's foremost anthropology libraries, Anthropological Literature indexes entries at least two pages long in nearly 900 journals and monographic series held in Harvard University's Tozzer Library. These include articles, reports, commentaries and obituaries. Anthropological Literature online now covers articles published from the late 19th century to the present, including the complete contents of Anthropological Literature: An Index to Periodical Articles and Essays (published quarterly since 1979).

TOCS-IN
TOCS-IN provides the tables of contents of a selection of Classics, Near Eastern Studies, and Religion journals, both in text format and through a Web search program. Where possible, links are given with articles of which the full text or an abstract is available online.
Zenon
Zentraler Online-Katalog des Deutschen Archologischen Instituts. ZENON indexes books and articles based on the subject catalogues of the offices of the German Archaeological Institute.
Open Greek and Latin
An international collaboration committed to creating an open educational resource featuring a corpus of digital texts, deep-reading tools, and open-source software. We strive to support and enhance teaching and research. All materials can be downloaded, modified, and redistributed in accordance with all applicable licenses.
THESAVRVS LINGVAE LATINAE
Thesaurus Linguae Latinae Open Access provides free access to the published volumes of the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae except the most recent three years of fascicles. The entire TLL is also available in print from De Gruyter and through the subscription-only TLL Online, which provides additional search functionality.
AWOL - The Ancient World Online
The primary focus of the project is notice and comment on open access material relating to the ancient world, but I will also include other kinds of networked information as it comes available.

Find Books in Search@UW

Call numbers text only

How do I find a call number on the shelf?

Follow these steps when you're looking for a book on the shelf.

Find the correct letter combination. L comes before LA on the shelves.
Look for the number - be sure to look for the whole number. 19 comes before 23 and 23 comes before 2340 (two thousand three hundred forty).
In the last line, first locate the letter and then the decimal. .M371 will come before .M38

This image shows the order in which some sample call numbers would appear: L 19. M322, LA 23. M38, LA 2340. M371, LA 2340. M38

Select Books Ancient History & Civilization

Ancient Historiography on War and Empire by Timothy Howe (Editor); Sabine Müller (Editor); Richard Stoneman (Editor)
ISBN: 9781785702990
Publication Date: 2016-12-16
Ancient Historiography on War and Empire shows the ways in which the literary genre of writing history developed to guide empires through their wars. In some cases, the balance shifts more towards the ‘literary’ and in others more towards the ‘historical’, but what all of the essays have in common is both a critical attention to the genre and context of history-writing in the ancient world and its focus on war and empire.
Ancient Roman Government by Amelie Von Zumbusch
ISBN: 1477710299
Publication Date: 2013-07-15
Discusses the evolution of Roman government from 753 BC to 476 AD. Founding of the Kingdom of Rome; Political and social structure of the Roman Republic; Structure of the Senate; Outcome of the civil war and birth of the Roman Empire; Details of the Principate governmental system; Highlights of the Pax Romana period, and the problem of imperial succession; Impracticality of the bloated Roman bureaucracy; Failure of later emperors to maintain adequate military defenses.
A Companion to Ancient Greek Government by Hans Beck (Editor)
ISBN: 9781118303214
Publication Date: 2013-01-24
This comprehensive volume details the variety of constitutions and types of governing bodies in the ancient Greek world. A collection of original scholarship on ancient Greek governing structures and institutions.
The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity by Benjamin Isaac
ISBN: 9781400849567
Publication Date: 2013-10-31
This groundbreaking book refutes the common belief that the ancient Greeks and Romans harbored "ethnic and cultural," but not racial, prejudice. It does so by comprehensively tracing the intellectual origins of racism back to classical antiquity. The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity further suggests that an understanding of ancient attitudes toward other peoples sheds light not only on Greco-Roman imperialism and the ideology of enslavement (and the concomitant integration or non-integration) of foreigners in those societies, but also on the disintegration of the Roman Empire and on more recent imperialism as well.
Studying Gender in Classical Antiquity by Lin Foxhall
ISBN: 9780521553186
Publication Date: 2013-05-09
This book investigates how varying practices of gender shaped people's lives and experiences across the societies of ancient Greece and Rome. Exploring how gender was linked with other socio-political characteristics such as wealth, status, age and life-stage, as well as with individual choices, in the very different world of classical antiquity is fascinating in its own right. But later perceptions of ancient literature and art have profoundly influenced the development of gendered ideologies and hierarchies in the West, and influenced the study of gender itself. Questioning how best to untangle and interpret difficult sources is a key aim. This book exploits a wide range of archaeological, material cultural, visual, spatial, demographic, epigraphical and literary evidence to consider households, families, life-cycles and the engendering of time, legal and political institutions, beliefs about bodies, sex and sexuality, gender and space, the economic implications of engendered practices, and gender in religion and magic.
Trade in Classical Antiquity by Neville Morley
ISBN: 9780521632799
Publication Date: 2007-04-19
Trade underpinned the growth of Athenian and Roman power, helping to supply armies and cities. It furnished the goods that ancient elites needed to maintain their dominance - and yet, those same elites generally regarded trade and traders as a threat to social order. Trade, like the patterns of consumption that determined its development, was implicated in wider debates about politics, morality and the state of society, just as the expansion of trade in the modern world is presented both as the answer to global poverty and as an instrument of exploitation and cultural imperialism. This 2007 book explores the nature and importance of ancient trade, considering its ecological and cultural significance as well as its economic aspects.
Women's Influence on Classical Civilization by Eireann Marshall (Editor); Fiona Mchardy (Editor)
ISBN: 1134391897
Publication Date: 2004-07-31
Written by an international range of renowned academics, this volume explores how women in antiquity influenced aspects of culture normally though of as male. Looking at politics, economics, science, law and the arts, the contributors examine examples from around the ancient world asking how far traditional definitions of culture describe male spheres of activity, and examining to what extent these spheres were actually created and perpetuated by women. Women's Influence of Classical Civilization provides students with a valuable wider perspective on the roles and influence of women in the societies of the Greek and Roman worlds.

Art, Architecture, and Archaeology

Ancient Cities: The archaeology of urban life in the ancient Near East and Egypt, Greece, and Rome by Charles Gates
ISBN: 1136823271
Publication Date: 2011-03-21
Ancient Cities surveys the cities of the Ancient Near East, Egypt, and the Greek and Roman worlds from the perspectives of archaeology and architectural history, bringing to life the physical world of ancient city dwellers by concentrating on evidence recovered from archaeological excavations. Urban form is the focus: the physical appearance and overall plans of the cities, their architecture and natural topography, and the cultural and historical contexts in which they flourished. Attention is also paid to non-urban features such as religious sanctuaries and burial grounds, places and institutions that were a familiar part of the city dweller's experience.
The Art of Building in the Classical World: Vision, Craftsmanship, and Linear Perspective in Greek and Roman Architecture by John R. Senseney
ISBN: 9781107002357
Publication Date: 2011-03-14
This book examines the application of drawing in the design process of classical architecture, exploring how the tools and techniques of drawing developed for architecture subsequently shaped theories of vision and representations of the universe in science and philosophy.
The Cambridge Companion to Greek and Roman Theatre by Marianne McDonald (Editor); J. Michael Walton (Editor)
ISBN: 9780521834568
Publication Date: 2007-05-31
This collection of essays by prominent academics and practitioners investigates in detail the history of performance in the classical Greek and Roman world.
A Companion to Greek Tragedy by Justina Gregory
ISBN: 1405152052
Publication Date: 2008-04-15
A Companion to Greek Tragedy" provides readers with a fundamental grounding in Greek tragedy and also introduces them to the various methodologies and the lively critical dialogue that characterize the study of Greek tragedy today. The volume comprises 31 essays written by an international cohort of scholars. hroughout the volume, all ancient Greek is transliterated and translated, and technical terms are explained as they appear, making the Companion accessible to those without detailed knowledge of the language or the genre.
Images of Myths in Classical Antiquity by Susan Woodford
ISBN: 0521782678
Publication Date: 2002-12-02
Myths inspired Greek and Roman artists to rise to the challenge of conveying flowing narratives in static form. This book describes the different ways painters, sculptors and other artists explored and exploited the dense forest of myth. It explains how formulas were devised for certain stories; how these could be adapted, developed and even transferred to other contexts; how one myth could be distinguished from another - or confused with it; how myths related to daily life or political propaganda; and the influence of evolving tastes. Written in a lively and accessible style, fully illustrated with examples drawn from a wide range of media, Images of Myths in Classical Antiquity provides fresh and stimulating insights into the representation of myths in Greek and Roman art.
The Materiality of Text - Placement, Perception, and Presence of Inscribed Texts in Classical Antiquity by Andrej Petrovic (Volume Editor); Ivana Petrovic (Volume Editor); Edmund Thomas (Volume Editor)
ISBN: 9004375503
Publication Date: 2018-10-25
The Materiality of Text showcases a wide range of innovative methodologies from ancient history, literary studies, epigraphy, and art history and provides a multi-disciplinary perspective on the physicality of writing in antiquity. The contributions focus on epigraphic texts in order to gauge questions of their placement, presence, and perception: starting with an analysis of the forms of writing and its perception as an act of physical and cultural intervention, the volume moves on to consider the texts’ ubiquity and strategic positioning within epigraphic, literary, and architectural spaces.
Object Biographies by John North Hopkins (Editor); Sarah Kielt Costello (Editor); Paul R. Davis (Editor)
ISBN: 9780300250879
Publication Date: 2021-02-09
This innovative presentation of ancient objects in the Menil Collection offers a new model for understanding works from antiquity that lack archaeological context. Authors employ a creative mixture of iconography, technical studies, and known provenance to gain insight into both the meaning of the objects themselves and what they can teach us more broadly about archaeology, art history, and collecting practices. As they take on complex issues of cultural heritage, legality, and taste, these essays bring to life works that are often consigned to either the imperial past or conceptual limbo and introduce a fresh framework through which to engage with the multilayered history that these objects represent.

Philosophy and Religion

Ancient Greek Democracy by Eric W. Robinson (Editor)
ISBN: 9780470752203
Publication Date: 2008-01-14
This book invites readers to join in a fresh and extensive investigation of one of Ancient Greece’s greatest inventions: democratic government.
A Companion to Ancient Aesthetics by Pierre Destrée; Penelope Murray; Pierre Destrée
ISBN: 1119009774
Publication Date: 2015-04-28
A Companion to Ancient Aesthetics presents a synoptic view of the arts, which crosses traditional boundaries and explores the aesthetic experience of the ancients across a range of media--oral, aural, visual, and literary. Investigates the many ways in which the arts were experienced and conceptualized in the ancient world. Presents an integrated perspective on the major themes of ancient aesthetics which challenges traditional demarcations. Raises questions about the similarities and differences between ancient and modern ways of thinking about the place of art in society.
Greek and Roman Religions by Rebecca I. Denova
ISBN: 1118542770
Publication Date: 2018-10-31
Comprehensive in scope, the text focuses on myriad aspects that constitute Greco-Roman culture such as economic class, honor and shame, and slavery as well as the religious role of each member of the family. The integration of ethnic and community identity with divine elements are highlighted in descriptions of religious festivals. Greek and Roman Religions presents the evolution of ideas concerning death and the afterlife and the relation of death to concepts of ultimate justice.
Medicine and Philosophy in Classical Antiquity: Doctors and philosophers on nature, soul, health and disease by Philip J. Van der Eijk
ISBN: 0521818001
Publication Date: 2005-05-12
Medical authors such as the Hippocratic writers, Diocles, Galen, Soranus and Caelius Aurelianus elaborated on philosophical methods such as causal explanation, definition and division and applied key concepts such as the notion of nature to their understanding of the human body. Similarly, philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle were highly valued for their contributions to medicine. This interaction was particularly striking in the study of the human soul in its relation to the body, as illustrated by approaches to specific topics such as intellect, sleep and dreams, and diet and drugs. With a detailed introduction surveying the subject as a whole and an essay on Aristotle's treatment of sleep, this wide-ranging and accessible collection is essential reading for the student of ancient philosophy and science.