Subject Guides: Classics: Primary Sources

Primary Sources

Primary sources in Classics are the literary works (poems, plays, and histories, for example), and artifacts (pottery, coins and sculptures, for example) and other materials from the ancient world.

The Loeb Classical Library is a respected modern collection of Greek and Roman literature. Each volume contains the Greek or Latin text on one page with the English translation on the opposite page.

Penguin and Oxford (World's Classics) also publish good translations of the most popular ancient authors and their well know works. In the library catalgoue try a keyword search with the name of an ancient author and the word penguin or oxford world's classics. For example, thucydides and penguin.

When trying to locate primary sources for your research think about the ancient authors you have studied in class, read your textbook, class notes and examine your course outline.

Loeb Classical Library This link opens in a new window
Loeb Classical Library is a virtual library of Greek and Latin literature. Epic and lyric poetry; tragedy and comedy; history, travel, philosophy, and oratory; the great medical writers and mathematicians; those Church Fathers who made particular use of pagan culture—in short, our entire Greek and Latin Classical heritage is represented here with up-to-date texts and accurate English translations.
Access: Access limited to Grant MacEwan University IP addresses. Remote login with a MacEwan network user ID and password.
Conditions of Use: Use of this database is restricted to members of the MacEwan University community and to users physically present in the Library. It is the responsibility of each user to ensure that they use this database for individual, non-commercial, educational or research purposes only, and do not systematically download or retain substantial portions of information.

Literary Materials

Internet Classics Archive
Mainly works from Greek and Roman authors (some Chinese and Persian)
Perseus Digital Library
Covers the history, literature and culture of the Greco-Roman world. From Tufts University.
Ancient History Sourcebook
Full-text documents related to art, literature, history philosophy and religion. With specific categories for Mesopotamia, Egypt, Persia, Israel Greek civilizations, the Hellenistic world, Rome, late antiquity and Christian origins. From Fordham University.
Theoi Greek Mythology
Includes Loeb translations of key Greek and Roman literary works. Before using content from other parts of this website, please contact your professor or instructor to confirm the information can be used in your assignments.

Art and Architecture

ARTstor This link opens in a new window
ARTstor digital image library documents architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts and design as well as many other forms of visual culture across many time periods and cultures. Access is restricted to MacEwan University students, faculty and staff.
Access: Access limited to Grant MacEwan University IP addresses. Remote login with a MacEwan network user ID and password.
Conditions of Use: Use of this database is restricted to members of the MacEwan University community and to users physically present in the Library. It is the responsibility of each user to ensure that they use this database for individual, non-commercial, educational or research purposes only, and do not systematically download or retain substantial portions of information.

Timeline of Art History
From the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
British Museum Collection
Allows access to almost four and a half million objects in more than two million records.
The Louvre Museum Online Collection
The online collection of the Louvre museum comprises high-resolution pictures and scans of artworks. The Atlas database covers some 30,000 objects on display in the museum. Art works include: Near Eastern Antiquities, Islamic Art, Egyptian Antiquities, Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities, Decorative Arts, Sculptures, Paintings, and Prints and Drawing.
National Archaeological Museum (Athens)
Largest archaeological museum in Greece and one of the most important museums in the world devoted to ancient Greek art.
Kelsey Museum of Archaeology
Contains more than 100,000 objects related to civilizations existing around the Mediterranean. From the University of Michigan.
Classical Art Research Centre: the Beazley Archive
From the University of Oxford.

Classics

Profile V2

Primary Sources

Literary Materials

Art and Architecture