Introduction
This subject guide highlights some key discipline resources to get you started with study and research.
- Refer to the New Students Library Guide for everything you need to know about Library services and resources.
- Build your researching, reading and writing skills with the Research Essentials Library Guide.
- Streamline your access to online resources with the Library's quick access tools.
Encyclopedias
Ancient World Studies:
- Encyclopedia of Ancient HistoryThe Encyclopedia of Ancient History is one of the most comprehensive collection of twenty-first century scholarship available on the entire ancient Mediterranean world, with over 5,700 original entries published since November 2012.
- Brill's New Pauly OnlineAn extensive encyclopedia that includes material on the ancient world including Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Rome.
- Historical Atlas of the Ancient WorldA supplement of Brill's New Pauly Online, the Historical Atlas is a valuable source of maps of the ancient world- Greece, Rome, Mesopotamia, Egypt and other civilizations.
- Chronologies of the Ancient World - Names, Dates, and DynastiesAnother supplement of Brill's New Pauly Online. "From the Mesopotamian kings in around 3000 BC to the Bishops and Patriarchs of Late Antiquity, Chronologies of the Ancient World lists all rulers and dynasties that made their mark on ancient history."
- Oxford ReferenceOxford Reference is the home of Oxford’s quality reference publishing. The collection provides quality, up-to-date reference content at the click of a button. The University of Melbourne subscribes to selected titles from this large collection of materials.
Archaeology:
- The concise Oxford dictionary of archaeology"This dictionary covers the essential vocabulary for everyday archaeological work in the English language, focusing especially on Europe, the Old World, and the Americas"
- ArchaeologyThis dictionary comprises entries on people, places, and artefacts relating to archaeological finds throughout the world. The dictionary is an ongoing project, and more entries are continually being added.
- Dictionary of artifacts"Entries detail artifact's classification and typology; raw materials; methods and techniques of creation; principles and techniques of examination and identification; and instructions for the care and preservation of specimens."
- The Oxford companion to archaeologyThe Oxford Companion to Archaeology is an up-to-date reference work on virtually every aspect of this fascinating field. Entries range from the broad overviews, to treatments of particular themes, to discussions of peoples, and societies."
Classics:
- Thesaurus Linguae GraecaeThe TLG is both a full-text digital library of Greek literature and a research project at the University of California, Irvine. Its primary goal is to create a comprehensive digital collection that includes all extant works of Greek literature from antiquity to the present era, and to develop search mechanisms that allow scholars and students to search this collection.
- The Oxford companion to classical literatureThis companion presents facts about the authors, tales and characters from ancient literature and myth and places these details in the wider contexts of the history and society of the Greek and Roman worlds.
Ancient sources
- Loeb Classical LibraryHighly recommended resource. The Loeb Classical Library online reproduces every Loeb volume in print. This database contains the original Greek and Latin alongside English translations of key works by ancient Greek and Roman writers. The Loeb editions are preferred by many academics and librarians at the University of Melbourne as they are renown worldwide for their accurate translations and reliability.
- Thesaurus Linguae GraecaeThe TLG is both a full-text digital library of Greek literature and a research project at the University of California, Irvine. Its primary goal is to create a comprehensive digital collection that includes all extant works of Greek literature from antiquity to the present era, and to develop search mechanisms that allow scholars and students to search this collection.
- ETANA (Electronic Tools and Ancient Near East Archives)ETANA is a multi-institutional collaborative project initiated in August 2000, as an electronic publishing project designed to enhance the study of the history and culture of the ancient Near East. It contains many ancient sources and includes a large collection of secondary literature and reports.
- Perseus Digital LibraryUse the "Classics" link for Greek and Roman material.
- Corpus inscriptionum latinarumThe CIL series contains reproductions of Latin inscriptions from across the Roman world. Pre-1940 CILs have been digitised and are available through Arachne. There is a limited search function. New York University has a useful general overview of the CIL volumes.
Books
To find books on a particular subject, do a keyword search in the Library Catalogue. Alternatively you can search by title, author, etc.
You can also find books on similar topics through the subject headings in item records. Click on these headings to find related subjects and titles.
Looking for a book we don't have or is not on our shelves?
Inter-Library Loans
University of Melbourne staff and students can request resources through the Library’s Inter-Library Loans service. For more information visit the ILL web page, or you can access the request forms.
A CAVAL card allows you to borrow from other universities and TAFEs. Visit the CAVAL website to find out how to sign up for a CAVAL card.
You can then use the Trove website to see which library has the book you want.
Databases and journals
Use databases to search across many academic resources (including peer-reviewed journals) at the same time.
Refer to the A-Z Ejournals and Databases page for a comprehensive list of available resources.
Core Arts and Humanities databases (try these first):
The selection of multidisciplinary databases below will retrieve results from different subject areas.
- Discovery (EBSCO)Use Discovery to look for books, ebooks, journal articles and more. It's a great place to start your search but does not give you everything the Library has. We highly recommend searching in at least one other database on this list as well as Discovery.
- Google ScholarGoogle Scholar is one of the most popular ways to find academic sources for study and research. Did you know you can use it to search for journal articles that the University of Melbourne has access to? You can do this through the link above or set up your Google Scholar preferences to include Library content.
- JSTORJSTOR is one of the largest databases the Library has access to. It is a multidisciplinary database so it looks in thousands of journals in over a hundred subjects - many of them related to arts and humanities. Highly recommended as your first or second place to search.
- Scopus (Elsevier)Scopus is another large, multidisciplinary database. It looks through journals, books, and conference papers. It has some advanced tools that can help you discover new research quickly - the 'times cited' and 'related articles' links are great time-savers. While it doesn't always have full-text PDFs it is still an excellent place to look for your research.
- Web of ScienceWeb of Science is a massive, multidisciplinary database which includes a large amount of humanities and social sciences material from as far back as 1900. Like Scopus it has some advanced features that allows you to quickly link to related research.
- ProQuest CentralCovering more than 160 subjects areas, ProQuest Central is the largest aggregated database of periodical content. This award-winning online reference resource features a highly-respected, diversified mix of content including scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines, books, newspapers, reports and videos.
Ancient World Studies, Archaeology and Classics-specific databases:
For more focused results try searching in one of these subject-specific databases.
- Année PhilologiqueL'Année Philologique includes materials from more than 1,000 journals, relating to all aspects of ancient Greek and Roman civilizations. Records article abstracts, book reviews, and lists of book chapters. It is great for finding articles and book chapters that other databases wouldn't pick up. L'Année Philologique is a citation database only - we recommend using it to discover material, and Google Scholar to find the full text.
- Anthropological Index OnlineAIO looks through journals in fields related to anthropology - including archaeology - that are held in the Anthropology Library and Research Centre at British Museum in London. It includes both articles and films.
- EquinoxEquinox publishes over 40 peer-reviewed, international journals in the areas of Archaeology & History, Linguistics & Communication, Popular Music, Religion & Ethics.
- Peeters Online JournalsPeeters Online Journals includes articles on Theology, Philosophy, Ethics, Classical Studies, Archaeology, History of Art, Medieval Studies, Oriental Studies, Linguistics and Literature. It has good coverage for Ancient Near Eastern Studies.
- Thesaurus Linguae GraecaeThe TLG is a full-text digital library of Greek literature that offers a comprehensive digital collection including all extant works of Greek literature from antiquity to the present era.
Theses
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