Instructions for Creating a Bibliography of Ancient Sources

List ancient sources of evidence. You should probably have at least 6, though there might be exceptions.

Provide the name of the ancient author and then a full bibliographic citation of where you plan to locate that evidence. This might be a translation from a sourcebook, a monograph or other text, or a website. The task may seem a bit redundant, but I want to make sure that you know what the ancient source is.

For example,

Herodotus in Herodotus, The Persian Wars, Penguin Classics, translated by Aubrey deSelincourt 1954 revised edition 1972 London, New York, et al.

OR

Herodotus, Histories, in Herodotus, The Persian Wars, Penguin Classics, translated by Aubrey deSelincourt 1954 revised edition 1972 London, New York, et al.

OR

Herodotus, at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126 (visited 10/8/05)

OR

Herodotus, Histories, at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126 (visited 10/8/05)

ALSO

If you know the author, but are not sure what the ancient text is called, then use the list of abbreviations of Classical sources at the Interactive Ancient Mediterranean site. This site will also assist you in figuring out abbreviations when you read them in modern scholarship.

For archaeological evidence, provide a description of the piece (if no name is available) and the location where it currently exists (eg., museum, excavation site) as well as the text or website where you saw it.

For inscriptions, if possible, provide the original and/or current location of the inscription.. Also, include the name of the text or website where you saw it.

Title: Please indicate the topic of your semester project in the title.

Some ideas for finding ancient sources:

As you are reading the modern texts, examine their footnotes.
Use the professor's links page.
Use an index of a book we are reading for class.

PURPOSE OF THIS ASSIGNMENT

The most common error in this assignment is that students fail to cite ANCIENT evidence. (What I mean by this, you may also hear identified as "primary evidence." I avoid that term because not all of our ancient evidence is exactly primary, that is, it is not contemporary with the events that it reports.) This error might be avoided if you consider the purpose of the assignment. I want you to be familiar with the ancient sources so that when you begin to write your essay or research paper you can cite them. If you fail to cite ancient sources in your essay or research paper, then it will mean that you will have no evidence in support of your argument and therefore the paper will receive a failing grade.