Tour Ancient Greece with the Classics: ToposText

May 26, 2017 11:41 PM

"ToposText is an indexed collection of ancient texts and mapped places relevant the the history and mythology of the ancient Greeks from the Neolithic period up through the 2nd century CE. It was inspired by two decades of exploring Greece by car, foot, or bicycle, and by clumsy efforts to appreciate επί τόπου the relevant information from Pausanias or other primary sources. ... Selecting a site from either the list or the map opens up a table of two-line snippets from ancient authors ... . Selecting from this index list, which can be filtered by date, genre, and relevance, connects one to the full text of 240-odd works in English translation, some with the original Ancient Greek as well. [Y]ou can select and read the passages in ancient literature that give a place its historical and cultural meaning. While you are reading, the map alongside shows the location of the ancient places mentioned." Available for iOS, Android, and web.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (2 comments total)

This database is pretty remarkable. I'm no expert on classical scholarship, but it seems pretty great to be able to look at places and then link them to full textual references in Herodotus, Homer, etc. The web map interface is a bit awkward unfortunately, specifically the way you lose your place on the map when looking at entries.

Here's an example entry for the Apollo sanctuary in Delos.
posted by Nelson at 7:52 AM on May 27, 2017

This is amazing. Thank you so much for sharing it.
I'm in awe.
posted by ajayb at 1:38 PM on May 27, 2017