LINKS

Ovid's Metamorphoses on line. There are more accurate translations, but this one is very entertaining and easy to read. I posted a link to it on the Week Two assignment page, and I've had a couple of requests since then to post the URL again.

Bulfinch's Mythology. Although this book was written in the Victorian period, it's still a favorite source for students of myth all over the world. The on-line version is fully searchable and features a very complete table of contents.

The Perseus Project. This is the main starting point for just about any search for classical material on the web. It contains texts in the original language and English translation, an interactive atlas, an encyclopedia, and a collection of images of classical sites and art. The down side is, it's not as easy to use as it might be. It takes a little practice to catch on.

Argos. This is a search engine (similar to Yahoo, Alta Vista, or Lycos) designed to pick up only material dealing with the ancient world.

Diotima. This site specializes in materials on women and gender in the ancient world. It's a great place to find material on goddesses and on women's cults in classical times, but its scope is a lot broader than that. You can find a number of images not available on Perseus, several translations of ancient texts (often better and more up-to-date than some of the ones on Perseus), and a lot of fascinating information on everyday life of the Greeks and Romans. Check out their bibliography for citations of books and articles that you can find in our library or order through inter-library loan for your research projects. See also their image gallery for tons of links to images of ancient art and architecture. Please note, though, that these images are generally protected under copyright, and you will not be able to use them in your web projects. They are for viewing only.

If you're interested in women's role in the ancient world and Greek religion, you might also check out this essay, The Daughters of Demeter, by Marilyn Katz of Wesleyan University. Professor Katz has another essay on the participation of both sexes in civic life and religious observance entitled Women, Children, and Men, but as this second essay is under copyright restrictions by Cambridge University Press it is for informational purposes only. If you want to cite it in your web project or in a paper she requests that you cite the print version. That is, you can link to the electronic version but you can't quote it.

Now that we're getting into the study of legendary heroes, you should check out the Encyclopedia Mythica's special section on Greek Heroic Legend. Lots of useful information!

Classical Myth: The Ancient Sources. This source, which is run by Laurel Bowman of the University of Victoria, is one of my favorites. Despite the fact it has only one person behind it, it's been going for long enough that there's a lot of impressive material built up there. The site even contains a timeline that can help you put material into its chronological context.

The Classics Pages, by Andrew Wilson. This site is another favorite. It has informational pages, discussions of classical drama and poetry, interactive games and exercises, and even a real, live oracle. And, yes, even more links.

Archaeology on the Net. This is a great list of links to virtually all the important on-line journals and web resources dealing with archaeology.

Lacus Curtius. This is the site for anything having to do with Rome. It boasts over 2,000 annotated links in its archives (my favorite ones are in the "Curiosities" section)!

The results of a search for "mythology" at About.com, a site that provides annotated links and interactive areas with knowledgeable "guides" on various subjects.

The Internet Classics Archive at MIT. These are complete texts of classical works. They are generally translations that are in the public domain, which means they are kind of old-fashioned and Victorian-sounding, but they're free and they're readily available. These texts differ from those available through Perseus because they aren't annotated as thoroughly, and sometimes they are different translations. Some people actually prefer fewer annotations because it is less distracting.

Carlos Parada's Greek Mythology Link. Of particular interest is the encyclopedia of mythical objects, which starts with the adamantine sickle Cronus used on his Dad. There are some nice articles on individual gods and goddesses and mythological texts, and a good collection of useful maps. He also has links to a number of interesting images of mythical characters.

An indexed page on Animals as Represented in Mythology and Folklore. This site is cross-cultural, so you will get other mythologies as well as classical. The parallels can be quite interesting in themselves.

Barbarians and Bureaucrats, a chapter on Minoan and Mycenean civilization from Richard Hooker's on-line book World Civilizations.

The Interactive Ancient Mediterranean on-line atlas. Here you can find every mention of any place name in ancient sources. That might sound pretty worthless, but in fact it could be very helpful if you wind up doing a project tied in with a specific archaeological site.

A page on the Shapes and Uses of Greek Vases from Christopher Witcombe of Sweetbriar College. He also provides a very good series of maps, including one of classical Greece.

The Smithsonian Institution's on-line exhibit of  Life in Ancient Greece Reflected in the Coinage of Corinth. Stunning close-up photographs of the coins.

A complete on-line course on Bronze Age Archaeology from Jerry Rutter of Dartmouth College. The Aegean Bronze Age is the Greek Age of Heroes. Although most of the myths we have were recorded during the Archaic and Classical Ages, they are generally set in the Bronze Age.

A charming site on Daily Life in the Ancient World by two middle-school teachers, Lin and Don Donn. If you plan to become a teacher, don't miss their suggested lesson plans, which deal with a number of aspects of ancient history and social studies. The Donns have won a number of award for their site, and it's easy to see why.

Another neat site designed for kids is Mythweb. The cartoon illustrations are fantastic. My personal favorite is the story of Bellerophon. It's not only presented in cartoon format--it's animated!

This site calls itself a Timeline of Ancient Rome, but in fact it's much more. There's an enormous amount of information here about the Romans and their mythology, including some details about the life of the Vestal Virgins and about Lucretia, a virtuous Roman matron who became a legend--among many others, William Shakespeare wrote a long poem about her.

And just for fun... This comparison of Greek vs. Norse Mythology is a little too lightweight to be of serious scholarly value, but the author makes some good points and some really cute 3-D illustrations. I wouldn't suggest citing it on a paper or a web project, though.

One last entry, because it's so bizarre: the Virtual Caesar project. This is an artificial intelligence construct of Julius Caesar. While you "talk" with his animated head, you can see what he's thinking, as a series of web pages related to the subject under discussion load into the right-hand side of the screen. The project has only recently started, so Caesar's memory isn't too good yet, but if you get him on a roll the experience can be really interesting. My problem is I keep wanting to follow up on links in the loaded web pages, but that can be achieved without disturbing Caesar by opening the links in a new window.