Research Guides: HIST 218: Women and War in the Ancient World (HC): Primary Sources

Source Anthologies

Collections of primary texts in anthologies can be good for browsing. They touch on many different issues, often excerpting brief passages from full works that you can find in the Tri-Colleges or through interlibrary loan.

The primary source collections below relate to the history of women and the history of war in the ancient world. You can find more primary source collections in the Tri-Colleges by searching for sources and topics as in this example:

Title contains (source* OR anthology) AND Subject contains (greece OR greek OR roman OR ancient OR classical)

Limited to English Language and Publication Years = 1990- present

Results for

Anthology of Classical Myth by Stephen M. Trzaskoma (Editor)
- This link opens in a new window
ISBN: 9781624664977
Publication Date: 2016-09-15
Offers selections from key ancient texts--including The Theogony and the Homeric Hymns--enabling students to explore directly the meaning and importance of Greek gods and heroes. Also check the Tripod catalog for the 2004 edition at BMC.
Cleopatra: A Sourcebook by Prudence J. Jones
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
ISBN: 9780806137414
Publication Date: 2006-04-10
This fascinating sourcebook documents what we know of Cleopatra the historical figure and also shows how she has evolved through the lens of interpretation. Arranged both chronologically and thematically, the volume consists of a series of readings about Cleopatra- historical, literary, and documentary- extending from ancient times to the twentieth century.
Greek and Roman Military Writers: Selected Readings by Brian Campbell
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
ISBN: 0415285461
Publication Date: 2004-10-28
Brian Campbell has selected and translated a wide range of pieces from the ancient military writers who tell us about the technical aspects of military practice and the management of armies. Each piece is annotated with further explanation and context.
Women in Ancient Rome: A Sourcebook by Bonnie MacLachlan
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
ISBN: 9781441164216
Publication Date: 2013-07-18
Includes a rich and accessible selection of original sources in translation ranging from the Regal Period through Republican and Imperial Rome to the late Empire. From Roman goddesses to mortal women, imperial women to slaves and prostitutes, the volume brings new perspectives to the study of Roman women's lives.
Women's Life in Greece and Rome: A Source Book in Translation by Mary R. Lefkowitz; Maureen Fant
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Publication Date: 2016-08-01
These sources examine the public and private lives and legal status of Greek and Roman women. The texts represent women of all social classes, from public figures remembered for their deeds (or misdeeds), to priestesses, poets, and intellectuals, to working women, such as musicians, wet nurses, and prostitutes, to homemakers. The editors have selected texts from hard-to-find sources, such as inscriptions, papyri, and medical treatises, many of which have not previously been translated into English.

Visual Sources

JSTOR Images (formerly Artstor)
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
A digital library that provides access to thousands of digital images derived from a variety of museum, library and archival collections. Images support a variety of disciplines including architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, and design.

British Museum Collection Online
Search over 3 million objects in the museum's collections. Use the Advanced Search option, identify a time range or place and add a relevant keyword.
Sample Advanced Search: bird* with Dates 600-300 BC and Country Greece.
Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection Search
Explore art at the Metropolitan through this search page. Entering bird* limited by Roman Empire results in paintings, bowls, and lamps depicting birds.
Pottery Database
The Beazley Archive at the University of Oxford maintains this extensive database (over 130, 000 images) on ancient Greek vases. It is searchable by theme, type of vase, inscription, painter, technique (e.g., white ground), and collection.
The Beazley Archive's Classical Art Research Centre has many other resources included the digitized Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum and a merged database that draws on 22 separate files including the Pottery Database.

Representations of War in Ancient Rome by Sheila Dillon (Editor); Katherine E. Welch (Editor)
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
ISBN: 0521848172
Publication Date: 2006-05-15
This book examines the ways in which Romans represented war, in both visual imagery and in literary accounts. Audience reception and the reconstruction of display contexts are recurrent themes here, as is the language of images: a language that is sometimes explicit and at other times allusive in its representation of war.
The Trojan War in Ancient Art by Susan Woodford
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
ISBN: 0801429498
Publication Date: 1993-09-23
The legendary characters of the Trojan War captured the imaginations not only of Greek and Roman writers, but of countless visual artists as well. This handsomely illustrated book brings to life this visual tradition.
War As Spectacle: ancient and modern perspectives on the display of armed conflict by Anastasia Bakogianni (Editor)
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
ISBN: 9781472522290
Publication Date: 2015-10-22
War as Spectacle examines the display of armed conflict in classical antiquity and its impact in the modern world. The contributors address the following questions: how and why was war conceptualized as a spectacle in our surviving ancient Greek and Latin sources? How has this view of war been adapted in post-classical contexts and to what purpose?