Association of College and Research Libraries Western European

Association of College and Research Libraries, Western European Specialists Section, Research and Planning Committee Forum, Washington, DC, 24 June 2007 Augustan Rome online: creating a digital sourcebook of the emperor and the city Daniel C. Mack Head, George and Sherry Middlemas Arts and Humanities Library The Pennsylvanian State University Libraries University Park, Pennsylvania

Revival of Augustan studies Renewal of scholarship on Caesar Augustus, the first Roman emperor (67 BCE-14 CE), during past 25 years • • • Given impetus by exhibition at Berlin in 1988 Researchers have reassessed long-known primary sources, and new ones have come to light. Scholars have produced a substantial corpus of secondary literature on the reign of Augustus in various languages and formats.

Overview of life of Augustus • • • Born Gaius Octavius in 67 BCE; great nephew and adopted heir of Julius Caesar; age 18 when Caesar was assassinated (44 BCE) Fifteen years of shifting political alliances culminate in final civil war between Octavian and Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra, who were defeated at the Battle of Actium (31 BCE) Proclaimed first emperor by the Roman Senate in 27 BCE with the title Augustus (“consecrated, majestic, venerable”) Spent the next 45 years constructing the political, military, and social system that would govern most of western Europe and the Mediterranean world for the next five centuries Died 14 CE; succeeded by his stepson Tiberius

Immense body of research materials for Augustan studies Primary sources and two millennia of scholarship • • • Literary and historical texts, papyri, inscriptions, coins, official documents, and archaeological artifacts from Augustus’ lifetime Biographical, historical, and archaeological research and commentary from the 1 st century to the present New interdisciplinary and methodological approaches to antiquity have resulted in new interpretations of materials

Bibliographic control and access issues Problems with identifying and accessing sources and scholarship for classical antiquity • • Multiple languages for primary sources (Latin and Greek) and secondary sources (many languages, especially English, French, German, and Italian) Sources classified and disseminated in a variety of disciplines (history, literature, philology, historical linguistics, archaeology, art history, religion) Variety of methodological approaches for the study of classical antiquity Limited tertiary sources compared to many other disciplines in the humanities and social sciences

Project goals Augustan Rome online will provide digital access to a wide range of scholarship • • Identify primary sources of all types and provide citations and access to print and online editions, and provide selected original translations from the Latin and Greek Present original scholarly articles on sources and subjects Develop a comprehensive bibliography of relevant scholarship without limits of discipline, language, or format Provide Web-based access for all sources, including complete citations and access to full text when possible

Project components Augustan Rome online will consist of several components: • • • New translations of selected primary sources Original essays on both topics and sources Topographical study of Augustan Rome Prosopographical analysis and stemmata of the key figures in late Republican and early Imperial Rome Iconographical collection of images from painting, sculpture, pottery, architecture, and coinage Complete bibliographic coverage of research, with access to text, images, maps, and other media

Sources and materials included Augustan Rome online will provide access to primary sources, including: • • • ancient historians: Augustus, Tacitus, Suetonius, Nicolaus of Damascus, and others Latin and Greek authors of the Augustan period: Horace, Vergil, Ovid, Propertius, and others inscriptions and coins, with citations and access to relevant epigraphic and numismatic corpora maps, plans, site reports, images, and media for the art and archaeology of the Augustan city little digitization; most content born digital

Sources and materials included continued Augustan Rome online will provide access to secondary sources, including: • • • ancient, medieval, and renaissance histories, biographies, and topographies historical and archaeological studies from Flavio Biondo to the present monographs, journal articles, essays, Festschriften, and media from the Renaissance to the present original articles on relevant topics discussion boards for ongoing informal scholarly communication

Technical information Standards for cataloging, digitization, access and retrieval: • • citations, texts, images, and interactive media for primary and secondary sources databases with key word, tag, and controlled vocabulary searching MARC, Dublin Core, VRA Core Categories version 3. 0, and other relevant standards for all metadata and digitization stable and reliable permanent hosting, including maintenance, and updating

Dissemination and publication Augustan Rome online will provide scholars of all levels with open access to resources: • • advisory board of classicists, librarians, and humanities technicians will provide continuous assessment of content and functionality citations, texts, images, and interactive media for primary and secondary sources, including full text when possible original scholarship, translations, and finding aids blogs and wikis will encourage informal scholarly communication, including use of resources in teaching at all levels, from elementary through graduate

Related projects Augustan Rome online improves on a long line of print and digital resources in ancient history: Print source books in ancient history: The CAT lists over three dozen just in Greco-Roman history from the early 20 th century to the present Diotima: http: //www. stoa. org/diotima/ Primary/secondary sources, some recent scholarship and teaching materials, mostly just citations Static web pages, html based No images Perseus: http: //www. perseus. tufts. edu/ Primary sources and some images Static web pages, little or no recent scholarship Older, out of copyright translations

Related projects continued Trajan’s Column: http: //www. stoa. org/trajan/ Primary and secondary sources Some images and original research Digital Corinth Project: http: //www. corinthcomputerproject. org/ Recent recipient of NEH Digital Humanities Start-Up Grant Images, video, primary and secondary sources, original scholarship Searchable databases Use of digitization and other technical standards

First phase of Augustan Rome online: Topographic survey and bibliography of Augustan monuments: field work in Rome during sabbatical in 2008 survey, photography, and video capture of important Augustan sites historical, archaeological, philological, and iconographic research in the city’s main collections for classical antiquity, including the libraries at the American Academy, the British School, the Deutsche Archäologische Institut, and the Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana

Questions or comments? Contact Daniel Mack at dmack@psu. edu