Roman Art

Subject Searching

To search the online catalog for books on your subject, use the terms s=art roman for the most (broad) results. Search, for example, by s=painting roman or s=architecture roman or s=hadrian's villa for those subjects or by figure represented, e.g. s=jupiter or object type as well, e.g. s=sarcophagi roman, s=portraits roman, s=sculpture roman etc. For subject matter another possible search is s=mythology classical in art. Try keyword searches in addition to subject searches. The following additional print, electronic and Internet resources will be important as well. Some of the most important are starred. If you find a particularly useful book be sure to look for other books or articles by that author, and always consult the bibliographies, especially those in the Grove.

General: encyclopedias, dictionaries, and research guides

Classical Studies: a Guide to the Reference Literature (Davis Reference)

Gale Virtual Reference Library is a collection of 25 reference books and encyclopedias in electronic format. The titles cover a wide range of subjects, from the arts to medicine, and from multicultural studies to social science.

* Grove Dictionary of Art Online (and print edition at the Art Library) for a useful overview with up-to-date bibliography. There are image links as well. An outstanding resource for any area in the history of art, especially as the online version is frequently updated. Consult the long section on Rome first.

Guide to Research in Classical Art and Mythology (Art Reference and SILS) is a good starting point for those with little background in classical studies or art.

* Oxford Classical Dictionary (Art Reference and other locations) consult this to identify people, places, literary works, etc. also online from the Article Databases and More section of Libraries web page.

Oxford History of Classical Art (Art Reference and UL)

See also: Enciclopedia dell'Arte Antica Classica e Orientale (Art Reference) Don't be dissuaded by the Italian title! This major multivolume reference book is one you can use even if you do not read Italian; you can benefit from its images and bibliographies. For example, see entries for artists, subjects, types of objects, or topics (e.g. pittura or painting.) If you need help translating a Latin name into the Italian, please ask! Foreign language dictionaries are also available on the Ready Reference shelves.

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Mythology and classical subjects

Dictionary of Ancient Deities (Art Reference)

Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Symbols, Attributes and Associations (Davis Reference and UL)

Dictionary of Pictorial Subjects from Classical Literature: a Guide to their Identification in Works of Art (Art Reference and Davis Reference)

Gods and Heroes in Art (Art Reference) good illustrated handbook

*Gods and Heroes of Classical Antiquity (Art Reference and UL) includes sources for mythological figures, and has bibliography, so important resource.

*LIMC: Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (Art Reference) is a key resource for researching the subjects or "iconography" of ancient art. Multivolume, with plate and text volumes, entries are in a number of foreign languages, depending on the author. Even if you do not read the language it will be essential for its plates and bibliographies.

Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts (Art Reference) This covers art from 1300 A.D. and later, but may still be useful.

See also: Athena: Classical Mythology on cd-rom (Davis Reference) Database of classical myths and literature. Also on Art Reference are copies of standard works on mythology, such as Bulfinch. The Art Library, in addition, has volumes of the Loeb Classical Library including Ovid's Metamorphoses, Vitruvius' On Architecture and other important relevant works.

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Other useful works

Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World (Art Reference and Davis)

A Catalog of Identifiable Figure Painters of Ancient Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae (Art Reference)

Corpus Signorum Imperii Romani (Art and Davis) Collections of Roman scultpure world-wide, a multi-volume work.

Dictionary of Bibliographic Abbreviations found in the Scholarship of Classical Studies (Davis Reference)

Künstlerlexikon der Antike (Art Reference)

Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae (Art Reference and Davis)

Pompei : Pitture e Mosaici. (Art Reference; major 10 volume work essential for research on Pompeiian topics.)

Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites (Art, Davis, UL Reference)

Römische Weltreich (Art Reference) Excellent black and white plates, plans and elevations; useful even if you do not read German.

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Indexes, Databases and E-journals

Indexes and Databases find on Libraries main page, Article Databases and More section

AnPhilNet (web version of l'Année Philologique, which is also located in Art in print edition)The current major international bibliography for classical studies.

* Art Full Text is a major art database, especially for those who do not read foreign languages; also search * Academic Search Premier and * Expanded Academic

* Art Index Retrospective (covers 1929-1984) Citation, not full text

* Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals for Roman architecture and monuments. As above, citations, not full text.

ARTstor provides curated collections of art images and associated data for noncommercial and scholarly, non-profit educational use.

Bibliography of the History of Art covers from late antiquity (4th c.) to present but should still be searched as it is the most important database for the history of art. Citations and abstracts, not full text.

CAMIO offers rights-cleared, high-quality art images for class projects, art history and studio art programs, course Web sites, lectures, presentations, and research resources.

DYABOLA (for advanced students.) Complements AnPhilNet but is somewhat challenging to use. A guide to this database can be found on their website.

E-journals find on Libraries main page, E-journal Finder section

Journals such as American Journal of Archaeology, Antiquity, Archaeology, Expedition, Journal of Roman Archaeology and others are available full-text online at the E-journals section. Look under both the Art subsection and the Classics subsection. Full text of many journals will also be found in the large article databases such as Academic Search Premier and Expanded Academic so be sure to search those as well.

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Web Sites

Ancient World Web includes much more than Rome, but is worth a look.