New Dictionary of the History of Ideas [Gale Virtual Reference Library], Charles Scribner's Sons, c2005.

Also available in print, Main Level, Reference: R 903 N42N 

A six-volume survey of the history of Western thought and culture, presented through 700 alphabetically arranged entries. Each entry explores the origin, cultural interpretations, and historical themes of such subjects as beauty, love, feminism, diversity, and social capital, among many others.

The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford University Press, 1991.
Main Level, Reference: R 949.503 Ox2O [3vols]
Excellent short entries on everything Byzantine.

The Oxford Dictionary of Islam [Oxford Reference Online], Oxford University Press, 2003.
Focuses primarily on the 19th and 20th centuries, however the coverage also includes biographical profiles, and entries covering major political movements, militant groups, religious sects terms from Islamic law, culture and religion, key historical events, and important landmarks

The Oxford Dictionary of Popes [Oxford Reference Online], Oxford University Press, 2005.

A papal Who's Who presenting biographical accounts in chronological order of all officially recognized popes.

Encyclopedias

Encyclopedia of Islam, Luzac, 1986.
Main Level, Reference: R 956.003 En19E [11 vols]

New title! Encyclopedia of the Byzantine Empire, McFarland & Co., 2004.
Main Level, Reference: R 949.502 L423E

Over 1500 entries, from Adrianopolis to Zoë, embrace a broad range of topics. Illustrations include genealogies of Byzantine rulers, maps of the Empire at various stages, and photographs of Byzantine buildings and art. A pronunciation guide, a note about transliteration and spelling, a chronology of emperors, a glossary, a suggested readings list, and an index are also included [Amazon].

Guides, Companions & more

Illustrated Atlas of Jerusalem, Simon & Schuster, 1990.

Upper Level, Circulating Collection:

912.5694 B147I

Index of Cartographic Images Illustrating Maps of the Early Medieval Period 400-1300 A.D. [Henry Davis Consulting]
Provided as an educational service by Henry Davis Consulting.

Periodical Historical Atlas of Europe
Updated and covers AD 1 to AD 2000. These maps, drawn by Christos Nüssli, are available in French and English. Includes major states, provinces and tribes of eastern europe.

Use the online catalog to locate books in Thomason Library. You can search by author, title, keyword, or subject.

• Search for a person, as AUTHOR or SUBJECT, with last name, first name:              

• SUBJECT searching requires use of Library of Congress subject headings. The terms below are examples of subject headings related to the Byzantine Empire:
             

• Materials relevant to the study of the Byzantine Empire may also be found by specifying the era or dates, geographic area, or the material type in which you are interested:

Subject searching is an effective and precise method of searching the catalog, however, KEYWORD searching has benefits, also.

• Try a KEYWORD search if you are unsure of the exact title or the correct subject heading to use. Search using two or three of the most significant words from the title or subject you are trying to find. Place phrases in "quotation marks."
  
  
• Connect words with AND, OR, NOT to focus your search.

• Try truncation at the end of a word stem to retrieve singular, plural, and other variations of the word.  Use an asterisk (*) to truncate from 1 to 5 characters. Use a double asterisk (**) to include word endings with an unlimited number of characters.

PASCAL CATALOG

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When you need books in addition to those found at Thomason Library, try your search here for books in other academic libraries in SC. Through PASCAL Delivers, you can order books online for delivery within 3-4 working days. This service for current PC students, faculty, and staff is a project of PASCAL- Partnership Among SC Academic Libraries. Borrowers will be notified by e-mail when requested items arrive at Thomason Library. Click here for searching and ordering tips.

A catalog of books and materials at libraries worldwide. Try searching here to find ALL books available on a topic. Materials available at Thomason Library are highlighted and others can be borrowed through ILL or searched in PASCALCAT.

You need to use Interlibrary Loan when...

Interlibrary Loan is another option available to PC students, faculty and staff. Click link for instructions.

The following journal databases are available to PC students, faculty, and staff from on- and off-campus locations.  When passworded from off-campus locations, supply your PC e-mail account username [i.e. tinman] and password. Search databases using terms dealing with your topic.

  Academic Search Premier [EBSCOhost]
A large collection of active full text peer-reviewed journals, Academic Search Premier contains indexing for 8,172 publications, with full text for nearly 4,700 of those titles. PDF backfiles to 1975 or further are available for well over one hundred journals, and searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,000 titles. Academic Search Premier contains unmatched full text coverage in biology, chemistry, engineering, physics, psychology, religion & theology, etc. 

Academic OneFile [Thomson Gale]
Journal database covering a wide range of disciplines. Includes indexing with abstracts, full-text articles and linked full-text articles.

History Resource Center-World [Thomson Gale]

A comprehensive collection of award-winning reference books, full-text articles from leading scholarly publications, an array of primary sources, and images, maps and charts which provide expansive geographic and chronologic research materials for the study of world history. From ancient Europe to Latin America and from the Far East to the Renaissance, world history curricula is supported with over 1,800 primary sources, over 27 reference titles and more than 110 journals. Results provide era, topic, and event overviews, and viewpoint essays.

ITER: Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance

Indexes articles, books and essays dealing with years 400-1700 (Middle Ages and Renaissance), Iter Italicum, International Directory of Scholars, Scholars of Early Modern Studies, International Directory of Renaissance and Reformation Associations and Institutes, Baptisteria Sacra: An Iconographic Index of Baptismal Fonts. 

JSTOR
Arts & Sciences Collections I, II, & III contain an archive of over 350 full-text journals which are searchable through JSTOR or accessible through Journal Finder, which provides full-text articles in Thomason Library's electronic databases. The collections include journals in art, architecture, economics, film, folklore, history, performing arts, political science, religion, sociology, humanities, mathematics, and statistics. JSTOR is a journal archive with complete runs of journals up to three years ago. Current issues are not available in JSTOR, but may be in other databases.

Project Muse

Contains current and recent volumes of 111 core journals in the humanities and social sciences.

Archaeological Reports
Provides fully illustrated accounts of archaeological work in Greece and other parts of the world that were sites of Greek culture.

Church History
The chief outlet for the American Society of Church History. Articles, forums, and book reviews in Church History address a range of topics dealing with the history of Christianity from its precursors to the modern period, as well as interactions of Christianity with its host cultures and with other religions.

Greece and Rome
Features informative and lucid articles on ancient history, art, archaeology, religion, philosophy, and the classical tradition.

Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies
A scholarly journal devoted to the culture and history of Greece from Antiquity to the Renaissance.

International Journal of Middle East Studies
Original research on politics, society and culture in the Middle East from the seventh century to the present day. The journal also covers Spain, south-east Europe, and parts of Africa, South Asia, and the former Soviet Union for subjects of relevance to Middle Eastern civilization. Particular attention is paid to the history, politics, economics, anthropology, sociology, literature, and cultural studies of the area and to comparative religion, theology, law, and philosophy.

Journal of Medieval History
A major international publication devoted to all aspects of the history of Europe in the Middle Ages. Each issue comprises around four or five articles on European history, including Britain and Ireland, between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance. The Journal also includes review articles, historiographical essays and 'state of research' studies.

Journal of Near Eastern Studies
The only periodical in the United States devoted exclusively to an examination of the ancient and medieval civilizations of the Near East. Appearing in its pages are contributions from scholars of international reputation on archaeology, art, history, literature, linguistics, religion, law, and science. Old Testament and Islamic studies are also featured.

Mediaeval Studies
Studies, texts, translations, reference works, and collections of articles relating to the history and culture of the Middle Ages.

Middle East Journal
Journal covering social, political, and economic aspects of the Middle East.

Oriens
Contains studies in the culture of Asia and North Africa from antiquity to the present, focusing on language, religion and art.

General Sites

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Avalon Project at Yale Law School

English translations of source material on law and politics. Includes several pre-18th century documents (i.e. Laws of Richard I concerning Crusaders who were to go by sea - 1189 A.D.)

Byzantium: Byzantine Studies on the Internet [Paul Halsall, Fordham University]
A WWW gathering point for Byzantine Studies on the web hosted by Fordham University. Site includes texts, images, audio music and chant files, articles, selected links to other Byzantine resources, date lists, guides.

Byzantine Studies [Dumbarton Oaks Research Library, Washington, DC, Harvard University]

This research library, an institute of Harvard University located in Washington, DC, is dedicated to supporting scholarship internationally through fellowships, meetings, exhibitions, and publications. One of the areas of emphasis is Byzantine studies from the fourth to fifteenth centuries and its interactions with neighboring cultures, including related aspects of late Roman, early Christian, western Medieval, Slavic, and Near Eastern Studies. Since its establishment in 1940, the program has hosted a continuous series of residential fellows and academic events such as public lectures, symposia, and colloquia. An active publications program sponsors an annual journal, symposium proceedings, and occasional monographs. Staff and fellows have access to an incomparable research library, image collections, and fieldwork archives and the Byzantine Collection.

 

Christian Classics Ethereal Library –Subjects

Browse classic Christian writings by subject, title, author, language, etc.

 

ECOLE Initiative [Early Church On-line Encyclopedia, Evansville University] new url
This site is no longer maintained. It remains online for the purposes of archiving original content, however many links have fallen dead and have been removed. 700 remain. At the time of this writing (1/5/2007), the links on that page were working and can be consulted to make up for the pages that were deleted from this site. Site contains glossary, articles and timeline.

12 Byzantine Rulers [Lars Brownworth, Stony Brook School, Long Island, NY]  "When Brownworth posted these lectures on iTunes, they quickly became one of the most popular podcast downloads. Brownworth, who is pursuing a master's degree in medieval history, covers 1,200 years, from Diocletian to Constantine XI Palaeologus." CHOICE Domesday Book [National Archives]  At Christmas 1085 William the Conqueror commissioned a great survey to discover the resources and taxable values of all the boroughs and manors in England. He wanted to discover who owned what, how much it was worth, and how much was owed to him as King. This is the earliest surviving public record and thought to be the first written tax document. CHOICE Also available in print [18 vols], Upper Level, Circulating Collection: 333.3220942 D712D

Emperor Constantine I the Great [c.274-337], mosaic, 13th century, Bridgeman Art Library

Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index  [Margaret Schaus]

Compiled by librarians and scholars, this resource covers journal articles, book reviews, dissertations published between 1992-2002, and essays in books about women, sexuality, and gender during the Middle Ages. Records for each citation are very full, including geographical area covered, primary source documents studied, tables or illustrations included, and the institutional affiliation of the author. CHOICE

The Glory of Byzantium [Metropolitan Museum of Art]

Includes history and a timeline, as well as information on artifacts and works of art.

Islam and Islamic Studies Resources [Dr. Alan Godles, University of Georgia]
"Academically reliable and balanced information about the Islamic world, its countries, and Muslims written by both Muslim and non-Muslim scholars as well as informed believers." Godles

The Islamic World to 1600 [Applied History Research Group, University of Calgary]

A tutorial outlining "Muslim beliefs and practices, as well as the history of the Islamic world from the 7th to the 17th centuries, including the expansion of the Islamic empires of Asia, Africa, and Europe..." description from Librarian's Internet Index. Includes bibliography for sources and images and links to further information.

Medieval Travel Writing  [Adam Matthew Digital]

Offers digital facsimiles of travel narratives dating from the thirteenth through the sixteenth centuries. The collection emphasizes travels to the East and includes manuscripts and early printed works from Prester John, Sir John Mandeville, Marco Polo, and others, drawn from a score of research libraries, including Yale, the British Library, the Bodleian, and Lambeth Palace. The interface is beautifully designed, allowing users to page through the manuscript images and to save images as PDFs. One can browse documents by shelfmark, author, or owning library; a number of auxiliary tools, such as a chronology, bibliography, slideshow tool, and introductory essays, make for an inviting environment for exploration and discovery.

The Military Leadership of Matilda of Canossa, 1046-1115 [De Re Militari: The Society for Medieval Military History]

This is the first account in English of the entire 40-year military career of one of the most powerful women of the Middle Ages. Challenging the boundaries between military and gender history, it explains how one famous noblewoman rose to the defense of the reforming papacy, defeated the Holy Roman Emperor and turned the tide of the first great war between Church and State. Chapter 3 of this book by David J. Hay [Manchester University Press, 2008] is available here in .pdf format.

 

NetSERF: The Internet Connection for Medieval Resources [Dr. Andrea R. Harbin, editor]
One of the largest webliographies devoted solely to medieval resources on the Internet. Includes Byzantine and military sites.

Online Resources for Medieval Military History [De Re Militari: The Society for Medieval Military History]

Includes Articles on the Byzantine Empire, most from this website, but others link to outside websites; also includes special sections on the Crusades, the Hundred Years War, and more.

 

The ORB: Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies [College of Staten Island, City University of New York]

An academic site, written and maintained by medieval scholars for the benefit of their fellow instructors and serious students. All articles have been judged by at least two peer reviewers. Authors are held to high standards of accuracy, currency, and relevance to the field of medieval studies. Includes primary sources, images, timelines, etc.

Perseus Digital Library [Gregory R. Crane, Tufts University]
A collection of texts, images, datasets and other primary materials. Perseus assembles and carefully structure encyclopedias, maps, grammars, dictionaries and other reference works. At present, 1.1 million manually created and 30 million automatically generated links connect the 100 million words and 75,000 images in the core Perseus collections. 850,000 reference articles provide background on 450,000 people, places, organizations, dictionary definitions, grammatical functions and other topics. See digital Perseus Project items above: Perseus Encyclopedia and A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890).

PBW: Prosopography of the Byzantine World  [King's College, London] Currently covers the eleventh and twelfth centuries, with more than 60,000 "factoids" drawn from seals, monastic archives, and other historical documents. One can search for persons using criteria such as sex, status, geographic location, offices held, occupation, possessions, and education.  Each record is linked to the source texts, giving bibliographic details about the manuscript and published editions.

Prosopography: the study of collective biography, personal information on family, patronage, and business relationships draw on thousands of source documents.

Voice of the Shuttle [Voice of the Shuttle, Alan Liu]
Anglo Saxon and Medieval History
The Middle East, Byzantium, & Crusades History

Warfare in 13th century Byzantium, according to George Akropolites [De Re Militari: The Society for Medieval Military History]
George Akropolites (c.1217-1282) was an important civil servant of the Byzantine emperors of Nicaea, and was involved in many of the important political events between 1244 and his death in 1282.  He is also notable for his historical work, the History, which relates events in the Byzantine world from the fall of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade in 1204 to the Greek recovery of the city in 1261.  Warfare is a major theme of his work and he is often the only source available for particular battles, and gives detailed descriptions of campaigns and other events. Chapters 68, 70, 71 and 72 of the History [The History of George Akropolites], which describes a major outbreak of hostilities between the Nicaean emperor Theodore II, and his rival Michael II, Despot of Epiros in the year 1257.

 

Image Sources

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Ancient Maps of Jerusalem [ Eran Laor Cartographic Collection, Jewish National and University Library & Hebrew University of Jerusalem] "The site contains maps [and views] of Jerusalem, and basic information concerning the map-makers and the history of cartography in Jerusalem during the Byzantine, early Islamic, Crusader, and other historical periods. Includes dozens of zoomable maps from the 13th through mid-20th centuries..." description from Librarian's Internet Index. ARTstor Comprised of approximately 300,000 digital images of visual material from different time-periods, cultures, and disciplines derived from several source collections that are the product of collaborations with libraries, museums, photographic archives, publishers, slide libraries, and individual scholars.  Bridgeman Art Library Archive [CREDO Reference] An archive of images drawn from collections throughout the world. NYPL Digital Gallery  An online gallery of more than 2,100 medieval and Renaissance manuscript leaves.

Church of Hagia Sophia [interior, central space and dome], Constantinople, built by Anthemius of Tralles & Isidore of Miletus, 532-537, ARTstor

Australian Association for Byzantine Studies

Byzantine Studies Association of North America  
        
International Association of Byzantine Studies

Founded in 1948, and, among its other functions, sponsors an International Congress every five years, the next in 2011 in Sophia [Bulgaria?].

Oxford Centre for Late Antiquity [University of Oxford]
Includes information on researchers, academic events, projects, and graduate courses on Late Antiquity (between 250 and 750 AD) that are based in Oxford. Also provides information on geographic and cultural sub-sections including Byzantium and the Islamic World.

Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies (SPBS)
Established in 1983, with the object of furthering study and knowledge of the history and culture, language and literature of the Byzantine Empire and its neighbours.

Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies
Generally known as the Hellenic Society, was founded in 1879 to advance the study of Greek language, literature, history, art and archaeology in the Ancient, Byzantine and Modern periods.

The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies
The Roman Society – founded in 1910 as the sister society to the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, is the leading organisation in the United Kingdom for those interested in the study of Rome and the Roman Empire. Its scope is wide, covering Roman history, archaeology, literature and art down to about A.D. 700.