University Library News
Georgia State University

Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome

The library has  added a new electronic resource to the collection: The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome. Faculty and students can find quick answers to questions about ancient Greek and Roman history, mythology, and philosophy by using this resource. For example, who was Tantalus and why was he punished? Who was one of Socrates’ most famous students? Students in literary studies can research those obscure poetry references, English graduate students in rhetoric studies can research the beginning of rhetoric, or students reading Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series can look up his mythology references. Users can browse the encyclopedia  for entries such as ‘Tantalus’ or enter search terms such as ‘Perseus.’ Each entry provides references to the original primary sources such as Homer’s Iliad, a short bibliography of sources, How to cite the entry , See Also references, and Adjacent Entries. Since the resource is electronic, access is available off campus with your campus id and password. By the way, according to some sources Tantalus’ punishment was to stand in a pool of water that receded when he tried to get a drink, and have fruit hanging just above him that moved out of his reach when he tried to eat it. Therefore he was eternally cursed  by the gods with thirst, hunger, and frustration for his wrong doing.