Use the resources listed on this page to find relevant information on topics in Classics. They will give you access to both primary and secondary sources of information.
L'Annee Philologique provides references to journal articles, books and book chapters for all subjects as relate to classics, from 1924 to the present day.
References to published materials in the arts and humanities including journal articles, letters, editorials and reviews.
This database is part of the Web of Science Core Collection. To search just this part select 'Arts & Humanities Citation Index' from the 'Editions' drop down list.
Google Scholar is the academic version of Google. It allows you to search for scholarly literature (journal articles, books, patents) from a variety of sources, including academic publishers, professional societies, and online repositories.
Online access to the entirety of the Loeb Classical Library, with texts from 700 B.C to 700 A.D.
The Jacoby is a standard collection of and commentary on the fragments of 856 Greek historians whose works have survived only in fragmentary form.
The Thesaurus Linguae Graecae (TLG) is a database containing the majority of the surviving literary texts written in Greek from Homer to the fall of Constantinople.
You must also create a personal account, using your University email address, via the 'Register' link at the top right of the homepage. This will give you access to the full corpus of texts.
Use is subject to the TLG Terms of use.
At the core of Trismegistos is Trismegistos Texts, which provides information about all published and semi-published texts from Egypt and the Nile valley, between roughly BC 800 and 800 AD, not only in Greek, Latin, and Egyptian, but also in Meroitic, Aramaic, Arabic, Nabataean, Carian, and other languages. In addition to Trismegistos Texts, it comprises a number of other sections including, Collections, Archives, People and Places.
Limited to one simultaneous user.
Video material including documentaries, interviews, performances, news programmes and newsreels covering a variety of events and themes.
Full-text articles on all aspects of the ancient world, including: persons, places, institutions, events, artefacts, technical terms, ideas and concepts, interaction between Greek and Roman culture and the neighbouring Semitic, Celtic and Germanic cultures.
The full-text of over 140 titles, both monographs and essay collections, in the humanities and social sciences, hosted on the Oxford Academic platform.
Introductions to major writers, artists, philosophers, topics and periods in the subject areas of literature, philosophy, classics, religion and cultural studies.
Find definitions in dictionaries and other reference works in all subjects.
Plays and supporting critical and contextual material relating to works from the classical era to the present day. The collection features the theatre lists of Methuen Drama, the Arden Shakespeare and Faber and Faber, as well as production photos from the Victoria and Albert Museum and The American Shakespeare Center. Also available are plays, screen plays and theatrebooks from Nick Hern Books; Playwrights Canada Press, a collection of plays by emerging and established Canadian playwrights; plays from the Oberon Books collection; Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama Videos covering key plays and acting techniques; and the National Theatre collection, containing 30 filmed performances from the venue.
Search across several dictionaries and encyclopedias covering visual arts including painting, sculpture, graphic arts, architecture, decorative arts and photography.
Searchable research guides across a variety of subject areas.
The Oxford Classical Dictionary by Oxford Reference allows you to search across multiple dictionaries and reference titles. We have access to the Premium, Literature and Western Civilization collections.
Archive of journal articles in a range of subjects.
Essentially a vast Library catalogue. Gives references to books, theses, and other published materials in all subjects.
If you are on campus you will be able to access most e-journals and e-books, and some databases, without entering a username and password because your IP address identifies you as being at the University of Reading.
For any that require a login, see the Off-campus tab.
When you use our e-resources you are agreeing to our Terms of Use. Please take a moment to look at these by following the link below:
When you are off-campus you will need to login to identify yourself as a member of the University of Reading to gain access to our protected databases, e-books and e-journals.
Your login details
You login in the same way as for Blackboard - via Microsoft. Just enter your University username followed by @student.reading.ac.uk (e.g. ab123456@student.reading.ac.uk) and your password. If this is the first time you have logged in via this method when off-campus you will be asked to complete a Multi-Factor Authentication. For more information see:
Getting to the login page...
Watch this short video on how you login to use Library resources.
This playlist of two videos shows you how to prepare for and perform a literature search. The first video introduces literature searches and their role. The second video covers using the search operators AND and OR to create a search statement, and explains the role of wildcards and truncation in constructing a comprehensive search. This information is also available in written guides - see the links below.
Reading University theses and dissertations
The Library receives a copy of all theses accepted for the degrees of PhD and MPhil by the University. All theses held by the Library can be found on the Enterprise catalogue. Recently submitted theses might also be available to download from the University's Institutional Repository, CentAUR.
Masters theses can usually be consulted in the relevant school or department.
Finding theses from other institutions
There are a number of specialist sources for finding theses produced at other institutions around the world. Many more are becoming available online making it much easier to get the full-text. For more information see our guide to finding theses.
See our guide to finding theses for more information:
Conference papers are published in a variety of ways - they may be published as a book, or as a special issue or supplement to a journal. Some may not be published at all!
If published promptly they can you give you the latest information on research in your field.
See our guide to finding conference papers for details of specialist sources for finding this type of information.
Our Inter-Library Loans service can get articles, books and other publications not held at Reading from other libraries (usually from the British Library).
For more information see our webpages:
The University’s Special Collections are available to all students in the University. The collections include rare books, manuscripts, records, letters, photographs, maps and drawings. Use the search box below to find specific items on the Enterprise catalogue.
The Special Collections Service is based on the London Road campus, in the same building as the Museum of English Rural Life. Items from the Special Collections cannot be borrowed, but they can be consulted in the reading room. You’re advised to plan ahead and contact Special Collections prior to your visit, so that we can have the material ready for you for when you arrive.
The following collections are relevant to students of Classics.