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| The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites | |
|---|---|
| Title | The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites |
| Author | Richard Stillwell; editors include William L. MacDonald, Marian Holland McAllister |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Classical archaeology, ancient history |
| Publisher | Princeton University Press |
| Pub date | 1976 (1st ed.), 1994 (revised) |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 2 vols. (1st ed.) |
The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites is a comprehensive reference work documenting archaeological sites of the ancient Mediterranean and Near East, with emphasis on Greece, Rome, Anatolia, Egypt, North Africa, and the Levant. Compiled under the editorship of Richard Stillwell and collaborators, it synthesizes field reports, travel accounts, museum catalogues, and scholarly literature to present concise site-by-site entries that are widely cited by archaeologists, classicists, and historians. The work connects material remains to ancient authors, epigraphic corpora, numismatic evidence, and major excavations.
The encyclopedia surveys classical antiquity through entries on cities, sanctuaries, forts, necropoleis, and monuments across regions such as Athens, Rome, Alexandria, Carthage, Ephesus, Pergamon, Byzantium, Pompeii, Delphi, Knossos, Troy (Ilion), Syracuse, Massalia, Antioch, Palmyra, Uruk, Nineveh, Thebes (Greece), Mycenae, Gordion, Hattusa, Epidauros, Miletus, Knidos, Rhodes, Corinth, Olympia, Tiryns, Paestum, Herculaneum, Leptis Magna, Volubilis, Timgad, Bostra, Jerusalem, Caesarea Maritima, Tyre, Sidon, Byblos, Megiddo, Hazor, Beth Shean, Nimrud, Susa, Persepolis, Pasargadae, Palace of Knossos, Akrotiri (Santorini), Samos, Delos, Naxos (Greece), Aphrodisias, Hierapolis, Laodicea on the Lycus, Termessos, Aizanoi, Selinunte, Segesta, Himera, Cumae, Ostia Antica, Capua, Aquileia, Ravenna, Rimini, Lepcis Magna and numerous lesser-known locales. Entries cross-reference ancient authors such as Herodotus, Thucydides, Pausanias (geographer), Strabo, Pliny the Elder, Polybius, Tacitus, and Livy.
The project originated at Princeton University with funding and coordination involving scholars tied to institutions including American School of Classical Studies at Athens, British School at Athens, Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, and various museums such as the British Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Pergamon Museum. Conceived in the mid-20th century, development intersected with postwar excavations at sites like Knossos, Troy (Ilion), Akrotiri (Santorini), Pompeii, Herculaneum, Ephesus, and survey projects in Greece, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya. The editorial team synthesized field reports from directors of excavations such as Arthur Evans, Heinrich Schliemann, Sir John Ward-Perkins, Dionysios M. Zambon, and contemporary archaeologists.
Organized alphabetically, each article provides geographic coordinates, site history, descriptions of monuments, excavation history, bibliography, and cross-references to coin catalogues and inscription corpora such as the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, Inscriptiones Graecae, and major numismatic series. Entries link to finds in institutions like British Museum, Ashmolean Museum, Louvre, Vatican Museums, Pergamon Museum, Princeton University Art Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and cite excavation reports from journals including American Journal of Archaeology, Journal of Hellenic Studies, Bullettino dell'Istituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica, Année Philologique, and Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique. Maps, site plans, and photographic plates accompany many entries, integrating comparative material from Hittite Empire records, Neo-Assyrian Empire archives, and Classical narrative traditions.
Led by Richard Stillwell with editors William L. MacDonald and Marian Holland McAllister, the encyclopedia enlisted contributors affiliated with universities and schools such as Harvard University, Yale University, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Columbia University, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, University of Michigan, University of California, Berkeley, and research institutes like the Center for Hellenic Studies. Contributors included directors of excavations, epigraphers, numismatists, and art historians who provided peer-reviewed entries based on primary field data from campaigns at Ephesus, Aphrodisias, Pergamon, Delphi, Olympia, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Leptis Magna, Sabratha, Timbuktu (in comparative studies), and many provincial sites. Editorial standards required documentation of stratigraphy, typology, and bibliographic accuracy.
Scholars in Classical archaeology and Ancient history praised the work for its scope, utility in fieldwork planning, and integration of literary and material evidence. Reviews in periodicals such as American Journal of Archaeology, Journal of Roman Studies, and Gnomon commended the encyclopedia while noting the challenge of keeping entries current given ongoing excavations at Troy (Ilion), Pompeii, Ephesus, Hattusa, and Palmyra. Museums and excavation directors used it for provenance checks and exhibition planning; universities adopted it as a reference in courses at institutions like Princeton University, Harvard University, Yale University, and University of Oxford.
The first edition was published by Princeton University Press in the 1970s, followed by a revised edition and printings reflecting updated bibliographies and new site evidence. Subsequent supplementary works and regional gazetteers built on its format, including catalogues issued by the British School at Athens, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, and national archaeological services such as the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
The encyclopedia influenced later projects such as digital gazetteers, GIS-based site databases, and collaborative initiatives among institutions like the Council of British Research in the Levant, Institute for Advanced Study, Getty Research Institute, and university-based archaeological data centers. Its model of combining epigraphy, numismatics, and stratigraphic reports informed methodological standards in field reporting and publication practice used by excavation directors at Ephesus, Pergamon, Delphi, Olympia, Leptis Magna, Timgad, Aphrodisias, Hattusa, and Troy (Ilion). The work remains a touchstone in classical studies, cited alongside corpora such as Inscriptiones Graecae and the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum.
Category:Encyclopedias Category:Archaeological reference works Category:Princeton University Press books