Oxford Classical Dictionary

The Oxford Classical Dictionary (OCD) is generally considered "the best one-volume dictionary on antiquity,"[1][2] an encyclopædic work in English consisting of articles relating to classical antiquity and its civilizations. It was first published in 1949 (OCD1 or OCD), edited by Max Cary with the assistance of H. J. Rose, H. P. Harvey, and Alexander Souter. A second edition followed in 1970 (OCD2), edited by Nicholas G. L. Hammond and H. H. Scullard, and a third edition in 1996 (OCD3), edited by Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth. A revised third edition was released in 2003, which is nearly identical to the previous third edition. A fourth edition was published in 2012 (OCD4), edited by Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth, and Esther Eidinow. In 2016, a fully digital edition[3] launched online, edited by Sander Goldberg (2013–2017) and Tim Whitmarsh (2018–present). Continuously updated on a monthly basis, this edition incorporates all 6,300 entries from OCD4 (which are being updated on a rolling basis) as well as newly commissioned entries, and features multimedia content and freely accessible maps[4] of the ancient world.[3][5]

The OCD's over 6,400 articles[6] cover everything from the daily life of the ancient Greeks and Romans to their geography, religion, and their historical figures.

  1. ^ "Markus Sehlmeyer, review of Oxford Classical Dictionary, ed. Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 97.9.06 (1997)". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.
  2. ^ "The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Third edition revised – Bryn Mawr Classical Review". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.
  3. ^ a b "Oxford Classical Dictionary". Oxford Classical Dictionary.
  4. ^ "Maps of the Ancient World". Oxford Classical Dictionary.
  5. ^ See, also, the catalogue entry at Oxford University Press for this new online version of the OCD.]
  6. ^ This information is garnered from the OCD5 catalogue entry on the Oxford University Press website.