[First posted in AWOL 7 January 2010. Most recently updated 17 July 2016 (A translation of the last of the Suda’s 31000+ entries was submitted to the database on July 21, 2014 and vetted the next day. This milestone is very gratifying, but the work of the project is far from over. As mentioned above, one of the founding principles of the project is that the process of improving and annotating our translations will go on indefinitely. Much important work remains to be done. We are also constantly thinking of ways to improve SOL's infrastructure and to add new tools and features. If you are interested in helping us with the continuing betterment of SOL, please read about how you can register as an editorand/or contact the managing editors)]
Suda On Line: Byzantine Lexicography
Suda On Line: Byzantine Lexicography
For Attic phrase in Plato let them seek,
I poach in Suidas for unlicens'd Greek.
― Alexander Pope, The Dunciad4.227-8Pope’s ‘Suidas’ is not a man but a work, The Suda (or Stronghold): a massive 10th century Byzantine Greek historical encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, covering the whole of Greek and Roman antiquity and also including Biblical and Christian material.
Preserved in several medieval manuscripts, it has been edited and published several times since the end of the 14th century in traditional hard-copy scholarly editions, most recently that of Ada Adler (Teubner, 5 volumes: 1928-1938, reprinted 1971). The Suda On Line (SOL) project, begun in 1998 as part of the Stoa Consortium, opens up this stronghold of information by means of a freely accessible, keyword-searchable database, with English translations, notes, bibliography, and links to other electronic resources. With contributions (as Translators and/or Editors) from more than two hundred people worldwide, the SOL reached the landmark of all entries being translated and “vetted” (edited) to a usable standard on July 21, 2014. But more can, and will, be done.
A fuller history of the project may be found here .
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