I am looking fora solution to implement the style described in the following
article (enclosed). Is there a package combination and BibDesk solution that
would permit one to follow the format described?
-Kevin
<<<<<
Guidelines for Citing Ancient Sources
Prof. Eva von Dassow
The same principles and purposes underlie citation practices no matter
what types of items are the objects of reference – ancient sources (texts and
artifacts), works of art, or works of modern scholarship. Citation of ancient
sources differs in form, but not in principle, from citation of modern works;
likewise, citation of artifacts differs in form, but not in principle, from
citation of texts. All citations and references must include specific and
accurate identification of: 1) the item in question, 2) its publication or the
publication in which it is found (if published; otherwise, its provenience and
location), and 3) the part(s) of the item cited or referred to; furthermore, 4)
the item’s author(s) or creator(s) must be identified and credited, if
individual author(s) or creator(s) exist and are known. Ancient texts and
artifacts are normally accessed through modern publications. Thus, when citing
or referring to these types of primary sources, it is necessary to identify
both the ancient source and the modern publication, distinguishing the former
clearly from the latter, according to each of the criteria enumerated above.
A reference to a modern publication provides the following information: author;
publication title; facts of publication; and indication of the place within the
publication to which reference is made (usually by page numbers). This simple
scheme is complicated by a variety of factors. For instance, if the
publication in question is a component of a larger work, such as an article
within a book, an entry within an encyclopedia, or a volume in a series, the
larger work must be distinguished from its component, both by title and by
editor or author; thus, the reference gives the information about the larger
work along with the information about the component (usually the facts of
publication are identical and therefore not repeated). In an analogous
fashion, a reference to an ancient source should include both the information
about the modern publication and the information about the ancient source, as
follows: title or other identification of the ancient source; modern author,
translator, or editor; title of the modern publication; facts of publication;
indication of the place within the modern publication where the ancient source
is found (usually pages); and, as applicable, indication of the place within
the ancient source to which reference is made (on this, see further below).
Students must use, and accurately follow, a handbook of style in order
to learn how to cite and refer to modern publications, both in bibliographic
entries and in notes or parenthetical references (note the differences among
these!). The most comprehensive such handbook is the Chicago Manual of Style,
14th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993). I recommend that
students use Mary Lynn Rampolla’s Pocket Guide to Writing in History, 5th ed.
(Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007), a concise handbook which provides
documentation models based on the guidelines established by the Chicago Manual
of Style. Since there exists no handbook for students which provides
guidelines for citing ancient sources other than the Bible and classical Greek
and Latin literature, I have written up the following instructions and examples
to explain how to cite ancient sources of various types.
• Ancient literary works
Standard book, chapter, and paragraph or verse divisions exist for classical
works of literature and for biblical books. Citations of classical works give
the name of the author, the title of the work (this can be omitted if only one
work is known for that author), and the book and paragraph numbers, or line
numbers in the case of poetry, for the passage cited; examples follow:
• According to Homer, Odysseus landed in Egypt and, after a
fierce battle between his men and the Egyptians, stayed there for seven years
as a guest of the king (Homer, Odyssey, XIV.257-287).
• The poems of Homer formed a common cultural reference point for
classical Greek authors; both Herodotus and Thucydides quote them and refer to
them (see, e.g., Herodotus, 2.116-7, and Thucydides, 1.3, 1.9, and 4.24).
Books of the Bible are cited in a similar manner, but normally without naming
authors:
• Whereas according to II Samuel 24.1 it is God’s anger against
Israel that caused David to take a census of his people, the Chronicler makes
Satan the agent who incited David to do this (I Chron. 21.1).
• There are numerous stories and motifs that appear both in
biblical literature and in ancient Greek literature. For example, the
narrative of Joseph’s career includes the story of Potiphar’s wife, who, having
failed to seduce Joseph, accused him of trying to rape her in order to get her
husband to punish him (Genesis 39.7-20). This story finds a close parallel in
Homer’s narrative of Bellerophon’s career, according to which the wife of
Proitos, king of Ephyra, having failed to seduce Bellerophon, accused him of
trying to rape her in order to get her husband to engineer his demise (Iliad,
VI.156-170).
Citation of other ancient works of literature follows the model used for
classical and biblical literature, but cannot mimic that model precisely. In
the case of literary works written on cuneiform tablets or Egyptian papyri, for
example, seldom is the ancient author known. The titles used for such works
are usually those that have been given to them by modern scholars. Specific
passages are identified by tablet, column, and line numbers, as applicable.
Examples:
• The idea that the ruler was chosen by the goddess Inanna/Ishtar
appears in the legend of Etana (Tablet I, ll. 20-25).
• This idea underlies the episode of the Epic of Gilgamesh in
which Gilgamesh spurns Ishtar’s invitation to be her spouse (Standard
Babylonian Version, Tablet VI, cols. i-iii).
In all of these three types of cases, the modern publication within which the
ancient work is found must also be cited, and the translator credited, either
along with the citation of the ancient source or in the bibliography or
reference list. The major exception to this rule is the Bible; however, it is
often appropriate to include a bibliographic reference indicating which
translation of the Bible has been used (if one is not reading the Bible in the
original languages). Thus, in the case of the last two examples above,
bibliographic references must be given for the modern publications from which
the ancient literary works are cited:
• “Etana.” Translated, with introduction and notes, by Stephanie
Dalley. In Dalley, Myths from Mesopotamia (rev. ed.), pp. 189-202. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1997.
• “Epic of Gilgamesh.” Translated, with introduction and notes,
by Stephanie Dalley. In Dalley, Myths from Mesopotamia (rev. ed.), pp. 39-153.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.
In citations of passages from ancient literary works, it may be necessary to
refer to the pages of the modern publication as well as (or in place of) the
tablet, column, and/or line numbers of the original text, since for these works
there is not always a standardized numbering as there is for biblical and
classical literature – and in any case the modern editor may or may not
indicate it in the translation. Accordingly, the citations given above may be
expanded as follows:
• The idea that the ruler was chosen by the goddess Inanna/Ishtar
appears in the legend of Etana (Tablet I, ll. 20-25; see Dalley, Myths from
Mesopotamia, p. 190).
• This idea underlies the episode of the Epic of Gilgamesh in
which Gilgamesh spurns Ishtar’s invitation to be her spouse (Standard
Babylonian Version, Tablet VI, cols. i-iii; see Dalley, Myths from Mesopotamia,
pp. 77-80).
• Inscriptions and documents
Ancient inscriptions and documents, like ancient literary works, are cited from
modern publications. The inscription or document must be clearly identified,
and it must be clear whether the text is cited in its original language or in
translation. When citing a translation of an inscription or document, it is
necessary to identify the translator, at least at the first reference. If they
are indicated in the translation (which is often not the case), column,
paragraph, or line numbers, as applicable, must be included when citing
passages from an inscription or document; otherwise, passages may be cited
using the page numbers of the modern publication. As in the examples given
above, a full reference must be given for the modern publication in which the
ancient source is found. Here is a sample in-text citation of an inscription:
The poem commemorating Merneptah’s victory over the Libyans in his fifth year
describes the retreat of the enemy in deprecatory terms – the Libyans’
vanquished chief is said to have fled alone, with no shoes on his feet and no
feather on his head (Poetical Stela of Merneptah, trans. Lichtheim, Ancient
Egyptian Literature, vol. II, p. 74).
The corresponding bibliographic reference for the modern publication would look
like this:
Lichtheim, Miriam. Ancient Egyptian Literature, vol. II: The New Kingdom.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976.
Here is an example of the citation of documents:
It is evident from some of the Amarna Letters that the scribes who read
pharaoh’s correspondence to him – presumably translating it into Egyptian as
they went – exercised some discretion in choosing how and what to read.
Abdi-Heba of Jerusalem, for example, often closed his letters with a plea
addressed to the scribe who will read the letter, importuning him to “present
eloquent words to the king, my lord,” and reiterating the message he wants the
scribe to convey (see, e.g., EA 286: 61-64, in Moran, The Amarna Letters, p.
327).
And here is the bibliographic reference for the publication from which it is
cited:
Moran, William L. The Amarna Letters. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University
Press, 1992.
Note that the letters themselves have no titles (the superscripts given in
Moran’s publication exist merely to catch the reader’s eye), and the standard
numbering system used for the corpus of the Amarna Letters obviates the need
for page references.
• Artifacts
Unless they are observed at first hand, as in a museum, artifacts must be cited
from illustrations in modern publications. Normally, figure or plate numbers
are given for illustrations in books; if not, the page number on which the
illustration is found will suffice. A citation of an artifact within the text
of a paper could look like this:
The carved ivories which have been recovered from the ruins of the Israelite
kings’ palace at Samaria include one example of the “woman at the window” motif
(Ben-Tor, ed., Archaeology of Ancient Israel, Fig. 9.18, top).
The corresponding bibliographic reference would look like this:
Ben-Tor, Amnon, ed. Archaeology of Ancient Israel. Trans. R. Greenberg. New
Haven: Yale University Press, 1992.
Photographs of archaeological sites or features thereof are cited the
same way as illustrations of artifacts. So are site plans, building plans,
maps of settlement patterns, and other figures which similarly mediate primary
source data through a modern interpretive lens; these latter types of material,
however, though they represent primary sources (as translations do), should be
understood fundamentally as elements of the secondary literature.
It is essential, when using any kind of source within a secondary
context (whether a modern edition of an ancient source, a journalist’s
quotation of a source for a story, an artifact in a museum display, etc.), to
distinguish between the content of the source itself and the context in which
it is presented. When you use and cite ancient primary sources that are
presented within modern publications, be sure to distinguish between what the
ancient source itself says and what the modern publication says about it. The
following statement, citing an ancient inscription, describes the content of
the text of that inscription:
In the Gezer Calendar (trans. Smelik, Writings from Ancient Israel, p. 23), the
months of the year are identified according to the agricultural activities that
took place during those months.
This next statement, on the other hand, describes and cites the modern
translator’s opinion about that inscription:
As Smelik points out, the Gezer Calendar was probably written not by a farmer,
who would not have needed to record in writing which work was done in which
month, but by a scribe in training (Writings from Ancient Israel, p. 27).
The bibliographic reference corresponding to the citations in both statements
would be this:
Smelik, Klaas A. D. Writings from Ancient Israel. Trans. G. I. Davies.
Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1991.
Here is another example, this time involving the Tel Dan stela:
The fragments of a victory stela found at Tel Dan do not preserve the name and
identification of the stela’s ancient author. William Schniedewind argues that
it must have been Hazael, king of Aram, who commissioned this stela, basing his
argument on the combined evidence of the biblical accounts concerning Jehu’s
usurpation, the Assyrian accounts of Shalmaneser’s attempts to subjugate Israel
and Aram, and what remains of the stela inscription (“Tel Dan Stela: New Light
on Aramaic and Jehu’s Revolt,” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental
Research, 302 [1996]: 75-90). In accord with previous work on the text,
Schniedewind restores the names of Joram, son of Ahab, king of Israel, and
Ahaziah, son of Joram, king of Judah, in lines 7-9 (see Schniedewind’s edition
of the text, “Tel Dan Stela,” pp. 77-78, and his notes on those lines, p. 80).
The accompanying bibliographic reference, appearing at the end of the
(imaginary) paper in which the above sentences would be found, would be this:
Schniedewind, William M. “Tel Dan Stela: New Light on Aramaic and Jehu’s
Revolt,” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 302 (1996):
75-90.
Note the difference in format between citations that appear in parentheses or
notes, on the one hand, and references in bibliographies, on the other hand.
Note, too, that one need only give the full citation at the first reference to
a particular work or source, and one may use a short form of reference
thereafter (e.g., Schniedewind, “Tel Dan Stela,” in the example above).
The instructions given in the foregoing cannot always be followed
simply by mimicking the examples given, because various types of publications
will present different issues and difficulties. When in doubt, ask yourself
the following questions: Have I clearly identified the ancient source? Have I
clearly identified where it is published and by whom? In the case of texts:
have I specified what passage I am referring to? Have I credited the
translator and/or the editor? All the rules for citation and reference exist
to serve two main purposes: 1) indicate what sources you are using and where
you have read them, so that your reader can check or follow up on what you
write, and 2) give proper credit to the authors, translators, editors, and
others whose work you have used. If you do these things, your citations and
references will be correct at least in principle.
>>>
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