The Suda On Line (www.stoa.org/sol/)

The Suda On Line (www.stoa.org/sol/) Raphael FinkelWilliam Hutton University ofKentuckyCollege ofWilliam andMary Patrick RourkeRoss ScaifeElizabeth Vandiver PhysicalSciences, Inc.University ofKentuckyUniversity ofMaryland Overview Certain fundamental sources for the study ofthe ancient world are currently accessible only to a few specially trained researchers, because they have never been provided with a sufficiently convenient interpretive apparatus or, in some cases, even translated into modern languages. The Suda On Line (SOL) project attacks that inaccessibility by engaging the efforts ofscholars world-wide in the translation and annotation ofa substantial text that is being made available exclusively through the internet. We have chosen to begin with the Byzantine encyclopedia known as the Suda, a tenth century CE compilation ofmaterial on ancient literature, history, and biography. A massive work ofabout thirty thousand entries, andwrittenin sometimes dense Byzantine Greekprose, the Suda is an invaluable source for many details that would otherwise THE SUDA ON LINE179 be unknown to us about Greek and Roman antiquity, as well as an important text for the study ofByzantine intellectual history. Begun in January of 1998, the SOL already involves the efforts of overonehundred scholars throughout theworld. Thegoal oftheproject is to assemble an XML-encoded database,1 searchable and browsable on theweb, with continuously improving annotations, bibliographies and hypertextual links to other electronic resources in addition to the core translation ofentries in the Suda. Individual work becomes available on the web as soon as possible, with the minimum necessary initial proofreading and editorial oversight. A large pool ofregistered editors is empowered to alter and improve the materials in the database continuously as they see fit. The display ofeach entry includes an indication of the level ofeditorial scrutiny it has received. We mean to encourage the greatest possible participation in the project and the smallest possible delay in presenting a high quality resource to a wide public readership. Our goal is not only to provide the SOL as a useful tool for researchers , but also to explore and facilitate the modes of scholarship now made possible by open source technology and the internet. The result will be a scholarly effort that is cooperative rather than solitary, communal rather than proprietary, worldwide rather than localized, evolving rather than static. Accordingly, our work aims at two concrete results: in addition to our development ofthe SOL itselfas a respectable scholarly resource, we are looking into the feasibility ofmaking a generalized, well-documented version of our software freely available for other scholars to adapt for their own purposes. The Raw Material But what is the Sudaï It is a succession of some thousands of items, their extent varying from a single word to a page or more. In it we find the explanation ofa difficult form or rare word; a grammatical point; elucidations of words with several meanings ; and notes on people, places, institutions, and concepts (e.g., ??sµ?9, vous, úai.s). It is essentially an historical and XML: Extensible Markup Language. 1 80SYLLECTA. CLASSICA 1 1 (2000) literary encyclopedia, but it is also a collection ofproverbs and a kind of dictionary of quotations. We might say that it is a 'dictionary ofconversation,' for the use of'cultured' people: in this respect it is a reflection of the culture and of the ideal of culture for an era.2 Although the Suda defies easy categorization it is without question one ofthe most remarkable extant works ofByzantine Greek scholarship . It was compiled probably in the latter half of the tenth century and certainly no later than 1000 CE, but its exact date remains unknown , as does the identityofits compiler or compilers. Even the exact meaning of its title is obscure; it now seems most likely that Suda is actually a Latin loan-word meaning "fortress," a fitting title for a work whose purpose was to preserve and protect samples ofancient learning and literature.3This was one ofthe primary goals ofByzantine scholarship in the tenth century. Rather than creating new knowledge and areas ofstudy, the scholars ofthat era labored to preserve the legacy of the past, and the Suda is one ofthe culminating achievements of "the encyclopedism of the tenth century."4 Now, after yet another millenniumhas passed, we are revisiting the still-valuableworkofthese anonymous...