Electronic Resources

This page provides a list of key electronic resources for the study of the Byzantine period. The subscription databases listed here are available for use onsite at the Library of Congress. Depending on the database, the content may include citations to book chapters, articles, and books or furnish full-text articles directly. The external websites tab provides links to freely available internet resources.

Freely available
Subscription Databases

Below are some websites that serve as good places to begin for learning about the Byzantine period. These websites contain primary sources mostly in Greek and in English translation, bibliographies, and other source materials.

Annotated Justinian Code External
Electronic edition of Wyoming Supreme Court Justice Fred Blume's translation of Justinian's Codes and Novels.
British Library Digitised Manuscripts External
The British Library Digitised Manuscripts contains digitized manuscripts from many different periods including the Byzantine Empire. Users can search by year, manuscript name, author, and provenance. Use the date range slider to limit your search to the Byzantine era.
Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae External
Published between 1828-1897, this series of fifty volumes contains primary sources on Byzantine history.
Digitized Greek Manuscripts External
Database of digitized Greek manuscripts maintained by David Jenkins, Librarian for Classics, Hellenic Studies and Linguistics at Princeton University.
Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Manuscripts External
Digitized Byzantine illuminated manuscripts, rare books, coins, and other items from the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library.
History of Byzantium
This Greek manuscript on parchment dating from the 12th to the 13th centuries is one of the most valuable codices in the National Library of Spain, treasured for the richness of its illumination. The work, by Ioannes Scylitza (flourished 1081), is a history of the Byzantine emperors from 811 to 1057, covering events from the proclamation of Michael I Rangabe in 811 to the reign of Michael VI in 1056--57.
Internet Medieval Sourcebook Selected Sources: Byzantium External
Maintained by Fordham University, this website contains an extensive list of links to Byzantine texts in English translation
Modern Language Translations of Byzantine Sources Digitized Greek Manuscripts External
Database of modern language translations of Byzantine primary sources, which can be searched by keyword or browsed using pull-down menus.
Patrologia Graeca External
Contains Greek texts of Christian Church Fathers from the fourth century up to the fifteenth century
Pyle. A Gateway to Greek Manuscripts External
From the site: "Pyle is a collaborative tool for teaching and scholarly research in the field of Greek palaeography and codicology; it aims to collect scattered resources from various individuals and institutions, gradually adding new information, materials and services."

The subscription resources marked with a padlock are available to researchers on-site at the Library of Congress. If you are unable to visit the Library, you may be able to access these resources through your local public or academic library.

Academic Search Complete External This link opens in a new window
Contains more than 6,100 full-text periodicals, including more than 5,100 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to full text, Academic Complete (formerly Premier) offers indexing and abstracts for more than 10,100 journals and a total of more than 10,600 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc. Subject areas covered include: animal science, anthropology, area studies, astronomy, biology, chemistry, civil engineering, electrical engineering, ethnic & multicultural studies, food science & technology, general science, geography, geology, law, materials science, mathematics, mechanical engineering, music, pharmaceutical sciences, physics, psychology, religion & theology, veterinary science, women's studies, zoology and many other fields. Updated on a daily basis.
ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials External This link opens in a new window
ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials combines the premier index to journal articles, book reviews, and collections of essays in all fields of religion with ATLA's online collection of major religion and theology journals. The ATLA Religion Database includes more than 488,000 article citations from more than 1,500 journals (506 currently indexed), more than 215,000 essay citations from over 15,700 multi-author works, more than 446,000 book review citations, and a growing number of multimedia citations. This database begins in 1949 although indexing for some journal titles extends back into the nineteenth century. Links are provided to more than 185,000 electronic articles and book reviews, from more than 80 journals selected by leading religion scholars in the United States. This database is produced by the American Theological Library Association.
JSTOR External This link opens in a new window
JSTOR is a highly selective digital library of academic content in many disciplines. The Library of Congress's subscriptions to JSTOR provide access to thousands of scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. JSTOR works with a diverse group of nearly 1,200 publishers from more than 57 countries to preserve and make their content digitally available.

Also provided is access to JSTOR Daily, which offers a fresh way for people to understand and contextualize their world. JSTOR Daily writers provide insight, commentary, and analysis of ideas, research, and current events, tapping into the rich scholarship on JSTOR. In addition to weekly feature articles, the magazine publishes daily blog posts that provide the backstory to complex issues of the day in a variety of subject areas, interviews with and profiles of scholars and their work, and much more.
MLA International Bibliography External This link opens in a new window
MLA International Bibliography offers a detailed bibliography of journal articles, books and dissertations on literature, language, linguistics, and folklore, including film studies. Produced by the Modern Language Association, the electronic version of the bibliography dates back to the 1920s and contains over 1.8 million citations from more than 4,400 journals & series and 1,000 book publishers. The indexed materials coverage is international, and includes almost 60 titles from J-STORs language and literature collection as well as links to full text. See also the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature.
The simultaneous user limit for this resource may result in temporary delays.
Philosopher's Index External This link opens in a new window
Provides indexing and abstracts from books and journals of philosophy and related fields. It covers the areas of ethics, aesthetics, social philosophy, political philosophy, epistemology, and metaphysic logic as well as material on the philosophy of law, religion, science, history, education, and language.
The simultaneous user limit for this resource may result in temporary delays.
Project Muse External This link opens in a new window
Project MUSE is a leading provider of digital humanities and social science content for the scholarly community. Since 1995 the MUSE journal collections have supported a wide array of research needs at academic, public, special, and school libraries worldwide. MUSE is the trusted source of complete, full-text versions of scholarly journals from many of the world's leading university presses and scholarly societies, with over 120 publishers currently participating. Book collections on Project MUSE were launched in January 2012 and offer top quality book-length scholarship, fully integrated with MUSE's scholarly journal content. Project MUSE is comprised of high quality, peer-reviewed, stable content written by the most prestigious authors and scholars in their fields. Subject areas include literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, mathematics, political science, gender studies, and others. Once content goes online in MUSE, it stays online, permanently.

Byzantine Empire: A Resource Guide

Electronic Resources