Collecting and Detecting Ancient Greek Historians through Wikibase and Wikidata
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Authors Biographies: Leonardo D'Addario is a PhD candidate in Ancient Greek Language, Literature, and History at Leipzig University. Under the supervision of PD Dr. Monica Berti (Leipzig University) and Prof. Dr. Stephan Schorn (KU Leuven), he is currently working on the MECANO PhD Project "Detecting and Retrieving Lost Historians," which investigates fragmentary Greek historians and their reception and use in Polybius, also with the aid of digital tools. He completed both his BA and MA degrees at the University of Pisa and the Scuola Normale Superiore, where he also studied Archaic Lyric Poetry (Pindar, Simonides, Bacchylides, and Alcman), with a focus on its reception in the Hellenistic Age (Theocritus), text transmission, inter- and intratextuality, and particularly Greek metre.
Keywords: digital classics, ancient greek historiography, polybius, wikibase, wikidata, dataset, linked open data, reuse of data, wikidata query service
Abstract: 1. Polybius and the lost ancient Greek historians
In this paper, I will use Wikibase and Wikidata as part of my PhD project on Ancient Greek History and Literature at Leipzig University. Most works of ancient Greek historians are lost and survive only through quotations by later sources. Classical scholars usually call these quotations “fragments.” My PhD project focuses on The Histories of Polybius (206–124 BCE ca.), as this work contains various references to earlier historiographers. It specifically explores the language that Polybius uses when citing other historians and aims to provide insight into their reuse and reception within The Histories. The ultimate goal is to clarify whether Polybius engaged with a specific canon of ancient historians during the composition of his work. This research is part of the MECANO project (https://mecano-dn.eu/), which investigates the dynamics of canonization of Greco-Roman texts by combining traditional approaches with new digital methods.
2. First step: Collecting structured data
To achieve these goals, I am developing a Wikibase that systematically collects structured data on the quotations of the lost historiographers cited by Polybius. The database will include the original Greek text of the quotations, metadata about the quoted authors (e.g., name, provenance, period) and their works (e.g., title, number of books, content), as well as references to the relevant sections of The Histories (book, chapter, paragraph) and to the classification of the quotations in Jacoby’s Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker, the authoritative collection of fragments of the lost historiographers. Since the PhD project focuses on the citing language, every Wikibase instance will also highlight relevant linguistic elements (e.g., verbs of saying and writing, forms of the author’s name, variations in the title of works).
3. Second step: Detecting structured data
Then, I will employ the Wikidata Query Service to detect the structured data. Specifically, I aim to create default queries that may prove interesting both for my PhD project and potential Wikibase users. Indeed, queries such as “quotations where Polybius uses the verb ἱστορέω” or “quotations where Polybius specifies the title of works” can help analysing the language and, thus, the citing practice (or ratio laudandi, as classical scholars usually call it) of Polybius.
4. Objectives
The main objective is to create new datasets according to the principle of Linked Open Data and to make them available and reusable for research communities across different disciplines. Nowadays a key issue, especially in Digital Classics, is the lack of coherently structured data and metadata about ancient authors and texts. The Wikibase I am developing could therefore contribute not only to the Wikimedia community by integrating new open data, but also to Classical scholarship. Ultimately, I aim to show that new technologies are proving helpful in advancing even traditional approaches to the Humanities.
Format: Paper (20 minutes presentation)
Submission Number: 33
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