Crowdsourcing Julius Pollux's Onomasticon

This project aims to create an online edition and translation of Julius Pollux's Onomasticon. Currently this important ancient encyclopaedia, written in the 2nd century A.D., is only accessible in the original Ancient Greek. Moreover, the size of this work and the fact that there is no translation or comprehensive digital edition means that even Classical scholars are largely limited to consulting individual chapters, citations, and references within the Onomasticon. This project will use a crowdsourcing model, successfully pioneered by the 'Suda Online' project, to create new online edition on Pollux's work. The edition and translation will be fully searchable, and designed to facilitate data production. A data-led approach will enable scholars to identify patterns within the text, and to take a more systematic approach to understanding the Onomasticon’s organisation of information. In particular, producing data on Julius Pollux’s citation practices will allow us to better understand his role in the transmission of fragmentary quotations from lost works. Initial work to produce a proof of concept prototype is underway thanks to a generous grant awarded by the Jean Golding Institute (Seed Corn Funding, 2023-4).