Table of Contents Help

Contents:

• About the Perseus Table of Contents
• Where to find the Perseus Table of Contents
• How to use the Perseus Table of Contents
  • Listing the complete contents of the Perseus Digital Library
  • Listing select contents of the Perseus Digital Library
• Other features of the Perseus Table of Contents
  • Collection summaries
  • Word counts by language
  • Place and date plots

About the Perseus Table of Contents

Built in response to user comments, the Perseus Table of Contents (TOC) is a customizable, automatically updated listing of materials in the Perseus Digital Library. With the Perseus TOC, users may view a listing of either the complete contents of the library or a select subset of materials based on various criteria. Since the listing is regenerated every time the TOC is invoked, the information provided is always up-to-date.

Where to find the Perseus Table of Contents

The Perseus TOC is accessible from several locations. The complete TOC is primarily accessible through the "Tools" link that appears in the topbar of every Perseus web page. Clicking "Tools" will open a list of links from which "Perseus Table of Contents" may be selected to invoke the TOC. On the homepage, the complete TOC can also be invoked by clicking on the "Perseus Contents" label of the left sidebar. On every collection page, a relevant subset of the TOC can be invoked from the "collection contents" link or by clicking on the collection icon.

How to use the Perseus Table of Contents

As noted above, the Perseus TOC offers users the ability to list all Perseus contents or select sets of Perseus contents. This versatility makes the TOC a powerful means of browsing the Perseus collections. The following sections describe how to list the complete contents of the Perseus Digital Library and how to list select contents of the Perseus Digital Library.

Listing the complete contents of the Perseus Digital Library

If you access the TOC via the "Tools" link of the topbar, the complete contents of the Perseus Digital Library will display by default.

A view of the Perseus Table of Contents Browser settings when invoked with the "Perseus Table of Contents" link of the Perseus Tools list. The TOC displays the entire contents of the Perseus Digital Library.

But if you access the TOC from an intermediary link, such as the Greek "Word counts by language" bar, certain display options will be preset and only a selection of the library's contents will display. Clicking the Greek "Word counts by language" bar will return a modified Perseus TOC which only lists Classics collection texts that are written in Greek.

A view of the Perseus Table of Contents Browser settings when invoked with the Greek "Word counts by language" bar. The TOC only lists Classics collection texts that are written in Greek.

In order to change from this (or any other select list) to a complete list of the contents of the Perseus Digital Library, you must reset the TOC display using the "Perseus Table of Contents Browser" found at the bottom of the web page. The Perseus Table of Contents Browser contains three drop-down menus and a keyword text-entry box that control the contents displayed in the TOC.

As the two previous figures would suggest, the drop-down menu settings affect what contents are displayed. To change any TOC display, modify the current settings of the Perseus Table of Contents Browser and click the button named "Change." For example, to return to a list of all the contents of the Perseus Digital Library, clear the keyword text-entry box and change the menu settings to Any collection, Any type, and Any language. This is done by clicking each of the drop-down menus and selecting the "Any" option (always listed first) as illustrated below. After modifying the settings, click the button named "Change" and wait a moment for the Perseus TOC to reload. All of the Perseus Digital Library's current contents will be displayed.

Listing select contents of the Perseus Digital Library

Three drop-down menus and a keyword text-entry box may be used in any combination to customize the contents that are displayed in the TOC.

Collection Drop-Down Menu

To restrict display to contents of a particular collection in the Perseus Digital Library, select that collection's name from the drop-down menu.

Type Drop-Down Menu

To restrict display to images, texts, or tools, select the desired type from the drop-down menu. Note that some collections do not contain every Type. For example, most collections do not have an associated set of Tools. Therefore setting the Type menu to "Tools" and the Collection menu to anything other than "Any collection" or "Perseus Tools and Information" will usually display an empty TOC.

Language Drop-Down Menu

To restrict display to contents of a specific language, select the desired language from the drop-down menu. Note that the Language menu's setting only affects the display of text content. The menu's setting does not restrict the listing of image or tool content. Note, too, that some collections do not contain every Language. If a particular collection is selected, setting the Type menu to "Texts" and the Language menu to anything other than "Any" could display an empty TOC.

Keyword(s) Text-Entry Box

To restrict display to contents associated with particular keywords, type the desired keywords into the text-entry box. For example, to display materials related to "Boston," type the word into the text-entry box and click the button named "Change." Be advised that this initiates a keyword search as opposed to a content search. The results displayed in the TOC will not necessarily include contents that contain references to the keyword; they will necessarily include, however, contents that are by or about the keyword. For a more complete discussion of the differences between keyword (a.k.a. metadata) searches and content searches in the Perseus Digital Library, see the Lookup Tool help page.

Example 1. To list contents from the Classics collection that relate to J.D. Beazley, make the selections in the Perseus Table of Contents Browser illustrated below. Then click the button named "Change" to redisplay the TOC with an appropriate list of texts and images. The complete results are also illustrated below.

Collection: Greek and Roman Materials Type: Any Language: Any Keyword(s): Beazley

Example 2. To list images from the Bolles Collection on the History of London, make the selections in the Perseus Table of Contents Browser illustrated below. Then click the button named "Change" to redisplay the TOC with an appropriate list of images.

Collection: The Bolles Collection on the History of London Type: Images Language: Any (note that the Language menu does not pertain to images, so should be set to "Any") Keyword(s): (Leave this empty)

Example 3. To see a list of all of the Italian texts in Perseus, make the selections in the Perseus Table of Contents Browser illustrated below. Then click the button named "Change" to redisplay the TOC with the appropriate list.

Collection: Any Type: Texts Language: Italian Keyword(s): (Leave this empty)

Other features of the Perseus Table of Contents

Collection summaries

The Perseus TOC features a summary at the head of every collection listing. The summary for the Classics collection is illustrated below. The collection's name and a brief description appear at the top of the summary box. Beneath these and on the left, the summary includes links to the collection's overview ("More about this collection...") and to the parts of the collection where they are currently listed in the TOC display. To the right of the links, the summary box includes language comparison bar graphs and visualization tools. These are described more fully in the two sections that follow.

Word counts by language

The Perseus TOC features language comparison bar graphs. Within each collection summary of the TOC, colored bars and corresponding tallies indicate the number of words per language in that collection. This feature is useful for determining the size and scope of a collection.

Place and date plots

The Perseus TOC features tools for visualizing places and dates. Within each collection summary of the TOC, buttons named "Plot sites" and "Plot dates" initiate tools that map and graph data in that collection. The "Plot sites" button opens a new browser window in which it maps locations mentioned in the contents of the collection using the Perseus Atlas Tool. More on this feature is found in the Text help page. Additional information about using the Atlas Tool can be found in the The Perseus Atlas FAQ. The "Plot dates" button graphs dates mentioned in the contents the collection using Perseus Timelines. The timeline will open in a new browser window. More on this feature is found in the Using Perseus Timelines help page and in the Text help page.