A Visit to the Stoa
Stoa Waypoint Database
The Stoa: A Consortium for Electronic Publication in the Humanities has released the Stoa Waypoint Database--a freely accessible repository of geographic data. A waypoint is simply latitude and longitude coordinates of a specific place, object, or feature. These coordinates can be collected in various ways, i.e. from hand-held GPS units, surveying equipment, or cartographic resources. In recent years these technologies have become more affordable and are now more widely employed by a variety of users. For example, waypoint data may be collected by archaeologists in the field on an excavation or survey, by students and teachers on field trips, by those on study tours or on vacation.
Through the Waypoint Database, the Stoa hopes to provide a collection for geographic data and provide easy access to this data for the widest possible audience. The goal is to compile a comprehensive, freely-available geographic dataset of the ancient world and beyond. Anyone may contribute geographic data to the repository from any region or era of world history--the database is not restricted to the Mediterranean world. For more information about how to contribute or for information on and access to the database itself, please visit the Waypoint Database home page (http://www.stoa.org/stoagnd) or the Stoa guidelines for recording and submitting geographic data.
Demos: Classical Athenian Democracy
The Perseus Project continues to support the efforts of The Stoa: A Consortium for Electronic Publication in the Humanities to promote the digital distribution of scholarly materials to wide public audiences. Art & Archaeology Editor, Amy C. Smith, has just completed an annotated catalog of "Democratic Art" in Demos, a growing collection of materials dealing with Athenian Democracy. "Democratic Art" encompasses political art works from ancient Athens' democratic era (508-322 B.C.): portraits of political figures such as Alkibiades, as well as illustrations of Athens' eponymous heroes and political personifications. Demos is a collaborative project that is headed by Chris Blackwell of Furman University. Another contributor is Thomas Martin of Holy Cross, well-known to Perseus users for his popular Overview of Archaic and Classical Greek History. Prof. Blackwell has already completed articles on introductory materials and government institutions such as the Assembly and the Areopagos court. These materials are available on Demos' project page which also contains a detailed outline of the project. In the coming months look in the Stoa for Smith's "Democratic Art" catalog--with links to relevant entries and texts in the Perseus Project--among other materials to be added to the Demos pages. The Demos team will also present papers on the project during a panel, Demos: Bringing the Athenian Democracy to a Wide Audience, at the upcoming Annual Meeting of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South (CAMWS), April 6-8, in Knoxville, Tennessee.
document placed on-line 12/29/99, LMC