On 18 July, the Library of Latin Texts received its first biannual content update of 2025. With 23 new texts added, the world’s leading database of literary Latin now offers access to over 167 million words. Notable additions include Vincent of Beauvais’ Speculum naturale and Bartholomew of Urbino’s Milleloquium veritatis sancti Augustini. Read more about this update in the LLT’s ‘Manual’.

In the previous blogpost, we explained why we introduced the lexicological resources that make searching the LLT and investigating individual word-forms more versatile. Today, we are excited to share another major enhancement: the addition of a taxonomical tree, – a structured classification system that helps users navigate Latin literature through meaningful categories.

Why Taxonomy Matters

As the Library of Latin Texts continues to grow, so does the need for structure. To help users explore the corpus more effectively, we have introduced a set of four filters that allow texts to be grouped by shared characteristics. They are:

• Style;
• Genre;
• Topic;
• Area of origin.

While assigning these characteristics is not an exact science, we believe the benefits of this structured approach far outweigh the occasional ambiguity. We have tried to use self-explanatory labels across the application; the explanations in the manual of the LLT clarify each category’s meaning and intention.

Style: Prose, Verse, or Both?

The style category allows you to distinguish between texts:

• In prose;
• In verse, or;
• In a mixed form (e.g. prosimetra such as Seneca’s Apocolocyntosis).

Genre: What Type of Text?

Each text is assigned a single genre, regardless of its time period or cultural background. While we have tried to use self-explanatory labels, we refer to the Manual of the application in case any of the categories turns out to be unclear.

An important principle we adhere to is that a work’s genre should always be considered in conjunction with its style. This explains why an epic poem such as the Aeneid will be classified under the genre ‘Narrative texts’, its poetic nature already being covered by the style ‘Verse’.

Topic: What Does the Text Talk About?

Texts in the LLT can be tagged with one or more topics. The list of potential topics has been limited to about ten items, enabling us to classify all texts into a number of broad categories.

Texts can be tagged with multiple topics, offering a nuanced view of their content. A broad encyclopaedic work such as Vincent of Beauvais’ Speculum doctrinale will therefore be classified under a number of topics.

Area of Origin: A Modern Map for (Ancient) Texts

Given the LLT’s vast chronological scope, we opted to use modern geographical boundaries rather than the historical boundaries of one particular period to define areas of origin. So, for example, rather than placing Gregory of Tours’ Historiarum libri X in Gaul or in the Merovingian Kingdom, we assigned France as its area of origin.

Staying Consistent

For reasons of consistency, we have assigned texts written by the same author to a single area, at least to the extent that is scientifically defensible. This means that, e.g., Saint Augustine’s works are all assigned to North Africa, even though some are known to have been composed elsewhere. In any case, they are the product of a North African author.

Translations: A Special Case

In the case of (literal or at least faithful) translations, the area of origin remains that of the original text, because this is the origin of the ideas expressed in it and of the topics that can be found in it. This makes sure that, for example, the various translations of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey are all classified under ‘Eastern Mediterranean and Near East’ (a category comprising Greece).

Where Can You Find the Taxonomy?

The new categories are integrated throughout the Library of Latin Texts to help you explore the collection more easily and meaningfully. Here is where you will encounter them.

On the Search Screen

Here, you can use the taxonomy to create a custom corpus, i.e. a tailored selection of texts that match your research interest. For example, you can look for the lemma categoria only in philosophical texts:

Next To the Search Results

Viewing the Distribution By Category

After you have searched for a term or phrase, the left column displays the distribution of the search results across the taxonomy. This allows you to discover that, for example, induperator and its various cases, traditionally called ‘poetic’ forms, do not occur exclusively in verse texts:

If you focus specifically on the occurrences of induperator* in prose texts, you will see that they mostly concern texts classified under ‘Linguistics and literature studies’, i.e. grammatical texts or commentaries on literary works:

Using the Categories As Filters

As pointed out above for the induperator case, you can use the categories to filter your search results in order to limit them to the results relevant to your question. For example, having searched for iusiurandum, you can then limit the results to ‘Acts and official documents’ talking about ‘Law and institutions’. This will only leave official legal documents, such as the Digesta or Codex Iustinianus:

In the List of Works

Here, you can limit the works listed to those corresponding to a specific category. For example, you might only be interested in ‘Narrative texts’ on ‘Biography and hagiography’ from the eleventh to the twelfth centuries:

On Each Work Record

The categories appear alongside each work, offering helpful background information. This is particularly useful in cases where the title does not immediately clarify the contents of the work. For example, the Zebedides of Christan of Lilienfeld is an epic poem on James, the son of Zebedee, but its nature might not be obvious from the title:

This is also where the fact that we can assign multiple topics to a single work comes in. For example, Vincent of Beauvais’ Speculum doctrinale, an encyclopaedic work, covers a wide range of topics:

A Work in Progress

At the CTLO, we recognize that categorization is inherently interpretive. Some texts defy easy classification, and some choices may be open to debate. Still, we believe this taxonomy provides a powerful tool for discovery, research, and teaching.

We invite you to explore the updated Library of Latin Texts and see how these new filters can enrich your journey through two millennia of Latin literature. Your feedback is invaluable to us; please share your thoughts via the ‘Feedback’ option in the interface, and help us continuing improving the LLT.