About Brepolis

New Interfaces and Data Structures for ACLL, ALD, and eMGH

We’re excited to announce a major update to three of our Latin full-text databases: the Archive of Celtic Latin Literature (ACLL), the Aristoteles Latinus Database (ALD), and the Electronic Monumenta Germaniae Historica (eMGH). These enhancements bring the same innovations in data structure, interface, and accessibility that users already enjoy in the Library of Latin Texts (LLT).

Why These Updates Matter

Our goal is simple: make research on Latin literature in all its aspects faster, easier, and more intuitive. By restructuring the databases, we have:

• simplified navigation across these large corpora of texts;
• enhanced search functionality with new filters and perspectives;
• added direct links to authoritative (online) resources for deeper exploration.

For a detailed look at the philosophy behind these changes, see our series of blog posts “Enriching the LLT”.

What’s New in Each Database

Most structural changes and additions to metadata have already been explained in these previous blog posts on the LLT. However, some database-specific features were added to the ACLL, ALD, and eMGH to better suit the needs of their specialist users.

Archive of Celtic-Latin Literature (ACLL)

We have integrated Lapidge & Sharpe numbers from the Bibliography of Celtic-Latin Literature (Dublin, 1985) as a dedicated reference work.

More detailed geographical filters based on Lapidge & Sharpe’s divisions help researchers focus on specific regions during their research.

Aristoteles Latinus Database (ALD)

In an enhanced form, we have maintained the navigation by Bekker columns, allowing direct access to translations or commentaries on specific Aristotelian passages.

Using the source language filter, users can quickly identify the original language behind each Latin translation.

Electronic Monumenta Germaniae Historica (eMGH)

Since texts in the MGH are often cited by their sub-series and volume (e.g. LL nat. Germ. 4,1), we have integrated the collection’s structure under “Reference Works”.

Links to the digital repertory Geschichtsquellen des deutschen Mittelalters complement resources like those available on Clavis Clavium.

A Modern, Accessible Interface

The redesigned interface works seamlessly on desktop and mobile, offering an intuitive search experience. This interface will also allow us to meet WCAG 2.1AA standards, ensuring accessibility for all users.

Looking Ahead

We are not stopping here: our CTLO team will continue to refine these databases and expand their corpora, while introducing new features as our platforms will continue to evolve. Our mission: enrich your research experience and broaden the panorama of (Latin) texts you can find in our databases.

The Library of Latin texts has been updated

The Library of Latin Texts (LLT) has been updated. After the database’s major overhaul earlier this year, a second content update has been completed. The addition of 42 new works brings the total number of words in the database to over 170 million.

For a detailed list of the texts added to the database, click here (PDF file).

Database of Latin Dictionaries: new update

The Database of Latin Dictionaries (DLD) was updated. This year’s update includes the Lexicon etymologicum by Giovanni Alessio (Napoli, 1976), a supplement to existing Latin and Romance etymological dictionaries, including the REW (Meyer-Lübke) already available in the database.

Patrologia Orientalis Database has been updated

The Patrologia Orientalis Database (POD) has been updated. This year’s update includes the Syriac Anaphora of St Basil (ed. Erich Renhart; PO 256) and homilies IX-XII from the Geʽez translation of the Kitāb al-Īḍāḥ (ed. Tedros Abraha; PO 257).

The POD is the online version of the famous collection of patristic texts from the Christian East, including works, recorded in non-Latin languages, that come from geographical, cultural, or religious contexts somehow linked to Rome or the Eastern Roman Empire.

Using L’Année Philologique as a Dataset: New Insights from Bibliometric Analysis

In his recent article, Charles Guérin, “L’Année philologique, une source pour l’histoire de la philologie ? — L’exemple de Sénèque le Père,” the author demonstrates how a bibliography can be used in innovative and unexpected ways. The article is available here: https://books.openedition.org/irht/1287.

We are pleased to highlight this study, which offers a compelling example of how bibliographic resources can serve not only as discovery tools but also as sources for analytical and historical research. Thanks to the bibliometric features developed by Brepols, L’Année Philologique can be approached in a different light. Rather than simply locating publications on a given topic, the database can be read “in reverse”: mined as a dataset that reveals long-term shifts in classical scholarship and, more broadly, the evolving history of philology.

The bibliometric module is accessible directly from the search interface of the BREPOLiS bibliographies (L’Année Philologique, International Medieval Bibliography, Bibliographie de Civilisation Médiévale, International Bibliography of Humanism and the Renaissance, Bibliography of British and Irish History and Index Religiosus) via the dedicated “Bibliometrics” tab.

You have also access to the Bibliometric information from the record view: