Enriching the LLT: From Author to Person(s)

On April 3rd, the beta version of the Library of Latin Texts (LLT) received its first update. It now covers Latin literature from the third century BC up to the seventh century AD.

Over the following months, the content updates will be accompanied by a series of blog posts, each highlighting one field in which the new LLT innovates compared to the previous version. In this first blog post we will discuss the presentation of authorship as a network of related persons.

Why Change?

The previous version of the LLT was structured according to the rigid mantra: “One work has exactly one author belonging to exactly one period.” The name of the author in this structure had to incorporate the complexity of authorship when it comes to:

• Varying degrees of certainty in attributing a work to an author (e.g. dubious or spurious attributions);
• The multi-faceted nature of authorship (e.g. a text written by A, translated by B).

The new version works with the concept of persons, which allows us to link multiple persons to a single work by using a diverse set of roles.

The advantage of this approach is that, when looking up a person, you can now view all related works in a single overview, including translations, dubious attributions, etc. Using filters, you can limit your selection to genuine works only, or you can choose to include other related works.

Who Do We Consider “Related”?

All identifiable persons who contributed to the creation of a work have been connected: the author, the translator, the reviser, etc.

Additionally, for letters we include the addressee(s). This will give you a better overview of the exchange of ideas within epistolary collections. It can also help to better understand where a person can be placed within an intellectual or historical network.

For hagiographical works, we include the relevant saint(s), given that the topic of a hagiographical work is more relevant to some areas of research than questions of authorship. In practice, this means that you can get an overview of all lives written about a particular saint.

Examples

Multiple Roles / Levels of Certainty

Multiple Persons per Work

Joint Authorship

Multiple Addressees

Associated Persons / Persons Related to the Same Works

A Continuously Evolving Dataset

The implementation of the new data model is a Herculean effort. All authorship information from the previous LLT version has been converted to the new person-based model and we are in the process of adding additional persons and roles wherever relevant. We started by focusing on major letter collections, such as those of Cicero or Gregory the Great. Other similar cases will be upgraded in the coming updates.

Therefore, statistics based on relations between persons and texts are provisional. They show an order of magnitude, help with ranking and may provide an interesting starting point for more detailed research.

We are convinced that this new approach will make navigating the database more intuitive and effective and will offer new perspectives for future research.