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A Selection of Articles from
the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica
The eleventh edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, published in 1911, is widely considered to be the best ever English-language work of its kind, setting a bar that subsequent editions, and other encyclopedias, have never again reached. Naturally though, after a century much of it is obsolete: and even in historical matters many refinements and in some cases altogether novel viewpoints have been brought about by advances in archaeology, anthropology, genetics, literary criticism, and many other branches of knowledge. That said, the historical entries, written by top experts in the relevant fields, and backed up by superlative editing, remain good points of departure for anyone starting an investigation, and are still relevant today.
So relevant that a number of websites have made an effort, or usually just a show for ulterior motives, to reproduce the entire Encyclopedia online. Unfortunately, all those sites, with only one shining exception, fall into one of two categories: mindless OCR copies garbled and riddled with errors, sometimes subjected to semi-automatic processes seeking to correct them but often introducing further mistakes — or reinterpretations and expansions in which the Britannica has been used merely as a template, or selectively and tacitly abridged to current tastes, sometimes becoming merely a canvas for various agendas. (The shining exception is WikiSource, where a complete unaltered transcription is underway; a very laudable project, but as of this writing — 2022 — nowhere near finished.)
So in the course of building my own site, finding the 1911 Britannica cited so often, or otherwise so relevant, that I wanted to link to its articles, I found myself quickly disappointed by those very serious flaws: my solution has been to put up myself the few articles I needed, transcribed in full; rekeyed by hand without abridgment or editing — except for minor changes in punctuation and correcting the exceedingly rare typographical error; proofread; and including any illustrations. For citation purposes, the pagination of the original is indicated in the sourcecode as local links; other local anchors are provided as I found useful for my own purposes, and if in turn you have a website and would like to target a link to some specific passage, please let me know: I'll be glad to insert a local anchor there as well.
Having made these transcriptions, I've taken advantage of the Web to provide a bit of value-added: mostly by linking citations to the underlying texts to the extent that these can be found online, but sometimes by annotating the articles, or illustrating them with my own photographs, or linking to the occasional relevant website. These additions are sometimes quite extensive, but are clearly marked as such and separate from the original printed text: see for example my transcription of Mevania.
Entries having to do preponderantly with Italy are indicated by 🇮🇹: an emoji that can be searched for like any other character.
| Entries | |
|---|---|
| Abae | ancient Greek city |
| Achaean League | ancient Greek political confederation |
| Achilles Tatius | ancient Greek novelist |
| Aëtius | ancient Roman general |
| Agrippa | ancient Roman politician and general |
| Alaric | ancient Gothic general and leader |
| 🇮🇹 Alba Fucens | pre-Roman town in the Abruzzo |
| 🇮🇹 Gil Albornoz | late-medieval Spanish cardinal |
| 🇮🇹 Albulae Aquae | ancient springs in the Lazio |
| 🇮🇹 Alsietinus Lacus | a lake in the Lazio |
| 🇮🇹 Amalfi | Italian city in Campania |
| 🇮🇹 Anagnia | ancient Roman city in the Lazio |
| 🇮🇹 Ancona | Italian city in the Marche |
| 🇮🇹 Antemnae | ancient Roman city in the Lazio |
| 🇮🇹 Aquila (usu. L'Aquila) | Italian city in the Abruzzo |
| 🇮🇹 Aquileia | ancient Roman city in the Veneto |
| 🇮🇹 Arezzo | Italian city in Tuscany |
| 🇮🇹 Ariminum | ancient Roman city in Emilia-Romagna |
| Aristomenes | semi-legendary ancient Greek warrior |
| 🇮🇹 Arretium | ancient Roman city in Tuscany |
| 🇮🇹 Ascoli Piceno | Italian city in the Marche |
| 🇮🇹 Assisi | Italian city in Umbria |
| Athenodorus | ancient Greek philosopher |
| Attila | Hunnish king |
| Augustus | Roman emperor |
| 🇮🇹 Auximum | ancient Roman city in the Marche |
| 🇮🇹 Baiae | ancient Roman city in Campania |
| Barbary Pirates | Arab pirates of North Africa |
| Belisarius | ancient Roman general |
| 🇮🇹 Bologna | Italian city in Emilia-Romagna |
| 🇮🇹 Bolsena | Italian city in the Lazio |
| 🇮🇹 Bononia | ancient Roman city in Emilia-Romagna |
| Boadicea (usually now: Boudicca) | British warrior |
| 🇮🇹 Bracciano | Italian city in the Lazio |
| John Bagnell Bury | 19c English historian of Late Antiquity |
| 🇮🇹 Cagli | Italian city in the Marche |
| 🇮🇹 Caiatia | ancient Roman city in Campania |
| 🇮🇹 Caietae Portus | ancient Roman city in the Lazio |
| 🇮🇹 Calatia | Italian city in the Lazio |
| 🇮🇹 Camerino | Italian city in the Marche |
| Cancelli | a type of railing |
| 🇮🇹 Capua | Italian city in Campania |
| 🇮🇹 Casilinum | ancient Roman city in Campania |
| 🇮🇹 Chioggia | Italian city in the Veneto |
| Cithara | Graeco-Roman musical instrument |
| 🇮🇹 Città della Pieve | Italian city in Umbria |
| 🇮🇹 Città di Castello | Italian city in Umbria |
| Colchester/Camulodunum | English city in Essex, and its Roman predecessor |
| 🇮🇹 Vittoria Colonna | 16c Italian poet |
| 🇮🇹 Cori | Italian city in the Lazio |
| Jean-Gustave Courcelle-Seneuil | 19c French economist |
| Couvade | primitive custom connected with childbirth |
| 🇮🇹 Cures | an ancient Italian people |
| Dicuil | medieval Irish scholar |
| Diophantus | ancient Greek mathematician |
| Dodona | ancient Greek religious shrine |
| Jean Dugazon | 18c French stage actor |
| Ennodius | High-medieval Italian bishop and writer |
| 🇮🇹 Exarchate of Ravenna | political entity of high-medieval Italy |
| 🇮🇹 Raphael Fabretti | 17c Italian antiquary |
| 🇮🇹 Faenza | Italian city in Emilia-Romagna |
| 🇮🇹 Falerii | ancient Roman city in the Lazio |
| 🇮🇹 Fano | Italian city in the Marche |
| 🇮🇹 Fanum Fortunae | ancient Roman city in the Marche |
| 🇮🇹 Ferentino | ancient Roman town in the Lazio |
| 🇮🇹 Ferentum | ancient Etruscan and Roman town in the Lazio |
| 🇮🇹 Foligno | Italian city in Umbria |
| 🇮🇹 Formia | Italian city in the Lazio |
| 🇮🇹 Fossombrone | Italian city in the Marche |
| Edward Freeman | 19c English historian |
| 🇮🇹 Fulginiae | ancient Roman city in Umbria |
| 🇮🇹 Gaeta | Italian city in Campania |
| Gaiseric | Vandal king |
| Percy Gardner | 19c English archaeologist |
| Goths | an ancient Eurasian people |
| Johann Friedrich Gronovius | 17c German classical scholar |
| Hugo Grotius | 17c Dutch legal scholar and statesman |
| 🇮🇹 Gubbio | Italian city in Umbria |
| Joseph Gwilt | 19c English architect |
| 🇮🇹 Hernici | an ancient people of Italy |
| 🇮🇹 Hispellum | ancient Roman city in Umbria |
| Thomas Hodgkin | 19c English historian of Late Antiquity |
| Philemon Holland | 16c/17c English scholar and translator |
| Iconium | ancient Roman city in Turkey |
| Idrisi | medieval Arab geographer |
| 🇮🇹 Iguvium | ancient Roman city in Umbria |
| Itius Portus | ancient Roman city in Gaul |
| 🇮🇹 Jesi | Italian city in the Marche |
| Isaac Jogues | 17c French missionary and explorer |
| Chrysostom (usu. John Chrysostom) | early Christian divine |
| John of Damascus | early Christian divine |
| Jordanes | Late Antique chronicler |
| Jordanus Catalani | medieval missionary to Asia |
| Justin I | Roman emperor |
| Justin II | Roman emperor |
| Justinian | Roman emperor |
| John Lascaris | 15c‑16c Greek scholar |
| 🇮🇹 Loreto | Italian city in the Marche |
| Lupercalia | ancient Roman religious festival |
| 🇮🇹 Macerata | Italian city in the Marche |
| Maecenas | ancient Roman politician |
| Maimonides | medieval Jewish philosopher |
| 🇮🇹 Mevania | ancient Roman city in Umbria |
| Minucius Felix | early Christian apologist |
| Theodor Mommsen | 19c German historian of Antiquity |
| 🇮🇹 Ludovico Antonio Muratori | 17‑18c antiquarian and historian of ancient Italy |
| Narses | ancient Roman general |
| 🇮🇹 Nepi | ancient Roman city in the Lazio |
| 🇮🇹 Nocera Inferiore | Italian city in Campania |
| 🇮🇹 Nocera Umbra | Italian city in Umbria |
| 🇮🇹 Norba | ancient Roman city in the Lazio |
| 🇮🇹 Norcia | Italian city in Umbria |
| 🇮🇹 Nuceria Alfaterna | ancient Roman city in Campania |
| 🇮🇹 Ocriculum | ancient Roman town in Umbria |
| 🇮🇹 Odoacer | a ruler of Italy in Late Antiquity |
| Oppian | two ancient Greek authors on zoology |
| 🇮🇹 Orvieto | Italian city in Umbria |
| 🇮🇹 Osimo | Italian city in the Marche |
| 🇮🇹 Palermo | Italian city in Sicily |
| Papyrus | a reed used in Antiquity as a substrate for writing |
| Mark Pattison | 19c English scholar and educator |
| 🇮🇹 Perugia | Italian city in Umbria |
| 🇮🇹 Pesaro | Italian city in the Marche |
| 🇮🇹 Piacenza | Italian city in Emilia-Romagna |
| 🇮🇹 Pisaurum | ancient Roman city in the Marche |
| 🇮🇹 Giovanni Pontano | 15c Italian humanist and poet |
| Procurator | in ancient Rome, an attorney; in the Middle Ages and later, various other officials |
| Protogenes | ancient Greek painter |
| William Ramsay | 19c British archaeologist |
| 🇮🇹 Ravenna | Italian city in Emilia-Romagna |
| 🇮🇹 Recanati | Italian city in the Marche |
| Ricimer | ancient Roman political figure |
| 🇮🇹 Rieti | Italian city in the Lazio |
| 🇮🇹 Rimini | Italian city in Emilia-Romagna |
| Roman Britain | Take a wild guess! |
| 🇮🇹 Roman Capua | ancient Roman city in Campania |
| 🇮🇹 Rovigo | Italian city in the Veneto |
| Rutilius Namatianus | Late Antique Roman poet |
| 🇮🇹 Jacopo Sannazaro | Italian Renaissance poet |
| 🇮🇹 Marino Sanuto the Elder | Venetian statesman and geographer |
| Scylax of Caryanda | two or three people in Antiquity, one of whom lent his name to a geographical work |
| 🇮🇹 Senigallia | Italian city in the Marche |
| 🇮🇹 Setia | ancient Roman city in the Lazio |
| John Sevier | 19c American politician |
| Sir William Smith | 19c English lexicographer |
| 🇮🇹 Spello | Italian city in Umbria |
| 🇮🇹 Spoleto | Italian city in Umbria |
| Stilicho | ancient Roman general |
| 🇮🇹 Sutri | Italian city in the Lazio |
| 🇮🇹 Terni | Italian city in Umbria |
| 🇮🇹 Terracina | Italian city in the Lazio |
| Theoderic | Ostrogothic king |
| Tiberius | Roman emperor |
| 🇮🇹 Ticinum | ancient Roman city in Lombardy |
| 🇮🇹 Todi | Italian city in Umbria |
| 🇮🇹 Tolentino | Italian city in the Marche |
| Totila | Ostrogothic king |
| Tristan da Cunha | British island in the South Atlantic |
| 🇮🇹 Umbria | region of central Italy |
| 🇮🇹 Urbino | Italian city in the Marche |
| 🇮🇹 Valentine | several early Christian saints, often conflated |
| Vandals | ancient Eurasian people |
| Velleius Paterculus | ancient Roman historian |
| 🇮🇹 Velletri | Italian city in the Lazio |
| 🇮🇹 Vestini | an ancient Italian people |
| Vestris family | 18c and 19c stage actors |
| 🇮🇹 Via Aemilia | ancient Roman road |
| 🇮🇹 Via Appia | ancient Roman road |
| 🇮🇹 Via Flaminia | ancient Roman road |
| 🇮🇹 Pasquale Villari | 19c Italian historian and statesman |
| 🇮🇹 Viterbo | Italian city in the Lazio |
| 🇮🇹 Volsci | an ancient Italian people |
| 🇮🇹 Volsinii | ancient Roman city in Umbria |
| 🇮🇹 Volterra | Italian city in Tuscany |
| Zodiac | Its history: astronomy, astrology, India, China, Arabia, Greece and Rome, Mexico. |
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A page or image on this site is in the public domain ONLY if its URL has a total of one *asterisk. If the URL has two **asterisks, the item is copyright someone else, and used by permission or fair use. If the URL has none the item is © Bill Thayer. See my copyright page for details and contact information. |
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