CARDIFF SCHOOL OF HISTORY, ARCHAEOLOGY & RELIGION
ANCIENT HISTORY
STYLE GUIDE
ALTERNATIVE FORMATS
This Guide is available on request in 16-point type size for partially-sighted students and
on yellow paper for dyslexic students. It is also available on request in Welsh.
Requests may be made to SHARE UG, the Academic Manager (SHAREUG@cardiff.ac.uk).
CONTACT DETAILS
Cardiff School of History, Archaeology & Religion
Cardiff University
John Percival Building, Colum Drive, Cardiff
CF10 3EU
Tel: 029 2087 4470
Email: SHARE-UG@cardiff.ac.uk
Last updated: October 2020
INTRODUCTION
Please read this guide carefully: it contains important information about how you are
expected to present your work. This information could have a crucial bearing on your final
degree result. If you do not understand something in the guide, ask for clarification from
your Personal Tutor or one of the Ancient History staff.
This booklet provides guidelines for the presentation of written work, including essays,
reports, source criticisms, dissertations and examinations. The conventions described are
widely used in the academic community. They are intended to make your work easier for
the reader to follow, and to ensure that the supporting evidence is easy to check. Please
try to observe the guidelines closely, so that you do not lose marks unnecessarily.
Following instructions is also a useful transferable skill, which future employers will value.
Please note that if you are taking any modules in a different subject or School, they may
have different rules for referencing and presenting coursework, so make sure that you
read your module documentation carefully.
This guide should be used in conjunction with the Cardiff School of History,
Archaeology & Religion Student Handbook, which will be issued to you at the
beginning of the academic year, and the Academic Regulations Handbook, which is
available on the University website. The School Student Handbook includes instructions
for submitting your work and the marking criteria that the tutors use when they assess your
work. Make sure you read them carefully, so that you know what is expected of you.
Any comments, alterations, additions, or suggestions for future editions of this guide will be
gratefully received. You can e-mail your suggestions to the Programme Convenor for
Ancient History, Prof. Shaun Tougher (TougherSF@cardiff.ac.uk).
2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Preparation and Presentation of Written Work
4
1.1.
Presentation
4
1.2.
Coursework titles
4
1.3.
Marking criteria and mark scale
4
1.4.
Word limits
4
1.5.
Spelling and grammar
5
1.6.
Contractions and abbreviations
6
1.7.
Plagiarism
6
1.8.
Quotations
6
1.9.
Illustrations and tables
7
1.10. Principles of documentation and presentation
7
2. Writing an Essay: A Few Suggestions
9
3. Writing Source Criticisms
12
4. Bibliographies and Referencing
17
4.1.
Bibliography
17
4.2.
Referencing modern works
18
4.3.
Referencing ancient texts
19
4.4.
Referencing websites and electronic resources
19
4.5.
Referencing artefacts
20
3
1. Preparation and Presentation of Written Work
1.1. Presentation
All coursework should be word-processed using the standard School template. Full
instructions for the presentation and submission of written work can be found in the School
Student Handbook.
1.2. Coursework titles
Lists of coursework titles for each module will be provided by staff in the module
documentation. In some modules you may be allowed to write on a title of your own
choosing, provided that it is approved in advance by the module tutor or your seminar
tutor.
1.3. Marking criteria and mark scale
The mark bands and detailed criteria used in assessing work are set out in the School
Student Handbook and in Learning Central. Content is the main criterion for assessment,
but note will also be taken of presentation. Content is concerned with issues such as the
relevance of the answer to the question, the accuracy and detail of the information, the
quality of the argument, the use of evidence and modern scholarship, the structure of the
work, and the appropriateness and accuracy of the references and bibliography.
Presentation is concerned with issues such as spelling, punctuation, grammar, writing
style, referencing and visual presentation.
1.4. Word limits
Writing an essay or report must be regarded as a challenge in presenting your material
coherently, persuasively and effectively; this demands tightly organised and controlled
writing. What you have to say is inseparable from how you say it. One of the central skills
is learning how to write concisely and to make every word count.
The word limit for each item of coursework is specified in the module documentation. The
limit includes quotations, footnotes and endnotes, but excludes the bibliography. Note that
this is a limit; it does not mean you must write that number of words, although questions
are set with a particular length in mind, so if your work is much shorter than the limit, you
may not have enough material. Please include a word count on the cover sheet of every
item of coursework you submit: this can be very easily obtained from any word processor
you are using (remember to set it to count footnotes as well as the main text).
If your work is significantly over the word limit, you may receive a low mark, because an
excessively long essay is likely to reveal inadequate rigour and self-discipline in control of
your material. You might have to draft and redraft your material several times in order to
get your essay to work, but this is unavoidable. The marking criteria require you to observe
the set word limit; failure to do so will have an impact on your mark.
4
1.5. Spelling and grammar
You are reminded that poor spelling and mechanical errors of grammar and syntax are not
likely to impress when marks are being decided or when references are being written
(referees are often asked to comment specifically on the English skills of applicants,
especially for PGCE courses). This applies to all written work, including essays, exams
and dissertations.
Aim to increase your vocabulary, but check the spelling of new words, especially those you
have only heard and not seen in print. It is a good idea to have a dictionary by your side
when you are working so that you can immediately check spellings and meanings.
Do not rely on a computer spell-check: it will not tell you if you have used the wrong word,
and it may introduce errors if you have used words that are not in its lexicon (e.g. technical
terms or Latin and Greek names). Note also that Microsoft Word’s grammar-checking
program is not particularly good. However, computerised checks will pick up some typing
errors and are worth using as long as you do not use them as a substitute for thinking.
Remember to be particularly careful to check the spelling of the titles, authors, placenames, materials and technical terms that you are writing about. Make a special point of
checking endings such as ance/ence, ent/ant, able/ible and ei/ie combinations.
Learn to distinguish between the following which commonly appear as spelling errors:
principal / principle, there / their, affect / effect, cited / sited, etc.
You should also know how to use apostrophes. Here are some examples:
The mother has one son. She is the boy’s mother.
The mother has two daughters. She is the girls’ mother.
It’s/its: it’s is an abbreviation of it is. The possessive adjective its, meaning ‘belonging to it’,
does not have an apostrophe (It’s cold today. The cat licked its tail.).
When an author’s name ends with an s it is normal practice to add only an apostrophe
(Patricia Phillips’ works).
When referring to centuries, use a hyphen to form the compound adjective. No hyphen is
needed for a noun (It is a sixth-century pot. It was made in the sixth century).
Use the full range of punctuation to clarify your meaning and add emphasis. Good
punctuation helps the reader to understand your writing. Consider the difference in
meaning that punctuation can make:
Jones thinks Lewis is a fool.
Jones, thinks Lewis, is a fool.
Use not only full stops and commas, but also semi-colons and colons. Try to avoid linking
statements with a comma (the ‘comma splice’); either start a new sentence, use a colon or
semi-colon, or use a conjunction (e.g. and, but, although, because) to make the
connection between the two statements explicit.
5
1.6. Contractions and abbreviations
You should avoid the use of contractions such as don’t, aren’t, etc.
Commonly used abbreviations are as follows: e.g. = for example; i.e. = that is; cf. =
compare. (Note the punctuation.) In general, however, you should not use such
abbreviations as part of your continuous text.
You will also come across the abbreviations idem and eadem (= same author, male and
female respectively), ibid. (= in the same place), op. cit. (= in the work mentioned), and ff.
(= following), which are sometimes used in footnotes. These are not compatible with our
recommended system of referencing, and you should not use them in your work.
1.7. Plagiarism
Plagiarism, in the words of Cardiff University’s Student Guide to Academic Integrity:
‘occurs when work that is submitted for assessment contains the words or ideas of
others without the original source being properly attributed or acknowledged. It includes
attempts to pass off work that has been produced by fellow students as your own, or
words or ideas that are found in textbooks, in articles, on the Web, or in any other
format. It includes both work that is directly copied from another source and work that
has been slightly changed or paraphrased to make it look like it is different from the
original.’
Examiners will take action against any student suspected of plagiarism regardless
of whether it was accidental or deliberate, and the University does not accept ignorance
of what constitutes plagiarism as a legitimate excuse. You are therefore strongly advised
to consult the information on plagiarism on the Student Intranet, and take the tutorial
provided there: Avoiding Plagiarism: Citing and Referencing, at
https://xerte.cardiff.ac.uk/play_4216
1.8. Quotations
All direct quotations from secondary sources must be placed in quotation marks and
referenced as specified in section 4 of this guide, so that it is clear when you are using
words that are not your own. Long quotations may be printed as a separate, indented
paragraph (like the quote in section 1.7 above). The inclusion of unacknowledged material
will be treated as plagiarism and penalised accordingly.
Quotations from modern authors should be used sparingly, to illustrate their point of view.
You should try to avoid using too many quotations: you will get a higher mark if you explain
things in your own words, even if they are not particularly elegant, as this demonstrates to
the marker that you have understood the material and can think independently. A
quotation from a modern author is not a substitute for primary evidence in support of your
argument.
6
1.9. Illustrations and tables
Ancient history and classical archaeology are empirical subjects. Where relevant, you are
encouraged to support your argument with illustrations of objects or places, or plans or
sections of sites, or tables of data. Illustrations and tables, however, require thought.

They should be relevant to your argument, and they should be referred to in the text.

They should be legible.

They should have clear captions, describing exactly what (and where) they are. If an
object is in a museum, you should say where it is (and give the museum inventory
number if you can), and if you know from which direction a photo of a site was taken,
you should state it (e.g. ‘South wall of Caerwent from south’).

If the illustrations are not your own photographs or drawings, or if the data in a table
was not compiled by you, you should reference the source (e.g. in a publication, or on
the internet). The reference can be placed either in the figure caption, or in the list of
illustrations at the end of the essay.

Illustrations and tables may be placed either in the text, near the relevant part of the
argument, or grouped together at the end, in the same order as they are discussed in
the text. Leave some white space around them.

Illustrations and tables should be consecutively numbered and keyed in to your text.
For example: ‘the Prima Porta Augustus (fig. 3) makes subtle use of Hellenistic
iconography for new political ends’. Illustrations should be listed at the end of the essay
(fig. 1, fig. 2, etc.).
Always remember that illustrations and tables are there to help you make a point. They are
not for decoration. There are some good guidelines for using images and writing captions
at: https://classicalstudies.org/publications-and-research/using-images-teaching-andpublications.
1.10. Principles of documentation and presentation
If there are any points concerning presentation that you are unsure about, ask your Tutor
or any member of staff. A useful and authoritative guide to principles of documentation and
presentation is the Modern Humanities Research Association Style Guide (3rd edition,
2013), which you can download from www.mhra.org.uk/style/download.html
Much useful advice on the preparation and presentation of written work is to be found in:
Pirie, D.B., 1985. How to Write Critical Essays. London: Methuen.
Burchfield, R.W., 2004. Fowler's Modern English Usage (Revised 3rd edition). Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Gowers, E., 2004. The Complete Plain Words. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
7
Fowler, H.R., and Aaron, J. (eds.), 2003. The Little, Brown Handbook. London: Longman.
8
2. Writing an Essay: A Few Suggestions
The main purpose of writing an essay is to demonstrate that you have mastered a range of
material and that you have integrated it into a coherent argument. The key is to remember
that you are being asked a question, and you must therefore develop an argued response
and justify what you say, showing that you are aware of other approaches to the question
and that you are able to deal with possible objections to your view. You should not fall into
the trap of simply listing the accounts of the various modern writers you have read, and
then in your conclusion saying which one you agree with.
This might seem rather difficult. Essay-writing is certainly an acquired skill, but a practical
example might help. How would you respond if someone asked you why the Labour Party
lost the last general election? You would not say, ‘Well, The Guardian said that Labour lost
because of poor leadership; The Telegraph said that they lost because voters did not trust
them to run the economy. In conclusion, I think that there is some truth in both views.’
You would give your own opinion, providing reasons to justify it. You might say something
about unemployment, or the state of the Health Service. You could refer to wider debates
by drawing on newspaper articles you have read, and might show as part of your
argument, why such and such a commentator was wrong on a particular issue. In short,
you start with your opinion and back it up with factual information, explaining where your
thoughts come from, rather than just summarising the facts.
You should also remember that you are being asked a specific question. Many questions
take the form of asking ‘what did A (e.g. a specific cause) contribute to B (e.g. a major
event)?‘ In such cases it is tempting to discuss A, but also to write about the contribution of
C, D and E. In fact, you should focus closely on A. However, a question such as ‘To what
extent was the fall of the Roman Republic a consequence of competition among the
Roman political elite?’ would involve some comparison between the impact of competition
among the Roman political class on the Republic, and other relevant factors and forces.
Political competition should be central to your answer, but it should be analysed in relation
to other factors. You should deal with the question in this way even if you think that
political competition was not an important cause of the fall of the Republic.
Essay-writing is much easier if it is tackled in stages. The main stages are as follows:

read the question and analyse it
Read the question and think about it very carefully. Check the meaning of key words, if
necessary, but remember that the meaning of terms or concepts used by modern
scholars (e.g. class or state) is often contested, and that the question might be
designed to get you to think about issues of definition. Try looking at how the term is
used in the various sources you consult. Paraphrase the question in your own words. If
you are in doubt about the meaning of the question then ask advice from the module
tutor or your seminar tutor. This is not cheating!
9

read and re-read the relevant material
Investigate all likely primary and secondary sources. Use the module bibliography, the
library catalogue and other bibliographic searches (e.g. JSTOR, Google Scholar). You
should read as widely as possible: markers look for and reward evidence of
independent reading, and an essay that relies heavily on lecture material or one or two
books or articles will not get a high mark.

select your material and start planning
You will need to note relevant material and determine what to use. You might want, for
example, to list relevant page references under the various headings in your essay
plan. Useful material includes examples, illustrations, definitions and arguments. Try to
make notes in your own words, rather than copying out text from the books or articles
that you read; this will help you to think through the material for yourself, as well as
minimising the chance of accidental plagiarism. Do not forget to note page references
for your citations or footnotes.
Remember that in deciding what to include, the word is: relevance. If you cannot see
how material fits in with your argument, discard it. If an example or argument
contradicts your argument, then think again about the general line of your essay!

shape the essay
The selected material must be organised logically in order to create a clear line of
argument. You should draw up an outline in order to provide such a structure. There is
no single best way to organise an essay, but you may find the following pattern useful:
Introduction: The meaning of the question and key terms. It is often wise to set out
some definitions in the introduction to keep in mind throughout the essay. You must
not, for example, define ‘monuments’ or ‘chattel slavery’ in one way in the introduction,
and then use the term differently in the rest of the essay. If historians differ over a
definition, say so, but ensure that the reader knows how you will be using the term.
Show your awareness of debates about the subject. You should say briefly how
modern scholars have approached the subject and where they disagree. Indicate the
general direction you plan to take but don’t worry about stating exactly where your
argument will go. Articles are often extended essays attempting to deal with a particular
problem, so look at how professional scholars open their works. Sometimes an
anecdote taken from a primary source can give you a good place to start the essay.
For example, if you were writing an essay on relations between the emperor and the
Senate, you might start with an anecdote from an ancient source describing a specific
example of the emperor’s treatment of the Senate, and then discuss how this reflects
that emperor’s conception of his relationship with the Senate. This is often a good way
of getting past the dreaded first line of an essay.
Main body/development: The body of the essay should consist of the main points of
your argument, divided in a logical fashion. Each of these points should be designed to
substantiate your main argument. Include signposts to show where your argument is
10
going and perhaps to give a summary of what you have argued so far. Use transition
words and phrases to show how your arguments flow, and to refer back to your central
argument. For example: ‘Another limitation of Aristotle’s view of political development is
that…’
Each point should be supported by primary evidence. If, for example, you argue that
sculptured grave-markers were used to define status in the Archaic period, provide the
evidence on which your claim is based, such as particular objects, archaeological
contexts, etc. Do not rely solely on the opinions of modern writers. Try to avoid simply
comparing and contrasting different modern viewpoints.
It is very important that you use paragraphs. The purpose of the paragraph is to deal
with one major issue or a group of related issues for a specified purpose. Paragraphs
should be arranged in an order that assists the flow of your argument through a logical
sequence of issues, evidence and debate. Paragraphs are vital — make sure you use
them properly. Paragraphs vary in length but generally contain more than five but less
than twenty sentences. Paragraphs should only very rarely contain just one or two
sentences.
Conclusion: A short summary of the argument is usually wise, followed by a clear
statement of your conclusion based on that argument. Make sure that the conclusion
flows logically from the body of the essay. You can also draw out the wider implications
of your argument — what further research might be necessary to confirm it, for
example, or how it might affect your thinking on related issues.

write the essay
Ideally you should write up a rough draft, edit and amend it, and then write a final copy.
You should then proofread the final version before handing it in. It is essential to
concentrate on expressing your ideas clearly and to achieve a flow of argument so that
the reader can follow your line of reasoning. Do not try to use vocabulary you are
unfamiliar with. Your language should be as clear and direct as possible. Keep your
sentences and paragraphs closely focused.
If you do get stuck on the first line, don’t panic. When you first sit down to write, it’s best
just to get your ideas down on the page. Once you have the flow of things, you can go
back and write the introduction. Remember: the more time you give yourself to write,
the less intimidating the experience will be!
11
3. Writing Source Criticisms
For source criticisms there is no specific question to answer: You will be given a source
(e.g. a passage of text, or an artefact or site), and you have to determine for yourself what
are the questions or issues raised by the source that are most worthy of comment. Thus
you will usually be asked a broad question of the type:
‘You should comment on what seem to you to be the main ways in which the source
might be used as evidence for the period, paying particular attention to the context and
nature of the source, and alluding where relevant to other comparable evidence.’
Here are some guidelines to help you to deal with this invitation to ‘comment’.
1. Do not write notes.
We are looking for a short essay, i.e. a piece of connected and coherent prose, not a
series of independent notes or a commentary. Some sources may concern a single major
issue, about which a tightly connected mini-essay may be written. Other passages may
provide material on a number of different topics within a broad area. In such cases, you
should write separate paragraphs on each topic, and compose linking phrases to move
from one topic to the next.
2. Deal with the passage as evidence.
The exercise is centrally concerned with handling a specific piece of ancient evidence in
relation to one or more important historical issues; in almost all cases there is likely to be
other evidence known to you, which may belong to the same or to different genres. The
essay must be focused on the primary task, of using the passage as evidence for one or
more historical issues: and should do this by combining three essential elements into a
coherent, yet brief, essay.

Element 1: You must show a basic knowledge of the source.
If it is a literary text, the answer should show awareness of the author, i.e. his/her
rough date and relation to the topic discussed (e.g. contemporary with the events or
much later), the genre (history, play, poem, etc.). It may well be appropriate to indicate
reasons for regarding it as a good source (e.g. contemporary, or a serious researcher
or whatever) or a need for caution (e.g. known bias, written very much later, heavily
dependent on earlier material, fiction, or whatever).
If it is a document or an artefact with writing on (e.g. inscription, papyrus, coin),
knowledge should be shown if possible of the nature of the document, and the date
and place of manufacture and/or display.
If it is a work of art or an artefact, the answer should show awareness of what type of
artefact it is, its date and place of manufacture, and where appropriate, other places
where it may have been displayed and/or found.
12
It is best not to make all these points about the general nature of the source out of
context, as a sort of separated introduction; and certainly do not write a brief
‘biography’ of the author. Introduce the points as they are relevant to the discussion of
the issue(s).

Element 2: The essay should in most cases reveal also some awareness of other
important evidence for the specific topic, in order to identify what is distinctive and
important about this source in relation to this topic. Again this must not be allowed to
run away into irrelevant digressions, but should be kept strictly to what is necessary.
For example, on a passage from Appian on Tiberius Gracchus mentioning the agrarian
law and the Italians, it may well be appropriate to comment that this approach is not to
be found in Plutarch; but a general discussion of Plutarch as a historian of the Roman
Republic would be inappropriate.

Element 3: Above all, the essay should explore succinctly the main themes that the
passage, artefact or site relates to, and identify the contribution this specific source
makes to understanding of a historical issue. There may be one issue, or there may be
more. But (in the case of a text) they must all be issues explicitly mentioned in this
passage, not issues which arise from the work as a whole, or from a passage just
before this one, or concerning the period more generally. For example, an extract from
Thucydides on the Megarian decree is not an excuse to write a general account of the
causes of the Peloponnesian War, nor should you also look in detail at the Corcyra
episode. In the case of a site or artefact, you should focus on the specific example, not
all sites or artefacts of that type. On the other hand, avoid paraphrasing the text or
simply describing the artefact or site. There are few if any marks in repeating what
the passage itself is saying, or in giving a narrative of the main events alluded to. You
should aim to bring out what the source contributes to interpretation or understanding.
So, summing up, the main rule to remember is that we are looking for relevant comment.
You should avoid, on the one hand, introducing material that is too far removed from the
particular passage, artefact or site, and, on the other, simply repeating the gist of the
passage or describing what you see in the picture.
One last example may help. Imagine you have to comment on a passage from
Xenophon’s Oikonomikos, describing how Ischomachos, an ‘Athenian gentleman’, trained
his wife to manage the female slaves. This is not an invitation to discuss Xenophon’s
literary career, nor the general nature of our sources for the lives of Athenian women, nor
the treatment of slaves. Do not give a general summary of the Oikonomikos. A good
answer should show, in the course of argument about this passage, a basic knowledge of
the work and a rough idea of its date, and should discuss, e.g., how this passage reveals
the typically patronising attitude towards his wife of the character Ischomachos. It might
perhaps consider whether even so Xenophon reveals, arguably, a slightly more
enlightened attitude than is found in other sources. It might also comment on a tendency,
also seen in other sources, to give a significant role to wives in the management of woolworking, other business and the slaves in the house.
13
A real example
Finally, here is a source criticism of the following passage from Suetonius’ Life of
Augustus, written by a Cardiff student for a first-year module a few years ago, which was
awarded a mark of 68. (Note that it includes references and bibliography, as required for
coursework.)
The plainness of his household utensils and furniture is evident even now from the
remaining couches and tables, many of which are scarcely smart enough for an ordinary
citizen. They say that he would always sleep on a bed which was low and equipped with
simple coverings. He rarely wore clothes which were not produced in his own household
by his sister, his wife, his daughter, or his granddaughters. His togas were neither closefitting nor voluminous, his purple stripe neither broad nor narrow. His shoes were a little
raised to make him seem taller than he was. At all times he would keep clothes for public
wear and shoes in his bedchamber, ready for any sudden and unexpected occasions.
Suetonius, Augustus 73
Suetonius’ Augustus forms part of a series of biographies the Lives of the Caesars
(Wallace-Hadrill 1995, 1). Although their exact publication date is uncertain, it is suggested
to be at the end of the first, or beginning of the second century AD (Goldsworthy 2014, 13),
approximately one hundred years after Augustus’s death in AD 14 (Kamm 2008, 46).
Suetonius’ focus on Augustus’ character and personal life is relatively uncommon
among contemporary sources (Goldsworthy 2014, 13); although Plutarch also wrote a
biography on Augustus, no copy remains (Bowersock 1982, 171). Cassius Dio discussed
Augustus in the History of Rome, however this was written two centuries after Augustus’
death (Levick 2014, 18), possibly limiting its usefulness as a contemporary source. It has
also been suggested that both Cassius Dio and the ancient historian Tacitus were
focussed on public life (Kamm 2008, 118), highlighting the usefulness of Suetonius’
Augustus as a rare source of Augustus’ private sphere (Wallace-Hadrill 1995, 171).
As a biography, Suetonius’ Augustus reveals aspects of Augustus’ personality and
private life (Wallace-Hadrill 1995, 14-16). The depth of knowledge displayed in both the
passage and rest of the text, is often attributed to Suetonius’ access to historical material
in the imperial archives (Townend 1959, 287, Kamm 2008, 168-169, Pelling 2009, 253).
This evidence reinforces the reliability of Suetonius’ Augustus as a source; Wallace-Hadrill
(1995, 171) proposes that the discussions on Augustus’ private life are supported by facts,
enjoyed due to their veracity, leaving little need to fabricate anecdotes.
On the other hand, some scholars doubt Suetonius’ reliability, suggesting
falsification (Wallace-Hadrill 1995, 176), possibly resulting from a “reliance on unchecked
14
anecdotes” (Goodman 2013, 4), or hostile sources (Goldsworthy 2014, 13). Furthermore,
Benediktson (1996, 169) suggests that Suetonius manipulated sources to create a more
interesting narrative.
Nevertheless, some aspects of this source are supported by more substantial
evidence; when Suetonius refers to the “plainness of his household utensils and furniture”
(Suet. Aug. 73), he is writing with first-hand experience, as some of Augustus’ furniture
was present in Suetonius’ time (Goldsworthy 2014, 419).
Suetonius’ Augustus generally portrays the emperor positively, exalting Augustus’
modest lifestyle, such as his “reputation for prowess and moderation” (Suet. Aug. 21.3).
One example of it is the reference to Augustus wearing clothes “produced …by his sister,
his wife, his daughter or his granddaughters” (Suet. Aug. 73), as weaving was a
respectable and traditional pastime of elite Roman woman (Goldsworthy 2014, 419). This
allusion to the family of Augustus exemplifying idealised Roman morals, can be supported
by evidence depicting Augustus’ desire to model the moral behaviour and reforms which
he advocated to the people of Rome (Goldsworthy 2014, 419, Langlands 2014, 112).
The quote “His shoes were a little raised to make him seem taller than he was”
(Suet. Aug. 73), is arguably supported by a later passage of Suetonius (Aug. 79), which
refers to the emperor as “short of stature”. The fact that Suetonius informs us that
Augustus was small, when combined with the given contemporary source – one of
Augustus’ freedmen (Suet. Aug. 79, Wallace-Hadrill 1995, 176), suggests that the idea of
him wearing raised shoes to appear taller may be historically valid. Despite this, the
passage then refers to Augustus’ height being “disguised by the fine proportion and
symmetry of his figure” (Suet. Aug. 79), with no mention of the use of raised shoes. This
could suggest that the anecdote of Augustus’ footwear was fictitious, however the fact that
Suetonius describes the shoes as only “a little raised” seems to be downplaying the claim,
and so unlikely to be gossip.
Overall, this excerpt from Suetonius’ Augustus demonstrates Augustus’ modest
lifestyle and morals, which is in keeping with the rest of his biography. As a piece of
historical evidence, it is key in providing an insight into the private life of Augustus, due to
its attention to small details which may have been passed over by contemporary historians
(Wallace-Hadrill 1995, 14). Although there may be debate over the reliability of Suetonius’
work (Syme 1981, 116, Kamm 2008, 4, Goodman 2013, 4), the most questionable parts of
his work are the “racy and anecdotal accounts” (Kamm 2008, 41), or the sections of text
which have been enlivened with dramatic tension (Wallace-Hadrill 1995, 14). In this
excerpt (Suet. Aug. 73) however, there seems to be a lack of drama or amusing
15
anecdotes, instead it is written as fact, which Wallace-Hadrill (1995, 171) suggests would
have been “relished for [its] authenticity”. One could conclude therefore that this passage
can be interpreted as a likely accurate depiction of the Roman publics’ views on Augustus,
and is significant in its exploration of the emperor’s private life.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Baldwin, B., 1975. ‘Suetonius: birth, disgrace and death’, Acta Classica 18, 61-70.
Benediktson, D., 1996. ‘Structure and fate in Suetonius' Life of Galba’, The Classical
Journal 92, 167-173.
Bowersock, G.W., 1982. ‘The emperor Julian on his predecessors’, in J.J. Winkler and G.
Williams (eds.), Later Greek Literature, 159-172. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Goldsworthy, A., 2014. Augustus: From Revolutionary to Emperor. London: Weidenfeld &
Nicolson.
Goodman, M., 2013. The Roman World: 44 BC–AD 180. London: Routledge.
Kamm, A., 2008. The Romans: An Introduction. Second edition. London: Routledge.
Langlands, R., 2014. ‘Exemplary influences and Augustus’ pernicious moral legacy’, in T.
Power and R.K. Gibson (eds.), Suetonius: The Biographer, 111-129. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Lendering, J., 2015. ‘Suetonius’. Livius. URL:
http://www.livius.org/articles/person/suetonius/. Accessed 29 December 2016.
Levick, B., 2014. Augustus: image and substance. London: Routledge.
Pelling, C., 2009. ‘The first biographers: Plutarch and Suetonius’, in M. Griffin (ed.), A
Companion to Julius Caesar, 252-266. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
Syme, R., 1981. ‘The travels of Suetonius Tranquillus’, Hermes 109, 105-117.
Townend, G., 1959. ‘The date of composition of Suetonius’ Caesares’, The Classical
Quarterly 9, 285–293.
Wallace-Hadrill, A., 1995. Suetonius. Second edition. Bristol: Bristol Classical Press.
16
4. Bibliographies and Referencing
All coursework must be referenced using the system described below, and must be
provided with a bibliography at the end. The point of referencing is to acknowledge your
debt to other people’s work and to enable the reader to locate the sources of your
information easily. There are all kinds of variations in referencing conventions: the
conventions set out here are common in Ancient History publications, but if you are taking
other subjects you may find that they require you to use different systems.
4.1. Bibliography
The bibliography should list all the works that you cite, and any other books and articles
that you have consulted in the process of preparing the work, even if you do not refer to
them directly. The conventions for setting out a bibliography are as follows:
You should list works in alphabetical order by the author’s surname, and then in date
order. Do not list ancient sources in the bibliography.

For books, give the author’s surname, initial(s), date; title (in italics); edition (if not the
first); place of publication; publisher — e.g.:
Wallace-Hadrill, A., 1994. Houses and Society in Pompeii and Herculaneum. Princeton:
Princeton University Press.

For articles in journals, give the author’s surname, initial(s), date; article title (in
inverted commas); journal title (in italics), volume number; pages — e.g.:
Morris, S.P., and J.K. Papadopoulos, 2005. ‘Greek towers and slaves: an archaeology
of exploitation,’ American Journal of Archaeology 109, 155–225.
If you read the article online (e.g. in JSTOR or on the publisher’s website), you should
cite it in exactly the same way as if you read the print copy in the library; there is no
need to give the URL of the article or the date when you read it.

For chapters in edited books where each chapter is written by a different author,
you must list each chapter that you cite as a separate item in the bibliography, under
the author’s name, not the editor of the book. Give the author’s surname, initial(s),
date; article title (in inverted commas); editor(s), book title (in italics), pages, place of
publication; publisher — e.g.:
Foxhall, L., 2009. ‘Gender.’ In K.A. Raaflaub and H. van Wees (eds.), A Companion to
Archaic Greece, 483–507. Chichester & Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.

For websites and electronic resources, see section 4.4.
17
Abbreviations: The titles of journals or other major publications may be abbreviated,
following the standard lists in the Oxford Classical Dictionary, L’Année Philologique
(http://www.annee-philologique.com/files/sigles_fr.pdf), or the American Journal of
Archaeology (http://www.ajaonline.org/submissions/abbreviations).
4.2. Referencing modern works
You should cite works by the author’s surname(s), date and page number(s), as shown in
the examples below. You should always include page number(s), so that the reader can
easily find the specific point you are referring to, unless you intend to refer to the work as a
whole. There is no need to use ‘p.’, ‘pp.’ or other abbreviations for ‘page’.
The three examples in section 4.1 would be referenced as follows:
book: Wallace-Hadrill 1994, 65–90.
journal article: Morris and Papadopoulos 2005, 167.
chapter in book: Foxhall 2009, 498–500.
If you need to cite more than one item published by the same author in the same year, you
should differentiate them in citations and in the bibliography by adding a, b, c, etc., after
the date (e.g. Foxhall 2009a, 2009b, and so on).
Where to put the references: For Ancient History coursework, you may place references
either in footnotes or in brackets in the text (‘in-text references’). For examples, see recent
issues of American Journal of Archaeology (footnotes) or World Archaeology (in-text
references).
If you use footnotes, the footnote reference marker should be placed at the end of the
sentence if possible, or at the end of a clause; the reference marker should come after the
punctuation mark.1
Footnotes may also be used to provide essential information that would clutter up the text
or distract from the flow of the argument. Every footnote should end with a full stop.
In-text references should generally be placed at the end of a sentence or clause, before
the punctuation mark, like this (Foxhall 2009, 498–500). If you mention the author’s name,
you can put the reference immediately after it, using just the year and page(s), e.g.
‘Wallace-Hadrill (1994, 65–90) argues that...’
If you take an Archaeology module (with a code starting HS2–), you must use in-text
references, not footnotes.
1
Like this.
18
4.3. Referencing ancient texts
Greek and Latin texts should be referred to by author, title (if more than one work by the
author exists), book number, and chapter or line number within the particular book. Book,
chapter and line numbers are standard across all versions of the same text, both in the
original language and in translations; they can normally be found at the top of or alongside
the text. For example:
Homer, Odyssey 11, 32–45
Thucydides, 4.44
Virgil, Aeneid 3, 6–20
Do not refer to the page numbers of modern translations, as (unlike the book and chapter
numbers) the page numbers will be different in different translations. You should also give
the title of the original work rather than the title of the translation. For example:
Tacitus, Annals 1.64, not The Annals of Imperial Rome p. 53.
Ancient sources should not be listed in the bibliography.
The names of ancient authors and their works may be abbreviated (e.g. ‘Tac.' for
‘Tacitus’), following the list in the front of the Oxford Classical Dictionary
(http://classics.oxfordre.com/staticfiles/images/ORECLA/OCD.ABBREVIATIONS.pdf). If in
doubt, follow the usage in standard works such as the Journal of Roman Studies, the
Journal of Hellenic Studies or the Cambridge Ancient History.
4.4. Referencing websites and electronic resources
There is no standard way of referencing online material, but you should always give
enough information to show the reader what the website is about and who produced it, and
to enable them to find it if they want to follow it up. You should also give the date when you
visited the page, as websites change over time and the content may be different when
your reader visits the page. Here are two systems of referencing that we recommend:
System 1: Treat websites like book chapters or journal articles. In the bibliography, you
should include the author’s surname and initial(s) (if known), date (if known), article title (in
inverted commas), title of site, web address (URL), date accessed.
Page with a named author and a date:
http://www.asprom.org/resources/Lullingstone/LullingstoneDSN.html
Bibliography entry:
Neal, D.S., 1997. ‘Brief notes on the Lullingstone Villa mosaic.’ Association for the
Study and Preservation of Roman Mosaics. URL:
http://www.asprom.org/resources/Lullingstone/LullingstoneDSN.html. Accessed 15
August 2016.
19
Reference as Neal 1997.
Page with no named author and no date:
http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/article_index/l/lord_elgin_and_the_par
thenon.aspx
Bibliography entry:
British Museum, n[o].d[ate]. ‘Lord Elgin and the Parthenon sculptures.’ URL:
http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/article_index/l/lord_elgin_and_the_par
thenon.aspx. Accessed 15 August 2016.
Reference as British Museum n.d.
System 2: Reference each website or electronic resource by number, e.g. ‘web source 1’,
and include a key at the end of your work, e.g.:
web source 1: Neal, D.S., 1997. ‘Brief notes on the Lullingstone Villa mosaic.’ Association
for the Study and Preservation of Roman Mosaics. URL:
http://www.asprom.org/resources/Lullingstone/LullingstoneDSN.html.
Accessed 15 August 2016.
web source 2: British Museum, n.d. ‘Lord Elgin and the Parthenon sculptures.’ URL:
http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/article_index/l/lord_elgin_a
nd_the_parthenon.aspx. Accessed 15 August 2016.
Note that electronic versions of journal articles should not be cited as if they are websites:
you do not need to give the URL or date accessed, as the article is simply a scan of the
printed pages and will not be updated over time. You should cite electronic journals in
exactly the same way as if you read the print copy in the library.
4.5. Referencing artefacts
If you need to discuss an object to support your argument (e.g. a sculpture or a pot), you
should include a picture of it if possible. For guidance on using illustrations, see section
1.9. If you do not illustrate the object, you should give a reference to a picture of it in a
book or journal, or on a website.
Whether you include an illustration or not, you should supply enough information to enable
the reader to identify the artefact. Some artefacts are sufficiently well known that you can
simply identify them by name, e.g. the Prima Porta Augustus or the Parthenon frieze. For
less well-known objects, you might include some or all of the following, in addition to a
reference:



the title of the work or an indication of what it is
its place of manufacture and/or its find-spot (if known)
the name of the artist or maker (if known)
20



its date
its present location (with its museum inventory number if known)
if appropriate, a reference to any standard publications that it is included in (e.g.
Beazley’s catalogues of Attic black-figure and red-figure pottery).
Examples:

An Attic red-figure krater painted by Euphronios shows Sleep and Death carrying the
dead body of the warrior Sarpedon from the battlefield at Troy (New York, Metropolitan
Museum 1972.11.10; Hurwit 1985, 263–4, fig. 113).

The heroic ideal is reflected in a fourth-century pebble mosaic in House A vi 3 at
Olynthos, which depicts Bellerophon killing the Chimaira (Biers 1996, 277, fig. 9.40).

The hunt is often represented on cups used at the symposium, such as a
Protocorinthian kotyle found at Kamiros on Rhodes, which is decorated with a huntingdog (British Museum GR 1860.0404.18).

A terracotta brazier from the Athenian Agora is a good example of the portable cooking
equipment that was used in Classical Greek houses (Agora Museum P 19598:
American School of Classical Studies at Athens, n.d.).

A funerary relief of the first century B.C. from the Via Statilia, Rome (now in the
Palazzo dei Conservatori) shows a married couple, who are thought to be freed slaves
(Kleiner 2010, 82, fig. 6-7).

Textile production was an important part of a woman’s domestic role, as is shown by
the gravestone of Regina, from South Shields, which depicts the dead woman seated
on a high-backed chair, with a wool-basket beside her (Roman Inscriptions of Britain
no. 1065; Allason-Jones 2012, 470–1, fig. 34.1).
References
Allason-Jones, L., 2012. ‘Women in Roman Britain.’ In S.L. James and S. Dillon (eds.), A
Companion to Women in the Ancient World, 467–77. Malden, MA and Oxford: WileyBlackwell.
Biers, W.R., 1996. The Archaeology of Greece. Second edition. Ithaca and London:
Cornell University Press.
Hurwit, J.M., 1985. The Art and Culture of Early Greece, 1100–480 B.C. Ithaca and
London: Cornell University Press.
Kleiner, F.S., 2010. A History of Roman Art. Enhanced edition. Boston, MA: Wadsworth
Cengage Learning.
Websites
American School of Classical Studies at Athens, no date. Agora Object P 19598. URL:
http://agora.ascsa.net/id/agora/object/p%2019598. Accessed 15 August 2016.
21