atticism.eu

What It Is

Digital Encyclopedia of Atticism (DEA) is one of the research outputs of the PURA project. PURA is an ERC Consolidator project based at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and running from 2021–2026. It studies theories of linguistic purification in ancient Greek culture and their later reception. DEA is not a general online course platform, but an open-access digital encyclopedia and research database. Its core focus is Atticist lexica—ancient dictionaries that collected linguistic features to use or avoid in the pursuit of “correct Greek.”

Core Content and Format

From an education/course perspective, it is better suited as a specialist learning and research resource than as an introductory course. The website is organized into sections such as dictionary entries, manuscripts and editions, and scholars and works. Entries typically include Greek texts in translation, along with philological and linguistic commentary on the history of the headword in ancient, Byzantine, and modern Greek. The manuscripts and editions section studies the transmission of five types of lexica, including Pollux’s Onomasticon, Moeris’s Atticist, and Phrynichus. The platform also provides search tools and uses Cadmus, an open-source digital humanities framework, to organize structured data.

Pricing and Certification

The website clearly states that its sections are open-access, and that the content is published under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. It can therefore be accessed and cited for free, but commercial use and republished adaptations are restricted. The main content does not mention paid subscriptions, course purchases, learning accreditation, or completion certificates.

Pros and Cons

Its main strength is strong academic credibility: the project is ERC-funded, hosted by Ca’ Foscari University, led by Professor Olga Tribulato, and lists a large number of international peer reviewers. Some content has undergone blind or open review. The materials are focused and clearly structured, making the site suitable for serious research. Its limitations are also clear: it is not a teaching-oriented product, and does not offer video lessons, exercises, learning paths, forums, or instructor Q&A. The topic is also highly specialized and requires a solid background in ancient Greek, philology, and classics.

Who It’s For and Access from China

DEA is suitable for researchers, teachers, and graduate students in classics, the history of ancient Greek, Byzantine studies, manuscript studies, and digital humanities. It can also help advanced learners writing papers or verifying references. For ordinary language learners without a foundation in Greek and philology, the barrier to entry is high. The crawled text does not provide information about access from mainland China, mirrors, or localization, so its accessibility from China is unknown.