{ "id": "how-to-cite-mythology-sources", "type": "guide", "name": "How to cite mythology sources: the reference conventions of this corpus", "summary": "The citation forms used across mythosdata — Theog. line, Il. book.line, Apollod. book.chapter.section, Met. book.line, Poetic Edda poem and stanza in Bellows's numbering, Hdt. book.chapter.section, Plut. Is. section, Budge Lit. chapter — with one worked example of each drawn from the texts, and why \"according to whom\" is the question that decides whether a mythology answer is right.", "locale": "en", "tags": [ "comparative", "guides", "methods", "sources", "citation" ], "relations": [ { "rel": "related", "target": "primary-sources-of-greek-mythology" }, { "rel": "related", "target": "primary-sources-of-norse-mythology" }, { "rel": "related", "target": "primary-sources-of-egyptian-mythology" }, { "rel": "example", "target": "theogony" }, { "rel": "example", "target": "iliad" }, { "rel": "example", "target": "odyssey" }, { "rel": "example", "target": "bibliotheca" }, { "rel": "example", "target": "metamorphoses" }, { "rel": "example", "target": "aeneid" }, { "rel": "example", "target": "poetic-edda" }, { "rel": "example", "target": "herodotus-book-2" }, { "rel": "example", "target": "on-isis-and-osiris" }, { "rel": "example", "target": "aphrodite" } ], "questions": [ "How do you cite Hesiod's Theogony?", "How do you cite the Iliad and the Odyssey?", "How do you cite Apollodorus?", "How do you cite the Poetic Edda?", "How do you cite Herodotus and Plutarch?", "Why does it matter which source a myth comes from?", "Who is Aphrodite's father according to Hesiod and according to Homer?" ], "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "text": "Hesiod is cited by the Loeb line: \"Theog. 453–458\" is the passage where Rhea bears \"Hestia, Demeter, and gold-shod Hera and strong Hades … and the loud-crashing Earth-Shaker, and wise Zeus\"; Works and Days likewise, \"WD 60–105\" for the making of Pandora. The translation is prose, so a citation names the five-line block in which the words fall.", "sources": [ "hesiod-theogony", "hesiod-works-and-days" ], "confidence": 0.95 }, { "id": "c2", "text": "Homer is cited by book and line: \"Il. 5.370–380\" is Aphrodite on the knees of \"her mother Dione\"; \"Od. 24.1–14\" is \"Cyllenian Hermes\" leading the suitors' spirits \"down the dank ways\". The Homeric Hymns take the hymn number and line, \"HH28 1–17\" for Athena's birth from Zeus's head.", "sources": [ "homer-iliad", "homer-odyssey", "homeric-hymns" ], "confidence": 0.95 }, { "id": "c3", "text": "Apollodorus is cited by book, chapter and section: \"Apollod. 1.1.6\" is Rhea giving birth to Zeus \"in a cave of Dicte\" and handing him to the Curetes — which, set against Hesiod's cave \"on thick-wooded Mount Aegeum\" (Theog. 477–484), is the standard example of why the section number and not just the author must be cited.", "sources": [ "apollodorus-library", "hesiod-theogony" ], "confidence": 0.93 }, { "id": "c4", "text": "The Latin poets are cited by book and Latin line: \"Met. 1.163–252\" is Ovid's council of the gods called by \"the Son of Saturn\"; \"Aen. 1.254–296\" is Jupiter's prophecy of \"empire without end\". Livy is cited by book, chapter and section, \"Livy 1.16.1–4\" for the disappearance of Romulus in the storm.", "sources": [ "ovid-metamorphoses", "virgil-aeneid", "livy-ab-urbe-condita-1" ], "confidence": 0.93 }, { "id": "c5", "text": "The Poetic Edda is cited by poem and stanza in Bellows's numbering: \"Voluspo 56\" is Thor's death — \"Nine paces fares the son of Fjorgyn, / And, slain by the serpent, fearless he sinks\"; \"Lokasenna 9\" is Loki reminding Odin \"That we both our blood have mixed\"; \"Grimnismol 31\" is the three roots of Yggdrasil. Stanza numbering differs between editions; the poem name is Bellows's spelling.", "sources": [ "poetic-edda-bellows" ], "confidence": 0.95 }, { "id": "c6", "text": "Herodotus is cited by book, chapter and section: \"Hdt. 2.42.5\" is the sentence \"the Egyptians call Zeus 'Amon'\"; \"Hdt. 2.156.5\" is \"in Egyptian, Apollo is Horus, Demeter Isis, Artemis Bubastis\". Pausanias uses the same form, \"Paus. 3.14.5\" for the cult of Demeter Chthonia.", "sources": [ "herodotus-histories", "pausanias-description" ], "confidence": 0.95 }, { "id": "c7", "text": "Plutarch's On Isis and Osiris is cited by section: \"Plut. Is. 13\" is Typhon's chest and the seventy-two conspirators. Budge's Literature of the Ancient Egyptians is cited by chapter: \"Budge Lit. ch. IV\" is the Book of the Dead, including Chapter XXXB and \"the weighing of his heart in the Great Scales by Anubis and Thoth\". Aeschylus and Pindar take line and ode.line: \"PV 199–221\", \"Pind. Ol. 1.25–52\".", "sources": [ "plutarch-isis-osiris", "budge-literature-ancient-egyptians", "aeschylus-prometheus-bound", "pindar-olympian-odes" ], "confidence": 0.93 }, { "id": "c8", "text": "\"According to whom\" is not pedantry: Hesiod says Aphrodite grew in the foam around the severed members of Uranus and came ashore at Cyprus (Theog. 188–200); Homer says she is the daughter of Zeus and Dione, and shows her weeping on Dione's knees (Il. 5.370–380); Apollodorus follows Homer — \"by Dione he had Aphrodite\" (Apollod. 1.3.1). \"Who is Aphrodite's father?\" has two correct answers and no correct answer without a citation.", "sources": [ "hesiod-theogony", "homer-iliad", "apollodorus-library" ], "confidence": 0.95 } ], "takeaways": [ "Cite the text and the number, never the author alone; the same author can be cited to two lines that disagree (Theog. 217 vs 904–906 on the Fates).", "Prose translations of verse are cited by the verse block: Theog. 453–458 means lines 453 to 458 of the Greek, not of the English.", "Every 'who is X's father' question in this corpus is answered with a witness; Aphrodite is the test case." ], "faqs": [], "evidence_tier": "primary", "evidence": { "level": "theoretical", "source_types": [ "paper" ] }, "moat_flag": false, "winning_edge": "Style guides say how to format a citation. This one shows, for each convention, the exact passage the citation points to, and demonstrates with Aphrodite why the corpus refuses to answer without one.", "confidence": 0.93, "last_verified": "2026-09-03", "body": "# How to cite mythology sources\n\nEvery claim in this corpus ends with a reference in brackets. The\nreference is the claim's warrant: an agent can quote it, a reader can\ncheck it. This page lists the forms, each with one example taken from the\ntexts as they are read here.\n\n## The conventions\n\n| Source | Form | Example | What the example says |\n|---|---|---|---|\n| Hesiod, *Theogony* | `Theog. N` (Loeb line) | Theog. 453–458 | Rhea's six children by Cronus |\n| Hesiod, *Works and Days* | `WD N` | WD 60–105 | The making of Pandora and the jar |\n| *Homeric Hymns* | `HH N` | HH28 1–17 | Athena from the head of Zeus |\n| Homer, *Iliad* | `Il. book.line` | Il. 5.370–380 | Aphrodite on Dione's knees |\n| Homer, *Odyssey* | `Od. book.line` | Od. 24.1–14 | Hermes leads the suitors' souls |\n| Apollodorus, *Bibliotheca* | `Apollod. book.chapter.section` | Apollod. 1.1.6 | Zeus born in a cave of Dicte |\n| Pindar | `Pind. Ol. ode.line` | Pind. Ol. 1.25–52 | Pelops, told \"contrary to earlier stories\" |\n| Aeschylus | `PV N` | PV 199–221 | Prometheus on the Titans' war |\n| Pausanias | `Paus. book.chapter.section` | Paus. 3.14.5 | Demeter Chthonia at Sparta |\n| Ovid | `Met. book.line` (Latin line) | Met. 1.163–252 | The council of the gods |\n| Virgil | `Aen. book.line` (Latin line) | Aen. 1.254–296 | \"Empire without end\" |\n| Livy | `Livy 1.chapter.section` | Livy 1.16.1–4 | Romulus taken in the storm |\n| Herodotus | `Hdt. book.chapter.section` | Hdt. 2.42.5 | \"The Egyptians call Zeus 'Amon'\" |\n| Plutarch | `Plut. Is. section` | Plut. Is. 13 | The chest and the seventy-two |\n| *Poetic Edda* | ` ` (Bellows) | Voluspo 56 | Thor slain by the serpent |\n| Budge | `Budge Lit. ch. N` | Budge Lit. ch. IV | The weighing of the heart |\n\n## Three things to know about the numbers\n\n**Verse cited through prose.** The Greek and Latin texts are read here in\nprose translations that mark every fifth line of the original. \"Theog.\n453–458\" means the block of the Greek poem beginning at line 453; the\nEnglish words are found in the paragraph that carries that number.\n\n**Latin line, not English line.** Ovid and Virgil are read in verse\ntranslations whose line count differs from the Latin. The citation uses\nthe Latin line at the head of each passage (the \"card\"), so \"Met.\n14.581–608\" is the Latin passage in which Aeneas becomes a god, whatever\nthe English line count.\n\n**Bellows's stanzas.** The Poetic Edda is cited by poem and stanza as\nnumbered in Henry Adams Bellows's 1923 translation, with his spellings of\nthe poem names (Voluspo, Grimnismol, Thrymskvitha). Other editions number\nsome stanzas differently; Hyndluljoth 42–43 here is 40–41 elsewhere.\n\n## Why \"according to whom\" matters: Aphrodite\n\nAsk \"who is Aphrodite's father?\" and the texts give two answers.\n\n- **Hesiod:** no father. After Cronus cuts off the members of Uranus and\n throws them into the sea, \"a white foam spread around them from the\n immortal flesh, and in it there grew a maiden\", who comes ashore at\n Cyprus and is called Aphrodite \"because she grew amid the foam\"\n (Theog. 188–200). She is older than Zeus.\n- **Homer:** Zeus. Wounded by Diomedes, \"fair Aphrodite flung herself\n upon the knees of her mother Dione\" (Il. 5.370), and Dione is Zeus's\n consort; Apollodorus states it flatly, \"by Dione he had Aphrodite\"\n (Apollod. 1.3.1).\n\nNeither is wrong. They are different poems with different theologies,\nand a reader who is told only one has been told half. An answer of the\nform \"Aphrodite is the daughter of Zeus\" is false as a statement about\nHesiod and true as a statement about Homer; the citation is what makes\nit a fact. That is the rule of this corpus, and it is why every object\nhere separates its witnesses instead of blending them.\n\n## The same author, two answers\n\nThe rule applies within a single text too. Hesiod gives the Fates to\nNight (Theog. 217) and, seven hundred lines later, to Zeus and Themis\n(Theog. 904–906). \"Hesiod says\" is not enough; \"Theog. 217\" and\n\"Theog. 904\" are.", "media": [], "x": { "myth": { "pantheon": "comparative", "kind": "concept", "domains": [ "sources", "methods" ] } }, "canonical_url": "https://mythosdata.dev/k/how-to-cite-mythology-sources", "api_url": "https://mythosdata.dev/api/k/how-to-cite-mythology-sources.json", "jsonld": { "@context": "https://schema.org", "name": "How to cite mythology sources: the reference conventions of this corpus", "description": "The citation forms used across mythosdata — Theog. line, Il. book.line, Apollod. book.chapter.section, Met. book.line, Poetic Edda poem and stanza in Bellows's numbering, Hdt. book.chapter.section, Plut. Is. section, Budge Lit. chapter — with one worked example of each drawn from the texts, and why \"according to whom\" is the question that decides whether a mythology answer is right.", "url": "https://mythosdata.dev/k/how-to-cite-mythology-sources", "license": "https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-4.0.html", "dateModified": "2026-09-03", "citation": [ { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "Hesiod, Theogony — tr. Hugh G. Evelyn-White (Loeb, 1914), Perseus TEI edition", "url": "https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-greekLit/blob/master/data/tlg0020/tlg001/tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng2.xml" }, { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "Hesiod, Works and Days — tr. Hugh G. Evelyn-White (Loeb, 1914), Perseus TEI edition", "url": "https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-greekLit/blob/master/data/tlg0020/tlg002/tlg0020.tlg002.perseus-eng2.xml" }, { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "The Homeric Hymns — tr. Hugh G. Evelyn-White (Loeb, 1914), Perseus TEI edition", "url": "https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-greekLit/blob/master/data/tlg0013/" }, { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca) — tr. Sir James George Frazer (Loeb, 1921), Perseus TEI edition", "url": "https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-greekLit/blob/master/data/tlg0548/tlg001/tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng2.xml" }, { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "Homer, Iliad — tr. A. T. Murray (Loeb, 1924), Perseus TEI edition", "url": "https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-greekLit/blob/master/data/tlg0012/tlg001/tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng3.xml" }, { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "Homer, Odyssey — tr. A. T. Murray (Loeb, 1919), Perseus TEI edition", "url": "https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-greekLit/blob/master/data/tlg0012/tlg002/tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng3.xml" }, { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "Pausanias, Description of Greece — tr. W. H. S. Jones (Loeb, 1918–1935), Perseus TEI edition", "url": "https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-greekLit/blob/master/data/tlg0525/tlg001/tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng2.xml" }, { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "Herodotus, Histories — tr. A. D. Godley (Loeb, 1920), Perseus TEI edition", "url": "https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-greekLit/blob/master/data/tlg0016/tlg001/tlg0016.tlg001.perseus-eng2.xml" }, { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound — tr. Herbert Weir Smyth (Loeb, 1926), Perseus TEI edition", "url": "https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-greekLit/blob/master/data/tlg0085/tlg003/tlg0085.tlg003.perseus-eng2.xml" }, { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "Pindar, Olympian Odes — tr. Diane Arnson Svarlien (1990), Perseus TEI edition", "url": "https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-greekLit/blob/master/data/tlg0033/tlg001/tlg0033.tlg001.perseus-eng2.xml" }, { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "Plutarch, On Isis and Osiris (De Iside et Osiride) — tr. William Baxter, rev. W. W. Goodwin (1874), Perseus TEI edition", "url": "https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-greekLit/blob/master/data/tlg0007/tlg089/tlg0007.tlg089.perseus-eng3.xml" }, { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "Ovid, Metamorphoses — tr. Brookes More (1922), Perseus TEI edition", "url": "https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-latinLit/blob/master/data/phi0959/phi006/phi0959.phi006.perseus-eng3.xml" }, { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "Virgil, Aeneid — tr. Theodore C. Williams (1910), Perseus TEI edition", "url": "https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-latinLit/blob/master/data/phi0690/phi003/phi0690.phi003.perseus-eng2.xml" }, { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, Books 1–10 — tr. Rev. Canon Roberts (1912), Perseus TEI edition", "url": "https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-latinLit/blob/master/data/phi0914/phi001/phi0914.phi001.perseus-eng3.xml" }, { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "The Poetic Edda — tr. Henry Adams Bellows (American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1923), XML edition by fjarri", "url": "https://github.com/fjarri/poetic_edda/tree/master/chapters" }, { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "E. A. Wallis Budge, The Literature of the Ancient Egyptians (1914), Project Gutenberg #15932 via GITenberg", "url": "https://github.com/GITenberg/The-Literature-of-the-Ancient-Egyptians_15932/blob/master/15932.txt" } ], "@type": "Article", "headline": "How to cite mythology sources: the reference conventions of this corpus" } }