Mediterranean History

Reference Shelf

This is a guide to historical research--focused on primary source material--available to Boston College for Mediterranean History.

Reference for Mediterranean History

This page provides access points to BC's subscriptions to reference material for Middle Eastern and North African history. Here, you can find resources for finding definitions (e.g., dictionaries); suggested scholarly material (e.g., bibliographies); as well as background material and explanations written by experts in their fields (e.g., in encyclopedia and handbooks).

What's on This Page

This page has a lot on it. You can use the following anchors (links down the page) to jump straight to a relevant box.

Find Definitions

Oxford Reference Online
This is a quick go-to for high-quality, short, dictionary style descriptions, definitions, facts, and figures. Great for date and name checking.

Individual Titles

The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium by Alexander P. Kazhdan (ed)
Call Number: Oxford Reference Premium Collection
Publication Date: 1991
The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium is a three-volume, comprehensive dictionary of Byzantine civilization.
A Dictionary of Politics in the Middle East by Kristian Ulrichsen (ed.)
Call Number: Oxford Reference
Publication Date: 2018
Provides a useful overview of the wide array of political structures and systems that comprise the contemporary Middle East.
A Dictionary of Arabic Literary Terms and Devices by Marlé Hammond
Call Number: Oxford Reference
Publication Date: 2018
Provides clear definitions of the most important literary terms and devices in classical and modern Arabic literature.

Find Scholarly Sources

This list includes bibliographies, indices, and other reference works designed to provide curated lists of essential reading and/or comprehensive lists of material published on specific topic. Most of these databases require you "find it @ BC" once you discover a relevant title.

Index Islamicus This link opens in a new window
Index Islamicus is a multidisciplinary index of the literature of Islam and the Muslim world. It includes records of journal articles, books, chapters of books, conference proceedings, monographs, multi-authored works and book reviews covering the accounting, archaeology, arts, bibliography & scholarship, economics, education, geography, history, law, literature, natural & applied sciences, philosophy, politics, religion, social sciences, theology, travel and zoology of the Islamic world and the Islamic diaspora in the West.
Brepols Medieval and Early Modern Bibliographies This link opens in a new window
A bibliography of all aspects of the European Middle Ages including theology and philosophy.
Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies This link opens in a new window
MECAS is a bibliographic index of research, policy and scholarly discourse on the countries and peoples of the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa. 1900-current.

Oxford Bibliographies Online: Islamic Studies
Authoritative resource guide with annotated bibliography. Provides expert guidance to the field in all its diversity and throughout its developmental stages. Top scholars in the field have contributed on their areas of expertise, so that users will understand how the field is organized and why it developed in the way it did.
Historiography of Early Modern Ottoman Europe (HOE) Database
HOE is a collection of meta-data focusing on historiographical writing of Early Modern Ottoman Europe (1500-1800). It brings together published and unpublished primary sources (chronicles, histories, hagiographies, inscriptions, maps…), as well as secondary material (“Main Section”). It also offers information on specific collections, as well as a wide variety of references to tools and resources useful to those navigating the research questions of Early Modern historiography (“Tools Section”). HOE provides information on the author(s), title(s), contents, manuscript(s) and edition(s) of the main sources related to the topic.
Online Bibliography of Ottoman-Turkish Literature
The Online Bibliography of Ottoman-Turkish Literature, a free and extensive database of references to theses, books, articles, papers and projects relating to research into Ottoman-Turkish culture. Please visit the Turkish version of this site if your first language is Turkish.

Find Background Biographical Information

Biographical Encyclopedia of Islamic Philosophy
Call Number: Oxford Reference Online
Publication Date: 2006
Included are details about the lives of significant legal thinkers, theologians, political thinkers and even geographers where their lives are relevant indicators of the progress of philosophy in the Islamic world.

Brockelmann Online This link opens in a new window
Consists of Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur by Carl Brockelmann and its supplements. Offers bio-bibliographic information about works written in Arabic and their authors, with an emphasis on the classical period. Entries consist of biographical section and list of the authors works in manuscript and print, with references to secondary literature.

Find Background Information

Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, & Africa: An Encyclopedia by Andrea L. Stanton, Edward Ramsamy, Peter J. Seybolt, Carolyn M. Elliott (eds)
Call Number: SAGE
Publication Date: 2012
Encyclopaedia Iranica Online by Elton Daniel (ed.)
Call Number: BRILL
Encyclopaedia Iranica is the most renowned reference work in the field of Iran studies. Founded by the late Professor Ehsan Yarshater and edited at the Ehsan Yarshater Center for Iranian Studies at Columbia University, this monumental international project brings together the scholarship about Iran of thousands of authors around the world.
Encyclopaedia Islamica Online ( Dāʼirat al-maʻārif-i buzurg-i Islāmī) by Wilferd Madelung, et al
Call Number: Brill Online reference
Publication Date: 2007+
In addition to providing entries on important themes, subjects and personages in Islam generally, Encyclopaedia Islamica Online offers the Western reader an opportunity to appreciate the various dimensions of Shiʿi Islam, the Persian contribution to Islamic civilization, and the spiritual dimensions of the Islamic tradition.
Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.) by P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs (eds.)
Call Number: Brill Online reference
Sets out the present state of our knowledge of the Islamic World, functioning as an essential key to understanding the world of Islam.
Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.) by Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas and Everett Rowson (eds.)
Call Number: Brill Online reference
Publication Date: 2007+
Is an entirely new work, published in five substantial segments each year. The new scope includes comprehensive coverage of Islam in the twentieth century and of Muslim minorities all over the world.
Encyclopedia of Arabic language and linguistics by Lutz Edzard; Lutz Edzard editor Rudolf Erik de Jong (eds.)
Call Number: Brill Online reference
Publication Date: 2009+
Covers all aspects of the study of Arabic and deals with all levels of the language (pre-Classical Arabic, Classical Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic, Arabic vernaculars, mixed varieties of Arabic). It is interdisciplinary in scope, and supports study and research in the fields of linguistics, Islamic studies, Arabic literature and related fields.
Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic world by Norman A. Stillman (ed.)
Call Number: Brill Online reference
Publication Date: 2010+
Cohesive and discreet reference work which covers the Jews of Muslim lands particularly in the late medieval, early modern and modern periods.
Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions by Anne Runehov, et al (eds.)
Call Number: SpringerLink Ebooks
Publication Date: 2013
The encyclopedia maps the (self)-identified disciplines and religious traditions that participate or might come to participate in the Science and Religion debate.
Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures by Suad Joseph (ed.)
Call Number: Brill Online reference
An interdisciplinary, trans-historical, and global project embracing women and Islamic cultures in every region where there have been significant Muslim populations.
Encyclopedias about Muslim civilisations by Aptin Khanbaghi (ed.)
Call Number: JSTOR
Publication Date: 2009
This series presents an innovative reference catalogue of annotated bibliographies and abstracts of encyclopedias published during the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture by Jonathan M. Bloom; Sheila S. Blair (eds.)
Call Number: Oxford Reference Library
Publication Date: 2009
The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture is the most comprehensive reference work in this complex and diverse area of art history.
The Oxford encyclopedia of Islam and politics by Emad El-Din Shahin (ed.)
Call Number: Oxford Reference Library
Publication Date: 2014
Provides in-depth coverage of the political dimensions of Islam and the Muslim world. Developments in Muslim societies in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have highlighted the need for a major reference work focusing primarily on these dimensions.
Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Women by Natana J. DeLong-Bas (ed.)
Call Number: Oxford Reference Library
Publication Date: 2013
Provides clear, current, comprehensive information on the major topics of scholarly interest within the study of Islam and women.
The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World by John L. Esposito (ed.)
Call Number: Oxford Islamic Studies Online
Publication Date: 2009
This encyclopedia presents readers with accurate, comprehensive, and balanced scholarship on all aspects of the world's fastest-growing religion and the areas it affects: society, politics, economics, everyday life, culture, and thought.
The Oxford History of Islam by John L. Esposito (ed.)
Call Number: Oxford Islamic Studies Online
Publication Date: 2000
Lavishly illustrated with over 300 pictures, including more than 200 in full color, The Oxford History of Islam offers the most wide-ranging and authoritative account available of the second largest--and fastest growing--religion in the world.
The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought by Gerhard Bowering, et al (eds.)
Call Number: JSTOR
Publication Date: 2012
This comprehensive, authoritative, and accessible reference provides the context needed for understanding contemporary politics in the Islamic world and beyond.

Cambridge Companions Online This link opens in a new window
Cambridge Collections Online offers subject or theme based collections of content. At present, there are two collections comprising the Cambridge Companions in Literature and Classics and the Cambridge Companions in Philosophy, Religion and Culture. Each collection is updated with new Companions on publication and are cross-searchable.

Individual Titles

A Companion to the Anthropology of the Middle East by Soraya Altorki (ed.)
Call Number: Blackwell
ISBN: 9781118475683
Publication Date: 2015-04-24
A Companion to the Anthropology of the Middle East presents a comprehensive overview of current trends and future directions in anthropological research and activism in the modern Middle East.
Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Middle-Eastern and North African history by Amal N. Ghazal; Jens Hanssen (eds.)
Call Number: Oxford Handbooks Online
Publication Date: 2015+
A Companion to the History of the Middle East by Youssef M. Choueiri
Call Number: Blackwell reference
Publication Date: 2005+
Essays by leading international scholars, the Companion treats the Middle East as four differentiated political units - Iran, Turkey, Israel, and the Arab world. While focused primarily on the modern and contemporary periods, it also includes a number of chapters on classical and pre-modern themes.

For Additional Help

For additional recommendations, contact your History Liaison, Erin, at erinkate.scheopner@bc.edu or schedule an appointment.

O'Neill Library

Bapst Library

Burns Library

Educational Resource Center

Law Library

Social Work Library

Theology & Ministry Library

O'Connor Library

Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies

Mediterranean History

Reference Shelf

Reference for Mediterranean History

What's on This Page

Find Definitions

Individual Titles

Find Scholarly Sources

Find Background Biographical Information

Find Background Information

Individual Titles

For Additional Help