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Need help with journal abbreviations
#1
Hello,

I have found an interesting bibilography on 'Warfare in the Byzantine World', but I cannot make sense of many journal abbreviations, for example BZ,REB and BMGS. Is there a freely accessible and exhaustive list of journal abbreviations around?

Regards
Stefan (Literary references to the discussed topics are always appreciated.)
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#2
The standard abbreviations are either in L'Année Philologique ( http://www.annee-philologique.com/aph/ ) which I think is not accessible without subscription (through a university library) or the Oxford Classical Dictionary. I have access to both, so I can have a look.
BZ: Byzantinischer Zeitschrift. Can't find the others. Is that the abbreviation used?
Greets!

Jasper Oorthuys
Webmaster & Editor, Ancient Warfare magazine
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#3
REB: Revue des études Byzantines

My friend Bert van der Spek is currently publishing a book on ancient Babylonian chronicles, which, as you may or may not know, are closely related to astronomical texts ("ephemerides"). We have proposed to call the book Babylonian Ephemerides and Related Texts, abbreviation BERT. :wink:
Jona Lendering
Relevance is the enemy of history
My website
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#4
Quote:Is that the abbreviation used?

Yes. Here are all and some others from other sources:

REB
McGeer, E., 'Infantry versus Cavalry: The Byzantine Response', REB 46 (1988), 135-145

JRA
Reddé, M., Mare Nostrum (Paris, 1986) reviewed by Le Bohec, Y., JRA 2 (1989), 326-331

BZ
Davidson, H.R.E., 'The secret weapon of Byzantium', BZ 66 (1973), 66-74

BMGS
Dennis, G.T., 'Flies, Mice and the Byzantine Crossbow', BMGS 7 (1981), 1-5

MHR
Haldon, J., 'The Army and the Economy: The Allocation and Redistribution of Surplus Wealth in the Byzantine State' MHR 7.2 (1992), 133-

AHR
Goffart, W., 'Rome, Constantinople and the Barbarians', AHR 86 (1981), 275-306

BAR
Coulston, J., 'Roman, Parthian and Sassanid Tactical Developments', Defence of the Roman and Byzantine East, BAR S297, eds. Freeman, P.W.M. and Kennedy, D.L., (Oxford, 1986), 59-75

GRBS = ?

BSA = ?

If there is no universal access, I herby propose that we make a comprehensive abbreviation list of our own, perhaps as a sticky. It certainly would be a useful resource for our studies. Smile
Stefan (Literary references to the discussed topics are always appreciated.)
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#5
JRA: Journal of Roman Archaeology (that review is Le Bohec praising Reddé. Makes for an interesting comparison with a condescending review of the same book by Ch.G.Starr):wink:
BZ & REB: see above
BAR is a series, British Archaeological Reports, published as separate books
AHR: American Historical Review
MHR: Mediterranean Historical Review
BMGS: ?
GRBS: Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies
BSA: Annuals of the British School at Athens
Greets!

Jasper Oorthuys
Webmaster & Editor, Ancient Warfare magazine
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#6
Quote:The standard abbreviations are either in L'Année Philologique ( http://www.annee-philologique.com/aph/ ) which I think is not accessible without subscription ...

The good message: it is accessible.

http://www.annee-philologique.com/aph/
other criteria
-- periodical

The not so good one: it fails to decipher quite a few abbreviations.
Stefan (Literary references to the discussed topics are always appreciated.)
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#7
That's why the OCD comes in handy, even though it weighs about 5 pounds. :wink:
Greets!

Jasper Oorthuys
Webmaster & Editor, Ancient Warfare magazine
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#8
What about making a list of abbreviations here on RAT? I think especially new users who are interested in following up literature recommendations might not always dare to ask what the abbs actually mean. A list of 40, 50 abbs can help them out there. I mean, just imagine you were new to a forum on biochemistry or geomantics....
Stefan (Literary references to the discussed topics are always appreciated.)
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#9
Quote:What about making a list of abbreviations here on RAT? I think especially new users who are interested in following up literature recommendations might not always dare to ask what the abbs actually mean. A list of 40, 50 abbs can help them out there. I mean, just imagine you were new to a forum on biochemistry or geomantics....

The problem is, which abbreviations? There is no harmonised system for all of the archaeological and classical branches of the humanities and the two principal indexing sources, L'Année Philologique and Archäologische Bibliographie use different systems (and the Council for British Archaeology uses another one altogether ;-), and none by itself covers the whole of Roman military studies. I worked in an academic library for two years (where we had things like the Index Medicus and the World List of Scientific Periodicals which pretty much did the job) before I went to university and saw things from the other side of the library counter, so I know a bit about the perils of referencing. There is an ISO covering the abbreviation of periodical titles... but it costs; you'd have thought that if they wanted it to be a standard, they would have made it free (as in beer and in speech), wouldn't you? Makes me inclined to ignore it, I'm afraid, but that's just because I'm a GNU/Romantic...

This all has a bearing on the fact that the First Spasm of the Roman Military Equipment Bibliography is in preparation as a BibTeX file and webpage (now that I have mastered BibTeX conversion) and that comes with an abbreviations file to make it work. That has the advantage that you only have to change the abbreviations once to make them effective throughout the database.

Mike Bishop
You know my method. It is founded upon the observance of trifles

Blogging, tweeting, and mapping Hadrian\'s Wall... because it\'s there
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#10
Quote:BMGS
Dennis, G.T., 'Flies, Mice and the Byzantine Crossbow', BMGS 7 (1981), 1-5

Nobdy having an idea what BMGS could mean? I would love to read about Byzantine crossbows... Big Grin

PS: ANRW = ?
Stefan (Literary references to the discussed topics are always appreciated.)
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#11
Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römische Welt
Greets!

Jasper Oorthuys
Webmaster & Editor, Ancient Warfare magazine
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#12
Quote:Nobdy having an idea what BMGS could mean? I would love to read about Byzantine crossbows...

Googling the article title "Flies, Mice and the Byzantine Crossbow" gives two results for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies.
Dan Diffendale
Ph.D. candidate, University of Michigan
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