CLASSICS 308 / JEWISH 432: Sex and Violence in the Ancient Near East (Fall 2025) : Reference Sources: Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and Atlases

Find Background Information with Reference Sources

Reference sources (such as encyclopedias and dictionaries) can be great for getting an overview of a topic, learning about definitions of specialized terminology, verifying of historical facts and biographical information, and finding more sources through bibliographies. Reference sources like these can be especially useful when you are just starting to research a topic, since they will often offer an overview of current scholarship and provide you with a list of relevant books and articles to examine next.

This page will provide you with some examples of reference sources that will be particularly useful for your class.

Recommended Reference Sources

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible
(Print resource) The Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible gathers nearly 5,000 alphabetically ordered articles that thoroughly yet clearly explain all the books, persons, places, and significant terms found in the Bible. The Dictionary also explores the background of each biblical book and related writings and discusses cultural, natural, geographical, and literary phenomena--matters that Bible students at all levels may encounter in reading or discussion. (Description provided by the publisher.)
Anchor Bible Dictionary
(Print Resource) The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary is a six-volume state-of-the-art dictionary of the Bible offering the most up-to-date and comprehensive treatment of biblical subjects and topics. (Description provided by the publisher.)
Women in scripture : a dictionary of named and unnamed women in the Hebrew Bible, the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical books, and the New Testament
(Print Resource) This one-volume dictionary explores all the women mentioned in the Bible, named and unnamed, well known and heretofore not known at all. The book comprises more than 800 articles, written by the finest scholars in the field, that examine the numerous women who have often been obscured by the androcentric nature of the biblical record and by centuries of translation and interpretation that have paid little or no attention to them. (Description provided by the publisher.)
Oxford Dictionary of the Bible
(Online Resource) This dictionary provides clear and concise information about important places, people, themes, and doctrines of the Bible. Terms range from earthquakes and mice to martyrs and art, and new to this edition are entries on Act of God, Old Testament and New Testament theology, Hanukkah, the Koran, mysticism, and many more. (Description provided by publisher.) Note that many entries in this dictionary contain detailed bibliographies.

The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Gender Studies
(Online resource) This encyclopedia seeks to advance the scholarly conversation by systematically exploring the ways in which gender is constructed in the diverse texts, cultures, and readers that constitute 'the world of the Bible'. This comprehensive reference work reflects the diverse and interdisciplinary nature of the field and traces both historical and modern conceptions of gender and sexuality in the Bible. (Description provided by the publisher.)
Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception Online
(Online resource) EBR offers a comprehensive and in-depth rendering of the current state of knowledge on the origins and development of the Bible according to its different canonic forms in Judaism and Christianity. At the same time, EBR also documents the history of the Bible's reception in Judaism and Christianity as evident in exegetical literature, theological and philosophical writings of various genres, literature, liturgy, music, the visual arts, dance, and film, as well as in Islam and other religious traditions and contemporary movements. (Description provided by the publisher.)

Oxford Bible Atlas
(Online resource) This authoritative Atlas illuminates the landscape of the biblical world, allowing readers to better understand the geographical context in which the Bible emerged and which formed its background. (Description provided by the publisher)