(http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/)

The Perseus Digital Library, also known as the Perseus Project, was begun at Tufts University. Its goals are stated impressively as follows: “Our larger mission is to help make the full record for humanity as intellectually accessible as possible to every human being, providing information adapted to as many linguistic and cultural backgrounds as possible.” The main purpose of the Perseus Project in practice, however, is to facilitate the reading of Greek, Latin, and Arabic classics. This is achieved by providing its users with a vast range of (free and reliable) texts, each word of which, when clicked, is grammatically parsed and linked to corresponding entries in the most authoritative dictionaries. The Perseus Project is adored by undergraduates and graduate students who are trying to grapple with the very foreboding grammar and syntax of the ancient languages, as it makes this learning process both far less time-consuming and less dauntingly difficult.

(http://perseus.uchicago.edu/)

 

There is another “offshoot” of the Perseus Project curated under the aegis of the ARTFL project at the University of Chicago, which makes use of the same texts as are found in the Perseus Digital Library, but uses a somewhat more streamlined tool called PhiloLogic to parse words and definitions. The University of Chicago’s interface is much less
cumbrous and user-friendly than that of Tufts, and also has the benefit of a more complete range of dictionaries, but the breadth of its texts is very limited, as there is really nothing but the “greatest hits” of Greek and Roman
literature.

The Perseus Project is a model that could and should succeed when applied to other languages and literatures. One would certainly like something of the sort when attempting something like Dante’s Divine Comedy in Italian, Goethe’s Faust in German, Cervantes’ Don Quixote in Spanish, or Villon’s Le Grand Testament in French. Furthermore, the methods of Perseus need not be used for “older” texts alone––various classics of modern literature could very easily be adapted to the same matrix. Perhaps even more importantly, it might be just as crucial to subject Shakespeare’s works or Milton’s to the same methods, as there are so many in the world now trying to learn English, and ought to be a significant, word-by-word aid for their reading of these classics. All of this the “Perseus
method” can do exceptionally well.

While the Perseus Project can seem a godsend for the student of classical languages and literatures, pedagogically there are many objections to its use, arising most often from more old-fashioned professors of classics who are suspicious of any digital teaching tools in general. A great many of them call the use of the Perseus Project, though always more or less jocularly, “cheating.” Their main argument is that, when they had to look through the great and dusty dictionary, their labors were so time-consuming and arduous that they took great pains to memorize the word they were looking up so they would not have to grapple with the dictionary yet again. Perseus, they say, makes this kind of sweat and travail obsolete. One finds difficulty accepting this line of argument, however: why should something be a better learning experience simply because it is more time-consuming? Perseus allows anyone to access the very same dictionaries in a fraction of the time. Perseus is, however, mainly an aid to understanding the nuances and grammar of the individual words of a passage, and as such cannot be utilized very often or effectively in an actual classroom setting, although it is essential for making the rebarbative reading of Greek and Latin texts possible for modern students. It is more something to be used by oneself in preparation for class than for class itself, but that makes it no less useful as a tool for learning.

Section by Alex Fowler