The ''Oxford Classical Dictionary'' (''OCD'') is generally considered "the best one-volume dictionary on antiquity," an encyclopædic work in English consisting of articles relating to

classical antiquity Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural History of Europe, European history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD comprising the inter ...

and its civilizations. It was first published in 1949 (''OCD''¹ or ''OCD''), edited by Max Cary with the assistance of H. J. Rose, H. P. Harvey, and Alexander Souter. A second edition followed in 1970 (''OCD''²), edited by Nicholas G. L. Hammond and H. H. Scullard, and a third edition in 1996 (''OCD''³), edited by Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth. A revised third edition was released in 2003, which is nearly identical to the previous third edition. A fourth edition was published in 2012 (''OCD''⁴), edited by Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth, and Esther Eidinow. In 2016, a fully digital edition launched online, edited by Sander Goldberg (2013–2017) and Tim Whitmarsh (2018–present). Continuously updated on a monthly basis, this edition incorporates all 6,300 entries from ''OCD''⁴ (which are being updated on a rolling basis) as well as newly commissioned entries, and features multimedia content and freely accessible maps of the ancient world. The ''OCD'''s over 6,400 articles cover everything from the daily life of the ancient Greeks and Romans to their

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

, and their historical figures.

Digital and on-line availability

The fourth edition and the third revised edition of the ''OCD'' are available online for members of subscribed institutions and for subscribed individuals via Oxford Reference. The third edition (1996) was also available on

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

, but it is partially incompatible with more recent versions of

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

and has not been revised or re-released. The new digital edition is accessible online to institutional and individual subscribers via the ''Oxford Research Encyclopedias''. Entry extracts/summaries and select full-length entries are freely available to non-subscribing individuals.

''Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization''

The ''Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization'' (''OCCC''), part of the Oxford Companions series of Oxford University Press, is an independent publication consisting of a selection of articles from the ''OCD'', with accompanying illustrations. The first edition was published in 1998 (''OCCC''¹ or ''OCCC''), edited by Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth, and contains over 600 articles selected from the ''OCD''³. A paperback edition was issued in 2004. The current second edition was published in 2014 (''OCCC''²), edited by Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth, and Esther Eidinow, and contains over 700 articles selected from the ''OCD''⁴.

Varia

National Latin Exam A copy of the ''OCD'' has traditionally been offered by the National Latin Exam as a prize for students who obtain four consecutive ascending gold medals on the exam.

Editions and versions

;Oxford Classical Dictionary * ''Oxford Classical Dictionary''. Edited by Max Cary, with the assistance of H. J. Rose, H. P. Harvey, and A. Souter. Oxford:

Clarendon Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 1949. * ''Oxford Classical Dictionary''. Edited by Nicholas G. L. Hammond and H. H. Scullard. 2nd ed. Oxford:

, 1970. * ''Oxford Classical Dictionary''. Edited by Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth. 3rd ed. Oxford and New York:

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 1996. . * ''Oxford Classical Dictionary''. Edited by Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth. 3rd rev. ed. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. . * ''Oxford Classical Dictionary''. Edited by Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth, and Esther Eidinow. 4th ed. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. . *
Oxford Classical Dictionary
'. Edited by Tim Whitmarsh. Digital ed. New York: Oxford University Press. . ;Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization * ''Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization''. Edited by Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1998, 2004. (hb), (pb). * ''Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization''. Edited by Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth, and Esther Eidinow. 2nd ed. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. .

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