Footnote Tracking

An essential part of research is simply tracking down information found in footnotes or parenthetical citations. That is both 1) because the footnotes most often contain the evidence for what the author is claiming, and so they are the key to assessing the strength of the author's claim, and 2) because you need to find the primary sources for your own research. Sometimes one just mines the footnotes and ignores the author's claims and arguments: if the author has done their work well, you should find all the relevant primary sources rather quickly this way. I imagine that in the very early assignment we did, finding primary sources about the altar of the 12 gods, you simply searched for "altar of the 12 gods" in the Loeb or maybe JSTOR. This is a different way to collect primary sources.

• As you read Roller, note a few footnotes about which you would like to know more. These should be matters of clear geographical importance rather than other matters that are less geographical.
• You may substitute any scholarly work here for Roller: I suggest Roller because we are all reading it, but if you have a different geographical interest you want to pursue instead, by all means, do that.
  
• Then pick a few footnotes and track down at least 5 different passages, each one from a different primary source, that are referred to in those footnotes.
• For each one, you should include:
1. An explanation in your own words of the claim that the primary source supports. In other words, a paraphrase of the paragraph/sentences to which the footnote is attached as well as of any discussion within the footnote.
   
2. A brief explanation of what the primary source is, including, wherever applicable:
1. author
2. date
3. title of work
4. brief description of the overall nature of the work
5. explanation of the passage referred to
   
6. quotation of the passage referred to
   
7. assessment of how close the primary source is to being a reliable authoritative source for the information it contains (i.e. what is the primary source's source of information, how reliable is it for this particular information, etc.).
   
8. Most Important: Your own assessment of whether the primary source really does support Roller, whether there is room for doubt, whether it is more interesting than Roller indicates, what interests you about it.
• The Loeb series may be your most helpful resource for this assignment.
• Of course, stop by Wikipedia to get oriented a bit for each source, then go on to more reliable or extensive or just better sources as appropriate.
  
• If you find a source you cannot manage to track down in English or at all, please include all the information you can find about it: two unsuccessful efforts count as one successful effort toward the total of 5.
• You are, of course, free to track down more. It can be a bit addictive if you find a rich vein of material.