Trismegistos Update: New TM homepage and database

New TM homepage and database

Some of you may already have noticed that Trismegistos has a new homepage<http://www.trismegistos.org> It looks somewhat different because we have made two of our already somewhat older databases (TM Networks<http://www.trismegistos.org/network> and TM Editors<http://www.trismegistos.org/edit>) more easily accessible. We have also thrown in an improved lookup<http://www.trismegistos.org/tm/publication_lookup.php> for publication numbers, a special page to facilitate searches for various types of reuse<http://www.trismegistos.org/tm/search_reuse.php> of papyrological material, and several smaller changes.

We have also added links (somewhat hidden in the right margin) to two completely new databases, which I want to present here briefly.

The first is TM Calendar<http://www.trismegistos.org/calendar>. This section results from cooperation with Sofie Remijsen, who has created a table with a separate record for all days between 3500 BC and AD 1000. Based on that, we built a more complex structure which now allows date conversion as well as lists of all periods, dynasties, rulers, regnal years and calendar years, indiction years and era dates. We hope that this will help all those less familiar with elements of dating. The nice thing is that it is always possible to find all texts in the Trismegistos Texts database associated with any range in TM Calendar, by just a simple mouse-click.

The second is more for (y)our epigraphic friends: TM Abbreviations<http://www.trismegistos.org/abb>. This new tools permits to search for abbreviations in Latin inscriptions. It is a practical tool to help people so find parallels or solve perhaps cryptical abbreviations. It covers about 90% of all Latin inscriptions.

Finally, perhaps the most striking new feature on our website is the ‘We want YOU for Trismegistos’-poster. We appreciate the help of those who have sent us corrections, and we are exploring how to make it easier for our users to help us. You will hear from us soon!