Jacoby Online
Jacoby Online is a digital edition of fragments and testimonia of Greek historians, and other authors from antiquity. Although the works of these historians are now lost, we still have passages in the form of citations and paraphrases in ancient texts that are preserved.
To take full advantage of all the new search options on Brill’s Scholarly Editons, a general manual for Jacoby Online is available, as well as an Introductory video.
For more advanced search options, please read the search instructions:
- Navigate Brill’s Jacoby Online.
- Search within Brill’s Jacoby Online.
- Complex searches in Brill’s Jacoby Online.
Jacoby Online is anchored in the work of Felix Jacoby, who started the work of collecting fragments and writing commentaries. To his Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker I-III (1923-1959) are added two new editions, Brill's New Jacoby (2006-2024) and Brill's New Jacoby, Second Edition (2016-), edited by Ian Worthington.
Felix Jacoby himself was unable to finish the collection, but work on Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker resumed in the 1990s, resulting in FGrHist Part IV, currently edited by Stefan Schorn, and FGrHist Part V, currently edited by Hans-Joachim Gehrke and Felix K. Maier.
Together, these editions form a monumental scholarly accomplishment and an indispensable resource for anyone interested in ancient history and historiography.
The structure of Jacoby Online
The structure of Jacoby Online is determined by parts and editions.
Felix Jacoby divided the fragments of lost Greek historians into five parts or types of historiography:
- Part I: Genealogy and Mythography
- Part II: Chronography (political-military history)
- Part III: Horography and Ethnography
- Part IV: Biography
- Part V: Geography
A sixth part (Uncertain authors. Theory of Historiography) was also planned.
During his lifetime, Felix Jacoby largely completed the first three parts and left extensive notes for the other parts.
These completed parts are known as Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker I-III and they were published in print in 1958, on a CD-ROM in 2004, and online in 2006.
In 2006, too, a start was made with Brill's New Jacoby, a new edition of parts I-III. This was followed up, in 2016, by Brill's New Jacoby, Second Edition.
Meanwhile, in the 1990s, under the title Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker Continued, work on parts IV and V was resumed. Print volumes were produced and in 2011 the first entries were published online.
The table below summarizes this structure. The horizontal axis represents the editions; the vertical the parts.
| Part | FGrHist | BNJ | BNJ2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | Y | Y | Y |
| II | Y | Y | Y |
| III | Y | Y | Y |
| IV | Y | N | N |
| V | Y | N | N |
Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker
Edited by: Felix Jacoby
The monumental series Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker contains the critical edition of 856 Greek historians whose work is preserved incompletely, i.e. in fragments. Felix Jacoby collected these fragments and edited them, adding biographical testimonies and extensive commentaries on many of them.
Stefan Schorn is currently editing Jacoby's previously unpublished commentaries on entries 608-856, which will be published online within a few years.
Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker Part IV
General Editor: Stefan Schorn
Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker Continued. Part IV is the continuation of Felix Jacoby's monumental work on ancient Greek fragmentary historians, Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker, which was published between 1923 and 1958. It includes the fragments of ancient Greek biography and antiquarian literature, a section that Jacoby was not able to publish before his death. Part IV will ultimately consist of 27 book volumes presenting the original Greek texts with translations and full commentaries, of which 3 volumes have been published in print in the 1990s and 3 others have been published in 2018, 2019 and 2020 respectively. In the meantime, Brill's online edition provides electronic access to the rich materials that have been prepared so far: those already available in existing volumes as well as those that have been completed but have not yet gone to print.
All contributions to Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker Continued. Part IV are peer reviewed.
Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker Continued. Part V
General Editors: Hans-Joachim Gehrke and Felix K. Maier (in collaboration with Veronica Bucciantini)
Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker Continued. Part V: Die Geographen is part of Felix Jacoby’s original planned work Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker. Part V: Die Geographen offers completely new material giving the original Greek texts with translations and commentaries. This project is expected to be completed in 2024 and will consist of the fragments and testimonia of 96 Greek historians.
All contributions to Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker Continued. Part V are peer reviewed.
Brill's New Jacoby
General Editor: Ian Worthington
Brill's New Jacoby is a fully-revised and enlarged edition of Jacoby’s Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker I-III, providing new texts of the ancient historians in many instances as well as several new historians and many new fragments of existing historians that were either unknown to Jacoby or excluded by him. Especially important is that for the first time ever commentaries are provided on the final 248 historians in FGrHist III, which Jacoby was unable to prepare before his death. In addition, and also for the first time, Brill's New Jacoby presents facing English translations of all the testimonia and fragments, new, critical commentaries on all the testimony and fragments, and a brief encyclopedia-style entry about each historian’s life and works, with a select bibliography.
Brill’s New Jacoby is nearing completion with final publication of the last historian scheduled for September 2024.
All contributions to Brill’s New Jacoby are peer reviewed.
Brill’s New Jacoby, Second Edition
General Editor: Ian Worthington
Brill’s New Jacoby, Second Edition (BNJ2) is a revised and enlarged edition of Brill’s New Jacoby (BNJ). New additions include an apparatus criticus and a discussion of the provenance of each fragment where relevant, as well as revised commentaries on the ancient historians in BNJ and updated bibliographies, all of which set BNJ2 significantly apart from the previous edition.
Like Brill’s New Jacoby, this revised edition has texts and historians not included in Jacoby’s Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker I-III. It provides English translations to all testimonia and fragments, critical commentaries, and a brief encyclopedia-style entry about the historian’s life and works, with a select bibliography.
Brill's New Jacoby, Second Edition is a work-in-progress with publication of the last historian scheduled for 2030.
All contributions to Brill's New Jacoby, Second Edition are peer reviewed.
Manual
A manual explaining how to use Jacoby Online on this new site can be found here.