Ancient History Encyclopedia (AHE) is pleased to announce that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the EAGLE Portal, which will entail active collaboration and content exchange between the two organizations.
EAGLE, the Europeana network of Ancient Greek and Latin Epigraphy, is a best-practice network (BPN), co-funded through the ICT-Policy Support Programme of the European Commission, which aims to create a new online archive for ancient epigraphy in Europe. As a part of the multilingual, prestigious Europeana Network, EAGLE will link and connect — using Linked Open Data (LOD) — thousands of inscriptions, photos of inscriptions, and related contextual items from European museums, libraries, archives, and multimedia collections into a single, readily-searchable platform from millions of digitized items. The project will make the vast majority of surviving inscriptions from the Greco-Roman world available for study or enjoyment. Additionally, EAGLE intends to build tools which can make the user experience dynamic and engaging.
The publication of very specific content items to the broader public — in a format and with an interface that is user-friendly — is a major challenge, requiring a lot of effort in many different directions and with different tools in order to bring non-specialists closer to the study and appreciation of epigraphy. This is why EAGLE has joined forces with Ancient History Encyclopedia, which already has a long and very successful experience in bringing quality content to a diverse virtual audience. EAGLE will share “stories,” news, and images from its collections of inscriptions with Ancient History Encyclopedia’s sizable, global audience. In its capacity, Ancient History Encyclopedia will share its technical expertise and its own content materials with EAGLE.
Since its founding in 2009 by Jan van der Crabben, Ancient History Encyclopedia has championed the causes of the digital humanities, virtual education, cross-cultural exchange, and the preservation of cultural patrimony. Combining different media, subjects, and periods in interactive ways, Ancient History Encyclopedia assists visitors in understanding both the “big picture” and the detail as they relate to history. The European Commission’s eLearning portal, Open Education Europa, has recommended Ancient History Encyclopedia as an open education resource since 2013, and Ancient History Encyclopedia is an active participant in several content sharing agreements. The memorandum with EAGLE is yet another avenue in which Ancient History Encyclopedia can inspire the curiosity and appreciation of the ancient world amongst the general public.