Roscher’s Detailed Lexicon of Greek and Roman Mythology (Leipzig: B. G. Teubner 1884–1937) is the most comprehensive reference work for its subject to date. Although in many respects outdated, it is still a valuable collection of scholarly materials for mythological figures not only from Greek and Roman mythology but also from neighbouring cultures such as the Etruscans, Celts, Germans, Sumerans, Babylonians, Persians, Egyptians, Phoenicians and Jews.

The Lexicon was part of Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher’s life-long project to create a systematic survey of Greco-Roman mythology. It was realised as a collaboration with dozens of scholars, among which were rising stars like Adolf Furtwängler, Eduard Meyer, Georg Wissowa. Originally the lexicon was distributed in installments, 106 eventually, which make up six volumes (in 9 parts) spanning from Aba to Zyrratel. It also produced four supplementary volumes on divine epithets, mythical geography and cosmography, and the history of scholarship on mythology.

Roscher’s Lexicon focused on names from mythology, which almost exclusively means personal names. That is why the bulk of the 15,776 headwords in the main work (not counting the addenda from the cover pages, on which I hope to write more in an upcoming blogpost) refers to mythical characters: deities, mortal, hybrids, creatures, beasts. Even when a toponym or some other subject class is discussed, it is almost exclusively traced to an underlying personal name. This is why Roscher’s Lexicon can serve as a foundation for a Who’s Who of Mythology (see my previous blogpost on Roscher’s Lexikon of Mythology as Linked Open Data).

In preparation for a proof of concept, I have created an index file for Roscher’s Lexicon and published it on Zenodo today. It can be found there: .

Details on the file can be found on Zenodo. For now it as mainly bibliographical information about the individual entries, but I hope to expand with time. Of course, any feedback is welcome.