How do I cite a quote from an ancient greek play?
Posted by admin in Finance Thursday, 8 December 2011 15:40 2 Comments
I have to write this paper for english class and the teacher will not help me with the MLA citation. On a play such as Antigone by Sophocles how would I cite a quote? Is it by the author, scene, line number, etc.? I have no idea!
in the text of the essay….(Sophocles, 47)…the 47 is the page number.
It depends on the function of the translation in question within your paper. If you are writing a paper about the play itself, then you cite would cite (Sophocles, 24) where 24 is the page number in the translation you are using.
On the other hand, if you are comparing translations in your paper, then you would cite by the translator.
Just choose one or the other depending on how you are using the source in your essay and stick to it. Don’t forget to list it in the same way in your Works Cited list.
So in the first example, if I were listing Richmond Lattimore’s translation of the Iliad, citing it the first way, it would be under “Homer” and the second, it would be under “Lattimore, Richmond, trans.”
If, by chance, you are working from the original Greek text (and quoting in Greek, with or without your own translation), you’d list it under Sophocles and would include the editor in the Works Cited list.
Be aware that classicists often use their own conventions when citing standard texts in the original. For example, when quoting from Plato, Stephanus numbers (referring to page numbers in Henri Estienne’s edition on 1578) are frequently used.