Marble cinerary chest.
Reign of Flavian or Trajan, ca. 90-110 A.D.
For ancient Greek, Roman, and other Classical-era names, you may run into variations on a name between texts, bibliographic listings, and the way the name is entered in a library catalog or a periodical index, as well as in the indexing for Google and other search engines. Here are some things to keep in mind:
1. Classical names are often abbreviated, despite the fact that the same or similar names reoccur within families, dynasties, and between generations. For example, when we say "Cleopatra" we usually mean the Graeco-Egyptian ruler who was befriended by Julius Caesar and Mark Antony (i.e. Gaius OR Caius Julius Caesar, and Marcus Antonius), rather than several others of that name. Some traditions include a parent's name as part of the person's name, like Simon Bar-Jonah/Simon, son of Jonah, which phenomenon we still see in the "Mac", "Mc", "O' and "Nic" traditions of Gaelic and Scots families, and the "ovich"/"ova" endings of Slavic middle and last names.
2. Besides family names, Classical era names may also include honorific titles, e.g. Pompeius Magnus/Pompey the Great, or Claudius ... Britannicus/ Conqueror of Britain.
3. There are also people identified by where they come from or with the name of a place with which they are associated, e.g. Diodorus Siculus/Diodorus of Sicily, or Scipio Africanus, the conqueror of Carthage who got 'Africanus' in honor of his victories in North Africa.
The Library of Congress System used for LINUS' author names and subject headings have changed in recent years. The system used to prefer the original name in the original language for classical names, but now often goes with the most popular name in current English/American usage. Still, in some situations, you may forget and type "Magnus, Pompeius" or "Siculus, Diodorus"; LINUS usually catches these and gives you the correct alternative.
Some databases are not as forgiving as LINUS! You may have to use exact forms of the name, even though the 'incorrect' name as keyword may still pull up a number of hits. The most popular names (Socrates, Aristotle, Augustus) will be the easiest, but be careful when you see more complicated names. Try to analyze and see if any part of the name is an honorific or a geographic descriptor instead of the name itself.
NOTE: A good tool to use to verify, for example, which Brutus is which, etc. is Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World : Antiquity. This is a very comprehensive tool, useful for detailed information on ancient Greece and Rome, including sites, battles, culture and people. You'll be surprised how many figures have similar names; but you'll also find out which ancient and modern sources discuss them, their lives, careers and reputation.
For more on searching for classical sources, see the LibGuide for Classics.
Elijah Fed by Ravens
Artist: Il Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
[But at the time, the prophet's name was written "Elias", from the Latin; so too with Jeremias/Jeremiah, etc. (which was often rendered as 'Jeremy' in English). But 'Judas" is still 'Judas' -- even if it was originally 'Judah' ]