Philology in a Digital Age

Philology in a Digital Age: Selected Papers brings together more than four decades of scholarship by Gregory Crane documenting the evolution of Classical Studies during the rise of digital technologies. This collection includes both published and previously unpublished essays, ranging from early proposals in the 1980s to recent reflections on the role of AI, open data, and multilingual inclusion in the humanities. Together, these essays trace the transformation of Greco-Roman philology as it enters a new phase of engagement with digital media.

Drawing on his unique perspective as a traditionally trained classicist, an early architect of the Perseus Digital Library, and a professor working across the disciplines of Classics, Digital Humanities, and Computer Science, Crane explores the profound implications of transitioning from physical to digital infrastructure. This transition is examined not only in terms of access and scale but also in rethinking the very practice and goals of philology. Emphasizing lived understanding over static texts or tools, he argues for a field that must continuously adapt to new technologies while remaining committed to open, inclusive scholarship. Philology in a Digital Age is both a record of a scholarly transformation and a call to envision the future of humanistic inquiry in a world of ubiquitous digitization.