LAWD

An ontology for Linked Ancient World Data

The goal of LAWD is to fill in the cracks between the data used and published by projects with a focus on the ancient world and the standard Linked Data vocablary schemes, like Dublin Core, the Open Annotation Collaboration, and CIDOC-CRM. LAWD will accomplish this by defining just enough new classes and properties to permit the semantic modeling of things like manuscript collation, relating provenance to geography, and prosopography.

namespace: http://lawd.info/ontology/

prefixes:

dc: http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1 (Dublin Core Elements)

dct: http://purl.org/dc/terms/ (Dublin Core Terms)

crm: http://www.cidoc-crm.org/cidoc-crm/ (CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model)

geo: http://geovocab.org/spatial# (GeoVocab.org)

prov: http://www.w3.org/ns/prov# (PROV-O, the Provenance Ontology)

Modeling written works:

Classes

ConceptualWork

The idea of a work, which may have any number of written expressions (which may themselves have derivatives). Analogous to a Work in FRBR.

WrittenWork = crm:E33_Linguistic_Object

subclasses: AssembledWork, Edition, Translation, Hand

A written work (whether extant or not) that is a version of a ConceptualWork. Subclasses are AssembledWork, Edition, Translation, and Hand. A WrittenWork may be part of another WrittenWork (e.g. a manuscript written in multiple hands), it may embody one or more ConceptualWorks (e.g. a codex comprised of several works), and it may have one or more WrittenWorks as a source (e.g. an edition or translation that makes use of several versions).

Citation

subclasses: Siglum

A Citation models a bibliographic reference in long or short form that may be used to represent the thing it references (like an entry in a bibliography, for example). When the cited work is a Non Information Resource, a Citation may be used as the Information Resource analog for the cited work. A Siglum is a specialized citation used in the context of critical apparatus that uses a symbol to refer to a source, such as a manuscript.

Object Properties

embodies

Domain: WrittenWork Range: ConceptualWork

dct:source

used to indicate the source of a WrittenWork (which will be one or more WrittenWorks)

represents

Domain: Citation, Range: WrittenWork These relate Citations to WrittenWorks

Modeling Persons and Names

Classes

Agent = prov:Agent

subclasses: Person, Group, Deity

An Agent is an abstract entity which has agency or is considered capable of acting in some way. LAWD Agents are equivalent to PROV-O Agents.

Person = crm:E21_Person

Any person, whether real or fictional.

Group

Any group, association, family, etc. which may be referred to as a single entity.

Deity

Any god, divinity or other sacred being from myth or cult

Name

subclasses: PersonalName, PlaceName

An abstract name, which has one or more primary forms and any number of variant forms.

PersonalName

A name belonging to a lawd:Person

PlaceName

A name belonging to a lawd:Place

Object Properties

hasName

Range: Name Indicates that (e.g.) a Person or Place has a lawd:Name that is the range of the property.

Data Properties

primaryForm

Indicates the primary form of a Name

variantForm

Indicates a variant form of a Name

Modeling Evidence

Classes

prov:Activity

Observation

subclasses: EvidentiaryItem, TextReuse

An Observation is a scholarly assertion. There are two subclasses, dealing with the identification of evidence and the observation of textual reuse (e.g. quotation, summary, or allusion).

EvidentiaryItem

subclasses: Attestation

A superclass for types of evidence.

Attestation

An Attestation models a piece of evidence for something in a text (e.g. the mention of a person in a document). Typically it is the conjunction of a Citation and an entity like a name or person.

TextReuse

TextReuse models an instance where an author quotes, summarizes, alludes to, or otherwise re-uses language in a text that comes from another text.

An rdf:value property on an Attestation or TextReuse may be used to provide the text of, e.g., the attestation or reuse.

Object Properties

hasCitation

Indicates a Citation that refers to the source for an Attestation

hasAttestation

Indicates an Attestation providing evidence for a Name, Person, etc.

reuseFrom

Links from a TextReuse instance to a Citation of the work from which the reused text came.

reuseIn

Links from a TextReuse instance to a Citation of the work in which the reused text appears.

Modeling the relationship of artifacts to places

Classes

Place = crm:E27_Site = geo:Feature

Object Properties

origin

Range: Place The place where an artifact originated.

foundAt

Range: Place The place where an artifact was found.

where

Range: Place Generic location relation. Can be used when the nature of the connection to a place is unclear.

Modeling the relationship of artifacts to existing typologies

Object Properties

= crm:P2_has_type

Modeling collation and critical apparatus:

Classes

CollationItem

subclasses: EditorialComment, Reference

Models an alternate reading in a manuscript source, an editor's comment on a reading, or the observation that a reading has a parallel elsewhere.