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Accuracy
Information about the accuracy of Geographic Names in Pleiades.
Pleiades records Geographic Names under either of two conditions:
- when the name is attested (or possibly attested) in an ancient (primary) source, or
- when the name has been treated in prior literature (either ancient or modern) as if it were an attested name, even though it is not (i.e., it is a "false" name)
With respect to the attestation of names, Pleiades recognizes three levels of accuracy:
- accurate
- a string of characters in an ancient (primary) source is thought to be correct
- inaccurate
- a string of characters in an ancient source is thought to represent an ancient name, but the transcription or transmission of those characters from antiquity is thought to be incorrect
- false
- an ancient source or prior modern interpreter is thought to have thoroughly confused, or even made up, a name
Treatment in the Barrington Atlas
The Barrington Atlas gave no special indication for accurate names. Inaccurate names were enclosed in inverted commas (e.g., ‘Beodizo’). False names were not printed on maps at all; rather, they were listed in a special table ("False Names") in the Map-by-Map Directory listing associated with the map.