PERRLA/Guides/APA 7/Ancient Greek and Roman works

How to Cite Ancient Greek and Roman Works in APA 7

An APA 7 reference for an ancient Greek or Roman work gives the author's name as it's known (Aristotle, Plato), the year of the translation you read, the title in italics, the translator with Trans. in parentheses, the publisher or website, the URL if online, and the original date at the end: (Original work published ca. 350 B.C.E.). The in-text citation gives both dates and the work's own book or section numbers instead of a page: (Aristotle, ca. 350 B.C.E./1994, Book II, Chapter 1).

The format

Author. (Year of your translation). Title of the work (A. A. Translator, Trans.). Publisher or Website Name. URL (Original work published ca. Year B.C.E.)

PERRLA APA Experts · Updated October 21, 2026
Checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition. Every example is formatted by PERRLA's reference engine.

First, the easy way: PERRLA

In PERRLA, choose Ancient & Classic Works. Fill it in from your translation's title page and copyright page, or from the website you read:

  • Contributors: the ancient writer with the role Author. For a writer known by one name, type it in the last name box and leave the first name empty. Add the translator with the role Translator, and any editor with Editor. If the author is unknown or disputed, leave the author out: PERRLA moves the title to the front.
  • Title of the Work as your translation prints it, in sentence case, and Edition if there is one.
  • Publication Year: the year of your translation, from its copyright page or the website.
  • The publisher, or the website's name and its URL.
  • Original Publication Year: type it the way APA writes it, like ca. 350 B.C.E. Use ca. for an estimate and B.C.E. for a year before the common era. Leave it empty when nobody agrees on the date.

In the citation box, choose Other for a labeled location: type Book II, Chapter as the label and 1 as the value, or leave the label empty and type a section number like 514a. For numbers joined by periods, like 4.3, use the Act, Scene, & Line boxes: type 4 and 3 and leave the last box empty. PERRLA puts both dates in front of the location every time.

Not using PERRLA yet? Here is how to build the same reference by hand.

The parts of the reference

1. Author

Most ancient writers are known by a single name. Write it out in full, followed by a period, with no initials: Aristotle, Plato, Homer, Sophocles. Keep a Roman name together the way your book's cover prints it.

Aristotle.

Marcus Aurelius.

When the author is unknown or scholars dispute who wrote the work, leave the author out and start with the title. The Hippocratic Oath is named after Hippocrates, but historians doubt he wrote it, so its reference begins with its title.

2. Year of your translation

Give the year the translation or website you used was published, in parentheses, followed by a period. Never put the ancient date here: Aristotle wasn't publishing in 1994, but the translation you read was.

(1994).

3. Title

Italicize the title and write it in sentence case, using the English title your translation prints. Proper nouns and the adjectives made from them keep their capitals.

Nicomachean ethics

In your sentences, write the title in title case and italics: Nicomachean Ethics, Republic, Meditations.

4. Translator

Put the translator's initials and last name in parentheses after the title, followed by Trans. The translator chose every word you quote, so leaving them out leaves your reader guessing which version you read.

(W. D. Ross, Trans.)

If your copy also has an edition number, add it after a semicolon inside the same parentheses: (A. A. Translator, Trans.; 2nd ed.).

5. Publisher or website

For a print book or an e-book, give the publisher with no city. For a translation you read online, give the website's name and then the URL, with no period after the link.

The Internet Classics Archive. https://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.html

6. Original publication date

End with the date the work was first written or published, after the words Original work published, with no period after the closing parenthesis. Ancient dates are usually estimates, so put ca. (circa, "about") before the year. Put B.C.E. after a year before the common era. Years after it, like the 170s for Marcus Aurelius, need no label.

(Original work published ca. 350 B.C.E.)

Given a span of years? Put ca. once, before the span. When scholars disagree on the date by a century or more, leave this part out and use only your translation's year.

Examples

An ancient work you read online

Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics in W. D. Ross's translation on the Internet Classics Archive, the same site APA uses for its own Aristotle example. A nursing ethics paper might cite Book II, Chapter 1, where Aristotle argues that people become just by doing just acts. The site dates the work to 350 B.C.E., and APA's model marks the date as approximate with ca.

  • Parenthetical citation(Aristotle, ca. 350 B.C.E./1994, Book II, Chapter 1)
  • Narrative citationAristotle (ca. 350 B.C.E./1994, Book II, Chapter 1)

An ancient work with no known author

The Hippocratic Oath in Michael North's 2002 translation for the National Library of Medicine. Hippocrates probably didn't write it, so the title takes the author's place, and the in-text citation uses the title in italics. Scholars still disagree about when it was written, so the reference leaves out an original date. This citation points to the oath's eighth paragraph, the promise to keep secret what the physician sees and hears in patients' lives.

  • Parenthetical citation(The Hippocratic Oath, 2002, para. 8)
  • Narrative citationThe Hippocratic Oath (2002, para. 8)

Plato's Republic in C. D. C. Reeve's 2004 translation from Hackett. Plato is cited by the Stephanus numbers printed in the margin of nearly every edition, so 514a, the opening of the allegory of the cave, is the same place in any translation. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy dates the middle-period dialogues, including most of the Republic, to about 380–360 B.C.E., so the original date is a span.

  • Parenthetical citation(Plato, ca. 380–360 B.C.E./2004, 514a)
  • Narrative citationPlato (ca. 380–360 B.C.E./2004, 514a)

A Roman work written after the common era began

Marcus Aurelius's Meditations in Gregory Hays's translation, published by the Modern Library in 2002. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy dates the notebook to about 171–175, so the date takes ca. but not B.C.E. Book 4, entry 3, where he says a person can retreat into their own mind, is cited as 4.3 in any translation.

  • Parenthetical citation(Marcus Aurelius, ca. 171–175/2002, 4.3)
  • Narrative citationMarcus Aurelius (ca. 171–175/2002, 4.3)

In-text citations

An APA 7 in-text citation for an ancient work gives the author, the original date, a slash, the year of your translation, and then the work's own numbering. Use the numbering that every edition shares, never your copy's page numbers, so your reader can find the passage in any translation.

  • Book and chapter: (Aristotle, ca. 350 B.C.E./1994, Book II, Chapter 1)
  • Standard section numbers: Plato's works use Stephanus numbers like 514a, and Aristotle's use Bekker numbers like 1103a, printed in the margins of most editions
  • Book and entry joined by a period: 4.3 for Book 4, entry 3 of the Meditations
  • A date span: ca. goes once, before the first year, and the B.C.E. goes after the second
  • No known author: the title in italics and title case: (The Hippocratic Oath, 2002, para. 8)
  • No standard numbering: use the paragraph number, as with the Oath on a webpage

A narrative citation puts the author in your sentence with both dates after the name: Aristotle (ca. 350 B.C.E./1994) argued that virtue comes from practice (Book II, Chapter 1). The translator appears only in the reference, not in the text.

Common mistakes

  • (Aristotle, 1994)(Aristotle, ca. 350 B.C.E./1994)When the reference ends with an original date, the in-text citation shows both dates, the original first. Citing only 1994 makes it look like Aristotle wrote in the 1990s.
  • (Original work published 350 B.C.)(Original work published ca. 350 B.C.E.)APA writes B.C.E. (before the common era), not B.C., and puts ca. before a date that's an estimate, which nearly every ancient date is.
  • Aristotle. (1994). Nicomachean ethics. The Internet Classics Archive.Aristotle. (1994). Nicomachean ethics (W. D. Ross, Trans.). The Internet Classics Archive.You read a translation, and the translator's wording is what you quote. Name the translator in parentheses after the title.
  • Hippocrates. (2002). The Hippocratic oath.The Hippocratic oath (M. North, Trans.). (2002).When the author is unknown or disputed, APA treats the work as having no author and moves the title to the front. A name in the title isn't proof of who wrote it.
  • (Plato, 2004, p. 208)(Plato, ca. 380–360 B.C.E./2004, 514a)Page numbers differ between translations. The Stephanus number points to the same passage in every edition of Plato.

Quick checklist

  • The author's name in full, or the title first if the author is unknown
  • The year of your translation after the author
  • Title in italics and sentence case
  • Translator with Trans. after the title
  • Publisher, or the website's name and URL
  • (Original work published ca. … B.C.E.) at the end, unless the date is disputed
  • Both dates and the work's own numbering in every citation

Questions students ask

Do I need a reference entry for Plato or Aristotle in APA 7?

Yes. The sixth edition let you skip the reference for major ancient Greek and Roman works, but APA 7 dropped that rule. Cite the translation you read as a book or a webpage, with its own reference list entry.

What does B.C.E. mean, and do I need it?

B.C.E. stands for "before the common era" and goes after any year before year 1. APA uses it instead of B.C. A work written after that point, like the Meditations, needs no label at all.

What do I do if I don't know when an ancient work was written?

Use the date your translation or a reliable reference gives, with ca. in front because it's an estimate. If scholars disagree widely, leave the original date out of the reference, and your in-text citation shows only your translation's year.

Do I name the translator in my in-text citation?

No. The in-text citation has the author, the dates, and the location. The translator goes only in the reference, in parentheses after the title.

What are Stephanus and Bekker numbers?

They're the standard section numbers for Plato (514a) and Aristotle (1103a), taken from early printed editions and printed in the margins of most modern translations. Because every translation shares them, they're the best location to cite when your edition has them.

Is "First, do no harm" from the Hippocratic Oath?

No. The National Library of Medicine points out that the phrase doesn't appear in the Oath, even though it's often credited to it. The closest line in North's translation promises to do patients no harm or injustice, so cite that passage, not the slogan.

How do I cite two translations of the same work?

Give each translation its own reference, since their wording differs. A print copy and an e-book of the same translation are one work, so they need only one entry.

Rules checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.), Sections 8.14, 8.15, 8.28, 9.42, and 10.2, and the APA Style blog post on citing classical and religious works. Example sources verified on the Internet Classics Archive's Nicomachean Ethics pages, the National Library of Medicine's Greek medicine exhibit and its North translation, Britannica's bioethics article on the Oath's authorship, Hackett's page for the Reeve Republic, Penguin Random House's page for the Hays Meditations, and the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy's articles on Plato and Marcus Aurelius for the dates.

PERRLA builds the reference for an ancient work with its translator and original date, and writes both dates and the section number into every citation.

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