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The Oxford Classical Dictionary (OCD) is considered to be the standard one-volume encyclopaedia in English of topics relating to the Ancient World and its civilizations. It was first published in 1949, edited by Max Cary with the assistance of H. J. Rose, H. P. Harvey, and A. Souter. A second edition followed in 1970, edited by Nicholas G. L. Hammond and H. H. Scullard, and a third edition in 1996, edited by Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth, which in its revised form (2003) is the current edition in print (2011). A fourth edition, which appears to be a revised version of the third revised edition, is expected to be published on March 2012.
The OCD's 6,000 articles cover everything from the daily life of the ancient Greeks and Romans to their geography, religion, and their historical figures. The OCD includes comprehensive references to sources and recent scholarly publications.
The third revised edition of OCD is available online for members of subscribed institutions either via Oxford Digital Reference Shelf, or via Oxford Reference Online Premium. The third edition (1996) was also available on CD-ROM, but it was partially incompatible with more recent versions of Windows and has not been revised or re-released. The Third edition is also available from InteLex Corporation via Web access but no longer on CD-ROM (the InteLex version was compatible with all Windows operating systems).
A copy of the OCD has traditionally been offered by the National Latin Examination as a prize for students who obtain four consecutive ascending gold medals on the exam.