An Historical Overview and an Encyclopedia provide two different secondary means of entry to Perseus. Encyclopedia articles also include links to primary sources, so that a reader can take a topical as well as a chronological approach to a question. One Advantage of the Perseus Environment Users will benefit from the diverse materials in the Perseus digital library, which have not been integrated in traditional scholarship. For example, the user can read Euripides' Bacchae and examine the depictions of satyrs and maenads in art, or investigate the histories of Herodotus and Thucydides with maps and photographs of the places they mention. There are a number of ways to navigate the digital library in addition to the links provided in the Historical Overview and the Encyclopedia.
Users can create and save individual paths through the database.
These paths can be used as a record for individual research and as an expository tool for other readers. Although the sources in the database may not be changed, it will be possible to create new links and paths so the user can navigate through the data, as well as add supplementary materials. By enabling such heterogeneous study, Perseus explores the possibility of the digital library of the future, which is already emerging in today's computing environment. It presents a range of information relevant to many different purposes. With Perseus it is possible to move between traditionally distinct types of information, such as images and texts, hence traditionally distinct disciplines, such as archaeology and philology.