Introduction

The wealth of ancient myths and legends which we call Classical Mythology is one of the major elements of our cultural heritage. The study of its iconographic representations is the main aim pursued by the Foundation for the LIMC, a foundation of international character, and constituted under Swiss law, that was formed in Geneva in 1972 and has been located in Basel since 1983. Its first task was the preparation and publication of the Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC), completed in 1999. This work has been continued by the Thesaurus Cultus et Rituum Antiquorum (ThesCRA) (2004-2006), focused on the domain of cult and rite.

To be able to reach the goals set by the Foundation, the enterprise has been provided with a suitable infrastructure right from its beginning. Its constituent bodies are as follows:

• the Foundation Council, which is mainly in charge of providing and taking care of the necessary funds as well as the coordination of the executive bodies;
• the International Scientific Committee, which comprises scholars from most of the countries that contribute to the projects of the Foundation by providing scientific material, photographs and texts;
• the Editorial Board, which decides the content of the publications, selects the authors and supervises the intellectual content of their contributions;
• the Central Editorial Office, which is located in Basel, and takes care of the documentation, acquires photographs, prepares the texts for printing and produces the volumes of plates. It is aided by connected editorial offices in Paris, Heidelberg/Würzburg and Athens.