大众彩票

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Classical Studies Major

Overview of Program

The World Languages and Cultures Department offers a major and minor in Latin or Greek or a combination in Classical Studies with an emphasis on one language or the other. 

The program is small, personal, and flexible enough to accommodate students’ interests. Graduates have gone on to receive M.A.s and teach in various high schools and prep schools, and some have gone on for their doctorates from Ivy League and other elite universities and are now teaching at the University level.

Learn about the Latin Minor

Learn about the Greek Minor

Why Study the Classical Languages?

  • Latin and Greek are the roots of 60% of all English words and 90% of scientific, technical, and medical vocabulary.
  • Latin is the basis for the Romance Languages of Europe, including French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian.
  • Greek and Latin are the languages of two ancient civilizations, Rome and Greece, offering insights in the cultures, histories, and literatures of many early thinkers and philosophers
  • Proficiency in these languages provide access to ancient classics, such as Vergil’s Aeneid, and can enhance your skills in rhetoric and writing. 

Requirements of the Major

The Latin major consists of 36 credits, beginning with Beginning Latin (Latin 111), with the possibility of replacing 6 language credits with the 213 Literature and Mythology sequence. The student will take an additional 12 credits in another language (ideally Ancient Greek) as a concentration.

A major in Greek requires 36 credits in Ancient Greek, again starting at the elementary level, with the possibility of replacing 6 credits with the Literature and Mythology sequence. The student will take an additional 12 credits in another language (ideally Latin) as a concentration.

A major in Classical studies customarily includes 24 credits in either Latin or Ancient Greek, 12 credits in the other language, and a concentration in a third language.

After Elementary and Intermediate, students take the remainder of their coursework in readers with their professor and can tailor those readers to fit their interests. Among the authors offered in the last few years are Euripides, Sophocles, Xenophon and Homer on the Greek side, and Tacitus, Catullus, Vergil, and Cicero on the Latin side.  Students have also taken coursework on special topics, including imperial Rome, ancient medicine, an