Major
Ten courses
Two introductory courses in Classical Studies: CLST 100, 110, or 140
One intermediate course in Classical Studies: CLST 251 or 253
Senior Research Colloquium: CLST 390
Greek Emphasis
Six courses in Greek above 102, or 4 courses in Greek above 102 and Latin 101 and 102
Latin Emphasis
Six courses in Latin above 102, or 4 courses in Latin above 102 and Greek 101 and 102
Classical Civilization Emphasis
Three courses in Latin or Greek above 102
Two courses in one of these related fields:
a) Art History: ARTH 101 and 202; including CLST 200 depending on topic
b) Archaeology/History: ARCH 120, 130, 140, 150, 210, 221, 222, 223, or 250; including CLST 200 depending on topic; or GREK 233, 331, LAT 233, 331
c) Religion: RELG 103 and 107; including CLST 200 depending on topic; LATN 241, LATN or GREK 393 depending on topic
d) Philosophy: PHIL 201 and POSC 180; including CLST 200 depending on topic; GREK 222, LAT 243, 331
e) Poetry: ENGL 101 (The Epic); including CLST 200 depending on topic; GREK 234, 332, LATN 234, 242, 243, 343, 352
Minor
Six courses
Two introductory courses in Classical Studies: CLST 100, 110, or 140
One intermediate course in Classical Studies: CLST 251 or 253
Three courses in Latin or Greek above 102
Suggested curricular flow through the major
First year:
Latin or Greek 101-102; CLST 100 and 110
Sophomore:
Latin or Greek 201-202; CLST 140 and 253
Junior:
Two courses in Latin or Greek at the 200 level
Senior:
300 level Latin or Greek, CLST 390
During first-year advising, faculty and interested students will determine which track is most appropriate
Independent study and independent research
Independent studies are available. Contact the department chair for details.
Honors
Honors within the major is determined by the quality of the senior thesis, which must display outstanding writing and analytical skills, and mastery of the research subject and its context. In addition to the written thesis, honors in Classical Studies considers GPA within the major, the oral presentation of the thesis project, and the fielding of questions, but is neither precluded nor guaranteed by them. On the basis of a composite of these factors, the Classical Studies faculty may decide to award honors to deserving students. Students interested in honors must present a prospectus by fall pause of their senior year and must earn a grade of “A” in CLST 390: Senior Research Colloquium. Normally, the thesis project will extend the research pursued in CLST 390. Various types of senior thesis are possible, including a traditional research project, a translation with commentary of a Greek or Latin text, or a digital project. Students are encouraged to talk to their advisors no later than the third week of their senior year for guidance to help them craft a thesis project able to meet the standards. It is assumed that substantial work will be completed over the winter break of the senior year. The complete draft of the thesis is due by spring break of the senior year, to allow for revisions based on feedback from the faculty. Students who receive honors will be notified before the Thursday preceding graduation.
Opportunities for off-campus study
Many majors have taken advantage of the Intercollegiate Center in Rome and the College Year in Athens (instruction in English by American professors under the American system), Durham University, and Advanced Studies in England (ASE). Four-week summer immersion courses taught in ancient Greek or Roman lands are offered occasionally.
Co-curricular activities/programs
The Classics House (five beds)
The annual Classics Festival for area high school Latin students. Dickinson students act as judges.
Eta Sigma Phi honor society
Latin club for school students (meets Mondays 4:30-5:30)
Courses
The following courses are offered abroad:
211 Roman Vistas
A four-week course conducted in Italy (the Bay of Naples; Rome and its environs). The course is designed to integrate the study of ancient sites and artifacts with relevant readings from Latin literature.
Admission by permission of the instructor.
Attributes: Social Sciences
212 Greek Vistas
A four-week course conducted in Greece and Crete. The course is designed to integrate study of ancient sites and artifacts with relevant readings from Greek authors.
Admission by permission of instructor.
Greek
101 Beginning Attic Greek
All the fundamentals of Greek grammar and syntax as well as the acquisition of vocabulary. By the conclusion of the second semester students will be prepared to read classical authors in the original.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year
102 Beginning Attic Greek
All the fundamentals of Greek grammar and syntax as well as the acquisition of vocabulary. By the conclusion of the second semester students will be prepared to read classical authors in the original.
Prerequisite: 101 or equivalent.
201 Introduction to Greek Prose
A review of syntax and selected readings from prose authors. Consideration is given to authors whose style and grammar best illustrate the characteristics of Attic Greek of the Classical period. Supplemental readings in English provide historical and cultural context for the author chosen.
Prerequisite: 102 or the equivalent.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year
202 Introduction to Greek Poetry
Selected readings from Homer with emphasis on poetic style and composition. Supplementary readings in English help stimulate discussion of literary, historical, and cultural topics regarding epic poetry.
Prerequisite: 102 or the equivalent. This course fulfills the language graduation requirement.
222 Philosophical Writers
Readings in Greek Philosophy including authors such as the Presocratics, Plato, Aristotle, or others. Supplementary readings in English provide historical context and an introduction to certain issues in ancient philosophy.
Recommended: 202 or the equivalent.
233 Herodotus
Selected readings from The Persian Wars, supplemented with reading of the text in English. Attention is paid to the nature of history and historical writing.
Recommended: 202 or the equivalent. Offered every two years.
Attributes: Humanities
234 Greek Tragedy
A play from the corpus of Aeschylus, Sophocles, or Euripides will be read. Readings in English focus discussion on the authors' poetic style, purpose, and the historical context within which the writing occurred.
Prerequisite: 202 or the equivalent. Offered every two years.
Attributes: Humanities
331 Thucydides
Selected readings from The Peloponnesian Wars, supplemented with reading of the text in English. Particular attention is paid to issues of historiography and Thucydides' place among historians.
Prerequisite: one course at the 200-level or the equivalent. Offered every two years.
332 Greek Comedy
Play(s) from the corpus of Aristophanes will be read. Readings in English help stimulate discussion of structure, technique and political-historical context of Aristophanes' comedy.
Prerequisite: at least one course at the 200-level or the equivalent. Offered every two years.
393 Seminar
Readings and conferences on selected areas of Greek literature. Research skills are emphasized.
Prerequisite: at least one course at the 200-level. Offered occasionally.
Latin
101 First-Year Latin
All the fundamentals of Latin grammar and the study of vocabulary. This course prepares students to read classical authors in the original.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year
102 First-Year Latin
All the fundamentals of Latin grammar and the study of vocabulary. This course prepares students to read classical authors in the original.
Prerequisite: 101 or the equivalent.
201 Introduction to Roman Prose
Review of syntax and selected readings from prose authors, with study of literary technique and discussion of supplementary readings in English.
Prerequisite: 102 or the equivalent.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year
202 Introduction to Roman Poetry
Selected readings from Catullus and Ovid, with focus on poetic technique, and discussion of supplementary readings in English.
Prerequisite: 201 or the equivalent. This course fulfills the language graduation requirement.
233 Roman Historians
Readings from Roman historians such as Sallust, Caesar and Livy, with study of Roman political values.
Prerequisite: 202 or the equivalent.
Attributes: Humanities
234 Ovid
Selections from the Metamorphoses with study of the more important Greek and Roman myths and their modern reception.
Prerequisite: 202 or the equivalent.
Attributes: Humanities
241 Early Christian Latin
Selections from Augustine's Confessions, Prudentius' Psychomachia, and/or the corpus of Claudian and Ausonius. Attention is paid to the intellectual and literary culture of the late 4th century AD. Offered every two years.
Prerequisite: 202 or the equivalent. Offered every two years.
242 Vergil, Aeneid
Selections from the epic, with emphasis on Vergil's literary aims and technique.
Prerequisite: 202 or the equivalent. Offered every third year.
243 Lucretius
Selections from the Epicurean philosopher's epic poem On the Nature of Things, with study of the philosophical and poetic background of the work, its reception in antiquity, and its relevance to modern concerns.
Prerequisite: 202 or the equivalent. Offered every third year.
Attributes: Writing in the Discipline
331 Cicero
Letters and speeches, with stress on the political life of the age of Cicero.
Prerequisite: at least one course at the 200-level. Offered every third year.
343 Lyric and Elegy
Selections from Horace and elegists such as Propertius and Tibullus, with focus on their literary technique and tradition.
Prerequisite: at least one course at the 200-level. Offered every two years.
352 Roman Satire
Readings from the satires of Juvenal or Horace with study of Roman social life in the early Principate.
Prerequisite: at least one course at the 200-level.
393 Seminar
Readings and conferences on selected areas of Latin literature. Emphasis on research skills.
Prerequisite: at least one course at the 200-level. Offered occasionally.
Classical Civilization
100 Greek and Roman Mythology
An introduction to the study and interpretation of Greek and Roman myths, as they appear both in ancient sources and in later music, sculpture, painting, and literature. The course focuses on interpretive approaches that can help us to define the insights of these myths into to human psychology and the predicaments of men and women, and to apply those insights critically to our own time.
Attributes: ARCH Area A Elective, Appropriate for First-Year, Arts, Humanities, MEMS Elective
110 Introduction to Greek Civilization
Reading and discussion of key literary, philosophical, and historical works of ancient Greece, including works by Homer, Thucydides, Plato, the Greek tragedians and comedians. Topics include Greek artistic and moral values, the conception of a good life, Athenian democracy and imperialism, slavery, homosexuality, and gender. The literature is read in English translation. This course fulfills the humanities distribution requirement. Offered every year
Attributes: ARCH Area A Elective, Appropriate for First-Year, Humanities
140 Ancient Worlds on Film
An introduction to ancient Greek and Roman history and civilization (excluding mythology) through viewing popular films about this period and reading the historical and literary sources on which those films are based. The course focuses on the stories of remarkable men and women from antiquity, what those stories reveal Greek and Roman values and ideas, and ways to apply those insights critically to our own time.
Attributes: Arts
150 Public Speaking: Secrets from the Classical Tradition
An introduction to the ancient art of public persuasion, with examination of more recent examples of effective speeches at crucial junctures in American history, insights from the Greek and Roman theorists and practitioners, and practice putting these ideas and techniques to use. Since speech can be a weapon as well as an art, the class examines the ethical aspects of oratory in the context of citizenship in a republic.
Attributes: Humanities
200 Special Topics in Classical Civilizations
This course undertakes topics, issues, and texts in Classical Civilization which are not otherwise offered in the Classical Studies Curriculum. The areas may include literary, historical, or philosophical topics from Bronze Age Greece to Christian Rome.
Will meet either Div 1a or 1b – Humanities, or DIV II-Social Sciences depending upon topic.
Attributes: ARCH Area A Elective, Appropriate for First-Year
221 Greek Art & Archaeology
A general introduction to the art and archaeology of ancient Greece from Prehistoric to Hellenistic times: Bronze Age civilizations (Cycladic, NE Aegean and Trojan, Minoan, Helladic/Mycenaean); Protogeometric, Geometric, Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic Greece. A survey of architecture (temple, secular funerary), sculpture, vase-painting, monumental painting, metalwork, and minor arts of these periods, both on mainland Greece and in the Greek colonies (Asia Minor, Pontus, Syria, Phoenice, Egypt, S.I Italy and Sicily); comparative study of typological, iconographical, stylistic, and technical aspects and developments; styles and schools, regional trends, historical contextualization of ancient Greek art and brief consideration of socio-economic patterns, political organization, religion, and writing. Evaluation of the ancient Greek artistic legacy and contribution to civilization. Field trips to archaeological collections and Museums.
This course is cross-listed as ARCH 120. Offered every fall.
Attributes: ARCH Area A Elective, ARTH Ancient Art, Appropriate for First-Year, Arts
224 Roman Archaeology
A general introduction to the art and archaeology of the Roman world from the Late Republic to the 4th century AD. A survey of architecture (temple, public, domestic, palatial, funerary), monumental painting, sculpture, metalwork, and minor arts of these periods in Italy and the rest of the Roman world; particular emphasis on Rome, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Ostia, Greece/Asia Minor, and North Africa. Comparative study of typological, iconographical, stylistic, and technical aspects and developments; regional trends and foreign influences. Historical and cultural contextualization of Roman art and architecture with consideration of socio-economic patterns, political developments, religion, and writing.
This course is cross-listed as ARCH 130. Offered occasionally.
Attributes: ARCH Area A Elective, Arts
251 Greek History
An introduction to the history of ancient Greece focusing on the Persian Wars, the Peloponnesian Wars, ancient Greek intellectual and cultural achievements, and the rise of Macedon. Topics include race, gender and sexuality. Students develop habits for reading ancient and modern sources critically. Assignments introduce students to the primary tools, methods, and conventions of researching and writing in the field of ancient history.
Attributes: ARCH Area A Elective, Writing in the Discipline
253 Roman History
An introduction to the history of ancient Rome focusing on the rise and fall of the Republic, the Augustan Age, and the Principate. Topics include race, gender, and sexuality. Students develop habits for reading ancient and modern sources critically. Assignments introduce students to the primary tools, methods, and conventions of researching and writing in the field of ancient history.
Attributes: ARCH Area A Elective, Social Sciences, Writing in the Discipline
390 Senior Research Colloquium
This capstone course for the classical studies major includes an individually designed research project on an open question in Classical Studies based on a set of primary sources or data, and a reflective essay that applies one or more classical texts to a contemporary issue or problem of the student’s choosing. A syllabus of common readings is developed based on student interests as determined prior to the course. Class meetings include discussion of common readings, presentation of draft research and ideas for the reflective essay, field trips to museums and visiting lectures, and discussion of the value of the classical studies major to prospective employers and others. Results of the research and reflection will be published on Dickinson Scholar and publicized via the department blog.
Prerequisite: Three LATN or GREK courses above 102 and CLST 251 or 253.