The Department of Classics and Ancient Studies
Department Website: https://classics.barnard.edu/
Department Office: 224 Milbank Hall
Department Phone: 212-854-2852
Department Chair: Professor Nancy Worman, nworman@barnard.edu
Department Manager: Maia Bernstein, mbernste@barnard.edu
Department Assistant: Fabiola Lafontant, flafonta@barnard.edu
Major in Ancient Studies
Mission
The department of Classics and Ancient Studies aims to introduce students to a knowledge of the languages and an understanding of the literature and culture of ancient Greece and Rome in a broader Mediterranean context, as well as to develop an appreciation of how Greco-Roman antiquity has been used and abused by later eras. The study of the languages enables access to a wide range of challenging and influential ancient texts, artifacts, and ideas and also makes the grammar, syntax, and vocabulary of English and other modern languages more comprehensible. The study of these texts, in turn, develops analytical and critical thinking about both the past and the present, the ability to assess many different kinds of fragmentary evidence, as well as skills in writing, close reading and oral presentation, cultural awareness, and literary sensibility. Close cooperation between Barnard and Columbia enables ancient studies students to plan and implement an integrated, cohesive interdisciplinary study of the ancient world, including language, literature, mythology, history, religion, philosophy, law, political theory, comparative literature, medieval studies, gender studies, art history, and material culture. The texts and monuments of the Greco-Roman world served as the basis of Western education until the twentieth-century and retain a core position in modern humanities and social thought that is currently expanding beyond the West. Exploring, analyzing, and assessing this legacy is the central goal of the program.
Programs of Study
The department offers two majors, one in Ancient Studies and one in Classics and minors. (Information on the Classics major in Greek, Latin, or both is listed under Classics.) The major in Ancient Studies has an interdisciplinary focus. All members of the department are available for major advising and students ideally choose an adviser who can help them develop their required senior essay.
The Major in Ancient Studies
All students in the department are encouraged to take courses in history and classical civilization that require no knowledge of the languages. Students in the more fully interdisciplinary Ancient Studies major combine study of at least one ancient language with a range of courses in various departments focusing on language, literature, mythology, history, religion, philosophy, political theory, law, film, comparative literature, medieval studies, gender studies, art history and material culture. Each student develops a concentration in one geographical area or period but is encouraged to focus on a set of related issues and questions. Ancient Studies students will encounter many disciplinary approaches and investigate Greek and Roman and related ancient cultures in Egypt and the Near East and their influences on later Western (and to the degree possible, non-Western) culture. From this perspective, the major can complement work in other liberal arts majors. Study abroad for one semester in either Greece, Rome, Egypt, or the Near East is common and encouraged.
The Minor in Ancient Studies
The minor in Ancient Studies requires five courses that focus on Ancient Mediterranean or Ancient Near Eastern civilizations. At least one history course is required. Four other courses will compliment that course to provide an interdisciplinary understanding of a specific region and/or time period.
Program-level Student Learning Outcomes
Students successfully completing a major in Ancient Studies should be able to attain the following objectives:
- Read, analyze, and write about ancient texts persuasively and locate texts in their historical and cultural contexts.
- Achieve familiarity with the methodologies and critical approaches and research tools deployed in classical scholarship and in related disciplines studied by each individual student that is demonstrated in the successful completion of a senior research project.
- Achieve familiarity with the work of a variety of ancient writers on a range of interdisciplinary topics.
- Engage in detail with the methods needed to analyze the range of fragmentary evidence, both written and material, required in an interdisciplinary study of the ancient Mediterranean world.
- Demonstrate familiarity with one geographical area or period in the Greek, Latin, or related ancient Mediterranean worlds.
- Assess differences among and relations between ancient cultures and analyze the use and abuse of evidence about the ancient world by later cultures.
The Greek or Latin Play
The Classics Department is the beneficiary of the Matthew Alan Kramer Fund, whose principal purpose is to support the production of plays in Ancient Greek or Latin. Students of the department have produced Antigone, Medea, Alcestis, Persians, Eumenides, Cyclops, Electra, Clouds, Trojan Women, Rudens, Helen, Trachiniae, Bacchae, Hippolytus, Heracles, Birds, and Persa, which have provided an exciting and different learning experience for the participants.
Classics in New York
Every effort is made to introduce students to considerable resources for the study and influence of the Classics in New York City, including plays, films, and museum and gallery visits.
Careers Undertaken by Classics and Ancient Studies Majors
Our majors graduate well prepared for graduate careers in Classics and related academic fields such as history, philosophy, archaeology, art history or comparative literature. They also enter successful careers in secondary school teaching, museum work and arts administration, as well as law, medicine and biological sciences, business, politics, public service in both the government and non-profit sectors, journalism and creative writing, publishing, library science, and the arts (especially theater, film, and dance).
Study Abroad
The following three programs are pre-approved, but students may discuss other options with their advisers.
ICCS in Rome
Barnard College participates in the program of the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome. Majors in Classics or Ancient Studies are eligible to apply for admission to the program of the Rome Center for one semester, preferably in the junior year. Courses taken at the Rome Center may be used in the major and, in some cases, may be used to satisfy distribution requirements. The program provides undergraduate students with an opportunity to study ancient history and archaeology in Rome, Greek and Latin literature, and ancient and renaissance art. Students planning to apply to the ICCS should plan to take Roman history before applying and preference is given to those with two or more years of Latin and Greek. Applications for the spring term are due in mid-October and for the fall term in mid-March. Because of Sicily’s ancient connections to Greece, the program focuses more on the Hellenic culture of Magna Graeca and Sicily’s place as a cultural crossroads in the ancient Mediterranean.
ICCS in Sicily
The focus of ICCS Sicily, as in the original program in Rome, will be on classical languages as well as on local manifestations of history and civilization in the ancient Mediterranean world. Based at the University of Catania, in a city with a rich ancient, medieval and Baroque history, this program offers extensive local academic resources and close proximity to both the mainland and other towns on the island.
CYA: College Year In Athens
The College Year in Athens (CYA) program offers either one semester or a full year of courses in ancient and modern Greek languages, history, art, and archaeology, as well as advanced Latin and courses in post-classical and modern Greek culture, politics, and history. Almost 200 colleges participate in the CYA. Applications for the spring term must be received by mid-October and by mid-May for the fall term.
Summer Study
Students interested in summer programs in archaeology should consult the website of the American Institute for Archaeology (AIA) under fieldwork.
The CUNY Greek and Latin Workshops in midtown Manhattan offer special intensive summer language programs in Greek and Latin. Other institutions including Columbia offer summer language courses. The American Numismatics Society in Manhattan offers courses in the study of ancient coins.
Barnard College is a Supporting Institution of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and the American Academy in Rome, and certain privileges of those schools are open without fee to graduates of the College.
Chair: Nancy Worman (Professor)
Professors: Kristina Milnor, Ellen Morris
Associate Professor: Rosa Andújar
Term Lecturer: Darcy Krasne
Professor Emerita: Helene Foley
Other faculty of Columbia offering courses in Classics:
Professors: Kathy H. Eden, Carmela Franklin, Stathis Gourgouris, John Ma, Seth Schwartz, Deborah Steiner, Karen Van Dyck, Katharina Volk, Gareth Williams
Associate Professors: Marcus Folch, Joseph Howley, Elizabeth Irwin
Assistant Professor: Alan Ross
Senior Lecturer: Elizabeth Scharffenberg
Lecturers: Dimitris Antoniou (Hellenic Studies), Chrysanthe Filippardos (Modern Greek), Nikolas Kakkoufa (Modern Greek), Paraskevi Martzavou, Charles McNamara
Requirements for the Major in Ancient Studies
Each student, after consultation with the Barnard Chair, chooses an advisor whose field is closely related to her own and with whom she will plan her senior essay.
A total of 36 points are required in the major, including at least four courses in one geographical area or period; courses in at least three departments to ensure proper interdisciplinary training and expertise; the elementary sequence of a relevant ancient language; the appropriate history course; ANCS UN3995 The Major Seminar, and at least the first semester of Ancient Studies ANCS UN3998 , ANCS V3999 Directed Research in Ancient Studies (senior essay). Ancient language courses may be used toward the major requirement; however, where a second ancient language is offered, one second-year sequence must be offered for a student to gain credit for the first year. As noted above, an annual list of the courses meeting the requirements for Ancient Studies in any particular year appears separately on the website.
Requirements for the Minor in Ancient Studies
The minor in Ancient Studies requires five courses that focus on the ancient Mediterranean world. At least one course in ancient Mediterranean history is required. Interested students should consult the department and the Classics and Ancient Studies website on selecting a complementary and coherent set of courses for this minor.
