Our graduate programs are anchored in solid knowledge of the relevant languages: Ancient Greek, Latin and/or Modern Greek as each student's particular course of study demands, as well as reading abilities in appropriate modern languages such as French, German and Italian. Students also attain a thorough grounding in the literatures and histories of the cultures on which they choose to focus.
Beyond these basics, however, our students' paths diverge. Ohio State's faculty members represent a variety of scholarly interests, spanning more than two millennia, and provide opportunities to study archaeology, art history, Byzantine and medieval studies, critical theory, cultural politics, epigraphy, myth and religion, Near Eastern cultures, palaeography, philosophy, reception theory, and other topics. Candidacy exams are tailored to reflect each student's chosen fields of expertise. Students who are interested in ancient Mediterranean religions have the possibility to enhance their degree with an Interdisciplinary Graduate Specialization "Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean" (GISRAM) for which they will receive a certificate of completion. Students specializing in the intersections between Greek and Roman cultures and those of the ancient Near East can follow the CANE track on "Classical Antiquity and the Near East."
The Department sponsors an annual graduate student conference, which students organize and host. Thanks to their service as teaching assistants in both lecture and beginning language courses, our students enter their first jobs as skilled instructors. Students regularly deliver papers at national conferences, and are encouraged to develop, with the help of faculty members, promising seminar papers into publishable articles.