Why Classics?
Classics is the academic study of
- Greece, Rome, and their Mediterranean neighbors between 1000 BCE and 1000 CE
- How people across time and around the world have understood, imagined, and made use of Greek and Roman antiquity in their own social, cultural, and political contexts
Classics at OSU is also the home of the study of Modern Greek, which focuses on the Greek world of the last ten centuries.
In Classics, we study, teach, and research the whole sweep of the ancient Mediterranean world, with a special focus on:
- ancient religion
- Greek and Latin literature
- social, political, and intellectual history
- identity and cultural difference
- citizenship and civic life
- material culture
- classical reception
OSU Classics students can study abroad at programs in Greece and Italy. We offer internships in the Center for Epigraphical and Paleographical Study and the Museum of Classical Archaeology. Our majors can take additional coursework on ancient Christianity, Judaism, early Islam, and languages that include Biblical Hebrew, Akkadian, and Arabic in the departments of History and Near Eastern and South Asian Studies.
Why study Classics in the 21st century? Up until around 1900, Classics was higher education. Ohio State’s original 1870 charter included mechanical, agricultural, and classical studies as the goal of a university education. In the nineteenth century, students looked to great figures from history to learn how to live.
Today, we recognize that there is more that the ancient past can teach us. We study the ancient Mediterranean to learn how their societies worked (or didn’t!)–and what their successes and failures can reveal about ours. People in widely diverse historical and cultural contexts have encountered ancient Greece and Rome through literature, history, art and archaeology, and more: Classics offers one path to study how all these people understood their world.
The Department of Classics offers majors in Classics (Classical Humanities, Greek, Latin, and Greek and Latin), Modern Greek, and an interdisciplinary major in Ancient History and Classics. Courses are listed in the Course Catalog under four headings: Classics, Greek, Latin and Modern Greek.
The Classical Humanities major covers Greek and Roman literature and culture in translation. Reading assignments in Classics courses are entirely in English. Greek and Latin majors are introduced to the languages and literatures of ancient Greece and Rome. Students in the Modern Greek major are introduced to the language, literature, and culture of Greece during the past two centuries. The Classics and Ancient History major combines coursework from the Department of Classics and the Department of History.
Classics majors learn how to critically evaluate and process data in its own historical and cultural context. Classics majors are well-positioned to pursue numerous career paths, including but not limited to education, law, entrepreneurship in profit and non-profit sectors, public service and engagement, and the arts. A Classics major does not aim to prepare students for a single job or industry, but instead provides the foundational learning of skills that prepare students for broader career mobility and versatility.
Our department provides hands-on training through internships at the Center for Epigraphical and Paleographical Study and the Museum of Classical Archaeology. Faculty in Classics work closely with majors to prepare for graduation and what comes next.
ASC Career Success offers resources for all students in the College of Arts and Sciences.