Classics at Southwestern

General Information

Classics is a broad field covering Greco-Roman antiquity from the very earliest periods (prehistory) to the dissolution of the Roman Empire. As a classicist, you will be studying the literature and language, anthropology, art history, religion, philosophy, and history of the ancient Mediterranean world.

The rigor involved in the study of Classics will prepare you for a variety of careers. Professional schools and business schools recognize that Classics provides a great intellectual foundation for graduate work in any field. Classics majors score especially well on standardized exams such as the GRE.

You can choose from a range of study abroad opportunities: 

Greece at College Year at Athens, with courses in ancient languages and history, as well as in English in political science, history, philosophy, environmental studies and the like.

Italy in Rome or Sicily (Catania) at the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies, with courses in languages and history, plus art history.

In Turkey, Istanbul/Ankara, through Global Partners.

Summer Study Programs take place in various Mediterranean countries. Follow the links to the left for further information.

Through Sunoikisis, an innovative inter-institutional Classics program, you have access to a broad range of subject material and faculty. Using cutting edge technology, student and faculty scholars from national peer insitutions work together on text, iconography, epigraphy, pottery, et al. in a far richer way than is possible on any single campus alone. The result is a new collaborative and interdisciplinary paradigm essential for liberal arts learning in the 21st century. Our global economy requires the ability to work effectively within virtual offices - a recent Latin major, now working for a major accounting firm, reports that Sunoikisis prepared him well to collaborate with co-workers located in distant offices.

As a Classics major, you have the opportunity to conduct advanced research at the side of a professor. For example, one recent graduate, working in collaboration with Dr. Haskell, produced a paper on the topic of the arrival of Greeks on Crete (published in Athens the following year). Another student "read" and classified a sequence of pottery sherds at an archaeological site in Turkey.