The department offers two majors. The majors in Classics (Greek, Latin, or Classics) center on work in the original languages, whereas the major in Ancient Studies has an interdisciplinary focus. All members of the department are available for major advising and students ideally choose an advisor who can help them develop their required senior essays.
Students may fulfill their language requirement at Barnard and have it count towards the Classics and Ancient Studies degree by taking a year's worth (or one intensive class) of Greek, Latin, Ancient Egyptian, Akkadian, or Aramaic.
Majors have a variety of opportunities to study abroad, whether it be during the school year or the summer. Popular options include the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome, IES in Rome, College Year in Athens, American University in Cairo, and numerous summer programs. Students can get excavation experience and college credit by taking part in excavations at Hadrian's Villa in Italy.
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, Persa, and more. Recordings of past performances can be found here.
The 2025 BCADG production is Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus. The play will be performed April 4th to 6th at the Minor Latham Playhouse. Tickets can be bought here.
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.
Our majors graduate well prepared for graduate careers in Classics, Egyptology, and related academic fields such as museum work (Andrea Myers Achi, pictured above, is an Assistant Curator of Medieval Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art), history, philosophy, archaeology, art history or comparative literature. They also enter successful careers in secondary school teaching, 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).
Congratulations to our three Phi Beta Kappa awardees: Ruya Tazebay (BC '25, left) with thesis title "He Says What She Says: Constructing Women’s Speech and Silence in First-Century Latin Elegy;" Ella Chang (BC '25, center) with thesis title "Theban Dialogues: Sacred Encounters in Roman Egypt;" and Jo Mintz (BC' 25, right) with thesis title " Lingua as Limen: Language and the Boundaries of Identity in the Literature of Roman Africa."
The Barnard Columbia Ancient Drama Group's production of Oedipus at Colonus (performed in ancient Greek with English supertitles) opens on Friday, April 4th, 2025. In the final installment of the Theban trilogy, an elderly Oedipus—guided by his dutiful daughter, Antigone—finds refuge in the tiny Athenian suburb of Colonus. This production touches upon Oedipus’ embodiment as a disabled character. Directed by Barnard seniors Sydney Hertz and Ruya Tazebay.
Congratulations to the distinguished students of our department! Congratulations to Lyla Guthrie for winning the John Day Memorial prize; Ruya Tazebay, Syd Hertz, and Ella Chang for the Emily de Graff prize; Jo Mintz for the Tatlock Award; and Juliana Weber and Thandiwe Knox for the Barnard Award for Excellence in Classical Studies!
This is an ongoing project spearheaded by Barnard and Columbia students interested in the study of the ancient world and in feminist archaeology. Its focus is methodological and asks what various analytical techniques can tell us about societal constructions of gender in the past.
Our students are involved in an ongoing project particularly interesting texts, media, and scholarship relevant to the study of race and ethnicity in the ancient Mediterranean world. The resources are organized along methodological lines, and the site serves as a broad and productive entry for individuals interested in race, ethnicity, and multiculturalism in antiquity.