Majors and Minors

The major in Ancient Studies is explicitly interdisciplinary in outlook. Students interested in focusing on the ancient Mediterranean or the Ancient Near East will normally take classes in a wide range of departments that focus on language, literature, mythology, material culture, history, religion, art history, philosophy, comparative literature, or indeed, other subjects relevant to their specific interests. Each student will develop a concentration in one geographical area or period but will also develop an appreciation for the cultural development of the region as a whole. Study abroad in Greece, Rome, Egypt, the Middle East, or in European universities with strong programs in their field of interest is encouraged. Students are also encouraged to explore internship opportunities at the Brooklyn Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and other institutions throughout New York City.

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 credits are required in the major, including

the elementary sequence of a relevant ancient language (Greek, Latin, Egyptian, Akkadian, Aramaic, or Biblical Hebrew)
the appropriate history course
at least four courses in one geographical area or period
ANCS UN 3996 The Major Seminar
ANCS UN 3998 Directed Research in Ancient Studies
Also, at least three departments must be represented in your 36 points (to ensure proper interdisciplinary training and expertise)

Note: Barnard’s degree audit system is not reliable for this major. Please rely on the guidelines given above and on discussions with your advisor to ascertain whether you have fulfilled the major requirements.

SPRING 2026

In CLASSICS AND ANCIENT STUDIES and COMP LIT

CLCV UN3000 Ethnicity, Race & Power in the Ancient Mediterranean, Prof. Rosa Andújar, T 10:10-12:00

This course explores the intersections of identity and power in the ancient Mediterranean, with a focus on how race and ethnicity were constructed in the art, literature, and material culture of Greece and Rome. We will consider a broad range of texts including epic, ethnographies, medical texts, dramas, novels, and material evidence to examine how ancient Mediterranean peoples articulated and conceived of foreignness and difference. In our considerations of these texts we will discuss ancient theories of ethnic and racial superiority, narratives of belonging and exclusion and how these intersected with political and social control, as well as linguistic, religious and cultural differentiation as a basis for ethnic differentiation. We will also analyze ancient racism through the prism of a variety of social processes in antiquity, such as slavery, trade and colonization, migrations, imperialism, assimilation, and native revolts. By the end of the course, students will have gained a richer understanding of the intellectual and cultural history of the ancient Mediterranean world and will be able to engage in discussions of identity construction in a comparative manner.

Fulfills: Arts & Humanities, Social Science, Global Inquiry, Historical Perspective, Social Difference

THTR UN3008 Performing Greek Tragedy on the Modern Stage, Profs. Gisela Cardenas Ojeda and H. Foley, MW 2:10-4:00

What happens when Medea steps into a contemporary rehearsal room? When Antigone walks on the streets fighting for her cause? When Medea becomes a live political debate—and a contemporary playwright gives you a new script to interrogate? This studio-seminar class, co-taught by Gisela Cardenas (Theatre) and Helene Foley (Classics), brings classicists and theatre-makers into the same creative laboratory to explore how Greek tragedy works onstage—then and now. You’ll study ancient performance practices (space, masks, chorus, costume, acting technique) while watching striking modern productions across global traditions (including Ninagawa, Serban/Swados, Tuminas, and more), then test your own staging proposals through ensemble-driven scene work. Across three focused blocks—Chorus & Space (Medea), Masks & Monologues (Antigone), and Rhetoric & Debate (Trachinae + Martin Crimp)—students build performances that integrate choral rhythm, physical dynamics, vocal clarity, object work, costume concepts, and spatial dramaturgy, culminating in final presentations with feedback using Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process. For classicists: see how myth, ritual, and political argument become embodied form. For directors/dramaturgs: sharpen your dramaturgy through staging problems, translation choices, and production ideas that make the plays current. For actors: train in chorus, mask, rhythm, and high-stakes speech skills that level up any contemporary performance. For designers: develop bold, research-driven costume/object proposals rooted in ancient practice and modern reinvention. This is a class for all students interested in Greek myth, adaptation, translation, ensemble performance, and the thrill of making old texts speak now.

Fulfills: Arts & Humanities

CLCV UN3008 The Age of Augustus, Prof. Lien Van Geel, MW 1:10-2:25

The reign of the first Roman emperor, Augustus (27bce-14ce), has been seen as a Roman revolution, both political and cultural. Rome had for centuries been governed as a Republic, but a series of increasingly divisive civil wars allowed Augustus to create a new political system in which he exercised sole rule as the ‘first citizen’ within a ‘Restored Republic’. Augustus’ reign lasted more than 40 years, and established a model of autocratic rule that would last for four centuries. During this time there were profound changes in the political, social, and cultural structures of Rome. In this course, you will examine the nature of these changes, Augustus’ political strategies, military activities, and religious initiatives through his own writing, the accounts of (often hostile) historians and a range of literary and archaeological sources, including Roman poetry. Ultimately, we will address the question: how did Augustus achieve the seemingly paradoxical feat of becoming a monarch within a republican system?

CLST UN3037 Writing and Power in the Roman Empire, Prof. Susan Rahyab, M 11:10-1:00

Despite low literacy rates in the ancient world, engagement with writing concerned all socioeconomic groups across the Roman Empire, from public documents and tax receipts to personal letters and magical spells. The Roman government placed considerable importance on the written word, a vital component to political, social, religious, economic, and cultural life, both at the center of the empire in Rome and in the provinces. Between Roman authorities and provincials, writing was used by ruler and ruled in various ways as a tool of power to exploit, secure social mobility, resist, maintain ideological power, protect, legitimize, empower, and communicate. This interdisciplinary course explores the theme of writing and power in the Roman Empire during the period of the High Empire (30 BCE to 235 CE), taking both macro and microhistorical approaches. Through close analysis of papyrus documents, inscriptions, archaeological sources, ancient histories, and coins, we will consider how power and control were exercised through and over writing, the various groups interested in the power of writing and to what ends, the elaborate system of archives imposed and maintained across the empire, Roman censorship practices, and the value of studying writing and power to the history of imperialism, provincial resistance, administration, literacy, social mobility, personal and civic identity, and culture in the Roman Empire. In addition to the capital city of Rome, we will study four eastern provinces (Egypt, Greece, Asia Minor, and Syria) and two western provinces (Britain and Gaul), allowing us to consider certain power structures in both the center and periphery. We will have opportunities to visit papyrus documents at the Rare Books and Manuscripts Library in Butler as well as Greek, Roman, and Egyptian artifacts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

CLLT UN3129 An Odyssey of Odysseys: Receptions of the Odyssey from Antiquity to the 21st Century, Prof. Darcy Krasne, TR 2:40-3:55

Homer’s Odyssey, likely composed around the 9th or 8th century BCE, has had an enduring legacy. Our journey this semester will bring us into contact with a varied selection of artistic endeavors, spanning different cultures, times, and media, that draw on the Odyssey for material or inspiration. A guiding set of broadly-formulated questions will steer our course: Can we find in the Odyssey some of the same meaning, today, that it held for its original audience and that it held, subsequently, for later Greeks? Do receptions of the Odyssey try to recapture it, reframe it, refashion it, or become something independent? (Are these mutually exclusive options?) How do we read these works in light of the Odyssey, and also how do we re-visit and re-read the Odyssey in light of its receptions? It is no secret that the present bears the enduring weight of the past, but is the past changed as a result? There is no requirement to have read the Odyssey previously: students who have read it or have not read it will approach the course in different, but equally fruitful, ways.

Fulfills: Arts & Humanities, Global Inquiry, Historical Perspective

CPLT BC3163 Myths of Oedipus, Prof. Caroline Weber, MW 11:40-12:55

This course examines the myth of Oedipus in a range of dramatic and theoretical writings, exploring how the paradigm of incest and parricide has shaped Western thought from classical tragedy to psychoanalysis and from philosophy to anthropology. Authors studied include Homer, Sophocles, Apollodorus, Seneca, Dryden, Voltaire, Hölderlin, Wagner, Nietzsche, Freud, Klein, Girard, Lacan, and Butler. Students will also view a film by Pasolini. Works assigned will be discussed in English, but students are free to read them in the original languages.

Fulfills: Arts & Humanities

CLGM UN3650 Mental Health in Literature from Antiquity to Futurity, Prof. Nikolas Kakkoufa, T 2:10-4:00

This seminar explores the relationship between literature, culture, and mental health. It pays particular emphasis to the poetics of emotions structuring them around the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance and the concept of hope. During the course of the semester, we will discuss a variety of content that explores issues of race, socioeconomic status, political beliefs, abilities/disabilities, gender expressions, sexualities, and stages of life as they are connected to mental illness and healing. Emotions are anchored in the physical body through the way in which our bodily sensors help us understand the reality that we live in. By feeling backwards and thinking forwards, we will ask several important questions relating to literature and mental health, and will trace how human experiences are first made into language, then into science, and finally into action. The course surveys texts from Homer, Ovid, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides to Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, C.P. Cavafy, Dinos Christianopoulos, Margarita Karapanou, Katerina Anghelaki-Rooke, Katerina Gogou etc., and the work of artists such as Toshio Matsumoto, Yorgos Lanthimos, and Anohni.

CLEN UN3725 Literary Guides to Living and Dying Well, Prof. Kathy Eden, T 2:10-4:00

Surrounded by friends on the morning of his state-mandated suicide, Socrates invites them to join him in considering the proposition that philosophizing is learning how to die. In dialogues, essays, and letters from antiquity to early modernity, writers have returned to this proposition from Plato’s Phaedo to consider, in turn, what it means for living and dying well. This course will explore some of the most widely read of these works, including by Cicero, Seneca, Jerome, Augustine, Boethius, Petrarch, and Montaigne, with an eye to the continuities and changes in these meanings and their impact on the literary forms that express them.

CLCV GU4050 The Ancient Novel: from the Graeco-Roman World to the Classical Past and Beyond, Prof. Paraskevi Martzavou, TR 1:10-2:25

In this seminar we will explore the ancient novel, this fascinating product of the Graeco-Roman world. We have a two-fold goal: on the one hand, we aim to explore how narrative works and how genre is constructed. On the other hand, we will explore how the construction of genre relates to history. We will look closely at four novels: first, Daphnis and Chloe by Longus and the Aethiopian Story by Heliodorus, both originally written in Greek; then the Satyricon by Petronius and the Metamorphosis by Apuleius, both originally written in Latin. At the same time, we will look for parallels and contrasts in other texts and also in material culture. Romance, love, desire, past and present, nature and society, city and countryside, the construction of gender through the narrative, the imaginary and real landscapes of the Roman world, reality and fantasy, Roman Greece, social class and religious choices, human and divine as historical products, individual and community, literature and history are only some of the themes we will explore. A pivotal issue will also be the reception of the novel in modern and contemporary literature, music, and film, always in tension between traditionalism and modernity.

CLCV GU4411 Egypt in the Classical World, Prof. Ellen Morris, MW 11:40-12:55 (Note: there are no prerequisites for this class, and first years are welcome. Barnard students interested in the ancient Mediterranean have first priority on the waitlist)

Greeks and Jews first came to Egypt at the invitation of Saite rulers (c. 685 BCE) as merchants and mercenaries. In inviting unprecedented numbers of foreigners to settle in trading cities like Naukratis, in garrisons like Elephantine, and in bustling metropolises like Memphis—these pharaohs initiated a period of vibrant multiculturalism that lasted (for our purposes in this class) up until the closure of the last pagan temple in Egypt (c. 550 CE). Intermarriage and religious syncretism soon blurred ethnic lines, and thus when Alexander and then Augustus introduced foreign rule and raised Hellenes to a position of political supremacy, centuries of entanglement meant that ethnicities and alliances could rarely be determined with clarity. Egypt’s early embrace of Christianity further altered cultural dynamics. This class explores the nature and evolution of these cross-cultural interactions in personal, political, economic, and religious spheres. We pay close attention to the flashpoints that created conflicts between Egyptians, Greeks, and Jews, and also to those aspects of society that encouraged integration and hybridity. We’ll discuss shifting categories of legal and social identity and investigate the long and fraught transition from paganism to Christianity. Even when Egypt became predominantly Christian, however, tensions related to ethnicity and class did not lessen; rather they increasingly served as a subtext to doctrinal disputes within the church. Situational identity, as we’ll see, is especially interesting to consider with respect to gender. And there will also, of course, be a class devoted to Cleopatra.

Fulfills: Arts & Humanities, Global Inquiry, Historical Perspective, Social Difference

CLEN GU4414 History of Literary Criticism: Plato to Kant, Prof. Kathy Eden, MW 4:10-5:25

The principal texts of literary theory from antiquity through the 18th century, including Plato, Aristotle, Horace, Longinus, Augustine, Aquinas, Boccaccio, Sidney, and Kant.

In ANTHROPOLOGY

ANTH UN1008 Rise of Civilization, Prof. Chad Gifford, TR 11:40-12:55 – Note: Discussion section required

In ART HISTORY and ARCHAEOLOGY

AHIS UN2101 Athenian Acropolis, 5th & 6th century BCE, Prof. Ioannis Mylonopoulos, MW 2:40-3:55

AHIS UN2109 Roman Art and Architecture, Prof. Blair Fowlkes Childs, TR 11:40-12:55

AHIS GU4519 Greek Art and Architecture: Pausanias, Prof. Ioannis Mylonopoulos, M 4:10-6:00

In ENGLISH

ENRE BC3145 Jews in Christian Imagination, Prof. Wendy Schor-Haim, W 2:10-4:00

ENGL UN3943 English Translations of the Bible, Prof. David Yerkes, T 10:10-12:00

In HISTORY

HIST UN2611 Jews & Judaism in Antiquity, Prof. Seth Schwartz, MW 10:10-11:25

HIST UN3021 The Greek Invention of History, Prof. Richard Billows, T 10:10-12:00

In MIDDLE EASTERN & SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES

MDES UN2000 Ethnicity, Race and Identity in the Premodern Middle East, Prof. Nathanael Shelley, W 4:10-6:00

MDES UN2399 Ancient Near Eastern Literature, Prof. Nathanael Shelley, T 4:00-6:00

In PHILOSOPHY

PHIL UN3121 Plato, Prof. Wolfgang Mann, TR 10:10-11:25

PHIL GU4089 Aristotle, Prof. Katja Vogt, T 2:10-4:00

In RELIGION

RELI GU4120 Gender in Ancient Christianity, Prof. Elizabeth Castelli, T 6:10-8:00

In INTRODUCTORY LANGUAGES

GREK UN1121 Intensive Elementary Greek, Prof. Georgios Spiliotopoulos, TRF 1:10-2:25

LATN UN1101.001 Elementary Latin I, Prof. Greta Gualdi, TR 6:10-8:00

LATN UN1102.002. Elementary Latin I, Prof. Joe Sheppard, TR 6:10-8:00

LATN UN1121 Intensive Elementary Latin, Prof. Darcy Krasne, MWF 1:10-2:25

Student Learning Objectives in Ancient Studies

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.

THINKING OF MAJORING IN ANCIENT STUDIES?

Regularly offered classes that count towards Ancient Studies include (but are not limited to) the list below. Be sure to check relevant departments for additional classes.

IN CLASSICS AND ANCIENT STUDIES

CLCV UN3111: PLATO AND CONFUSCIUS: COMPARATIVE PHILOSOPHIES
CLLT UN3132: CLASSICAL MYTH
CPLS UN3160: TRAGIC BODIES
CLCV UN3059: THE WORLDS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT
CLCV UN3230: CLASSICS AND FILM
CLCV UN3158: WOMEN IN ANTIQUITY
CLCV UN3244: GLOBAL HISTORIES OF THE BOOK
CLLT GU4115: TRAGEDY AND PERFORMANCE
CLLT UN3132: COMEDY PAST AND PRESENT
CLLT UN3135: THE ANCIENT NOVEL
CLLT GU4300: THE CLASSICAL TRADITION
CLCV GU4190: PHILOSOPHY IN CLASSICAL ROME
CLCV UN3535: IDENTITY AND SOCIETY IN ANCIENT EGYPT
CLCV UN3101: THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF ANCIENT EGYPT AND NUBIA
CLCV GU4411: EGYPT IN THE CLASSICAL WORLD
CLCV UN3992: ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE SOUTHERN LEVANT

IN HISTORY

HIST UN1004: ANCIENT HISTORY OF EGYPT
HIST UN100?: HISTORY OF ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA
HIST UN1010: ANCIENT GREEK HISTORY, 800-146 BC
HIST UN2004: THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD IN THE SECOND CENTURY BC
HIST UN1020: THE ROMANS AND THEIR EMPIRE

IN ART HISTORY

AHIS GU4155: ART & ARCHAEOLOGY OF MESOPOTAMIA
AHIS UN2108: GREEK ART AND ARCHITECTURE
AHIS UN2109: ROMAN ART AND ARCHITECTURE

IN RELIGION

RELI UN3501: INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW BIBLE
RELI UN3340: EARLY CHRISTIANITY

IN PHILOSOPHY

PHIL UN2101: HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY I: PRESOCRATICS TO AUGUSTINE
PHIL UN3121: PLATO
PHIL GR4089: ARISTOTLE

IN ANTHROPOLOGY

ANTH UN1008: RISE OF CIVILIZATION, Prof. Terrence D’Altroy

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.

Classics majors develop a knowledge of Greek and Latin as a gateway to the study of the literature, history, and culture of Greece and Rome. Students can start Greek and Latin at Barnard or build on skills acquired in high school. Second year courses introduce students to original texts in Greek or Latin by authors such as Homer, Plato, Herodotus, or the Greek orators or Vergil, Ovid, Horace, Cicero, Caesar, Livy or Sallust. A range of advanced courses in Greek or Latin focus on prose or poetic texts drawn from ancient epic, lyric poetry, philosophy, drama, history, rhetoric or the novel and introduce critical approaches and literary and historical scholarship. Students are encouraged to take more courses in ancient history and classical literature and civilization than the three required for the major. Students planning to go on to graduate work in Classics and related fields are advised to undertake at least three years in both languages as well as to begin acquiring the ability to read scholarship in French, German, or Italian. Study abroad for one semester in either Greece or Rome is common and encouraged. The major in Greek or Latin requires a minimum of eight courses above the elementary level.

Greek

The major in Greek is fulfilled by taking

either GREK UN4100 (Survey of Greek Literature) or GREK GR5139 (Elements of Greek Prose Style)
five other courses above the elementary level in ancient Greek.
one semester of relevant ancient history
two relevant courses focusing on aspects of classical civilization (e.g., classical literature taught in translation, reception, art and archaeology, and/or philosophy).
GREK UN3996 The Major Seminar
GREK UN3998 Supervised Research in Greek Literature

Latin

The major in Latin is fulfilled by taking

either LATN UN 4100 Survey of Latin Literature or LATN GR 5139 (Elements of Latin Prose Style)
five other courses above the elementary level in Latin.
one semester of relevant ancient history
two relevant courses focusing on aspects of classical civilization (e.g., classical literature taught in translation, reception, art and archaeology, and/or philosophy).
LATN UN3996 The Major Seminar
LATN UN3998 Supervised Research in Latin Literature

Classics

The Classics major is fulfilled by completing

all of the requirements for the major in either Greek or Latin
five language courses above the elementary level in the second language.

*Students planning to go on to graduate study in classics are strongly urged to take both semesters of W 4105, W 4106. Majors in Latin, especially those who have begun their study in high school, are strongly advised to take at least two semesters of Greek.

A student may elect to major in both Greek and Latin by completing the major requirements in one language and five courses above the elementary level in the other.

Student Learning Objectives in Classics

Translate a range of Greek or Latin texts at a moderately advanced level and demonstrate an understanding of the grammar and syntax of ancient languages.
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 that will be demonstrated in the successful completion of a senior research project.
Demonstrate familiarity with the work of a variety of ancient writers, literary styles, genres, and periods and their later influences.

The minor in Greek, Latin, or Modern Greek requires five courses above the elementary level.

The courses in the Hellenic Studies program are designed to develop the student’s proficiency in aspects of Modern Greek culture, language, and history. The Minor in Modern Greek requires five courses above the Elementary Language Level.

Opportunities exist for study abroad in Greece, Cyprus and Turkey for the summer or an academic term for credit. Students work closely with the concentration advisor on the selection of the foreign schools and the transfer of credit. For more information, please contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Nikolas P. Kakkoufa (nk2776@columbia.edu)

The next exam is in Fall 2026. Info will be shared when available.

This is a sight exam; no dictionaries or grammatical aids may be used.

The exam is open to CC, GS, and Barnard students, and no prior registration is needed. Please contact Professor Ellen Morris at emorris@barnard.edu for more info.