Say goodbye to your high school textbooks and start turning the pages of ancient manuscripts. Discover how Alexander the Great shaped the Mediterranean’s food scene. Recreate scientific experiments that were conducted by ancient Greek and Roman philosophers. Analyze how gender and sexuality in ancient Greece shaped the societal perceptions of today. The study of classics embraces all aspects of Greek and Roman culture from the prehistoric to the medieval periods, including study of the languages relevant to these societies. But the influence of classical thought did not disappear with the fall of the Greek and Roman empires; many contemporary Western ideas, from atomic theory to democracy, are rooted in the developments of the era. The UO’s Department of Classics introduces students to the foundational concepts of Western culture and literature through the study of key classical texts of antiquity in Greek and Latin and in translation. The primary mission of the classics department is to examine the classical world using language as a microscope. “Language is a window into the past and when you are reading something in its original text, the words resonate with multiple associations, bringing the past alive in a way that is lost in translation,” says Lowell Bowditch, department head. You have the flexibility to choose among several majors and concentrations that fit your interests and skills. You might focus on Latin language and literature with a Latin major or concentration, Greek language and literature through a Greek major or concentration, or combine both by choosing a classics major. The precision, concentration, and discipline involved in mastering these languages will train you to think on new and deeper levels. The classical civilization concentration allows you to study the literature and culture of the ancient civilizations using secondary sources and translated texts.

With strong liberal arts training in classics, you can go on to study law, finance, education, medicine, or a number of other professions. High school Latin teachers are in high demand, and many prestigious professional schools look for students with the kind of broad-based liberal arts training offered by the UO classics department. A bachelor’s degree in classics is excellent training for work in museums, galleries, auction houses, and other storehouses of antiquity. You can prepare for graduate studies and a career in Greek or Roman archaeology through interdisciplinary course work in classics, art history, and history.