Classics

Kirk W. Ormand, Nathan A. Greenberg Professor of Classics; chair

Benjamin T. Lee, Professor of Classics
Christopher V. Trinacty, Professor of Classics
Andrew T. Wilburn, Professor of Classics
Sarah T. Wilker, Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics and Thomas F. Cooper Postdoctoral Fellow in Classics

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The study of classics is a dynamic, multifaceted discipline engaged in the exploration of a remarkably multicultural part of the world—the ancient Mediterranean—from early prehistory to late antiquity (3000 BCE–600 CE). Students in classics will study the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome in the wider Mediterranean basin—from Spain, through Europe, to North Africa and Egypt, and into the modern Middle East. This is an area of extraordinary religious, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural diversity. Research in classics engages with literature, drama, art, politics, philosophy, archaeology, and history. The Department of Classics at Oberlin College is therefore inherently interdisciplinary, and intentionally inclusive in its approach to understanding the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome as completely as possible.

Classical scholars are keenly aware of the role that classical culture and the scholarship that surrounds it has played in the production of modern institutions, forms of power, and aesthetic standards in the modern West. By studying ancient Greece and Rome in all their complexity, we can better understand—and critique—the structures of power that have claimed the Greeks and the Romans as ancestors.

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Departmental Policies

Initial and Advanced Placement

The following score(s) will correspond to credit for the following course(s), fulfilling corresponding prerequisite requirements (if applicable) and counting toward total credits needed for graduation:

AP Latin, 4 or 5 → LATN 600 (one full course)
IB HL Latin, 6 or 7 → LATN 600 (one full course)

Note: Receipt of transfer credit for these scores is contingent upon approval of the department chair (syllabus and sample of work required). Transfer credit received for LATN 600 does not count toward the classical civilization major, Latin language and literature major, or Latin minor, but will result in advanced placement.

Majors, Minors, and Integrative Concentrations

Curriculum

The classics department offers courses in three areas: classics/classical civilization, Greek, and Latin.

Classics Courses

Classics courses (with prefix CLAS) cover literature in translation, history, and society, as well as Greek and Roman contributions to philosophy, religion, and government. Advanced classics courses offer students an opportunity to apply broad knowledge of the classical world to discrete geographical or temporal areas of study, such as the site of Pompeii.

Greek and Latin Courses

Greek courses (with prefix GREK) and Latin courses (with prefix LATN) cover language and literature at three levels: introductory, intermediate, and advanced. The study of Greek and Latin permits students to attain a deeper understanding of the works of ancient Greece and Rome and to evaluate source documents in their original languages. Advanced courses aim at close study of one or two ancient authors, in their literary, historical, and cultural contexts.

Courses

Classics

Greek

Latin