Classics

We challenge students and ourselves with a multidisciplinary approach that rewards disciplined study and provides opportunities for creative thinking.

Classics is the study of the Mediterranean civilizations of Greece and Rome, which spread to Asia and Africa before eventually expanding north into Europe. While people in the Roman empire spoke numerous languages, a traveler could go from the Euphrates river in the east to the Thames river in the west speaking only two, Greek and Latin. Patriarchal and imperialistic, the Greeks and Romans left an intellectual legacy in numerous fields: history and literature, oratory and philosophy, art and religion, law and medicine.

Consequently, the field of Classics includes Classical reception, the study of how people have reacted to and reshaped conceptions of Classical literature, myth, and history.

Davidson offers a major in Classical Languages and Literature (Greek and Latin) and a major in Classical Studies (pursued mostly through courses taught in English, including some offered by the departments of philosophy, political science, and religion). Students can also complete a minor in Greek, Latin, or Classical Studies.