WHAT IS CLASSICS AND ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN STUDIES?

This major is part of the Cultures & Humanities Exploration Group

CAMS Major Website

CAMS Minor

The major in Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies allows students to pursue an interest in the Greek, Latin, and Ancient Hebrew/Biblical world. Students may choose to pursue a traditional, language-oriented (Greek or Latin) concentration in Classics or a concentration in Ancient Mediterranean Studies. Students who concentrate in Classics may take courses in Ancient Mediterranean Studies in addition to their language and literature requirements. Those who concentrate in Ancient Mediterranean Studies may also pursue some relevant language study (Greek, Latin, or Biblical Hebrew). Either concentration will lead to a major in Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies.

To read the works of Homer and Plato, of Vergil and Tacitus, or the Old and New Testaments – whether in English translation or, better still, in the original language – is an exciting intellectual experience. If learning another language is, to a certain extent, becoming another person, then learning the classical languages is to be transported back in time two millennia or more, to gain a perspective from which to isolate and verify the human constants that transcend time and place. At the same time, since we stand in a direct line of tradition from the classical and biblical world, knowledge of that world affords us a very practical understanding of the roots of Western literature, philosophy, and institutions.