Classical Studies Major (B.A.)

Assistant Professor Blume

The Classical Studies program at OWU focuses on questions of identity, the importance of Classics outside of North America and Europe, the nature of systems of oppression and social control, and the narratives by which our world is built. It prepares students to develop critical reading/thinking and other transferable skills, and to make interdisciplinary connections.

Additionally, the program helps students answer questions, such as:

How do class struggles help us understand the politics of inequality in the contemporary world?
What problems did women face in antiquity and what continuities exist in modernity?
How does government, empire, and ethnicity create and destroy knowledge?
What role does classics play in our understanding of subsequent history and literature?
How do the classics facilitate the understanding of other cultures and why are they still relevant nowadays?

Learning Objectives

The Classical Studies major envisions a number of goals for its successful students, among them:

Basic proficiency in Latin to allow for the reading of straightforward poetry and prose with the aid of a dictionary/lexicon and standard commentaries;
Knowledge of the history and literature of ancient Greece and Rome, so as to be able to appreciate the writings of the classical authors in their temporal and spatial contexts;
Engagement with ethical, philosophical, and political ideas of the ancient world and an understanding of their relevance to contemporary issues.
The ability to draw interdisciplinary connections between classical studies and other fields such as history, philosophy, political and government, and art history.
The ability to address significant problems in classical scholarship through reflection, analysis, and writing.

Major Requirements

Requirements for the Classical Studies major: 9 courses total

LATI 110 Introduction to Latin I and
LATI 111 Introduction to Latin II
7 additional courses, at least four of which must be at the 300 level or above:
- 5 CLAS courses 2 courses must be electives (from a list of approved courses or with permission from the Chair of WLC / Classics)
One independent study or directed readings in LATI, GREE, or CLAS may count toward the major.

List of Approved Electives

AMRS 110 Thrice-Told Tales
ART 110 Survey of Art History I
ENG 252 Vengeance
HIST 110 Introduction to Ancient History
HIST 341 History of Rome
HIST 342 Constantine to Charlemagne
HIST 343 The Central Middle Ages
PHIL 346 History of Ancient Philosophy
PHIL 391 Seminar in Plato
PG 300 34 Citizenship in an Age of Empire: Theories of Global Citizenship
PG 372 Democracy and its Critics