Classical Languages

University of California, Berkeley

This is an archived copy of the 2017-18 guide. To access the most recent version of the guide, please visit http://guide.berkeley.edu.

About the Program

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

The major in Classical Languages provides a solid preparation in both ancient Greek and Latin and provides the prerequisites for application for graduate study in Classics at many universities.

Declaring the Major

The easiest way to declare a major is to meet with an undergraduate adviser, who will have all the necessary forms. Please also see the Letters & Science Advising site for a guide to declaring a major.

Honors Program

Students who are declared majors in Classical Languages and who have a GPA (both general and departmental) of at least 3.6 are eligible for honors in Classical Languages. The honors program consists of a two-semester course sequence, either GREEK H195A and GREEK H195B or LATIN H195A and LATIN H195B, that is designed to support the writing of a thesis. This thesis, which will be evaluated by an honors committee of three members, may either build on work in a previous upper division course used in fulfillment of the Classical Languages major or may be a newly conceived project. It is due the Monday of the 13th week of the semester in which the relevant H195B is taken.

Further details can be found online at Classics Undergraduate Honors. Please consult with a Classics undergraduate adviser to begin planning to participate in Honors.

Minor Program

There is no minor program in Classical Languages. Students who wish to pursue a classical language at the minor level should consider the Greek or Latin minors. See below.

Other Majors and Minors Offered by the Department of Classics

Classical Civilizations (Major and Minor)
Greek (Major and Minor)
Latin (Major and Minor)

Visit Department Website

Major Requirements

In addition to the University, campus, and college requirements, listed on the College Requirements tab, students must fulfill the below requirements specific to their major program.

General Guidelines

  1. All courses taken to fulfill the major requirements below must be taken for graded credit, other than courses listed which are offered on a Pass/No Pass basis only. Other exceptions to this requirement are noted as applicable.
  2. No more than one upper division course may be used to simultaneously fulfill requirements for a student's major and minor programs, with the exception of minors offered outside of the College of Letters & Science.
  3. A minimum grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 must be maintained in both upper and lower division courses used to fulfill the major requirements.

For information regarding residence requirements and unit requirements, please see the College Requirements tab.

Summary of Degree Requirements

Lower Division: Two courses8
Elementary Language: Two or four courses16-20
Intermediate Composition: One course4
Basic Reading: Six courses24
Senior Reading: Two courses8
Total Units60-64

Lower Division

CLASSIC 10AIntroduction to Greek Civilization 14
CLASSIC 10BIntroduction to Roman Civilization 14
Total Units8
1

 To completed, if possible, by the end of the student's junior year.

Elementary Language

Greek8-10
Select one of the following:
GREEK 1
& GREEK 2
Elementary Greek
and Elementary Greek
GREEK 10
Course Not Available
GREEK 15
The Greek Workshop
Latin8-10
Select one of the following:
LATIN 1
& LATIN 2
Elementary Latin
and Elementary Latin
LATIN 10
Course Not Available
LATIN 15
The Latin Workshop
Total Units16-20

Intermediate Language1

Select one of the following: 4
GREEK 40
Course Not Available
LATIN 40
Course Not Available
Total Units4
1

  To be completed as soon as possible after completing GREEK 100 or LATIN 100.

Basic Reading

GREEK 100Plato and Attic Prose4
GREEK 101Homer4
GREEK 102Drama and Society4
LATIN 100Republican Prose4
LATIN 101Vergil4
LATIN 102Lyric and Society4
Total Units24

Senior Reading

Select two of the following:8
GREEK 115
Archaic Poetry
GREEK 116
Greek Drama
GREEK 117
Hellenistic Poets
GREEK 120
Herodotus
GREEK 121
Thucydides
GREEK 122
Attic Oratory
GREEK 123
Plato and Aristotle
LATIN 115
Roman Drama
LATIN 116
Lucretius, Vergil's Georgics
LATIN 119
Latin Epic
LATIN 120
Latin Prose to AD 14
LATIN 121
Tacitus
LATIN 122
Post-Augustan Prose
LATIN 140
Medieval Latin
LATIN 155A
Readings in Medieval Latin
Total Units8

College Requirements

Undergraduate students in the College of Letters & Science must fulfill the following requirements in addition to those required by their major program.

For detailed lists of courses that fulfill college requirements, please review the College of Letters & Sciences page in this Guide.

Entry Level Writing

All students who will enter the University of California as freshmen must demonstrate their command of the English language by fulfilling the Entry Level Writing requirement. Fulfillment of this requirement is also a prerequisite to enrollment in all reading and composition courses at UC Berkeley. 

American History and American Institutions

The American History and Institutions requirements are based on the principle that a US resident graduated from an American university, should have an understanding of the history and governmental institutions of the United States.

American Cultures

American Cultures is the one requirement that all undergraduate students at Cal need to take and pass in order to graduate. The requirement offers an exciting intellectual environment centered on the study of race, ethnicity and culture of the United States. AC courses offer students opportunities to be part of research-led, highly accomplished teaching environments, grappling with the complexity of American Culture.

Quantitative Reasoning

The Quantitative Reasoning requirement is designed to ensure that students graduate with basic understanding and competency in math, statistics, or computer science. The requirement may be satisfied by exam or by taking an approved course.

Foreign Language

The Foreign Language requirement may be satisfied by demonstrating proficiency in reading comprehension, writing, and conversation in a foreign language equivalent to the second semester college level, either by passing an exam or by completing approved course work.

Reading and Composition

In order to provide a solid foundation in reading, writing, and critical thinking the College requires two semesters of lower division work in composition in sequence. Students must complete a first-level reading and composition course by the end of their second semester and a second-level course by the end of their fourth semester.

Breadth Requirements

The undergraduate breadth requirements provide Berkeley students with a rich and varied educational experience outside of their major program. As the foundation of a liberal arts education, breadth courses give students a view into the intellectual life of the University while introducing them to a multitude of perspectives and approaches to research and scholarship. Engaging students in new disciplines and with peers from other majors, the breadth experience strengthens interdisciplinary connections and context that prepares Berkeley graduates to understand and solve the complex issues of their day.

Unit Requirements

  • 120 total units, including at least 60 L&S units

  • Of the 120 units, 36 must be upper division units

  • Of the 36 upper division units, 6 must be taken in courses offered outside your major department

Residence Requirements

For units to be considered in "residence," you must be registered in courses on the Berkeley campus as a student in the College of Letters & Science. Most students automatically fulfill the residence requirement by attending classes here for four years. In general, there is no need to be concerned about this requirement, unless you go abroad for a semester or year or want to take courses at another institution or through UC Extension during your senior year. In these cases, you should make an appointment to meet an adviser to determine how you can meet the Senior Residence Requirement.

Note: Courses taken through UC Extension do not count toward residence.

Senior Residence Requirement

After you become a senior (with 90 semester units earned toward your BA degree), you must complete at least 24 of the remaining 30 units in residence in at least two semesters. To count as residence, a semester must consist of at least 6 passed units. Intercampus Visitor, EAP, and UC Berkeley-Washington Program (UCDC) units are excluded.

You may use a Berkeley Summer Session to satisfy one semester of the Senior Residence requirement, provided that you successfully complete 6 units of course work in the Summer Session and that you have been enrolled previously in the college.

Modified Senior Residence Requirement

Participants in the UC Education Abroad Program (EAP) or the UC Berkeley Washington Program (UCDC) may meet a Modified Senior Residence requirement by completing 24 (excluding EAP) of their final 60 semester units in residence. At least 12 of these 24 units must be completed after you have completed 90 units.

Upper Division Residence Requirement

You must complete in residence a minimum of 18 units of upper division courses (excluding EAP units), 12 of which must satisfy the requirements for your major.

Student Learning Goals

Mission

The learning goals should be understood in the context of the mission statement of the Department of Classics. The first two components of that statement are especially relevant to undergraduate teaching and are repeated here:

  • To give students across the University access to the literature, history, archaeology, mythology and philosophy of the ancient Greek and Roman world through an array of undergraduate courses on classical culture in translation. These courses introduce students to texts, artifacts, and ideas that are worth studying both in their own right and as abidingly influential elements in the imagination and history of later cultures. Such study deepens students' understanding of present-day issues by inculcating a sense of historical perspective that takes account of both the differences and the continuities between contemporary and ancient cultures.

  • To enable undergraduates to immerse themselves in the language and culture of ancient Greece and Rome through its majors in Greek, Latin, and Classical Civilizations. These majors equip students with knowledge and analytical skills that can be applied in many areas (e.g., law, politics, business, biosciences, computer science and media) as well as providing essential preparation for graduate study in Classics, Comparative Literature, Philosophy, and other fields.

Learning Goals for the Major

  1. Acquire a basic grounding in the vocabulary, morphology, and syntax of classical Greek and Latin.
  2. Practice the skills needed to use dictionaries, grammars, and other resources to read intermediate texts accurately and to deal comfortably with at least some advanced texts in the original language(s).
  3. Learn to identify and understand key events, institutions, personalities, places, and concepts of ancient Greek and Roman culture.
  4. Gain a critical awareness of continuities and differences between and within cultures and of ideologies of gender, group identity, social status, and political organization.
  5. Demonstrate the ability to interpret texts and material culture and to understand the implications of interpretive methods.
  6. Demonstrate the ability to synthesize a well-organized argument from textual or other evidence and to express it in formal English prose.

Courses

Classical Languages

CLASSIC 10A Introduction to Greek Civilization 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2018, Summer 2018 First 6 Week Session, Fall 2017
Study of the major developments, achievements, and contradictions in Greek culture from the Bronze Age to the 4th century BCE. Key works of literature, history, and philosophy (read in English translation) will be examined in their political and social context, and in relation both to other ancient Mediterranean cultures and to subsequent developments in Western civilization.
Introduction to Greek Civilization: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 10B Introduction to Roman Civilization 4 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2018 Second 6 Week Session, Spring 2018, Summer 2017 Second 6 Week Session
Investigation of the main achievements and tensions in Roman culture from Romulus to the High Empire. Key sources for literature, history, and material culture are studied in order to reveal Roman civilization in its political and social context. All materials are read in English.
Introduction to Roman Civilization: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 17A Introduction to the Archaeology of the Greek World 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2018, Fall 2017, Fall 2016
The physical remains of the Greek world from the Bronze Age to 323 BCE will be studied, with emphasis on its artistic triumphs, as a means of understanding the culture of ancient Greece.
Introduction to the Archaeology of the Greek World: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 17B Introduction to the Archaeology of the Roman World 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Spring 2017, Spring 2016
This course provides a broad-based introduction to the archaeology of the ancient Romans from Rome’s origins in the Iron Age down to the disintegration of the Roman empire in the sixth century A.D. It aims to
familiarize students with the more significant archaeological sites, monuments, artifact classes and works of art relating to the Roman world, and to introduce them to the important research questions in Roman archaeology and the methods that archaeologists employ to investigate these.
Introduction to the Archaeology of the Roman World: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 24 Freshman Seminars 1 Unit

Terms offered: Fall 2018, Spring 2018, Spring 2017
The Berkeley Seminar Program has been designed to provide new students with the opportunity to explore an intellectual topic with a faculty member in a small-seminar setting. Berkeley Seminars are offered in all campus departments, and topics vary from department to department and semester to semester.
Freshman Seminars: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 28 The Classic Myths 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Spring 2017, Spring 2016
The society, culture, values and outlook on life of the ancient Greeks as expressed in their mythology; their views on life, birth, marriage, death, sex and sexuality; on culture and civilization, the origin and meaning of the world. Their use of myth to think about, and give order to human experience. The course includes some of the most important works of Western literature in English translation (the 'Odyssey', the 'Theogony', twelve plays by leading Greek dramatists (Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides), along with their historical and religious context, as well as drawing on material evidence (vase paintings, sculpture, archaeological sites).
The Classic Myths: Read More [+]

CLASSIC N28 The Classic Myths 4 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2018 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2017 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2016 Second 6 Week Session
The society, culture, values and outlook on life of the ancient Greeks as expressed in their mythology; their views on life, birth, marriage, death, sex and sexuality; on culture and civilization, the origin and meaning of the world. Their use of myth to think about, and give order to human experience. The course includes some of the most important works of Western literature in English translation (the 'Odyssey', the 'Theogony'), twelve plays by leading Greek dramatists (Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides), along with their historical and religious context, as well as drawing on material evidence (vase paintings, sculpture, archaeological sites).
The Classic Myths: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 29 Introduction to Greco-Roman Magic 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2015, Fall 2013, Spring 2009
This course will focus on ideas about magic in the Greek and Roman worlds from about 750 BCE through 400 CE. Topics will include witches, holy men, love spells, necromancy, spirits, and mystery religions. We will examine how magic was represented in high literature (by authors like Homer, Ovid, Apuleius, and Lucian). as well as the more practical evidence of curse tablets and the Greek Magical Papyri. Consideration will be given to analyzing the relationship between magic, religion, and philosophy. Our goal will be to study the common threads that connect different Greek and Roman magical practices, as well as to understand them in their cultural contexts.
Introduction to Greco-Roman Magic: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 34 Epic Poetry: Homer and Vergil 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Spring 2016, Fall 2009
Greek and Roman epics including the , , .
Epic Poetry: Homer and Vergil: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 35 Greek Tragedy 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2018, Spring 2017, Spring 2015
Greek tragedy with readings of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
Greek Tragedy: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 36 Greek Philosophy 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Spring 2015
Introduction to the philosophies of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.
Greek Philosophy: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 39D Utopia, Dystopia 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Fall 2006, Fall 2002
Freshman and sophomore seminars offer lower division students an opportunity to explore intellectual topics with a faculty member and peers in a seminar setting. In this course we will examine utopian literature from its classical beginnings, in Plato's Republic, and in his Timaeus and Critias (which tell the story of the lost world of Atlantis), as well as in some plays of Aristophanes. We will also consider later developments, in Thomas More's Utopia, and in such works as William Morris' News from Nowhere, and Ursula Le Guin's The Dispossessed. Towards the end of the semester the seminar participants will be divided into groups, each of which will be asked to devise its own utopia on a particular theme, for oral presentation in class.
Utopia, Dystopia: Read More [+]

CLASSIC R44 Roots of Western Civilization 5 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2018, Fall 2017, Fall 2016
This course covers Homeric and Classical Greece, Rome in its transition from republic to empire, and the world of the Old Testament. Lectures, discussions, and reading assignments will involve interdisciplinary approaches with an emphasis on the development of skill in writing. Satisfies either half of the Reading and Composition requirement plus one of the following Letters and Science breath requirements: Arts and Literature, Historical Studies, or Social and Behavioral Sciences.
Roots of Western Civilization: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 50 Latin and Greek in Antiquity and After 4 Units

Terms offered: Not yet offered

Have you wondered what ancient Greek and Latin were like and how they relate to other languages, including English? Have you heard people say learning Latin made them understand English better and improved their writing skills? Do you want some background in ancient languages that might help you understand terminology in law, science or other fields? This class is an opportunity to learn more about the history, structure, and influence of both Latin and Greek. Topics covered include the place of these languages in the Indo-European family, an overview of their structure and vocabulary, their history from classical antiquity to the present, their relation to later languages and and their influence on the Western intellectual tradition.
Latin and Greek in Antiquity and After: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 99 Supervised Independent Study and Research 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2014, Spring 2014, Fall 2013

Supervised Independent Study and Research: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 121 Ancient Religion 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2013, Fall 2012, Fall 2011
The religious practices, beliefs and mentality of Ancient Greece c. 1650 BC to c. 400 AD., as expressed in cult, ritual and festival, and their social function, based on the evidence of primary texts (literary and documentary), and material remains (sanctuaries, monuments, sculpture, mosaics, painting, vase-painting). Explores how Greek religion addressed notions of history, community, identity, science, creativity, sexuality, spirituality, and the complex roles and relationships of male and female in society.

No previous knowledge or experience of the ancient Greek world expected; students of all levels and backgrounds welcome.
Ancient Religion: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 124 Classical Poetics 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2011, Spring 2008
Study of a selection (in English translation) of the most important works of classical antiquity that theorize about literature and of the works of some post-classical authors who wrote on similar themes under the influence of their classical predecessors. Authors studied may include Plato, Aristotle, Horace, Longinus, Augustine, Sidney, Pope, and Lessing.
Classical Poetics: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 130 Topics in Ancient Greek and Roman Culture 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
Topic to vary from year to year. No knowledge of Greek or Latin required; but provision will be made for students who wish to study some of the readings in the original language. Enrollment limited.
Topics in Ancient Greek and Roman Culture: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 130A Epic and Saga 4 Units

Terms offered: Not yet offered
This course presents a comparative overview of epics and sagas from Greco-Roman antiquity and medieval north-west Europe (England, Iceland, and Ireland). No knowledge of Greek or Latin required.
Epic and Saga: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 130B The Origins of Rome 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2018
This course examines the origins of Rome, the quintessential city in the Western experience. It considers both the literary and archaeological evidence for the earliest periods of the city’s occupation, and the challenges involved in using and combining these two quite different forms of evidence. Particular attention will be given to recent archaeological discoveries and the ways in which these are transforming our understanding of early Rome. The course also examines the ways in which people in later periods – both in antiquity and in more recent times - have drawn on their knowledge of early Rome for a variety of different purposes, ranging from politics, to scholarship, to the arts. No knowledge of Greek or Latin required.
The Origins of Rome: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 130C Ancient Greek Political Thought 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2018
In this course we will investigate the political thought of ancient Greece by discussing some of its most important and influential texts. All texts are to be read in translation.
Ancient Greek Political Thought: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 130D The Roman Economy 4 Units

Terms offered: Not yet offered
This course is designed to provide advanced undergraduates with a broad overview of the economy of the Roman Empire. It is organized around a series of weekly topics that will be explored through readings selected to provide students with exposure to the theory, evidence, and methods currently being employed by historians and archaeologists to investigate that particular aspect of the Roman economy. No knowledge of Greek or Latin required.
The Roman Economy: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 130E The Trojan War: History or Myth? 4 Units

Terms offered: Not yet offered
This course will explore the evidence for the Trojan War, one of the greatest stories ever told: literary, historical, visual and archaeological. The history of the search for the reality behind Homer's epic and its scholarship will be examined as well as detailed analyses of the theories currently in play. Through reading, visual analysis, discussion and writing - students will discover for themselves the ancient world of the heroes and their legends. Was there ever an actual war between two powerful Bronze Age Aegean cultures? Did Hektor and Achilles ever really clash on the battlefield? Was Helen really "a face that launched 1000 ships?" No knowledge of Greek or Latin required.
The Trojan War: History or Myth?: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 130F The History of Hell: Eschatology in Ancient Mediterranean Cultures 4 Units

Terms offered: Not yet offered
In this course we will examine the history of ideas about the soul’s postmortem fate in the ancient Mediterranean world. We will focus on epic poets and philosophers from ancient Greece and Rome, but also
read comparative material from the ancient Near East, the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and medieval Christendom. Our goal will be to study the common threads that connect depictions of hell / the underworld in their respective cultural contexts. No knowledge of Greek or Latin required.
The History of Hell: Eschatology in Ancient Mediterranean Cultures: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 130G The Literature of Everyday Life 4 Units

Terms offered: Not yet offered
Classical literature is full of mythological plots involving gods and monsters, heroes and kings. Less prominent are the kind of plots we are used to from modern literature, especially novels: plots that revolve around fictional characters invented to look like people in the street. Although these latter forms of literature are distanced from the prestigious genres of epic and tragedy, they still constitute an important
part of ancient literature. In this class we will not only read a variety of texts that aim to depict "everyday life" (including novels, satire, letters, comedy and more), but we will also consider the underlying principles of such literature. No knowledge of Greek or Latin required.
The Literature of Everyday Life: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 130H Religion and Literature in the Greco-Roman World 4 Units

Terms offered: Not yet offered
Religion and literature are two conceptual systems through which people and societies organize disparate experiences into meaningful wholes. In the ancient pagan societies of Greece and Rome, where a shared experience of both religion and literature was a defining element of the community, these two systems were particularly interdependent. In this course we will read a variety of texts (e.g. epic, philosophy, tragedy) and examine the complex ways that literary concepts such as plot, character, closure and genre interact with religious concepts such as causation, moral justice, divine power, cosmology. No knowledge of Greek or Latin required.
Religion and Literature in the Greco-Roman World: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 130J Graeco-Roman Egypt: Society and Economy 4 Units

Terms offered: Not yet offered
Egypt: No other region of the Graeco-Roman world provides us with as much information about the daily lives of its inhabitants, and no body of ancient evidence is more inclusive in its coverage. In this course, we will read selections from this corpus of evidence closely, focusing on documentary papyri, but also looking at literature, inscriptions, and other cultural objects (as well as some later comparative material). We will discuss what this material contributes to our understanding of Graeco-Roman Egypt’s society and economy (law and status, gender, labor systems, education, religious practice, etc.), the limitations of the evidence, and its applicability to other regions of the ancient Mediterranean. All readings will be in English.
Graeco-Roman Egypt: Society and Economy: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 130K Music and Difference in Ancient Greece 4 Units

Terms offered: Not yet offered
In this course, we will look at ancient Greek ideas and practices concerning the nature, sources, psychological effects, and social functions of music (including singing, instrumental music, and dance), during the Archaic and Classical periods (ca. 800-350 BCE). Taking an ethnomusicological approach, we will examine Greek musical culture as a whole, focusing especially on differences of gender, ethnicity, regionalism, class/status (e.g., free vs. slave), and even species – since the Greeks recognized that some animals are very musical, as of course are several of the gods and goddesses – to see what different kinds of music were played by the various performers, and at what kinds of occasions. No knowledge of Greek or Latin required.
Music and Difference in Ancient Greece: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 130L Introduction to Greco-Roman Magic 4 Units

Terms offered: Not yet offered
This course will focus on ideas about magic in the Greek and Roman worlds from about 750 BCE through 400 CE. Topics will include witches, holy men, love spells, necromancy, spirits, and mystery religions.We will examine how magic was represented in high literature (by authors like Homer, Ovid, Apuleius and Lucian) as well as the more practical evidence of curse tablets and the Greek Magical Papyri. Consideration will be given to analyzing the relationship between magic, religion, and philosophy. Our goal will be to study the common threads that connect different Greek and Roman magical practices, as well as to understand them in their cultural contexts. No knowledge of Greek or Latin required.
Introduction to Greco-Roman Magic: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 130M Slavery and Literature in the Greco-Roman World 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2018
Slavery was one of the central institutions of life in classical Greece and Rome and had a profound affect on the ways these societies represented themselves and their world. In this course we will first spend some time learning about the historical condition of slavery in these two societies, then read a variety of works that show some of the ways that slaves and slavery operated in the intellectual and imaginative life of ancient authors. The three genres we will focus on are philosophy, drama (both tragedy and comedy) and the novel. There will be a variety of writing assignments of differing lengths and a final exam.
Slavery and Literature in the Greco-Roman World: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 130N Ancient Portraiture & Biography 4 Units

Terms offered: Not yet offered
Important individuals in Greek and Roman society were commemorated both in honorific portraits and in biographies written to record for posterity their lives and achievements. In this class we will be reading a selection of Greek and Latin biographical texts (in translation) and comparing them with statuary monuments that represent the same individuals. We will be seeking to elicit the points of contact between the two commemorative traditions, visual and literary, and to understand the sometimes similar functions they serve. But we will also be attempting to bring out the differences in the way that biographical texts and portrait images operate, and the consequences that this has for the way we, as historians, must approach them.
Ancient Portraiture & Biography: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 161 Gender, Sexuality, and Culture in the Ancient World 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Fall 2013, Spring 2013
Study of topics in gender, feminism, and sexuality in ancient cultures. Topics vary from year to year.
Gender, Sexuality, and Culture in the Ancient World: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 163 Topics in Greek Philosophy 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Fall 2016, Spring 2015
The course is designed to deal with a single topic or selection of topics in Greek philosophy studied in translation. Possible topics are: the close study of one or more of Plato's or Aristotle's texts, Hellenistic philosophy, neo-Platonism.
Topics in Greek Philosophy: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 170A Classical Archaeology: Greek Vase Painting 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2013, Spring 2007

Classical Archaeology: Greek Vase Painting: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 170C Classical Archaeology: Greek Architecture 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2009, Fall 2005, Fall 2003

Classical Archaeology: Greek Architecture: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 170D Classical Archaeology: Roman Art and Architecture 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2015, Fall 2012, Fall 2008

Classical Archaeology: Roman Art and Architecture: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 172 Art and Archaeology of the Aegean Bronze Age 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2014
Introductory overview of the art and archaeology of ancient civilizations of the Bronze Age (3000-1100 BCE) Aegean: Crete, Cyclades, Mainland Greece, and Western Anatolia. Intended to expose to the sites, monuments, art, and artifacts of these cultures and understand the way a variety of evidence is used to reconstruct history. Emphasis also is placed on comparison of enigmatic and evocative cultures and material evidence to see how each evolved and to define similarities and differences.
Art and Archaeology of the Aegean Bronze Age: Read More [+]

CLASSIC N172A Archaeological Field School in Nemea, Greece 4 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2018 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2017 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2016 Second 6 Week Session
Through this field school students will participate in archaeological excavation and museum study in Greece at the site of Nemea and the Classical Sanctuary of Zeus. Through extensive travel and hands-on work, students will learn all major elements of methodology and analysis currently used in classical archaeology. The goal is to teach practical skills in a real research environment and an understanding of the material culture of Greece throughout various periods of its prehistory and history. Students will participate in a variety of field techniques and research methodologies.
Archaeological Field School in Nemea, Greece: Read More [+]

CLASSIC N172B Archaeological Field School in Mycenae, Greece 4 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2009 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2008 10 Week Session, Summer 2008 Second 6 Week Session
Through this field school students will participate in archaeological excavation and museum study in Greece at the Bronze Age site of Mycenae (Petsas House). Through extensive travel and hands-on work, students will learn all major elements of methodology and analysis currently used in classical archaeology. The goal is to teach practical skills in a real research environment and an understanding of the material culture of Greece throughout various periods of its prehistory and history. Students will participate in a variety of field techniques and research methodologies.
Archaeological Field School in Mycenae, Greece: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 175A Topography and Monuments: Athens 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2008, Spring 2004, Fall 2001

Topography and Monuments: Athens: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 175D Topography and Monuments: Pompeii and Herculaneum 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Spring 2014, Spring 2010

Topography and Monuments: Pompeii and Herculaneum: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 175F Topography and Monuments: Roman Wall Painting 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Fall 2012, Fall 2010

Topography and Monuments: Roman Wall Painting: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 175G Topography and Monuments: Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2012

Topography and Monuments: Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt: Read More [+]

CLASSIC C175F Pictorial Representation in the Roman World 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2018, Spring 2017
This course presents surviving evidence of pictorial representation in the Roman world. Including the earliest remains from the city of Rome; the suites of painted rooms in the houses of Pompeii and Herculaneum on the Bay of Naples; and Roman mosaics from Italy, North Africa, and the eastern Mediterranean.

Topics: ‘four styles’ of Pompeian interior decoration; the architect Vitruvius’ denunciation of contemporary painting in the early Augustan period; the reproduction of Greek ‘old master’ paintings from pattern books; the surviving paintings of the Domus Aurea, the emperor Nero’s ‘Golden House’ in Rome; the painting of marble statues and reliefs; and the colored mummy portraits preserved by the sands of the Egyptian desert.

Pictorial Representation in the Roman World: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 180 Ancient Athletics 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Fall 2004, Fall 2003
Study of ancient athletics and athletes including athletic training, facilities, competitions, and the role of athletics in Greek and Roman society.
Ancient Athletics: Read More [+]

CLASSIC H195A Honors Course in Classics 2 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Spring 2015
This is a two-semester Honors course [H195A-B]. The work for the Honors course may either build on work in a previous upper division course used in fulfillment of the Classical Languages or Classical Civilizations major or may be a newly conceived project. The work will result in the writing of a thesis, to be evaluated by an Honors committee of three members. Written thesis due the Monday of the 13th week of the semester in which the course is taken.


Honors Course in Classics: Read More [+]

CLASSIC H195B Honors Course in Classics 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Spring 2015
This is a two-semester Honors course [H195A-B]. The work for the Honors course may either build on work in a previous upper division course used in fulfillment of the Classical Civilizations or Classical Languages major or may be a newly conceived project. The work will result in the writing of a thesis, to be evaluated by an Honors committee of three members. Written thesis due the Monday of the 13th week of the semester in which the course is taken.
Honors Course in Classics: Read More [+]

CLASSIC 199 Supervised Independent Study and Research 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2018 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2017 Second 6 Week Session, Spring 2017

Supervised Independent Study and Research: Read More [+]

Faculty and Instructors

+ Indicates this faculty member is the recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award.

Faculty

Frank Bezner, Associate Professor. Medieval Latin literature; Medieval literary culture; Neo-Latin; Intellectual history.
Research Profile

Susanna Elm, Professor. History of the Later Roman Empire, pagan - Christian interactions, ancient medicine, slavery and the evolution of Christianity, leadership and empire, reception of antiquity.
Research Profile

Giovanni R. F. (John) Ferrari, Professor. Classics, ancient philosophy, Greek culture, ancient poetics and rhetoric.
Research Profile

+ Mark Griffith, Professor. Gender and sexuality, Greek literature and performance, Greek and Roman education, Greek tragedy and comedy, Hesiod and wisdom literature, ancient music.
Research Profile

Christopher Hallett, Professor. Classics, Roman art, visual culture, portraiture, Hellenistic art, Roman Asia Minor, Hellenistic and Roman Egypt.
Research Profile

Todd Hickey, Associate Professor. Classics, papyrology, Greek, Egyptian, social and economic history, late antiquity.
Research Profile

+ Leslie V. Kurke, Professor. Classics, Greek literature and culture, archaic Greek poetry, Herodotus.
Research Profile

Duncan MacRae, Assistant Professor. Classics.

Sara Magrin, Assistant Professor.

Maria Mavroudi, Professor. Byzantine studies.
Research Profile

+ Kathleen Mccarthy, Associate Professor. Classics, Roman literature and culture, slavery.
Research Profile

Trevor M. Murphy, Associate Professor. Ethnography, classics, Roman prose authors.
Research Profile

Ellen Oliensis, Professor. Latin Literature, Ovid.
Research Profile

Nikolaos Papazarkadas, Associate Professor. Greek epigraphy, Greek history.
Research Profile

J. Theodore Pena, Professor. Roman archaeology, Roman and pre-Roman Italy, city of Rome, Pompeii, ancient economy, ceramic analysis, material culture studies.
Research Profile

James Porter, Professor. Classical Studies, philosophy, critical theory, aesthetics, Nietzsche, Auerbach.
Research Profile

Dylan Paul Sailor, Associate Professor. Rhetoric, classics, Greek literature, Latin Literature, ancient Greek, Latin, historiography, ancient Rome, ancient Greece.
Research Profile

Kim S. Shelton, Associate Professor. Ceramics, classical civilization and archaeology, Aegean prehistory, religion/mythology.
Research Profile

+ Andrew F. Stewart, Professor. Archaeology, classics, Greek sculpture, ancient art and architecture, the Hellenistic east after Alexander, the Renaissance reception of antiquity.
Research Profile

Mario Telo, Professor.

Affiliated Faculty

Timothy Clarke, Assistant Professor.

Klaus Corcilius, Associate Professor. Ancient philosophy.

+ Andrew Garrett, Professor. Linguistics, English, California, language change, Indo-European languages, historical linguistics, northern California Indian languages, linguistic structure, typology, ancient Greek, Latin, Irish, Oceanic languages.
Research Profile

Kinch Hoekstra, Associate Professor. History of political, moral, and legal philosophy; ancient, renaissance, and early modern political thought.

Gary Holland, Professor. Linguistics.

Emily Mackil, Associate Professor. History.

Ramona Naddaff, Associate Professor. Rhetoric, aesthetics, theory of the novel, ancient Greek philosophy and literature, history of philosophy, contemporary French thought.
Research Profile

+ Carlos Norena, Associate Professor. History.

Martin Schwartz, Professor. Near Eastern studies, Iranian studies.
Research Profile

Lecturers

Lisa Pieraccini, Lecturer.

Tom Recht, Lecturer.

Yasmin Syed, Lecturer.

Emeritus Faculty

William S. Anderson, Professor Emeritus. Classics, Latin Literature.
Research Profile

David J. Cohen, Professor Emeritus. Human rights;war crimes & trials;Indonesia & East Timor; Guantanamo & Abu Grahib;Sierra Leone Special Court;International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda & Former Yugoslavia;Classics;ancient rhetoric & history, classical Greek law;political/legal theory.
Research Profile

William Fitzgerald, Professor Emeritus.

+ Erich S. Gruen, Professor Emeritus. Classics, Greek and Roman history, Jews in the Greco-Roman world.
Research Profile

Ralph J. Hexter, Professor Emeritus.

Robert Knapp, Professor Emeritus.

Anthony A. Long, Professor Emeritus . Professor of the Graduate School, Chancellor's Professor Emeritus of Classics and Irving G. Stone Professor Emeritus of Literature; Affiliated Professor of Philosophy and Rhetoric: Classics, Greek literature, ancient philosophy.
Research Profile

Donald Mastronarde, Professor Emeritus. Professor of the Graduate School and Emeritus Melpomene Distinguished Professor of Classical Languages and Literature: classics, Greek literature, Greek drama, Greek textual transmission, Greek literary papyrology, Greek palaeography.
Research Profile

Stephen G. Miller, Professor Emeritus. Archaeology, classics, Greek and Roman art, ancient architecture, Greek athletics.
Research Profile

Michael N. Nagler, Professor Emeritus.

Ronald S. Stroud, Professor Emeritus. Classics, Greek history and literature, Greek epigraphy.
Research Profile

Leslie L. Threatte, Professor Emeritus.

Florence Verducci, Professor Emeritus.

Contact Information

Department of Classics

7233 Dwinelle Hall

Phone: 510-642-4218

Fax: 510-643-2959

Visit Department Website

Department Chair

Ellen Oliensis

7211 Dwinelle Hall

Phone: 510-642-9207

eolien@berkeley.edu

Undergraduate Faculty Adviser

Nikolaos Papazarkadas

7207 Dwinelle Hall

Phone: 510-642-7201

papazarkadas@berkeley.edu

Undergraduate Faculty Adviser

Kim Shelton

7207 Dwinelle Hall

Phone: 510-642-5314

sheltonk@berkeley.edu

Undergraduate Student Affairs Officer

Cassandra Dunn

7228 Dwinelle Hall

Phone: 510-642-3672

cassandrajj@berkeley.edu

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