About the Program

The Department of Classics offers both the MA and PhD in Classical Archaeology (the archaeology of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds).  All students apply to the PhD program. Those with the BA as their highest degree are admitted to the MA program, while in some instances those who hold an MA in classical archaeology or a related field are admitted directly to the PhD program. Students admitted to the MA program receive the MA upon completion of the MA requirements and then apply for advancement to the PhD program.

The Program in Classical Archaeology accepts a broad definition of the field, recognizing its grounding in both the humanities and the social sciences. It accordingly provides a rigorous general preparation in the archaeology of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds while allowing students to develop one or more specializations in a variety of specific areas. Students are required to participate in archaeological fieldwork in the Mediterranean (in many cases, participating in projects directed by UC Berkeley faculty) and are also encouraged to work with the unusually rich array of artifactual, epigraphical, and papyrological materials housed on the UC Berkeley campus. At the PhD level students opt to focus on either Greek archaeology or Roman archaeology, with their specific fieldwork, course, and ancient and modern language requirements determined by this choice.

Students who complete the PhD program should be well-qualified candidates for college and university-level teaching positions in classical archaeology and — depending upon their specific course of study — curatorial appointments in ancient art.

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Admissions

Admission to the University

Minimum Requirements for Admission

The following minimum requirements apply to all graduate programs and will be verified by the Graduate Division:

1. A bachelor’s degree or recognized equivalent from an accredited institution;
2. A grade point average of B or better (3.0);
3. If the applicant comes from a country or political entity (e.g., Quebec) where English is not the official language, adequate proficiency in English to do graduate work, as evidenced by a TOEFL score of at least 90 on the iBT test, 570 on the paper-and-pencil test, or an IELTS Band score of at least 7 on a 9-point scale (note that individual programs may set higher levels for any of these); and
4. Sufficient undergraduate training to do graduate work in the given field.

Applicants Who Already Hold a Graduate Degree

The Graduate Council views academic degrees not as vocational training certificates, but as evidence of broad training in research methods, independent study, and articulation of learning. Therefore, applicants who already have academic graduate degrees should be able to pursue new subject matter at an advanced level without need to enroll in a related or similar graduate program.

Programs may consider students for an additional academic master’s or professional master’s degree only if the additional degree is in a distinctly different field.

Applicants admitted to a doctoral program that requires a master’s degree to be earned at Berkeley as a prerequisite (even though the applicant already has a master’s degree from another institution in the same or a closely allied field of study) will be permitted to undertake the second master’s degree, despite the overlap in field.

The Graduate Division will admit students for a second doctoral degree only if they meet the following guidelines:

1. Applicants with doctoral degrees may be admitted for an additional doctoral degree only if that degree program is in a general area of knowledge distinctly different from the field in which they earned their original degree. For example, a physics PhD could be admitted to a doctoral degree program in music or history; however, a student with a doctoral degree in mathematics would not be permitted to add a PhD in statistics.
2. Applicants who hold the PhD degree may be admitted to a professional doctorate or professional master’s degree program if there is no duplication of training involved.

Applicants may apply only to one single degree program or one concurrent degree program per admission cycle.

Required Documents for Applications

1. Transcripts: Applicants may upload unofficial transcripts with your application for the departmental initial review. If the applicant is admitted, then official transcripts of all college-level work will be required. Official transcripts must be in sealed envelopes as issued by the school(s) attended. If you have attended Berkeley, upload your unofficial transcript with your application for the departmental initial review. If you are admitted, an official transcript with evidence of degree conferral will not be required.
2. Letters of recommendation: Applicants may request online letters of recommendation through the online application system. Hard copies of recommendation letters must be sent directly to the program, not the Graduate Division.
3. Evidence of English language proficiency: All applicants from countries or political entities in which the official language is not English are required to submit official evidence of English language proficiency. This applies to applicants from Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Latin America, the Middle East, the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, most European countries, and Quebec (Canada). However, applicants who, at the time of application, have already completed at least one year of full-time academic course work with grades of B or better at a US university may submit an official transcript from the US university to fulfill this requirement. The following courses will not fulfill this requirement:
   • courses in English as a Second Language,
   • courses conducted in a language other than English,
   • courses that will be completed after the application is submitted, and
   • courses of a non-academic nature.

If applicants have previously been denied admission to Berkeley on the basis of their English language proficiency, they must submit new test scores that meet the current minimum from one of the standardized tests. Official TOEFL score reports must be sent directly from Educational Test Services (ETS). The institution code for Berkeley is 4833. Official IELTS score reports must be mailed directly to our office from British Council. TOEFL and IELTS score reports are only valid for two years.

Where to Apply

Visit the Berkeley Graduate Division application page. 

Admission to the Program

Competition for admission to graduate study at Berkeley is extremely keen. In recent years there have been from 60-80 applicants per year, and the department’s admission quota has been around 12 to 16 admits, with the expectation that 5 to 7 new students will enroll each fall. While some applicants are denied admission for lack of adequate preparation or for undistinguished academic records, a substantial number each year who are judged capable of doing good graduate work at Berkeley are denied admission through a process of competitive ranking. The department's policy is to try to limit enrollment to the number of students who can be fully supported through a normal graduate career.

Applicants are judged by an admissions committee of five to seven faculty members, including the graduate adviser. The committee represents a variety of specialties and interests, and different members assign somewhat different weights to the various criteria for admission, which include the following:

1. Preparation: In Greek and Latin. Whether the applicant has a major in Greek or Latin or Classical Languages or some other subject, the committee is looking for, as a minimum, language preparation more or less equivalent to what is received in the undergraduate major at Berkeley itself. This includes a full year of introductory language study, three additional semesters in central authors or texts of each language (e.g., Homer [3-4 books], Plato [a short dialogue], Greek drama [1 complete play], Vergil [3-4 books], Republican prose [40-50 pages], Horace [30 poems]) plus two additional semesters of more advanced reading in either Greek or Latin. In practice, a student with two years of study in the weaker language is usually considered marginally prepared.
   An applicant with an MA is expected to offer substantially stronger preparation in at least one of the two languages, since the committee will be judging such an applicant against a real or notional pool of other MA students and not against students with only a BA.
   Elements of additional preparation which reflect favorably on an applicant include: courses in Greek or Latin composition; especially extensive reading in one or both languages; reading knowledge of modern languages (particularly German and/or French or Italian); courses in ancient history, classical civilization, ancient and world literature in translation, philosophy, art history, archaeology, anthropology, and other disciplines that are helpful to the broad range of classical studies.
2. Academic Distinction: The committee considers overall GPA, GPA in junior and senior years, and GPA in classics courses, with emphasis on the last two and especially on the last. Successful applicants in recent years have usually offered a junior/senior GPA in the range of 3.6 to 4.0, with many above 3.8. A student who has floundered in other fields earlier in his or her undergraduate education and then performed well upon discovering classics is not necessarily at a disadvantage because of the earlier record, although the committee is duly impressed by candidates who have been able to achieve excellence in many disciplines.
   The department has had many students from overseas and in evaluating academic distinction makes every effort to make appropriate allowances for the differences in grading and examination systems. Successful applicants from Great Britain usually have a first class or a high second class degree.
3. Letters of Recommendation: A minimum of three letters of recommendation is required. The committee values letters that are frank and specific as to the applicant’s achievement and promise. If possible, recommenders should make comparisons with other students they know have applied to or enrolled at Berkeley. The contacts for letters of recommendation will be entered by you during the online application process. Recommenders will be contacted via email to submit their recommendation online.
4. GRE Scores: GRE scores are normally required by the Classics Department of all students receiving a BA in North America and of those overseas students whose native language is English or who have studied for one or more years at a university at which classes are conducted in English. Applicants are strongly advised to take the October GRE, since results of later exams may not arrive in time to be given due consideration in the admission and fellowship competition. There is disagreement on most committees about how important and relevant the GRE scores are, and some members do not attend to the quantitative score. GRE scores older than 5 years old will not be accepted. Code 2609 (Classical Languages) should be used to have GRE scores reported to the department by ETS.
5. Statement of Purpose: The committee appreciates clearly-written and cogent statements of purpose explaining why applicants are interested in graduate work in classics, what they hope to accomplish, and where their eventual specialization may lie. The statement of purpose is also the appropriate place for the applicant to address and explain any particular weaknesses in the dossier.
6. Writing Sample: The committee finds it helpful for candidates to submit a sample of scholarly writing, such as a paper written for a course or a portion of a senior honors thesis. (A candidate who wishes to submit an entire honors thesis should submit a summary with the application and indicate its most representative sections.) Writing samples are submitted as part of the online application. Members of committees differ in their treatment of writing samples. Some refer to them only if they judge the previous five criteria insufficiently indicative.

Doctoral Degree Requirements

Curriculum

Courses

Classical Archaeology

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, Associate Professor.

Maria Mavroudi, Professor. Byzantine studies.
Research Profile

+ Kathleen Mccarthy, 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 and trials,Indonesia and East Timor, Guantanamo and Abu Grahib,Sierra Leone Special Court,International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and Former Yugoslavia,Classics,ancient rhetoric and 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

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

Leslie L. Threatte, Professor Emeritus.