Welcome to Cornell Classics
Classics is the interdisciplinary study of the ancient (1700 BCE-600 CE) Greek and Roman civilizations that gave subsequent European culture its distinctive character. The study of Greek and Roman antiquity includes: Greek and Latin language, literature, and linguistics; ancient philosophy; history; archaeology and art history; papyrology; epigraphy; and numismatics.
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Recent Publications
Plato and the Divided Self
Tad Brennan, Charles Brittain
Plato's account of the tripartite soul is a memorable feature of dialogues like the Republic, Phaedrus and Timaeus: it is one of his most famous and influential yet least understood theories. It presents human nature as both essentially multiple and diverse – and yet somehow also one – divided into a fully human 'rational' part, a lion-like 'spirited part' and an 'appetitive' part likened to a many-headed beast. How these parts interact, how exactly each shapes our agency and how they are affected by phenomena like eros and education is complicated and controversial. The essays in this book investigate how the theory evolves over the whole of Plato's work, including the Republic, Phaedrus and Timaeus, and how it was developed further by important Platonists such as Galen, Plutarch and Plotinus. They will be of interest to a wide audience in philosophy and classics.
Olin Library is maintaining a list of resources for Classics.
Events
News and Announcements
- Welcome to New Faculty Member Athena Kirk
- Congratulations to Antonia Ruppel, senior lecturer in the Department of Classics: she was awarded a Stephen and Margery Russell Distinguished Teaching Award in the College of Arts and Sciences for 2014.
- Congratulations to Caitlín Barrett, assistant professor in the Department of Classics: she was awarded the Robert A. and Donna B. Paul Academic Advising Award in the College of Arts & Sciences for 2014.
- Cornell Classics assistant professor Courtney A. Roby won a Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship of Scholars in Critical Bibliography to be a fellow in the 2014-16 program of the Rare Book School (RBS), University of Virginia.
- Latin Poetry and Hip-Hop Teaching Award