The unexpected importance of the sea sponge in classical history
In the Society for the Humanities Invitational Lecture Feb. 15, art historian Verity Platt will present her research on the humble sea sponge.
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Accessing the past
Department of Classics
Classics is the original interdisciplinary academic field at the heart both of European/western civilization and today’s Liberal Arts education. We teach and research the languages (Greek, Latin), literature, history, philosophy, science, art, and material culture that survive from the worlds of ancient Greece, Rome, and Late Antiquity. Through archaeology and art history we investigate and analyze the material record and environment of these civilizations and their neighbors – accessing a past beyond the texts of the elite and their mostly male voices to explore fully this world from top to bottom.
Classics Resources
Department of Classics Events
Feb
10
Goldwin Smith Hall
Feb
15
Mar
07
Physical Sciences Building
Mar
17
Goldwin Smith Hall
Mar
22
Olin Library
Mar
24
Goldwin Smith Hall
News from Classics
Humanities Impact Grant supports virtual modeling of Roman house and garden at Pompeii
The Society for the Humanities has recently awarded Caitlín Barrett a Humanities Impact Grant to support the 3D and virtual modeling of the Casa della Regina Carolina Project at Pompeii.
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A&S Klarman Fellows program renewed and expanded
Thanks to additional significant support from Seth Klarman ’79 and Beth Schultz Klarman, the Klarman Postdoctoral Fellowship program has been expanded to support 10 fellows per cohort.
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Wondering what to read in 2023? A&S faculty offer ideas
A&S faculty offer book and poetry recommendations for the new year.
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Expanding the boundaries of classics abroad: Ruth Portes’ journey to Georgia
Ruth Portes, a fourth-year archaeology PhD student, has recently returned from two months of field work in Georgia (August 1- October 3)
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What I found in the earth
Classics student Charlee Mandy '23 writes about the Marzuolo Archaeological Project. Originally published in the Cornell Daily Sun, August 29, 2022.
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Noted archaeologist to speak on new discoveries in Israel in Cornell lecture
Israeli archaeologist Mordechai Aviam and his colleagues made headlines by finding possible evidence, near the Sea of Galilee, of the house of St. Peter.
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Weiss teaching award honors eight exceptional faculty
Four A&S faculty members have been honored for their excellence in undergraduate teaching and mentoring.
Read MoreWhat is Classics?
Classics is about learning Latin and Greek
Neither language is spoken today, but hundreds of world-historical masterpieces were written in those two languages. Ancient Greek is the key that unlocks Homer, philosophy, tragedy, comedy, history, particle physics, and half the Bible. Latin is the key that unlocks epic poetry, stage drama, fables, rhetoric, law, and the reawakening of the West in the Renaissance. The two languages together allow you to observe, like a firsthand witness, the downhill slide of Rome’s thousand-year civilization from an American-style democracy to an authoritarian empire. Studying them, and the voices of the women and men who spoke them, reveals more than just the mindset of a people that built the Coliseum and the catacombs. Those voices also reveal the foundations of the modern world order—from secular humanism to religious orthodoxy. They’re also a lot of fun!
Classics beyond the classroom
Classics doesn’t just involve learning your Latin principal parts (important though they are!). Our students and faculty engage with the Greco-Roman world in multiple ways, whether speaking “living Latin” in Rome, taking part in archaeological digs or traveling seminars to Europe, curating exhibitions, or putting on performances of ancient plays. From experiments with ancient technology to the use of myth in contemporary art, we celebrate and explore the enduring relevance and reinvention of the Classical past within the 21st century.