Academics

Although it gets its core identity (and its name) from the "great books" that it quite rightly teaches again and again, Classics survives and thrives by striving to encompass the classical Mediterranean under many aspects and methodologies, so that its faculty all represent other fields of study as well: archaeology, art, philosophy, religion, history, linguistics, comparative literature or theater.

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Undergraduate Program Ph.D. Program Bridge M.A. in Classics Course Listings

Classics News

Hundreds of Armenian heritage sites at risk in Nagorno-Karabakh

9/21/2023

Faculty researchers paint a picture of what will happen if multilateral organizations fail to protect Armenian cultural heritage as Azerbaijan shells the disputed region.

The College welcomes new faculty for 2023-24

9/06/2023

Our 34 new faculty will enrich the College of Arts & Sciences with creative ideas in a vast array of topics.

New Faculty: Cat Lambert

9/05/2023

Cat Lambert, Classics

Engaged Opportunity Grants fund projects from Tompkins to Tanzania

8/02/2023

The funded community-engaged learning projects provide opportunities for students to excavate ancient Pompeii, establish a community garden in Moshi, Tanzania and more.

A&S dean Jayawardhana named provost at Johns Hopkins

7/12/2023

Rachel Bean, the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor in the Department of Astronomy and senior associate dean for math and science, has been named interim A&S dean.

Einaudi seed grants finding fertile soil

5/15/2023

Faculty from six colleges across Cornell tackle issues ranging from the health of endangered wild dogs to the spread of misinformation through social media.

$2.5M in A&S New Frontier Grants supports bold projects

5/17/2023

A&S faculty members will delve into questions ranging from quantum computing to foreign policy development and from heritage forensics to effects of climate change.

Nexus Scholars Program expands research opportunities to 101 students

5/15/2023

This summer, 101 students in the College of Arts and Sciences will take part in groundbreaking research on campus with 61 faculty as part of the Nexus Scholars Program.

More Classics News

Undergraduate Program

Coursework in Classics can involve everything from learning to read ancient tragedies in their original languages (and even performing in them yourself) to studying what archaeobotanical evidence can tell us about climate change on the millennial scale.

Discover our Majors and our Minors.

Graduate Program

Our doctoral program fully promotes an interdisciplinary approach to the ancient world. We offer all students an opportunity to develop a comprehensive course of study within one of our five concentrations: ancient history, ancient philosophy, classical archaeology and art, classical literature and philology, and Greek and Latin languages and linguistics. We support a strong series of colloquia in which faculty, guest speakers, and graduate students are presented with current work in our field of study.

Classics Graduate Studies Overview

Latin is the key that unlocks Western civilization. Mastering its grammar is CrossFit for your brain, and gives you direct access to the classical foundations of modern life.

— Michael Fontaine, Professor