Earlham College | Classical Studies

At Earlham, Classical Studies is an exciting dynamic field of study which focuses on understanding the complexities of the ancient world. This is the world that gave us an early model of racial tolerance, texts that wrestled with complex ethical issues and universal human dilemmas, art that celebrated and explored the human role on earth. The more we know of this ancient world - its language, history, art, culture and literature - the better equipped we are to understand our own modern world.

Classical Studies at Earlham examines the languages, literatures and cultures of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Sudents in Classical Studies courses study the history of the Greeks and Romans but also consider significant artistic achievements, investigate literary texts and learn at least one difficult language. By focusing on history, art, literature and language, Classical Studies at Earlham is, in a very important sense, multi-disciplinary. A student majoring in Classical Studies becomes adept at these different disciplines and develops valuable and practical habits of mind: analysis, imagination, sympathetic understanding and the interpretation of data.

Our study of Classical Studies is also, significantly, informed by Earlham's Quaker roots which help us understand a significant idea: peaceful co-existence requires tolerance, understanding and a rigorous pursuit of the truth about the past. Earlham students in Classical Studies are challenged to see that we are not simply studying the relics of peoples and ideas long dead; rather, we have inherited from the Greeks and Romans the roots of the cultures that today we claim as our own, and by investigating these ancient cultures, we can better understand and live in our own.

“We do not by any means neglect the present, but realize that our main emphasis must fall on the great traditions of art, thought, and literature which have formed the minds and hearts of our predecessors, and which, interpreted afresh in each generation, can bring us new understanding of ourselves and the world we live in.”
-Bernard Knox

At Earlham, students benefit from studying at a liberal arts college with a low student-faculty ratio. Students learn in ideally-sized classes, where faculty and students have the opportunity to get to know one another. Although there is no single dominant mode of teaching, lively discussion among students and faculty plays and important role in all Classical Studies courses at Earlham. Faculty collaborate regularly with students in various research projects funded by grants from the Ford and Knight foundations. First- and second-year students also have opportunities to work with upper-level students in classes and on projects.

The Classical Studies Department at Earlham offers a broad curriculum with a rich variety of offerings. In addition to introductory and intermediate language courses in both Ancient Greek and Classical Latin, we offer many courses in the lliterature and culture of Greece and Rome, including Homeric Banquet, Gods and Humans, Women in Antiquity, and Greek and Roman Drama. Most courses are available to students who have not studied Greek or Latin but students of the languages find ways to bring their linguistic skills to course assignments that concentrate on the intricacies of the ancient world.