The heart of Classics is in the writings from the world of Greece and Rome. Those writings, and the great span of human experience that they reflect (and reflect on), are extraordinarily significant in themselves, and extraordinarily significant in their impact on the imaginative thinking of later writers. They speak to any time and place, that is. Thus the name Classics.

Thus Classics is inherently interdisciplinary. We look to feel, understand, and benefit from fundamental forms of poetry, drama, and prose--from the Iliad and Odyssey, as they create and clarify the new values and new questions of nascent western civilization 2,700 years ago, through the wrenching and ebullient blending of Classical paganism and Christianity 1,000 years later. In order to gain the feeling and understanding, the student of Classical languages and literature is encouraged and supported in learning about the concepts and methods of other disciplines. (These could include, for example, English literature, history, religion, political thought, philosophy, art and art history.)

Obviously, no one will ever know all about all of those fields--much less know all about how they interact. Just as obviously, it is a liberal education to come to know the process of the Classical--the major phases and their connections. Each course in Classics is designed to stand independendently in this process, and equally to work as a part of the larger mosaic of one's baccalaureate learning.

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Last update of this Classics Page: 8 February 1997