Classical Studies - Columbia University in the City of New York

Classical Studies from Columbia University in the City of New York is a Campus Bachelor Classical Studies degree that prepares you for a Liberal Arts career. Why should I major in this subject? When you visit Rome or Athens, you also visit the many layers of physical, historical, and cultural development that have contributed to the complex evolution of those cities. When you tour the Roman forum or the Greek Parthenon, you set foot on monuments whose physical impressiveness symbolizes political strength and historical importance; in a very physical way you experience the past. When you study Latin and Greek language and culture, you embark on a tour of an alternative kind, making your way through texts and other cultural forms (e.g. paintings, sculptures, philosophical ideas, etc.) that bring you directly into contact with the Greco-Roman past. Literature, philosophy, history, art and architecture, linguistics, papyrology, religion: all (and more) are branches of investigation to which the modern student of Classics/Classical Studies has access through the surviving literary and material evidence. But when you study in the original language Virgil's Aeneid, say, or Plato's philosophical writings, you will find that ancient Greek or Latin literature deals with issues and ideas that are, for us, of central contemporary importance: e.g. how can I be happy? What is the best political constitution for our (or any) state? What responsibilities do I have to the society in which I live? What national significance is served or owed by literature? The study of Greek and Latin language and culture concentrates in one main area (ancient Greece and Rome) and on many of the questions that are of direct pertinence to the ways in which modern lives are shaped and lived; at the same time, Greco-Roman literature and philosophy, so fundamental to the later development of the western tradition, boast works of great intrinsic worth and interest. With your introduction to classical texts in Literature Humanities and Contemporary Civilization, you will find in Classics/Classical Studies a more advanced study of ancient cultural issues and habits of mind already sampled in the Core. What career opportunities follow upon study in this field? Many majors progress to graduate study in Classics and Classical Studies , and upon earning their graduate degrees they often embark on teaching careers in universities, colleges, and high schools. Many of our graduating majors also enter a number of other professional fields, among them law, banking, accountancy, publishing, and museum-work. Employers tend to find that students in classics are articulate on paper as well as orally, are organized of mind, and have good skills in general reasoning, an ability developed by the study of Greek and Latin language. In effect, the study of classics opens up a wide array of options, both in education and in the wider world. View more details on Columbia University in the City of New York . Ask your questions and apply online for this program or find other related Classical Studies courses.