classics | classical studies | teaching guidelines
About the Program
The program offers an interdisciplinary approach to the integrated study of Greek and Roman culture as revealed by its art, literature, and history. The purpose of the program is to provide broad and coherent training in classical studies, crossing the traditional departmental barriers and moving toward a less particularized view of classical antiquity.
Each student follows a carefully designed program in the major fields of classical studies (i.e., ancient history, archaeology, and classics), leading to an effective concentration on topics of research that involve more than one field of study.
Back to TopM.A. and Free-Standing M.A.
Languages: Competence in one ancient language, Greek or Latin, to be demonstrated by either course work or examination, and one modern (German, French, or Italian) by examination.
Courses: Eight courses in classics, history (ancient history section), and art history and archaeology (classical section), or related fields, with at least six taken for a letter grade. No more than four of these courses can be taken in any one department. At least two terms of a seminar or colloquium must be included in the total of eight. Students are expected to maintain at least a B+ average in their graded courses.
Written work: Each student is required to submit a substantial seminar or colloquium paper to be evaluated by the subcommittee before he or she is permitted to continue on to the M.Phil. degree.
Back to TopM.Phil.
Candidates are admitted upon completion of the M.A. program or upon completion of the M.A. program in the Department of Classics, History, or Art History and Archaeology at Columbia, or if they have a comparable M.A. degree from another university. Decisions on admission are made by the steering committee of the subcommittee.
Languages: Competence in a second ancient language, Greek or Latin, to be demonstrated by course work or examination, and in a second modern language (one of the two must be German, the other may be French or Italian), by examination.
Courses: Fourteen courses, including twelve for a letter grade, to be taken in the Departments of Classics, History, or Art History and Archaeology. The courses taken for the M.A. count toward the total of fourteen. No more than three of these courses may be in any one department, and at least two of them must be colloquia or seminars. Students are expected to maintain at least a B+ average in their graded courses.
Teaching requirement: Participation in the instructional activities of one or more of the participating departments for three years. As a rule, in the second, third and fourth years of study, students gain exposure to teaching as assistants to professors in undergraduate courses, as section leaders in lecture courses or as language instructors. Students who are interested in broadening their teaching apprenticeships are eligible to teach in the Core Program once they have received the M.Phil. Students may only apply to be a Preceptor if they have or expect to have the M.Phil. by the May prior to being appointed as a preceptor, and if they are not past their sixth year of registration during the first year of the preceptorship. Students may not hold instructional appointments after year seven.
Qualifying examination: To be taken after the completion of all language and course requirements. Each student is examined on selected topics within two or all three fields: Greek and Latin language and literature; classical art history and archaeology; Greek and Roman history. The examination includes both written and oral sections.
Back to TopPh.D.
Continuation beyond the M.Phil. degree is authorized by the steering committee of the subcommittee.
Dissertation: Topics approved by the subcommittee, and signed by two members thereof as sponsors after a successful prospectus defense, usually require a substantial amount of scholarly expertise in more than one of the three disciplines. The student must present and successfully defend the dissertation.
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