Undergraduate
Studying the Ancient Greek and Roman Worlds at Berkeley
The department teaches and studies the languages, cultures, histories, philosophies, literatures, art, and material culture of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. It is home to exciting and welcoming undergraduate major programs and maintains a rich and varied schedule of undergraduate courses, including a full curriculum of ancient Greek and Latin language instruction. Its PhD programs in Classics and Classical Archaeology are enriched every year by the arrival of new future leaders in the study of the ancient world, and for generations their graduates have gone on to renew or remake their fields. Itself a teeming center of intellectual vitality on campus, the department is affiliated with internationally important research units directed by its faculty, including the Center for the Tebtunis Papyri, the Sara B. Aleshire Center for Greek Epigraphy, and the Nemea Center for Classical Archaeology. The department organizes many events of interest and hosts many visits, most notably the storied annual Jane K. Sather Professorship of Classical Literature.
Featured Courses
Spring 2023
The first half of a two-semester language sequence equipping students to read and translate Classical Latin.
Spring 2023
Christopher Hallett
An introduction to ancient Roman history, literature, and society.
Spring 2023
Maribelisa Gillespie
Who built the Parthenon and why? Where did the Olympic Games truly get their start? Who were the ancient Greek gods, and how do we know? Join us in AGRS 17A as we explore the art and archaeology of ancient Greece and provide some answers to these questions and many more!
News
The faculty of the Department of Ancient Greek and Roman Studies have endorsed this statement:
The Department recognizes the vital contributions of its graduate student instructors to its mission and to the mission of the university. Its faculty have long been acutely concerned about the difficulty of getting by as a graduate student in expensive California. It is the faculty’s fervent hope that the university and the UAW will be able to reach a fair agreement through negotiation.
The Department affirms without question the right of UAW members and others to engage in lawful strike activity, which includes picketing and the withholding of labor. For their participation or non-participation in lawful strike activity the Department will not engage in retaliation against students, whether in their capacity as instructors present and future or in their capacity as graduate students enrolled in its PhD programs. The Department will approach with concern and compassion the circumstances of undergraduate students whose courses are affected by the strike, while fully recognizing and crediting the right of GSIs to withhold their labor while on strike.
Kristina Chew, Lecturer in AGRS, has published a powerful two-part essay on her life in Classics, "Loving the Impossible: Greek, Latin and Autism," on the blog of the Society for Classical Studies. You can find Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
The department of Ancient Greek and Roman Studies will be hosting an information session during the campus Graduate Diversity Admissions Fair, which aims to demystify the process of admissions especially for first-generation students and those from underrepresented groups. Join us by Zoom on October 17, 2-3pm (see site for instructions on how to preregister), to hear from faculty and current students and to get your questions answered. Contact Kathleen McCarthy (kmccarth@berkeley.edu) or Duncan MacRae (duncanmacrae@berkeley.edu) if you have any questions.
Events
Nov
30
2022
Dr. Giulio Iovine of the Center for the Tebtunis Papyri will present his lecture "'I will subscribe gentle adieus and greetings’: Latin subscriptions and tags in late antique papyri."
Fall 2022 Sather Lectures
