Classical Legacy Program and Summer Study Abroad
Ancient Greece and Rome are central to Western culture. They have informed the art, thought, literature, and political and social institutions of later Western civilizations. The cultures of ancient Greece and Rome are deemed classical in two senses. First, they offer models that later thinkers, writers, and artists have sought to assimilate, emulate, and recreate. Second, the cultural achievements of ancient Greece and Rome have not been superseded; they continue to speak to us directly on the questions that matter to us.
University students are generally aware of the importance of Greece and Rome, and often they are acquainted with those civilizations. By and large, however, students have not had the opportunity to investigate in detail the centrality of Greece and Rome in the Western tradition and how classical antiquity can speak to their own questions about culture, art, morality, politics, and identity. The Classical Legacy program seeks to change this state of affairs.
The program offers new courses in translation that make classical antiquity accessible to a wide range of students and give those students a grounding in Western intellectual and cultural history. The program consists of 200-level survey courses and 300-level “symposia” courses (as we call them) devoted to specific themes. At both levels the courses relate classical culture to postclassical and contemporary cultures. These courses, which carry D 1 (Humanities) distribution credit, will appeal to students who major in the humanities and to those who look to the humanities for stimulating educational electives.
Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies at Rome
Students in the Classical Studies Department are encouraged to study for a semester at the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies, which maintains programs in Rome. Courses in Greek and Latin at the intermediate and advanced levels are offered in both of these programs. Students in Rome are required to take at least one ancient language course. The centerpiece of the Rome program is the “City Course,” which is an introduction to the history, archeology, and monuments of the city of Rome in antiquity. In this course students will take weekly field trips to sites and museums in and around Rome plus extended trips to Sicily and the Bay of Naples area. For further information about both programs, including scholarships and other courses that are offered, please consult the
Duke Overseas Studies website.
Study Abroad in Athens
