Classics Department

Major Requirements

  1. Greek (110, 210), 311, 312 or Latin (110, 210), 311, 312.
  2. Introductory course in the other language.
  3. Classics 371, 373, 470.

Group and Divisional Requirements

Note that in addition to fulfilling major requirements, all classics students must also fulfill group requirements. To fulfill a group requirement, you must do two units, in a single disipline. All the disiplines at Reed are arranged into "groups" (A: Literature, Philosophy, Religion, and the Arts, B: History, Social Sciences, and Psychology, C: Science, D: Mathematics, Logic, Foreign Language, or Linguistics, X: Additional Breadth [two units in a single department outside of your major]).

Classics majors are also required to fulfill certain requirements by the Division of Literature and Languages. They must take one unit in the arts (music, dance, art, theatre) and two units of literary study in another language (200/300 level English and most but not all 300 level foreign language classes).

How can a classics major use the major to fill Group and Divisional Requirements?

Because Classics is an interdisiplinary major, a classics major can use the classes he/she is already required to take in order to fulfil many of the Group and Divisional requirements. Below is an explanation of how various classics programs can be used to fulfil your requirements. Note that the same class can fulfil a group and a divisional requirement.

All classics majors can use classes in their major to fulfil two of the following group requirements.

  • Group A: Greek 311/312 or Latin 311/312
  • Group B: History 391/392 (Greek and Roman History). Note that classics majors should register for the History section of these classes, not the Classics section.
  • Group D: Latin 110/210 or Greek 110/210

The key is that if you do both a sequence of 300 level Latin and 300 level Greek, then you can satisfy three Group Requirements: A, B, and D. This is because one of the two language sequences can be used to fulfil both Group A and the Divisional requirement for Literature. So, students in both 300 level Greek and Latin only need to fulfill Group C, Group X, and a unit in the arts.

However, if you only do one sequence of Latin or Greek, then you can only satisfy two of the Group Requirements. So, students who only take one sequence of 300 level Latin or Greek need to fulful Group C, Group X, one unit of art, two units of literature, and one of Groups A, B, or D. However, since two units of literature will also fulfil Group A, then these students should use major classes for Groups B and D, and take their literature classes in another department.

Recommended Courses in Other Departments

In addition to the classes offered in the Classics Department, there are other classes that classics majors should watch out for.

  • Classical art history classes in the Art Department. Note that the fall semester of Art 201 (Introduction to Art History) is often classical. These classes will satisfy the Divisional arts requirement as well as Group X.
  • Classical philosophy classes i the Phillosophy Department. These classes can be used to fill Group X.
  • Classical religion classes focusing on early Christianity or Judaism in the Religion Department. These classes can be used to fill Group X.
  • Classical political philosophy classes in the Political Science Department. These classes can be used to fill Group X.

More generally, the department recommends taking the following classes:

  • Classes in the Anthropology Department. These can be used to fill Group X.
  • Classes in the Theatre Department. These classes can be used to fill both the Divisional arts requirement and Group X.
  • Other literature classes, especially English 400 (Lit Theory). These classes can fill either Group X or Group A and possibly the Divisional literature requirement.
  • Other classes in the History Department. These classes can be used to used to fill Group X (remember that you are using History 391/392 [Greek and Roman History] to fill Group B!).

If you have any questions about the classes you are taking and how they can be used to fulfill your graduation requirements, or need recommendations, you can always talk to your advisor.

The Junior Qual

Juniors in the classics department take their qual for one semester, in the semester before their senior year unless there is a compelling reason to take it early (such as being abroad for the semester prior to the senior year). The qual is intended to prepare students for independent research. Every student writes a long research paper of about 15-20 pp in a class of their choice, in consultation with the professor. Each student should arrange at the beginning of the semester to take the qual with the professor. There will be a mandatory draft deadline a few weeks from the end and the final copy will be turned into the professor and another faculty member. The student will then give a mini-oral defense in front of both professors. The qual will count for some of the coursework in the chosen class.