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Classical Studies

This is an archived copy of the 2024-2025 catalog. To access the most recent version of the catalog, please visit http://catalog.iastate.edu.

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The cross-disciplinary Classical Studies Program engages students with the civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome and their influence, both past and present, on western and world cultures. The Classical Studies minor and Interdisciplinary Studies major include an integrated curriculum of courses in the cultures, literatures, history, archaeology, and art of ancient Greece and Rome from prehistoric times to the reign of the Emperor Constantine. Students also study Elementary Latin. Current information about the Program may be found at: http://language.iastate.edu/academic-programs/classical-studies/.

Courses in Classical Studies provide background and a classical context for students whose major fields of study or career interests include History, Anthropology, English, World Languages and Cultures, Philosophy, Women’s and Gender Studies, material culture, law, medicine, political science, the life sciences, and related fields.

Students interested in pursuing an Interdisciplinary Studies major or minor in Classical Studies should meet with an academic advisor in the Department of World Languages and Cultures (https://language.iastate.edu/advising/) and the Classical Studies Program director (https://language.iastate.edu/directory/#clst). 

(Note: neither this major nor minor prepares students for graduate study in Classical Studies.)

Student Learning Outcomes

Upon the completion of their program of study, students with an interdisciplinary studies major in Classical Studies will demonstrate proficiency in three goal areas: Knowledge and Evidence, Interdisciplinarity, and Cross-Cultural Literacy. 

1. Knowledge and Evidence: acquisition and communication of knowledge about the ancient Greco-Roman world through the use, critical evaluation, and contextualization of diverse bodies of evidence.

2. Interdisciplinarity: integration of subdisciplines and other fields and their methodologies to understand the complexities and limitations of various bodies of evidence and connect texts and artifacts to their cultural contexts.

3. Cross-Cultural Literacy: meaningful and creative engagement with multiple perspectives, ability to think from the perspective of a different value system and imagine different everyday experiences and different social norms.