Classical Studies
The Graduate Program
The Graduate Program of the Department of Classical Studies is designed to prepare students for professional careers. At its center is a structured program in the classical languages, in Greco-Roman culture, and in the perspectives and methods of innovative research on the classical world. The Department of Classical Studies encourages interdisciplinary and comparative literary, historical, and cultural studies embracing a wide range of areas. The department has particular strength in Greek drama, Greek and Roman epic, ancient rhetoric, Greek and Roman history, mythology, the translation and interpretation of classical literature, and the classical tradition in Europe and America. In addition, Classical Studies at Boston University has a very close working relationship with the departments of Archaeology, Art History, Philosophy, and Religion.
Graduates of this program are expected to have acquired a range and depth of knowledge of antiquity that will provide the basis for innovative scholarship as well as for professional careers in university or college teaching and in other positions that require a background in humanities. The department allows combined or comparative programs of study designed to take advantage of Boston University’s offerings in such other areas as the Romance languages, comparative studies in literature and the arts, archaeology, and philosophy, as well as the possibilities provided by cross-registration in the Boston Area Graduate School Consortium.
Further information is available from the Classical Studies Department: 745 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215; 617-353-2427. Email address: jhenders@bu.edu.
Admission In addition to the bachelor’s degree or its equivalent, a fundamental requirement for admission to the program is evidence that the student will be able to successfully study one (MA) or both (PhD) of the classical languages at the graduate level. Applicants must take the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Test and, at the time of application, submit a personal statement of aims and purposes and a sample of their scholarly writing. Every student takes a diagnostic examination in the comprehension of the classical languages the summer before entry into the program. (For the purpose of this examination, comprehension of the language at the graduate level is defined as the ability to read, without lexicon and at a moderate speed, passages from Homer and Plato and from Vergil and Cicero.)
