Education

Harvard University: Arts & Sciences: The Classics

Category Anthropology, Art and Social Sciences, Harvard University, Postgraduate, USA, Undergraduate
Tags Arts, Classics, Harvard University, Sciences

The department has been at the forefront of graduate education in classics for well over a century. It offers a variety of approaches, emphasizing a wide range of knowledge and skills rather than a narrow early specialization. Traditionally, the PhD in Classical Philology has been the degree taken by most doctoral candidates, but the department also offers degrees in Ancient History, Classical Archaeology, Classical Philosophy, Medieval Latin, Byzantine Greek, and Modern Greek. All candidates admitted to the PhD programs are expected to enter with competence in the pertinent languages, ancient and modern, on which they will build in the course of their graduate study.

Ideally, the doctoral program is conceived as lasting six years, divided into three segments. The first two years, defined as “academic residence” for administrative purposes, are largely devoted to seminars, to lecture/reading courses, and to independent reading in preparation for the general examinations. While all these formats are designed to broaden experience of the languages and literature needed for the degree, the seminars form the core of the department’s program of graduate education. Summers are often spent in reading to prepare for examinations.

In the third year, students prepare for their special examinations in three chosen categories, and begin to gain experience of teaching, which the department regards as an essential part of graduate preparation.

In the last two years, they continue to teach, but otherwise work towards the completion of the degree, especially the writing of the dissertation.

Though the department views the training of future university teachers as a major part of its mandate, its primary concern is to foster as thorough an expertise as possible in those classical, medieval, and modern fields which are centered on Greek and Latin language and literature. For this reason, the department emphasizes the acquisition not only of knowledge, but also of skills—in teaching, in analysis, in research—which will enable its graduates to find careers both within and outside the traditional fields. Great emphasis is laid in the process of graduate admission on the adaptability of students to a flexible job market, and the department assists the career development of its students by placement advice and other practical assistance with the application process.

In working towards a degree in Classical Philology, students may come to emphasize one language over the other and may explore interests in philology, archaeology, history and prehistory, linguistics, philosophy, religion, law, literary criticism, mythography, or the medieval world both western and eastern. The department also offers specialized training in such disciplines as papyrology, epigraphy, palaeography, and numismatics. The resources of other Harvard departments are open to those interested in other ancient languages and scripts, the history of science, and the relations of the Greeks and the Romans with other ancient cultures. Progress to the doctorate is supported by the outstanding collections of the Widener Library in every aspect of the ancient world, with the pertinent texts and journals located conveniently beside study desks in the stacks. The department also maintains the Herbert Weir Smyth Classical Library, with 9,000 volumes and comfortable working tables. Classical art is housed in the Harvard Art Museums, which also have an extensive collection of books on ancient art. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has famous classical collections, and graduate students may be admitted to its library with special permission. Harvard’s Houghton Library holds papyri, manuscripts, and rare books pertaining to the classical field. Palaeographical works and manuscript facsimiles are kept in Smyth and in Widener D; the Parry Collection of oral epic is in Widener C, and epigraphical records and other aids are kept nearby in the Smyth Classical Library. The departmental space in Boylston Hall, and the Smyth library, both contain computer equipment for the use of the graduate students; this equipment provides access to the TLG, PHI, DCB, and other standard research tools.

There are regular occasions for graduate students and members of the department to meet informally outside the classroom; in addition, there are frequent colloquia, and opportunities for discussion of graduate and faculty work. The Seminar on Ancient Greece and Rome in Harvard’s Humanities Center sponsors roundtable discussion groups for faculty and graduate students. There are many public lectures sponsored by the department each year, including several James Loeb Classical Lectures given by distinguished scholars invited from outside the University. In alternate years the Carl Newell Jackson Lectures bring an eminent scholar to deliver four lectures which are subsequently published as a book; occasionally the Lectures are replaced by a Colloquium.

Funding for the duration of graduate study is normally provided by outright fellowship grants in the first two years, by a dissertation completion fellowship in the final year, and by a combination of tuition grants and teaching fellowships in the intervening years. In addition, GSAS offers a variety of fellowships for assistance at various stages, and also limited grants for summer language study, travel, and other projects. The Charles Eliot Norton Fellowship provides funding for a year or a summer at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. The Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, under the administration of the Trustees for Harvard University, offers some junior fellowships in the late classical, early Christian, and Byzantine fields.

The following Graduate School scholarships and fellowships are reserved in whole or in part for graduate students of the classics: George Henry Chase, Arthur Deloraine Corey, Charles Haven Goodwin, William Watson Goodwin, Albert and Anna Howard, Francis Jones, the Loeb Classical Library Foundation, Joseph Benjamin Moors, Charles Eliot Norton, William King Richardson, Fred N. Robinson, Paul Shorey, and Teschemacher Memorial. For the Bowdoin and other prizes, students in residence should consult the pamphlet “Prizes Open to Students of Harvard College and in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.”

Candidates who have successfully completed their general examinations (see below) are normally assigned teaching fellowships in undergraduate courses, which include elementary language courses, sophomore and junior tutorials, literature surveys, and courses taught in translation.

The department’s graduate program is chiefly designed to prepare students for the degree of doctor of philosophy (PhD); the department will not admit applicants for the degree of master of arts (AM) only. However, any student who has completed with honors two years of full-time study (16 applicable half-courses) will qualify for the degree of AM in the appropriate area as a level of attainment, which the department will normally recommend upon application by the student. No examinations beyond those required in the courses are required. Prerequisites are the same as for the PhD.