What is “Classics?”

	“Classics” or “Classical Studies” is a somewhat old-fashioned, but convenient, name for the study of Greek and Roman antiquity in all its manifestations—including history, art and archaeology, and philosophy as well as Ancient Greek and Latin literature and language. It is the original “interdisciplinary” academic study.
Delphi, Sacred Way

The name “Classics” for this wide area of study refers to the fact that, until fairly recently, the civilizations of the Ancient Greeks and Romans were felt to provide the original, and in many ways unsurpassed, models of cultural and intellectual aspiration for modern Europeans. (Think of the golden aura that still tends to surround words like "Homer," "the Parthenon," "Socrates," or "Athenian Democracy.") That idea can no longer be accepted without reservations—Athenian democracy, for instance, had no problem with institutionalized slavery or the systematic exclusion of women from most forms of civic life—but "Classics" can survive without it. Love them or hate them, Greek and Roman forms of thought, language, and artistic expression have defined European civilization and its offshoots and covered the globe with their effects. There is an important place in the university for the study of these original civilizations of the modern "West" in all their dimensions.

But the interest of "Classics" goes far beyond the ways in which they have functioned as models (positive and negative) and sources of inspiration for various forms of modern cultural endeavor. In their greatest works of poetry, such as the Iliad and Odyssey, in their philosophical probings such as the Platonic dialogues, and in their powerful histories such as those of Thucydides and Tacitus, the Greeks and Romans asked profound questions about human nature and our place in the world that have their own inherent and abiding interest. (There's a reason, after all, why they're "classics.") Moreover the Greeks and Romans often prove to be particularly useful objects for modern reflection upon contemporary concerns, such as for example the construction of the self, gender, and the Other; colonialism and imperialism; or the ideological functions of discourse. This is because they seem so familiar to us at every turn, and thus "relevant" to our lives, yet in many ways (in certain modes of thought and social institutions, say) so foreign that they invite critical consideration—of them and ultimately of us.

Greek mythology touches upon virtually all fundamental aspects of Classical Civilization—most obviously literature, but also social institutions, history, art and archaeology—and is thus a perfect starting point for further investigations into this wide interdisciplinary study. If you have read this far, I hope you will continue your exploration of Classics with some other, related courses.
	Shrine of the mythical hero Menelaus and his wife Helen, above Sparta

Classics at UCSB

Central to the mission of any Classics Department is the study of the literature of the major Greek and Roman authors, and the teaching of Ancient Greek and Latin which alone make a fully nuanced apprecation of that literature possible. Our sequences of courses in Greek and Latin, from the beginning to advanced level, are therefore fundamental, as are the various introductions to literary genres (for example, "Ancient Epic," "Greek Tragedy," "Comedy and Satire," "Greek and Roman Historians") or themes and areas ("Greek Mythology," "Women in Classical Literature"). Broader themes of cultural history are pursued in our upper-division "Greek Civilization" and "Roman Civilization," while our faculty's interest in history and material culture is represented by our surveys of Greek Archaeology and Roman Archaeology. Upper-division courses closely related to instructors' areas of research offer a more specific focus, such as "Pagan Religion and Cult in Ancient Rome" (Prof. Frances Hahn), "Viewing the Barbarian: Representations of Foreign Peoples in Greek Literature" (Prof. Francis Dunn), and "From Homer to Harlequin: Masculine, Feminine and the Romance" (Prof. Sara Lindheim). As at many other universities, at UCSB some of the original subject-matter of the interdisciplinary study of "Classics" is distributed among other departments defined by a discipline rather than an area of study: ancient Greek and Roman history, for example, is taught chiefly in the History Department (Professors Drake and Lee); ancient art history and archaeology, in the Department of History of Art and Architecture (Professor Yegül); Greek philosophy, in the Philosophy Department (Professor Tsouna); Hellenistic religions and early Christianity in the Roman Empire, in the Department of Religious Studies (Professor Thomas). However, all of these courses are included in the curriculum of the Classics Major.

The Classics Department offers majors with emphases in Language and Literature, Classical Archaeology, and Classical Civilization. Click here for a description of the major on UCSB's Classics Department's website.

UCSB has a notable cluster of faculty conducting excavations and other research in Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology.

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