Academics Overview

 

Students meet for their course section outdoors on a nice day

Stanford Classics is at the forefront of the study of the ancient Mediterranean world, its languages, history, and cultures.

One of the largest and most diverse Classics programs in the country, we are an intellectually vibrant community of 21 full-time faculty, more than 30 graduate students, and over 50 undergraduate majors and minors.

Undergraduate Programs

As a Stanford undergraduate, how can you attend this great university and not at some point study the ancient world? Disciplines from philosophy, literary criticism, musicology and history to linguistics, political theory, and rhetoric arose in ancient Greece and were further developed in the Roman period. The sciences trace their origins largely to Greek precedents in physics, mechanics, mathematics, and biology. The very idea of a university and organized research into the human condition are rooted in Greco-Roman culture. Every student who enters Stanford deserves—and needs—to become familiar with this tradition.

Graduate Programs

Our graduate students join a world-class scholarly community with wide-ranging interests that is committed to the innovative and theoretically informed exploration of the ancient Mediterranean world. Graduate work combines rigorous training in traditonal skills with openness to new approaches and dialogue across media, genres, time periods, and specialties. We are actively seeking PhD students who will contribute to the distinctive intellectual atmosphere of the nation's top-ranked Classics graduate program and make the most of the unique strengths and opportunities it has to offer.