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Certificate Program in Ancient Greek and Roman Studies

Students are exposed to humanistic, artistic, religious, political, social and scientific perspectives with a focus on the Greeks and Romans, but including a variety of other ancient cultures as possible electives. The Certificate Program provides students with the opportunity to explore our world through the lens of classical antiquity.

The Curriculum

What will your curriculum look like? Work at your own pace. Achieving a Certificate in Ancient Greek and Roman Studies requires a total of five courses (usually taken over a period of two and a half years) from a selection of regularly offered undergraduate courses in the Department of Classical Studies, one of which must be the graduate capstone course, CLAS 250. (N.B.: Special graduate level requirements will be imposed on the certificate candidates within the regular undergraduate courses.)

Students may take more than one course per semester, if desired. There is no foreign language requirement, although courses in Latin and Greek may be taken towards completion of the certificate.

Course possibilities range from ancient languages (Greek and Latin above level 30), literature (in original languages or in translation), history, mythology, religion, art, and/or archaeology. Faculty in the Department of Classical Studies must teach at least three of the required five courses. A course covering another ancient civilization may be chosen (in consultation with Ann Olga Koloski-Ostrow, program chair) as one or two of the electives counting toward the five courses required for the Certificate. No thesis is required, but each course requires focused research papers.

The Capstone Course

This graduate course (CLAS 250), which can be taken any time within the two and a half year cycle, will be offered in alternate years in the spring semester. The capstone course is taught consecutively by department faculty on the methodologies, perspectives and theories in the field of classical studies. Students gain insight, for example, into Homeric scholarship, Vergilian studies, historiography and new methods and research in such areas as classical archaeology, anthropology, epigraphy, ancient Greek and Roman history, and ancient art.

A graduate course in Directed Study (CLAS 251) is also offered to students who complete some approved experiential summer study. These courses are scheduled after 3 p.m. to accommodate teachers coming to class after work.

Enhance Your Teaching

Student Lana Holman says her experience with Brandeis professors in Greek Studies in the Schools is what first attracted her to the certificate program. "I appreciated their willingness to work with educators of all levels (elementary included), and found their passion for and knowledge of their subject matter evident in lectures and discussions. Under their influence, my own teaching was enhanced. So, to have further access to their knowledge, passion, and encouragement was an opportunity I could not pass up.

It has been a natural next step to take in my professional development; one that has challenged me, influenced my teaching, and touched my fourth grade students and myself in so many ways. I tell the parents of my students at back-to-school-night that my first passion is teaching, and it has recently collided in a very positive way with my new passion for Greek and Roman Studies. You know it is worthwhile when one of your ten-year-old students goes home and tells mom and dad that they want to be a Classics major when they grow up."