DiscoverCatholic University of AmericaDepartment of Greek and Latin
Department of Greek and Latin
Catholic University of America
About Us Street of the Knights, Rhodes The Department of Greek and Latin at CUA, comprised of five full-time faculty members, offers BA, terminal MA, and PhD degrees, along with graduate-level language certificates that can also function as "postbac" qualifications. Our interests and those of our students are broad and wide-ranging, and we embrace a definition of the "ancient" world that extends back to the kingdoms of the Near East and forward to the Middle Ages. We study and teach Greek language and literature from Homer to late antiquity, and Latin from its earliest beginnings through the late medieval period. Among our many strengths, we are especially proud of these: The strong foundations we provide our students in the ancient languages. Our BA, certificate, and MA students receive superior preparation for further study; our PhD students polish their language skills and then become teachers themselves, taking advantage of the opportunity (for those who wish it) to teach their own lower-level classes in both languages during their time at CUA. During the summer, we offer specialized, intensive language programs that allow students to complete the first four semesters of Latin or Greek in a matter of weeks. Our investment in launching our earlier students into graduate programs and all of our students into fulfilling careers. We provide careful, thoughtful advising to help our undergraduates craft minors in cognate areas that in turn strengthen their majors, to support our certificate students in their language development, and to assist our MA candidates in selecting coursework that will help prepare them for a PhD. We also mentor our students through the often-complex processes of applying for graduate schools, scholarships, and fellowships. For those interested in careers outside of classics, we promote the formation of strong, transferable skills like analysis, writing, and argumentation, and offer assistance in planning for internships and for entry into the professional world. Our alumni are pursuing careers in fields as diverse as law, exhibition management, library science, secondary-school teaching, public policy, technology and IT--and, of course, classics! The diversity of our research interests. Our faculty members' work embraces (for example) the editing of medieval Latin texts, classical Greek history, Roman religion, early Christianity, and the rhetoric of cinema, to name just a few topics. We share a commitment to intellectual rigor--and to our students. The special position of our own department and its programs within CUA. CUA's long tradition of linguistic, textual, philosophical, and theological research means that we enjoy the company of many other faculty and students in other schools, departments, and programs (Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies, History, Medieval and Byzantine Studies, Semitics, and Early Christian Studies, for example) who are interested in and invested in our discipline--as we are in theirs. We are pleased to highlight some affiliated faculty members in other programs who teach courses on Greek and Latin texts and on the history, philosophy, and theology of the ancient and medieval worlds. We are glad you have decided to learn more about us! Please also feel free to contact us directly. Classics in the Capital No city in North America offers a more exciting environment for the study of classical civilization than Washington, DC. The architecture of the nation's capital and the institutions of the federal government serve as vivid reminders of the enduring importance of the classical tradition in America. The dome of the US Capitol can be seen from the campus of CUA, which has its own Metrorail station and is only a short distance from the Mall and all the special attractions of the nation's capital. The Hephaisteion, Athens, 5th century BC: one of many ancient buildings to inspire DC architecture Since CUA belongs to the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area, students in the Department of Greek and Latin have the opportunity to select courses from the combined offerings of participating universities. A related and invaluable university group, the Washington Research Library Consortium, further enhances member institutions' library strengths by circulating deliveries throughout all library systems via an easy and rapid web-based ordering process. Students may also do research at the Library of Congress and are encouraged to explore theSmithsonian Institution, Dumbarton Oaks, and theNational Gallery of Art. In nearby Baltimore are the superb classical collection of The Walters Art Museumand The Johns Hopkins University. We make every effort to introduce our students to these resources. Departmental Library The Department of Greek and Latin maintains its own small, noncirculating library in a separate space within the department's suite of offices. A student bibliographer is appointed annually to help maintain and update the collection, and to receive suggestions from faculty members and students for book purchases. The library receives daily use as both a reference room and a study area; any student who is a member of the department or enrolled in one of our courses may make use of it. The departmental library, housed within McMahon 308 The Dr. Bernard M. Peebles Memorial Fund, a small departmental endowment, provides ongoing support for the purchase of books for the library. Recent acquisitions include a significant number of new Loebs and additional volumes of Brill's New Pauly, among other items. The department is delighted to recive gifts of textual editions, commentaries, and scholarly books for the library. Such gifts, upon request, can be commemorated with bookplates to serve as lasting memorials as well as research tools. An electronic catalogue of the library's holdings is in development (curating and updating this project is one of the responsibilities of the student bibliographer). In the meantime, a searchable pdf of the collection is currently available. Archaeological Collection The department owns several hundred ancient objects ranging in origin from Egypt to Mycenaean Greece to Roman Britain. The archaeological collection includes pottery fragments and intact vessels, Roman glass, molded and painted terracottas, and carved stone vases and figurines. The CUA Archives also houses a collection of ancient coins, mainly dating from the Roman era, with particular strengths in the later Empire. Our students are welcome to work with and study these objects: they are used in classroom instruction and for research projects. Graduate student seminar papers and undergraduate senior theses, in particular, have benefited most recently from the availability of these collections, but three of the department's south Italian vases have also been the subject of professional scholarship in the following sources: Temple of Saturn, Forum Romanum, Rome Linda Safran, "Hercle in Washington: A Faliscan Vase at the Catholic University of America," Etruscan Studies 7 (2000 [2002]), 51-79. (An archived CUA news article also discusses the rediscovery of this vase.) The above Etruscan Studies article by Linda Safran receives attention in Erika Simon, "Hesione-Vilia-Ilia,"Würzburger Jahrbücher für die Altertumswissenschaft, N.F. 28a (2004), 21-34. A. D. Trendall, The Red-Figured Vases of Lucania, Campania, and Sicily (Oxford, 1967), vol. 1, 643 (no. 382) and 525-6 (no. 694; this vase is attributed to the 'Washington Painter'). A. D. Trendall and Alexander Cambitoglou, The Red-Figured Vases of Apulia, vol. 2: Late Apulian (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982), 668 (no. 226). The department organizes a yearly display of some of the highlights from the archaeological collection when newly admitted high school seniors visit the campus. The object inventory from this exhibition discusses selected artifacts and addresses some frequently-asked questions about them.