Classics

Classics is the study of the ancient Mediterranean world with particular emphasis on Greek and Roman civilizations in the period roughly 2000 B.C.E. to 600 C.E. At Saint Mary's our Classics program also includes some courses which give an introduction to the ancient near East. For generations the western world has looked to ancient Egypt for the grandeur of the pyramids, the diversity of its religion and the fascination with the ancient hieroglyphs. Greece is commonly held to be the homeland of democracy, while also giving us wonderful literature (Homer, Euripides and Sappho were all Greeks), philosophy (Socrates, Plato and Aristotle) and the art (the treasures of the shaft graves at Mycenae and the Parthenon). Studying Rome, we observe how a small city or republic in central Italy eventually became the capital of a great empire where millions of citizens, extending from Britain to the Tigris-Euphrates valleys, were all proud to call themselves Romans. A practical people, the Romans left well delineated law codes which became the base of many laws in Europe and in today's Quebec. Whoever visits the old sites of Pompeii or Ostia in Italy may feel that the Romans are just slightly out of sight, rather like us but intriguing in their differences from us. Some of our students take the opportunity to visit such sites while doing course work at Saint Mary's or at some of our sister universities.

Field of study: Classics and Classical Lang., Lit., and Linguistics, Gen.