The objective of the department is to provide students with a knowledge of the language and an understanding of the literature and civilization of the ancient Greeks and Romans. The close cooperation of Barnard and Columbia in planning and implementing the curriculum offers students a wide range of specialties from which to construct a sound and coherent program of studies according to their individual interests. All members of the Barnard department are available as advisers and should be consulted as early as possible in the planning of a major field.
Students may fulfill the foreign language requirement in Greek by completing Greek V1201 and V1202, or in Latin by completing Latin V1201 and V1202, or by passing an exemption examination with a sufficiently high grade. This examination tests the student's knowledge of grammar and her ability to translate written Greek or Latin.
The Classics Department is the beneficiary of the Matthew Alan Kramer Fund, whose pricipal purpose is the support of the production of plays in Ancient Greek or Latin. In recent years students of the department have produced Antigone, Medea, Alcestis, Persians, Eumenides, Cyclops, Electra, Clouds, Trojan Women, Rudens, Helen, Trachiniae, Bacchae, Hippolytus, Heracles, and The Birds, which have not only proved satisfying in themselves, but have provided an exciting and different learning experience for the participants.
Barnard College participates in the program of the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome. Majors in Classics or Ancient Studies are eligible to apply for admission to the program of the Rome Center for one semester, preferably in the junior year. Courses taken at the Rome Center may be used in the major and, in some cases, may be used to satisfy distribution requirements. Barnard College is a Supporting Institution of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and the American Academy in Rome, and certain privileges of those schools are open without fee to graduates of the College.