Overview | Department of Classics

For a complete listing of the Department’s offerings, see the University’s online academic catalog for courses in CLAR, CLAS, GREK, and LATN.

For courses offered in the current semester and (when available) the following semester, see the Department home page. Scroll down to the boxes with course descriptions and course lists.

The Department of Classics offers a wide variety of courses that deal with many different aspects of ancient Greek, Roman, and Mediterranean civilization. Our course offerings are divided among the four following rubrics.

CLAR: courses on the art, architecture, and archaeology of the ancient Mediterranean
CLAS: courses on the culture and/or literature of the ancient Greeks and Romans that at the undergraduate level require no knowledge of the ancient languages
GREK: courses in ancient Greek language and literature
LATN: courses in Latin language and literature

Courses are offered at a range of levels, designated according to the University’s general course numbering system.

050-099: First Year Seminars
100-199: Broad introductory courses
200-299: More specialized introductory courses
300-399: Advanced undergraduate courses
400-499: Advanced courses open to both undergraduates and graduate students
500-699: Advanced courses designed for graduate students but open to undergraduates
700-899: Graduate courses not open to undergraduates except with special permission
900-999: Graduate research courses

The Department offers a full complement of courses every fall and spring semester. It also offers a limited number of courses through the Summer School in Maymester and Summer Sessions I and II, and through the UNC Digital and Lifelong Learning Center, as Carolina Courses Online (CCO) and in Part-Time Classroom Studies.

For a list of courses currently offered in the fall, spring, and summer terms, along with course descriptions and instructors, see the Department’s home page. Information about particular course registration policies can be found in the same place. For course offerings in Carolina Courses Online and Part-Time Classroom Studies, see the UNC Digital and Lifelong Learning website..

Disciplines and Themes

The study of the ancient Greek and Roman world is necessarily multidisciplinary. The Department’s course offerings are mainly in the disciplines of philology, literary studies, archaeology, and art history, but they also include courses that complement those in ancient history offered by the Department of History and those in Mediterranean religions offered by the Department of Religious Studies.

The study of the ancient Greek and Roman world also requires engagement with a wide range of issues and problems that are central to human experience in every period. The faculty have identified a few important themes that are addressed in a range of our course offerings: gender and identity, race and ethnicity, power and ideology, performance and society. Students are also encouraged to pursue their own thematic interests: those who become engaged with a particular issue in one course should ask their instructor or the Director of Undergraduate Studies what other courses deal with the same or similar issues.

For lists of the Department’s course offerings by discipline and theme, see the Disciplines and Themes page.

General Education Requirements

The Department of Classics offers courses that allow undergraduate students to fulfill a number of their general education requirements, particularly in the following areas.

Foundations: – Foreign Language (FL): Elementary and Intermediate Greek (GREK) and Latin (LATN)

Approaches: – Historical Analysis (HS): A number of our courses in classical archaeology (CLAR), but also a few in classical civilization (CLAS); – Literary Arts (LA): Many of our offerings in classical literature and culture (CLAS) as well as advanced courses in Greek and Latin; – Visual Performing Arts (VP): Several of our courses in classical art and archaeology (CLAR)

Connections: – North Atlantic World (NA): A large number of our courses in classical archaeology (CLAR), classical literature and culture (CLAS), and few in advanced Latin (LATN); – Beyond the North Atlantic (BN): Several of our courses in the archaeology of ancient Egypt and the Near East (CLAR).; – World Before 1750 (WB): most CLAR and CLAS courses, a few GREK and LATN

For a complete list of general education requirements that can be fulfilled through departmental courses, see the General Education Requirements page.