Greek and Latin have been an important part of the University's curriculum since it opened as the nation's first state university in 1795. Graduate degrees in Classics were first offered toward the close of the nineteenth century. After the Second World War, the graduate program began to expand and attract students from around the country, chiefly because of the presence on the faculty of such distinguished scholars as B. L. Ullman, Robert Getty, and T. R. S. Broughton. The program has been widened and deepened to the point that permanent faculty positions currently number fifteen, while several colleagues in other departments also contribute to the program. The degree programs include Greek and Latin literature, Classics with historical emphasis, Classical and Medieval Latin, and Classical Archaeology. Special combinations of Classics with a non-Classical field, e.g. English, are also possible.
To take full advantage of the Department’s program, an applicant should ideally have strong preparation in the ancient languages, in ancient history and archaeology, and in French and German. Although many applicants have not had the opportunity to be prepared in all areas, entering students usually have taken an undergraduate major in Greek, Latin, or archaeology, with supporting courses in other areas. A Latin major, for example, might have the equivalent of ten semesters in Latin, with six in Greek, and four in history and archaeology; an archaeology major might have four semesters of archaeology, with six of one language, two of the other, and two in ancient history; and in either case, it is very good for the student to have at least some acquaintance with French or German. The stronger the preparation, the more rapid the progress that can be made toward the degree. This is especially true in language study, both ancient and modern.
The Department generally expects students to earn the M.A. in two or two and a half years and the Ph.D. after an additional three. At present most M.A. candidates take their translation and essay examinations during the second year of work and finish their theses in the fall of the third year. Those students who continue to the Ph.D. take their doctoral written examinations in their fourth or fifth year and are then able to begin concerted work on their dissertations. Students with a strong record in graduate courses may, upon completion of the M.A. exams, petition the Department for permission to bypass the writing of an M.A. thesis and proceed directly toward the Ph.D. M.A. candidates must demonstrate reading facility in one modern foreign language, and Ph.D. candidates must do so in two. The Department prefers that incoming students already have a reading knowledge of at least one of the languages.
The Department has a special concern in the training of teachers, and it views both Teaching and Graduate Assistantships as invaluable preparation for one’s professional career. Graduate Assistants working under the supervision of a faculty member stand to learn much about organizing a course, managing a departmental library or slide collection, etc., while Teaching Assistants, also supervised, become experienced in all the aspects of teaching courses in undergraduate Latin, Classical Civilization, and literature in translation.
Classical archaeology at UNC has remained a nationally recognized strength of the Department of Classics for over fifty years. The graduate and undergraduate programs emphasize the study of material culture as a vital component of research and teaching in classical studies, Mediterranean archaeology, and ancient Near Eastern studies, while substantiating the classical and Mediterranean components of the interdepartmental Archaeology Program. The environment at UNC—and unusually rich and diverse archaeology faculties across four academic units—has allowed us to shape cross-disciplinary research and teaching objectives.
Classical Archaeology at UNC is represented by six faculty members across three different departments—Classics, Art History, and Religious Studies—and supported by five additional classical archaeologists at neighboring Duke University through the Duke-UNC Consortium for Classical and Mediterranean Archaeology. Ten additional archaeologists in the Department of Anthropology and Research Laboratories of Archaeology offer a range of complementary courses in archaeological method and theory, landscape archaeology, complex societies, historical ecology, ceramics, palaeoethnobotany, and biological anthropology.
One goal of the program is to develop innovative field projects that engage faculty and students in collaborative research and teaching. Recent collaboration between the departments of classics and anthropology has led to the design and implementation of a multi-year archaeological field project on Crete, funded principally by two successive NEH grants and a collaborative NSF grant awarded to Classics. The Azoria Project has incorporated teaching and research faculty from both departments—leading to collaborative papers and publications—as well as a field school program involving undergraduate and graduate students from both departments and across the College.
Use the menu to the left under "Graduate" to find out more about our graduate programs.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is committed to equality of educational opportunity. It is the policy of the University and of the Department of Classics not to discriminate against applicants, students, or employees on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation, or handicap. Such discrimination is in most cases also prohibited by federal law. Any complaints alleging failure of this institution to follow this policy should be brought to the attention of the University’s Affirmative Action Officer at (919) 966-3576.