Classics

This is the first version of the 2025–26 General Catalog. Please check back regularly for changes. The final edition and the historical PDF will be published during the fall semester.

Undergraduate majors: ancient civilization (BA); classical languages (BA)

Undergraduate minors: ancient civilization; classical languages; Greek; health and the human condition; Latin

Postbaccalaureate certificate: classics

Graduate degrees: MA in classics; MA in Greek; MA in Latin; PhD in classics

Faculty: https://classics.uiowa.edu/people

Website: https://classics.uiowa.edu/

Classics is the study of ancient languages, literatures, and cultures of the Mediterranean basin from approximately 2000 B.C.E. to 800 C.E. It embraces three civilizations—the Minoan-Mycenaean, Greek, and Roman; many languages—Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, and Coptic; and a geographical area including Europe, North Africa, Egypt, the eastern Mediterranean, and Mesopotamia. The Department of Classics provides a basis for understanding and interpreting the contribution of the ancient world to life in the present and the future.

The department offers a substantial selection of courses taught in English at the undergraduate and graduate levels; several are approved for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences GE CLAS Core. Undergraduates in all majors may satisfy the World Languages requirement of the GE CLAS Core with courses in Greek, Latin, or Biblical Hebrew; see "Language for GE CLAS Core." The department's First-Year Seminar introduces entering undergraduates to classics.

The Department of Classics also administers the interdisciplinary undergraduate minor in health and the human condition.

Language for GE CLAS Core

The Department of Classics offers course sequences in Greek, Latin, and Biblical Hebrew that students in all majors may use to fulfill the World Languages requirement of the GE CLAS Core. For more information regarding pathways to fulfill the World Language GE CLAS Core requirement, including options to take four levels of the same language, two levels each of two different languages, or three levels of a language plus a World Language and Cultural Exploration course, see GE CLAS Core in the catalog.

Students who have had previous coursework or other experience with Greek or Latin should take the appropriate language placement test, which helps determine the level at which a student should begin Greek or Latin language study at the University of Iowa