Classical Studies is an interdisciplinary field of study encompassing the civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome.
We seek to understand the languages, literatures, histories, and visual and material cultures of the premodern Mediterranean world—from the Bronze Age to the dawn of the Middle Ages, from the Iliad and the Odyssey to Saint Augustine, and from Greece, Italy, France, and Spain to North Africa, the Middle East, and the Greek-speaking kingdoms of the Indian subcontinent. We approach these ancient societies from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including linguistics, art history, archaeology, anthropology, and philosophy, while also considering the long and complex legacies of ancient Greece and Rome in art, language, politics, and culture from antiquity to the present day.Studying Classics at Bard and want to get more involved?
The Extent of the Ancient Mediterranean World
Courtesy Ancient World Mapping Center
Current News
Daniel Mendelsohn Interviewed in the New York Review of Books
Daniel Mendelsohn, the Charles Ranlett Flint Professor of Humanities, spoke with the New York Review of Books about his new translation of Homer’s Odyssey for the University of Chicago Press. In conversation with Lauren Kane, Mendelsohn discussed the challenges of balancing both poetic beauty and literal meaning in translating, the ways in which the story handles depictions of family relationships, and why the epic is experiencing a resurgence in modern retellings.Daniel Mendelsohn Interviewed in the New York Review of Books
Post Date: 05-13-2025
Robert Cioffi Reviews The Red Sea Scrolls for the London Review of Books
Robert Cioffi reviewed The Red Sea Scrolls: How Ancient Papyri Reveal the Secrets of the Pyramids by Pierre Tallet and Mark Lehner for the London Review of Books. The book explores the papyri of Wadi el-Jarf, written between 2607 and 2605 BCE, which Cioffi says are "a first-hand account of the men who built the Great Pyramid of Giza.” Thanks to the papyri, “For the first time in 4500 years, Khufu’s pyramid has its voices again: not of priests or pharaohs but of the men who made it possible.”Robert Cioffi Reviews The Red Sea Scrolls for the London Review of Books
Cioffi’s review draws on his expertise in papyrology and Egyptian cultural interactions. He writes that while Tallet and Lehner can’t explain everything about the pyramids, they do reveal important facts about the daily life of workers there. Thanks to the papyri, “For the first time in 4500 years, Khufu’s pyramid has its voices again: not of priests or pharaohs but of the men who made it possible.”
Post Date: 05-05-2025