Sarah Lawrence College Classics Department
“A life without inquiry is not worth living for a human being.”– Socrates
Know yourself! Be yourself! These are calls to the conscience as old as the Greeks and Romans and as new as today.
Study Greek and Latin at Sarah Lawrence College, and explore what it means to be a human being, living in a human community. Identify what it means to live well.
Discover the origins of Western humanism. Encounter the poets, philosophers, historians, politicians, artists, and architects of Classical Antiquity. Meet the greatest writers and thinkers of Greece and Rome including Homer, Plato, Herodotus, Thucydides, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Caesar, Catullus, Cicero, Sallust, Lucretius, Horace, Vergil, Livy, Ovid. Let them speak to you in their own languages without some translator’s “spin.” The opportunity is yours for the taking at Sarah Lawrence College.
Sarah Lawrence College offers Greek and Latin at all levels in small, individualized, seminar-style classes taught by professors (not TA’s). In one-on-one conferences with professors, you can explore topics and issues that especially interest you within the field of Classics.
In Beginning courses, you can acquire a solid foundation in the grammar, syntax, and vocabulary of Ancient Greek or Latin. Equivalent to three courses at other colleges and universities, one year of Greek or Latin at Sarah Lawrence empowers you to read ancient texts with precision and increasing facility.
In Intermediate and Advanced courses, develop your critical and analytical abilities as you explore ancient texts in their literary, historical, and cultural context.
You will find Greek and Latin especially valuable if you are interested in disciplines deeply indebted to the Greeks and Romans, including English, comparative literature, history, political science, philosophy, religion, art history, archaeology, medieval studies, education, law, medicine, and even business. If you are an aspiring writer, dancer, musician, or artist, you will find inspiration and illumination in the works of ancient artists and writers.
Visit a class during your trip to the campus, and meet the Classics faculty. You might decide that you want to experience, as the Greeks and Romans did, knowing yourself and being yourself.