C L A S S I C S

The following feature story appeared in the campus publication Mosaic in December, 1997. Although some of the courses, students, and faculty members referenced in the story may have changed in the meantime, it still provides a full and accurate picture of the Classics Department. For the most current course information and faculty listing, we encourage you to visit the department's homepage.

Classics

Bringing the events, issues, and historical figures of the ancient world to life

If you give students three translations of the same speech by Thucydides - each written in a different era - and ask them to figure out which was written by whom, an interesting thing happens. The students discover that 19th-century sensibilities show through in one; intimations of the 1950s and the Cold War seep through another; while the modern flavor of the third comes through loud and clear. According to Hobart Professor of Classical Languages Anthony D. Macro, it is an exercise proving that "each age sees the ancient world differently." More broadly, it demonstrates that far from being stale, static, and inviolate, the field of classics is dynamic and vital, subject to ongoing interpretation and continually invigorated by new insights.

Focusing on the language, arts and culture, history, philosophy, and politics of ancient Greece and Rome, classics can be called the world's first interdisciplinary area-studies program. One of the College's oldest departments, the classics department at Trinity currently graduates a handful of majors each year, sponsors the well-attended Archaeology Institute of America lecture series on campus, offers hands-on archeological excavation opportunities to students, and uses creative teaching assignments - from a debate between the oligarchs and democrats to the mock trial of a Roman statesman - to bring ancient events, issues, and historical figures to life.

New ways to learn old languages
Ancient Greek and Latin are at the heart of a classics education. Sally E. Steponkus '98, a classics major, describes learning the ancient languages as "the hardest thing I've ever done," but says the task proved to be as rewarding as it was challenging. "Every word is a puzzle in itself, and it really is interesting to get to the bottom of the mystery." President's Fellow in Classics Robert W. Witherwax '98 notes that the task of translation is valuable for "the discipline instills. It's a step-by-step, logical thought process."

Classics department faculty members often employ innovative techniques to facilitate language learning. Associate Professor of Classics and department chair Martha K. Risser used a very modern multimedia approach with her second-year Latin course this semester. After translating Plautus' Curculio, a Roman comedy, students videotaped themselves performing the scenes from the play in English. Then they had to write Latin subtitles and commentary for their film. "We didn't just translate it literally," Carly A. Geeza '99 says. "We had to colloquialize it. And we had to understand it by getting into the character's head."

Geeza, a history major, says she values the far-reaching benefits of studying ancient languages. "Latin contains the roots of our own language, and there are Latin phrases we still use," she notes. "It's a background that is helpful in history, law, and the sciences."

Professor Macro asserts that in learning Greek and Latin, students "discover more about the nature of language itself." The result, he says, is liberal arts graduates with the ability to use language better, with more authority, and with greater confidence.

Modern issues are ancient issues
Ancient civilization courses offered by the classics department range from topics of art and architecture to mythology to gender roles in ancient Greek and Roman societies. A common theme in classics is that today's students can make meaningful comparisons between the events and issues of 2,000 years ago and those of our contemporary society. Matthew L. Moskey '99 asserts, "If you read Homer or Aeschylus, you can see that the literature of the classical age still has relevance. We have the same flaws and moral conflicts."

This year, Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics Emily Anhalt is teaching a new first-year seminar called "Athens at the Dawn of Democracy." She maintains that, "Athens in the fifth century was trying to create a brand new political system, just as we are now trying to create democracy in other parts of the world." In exploring such topics as how to create a harmonious polity and what it means to be a citizen, students quickly see the similarity and applicability to modern situations. "Students constantly bring in contemporary references," says Anhalt. "WeÕre still facing these issues today."

Unique opportunities
With the resources of Trinity's Rome Campus, where students observe the art and architecture they've read about, and with archaeological excavation opportunities in Caesarea, Israel, Trinity's classics students can have a very direct interaction with the civilizations they are studying. Matthew Moskey used the scuba certification course available through Trinity's physical education department as a springboard to pursuing underwater archaeology in Caesarea. Whether it is bits of Byzantine glass or other artifacts, he says, "To be the first person to find something is truly amazing."

Professor Risser, Trinity's archaeological expert, says, "Archaeological discoveries can enhance or change our interpretation of ancient culture, history, and religion - and Trinity students are making them." Last year Trinity undergraduates in Caesarea discovered 11 gold buckles that provide more evidence of the economic success of the region. The find was featured on the cover and inside the an issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.

Through participation in the National Science Foundation grant for science and math across the curriculum, the classics department is currently developing an archaeology laboratory. Risser says that it will be an interdisciplinary effort with the chemistry department. Students will be able to use the electron microscope to examine the chemical makeup of artifacts to help determine where they came from.

From antiquity to a future
The senior seminar is the culminating experience of the classics education at Trinity. Students alternate leading discussions for each class. They must research broad topics, make one-hour presentations, and field questions from the faculty and from other students. "You are putting forward your own viewpoint," says Matthew Moskey. "You have to come up with your own ideas - and back them up." Joseph M. Cooney '98, who is also in the seminar, says, "Classics has taught me how to think and how to analyze things."

It is these kinds of skills, notes Associate Professor of Classics James R. Bradley, that have ensured the success of classics graduates in career fields as diverse as law, education, and medicine. Professor Risser believes that one of the lasting values of studying classics is that learning about ancient civilizations enriches our experience of the modern world, from enhancing our understanding of language to recognizing how architecture in Hartford has been affected by structures created 2,000 years ago. She says, "Classics is ways of life, ways of thought; it's art and culture. I think it helps students to see more deeply into their own culture."

-- Leslie Virostek