Classics: Activities

The department activities include:

• Plays
• Field trips
• Eta Sigma Phi
• Classics Tea
• Saturday seminar for Latin teachers

The department of classics regularly offers courses that involve not only the reading of ancient plays but also their theatrical production. This exercise enables students to experience the difference between a text for reading and one for dramatization.

Fieldtrips to museums and lectures are incorporated into many classes. The Classical collection at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond is used for paper topics in art classes. Several students went to the Walters Gallery in Baltimore to see the traveling exhibit Pandora. There are opportunities to travel to other colleges to see visiting speakers. In April, the Roman Epic course saw Karl Galinsky speak at UVA on the Augustan age.

R-MC has a chapter of Eta Sigma Phi, the Classical languages honor fraternity. They are planning an Epic Reading in which an ancient epic will be read straight through.

Once a week, the department sponsors a Classics Tea. Majors, minors, students, faculty, and guests from other departments meet informally for tea, cookies, and chatting.

The department organizes the Saturday seminar for Latin teachers once a semester. High school Latin teachers from all over Virginia come for lectures/discussions of literature, culture, and curriculum.