GRADUATE STUDIES IN
CLASSICS, ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN STUDIES,
AND ANCIENT HISTORY
THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY

Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies (CAMS) is an interdisciplinary department integrating the study of old world civilizations. The department's purview encompasses the languages, literatures, and histories of all the peoples of the ancient Mediterranean world, as well as the cultural contacts among these people. Offering instruction primarily at the undergraduate level, the department provides a framework for the study of old world civilizations at all levels. Through this and associated departments, members and associates of CAMS offer upper level undergraduate and graduate seminars, and serve as thesis advisors for graduate students working on a wide range of Biblical, Egyptian, Near Eastern, Greek, Roman, and early Christian topics.


Graduate Studies in History


The M.A. and the Ph.D. with a concentration in ancient history are earned through the Graduate Program of the Department of History. Students apply for admission to the History Ph.D. program and may earn a master's degree in progress towards the doctoral degree. Graduate study in ancient history includes course and seminar work in history as well as in related areas (anthropology and Jewish Studies, for example). Intensive study of the ancient languages relevant to each student's areas of interest forms an integral part of graduate study in ancient history.
At the Ph.D. level, students work closely with their doctoral committee to define an individualized course of study to prepare for research and instruction in their selected fields of interest. Students holding graduate assistantships or fellowships normally complete the M.A. level in two years; another two years of study are usually required for course work and study culminating in a set of doctoral examinations preparatory to research and writing of the dissertation. The University supports student participation in professional activities (including travel to academic conferences) and provides, competitively, funding for dissertation research. Graduate students in ancient history are strongly encouraged to participate in the several archaeological field projects in which faculty are actively involved.


Relations Between CAMS and History


The department of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies is an interdisciplinary department that integrates the academic study of old world civilizations. The department's purview encompasses the languages, literatures, and histories of all the peoples of the ancient Mediterranean world, as well as the cultural contacts between these peoples. There is a close relationship between the departments of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies and History. The two units both have a keen interest in ancient History, share numerous faculty, offer a variety of cross listed courses, and are housed in the same building. The cooperation between the two departments is especially strong at the graduate level. The study of ancient History is one of the History department's areas of greatest strength and faculty in Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies actively support this area of the History Department. As Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies does not have its own independent graduate program, students with primary interests in Classics or ancient Near Eastern Studies are encouraged to apply to the Ph.D. program in History.


CAMS, History, and Other Departments


Faculty in Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies and History maintain close connections with specialists in other departments such as Comparative Literature, Religious Studies, Art History, Anthropology, Linguistics, Philosophy, and Jewish Studies. These faculty serve on graduate supervisory committees and offer occasional seminars of interest to our students.


Faculty in CAMS and Ancient History


The departments of History and Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies have been expanding with a number of new professors hired during the last five years. New faculty have been hired in ancient Greek, Assyriology, Graeco-Roman history, and Egyptology. Faculty offering courses in CAMS and ancient History are:

The CAMS Faculty


Philip Baldi, Professor of Linguistics and Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies
Professor Baldi has published extensively in Indo-European linguistics, including, most recently, a book entitled The Foundations of Latin (2001). Earlier books include An Introduction to the Indo-European Languages (1983) and Linguistic Change and Reconstruction Methodology, (editor, 1990). Professor Baldi is currently working on a new book, A New Historical Syntax of Latin, with Pierluigi Cuzzolin.


Daniel W. Berman, Assistant Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies
Dr. Berman specializes in archaic and classical Greek poetry, especially the dramas of Aeschylus, and Greek myth and literature.  Subjects of his recent articles include narrative topography in Aeschylus’ Seven Against Thebes, and the mythic traditions of the foundation of Thebes (forthcoming).  He is currently at work on a book concerning the representation of elements of archaic and classical Greek culture in the Seven Against Thebes.  His interest in topography extends to the Roman world; he has researched and taught in Rome on several occasions, most recently during the 2001-2002 academic year at the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies.


Garrett Fagan, Associate Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies and History

Dr. Fagan is author of numerous articles on Roman social and political history, Latin epigraphy, and archaeology.  His first book is "Bathing in Public in the Roman World (1999)." In addition to being a member of the editorial board of De Imperatoribus Romanis, he is author of articles on some of its most important entries, including Tiberius, Gaius Caligula, Claudius, and Augustus. He is currently in the early stages of writing his next book, on the Pisones.


Baruch Halpern, Chair in Jewish Studies; Professor of Ancient History and Religious Studies; Fellow, Institute for the Arts and Humanistic Studies. Co-director, The Megiddo Expedition
Dr. Halpern specializes Near Eastern and Israelite history, culture and religion, and exchange; the archaeology of Israel.  Exchange across language and cultural zones in the Biblical era (the Iron Age).  Entering the minds of historical actors.  David's Secret Demons (2002), Megiddo III (2002), The First Historians (1988).


Paul Harvey, Head, Department of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies; Associate Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies, History, Religious Studies, and Jewish Studies
Professor Harvey's research interests are fourth century literature, especially Jerome and Augustine; and epigraphic evidence (Greek and Latin) for the urbanism of ancient Italy; and Roman law. Recent publications include articles in Athenaeum, Journal of Early Christian Studies, and Augustinian Studies. He has edited and translated two volumes of royal Hungarian decrees. He is preparing final publication of Latin Inscriptions from Cosa for the American Academy (Rome); he is translating and preparing a new edition in collaboration with Mark Vessey of Jerome's De Viris Illustribus.

 

Brian Hesse, Director, Jewish Studies Program; Professor of Jewish Studies and Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies

Professor Hesse specializes in the study of the cultural use of animals by the societies of the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East.  He has done archaeological fieldwork in Turkey, Iran, Lebanon, and, since 1981, Israel.  Currently his work focuses on the emergence of complex pastoral systems in the Late Neolithic and early Bronze Age Levant, animal sacrifice systems in the Bronze and Iron Ages, the origins of the camel caravan route between Yemen and the Mediterranean, and the use of  pigs and dogs as  markers of social identity in the Iron Age. His interests in Jewish Studies concern the ethnography of diaspora communities.

Ann E. Killebrew, Associate Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies and Jewish Studies

Archaeology of the Levant, biblical Israel, ethnicity in the biblical world, ancient pottery technology, public archaeology,
Canaanites, Egyptians, Philistines. The Emergence of Israel: The Archaeology of Social Boundaries and Ethnicity in the Biblical World
(forthcoming).

Gary Knoppers, Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies, Jewish Studies, and Religious Studies
Among Dr. Knoppers' wide ranging interests are Ancient Historiography, Ancient Israelite and Near Eastern History Biblical Theology, Early Judaism, Textual Criticism, The Books of Kings and Chronicles, Comparative Ancient Near Eastern Religions, Inner Biblical Exegesis, and Northwest Semitic Epigraphy. In addition to the demanding task of chairing such an energetic department, he has written Two Nations Under God: The Deuteronomistic History of Solomon and the Dual Monarchies (2 vols., 1993-1994). His I Chronicles for the Anchor Bible should be published  later in 2003.  His is editor (with Gordon McConville) of Reconstructing Israel and Judah:  Recent Studies on the Deuteronomistic History (2000).  He is also editor (with M.P. Graham and S.L. McKenzie) of The Chronicles as theologian (in press).


Mark Munn, Professor of Greek History and Greek Archaeology
Professor Munn studies Greek history, historiography, religion, and archaeology, with a focus on archaic and classical Greece, especially Athens, within the wider scope of Mediterranean and Near Eastern history from the Bronze Age to the Hellenistic period.  Special fields of study include Herodotus and Thucydides, Greek religion and social history, Greek fortifications and military history, Greek epigraphy, survey archaeology. Professor Munn co-directs excavations (seasons in 1991-1992, 1999) at Panakton in Greece.  Professor Munn is the author of The Defense of Attica:  The Dema Wall and the Boiotian War of 378-375 B.C. (California 1993), and The  School of History:  Athens in the Age of Socrates (California 2000).  His current projects include papers on the historiography of Thucydides, and a book on The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia:  An Essay on Sovereignty and Ancient Religion (in press).


Donald Redford, Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies
Professor Redford is one of the world's foremost Egyptologists, and has excavated all over Egypt, and published books and articles on every period of its ancient history. He is currently Director of two major Excavations: Mendes, in Lower Egypt, and Tel Kedwa, North Sinai. In addition, he is the Epigrapher for the Theban Tomb Survey. He is author of History & Chronology of the Egyptian 18th Dynasty, Seven Studies (1967); A Study of the Biblical Joseph Story (1970); The Akhenaten Temple Project I, Initial Discoveries (1977); Pharaonic King-lists, Annals and Day-books (1986); Akhenaten, the Heretic King (1984) The Akhenaten Temple Project ii, Rwd-mnw & the Inscriptions, (1988); Egypt, Canaan & Israel in Ancient Times (1993), and more than 200 articles and book reviews.


Gonzalo Rubio, Assistant Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies, History, and Religious Studies
Assyriology, Sumerian and Akkadian languages and literatures, comparative Semitics, Ancient Near East; Sumerian literatures from Ur III (forthcoming).


Wilma Stern, Adjunct Assistant Professor Classical Archaeology
Ancient Greek and Roman archaeology; Ivory, Bone, and Wood Finds from Corinthian Kenchreai (forthcoming)


Stephen Wheeler, Associate Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies

Stephen Wheeler works and has published extensively in Latin literature. Most recently, he is the author of A Discourse of Wonders: Audience and Performance in Ovid's Metamorphoses (1999) and Narrative Dynamics in Ovid's Metamorphoses (2000); he is co-editor of Reception of Ovid in Antiquity (2002) and Aetas Claudianea: Claudian und die lateinische Literatur (forthcoming).


John Betlyon, Lecturer in Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies, Jewish Studies, and Religious Studies
Hebrew Bible, Early Judaism, History of the Ancient Near East, numismatics, The Coinage and Mints of Phoenicia (1982), "Egypt and Phoenicia in the Persian Period" (2003), "The Scripts of the Jewish Coins" (2003).


Juana Djelal, Lecturer in Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies, Comparative Literature, and English
Comparative literary theory; the classical tradition in European literature; classical mythology. Recent articles in Classical and Modern Literature and in Floating Islands: An Anthology (2002); forthcoming textbook on classical mythology.

Mary Lou Zimmerman Munn, Lecturer in Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies
Greek history and archaeology; On the Frontier of Attica and Boiotia: The Results of the Stanford Skourta Plain Project, 1985-1989 (1990), Corinth: The Centenary (forthcoming)


Faculty from associated departments:
Sean Erwin, Philosophy
John Sallis,  Philosophy
Dennis Schmidt, Philosophy
Elizabeth Walters, Art History
Anthony Cutler, Art History

 

Scholars in History and Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies publish in a variety of first-rate journals such as:

American Journal of Archaeology, American Journal of Philology, Athenaeum, Augustinian Studies, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, Catholic Biblical Quarterly, Classical Philology, Classical Quarterly, Diachronica, Hermes, Historische Sprachforschung, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, Journal of Biblical Literature, Journal of Early Christian Studies, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Journal of Indo-European Studies, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Journal of Roman Archaeology, Mnemosyne, Novum Testamentum, Orientalia, Papers of the British School at Rome, Phoenix, Quaderni Urbinati di cultura classica, Transactions of the American Philological Association, Vigiliae Christianae, Zeitschrift fur die alt- testamentliche Wissenschaft, Zeitschrift fur die Papyrologie und Epigraphik

Presses with which faculty have recently published books include: Anchor Doubleday, E.J. Brill, Mouton de Gruyter, Oxford University Press, Princeton University Press, University of California Press, University of Michigan Press, University of Pennsylvania Press

Recent Upper Level and Graduate Courses in CAMS and ancient History


The Study of Classics and the ancient Near East in the Nineteenth Century
Ancient Technologies and Socio-Cultural History in the Ancient Levant
The Rise of the Greek Polis
Egyptian Material Culture
Rome and Hellenism
Roman Law and Society
Ancient Mediterranean Religions:  A Greek Perspective
Topography of Ancient Rome
From Jesus to Christ: The History and Literature of Judaic Christianity
The Bible and History: Problems in the Synthesis of Ancient Sources
The Age of Augustus
Studies in Ancient Egyptian Texts and Archaeology
Classical Drama
Greek and Latin Epigraphy
Stratigraphy and Archaeological Field Method
Public Leisure and Mass Entertainment in the Roman Empire
The Greeks and the Persians
Notions of a Universal History in the Biblical and Classical Worlds
Eusebius and Ancient Historiography
Archaic Italy in the Western Mediterranean
Nomads and Pastoralists in Antiquity
Ancient Historiography
The Age of Amarna
The Studies in the Deuteronomistic History

In addition to regular course offerings in Greek and Latin, CAMS faculty also offer instruction un the following ancient languages:  Akkadian, Classical Hebrew, Egyptian, and Sumerian.


Courses in Other Departments


In addition to taking courses in CAMS and History, students are free to take related courses in other departments: Anthropology (e.g., Archaeology of the Near East), Art History (e.g., Greek Art and Architecture, Roman Art, Byzantine Art), Comparative Literature (e.g., Heroic Literature, The International Folktale, Comparative Criticism I: Classical to Neoclassical, Theory and Practice of Translation), Geography (e.g., Geography of Population, Cultural Geography Seminar), and Political Science (e.g., Ancient, Medieval, and Renaissance Political Theories, History of Political Theory). Relevant methodological courses are also offered in such departments as Leisure Studies, Psychology, Sociology, Communication Arts and Sciences, and Statistics.


Financial Support


The Department of History offers teaching assistantships, awarded on a competitive basis, as well as research assistantships. The department of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies also has some teaching assistantships available. Both units fund travel to conferences for graduate students. Senior graduate students, appropriately trained, may have the opportunity to teach their own courses. In addition, the department of History nominates eligible candidates for College of the Liberal Arts travel and research grants and Edwin Erle Sparks Fellowships in the Humanities, as well as for graduate school fellowships.


Graduate Student Activities


Penn State encourages graduate students to participate in the scholarly community and to begin professional activities early. Given this attention to careful preparation, they are well positioned to make significant contributions to the fields of Classics, ancient History, and ancient Near Eastern Studies throughout their careers.

Our graduate students' scholarly activities include presentation of their research at recent national and international conferences sponsored by the American Philological Association, the American Jewish Studies Association, the American Schools of Oriental Research, the Society for Biblical Literature, the Classical Association of the Middle West and South, the Graduate Symposium at Bryn Mawr college, and the North American Patristics Society.

Education Abroad

Athens
This interdisciplinary spring semester program is for undergraduate and graduate students, with cooperative instruction by Penn State and local faculty drawn on a rotating basis from the departments of Art History, Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies, English, History, Philosophy, Kinesiology, and Communication Arts and Sciences. Course work combines classroom instruction with visits to many of the major archaeological sites and museums in Greece and Crete. The overall program is designed to give students insight into aspects of Greek culture and civilization from ancient times to the present.

Penn State is a supporting member of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, a non degree-granting institution for graduate-level teaching and advanced instruction Greek archaeology and civilization.  Graduate students interested in study in Greece are encouraged to apply for regular membership in the year program of the American School, or to participate in its summer session.


Archaeological Field Schools

Egyptian Field School
Under the aegis of Penn State, an annual summer field school is run in conjunction with the Akhenaten Temple Project. For twenty-four years, this project has mounted annual expeditions to sites in Egypt. Currently the project mounts three excavations: Mendes, Kedwa, and tomb 188 at Gurneh. Participants are taken as full-fledged site supervisors and are trained by staff in archaeological techniques. Credit for participation is available.
 

Megiddo Excavations
In conjunction with the University of Tel Aviv, Penn State has conducted bi-annual summer archaeological excavations at Tel Megiddo (biblical Armageddon) in Israel. Some thirty successive cities occupied this site from the beginnings of Near Eastern civilization to the end of the biblical period. Currently on hiatus, the Megiddo program has offered students a multi-faceted orientation both to the archaeology of ancient Israel and to its relevance for reconstructing ancient history.
 

Panakton Excavations, Greece
In cooperation with the Ministry of Culture of Greece, Penn State archaeologists conduct field research in Greece at the site of Panakton. Excavation was conducted in 1991 and 1992 and a study season in 1999. Further excavation and study seasons are planned for the future, when there will be opportunities for both experienced and novice student excavators to gain field experience.
 

Colloquium Classics and ancient Mediterranean studies sponsors a colloquium series that presents an extensive range of international scholars speaking on their current research. Students are encouraged to attend and meet these visitors. Invited scholars, Penn State faculty, and ancient history students participate actively in the colloquium series sponsored by CAMS. Graduate students are offered an opportunity to present their research in a friendly, scholarly forum.


AIA


Penn State is the home of the Central Pennsylvania Society of the Archaeological Institute of America. Faculty and students are encouraged to participate in the chapter's regularly-scheduled series of archaeological lectures by noted scholars.

 

Library Resources


The University Libraries work closely with the department of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies in developing library resources. The University Libraries at Penn State contain a fundamental collection of ancient texts, excavation reports, modern monographs, and journals in the several disciplines embraced by ancient Mediterranean studies. That collection is complemented by electronic resources including the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae, the Perseus Project, l'Année philologique, Bibliotheca Teubneriana Latina, and JSTOR an extensive electronic library of scholarly journals. The University Libraries' membership in the Research Library Group and the College and Research Libraries enables Penn State faculty and graduate students to have access to a wide range of other collections. Participation in the CIC-Virtual Electronic Library, for example, provides electronic entry to the Classical collections of the University of Chicago and other libraries in the Big 10. Inter-Library Loan facilities are efficient and available to graduate students. In addition to continuing development of the core collections in the archaeology, art and architecture, history, languages and literatures of classical Greece and Rome, the University Libraries are currently expanding the collection in ancient Near Eastern Studies and Egyptology. For more information on the library's resources, contact Daniel Mack, humanities librarian at dmack@psu.edu.

More Information


Located in central Pennsylvania, Penn State's University Park campus is three to five hours by car from Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and New York. The tree-lined malls and walkways offer an exceptional setting in which to work and study. State College is a quintessential college town in the Allegheny Mountains. Its main shopping district borders campus and is within easy walking distance of many graduate student apartments and houses. The neighboring towns of Bellefonte and Boalsburg have restored nineteenth-century shops and residential areas. Outdoor recreation in the surrounding mountains and valleys includes hiking, camping, rock climbing, horseback riding, and downhill and cross-country skiing. Graduate students with children will find an excellent school system in State College, and the campus and town offer employment opportunities for spouses.

For additional information about the Ancient History emphasis in graduate studies at Penn State please contact:


Department of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies
The Pennsylvania State University
101 Weaver Building
University Park, PA 16802-5500
Phone: (814) 865-8851
Fax: (814) 863-7840
Email: cams@psu.edu


OR


Graduate Studies Office
Department of History
The Pennsylvania State University
108 Weaver Building
University Park, PA 16802-5500
Phone: (814) 865-1367
Fax: (814) 863-7840
http://www3.la.psu.edu/hrsweb/grad


For information about fellowships available through the Graduate School, please contact:
Graduate School
The Pennsylvania State University
114 Kern Building
University Park, PA 16802-3396
Phone: (814) 865-2516
http://www.gradsch.psu.edu

Please also check our Websites.


For Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies
http://www3.la.psu.edu/cams/


For the History Department:
http://www3.la.psu.edu/histrlst/welcome.htm


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Updated Apr 22, 2008