Requirements
Overview
The major in Ancient Mediterranean Studies requires nine courses: a minimum of two courses at the introductory and intermediate levels; a minimum of two courses in an ancient language; a minimum of four courses taken at the advanced level; and, a senior research project. At the introductory level, all students are required to take AMS 101. All students must complete at least one of AMS 201 and 202 at the intermediate level. If both are taken, then one may be used to fulfill a course in Part 4 below. Majors must complete training in an ancient Mediterranean language with at least two language courses, at least one of which must be taken at the 200 level or above. Language courses are to be chosen from among appropriate courses in Classical Greek, Latin, and Biblical Hebrew. The program director will evaluate requests to take intermediate course work in other ancient languages such as Akkadian, Aramaic, Ugaritic, or other, only after the student has taken all regularly offered course work in that language.
For their upper-level course work students must complete a minimum of four courses at this level. At least one course must be taken that emphasizes nonmaterial culture and the other should emphasize material culture. Any upper-level courses taught by the faculty of the program may be used to fulfill this area. Such courses must be considered as upper level by the departments offering them and count in that manner for their own concentrators. Advanced language/literature courses (above 201) in any of the ancient Mediterranean languages may also be used to satisfy this requirement. If both AMS 200-level courses are taken, one of them may also be used to satisfy this requirement, but it cannot count as the only course taken in either nonmaterial or material culture. At least two of the courses must be at the 300 or 400 level. The senior research project, AMS 498R, Independent Writing, is a capstone to the student’s major in which the student, working closely with a faculty member from the program, completes a significant piece of research and writing (not less than 20 pages in length and in which primary sources of information play a major role). The instructor undertaking to supervise this project will work closely with the students in honing their research and writing skills. This supervision includes correcting, returning, and discussing drafts of the project. All available faculty in the program are eligible to direct a research paper under this course number. The instructor may choose to supervise this project as purely independent research and writing but may ask that the student also sit in an existing class that could provide significant background to the student’s research.