To learn about the ancient Greek and Roman cultures and languages is to possess a key to our own cultural and linguistic roots. The Classical Studies program is interdisciplinary by nature, drawing together fields such as literature, art, archaeology, history, and philosophy of Ancient Greece and Rome. The Program also offers courses in Ancient Greek and Latin, which satisfy Baylor's foreign language requirement.

A background in Classics is of great benefit for students interested in advanced study of related disciplines such as religion, politics, English, and comparative literature. Study of the Classics provides an excellent foundation for students interested in law, medicine, seminary, and professional degrees.

John Dugan Lecture, April 2

In the Causa Curiana of 92 B.C., Rome's leading jurist faced off in court against the leading orator of the day in a dispute over an inheritance. On that occasion, the eloquence of an orator prevailed over the technical arguments of a legal expert. When Cicero turned to compose the Brutus some forty years later, he saw the Causa Curiana as a landmark in the development of Roman oratory. Yet even as Cicero was writing, the advent of Caesar's dictatorship was threatening to bring an end to the free Republic and, with it, oratory itself.

Dr. John Dugan, Associate Professor of Classics at the State University of New York – Buffalo, will address Cicero's treatment of the case and its relationship to the broader themes of the Brutus in "Ambiguous Legacies: The Causa Curiana as mise en abyme in Cicero's Brutus," a public lecture hosted by the Department of Classics. Dr. Dugan is the author of Making a New Man: Ciceronian Self-Fashioning in the Rhetorical Works (Oxford Univ. Pr. 2005) and currently serves as co-editor of the journal Arethusa. A Latinist, he has published extensively on Cicero's orations and treatises as well as the cultural history of the Roman Republic.