Contacts | Program of Study | Minor Program in Hellenic Studies | Sample Pathways (Modern Greek Language) | Sample Pathways (Attic Greek Language)

Program of Study

The Hellenic tradition, from early antiquity to the present, serves as a laboratory of ideas for experimental thinking and innovation in the academy and the arts. Greek letters and art have long provided models for reflecting on the fundamental alternatives that human beings face— democracy versus monarchy, the state versus the individual—as well as perennial questions about ethics, justice, happiness, knowledge, and the tension between epistemic fluidity and objective truth. Hellenic Studies provides the academic paradigm for studying this rich tradition across time and space— from antiquity to the present, within the organic geography of Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean, but also in its global diasporas. Hellenic Studies is a broad and truly interdisciplinary field, encompassing research in classics, philosophy, linguistics, art history, music, archaeology, Middle Eastern studies, anthropology, history, political science Byzantine art, Byzantine theology and letters, and more.

Minor Program in Hellenic Studies

The minor is designed to capitalize on both the Classical, post-Classical, and Modern Greek curriculum and it requires a total of six courses. Three of these need to be language courses, specifically GREK 10100-10200-10300 Introduction to Attic Greek I-II-III (or higher) or MOGK 10100-10200-10300 Elementary Modern Greek I-II-III (or higher). The remaining three courses are electives.

Electives (3 courses): there are two options.

• Option A, for students satisfying the language requirement through Modern Greek: of the remaining three electives, at most one can be a Greek language class (of any period); the other two courses must be Classical/premodern and in Greek culture areas, i.e., offered in the related disciplines mentioned earlier such as Classics, History/ Archaeology, Philosophy, etc. This configuration is meant to ensure that a student obtains a global education in pre-modern Hellenic culture.
• Option B, for students satisfying the language requirement through Attick Greek: all three electives must carry a MOGK course code or be approved as qualifying. Equally, at most one can be a language course.
  • In addition the Introduction to Attic Greek sequence, there are also language course options in Koine Greek and Byzantine Greek.  Students interested in counting any of these courses towards the minor should reach out to the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Professor Calliope Dourou (dourou@uchicago.edu) to discuss further.

Students who elect the minor program must meet with the Director of Undergraduate Studies before the end of Spring Quarter of their third year to declare their intention to complete the minor. The minor will not be officially declared until the student submits a completed Consent to Complete a Minor Program Form to their College adviser. Students are strongly encouraged to build their own program in consultation with the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

Note that courses in the minor (1) may not be double counted with the student's major(s) or with other minors, and (2) may not be counted toward general education requirements. Courses in the minor must be taken for a quality grade.

Sample Pathways (Modern Greek Language)

Sample Pathway #1

MOGK 10100-10200-10300	Elementary Modern Greek I-II-III	300
MOGK 21421	Modern Greek History Through Cinema and Literature	100
CLCV 22700	History of Philosophy I: Ancient Philosophy	100
CLCV 23524	Constantinople, Byzantine and Ottoman: Crossroads of East and West	100

Sample Pathway #2

MOGK 10100-10200-10300	Elementary Modern Greek I-II-III	300
SOSC 19007	Greek Antiquity and its Legacy-I	100
SOSC 19008	Greek Antiquity and its Legacy-II	100
SOSC 19009	Greek Antiquity and its Legacy-III	100

Sample Pathways (Attic Greek Language)

Sample Pathway#1

GREK 10100-10200-10300	Introduction to Attic Greek I-II-III	300
MOGK 21421	Modern Greek History Through Cinema and Literature	100
CLCV 21915	The Present Past in Greece Since 1769	100
CLCV 23524	Constantinople, Byzantine and Ottoman: Crossroads of East and West	100

Sample Pathway #2

GREK 10100-10200-10300	Introduction to Attic Greek I-II-III	300
LING 42200	Seminar on Syntax-Semantics: The Syntax/Semantics Interface	100
CLCV 21915	The Present Past in Greece Since 1769	100
ARTH 14006	Introduction to Byzantine Art	100