Classical Studies has been a fixture of the Penn curriculum since the earliest days of the University's long history. Over time, the educational mission and departmental structure of the discipline has evolved along with those of the institution as a whole. It is useful to think of this evolution as spanning four distinct periods, each one beginning with the foundation of a particular component of what would become the modern university:
- The Latin School and the College of Philadelphia (1751-1791)
- The Faculty of Arts (1792-1882)
- The Graduate School (1882-1974)
- The School of Arts and Sciences (1974-present)
Notable People and Events
- 1886: student production of Aristophanes' Acharnians
- 1887: foundation of the Penn Museum as the University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
- 1893: Alice Minerva Atkinson becomes one of the two first women to earn an M.A. at Penn. She later earned Penn's first Ph.D. in Classical Studies.
- 1903: student production of Euripides' Iphigenia at Tauris
- 1915: English production of Euripides' Trojan Women and revival of the 1903 Iphigeneia at Tauris in the University Botanical Gardens
- 1961: awarding of first Ph.D. in Classical Archaeology
- 1966: creation of the Graduate Group in Ancient History
- 1970: The Pennsylvania Declaration Regarding the Illicit Trade in Art Objects