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 the department's history as developing over four distinct periods in University history. These periods are discussed in the following pages:

Notable People and Events

• 1886: student production of Aristophanes' Acharnians
• 1887: foundation of 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' Iphigeneia 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
• 1984: creation of the Post-baccalaureate Program in Classical Studies
• 1992: creation of the Graduate Group in Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean World