The Art Institute's Ancient Art collection includes examples of Greek, Etruscan, Roman, and Egyptian sculpture in stone, clay, and bronze, as well as coins, glass, jewelry, vases, and mosaics of outstanding quality and interest.

Theaters in Chicago regular stage productions of ancient plays. The Looking Glass Theater has done Metamorphoses, Odyssey, Trojan Women; Slicing Scissors has recently done Antigone and Lysistrata; the Court Theater has done Iphigeneia at Aulis and Oresteia. Faculty member Nicholas Ruddall was one of the founders of the Court Theater and regularly participates in productions of ancient plays all over the country. Students in the department have the opportunity not only to see modern versions of ancient plays but also to participate in the production. For instance, student Kevin Hawthorne recently served as Latin coach for the Court Theater's production of Tom Stoppard's The Invention of Love.

Art History/Archaeology: Faculty throughout the University mount courses in ancient art and archaeology: Richard Neer and Jas Elsner in Art History; Margaret Laird in Classics; Rob Nelson in Art History; Micky Dietler in Anthropology. And several archaeological excavations are run through the University: at Corinth and at several Near Eastern locations.

History of Religion: The University of Chicago offers a remarkable array of faculty and programs through which to study the history of religion. In addition to Chris Faraone, David Martinez, and Jamie Redfield, who write and teach in the area of ancient religion in the Classics Department, the Divinity School is home to Bruce Lincoln, Wendy Doniger, and emeritus professor Hans Dieter Betz; the College to Jonathan Z. Smith; and the Art History Department to regular visiting faculty member Jas Elsner. On the basis of these collaborations, the University regularly hosts conferences on ancient religion, recently including gatherings to discuss Orphic texts and the figure of Hermes. The program in Early Christian Literature provides additional offerings in the area of ancient religion. Classicists Peter White and Elizabeth Asmis have cross-appointments with this department.

Poem Present: This series in which distinguished poets give readings and also lectures on their poetics originated in the Classics and English Departments. In the past four years Poem Present has brought poets like Jorie Graham, Frank Bidart, Anne Carson, Carl Phillips, David Ferry, Paul Muldoon, Fanny Howe, Yusef Komunyakaa, August Kleinzahler, Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge, Thylias Moss, and Jim Powell to campus. The series is unusual in presenting a large number of poets who translate ancient poetry as well as writing their own; readings frequently bring out these classical connections. Faculty members Danielle Allen, Mark Payne, and David Wray are especially active here.

Chicago Consortium in Ancient Philosophy: The University of Chicago, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Northwestern University collaborate in the Chicago Consortium in Ancient Philosophy. Students can take ancient philosophy courses at any of these Universities and receive credit at their home institutions, and the Consortium mounts major collaborative conferences on a regular basis. Faculty include Danielle Allen, Elizabeth Asmis, Jonathan Beere, Richard Kraut, Jonathan Lear, M.M. Lee, Constance Meinwald, Sara Monoson, Glenn Most, Ian Mueller, Martha Nussbaum, Gabriel Richardson.

History Department: From its 1892 establishment as one of the founding departments of the University of Chicago, the History Department's attention has focused on programs leading to the Ph.D. degree in a broad range of fields. At Chicago you will find an academic environment in which basic research on the history of culture and societies throughout the world thrives, nurtured within the University's rich tradition of intellectual distinction and rigor. In addition to programs in traditional regional and national fields (Africa, Ancient Mediterranean, Britain, Byzantium, East Asia, Colonial and Modern Latin America, Medieval Europe, Early Modern and Modern Europe, Russia, the Middle East, South Asia, and the United States), the Department's interdisciplinary and comparative fields include the history of science and medicine, intellectual history, social history, comparative legal history, cultural studies in history, modern international history, and critical histories of gender, race, and ethnicity. There is also a joint J.D.-Ph.D. program in Law and History. Classicists Campbell Grey, Jonathan Hall, and Richard Saller are the core of the program in ancient history in the History Department. Walter Kaegi covers the Byzantine period, and other historians draw in ancient material in comparative projects.

The Oriental Institute Museum is a showcase of the history, art and archaeology of the ancient Near East. An integral part of the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, which has supported research and archaeological excavation in the Near East since 1919, the Museum exhibits major collections of antiquities from Egypt, Mesopotamia, Iran, Syria, Palestine, and Anatolia.

The David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art houses a permanent collection of over 7000 objects, spanning five centuries of both Western and Eastern civilizations. The scope of its permanent collections, combined with groundbreaking special exhibitions, a focus on research and teaching by University of Chicago scholars, and distinguished outreach and educational programs geared to both adults and school age children, make the Smart one of the Midwest's most dynamic and innovative educational institutions in the visual arts.

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