There are many study abroad opportunities for students of the classics. Listed below are three of the more popular programs. Meet with an advisor or a professor about participating.
After a long hiatus, the Signature Study Abroad Program for the Department of Classics & Letters returns. The political institutions, scientific advancements and literary accomplishments of Ancient Rome have left an indelible mark on Western history and were avidly restored and extended during the Renaissance. This course will take students on a journey through the history, art, architecture, and literature of Roman and Renaissance civilization on site in Italy June 5–19, 2026.
For two weeks in early June, students will travel with two dedicated OU faculty throughout Rome and Tuscany for the educational experience of a lifetime. The first week takes students to the Eternal City: sit among the trees of Roman Forum while reading Livy's account of the founding of Rome, laugh at the antics of Plautus as you watch your friends in the theatre of Ostia, dine among the ruins at the site of Julius Caesar's assassination, climb into the tunnels of a subterranean Mithraeum, and bask in the sun, literature, art, and history of Ancient Rome.
The next stage of your journey is based in OU's gorgeous Arezzo campus in the heart of Tuscany. From there, you'll read Virgil among the olive trees and vineyards, gaze upon the medieval manuscripts that connect us to antiquity in some of Europe's most impressive libraries, and walk in the footsteps of artistic and literary luminaries that reinvigorated the Roman past in the Italian Renaissance.
Better known as "the Centro," the ICCS provides undergraduate students with an opportunity to study ancient history and archaeology, Greek and Latin literature, and ancient art while living in Rome. Frequent site visits and explorations, museum tours and lectures, and wider-ranging trips outside Rome are included as part of the course. Applicants must be currently registered undergraduates majoring either in classics, classical history, or archaeology, or must be art history majors with strong classical interests and background. All applicants should have at least a B average, and a background in Roman history is strongly advised. This program is administered by Duke University.
This program offers a range of classes that together provide a well-rounded picture of Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean. Classes are taught in English, and previous knowledge of Modern Greek is not a prerequisite. Whenever relevant, classes are taught at sites and in museums, and an extensive study-travel program introduces students to the major monuments of the country. The summer programs include courses on art and mythology and an intense three-week immersion course in the Modern Greek language. CYA is designed to make the culture and history of Greece and its neighbors accessible to all, but students majoring in classics and those interested in archaeology and Greek culture and history will find the program to be particularly rewarding.
The two six-week sessions are designed for those with an interest in the classical world who wish to become acquainted with Greece and its antiquities in a limited time, and to improve their understanding of the relationship between the country (its monuments, landscape, and climate) and its history, literature, and culture. Each session is divided between the study of sites, monuments, and museums in Attica and visits to locations in North and Central Greece, the Peloponnese, and Crete, according to itineraries set by each director. Participants are required to deliver oral reports on assigned topics, usually presented at the different sites appropriate to the reports. The summer sessions, comprising 20 students each, are open to graduate and advanced undergraduate students.
Summer sessions (June-July or August):
January 15
Application kits and scholarship information are available from the ASCSA website or from the U.S. Office at:
Committee on the Summer Sessions
American School of Classical Studies at Athens
6-8 Charlton Street
Princeton, NJ 08540-5232
