Program Description

You'll immerse yourself in more than two millenia of some of the world's most influential cultures, studying their histories, arts, religions, philsophies, economies, literatures, languages, and political systems, and evaluating their contributions to the modern world. With AMC's highly integrated curriculum, you'll acquire a broad perspective on the beginnings of the society in which we live today. And you'll discover that antiquity is much closer than you think!

AMC stresses the critical evaluation of ancient evidence through close reading of ancient texts and the careful examiniation of art and material culture. Writing and research play an important role in the AMC curriculum, as students explore and share their interests. Through debate and discussion, students and professors engage ancient ideas for their own sakes and for how they have helped shape the West.

In conjunction with course work, being a Rice AMC major also includes opportunities to participate in foreign study programs, such as the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome, and College Year in Athens, as well as the possibility of internships at local museums and involvement in archaeological digs.

By focusing on the interactions of great civilizations in the past and by exploring our encounters with them, AMC reaches across academic boundaries and beyond the classroom. The Program in Ancient Mediterranean Civilizations promises you an exciting and innovative course of study at Rice University. AMC graduates have become successful as college professors, doctors, lawyers, engineers, editors, teachers, and in many other professions. The knowledge gained through studying the civilizations of antiquity and their influence on the present is an invaluable resource that will inform and influence you long after graduation.