Who We Are
The Classical Club is the home of undergraduate Classical life at Harvard. Founded in 1885, the Harvard Classical Club is one of the oldest clubs on campus. Over the decades, members have included luminaries such as Milman Parry and Leonard Bernstein.
Today, we are the hub of anything and everything Classics! From Classics concentrators to students who love Latin or Greek to people who just think it’s fun, all are welcome, regardless of experience with the Classics!
What We Do
The Classical Club has been supporting all things community and classics since 1876. We host events, competitions, theatrical productions, publish an undergraduate journal, and come together for dinners throughout the school year. From Saturnalia parties to classical movie screenings, the Classical Club is engaged in all things ancient. In addition to these events, the Classical Club supports the annual Harvard Certamen competition and Persephone, the Undergraduate Classics Journal. Read below for descriptions of some of our recent and upcoming events and activities!
Certamen
Hosted annually, Certamen is student run Latin competition for high schoolers around the greater Boston website! A longstanding opportunity to share and compete (all in good fun) in topics relating to grammar, literature, history, mythology, and all things classical culture, the Harvard Certamen event also features a guest speaker and is a great chance to build community and passion for studying the Classics.
Archaeology/History Night
One of the resources the Classical Club has access to is a collection of artifacts owned by the Classics Department. On archaeology nights, we go through some of the artifacts, handling them and learning about their function and place in the ancient world.
In history nights, members of the club give short presentations on something they are passionate about in the Classical world and tell us why it is cool! Topics could include why the movie Gladiator is inaccurate (or accurate!), why the best author is “Fragmentary Latin Inscriptions,” or why ancient fishponds are the best thing since sliced bread.
Mensa
Mensa is one of our most cherished traditions. A few times every semester, we all get together and have dinner. The food is always good and the conversations are better!
Classical Theater
Although it only happens every few years, classical theater productions are a cherished part of the Classical Club’s history. We’ve been doing theater since 1876 and have performed for full stadiums. Recently we’ve done Antigone and even an original classically-inspired opera, but we’ve put on everything from the Birds to Oedipus Rex. In the spring of 2024, the Classical Club put on a new production of Seneca’s Medea as a musical, featuring a brand new student translation and original music! The production of Medea: The Musical was supported by the Center for Hellenic Studies and the Harvard Department of Classics. If you are interested in getting involved in this year’s theatrical work, please contact the officers!
Officers
The Classical Club is run by undergraduate students who are thrilled to be a part of this community. This year, the Classical Club is headed by three seniors – The Triumvirate, if you will! Feel free to contact any of the Triumvirate for questions about the Classical Club, our events, or anything Classics related!
Katie Burstein is a senior studying Classics and the History of Science. She is particularly interested in the representation of patient suffering and identity across the ancient and the modern, and is fascinated with why and how public attestations of successful healing in contemporary society contribute to a formation of ‘patient’ identity, and to healthy and diseased human and ‘civic’ bodies.
Annabelle Krause is a senior studying Classics and History and Literature, on the European Studies track. Her research focuses on Classical reception in European far-right literature.
Madeleine Riskin-Kutz is a senior concentrator in Classics and Linguistics. She is interested in language loss and writing exchange between oral and written languages in antiquity and the modern world, and in conversations concerning the boundaries of what defines cultures as distinctly “Greek” and “Roman” in antiquity.
