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Roman Foreign Study Program
The Roman Foreign Study program is designed to make history and archaeology real. Students live in apartments in Rome while learning how to make sense of ancient buildings, sites, and public spaces. Extensive field trips throughout the Italian peninsula give a broad sense of the sites, monuments, artifacts of ancient Italy. The history course gives access to information about the lived experience of small towns and of sub-elite status groups including Roman soldiers, auxiliaries, military service personnel, and women. A trip to the north of England provides an opportunity to learn about Roman Britain as an administrative region and a frontier society of the Roman world. We develop a deeper understanding of types of evidence and how we reconstruct and write history, especially history "from the bottom up" or "from the margins."
If you are interested in this program, please contact Professor Roberta Stewart right away to talk about the details of the trip and the application process. Please also visit our blog to see photos of past programs!
FAQS:
Curriculum and Courses offered 2025:
The curriculum embraces architecture, the visual arts, history, religion and the basic techniques of archeological analysis. Students learn to see and understand the Roman world in its own context through lectures and discussion in situ. We develop a deeper understanding of types of evidence and how we reconstruct and write history, especially history "from the bottom up" or "from the margins."
CLST 30.1 City of Rome, Art and Architecture. ART. Taught by Dr. Fabiana Battistin (University of Tuscia (Università degli Studi della Tuscia, Viterbo). The course offers an extensive overview of the development of the city of Rome from its foundation in the 8th century B.C. to the end of the 4th century A.D., through a direct experience of the Ancient Roman places, architecture and art. Students will also develop basic computational skills to organize and manipulate archaeological data, by creating in small teams a digital base timeline and a thematic map of the city of Rome.
CLST 30.2 Cultural Diversity of the Roman World. INT or SOC; CI. Taught by Professor Stewart This course explores the history and cultural diversity of the Roman Empire, through field trips to ancient settlements, sites, and museums in Italy and Britain at the furthest distance from Rome. Britain illustrates a frontier zone, where different peoples interacted and crossed cultural as well as physical boundaries; and we evaluate lived experience and cultural hybridity how we study status, gender, ethnicity of various peoples.
CLST 31 Roman Myth and Religion. TMV Co-taught Professor Stewart, with Prof. Giampiero Bevagna (Umbra Institute). In this class we study traditional Roman religion and mythology. Visiting sites and museums in Rome, Italy, and Britain, we reconstruct polytheist religious experience and consider the institutions/modes of religious conservativism and transformation. A final unit considers the confrontation with Christianity from a Roman point of view.
What are the academic requirements of the program?
On-site group work, short weekly papers, oral reports, and a final project with presentation.
What courses do I need to have taken on campus before going on the program?
The usual prerequisites are one course in Roman history and one in Classical (preferably Roman) archaeology. Some great choices for students considering this program are:
- CLST 11.19 Before Billboards and Twitter: Roman Coins as Text (Fall 2024)
- CLST 17 Roman History: The Republic (Winter 2025)
- CLST 25. Early Roman Imperial Archaeology: The First Emperors (Winter 2025)
- CLST 19 Roman Britain (Methods and Theory in Ancient History (Spring 2025)
Do I need to be able to speak Italian?
No, all classes are conducted in English, and English is widely spoken in modern Italy. Because knowing some Italian is still useful (and fun), daily classes in "survival Italian" are part of the curriculum in Rome.
Do I need to major in Classics in order to participate in the program?
No, typically about half of each FSP group consists of students who are not Classics majors.
Do I need to know Latin or Greek?
No knowledge of ancient Greek or Latin is required.
How do I pay for a term abroad? Tuition and Financial aid info
Tuition & Fees
The fees charged by the College for a Dartmouth-sponsored off-campus term of study include regular tuition charges for a term at Dartmouth, as well as the specific costs established for each off-campus study locale. In many programs, the room and board costs tend to be higher than for a term in Hanover. You can view a budget sheet for this program by clicking here. The cost of transportation to and from the site is the responsibility of the student.
Financial Aid
In order that all qualified Dartmouth undergraduate students may have the opportunity to take part in off-campus programs, the College endeavors to adjust its normal financial aid awards for students already receiving aid. Tuition and expected family contribution for Dartmouth's off-campus programs are the same as for an on-campus term. Assistance is available to meet extra costs associated with off-campus programs, including airfare. Half of any extra cost is met with additional Dartmouth scholarship; loan assistance is offered for the other half. Loan assistance is also offered to replace the employment that would normally be included in an on-campus term. Although financial aid recipients are given aid to cover all of the required costs of the program, students are responsible for purchasing their own plane ticket and, on some programs, meals. Often this means that part of the expected family contribution is used towards these costs rather than for tuition.
How soon do I need to apply?
Normally, applications are submitted in January, due by February 1. If you are reading this after February 1, 2025, please contact Professor Stewart to find out if applications are still being accepted.