Keeping classics alive
Thinking about the Roman empire every day
Olivia Patel
Lindsey Heyd
It’s 10:05 a.m. in March. A big, drab classroom in Irvin Hall on the campus of Miami University slowly fills with students. Roman Civilization — CLS 102 — is about to start, and it’s halfway through the semester. And yet, the class remains just as full as it was on the first day.
This is one more bit of evidence that Professor Steven Tuck, for now, is winning his war to keep the study of classics alive.
“Unfortunately, this PowerPoint is over 100 slides,” Tuck said, “so we need to get started.”
The lesson, focused on Roman triumphs and buildings, started with modern-day examples of communities directing their resources toward what they consider valuable, including in neighboring city Cincinnati. Another example Tuck used involved Indiana’s basketball culture.
“There is nothing I love more in this entire world — don’t tell my family — than this book [on Indiana’s high school basketball arenas],” Tuck said. “I mean, they literally rank high school gyms as ‘Hoosier Temples.’ I love that.”
To this, a few students cracked a smile.
“If anyone wants to disagree with me about how cool this book is, I would love that,” Tuck said. “We can argue.”
He then turned to a member of the front row, “Do you want to fight me on this?”
The student looked up from his notes, chuckling.
“Not yet.”
The slideshow, which only ended up being 43 slides, slowly presented the day’s information, teaching students about how the Romans honored triumphant generals post-battle. This included spoils of war, processions, buildings, decorations and gifts, all of which Tuck tried to make a modern connection to.
“If this was modern day, what sorts of spoils would you take from Mexico if the United States had conquered it in battle?” Tuck asked the class.
To this, he received responses including the Mexican flag, sombreros and other symbols. These responses, even though he deemed them correct answers, displeased him.
“Really?” Tuck said, shocked. “Not tequila? A big case of Modelo? Is that just me? OK. Tacos? Now I’m just hungry. Do you have a snack?”
Tuck pointed to Thea Stefan, a junior pre-med major sitting in the third row, who shook her head laughing.
“No? OK, moving on…”
The lesson continued, along with several other dry-humor jokes.
“You know,” Tuck said, pointing to the slide of a statue of Pompey the Great, halfway through the slideshow. “This guy used to drink poison a little bit each day to be immune, since he came from a family that liked to poison each other. Just a little life-saving tip for you guys in your own families.”
The lesson began wrapping up around 11:07 a.m., when Tuck included one last anecdote about scattering the ashes of ancestors, which was included in the lecture about Romans valuing their ancestors’ success, before letting the class leave early for the day.
“Probably one of the greatest felonies I ever committed — great line to start with, I know — was when I was asked to scatter a student’s ashes in the Colosseum at the father’s request,” Tuck said sarcastically, rubbing his forehead. “Crazy weird, but you know, I had to do it.”
The class was dismissed at 11:12 a.m., and a few students lingered to speak with Tuck before departing for the day, off to other classes. Many students expressed their gratitude to the professor with a simple “thank you” before exiting the classroom, putting value on the lessons they had just absorbed.
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Stashed away in room 267 of Upham Hall, surrounded by ancient Roman and Greek texts as well as a few abstract paintings, Tuck sits at his desk with great posture, working on his computer. His MacBook Pro, covered in band stickers reading “Sweet William” and “Jolly Old Hawk,” hums silently, protesting Tuck’s endless use of it.
Behind him, pictures of his wife and two stepsons line the windowsill. Included in the mix is a photo of filmmaker Bruce Campbell and actor Nathan Fillion posing for what could easily be mistaken as a family photo, seamlessly blending in with the pictures of Tuck’s family.
He has been teaching in the classics department at Miami for 15 years before switching part of his focus to the history department this past year out of fear of losing his job with recent cuts to humanities majors.
“Following the previous merger, when the classical studies major combined with French and Italian five years ago, I decided to read the writing on the wall and shift my tenure to history,” Tuck said.
With this change, he had to create entirely new classes in the history department. This included classes on Roman history, which he adapted to be different from the subjects covered in his Roman Civilization classical studies class.
“[The Roman history class] is more of a chronological death march, OK?” Tuck said. “So it’s much less about the cultural aspects.”
Tuck graduated from the University of Michigan with a doctorate of philosophy in classical art and archeology, which he described as an extremely vigorous program — the dropout rate of his graduating class was nearly 50%.
When he arrived at Miami in 2001, Tuck found his home in the classics department, where he has been teaching the same Roman Civilization class for 24 years, among others. With the classical studies sector struggling to stay afloat, Tuck said he adapts those 100-level, Miami plan classes to be both engaging for non-majors and applicable in real life.
“I think the important thing is to, I hate to say it, but make [the material] relevant and ask questions about our world,” Tuck said. “Like class today, it’s asking people to look around and think about what we value.”
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Stefan, one of Tuck’s students, picked up her classical studies minor after taking Intermediate Latin (LAT 201) with Zara Tarlone, the chair of the French, Italian and Classical Studies department. She said it was her passion that drove her to understand the value of studying classics.
“I was in [Tarlone’s] office hours one day, and she had mentioned the classical studies minor,” Stefan said. “I always liked Roman history, so it felt like a nice addition to my pre-med major, so my classes aren’t all science.”
She said that in Tuck’s class, she can feel the same sense of passion.
“I really like his class,” Stefan said. “I’m never bored in class … I think [Roman Civilization] is important because it is the foundation of what our civilization is based on. Not only is it important, but it’s applicable to a lot of different things.”
Maddie Leiter, a senior biology premed major with a nutrition minor, also began her first year of college sitting in a Latin class. Leiter enrolled in Beginning Latin (LAT 101) in fall 2022. She said after a growing frustration with high school Spanish, she wanted to continue her language studies in a different arena.
“I settled on taking Latin because I was like, ‘I don't have to speak Latin, and I don't really have to write it — it's mostly just like translating,’” Leiter said. “I can memorize stuff. I can translate.”
Her College of Arts and Science language requirement took her through four courses of Latin up through Representative Latin Authors (LAT 202). Though she didn’t enter the language with an outstanding interest in the classics, Leiter said she was thankful she fulfilled the requirement with Latin.
“My biggest takeaway from the classes [I took] was an appreciation for that time and culture, and that although Latin might be a dead language, it's certainly still a language, and it's hard,” she said.
Although she did not declare a major or minor in classics, Leiter said she decided to take Roman Civilization: From City to Empire during her time studying abroad this past spring. She spent a week traveling the Via Agrippa in France, which allowed her to grow a deeper appreciation for studying classics in the modern era, applying it to concepts like government, social status and international affairs.
“I think history in general has value for education,” Leiter said. “We can't learn and do better if we don't understand where we came from.”
Leiter and her class of roughly 30 students traveled along the ancient route, spotting sites like Roman ruins, the Palais des Papes, Pont du Gard and the Saint Paul de Mausole — the psychiatric hospital where Van Gogh spent his final months. The students also got to immerse themselves in the local French culture by shopping in artisan shops and trying the cuisine.
For a dead language, Leiter said the culture she experienced while traveling the Via Agrippa was a breathing descendant of the ancient Roman civilization that occupied those lands nearly 2,000 years ago.
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With less than 10 declared majors this fall, the classical studies program, along with French, German, Russian, Italian and East Asian languages, combined to form one world languages and cultures degree, which will be offered after all current majors in each subsection graduate from Miami.
Compared to the history department, which houses 124 declared majors, the classical studies department continues to fight to remain relevant in a world of changing academic priorities. In the fall 2025 semester, Tuck is teaching a blend of classical studies and history classes — Classical Myth (CLS 121), Roman History (HST 227) and Great Discoveries in Archaeology (CLS/HST 323). Stefan is enrolled in two of the three classes and enjoys Tuck as a professor twice a day on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
However, Tuck said it isn’t about the major enrollment — it’s about the continued demand for the classics.
“I think the focus on majors is reductive and creates a false narrative,” Tuck said. “[Some] may see that there are eight classics majors and think there's no demand, but course sizes have gone up in recent years. Demand is strong. Last spring, when I offered Roman Civilization, enrollment was capped at 55, but there were 60 people on the waiting list to enroll … There's tremendous student interest in this material.”
Tuck has continued to capitalize on this student interest — both of his classics classes this semester remain at near full capacity, and he continues to weave in his witty, dry humor throughout his lessons.
Classical studies could soon find itself on the chopping block at Miami, following suit behind colleges like Calvin University, Illinois Wesleyan University and St. Peter's University. However, with strong interest remaining for classics courses for students completing the Miami Plan and for adjacent majors, the cancellation of these classes is not being considered.
For Tuck, this means a constant uphill battle in every one of his classical studies classes, in which he needs to continue proving its importance in a liberal arts education.
