According to professors of classics at the University, the Classics Department has been experiencing a resurgence of interest in recent years.

Last Monday, 22 students were initiated into Zeta Epsilon, the University's chapter of Eta Sigma Phi - a national classics honors society. In April 2005, 26 students were initiated. And while the numbers may seem small to some, they are actually larger than in previous years.

The department's Undergraduate Director Leah Kronenberg said she sees the increasing number of initiates as a sign of healthy interest in classics among the University's undergraduates.

"The number of majors has tripled in the last five years and our 'general interest courses' [humanities courses designed for those who don't know ancient Greek or Latin] are always bursting at the seams," Kronenberg said.

This trend is a turnaround from the department's situation during the late 1980s. Acting Chair Lowell Edmunds said when he first started teaching classics at the University during the 1988-1989 academic year, the department was rebuilding itself after a near-collapse.

The department is growing slowly and some courses have increased in popularity. Kronenberg said the department's current largest course is Greek and Roman Mythology, which tends to draw approximately 250 to 300 students.

Sarolta Takacs, an associate professor, said students in larger courses often seem engaged by the subject matter and ready to learn.

"I think that movies like 'Troy,' and 'Gladiator' incited interest, curiosity," Takacs said. "Also, there is an understanding that Greece and Rome played an important role in our cultural formation."

Classics majors agree ancient cultures are still relevant in today's society. Students said ancient Greece and Rome's links to aspects of the contemporary world - including language, architecture, government and medicine - are among the classics' appealing qualities.

University College senior Deborah Grau said she finds it important to study ancient languages.

"Although many people may not realize it, a great number of the words that we speak each day have stems coming from both Latin and Greek," Grau said.

Enrollments in ancient Greek tend to remain low, as many students don't seem to realize it does not require an excessive amount of effort to grasp, Edmunds said. But Latin seems to attract more students.

"Rutgers is probably one of the most successful state Universities in Latin enrollments. We put on five sections of first-year Latin each fall," Edmunds said.