By studying the text of Herodotus successful students will learn techniques of reading Greek prose literature with subtlety and precision.

Successful students will understand and apply principles of critical method, with specific reference to the text of Herodotus. They will demonstrate this understanding through, in addition to classroom performance and examinations, the composition of a stylistic analysis of a select passage of Herodotus.

Successful students will understand Herodotus' place in the literary history of Classical antiquity and locate his work in the larger context of political and cultural history.

Successful students will be familiar with the major events and historical questions addressed in the the chosen selections of Herodotus and be able to evaluate those issues and reach original conclusions to those questions. This competency will be demonstrated by the composition of a research paper on one or more of the historical problems presented in the text.

Successful students will intelligently evaluate the text of Herodotus through close reading in the original language and express this in examinations and essays.