1st Minor in Classical Archaeology: Johanna Schmidt

My name is Johanna Schmidt, I am studying History in my 5th semester as a major and Art History and Classical Archaeology in my 3rd semester as a minor.

I graduated from high school in 2017 and went straight to university afterwards. It was clear to me pretty early on that I wanted to study History, and in my first two semesters I still had Journalism as a second major. But I wasn't happy with that, so I switched to Art History and Classical Archaeology. I was already familiar with both subjects through a friend, but I had no idea about them because they are not really covered at school. In the end, I chose them because I felt they could be a good complement to History.

What I like most about Archaeology is the link between the two subjects, Art and History, because we don't just relate our findings to the objects, but also to the ancient living conditions of the Romans and Greeks and make statements about them. The programme is structured in such a way that the first two semesters give us an introduction to Greek and Roman life from an archaeological, historical and philological perspective. In the following semesters, we deepen our understanding of various thematic focal points, and we are usually free to choose which concepts and objects we deal with. At the moment, I am particularly interested in spatial concepts and representations of gods. The atmosphere in the department is friendly and conducive to learning, and the lecturers are always available and helpful.