Classical archaeology is a historical cultural science whose subject area is the cultures of Greek and Roman antiquity. The geographical framework encompasses Greece, Asia Minor and Italy, but is in principle open, as the Greeks and Romans were in close contact with various neighbouring Mediterranean cultures in the different eras. The temporal boundaries are determined by the advanced civilisations of the Bronze Age (2nd millennium BC, Cycladic, Minoan and Mycenaean cultures of the Aegean) and the Etruscan-Italic cultures of the Apennine Peninsula on the one hand and the end of the Imperium Romanum and Late Antiquity (4th/5th century AD) on the other.

The subject of the discipline is the material legacy of ancient civilisations. This includes visual evidence such as architecture, sculpture, painting and ceramics. As factors of historical situations, they are to be reconstructed in their context of use and their original function. The contexts include public and private life, politics, economy, sanctuaries, rituals and burial. The aim of the subject is to research natural and designed habitats and ancient living contexts.

Classical archaeology examines the creation, design and use of landscapes and living spaces (from the hut to the city), people's self-image and perception of their living space, and the realisation and mechanisms of visual communication in the various media. The roots of visual habits, representational conventions and forms that still characterise our built and designed environment today form the subject of the discipline. In this respect, classical archaeology is methodologically determined in two ways: on the one hand, as a visual science that is primarily concerned with questions of visual decoding and, on the other hand, as a science that is closely linked to ancient texts for its questions. Classical archaeology places its objects in a political, social, religious and cultural-historical framework. On this basis, it attempts to develop new, overarching questions that are particularly relevant to our increasingly visually orientated society.

Classical archaeology is dependent on the many surviving Greek and Latin written documents and literary texts in order to interpret the monuments in their respective historical context and against their social, cultural-historical and religious background. It is therefore closely related to ancient history, classical philology and ancient religious history. Classical archaeology has methodological, temporal and spatial parallels with provincial Roman archaeology and Christian archaeology. The subjects of Prehistory and Early History, Egyptology and Near Eastern Archaeology deal with important prerequisites of Greco-Roman antiquity, with which there are also spatial and temporal overlaps. There are also interfaces with other disciplines of cultural studies that attempt to provide insights into the fundamental functioning of cultures and societies.

T. Hölscher, Klassische Archäologie. Grundwissen (2002)
A. H. Borbein – T. Hölscher – P. Zanker, Klassische Archäologie. Eine Einführung (2000)
R. Bianchi Bandinelli, Klassische Archäologie. Eine kritische Einführung (1978)
J. Bergemann, Orientierung Archäologie. Was sie kann, was sie will (2000)
U. Sinn, Einführung in die Klassische Archäologie (2000)
Der Neue Pauly 14 (2000) 901-953 s.v. Klassische Archäologie (H. G. Niemeyer – B. Schweizer)
F. Lang, Klassische Archäologie (2002) .
H. G. Nesselrath (Hrsg.), Einleitung in die griechische Philologie (1997), Archaische Zeit S. 585-608 (W. Martini), Klassik S. 609-634 (A. H. Borbein), Hellenismus S. 635-658 (R. Fleischer), Kaiserzeit S. 659-677 (D. Willers), Spätantike S. 678-693 (D. Willers), Griechische Numismatik S. 694-707 (H. A. Cahn).
F. Graf (Hrsg.), Einleitung in die lateinische Philologie (1997), Kunst und Archäologie Roms S. 601-654 (H. v. Hesberg), Die Archäologie der römischen Provinzen S. 655-669 (R. Fellmann), Römische Numismatik S. 670-696 (H.-M. v. Kaenel).