Who can take Ancient Studies subjects at undergraduate level? Anyone can. The Department offers modules that can form part of the BA Humanities or Languages and Culture degrees with the choice of four possible majors:
Ancient Cultures
Ancient Greek
Latin
Biblical Hebrew
There are no prerequisites for any of these subjects at first year level.
The Ancient Cultures major studies the ancient societies of the wider Mediterranean region (e.g. Northern Africa; Southwest Asia, and Southern Europe) from prehistory up until the Middle Ages, as well as the perception and reception of these societies in contemporary culture. Modules concentrate on ancient history, art and visual culture, archaeology, politics, mythology and literature. Our access to these societies is through reading ancient literature and documents (in translation) and analysing visual materials (e.g. artefacts and monuments), using diverse theoretical approaches and scholarship. Ancient Cultures can be taken at first, second and third year levels as part of a BA degree, and is a three-year major. At first year level there is a choice of Ancient Cultures and Classical Legal Culture (typically taken by students in the Law faculty). Both streams can then continue with Ancient Cultures 2 and 3. These courses complement other BA subjects well and our students often combine this major with English, Philosophy, Psychology, Social Anthropology, Sociology, and History.
Students who are interested in language and linguistics and/or wish to undertake close study of ancient literature should consider majors in one or more of the ancient languages: Greek, Latin or Biblical Hebrew. An ancient language major is also excellent choices for those who are doing specific degrees such as Law - where Latin is particularly useful for legal terminology - and Theology, where Greek 1 and Hebrew 1 are required. All three languages are offered to third year level as majors and can lead to postgraduate study.
