Classics and Ancient History

Entry requirements

A minimum of a 2:1 honours degree and a Master's degree at Merit level, or international equivalent, in a related subject. We will give specific consideration to any independent research you do as part of your studies and/or appropriate professional experience.

You must submit two letters of recommendation (obligatory) and a writing sample, such as a chapter from an MA dissertation or a published paper (optional).

Months of entry

January, July

Course content

Overview

Classics and ancient history at Newcastle has a long and distinguished international reputation. We deliver quality research and teaching. We have taught Latin and Greek since 1874, ancient history since 1910 and classical archaeology since 1931.

Our programmes cover a range of classical subjects. They include:

• Material culture and history
• Language and literature
• Philosophy
• Reception and heritage
• Iconography

We have strong links with related disciplines such as history, archaeology and modern languages.

Our staff include scholars of outstanding international reputation. Our research covers all major aspects of the study of the ancient world.

What you'll learn

Classics and Ancient History PhD and MPhil supervision is usually available in:

Ancient history and classical archaeology

• Archaeology of religion and ritual from the Bronze Age to the early Classical era
• Greco–Roman religion
• Greek ethnography
• Late Classical and Hellenistic periods: Alexander the Great and Hellenistic empires; kingship and royal ideology
• Contact and interaction between Greeks and non-Greeks
• The history and archaeology of pre-Roman and Roman Italy
• The late Roman Republic
• Institutions of the Roman world
• The social, economic and cultural history of the Roman Empire
• Roman Greece
• Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt
• The era of the tetrarchy and Constantine
• Pagan-Christian relations
• Late Roman/early mediaeval legal history
• Slavery in the ancient world
• Greek art and archaeology

Classical language and literature

• Greek poetry from Homer to the imperial age
• Greek tragedy, including its reception
• Ancient didactic poetry
• Second Sophistic
• Ancient linguistic thought, especially etymology
• Greek influence on later literature
• Greek papyrology
• Greek and Roman oratory and rhetoric
• Cicero: rhetoric, philosophy, politics
• Latin poetry
• Literature and religion in Latin epic
• Ancient historiography
• History of Classical Scholarship
• Reception of the ancient world
• Roman science and mathematics

Philosophy and science

• Ancient philosophy, particularly epistemology and ethics,
• The exact sciences in Greek and Roman antiquity

You can find a detailed list of our Classics and Ancient History research areas.

Information for international students

See Newcastle University's course entry for more information

Fees and funding

See Newcastle University's course entry for more information