Undergraduate study in the School of Classics

• Ancient history

  What is ancient history and why study it?

  Ancient history is an exciting and wide-ranging subject. It deals not only with the ancient Greeks and Romans but also with some of their near neighbours in and around the Mediterranean, such as the Persians and the Phoenicians. It ranges from the emergence of early city-states in archaic Greece to the break-up of the Roman Empire in Late Antiquity.

  By studying ancient history at St Andrews, you will explore the way of life for the Greeks, Romans and their neighbours. This includes topics such as:

  • empires and politics
  • warfare
  • gender and sexuality
  • colonisation
  • the development of cities and urban living
  • ecology and economy
  • religion.

  Students will also study ancient historiography, that is, the ways that historians in antiquity constructed and represented the past, and the ways in which the Greeks and Romans made use of accounts of their past to make sense of their present.

  Ancient history at St Andrews

  • Ancient History MA (Hons)
  • Ancient History & Archaeology MA (Hons)
  • Classical Studies - Ancient History and Archaeology pathway BA (International Hons)

  Find out more about studying ancient history at St Andrews. 

• Archaeology

  Undergraduate courses in archaeology focus on the classical world and medieval Europe and Scotland. They provide an education in the wider use of archaeological material for understanding ancient societies. You can take Archaeology as part of an integrated degree programme: 

  • Ancient History & Archaeology MA (Hons)
  • Medieval History & Archaeology MA (Hons)
  • Classical Studies - Ancient History and Archaeology pathway BA (International Hons)

  Find out more about studying archaeology at St Andrews. 

• Classics

  A degree in classics involves the study of Greek and Latin literature, language and culture. This can be combined with ancient history and classical studies courses.

  What is classics and why study it?

  Ancient Greece and Rome were two complex and vibrant societies that produced some of the most thought-provoking and moving literature of any world culture. Studying Classics could involve reading anything from the epic poetry of Homer and Virgil, Greek and Latin love elegy, the philosophy of Plato and Lucretius, biography, satire, political rhetoric and the histories of Herodotus, Polybius, Livy and Tacitus. By studying these and other texts in the original language, students gain first-hand insight into some of the most influential ideas that have shaped, and continue to shape, modern philosophical, legal, scientific and political thinking. To study Classics requires a combination of precise linguistic skills, a mature sense of historical context and development, and an openness to new ways of seeing our own world. 

  Classics at St Andrews

  The School of Classics is one of the largest classics departments in the UK, with over 20 permanent members of academic staff. It has earned an international reputation for excellence in teaching and research. Students reading for an Honours degree in classics at St Andrews may come with an advanced knowledge of Latin, and some with advanced Greek also, or with no knowledge of either language. The School runs successful beginners’ courses in both languages, and it is increasingly common for students to take up one or even both languages in this way.

  • Classics MA (Hons)

  Find out more about studying classics at St Andrews. 

• Classical studies

  What is classical studies and why study it?

  Classical studies is a broad and exciting subject that includes all aspects of the culture of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Students will learn about the literature, art, philosophy, and religion of the Greeks and Romans in their social and political context. They will also have opportunities to study the uses that later societies, including our own, have made of Greek and Roman culture.

  In classical studies, all ancient texts are studied in English translation. There is no requirement to learn Greek or Latin, though students can supplement their classical studies courses with beginners’ or advanced classes in either language – or both – as well as ancient history.

  Classical studies at St Andrews

  Classical studies at St Andrews is a vibrant and wide-ranging programme. It will introduce students to the key works of Greek and Roman literature, art and philosophy and to specialist topics based on the research of members of the School.

  • Classical Studies MA (Hons)
  • Classical Studies BA (International Hons)

  Find out more about studying classical studies at St Andrews. 

• Greek

  Why study Greek?

  Ancient Greek literature and culture continue to exert a profound influence in the modern world. We owe to the Greeks many concepts central to modern thinking, for example, in politics, philosophy, and literary criticism. Many of the literary forms which have flourished since the Renaissance have their origins in Greece. However, those aspects of ancient Greek culture that feel most familiar often turn out, on closer inspection, to be strikingly different when considered in their original context. Studying Greek at St Andrews will allow students to explore the world of the ancient Greeks and their influence on the modern world in all its complex diversity.

  This diversity is at the heart of the Greek programme, which offers close engagement with texts ranging from archaic Greece to Late Antiquity. Homer’s epics are among the foundational texts of world literature, and Plato, Herodotus, Thucydides and Demosthenes defined philosophy, history and oratory for centuries to come. Greek literature continued unabated under the Romans and exerted a profound influence on Roman politics, society and culture. Because Greek became the lingua franca of the Mediterranean world, it was adopted by the earliest Christian writers for what we know as the “New Testament”.

  Greek modules offer you first-hand experience with such wide-ranging genres as epic poetry, tragedy and comedy, philosophy, historiography, lyric, the novel, private letters, inscriptions, graffiti and Christian literature. Students will not only gain strong linguistic knowledge of ancient Greek, but explore these texts in their cultural and historical contexts and gain insight into the literature, culture and society of ancient Greece and Rome and their development over 2,000 years.

  Greek at St Andrews

  Greek, like Latin, has been taught at St Andrews since the foundation of the University in the early 15th century. The Greek programme at St Andrews has always enjoyed a very high reputation not only in Britain but worldwide. Greek is very much a subject in its own right, but it is also closely aligned with the other four teaching programmes in the School of Classics (Latin, Classics, Classical Studies and Ancient History).

  • Greek MA (Hons)
  • Classical Studies - Greek and Latin pathway, BA (International Hons)

  Find out more about studying Greek at St Andrews. 

• Latin

  Why study Latin?

  Latin is one of the most long-lived languages in human history, with original documents preserved from the 5th century BCE to the 21st century CE. At the height of the Roman Empire, it was spoken by people from northern Britain to the Middle East. It was the language not only of Cicero and Virgil but also of Augustine, Dante and Newton, used by scientists, theologians, philosophers, poets and law-makers from the ancient world to the recent past.

  Studying Latin involves grappling with linguistic phenomena that have influenced many other languages: vocabulary, grammatical habits and turns of phrase that reflect ways of thinking as well as speaking. It also gives us access to a huge range of texts – from epic to graffiti, satirical writing to early Christian philosophy, late antique panegyric to Renaissance drama – which give us glimpses into past societies, cultures and politics.

  The works of authors like Plautus, Catullus, Vitruvius, Juvenal, Tacitus and Vegetius have had a major impact on world culture: without them, comedy and love poetry, the study of architecture, military and political theory, European literature, art, opera and film would all be quite different. World literature still turns to Latin writers for inspiration, as does philosophy and rhetoric; and much of our knowledge of European history depends upon documents written in Latin.

  Over a third of the students enrolled in the Faculty of Arts at St Andrews take a classical subject at some stage in their course. Students can choose Latin in their first year as one of their three subjects, even if they have never studied it before. Although students can study it just for one semester or for a year, many who did not originally intend to take a degree in Latin discover the appeal of the subject and continue through to the second year and on to Honours level.

  Latin at St Andrews

  If you study Latin at St Andrews, you will learn to read, write and even speak it. You will dive into lots of different genres, reading popular Latin texts alongside more canonical works. In the process, you will learn about Roman history, politics, culture and society, as well as wrestle with timeless issues like author-audience relations, the construction of gender stereotypes, textual interactions, and the role of humour in society.

  • Latin MA (Hons)
  • Classical Studies - Greek and Latin pathway, BA (International Hons)

  Find out more about studying Latin at St Andrews.