Course description
BA Ancient History and History
Programme
First Year
You will be introduced to Greek and Roman history, and you will undertake two language tools modules, one using material in ancient Greek and one in Latin, which introduce basic features of the languages as well as the types of documentary sources relevant to Ancient History. You will also study core modules in medieval and early modern history and a further module in history called people and places which focuses in depth on a particular historical place or person.
Second Year
You choose two aspects of Greek and Roman history to study in detail. Choices vary from year to year but may include: the development of the Greek city-state; political institutions of classical Athens; classical and hellenistic Greek states; politics and society in the late Roman Republic; and the Roman Principate. These modules are taught through a combination of lectures and seminars, with a strong emphasis on encountering ancient primary sources in translation. There is also an optional module in classical and post-classical Latin, which provides you with the opportunity to continue to develop your language skills, while a core module focuses in more depth on sources and methods in ancient history. You choose to study a multi-period thematic module on key historical themes such as race and ethnicity, gender, power, imperialism, cities, landscape, and industrialisation, as well as a further history option module from a broad list of topics that include: Anglo-Saxon England, The Madness of George III and The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union.
Third Year
You write a dissertation on a topic of your own choice and choose four specialist modules from a wide selection in ancient history and history. Ancient History choices vary from year to year but may include modules such as: Sparta in the Greek world; Greek countrysides; the Greek world after Alexander; politics in late Roman Republican society; North Africa in late antiquity; and Roman and American slavery. These are chiefly taught through seminars. This part of the course is intended to help you handle historical problems at a more advanced theoretical level, and to refine your skill in evaluating evidence and drawing conclusions from it. Current history choices include: medieval welfare state, crusading in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Holocaust, and the civil rights movement.
