Ancient History and History

Ancient history and history together form one of the most intellectually ambitious combinations available at undergraduate level. Ancient history asks how we can understand societies separated from us by two millennia or more, working with fragmentary evidence, contested translations, and radically different assumptions about human life. History proper interrogates the more recent past with a broader archive but equally demanding questions about interpretation, causation, and the relationship between evidence and argument.

Studied together, they train you to think chronologically across vast timescales and to appreciate both the strangeness of the past and its continuities with the present.

At Newcastle University, this three-year full-time programme includes both a placement year and a year abroad, giving the degree an unusually rich practical and international dimension. The placement year allows you to apply your skills in a professional context, whether in an archive, a museum, a heritage organisation, a media outlet, or another setting that values historical expertise. The year abroad opens up the chance to study at a partner institution in another country, engaging with different historiographical traditions and widening your understanding of how the past is interpreted across cultures.

Throughout the programme you will work with primary sources in both their ancient and modern forms, learning palaeography, epigraphy, and documentary analysis alongside the interpretive frameworks that historians deploy. You will write substantial pieces of extended analysis, present arguments in seminars, and develop research skills that become progressively more independent as the degree advances. The combination of ancient and modern history means you will regularly be asked to think comparatively and to place specific periods and places in longer perspective.

History graduates are found across almost every sector of professional life. Common destinations include law, journalism, public administration, archive and heritage work, teaching, policy roles in government, and the charity sector. The programme's placement year gives you a professional credential alongside your degree, and the year abroad adds international experience that is increasingly expected in competitive graduate recruitment.

Postgraduate study in ancient history, history, archaeology, classical studies, or law is also a well-trodden path for those who wish to specialise further.