Ancient History

Ancient history is the study of the civilisations and societies that flourished before the medieval period, with particular focus on Greece, Rome, the Near East and Egypt. It is a discipline that combines rigorous engagement with ancient sources, including literary texts, inscriptions, papyri and archaeological evidence, with the broader interpretive frameworks of history, archaeology and classics. Ancient history asks how these societies were organised, how they related to one another, how they changed over time and what their legacies have been for subsequent human civilisation.

The University of Reading offers this three-year full-time ancient history degree with a sandwich year in industry, a year abroad and an embedded work placement, giving it a practical and international dimension that is unusual in a humanities degree. The academic content covers the major periods and themes of ancient history, from archaic Greece through the Hellenistic world, the Roman Republic and Empire, to late antiquity, drawing on both literary and material evidence. You will develop research skills in working with primary sources in translation and in their historical contexts, and the degree develops the close reading, analytical argumentation and clear writing that historical study demands.

The sandwich year gives you the opportunity to apply your research and communication skills in a professional context, whether in heritage, archives, education, media or another field.

Ancient history trains close attention to evidence, the ability to construct careful arguments from incomplete and sometimes contradictory sources, and an understanding of how human societies change over long periods of time. These are transferable intellectual skills of high quality.

Graduates work in heritage, museums and archives, education, law, journalism, the civil service, publishing, the cultural sector and a wide range of professional fields. The work placement and sandwich year give Reading's graduates a practical profile that supports these transitions. Postgraduate study in ancient history, classical archaeology, classics or related fields is also well supported by the degree's foundations.