Classics and Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

Classics is among the oldest academic disciplines, concerned with the languages, literatures, history, philosophy, art, and archaeology of ancient Greece and Rome. It provides access to the foundations of Western intellectual and cultural life as well as the tools to interrogate and challenge inherited assumptions about that tradition. Asian and Middle Eastern studies, by contrast, introduces students to civilisations outside the Western canon that have their own ancient and modern traditions of literature, philosophy, art, history, and religion, and whose contemporary significance is enormous.

Combining these two areas at degree level creates an unusually broad comparative education, developing the ability to understand civilisations on their own terms and to make connections across very different cultural traditions.

At the University of Oxford, this four-year full-time degree brings classical studies into dialogue with the major traditions of Asia and the Middle East, with all courses combining linguistic, literary, historical, and cultural study. The classics component may engage with ancient Greek and Latin texts, ancient history, philosophy, and classical archaeology, depending on your choices. The Asian and Middle Eastern studies strand introduces you to one of the major traditions of a non-Western region, whether Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Persian, Turkish, Sanskrit, or another area, alongside its cultural, religious, historical, and artistic heritage.

Both strands develop skills in linguistic analysis, close reading, and cultural interpretation, and the Oxford tutorial system ensures that your thinking is tested and refined in intensive one-to-one and small-group encounters.

Graduates of this combination are exceptionally rare and highly sought after across a wide range of fields. Career pathways include the diplomatic and foreign services, international organisations, journalism, publishing, academic research, cultural heritage, think tanks, and roles in Asia and the Middle East requiring both regional expertise and the analytical foundations of a classical education. Many graduates continue to doctoral research in classical studies, Asian languages and cultures, or related fields, where Oxford's global reputation and the unusual combination of expertise they bring make them strongly competitive.