Classics and Modern Greek

Classics and Modern Greek spans three millennia of Greek culture, from the poetry of Homer and the philosophy of Plato through the Byzantine world to the vibrant literature and society of contemporary Greece. It is a discipline that refuses to treat the ancient and modern as separate compartments, asking instead how the Greek tradition has evolved, fragmented, and renewed itself across time, and what the continuities and ruptures between ancient and modern mean for our understanding of both.

At the University of Oxford, this four-year, full-time programme combines the rigour of classical scholarship with serious engagement in the Modern Greek language and its literary and cultural contexts. Oxford's classics faculty is one of the finest in the world, and you will engage with ancient Greek and Latin texts at the highest level, reading them in the original languages and developing the philological and interpretive skills that classical scholarship demands. Alongside this, you will study Modern Greek language to fluency and engage with the literature, history, and culture of modern Greece.

The programme requires and develops exceptional linguistic ability, analytical precision, and the capacity to hold ancient and contemporary perspectives in productive tension. A typical entry tariff of 184 UCAS points reflects the intense academic demands of Oxford's tutorial system.

Classics at this level develops capacities that are transferable in ways that sometimes surprise students. The combination of linguistic precision, historical depth, philosophical training, and careful textual argument is as useful in law courts as it is in lecture halls.

Graduates enter careers in law, the civil service, academia, journalism, education, publishing, and the cultural sector. Many proceed to postgraduate study in classical literature, ancient history, Byzantine studies, or Modern Greek, and Oxford classics graduates are well represented at the highest levels of academic and public life.