Classics

Classics is the study of ancient Greece and Rome through their languages, literatures, histories, philosophies and material remains, and it is a discipline that has shaped the intellectual and cultural life of the West more profoundly than almost any other. Reading Homer, Thucydides, Virgil and Cicero in their original languages develops a precision and depth of attention to text that is unlike anything acquired through translation alone. Alongside language work, the discipline encompasses ancient history, art and archaeology, political thought, religion and mythology, and the long tradition of classical reception from the Renaissance to the present.

At the University of Reading, you will study Classics full time over three years. The programme includes a sandwich year, which allows you to undertake a substantial work placement that extends your professional experience beyond the academic curriculum, and a year abroad, giving you the opportunity to study in a different country and engage directly with the classical world in the landscapes and museums of southern Europe and the Mediterranean. Work placement opportunities are built into the structure.

The typical entry tariff is around 120 UCAS points.

You will develop your reading of Latin and ancient Greek alongside studies in ancient history, classical literature, philosophy and the archaeology of Greece and Rome. The programme expects you to engage with primary texts in the original languages from early on, building linguistic fluency through close reading, translation and commentary. Seminars and tutorials develop your ability to construct and defend interpretations of complex material, and you will write extensively in ways that develop clarity of thought and expression.

Classics graduates are consistently sought after by employers who recognise the rigour, intellectual flexibility and communication skills the discipline develops. Career paths are broad and include law, the civil service, finance, consulting, publishing, journalism, education, museums and heritage. The combination of ancient languages, literary analysis and historical thinking is particularly valued in professions that prize precision with text and the ability to engage with complex evidence.

Many Reading graduates proceed to postgraduate study in classical languages, ancient history, archaeology, classical reception or humanities more broadly.