Classics

Classics at Cambridge is the study of ancient Greece and Rome in their full cultural, literary, philosophical, historical and linguistic complexity, approached with a level of academic rigour and scholarly ambition that the two-and-a-half-thousand-year history of the subject demands. You will engage with the texts, artefacts, and ideas of two civilisations whose influence on Western thought, law, science, art, and politics has been immeasurable, and you will do so with the analytical tools of linguistics, literary criticism, philosophy, history, and archaeology.

The programme is offered in two versions. Students who have studied Latin at A level or equivalent join the three-year course, which allows you to begin at a higher level of linguistic and textual engagement. Students with little or no Latin experience can apply for a four-year course, with the first year providing the linguistic foundation needed to access the texts in the original.

You will study Latin and Greek language and literature, ancient history, ancient philosophy, and the material and visual culture of the ancient world, developing the close reading, analytical, and argumentative skills that a Cambridge Classics education is internationally known for.

Classics graduates from Cambridge are among the most highly sought by competitive employers across a very wide range of sectors. The combination of linguistic precision, analytical depth, historical perspective, and the intellectual confidence that engagement with the most demanding texts in the Western tradition produces is valued in law, the civil service, journalism, banking and finance, consultancy, publishing, and the many other professions where rigorous analytical and communication skills matter most. Academic research is a natural path for those drawn to the scholarly life, and many graduates go on to postgraduate study in classical studies, ancient history, philosophy, or linguistics.

The Cambridge Classics degree is one of the most intellectually prestigious and practically effective undergraduate qualifications available.