Classics

Classics is the study of the ancient world of Greece and Rome through its literature, history, art, and material culture, with the option to study Latin and Greek language at whatever level suits your existing knowledge. It is one of the oldest and richest academic disciplines, engaging with texts and artefacts that have shaped Western thought, law, politics, and culture for over two millennia. At the University of Glasgow, the part-time MA Classics includes a year abroad, giving you an international dimension to your study of a discipline that transcends national boundaries by definition.

As the current description notes, classics involves the study of the literature, history, art, and material culture of ancient Greece and Rome. The linguistic strand, whether in Latin, ancient Greek, or both, develops your ability to read primary texts in the original languages, which gives access to philosophical, rhetorical, historical, and poetic works of extraordinary depth and range. The historical and cultural strand examines ancient societies in their full complexity: political institutions, social structures, religion, art and architecture, philosophy, science, and the dynamics of the ancient Mediterranean world.

Glasgow has particular research strengths in ancient history, classical literature, and the reception of classical culture in later periods, and the programme benefits from this depth of expertise.

Classics graduates develop a set of intellectual skills of unusual rigour and depth: the ability to read ancient languages precisely, to interpret complex texts contextually, to think historically about evidence, and to engage with ideas across vast stretches of time and cultural difference. These skills are consistently valued in law, the civil service, journalism, publishing, teaching, academia, arts administration, and the heritage sector. Many employers recognise classics graduates as unusually well-trained analytical thinkers.

Some graduates go on to postgraduate study in classics, ancient history, classical archaeology, or the reception of antiquity in later culture. The year abroad deepens both the academic and the personal dimensions of the programme.