Greek Studies

Greek Studies is one of the most intellectually demanding and most historically important of all humanities disciplines. Ancient Greek is the language of Homer and Plato, of Aeschylus and Aristotle, of the New Testament and Byzantine Christianity, and reading it in the original gives you direct access to the texts that have shaped Western thought, literature, science, and philosophy more profoundly than any other body of writing. Beyond the ancient world, the Byzantine period extends the Greek tradition through more than a millennium of empire, theology, and cultural production that remains inadequately known in anglophone education.

At the University of Edinburgh, this four-year MA (Master of Arts) programme includes a year abroad and allows you to study ancient Greek language and literature alongside courses that establish the wider context of the ancient Greek, Roman, and Byzantine worlds. You will develop your Greek from wherever you begin, whether that is complete beginner level or with some prior knowledge, working through the grammatical and syntactic structures of the language while reading increasingly complex and rewarding texts. The contextual courses give you the historical, cultural, and material framework to understand the texts you read, examining Greek religion, political thought, art, and society.

The year abroad gives you the opportunity to study in a different academic environment, which may involve time in Greece itself, deepening your engagement with the culture and landscape in which this tradition originated.

Graduates of Greek Studies move into careers in classics teaching, archiving, museum and heritage work, publishing, journalism, law, academia, and the civil service. Many pursue postgraduate study in ancient history, classical archaeology, Byzantine studies, or related fields. The analytical, linguistic, and intellectual skills that classical study develops are valued across many professional contexts, and the depth of historical and philosophical engagement that Greek gives you is a distinctive intellectual formation.