History and Beginners' Modern Greek

History and modern Greek is a degree that joins the rigorous analytical tools of historical study with the linguistic and cultural access that knowledge of Greek provides. Oxford's joint degrees in history and modern languages are built on the recognition, increasingly confirmed by academic practice, that history has experienced a linguistic turn while literary studies have undergone a historical turn, making the combination of these subjects more intellectually productive than ever. The forensic literary skills of the linguist are vital for interrogating historical documents, while historians must be aware of genre, rhetoric, and narrative in both their sources and their own arguments.

At the University of Oxford, this four-year full-time programme offers modern Greek as a beginners' language option, meaning you do not need to have studied Greek before. Starting from scratch in a language at Oxford demands significant motivation and linguistic aptitude, but the four-year structure allows you to develop your Greek to a genuinely useful level alongside your historical studies, engaging with the literature, culture, and contemporary affairs of Greece and the Greek-speaking world. A typical entry tariff of 184 points reflects the exceptionally high academic standard that Oxford requires of all its students.

You will develop close reading and argumentation skills through the history component, studying periods and places across the breadth of historical scholarship, while developing Greek language proficiency, cultural knowledge, and literary understanding through the language strand. The combination gives you tools for engaging with Greek history and culture directly, without the mediation of translation.

Graduates from Oxford history and modern Greek programmes go on to careers in the civil service, academia, journalism, publishing, law, diplomacy, international organisations, and many other fields where the combination of rigorous historical thinking and linguistic capability is valued. Postgraduate study in history, classics, modern Greek, or international relations is a well-established route.