Ancient History and Comparative Literature

Ancient history and comparative literature is a pairing that connects the study of the ancient world with one of the most conceptually rich of the literary disciplines. Ancient history examines the civilisations of Greece and Rome and their neighbours, from the emergence of urban culture in the eighth century BCE through to the fall of the western Roman empire, drawing on textual sources, inscriptions, coins, and archaeology to reconstruct how ancient societies lived, fought, governed themselves, and understood the world. Comparative literature extends the analytical frame to texts from different national and linguistic traditions, asking what they share, how they differ, and what those comparisons reveal about storytelling, culture, and human experience across time and place.

At the University of St Andrews, this four-year MA (Hons) programme includes a year abroad, giving you the opportunity to encounter both disciplines in a different academic and cultural context. St Andrews has particular strength in ancient history, with research-active faculty working across the Greek and Roman worlds, and the comparative literature component draws on an equally strong tradition of close textual reading and cross-cultural analysis. You will study ancient history across its geographical and chronological range, engage with primary texts in translation, and develop the analytical toolkit of comparative literature through study of texts across different languages, periods, and traditions.

You will develop skills in source criticism, historical argument, literary analysis, and the clear written communication of complex ideas, building a profile that is both analytically rigorous and culturally broad.

Graduates from ancient history and comparative literature programmes pursue careers in education, publishing, journalism, the cultural sector, the civil service, international organisations, and academic research. Postgraduate study in classical studies, comparative literature, ancient history, or a related humanities discipline is a natural continuation for those who wish to specialise further.