Ancient History/ Celtic Studies

Ancient history brings the civilisations of Greece, Rome, and the wider Mediterranean world into focus, examining nearly a thousand years of political, cultural, social, and intellectual life from the eighth century BC through to the fifth century AD. Celtic studies, meanwhile, opens a different but equally rich window on the ancient world, exploring the languages, literatures, history, and cultures of the Celtic peoples of Britain, Ireland, and continental Europe. Taken together, the two disciplines offer a remarkably wide comparative perspective on how pre-modern societies organised themselves, told their stories, and left their marks on the world that followed.

At the University of Glasgow, this four-year full-time degree lets you explore both traditions in depth.

You will engage with primary source material in translation as well as in the original languages where you choose to pursue them: the programme offers the opportunity to study Latin, ancient Greek, and the Celtic languages for those who wish to read the ancient authors directly. Historical method receives sustained attention, encouraging you to evaluate evidence critically, to understand how historians construct arguments, and to recognise the limits of what the surviving record allows us to know. Celtic studies brings particular strengths in medieval Irish and Welsh literature and in the archaeology and place-name evidence that reveals how Celtic cultures persisted and transformed across centuries.

A year abroad is built into the programme, giving you the experience of studying in another academic environment and broadening your cultural and intellectual horizons. The typical entry tariff is 200 UCAS points.

Graduates pursue careers in heritage, museums, archives, education, publishing, journalism, the civil service, and the law, among other fields. The rigorous training in source analysis, argument construction, and cross-cultural understanding that both disciplines provide is valued wherever careful, evidence-based thinking is required. Many graduates also continue to postgraduate study in ancient history, classical languages, Celtic studies, or medieval history.