Ancient Languages
Ancient languages is one of the most distinctive degrees available in the humanities, offering training in an unparalleled range of languages from the ancient world and their associated histories, cultures, and textual traditions. As University College London describes it, students study Hebrew and either Greek or Latin throughout the programme, plus up to three additional languages chosen from a wide selection including Akkadian, Aramaic, Egyptian, Sumerian, Syriac, and Ugaritic. These are the languages of some of the oldest and most significant civilisations in human history, the languages in which the Hebrew Bible and New Testament were written, in which the laws, literature, and religious thought of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Levant were expressed, and which provide direct access to some of the most important archives and texts ever produced.
UCL's four-year full-time Ancient Languages degree carries a typical entry tariff of 168 points, reflecting the exceptional linguistic demands of a programme that requires you to develop reading competence across multiple ancient scripts and grammatical systems. You will develop skills in philological analysis, close textual reading, linguistic comparison, and the interpretation of ancient texts within their historical and cultural contexts. UCL is one of the world's leading centres for the study of the ancient Near East, Egypt, and the classical world, and you will benefit from specialist teaching and access to significant research resources.
Graduates with ancient languages work in academia, heritage, museums and archives, biblical and religious studies, classical archaeology, Assyriology, Egyptology, and a range of specialist humanities fields. Many continue to postgraduate study or doctoral research, where the depth of linguistic training the degree provides is an essential foundation. The analytical and interpretive skills developed through the study of multiple ancient languages also transfer into archiving, publishing, law, and the civil service.