Arabic and Ancient History

Arabic is the language of more than 400 million people and one of the official languages of the United Nations, spoken across a vast arc of countries stretching from Morocco to the Gulf. It carries with it a literary and intellectual tradition of extraordinary richness, encompassing the golden age of Islamic scholarship, the medieval translation movement that preserved Greek science, centuries of poetry and prose, and a dynamic contemporary literature. Ancient history, meanwhile, examines the civilisations of the ancient world, including Greece, Rome, Egypt and Mesopotamia, asking how these societies were organised, how they communicated and what they left behind.

At the University of St Andrews this five-year full-time programme brings these two disciplines into productive dialogue. Arabic offers the chance to develop genuine linguistic competence in one of the most geographically and culturally significant languages in the world, alongside the opportunity for comparative analysis between different linguistic, literary and cultural traditions. Ancient history grounds this in the study of civilisations that shaped the Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds, drawing on texts, inscriptions, archaeology and material evidence to reconstruct the past.

Together they develop close reading, critical analysis, research skills and the kind of cross-cultural understanding that comes from sustained engagement with traditions very different from one's own.

Graduates with expertise in Arabic and ancient history are well placed for careers in diplomacy, the foreign service, international organisations, journalism, academia, heritage and museum work, cultural organisations and NGOs working across the Arab world. Many pursue postgraduate study in Arabic, Middle Eastern studies, classical studies, ancient history or related fields, and the combination of linguistic and historical expertise supports research careers in several disciplines.