Classical Studies and Greek

Classical studies at the University of St Andrews is a degree of remarkable breadth and depth. It encompasses not only the literature of ancient Greece and Rome but the full range of classical civilisation, including social and cultural history, philosophy, religion, art and architecture, and the ways in which Greek and Roman culture has been received, reinterpreted and contested from the Renaissance to the present day. Combining this broad engagement with the ancient world with the study of Greek as a language takes you deeper still, giving you direct access to the primary sources of one of the most intellectually and artistically rich civilisations in human history.

This four-year MA programme develops your skills in Greek alongside the interdisciplinary analytical and interpretive capacities that classical studies demands. You will encounter the power of Greek tragedy, the imposing beauty of Roman sculpture, the twists and turns of Platonic dialogue and the narrative complexity of classical historiography, and the programme encourages you to bring these encounters to bear on questions that remain live and urgent in the contemporary world. A year abroad extends your formation and gives you the opportunity to engage with classical scholarship in a different academic environment.

Classical studies and Greek graduates enter careers that draw on close reading, cultural knowledge, rigorous argument and the ability to engage with complex texts and ideas. Teaching, academic research, journalism, publishing, the museum and heritage sector, law, the civil service and arts administration are all natural directions. The combination of broad humanities formation and specific linguistic skill makes graduates of this programme unusually versatile.

Many go on to postgraduate study in classics, ancient history, archaeology, philosophy or comparative literature, where the foundations laid at undergraduate level support serious and distinctive advanced work.