History and Ancient History

History and ancient history together make a degree that reaches from the earliest literate civilisations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome to the modern world, developing your capacity to read, interpret, and argue about the human past across a vast temporal and geographical span. History develops your ability to work with the evidence of more recent centuries, to understand how historical knowledge is constructed, and to engage with the political, social, economic, and cultural forces that have shaped the modern world. Ancient history deepens those skills in the more remote past, working with classical texts, inscriptions, papyri, and archaeological evidence in ways that require particular philological and interpretive care.

At the University of Exeter, this three-year, full-time degree is unusual in combining both disciplines within a programme that also includes a sandwich placement year, a year abroad, and work placement opportunities. That combination of deep historical study with substantial professional and international experience produces graduates who are both analytically rigorous and practically experienced. Exeter's humanities departments have strong research reputations, and the degree benefits from genuine depth of expertise in both ancient and modern history.

Graduates from history and ancient history degrees work in education, museums and heritage, the civil service, journalism, archiving, law, publishing, policy, and the full range of sectors where analytical, research, and communicative skills are valued. The combination of ancient and modern coverage, and the language skills that ancient history often develops, are particular assets for roles in heritage, classical scholarship, and cultural institutions. Many graduates go on to postgraduate study in history, ancient history, classical studies, or archaeology, deepening their expertise for research or specialist professional careers.