Latin

Latin is the language of Roman civilisation and of a literary tradition that shaped the intellectual and cultural life of Europe for over two thousand years. To read Latin is to gain direct access to the poets, historians, philosophers, orators, and letter-writers of ancient Rome in their own words, rather than through the distorting medium of translation. The discipline trains a distinctive kind of close, analytical reading, requiring you to work with grammatical structures quite different from those of modern European languages and to reconstruct the meaning of complex sentences with care and precision.

It also opens a window onto the history, politics, religion, and society of the ancient world that no other approach can fully replicate.

At the University of Glasgow, this part-time programme gives you the opportunity to study Latin at degree level alongside other commitments. You will read authors including Virgil, Ovid, and other Latin poets, Roman dramatists, orators, historians, biographers, and philosophical writers, engaging with them as literary artists and historical witnesses. The programme covers Roman political and social history, philosophy, religion, and art, situating the texts within the civilisation that produced them.

A year abroad is incorporated, giving you the opportunity to study in a different academic and cultural environment.

Graduates of classical language programmes go on to work in education, academia, publishing, law, journalism, heritage, and a wide range of other fields where the precision of thought that Latin training develops is valued. Many pursue postgraduate study in classics, ancient history, medieval studies, or linguistics, and the close reading skills developed in Latin are recognised as excellent preparation for any advanced academic work that requires careful engagement with complex texts.