Persian

Persian, also known as Farsi, is the official language of Iran and has historical significance across a broad swathe of Central and South Asia, where it served for centuries as the language of courts, literature, scholarship and administration from Anatolia to the Indian subcontinent. Persian literature is one of the richest in the world, encompassing the poetry of Hafez, Rumi and Omar Khayyam alongside a rich tradition of prose and a vibrant contemporary literary scene. Studying Persian at Oxford places you in a tradition of Asian and Middle Eastern studies that is unique in its focus on civilisations that differ fundamentally from those on which most British education is based.

This four-year full-time degree combines linguistic study with literary, historic and cultural analysis, developing your capacity to read Persian texts in the original alongside your understanding of the history, religion, philosophy, art and society of the cultures in which the language has been central. The programme draws on the full range of Oxford's academic resources and the breadth of its Asian and Middle Eastern studies provision, giving you access to an exceptional research culture and scholarly tradition. You will engage with both classical and modern Persian and with the cultural and contemporary dimensions of the Iranian world and the Persianate tradition more broadly.

Graduates with expertise in Persian are in a very small field, which makes them distinctive and valuable in specific professional contexts. Careers in diplomacy, the foreign service, intelligence, academic research, journalism specialising in Middle Eastern or Central Asian affairs, and organisations working in Iran, Afghanistan and the broader Persian-speaking world are natural directions. Translation, publishing, heritage and museum work relating to Islamic and Iranian culture are further options.

Postgraduate study in Persian studies, Islamic studies, Middle Eastern history, linguistics or comparative literature opens further specialist routes for those who wish to develop their expertise at an advanced level.