Classics

Our MA in Classics combines language studies with an exploration of the philosophy, history and culture of the Greek and Latin-speaking world to provide you with the academic foundations on which to build a career in research.

You will take the course over one year full-time or two years part-time, starting with a language module of your choice. This is studied alongside a range of optional Classics and other Arts & Humanities modules covering a broad range of subjects including philosophy, history, literature, and visual culture.   

The course is taught through lectures, seminars and small group discussions and there is an emphasis on small-group teaching through the course, to encourage in-depth debate and enable you to fully engage with a range of perspectives. You will also complete a major dissertation on a subject of your choosing, supported by teaching experts with a wide range of specialisms in a department which has an established international reputation for the excellence of its academic standards.

This expertise has led us to develop academic centres that have become the focus for vital research activity including the Centre for Classical Reception; the Centre for the Study of the Ancient Mediterranean and the Near East; the Centre for Language and Writing Systems; the Durham Centre for Ancient and Medieval Philosophy; and the Centre for Classics Pedagogy Education and Didactics.

As well as being taught by subject-area experts in a diverse and exciting intellectual community, you will have unique access to our extensive collection featuring some 8,000 volumes of ancient texts in the original and in translation that will be ideal for research purposes.

Course Structure

All the MA programmes offered by the Faculty of Arts & Humanities consist of three components:

• a Major Research Project to the value of at least 60 credits 

• Core Modules to the value of 0-90 credits, depending on the programme

• Elective Modules, making up the total number of credits to 180; some of these modules will be defined as Recommended Electives for particular programmes.

For students studying the MA in Classics, the Dissertation (your Major Research Project (60 credits)) will be on a subject decided in consultation with your supervisor according to your research interests. It will feature an agreed framework of supervision that will build key skills for graduate research in classics and will bring together the research skills acquired through taught modules.

Students can opt for the standard Dissertation in Classics and Ancient History or can choose from one of two specialisms focusing on either Greece, Rome and the Near East or Ancient Philosophy.

You will also choose one or two core original language modules from the list below:

• Latin Text Seminar (30 credits)
• Greek Text Seminar (30 credits)
• Latin for Research (30 credits)
• Ancient Greek for Research (30 credits)

Finally, you will choose either 60 or 90 credits (depending on how many core modules you have selected) of elective modules from across the Faculty of Arts & Humanities, so that your total number of credits adds up to exactly 180.