Skip to main content
Oxford University

Faculty of Classics

Oxford offers classical studies in two broad segments: ancient history and classical archaeology; and Greek and Latin languages and literature. The faculty’s core interests lie in the crossovers and synergies between Greek and Roman cultures.

Special Collections Reading Room, Radcliffe Science Library

The Special Collections Reading Room at the Radcliffe Science Library. Credit: Greta Pintacuda / Graduate Photography Competition

Overview

The academic study of ancient Greek and Roman civilisation - thought, society, language, culture, literature, history, art - spans nearly two millennia (c. 1200 BC to AD 600), and is tightly interwoven with most branches of humanities. The faculty also specialises in all the disciplines needed to comprehend these two worlds in their wider context in time and space. These include:

  • the study of language, inscriptions and papyri, of texts preserved in the medieval scribal continuum, of literary form, of material culture and field archaeology
  • the histories of landscape and of cognition, word and image, scholarship and performance, production, consumption and power
  • the reception of antiquity in subsequent periods

The crossovers and synergies also situate core Greek and Roman literature and culture in a wider world reaching from Mycenaean palaces to Egypt, Bactria or India.

In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework exercise, the faculty presented the largest number of academics in UK Classics (91). 52% of the submission was rated 4* (world-leading) and 32% 3* (internationally excellent), giving the faculty by far the highest quantity of 4* or 3* research in UK Classics.

The faculty has an unusually large and wide-ranging body of scholars and graduates. It offers a packed and varied programme of seminars and abundant informal interaction, make this an exciting and stimulating community in which to study Classics.

The faculty is fortunate in having two world-class research libraries close at hand, the Bodleian and the Bodleian Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library. The Bodleian Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library is an open-shelf lending library indispensable to anyone studying ancient history, archaeology and art; it is also extremely useful for those studying literature or philology.

Courses offered

Humanities Division

Oxford is at the forefront of international research in the humanities, with five subject areas judged to have the highest volume of world-leading 4*-rated research in the UK in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework.

“As we delve into our particular subjects, we’re invited not to lose sight of the general awe of what it means to be human,” said Julia, an MPhil student in Linguistics and Comparative Philology. Oxford offers an unparalleled range of Humanities subjects, from music and fine art to ancient and modern languages.

The Humanities Division comprises around a third of the University's community of staff and students, offering taught graduate and research degrees in a very wide range of subjects. Humanities departments and faculties attract outstanding students, academics and researchers from across the globe. As a result, graduate students have the opportunity to undertake their studies and research in a stimulating, challenging and highly rewarding intellectual environment.

Some of these subjects are relatively new, and cross the boundaries of traditional disciplines. Others are areas of academic research that have long been recognised as of central importance, and they include some that few other universities are still able to support. In each case, the objective is to sustain and to teach the highest standards of scholarship. The dynamism of intellectual activity is evident in the wide variety of open lectures and seminars, in addition to those for specific courses.

You will have access to an immense range of research material, including digital resources. These resources are provided through Oxford’s impressive library system, based on the central Bodleian libraries, through the work produced by the University's research projects, and through the rich and diverse holdings of its museums.

In addition to materials and support focused on conveying subject-specific knowledge, there are a wide range of facilities aimed at the personal and professional development of students, strengthening their existing skills, developing new skills, and preparing them for careers after they have completed their studies.

Further information