Entry requirements

A minimum of a 2:1 honours degree and a Master's degree at Merit level, or international equivalent, in a related subject. We will give specific consideration to any independent research you do as part of your studies and/or appropriate professional experience.

You must submit two letters of recommendation (obligatory) and a writing sample, such as a chapter from an MA dissertation or a published paper (optional).

Months of entry

January, July

Course content

Our programmes cover a range of classical subjects. They include material culture and history, language and literature, philosophy and the history of science and medicine. We have strong links with related disciplines such as history, archaeology and modern languages. We welcome postgraduates in any of our areas of research expertise.

Classics and Ancient History at Newcastle has a long and distinguished international reputation. We deliver quality research and teaching. We have taught Latin and Greek since 1874. We have taught Ancient History since 1910 and Classical Archaeology since 1931.

Our staff include scholars of outstanding international reputation. Our research covers all major aspects of the study of the ancient world.

MPhil and PhD supervision is usually available in:

Ancient history and classical archaeology

Archaeology of religion and ritual from the Bronze Age to the early Classical era

Greco–Roman religion

Greek ethnography

Late Classical and Hellenistic periods: Alexander the Great and Hellenistic empires; kingship and royal ideology

Contact and interaction between Greeks and non-Greeks

The history and archaeology of pre-Roman and Roman Italy

The late Roman Republic

Institutions of the Roman world

The social, economic and cultural history of the Roman Empire

Roman Greece

Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt

The era of the tetrarchy and Constantine

Pagan-Christian relations

Late Roman/early mediaeval legal history

Slavery in the ancient world

Greek art and archaeology

Classical language and literature

Greek poetry from Homer to the imperial age

‘Presocratic’ and ‘Hippocratic’ writers

Greek tragedy, including its reception

Ancient didactic poetry

Second Sophistic

Ancient linguistic thought, especially etymology

Greek influence on later literature

Greek and Roman music, including harmonic theory; instruments and their place in the development of Greek musical science; music and Graeco-Roman society; the representation of musical instruments.

Greek and Roman oratory and rhetoric

Cicero: rhetoric, philosophy, politics

Latin poetry

Literature and religion in Latin epic

Time in ancient literature

Flavian literature and culture

Ancient historiography

History of Classical Scholarship

Reception of the ancient world

Philosophy and science

Ancient philosophy, particularly epistemology and ethics,

The exact sciences in Greek and Roman antiquity

The history of Greek and Roman medicine

Hippocratic medicine and the history of its reception up until the 20th century

You can find a detailed list of classics research areas on our website.

There is a lively research culture in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology. We have a seminar programme with contributions from:

academic staff

postgraduate students

distinguished visiting speakers

You will have the opportunity to get involved in our student-led Postgraduate Forum. Their activities include publishing an online peer-reviewed journal and organising bi-monthly seminars. At the seminars, students deliver papers to their peers and academic staff. There is also an annual postgraduate conference. Here you can present your research to other regional and national postgraduates and academics.

Information for international students

Direct Entry: IELTS 6.5 overall (with a minimum of 6.5 in writing, and 5.5 in all other sub-skills).

Fees and funding

See our programme fees and funding web page.

Qualification, course duration and attendance options

MPhil
part time
24 months
- Campus-based learningis available for this qualification
full time
12 months
- Campus-based learningis available for this qualification
PhD
part time
72 months
- Campus-based learningis available for this qualification
full time
36 months
- Campus-based learningis available for this qualification

Course contact details

Name: Dr Federico Santangelo, Degree Programme Director
Email: pg.historical@ncl.ac.uk

Phone: +44 (0) 191 208 7978

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Classics and Ancient History