Ancient History, BA

Ancient History at Bristol gives you the flexibility to combine core units on Graeco-Roman history and culture with more specialised topics.

In the first two years you will take core units exploring the history of the ancient Greek and Roman world, the sources of information available for reconstructing it, and the different approaches employed by modern scholars. You will also choose from optional units on a wide range of topics dealing with Roman and Greek society and culture, including literature, philosophy and art. You may also choose to study Latin or Greek. There is the possibility of studying abroad for one semester in the second year.

In your third year you will choose units from a range of special subject seminars based on our academics' wide range of research interests. Working in co-operation with a supervisor, you will research and write a dissertation on a topic of your choice. You will also take the Applied Classics unit, which involves planning, marketing and executing a project aimed at presenting and communicating some aspect of the ancient world to the wider public.

Course structure

Your degree combines core units, which help you to develop the core skills and knowledge of an ancient historian, with optional ones, to allow you to shape your degree according to your own interests and to explore material of your choosing in more detail. The core units constitute two thirds of your units for the first two years of the degree. In the first year these include large-scale survey units on Greek and Roman history, a unit dealing with ancient historical writing as a source, and a unit dealing in more detail with a specific historical topic. In the second year, they include units dealing in detail with material sources (such as archaeology and coins) and units which introduce more sophisticated theoretical approaches to the ancient world and think about the ancient world in distinctive ways. Alongside these, you have the option to take other units from elsewhere in the department or beyond, including languages. In the third year, you will select units from the selection of specialist subject units in the department (these can also include languages), alongside your dissertation and the Applied Classics unit. More detail about individual units can be found on the course catalogue.

Full details about the course structure and units for this course can be viewed in the programme catalogue.

You can apply for undergraduate courses through theUniversities and Colleges Admissions Service(UCAS). The UCAS institution code for the University of Bristol is BRISL B78.

Entry requirements vary for each course. Please check our undergraduate course listings for details of specific requirements.

Students who have successfully completed either the University of Bristol International Foundation Programme or an appropriate foundation/bridging programme such as those offered by our partners, and have met the entry requirements for their chosen degree, will be considered for admission to undergraduate courses.

• Applicants with the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma or A-Levels will be considered for direct admission to our undergraduate degree programmes. Entry requirements are listed in ourUndergraduate Prospectus.
• If you have studied the American curriculum, entry requirements are listed on ourUSA country page.
• Applicants who have completed the Tawjihi (Certificate of General Secondary Education) with required grades, combined with the successfully completed American tests, a total of THREE in any combination from the list provided on ourUSA country page, will be considered for admission to our Bachelor degree courses.
• Applicants who have successfully completed the first year of a Jordanian university degree with a GPA of 3.5 out of 5.0 (or 3.0 out of 4.0)will be considered for admission to the first year of our Bachelor degree courses.