Classical Civilisation and History BA

Course overview

Classical Civilisation allows you to take a varied and interdisciplinary approach to understanding the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. You’ll study classical literature, philosophy, and history alongside material culture to gain a deeper understanding of these societies and how their customs, ideas, and art have shaped the modern world. You’ll combine core and optional modules to develop a broad base of subject knowledge, cultivating deeper interests in diverse topics as you progress.

With History, you’ll have the chance to explore all aspects of human activity across cultures and over time. Core modules will introduce you to historiography and working with primary sources, developing your skills and knowledge. You’ll then choose from a wide range of optional modules to pursue topics that interest you, from the fall of Rome to the 20th century, and the US to India. You’ll also gain a wide range of transferable skills that are very attractive to employers.

Explore our libraries

Leeds has plenty of useful resources for Classical Civilisation and History students. The world-class Brotherton Library holds a wide variety of manuscript, archive and early printed material in its Special Collections. You’ll be able to get hands-on experience of working with ancient manuscripts, coins and other artefacts, including one of the longest surviving inscriptions from Ancient Britain. Our other library resources are also excellent, and the University Library offers a full training programme to help you make the most of them.

Take a look around our libraries:

• Brotherton Library
• Laidlaw Library
• Edward Boyle Library

Course details

A joint honours degree allows you to study the same core topics as students on each single honours course, but take fewer optional and discovery modules so you can fit in both subjects. You’ll also undertake a major research project in either subject in your final year.

Year 1

In your first year, you’ll study core modules that introduce you to concepts such as historiography and develop historical skills like working with primary sources. You’ll also choose from core modules on the history and literature of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds.

Year 2

In the following year, you’ll study the methods and approaches involved in Classics to build your research skills and choose from optional modules such as Ovid the Innovator and Plato on Love. You’ll have a choice of core modules on the great works of ancient literature, the empires of the ancient world, and the lives of under-represented and subordinate groups. You’ll also be able to choose from a wide range of optional modules, keeping a balance between earlier and later periods. You could study the Crusades, Imperial Germany or Mao Zedong and China since 1949.

Year 3

In your final year, you'll carry out your own major research project or dissertation in either Classics or History on a subject of your choice. You'll also continue to choose from optional modules on diverse topics from around the classical world, including the image of Sparta or representations of mythological women from antiquity to the present.

Classical texts are taught in translation, so you don’t need to have studied an ancient language. However, we do offer optional modules in every year of the degree to learn Ancient Greek or Latin from Beginners to Advanced level.

Course structure

The list shown below represents typical modules/components studied and may change from time to time. Read more in our terms and conditions.

Year 1

Compulsory modules

• Exploring History - This module equips all students with the fundamental skills, techniques, and knowledge to be able to flourish as an undergraduate student of history. You will discover the range of ways that the past is researched, analysed, and presented.

Optional modules (selection of typical options shown below, 20 credits each)

• Ancient Lives

• The Greek World: an Introduction

• The Roman World: an Introduction

• Greek Poets

• Roman Poets

• Introduction to Classical Archaeology

• Intermediate Ancient Greek (Level 1)

• Intermediate Latin (Level 1)

• Beginners Ancient Greek (Level 1)

• Beginners Latin

• Faith, Knowledge and Power, 1500-1750

• The Medieval World in Ten Objects

• Medieval Lives: Identities, Cultures and Beliefs

• Global Empires

• Global Decolonization

• The Making of the Twentieth Century

• Diverse Histories of Britain

Year 2

Compulsory modules (20 credits each)

• Evidence and Enquiry in Classics - This module is designed to build on and enhance the skills which you have developed at level 1, and to prepare you to pursue independent research at level 3 with the help and guidance of an academic supervisor. It offers a survey of Classics today, of classes of evidence, and of the various areas of classical research.

• History in Practice - Through this core module you’ll have the opportunity to deepen your understanding of how history is made and communicated, such as working with archival material, learning digital humanities skills, or exploring heritage and the public face of history. You’ll have the opportunity to undertake a research project that presents your work to a wider audience or to apply what you have learnt across a range of innovative assessment tasks.

Optional modules (selection of typical options shown below, 20 credits each)

• Invisible Greeks and Romans

• Virgil’s Aeneid

• Homer’s Iliad

• Ancient Empires: Power and Control

• Intermediate Ancient Greek (Level 2)

• Intermediate Latin (Level 2)

• Beginners Ancient Greek (Level 2)

• Beginners Latin (Level 2)

• Traversing Time: The Voyage of Argo

• The Athenian Empire

• Herodotus and the Beginning of History

• The Rise of Rome: Myth and History

• Roman Comedy

• Augustus and his Legacy

• The Ancient Greek Novel

• Screening Antiquity

• Heroines: Representations of Mythological Women from Antiquity to the Present

• Plato on Love

Year 3

Compulsory modules

Final year project, choose one of:

• History Dissertation, Final Year Project (40 credits) - Addressing a historical problem in-depth, you’ll write a dissertation of 12,000 words based on your own research, utilising primary and secondary sources according to a research method and programme designed in consultation with the supervisor. The dissertation can be written on a topic of your choice, provided it can be supervised by a member of staff from the School of History.

• Public History, Final Year Project (40 credits) - This final year project option allows you to create a historical resource intended for a public audience. You’ll explore different ways of presenting the past and choose an appropriate format – which might be a website, pop-up exhibition, film, podcast, or resources – for the research that underpins your project and the intended audience for your work. Through this module, you’ll develop highly attuned communication skills that are not only useful in the heritage sector but also in a wide range of careers.

• Major Research Project in Classics (40 credits) - The major dissertation requires the student to design their own 12,000-word project on any topic, subject to approval from a potential supervisor and the module coordinator.

History Special Subject (40 credits, a typical selection of streams or pathways)

• Dividing India: The Road to Democracy in South Asia, 1939-1952

• The Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939

• Body, Mind and Senses: The Social and Cultural History of Disability in Britain, 1833-1998

• Black British Culture and Black British Cultural Studies

• The Soviet Sixties: Politics and Society in the USSR, 1953-1968

• The Photographic Age: Photography, Society and Culture in Britain, 1839-1945

• Early Modern Media: Printing and the People in Europe c.1500-c.1800

• White Africans: Intimacy, Race and Power

• Georgians at War

• The Later Elizabethan Age: Politics and Empire

• The Korean War

Optional modules (selection of typical options shown below, 20 credits each)

• Intermediate Ancient Greek (Level 3)

• Intermediate Latin (Level 3)

• Beginners Ancient Greek (Level 3)

• Advanced Ancient Greek

• Beginners Latin (Level 3)

• Traversing Time: The Voyage of Argo

• The Athenian Empire

• Herodotus and the Beginning of History

• Ovid the Innovator

• The Rise of Rome: Myth and History

• Augustus and his Legacy

• The Ancient Greek Novel

• Screening Antiquity

• Heroines: Representations of Mythological Women from Antiquity to the Present

• The Image of Sparta

• Plato on Love

• Greek Religion

• Greek Tragedy

• War, Regicide and Republic: England, 1642-1660

Learning and teaching

Our tutors are experts in their fields, and their teaching is informed by their own cutting-edge research.

We use a range of teaching methods to help you benefit from their expertise, including lectures, seminars, tutorials or occasionally workshops. However, independent study is also central to this degree, since it allows you to develop your skills in research and analysis. You will be able to apply your skills and knowledge in a Final Year Research Project on a topic of your own choice.

The University offers a variety of tailored support for Classics and History students; the University Library runs free classes and workshops so you can learn how to use them.

On this course, you’ll be taught by our expert academics, from lecturers through to professors. You may also be taught by industry professionals with years of experience, as well as trained postgraduate researchers, connecting you to some of the brightest minds on campus.

Assessment

We use diverse types of assessment designed to deliver key skills essential for the world of work: to think clearly and critically, to speak well, and to write persuasively. Exams and essays are a part of this, but we also use poster presentations, reflective commentaries and narrated slideshow presentations. You may also be assessed on oral presentations or group work in some modules. We work hard at Leeds to make other innovative and inclusive assessment options available too. Our aim is to make sure you develop skills not only in your chosen subjects but also ones which you can take into your future career.

We offer additional support in relevant areas – for example, we run extra classes on skills such as public speaking, structuring essays and exam techniques that you’ll be able to attend throughout your time at Leeds.

Entry requirements

A-level: AAB

Other course specific tests:

When an applicant is taking the EPQ in a relevant subject this might be considered alongside other Level 3 qualifications and may attract an alternative offer in addition to the standard offer. If you are taking A Levels, this would be ABB at A Level and grade A in the EPQ.

Alternative qualification

Read more about UK and Republic of Ireland accepted qualifications or contact the School’s Undergraduate Admissions Team.

Alternative entry

We’re committed to identifying the best possible applicants, regardless of personal circumstances or background.

Access to Leeds is a contextual admissions scheme which accepts applications from individuals who might be from low income households, in the first generation of their immediate family to apply to higher education, or have had their studies disrupted.

Find out more about Access to Leeds and contextual admissions.

Typical Access to Leeds offer: BBB at A Level and pass Access to Leeds.

International

We accept a range of international equivalent qualifications. Contact the Undergraduate Admissions Office for more information.

International Foundation Year

International students who do not meet the academic requirements for undergraduate study may be able to study the University of Leeds International Foundation Year. This gives you the opportunity to study on campus, be taught by University of Leeds academics and progress onto a wide range of Leeds undergraduate courses. Find out more about International Foundation Year programmes.

English language requirements

IELTS 6.5 overall, with no less than 6.0 in any component. For other English qualifications, read English language equivalent qualifications.

Improve your English
If you're an international student and you don't meet the English language requirements for this programme, you may be able to study our undergraduate pre-sessional English course, to help improve your English language level.

Fees

UK: £9,250 (per year)

International: £24,500 (per year)

Tuition fees for UK undergraduate students starting in 2024/25
Tuition fees for UK full-time undergraduate students are set by the UK Government and will be £9,250 for students starting in 2024/25.

The fee may increase in future years of your course in line with inflation only, as a consequence of future changes in Government legislation and as permitted by law.

Tuition fees for UK undergraduate students starting in 2025/26
Tuition fees for UK full-time undergraduate students starting in 2025/26 have not yet been confirmed by the UK government. When the fee is available we will update individual course pages.

Tuition fees for international undergraduate students starting in 2024/25 and 2025/26
Tuition fees for international students for 2024/25 are available on individual course pages. Fees for students starting in 2025/26 will be available from September 2024.

Tuition fees for a study abroad or work placement year
If you take a study abroad or work placement year, you’ll pay a reduced tuition fee during this period. For more information, see Study abroad and work placement tuition fees and loans.

Read more about paying fees and charges.

There may be additional costs related to your course or programme of study, or related to being a student at the University of Leeds. Read more on our living costs and budgeting page.

Scholarships and financial support

If you have the talent and drive, we want you to be able to study with us, whatever your financial circumstances. There is help for students in the form of loans and non-repayable grants from the University and from the government. Find out more in our Undergraduate funding overview.

Applying

Apply to this course through UCAS. Check the deadline for applications on the UCAS website.

Read our guidance about applying.

International students apply through UCAS in the same way as UK students. Our network of international representatives can help you with your application. If you’re unsure about the application process, contact the admissions team for help.

Read about visas, immigration and other information in International students. We recommend that international students apply as early as possible to ensure that they have time to apply for their visa.

Admissions policy

University of Leeds Admissions Policy 2025

This course is taught by

School of Languages, Cultures and Societies
School of History

Contact us

School of Languages, Cultures and Societies Undergraduate Admissions

Email: artsadmissions@leeds.ac.uk
Telephone:

Career opportunities

A degree as broad as Classical Civilisation and History equips you with a wide range of transferable skills that are highly valuable to employers.

You’ll have advanced communication skills, which allow you to present and defend your ideas confidently and clearly. You’ll also have strong independent research skills – enabling you to think critically about the information you find – alongside the teamwork and organisational skills needed to handle two different subjects.

This means our graduates are in a great position to succeed in diverse careers. They’ve gone into publishing, law, journalism, education, advertising and marketing, business and finance, the charity sector, and the civil service. Many have also continued to postgraduate study.

You can read more about the range of careers our Classical Civilisation and History graduates progress into, as well as the support we offer you throughout your degree.

The School of Languages, Cultures and Societies careers and employability support includes promoting internships, providing opportunities to work for the School and employer-led workshops and events.

Careers support

The School of Languages, Cultures and Societies regularly hosts employability events where you can listen to Leeds alumni talking about their careers and ask them for advice.

We encourage you to prepare for your career from day one. That’s one of the reasons Leeds graduates are so sought after by employers.

Leeds for Life is our unique approach to helping you make the most of University by supporting your academic and personal development. Find out more at the Leeds for Life website.

The Careers Centre and staff in your faculty provide a range of help and advice to help you plan your career and make well-informed decisions along the way, even after you graduate. Find out more about Careers support.

Study abroad and work placements

Study abroad

On this course you have the opportunity to apply to spend time abroad, usually as an extra academic year. We have over 300 University partners worldwide and popular destinations for our students include Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Africa and Latin America. 

Find out more at the Study Abroad website.

Classical Civilisation and History at Leeds has exchange links with Verona University (Italy) and modern language classes are available before you go to prepare you for the experience. There are also opportunities at our partner universities across the world where courses are taught in English.

Work placements

Practical work experience can help you decide on your career and improve your employability. On this course you have the option to apply to take a placement year module with organisations across the public, private and voluntary sectors in the UK, or overseas.

Find out more about work experience on the Careers website.

A work placement year is a popular choice with our students as it provides an opportunity to gain invaluable work experience as part of your degree. Hannah spent a year working for an integrated marketing group. As with study abroad, you don't have to decide whether to pursue this before coming to Leeds.

You'll apply for the work placement year when you are already here and settled into your degree. If you are successful, you'll work in a graduate-level role and return to Leeds to complete your final year.