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BA Classics
BA Classics with Year Abroad
This page gives an overview of how our BA Classics works, with some sample module choices. For a full description see the UCL Undergraduate Course Catalogue for the BA Classics or BA Classics with Year Abroad.
The BA Classics (Q800) degree programme offers a rich array of modules in the language, literature, history, culture and philosophy of the Graeco-Roman world and its neighbours. We also offer modules in intellectual history and the reception of the ancient world in the post-classical and modern worlds.
- Modules available to students taking the BA Classics and BA Ancient World.
- The BA Classics requires an A-level or equivalent in either Latin or Ancient Greek (the other language can be taken at Beginners or Intermediate level).
All students must take at least 30 credits of Latin-based modules, and at least 30 credits of Greek-based modules in each year of study
- i.e. Latin or Greek language, or modules which involve reading texts in the original language.
In the first year, all students must take the two core courses: Interpreting Greek Literature, and Interpreting Latin literature.
In the second year, all students must take Classics and Literary Theory.
(The structure for the BA Classics with Year Abroad Q801 is identical, except that in their first and second years students study also need to take 30 + 15 credits in the language of the country they wish to visit unless they can demonstrate proficiency: note that this takes out optional courses in the first year. They spend their third year abroad, then take their final year at UCL in their fourth year.)
This gives the following structure:
| Year One | Year Two | Final Year |
| 30 credits of Latin-based modules | 30 credits of Latin-based modules | 30 credits of Latin-based modules |
| 30 credits of Greek-based modules | 30 credits of Greek-based modules | 30 credits of Greek-based modules |
| Interpreting Greek Literature | Classics and Literary Theory | (student choice) |
| Interpreting Latin Literature | (student choice) | (student choice) |
| (student choice) | (student choice) | (student choice) |
| (student choice) | (student choice) | (student choice) |
❧ Sample Module Choices
Classics: Sample One
| Year One | Year Two | Year Three |
| Advanced Latin | Latin: Seneca* | Latin: Ovid* |
| Advanced Greek | Latin Prose Composition* | Latin: Late and Medieval Latin* |
| Interpreting Greek Literature* | Greek: Aeschylus* | Homer: Odyssey* |
| Interpreting Latin Literature* | Greek Translation* | Greek Papyrology* |
| Ancient Ideas in the Modern World* | Classics and Literary Theory* | Epic and Empire* |
| Greek Myth: Its Use and Meaning* | Latin Palaeography* | Greek Comedy* |
| Augustan Culture | Latin: History of the Latin Language* | |
| Roman Art and Architecture* |
Total 120 credits per year. An asterisk indicates a 15 credit module (usually one term); all others are 30 credits (usually two terms).
This student arrived at UCL with A-levels in Latin and Greek. In their first year they took Advanced Latin (reading selected texts with grammar review) as their compulsory 30 credits of Latin language, and Advanced Greek (reading selected texts with grammar review) as their compulsory 30 credits of Greek language. They progressed to specific author-focused text modules in Latin in their second and in their final year, in which they also took a couple of other advanced-level Latin modules. In Greek, they followed a similar progression: from Advanced Greek (reading selected texts with grammar review) in their first year to specific author-focused text modules in Greek in their second and in their final year. Like all classicists, they took the core literature survey modules Interpreting Greek Literature and Interpreting Latin Literature in the first year, and the Classics and Literary Theory module in the second. As their interests were very much in the field of Classical languages and literature, almost all their module choices were modules offered by the Department of Greek and Latin, though in their final year they also decided to take a module from the Institute of Archaeology.
Classics: Sample Two
| Year One | Year Two | Year Three |
| Advanced Latin | Latin: Horace* | Latin: Roman Satire* |
| Greek for Beginners A* | Latin Translation* | Latin: Essay on an approved subject* |
| Greek for Beginners B* | Intermediate Greek A* | Advanced Greek |
| Interpreting Greek Literature* | Intermediate Greek B* | Homer: Iliad* |
| Interpreting Latin Literature* | Classics and Literary Theory* | The Archaeology of Etruscan Italy* |
| Introduction to Egyptian Archaeology* | Augustan Culture | The Dialogues of Plato* |
| 17th- and 18th-Century Art in London Collections I* | Portraiture in Early Modern Europe* | Roman Britain: History and Archaeology* |
Total 120 credits per year. An asterisk indicates a 15 credit course (usually one term); all others are 30 credits (usually two terms).
This student came to UCL with Latin A-level, and no prior knowledge of Greek. In their first year they took Advanced Latin (reading selected texts with grammar review) as their compulsory 30 credits of Latin language, progressing to specific author-focused text modules in Latin in their second year (Horace) and third year (Roman Satire). In their third year they elected to write an essay on a topic in Latin, which satisfied 15 credits of their Latin requirement. In Greek, they progressed from Greek for Beginners in their first year, to Intermediate Greek in the second and to Advanced Greek (reading selected texts with grammar review) in their final year (in which they also took a module on Homer, read in translation). Like all classicists, they took the core literature survey modules Interpreting Greek Literature and Interpreting Latin Literature in the first year, and the Classics and Literary Theory module in the second. This student was also able to pursue their interest in art, taking two modules outside the Classical World syllabus in their first and second years, and also to cultivate interests in archaeology and history.
Both students could have taken optional modules in Hittite, Akkadian, Sumerian or Sanskrit; they could also have pursued an interest in ancient history, papyrology, or linguistics.
❧ Notes
- Note that text modules and thematic modules are rotated each year in order to provide maximum choice. Sample modules not running in the current academic year are without a link.
- Your first-year modules may include up to 30 credits, and your second- and third-year courses may include up to 30 credits altogether over the two years, of courses entirely outside the field of Classics.
- See the list of modules running in the current academic year in the Department of Greek and Latin, and all modules available in the Ancient World at UCL.
- Information on our degree programmes with year abroad.