You will explore the principal issues, ideas and methods involved in studying the reception of the classical world across a range of periods, societies, and media. You will also investigate different responses to classical cultures in action and gain understanding of how later cultures have viewed and made use of the classical world from their own historically situated standpoint. The course will equip you with the tools necessary for research, including training in the use of digital resources online, library catalogues and archives.
You’ll enrich and advance your prior knowledge of past and present cultures through the exploration of the ancient world in its full chronological, geographical and methodological range, and its reception in different periods and places. Through seminars, coursework and a dissertation, you will gain the skills of critical and conceptual thinking needed to understand in fresh terms the significance of the ancient world in later cultures.
The course is suitable for students with a first degree in classics, classical civilisation, history, art, archaeology, modern languages, or comparative literature who wish to develop their understanding of classical culture, as a foundation for further research or as a qualification in its own right. Knowledge of Ancient Greek or Latin is not required.
The Reception of the Classical World MA offers a wide range of skills highly valued by employers, such as advanced oral communication; the ability to abstract and synthesise information, and to construct and manage arguments; independent and critical thinking on difficult issues; IT skills, including the ability to access and evaluate data; and good time management, organisational, and planning skills.
The MA is an ideal springboard for a PhD course, and you will find unique opportunities to acquire skills in the handling of documentary evidence, particularly valuable for further research.
Some students go on to pursue research and further study at UCL or other institutions. Others have developed their skills in order to enter careers in the following sectors: arts admin, libraries, museums and heritage, teaching or other educational activities, PR, advertising and marketing and accountancy and financial services.*
Graduate Outcomes Survey carried out by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), looking at the destinations of UK and EU graduates in the 2018–24 cohorts.
UCL Greek and Latin is a renowned centre for graduate study and research in the ancient world. You will benefit from the expertise of international experts in a wide variety of aspects of reception studies. 90% of the department’s research was judged to be world-leading or internationally excellent in the latest Research Excellence Framework 2021 (REF).
You will also benefit from research visits to nearby resources, such as the British Museum and the Warburg Institute, as well as UCL’s Petrie Museum.