2024/25 Undergraduate Programme Catalogue

BA Ancient History

Total credits: 360

Entry requirements:

Entry Requirements are available on the Course Search entry

School/Unit responsible for the parenting of students and programme:

School of Languages, Cultures and Societies

Examination board through which the programme will be considered:

Relevant QAA Subject Benchmark Groups:

Classics and Ancient History (including Byzantine Studies and Modern Greek)

Programme specification:

The information on this page is accurate for students entering the programme in 2023/2024 or before. For students entering the programme from September 2024 or after, you can find the details of your programme:

BA Ancient History(For students entering from September 2024 onwards)

This programme will allow students to explore the political, cultural and social histories of the ancient world, focussing on the likes of Persia, Alexander the Great, Sparta, the Athenian empire, the Hellenistic Kingdoms and the Roman Republic and Empire. It will also investigate the reception of ancient events, peoples and cultures up to the present day. The subject likewise has broad geographical limits: it covers the entire area eventually occupied by the Roman empire, from Britain in the north-west to Mesopotamia in the south-east, from the countries of the Rhine and Danube rivers in central Europe to the whole northern edge of Africa. Students will also have the opportunity to draw on the wider expertise of the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies in the ancient world beyond Greece and Rome.
Students will find out who both the great and the ordinary ‘invisible’ people of antiquity were, what the most impactful events were in the ancient world, as well as evaluating what evidence is available to us, what is lost, and what was never recorded in the first place. This programme will therefore enable students to develop skills in theoretical approaches, such as historiography, critical thinking and reasoning, material culture analysis, awareness of comparative thoughts and practices, and intercultural understanding.
The programme begins with structured foundational study across a number of compulsory modules in core fields within the discipline, including the politics and societies of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, archaeology, and life writing. At level 2, core modules will enable students to develop an understanding of a range of imperial regimes in the classical world and the lived experiences of the great majority of the ordinary ‘invisible’ inhabitants of the ancient world who are under-represented in our literary sources. The core module Evidence and Enquiry will enable students to develop and enhance their subject-specific skills and transferable research skills to prepare them for independent research at level 3 with the help and guidance of an academic supervisor. The programme then offers a high degree of module choice at levels 2 and 3. Students are exposed to a broad range of different fields of study within the discipline, innovative assessment methods (e.g. blogs, creative writing pieces, wikis, portfolio work, online discussion forums, student surveys, posters, computer exercises) and a considerable element of research-based learning culminating in a compulsory independent research project of their choice at level 3.
The School of Language, Cultures and Societies is an internationally-recognised research leader, with long established reputations for excellence in researching and teaching the ancient world. Leeds also has first-rate library and IT facilities, of which students are encouraged to make the fullest use, and plenty of useful resources specifically for Ancient History students. Aside from a huge array of scholarly material on the subject, the world-class Brotherton Library holds a wide variety of manuscripts, archive and early printed material, coins and other materials from the ancient world in its Special Collections, some of which students on this programme will explore in dedicated practical sessions. The University Library offers a comprehensive training programme to help you make the most of Library resources.
Students on this programme may apply for transfer to an International Degree. Those students who are accepted may participate in one of our exchange schemes or go to one of a range o f universities with which the University of Leeds has established links. The opportunity to apply for a work placement degree involving a year in industry is also available.

Year1 - View timetable

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]

At Level 3, students must study 120 credits.
In order to be eligible for an Honours degree, students must meet the normal Rules for Award by passing all modules which are designated to be passed for award or progression and by passing the required number of credits at each level as specified in the Curricular Regulations (at least 200 credits at Level 2 or above, of which at least 100 should be at Level 3). 

Compulsory modules:

All students will be required to study the following compulsory module:

Optional modules:

The remaining 40 credits may be taken either as Discovery credits, or as choices from the optional modules listed below, or as a combination of both.

Candidates may study up to 40 credits from the following optional modules:

Candidates may study up to 20 credits from the following optional modules:

Candidates may study up to 20 credits from the following optional modules:

Discovery modules:

Candidates may study up to 40 credits of discovery modules

Year2 - View timetable

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]

In Level 2 students must study 120 credits.

In order to be eligible for an Honours degree, students must meet the normal Rules for Award by passing all modules which are designated to be passed for award or progression and by passing the required number of credits at each level as specified in the Curricular Regulations (at least 200 credits at level 2 or above, of which at least 100 should be at level 3).

Compulsory modules:

Candidates will be required to study the following compulsory modules:

Optional modules:

Candidates will be required to study 40-60 credits from the following optional modules:

NB. Not all CLAS modules listed above will run in every year.

Students may also choose to study the below module as long as they are not already enrolled onto Linguists into Schools

Discovery modules:

Candidates may study up to 40 credits of discovery modules or the above FOAH module.
Candidates may take no more than a total of 60 discovery credits offered by other programmes of study over Levels 2 and 3.

Year3 - View timetable

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]

In Level 3 students must study 120 credits. Finalists may only take level 1 modules which are listed as discovery skills modules (skd) and only to the value of 20 credits.

In order to be eligible for an Honours degree, students must meet the normal Rules for Award by passing all modules which are designated to be passed for award or progression and by passing the required number of credits at each level as specified in the Curricular Regulations (at least 200 credits at level 2 or above, of which at least 100 should be at level 3).

Compulsory modules:

Optional modules:

All students are required to take a minimum of 40 credits and may take up to 80 credits from the following list of optional modules:

Discovery modules:

All students may take up to 40 credits of discovery modules in a third subject or pursue additional modules in Classics.  Finalists may only take Level 1 modules that are listed as Discovery Skills modules (skd) and only to the value of 20 credits.  Students may take no more than a total of 60 discovery credits offered by other programmes of study over Levels 2 and 3.

Candidates may take no more than a total of 60 discovery credits offered by other programmes of study over Levels 2 and 3.

Last updated: 09/08/2024 11:16:15

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