Overview

Classics and ancient history at Newcastle has a long and distinguished international reputation. We deliver quality research and teaching. We have taught Latin and Greek since 1874, ancient history since 1910 and classical archaeology since 1931.

Our programmes cover a range of classical subjects. They include:

material culture and history

language and literature

philosophy

history of science and medicine

We have strong links with related disciplines such as history, archaeology and modern languages.

Our staff include scholars of outstanding international reputation. Our research covers all major aspects of the study of the ancient world.

Classics and Ancient History PhD and MPhil supervision is usually available in:

Ancient history and classical archaeology

Archaeology of religion and ritual from the Bronze Age to the early Classical era

Greco–Roman religion

Greek ethnography

Late Classical and Hellenistic periods: Alexander the Great and Hellenistic empires; kingship and royal ideology

Contact and interaction between Greeks and non-Greeks

The history and archaeology of pre-Roman and Roman Italy

The late Roman Republic

Institutions of the Roman world

The social, economic and cultural history of the Roman Empire

Classical language and literature

Greek poetry from Homer to the imperial age

‘Presocratic’ and ‘Hippocratic’ writers

Greek tragedy, including its reception

Ancient didactic poetry

Second Sophistic

Ancient linguistic thought, especially etymology

Greek influence on later literature

Philosophy and science

Ancient philosophy, particularly epistemology and ethics,

The exact sciences in Greek and Roman antiquity

The history of Greek and Roman medicine

Hippocratic medicine and the history of its reception up until the 20th century