MA Greece, Rome And The Near East

Explore the relationship between the classical world and the Near East on this popular course.

This is a course geared towards preparing you for higher research into the interaction of the classical world with the Near East – partly through direct research training, and partly through modules taught by experts in their field, in small-group seminars.

The relationship between the classical world and neighbouring civilisations is among the most important and most rapidly expanding areas of classical scholarship, and we have particular strength in this field: we offer tuition in Akkadian, and can draw on the resources of the Oriental Museum in Durham and the expertise pooled in the Centre for the Study of the Ancient Mediterranean and the Near East. The course lasts for one year full-time (two years part-time).

Course Structure

You will take modules to a total of 180 or 190 credits. The structure of the course is as follows:

• Language module in an ancient or modern language relevant to research in the area of Classics or the study of the Mediterranean and Near East (20-40 credits)
• Core module for Greece, Rome and the Near East (30 credits)
• 15,000-word Dissertation (60 credits)
• Optional modules (50-80 credits)

MA modules are 30 credits; you may substitute two undergraduate (20 credit) modules for one MA module. You may also take up to 40 credits of modules offered by other Departments (subject to approval).

Not all modules will be offered every year, and new modules (both optional and core) are added regularly.

Core modules:

• Language module in an ancient or modern language relevant to research in the area of Classics

• Core module for Greece, Rome and the Near East (in 2018-19, options were Akkadian or The Queen of the Desert: Rise and Decline of Palmyra’s Civilization)
• Dissertation.

Examples of optional modules:

Optional modules are offered according to the current research interests of members of staff. In recent years, optional modules available in the Department have included:

• Akkadian
• Ancient Philosophers on Origins
• Animals in Graeco-Roman Antiquity
• Aristotle’s Systems
• Dreams in the Ancient World
• Forms After Plato
• Latin Love Elegy
• Law and Literature in Ancient Greece and Rome
• Greeks and the East
• Monumental Architecture of the Roman East
• Religious Life in The Roman Near East
• The Classical Tradition: Art, Literature, Thought
• The Queen of the Desert: Rise and Decline of Palmyra’s Civilization
• The Roman Republic: Debates and Approaches.