Oxford Classical Archeology and Ancient History vs Cambridge Classics

Hi! I will be applying for a classics related subject at university, and my primary interest is ancient history, but I am also interested in philosophy with possibly a light dosing of literature. I hear at Cambridge the classics course is mostly literature for the first two years with specialisation only in the third year. But I get the impression that CAAH at Oxford would not allow me to cover aspects such as philosophy. All this is probably blue sky thinking because I’ll probably never get in, but I would greatly appreciate any advice anyone has.

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 1

04MR17

Volunteer Section Leader

22

Original post by Cleisthenes

Hi! I will be applying for a classics related subject at university, and my primary interest is ancient history, but I am also interested in philosophy with possibly a light dosing of literature. I hear at Cambridge the classics course is mostly literature for the first two years with specialisation only in the third year. But I get the impression that CAAH at Oxford would not allow me to cover aspects such as philosophy. All this is probably blue sky thinking because I’ll probably never get in, but I would greatly appreciate any advice anyone has.

Go and visit both universities (if you're able to) and ask the academics there. This is quite a niche question and it's actually great (from an application point of view) that you have such driven interests towards particularly focused areas of academic study. Don't ever assume you won't get in. The first hurdle is being willing enough to try if that's genuinely where you want to study. But there's not many people who can give you a proper answer to this question, and the best ones work for Oxford and Cambridge, and they don't tend to float around TSR too much. Although the University of Oxford and University of Cambridge forums both have active official reps from each university that you can also get in touch with. :smile:

Original post by Cleisthenes

Hi! I will be applying for a classics related subject at university, and my primary interest is ancient history, but I am also interested in philosophy with possibly a light dosing of literature. I hear at Cambridge the classics course is mostly literature for the first two years with specialisation only in the third year. But I get the impression that CAAH at Oxford would not allow me to cover aspects such as philosophy. All this is probably blue sky thinking because I’ll probably never get in, but I would greatly appreciate any advice anyone has.

CAAH is more focused on history and archaeology. On the website it says 'While it is primarily a historical and non-linguistic degree, ancient languages can be used and learned as part of the course.' So you an cover languages but they are not the main focus of the degree. The list of modules/courses for CAAH is here - https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses-listing/classical-archaeology-and-ancient-history?wssl=1

A Classics degree is primarily about the ancient languages, hence why it is taught mostly through literature. In Y2 at Cambridge you can pick two from philosophy, history, art and linguistics, to complement your language study.

Reply 3

Cleisthenes

OP

9

Thanks these answers are very helpful.

Oxford Classical Archeology and Ancient History vs Cambridge Classics

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