Ancient History - MA

Teaching

Teaching and assessment

The programme is assessed by coursework for each of the modules, an examination in Latin or ancient Greek, if these modules are taken, and by the dissertation.

Programme aims

This programme aims to:

• provide research training in the subject area of ancient history
• expand your depth of knowledge of key subject areas in ancient history
• attract outstanding students, irrespective of race, background, gender or physical disability from both within the UK, and EU, and also from overseas
• develop new areas of postgraduate teaching in response to the advance of scholarship
• provide you with the skills to equip you for a further career either for doctoral research in ancient history, or in employment, with the use of these transferable skills
• develop your competence in applying skills to analysis of a diverse body of ancient evidence
• develop your critical and analytical powers in relation to the ancient material
• provide you with the skills to adapt and respond positively to change
• develop critical, analytical problem-based learning skills and the transferable skills to prepare you for graduate employment
• enhance the development of your interpersonal skills
• provide you with opportunities for shared multidisciplinary learning with archaeology, religious studies and philosophy
• assist you to develop the skills required for both autonomous practice and team-working.

Learning outcomes

Knowledge and understanding

You will gain knowledge and understanding of:

• a complex range of disciplines, cultural relationships and varied geographical regions
• the research skills associated with the use of ancient evidence to produce historical narratives and analyses that engage with the most recent development in research in ancient history
• to come to terms with philosophical issues by thinkers of very different cultural and linguistic assumptions from our own
• to understand the nature of the societies and political systems of antiquity
• be familiar with an appropriate and diverse range of primary materials, epigraphy, papyrology, literature, visual material, and history
• a broad and systematic knowledge developed within a coherent framework of complementary subjects, including religion, history and ancient languages.

Intellectual skills

You develop intellectual skills in how to:

• apply the skills needed for academic study and enquiry
• evaluate research and a variety of types of information and evidence critically
• synthesise information critically from a number of sources in order to gain a coherent understanding of theory and practice
• apply strategies for appropriate selection of relevant information from a wide source and large body of knowledge
• utilise problem-solving skills
• analyse, evaluate and interpret the evidence underpinning historical, linguistic and literary evidence critically.

Subject-specific skills

You gain subject-specific skills in:

• having an advanced understanding of another culture, whether focused on its literature, thought, art and religion, or its history and political and social organisation, or its material culture, demonstrate a critical engagement with it, develop an informed sense of the similarities and differences between it and our own culture
• have a broad knowledge, developed within a coherent framework, of complementary subjects, drawn from such fields as language, literature, linguistics, philosophy, history, art and archaeology, or theme-based topics which cross the boundaries between them (eg religion, gender studies), and periods
• be familiar with and able to evaluate an appropriate and diverse range of primary materials, eg literary, philosophical and historical texts, art objects, archaeological evidence and inscriptions
• command a range of techniques and methodologies, such as bibliographical and library research skills, a range of skills in reading and textual analysis, the varieties of historical method, the visual skills characteristic of art criticism, use of statistics (eg in archaeology), philosophical argument and analysis, and analytical grasp of an ancient language.

Transferable skills

You will gain the following transferable skills:

• the ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of individuals using a variety of means
• the ability to evaluate your own academic performance
• the ability to manage change effectively and respond to changing demands

Careers

Our MA programmes include much scope for vocational training, skills acquisition and guided project work, often with use of our extensive facilities. These aspects of our programmes have been praised by external assessors in recent years. Recent graduates have progressed to careers in a wide range of related professional and leadership areas, including national and local museums, teaching and senior roles with archaeological organisations (national government institutions, contracting units and trusts). A large proportion of completing Master’s students have progressed onto PhD study.

Study support

About the Department of Classical & Archaeological Studies

Classical & archaeological studies examines the textual and material evidence for a wide cross-section of the ancient world and includes three convergent research and teaching pathways: ancient history, classical literature, and archaeology. Many core areas in the investigation of the ancient world can be studied with us at postgraduate level.

The Department of Classical & Archaeological Studies operates as part of the Division of Arts and Humanities, and there are corresponding opportunities for a high level of interdisciplinary interaction, in addition to the informal links with staff in the rest of the University researching medieval history, the history of science, architecture and social anthropology. We have good partnerships with high-profile universities and organisations such as the Ghent University, University Lille 3, the Flemish Heritage Institute, UCLA, the Free University of Amsterdam and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB).

We offer bursaries to enable students to participate in departmental fieldwork projects covering travel, food and accommodation. Typically, around 30 students each year have been placed on research and training excavations in Britain, Italy (including Ostia, port of Rome) and Greece, relating to sites of Bronze Age Greek (Minoan), Iron Age, Roman, and Late Antique and Anglo-Saxon date.

Postgraduate resources

The Department has extensive literary holdings and many other facilities to support active research, and the Templeman Library also has excellent holdings in all our areas of research interest. This includes an extensive range of English and international periodicals, as well as specialist collections (the library of A S L Farquharson, specialising in the age of Marcus Aurelius, and generous donations from the libraries of Victor Ehrenberg in ancient social history, Anthony Snodgrass, Richard Reece and Jill Braithwaite in archaeology). We have access to Canterbury Cathedral Library, and to archaeological libraries and collections in Kent, such as the major collection of the Kent Archaeological Society, and first-rate connections with London and continental Europe. Kent is now the home of the Colin Renfrew Archive, a major resource for research on the history of archaeology, archaeological theory, prehistoric Orkney and the Aegean Bronze Age.

The Department has its own specialist technician, Lloyd Bosworth, who is widely experienced and skilled in landscape archaeology, geographic information systems (GIS), digital imaging and laser scanning, as well as geophysical surveying. He offers advice and training in the use of the archaeological equipment and has worked in Belgium, Ostia, Rome and Crete.

The University has recently invested in a range of new archaeological equipment including a Romer laser scanner, portable XRF machinery, resistivity and magnetometer survey machines, GPS and a photographic lab.

The University of Kent’s location is highly convenient for students who need to visit not only the British Library and other specialist libraries in London, but also the major libraries and research centres within Europe.

Training

All postgraduate students in the Division of Arts and Humanities receive support and guidance within their departments and from the Graduate School. Within the division, in addition to the research culture of your department, our research centres combine overlapping interests to foster interdisciplinary support and dialogue, while the Graduate School provides a Researcher Development Programme to equip you with a full range of skills that will improve your effectiveness as a researcher. Training courses are also offered by the Library and Computing Services, and by the Unit for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (UELT).

Individual training is offered in accordance with a student’s needs. We offer training in Greek and Latin languages at the appropriate level; and specialist skills training in epigraphy, papyrology, palaeography and Egyptology, artefact studies and fieldwork methods. Postgraduates have also gained experience by mounting their own independent seminar programme to discuss work in progress (in addition to taking part in staff/postgraduate research seminars).

Dynamic publishing culture

Staff publish regularly and widely in journals, conference proceedings and books. Among others, they have recently contributed to: Acta Antiqua; Archiv für Papyrusforschung, European Journal of Archaeology; Latomus; Hermes; L’études Classiques; Aegyptus; Annual Review of the British School at Rome; American Journal of Archaeology.

Global Skills Award

All students registered for a taught Master's programme are eligible to apply for a place on our Global Skills Award Programme. The programme is designed to broaden your understanding of global issues and current affairs as well as to develop personal skills which will enhance your employability.