Ancient History and History BA Honours

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Not available in Clearing

This course is not available in Clearing 2024.

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Course overview

Combine the study of the classical world with modern history and discover how the ancient world has shaped modern society.

On our BA Honours in Ancient History and History you’ll develop a diverse set of research, communication, and critical analysis skills that will set you on a path to wide range of careers.

Build cultural awareness by making connections with the past and understanding important issues in history.

Examine historical issues such as political change, gender and sexuality, conflict, or even historical representation in film.

Discover the global ancient world using a variety of evidence. From analysing ancient texts to studying historical artefacts, you'll develop a broad range of skills.

Be inspired by our unique location. Your classroom extends beyond the University and into North East England’s diverse heritage. From Hadrian's Wall to Bamburgh Castle on the Northumbrian coast, there's a rich past to discover on our doorstep.

Key features

You'll explore a range of global histories and develop your skills as a historian through compulsory modules. While optional modules allow you to tailor your degree to your interests. 

Choose from a range of modules covering the Roman World and Hellenistic Empires, to fictional histories and slavery in the ancient, modern and early modern periods.  

You’ll also have the opportunity to discover the societies and cultures of the past, explore the culture and literature of the Greek and Roman world, and study an ancient language. 

On this degree you’ll have the opportunity to:          

• Learn from experts in the ancient world and history, from the culture and literature of Ancient Greece to the history of Medieval Japan 
• Access world-class facilities, including the University’s Special Collections and Archives department and Great North Museum 
• Enhance your employability by taking a 12-month year work placement and put your learning into practice
• Study abroad for a year at one of our partner institutions 

Download information about this course as a PDF

Your course and study experience - disclaimers and terms and conditions  
Please rest assured we make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the programmes, services and facilities described. However, it may be necessary to make changes due to significant disruption, for example in response to Covid-19.

View our Academic experience page, which gives information about your Newcastle University study experience for the academic year 2024-25.

See our terms and conditions and student complaints information, which gives details of circumstances that may lead to changes to programmes, modules or University services.

Quality and ranking

Professional accreditation and recognition

All professional accreditations are reviewed regularly by their professional body.

Modules and learning

Modules

The information below is intended to provide an example of what you will study.

Most degrees are divided into stages. Each stage lasts for one academic year, and you'll complete modules totalling 120 credits by the end of each stage. 

Our teaching is informed by research. Course content may change periodically to reflect developments in the discipline, the requirements of external bodies and partners, and student feedback.

Optional module availability
Student demand for optional modules may affect availability.

Full details of the modules on offer will be published through the Programme Regulations and Specifications ahead of each academic year. This usually happens in May.

To find out more please see our terms and conditions

You'll shape your degree to explore the periods and regions that excite you most.

Engage with a wide range of themes, including law and order, empire and resistance, slavery, gender, and religion.

Learn how to critically analyse complex and challenging sources, and how to articulate arguments to the highest standard.

Stage 1

In your first year you'll develop historical skills and knowledge through historical debate. You’ll also investigate a range of global ancient histories, beyond the worlds of ancient Greece and Rome, exploring evidence and interesting historical problems from a variety viewpoints and sources.

You’ll choose a core module from both History and Ancient History and then select from a range of optional modules, such as:

• Global Middle Ages: study regions and topics beyond the traditional programme of study. You'll cover the Arab/Islamic world, Byzantium, India and Japan
• Slavery: in the ancient, modern and early modern periods
• The Roman World from Romulus to Trajan

Modules

You will take all of the following modules:

Compulsory modules	Credits
HIS1100: Evidence and Argument	20
HCA1008: Global Ancient Histories	20

All students will take at least one of the following modules:

History modules	Credits
HIS1101: Historical Sources and Methods	20
HIS1102: History Lab I	20
HIS1103: History Lab II	20
HIS1104: Introduction to Public History	20
HIS1105: What Is History For?	20

All students will take at least one of the following modules:

Ancient History modules	Credits
CAH1012 West meets East: Greek History and Society	20
CAH1015 The Roman World from Romulus to Trajan	20

There is also a list of recommended modules for students to pick any remaining credits from:

Recommended modules	Credits
CAC1012: Greek and Roman Art and Archaeology	20
CAC1013: The World of Latin Literature	20
CAC1014: Tragedy, Comedy, History: the World of Greek Literature	20
CAC1015: How Should I Live? An Introduction to Ancient Philosophy	20
HCA1001: Slavery	20
HCA1003: Global Middle Ages	20
HCA1007: Stuff: living in a material world	20
One or two modules in Greek or Latin at Beginners’ or Intermediate level.	20 - 40

During Stage 2 you’ll take a training module to help prepare you for independent research. This is key preparation for your dissertation. You can choose between a module focusing on Ancient History research skills or Crafting History.

You’ll also start to tailor your degree to your interests by choosing from optional modules such as:

• Hellenistic Empires from Alexander to Cleopatra
• Diversities of Sexuality and Gender in History
• Violence in the American South: From the Colonial Era to Civil Rights

Modules

Students must select one Dissertation training module from the list below, they cannot take both modules. Students planning to take the Ancient History dissertation (CAH3000) in Stage 3 will take Portfolio in Ancient History I: Commentaries (CAH2009); candidates planning on taking the History dissertation (HIS3020) in Stage 3 will take Crafting History (HIS2304). 

Module title	Credits
CAH2009: Portfolio in Ancient History I: Commentaries	20
HIS2304: Crafting History: The Dissertation Proposal	20

Students choose a remaining 5 modules from a large range of optional modules ensuring they take both Ancient History and History modules.

Optional modules	Credits
HIS2027: Africa: History of a Continent	20
HIS2219: Oral History and Memory	20
HIS2240: Greece, from ancient to modern	20
HIS2301: Communication in the Medieval World, from Europe to Asia: Prayer, Poetry, Pictures, and Travel	20
HIS2306: Famines in History	20
HIS2308: History and Film: Representing the Past	20
HIS2309: East Asia from Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century	20
HIS2315: Violence in the American South: From the Colonial Era to Civil Rights	20
HIS2316: Researching History	20
HIS2317: The Aftermath of War in Europe and Asia, 1945-56	20
HIS2318: Revolutions of the Mind: European Thought, 1550-1750	20
HIS2320: The Supernatural: The Cultural History of Occult Forces	20
HIS2321: Destroying Nature: Disasters, Diseases and Environmental Injustice	20
HIS2322: Diversities of Sexuality and Gender in History	20
HIS2323: A History of Contemporary Britain	20
HIS2325: The Mediterranean: a connected past	20
CAH2006: Hellenistic Empires from Alexander to Cleopatra	20
CAH2017: The Roman World from Hadrian to Heraclius	20
CAH2020: Greek and Roman Religions	20
CAH2061: Slavery in Greco-Roman antiquity	20
CAH2208: Issues in Ancient History	20
ARA2092: The Medieval World: AD 400-1500	20
ARA2097: Colonial Worlds: History and Archaeology	20
ARA2011: From Lascaux to Knossos: Prehistoric Europe	20
ARA2091: Archaeologies of the Roman Empire: The Roman World from Augustus to Justinian	20
CAC2052: Foundations of European Drama: Tragedy in Greece and Rome	20
CAC2067: Love, Death and Longing	20
LAS2030: Comparative History of Hispano-America and Brazil: from Independence to the Mexican Revolution (1789/1810-1917)	20
NCL2007: Career Development for second year students	20

Students wishing to begin or continue studying a classical language may, with the approval of the Degree Programme Director, take one 20-credit language module in place of an optional module from the Recommended Modules lists above.

Students may choose to study abroad for one semester as part of International Study, subject to agreeing an overall selection of modules with the Degree Programme Director, and as long as their semester away does not conflict with the required Dissertation Training module

Module title	Credits
HSS2601: HaSS Study Abroad Semester 1	60
HSS2602: HaSS Study Abroad Semester 2	60

During Stage 3 you'll continue with a mixture of Ancient History and History, choosing which areas to undertake your dissertation in and then selecting 4 further optional modules.

Modules

All students will choose a dissertation module:

Module title	Credits
HIS3020: Writing History	40
CAH3000: Portfolio in Ancient History II: Dissertation	40

Students will then pick from an extensive list of specialist optional modules:

Optional modules	Credits
HIS3000: Reading History	20
HIS3036: Public History in Practice	20
HIS3181 America’s Civil War: an emotional history	20
HIS3204 The British Revolutions, 1640-1660	20
HIS3206 The Irish Revolution, 1879-1923	20
HIS3212 Reconstruction and the New South, 1865-1900	20
HIS3220 British Foreign Policy since Suez	20
HIS3221 Birth Control in the 19th and 20th Centuries	20
HIS3229 The Spanish Second Republic and Civil War, 1931-39	20
HIS3232 Civil Rights and Armalites Northern Ireland since 1969	20
HIS3235 Genocide and Justice in the Twentieth Century: From the Armenian Genocide to the International Criminal Court	20
HIS3240 Civil Rights in America, 1948-1975	20
HIS3321 Viking-Age Scandinavia	20
HIS3326 Women in Colonial South Asia: Tradition, Reform and Modernity	20
HIS3335 Europe and the Ottoman Empire, 1453-1798	20
HIS3336 Punishing the Criminal Dead: Crime, Culture, and Corpses in Modern Britain	20
HIS3344 The Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall, 1961-1990	20
HIS3346 The Rising Generation: Youth, Age and Protest in Cold War Britain	20
HIS3348 Haitian Revolution	20
HIS3349 Healthy Spaces for Healthy Bodies: Medicine, Humans, Places	20
HIS3351 Buddhism and Society in Medieval Japan	20
HIS3352 The Renaissance World of Florence, 1450-1550: Machiavelli, Mayhem, and Strife	20
HIS3355 The Gulag: A History of the Soviet Camps – Origins, Experiences and Aftermaths	20
HIS3359 Nineteenth Century Aotearoa New Zealand: Maori, Pakeha & Tauiwi	20
HIS3361 Body and Emotions in Early Modern Europe 1450-1650	20
HIS3362 War and Remembering: Recalling War in Oral Histories, c. 1950-2022	20
HIS3364 May 1968: all power to the imagination	20
HIS3365 British Colonialism in Sudan: Violence, Gender and Race, 1899-1956	20
HIS3366 Fictional Histories: From medieval to modern.	20
HIS3367 Coronations and Ceremonial: Creating Soft Power in Tenth-Century Britain, Byzantium, and Armenia	20
HIS3368 Exhausted! The Problem of Sleep (and not Sleeping) from 1750 to the Present Day.	20
CAH3005 City of Athens: Power, Society and Culture	20
CAH3025 Celluloid History	20
CAH3034 ‘Frogs Around the Pond’: Mobility and Identity in the Pre-Roman Mediterranean	20
CAH3036 Roman Egypt	20
CAH3037 The New Empire of Diocletian and Constantine	20
CAH3041 Gods in the Material World: Religion and Material Culture in Greece, Egypt and Mesopotamia, 2000BC-338BC	20
ARA3013 Early Medieval Britain	20
ARA3121 Sex, bodies and identities in Classical Greece	20
CAC3052 Foundations of European Drama: Tragedy in Greece and Rome*	20
CAC3067 Love, Death and Longing*	20
LAS4001 Inter-American Relations from the Spanish-American War (1898) to the end of the Cold War (1989/1991)	20
NCL3007 Career Development for final year students	20

*Note: Students may not take the CAC3***-coded version of any module whose CAC2***-coded version they took at Stage 2. 

Information about these graphs

We base these figures and graphs on the most up-to-date information available to us. They are based on the modules chosen by our students in 2023-24.

Teaching time is made up of:

• scheduled learning and teaching activities. These are timetabled activities with a member of staff present.
• structured guided learning. These are activities developed by staff to support engagement with module learning. Students or groups of students undertake these activities without direct staff participation or supervision

Teaching and assessment

Teaching methods

You'll be taught through a dynamic range of methods and activities, including:

• lectures
• seminars
• tutorials
• workshops
• practical activities
• site visits and fieldwork training
• independent study

Assessment methods

You'll be assessed through a combination of:

• 

  Assessments

• 

  Assignments – written or fieldwork

• 

  Dissertation or research project

• 

  Essays

• 

  Examinations – practical or online

• 

  Practical sessions

• 

  Reports

Skills and experience

Practical skills

Practical experience forms a key part of this interdisciplinary degree. You'll gain hands-on experience handling artefacts from our on-campus Great North Museum.

Research skills

In your final year, you'll write a dissertation on a topic of your choosing, using skills you have developed during your degree. You'll hone your investigative skills, undertaking independent research, with access to extensive resources, archives and special collections.

Opportunities

Study abroad

Experience life in another country by choosing to study abroad as part of your degree. You’ll be encouraged to embrace fun and challenging experiences, make connections with new communities and graduate as a globally aware professional, ready for your future.

You'll have the opportunity to study abroad for a full year either after Stage One or after Stage Two. You can study in an EU country as part of a study abroad exchange or further afield. You’ll then return to Newcastle to complete your degree.

In Europe we currently have links with:

• Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris, France
• Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain
• Leiden University, Netherlands
• Charles University Prague, Czech Republic
• University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
• Södertörn University, Sweden
• University of Turku, Finland

If you choose to study abroad, it will extend your degree by a year. 

Find out more about study abroad

Work placement

Get career ready with a work placement and leave as a confident professional in your field. You can apply to spend 9 to 12 months working in any organisation in the world, and receive University support from our dedicated team to secure your dream placement. Work placements take place between stages 2 and 3.

You'll gain first-hand experience of working in the sector, putting your learning into practice and developing your professional expertise.

If you choose to take a work placement, it will extend your degree by a year, and your degree title will show you have achieved the placement year. A work placement is not available if you're spending a year studying abroad. Placements are subject to availability.

 

Facilities and environment

Facilities

You'll be based in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology, located at the heart of campus in the historic Armstrong Building. You'll have access to excellent study resources including:

• the Philip Robinson University Library, which houses over 800,000 books and provides access to ca. 1.8m e-books
• Special Collections & Archives – a rich collection of archival material, historical medical texts and rare books
• The Great North Museum: Hancock, our on-campus museum which holds an extensive collection of Greek, Roman, and Etruscan artefacts
• The Wolfson Archaeology Laboratory - with facilities for use-wear analysis of bone, stone, metal and glass, and furnaces for research in material culture or experimental archaeology.
• a Material Culture Analytical Suite kitted out with microscopes, 2D and 3D scanning equipment and CT facilities

Find out more about the School of History, Classics and Archaeology

Support

You'll be welcomed into a vibrant and supportive community. We will ensure you are well placed to achieve your highest potential and are equipped for career success.

You'll have the support of an academic member of staff as a personal tutor throughout your degree to help with academic and personal issues.

Peer mentors will help you in your first year. They are fellow students who can help you settle in and answer any questions you have when starting university.

Your future

Join a network of successful graduates

A degree in Ancient History and History will give you a wide range of knowledge and skills. Once you graduate you’ll have the skills to research complex topics independently and think critically about information from different sources.

You’ll have highly developed communication and organisational skills. In addition, studying for a joint honours degree allows you to become intellectually versatile as you switch between different disciplines.

Our graduates have gone on to work in a diverse range of sectors including finance, public policy and government, civil service, education, marketing, business, law and museum and heritage.

Read more about the careers our graduates have gone in to

Make a difference

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Careers support

Our award-winning Careers Service is one of the largest and best in the country, and we have strong links with employers. We provide an extensive range of opportunities to all students through our ncl+ initiative.

Visit our Careers Service website

Recognition of professional qualifications outside of the UK

From 1 January 2021 there is an update to the way professional qualifications are recognised by countries outside of the UK

Tuition fees and scholarships

Tuition fees for 2025 entry (per year)

The 2025 home fees have not yet been confirmed (see ‘Home Fee Students’ information below).

Qualification: BA Honours
Home students full time 3 years	Tuition fees (per year) Not set
International students full time 3 years	Tuition fees (per year) 23800

Home Fee Students

Home students starting in 2024 entry
£9,250 is the maximum fee that we are currently permitted to charge for home fee-paying students. This is set by the UK government.

As a general principle, you should expect the tuition fee to increase in each subsequent academic year of your course, subject to government regulations on fee increases and in line with inflation.

Home students starting in 2025 entry

In November 2024 the government increased the maximum fee level to £9,535 for 2025/26. It is expected that Parliament will approve the Government’s proposed increase in January and we intend to confirm our Home fees at this higher level following this.

As a general principle, you should expect the tuition fee to increase in each subsequent academic year of your course, subject to government regulations on fee increases and in line with inflation.

 

Read more about fees and funding

International Fee Students

Depending on your residency history, if you’re a student from the EU, other EEA or a Swiss national, with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, you’ll normally pay the ‘Home’ tuition fee rate and may be eligible for Student Finance England support.

EU students without settled or pre-settled status will normally be charged fees at the ‘International’ rate and will not be eligible for Student Finance England support.

If you are unsure of your fee status, check out the latest guidance here.

As a general principle, you should expect the tuition fee to increase in each subsequent academic year of your course, subject to government regulations on fee increases and in line with inflation.

Read more about fees and funding

Scholarships

We support our EU and international students by providing a generous range of Vice-Chancellor's automatic and merit-based scholarships. See our undergraduate scholarship page for more information.

Year abroad and additional costs

For programmes where you can spend a year on a work placement or studying abroad, you will receive a significant fee reduction for that year. 

Some of our degrees involve additional costs which are not covered by your tuition fees.

Scholarships

Find out more about:

• scholarships for UK, EU and international students
• Student Loans and Government financial support for UK and EU students

How to apply

Apply through UCAS

To apply for undergraduate study at Newcastle University, you must use the online application system managed by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). All UK schools and colleges, and a small number of EU and international establishments, are registered with UCAS. You will need:

• the UCAS name and institution codes for Newcastle University (NEWC/N21)
• the UCAS code for the course you want to apply for
• the UCAS 'buzzword' for your school or college

If you are applying independently, or are applying from a school or college which is not registered to manage applications, you will still use the Apply system. You will not need a buzzword.

Apply through UCAS

Apply through an agent

International students often apply to us through an agent. Have a look at our recommended agents and get in touch with them.

Visit our International pages