Ancient History Graduate Program

[David.W]

I'd like to find some Ancient History graduate programs but I find it more difficult to do that among US's universities than UK's.

The Gardian and Times list Classics and Ancient History in their program rankings, but US News only list Classics and History respectively.

These days I only found Colorado, Stanford and Indiana when searching for this program.

Can anyone here say something about the programs above or recommend some other Anicent History programs?

[JonathanEdwards]

Before answering, what is your research interest? What subfield of ancient history do you want to emerge an expert in?

I'd like to find some Ancient History graduate programs but I find it more difficult to do that among US's universities than UK's.

The Gardian and Times list Classics and Ancient History in their program rankings, but US News only list Classics and History respectively.

These days I only found Colorado, Stanford and Indiana when searching for this program.

Can anyone here say something about the programs above or recommend some other Anicent History programs?

[David.W]

Before answering, what is your research interest? What subfield of ancient history do you want to emerge an expert in?

Hey Westcott! Glad to see you again:)

With your kind guidance, I found the Textkit and I'm now currently self studying ancient Greek with White's First Greek Book and making some progress........

I'm interested in Greek history. I'm still not certain about the subfield, but up to now I think my preference would be cultural history.

[JonathanEdwards]

Hmm. Since that’s not my area, your current/past faculty will likely be much more help than I, especially on the American unis. The best places to study classics in the UK are probably Cambridge, Oxford, and London (both KCL and UCL). Edinburgh and Durham have great faculties, but not nearly the support from library and other resources. Once you have in mind a specific research topic within a field, you can mate that to a supervisor at a school more specifically.

Best wishes!

Hey Westcott! Glad to see you again:)

With your kind guidance, I found the Textkit and I'm now currently self studying ancient Greek with White's First Greek Book and making some progress........

I'm interested in Greek history. I'm still not certain about the subfield, but up to now I think my preference would be cultural history.

[ElCielo]

There are a bunch of classics programs that have an ancient history track: Stanford, Harvard, UPenn; Berkeley has the AHMA program, which is a history and archaeology program for the ancient Mediterranean; Rutgers has an interdisciplinary classics and ancient history program that is separate from the regular classics program. I'm sure there are more but that's a few I can think of off the top of my head. I would check the websites of classics departments and see if any say something about a distinct history track. Good luck with the search!

[David.W]

Your comments about UK universities are really insightful!

I've been researching the websites of UCL, KCL, Royal Hollaway and Durham. It seems to me that Durham somehow has a more diversified faculty in Greek History studies( faculty's interests range from historiography and politics to dance and music). But I didn't expect it's weakness in research resources. Many thanks to your generous sharing!

Hmm. Since that’s not my area, your current/past faculty will likely be much more help than I, especially on the American unis. The best places to study classics in the UK are probably Cambridge, Oxford, and London (both KCL and UCL). Edinburgh and Durham have great faculties, but not nearly the support from library and other resources. Once you have in mind a specific research topic within a field, you can mate that to a supervisor at a school more specifically.

Best wishes!

[JonathanEdwards]

To be fair, I wouldn't categorize them as weak in any regard. While their librariies aren't up to the high standard their faculty sets (as Oxbridge & London are), they are significantly better research centers than most other unis. Best wishes on your search!

Your comments about UK universities are really insightful!

I've been researching the websites of UCL, KCL, Royal Hollaway and Durham. It seems to me that Durham somehow has a more diversified faculty in Greek History studies( faculty's interests range from historiography and politics to dance and music). But I didn't expect it's weakness in research resources. Many thanks to your generous sharing!

[David.W]

Hi ElCielo,

I really appreciate your generous help! I will further my research of these schools' websites.

There are a bunch of classics programs that have an ancient history track: Stanford, Harvard, UPenn; Berkeley has the AHMA program, which is a history and archaeology program for the ancient Mediterranean; Rutgers has an interdisciplinary classics and ancient history program that is separate from the regular classics program. I'm sure there are more but that's a few I can think of off the top of my head. I would check the websites of classics departments and see if any say something about a distinct history track. Good luck with the search!