Greece, Rome and the Near East

Overview

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 Greece, Rome and the Near East course offered by Durham University lasts for one year full-time (two years part-time).

The programme

The MA in Greece, Rome and the Near East is principally conceived as a research training course, which aims to build on the skills in independent learning acquired in the course of the student’s first degree and enable them to undertake fully independent research at a higher level. Contact time with tutors for taught modules is typically a total of 5 hours per week (rising to 7 for someone beginning Latin or ancient Greek at this level), with an emphasis on small group teaching, and a structure that maximises the value of this time, and best encourages and focuses the student’s own independent study and preparation. On average, around 2 hours a week of other relevant academic contact (research seminars, dissertation supervision) is also available.

At the heart of the course is the Dissertation module, in which students write a 15,000 word dissertation of a research topic of their own devising. Core research training and support for students’ dissertation research is provided through the Dissertation seminars. These are weekly classes which in the first term introduce the range of research methods and resources available to someone working in the field of Classics, and over the year build the research skills needed for the dissertation. The classes comprise a mixture of lectures, student-led discussions and student presentations, and are tailored to the individual research interests of each cohort. In addition, students are matched with an individual Dissertation supervisor, who will be an expert in their field of interest, and from whom they will receive an additional five hours of individual dissertation supervision over the year.