The four-year BA Ancient History With a Year of Study Abroad enables students to combine the study of Ancient History at Cardiff University with the opportunity to gain cross-cultural experience by studying for a year at a partner institution abroad. 

Our Ancient History courses are concerned with the Graeco-Roman world from the Aegean Bronze Age to the fall of the Roman Empire in the west and its survival in the east as the Byzantine Empire.  It aims to develop your knowledge and critical understanding of the political, social, economic and cultural structures of Greek and Roman societies. These were significantly different from modern industrialised societies, but have exercised a profound and continuous influence on the subsequent development of European and many other peoples and cultures. 

Ancient History offers a balance between modules covering specific historical periods and those that examine broad social and cultural topics, such as warfare, gender, religion, art, medicine and science.

The degree is designed to cultivate the skills of the historian, namely, the ability to assess evidence critically, to evaluate different interpretations of the evidence, to construct arguments on the basis of evidence, and to express opinions cogently in speech and in writing.

Distinctive features

• You will gain invaluable cross-cultural experience by spending a year studying abroad in a partner institution in Europe, the USA or Canada. 
• The year of study abroad introduces novel academic study opportunities and will also provide you with the life skills to compete in an increasingly global workforce, such as cultural adaptability, resilience and independence. 
• Ancient History at Cardiff provides the training necessary for students who wish to study Ancient History at postgraduate level, and a valuable range of intellectual and transferable skills for other professions.